natty's season of awesome, chapter two.

This is our second snow day. Tomorrow will be another snow day.

I'm serious. It's a mess down here in the A.

My sweet husby-wusby, bless his heart, he had to go in to work. Luckily, we procured Tina after saying goodbye to Shelly (my little shell of a car), and Tina has four wheel drive. You go girl.

Soooo, he made it to work safely. But. The roads are iced over again, the Perimeter is a mess, and he is basically stuck down there. Not an entirely bad thing, since there is a ton of work that needs to be done down at the job.

But it means that he's spending the night down there. Boo.

So, I postponed enchilada night (always a big hit at our house... my guys LOVE my enchiladas) and am having Lean Cuisine and the kids are having hot dogs and leftover homemade pizza from last night. Tomorrow, I will be jumping right back in to my Crock Pot Wednesdays!

In the meantime, here are some more highlights from our epic family vacation in the Chi, which kicked off an entire season of awesome. It really was the best Autumn ever.

Okay. I am stopping now.

natty's season of awesome, chapter one.

The latter part of 2010 passed in a blaze of hazy glory. I wish it could have gone by a little bit more slowly. I seem to feel quite often like life is whizzing past me at warp speed, and I am always left catching my breath, even though I don't exactly feel like I was along for the ride. Do you know what I mean?

But I was along for the ride, fast ride that it was. And it was an awesome ride that ended way too abruptly. But alas, such is life... when one gets older, anyway.

I am finally taking the time, while we still have a couple of days of break left (thanks, blizzard!), to share with you some of the awesomeness that was my Autumn season, in pictures and stories. It was a season of adventures, unexpected blessings, and upgrades, and I am so thankful to the Lord for such a peaceful and joyous time.

As you know, we spent a lot of time in Ohio. My husband was working on a project up there. During our stint in Ohio, we were able to take our first-ever family vacation, to Chicago. I had planned on blogging about it right after it happened, but photog-backlog got the better of me (and still has the better of me, even though I now see a very dim spot of light at the end of the tunnel) and it was a couple of weeks before I even got all of the photos done. They have long since been finished, and I now have the time to share a couple of stories for you.

Before I share, let me just tell you that I love Chicago.

I. love. it.

It is a city for which I had some appreciation already, but not that much. I had traveled to Chicago several times when I was a kid, to visit relatives. It was always fun, as much fun as one can have when visiting relatives. I enjoyed being around family and eating and generally doing a whole lot of nothing. I did not, however, see the CITY. Just the South Side. Nothing wrong with the South Side, but it's not the city.

I finally saw the city in 2009, in July. We were there for a week and a half because my husband was working up there. We had the most awesome time; it was unbelievable. And we fell in love with the city.

I am a total city girl anyway. I was born and raised in the city. I love the A, warts and all. And I love big cities. I've lived in London, and it's amazing. I've lived in Mexico and have been to Mexico City twice, and it is indeed big. I don't remember much of Los Angeles, because I was small, but I do recall that it was big. And then there's Miami. I love Miami.

My favorite big city, however, is New York. I love it. So much.

And I love Chicago almost as much. I actually refer to it as Almostnewyork.

With 2009's Chicago trip being so great I had little hope that we would be able to repeat it. We were determined to try, however, since this was our first official family vacation. Ever.

We headed out on the road around nine or ten in the morning. Luckily, Chicago is only a five-hour drive from Dayton. Like Atlanta to Savannah. Easy peasy.

There are lots of farms in Ohio. And Indiana.

We arrived in Chicago and were instantly smitten. Again.

Made it to the hotel, no problem. Then we find out that we have no room booked there. This was after my husband had called earlier in the week and called to confirm on TWO different occasions.

[When I had originally planned to share the highlights of this trip with you back in October, I had planned on giving this post the title of "The Misadventures of Natty's Family in Almostnewyork, Chapter One: How to Not Have a Place to Stay When Visiting a Big City Far Away From Home." I am glad life got in the way and I am just now getting to share this with you guys, because now it's just one big laugh. It actually was by the end of our trip.]

