The fact that I’ve already watched the trailer online about 8 times is probably evidence enough that I am dying to see The Hunger Games movie. And if you’re as obsessed as I am, you’ll be just as excited to find out that they are planning FOUR movies to cover all three books of the series. Seriously, a must read!

On Saturday, Beau and I ventured out to do something we’ve never done before. I know, it sounds really risky, doesn’t it? Well, in actuality, all we did was visit a bar in downtown Houston, but if you knew me in college, well then it isn’t a suprise that I have never really been to a bar. I mean, the occasional ‘after the wedding bar visit’ or once for a meet up with the professors after visiting my college for a conference, ya. But anything other than that? Nope.

Possibly the most interesting part of our bar experience was that the Green Ranger was sitting just a few feet away from us. I swear! At first I thought it was a joke when the entertainers had mentioned it, but we looked him up online when we left and it’s totally true. I was always partial to the pink ranger, but for Beau this was quite the exciting encounter. Who knew my husband was into Power Rangers growing up?

I think the Super Bowl got Ephram a little excited. Yesterday afternoon he started rummaging through his drawers, pulling out every piece of Vikings apparel he owns, bringing it out into the living room, and pointing at it while saying ‘fuh-ball’! Poor guy, if only he knew how long we have to wait until we see another football game, let alone with featuring our favorite Purple and Gold team. But hey, Adrian Peterson was in Houston this morning!

I’ve been trying out a few new actions in Photoshop lately. And I came across this gem this morning that Beau took during our ultra-lounge-around-the-house-superbowl-sunday, right after Ephram woke from his nap. Love that little boy more than anything. Yes, even a little more than the Hunger Games movie trailer or Football. ;)

Two huge months of change. A new state. A new climate. A new home. A new job.

Wow.

December and January were two huge months of change.  From (potentially) selling our house in the North Star state, to moving to an apartment in the Lone Star state, to trading our snow boots for sandals, to retiring from meteorology and staying home with Ephram.  Change I had dreamed of but never thought would be a reality. I’m not sure I could ever feel more grateful.  Grateful to have the opportunity to care for Ephram each day, enjoy every evening and weekend with Beau, and spend more time on my photography.  Grateful for our friends and family for helping us make the huge move; there aren’t even words for how thankful I am for them.

But back up to December.

December marked a month of unknown.  If you know me at all,  you know I don’t deal with change well.  But I think because I saw the potential for us to move awhile before we knew for sure, I was able to adequately prepare myself.  I guess it didn’t hurt that Texas is amazing and we had always hoped to move to a warmer climate someday.  A place with palm trees.  Where snow rarely visited — which is rather funny since snow has been a rarity in Minnesota this winter too.  Yet when it finally did snow, I was quick to put on my boots and snap a picture.  Someday I might actually miss the snow.  But not anytime soon. ;)

January brought less uncertainty, but more change.  We fell right into our new lives without skipping a beat, even though we had no furniture in our new place.  What likely would have taken awhile to feel like home, felt even more odd with empty walls, no desks, or couches, or chairs.  But we adjusted to the new lifestyle, soaking up the warm sun, and enjoying much more time as a family than we could in our previous life.  One of the best parts for me in January was time to rest, clear my head, and even enjoy a good book (or two).  It’s been so long since I had time to sit and read that I had forgotten how enjoyable it could be.

Below are those who are doing monthly self portraits with me. If you’d like to join us, place a link to your monthly photo in the comments below and I’ll add you to the list! – Remember to link back to me too!

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Doppler Dolly . Shanna

Since moving to Texas, Ephram has started sleeping in.  Like beyond 5:45am sleeping in.  And each day I think, maybe I should get up and start my day before Ephram wakes up.  Take a shower, get breakfast ready, do some computer work.  But every day I’ve lounged in bed, reading or catching up on Twitter or just dozing off and on until he has woken up.  Until today, that is.  I woke up, showered, put in a load of laundry, and got our breakfasts ready all before my 23 month old woke up for the day.  And. it. was. glorious.  If you have a toddler, definitely try it. Of course, now that I have realized this little early morning secret, I’m sure Ephram will quit sleeping in.  Isn’t that how it always works?

A certain uncle requested I get back on the Instagram wagon so he can keep up on everyday life with Ephram.  So I’m back, sharing random photos throughout the day, mostly of Ephram, but hopefully as we decorate our new living space, I’ll share bits of that as well.

