Day 30: Self Portrait

Day 30: Self Portrait

Well, today is the last day of the month long Gratitude Photo Challenge. I've kind of been dreading today. Not because it means the challenge is over, but because the last day of the challenge calls for a Self Portrait. You remember my hand insecurities? Imagine the insecurities that come with a self portrait. A true picture of who I really am would actually be of me laughing really hard, so hard that I'm crying even. But a picture taken of myself fake laughing would just be plain awful... so you get this one instead.

I have two days left to make up that I missed at the beginning of the challenge. Day 6 was Books, so I took a picture of a stack of books that is in my closet. Quite the diverse selection there, eh? And yes, that is Twilight right next to Crazy Love. What can I say... I'm well rounded. The only day that I did not complete was Something Funny. It's a little bit more difficult to capture something funny in a picture. A lot of the times it is a passing moment, or you had to be there, or something was said or done and it isn't visible. Last night, I got into my car and looked to my right to see two pugs just staring at me in the car next to me. Not barking, or wagging their tails (wait, do pugs even have tails?), just staring. I thought that was funny, and tried to bust out my phone to take a picture, but I guess they lost interest in me because they had sat back down in their seats and weren't visible when my camera was ready. Anyway, I tried. I thought I'd give you a pretty picture of tonight's sunset in its place. I figure that's a good way to say "adios" to this challenge. (No worries, I was at a stoplight when I took this picture. No lives were endangered... this time.)

Day 6: Books

Day 7: Something Funny/Tonight's sunset.

Alright, well, thanks for sticking with me the last month with all of the pictures. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. All of this to say... I'm grateful.

Day 29: Light

Day 29: Light

I kind of cheated with this post. Technically I took these pictures yesterday and am using them for today, but you'll forgive me... right? My mom and I started decorating the house for Christmas last night. Every year we have a "girl's tree" that's all pretty and colored coordinated and such, in addition to our big, special, homely family tree. Last night we decorated our girl's tree and also worked on the mantle. I've been itching to decorate with Mason jars lately, and saw a cool thing with Mason jars and Christmas lights at Gap, so I thought I'd steal their idea. A peek of it is above. I figured it was a pretty good representation of Light.

Girl's Tree.

Day 5: Morning Sky

I thought I'd make up for one of the missed days this morning as well. I, once again, risked the lives of everyone on 435 this morning taking pictures of the sky. Woops. Everyone is alive and well though (as far as I am aware of.) Here is a picture of the amusement park I drive by every morning.

Day 28: Nighttime

Day 28: Nighttime

Only a few more days left of this challenge... Are you getting sick of me yet? I'm pretty sure this is the most I've ever blogged consecutively. You get me on a roll and I just can't stop.

Tonight my aunt Cindy treated myself, my mom, and my brother Cory to what is, in my opinion, the best pizza in Kansas City: Waldo Pizza. Their chicken almond pizza on honey wheat crust is heaven... Tonight was full of great conversation, great pizza, lots of Diet Coke, great people watching (this couple walked in and I said, "That is literally an SNL skit waiting to happen." How I wish someone funnier than I was there to make it even funnier than it already was...), people I love... You can't get much better than that. I'm grateful for nights like these...

Day 27: Daily Routine

The things that are a part of my daily routine include: brushing my teeth, using the restroom, bathing (let's be honest, I may or may not be the queen of the "I didn't shower today so my hair is in a cute braid instead" look... on a pretty regular basis), eating, going to work... Nothing really that thrilling. So I just decided to take a picture of my caffeine consumption. Every day I start my day off with coffee provided by my beloved Keurig accompanied by some kind of tasty creamer because I'm not man enough to drink my coffee black. (The creamer to your left is actually my aunt Georgie's who left it here after Thanksgiving, but it was an appropriate prop.)

This picture may be the ugliest of them all. And this concept Daily Routine is probably the most boring of them all. Very few people do exciting things on a regular basis: Sky diving? Nope. Get a piercing? Nope. Have a baby? Nope. Write a book? Nope. Daily routines are boring. But that's ok. I'm still grateful that I'm alive to have one.

The end.

Day 26: Transportation

Day 26: Transportation

I didn't remember until about 20 minutes ago that I hadn't blogged for today. Today's challenge was to take a picture of Transportation. I was going to go out and take a picture of my beloved Honda Civic but then I decided: 1. It's dark and late. 2. It's cold. So I thought I'd be creative (if you can even call it creativity, maybe it's just laziness...) and take a picture of my keys instead.

