Freaky Friday

I chose to name today's post "Freaky Friday" because the day's events were just so strange. Everything seemed chaotic, demanding and crazy all at once. My "pic of the day" is of a glass of wine. Even though I know I should not be drinking given the medicine I'm taking right now, I had to have a half a glass when I came home after the grueling day I had. I worked for 10 hrs, and then graded papers for about 2 hrs and then we watched "Pirate Radio".

I am feeling better, although still breaking out in coughing fits; and last night I still woke up coughing in the middle of the night a couple of times. I called the doctor and got a prescription cough medicine for tonight so hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep which is something I haven't had in about a month or more due to coughing.

Full Day Back

It was a long full day back to work today. Lots of meetings, emails and projects. I worked about 10 hrs, and then came home to a hour and a half of grading which totalled to a longer day than I had wanted. Since I had trouble with my sickness reoccurring, I wanted to keep my days shorter as I returned to work, but it wasn't possible today.

Return to Work

It was a very sunny and warm 70 degree day after about 5 days of rain. I returned to work for a half day and then graded papers at home this afternoon. I'm still really sick, but I pushed myself further by going to a trivia night tonight that was a fundraiser for a department at my work. I had signed up to be on a team several weeks ago and had already paid, plus it always seems that I have to miss out on the fun things. It was also fun because the professional fraternity that I advise for had about 25 members turn out to play trivia as well so I got to talk with them.

My "pic of the day" is of yet another photo from the wedding I took pics of this weekend. It was a centerpiece from the tables at the reception.

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Sick

I went back to the doctor this morning and she said I had a bad sinus or upper respiratory infection that was reoccurring due me being run down by work during our busy time; and then by having to return to a backlog of work before I was completely well which created the perfect breeding ground for my germ. She decided that it was never bronchitis due to the results of a breathing test she gave me.

She gave me a stronger antibiotic and a two day supply of the steroid, prednisone. The prednisone was to help jump start the clearing of the inflammation, calming the cough and congestion. My coughing has already been subdued quite a bit. I took a half day off yesterday, and the the whole day off today and plan to take a half day tomorrow. I can't believe everything I have done in the past month while having such a bad infection inside.

My "pic of the day" is of some of the pretty white flowers that are still about since the onset of spring.

Relay of Readiness

My "pic of the day" is another one from the wedding. This one was so cute with the three sisters each helping each other get ready.

I'm still really sick today and took off most of the day. I have a doctor's appt. in the morning -- so tired of being sick.

Post Wedding

I spent today recovering from yesterday's busy wedding shoot, in addition to trying to get well from what I believe is reoccurring bronchitis. My "pic of the day" is of one of the many wedding prep details that I caught before the ceremony.

Today was a very British day weather wise as it was cloudy, cool, rainy and windy all day.

Here Comes the Bride!

We spent almost all day shooting the Johnson - Heard wedding. So "my pic of the day" is of the bride. Below is also a pic of the bride and groom immediately after the ceremony.

It poured down rain all day, which washed out our idea of taking couple photos outside after the wedding. The chapel also leaked in several places before and during the ceremony.

This wedding was booked with us during the January wedding show so we were excited to see everything come together.

Rehearsal

Tomorrow is the day of the wedding Paul and I will be shooting and tonight we attended the wedding rehearsal. My "pic of the day" is of one of the flowers which is part of the wedding decor. I caught a droplet of rain that was left on the tip of this petal from the showers that had passed through our area.

I'm hoping I will feel better tomorrow. I've been pretty sick again and am having the same symptoms I did with bronchitis all over again. I came home tonight with a fever, but then we had to go back out to the wedding rehearsal and then we are booked all day tomorrow with the wedding from pre-ceremony to reception.

Sick, but Still Moving Forward

My "pic of the day" is of the couple I took engagement photos of a couple weeks ago. I've been thinking about their wedding this Saturday that I will be taking pictures of. I started to get really sick today - coughing all day, having congested sinuses and sore throat. Oh, what bad timing to get sick with a wedding I have to shoot on Saturday. In addition, it was a hard day today. I had several appts. and a lot of them were overly difficult. I'm so glad it' time for bed.

