No amount of HG TV fully prepares you......

Except for my room at home, I have lived in a world of white walls. So since we moved into a house (and the Landlord PAID for the paint himself) I caught the painting bug. Granted, we moved into a super cute house that really didn't need it, but I was determined to paint!

Let me just say that I have probably logged hundreds of hours watching home design shows and quite a few "Flip this House" marathons, so I should pretty much be an expert in picking out just the right color. I mean, I can visualize what the final product looks like. Well, all of that falls by the wayside when you're standing in front of the trazillions of color samples at Lowes.

Anywho, I picked out my paint and I finally finished the last project last night. The walls are painted, but the rooms aren't put together yet, but I'm blogging because I have nothing else to do so here they are anyway.

First, we start with the disaster that we shall affectionately call "The Pink Room." The goal here was a light peach. As you can see "Pink Salmon" was not the route to go, but alas here is it in all its Pepto-Bismol glory:
You might be thinking, "Trish, the color really isn't that bad!" Well to all you who are thinking it, you need to personally see it, because trust me, it is PINK! Hopefully it will look really fun when I get the curtains made (today's project) and the room actually put together. The previous owners used this room for a bicycle repair room, so there were tire tracks all over the walls.

On to the bathroom. Before, it was bright blue, which didn't match our shower curtain. Buy a new shower curtain? Never! The color is called "oatmeal" but it just looks white to me. Whatev.
And finally, here's the master bedroom which I finished last night. It looks pretty terrible in this picture, but we LOVE it! Before it was a mustard yellow, and now it is "Crocodile Tears."It's going to look so good when we get the room all together! (P.S.- see that massive walk-in closet?? Yeah... it's awesome)

Here's a pic of PJ Joey! Look at those long legs!

PowerPlant St. Louis Recap

Well let me preface this recap with the acknowledgement that I took nary a picture during the entire project! The summer staffers had a sweet nikon d80 and were clicking away at everything and I just assumed that meant that they were going to include all of those on the picture cd. After looking at the picture cd just now, I realized that is not so.Here is a pic of the Commissioning service that me and the St. Louis World Changers Project Coordinator planned. This was the first time that there had ever been a World Changers project AND a PowerPlant project in the same city at the same time! The Commissioning Service went really well and I'm very proud it went smoothly.
Here's a pic of one of the groups. They aren't really doing anything at this point. This was the group that helped the churchplant that meets in a bar. I was hoping for a pic of worship in the bar, because that is what everyone usually wants to see, but sorry, there's not one. Blast! I did look up the church's website and it has some pictures so click here if you're interested in Red Tree.

All in all, it was a great week and I'm always blessed to be a part of these projects! I was a little nervous about coordinating it, but the Summer Staff was so great I really didn't have to do anything except help people that got locked out of their rooms.

Ok, on to other news:

I feel it fun to point out that this blog is being produced on my very own laptop! I BOUGHT A LAPTOP! My first ever. I am in love.

And finally, here's a quick update on my life:
1. Flew in from St. Louis on Saturday (gone from work for 7 business days)
2. On Monday morning, handed in my 2 weeks notice! ("Welcome back, Tricia!... Wait? What's this? Your resignation?.... (shock.... gasp)
3. On Tuesday, I got the keys to my new classroom and books!

I start at Baker HS on August 10th and I'm very excited! Baker is the best school in Mobile and it's pretty much a miracle that I got hired there. This semester, I'm teaching two Drama classes and one 11th grade English class and next semester I'll do Drama and TV Broadcasting (they hired me to do the Broadcasting).

Anyway, blog posts might slow down, depending on how ragged these new little HS Boogers run me, but I'll try to be regular (haha).

One last thing. I came home to find that PJ Joey is HUGE. She is really looking good though- her puppy hair is pretty much gone and she has that funny looking curly hair. And who knew that puppies lose their puppy teeth? Not us! We thought we had abused her because we were finding teeth on the floor.

Saint Louie!

I'm in St. Louis and things are good! It's Day Three of this PowerPlant project and the teams have just left to head out to their ministry sites. I can't wait to post some pics. Thanks for everyone's prayers!

Here's a list of the churchplants we're working with this week if you could pray for them by name:

August Gate- in the heart of the city
Red Tree-meets in a bar!
Crosspoint-reaches to a large Bosnian and immigrant population
Cross Haven-suburbs
New Generation-inner city
Redeemer-suburbs

Just updated:

I posted Nita Hardin's pictures on the photography blog if you want to check them out. Doesn't she look extremely studious in this picture? Hahahha- it cracks me up! Click here for more.

And for some reason, it posted UNDER the last entry. So since I am not the great Blog Technician I thought I was, you'll need to scroll past Courtnay and Kyle's engagement session to see Nita's. Weird how it did that....