After sitting in the nice hotel lobby for what seemed like almost an hour while my husband was on the phone with the... I guess... reservation people, he informed me that a) they booked us the wrong weekend-- the following weekend, and b) not at this hotel (which was the hotel at which we had wanted to stay and thought we would be staying).

Sooooo, we got back in the car and drove twenty minutes away, to Midway Airport and its neighborhood. Of course, at the time, I was beyond pissed, because there went half of my plans to walk to the Navy Pier and Nordstrom and other places. And here we were, with no view of the city. Stank. Stank. Stank.

Buuuut, as it turned out, the hotel was nice, the neighborhood was nice, there was a Giordano's right down the street (where we ended up having dinner that night), Target was right over the bridge, and the city was actually not nearly as far as it seemed when we first made our way out to the hotel. After a couple of yummy deep dish pizzas, all was right with the world again, and we settled in, ready for all manner of city fun the next few days.

And major city fun was had by all. We took a double-decker tour bus two days in a row (and of course sat on the top deck in the most perfect fall weather imaginable), ate at Bubba Gump's since we liked it so much the year before, and also made it out to Hot Doug's for a couple of his famous hot dogs. We even met Doug himself! He was working the cash register. The experience was worth the hour-long wait in line outside (which we knew about ahead of time).

My oldest son and I took a ride on the Navy Pier ferris wheel, and acted like total little kids. It was our first ferris wheel ride ever! You would have thought we had traveled to outer space, we were so excited.

We caught the tail-end of Jewel's concert at the Chicago Country Music Festival in Millennium Park, which was a total surprise.

We had dinner in Chinatown, and fell in love with it, the food, the bubble teas from Joy Yee's Noodle Shop, and the Water Taxi.

And we took a ride to the top of the Sears Tower. Yes, Sears Tower. I know it's not called that anymore; it's called the Willis Tower. But in my mind it will always be the Sears Tower. My husband punked out before the elevator doors closed and did not go up to the Skydeck with us, but the kids and I had fun seeing the city from such a high perch.

I have tried to spare you a gazillion photos. It was difficult. It's a fairly safe bet that I will share more photos in Chapter Two of this series. This trip was all kinds of awesome and completely made of win, and we walked away with tons of fond memories of our first-ever family vacation. It really did set off Natty's Season of Awesome. And that's a way better title for this post.

Here are just a few more highlights. Did I already mention that I love Chicago? Yes? I'll say it again.

I love Chicago.

I love it so much.

project 52, week one.

And so it begins. A new year, a new decade.

This first week of 2011 was eventful, to say the least. Hubby and I faced a lot of vehicle drama. Shelly, my little "shell" of a car, was, as we discovered, sicker than we even thought, and definitely on her last leg, which wasn't good. My mother had surgery, probably her last, to give her a new dialysis access. And my kidlets, all three of them, were experiencing varying levels of under-the-weather-ness.

In spite of all of that, I excitedly embarked upon my new photo project, hoping to get some gems this week. What I got I wouldn't necessarily call gems, but I'm not bothered. I know that every week won't be a platinum hit.

I'm still happy with the shots, especially the family ones, because of the subject.

Here they are.

Self-portrait.

Family portrait.

Another family portrait.

Of interest.

Here is the link to my iPhonearoid of the week.

And here is the link to my first weekly vlog of 2011.

Have a great week, folks.

one little word.

In 2010, my One Little Word was Fearless.


Annnnd I didn't quite live up to that word the entire year.

Fear has always been the main vampire that tries to creep into my life. I've slain it many times, in many different situations, but it seems to morph into some new, uglier iteration of itself and sneak back in.

