randomness

. lots of thoughts swarming my head these days so i thought i'd put them down here . i always love reading others randomness so hopefully you don't mind mine . here goes...

. waaaaay back when, when i started my very first blog, i think this was august 2008, steve helped me set things up and as any of you that know him, know that when he does something he does it on a fairly large scale . like 17 pounds of bacon, or 27 pounds of grapes, those are both stories entirely all their own . aaaaanyway, back to setting up the blog story, we decided on a name (photo eye love, now photos eye love) and when setting up the gmail he called it iowaphotoassociates@gmail.com . i laughed and let him . well, here i am, however long later and did you know that you can change anything about your google account except for your email address ? anyway, please don't send me emails at this address, as i don't check it regularly, but now i do have a sarahnebelphotography@gmail.com address, so feel free to email me there or the cloudburst one .

. the sunshine not only warms my dogs basking in it, but my heart . i truly haven't been ready for spring until just this week .

. cleaned out the fridge this morning . hate that job . but so glad it's done . cleaned all the carrots, cut the tops off and made them into a little bouquet looking thing so now they'll look more appealing to eat . don't say anything, i took a lot of guts to write that .

. if you get a really really pretty iphone, you should protect it by getting a cover for it . that's right, i didn't . i dropped it yesterday, trying to save a kitten's life and so now mine has a case and a broken back, oh and no insurance since they don't let you get it after it's been dropped . lovely .

. speaking of my iphone, i could marvel daily at the apps out there ! a period tracker (period plus if you're interested) . white noise app ?! you no longer need to take your fan when you go somewhere to sleep, while you're using it why don't you switch your white noise from using an oscillating fan to waves, or a thunder storm, or a ticking grandfather clock (my fav) , cuz it's all on there !

. you've probably noticed i've been posting a lot about food lately, you know, here and on facebook . i'm trying to figure all this out, why i eat, my relationship with food, why i eat too much of the bad for you stuff, and the good for you stuff . trying to put my finger on how it makes me feel . trying to work more exercise into my life . i don't want these things to be temporary, so i'm taking my time getting them all figured out . i'm reading made to crave(thanks to the recommendation of emily, wow, i know lots of emily's...emily T) and i've only just begun, but i'm loving it, it's making so much sense ! the idea is we are all made to crave, but the world trains us to crave things like food, fashion, sex, drugs, alcohol, any number of things, but we are made to crave Jesus Christ and when we fulfill those cravings with Him our life will be a productive one for Him . now, i'm only just starting the book, there's much more to it i'm sure, but that's what i've gotten so far .

. along those same lines i'm also reading crazy love . not terribly far into this one either, but loving it just as much . realizing how if we truly love Christ with all that is in us, with a crazy sort of reckless abandon that He is automatically our all in all . i know that's truly what i want out of this life here on earth is for Him to be my everything and for that to reflect upon everyone i come in contact with . if you've read either of these books tell me your thoughts .

. hm, saying more and different stuff than i thought i would when i started this post .

. my laptop cord is not working, am glad i got the insurance (extended warranty) on that ! new one to come, not soon enough though...now i have to resort to using my desktop that i just like to look at . kidding . kinda .

. i'm wearing bangles today, wondering how long they'll last . i hate noisy accessories . i hate wearing heels that clonk, clonk, clonk as you walk and it lets everyone in the entire building know that you're coming .

. i need my friends . so glad i have the best ones !

. one of my favorite things to do is meet new people and in doing that make new friends . i feel like i get to do that all the time with photography . it's funny because a really great client of mine ordered some photos and through a series of mistakes and miscommunications we've had to chat quite a few times and meet up twice and we have such a great time every time . she's yet to get her photos . she doesn't care, and neither do i because we kinda like meeting up .

. i don't know if i saved that kitties life or not ! it's kinda driving me crazy .

. and a pic, because a post is always better if there's something else to look at besides words . right ? or maybe not, having a bad hair day so i just pulled it all back . but there's my new phone cover, the only one that fit since the back was broke .

. happy day friends, tell me something that's been swarming through your head lately in the comment section .

. cute you tube .