Day at the Beach

Staying in Ft. Morgan this past week was pretty much everyone from my mom's side of the family. This involves a TON of kids ranging from 26 (me, haha) to almost 2 years old. They are so adorable! I had not even MET little Sarah Ruth yet, so our day at the beach with everyone was very special. We drove down Friday night, carting PJ Joey along as always, and got a full day in on Saturday.
Me and Molly- I think we actually look alike in this picture. Usually me and Mac look like twins and she looks adopted.
Here's my cousin Amber telling everyone the "rules" of the silly string fight about to commence. The main rule was "Do not squirt directly into anyone's eyes or you have to sit on the bench." There was no actual bench, but we are a big football family, so I think the point was made.
And I was talking with my mom for hours after dinner on Friday when the thought occured to me, "I wonder where Caleb is?" I look over and this is what I saw. Literally, all the kids were enamored by him- they hung on to his every word. Maybe he should re-think being a Pediatrician!

This is a picture of little Catherine. I took TONS of beach pictures for practice so I'll be posting all of them soon. I appreciate everyone clicking on to my photography blog so much because I think the more visitors I get, the higher it puts me on the Google list. This means that more "clients" may actually find me. So keep clicking, friends!! :)

Ok, and one more thing, but you will be glad there are no pictures... First of all, PJ Joey did GREAT at the beach. Caleb rigged her leash under the porch (you know how beach houses are high off the ground...) so that she could actually roam pretty far, but not get into any trouble. It was very shady under there and there was a constant breeze- she was happy as a clam. Didn't bark a bit!

Well, we get home LATE Saturday night, I guess Midnight. She didn't use the bathroom when we got her out of the car. I let her into the house, put our bags in our room, then went to check on her when I discovered the Horror of all Horrors.

She had explosive, sandy, diarrhea on the CARPET. It looked like CEMENT, but it was everywhere. I wanted to just start crying, it was that bad, but even Caleb mentioned how "strong" I was about putting on rubber gloves and attempting to clean it all up.

So, I'm really struggling to get this out of the carpet- it is just a really odd mixture of well, you know what, and SAND. Caleb suggests putting some Arm & Hammer Baking Powder on it, to soak up some of the you know what. I agree, thinking he is going to lightly powder the "wet" areas. Ah'contraire. He DUMPS basically the whole one pound box on the floor (he would make a terrible janitor). So now we have really smelly, weird baking powder "patties" that I can't get up. So we need to vaccuum up the powder now, but I refuse to use our new awesome vaccuum cleaner. We decide to use my tiny college dorm room vac and then throw it away. This kind of works.

The end result is that we DID clean the carpet. The smell is not entirely gone, but it is not even close to what it was. I think the worst part about the whole thing is that the fact that she ATE SAND means she might not be the genius I proclaimed she was. Although, if you remember, she DID learn how to High-5 after I modeled it ONLY ONCE.

Our anniversary (three years!) is this Wednesday and then I fly to St. Louis for PowerPlant. Please pray for the project. More to come in a later post:) Happy Monday!

Flag Cake and UP!

Mom and Molly stopped by our house in Mobile on their way to the Beach (we'll be joining them later tonight! Whoo Hoo!) last Saturday, which happened to be July 4th.

Molly and I have a tradition of making a Flag Cake. I say tradition, but it really just started last year, so now we do it "every year" haha. But alas, even though we live four hours apart, we still made our 2nd annual Flag Cake!

There's Caleb, showing off our coordinating red and blue plates.

Next on the docket of discussion is the amazing movie we saw last night, and in 3-D I might add, UP! I know it's a cartoon and all (or pixar), but the story was so beautiful. And I cried three different times. It really is a story about living your life to the fullest. I loved it!

Even more, I LOVED the 3-D glasses. Clearly, they are awesome.

And here's me and my BFF, PJ Joey:

She's not so good at posing for pics.

BLEW my MIND!

THANK YOU Ginny (and almost Heather) for the heads-up on 12:34 and 56 seconds. It will be 123456789! It is only in 37 minutes people! I'm trying to rally everyone in the office to throw up spirit fingers at precisely 12:34 and 56 seconds. It will be uh-MAZE-ing!!!

And in adding to my list of governmental institutions that are "just not that into me"......
- Mobile DVM.

That brings us to:
1. AL Department of Education (just not that into me)
2. Mobile DVM (also just not that into me)

I just need an AL Driver's License! (oops! my MS license is expired!)