Well, this year, instead of beating myself up over the times when I totally entertained it instead of putting my foot up its ass and sending it flying out the door, I am going to remind myself of the many times last year that I totally did kick fear in the teeth, and keep those reminders in the forefront of my mind. I know that God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. As I continue to meditate on that truth, I will continually experience freedom from the bondage of fear and do the things that I am called to do in complete confidence.

It is my intention to remain conscious of this freedom that I already have and walk in it every day, thus eliminating fear from my life permanently. The key is to remember that I really do already have the freedom, because I have a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. If I already have that, it means that I am already

free.

project 52.

Last year, I completed my Project 365. It was quite an accomplishment for me, and I am still completely stoked that I started, continued, and finished it. It definitely helped me grow as a photographer.

On the last day of my project, I mentioned that I would use 2011 to do a 52-week project. And that's exactly what I'mma do.

Every weekend, beginning with this coming weekend, I will share with you some highlights of my week. I plan to keep the highlights fairly uniform and consistent. I will include a self-portrait (Yay! I am completely over it!), a family portrait (meaning, a picture of someone in my family or everyone in my family, including or not including me... which means probably some picture of my children), an art portrait, and an iPhonearoid of the week. Squeeee!

Annnd I'll probably throw in some extras each week, just 'cause.

Not only that, but I plan to extend my Project 52 into the video realm, and make a short weekly vlog, which may or may not be completely random. We'll see.

I'm excited for the new year. Niki's got some new accessories and we've already been playing around and enjoying ourselves. I foresee myself taking many more photos for other people this year, as I've already gotten several inquiries. And, I plan to take everything as slowly as I can, and really take in each moment, with one deep breath after another.

my first images of 2011.

I was out and about quite a bit today, for a number of reasons. 

Of course, Niki was at my side, as always.

And we saw many interesting sights today, this first day of 2011.

We're looking forward to making gobs of cool art this year.

And we hope you will join us on our journey.

gaaahhh! where did the end of the year go?

I cannot believe that I have spent very little time inside my house over the past few days. Between family business and car drama, I've been running here and there and just did get to relax for about an hour or so last night and ring in the new year with my family. I won't get into all of the details, because they're really not important, but suffice it to say, from 19 December until now, I have had precious little time or energy to blog. That means my December Daily and Reverb 10 plans fell by the wayside. Although I finished my December Daily entries and will be putting the entire book together this month, I failed to share all of the entries with you all. My sincere apologies! Sometimes life gets too hectic around here, and/or unexpected things happen.

This is not to say that our holiday season ended with a whimper. It did not. With the exception of my coming down with a bad case of strep throat the week of Christmas (I'm almost at the last day of my antibiotic-taking woohoo!), our holiday season was peaceful, full of blessings and pleasant surprises, and joyous. My husband and I got to play Santa for our little ones, and seeing their faces on Christmas morning was priceless. They have had tons of fun with their new toys.

We have played games, watched movies, had quiet meals, and just enjoyed each other.

And now, we've entered a new year, full of hope and new goals. I, of course, have my list of goals and look forward to seeing what I am able to accomplish. I also look forward to watching our family grow in resolve and love. The trials we faced in 2010 definitely shaped our character in new ways and we are thankful for the Lord's grace to overcome the obstacles. I realize that this year won't be without its trials, as life never is without trials, but God is always with us, and that is a fact that I won't be so easily tempted to forget this year, or ever again.

As for my goals, I will share some of them with you now.

I plan to promote my business in the ways that I failed to do last year.

Wow. It's weird saying last year. Seeing as how yesterday was last year. Anyway...

I fell off the water wagon around Thanksgiving. I plan to get back on the wagon. I have some pounds that I need to lose, so my goal is to walk and water-drink them off.

I also plan to make more videos for my YouTube channel. There will be videos of me singing, making art and art journaling, taking pictures, documenting my hair growth journey (which I fear has suffered a few setbacks), and probably random, short clips of my kids doing silly things.

And there's my new project... Project52.

