How do I love thee, Wegmans? Let me count the ways

(I've been learning about couponing from some scrapping friends for the past couple weeks, though I haven't actually started on my own yet, and because it's tailored to the store, I'm looking more into Wegmans' policies and remembering just why I love them).

1. They make the BEST chocolate cake ever. Their white cake's pretty incredible too, for not being chocolate. Haven't tried their carrot cake yet but want to.

2. They're a fantastic place to work. When I worked there, I filled out the "employee satisfaction" survey and that was actually the first year they placed #1 on Forbes' list of the 100 best companies to work for. They deserve those high rankings! And happy employees=happy customers.

3. Their scholarship program is fantastic. It attracts hard-working college-bound high school students, and it's really nice to get that extra money during college (I figured it out when I was in college; it was like getting an extra 2-3 hours of work a week, without actually having to, you know, work)

4. They have great bathrooms. Having little kids to take shopping, that's a big deal. I love that some of them have rocking chairs in case their babies need a little snuggle/nursing time. (though I've always just taken them back out to the car, but that's just me)

5. They have a fantastic organic/natural food section, and it's getting bigger! I can get most of our fruits and veggies organically. And our store sells potted basil plants, which I've done a few times (though they eventually die; not sure if they're rootbound or my semi-green thumb does them in) so I can pick off the fresh leaves for recipes.

6. I just found out I can see our receipts online! As well as getting the weekly flier in my inbox (which I just signed up for), I can look back at past receipts! How fun is that?? So now that I'm learning more about coupons, I can look back at old receipts to see how much things cost and evaluate how much I'm learning.

7. Wegmans has awesome "FYFGA" varieties of food ("Food you feel good about") in addition to the basic "generics." Some still have "natural flavors," which Josh has to be careful of in case there's MSG, but most are much safer and healthier. And yummier.


No, I don't work there anymore. They're not paying me to write this. I really do love my supermarket and never, ever, ever shop at Tops. Hate it there. Ugh. And the only Super-Walmart is a long ways away and doesn't have ANY of the things mentioned above!! So I'm a Wegmans shopper for life, and my kids don't know any other way of doing it either!

(unrelated side note: Okay. how bizarre is it that half of the time "Wegmans" gets red-underlined by spell-check, and the other half of the time it's fine???)

What I've been up to

I don't think I've ever written about my big photography challenge. I know I've talked about the weekly challenge that I've won/placed in several times, but not the *big* one. Silly me!

I'm doing a photo challenge, run by the same woman,that lasts the whole year. Watch in August for details in how I'll be asking for voting help :D

Oh, and just a side note (because I love tangents), I talked to her on the phone yesterday. What a sweetie! We had a great time coming up with fun song title-related picture ideas :)

So here is the challenge I'm participating in. If you go to "2010 brag time," you can see a handful of my contributions. I've taken others, but those are the ones I'm most confident will show up in my final list of pictures. I'm excited about it and am having a great time! I just need to get back to the Falls so I can get some good water photos :D

Ugh. Ever have one of those days? You know, when you wake up and think "ooh! it's Friday" and then realize it's only Wednesday? I really should love Wednesdays because it's date night (which I am excited about, make no mistake) but I've always disliked it. I love Mondays. Love the fresh start. Love Fridays and the fact that it's the end of the week. Tuesdays and Thursdays don't have a definite feeling...depends on the weeks.
But Wednesdays are the winter of the week. 'nuf said.

And just a general family update, to make up for a lack of fresh pictures: Hudson no longer crawls anywhere. He walks, fast, anywhere he wants to go. Bekah and Jasmine are learning to read: Jasmine just finished lesson 34 of 100, and Bekah is almost finished with lesson 22 (we had to stop for lunch). I'm so proud of them both!

I might possibly be back again later with pictures. We'll see if the second cup of coffee kicks in enough that I can play with any in Photoshop. Otherwise it will be another day.

Finding my blog-voice

I've been realizing lately that I don't write here the way I write emails/on forums/talk in real life. And that's going to change.
So I'm going to start writing here as though I were writing an email to my little sisters. They don't actually read my blog, but maybe if I'm always writing to them they'll start (right, Amy?? Right, Vivi??) :D

I've been reading Pioneer Woman's blog a lot lately and love her style. I'm not going to start imitating it or anything, but I do want to find my own way of writing that will hopefully be more interesting (I don't know if I could ever hope for "entertaining" but you never know!)

Meanwhile it's time for more coffee...and maybe I can start the rolls I want to try for lunch.

Develop: Photo Challenge: Lesson 4

No, don't go looking for lessons 2 and 3. I'm working out of order as I grasp the lesson. Two is half-done, and I have to go back and re-read lesson 3 before I can figure out what I'm supposed to do.

lesson 4:
There are lots of different ways and usually no wrong way at all - it just depends on what you're trying to say with your photograph.

