We're home :)

We're home. And back to work.  And the Lagoon starts on Sunday. That's the wrap up!

 

Funny quote from our trip home:

 

Starbucks barista:  "One Tall Decaf Vanilla Latte.  Oh, I mean, it's a Grande.  Don't worry, I wouldn't jip you your caffeine."

Try again...

Yesterday, Jeremiah and I tried to fly home from Arizona. It didn't work. We're going to try again today. Cross your fingers that we make it farther than the airport this time!!! I don't know how many times I can call work and say "the President of the United States wouldn't let me go home!" and have it be believable!!!

Huh, you say?

Serious!! We got to the Tucson airport yesterday for a 1:05 flight. Before we left home, we knew it was already slightly delayed and figured it was from weather. We got there, it was scheduled to fly out at 2:00pm. We had a 2.5 hour lay-over, so still plenty of time to make our connecting flight.
Then the announcer comes on "For all travelers on flight 1228 to Chicago O'Hare, your flight is arriving on time, however, we need control tower okay before we fly out. It could be 120-240 minutes before take-off."

Why??? Because the President is flying in Air Force One and apparently doesn't like to share air space!!! You can't fly within so many miles of AFO and so we were grounded. We talked to the lady to find out for sure if we'd make our connection in Chicago, seeing it was the last of the night. She said it wouldn't be a problem because it would be backed up as well. Meaning we'd get home hours after our original late flight (10:50pm). So we got them to rebook us on a flight today... We didn't want to risk 1) getting stuck in Chicago or 2) not having a ride from Harrisburg in the middle of the night.

Good thing we did!!! The flight we were supposed to be on didn't leave until 4:18 and didn't get to Chicago until 9:08. Our flight from Chicago to Harrisburg (last of the night) left at it's original time of 8:00. That would have been a gross day.

Thanks for the extended stay POTUS!!

Arizona Happenings

Wednesday already... Gracious!

Yesterday we went to see National Treasure 2 with Jer's dad. It was every bit as good as the first one, if you ask me. I really appreciate a movie that you can be sure is not tainted with nudity and language yet still has a little more depth than a Disney classic.

Today we are going hiking in the Saguaro National Park or the Desert Wildlife Museum. Both of which should provide some interesting character to my yet lacking 2008 in 2008.

Welcome to the new year everyone! I hope it holds something special for each of you!

Off

We're off. We get up at 4am tomorrow, leave the house by 4:45, and fly out of Harrisburg at 6:30. We'll spend 6 wonderful days with various parts of Jeremiah's family (mostly in Tucson with Laurel), and be back next Monday, arriving in Harrisburg at 10:50pm.

I'm not sure how much actual blogging will be done, but be sure to check here for the first installments of the 2008 in 2008.

Not too late to join in. Set your own numbers. Maybe 2008 is too high. Shoot for a thousand ( an average of only 2.75 pictures a day).

See you on the *SNAP* side!

Babies and Broken Tradition

As mentioned in passing 2 posts ago, not one, but TWO of my sisters are pregnant and will have babies this coming summer!! How exciting! For Jaymie, this will be her first and she couldn't be more excited. And, ha!, for Gina, this is her second and she couldn't be more excited :)

As for broken tradition, my family has always made it a point to have one birthday each month. Ok, so we haven't "made it a point" but that's the way it's always been. Growing up, with a family of 6, we had two months of birthdays and two months without patterned throughout the year. It looked like this:

Jan - sister Gina
Feb - mom Lorraine
Mar - no one
Apr - no one
May - sister Krista
June - dad Thurland
July - no one
August - no one
September - sister Jaymie
October - me!
November - no one
December - no one

Since then, there have been 4 children had by my sisters, and keeping with tradition, they birthed them to fill the empty months. It now looks like:

Jan - sister Gina
Feb - mom Lorraine
Mar - Isaac (Krista's 2nd)
Apr - Naima (Gina's 1st)
May - sister Krista
June - dad Thurland
July - Emily (Krista's 1st)
August - Jake (Krista's 3rd)
September - sister Jaymie
October - me!
November - no one
December - no one

Since I was the next married and the next expected to have kids I was told I "had" to have them in November or December to keep with tradition. (My family doesn't like to share, apparently!!!).