I'm incredibly grateful for my car. I have a hefty 35 minute drive to and from work every day so transportation is pretty much a necessity for me. Last week I had a scare because I was out driving and my car died. I was accelerating and it decided that it had had enough and stopped accelerating and so I just rolled to a stop... in the middle of the road... with no shoulder. My brother Kyle saved the day: I called him and he pushed me and my car quite a ways to safety then took me home. Then my brother Cory went and checked my oil for me (because I suspected that was what it was because I suck at remembering to check my oil.) I was, indeed, completely out and started worrying because that's the one thing my dad preaches to me on a regular basis: "Abby, you have to check your oil or bad things will happen!" My dad came home and didn't give me the tongue lashing that I deserved for not remembering to do what he has told me. Instead he went and checked on my car and waited for the tow truck to get it to our mechanic. (How blessed am I to have such special men in my life!) I was pretty worried that I had flat out killed my engine because of the oil situation and was preparing myself to have to buy a new engine. But guess what... I got lucky. And the thing that was wrong was actually my distributor, so it only cost $300 to fix (including an oil change... you know, since I was completely out) compared to the $2000 that I was prepared to shell out for a new engine.

All that to say... 1. I'm thankful that I have a decent car. 2. I'm thankful that the fix was pretty minor last week 3. The I was given a free pass, a wake up call, to be more diligent about checking my oil before something truly bad happens. (Holy long post about dumb car issues... sorry, I guess I'm a bit wordy tonight.)

Day 25: Artwork

Day 25: Artwork

I can't say that I have much artwork in my life that I'm crazy grateful for. I appreciate art and enjoy being creative, but if my house caught on fire and I had 60 seconds to grab my belongings, any resemblance of artwork would not be on the "must grab" list. Tonight my family did play a game that I love that semi-involves artwork. It's call Pictionary Telephone. Everyone has a pad of paper and writes a phrase down. They pass their paper on to the next person who has to a draw a picture of the phrase. Then they pass the paper to the next person who can only see the drawing, not the original phrase, and has to guess the phrase based on the drawing. (E.g. the picture on the bottom right was of the phrase "a baker's dozen" and the picture on the top right was "time flies when you're having fun.") You keep going, phrase, picture, phrase, picture, etc. until you get your original phrase back. Some are better drawers than others, and some people just can't take a hint when guessing phrases. So, as you can imagine, it gets pretty funny. I laughed so hard I cried multiple times during this game. For that, laughing so hard I cried, I am grateful.

Day 3: Happiness

I could take pictures daily to demonstrate happiness because I'm pretty fortunate to lead an incredibly happy life. The other day while baking a pumpkin cheesecake I thought this look of all the spices in a bowl was beautiful. Call me crazy for finding spices to be beautiful... but I do. So I took a picture and here it is. Right next to the cranberry white chocolate chip cookies I had just made. Basically, baking makes me happy... and here is a picture that represents that. I'm grateful that I have fun things in my life like baking to add to my happiness.

Day 24: Gratitude

Day 24: Gratitude

Today is the day that this month is all about: Thanksgiving. It's such a special day. There were 31 people at my house for the Thanksgiving meal. (Unfortunately, one of my favorites wasn't there though. I dearly missed my cousin Julie who couldn't make it because she is a nurse, and unfortunately, people can't heal themselves for the holidays, so she had to work...) I ate a lot (too much), laughed a lot, chatted a lot, played a lot, napped a lot, loved a lot... it was just a great day! I took a few pictures to document today's loveliness. Because the thing I am the most grateful for above all else, is my family, my picture for today is of them. I'm so happy to be celebrating with them today. (One of the random traditions that we have is to do a piñata, and above is my family collecting the candy!)

Tables all set.

Lots of people waiting to be fed!

Day 1: Favorite Food

I also thought I'd stick in a picture for Day 1: Favorite Food that I still need to make up. My favorite food is homemade Chex Mix and Thanksgiving is the ultimate time for the delicious snack. We eat a lot of Chex Mix in my family, so my aunt and cousin brought a total of 7 bags of it! Here is a picture of a few of them. Man, I love Chex Mix. Man, do I love everything about Thanksgiving...

Day 23: In Your Closet

Day 13: Closet

I feel kind of guilty showing my closet... for multiple reasons. Remember a few months ago when I was so proud of myself for cleaning out my closet? Gave you some before and after pictures. The whole bit. Well... it's not clean anymore. It's not nearly as bad as it was, but it for sure isn't as clean as it was either. I also feel a bit guilty for how much stuff I have. It's shameful really. It's probably time to do another closet purge. Maybe after the holidays... I am grateful though. I'm incredibly fortunate to have what I have. What a blessing to have the life that I have...

