Me

Finding Things (or losing them)

I once read that you spend a whole year of your life looking for things. Let that sink in for a minute.

That’s the average. For some people, it’s obviously longer, and for others, it’s shorter. I’m not sure where I fall into that category, but it’d be interesting to know. It’d also be interesting to know where they got that information and if it is correct. 

Just this morning, I think I walked around my house for 5 minutes looking for my video and photos drive. I could remember seeing it, but I couldn’t actually remember where. Then, about the time I was almost ready to give up, I looked at the couch where I had been sitting, and as my dad would say, “If it’d been a snake, it would bite you.” Yup, it was right on the console by my left arm. Then I remember the last time I made note of that was yesterday when I was annoyed with myself that they were a) there and b) not with my laptop or desktop, but I was too lazy to get up and put them where they belong. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Fine, new scenario… Saturday was my daughter’s dance recital. My uncle and his farm hand came up to help out doing some things around here, but we told him we’d be kind of useless on Saturday because her first recital was at 3 pm. Around 1:30, I called my husband and told him that he and the oldest needed to head this direction so they could shower and get ready. He told me they were looking for the oldest’s wallet. I asked a few questions, then he said they were headed to the house (from my parents’ house). The oldest dropped him off and went back to their house to look for her wallet. I told him I’d go help her.  (more…)

Writing

Here we are, another day, but still in the month of May. You know, some days I sing whatever I’m saying. Sometimes it is to a real tune, and other days I make up my own tune. I guess it is whatever strikes me at that moment in time. Other days, I rhyme. Man, when I start rhyming, I tend to say random stuff because, honestly, you can’t always rhyme what you’re really trying to say. When I start the rhyming thing, my daughter and/or niece usually roll their eyes at me. I just look at it as keeping things interesting. 

The more I think about it, I think I learned some of these “characteristics” from my dad. He would do things like that to me growing up. Trust me, if my friends were there, we rolled our eyes just like my daughter and my niece do to me now. But it was fun, lighthearted, and kept things interesting.

The other day, I was texting one of these said friends, and she commented that I needed to write a poem like I did when we were kids. I can’t even remember what we decided the poem needed to be about, it was just the simple fact that I needed to write a poem about it. My dad once told me that when he was in school (can’t remember what grade), his teacher would assign the whole class a new paper every Friday due the following Monday. He said, sometimes it was difficult, but it caused him to become a good writer. Truth be told, the poems we wrote as kids, my dad usually helped me out on when I got stuck. (more…)

Pictures

I was scrolling through Facebook this morning. In fact, I sat down to write a blog post and came up blank. I have so many things I want to say, but gosh. Okay, so let’s get the elephant out of the room… no, I’m not sick… I lost someone extremely important to me. No, I’m not ready to talk about it… Jalapeño. (I’ll explain that someday, too) Anyway, back to the procrastination. 

Two ladies pop up with ads constantly, but there are more ads related to photography. The two ladies I’m referring to always talk about polished photos wherever you go. No one around to take your photo, no problem, etc. I look at these polished photos and wish I had photos of myself like that. Come on, that’s what they want. They want to inspire you to buy their book or their course, or their Lightroom presets, so “You can look this good, too.” Here’s the thing… I’ll never look that good, both in real life or in photos, I don’t really want to spend the money on crap I already know (I’ve spent a lot of years studying photography), and three… well… I’m a goofball.

Circa 1998

Growing up, my mom hated photos. She hated being in them. She hated taking them. She hated them. When she and my dad got married, she wasn’t even going to have wedding photos done, but my grandma said that she was paying for it, she was getting her photos too, so my mom bought the smallest, cheapest photo package offered. Then, throughout the years, she’d hide them in the house. Mom and Dad’s marriage license was in between the pages, and when Dad would need the marriage license, he’d grumble. She wouldn’t give him the photos, and I’d be sent out to find them hidden in the house. Usually, I knew where they were, I just never said so because then she’d move them on me. (more…)

I’m Here

I’ve been here many times to write a post. I love looking back at these posts and seeing what happened, how I felt, etc. This morning, I decided I wish we were all back in the day of writing. Maybe we should blame some of that on the fact that I have a degree in Technical and Professional WRITING. See that word? That word that is in all caps, bolded, and italicized? It’s the word that says… writing.

Wow, a lot has changed since I started this blog. But I’ll let you in on a little secret… a lot has changed in the past year. And we’re only 5 months into this year. It’s been quite the whirlwind, and I just don’t even think I have the words. I love to write. I love to talk. I am shy (sometimes), but gosh words are eluding me right now. I wish I could get the words out. I wish they would come from somewhere, but right now I am just going day to day, one foot in front of the other.

Talking to a friend yesterday, she pointed out what I kind of already knew and just chose not to think about, and that is the fact that my 40s haven’t been playing nice. Truthfully, if I think back on it, my 30s were a little bit rude when I first started them, but I ended on a fairly high note. (more…)

You need to smile

It’s late at night and I’m sitting here thinking about smiling. I’m sooooooo tired of people telling me I don’t smile anymore. I’m also tired of people constantly asking me why I’m mad. Truthfully, I’ve been asked that my whole life, and I’m just really tired of it.

