White world.

There is just something about the way snow looks when it falls. It silently drifts down, landing gently onto the cold ground. There is something about the way it looks when it is settled like a blanket over the land. When the sun hits the snow, it makes it look like a million little diamonds reflecting the light.
You know what's amazing? God made each snow flake different. No snow flake is alike. I guess that is kind of like us.... we are all unique.
Imagine: God created everything... that means He designed every single snow flake. Every little detail that you can't see without a microscope... It's amazing to think about!
When the world goes white (not all at once, of course) it is so beautiful...so peaceful... so cozy (as long as you are inside).
Now, I am going to go watch a movie with my family in front of the fire place. Yes, there is a fire going.

Enjoying the snow even though I didn't really want it at first,

Pronto: That means now.

Here are the snow pictures I took today. I didn't get a lot since it was so darn cold, but here are some of them!

This is not how much snow we got.

I thought this looked cool. Everything was beginning to freeze. The snow was getting really hard!

Frozen tree branch.

Recognize this? It is the same railing from the last photo in: Randomness Wednesday! post. Only in this one there weren't only "ice crystals," there were, at least two, inches and snow....with some sleet and ice... Although, you probably figured that out by yourself. But, you know me, always pointing out the obvious.

More icy snow.


This was tonight. My dear sweet puppies (not really puppies anymore) enjoy the snow. They left their cute paw prints everywhere...as you can tell. **cough** captain obvious **cough**

Did you hear that?

Ah! The lovely snow. I didn't want snow. But now that it's here I am glad we got it! :)

Oh. You are probably wondering why a named this post "Pronto: that means now." Well...it has nothing, whatsoever, to do with this post. Bee always says that, and I think it's funny. That's the only reason.

Much love from the Captain Obvious,

We got SNOW!

It snowed overnight last night. It had flurried, but didn't really do anything else. But when I woke up this morning, I found a white world outside of my window.
I will post pictures of it later. It's not all that much. I can still see the grass in our yard, but, hey, it's snow, right?! We're supposed to get more throughout the day and night.
I probably won't post the pictures from the barn. I looked at them and saw that they didn't turn out. Sorry...
But I will post snow pics!

Bummer.

I had my interview. It went great. But I don't have enough knowledge of certain things in photography to work for the studio, yet. The owner said that I can come back in the fall after having more practice, and learning more. But for now I am back in the "no job...not even close" section.
Hopefully that will change in the next couple of weeks.

Bummed out,

I apologize :( and Randomness Wednesday.

Sorry... no pictures from yesterday. I can't seem to find the little camera's upload cable. I will continue to look for it. When I find it, I will try to get those pictures posted on here a.s.a.p.!
For now, I will do a quick Randomness Wednesday! This week will be different that usual. Instead of telling you only what is on my mind, I will tell you other stuff too! Just 'cause you're special. :)
Tomorrow I am meeting with the owner of a photography studio for an interview. I am excited and slightly nervous.
Today was a slow, lazy day. My mom and I watched "Fried Green Tomatoes" and then "Tuck Everlasting" a little while after! We never, and I mean never, watch TV during the day. It was fun. Both movies are great!
I then looked up the music notes for the theme song for "Tuck Everlasting." I then played it 50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,987,000,450,023... over. If you can figure out what exact number I just put, let me know. I'd appreciate it. lol.
Right now, Bee and I are in my room seeing as how our parents have a guest and we were told to go upstairs. SO! We all know how fun that is...
I am watching/listening to ihopu student awakening. It is a college in Kansas City...the student awakening is a conference they are having. It's awesome!
I am thinking about:

• Tomorrow
• God
• A combination of stuff I don't how I could put it into words
• American Idol

Explanation:

• Tomorrow: The interview I told you about...I'm trying not to be nervous.
• God: He's so wonderful. How can I not think about Him?!
• A combination of stuff I don't how I could put it into words: Do I really need to explain that? I don't think so.
• American Idol: It just went off about 42 minutes ago. It's still in the audition stage so we get to see a bunch funny people try to get into Hollywood. It's great fun to watch! Simon makes it even funnier.

That's all I got for ya tonight. I'll let ya know how tomorrow goes!

Thanks for reading.

Capture the Moment,

Late night.

It's late. I'm tired. The pictures from today are still on my little camera. They will be there until tomorrow. Just thought I'd tell you.
I just climbed into bed after listening to my dad read a chapter from the book he's reading. He has such a great reading voice. He used to read to us (Bee and me) all the time when we were little. I love it. :)
I am going to go to sleep now.

Yesterday: The day after the storm.

So...yesterday (and today) we have had a blue, clear sky! (I didn't say "skies").

Okay, so we had a few little clouds...

Our back yard is usually covered in leaves...since it is all trees. But after the hard rain (and the tornado warning), there are many trails of just dirt. It looks like someone literally went and made little trails through our yard. It's neat! The above photo makes me smile. The water reflects the sun to where it looks like bunches of diamonds!