Some things I’ve noticed about Texas so far:

+ We lose power just about every time it rains. At least seeing the CenterPoint Energy trucks is somewhat exciting for Ephram.  Whenever there’s an outage, we get to watch them fix the power lines from our window.

+ I cannot find sausage pizzas in Texas.  And I can’t seem to find out why!

+ The Houston Ikea does not have Huge A** Fans like the one in Minneapolis.  And apparently other Ikeas have them too.  Houston, I think you need to get with the program here.  It’s my son’s favorite part of Ikea!

+ Bugs. Other than a few bees who visit our lemon tree occasionally, there are no bugs in Texas.  Do they come in the Summer?  I don’t care at this point because no bugs + Texas Winter is like Minnesota Summer – pesky mosquitoes!

Reading: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, the third book of the Hunger Games series.  I think it was Ashley that mentioned this book sometime last year and I was hooked on the plot immediately.  I am so glad I finally had the time to read this series because it’s so well written.  And just in time for the movie! Any Houstonians want to see it with me?

Working on: A new combined blog.  I asked for opinions last week on Ephram’s blog if I should combine the two and I that’s just what I’ll be doing.  It’s going to take some time, but the blogs are in the process of combining into one simple blog.  More on that later.

Until then, I’ll be pondering how a not-even-two year old can operate an iPad so well.  He of course calls it the “pad” though – can’t put more than 3 words together in a sentence but he can use an Apple product.  Now that’s how you know it’s a good company. ;)

I wanted to say so much more on Tuesday… The whole “time standing still while moving at the speed of light” bit? Ya, I definitely had more to say. Like how we’ve been anxiously and quietly waiting to hear about a possible move to Texas for the past few weeks.

Well, we’re officially making the big move to Houston! We’re definitely sad about leaving our families and friends behind, but the cold temperatures? Not so much. In fact, I’ve been holding off on buying a new winter coat for nearly a month now until we found out if this move would really happen. I guess I’d better save that money for a new bathing suit instead!

I’ll have much more news on Houston once we settle in – which will hopefully happen by mid-January. Until then, enjoy the holidays and I’ll see you in the New Year!

xo, donya

ps. If you happen to know someone in the Houston, Sugar Land, or Katy areas of Texas, let them know that an awesome family photographer will be coming to the area soon! I’m so excited to meet new families from the area.

This blog is becoming a little Odds & Ends heavy. I apologize. But I hope you don’t mind.

So kisses are frequently given in our household. You can’t resist a toddler kiss, you just can’t. But it inevitably leads to lots of germ sharing. And as a result, I have caught both Beau’s cough and Ephram’s runny nose. Two colds combined to create the perfect storm, or cold…

After two Decembers in a row of illnesses, I think it’s becoming my least favorite month. That or maybe it’s the lack of a routine that comes with the holidays. Anyone else feel this way? I suppose I should be full of excitement and Christmas cookies but instead I’m attempting to keep my attendance steady at the gym and fit Christmas shopping and wrapping in between all the normal, daily activities. Maybe with a Santa believer next year it will be a bit better – or at least more magical.

Speaking of Christmas cookies, this weekend was actually a lot of fun, filled with family time. From a late Friday night with Beau’s siblings to the First Annual Gjerdingen Cookie Classic on Saturday (you can thank my sister in law for the corny name – we’re big on those around here), to a not-actually-all-that-relaxing Brunch at the Tavern on Sunday with Beau and Ephram. Believe me when I say time has felt like it’s been standing still while moving at the speed of light. Honest.

Hey Fellow OC lovers, I just came across a photoshoot of Autumn Reeser and her baby boy this week! He’s almost as adorable as my little boy. You can check it out here, by photographer Paul Von Rieter. And did you know Autumn has a blog too? That deserves about 25 celebrity cool points in my opinion, and that’s a lot considering I’ve never actually give out celebrity cool points before.

Song of the week: Princess of China by Coldplay (featuring Rhinanna). For some reason, I’m just not feeling the Christmas music this year. Usually my car would be filled with holiday tunes, but instead I’ve been jamming to this. It’s smooth yet upbeat and danceable. Is that a word? Anyways, I have to thank my pal, Sheena for putting in the latest cd she gave me. Sheena, you better keep sending me good music when you move! Definitely give it a listen.

Finally, a peek at a ‘new to me’ cookie recipe made at our Cookie Classic this week, Krumkake.

Ok guys, this is going to be a quick Odds & Ends post since I’m just now getting around to typing it up.

Have you taken a look at the new Twitter yet? While fiddling around on there this weekend I rediscovered all the photos I’ve tweeted. There’s definitely something to be said about poor quality, spur of the moment, square cropped photos from your phone. AmIRight?! And it proves just how handy-dandy the iPhone camera is.

So, do you have 18 minutes to spare? Ever get frustrated with how short the attention span is of your child? Have you heard of Ted Talks? Okay, seriously. On a whim last week I decided to check for some interesting Ted Talks to play as background noise as I edited, and I came across an outstanding talk about how babies think. It’s truly a must listen.

Technology continues to blow me away. Last week I broke down and purchased one of Sandra Boynton’s books for the iPad. I already LOVE her board books – they’ve been my favorite to read to Ephram since he was tiny, so I figured the iPad version would be just as cool. Wrong. It is WAY cooler! Each time we read The Going To Bed Book on the iPad I find new fun interactive features. Proof that Ephram loves it too? Here you go.

Following some Boynton iPad book reading last night, we picked out a book to read to Ephram before bed. One one page there was a moon and stars just like the book we’d read on the iPad and, rightly so, Ephram touched each one anticipating them to make a sound or wiggle a bit just like on the iPad book. And that was the moment Beau and I looked at one another and realized that Ephram will likely never read a simple board book to his own children.

For those of you playing along with me to take a monthly self portrait, I’ve got two great sites to share. One for self portraits of you + your family, and one for just you. These both have some great tips in case you’re feeling in a rut about how to capture your next photo. I’ve got this month’s all planned out (just need the sun to come out for it!), but next months I may be digging for inspiration.

Lastly, how about a sneak peek from the Christmas Card I finally got around to ordering this weekend. It’s not that I’ve been procrastinating making it, I just had to get past the fact that our family photo didn’t turn out quite as great as I was hoping. Oh well, always next year!

Happy Tuesday!

Did you know this is a special Tuesday? No?! Well it is.

Why, you ask? Well, today is the first day of Tuesday Odds & Ends on the blog! You see, I have a lot of random thoughts throughout the day, and they need to go somewhere. So each Tuesday I’ll group them on the blog. And if you are feeling random with me, go ahead and leave a little tidbit about yourself or your life too!

Ok, here we go.

You know those songs that instantly remind you of someone when you hear it? Well during a recent overnight shift the song Snow (Hey Oh) y the Red Hot Chili Peppers came on the radio and it instantly brought me back about 4 or 5 years to a memory of singing this song over and over with my (now) brother in law, Blake. If no one ever successfully creates a time machine, I guess there’s always music!

I live with a toddler, so it goes without saying that our home is rarely ever spotless. Or even close to spotless. Since a really messy house puts my whole head in a fog, Beau and I have come up with a little way to bring some sanity back to our household. Occasionally, usually on the weekends, we now have what we call ‘the power hour clean up.’ The key component lies in the ability to clean with four adult hands, faster than two little hands can destroy. As long as our hands outnumber the little ones, I think it will keep working!

WARNING: If you ride in my car during the Winter months, I likely won’t turn the heat off until it feels like a sauna in there. What can I say, this Arizona-born girl likes it hot!

Taylor Swift remains one of my favorite artists to date. I know many of her fans get sick of how overplayed she is on the radio, but I think I’d have to listen to a single song on replay for a whole year before it lost it’s spark for me. Seriously. I had probably already listened to her newest single, Ours a few hundred times before it was even released on the radio, and the video is making me love it even more.

Speaking of things never getting old, I ate a hard-boiled egg sandwich for lunch four days in a row last week. This was my go-to breakfast back in high school. So ya, to reiterate my point above, I don’t get sick of things I love very easily.

Yesterday was a day of determination for me. Ever have those days? Well you may have read my confession yesterday about an awful soup dinner I attempted a couple weeks ago. Seriously, I’m learning, but somedays I still seem to be the worst cook on the planet. Anyways, I was de.ter.mined to get it right. And get this, I actually pulled it off this time. Definitely check out Panera Bread’s Broccoli Cheese Soup. Beau finished his entire cup of soup before I even sat down to have mine – it was that good… Aaand, because I decided it was picture-worthy and couldn’t sit down before documenting it. So I leave with you a picture of last night’s dinner.