Saying "I don't know"

The other day was an "I don't know" kind of day. I had read an academic journal article explaining one professor's attempt to get students to confess to "ignorance" by giving them partial credit for answering a question honestly with "I don't know" rather than try to creatively bluff their way through. Then I heard someone in an interview situation answer a question honesly with "I don't know", and then that same day there were several other things that came up that all had answers of "I don't know." I think society often undervalues the honesty and guts it takes to fess up and say "I don't know." However, that should be followed with, "...but it is my job to find out and I will make every effort to do so."

My "pic of the day" is of a road, because many times in life we "don't know" where the road in life will lead.

On a side note, I'm happy to report that I had a dental clearning today and a clean "dental" bill of health, ya!

Morning class

My "pic of the day" is of a class I happened upon a week ago as I walked across campus. It was 8:30 a.m. and it was so warm on this April morning that the class was meeting outside and the scene struck me as one that you would see on a college recruitment brochure.

This is a short blog tonight because it seems that I never got totally well and my throat is sore again, my ears are hurting and I'm coughing again!

I am happy to report that I have reached my 100th blog post!

Not the greatest

Still struggling with the sick stuff. Will be back with more commentary tomorrow.

Sunday Quote

In church this morning our pastor referenced to the following quote, "The greatest sin of the desert is to know where water is, and not to tell anyone." An important quote if you're literally in the desert, but more importantly it applies to the living water of eternal life found in Christ. Those of us drinking from the living water of Christ should be informing others and serving as a "sign post" of sorts to Christ.

Award

My "pic of the day" is of the award that I won tonight for my advising of the new student organization, Phi Epsilon Kappa, which the student officers and my boss nominated me for. MU's Dept. of Student Life held an awards reception tonight and mom was able to attend with me as well as one of the PEK officers (shown below) and Paul.



Earlier today mom and I ran many errands and we found ourselves delayed by a series of events which almost made us really late for the awards ceremony. However we arrived in time, and it turned out to be a really good day with mom in town at the start of the day to celebrating an award at the end of the day.

Busy

It was a busy Friday. I had a meeting this morning and then appointments back-to-back all afternoon. I came home and balanced the checkbook and then we just had to get away and do something fun so we went to see "The Bounty Hunter". It was a cute movie. After the movies we went to Lowe's to buy a Rubbermaid container for some photography equipment, and then I cleaned out and organized the closet which housed a lot of the video and photography equipment.

My "pic of the day" is of one of the engagement photos I took last weekend.

Office desk

For my "pic of the day" I really wanted to put a pic of my husband mooning me this evening in response to my questions regarding his progress on transferring everything from the old desk to the new desk. We are so happy to finally have the new computer desk assembled (thanks to Paul), moved into the office room and everything moved from the old desk to the new desk! We said goodbye to our old desk which has been with us basically since we were first married - for almost 10 years. As we carried the desk across the parking lot to the dumpster we reminisced all the memories and events which the desk had been privy to over the years.

So, back to my "pic of the day", it is again of some spring flowers and blossoms that have decorated our landscape the past couple of weeks.

HyVee

My "pic of the day" comes from a corner of campus that I walk past each Monday and Wednesday. I kept thinking about how this area would look in a pic, especially a b&w pic and even used as a border stretched along the vertical side of a website or a page. Yes, these are the kinds of things my brain comes up with as I walk across campus.

Today was pretty busy and very warm again. I had several appointments; a working lunch where I served as part of a focus group for a previous grad class I had regarding course redesign input; presented the class with instructions for their final project; and ended with my last appointment scheduled for 4:30 actually arriving at 5 pm. I got out of work around 6 pm, and then came home where Paul was assembling the new computer desk we bought over the weekend. I worked on updating our business tax records until it was time to grab a bite to eat and head back to work for the student org meeting at 8:30 pm and I finally got home at 10 pm.

I was pleased to discover that the new HyVee that was being built in the shopping complex right across the road from us is now open! We've been waiting for it to open and are so excited to have a better and fresher selection of food so close rather than going across town. This makes the third HyVee in Columbia. I actually went in and bought Chinese from HyVee for our dinner tonight and it was sooooooo good.

Variety & Organization

This "pic of the day" was taken during an evening walk tonight around our apartment complex. I got home from work at about 6:30 pm and I saw the sun setting and shining through the blossoming trees as I drove into the parking lot. We hurried and took the camera on our walk so I could try to catch the angle of the sun between the trees before it set.

