Snow Tubing

No, I have not fallen off the face of the planet. My poor blog has been neglected for the past 2 weeks, however, while I have been busy working my tail off. I recentlly got promoted at work (yay), which means much more work to do (boo), and that translates into less time for blog posts. Hopefully things will slow down soon, though, and we can all resume our regularly scheduled blogging. :)

Today I wanted to share with you the fun adventure we had last night...Snow Tubing! I should probably have saved this for 5 on Friday since there's nothing related to photography, but considering my record the past 2 weeks I thought it would be best to just go ahead and post now while I'm on my couch. :)

So yesterday after the KU - KState game was over (which is an entire other blog post...holy cow, what a game!!), we piled into our cars and drove out to Weston, Missouri, to Snow Creek. We spent 2 hours climbing up and then sliding down a huge hill on inner tubes...an adventure known as Snow Tubing. It. was. a. blast. I took a few pictures and a few videos, all on my point-and-shoot camera (didn't really want to shower the DSLR in snow for 2 hours...). I'm posting a slideshow of pictures, along with 2 videos, so enjoy! It was a really good time, I can't wait to go back!!!!

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{video one}


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{five on friday} 1.15.10

Well, look at that, it's already Friday again! You know what that means...

{one} rock chalk.
If you know me, you know I'm a huge KU fan (it being my alma mater and all...). I saw this video the other day...check it out:

That's Cole Aldrich, and some other random guys...kicking some @$$ from half court! This actually made the front page of Yahoo! and MSN. Rock Chalk!

{two} American Idol is back!
I used to hate this show. Hate it. I thought it was just plain stupid, and that Simon guy annoyed the you-know-what out of me! Well that was then. Now, I love it. Don't ask me why, but I have completely converted and now get so excited every year in January when a new season starts. It's really not the same this year without Paula, but I am super excited to see how her replacement, Ellen does. That woman CRACKS ME UP. So now you all know where I will be every Tuesday (and sometimes Wednesday) night at 7pm. :)


{three} speaking of Idol...
I recently bought Kris Allen's CD(for those of you who live under a rock, Kris Allen was last season's winner - and my favorite from the very beginning ;) I may be biased, but I think it's great! I highly recommend you go out and buy it too!

Isn't he just dreamy!!!!

{four} we've been hard at work
The hubs and I have been doing some spring, er scratch that, winter cleaning around our house. We finally finished emptying our "catch-all" room (formerly known as a bar, and even formerly known as a garage) of the "all", and it is now living space. Can I get a HALLELUJAH! I forgot how nice it was to have that one extra room in the house. Especially now that in that extra room there are 2 couches, a chair, a TV and most importantly my elliptical! I have gotten back to working out this week, thanks to all of our hard work. (Ok, it was Matt that did most of the work, but I helped all right?!) I would post a picture of the room and all of it's complete-ness, but (1) I didn't take one, and (2) it's not very pretty - none of our furniture matches, the walls are a mess of things that used to be hung and holes from other things that are no longer hung, and it's really just a room of randomness. So use your imagination on this one, folks. :)

{five} a helping hand
I'm sure you've heard about the massive earthquake in Haiti by now. How devastating. I can't even imagine going through something like that. I learned today that my company is rallying together to gather all kinds of items to send to the relief effort in Haiti. I think this is a great idea (especially for those financially challenged like myself who can't just drop a check to the Red Cross or someone, as much as we'd like to). I will be rummaging through my cabinets over the weekend - I know I have extra blankets, canned goods, and personal care items. I will probably pick up a few things on my next grocery trip as well. My company is a rather large one, so I bet with us all coming together we will be able to provide a bit of relief to a few people who have gone through so much.

Happy Friday and I hope you have a WONDERFUL weekend!

Winter in the Midwest

The past few weeks here in good ol Kansas have been pretty much the definition of Winter. We've had snow, we've had ice, we've had more snow, and we've had negative temperatures. Just the other day we saw our first peek of sunshine in I don't know how long, so I tromped around in the back yard to get some photos...








Yeah, we had some SERIOUS icicles!


And of course...had to get in on some sun flare...




Now that I'm posting this, the weather is finally starting to warm up. So now our city goes from a solid block of ice and snow, to a giant puddle of slush. Hooray.

{five on friday} 1.8.10 ~ part 2

Well, now that I've looked back on the year that was 2009...let's put that all behind us and talk about the promising future that is 2010!

