It's me it's me!!!

Here are some of the pictures I took in the first few days.

This is at the Natural Science Museum. It's the rock and gemstones exhibit, well part of it anyway...

This is only Titanic related picture they allow you to take, besides letting you take a picture of the banner (which I did). They have a "photographer" standing just inside the exhibit that makes you stand infront of a green screen and snaps a picture. Later, at the end of the exhibit, they print the picture for you (should you ask for it) and the picture shows you standing infront of the Grand Staircase with the "ghost" of the Captian on it. I put quotes around photographer because he wasn't one. I walked up to him and asked him what kind of camera he had. He shrugged and said "I don't know, I'm not a photographer." He looked at my bag and said, "Are you? Is this a good camera, do you know?". I was slightly appalled that they didn't have a real photographer, but he said he just uploaded the pictures onto the software program and it did everything. I wasn't thrilled to hear that. They should have a real photographer. It wasn't that poor guy's fault that he wasn't a photographer, but I think they should have hired a real one. I ended up looking at the camera and it's a basic entry level Canon DSLR. I told him that it was a perfectly fine camera for what he was doing. Ugh, still not happy about that... I want to volunteer sooooo bad :)

This was taken at the Bog Gardens. Yes, it's supposed to be blurry!

This was taken at the Bog Gardens as well. The duck is a little too dark sadly...

This picture is in memory of my dear Great Grandma "Cake" who passed away two weeks ago. She loved violets, so Momma made this arrangement for the funeral. The funeral was sad and I barely kept myself from crying while we (Mom, my sisters and I) sang. There were yellow roses every where (another of her favorite flowers) and it was very bittersweet. We know she's with Jesus, but being human we didn't want to lose her.

We love you so very much Grandma!

Goodbyes are not forever.

Goodbyes are not the end.

They simply mean I'll miss you

Until we meet again!

-- Author Unknown

Riah Chelle

Home again, home again!

I'm home. Pictures will be coming (sorta) soon. I am sad though, my camera battery died only two or three days into my "vacation" and I didn't pack the cord to my battery charger. I thought I did, but apparently I left it at home on our school desk. I was very upset at that.
We visited several places. The History Museum, the Natural Science Museum, the Childrens Museum, the Titanic Exhibition, the Bog Gardens... It was so much fun. I'll tell y'all about it later!

Much love,
Riah

Expensive!

They don't lie when they say Photography is an expensive hobby :/  I was just making my photography wish list. EEP! It really adds up! I did expect it to be expensive but this is just a tad bit crazy!
I still love it though :)

Hey y'all!

It's been a while but im sure you will forgive me... 3 jobs takes up a lot of time and when you finally get home being on the computer is the last thing on your mind. :)

Riah is at her Grandma's house this week so we won't be seeing much of her in the blogger world so I will try to pick up the slack (both hers and mine - lol) and post!

Appearantly there was an earthquake in Richmond, VA that was felt all the way down through Rock Hill, SC and up through Canada -  I found this online so maybe it will make some people feel better about it... "East Coast earthquakes are far less common than in the West, but they also tend to be felt over a broad area. That's because the crust is not as mangled and fractured, allowing seismic waves to travel without interruption."
There is whole lot going on with our planet - a hurricane, earthquakes around here and Colorado. Sheesh! But I'm not worried because I know that God has us covered :)

I got off work and one job this afternoon at 3 and I am going into my next one at 5:30 - really don't wanna go anywhere else today but I'll live :)

ttyl!

My Great Grandma...

Passed from this world to the next early this morning. We'll miss her so much, but she wasn't happy here any more.
We love you so much Grandma "Cake" and we'll miss you terribly!

-Riah

P.S. This was the Grandma that lived with us for several years up until last February.
P.P.S Read more about her here.

Monday Damsel Daybook

I can't think of anything to post about right now, so here's a mix of the Damsel's Daybook from Storygirl and one a friend of mine used to do when she blogged.

Outside my window... A lovely sunset... Well actually, the window is facing East so it's just the purple-y horizon, but it's still lovely.

I'm thinking about... Ice Cream, how bummed I am that Torrent isn't being released until September and how I should really get Amber's letter in an envelope so I can send it out tomorrow.

From the kitchen... Nothing much, we already ate dinner. I could use some coffee and apple pie though. I know what I am going to do when I finish posting!

I am creating... A secret project.

I am reading... The Ranger's Apprentice: The Icebound Land by John Flanagan with Bree (we tend to read books together).
Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery.

I am hearing... Siblings chatting, bugs and birds making their usual racket outside, the movie Rio and Momma playing a game with Beenie.

I am hoping... That we'll watch Doctor Who tonight. We just watched the episode where the Doctor becomes human to throw off some aliens who want to absorb him (or some such thing). Need I just say I like the Doctor as a Time Lord, not as a human!!! I am dying to see an episode of him being himself the whole time, not just the last ten minutes.

I am planning... On sending Amber her letter, working on some skirts this week, making coffee in a little while and begging Mom to let us watch Doctor Who or Monarch of the Glen or Pysch.

I am wearing... A blue jean skirt (made out of actual blue jeans - I made it myself) and a rust colored, cap sleeved, thermal weeve t-shirt.

Around the house... A living room that needs tidying.

My wish of the week... That I'll get at least one skirt made before we leave Saturday.

One of my favorite things... My camera. I have the bestest family ever!

A picture:

Much love,
Riah Friah Me O Miah

Hi!