Try-It Tuesday: Chicken Curry in a Hurry/Day 22: Clothes

Chicken Curry in a Hurry.

Guess what today is? Tuesday! You know what that means? I tried out a new recipe! It's late and I'm worn out so this will be quick. Basically I found this recipe for Chicken Curry in a Hurry on Real Simple's website. Me. Chicken. And curry. We're pals. So when I saw this recipe I had to try it out. It was really easy and quick: start to finish I was done in 30 minutes (and I even cooked my own chicken when the recipe calls for a rotisserie chicken.) And it was delicious! A great flavor and great consistency. This was probably my favorite recipe that I've tried out so far. I'd highly recommend it. Chicken Curry in a Hurry... two thumbs up!

Day 22: Clothes

Today's photo challenge was to take a picture of Clothes. It was kind of a lame challenge, if you ask me. Especially since tomorrow's challenge is Closet so I couldn't take a picture of my clothes in my closet. So I quickly snapped a picture of what I wore today. And ta da! There you have it. This picture is lame, but I am for sure grateful for the abundance of clothes I've been blessed with.

Day 21: Where You Sleep

Day 21: Where You Sleep

I've said this before, but I love my bed. I love the mattress. I love the Egyptian cotton sheets. I love the quilt. I love the colors. I love my pillows. I love the head board (it was my grandma's...) I love it all. I wish I could go home, cuddle up, and alternate napping with watching Netflix all day... Maybe in another life, right? As for me, I will be answering questions about 401ks all day instead.

Yep, I'm grateful for my bed. You would be too if you slept in it. (P.S. I'm blogging from work, as always, sorry for the wonky formatting.)

Day 20: Seasonal

Day 20: Seasonal

To the average person, a picture of a spice container would not be seasonal. To a baker, it is. Baking with things like cloves, nutmeg, ginger, all-spice, pumpkin pie spice etc. only comes one season of the year, and it's here!

I am planning on making this recipe for a Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake later this week and while making my grocery list for the things that I needed I came across this cloves container. Does it look a little bit old? That's because it is. It has an expiration date of February 1986. That's before I was born, ya'll! I love the look of it... (Mustard, anyone?) Isn't it just great? I decided that it was time to invest in some new spices, but I thought this was great... so a picture of it's loveliness and a comment on how great it is to be baking with these special spices was necessary. Happy fall baking!

Days 18 and 19

Day 18: Something New

Yesterday's challenge was Something New but I didn't have a chance to blog with my friend Corrie being in town so I'm just now getting around to it. Honestly, I didn't really do anything new yesterday. I did go to this place called Thomas in a part of town I haven't spent much time in. I suppose that was new, but I didn't think to take a picture of it at the time. Instead I took a picture of a tattoo parlor that I walked by near Thomas. At the time I thought it was funny because I was like, "I'll put it on Twitter as "Something New" and people will freak out because they will think I got a tattoo." Eh, it wasn't that funny, but here's the picture anyway.

Day 19: Best Friend(s)

Today's challenge was Best Friend. My very best friend is my Momma. But because I have been so busy this weekend I didn't have a chance to take a picture of her. I've had a lot of time to spend with my friends Jessie and Corrie this weekend though, so I thought a picture of them would do as well. Here we are watching Twilight in Jessie's bed this morning. Corrie had never seen them so we had a marathon of the first three movies then went and saw Breaking Dawn this afternoon. Why yes, we ARE cool, just in case you were wondering. What a great weekend it has been... (P.S. Don't judge us for the horribly unflattering picture. It's the idea that counts, not the fact that none of us had showered yet.)

In summation, I'm grateful that:

1. I didn't get a dumb tattoo last night like I jokingly implied that I did.

2. I have some great friends in Jessie and Corrie.

Day 17: Memories

Day 17: Memories

It's pretty hard taking a picture of memories... For some reason, brain waves just aren't very photogenic. (Ok, bad joke, it's 11:15 and I'm tired....) So instead, I thought I'd take a picture of making memories instead of past ones.

My dear friend Corrie moved away in June but she is back for the weekend! So we've been reminiscing over memories and making new ones this weekend. Today was pretty much the perfect day: I took her to get her hair cut at this cool salon downtown (Skyline, it was great), we went to Blanc for lunch, grabbed coffee at Latte Land, stop by the grocery store to pick up a few things, made dinner at Jessie's house, then spent the rest of the evening relaxing, chatting, and (my favorite) playing games. What a great day and what special friends to make memories with.