. and one last thing for the day . if you haven't seen this cute little video you have to . it's the cutest thing since charlie bit my finger . although that's my all time favorite i think .

. instagrams from monday, tuesday and today .

. fresh produce .

. making salsa . wasn't the best i've ever made .

. reed was playing basketball with baby toys on the dining room table . one toy in the cup, one toy in the bowl . i decided this was not a great idea .

. spring is here, although it's a cold and snowy one we're having !

. finding a feather on our walk .

. school .

. love the fringe on the run .

. boys playing with my old cameras .

. love these photos . i think the boys are so cute with them . ryan was fascinated with that big old one, he opened it all up and put it all back together, not as easy as it might sound .

. the sun was shining just right into the closet this morning and this bottle was the prettiest thing around .

. lots of office work today .

. life in instagrams .

. seriously, the iphone has changed my life . photo life for sure . i love being able to whip out the thing and grab a quick pic . i'm going to try to get some of these photos printed just to see what they look like . anybody done that with instagrams ?

. but, the phone changing my life . okay, words with friends, this game is addicting and sometimes i just have to quit playing, so i can STAY ON TASK ! :) super fun to play though, except this game . it was hard ! i loose a lot, but i still like to play .

. empty water bottle .

. yes, i wrote the date, not my name, on the tag of my pants . okay, i'm not weird, at least not for this reason . i did this because i had bought different brands at different times and wanted to see how fast they faded . anyway...it does seem kinda dumb now, BUT the best part about this story has nothing to do with my faded yoga pants and everything to do with the fact that the faded yoga pants that haven't fit in a while, fit now ! and i wouldn't have remembered how long it had been since i'd worn then if i hadn't dated them like they were corn going in my freezer at the end of summer !

. ry took this pic of reed running from him . typical .

. the boys are obsessed with anything fun on my phone so they think my scrabble game on my phone must be wild fun because it's, well, on my awesome phone, so they wanted to play the game in real life . let me just say, not so fun .

. getting my hair done at salon rage .

. visiting my friends em and gibbs . this picture melts my heart .

. em's cool home .

. em's cool dining room decor .

. let me just stop a moment and say how brilliant gibbs is ! this kid can say just about anything . he's so verbal !! he's not quite 17 months old and can talk like i've never heard a child do before . so, he's a genius, for real !

. whipping up some stir fry .

. mixed with a little quinoa . my new favorite grain .

. me and brooke, instagraming together .

. at a horse sale . we choose this over pedicures . why ? we decided it was because we are maturing and family is more important than our nails getting done . that didn't stop us from whining to family the rest of the time together about not getting our nails done .

. tiny towns have the coolest stuff .

. morning coffee .

. getting ready to go trail riding .

. good times .

. and more to come after bit, this just gets me up through sunday .

:)

the thing that i don't know what it is

. still don't .

. but i'm trying to figure it out .

. this is what it looked like when i first saw it . it's just begging to be pulled apart, right ? so i did .

. and it kept going .

. and going . but with no backbone . so not sure what exactly i'm going to do with it .

. when i first got it this was what was in my mind initially . put a white board on the top and it could hold plants . not sure i want that many plants right now and it seems to fill up this space more than i'd like, so this is temporary .

. what will become of this thing...i don't know .

. what would you do with it ?

. i found another cool thing (or 2) that day . you'll see those at some point . that was a good day thrifting and i had no intentions of doing it at all .

. detoxing, day 2 .

. i've had a few people show interest in my detox, so i thought i'd put a little more info about how it's going . read below if you want to read about day one . :) it really wasn't thaaaat bad . today actually seems better, not sure if it's because i have ry and reed here to keep my mind busier or i'm getting used to it, or maybe i feel like i've made it half way, i'm on the downward side now . not sure .

. i'm noticing that food is everywhere ! everywhere i look . blogs, magazines, in the kitchen, on my inspiration board in the office .

:)

. i didn't cook at all yesterday, i had done some on saturday so there was no need . this morning i made eggs for the boys and was surprised that i didn't feel the need to have them, even though my tummy felt empty .

. i have been feeling fine overall . i think am a little weaker, and last night i considered doing something a bit challenging and could have found myself in a heap if i had pushed it, decided to put it off until i was in a better place . :) see, i know my limits . i've been drinking tons of water, i had over 90 ounces yesterday and still went to bed thirsty .

. this is gross, but true, my breath is yuck . hoping this gets better once i can eat tomorrow . overall things are going well and i'm glad i've taken on this challenge . feeling like the hardest part is behind me now .

. as if i'm on death row .

. and i was eating my last meal . and i picked jello salad ?!

. some of you know i started a detox and it includes not eating for the first 2 days (only having a shake sort of thing, that's not yummy, btw) . so saturday i was cooking and decided to throw together this delicious jello salad and enjoy some of it's yummyness before i had to go 2 WHOLE DAYS without eating ! let me just say i've never gone this long without eating . it's not fun . i love food . 3/4 into day 1 i'm not dead . so, there's where we're at .

. i do feel the need to address the jello salad thing though, if my mom is reading she'll know why . i HATE jello salads ! always have . won't eat any, except this one and the one with the cream cheese balls covered in nuts in strawberry jello . okay, but this particular recipe is yummy because it has cherry pie filling in it ! here, i'll just give you the recipe . 2 small boxes of cherry jello, 1 can of crushed pineapple and 1 can cherry jello . dump your jello powder into a bowl, boil 2 cups of hot water to dissolve that, add in your drained pineapple and your cherry pie filling, let set up, and there you have it...yummyness ! now i want to go eat the rest of it, but i won't !

. here's what not eating looks like on me . it makes my frown lines worse !

. my week + in instagrams . randomness .

. not sure if the iphone was a good idea or bad . i get lots of little random photos of my day, but it seems i used to use my nice camera for this, so now i might have the photos, but the quality isn't what i'd like . although i do have fun with the instagrams .

. sorry the blog is turning into a weekly instagram update...but it's working for me right now .

. ok, so this first one isn't an instagram, but it is a photo from my phone . been watching too many shows on hgtv, sometimes they do really clever things that are completely impractical . and this is a perfect example . i rearranged the bedroom with the bed in the corner and pillows in the corner with a bedside table on either side . in my mind we'd sleep with our heads in the corner too . that doesn't work, and neither does our heads up against the wall because somebody's bedside table is at their feet . so, it was fun to switch it up, but by evening it was right back how it started . although cleaner, that's what spurred me on, i was cleaning and decided to switch things up . i get easily distracted when cleaning .

. had a spa day with bee and this was the sitting area right outside of the massage area . drinking my cold water out of a goblet, wondering if i was in tuscany or des moines . des moines it was, bummer !

. 3 kiddos in the back seat of my car . when i babysat this happened all the time, but it's been a while . i loved it .

. took them to the kalona cheese factory, because well, we were passing by and had the time .

. studio looking sassy .

. went on a road trip last week and forgot make up . gasp . i look like one of those people that only eat vegetables . :)

. was thankful to find a lot of tea options at a gas station .

. tried out red mango . those little balls of juice are YUMMY .

. this proves i'm not a gal that only eats vegetables .

. well hello there sun, welcome back, stay a while !

. switching up the photos in the window at the studio . i'm in love with this shot !

. being doing the hair straight lately .

. the glasses have been finding their way to my face more often lately . hm, eat more carrots !

. daylight savings time did this little fella (and me, photo not shown) in ! this happened while he was supposed to be doing school :( i let him catch a few winks .

. apple spring snacks .

. lunch, i love that these boys like black beans and rice . reeds eyes get as big as quarters when he sees black beans, he loves them ! i think it's soo awesome because this is one of my favorite meals . but wow, the quantity that they can put away !

. a 50 degree day calls for ice cream, don't you think ? reed and i did .

. excited to do a little work to the front of the house to make it look prettier . thinking a light fixture, house numbers, rug...and maybe even some landscaping this summer ! so excited about this .

. prepping to do a detox, doing my research and getting all psyched up !

. can you believe my orchid has bloomed beautifully for a month straight now ?! i can't believe it . i love this plant !! my table will never be the same as it has been with a blooming orchid .

. and, well, that's all i've got for now . aren't you glad ?

:)