I'll share the details of that, along with my One Little Word for 2011, tomorrow.

a real break.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Our Christmas was lovely, in spite of a bad case of strep throat, which I caught last week. My throat started really hurting the Sunday before Christmas, when we were in Ohio. By Monday, I couldn't talk, had a fever as well as aches all over, and my throat was swollen beyond recognition. And, of course, it hurt to swallow. Bad timing, since that Monday was my wedding anniversary.

Needless to say, I was miserable, and in a lot of pain. I was taking 400 mg of Ibuprofen every couple of hours, just to take some of the edge off. But I had little energy to do anything, least of all blog.

I still have several days of antibiotics to take, and there's a tiny but of soreness left in my throat, but I feel a lot better. I wasn't expecting to take a break from blogging, but the illness kind of forced my hand. (Now I'm marveling at the fact that I did any blogging at all during the holidays last year. Things were pretty hectic then, and they were pretty hectic last week.) I couldn't bail from the family gatherings and the last-minute shopping, but everything else definitely took a back seat.

I will spend the next few days catching up on some of the December Daily and Reverb '10 posts. I plan to be caught up with those by New Year's Eve, plus I want to share some highlights of this season (meaning Autumn going into Winter) with you. And I look forward to connecting with many of you again.

december daily, day eleven.

We had my oldest son's birthday party today. He will be turning fourteen the day after Christmas, but we have learned that the 26th is not the best day to have a party, because lots of people are out of town or visiting with family or what have you. Last year, we had it on the busiest shopping day of the year, at the mall food court. It was totally chaotic, but not for us, since we were there for a party. It worked out, because parents just dropped their kids off and then went out into the mall and got some shopping done. It was a lot of fun.

Today was a lot of fun as well. We had it at a place a couple of minutes from my house, called Pure Taqueria. It is a very cool restaurant, and one whole side of it was reserved just for his party. They have an upper deck that we originally wanted to use, but they closed that down last week for the winter.

Having it inside turned out to be awesome anyway. The weather was great; it wasn't too cold out and it didn't rain until later on tonight. Bobby had probably thirty or more people at the party, and they all had a blast. I did not take as many pictures as I wanted, since I was hosting the party, but I did get some and will post them on his actual birthday. Meanwhile, I am going to write a short journaling piece for today's entry and, with his permission, take a few quotes from some of his birthday cards and add those as well.

He made out like a bandit. $20 in Starbucks money, $45 in iTunes money, $115 in cash to go toward the purchase of his DJ set, and a RED UKELELE, which he is totally is going to teach me to play. To see him be so blessed by all of his friends really blessed me.

After the party, he went to a play with some of his friends and then another friend's 18th birthday party at IHOP. I picked him up at 11:30. What a social life this kid has got.

december daily, day ten.

I had lunch with my bestie today. She is so much fun, and we always have a blast when we hang out. Later on in the evening she met the kidlets and me at the mall, and we did some shopping! She got me a $50 gift card to Sephora for my birthday, so I needed to spend it. We both needed moisturizer! And we both needed Sephora! *giggles*

Once we had gotten our goods at Sephora, we got some Starbucks and chilled in the food court before heading to Hot Topic. My son wanted to look at the vinyl albums, and I ended up buying him his first one as an early birthday present: Invaders must Die by The Prodigy. The bestie got a few things she needed, and I also bought a pin for my coat that says, "OMG. A Double Rainbow!"

Then we meandered through the mall, toward Macy's. Because she needed more ornaments for her tree (mushrooms and gnomes!), AND because all of this goodness was beckoning to us:

A pink tree!!!

I'm kind of in love with it.

It was all so marvelous, not to mention the varieties of mushrooms and gnomes that we found. Oddly enough, my tree is up and lit but I haven't put my ornaments on it yet! I'll dig them out soon. Really.

december daily, day nine.

Poinsettias. They ARE December.

I decided I wanted to include a photo of poinsettias somewhere in my December Daily album, and I happened to see these today. What happy plants these are.

Is there something simple that screams December for you?