You must think I've neglected you... I promise I'm not trying to :)
A lot has been going on lately - I haven't even been able to talk to Ri about it much which is very sad!
I am going to be quitting my bookstore job next week and working with the photographer almost full time - when I'm not working with her I'll be working at the kids hair salon my mom works at as a part time receptionist - that will only last until my photography picks up.

There is a chance I will be in Australia in January or July of 2012 - I was at a Hillsong United concert on Tuesday (AMAZING!!!) and when I was waiting in line to get a t-shirt I saw that they had a sign up sheet for a free semester at their college and I signed up for it! Now I hope that I get it!!
I am going to another Hillsong United concert on the 19th (next Friday) and can't wait - now I just hafta figure out how to tell someone I don't want them to go and I want my mom to go instead.... :/

I'm making some changes to my room - taking some stuff off my walls and adding other stuff - and I actually cleaned it! YAY! Summer really took a toll on my cleaning time... now my room is clean and mostly organized. So happy about that.

I miss Riah - we haven't really talked in what feels like a month :(  -  We don't really know what each other is doing!

I started my Bachelors course in my online class a couple of weeks ago - it's boring - I despise it - but it's something for now!

I should go get out of my pjs and get a move on my day - yes I know its 1:30.... but it's my day off (until 6:30 tonight) and I am enjoying it! :)

An interesting afternoon!

When we go to the library, we have a system. Mom goes and researches what books she needs using the library card catalogue, Kay helps Beenie find books and I help T. Lynn. Bree is pretty much on her own, but she'll come to Mom, Kay or me for help if she needs it. After I have helped T. Lynn find her books I do one of three things: Take her with me while I find my books, leave her with Beenie and/or Bree in the children's sections or leave her with Mom.
Yesterday we went to the library and I took T. to pick out her books, but she was in a bit of a mood and didn't want to pick a book - not even a Nancy Drew or Ramona book (shocked?). Well she was required to pick one non-fiction book, so after some hushed arguing (which mostly consisted of me telling her she had better pick a book and pick one right now) she finally picked a spider book and a Nancy Drew book. I then went to help Bree find a couple of books and then I had to answer questions from the Librarian if we were like the Duggers or not (which we're not) - I eventually sent the lady to find Momma, since I have no clue what religion the Duggers practice nor do I know why they believe what they believe.
After I had done all of this I was about to look for my books when T. Lynn called me over to look at something. She was flipping through a magazine and had just thrown it down in disgust when I walked up.
"Riah, look at this!" She exclaimed irritably.
"What's amatter?"
"This magazine showed a snake on the front but there is only two snakes in the whole thing - the front (cover) and one inside! See?" She picks up the magazine and it falls open to a page covered in snakes. "Ohhhh! Riah, sit down and look at this with me! I musta missed it..."
I sat down beside her and she flipped through every page that featured snakes. Then she asked me to find her some snake books to take home, so I found one and handed it to her. She ran and got her spider book and wanted me to sit there while she looked through it too. While she was studying the spiders I happened to glance back at the magazine rack T. had gotten her magazine from. It was filled with girly magazines about bedroom designs, boyfriend quizzes and make up tips. There was one Boy's Life magazine - yep the snake magazine T. Lynn had was the Boy's Life magazine. Rows and rows of girls magazines and my baby sister picks up the only boy magazine in the whole rack! Go figure. Kay eventually finished looking for her books and very sweetly offered to sit with T. while I looked for my books.

As it goes my afternoon kinda went bad-good-bad-good!
Bad: T. Lynn refuses to pick out books.
Good: I eventually get her to pick out two.
Bad: She is irritable.
Good: She finally gets interested in something and ends up going home with about 5 books.
Bad: Our library is changing it's system and not only is it taking awhile to figure out, it also isn't fully installed and we can't renew, request or put books on hold. We can just check in and check out. Such a bummer.
Good: Maybe this new system will be better.
Bad: The library didn't have any of the books I wanted (it's a small, SMALL library).
Good: I was forced to browse most of the library and found two books that look great:

Two books and a Lemon Tea Snapple make for a fun afternoon. I can't wait to start reading them... Right now I am reading a rather boring book and am almost just going to stop reading it

And here is just a random picture of my sunflowers!

So that was yesterday! Fun, no?

-Miah

"Ah summer..."

"...what power you have to make us suffer and like it." - Russel Baker

Summer let's us enjoy clean kitchens:

*please ignore the notes and pictures all over the side of the fridge

Yes, I scrubbed this entire kitchen!

Summer also destroys those clean kitchens (the same day you clean them!):

Just to can the tons and tons of tomatoes from the garden!

It also:

Gives you tons of yummy canned tomatoes - even if it costs you a clean kitchen!

Yeah, I love summer, but I don't exactly enjoy having my nice, clean kitchen messed up. It was worth it though :)

These are some of my favorite things about summer:

Reading new books and listening to music while sitting in our sunroom.

Taking tons of pictures of my beautiful sunflowers.

Going to the Bicentennial Gardens with my sisters and Grandma.

Getting long cheery letters from dear friends. I love Amber's letters!

Seeing our sidewalk up to our house so covered with plants that you can't even walk up it. Beautiful, no?

Laying on the ground to get close up shots like this.

Taking close ups of little sister's "très adorable" freckles.

And new perspectives... Our porch and stairs look so much more picturesque from this view!

Much Love,

Mi