And don’t forget to share an Odd or End about you!

Second month in and I already nearly failed at my monthly self portrait project! But I WILL do better in December. I just know it.

And while I’m being honest, I guess these wouldn’t even be considered self portraits since my little helper in the photo? …well, he did the button pushing. But I knew it would make him happy and willing, so we went with it.

November was packed full of stuff, yet when I look back on the calendar I mostly see failures. I scheduled several runs throughout the month, yet I never did, not once, because I never made it to the gym to open a membership. I tried to make dinner every evening, and while the first half of the month went well, I attempted new recipes for the second half and failed at almost every one. Good thing Thanksgiving was thrown in there to even out all the bad food I made!

But despite all these failures, I did spend a lot of time with Ephram & Beau. I have finally gotten back into the habit of running. And I learned that soup needs to cooked slowly so that it doesn’t burn. So I guess November wasn’t as much of a failure as it would seem.

Are you doing a monthly self portrait project as well? Place a link to your monthly photo in the comments below and I’ll add you to the list of those joining me.

ps. I will post the previous month’s photo within the first week of the following month. Ex: November’s photo in December.

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Doppler Dolly . Shanna

Artists have been taking self portraits for years, whether for exploration of self, a means of therapy, or just as a way to remember what they looked like and how they felt during a particular season. I attempted weekly self portraits in the past and it didn’t end well. I got busy. But now I regret it. I think taking a self portrait forces you to become comfortable in front of the camera. Sure I will see flaws; everyone sees flaw in themselves. But do we see more flaws in our selves than in others? Probably. So my mission is to ignore the flaws, document who I am each month, and see where it takes me. If anything, I think someday my son will enjoy seeing who was behind the camera taking all those photos of him. ;)

So I’m starting with my October image, which actually was taken last Friday, but who cares, it’s still something. I grabbed Ephram, the tripod, and my camera and headed to this area of woods I love near our house. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to capture in this first self portrait, but it figured it self out. While taking these photos, and running back and forth to the camera to check and adjust the focus and exposure, Ephram was traipsing around the woods finding sticks. Just about the time I got my camera focused and sat down to click the remote, Ephram became interested in my camera. He was imitating the clicks my camera was making and it made me laugh. And that has been my life lately; laughing at Ephram.

I’d love if you joined me. Even if you don’t have kids, isn’t it fun to look back at photos of yourself from high school, college, when you first started dating your current husband? Place a link to your monthly photo in the comments below and I’ll add you to the list of those joining me.

2. It’s been so great seeing everyone’s Halloween photos on blogs and facebook this past week. Next year we may actually take part in the whole trick or treating thing, if Ephram’s bedtime ever extends later than 6pm…

3. Yes, now that Daylight Savings Time has ended, Ephram is back to a 6pm bedtime. (I shouldn’t complain as this allows Beau and I to have a little time by ourselves in the evenings. But the days when we are out and about past 6pm end up being so hard on him.)

4. On Saturday, I informed my mom about Ephram’s dislike of peas. Saturday night, I resorted to giving Ephram peas as it was the only veggie we had left in the house. He ate them!

5. I also told my mom about how it had been months since Ephram had fallen asleep in my arms. He fidgets like… well, an 8 month old. Sunday came and Ephram had caught a cold. He was having the hardest time taking a nap. So I brought him into the living room to watch football with me (Go Vikings!) and ten minutes later, I had a sleeping baby boy in my arms.

6. That boy sure knows how to keep a mama on her toes, that’s for sure.

7. Tonight I will finish a set of three overnight shifts at ‘the day job’. You have no idea how excited I am about this, unless you are unfortunate enough to have worked overnight shifts and also have children.

8. Tomorrow, I will likely spend the day in pajamas, playing with Ephram on the living room floor, and napping whenever he allows me to. (see number 7)

9. If you missed it yesterday, I released my 2010 Holiday Cards. Previous and future clients, go check ‘em out!

10. The other day I let Ephram play in the nude for a bit for the first time. As a faithful photographing mama, I had to grab a few photos. This one’s got to be my fav.