Mud Room Re-Do Episode 7

I've been blogging about my favorite photos from the year, but I'm so excited that my mud room redo that I updated you on last week is done that I had to blog about it instead and open the blog with this giant run on sentence.

It used to look like this. It wasn't even really a useable room. It was kind of a dungeon.

I'm happy to report that it now looks like this.

The green door leads into a bathroom. Well, at least it will. Currently it leads into a closet of nothingness.

Here are the new steps leading into the kitchen. We raised the floor 3 feet, so now there are only a couple of steps instead of 4 large ones.

The washer and dryer with Craigslist cabinets.

See the white cabinet in the corner? I got it for $10 at a garage sale.

It looks like this now.

The table is from Craigslist. It was maple, but Dad chopped it to the right size, painted the legs black and re-stained the top. The fabric rack is an old magazine rack I had in my office. We took off the back and hung it.

My grandma found this chair at a garage sale, and we recovered it this week.

I still have a bit of organizing to do, but the decor and such are done.

If you want to read about the entire journey, click here or here

:j

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. -Desmond Tutu

My 10 favorite family photos from 2010.

:j

Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that. ~Michael Leunig

I've decided to use this week of blogging to show you all some of my favorite images from the year. Today I'm doing bride and groom. Come back tomorrow to see more!

My Top 10 Wedding Couples Images of 2010

Morgan and Eric were adorable together on their wedding day! I love how her dress has movement here.

Savannah was so excited to give Michael his gift! You can see how much he loved it. It was a beautiful moment. 

You would not believe how hot it was at this wedding, but the field images were so fun and classic.

This was another ridiculously hot wedding. One of the hottest weekends of the summer, but it was beautiful. See the joy in Nicolette's eyes?

 This was right after their first look. Connie was one of the most radiant brides!

My favorite thing about shooting in Philly besides getting to see Steven was the history. This building was hundreds of years old!

Another one of Nicolette and Jordan. Love the bokeh! (that's a fancy word for the shape the light in the background makes.)

One more of Steven and Joy. The clouds and veil just make this one for me.

I love the stone and Wendy's smile.

The thing with this image is it doesn't show Jenna and Tyler's fun side, but I love it because it shows their connection. They're perfect for each other. Seriously.

:j

Gratitude is the sign of a noble sole. -Aesop

Oh, Thankful Thursday, how I have missed thee. I don't know why I ever let you go.

This week, I'm thankful for....

• Winter Break - It's definitely one of the brighter sides of the educational system!
• My New Sewing Machine - My family and I gathered together tonight to open gifts, and I got a new machine. Sew exciting! (Yes, Internet, I am lame.)
• A Mud Room Table - I promise a mud room update soon. Maybe tomorrow. Yes, let's just plan on tomorrow....maybe.
• Family - Who am I kidding, I'm always thankful for my family. 

I can't end Thankful Thursday this week without mentioning how grateful I am for God's immeasurable gift of His son. How do I put into words what it means to me? Currently, the menu board in my kitchen has a quote on it that states, "The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable." (Ralph W. Sockman) I love the reminder that Christmas is a big deal. Jesus coming to earth is a big deal. God sending His only son to us is a big deal. The whole story changed. It was perfectly timed. Perfectly played out. The perfect gift to humanity, and later the perfect sacrifice. Yes, I am quite thankful.

:j

When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life. Greg Anderson

A few days ago, I updated you all on my 50 goals that I wanted to complete in 500 days. I think it's time for a new list. This time I'm going to complete 27 items before I turn 27. That gives me from now until October 17th. This is in lieu of any New Year's Resolutions because the other day on Facebook I said I'd already started my New Year's Resolutions because I'm an over achiever. That was actually a lie. I just said it to be funny. This is my attempt to make that lie a reality.

Without further adieu, here are my 27 things....

1. Watch the movie, "What About Bob?"
2. Visit Chicago
3. Knit a scarf
4. Start my doctorate
5. Get photography business onto The Knot
6. Enter a 5K
7. Memorize a book of the Bible 
8. Sew something pretty
9. Finish decorating my mud room
10. Clean out my linen closet
11. Take 1 picture every day
12. Go camping
13. Blog every day for a month
14. Make a photo book of my college years
15. Read 50 books
16. Try Yoga for a month
17. Donate 10 inches to Locks of Love
18. Try a new restaurant
19. Make my bed every day for a month
20. Fast Facebook for a week
21. Memorize one verse of the Bible each month
22. Build a snowman
23. Give up sweets for a month
24. Teach Kody a new trick
25. Clean and decorate my back porch
26. Play in a poker tournament
27. Taste a new fruit

I might also get a tattoo. Thoughts?

