last week, Nov 19-22, i had the privilege to attend NCYC (National Catholic Youth Conference) in Kansas City. we've been planning this pilgrimage since January. we took 7 youth and 4 adults. there was planning-oh the planning-and fund raising OH my!
in the end it came down to 4 days and it was amazing!
the kids that we took hadnt ever been to a retreat of this volume before, and actually neither had the adults! i hadn't ever been to NCYC, we went to Rome instead..... and since this time i was "in charge" it was new for everyone!!
we had a wonderful group! not too big, everyone listened and was well behaved! we fought the crowds, fought sleep, and scavenged for food! that was the toughest part. the rest was just amazing.
i've been trying to think of how exactly to put into words what we experienced so that you will KNOW. but i can't. i just can't.
the Sprint Center was where we had opening and closing ceremonies each day. this arena holds thousands. its built for concerts and basketball games and such. we packed it FULL! then there was an overflow of a couple hundred that were down the street in the Convention Center. there was somewhere around 22thousand in attendance!
its always a shock to see SO many people loving the same thing that you do. if you go to an Aerosmith concert or an accounting convention! either one, its fun and easy to talk about the thing that you love. but to come together, with that many people, to talk about and praise God... is a different level! this is a high school retreat. so the majority of these in attendance were high school age, that makes it even better!
there were keynote speakers, MC's, bands and more! the bands were my favorite part! plus we all got to stand and wave our hands around and clap to the beat! its the best!
i have a feeling i could go on and on... but i'll just say again. it was a wonderful experience. i just pray that one of my youth came back with that "oh WOW"! (mine was Rome... that was my "oh WOW"!)
NCYC is in Indianapolis in 2011. AND World Youth Day (which is what my Rome was) is also in 2011 in Madrid, Spain. i have 4 sophmores that are telling me YES, we are going to Spain... eekkk!!
i'm ready!!
http://ow.ly/FGlO <-- Matt Maher Band.
Matt Maher is one of my new fave guys! he took time out of his tour to come and perform for us! he was amazing! this isn't the whole thing, but it will show you his song and also a glimps of the Sprint Center!!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
"" rollin thunder, pourin rain...."
doing: work. working on my backup of wedding albums.....
listening to: whatever Pandora station Jeff left on. its got lots of Metallica on it.. i'm not too impressed
feeling: like crap! the soda i wanted is giving me a headache instead of an energy boost!
the weekend was good. we watched the Hawks game at our house on Saturday! i was really very happy that we got to stay home! mostly because the game was right in Ethan's nap time, so he go to actually take one. but also because i just really wanted to be home! i'm glad that we are basically a mobile group so we can watch together on almost all Saturdays! plus our tv freaking rocks!! HD Hawks?! hells yes!!
i got to do lots of nothing this weekend which i enjoyed. i like my down time. and i also enjoyed it more because i didn't have a pile of laundry to do and our house was basically clean! Matthew was super nice and cleaned and vacuumed both our cars out. mine needed it bad bad bad! i swear i kept meaning to do it, but then ended up working on something else!
Sunday at mass there was a blessing for those of us that are traveling to KC this week for NCYC! of course that involved me, since i'm going... duh. but also two of my senior girls gave a Stewardship Talk at mass. they did an EXCELLENT job! i was truly blown away! and seriously, if that talk didn't hit a couple high schoolers into re-thinking the youth group "thing" nothing will. excellent job!
Monday was a crazy day for me. well, not terribly crazy, but i had a specific list of things that i needed to get done regarding NCYC. i'm quite nervous about this trip mostly because i'm in charge! sure i've been to events like this before, but always as a pilgrim... not at the leader of the flock! of course, there are 21K people that will be there... so its not like we can get too lost or anything! its just keeping track of kids and keeping on our schedules. the kids we're taking are good kids, so i'm not really worried about them at all. i'm just worried about the schedule more than anything.
in the end i know it will be a fun weekend! i'm hoping that the kids come back with some sort of fire in their hearts! this should be a deep experience for some-if not all-of them!
my day started out decently. i'm still tired, but thats cause i stayed up late to watch E!'s Top 10 Vampires we Love! hehe! yes, i'd like to become a vampireologist! RobPat was #1! and why wouldn't he be?! Edward is pretty much the hottest fictional character EVER!