Here is a picture of Corrie, Jessie, and I. Seriously... what a great day!

Day 16: Animals

Day 16: Animals

I like animals but I don't have any animals. Maybe someday when I have my own place I'll get a dog... Maybe someday...

I went over to Jessie's tonight and had intended on taking a picture of her dog or cat and was going to say something like "I love Jessie but I'm grateful that I don't have her pets." They're fine pets and all... just a dog who is a bit hyperactive and a cat that's a bit needy. I tried to take a few pictures, but it turns out, I don't know why, but animals like to move a lot so I couldn't get a good picture. So what did I do instead...

...I took a picture of Jessie's son Liam acting like an animal. I had to pay him a quarter and 2 pennies for this picture, but he posed for me and I love it. I love him. I love their whole family. And I am truly grateful for them. (And the fact that I don't have their crazy pets as my own.)

Try-It Tuesday: Pork Tednerloin/Day 15: Technology

Day 15: Technology

First on my agenda, today's photo challenge: Technology. Of course I had to take a picture of my iPhone. The technology of it all wows me constantly. Seriously... I cannot believe technology. Google. The internet. Computers. Cameras. Electricity. DVR. The list goes on. The the wonder of technology and what people have dreamt up and accomplished over the years is astounding. I'm grateful for that. And have I mentioned I'm grateful for my iPhone. (I love it.)

Triple fail (and a half).

Secondly, Try-It Tuesday tonight was kind of a triple fail.

Fail #1: I totally forgot to plan something. My mom asked me last night at like 9:30, "Hey, do you have anything planned for dinner tomorrow night?" Me: "Crap!" Yep, I forgot. Luckily Momma had a back up plan for a recipe she was planning on trying out this week, and she let me steal it.

Fail #2: Jessie and I had talked about her and the boys joining for Try-It Tuesday this week. And guess what I did? I forgot... again. I got an e-mail from her saying, "Hey, are we on for dinner?" And me being the lame-o had to say no because I had forgotten and hadn't planned ahead and didn't think we'd have enough food.

Fail #3: The recipe that we tried was a recipe from Woman's Day magazine that my mom had found for Prosciutto-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin and Thyme Roasted Apples. Sounds pretty delicious, eh? The pork was delicious! The apples... a mushy mess. NOT a do-over. (AND, you'll notice that there was way more food than I thought, so Jessie and the boys could have come over after all. Triple fail and a half.)

Day 4: Leaves

And finally, on a more positive note... I thought I'd take a catch up picture today. The leaves this year haven't actually been very pretty. There was one weekend that everything seemed pretty vibrant, and after that it was all gone. But today while walking on our lunch break, my friend Christine and I came upon this tree and it stood out about the rest from what this season's foliage has had to offer. Yay for fall and beautiful trees!

Day 14: Movement

Day 14: Movement

Yes... I was driving while taking this picture. I'm a bad human being. Or at least a bad driver. But I survived, and more importantly so did everyone else around me. I originally took this picture to try to capture the sunrise, because Day 5 that I missed because I started this challenge a bit late was to take a picture of the Morning Sky. AND today's challenge is to capture Movement, so I thought I could kill two birds with one stone with this picture: Morning Sky AND Movement...

...and then I decided killing birds with stones isn't the point of this challenge. It's to take a moment and look around. So, I've decided today shall just be Movement. I will be back with a Morning Sky picture soon. (So if you drive on 435 between 6:45 and 7:15... beware!) And what I am grateful for about movement, you ask? Well, I'm grateful that I can move. I'm grateful for a car that takes me to and from work. And I'm grateful for beautiful morning skies (even though that's not today's challenge, I'm still grateful.)

Day 13: Written Words

Day 13: Written Words

Here is a picture of the ultimate written Word, and my handwritten notes that I took on the message that I heard this morning at church on idolatry. Interesting stuff...

I'm grateful for the fact that I was well-educated growing up and can write without thinking twice about it. Just take a second and think about the education that we get here in the United States. We seriously take it for granted. Not everywhere in the world do they know how to read and write, or have the means to even buy something to write on. I am the queen of buying a journal, writing in it for a little while, forgetting about it, then buying a new journal to "get me excited" about writing again. It's sickening. Not only do I have countless journals, I have a computer, and a phone, and an iPod, and... The list goes on and on. I'm just plain blessed... and I'm grateful for the live that I've been given.