:j

"People who soar, are those who refuse to sit back and wish things would change." - Charles R. Swindoll

:j

"What is started today is never finished tomorrow." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

My 50 in 500 goals were supposed to be completed by November 23rd. I've been dreading this update because there are numerous goals that I didn't get to, and I fear your judgement, Internet. None the less, you deserve to know what was completed and what didn't. (For those of you who don't know or remember, I started a list of 50 things I wanted to accomplish in 50 days. Here is the post.)

So without further delay or procrastination, here is the complete list, color coded. Doesn't that count for something?

1. Buy a house (Completed 9/2/09)

2. Launch www.jennyslens.com - (Completed 6/4/2010)

3. Knit a scarf - FAIL - Although I do go to a coffee shop every Monday night to knit with my friends, it's just that I usually edit photos the entire time.

4. Get a new logo for Jenny's Lens (Completed! 2/1/10)

5. Visit Chicago - Work in progress. My friends and I are hoping to go soon

6. Organize my iTunes Library into playlists (Completed 11/23/2010)

7. Go on a missions trip (Completed 10/19/09)

8. Head toward my ideal weight - Always working on this one!

9. Blog everyday for a month (Completed 3/20/10)

10. Visit my friend Steven in Philly (Completed! 9/4/2010)

11. Organize my filing system in my classroom - moved out of the classroom, so this on is redacted.

12. Get some "gallery prints" of my work - FAIL

13. Get a dog (Completed)

14. Take an art class - FAIL

15. Work out 4x a week for a month - Completed (August and September 2010)

16. Read the Bible cover to cover - FAIL

17. Organize and archive personal photos -Work in progress

18. Learn how to use Photo Shop - FAIL

19. Take a road trip - (Completed 8/2010)

20. Shoot a destination wedding - I'm giving myself this one because I had to drive 2 hours to one wedding. Stretch? Yes.

21. Get photography business onto The Knot FAIL

22. Re-learn the guitar- Work in progress

23. Create photo books from my snapshots through the years - Work in progress

24. Find a cool way to package my photo products - Work in progress

25. Solve my Rubik's Cube (Abandoned?)

26. Get better about sending out cards to past clients-FAIL

27. Join a photography forum - FAIL

28. Read one classic lit book that I haven't read (Completed! 10/20/2010)

29. Bake my own bread (Completed! 11/25/2010)

30. Do another family shoot of my entire family (Completed 12/5/2010)

31. Plant my own garden (Completed May 2010)

32. Run a 5K - FAIL - I'm putting this on the next list

33. Invest in a 70-200 f/2.8 lens FAIL - I forgot about this one

34. Organize the folders on my laptop - Work in progress

35. Start a personal blog (Completed!)

36. Start using only reusable grocery bags - Work in progress - sometimes I remember, sometimes I don't

37. Create info sheets for clients (Completed, but now I need to start using it!)

38. Spend a week without TV (Completed! 7/3/2010)

39. Create my own recipe box like Mom's FAIL

40. Memorize a book of the Bible -- yes that says book FAIL - I'm close

41. Paint something to hang in my house (Completed! 5/2/2010)

42. Donate my hair to Locks of Love (completed 8/17/09)
43. Learn to make my own chai tea latte (Completed 10/4/2010)

44. Pay off my car FAIL - should be done by February

45. See the movie "What About Bob?" FAIL - How did I miss such a simple one?

46. Plan a B4 reunion-Work in progress

47. Travel to a different continent (Completed 10/19/09)

48. Do 25 consecutive push-ups FAIL

49. Host a dinner party (Completed constantly!)

50. Document a "Day in my life" with photographs (Completed 3/5/10)

For those of you keeping track, that's 24 completed, 1 abandoned, 1 redacted, 14 fails, and 10 works in progress. I'll do better next time. And next time I'm not highlighting my failures in red!

:j

"Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean." -Johann Wolfgang

Kelly is finishing up the house tours with foyers and entry ways. 

One of my first decisions about my house was that I wanted to paint the entry way a bright green color. It took 7 samples before I found the right green. I highly recommend using sample colors before diving in and buying a whole gallon (or 5) of a certain paint shade only to realize that it is more yellow than it seemed, and ending up with 3 unused gallons in your garage. Not that I have experience with that.

This is what the entry way looked like when I bought the house.

This is during the renovations. All nice, white and bright!

This is what it looks like now - with the most accurate representation of the green paint. It's a tough color to photograph! (See the paint color in the office, it may or may not be the paint mentioned earlier in this post.)

We took the old trim and 2 doors off the shelf in the hallway, painted it black, and filled it with fun.

.

This is the wall opposite the black shelf.

This is what it looks like outside my front door.

:j