By the time they finally called my number, I waited in line again behind a morbidly obese man who could not pass the eye exam. He was getting very short of breath and nervous and there was just a tizzy in the air. He wears glasses, so we all had to wait while he walked all the way into the sea of cars which was the parking lot, get his glasses, and come back. That alone was 30 minutes of my 3 hour wait.

The man is finally taken care of, I step up to the window just as she is closing it. It is 11:00 and apparently three of the four license examiners are taking a break even though the entire office closes from 12-1 for lunch. So that makes sense. We are left with only one license examiner. Finally, she calls me over.
Everything is going good.
I sign the little keypad for my license but there is a slight squiggle. Nothing major, but it looks a little funny.
Captain Marsh decides it's time to call IT to bring now a NEW keypad. She is put on hold and there we stand for roughly 12 minutes. She gets somebody on the line. They tell her things to do like, unplug it and plug it back in. Now try rebooting the desktop. Now try a fake name in the keypad. There are over 200 people waiting. Behind me. It looks like I'm the one making all the trouble, but I don't care about the squiggle! Just give me the license!

456789!

Some of the girls in the Bible Study I help with came over last night for Girls Movie Night and we watched, "He's Just Not That Into You." I have never seen it before. What do I think about it? I hate Scarlett Johanson! Boo Busty Blondes who wreck marriages!

This morning, I ran into another hurdle trying to get my AL teaching license and I literally felt like the Alabama Department of Education is "Just Not That Into Me." The entire department has done all the things boys who say they are going to call but then don't, do to girls who are sitting by the phone waiting for the call.

Also today, I read that tomorrow holds a once in a century event. Watch your clocks tomorrow for 4:56 (you can do this in the am or pm, but I will be participating in the pm). At 4:56 tomorrow, which is July 8, 2009, it will be (drumroll!) 456789!!! Exciting! I know!

I updated the photography blog today too, so if anyone wants to check out some engagement pics, click here!

Bridal Portraits

Here's a quick look at the Bridal Portraits I took last weekend. Click here if you want to see more on the photography website:) No one is more shocked than me to be doing something like Bridal Portraits, but I am LOVING it!

I can't believe my good fortune!

I never have cash on me, thanks to Caleb the Budgeting Nazi (just kidding! I am proud to have a "sound financial future!") but yesterday, I found myself with $9 in my wallet. I promptly decided to spend it because once I got home, I knew it would be deposited back into our checking account, so I bought some sushi for lunch, leaving me with two one dollar bills.

Since I never have cash, I can't take advantage of the glorious vending machine that is always fully stocked and crying out to me in the student lounge. Yesterday, after my crawfish sushi, I bounded to the vending machine with my crisp dollar bill to get a thing of peanut m&m's. I pushed in #149 and what to my wondering eyes did appear? Not one bag of peanut m&m's but TWO!!!

BEAUTIFUL DAY!

So today, I still have that last dollar. I went back just now to get another bag of peanut m&m's and it spit out TWO again!

It has just really made my day.

What a Weekend/Vacay!

What a wonderful time was had in Starkville! First of all, I SAW WICKED!!!! It was so amazing and it also confirmed my decision that when I reach the tender age of 70, I want to be one of the cute little ladies with a flashlight (I think they call them "Ushers") that tell you where to sit. Don't they see every show for free? Who wouldn't want that? I had a great time with Molly and McRae. It hasn't been just the three of us doing something like that in, well, never, but we had a really great time. Plus, I ran into the Bousson Clan in front of the Orpheum. I have now seen the entire family twice this month and we live 7 hours apart. I wonder where they will be next weekend so I can continue the stalking. (FYI, Amanda had on ruby slippers and complete strangers were taking pictures of her- she was quite the celebrity!)

I got SO much practice taking pictures and am really thankful for that time. I'll post some as soon as they're edited, but I'm really pleased with how they came out!

Meanwhile, the weekend also included a day trip to Jackson to see Nana and Lewie. I scarred them with lunch at Newks (they don't like restaurants where you are given a cup and you have to get your own drink) and then Nana and I spent the rest of the afternoon at Hancock Fabrics looking for material for curtains. With two towel wraps and a baby blanket under my belt, I am now venturing into the world of curtains. Good stories to come from that I'm sure. Nana bought me super cute fabric though! I'm pumped!

Also, I was able to catch up with my old Sunday School buddies, whom (yep, I threw in a "whom") I miss dearly. Both my friends Keri and Beth had wedding showers and I showed up at both (Bridal Shower Crasher!!!!) Here's a pic I stole from Facebook of Keri's shower.

As usual, we ate a ton of great food hot off the grill and I just couldn't have asked for a better visit. Also, shout out to Mint. I got a pair of dress pants for $4 and everyone at work is complimenting them (Emily, you can pay me later for the free publicity, just kidding!).

Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful weekend!