2009

Well, 2009 is here. It didn't come in with a bang. Nor did 2008 go out with a bang. But 2008 was "great" nonetheless - memorable. It was a tough year. Not shitty. Just tough. We fell behind on some bills. Chris graduated with his Bachelor's in business admin. We got a new car... Chris got a new job. I got to go to Nebraska back in September to see my brother and his family.

With that said...I need to get this out there. Just get it off my chest.

September. What a month. It was a month that changed my life. My marriage. Things won't ever be the same. There will always be that little indent. I don't know that I will ever get over the hurt that I caused. I don't know that I will ever forgive myself for the pain that I caused. We could have dealt with things and moved on. But I said 4 words. 4 words that I didn't mean. I watched him break down. I tore his world apart. He didn't do anything to deserve what I said in that moment. Somehow, he forgave me. Somehow, we are working past it. Somehow, he still loves me.

Tuesday will be our 2nd wedding anniversary. I cherish this. We're going to a nice dinner and a movie. We are both taking the day off of work.

Since I started this, originally, as a photo blog...I guess the best way to describe 2008 is through pictures. I have a ton so here it goes in no particular order:


















There are more...but I need to get in the shower...so this is it for now.

1) Choose the 4th picture folder on your computer


2) Choose the 4th picture


3) Explain the picture


4)Tag 4 other people




These are some of the roses from our backyard from summer 08! I took the picture, I believe, to send to my mom.

So much to do!!

5 days until Christmas!! Oh. My. Goodness! I am no where near ready. I say "I" because Chris is not really contributing this year. Money is beyond tight right now so we decided not to get presents for each other. Why don't we ever start buying earlier in the year?? Because we're procrastinators. So, since we are basically broke this year, everyone...and I do mean everyone is getting goody bag type things. Every year I make cookies or some type of goody to give each family. Well this year, I'm making oatmeal cranberry and white chocolate chip cookies, as well as caramels, turtles, oreo truffles and chocolate covered pretzels. Each family will get 3 little paper bag things full of goodies. I'll try to post pics and maybe some recipes when I get done. It should be fun.

Now, about a month ago, dh decided that he wanted to get his family the new Pictionary Man game. It was almost impossible to find!! Toys R Us had it on sale for $19.99 (Normally $30). So we kept trying to get it there but they were always sold out. On the last day of the sale, dh went to go try to get it and they were, once again, sold out. But have no fear! My husband, my dear sweet husband, is a genious! He got the add from TrU and started calling around to find a place that had it. Meijer!! WOOHOO!! They had it and would even hold it for us. Did I mention that they do price matching?? AAAAND my step mom found a $5 coupon in the paper for Meijer! So dh went to pick it up and decided that since we're getting such a fantastic deal and all, he would buy 2. We ended up getting 2 of the games for a grand total of $35! One game went to my side of the family as a whole and the other is going to his side - to play at family gatherings. It should be fun. Be jealous. Be very jealous!

Lame.

I know..I know. I didn't even last a week. I'm very disappointed in myself and have been trying to convince myself that I need to get back on here and at least DO something. SO here's my alternative....I obviously didn't do well at posting everyday or taking pictures everyday...so how about I TRY to do it at least once a week? Sounds ok, right? Not too hard I hope. eh. we'll see.

6:365

I LOVE fall. I think its the most amazingly beautiful season! I love the colors, the smells, the weather....I don't think there is anything I DON'T like about fall. I mean, really, whats not to like? Apples, pumpkins, fun, family...this time of year makes me happy. Now, my dad once told me that he doesn't like fall because its the "season of death", where everything is dying. The leaves fall because they're dying, etc. I guess the way I look at it is that it was a life well lived. The leaves are brought to life in the spring and thrive all through the summer. In the fall, they are at the peak of their life, bringing color and beauty to everything around. I can only hope that my life will be that of a leaf...and that I will only get better and more beautiful and vibrant with age.

I took Bailey to the park after I got off of work today. I snapped a few photos and was pretty happy with the results. I do wish it was a bit lighter out so that I could get a better photo of the quotes above the bridge...I couldn't get one at all because of how dark it was. The other, had to be a close up shot because it was also too dark for a distant shot. Anyway, I also got to play with some of the different settings on my camera. I'm really still learning. I don't really get the aperture setting and I'm not really sure when to use/what to set the shutter speed for. But, I'm learning...So these were my favorite pictures from the afternoon.

5:365

Once, again, not much exciting going on in the Bolt home. But whether it was exciting or not, it IS the 5th day of my 365 so I need to post a photo. I realized today that a majority of my posts are going to be photos of my pets...probably 99% will be of Bailey. She is a huge part of our lives. We bought Bailey from some friends of ours. She is a AKC registered Golden Retriever and was born August 27th, 2007. Her "official" name is "Sweet Bailey Ray". She has been nothing but a blessing to us and keeps us constantly entertained! Tonight I was taking random pictures around the house trying to get one that would make for a good blog post. I got several of Bailey and one of the cats. I decided I wanted to try playing around with one. So my photo tonight is the one I messed with. There's an original and then the one I edited...I'm pretty happy with the results, especially for my first edit! Let me know what you think!!

4:365 Election Day.

WOOHOO! Obama has been elected! I'm not going to make this a political post but just wanted to put that out there.

I had an extremely busy day with work, school, and voting and the batteries in my camera went dead. So I didn't get any really great photos do describe our day but did get a few of Chris and the dog...so I'm going to post one of the dog where you can see the election coverage on the TV behind her. Oh, my cupcakes at work today were a HIT! Everyone loved them! Eh, I need to get to bed so I'm gonna get this posted...hopefully I get something better for ya tomorrow!