Day THREE SIXTY FIVE: 365 Project

Reflections

365 Project

Of all the pictures that we took today, this the one that I loved the most.
Thank you Sam for helping me to complete my project.

And with trying not to sound like some lame Academy Awards speech, here we go:

When I started the project 365 days ago, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. It was nothing what I thought it might be. I went into this to get myself to take more pictures and blog. Since I had just graduated with my degree in journalism from Fresno State, I wanted to make sure that no matter what, I would keep writing.

And while I did this for no one but myself, I appreciate the nearly 5,000 people from all over the world who have read my blog and looked at my pictures.

I wasn't able to blog every day, or even take a picture every day. I had intended to do that, but looking back it was definitely an unrealistic goal to have because life gets in the way. I can't believe that I made it to 365!

I would recommend this project to everyone. I'm not necessarily talking about the blog part, but get out there and take pictures. It makes you look at things differently. And I'm so glad that after the end of a crazy year, I'm able to look back through the pictures to see what fun activities I did, as well as what fantastic friends and family I have.

It was fun to do it for one year, but it is a lot of work so I won't do it again. I will, however, continue to blog and snap pictures of the things I do.

Have a Safe & Happy New Year!

And a fantastical 2012.

Day 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363 & 364: 365 Project

A Winter Day at Fresno State

To finish off my 365 Project, I decided to go to Fresno State (the whole reason why I moved to Fresno) and snap pictures of my wonderful husband and other random things we came across (like squirrels). 

And even though it was a little chilly, it was a lot of fun.

If you need to know anything about the squirrels at Fresno State, it's this: They are not afraid of people. They will stare you down and follow you.

I also found this pretty cool newspaper delivery box thing.

This morning, I went to get a pedicure with Angelica. I chose this teal/green/blue color and added sparkles because it's New Year's Eve. It was a wonderful morning of conversation and getting my feet rubbed. Thought I should show them off.

Sam was such a good sport and great model!

I love this picture, Sam is sizing up the tree seeing if he can make it or not.

And this is Sam jumping onto the tree. It was very entertaining.

It's been a wonderful last day of 2011. Tonight will be fantastic too. Going out to get some Chinese with some friends, then not sure what Sam and I will do. I think we might come home, be a boring married couple, watch New Year's Rockin' Eve (in honor of Friends, right?)... play games and toast at Midnight. Sounds like a perfect way to ring in 2012!

Day 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353 & 354: 365 Project

I love this time of year.
I'm sure you've already noticed that from the very large amount of Christmas photos that have taken over my blog.

One of my favorite gifts to give this last weekend was to my mom's dogs. Target was selling these adorable dog toy dinner platters. The one I got for the dogs had a turkey, corn, bread, baked potato, green rope (veggies!) and the red plate it all came on was a plastic Frisbee.

Taffy loved the Turkey the most. Of course he would, right? It's the biggest toy on the plate.

Then he picked up each toy one by one and put them on his bed to claim them.

Then we gave Armani the toys to see what she would do. Well, she just went crazy over there. It was so entertaining to watch.

I also got a kitty stocking for Marcus, but he was just not interested because he wanted to go outside to use the restroom, but my mom says he enjoys the toys now. I'm so glad.

After getting back to Fresno after Christmas, we wandered around River Park waiting to go see We Bought A Zoo. By the way, amazing moving. Go. See. It.

Only in California will there be a Christmas tree next to some Palm Trees. 

There were these huge bulbs on the Christmas Tree. Sam and I decided to take some pictures in them. I like this one because I'm taller than Sam, even though it's obvious he's crouching down.

And this one was my all-time favorite. Winner! Most of the bulbs were scratched up really badly; this one was the best we could find.

Oh, the fun we have.

Day 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346 & 347: 365 Project

How my office celebrates Christmas

This year I got to take part of Christmas festivities at work. I started the season with arranging gift baskets for our agents. I also helped set up the Christmas tree. 

We went to Roger Rocka's Dinner Theater for a Christmas Party with other Insurance people. I've never seen so many insurance people in my life! We ate good food and saw clips from their recent show, Nunsesations.

We also did a cookie exchange at work. I made peanut butter chocolate bars that my grandma and mom make all the time. I love those cookies! It was my first time making them, and while they didn't turn out perfect, they were still pretty good. I received 12 different kinds of cookies (12 dozen each!). It was fun to try different kinds of cookies.

Everyone set out their cookies, then we went into the conference room and grabbed one of each kind.

This was my box full of cookies once I finished. Everything from brownies, to rice krispie treats, to Gingersnaps, to coffee cookies. All yummy. 

We also had a desk decorating contest. The agents who came in to meet with the underwriters were the judges. This kind of sucked for administration people like me because of course the agents will have a bias, and, well, I don't have any agents. Three underwriters ended up winning. On the last day of voting, one of the agents came by and told me that he voted for mine because Snoopy was his favorite. Not a big deal though, I still had a lot of fun decorating my desk.

