Photo Challenge Day 19: Orange

Day 19:  Something Orange

I was pretty excited about this photo challenge because I am surrounded by orange on a daily basis.

As you may remember, I recently moved into a brand new building. We have spent the last few years dreaming up, fundraising for, and watching the progress of this new building, so it has been pretty exciting to actually be in the space. Here are my contributions to the orange post and a "tour" of my new work station.

Before the boxes arrived with all of our stuff. AKA the cleanest this place ever has and ever will look again.

I sit on the end, so I get the orange wall. Hooray! Part of it has since been covered by a tag board, which made me a little sad. :(

My view. When school is in session I'll see people walking to and from classes. And the landscape isn't too bad either!

The boxes arrive! I purposefully packed orange and black poms on the top of this box. I thought it would make it more fun to open and subsequently unpack. It worked! :)

Getting all my orange and black/tiger themed knick knacks in order.

More color and more tigers. :)

I took all my pix of Luke home during the move so they wouldn't get broken and haven't brought them back. I miss his little face, so I better get them back over here ASAP!

One of my real life friends just started doing the photo challenge too!

You can check her photos and more about her fun life in Texas over at Kate Eva



Clue #3 - Getting Closer

For those still following along waiting for the revelation of "the secret," (not including the people who already know, nailed it, or couldn't take the suspense so I had to tell them privately - you know who you are) I haven't forgotten about you. Here's the 3rd clue:

Previous Clues:
#1
#2

Day 18: I love my Toms

Day 18:  Shoes

I'd heard of Tom's Shoes and, in general, thought the concept was pretty neat. For every pair of shoes they sell, they give a pair of shoes to a kid in a third world country who can't afford shoes. Something like that. I love that idea. But...at the same time, the cynic in me was thinking, "Really? You buy $40 shoes just so a kid in another country doesn't have to go bare foot? I'm pretty confident if you were really buying the shoes as a selfless act to help a kid in need it'd probably be better just to send the $40 and they could buy like 100 pairs of shoes."

But...then you wouldn't have a really cool pair of trendy shoes now would you?

I didn't really know I wanted a pair - partly based on principal and the aforementioned cynicism. Then my brother-in-law bought me these for Christmas. And...they make me feel really cool and trendy....and pretty great about myself because a needy kid has a new pair of shoes. How very Machiavellian!

Regardless of my cynicism, they're mine now and I love them.

My goal is to embellish them with some sparkles.

What do your Tom's look like?

View the 30 Day Photography Challenges

Day 17: The last thing to go

Day 17:  Technology

I'm skipping a couple of days just to keep this show on the road.  Today is our last day in what has been our temporary office building for a year. Everything is boxed up and ready to be moved into our brand spanking new building back on campus. The technology is the last thing to pack up and then we're off!

I'm still doing the 30 day photo challenge.
View the rest of the challenges - including the ones I skipped!

Weekend on the Wharf

I have been looking forward to this weekend for 6 months. We love old-fashioned woody cars and this weekend was the annual Woodies on the Wharf event in Santa Cruz. Justin has always loved woodies and at some point early on in our relationship he got me into them too. We stumbled onto this event once before, but usually can't go because it falls on the same weekend as an annual event I have for work. I was so excited when our event was moved two weeks earlier this year and we could go!

They are just so fun and beachy!!!

And for the bargain price of $100,000 we can have our very own.

After geeking out over the cool cars, being the super hardcore drinkers we are, Jeff got his first official drink as a legal adult...a non-virgin pina colada. Justin had a strawberry daquari.

 Look how cute they are with their fruity drinks.

Sunday was a sad day as we had to say goodbye to my sister-in-law Sommer and her husband. They are ditching out on us and moving to Colorado. It's a super big bummer.

But, he's going to the Lord's work and all as a youth pastor, so I guess we can't be too hard on them.

Nevertheless, I don't really want to talk about it.

Day 14: The Eyes Have It

Day 14 of the 30 Day Photography Challenge

Eyes

People always comment on Luke's eyes. The comment is usually followed by, "where did he get those eyes?" Since it is obvious that I had nothing to do with them, I always have to defer to Justin. "From his dad..." wah wah (sad trombone).

Luke's eyes may be rad, but not everyone has one of these:

Day 13: Cars Cars Cars

Day 13:  Yourself With 13 Things

I can assure you there are 13 cars buried somewhere in there even if I do only count 10 in the picture. This was a hard one to take myself. My favorite is the red guy on the right. We have matching faces!

View the other photo challenges here

Becky (and Selena) Say Happy Friday

Am I the only one who gets inspiration from Disney Channel pop singers? I'll be honest, over the years I have gotten little boosts of self-confidence from the lyrical stylings of Hannah Montana, Aly & AJ, and now in today's confession:  Selena Gomez. Maybe that means I have the self-esteem issues of a 12-year-old girl or maybe it means I just appreciate a little reminder to love myself. So, to all my girls out there (and guys too if you're into it), remember you're perfect and beautiful. Happy Friday!

My favorite lines from
"Who Says" by Selena Gomez:

I wouldn't wanna be anybody else

I’m no beauty queen
I’m just beautiful me
You’ve got every right
To a beautiful life
Who says, who says you're not perfect?
Who says you're not worth it?
Who says you're not pretty?
Who says you're not beautiful?
Who says?

You’ve got every right
To a beautiful life

Who says you’re not star potential?
Who says you’re not presidential?
Who says you can’t be in movies?

Listen to me, listen to me

Who says you don’t pass the test?

Who says you can’t be the best?

Who said, who said?

Won’t you tell me who said that?

Yeah, who said?

 

(Please don't let the fact that she's dating sissy Justin Bieber negate Selena's message.) Sorry Biebs. I still don't got the fever. :)

Get out your handy dandy notebooks!

Remember that secret I told you about? Are you ready for Clue #2???

Read the first clue

Full of Hot Air

I've always had a phobia of hot air balloons. Until Sunday I don't recall ever actually seeing one in person, but they used to haunt my dreams as a kid and the thought of a giant nylon inflatable towering over me was enough to give my subconscious a case of vertigo.

We left my in-laws house at 5am on Sunday morning so we could make it to Napa in time to see the main launch. They were beautiful and not nearly as daunting as I remember from my dreams.

(That little white speck to the right is the moon.)

A magical way to spend Father's Day.

Day 12: Back at it

Day 12:  Sunset

I've been dragging my feet on this particular day of the photography challenge - the sunset post. Partly because we're usually tucked away in our cozy cottage around that time (yes, I realize how early that is) and it just seemed like too much of a hassle. Tonight we were on our way home from meeting the family in Livermore for dinner and I noticed the sun making its final stand after working overtime to bring us near-triple digit temps in the valley today.

This picture says "spontaneous summer evening to me." Kind of like those car commercials that I love where people are driving with their hands sticking out of sunroofs and some quirky indie band provides the soundtrack.

I Have a Secret...

And this is your first clue. I'm making this one particularly esoteric so the fun can continue until I am ready for the "big reveal."

I'll be back with another clue next week. In the meantime, look forward to more photo challenge posts that will be unrelated to the aforementioned "secret." :)