Now, this, this is very exciting. I took my camera outside when it got dark (obviously) and took this photo. NEVER before have I been able to get a picture of the stars that hasn't blurred!


This one is better because you can see more. Trust me, you can't see this many stars at our house with your naked eye; the lights from the city (even if it isn't that close) dim the look of the stars. After I took this photo and looked at it; I ran inside and flipped out as I showed my family. Then I uploaded it. I sharpened it, enhanced the color, darkened it... after all that, I could see more stars. I'd say that is cause for rejoicing!

Lemme tell ya! It has been windy. If you have never been around trees when it is windy, you should! It sounds like waves crashing in the ocean. It has to be my top favorite sound in the world! (Not that I've heard every sound in the world...but ya know what I mean. :) ) The wind through the trees...not the waves in the ocean...but if they sound the same then I guess it doesn't matter.

I am going to go get ready to go to the barn now. I leave in a half an hour. I am takin' my little "point-and-shoot" camera with me. Hopefully tonight I will post some of the pictures.

Always pointing out the obvious,

Warning:

This morning I found out that we were under a tornado warning and a flash flood warning last night.
Guess that explains all the rain yesterday...
Haha. It's funny. Usually when we are under a tornado warning, we don't really get one...well, we do, it just doesn't get that close. I am very thankful for that. :) But we have had a few close calls in the eight years we've lived here.
Just thought I'd share my morning news with you.

It hasn't stopped!

Yep! The rain is still here. Not that rain is bad, but it seems like most of this year has been full of rain.
If you can't tell... I am one who likes warm weather and blue, clear skies. I guess it should be "...and a blue clear sky" instead of "...and blue, clear skies."
Yes, I correct myself.
Yes, I do it quite often.
Yes, the rain is getting harder as I write this.
Thanks for reading these short, random posts. It's the random posts that make bloggin' fun and interesting! :)

Being lulled to sleep by rain,

The cool photos!

I have tried for a while to get a photo like this. I finally got it! YAY!
The top photo looks blueish for some reason....this one actually turned out the way it really looked outside.

Happy Sunday,

Feeling A Little "City"

Today, my sister, friend/piano teacher, and I went to the "high class" part of town. I didn't take my new camera. I wasn't that brave. So my little "point-and-shoot" camera was used for the first time since Christmas. I think it was feeling happy to not sit on my shelf anymore...

This is in the car headin' to the mall. (I am not a mall person, but it is fun to walk around with your friend and sister drinking a Starbucks Tall Hazelnut Frappuccino with whipped cream on top... just sayin').

The mall! I think this was Dillard's.

Inside of the mall. This doesn't even begin to show how packed with people it was!

I don't know exactly what these buildings are...I think they are business suites, but who cares? They look cool. (We weren't in the mall at this point; we were in Crate and Barrel.)

Outside of the Cheesecake Factory!

INSIDE of the Cheesecake Factory. Dude, I didn't know it was this fancy. Can we say "wow"? Yup! WOW! There...I just said it.

Here's the yummy part. A regular cheesecake with two layers of Red Velvet Cake. The outside was covered in White Chocolate. Let's just say if I was one inclined to faint; I might have. It was seriously THAT good!

Then we went to the Saturday night church service at church. It is so awesome! This series of services is "New Thru 30." Going through all of the New Testament this month.

Waiting for the praise and worship to begin! This is the new campus. There is one in the heart of the city, at a high school, and this one! There might be one other one but I can't remember if it's still there or not.

THIS, this is amazing. This is at the very end of the service. The final song was beginning. The anointing was thick. God is just sooooo GREAT! I didn't want the song to end. I wanted to stay all night! But I couldn't...and I came home.

Oh! I have a cool picture to show you tomorrow. I took it last night. It's soo cool!

I enjoy the city, and I enjoy the country. I like them both. :) Right now I like the city better. Haha.

Smiling because I'm happy,

Musical Colors.

I had my first piano lesson this past Sunday! YAY! It was great. One of our friends is a music teacher for an elementary school, and she offered to teach my dad and me piano. It's exciting. I've always thought playing piano would be fun!
So I am just learning this basics.
I had had guitar lessons for the last time almost four years ago. I had played bass guitar, but the teacher was HORRID! So then I was learning acoustic, then there was a huge drama with us leaving a church...my music teacher was the worship leader...so those lessons stopped. I didn't have a desire to pick it back up after that. What I didn't realize was that the music notes I had learned are the same as piano! It was so great to know that because it has been easier to learn 18 flashcards in under 40 seconds.

I am learning middle C right now. Musical alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. So simple! So far playing piano has come so easy to me. But I am also only doing one hand (right) right now...
Today, since I have completed all of my assignments, and can do the flashcards in 31.5 seconds (yes, I timed myself), I decided to try to learn the next little song in the book. I did it in ten minutes! It makes me feel good to be able to do that! Haha.