to that comment..... i am MISSING the opening of New Moon! i'm SO bummed!!! especially since this movie has like 100% more hype than Twilight! there are specials galore, red carpets and midnight showings.... that i won't get to partake in. some of my girls from church, that are going to NCYC, are super bummed about it too! we might have to plan a matinee trip when we get back to town on Sunday!
other than all of that my week is going to be pretty boring. i hope that i can get plenty of sleep, i remember to pack my underwear in my suitcase and i dont freak out before Thursday comes! i'll be golden!
well, back to work for a bit. its almost 4! i have an order and then i get to go home! i'm excited to go home! i want my sweatpants and a hot cup of tea!
listening to: whatever Pandora station Jeff left on. its got lots of Metallica on it.. i'm not too impressed
feeling: like crap! the soda i wanted is giving me a headache instead of an energy boost!
the weekend was good. we watched the Hawks game at our house on Saturday! i was really very happy that we got to stay home! mostly because the game was right in Ethan's nap time, so he go to actually take one. but also because i just really wanted to be home! i'm glad that we are basically a mobile group so we can watch together on almost all Saturdays! plus our tv freaking rocks!! HD Hawks?! hells yes!!
i got to do lots of nothing this weekend which i enjoyed. i like my down time. and i also enjoyed it more because i didn't have a pile of laundry to do and our house was basically clean! Matthew was super nice and cleaned and vacuumed both our cars out. mine needed it bad bad bad! i swear i kept meaning to do it, but then ended up working on something else!
Sunday at mass there was a blessing for those of us that are traveling to KC this week for NCYC! of course that involved me, since i'm going... duh. but also two of my senior girls gave a Stewardship Talk at mass. they did an EXCELLENT job! i was truly blown away! and seriously, if that talk didn't hit a couple high schoolers into re-thinking the youth group "thing" nothing will. excellent job!
Monday was a crazy day for me. well, not terribly crazy, but i had a specific list of things that i needed to get done regarding NCYC. i'm quite nervous about this trip mostly because i'm in charge! sure i've been to events like this before, but always as a pilgrim... not at the leader of the flock! of course, there are 21K people that will be there... so its not like we can get too lost or anything! its just keeping track of kids and keeping on our schedules. the kids we're taking are good kids, so i'm not really worried about them at all. i'm just worried about the schedule more than anything.
in the end i know it will be a fun weekend! i'm hoping that the kids come back with some sort of fire in their hearts! this should be a deep experience for some-if not all-of them!
my day started out decently. i'm still tired, but thats cause i stayed up late to watch E!'s Top 10 Vampires we Love! hehe! yes, i'd like to become a vampireologist! RobPat was #1! and why wouldn't he be?! Edward is pretty much the hottest fictional character EVER!
to that comment..... i am MISSING the opening of New Moon! i'm SO bummed!!! especially since this movie has like 100% more hype than Twilight! there are specials galore, red carpets and midnight showings.... that i won't get to partake in. some of my girls from church, that are going to NCYC, are super bummed about it too! we might have to plan a matinee trip when we get back to town on Sunday!
other than all of that my week is going to be pretty boring. i hope that i can get plenty of sleep, i remember to pack my underwear in my suitcase and i dont freak out before Thursday comes! i'll be golden!
well, back to work for a bit. its almost 4! i have an order and then i get to go home! i'm excited to go home! i want my sweatpants and a hot cup of tea!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
"" dear agony, just let go of me..."
doing: work, kinda. okay not really. i'm avoiding it at all costs!
feeling: okay. my week(end) has had a positive outlook from the last couple weeks. between the not sleeping well, the worries and life in general i've not been a very happy camper. i'm truly thankful that Matt puts up with me.... even though we fight all the time anymore. we usually get at least 1 day out of it all where we can stand each other!!
i wont re-hash my crappy weeks past for you. lets just say they were just crappy!