First off, who walks around with a smile on their face all day, every day? The answer, no one. I have these weird frown lines. I don’t know why. Have you watched tv? There are some actors/actresses that have smile lines. I swear, even when they are upset their face looks like they are smiling. The two actresses that stick out to me are Leighton Meister (aka Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl) and Erin Krakow (Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton from When Calls the Heart). I swear, they always have a smile even when they are supposed to be sad. (more…)

Nicole & Julia Project

Haha… that title doesn’t really have the same meaning as Julie and Julia. Oh well… it sounds good, right? Please tell me it sounds good. Don’t worry though, I’ll never be able to cook my way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Why? Because that book totally intimidates me!

They say that you should do things that scare you every once in a while. Well, I can tell you, this book scares the ever-loving crap out of me. I wish that I was a chef. I want to be one so bad. In fact, I want to write a cookbook. Although recently someone told me that cookbooks are becoming a thing of the past. I guess I would agree with that, but at the same time, look at all the cookbooks on the market. If you walk through a bookstore (which also seems to be becoming extinct) there is usually at least one row if not 2 or 3 filled with cookbooks. Every shape, size, cuisine, and more.

I own more cookbooks than I can recall right now. Some are still packed up from our move over a year ago. That makes me sad. Someday that will change but for now, that move was still a good thing for us…. even though it has been faced with its challenges. Truthfully I should go through my cookbooks and scale back a little maybe. Maybe not. I haven’t fully decided on that thought either.

But that cookbook.

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Two Truths

As I lay awake last night staring at the ceiling, trying to get past the sound of my husband snoring, I couldn’t help but think about life… again…

There are two truths I can tell you about myself. These two truths I have heard my whole life.

  • Truth 1: You have a beautiful smile.
  • Truth 2: You need to smile more, you look like you’re mad all the time.

I have to say, the latter of those truths I am kind of tired of hearing. Let me explain. There’s a quote that says something to the effect of always smile and make them wonder what you’re up to. You know the one I’m talking about, right?

I have a question to that though… How many people do you actually see walking around all the time smiling? Seriously. If they are, people think they’re weirdos, but in all reality, I hardly see anyone walking around smiling ALL. THE. TIME. Maybe when they’re happy about something that just happened or if they are talking to someone, but otherwise, people don’t generally walk around with a constant smile on their face. (more…)

2018 Will be the Year of Nicole

Dressed for doing chores outside in the cold.

If I claim it will be the year of Nicole, will that make it so?

I like the show The Middle. I feel like I can relate to Sue Sue Heck. If you’ve never watched the show, yes, that is her name, Sue Sue Heck. Sadly, she’s also kind of a nerd/dork. I hate to say that because like I said, I relate to her. But truth be told, I’m probably a nerd/dork too.

Every year, usually school year but still, Sue claims it to be the Year of Sue. Of course, sadly, this is the last season. I’m mad about that. She’s also potentially getting with the guy but they are still keeping him at arm’s length from her so I’m upset about that too. GRRRRRR! (more…)

Sugar Cookie Challenge

I’ve been issued a Sugar Cookie Challenge. Let me explain…

When we were in Cozumel this year, Deb and I were talking to one of the owners of Cozumel Marine World. On his shirt was the logo for Underwater Digital Fiesta Expeditions. I asked Alex and Deb what that was. Turns out it is a yearly get together where you learn to take better underwater photos while learning about and testing out the latest and greatest in digital underwater photography equipment. WHAT!?!?!?

If there’s one thing you should know about me by now, I LOVE photography. My underwater photography skills lack quite a bit, but I’ve only been diving for 4 years. In those 4 years, I was off limits in diving for a year because of my cute little three-year-old. So I’ve been diving 3 years. Yes, I have 100 dives in under my belt… but….. They highly suggest you don’t start carrying a camera underwater with you until you’ve at least dove 50 times. Well, I didn’t totally listen to those words of advice, but I always made sure I was comfortable enough diving before I took a camera with me. It’s an added responsibility.

I immediately started talking about how I wanted to go to this photo fiesta. Hubby laughed and issued me a challenge. If I could sell 300 dozen cookies, I could go. Holy cow! That’s not 300 cookies… that’s 300 dozen cookies. That equals math I can’t easily do in my head. That is 3,600 cookies.

Challenge Accepted….

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Cupcake Diaries

Wow, it seems like here lately I’ve been obsessed with cupcakes. Especially thought with the title of this post. But… I have news for you… I might be. So what’s going on? Well… If I put this out there, 1) I’m afraid I’ll be judged. 2) I might actually have to follow through. 3) I feel like I sound stupid. I keep telling myself I shouldn’t care what other people think. What does it matter anyway. I saw a quote once that said, It’s none of your business what other people think.

Okay, I’m getting a little off track. I think I’m having to give myself a pep talk. Here we go… I’m going to tell you what my plans are. Now help me follow through and please by all means, HELP ME! My plans:

I’m going to write a cookbook.

Over the weekend I focused on a cake recipe. Not just any cake recipe… My cake recipe. We made it from scratch. Totally from scratch. Wow! I researched. And I read. Then I researched. Followed by reading some more.

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