Feels Like Christmas!

I Miss Blogging.

For real. I am totally going to start blogging again. I miss it SOOOOO much! I miss all the photo meme's, I miss reading other blogs, I miss it all! Never mind that I never have anything interesting to say. Who cares if I am witty or not. I Wanna BLOG!!! Stay Tuned, I am coming back for GOOD!!! :)

This blog needs fixed up and tweaked a bit. Will be done TOMORROW!! Yay! :)

Wow...

... I totally abandoned this blog for a while, didn't I? I keep thinking I really want to start blogging again. Wish I could actually keep up with it! We shall see, I suppose. Maybe I will give this another shot!

I'm Still Here :)

Just a busy, busy bee, like always.

So, what's new? I dyed parts of my hair pink, and I feel very hip and cool now. Yeah.

Oh, and we are getting mountain bikes! Yep. I used to ride my bike ALL the time, even as a teenager. I miss it so, so much! So I decided, we should all get bikes and start going to different bike trails and parks. A great and cheap way to spend some quality time together, as a family.

I miss having a bike. The feeling of freedom, the wind in my hair, zooming down a big hill...

Maya already has a bike, but she needs a new one, too. Hers is a little too small and plus, it's a BARBIE bike. She does not want to be seen DEAD riding a BARBIE bike. After all, she is a fantastically COOL and grown up 8 year old now. Not a baby.

I even went out a bought a book called "Pennsylvania's Bike Trails" hee hee. I'm super excited.

Oh, and I finally found a Trader Joe's near us! I am SO going to start shopping there. I'm trying to be more healthy and what not. I've been wanting to go to a Trader Joe's forever. Their prices are so much better than the organic section at Giant Eagle!

I've been away from my blog for so long and I see I have a ton of comments to catch up and a bunch o new blogs to check out! Yay!

Party Time, Yo!

Wow, 3 posts in one day! But I almost forgot about the Ultimate Blog Party 2009 hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom!

So, welcome to my blog, party animals. I'm Mandy, 29. Mother, wife, coffee addict, photography junkie. I have one 8 year old daughter, Maya. I talk too much, I love reading, poetry, tattoos, rock music, the internet, road trips, the woods, the beach, swimming, laughing, living.

I'm a bleeding heart liberal who volunteered for the Obama campaign, I work part time in a photo lab, I am NOT a morning person, I hate winter with a passion.

Drop me a line and say Hi and I will swing by your blog and say Hi back!

Yellow

The theme for this weeks Photo Hunt is... Yellow!



The neighbor's sunflower. I can never seem to get them to grow.

Being Sick? SUCKS.

I feel like I have been sick forever. Ugh. FOREVER. Yes, this is going to be a whiny post, because it's my blog and I'll whine if I want to, whine if I want to...

Strep throat. Swollen glands. Fever. Achy. Tired. Restless.

It's beautiful outside, beautiful! And My husband is at softball practice, without me, enjoying the weather.

Maya is at her cousins house, without me, playing in the woods and having a wonderful time, and I want to be there having fun with her and my nieces and nephew, taking pictures (of course) and enjoying the beautiful weather. At least she brought her camera so I can see her photos when she gets back. sigh.

I should be happy, grateful, to have an afternoon to myself! I'm ALONE! I have my laptop and internet and facebook and my blog and other blogs to read and flickr and photography websites, I have a television with cable and on-demand with hundreds of movies at my fingertips, I have a bed to nap in and some snacks and the yummiest lemonade in the world, I don't have to be at work and did I mention... I'm ALONE? ME TIME??

And yet, I want to be outside enjoying the day with my family. I'm sick of being stuck in the house. It was nice the first day or two, now? I'm so over it.

It better be this nice next weekend.

Sky Watch Friday

I know today is Saturday, but I took this photo on Friday, so it should still count for Sky Watch Friday.



The sun rise, take from my front porch.

Creepy!

How about a creepy story for the first day of spring?

There's a cemetery in my town, Hankey Church Cemetery, that is rumored to be haunted. You can find it listed on many haunted places websites, like here, here, here, and countless others... just google it!

I have had a few strange encounters there, especially back in my teen years, but these are stories for another day. Today, I have a photo to show you!

Please keep in mind, I did not alter this photo, or photo shop this in there, I swear on my life!! I didn't even notice the face until I printed it out at work. I cropped the photo to zoom in more on the face. See if you can spot it, it's not hard...



Freaky, eh? Here's one even closer up.



That face is NOT on the actual tombstone. I can only see it in this photo.

I'm going back to get more photos this weekend, hopefully!

Photo Hunt

"Four" was the theme for this week's Photo Hunt. This was pretty tricky, and If I understand the rules correctly I am allowed to use old photos, they don't have to be recently taken. After not being able to find anything with a number 4 in it, or 4 of anything, I give you this: A photo taken ON the FOURTH of July. Eh, tricky, no? Heh.



In case you were wondering, I took this photo using a tripod, the nikon wireless remote, and manually controlled the shutter... basically, when the fireowrks started I pressed the remote to open the shutter, and when it was done exploding, I pressed it again to close the shutter. This is the best way to get awesome fireworks pics! See, you got a mini photography lesson today! :)