February 27: market street

I love this little part of Cleveland across from the Westside market. This is the little veranda on the top floor of one of the apartment buildings.

February 26: snowy day

Today was just beautiful.

February 25: long lost friend

As deliberately unwilling to cooperate with a smile for this picture, this was Jared's idea for picture-of-the-day. We've known each other ever since we were babies, have both lived in this thriving metropolis of a town on and off for the last four years, and have been playing phone tag for about as long. Game over, as you see here!

February 24: blank canvases

I need a little help. I have had these canvases ever since I moved into my apartment this summer, but I haven't gotten any inspiration as to what to do with them! There are three and I was hoping to hang them in a little cluster over my couch. Any ideas?

February 23: annoyed

His name is Wooster and he is generally very skittish. Here he is giving me the look...the little pink string was not amusing him very much.

February 22: paper clips

I've been working on my organizational abilities as of late...here are some of my helpful tools.

February 21: bossy

I was waiting a ridiculously long time behind this car today. I thought it's liscense plate was sort of funny. Even though it's not a very good picture, I liked the yellow truck with the orange car. They look sort of like toy cars.

February 20: monkey off my back

Every other month I send out a newsletter about the ministry. Though I very much enjoy writing the letters and updating all of the people who are reading them, it is a pr-o-cess. My friend Julie describes the culmination of this project as getting rid of a monkey off your back. Here is what that feeling looks like in picture form, as impossible to convey as that is. After all the printing, folding, stamping, labeling, enclosing, signing....here is the neatly organized box of letters.

February 19: late-night snack

February 18: one clean pot

I thought I had ruined it...scorched it. But, thanks to Hannah's suggestion of boiling baking soda and water in it for a few minutes, look at it now!

September 17: spinning plates

Okay, so they weren't spinning, but "plates" wouldn't have been a very appealing title and they kind of look like they could be spinning. I got them for 50 cents a piece at the grocery store and they sort of match the few that I had. Now I can have more than 4 people over for dinner and have matching plates. I realize that if matching dishware is the most I have to worry about I'm really doing pretty good.

February 16: awww

The Wooster students came up with my picture of the day today. I didn't even have to ask them to pose like this! They were very inspired by the dated picture outside the hotel's gift shop.

February 15: paper dove

Lots of paper doves hanging from the ceiling at Cross Culture conference.

February 14: my spot

Today marks my fifth birthday in following Jesus! My mom made a nice dinner for us and I went stopped by my favorite spot overloooking the skyline of Cleveland, Ohio. The lake was frozen into pretty colors that matched the sky.

February 13: picture from my bed

this is one of those moments where you just want to hit the snooze button...my car topped with ice...topped with snow in Wooster, Ohio.

February 12: it's that time of year again...

...for candy heart sentences! Fax me sunshine in a fog my tiger. Right-o

February 11: parking security

These lil' monsters await me on the mornings that I babysit. They must just stand there and watch my car the entire time because this is how I leave them and this is how I find them when I come back. charm-ing. Doesn't the calf look scowly? I know.

February 10: frosty windows

and hot chocolate and Pride and Prejudice with the Gibson's. It was a nice winter evening.

February 9: it's that time again

Oh man. This whole tax form thing is not my strong suit. But, I tell you that I tried really hard today to figure all this out and I think I did okay. We'll see. I will say that I think that in all the spare time that I have I really could get a job re-writing that stupid book of instructions for the tax forms. It needs some serious revamping in order to help those of us who need remedial tax help.

February 8: parched watercolors

It's been a little while since I've painted. I think my watercolors could use a little water, and my soul could probably use a little art time.

February 7: wink

Even though I reloaded my camera with batteries this morning, they didn't hold their charge. I really wanted to take a picture with our chic looking guest speaker Lisa S. Harper who was visiting us from NYC, but the red blinking light of battery death did not allow me to do so. Thus, today you get the result of my tired self giving up on picture taking for the day. My roommate Katie graciously took care of it for me. Here is the result.

February 6: February Rainbow

We've had some amazing weather here in Wooster, Ohio. This afternoon I got to see a rainbow. It's faint, but if you look closely you can see it!

February 5: Focaccia or Hot Potato?

It was a delicious loaf of bread to be sure. It's just after I uploaded the pictures of it, it suddenly looked like a potoato to me, and not quite as appealing.

February 4: he liked me

Today was an amazing weather day. I was driving home from a meeting in Shreve on Rt.226 as a thick white fog lifted over the swamp. It was unbelievable. I had things to do but I couldn't help myself so I pulled over and took a bunch of pictures, none of which captured the scene to my satisfaction. Maybe it's better that way. But I did manage to make friends with this little sheep as I snapped away. He was far enough away from the swamp that the fog was not affecting him :)

February 3: Superbowl Twins

How cute are they? Pretty cute. Chris and Christy threw an amazing superbowl party, and these guys definitely added to the atmosphere.

February 2: Charlize

This is my bed - Charlize. It came with the name. I didn't know mattress companies were into naming their merchandise, but they are. Charlize has provided a cushiony, peaceful place for me to sleep for the last year -- something that I often need a little help doing. Charlize is also a donor to my ministry. I don't know who is in charge of her accounting or where her income is coming from but yes, my mattress apparently has a generous little heart.

February 1: flipped

It was a little windy today.

JANUARY PICTURE OF THE DAY!

Do you have a favorite picture of the day from January?

Vote here!

January 31: google master

This deserves a story. More later.

January 30: the farm next door

I've recently started babysitting for a family a few mornings a week. They live near a farm that has horses and cows, and a brand new baby calf. It's a really beautiful view out their window as you can see here. The boys are fun too. The two old has a fascination with kitchen utensils which I can already tell is going to be a challenge. Although, he can say "Spatula" with confidence and accuracy which I think is pretty impressive.

January 29

This afternoon our staff team worked hard to understand confusing forms. The coffee was pretty though.

January 28: salvaged

I found a bunch of stamps on letters with wrong addresses...so they have been freed from their unsendable envelopes and relocated to a little box in the kitchen drawer to be salvaged.

(P.S. loyal on-lookers. I am so sorry about the delay in posting pictures. I don't have internet where I live and the places I've gone to check my email haven't let me access this site! I don't know what they think the content is on here!)

January 27: Hannah's Hat

Hannah made her hat. It's beautiful.

January 26: The Tree

Here is the update on The Tree with the psychotic lights that I did away with. Katie and I have been trying to figure out to do with it, where to put it/hide it. We decided to decorate it for all seasons as our solution and make it a prominent part of our living room. Here is the hideous result of our valentine tree! It's even more vibrant in real life if you can believe it :) And, to my surprise, I kind of like it!

January 25: art night

Hannah and I finally had an art night after a whole semester of talking about it. This was the outcome for her bedroom wall.

January 24: today in hallmark

It struck me as funny that the "troubled relationship" card holder was the only one out. I don't know why but sometimes I just enjoy myself so much at hallmark, reading all the sappy cards that I don't have a reason to buy. These are particularly over the top...enlarge and see for yourself!

January 23: sun streak

The sun was AMAZING today. I got out of my car at one point to make sure that the streak of sun through the sky wasn't just a refraction in my window. It was like a column of light for a good half hour as the sun set.

January 22: wood pile

Home in the frigid lake-effect NE Ohio today, where thankfully my dad still heats the house with a wood burning furnace. (Sorry about the delay again...I've been internet accessless!)

January 21: uh oh

Soooooo, after dinner tonight, my little pine tree caught my eye. It was going nuts. It kept getting brighter and brighter as the bulbs spastically burnt out. Those lights are no longer on the tree.

January 20: taking care of business

Aubrey changes the freaky baby doll's diaper

January 19: cake in a row

Tonight, my church had a dessert for me and the students to share about our ministry on campus. I liked the way Pastor Regis arranged the cake.

January 18: A.P.

This seemed to sum up our evening at Leslie's pretty well...here we see Andrew attempting to describe his feelings about the risque poster above him. You may have seen him make this face before, it's a classic!

January 17: not what I ordered...