So today i'd like you to consider changing the way you shoot a little.

Assignment - shoot one thing from at least FIVE different angles. Consider and pay attention to what each angle "feels" like to you - and what it's saying about the subject.

I love this one. I love seeing how little Bekah still is (especially as I struggle with the fact that she turned 3 and is learning to read!)

closeup of Jasmine's hands as she works.


focusing more on the fridge itself

From above...I like the perspective of this!

And my favorite. I liked the angle of this and it felt cool to be lying on my back on the floor, camera in hand :D
It's also my favorite because immediately after this, Hudson walked over to me and looked down and said "hi" and waved! He wanted to know why he was taller than me :D

Top Ten List

Top ten reasons to like winter

10. It's a great opportunity to weed out lotions that aren't for sensitive skin, though they may claim to be.

9. A day that starts out sunny and clear can still become a snowy day. Driving in clear weather one direction doesn't guarantee it will stay that way on the ride home.

8. It's a good chance to get all the colds going around, since you stay inside for days at a time, circulating the same air.

7. It's fun to watch your pajamas spark in the dry air.

6. A kiss can bring quite a *shock* even when the person is anticipating it.

5. No reason to mow (no grass to mow, either)

4. Quiet nights...people don't have parties until midnight in sub-zero temps.

3. Snow is a good thing to learn how to use Manual Exposure on your camera for.

2. The days are short, so you know you need to sleep more.

1. It only lasts 5 months.

I wanna dance!

I was so excited to see this week's "I heart faces" challenge: I wanna dance! Of course, then I had to decide between Tae Kwon Do Ballerina and the more pensive, innocent pose...

So I wrote to Josh. And he hemmed and hawed too.

I finally decided (with help) to go with the innocent picture :)



(and if you really want to see the Tae Kwon Do ballerina, which shows SO much of Boo's personality, you can see it here!)

New Header

I decided to make a new header. It's animated!! I love Photoshop :D

It's hard these days to get pictures of Hudson. He's at the age where he thinks movement is far better than sitting still, so nothing turns out. So even though he's getting cuter each day, I can't show that off!

Three Years Ago

Three years ago today, we had an appointment to walk through this house. But when my water broke in the middle of the night, 11 days before my due date, I knew the house would have to wait.
After 12 hours of trying unsuccessfully to get labor going, we headed to the hospital (at lunchtime). Mom met us and made me laugh and not notice the continually-increasing pitocin being pumped into my body. (she was good at it, too...I didn't feel the contractions that were very noticeable on the monitor!)
It wasn't until 9:00, when the nurse suggested that I change positions and try lying on my side, that things happened very quickly. Half an hour, from 6 cm to pushing...1 1/2 pushes later, she was born! The midwife almost didn't get gloves on in time to catch her!
I was now the mommy of the tiniest baby I'd ever held (7 pounds .7 ounces of pure delight).

and she's delighted us daily since. She's now learning how to read (her choice; I would have chosen to wait until closer to 4), drawing adorable pictures
and keeping us very entertained. She already seems to have Josh's ability to use the English language in an intelligent, entertaining way.
And we couldn't love her more if we tried. Happy birthday, Bekah Boo!!

Finding my "voice"

I'm participating in a very cool photography "challenge." It's more aimed at stretching us and helping us develop as photographers, not a typical challenge.
I'm running behind, since it started right before our Disney World trip. They should be announcing the topic of week three today, and I just finished week one last night. But I'm having so much fun working through this, I'm glad there's no deadline!
For week one, the job was to find one thing and take approximately 75 pictures of it, and then go through the pictures and see which one was truly "us."
At first I planned to do it of something in the lobby of Animal Kingdom Lodge in Disney World, but I was too self-conscious with people around, and couldn't focus on any one thing long enough.
So then I decided to try to do self-portraits. I knew none of the kids would go along with that many pictures, so I'd try to just do me. But without a tripod and still feeling unable to concentrate on any one thing for very long, I quit at 25, with only a coupl semi-okay pictures.
So back to the drawing board. I looked around the house for awhile and couldn't figure out what to do...and suddenly thought of ballet slippers! But since I have no idea what happened to either Jasmine's OR Bekah's, I thought I'd do my old pointe shoes instead. The funniest thing was my realization halfway through this that I really haven't changed much. All the way through middle school, all projects, especially in art, had something to do with ballet. So this really is staying true to *me* :D

This is one of my early shots. I liked the lighting of this and the "clean" look of the ribbons tucked in.

Started messing around a bit more. This is actually one of my favorites...I love the feel of this.

Changing angles of the camera as well as how I put the shoes, trying for a more random feel (yes, I recognize the irony)

I really liked the way the shoes sat in this one, but wasn't quite done.

This is my favorite shot!
I'm considering printing a couple of these, maybe with a picture of Bekah as a ballerina: