Monday, December 22, 2008

Operation: Get Susie Home for Christmas

Time to start the Christmas 2008 Story

Please turn to Susie, Chapter 1:1-19
1. And it came to pass that on the 20th day of the 12th month in the year 2008, The young uber stylish girl Susie was on the arduous journey home to Portland Maine from the Great Salt Lake City. When she should have been filled with Joy, she found herself wrought with frustration and anger.
2. For it came to pass that her journey into the wilderness of Maine caused a lay over in the kennedy airport in NY where she now found herself stuck.
3. Susie lacking of sleep, was greatly distraught when her flight was cancelled by unholy delta airlines, sought counsel from her wise and loving family.
4. Susie went in unto the long lines of Delta, and she talked with many unhelpful people, and distraught found she was now stuck in this great and spacious, yet over crowded airport, And she began to be exceedingly sorrowful.
5. Susie found herself being humbled and with a lowly heart as she called the great Chell to asketh her to come save her from the Great and spacious, and highly over crowded place she now found herself trapped in.
6. Now I being born of the same Father as Susie, felt compelled to go forth and helpeth to rescue my baby sister from the great and spacious airport in which she was now trapped for what would be days on end.
7. Faithfully, but without proper preparation I jumped in the car to start my journey northward. I having faith that I, my cellphone, and my trusty GPS would be able to located the distraught Susie in the overcrowded area called Kennedy Airport in NY.
8. And it came to pass that, the Great Chell was able to locate the distraught Susie in said airport. And whilst Susie was freezing and lacking energy after many hours of being stuck in line due to before mentioned Unholy delta airlines, and with nothing more than the clothes on her back there was a little rejoicing as she climbed into the warm car. But it came to pass that sadly her luggage was trapped in the immovable belly of the beast known as an airplane. Being exceedingly tired, but full of faith Susie continued her journey northward by car.
9. And it came to pass that the traffic in NY was great and there was numerous others on the road. Making our journey progress slowly.
10. And it came to pass I and my sister were able to rejoice in each other’s company and share many stories about boys and life in general.
11. And it came to pass Susie found herself exceedingly sorrowful that she had no garment which to wear to church the following day. Susie knowing that only the store known as WalMart would be open to purchase such a garment, when she finally reached Maine became increasingly concerned for her own vanity. And she made an oath not to allow her pride get in the way of her finding something to clothe her body in so that she could attend church the next day.
12. After some time traveling, Susie having been traveling for many hours, and not wanting to spend $7 for a cracker found herself to be starving.
13. I not wanting my sister to suffer any longer than she had found the great golden arches where we stopped for a much needed potty break and more needed “nourishment”.
14. And it came to pass Susie, after filling her belly with greasy food from the great golden arches, was over come with sleepiness and drifted off to slumber, only to be interrupted by the texts from friends… and the GPS system we nicked named Mikey, who was very annoying at some parts of the trip…
15. As we drove further into the land known as Connecticut it became clear that the people of this once great land had either lost favor with mother nature or were being punished for some unspeakable act and had all their snow plows taken away. The roads were covered with that white stuff known as snow, and causing traffic to move increasingly slower. And it came to Pass Mikey continued to be frustratingly annoying.
16. Whilst there was No weeping, wailing or gnashing of teeth, there was some Slipping, white knuckling of the steering wheel and heavy use of windshield washer fluid.
17. We eventually passed through this forsaken land and still journeyed unto the car of our father which was waiting in the parking lot of a holiday in Express.
18. And it came to pass weary and slightly tired of driving our travels brought us to that Holiday Inn. There was rejoicing and hugs for the 33.3 seconds I saw my father and stepmother whilst we swapped the precious cargo known as my baby sister.
19. And it came to pass they tarried on northward to the home of our father in the place known as Augusta Maine, and I journeyed to my cousin’s apartment in the place known as Cambridge Mass, where I would welcome some much needed sleep.

Now let’s turn to the Book of Ryan Chapter 1: 1-8

1. And it came to pass that even though Susie had completed her journey to Maine I still needed to complete my journey home.
2. And it came to pass I was able to see the wise and wonderful nugget head living in Cambridge, also known as my cousin Ryan.
3. I arrived and we journeyed around the streets to find a parking space in the snow that had fallen and covered the ground. It was exceedingly difficult but we finally found one.
4. And insomuch as we searched the channels for something to watch we settled on a rerun of SNL.
5. And it came to pass I soon found myself very sleepy after much driving and drifted off to sleep in the warm and comfortable bed my cousin prepared for me.
6. I awoke in Cambridge to find they had more snow then when I had gone to slumber the night before.
7. And it came to pass I decided I had better get back on the road and journey home.
8. Wherefore Ryan and I tarried to find my car which was covered with snow, I returned his parking pass and started out on my journey home.

And now please turn to the book of Chell Chapter 1:1-8

1. And it came to pass as I journeyed out of Cambridge I came across the campus of Harvard, it was exceedingly white from the snow and exceedingly beautiful. I was sorrowful I did not have my camera with me.
2. It came to pass I made my way through the streets of Cambridge and made my way to the highway.
3. And it came to pass after many miles in Massachusetts I entered the forsaken land of Connecticut once again and conditions had worsened from the evening before and it SUCKED!!!!
4. Many cars in this land lost there way from the road and found themselves stranded and often upside down. The snow plows from this land were still missing and a blizzard had commenced.
5. And it came to pass I tarried long to return home, and it was no fun. Once leaving the forsaken land of Connecticut things were uneventfull.
6. With much rejoicing I made it home in time to celebrate an early Christmas with my family.
7. I was exceedingly joyfull to see Santa had shopped at B&H for me this year, and brought me a shiny new lens.
8. Wherefore it is with a conflicted heart I prepare for the dreadful return to those same roads again tomorrow…

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Yep I have no patience.. But its live finally

As noted in my post below the Hosting site I decided to go with never purchased my domain name so I just ate the $10 and purchased it myself. So that means my website is finally live!!!

Zobbie Photography SO feel free to check it out if you are bored... It is still very much a work in progress but I wanted to get it published!!

Frustration!!!!

So I have been slowly building my website for the last few months and I was finally ready to launch it and it has been delay after delay. I went with BluDomain and they are well known for having all sorts of customer service issues so I should have expected this, but I am still frustrated. They have a great product but need a serious overhaul in the business end of things. So I am still waiting for them to get things made right, like purchasing the domain name I paid them to purchase 6 months ago, seriously refund my money and I will get it myself.....

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Sometimes I forget I work with all guys

With the economy the way it is and the Christmas spirit a little low I sent my supervisor the suggestion of having a Potluck for the team since our usual festivities would not be happening this year.

I got an email back stating that he did not know what a Potluck was. Now for me that seems completely odd since at Church even the guys know that potluck means Bring Jello, or Brownies.... :)





Just as well we didn't do one here now that I think about it we would have had a potluck that consisted of Chips and beer, light on the chips..

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. It is about food, friends and family. Who could ask for a better combination. There is a lot to be thankful for and way more than I have time to list here but here are a few things.
I think the thing I am most thankful for is my knowledge of the Gospel an the love of my savior.
I get to have dinner with my mom and grandmother, even if my grandmother is in a cranky mood at least she is still with us.
I am thankful my cousin is having a great pregnancy and that her little girl will be here in March.
Thankful for my great friends and family.
Thankful that I am almost done with school.
Thankful I am relatively healthy.
Thankful for a roof over my head.

And today I am thhankful we are goig out to dinner so I don't have to do any cooking or cleaning. It is nice to have a day to really rest..

Friday, November 14, 2008

Just had to share!!

Came across this on a friends blog and thought it was too funny not to share. I found it got funnier as I kept watching it.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Keeping busy

I have been keeping busy which is part of the reason for my lack of blog updates. I have had the chance to do a bunch of family portraits for friends if you have not had a chance to see them hop on over to My Photography blog.

School is almost done till January.. so that also means I will only have 2 classes left till I graduate. Hopefully I get to work on my website now.

Work is work, not much new or different there.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Get out there and vote today!!

Photobucket

No matter who you are voting for exercise the right you have to do so.


The best part is the dozens of prerecorded calls a day will stop, and no more of those "I approve this message." Commercials!!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Biz gets Baptized

So this past weekend my foster Sister’s “baby” got baptized. Can Biz really already be 8? Man time flies.

I can’t believe she is so grown up.



No denying whose kid she is, she look just like her Daddy.



She was fortunate to have both sets of grandparents there for her big day.



She was just beaming as we took a few family pictures beforehand.



She was very excited for her big day. She informed me she woke up at 6:13 AM when she came down to give me a hug that morning. (Perhaps that is why she needed a nap in the afternoon before we all went out to dinner.)



Sam and Hannah spent the day hanging out also. I got to take a few snapshots of their adorable children Erica and Aaron. Sadly it was raining like crazy that day so I didn’t get to do as many pictures as I would have liked. But there is no denying how cute these two are.









I did get to take a few pictures of David and Maddy and as I was going through them I could not believe how grown-up they look. Makes me a little sad but at the same time I am so proud of the young adults they are both becoming.





My visit was very short, I had to head home after dinner, and I ate way too much. Thanks again to my Mautz family for inviting me to be part of this special day.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Busy and loving it!!!

I am the first to admit I was beyond excited when I realized I would have NO school work this past weekend since I finished up my classes and my next doesn’t start till the 28th. However, I was just as busy, if not busier. Here is the recap so far starting with Thursday night.

After work on Thursday I got to take pictures of the adorable little Miss K. I knew I had to get them edited that night so I didn’t fall too far behind.



Then late Thursday night I got a call from one of the fabulous youth in my ward who was looking for another adult driver for a trip to Dorney Park they were taking. Notice I didn’t say they were looking for a chaperone cause clearly despite the age on my driver’s license I do NOT act that age. So I quickly made a mental list of things I needed to rearrange so I could do it and told him sure I would be happy to help out. Plus I love me some roller coasters. (stayed tuned for a blog just about that trip)



Then Saturday Morning I got to sleep in since my early morning session had to cancel.

After that I had a session with my friend Missy who I convinced to let me take her pictures. She is a good sport about things.



There was also a mini pet session. Even with one eye this guy is a cutie.



I then got to meet up with one of the women from a photography message board I am a part of and do maternity pictures of, Hello beautiful!!



Then Sunday I had two Family sessions. First up was the Perry's who could not have looked cuter. And we won't talk about the small incident with the car, keys and kids all in one location and the locked doors. (My Bad)



Then that afternoon I got to click some pics of the Marostica family!!




Make sure you swing by my Photography Blog over the next couple of days to see more pictures from the sessions I did and will be doing this weekend.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

3 is my new favorite number

Why is 3 my new favorite? Because that is how many courses I have left to take till graduation. I finished up another 2 this week which leaves me with 3 more. Graduation is May 16th, 2009.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Just my luck

I got this in the mail today.

Due to recent budget cuts, and the rising cost of electricity, gas and oil, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.
We apologize for any inconvenience.

That figures doesn't it. :)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The dreaded self portrait

So it is no great secret that I hate to have my picture taken… Probably why I enjoy photography so much, I get to be behind the camera instead of in front of it. However, every now and then I feel like I need to update my picture on my blogs or online profiles so I drag out the camera and start clicking away doing my own self portrait. Now for anyone that has tried to do this you know things like making sure you are in focus, lighting, and trying not to chop off the top of your head or chin are not always easy. (and when you have several chins like me that is a lot of chins to make sure get captured. Then there is the making sure you are in the frame at all that takes a little work too. I am not sure I got what anyone would call a great self portrait but at least I had a little fun…

Anyone have a favorite? I think the first one captures me best...








It has been a good day

As I sit there today breaking my fast with a delicious gourmet meal of Fritos, Blueberry light and fit yogurt, and coke zero, I reflected a little on my day. Today has been a good day. The weather is gorgeous with the colors of Fall starting to really show. Great for picture taking. Church was great and I really felt the spirit strongly and I even drug myself self up to bear my testimony which is never an easy thing for me. I was glad I did it though.

That is all for now...

Saturday, October 11, 2008

I was tagged again

This tag from my friend Breezi
it is called the Brillante Weblog-Primio 2008 Award. Beats the heck outta me too.

The rules: Answer the following questions with one word answers and pass it on to seven others.

Here are the questions:
1. Where is your cell phone? shelf
2. Where is your significant other? Who?
3. Your hair color? Multi
4. Your mother? sleeping
5. Your father? Maine
6. Your favorite thing? Naps
7. Your dream last night? Nightmares
8. Your dream/goal? graduate
9. The room you're in? craftroom
10. Your hobby? Photography
11. Your fear? blindness
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? family
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? fabulous
15. One of your wish-list items? Canon 5DmarkII
16. Where you grew up? PA
17. The last thing you did? TV
18. What are you wearing? Sweats
19. Your TV? on
20. Your pet? evil
21. Your computer? annoying
22. Your mood? blah
23. Missing someone? always
24. Your car? paid
25. Something you're not wearing? shoes
26. Favorite store? Target
27. Your summer? short
28. Love someone? nah
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? Last night,( I am such a loser)

I pass the award to: Anyone that feels like doing a tag blog

Friday, October 10, 2008

Baby showers, conferences and other things I have missed

So Thursday night there was a baby shower for Aubrey from church. Sadly I had to miss it because the night got switched from Friday to Thursday. But I did still want to drop off my gift. I made a Diaper cake for her, it was not my best work but still liked the way it turned out.





Saturday there is a Time out for Women Event here in Philly. I was all set to go, and was thankful when Cindy ordered my ticket through her group buy. However today I decided I am going to skip it. I admit that the thought of driving down by myself and sitting by myself for the day really didn’t appeal, no matter how wonderful the conference would be. It is an anxiety attack just waiting to happen. It seems that everyone already had their carpool groups, or train ride group and admittedly I am not a part of any of these groups so it would have been a fabulous day of me myself and I, and really they are not all that great of company. So I just opted not to go, and instead might spend a little quality time with my camera tomorrow since the weather is supposed to be nice and I really have not been able to get out and take many pictures lately. Of course it is more likely I will spend most of the day working on homework since next week is my last week of the semester. Which means only 3 courses left…..

Pretty much I have been disconnected from everything other than work and school. I am thankful to be employed though and to be finally able to finish my education. (Weel at least part of my education, the jury is still out on going for a master's degree or not) So I have more than enough to keep me busy. Just wish I didn’t feel like such an outsider at church…

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Philly Temple Location announced

Well it looks like the Philadelphia temple will be built in downtown Philadelphia, at North Broad Street between Hamilton Street and Noble Street. They have also announced the sites for the other four Temples that were announced over the weekend. Exciting times...

Monday, October 6, 2008

Almost done another 2 classes

With 2 classes left for each of my classes I admit I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the work I have left to do. This has been one of those tough semesters, partly because there is a group project for both classes and partly because there has been a lot going on at work.

Luckily this past weekend was a refresher with a great general conference. Now I just need to get through the next 10 days...

Saturday, October 4, 2008

A Glourious Announcement

Philadelphia is getting a TEMPLE!!!!!!! The exact location and specific details have not been announced but it is still very exciting to know that in the future we will have a Temple close so that we can enjoy those blessings without the 3 hour drive to DC. I can't wait till they announce the design of the new Temple and the exact location. Hopefully we will learn more sooner rather than later.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

A new look

My blog was needing a face lift in the worst way so here it is. The new and improved blog look. Some will also notice I changed the name. Partly to tie in to my photography website and partly because I felt it was time to retire Newtie...

Well my weekend has been a lot of homework with a little regular work peppered in so now it is time to kick back and relax for the last few hours of my weekend.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Mr. Piquant Blaze Rufescent Toots aka Bobbie

The first Adventure for Bobbie



Not to be confused with Bobbi



Bobbie missed his other little chili pepper friends when he first parted ways with him but quucikly settled into his new surroundings.

Here is Bobbie hitting on Strawberry shortcake. She was very nice when she turned him down explainging she liked her guys sweet and syrupy vs Hot and Zesty like him.




He then hung out with his 2nd cousin once removed on his mom's side, Pepcid, and the local gang of Pez dispensers, don't wory they are friendly, I mean they dispence candy afterall.



Bobbie then decided he needed to unwind and relax, so like any man he hopped up in the chair grabbed the remote watched Myth Busters..


Fisrt annual Chili cook-off

So last night we had our first annual Chili cook-off and dance for our ward. The main goal was to have an adult social for people to be able to mingle. The Bishop even made it to the event despite his allergic reaction to ward Parties.





Although our group was fairly small (30-35 people) it was a lot of fun. If you ask me it was ALL about the music, but I might be a bit biased. Course the music did make the clean up go faster, and help a few burn off those chili calories.

Our small but highly efficient activities committee really pulled together a great night. The chili's were all great and all very different, which made it really fun. I tried them all and lived to tell the tale....

Our chefs were naturally overwhelmed when it came time to hand out the awards. Just look at Margie Beaming with her little Chili Pepper award.



and a few of our other big winners.








I might have not made any chili or cornbread for that matter but I still managed to come away with my own little chili Pepper. I am pleased to introduce Mr. Piquant Blaze Rufescent Toots or Bobbie for short.



Stay tuned for further adventures of Bobbie.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Memories.....

A couple of my friends have this on their blog so I decided I would play along...


1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew us a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Try to keep it clean folks...

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Can Body Odor kill you?



Have you ever had the unfortunate circumstance of having to be in close quarters with someone that has clearly forgotten what soap and deodorant is used for? I am not talking just a little bit of body odor you get an occasional whiff of but the kind that permeates through walls, wilts flowers when they walk by them, has small children running away in terror, turns you green from the potency of the odor, or causes birds to just drop out of the sky when they are flying above. That my friends is what I have been faced with, and I have lived, barely and with little help from my “friends”, to tell the tale.

So in my hour of need I email a friend, Missy, to let her know if I stopped responding to her emails it was because I had come to an untimely end from the smell. I promised her I would leave her my sticker collection, and my mini collection(Which includes my strawberry shortcake minis, smurfs, and littlest petshop to name a few). She quickly responds back and tells me to hang in there. I am thinking she’s a great real and true friend. Then I slowly peck out on my keyboard that I am fading fast and to please send Febreze, a gas mask and chocolate, cause we all know chocolate can cure anything that ails you.





I had thought to request a diet coke also but didn’t want to press my luck being that she is one of those Pepsi drinking types.





She responds back, I am off to run an errand.. WHAT??? I thought she was my friend. She was bailing on me while I was clinging to life, breathing in this noxious smell. There I sat, barely able to remain conscious, desperately trying to keep my lunch down, turning a lovely shade of mountain Dew green, and she was off to run an errand, and calls herself a friend. Sheesh.

At least Promise stood by me, she even suggested a glade plugin, a fan to blow the smell in another direction, but sadly I am not sure that would even help, unless it was one of those big fans that they use on movies to simulate a hurricane coming through.





Then she pointed out the smell would probably just get blown around and while not as strong and concentrated it would be everywhere with no place to escape it. Then she tried diversionary tactics like telling me about the latest book she read, but then mentioned she gets motion sickness if she reads in the car which made me think about vomiting again. I am reevaluating her friend status at this point because of that. But at least she didn’t abandon me in my hour of need, and pointed out I was lucky that it wasn’t mid August with broken AC.

That’s Promise for you always looking on the bright side of things. Of course she was probably secretly hoping along with Missy the noxious fumes would do me in so that she could have all my unfinished craft projects, why the unfinished ones? Because she wants to build a memorial to me showing I had so much left to do in life, as evidence by all my unfinished projects, and her husband called dibs on my music and DVD collection.

As evidence of this blog post I have survived this latest encounter but I am not sure how many more my weakened body can handle. So please for those of us with a sense of smell, take that shower, and live on the wild side and use some soap, and if you are feeling very adventurous slap on some deodorant. Anyone with a nose will thank you….