Yes, my desk was Peanuts Christmas themed, of course. Oh yes, and I totally love having two computer screens. It has spoiled me so much! I want two at home.

I even put a Santa hat on my cow calendar.

My favorite part was the Peanuts Nativity Scene Play that I bought at Barnes & Noble (ironically enough where I'm writing this blog from right now). I got it before I even knew there was a contest at work.

Well, my desk wasn't completely Peanuts themed. Had to put up my Christmas Michael Buble bag I got when I bought a T-shirt at his concert in August. Maybe this was my favorite part.

I didn't get any pictures of it, but we also had a potluck and white elephant gift exchange. I got a Bath & Body Works gift card. And our employers got us each a kindle! It was such a pleasant surprise. I can't wait to play around with it some more.

Christmas at work was a lot of fun. I can't believe I've already been there almost seven months. Time sure does fly. It's been fun learning something completely different. I'm so completely blessed to work with such a wonderful bunch of people too. Everyone is so nice and they've all been so helpful whenever I've had a question. I really do love it there even though it has nothing to do with what I had studied in school. It's also fantastic working there because the majority of them are Christians. It makes the workplace so much more pleasant.

So far, it's been a wonderful "first real job."

Day 339 & 340: 365 Project

Puppy Love

<3

I went out to lunch with Christina and her momma while I was in Porterville, and next door was a pet shop so we decided to go say hello to some puppies. It was more like torture since they were all extremely adorable, and I really wanted to take one home with me.

I really loved the puppy on the far left with his face smashed against the window. He was like this the entire time we were over there then his brother got confused and started staring at him. It was a fantastic moment!

These little rascals were just playing with each other the entire time. They were so adorable and fluffy.

One of these days I'll get a puppy!

Day 338: 365 Project

Sam and I received a really awesome Christmas gift from my sister-in-law, Leah. Yes, we received a block of wood, or at least that's what it looked like when I opened the gift.

Then I flipped it around and saw this:

I thought it was really cute! And super unique. I also really like that she chose this picture because it looks so great on the wood.

Interested in having one? I think you can get one for approx. $30 (don't hold me to that price). Let me know, and I'll get you into contact with Leah. Just pick out your favorite photograph from your wedding, engagement, a family photo, picture of your pet, your grandma ... anything!

But seriously, I know you want one.

Day 337: 365 Project

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

   he will keep your life.

The Lord will watch over your coming and going 

   both now and forevermore.

Psalm 121: 7-8

I have less than a week to reach my goal of 365 pictures in 2011, and I'm still 30 or so away. I'm so close that I have to finish this. Your Facebook and Twitter pages will probably be flooded with me trying to reach my goal. I'm determined to finish this. 

I created the picture above from scratch (not to be confused with scratching) in Photoshop.  It took a while, but I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm slowly learning more and more things in Photoshop. Google and Youtube are really amazing.

Enjoy the rest of your 2011.

Day 335 & 336: 365 Project

The Christmas season has officially arrived!
You know, because it doesn't exist until we put up our tree.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with some friends in Fresno. Angelica and Stacie were on top of things because they already had their trees up. There was a bright pink one in the living room that I had to snap a picture because the reflection of it in the window looks so neat.

Sam and I put up our tree about a week ago. I wish we were able to do it sooner, but we've just been so busy!

Our tree is just a small little thing. When trees go on sale after Christmas, we're going to get a bigger, fuller one for next year. By the way, we'll get a fake one, not a real one.

I'm hoping that we'll also be able to pick up some new lights and garland. I'd also like to get a tree skirt, so it doesn't look so naked. Next year's tree will be beautiful.

Happy Christmas Trees!

A Sanger-nalia Miracle

Today, I heard of three horrible things that happened:

1. One of my favorite places to shop in town, Twee Boutique, was robbed at gunpoint.
2. There was a terrible fire at Future Ford of Clovis. My blog before this showed a picture.
3. Some terrible people stole 75 percent of the toys in Sanger that were set aside for 4,000 children through Toys for Tots. The toys were stolen today sometime around 5 p.m. and the children are going to be in Sanger tomorrow morning to pick out their toy.

All very sad things, but how could someone steal from 4,000 underprivileged children?

Sam came home from work today and told me about what happened in Sanger and said that they were in need of toys and volunteers. After dinner, Sam and I went to Walmart to pick up some toys. We don't have too much money we can spend, but we were still able to get some games, slinkys and Hot Wheels.

After I trip to Walmart, we made our way to Sanger (it's about 20 minutes away). I was blown away by how many people were there to give their time and resources to help make these kids Christmas a good one. There were piles and piles of every kind of toy you could think of. I came across toys I didn't even know existed.

First, the toys were just brought in from trucks and cars and put into a pile. This is the pile that was there when we got to the Community Center. And these toys were not cheap. There were some very nice, expensive toys.