2010 ~ Looking Forward
5 things that I am hoping for in 2010...not necessarily "resolutions", more like goals.

{one} DO something with my photography.
I feel like my photography skills are slowly starting to develop, and I want to continue that. I would like to hopefully take a class or two, but more so I would like to do something with what I have done so far. Some day I would love to have my own business, but I'm not there just yet. I do have a few ideas cooking, though, ways that I can get some experience, and do what I love. So stay tuned. :)

{two} Get (and stay) healthier.
I went on a huge kick at this time last year, trying to eat better, work out, etc. all in preparation for the big day. Well that day has come and gone, and lets just say I haven't *exactly* kept up with all of that stuff. So I would like to get back on the bandwagon. I have an awesome elliptical machine sitting in my house, that I will be getting back on, and I have also been snooping around looking for some healthier recipes as well (since I am the resident cook in the G household :). I'm not going to set an "I want to lose X pounds by X date" goal, because that mindset is what allows me to jump off the bandwagon in the first place. So I would just like for Matt and I to eat a little better, and work out a little more, just for an overall healthier lifestyle.


{three} Finish remodeling our home.
After getting our house broken into last year, we decided to fix up our house as best we could, get it on the market, and get out of the area we live in. Well, here we are a year later, still in our house. Obviously things haven't gone as planned, and after sitting down and taking a good hard look at things, we've decided that we just aren't quite ready to try to sell our house and buy a new one. So this year, I would really like to save up as much as we can, and finish some of the remodeling projects we've started, so that we are more comfortable in this home. After finishing the living room and 2 bedrooms, I am much more optimistic, and much less hating of our house (which for the record I did NOT participate in choosing...). So I know that once my kitchen and bathroom are updated, I will feel much better about staying in this home for a few more years. Luckily, I have quite a handy husband, who just so happens to specialize in kitchen and bathroom remodels. :)


{four} Save money.
I am notoriously bad at this. I have never been good at holding on to what money I have, I just always seem to find something I *need* whenever there is money in the bank account. So this year I am hoping that we can do better at budgeting, pay off some debt, and actually keep a balance in that dang savings account. We have 2 vacations planned for the year, as well as those remodeling projects I just mentioned that we will need to save for, as well as just general savings in case of an emergency. So hopefully with the help of Mr G, we can change my old ways and learn how to SAVE.

{five} Think about starting a family.
I'm not saying we are ready for a baby right now (ahem, MOM!), but we are ready to start thinking about it. I mentioned in my previous post how excited I am to have a niece, and how excited I am for her to have a cousin, so hopefully we can work it out so the 2 kiddos will be somewhat close in age. :) Plus I think it will be a long road for us to get pregnant, so we'll probably need to give ourselves some time (and ever since I was younger I've said I want to have kids before I'm 30...so the clock is officially ticking...5 years and counting!). So, Mom, don't get too excited, just know that we're officially thinking about it. :) Things happen when they are supposed to, so I'm just going to put my trust in that, and let nature take it's course!


I have about a million more goals/resolutions/plans/whatever you want to call them for 2010, but these are the top 5 that I want to focus on. Hopefully at this time next year I can look back and see that I've accomplished them. :)

I hope everyone out there has a fabulous Friday, and a wonderful weekend! And if you are in the KC area, try to stay warm! (with the current temperature at -2, that's easier said than done...)

{five on friday} 1.8.10

Welcome to the first edition of Five on Friday in 2010! This one is going to be a little different...I'm going to do 2 lists - 5 things I remember from 2009, and then 5 things I'm hoping for in 2010. So maybe we should call this one 10 on Friday instead. :) I think I will break it up into 2 posts, since I tend to get a little wordy...


2009 ~ Looking Back
5 things I remember happening in 2009.