Day 12: Hands

Have you thought about your hands lately? I hadn't. As I started thinking about taking a picture of my hands I thought, "Hm, what color of nail polish should I have on? I hope they don't look chubby in the picture... Should I put lotion on first?" Isn't that ridiculous? Ridiculous, I tell you! When I got over my dumb hand insecurities, I started really thinking about my hands...

I'm pretty grateful for them. Have you thought about what life would be like without your hands? I encourage you to do that right now. Just think about your day, and everything you've done. I woke up, went to the bathroom (just think about that without your hands and that should inspire gratitude on its own...), I put a jacket on, made some pancakes, took a picture of myself giving my pancakes a thumbs up, ate some pancakes, and now I'm blogging about these wonderful hands of mine that did all of that for me this morning! I am grateful for my dear hands. I hope you are, too.

(P.S. I put butterscotch chips in these pancakes and they were amazing... If you're a butterscotch fan, even if you're not, I recommend you trying it out. It'll rock your world.)

Day 11: Something Old

Day 10: Something Old

Today's picture is of the lamp that I got from my grandma's house after she passed away. I've blogged about this lamp before... because I love it. It reminds me of my grandma. Her house in Dodge City, KS. Thanksgivings there. Her living room where we would all just pack in and talk about life. It reminds me of my family. And I like that.

Day 10: Nature

Day 10: Nature

I took this cool picture of the trees that line the sidewalk on the way out of work, because the truth is, that's pretty much my only interaction with nature throughout the week. But something happened somewhere between work and home and the picture disappeared, so I took a picture of the tree outside of our house instead. I do love the tree outside and I am grateful for it. It's a sickly tree and every year we think will be its last. BUT, it continued to survive, and I'm grateful for that.

Day 2: Smile

Because I started this challenge a week late, I'm trying to make up for some of the missed days as I go along. So today I'm also posting a picture for Day 2: Smile. We have pictures of our family on our refrigerator and they all make me smile on a regular basis. I especially love this picture of my cousin Hallie. I mean, who couldn't? She's probably the cutest child I've ever been around in my life. I'm grateful for her and the rest of my special family.

Day 9: Inspiring Person

Today's was an easy one... really easy. When I think, "Who inspires me in my life?" My mom is at the top of the list. She's a pretty special woman. If I died tomorrow, I'm not really sure what people would say at my funeral. Hopefully nice things like I cared for people and laughed a lot or something, but I really don't know. At my mom's funeral, which better not be until I am 103 years old (that means I plan on my mom living until she is 133... she can do it!) I know the things they will say about her. That she is kind, and wise, and loving, and gentle, and godly, and beautiful, and funny (I think I get to see her funny side more than anyone else, sometimes we get to laughing so hard that we cry... It's great.) The list would go on and on. THAT is why my mom is inspiring. She lives a life that I want to live. She's a cool woman, and often I think, "Man, what a cool woman! How did I end up with her as my mom." To say I'm grateful is an understatement. But I am, indeed, grateful.

Here is a picture of my mom this morning before I left for work. She said, "I can't believe you are taking a picture of me in my robe with no make up on!" but I did it anyway. I told her I would keep the picture dark and far away so no one could tell. I put another picture below so you can see how truly beautiful my mom is... both inside and out.

Try-It Tuesday: Hawaiian Chicken Chili

I've said this before, but if I could eat soup every day of my life... I probably would. I've probably eaten it 5 of the last 7 days (and some days twice in one day) and I'm planning on continuing because the leftovers from this week's Try-It Tuesday recipe are going to be awesome! (And yes, I took a break from Try-It Tuesday last week because I went to Chick-fil-A with Jessie's family and my family instead. Let's be honest, you probably didn't miss it THAT much anyway.)

This week I wanted to make soup for Try-It Tuesday. (Surprise, surprise!) I looked on some blogs that I frequent, and there were so good looking recipes out there... but nothing quite appealing enough. So then I headed over to Pinterest, and saw all sorts of options, but sided with a recipe I saw for Hawaiian Chicken Chili. Sounds a bit... interesting, eh? My guess is you had one of two reactions when reading that. 1. "Hawaiian Chicken Chili... wow, that sounds delicious!" 2. "Hawaiian Chicken Chili... what the crap, Abby?" Well, after trying it... the consensus was that Thought #1 was on track! It was delicious! I'd encourage that you check out the recipe here. (P.S. If you do try this recipe out, it calls from 8-12 chicken breasts... that's ridiculous. I used 5 and even my dad, the meat man himself, said it was meaty enough.)