My knowledge of Buddy Holly is incredibly disproportionate to my appreciation his music. That is to say that I know a whole lot more than necessary. Anthony Duran, a Buddy Holly obsessed fourth grader (Don’t worry if you didn’t have one of these – I think they are rare) I went to school with is to blame for this. Every day at recess he’d stand behind the monkey bars and put on Buddy Holly concerts. He and his “band” usually didn’t have much of an audience, but let me tell you I’m sure we’ve all still got the songs DOWN as they sang for all to hear! Years went by and I lost track of Anthony Duran, but I was captivated one lazy summer day by the only somewhat interesting programming on one of our family’s five television stations – a documentary on the life story of Buddy Holly. Once really should have been enough, but yes, I watched it three times. It was a real low point in my life. I can tell you, in case you didn’t know, that Mr. Holly died unexpectedly (as sometimes happens) in a plane crash with Tony Vallens and the Big Bopper. Incidentally, this was the tragic incident that inspired Don McLean’s legendary song “Miss American Pie” about the day the music died. That song never seems to though. See, I could totally school you in Trivial Pursuit on this subject.

But all that is just to prep you with background story so you will be fully contextualized for my adventure TODAY.

I got a message from the InterLibrary Loan lady. This mechanical recorded matronly voice is confusing as she starts by announcing her phone number, saying goodbye, and then alerting me that the library materials I requested are now on hold and ready for pick-up. She always does it in that order. But, I’ve just learned that she likes to do things a little out of order and I deal with it.

So, I was pretty excited because I was waiting for Season I of my new favorite T.V. show on DVD to come in so I could help my roommate to also come to love it. I assumed that is what the woman was calling about. Wooster’s library allows you to find your items on hold yourself and then check them out. So, I went to the shelf to retrieve the boxed-set only to find a thin brown envelope with my name on it. I was extremely disappointed. What could this be?

Buddy Holly’s Greatest Hits, of course.

My first thought was, “Someone must have replaced Season I with Buddy Holly’s Greatest Hits so they could check it out! How dare they!” Then I thought, “Oh, those silly librarians, I better just go let them know that they must have mixed me up with someone else and could they please find Season I for me….but first I better take a picture for Picture of the Day’s sake.” So, I did and then got in the line to alert them.

I was in line behind this kid who was trying to get his fines below $10 so he could check stuff out, which I can’t rally relate to (juuuuuust kidding). But since I had some time, honestly the next question that went through my head was, “If I was playing Trivial Pursuit right now, would I be able to come up with all of Buddy’s hit songs?” I had Peggy Sue, Oh, Boy! And That’ll Be the Day…but golly I was out after that. So me being ever the over-achiever I decided to study up.

I opened the CD case.

Gasp! I’d been set-up. There was a message inside. It was intended for me. Oh, boy…who was the mastermind of this? Good thing I figured this out before I started chatting with the librarian at the desk.

SOMEONE must have hacked into the system and intercepted Inter-Library Loan materials and reserved B.H’s Greatest Hits under my name so that the mechanical I.L.L lady would leave a message on my phone. Very sneaky. Very, very sneaky indeed. Who would engineer such a thing? It’s a mystery waiting to be solved.... in the mean time I am going to try to get Peggy Sue out of my head!

January 16: steamer

January 15: campanelle

January 14: cute boots

January 13: red and black

Zack and Mark were opposites in their shoes and shirts. I didn't notice it until I looked at this picture but was sort of excited to discover it! Sorry about the delay in pictures the last few days...I haven't been internet accessible.

January 12: chaomomile tea

a personal favorite...both the tea and the mug

January 11: break time

Today, during our staff meeting, the basketballs came out and there was some fierce competition.

January 10: friend

There are only a few people I'd hang out with after getting a root canal (which wasn't bad at all, really, but I think I looked sort of like a chipmunk). It was so nice to see you today Cheryl!

January 9: distant memory

I have a roommate! This is exciting news. Katie is all moved in. This picture is the byproduct of a little roommate creativity time and the use of some of her packing materials. I'll let you figure out how that worked.