Toys were then organized into age groups and genders. For example: Boys 3-8, Girls 8 +, Infants, etc. 

We started filling boxes with toys in some sort of organized fashion, like baby dolls together, or Nerf guns together. Something along those lines.

There were boxes and boxes of games. 

After just 30 minutes or so, everything was starting to look organized with everyone's help. These people were working so hard.

We tried keeping all the balls together. Basketballs, footballs, baseballs, balls with Disney princesses on them ... every kind you could ever think of.

Bikes were being put into a separate room. I overheard some people talking and they said this wasn't even all of them. There were still some at some houses and a church that needed to be brought to the Community Center. My camera couldn't even fit all the bikes into the picture. That's a good thing though! And guys were still in the other room putting boxed bikes together.

I think this has to be my favorite part: Someone donated 4,000 YoYos! All those boxes were filled with multi-colored YoYos.

And here's Sam workin' hard...

This was right before we left when things slowed down a lot and people had left. People were still bringing donations though.

After hearing of such a horrible thing happen for no reason, it was such a blessing to hear that the people of Sanger and its surrounding communities were so willing to give their time and money. More toys were donated in less than six hours than there was in the days leading up to tomorrow's Toys for Tots Lunch. That just goes to show how generous people can be in a moments notice. I know that more donations were made after Sam and I left too. The mayor of Sanger, Joshua Mitchell, was there until midnight and he'll be back there at 5 a.m. to get the snow that's being driven there as well as the ice rink.


Toys and money can still be donated (5 a.m. to 9 a.m.). I know that Walgreens in Sanger was giving a two for one toy deal, and Target was giving discounts. There was also a Big Lots giving discounts. These discounts might still be available tomorrow morning, just ask!

Walmart's manager for this region was there tonight too. He was taking the cash donations some people gave, and using his 30 percent discount to make their money go further when getting gifts for these kids. He also donated 75 bicycles to the cause.

There were so many toys, hopefully the kids are able to have more than just one. And the Tea Party was able to get $3,700 from different donations together.

I can barely put into words how amazing it was to take part in something so vital to someone's childhood. Whenever I look back on Christmas 2011, I won't think about the gifts I got from friends and family, I'll think about how even though something horrible happened, something so wonderful came out of it. God shines in the unlikeliest places. Different people from different backgrounds, from different places, coming together for one reason: to make a difference in a child's life. I can't think of any way I would have rather spent my Friday night.

I still can't believe all these toys were donated in less than six hours!

It was a Saturnalia Miracle! Actually, a Christmas Miracle.

Day 334: 365 Project

I went to get the mail so I could see the black cloud of smoke covering the sky from Future Ford of Clovis. It's about a mile away from where I live. It looks like Armageddon is upon us with the size and darkness of the sky. Apparently, people heard several different explosions, but thankfully no one was hurt.

Keep those who work there in your prayers, as I'm sure it won't be easy dealing with this during the Holidays.

Lighting Up the Lane - Day 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325,326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332 & 333: 365 Project

   Our Stroll Down

           Christmas Tree Lane

We started off at The Habit, where we fueled up for our walk. We ended up running into Naomi, Christine, Kyle and Rob there and walked about half of the Lane with them. It was a pleasant surprise to get to hang out with them for a bit.

Our first stop was the house below. Christine and Naomi knew the people who lived there. We were able to catch one last way to warm up on hot chocolate before we continued on our way. 

I thought it was sad that someone had stolen the Elmo, but it was pretty neat that it was found and able to reunite with its Sesame Street pals.

There were so many lights everywhere, even in bushes. I stopped to take a couple snapshots.

This house had a more simple look compared to the others, but it was still beautiful. I just loved the white house with the red door.

And I loved the giant lighted penguins so much!

 There were lights strung from the trees up and down the Lane. It's so beautiful.

I was excited to see there was still a snoopy and Woodstock house there!

There was an awesome Christmas-themed Foosball table. What an incredible creative idea.

Under the Sea!  -- Need I say more?

And who doesn't love Santa riding a killer whale?

This is my favorite front yard entrance ever. It's so lovely, and I love that they have it covered in lights for the season. I'll take the white house with the red door, with this white picket fence wrapped around it.

This one was a little strange, and I'm guessing from the picture it's hard to tell exactly what it is. Well, it's a Nativity Scene created from the trees in their front yard. It was a little creepy, but I was still completely intrigued by it because I had never seen anything like it before.

And for the finale, the craziest decorated place there. I need to drive by there when it isn't completely covered in Christmas decor so I can see what it actually looks like.

It's so much fun to be able to walk around, look at the gorgeous (and fun) decorations, spend time with my husband and friends, enjoy some Christmas music and watch people enjoy their time with the people they love most. 

Have a wonderful Christmas Season with your loved ones!

And remember the Reason For The Season.

For unto us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his

shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace

                        - Isaiah 9:6