Now, once again, I am going to go pretend it's not cold (and gray...and dreary) outside.

Be Blessed,

Such a Tease!

For this whole week the weather has been nice and warm! Sunny skies...everything felt like spring!
I woke up this morning and found rain. Gray, dreary skies. And rain. It is such a tease! But that's not all. It wasn't just rainy and gray...it was cold too! COLD! After being warm all week it went cold over night! Why does the weather like to tease me so? It's wrong, I tell you, wrong!
Now excuse me...I am going to go pretend it isn't cold.

Teased but not amused,

Just FOUR - And No More!!!

Hey everyone!  It's Riah.  I didn't have much to do this morning on account of doing extra school yesterday, so I thought I'd blog (hope it's ok with you Lys).
Yesterday while Daddy took Beenie to her guitar lessons and Bree and Kay to the library, I made half a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough for Momma, T. Lynn and I to eat.  While mixing this batch up I asked T. Lynn if I could bake a few for a friend that is coming over today.  She replied with a staunch "No".
"But he would really like cookies T. Lynn," I coxed. "Can't he have just a few?"
"No, it's my cookie dough."
"But it would be nice to let him have some, Baby."
"No."
"Pah-lease...."
"Ok, but just four!!"
"Four?! Can't he have some more?"
"No, its MY cookie dough!"
Now please bare in mind that we are still mixing cookie dough through all this.  I was also texting the guy who's amount of cookies were in question.  So T. Lynn says, "Tell him he gets four cookies!"
"I'm not telling him that." I was hoping to convince her that it would be nice to give him more.
"Fine, I'll tell him." She promtly picks up my cell phone and opens the slider.
"Oh no you don't.  Put it down."
"But I wanna tell him he gets four cookies."
"But we might give him more."
"Nah - ah, he gets four."
Here I will mention that I was done mixing cookie dough and had started to pull out a pan to bake a few.
"If I let you use my phone can he have more?" She loves to text little words on my slider, it makes her day.
"Maybe."
So I let her put in that she said he could have some cookies.
Well, I did finally convince her that he could have more, but it didn't really turn out the way I expected. Why's that?  Because once I was done helping her text, she looked me in the eye and said very seriously "Fine. He can have five."  I sighed and gave up!

-Riah

Randomness Wednesday!

This week on "Randomness Wednesday".....
The theme is "short and sweet!"

• Dishes


• Mocha Silk Pie (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/01/mocha-silk-pie/)

Now to explain. Don't go away!

• Dishes: We just finished dinner. There are tons of dishes to do in a short (get it) amount of time!


• Mocha Silk Pie: I just made this (before dinner). It is setting up as we "speak." I can't wait to eat a piece! I'll be sure to let ya know how it was. (I already tasted the filling before I poured it into the crust. Oh. My. Goodness. Delicious! (and sweet! (get it?)) :)

That's a rap on this weeks edition of Randomness Wednesday's "short and sweet!" Now off to start on dishes. We are having someone over soon...they will eat when they get here. That means I can't do all of the dishes right now... dangit! haha!

Randomly,

To Appease Bee...

**PHOTOS REMOVED.**

Later, I will do the regular Randomness Wednesday. That is, if I don't forget...or if I run out of time.

Love,

Panic.

Yesterday afternoon my oldest (and only) sister, Bee, volunteered to be the one I practice my photography on. The sun was in the perfect spot to give the perfect lighting. It was warm outside for the first time since early fall. It was just all-together a beautiful day for a photo shoot!

I took upwards of 300 photos of Bee. Yep, 300!

Out of all of the great photos I got of her...this one stood out to me...

It spoke.

It screamed..."This is a picture to remember! THIS is a picture to be printed out and shown to everyone we know!"

This picture is one I will keep forever.

...

...

...

...

...

**PHOTO REMOVED**

It shows just that one moment of surprise.

Of sheer panic.

If only I had a picture of myself as I laughed hysterically. Tears were pouring from my eyes as I laughed. I was blessed to be able to capture a photo of Bee looking absolutely and totally...in panic.

Why, you may ask, was she panicked?

I will tell you.

There was a spider.

The end.

(Love ya, Bee!)

Sunday Rain. Sunday Shine.

This is a rainbow that showed up today after a heavy rain fall. It was still sprinkling from an almost non-existent cloud.

Sunset.

Air plane. Obviously.

Same plane (obviously) going into a cloud.

My back deck. The water reflections are my favorite!

Same water reflection on the same back deck.

The oh-so-famous-back-deck with a leaf mark.

Water drops on one of our outside chairs. I love how it reflects the sun and trees.

Water pictures are one of my top favorites. Then there's bokeh...don't even get me started on bokeh. It is amazing!

Water. Oh how I love thee. Thou are so photogenic.

Water. Photoshop-like-thing. Oh how I love thee. Thou make me want to sing.
(Can you see the difference between the two above photos?)

Love,
Captain Obvious

Better known as: