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2 Year Blogiversary

July 23, 2009 By Amanda Leave a Comment

I started out with my first post 2 years ago today! It was a pitiful, picture-less start, but I’ve since added about a billion photos to this blog in over 850 separate posts. As of yesterday morning, according to statcounter, I’d had over 55,000 page views since I started tracking things & I’ve got about 50-70 unique visitors each day. My GAP Adventure review is still a very popular page, but my Houston Wine bar page is quickly catching up. Travel is still the most popular category, along with the highlights of my married life. Zoe has over 100 posts now and I’m collecting quite a few Houston posts.

Currently- I’m a bit photo’ed & blogged out! All those photos from our Africa trip are killing me & I’ve been a bit busy at work. I’m sure the addition of a new puppy will get me back in the photography swing of things. I love, love, love having a blog & being able to keep an online journal of my life. It’s a great place for me to store & share my photos, plus it affords me a place to share my thoughts or add some description to all of our memories.

I have also loved the community of blogging- I’ve become a total blog addict in the last few years thanks to Google Reader. It is great to stay connected to friends around the country, to keep on top of the personal finance world and to see so many other friends loving on their dogs. I’m currently subscribed to 286 blog feeds- everything from news & politics, to photography & photographers, to Vizslas and funny entertainment blogs. I’m still a news-junkie and love all the updates & love keeping up with friends around the country.

As a way to say thank you to all my blog readers, I’m having a special anniversary contest. I’d love to know more about who reads the blog & connect with other bloggers. To celebrate the occasion, I’m giving away a $25 Amazon.com giftcard. Leave a comment, introduce yourself if you are a lurker or tell me what you’d like to see more of on the blog. Contest ends Friday at 5M central time & I’ll randomly select a winner for some fun online shopping this weekend.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Going to dinner with some friends & their babies tonight.

Filed Under: blogging

Old Family Photos

April 3, 2009 By Amanda Leave a Comment

I’m out-of-town today & really behind on blogging, so I’ll post another flashback of some old family photos that I recently came across. That’s my mom in her 20′s- does anybody see the resemblance? I also adore this photo because that was the dog I grew up with. Zack was a weimaraner that was the most awesome dog ever. I’ve got lots of great memories (and some more photos to eventually share) of him. He’s also the reason I became interested in Vizslas (a close relative to the weim) and eventually decided to get Zoe.

Yea, my mom was the total hippie in 1960′s hanging out at the beach & surfing. I’ve heard lots of wild stories from my dad about his adventures surfing all over Mexico.

This is mom’s dad, whom I didn’t know very well, for he died when I was in elementary school. I think this photo was taken in 1970, so probably at her wedding.

Oh, I was such a fashion disaster at 10 years old! Gram still loved me anyways

Mom’s parents in 1949, clearly a newlywed couple in love.

I have no idea why they were being so silly ,but this photo from 1987 totally cracks me up and brings back so many memories from growing up “just the girls”.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: H received some very good news at work this week and landed big, new contract.

Filed Under: family, flashback

1 Year with My Camera

June 27, 2008 By Amanda Leave a Comment

It may sound silly, but I think getting a *real* camera (DSLR) changed my life. I’ve always been a picture nut, but it suddenly dawned on me that I could get a better camera than a point and shot (even though I do love mine). I borrowed one of the work cameras and signed up for a Saturday afternoon class. The rest is history, all documented with the 13,465 photos I’ve taken in the last year.

This is the first photo I ever took with my Nikon D80, 1 year ago today. Still probably one of the things most photographed by my camera.

My initial motivation for getting the camera was our trip to Colorado. This was my 1,000th photo- on the side of the hill in Breckenridge. I quickly learned the joys of Lightroom while processing my photos, but I’m still pretty clueless with photoshop.

My 5,000th photo just happened to be my favorite subject at her favorite place. I started out with my all-purpose 18-200 lens, which it’s great for almost any occasion. For Christmas, I received 2 fabulous lenses. I’ve been having a ball lately using the macro on our garden.

My 9,999th photo with my camera, and I was very glad to be back in the United States after our (mis)adventure in Canada.

This technically would have been my 10,000th photo, but the counter rolls over and we were back to 1. It was of my favorite abandoned building in Detroit.

I’m so excited to keep playing with it, keep learning, keep documenting my daily life.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I’ve got a super-awesome photo session coming up after-hours at the museum in 2 weeks.

Filed Under: photography

101 Update

June 26, 2008 By Amanda Leave a Comment

We’ve been very busy on our 101 List in 1001 Days since my last update in January. We are officially 500 days into our first 1001 days of marital bliss. We have until November 9, 2009 to finish our list.

DONE

**New since the last update
6- Go to a NY Yankees Game (June 2007)
**7- The biggie this year as our trip to Brazil & Argentina for our anniversary (February 2008)
**12- Decorate H’s office
14- H to start a 401(K)
16- Start a journal ( blogging )
20- Subscribe to a magazine (Newsweek)
**21- Visit the dentist (H finally went in March)
26- Clean the carpet
31- Fondue with friends
34- Read a fiction novel (You can see that I’ve done that several times over)
40- Take a photography class (June 2007)
**46- We went to the New Orleans Jazz Fest (April 2008)
47- Run everyday for a month (did this, but might do it again)
**50- Write and publish a technical paper (presented it in Detroit)
**51- Get Professional Engineering License (studied & I passed!)
54- Go to a small town fair & rodeo
57- Subscribe to a travel magazine
62- Visit Alabama (Trip for Thanksgiving 2007)
**72- New grill for the house
76- See Dave Matthews Band in Concert
68- Redecorate our bedroom
71- Give blood
87- Go on a picnic (several times)
97- Ice Skating (did this with his cousins, but might go again)

IN PROGRESS

1- Run a marathon together (H has started training!)
10- We started our garden! (April 2008)
11- Start a music library (I’ve collected CD’s from most of our concerts)
41- Cook 1 new meal a week (I’ve done a few & did another last night)
45- Camp at 3 New Parks (we did McKinney Falls, so 2 more to go)
48- Visit grandparents every week (I’ve been better, but not great about this)
63- Read a book together
72- Pay off debt
84- Rent 10 classic movies (we’ve rented quite a few, but I have some more on my classics list)
90- Review monthly budget (we’ve been ok on tracking this, but will continue to do better)
94- Try new ethnic restaurants (a few down, a few more to go)
101- Go to the driving range together (we’ve been a few times)

COMING SOON

7- Trip to Big Bend National Park (I’ve just about talked H into going in December)
36- Volunteer for politics (hopefully this fall)
37- Take Zoe to the beach (on our calendar for June)
44- Get SCUBA certification
65- Go to an art exhibit (an awesome Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit is in town)
67- Have a girls weekend (I’m trying to plan a Labor Day weekend party in Colorado with Stephanie)
83- Go to a Houston Dynamo Game (on our calendar for July)
100- Visit the Messina Hof Winery (we’re booked for the Harvest Festival in July)

IF WE’RE LUCKY LIST

22- Install a sprinkler system
27- Go fishing with my dad
30- Plant some flowerbeds
88- Couples Massage

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: My grandparents are finally together again at a nursing home, and they are both doing fairly well.

Filed Under: Life Menu of Awesome

Our New Grill

April 28, 2008 By Amanda Leave a Comment

Last weekend, we took all of our birthday gifts and gift cards to Home Depot and bought a new grill! It was on our 101 List & we enjoy grilling every week.

We bought our old grill about a week after I moved in because we were having family over to see the house. It’s really not big enough to cook a mess of beef and chicken fajitas at the same time. Zoe is checking out the new grill, to see if it will taste as good as the old one.