Jessie came over to partake in Try-It Tuesday this week. Some would say she's a brave soul for coming... I'd say she's one lucky duck. :) (And of course, there's my Momma, my dad was there, too, but they're regulars for Try-It Tuesday.)

30 Day Photo Challenge: Gratitude

Remember that one time I showed you a list I saw on Pinterest of fun fall things to do? Well... I'm a slacker. And I was gone every weekend in October, aka the prime time to check the things off of that list, and I just didn't get it done. It was still a fun list. Full of all sorts of fun things that would be great to do during the fall. I'm just a slacker.

BUT, I just saw another list that I liked. So I'm going to give it another go. I saw this on a baking blog that I read, Brown Eyed Baker, and she must have seen it on Pinterest (the giver of all things great). It's a challenge to take a picture every day for 30 days of things that you are grateful for. After reading what the blogger's intention was for this list, and her blog in general, I feel like she and I are on the same page. She encourages people to do this so they "stay in the present... are aware of their surroundings"... what I refer to as "noticing one's heart."

Anyway, I thought I'd partake in this list. I'm a bit behind, today is the 8th, so I've missed 7 days of photos, but I'll make them up as I go along. Today was a pretty easy one to complete. Can anyone say... mustard!

Day 8: Favorite Color

Instagram.

Sunflowers.

I'm soooo late getting on the Instagram bandwagon. (It's not my fault. I just got an iPhone.) Instagram, by its own definition is: "a fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Snap a photo, then choose a filter to transform the look and feel of the shot into a memory to keep around forever." (Let's be honest... these won't be around forever, I'm not going to be showing my grandkids pictures I took on my iPhone... or maybe I will... Hm...)

Anyway, I would always see people tweet them or blog about them and would want to be able to take cool looking pictures with my phone, too. But I couldn't... and now I can. And I'm loving it. For those of you who have been doing this for ages, thanks for humoring me. I know that this is nothing new. But it's new to me. And have I mentioned I'm loving it. Cheers to Instagram and all of the artsy pictures I will attempt to take in the near future. Here are a few I've taken so far. (Cut me some slack here, I'm new to this.)

Oatmeal butterscotch cookies.

Don Chilito's.

John Mark McMillan.

I am loving John Mark McMillan right now. I really can't get enough. His new album Economy has pretty much been on repeat for the last week. Why do I like JMM, you ask? Well, I'll tell you...

1. He's got this incredibly powerful voice yet when you watch him sing it looks like it's effortlessly flowing out of him.

2. He makes me a believer in the electric guitar. You know how much I love the acoustic. This guy makes me like the electric. That says something, folks.

3. He's got the sound that I don't know why, but the way I want to describe it is a "deep South" vibe. If you listen to him, you'll see/hear what I mean.

4. Whoever the girl is that sings harmony for him is great. She totally adds something awesome. I want to be her. Add it to the lists of dream jobs.

5. His lyrics are pretty great. I know lyrics are generally the first thing most people pay attention to, but not me. When I attempt to listen though, John Mark McMillan is really poetic.

(5b. I wanted to keep the list at 5, but remembered that I like how he uses "ohhhs" a lot in his music. My brother Cory pointed out how "ohhh" is like an extra word in JMM's vocabulary. He does use it a lot, but it's powerful, in a simple, "words aren't needed" kind of way.)

(5c. Ok, one more thing. It doesn't sound like Christian music, but it is. I like that, too.)

Anyway... all that to say. You should check him out. Here are some videos from this acoustic series he's been doing. Pretty incredible, if you ask me.

This would be...

My excited face! Do you want to know why?... because I flipping got an iPhone! Yes, yes I did!

About a month ago, Apple announced that Sprint was finally getting the iPhone. I had been waiting a long time for this. Ok, not that long, but pretty much any time someone busted out an iPhone in front of me over the last 3 years, I have had to try hard to keep myself from gazing longingly in its direction. Anyway, from the day of the announcement on I was on a mission to get this phone. Had a run in or two (which I'm not proud of) with Sprint about some "policy issues." And then when it was finally time for my contract to be up so I could order the phone... they were all out. Looking back, I'm kind of ashamed of how bad I wanted it, how much I talked about it, and how hard I fought for it. It's a phone...

But yesterday I got it... and I love it! I have an iPhone! (And yes, I know my excited face is awesome. You should see the 30-some photos on my computer right now of my attempts at the excited face. If these were the ones that I went with, you can only imagine the others...)