Today was full of variety - just the way I like it - from a 13 guest speaker panel for our seminar class this morning that I organized; to interviewing a candidate; to meeting with students and filtering through my work email; to coming home where I spent the remainder of the evening organizing our home office for the new desk to arrive tomorrow.

I'm really tired especially considering that I woke up at 4 am and couldn't go back to sleep. Time for bed so I can have another busy day tomorrow.

Blooms and Buds Abound

Spring is in full bloom around the Columbia area. The showers last week coupled with the unseasonably warm 80 degree temps of this week have ushered in an amazing display of blooms, buds and blossoms. I heard today that this is also partly due to the long, brutally cold winter which has resulted in everything now budding at once. My "pic of the day" showcases this explosion of spring.

Today was a long work day (~11 hrs) as I'm trying to recover from time lost in my 6 days off sick. What stands out to me most from my day is the guest speaker that came to my class. She is a health educator at the university and provided an experiential stress management session for the students. She explained that the American culture does not value self-care in terms of time for self and time to relax. We are a very busy, achievement oriented society, but we must take time for rest and stress reduction.

"They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven." Psalm 107:30

Engagement Session

My"pic of the day" is a photo from the engagement session I was hired to shoot today. Paul and I will also shoot this couple's wedding (video & photography) on April 24th.

I am happy to report that I will no longer be competing every evening with Paul for time on the internet (to post my blog, complete work email, photo editing, homework, facebook etc.). Last night we bought a new laptop computer for me. For those of you who know me, you know that financially we shouldn't make such a purchase right now. However, I made the purchase on the credit card with faith that God will provide the financial means. Between a couple of wedding bookings, our tax return and the legal settlement we do technically have the money for the laptop, but we do not want to spend what little we've managed to save as a buffer. My hope is that more freelance video work will come Paul's way. We really felt that there were way more benefits to having a laptop at this time (for the home business, my work and my homework) which outweighed the costs. I've been getting to know my new computer and enjoying it's speed, my wireless internet and access to all my photos!

Perfect timing

Today started early for a Saturday since Paul was providing volunteer video coverage of an event for PedNet. I tried to make a dent in my grading that has backed up lately, and spent several hours on that. I then ran several errands with Paul this afternoon (he happened to get finished with his shoot and called me just as I was getting ready to walk out the door), it was perfect timing for him to help in a pursuit for a new computer desk. The current one we have is falling apart which is to be expected as it is 10 years old and was cheap to begin with. We went several places with no luck and then found just what we were looking for. It was funny how going to the store for one item developed into a full shopping trip!

This evening I took some pics and my "pic of the day" is of one I took this evening as the sun was setting. It was by sure luck that I happened on to the sun along this street as it was lined up perfectly with the trees. After that we had dinner and then ran by Stephens College to check out the outside of its chapel where we will both be shooting a wedding two weeks from now. As luck would have it, a wedding had just finished and we were able to dart into the chapel for a minute to have a look at the logistics. If I had not stopped to take some impromptu pics early, we would not have arrived at the chapel just when the wedding was over and as they were about to lock the doors. Overall it was a good day filled with perfect timing, but a long one at that.

"The Mighty One, God, the Lord, summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets." Psalm 50:1

Sunset

The sun was setting as I came home from an almost 12 hr day. I had 11 appts. back-to-back today, and I continue to be really back logged with email and other tasks from being out sick and that's why I was working until 7 p.m. on a Friday. My "pic of the day" is of the fountain near the entrance of my apt. complex that I saw as I was heading home this evening.

When I arrived home, the photography backdrop stand and lights shipment that we bought were waiting for me in a UPS box outside my door and I spent an hour putting them together, and then I worked on my annotated bibliography homework for the class I'm taking this semester for about another hour or so. Paul came home after 9:30 p.m. from a volunteer shoot with PedNet and he will be shooting video for them again tomorrow.