But now Gina is due in July and Jaymie is due in August, sufficiently breaking tradition and allowing me to have my kids whenever I darn well please. I'll keep you posted :) (Don't come checking anytime soon though!!)

No takers

Merry Christmas everyone!! Hope you all had a great day!

Apparently, based on the abundance of comments on my last post, no one is brave enough to join me in my quest of 2008 in 2008. That's alright, I'll venture it alone!

Here's a short list of what I have thought of so far that will help me towards my goal.

1- We are spending the first week of the new year in Arizona. Everywhere you look there is something uniquely beautiful to snap.
2- Two of my sisters are pregnant and will have babies this coming summer. Granted, they live on opposite sides of the continent (with me in the middle), but with the family reunion, maybe we'll meet up there. And, if they haven't popped yet, even preggo pictures can be fun.
3- Two family reunions this summer. There must be something I can capture!
4- One reunion is on Grand Manan Island. Jeremiah has never been there, and the lighthouses, cliffs, oceans, whares, etc will make great shots!
5- The Lagoon is launching in January and is bound to have excellent photo ops throughout the year.
6- Hope is that by next Christmas, there will be enough kids/families in the church to put on a Christmas play. Always photo-esque!
7- Jeremiah is going to Swaziland and Mozambique in November. We're praying about me going along. If not, does it count if HE takes the pictures??? hehe
8- We're looking for a house as we find things we like. Once a house is in the works, I'll want to show it off electronically.
9- I love my husband and maybe if I'm nice, he'll let me take some pictures of him throughout the year.
10- We have found some beautiful spots around the Carlisle area that are guaranteed to be snapped at different points throughout the year.
11- None of you have been to my town, so who knows, you might even get a virtual tour once the spring hits and the land is a little more beautiful once again.
12- It hasn't snowed yet this year and I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival, so when it comes, you can bet I'll be snapping it up!
13- My sister bought me a "how to photograph nature" book, so I'll make use of that as well!
14- Washington DC is only 3 hours away.
15- We will find a zoo to go to.
16- etc etc etc.

It's not too late to join in the fun!! let me know if you plan on snapping with me!

Be on the lookout for my upcoming jumpstart in Arizona!

2008 in 2008

As previously mentioned in other posts, my wonderful and loving husband bought one of my dream gifts for me this past September. He bought me a sleek, black, shiny DSLR camera -- the Nikon D40. I've been accused of not using it as much as I could (although I have taken a handful of pretty neat shots).

I've taken this accusation and made it a challenge.

My challenge is this:

2008 in 2008.

That's it. That's how simple the rules are. Between the stroke of the New Year and the stroke of the following New Year, I will take 2008 pictures. Based on it being a leap year, that's only 5.4863387978142076502732240437158 pictures a day (I think I'll round it off to 5.5 a day) average. That's an average of 167.333333 pics a month

While that's the only rule, I have given myself a couple of guidelines:

1- No more than 15% can be taken in any given month. (must be less than 300 pictures a month -- if November rolls around and I haven't hit 1408, there's no catching up. ) Pictures over 300/month may be included in the count only if the 2008 goal is overshot)

2- I have to try. I can't just shoot nothingness because I'm behind. You don't have to think it's beautiful, but I have to know for myself that I am trying to learn and strive for better photography.

3- The sky's the limit. Pictures can be of anything I feel like shooting. I'm going to enjoy myself or die trying.


So fellow digitizers out there... are you up for the challenge? Will you join me? Or am I on my own? (Filmers, I invite you too, but only if you've got a strong pocket book!!!!) Make your own guidelines and let us know what they are!

You can find my pictures (starting with brand new Jan 1 pics) at www.sarahs2008in2008.blogspot.com. (Unless someone tells me a better place for listing pictures). If you want to join me, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!! Make a new blog (www.yourname2008in2008.blogspot.com or wherever) and I will put a link to you on my page.

Let's shoot it together!