{one} Our house was broken into.
The first major thing that happened to us in 2009 was not really a good one. On the 13th of January, we came home from work on a seemingly normal Tuesday to find that our house had been broken into, and we had been robbed. I'm not going to lie, it was a pretty scary day. To come home, see your house torn apart, and think about the idea of someone else rummaging through your things is not a very good thought. We had about $7,000 worth of stuff taken from our house, including every camera I owned, our Wii console, my laptop, and a ton of other things. I will say though, I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. The night (and several days after) this happened, we had a hard time believing that, but looking back now I can see it... The burglars took an old film SLR camera of mine, maybe worth 50 bucks. In working with our insurance company, we learned that after providing them a list of everything that was taken, they would pay to replace all of the items. Well, it just so happened that their "replacement" for that old camera was my new Canon DSLR - something that would have taken years for me to save up to purchase otherwise - thus, my love for photography was reborn. So thanks, burglars. :)


{two} We got married!
Of course the biggest thing that happened to us in 2009 was our wedding! It was hands down the most amazing day of my life. I spent pretty much the entire first half of the year planning, stressing, planning, and anticipating. It turned out to be a perfect day, that I wish I could relive over and over again. :)

Image by Josh Solar Photo


{three} We honeymooned in Mexico.
Coming in at a close second for amazing-ness was our honeymoon. Just thinking about the days of waking up and having the biggest "responsibility" be deciding whether to first hit the beach or the pool...well it makes me want to go back! We had never been on a real vacation together, and let me tell you this was such a great first one! We spent 7 nights in all-inclusive heaven, baking in the sun, drinking "Mango Tangos" by the dozen, enjoying life as Newlyweds. I really hope we can save up to take an anniversary trip back to Mexico (or anywhere else as heavenly) in the near future!



{four} I turned 25.
Just a couple of months ago in November, I had my 25th birthday. It was the first one that made me actually start to feel old. It's crazy - all of my friends are settling down, getting married, having kids; my "little" cousins are going to turn 18 and 21 this year (what?!?!); and I am now a *wifey* who spends her spare time thinking up decorating schemes for the house, and looks forward to a weekend at home with the hubby. *Sigh* I am officially old.


{five} We became Aunt & Uncle G.
This just follows right in suit with the "feeling old" one. As I've mentioned recently, Matt's sister and her hubby recently added the beautiful miss Lexi to the family. It may make me feel old, but more than that it makes me SUPER excited! I have always been really close to my aunts and uncles, and I am really excited to have a niece of my own to spoil. :) I just can't wait to watch her grow up, and see what kind of a kid she will become. I'm already imagining the fun we'll have, going shopping together (buying her anything she wants!), going to the movies, all of the holidays where I get to shower her in toys...it's going to be great! And I'm also pretty excited to have a little one of our own some day so Lexi can have a cousin. I'm also really close to my cousins, and I can't wait for our own kids to have that same bond!



Those are the top 5 things I remember from 2009...it was quite an eventful year!

Up next... 5 on Friday: Part 2!

Happy New Year!

Well look at that, it's a new year. A new decade even! I know it's already a few days into the new year, but well lets just say the year has gotten off to a slow start for me. :)

I've seen several other fellow-bloggers post 2009 recaps and/or 2010 goals...and I love the idea. Can't say I've gotten my own together just yet, but maybe I can squeeze that in when 5-on-Friday returns this week. :)

Anyway, for my first post of the new year, I thought it only fitting to show off my brand new niece! You may remember seeing her in my Christmas Recap, but this past week we had our own little photo session at her house. I've never photographed a newborn before, and although it was challenging, I LOVED it, and am really pleased with some of the images I got. I plan to photograph this little darling a TON more in 2010, so get ready for cute overload!

Now, for my favorite shots of the session. You will notice, that new for 2010 I have come up with my own little "logo" of sorts to put on my images. I'm not *yet* so fortunate to have my own photography business, but I still think it's neat to put my own "stamp" on the images I take. Some day hopefully the logo will change to Brooke German Photography.com or something schnazzy like that...but for now just my little way of signing my work. :)

And now on to miss Lexi and all her cuteness!


I just love a yawning baby :)


I really dove into Photoshop for this one, and I actually like how it turned out! It isn't exactly the nekkid bebe shot we were going for, but it's close enough!


More yawns...




Here she is laying in her crib in her darling nursery


And check this out - baby + tutu = too stinkin cute!


I love how she's just peeking over the edge in this one


And this is one of my favorites...it looks like she's saying "What the heck mom?!" hee hee :)


And last but certainly not least, another one of my favorites. I just love her facial expression in this one - among a ton of photos where she was *less than happy*, comes this gem where she has just the cutest little grin on her face :)


Well, that's it for the first installment of Lexi cuteness, don't worry, there will be plenty more to come in the future! After all, what else is an aunt for than to spoil and photograph her niece to no end!! :D

Happy New Year!