Back to Work

The two big meetings I had today went really well, but then I had an foreseen incident that unraveled the good feeling of success I had. I've spent my evening feeling really hurt. It was a long 10 hour day back at work, actually longer because I spent more time on work email after I got home. It was difficult to return to a full day of work after being off sick for 6 days, especially since I had trouble sleeping last night. In addition, I still have a lot of symptoms. I hope I can settle down and get good sleep tonight as I have a full day of back-to-back appointments waiting for me tomorrow.

My "pic of the day" is again of the dandelion. I was caught by the fact that they are usually found in groups growing and thriving together. Maybe we should take note on how important it is to work together and support each other.

Dandelions

I was off work sick again today and I slept for 12 hours, but I don't feel like it now. I spent some time on work email and about an hour in the sun trying to bake out the germ within me. Now I'm so tired I feel like I could curl up and take a nap. While I was baking in the sun, I noticed all the dandelions that had sprouted up so I chose them as my "pic of the day".

Back to the Doctor

I started my morning in the doctor's office at 8 a.m. because I was still not feeling well. She prescribed another round of antibiotics and sent me for a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. She also said "no" to my idea of returning to work today. This afternoon, I just got the call that my lungs were clear on the x-ray. So it's more medicine and rest.

In other news, Paul and I received confirmation today that we will be shooting a wedding on April 24th, ya!

My "pic of the day" is a random pic I took when I was at a stoplight. I had just enough time to roll my window down and snap the pic before the lights changed.

Stormy night

My "pic of the day" is of the white tree blossoms outside my apartment window. Last night several thunderstorms were triggered by the unseasonably warm temps yesterday in the 80s. Hail and tornadoes were reported throughout the area which brought damage to homes, but we were safe. The storms were actually quite wide spread as my mom told me that the house I grew up in was hit by a storm and several windows were blown out of it. That was about 10 miles away from where my mom lives and about 100 miles away from me.

Today was also an unseasonably warm day with temps in the 70s, but as you can see in the photos it was pretty calm. I'm still sick and was home from work today. I called the doctor and am going back in for an appt. tomorrow morning. I'm still coughing horribly and am struggling with my sinuses and with tiredness/weakness.

Easter Sunday

My "pic of the day" is of a cross in honor of Easter Sunday. In today's church service they did a reenactment of the Biblical characters who surrounded Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. The characters portrayed how they had reacted to Jesus during His final hours (this included: doubt, betrayal, denial and sorrow to name a few). Each character at the end realized the mistake they had made. The final message was now that Christ is risen what will you do? Will you choose to follow Christ or ignore Him?

Easter weekend

Yesterday's rains brought forth many new blossoms on the trees outside our apt. My "pic of the day" is of one of those trees. I spent two hours this afternoon sitting in the sun trying to bake out the germs within me so I could get well. While staring at this tree, I thought about how spring provides a time for many things to start fresh. In what way will we each choose to "blossom" this spring season? What old ways will you shed, and what new habits will you form?

This Easter weekend, the spring blossoms are a great reminder that it may be time to make changes in our own lives. As one accepts Christ's as savior, he/she puts away the old self and is reborn. We celebrate Easter remembering Christ's crucifixion, resurrection and our salvation.

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12

April Showers Bring May Flowers

My "pic of the day" is of the April shower we received this afternoon which is supposed to usher in some thunderstorms as our temps take a dip over the weekend. We've had unseasonably high temps in the 80s the past few days and we supposed to cool off into the low 70s and high 60s.

In my pic you can start to see the trees budding out in green, purple and white buds. I honor of the season change, I had a chance to change my semi-permanent pics on the right side panel from winter to springtime pics.

I'm still sick, I do feel better than Tuesday, but I have a long way yet to go. I'm still running a low grade fever, coughing like crazy and feel like I have about 1/4 of my normal energy. This morning I was sleeping in so good (after coughing throughout the night and having crazy sick dreams) when they started mowing the grass outside our apt. This is the first time they've mowed it since last fall and it had to be this morning! As soon as I got up they stopped of course.

Congrats to Claire, Mark & Caiden

My "pic of the day" is in honor of our friends Claire & Mark in Britian. This is an old pic, their little boy (Caiden) in this pic is now 4 years old, but this is the last time we saw them during Christmas '05. Claire and Mark just added another member to their family: Evan Keegan Harries was born this morning weighing 7lbs 7 oz.

Congrats to Mark & Claire wish we could be there!