instead i will start with yesterday, because yesterday was a wonderful day! i slept in until 7 (that hasnt happened since the time change) it was awesome!! i dont even remember Ethan getting into bed with us, that tells you how out of it i was-he climbs OVER me to get into bed!! since i got some extra sleep i actually had the energy to do some things around the house! i finished up laundry-which has needed done badly for awhile-Ethan and i went grocery shopping--dont even get me started on that! then he wanted to go to Gma Russell's so i took him there for the afternoon. hed gotten a new, big, ambulance for being such a big boy and using the potty.... for #2's for quite some time now. so he got to pick out a toy. lucky for us we can still pursuade him into semi-cheap toys! un-lucky for us, he now thiks that every time he #2's in the potty he gets to run out and get another toy. and hes still too young to understand- Santa is coming soon. or Mom and Dad aren't made of money! he just knows that he wants another toy....... ugh.
terrible threes... thank you for coming right on time!!
after i dropped him off at the in-laws i got to work finding myself the Breaking Benjamin songs that i didnt have for my iPod. lets just say i found them ALL! i was so overjoyed! and their new album ROCKS!!
my other bit of totally exciting news is that Breaking Benjamin is coming to DM on December 8!! i'm SO STOKED to go!! i've recently discovered that BB is one of my favorite bands! i can't go wrong with their music! i love it all! i've sort of become obsessed... but thats not the point. last time they were in DM i happen to be 6 or 7 months preggo with Little E. so obviously it wasnt a question wether or not i should go. between me pry needing to sit the whole time or Matt and the guys all trying to surround me from being crushed or moshed into... it pry wouldn't have been enjoyable. so THIS time i am NOT preggo and i AM going!! i told Matt he gets to take me! i could care less who else goes... I WILL BE THERE!! he said hed take care of getting us tickets... so i will be asking him daily if he's gotten them yet!!
so all in all yesterday was good!
the news that made my day drop was that MSN reported that Steven Tyler is leaving Aerosmith..... this was sudden and its still a little unlikely in my mind. if you'd like to talk about obsessed you can talk to me about Aerosmith! i've read the biography plenty of times.....and i know that Aerosmith is Steven's baby. hes believed in it from the first song! he had MaKin tattooed on his arm even before the song was produced! so in my mind it seems odd that "internal issues" has made him suddenly decide that he wants to walk away from it. they've had those issues for 40 years! why is it suddenly different now?!?! msn's statement from Joe Perry and Joe's Twitter(yes i follow him on twitter...) don't exactly match up... but thats the press for you. the one thing that does make me mad is that Joe said that "4 guys who play this good together shouldn't be wasted. our songs SHOULD be played live. we are probably going to look for a singer to help with that" now... i can't speak for anyone else, but i would NOT pay money for a ticket to their concert if Steven isn't there. not because he's my fave or anything. its because please name one person who can REPLACE Steven Tyler's voice!!?? i really honestly dont think there is anyone out there. sure sure i'm sure they can find someone that comes close. but are they going to dress the part? really? i dont want to see Aerosmith break up... but really guys? i know you have a wonderfully special dynamic-something that other bands could only dream of!-but 40 years later... it might just be time. if Steven goes... maybe its just time to call it a day.
i'll be crushed if they do break up. hell the last 2 times i've bought tix to see them the shows been cancelled..... which pissed me off!! but if its a new singer or nothing... i'll choose nothing. sure maybe they can stay together long enough to finish this latest album they keep promising is there... thatd be sweet!
okay... i'm done. that was my Aerosmith rant that went on for longer than i'd anticipated!!
now... i must get back to work!! its almost 3! yeay! this day has DRUG on! BUT, i get my hair cut at 5!!! i'm 3 weeks over-due and ready to get my bangs back!
feeling: okay. my week(end) has had a positive outlook from the last couple weeks. between the not sleeping well, the worries and life in general i've not been a very happy camper. i'm truly thankful that Matt puts up with me.... even though we fight all the time anymore. we usually get at least 1 day out of it all where we can stand each other!!
i wont re-hash my crappy weeks past for you. lets just say they were just crappy!
instead i will start with yesterday, because yesterday was a wonderful day! i slept in until 7 (that hasnt happened since the time change) it was awesome!! i dont even remember Ethan getting into bed with us, that tells you how out of it i was-he climbs OVER me to get into bed!! since i got some extra sleep i actually had the energy to do some things around the house! i finished up laundry-which has needed done badly for awhile-Ethan and i went grocery shopping--dont even get me started on that! then he wanted to go to Gma Russell's so i took him there for the afternoon. hed gotten a new, big, ambulance for being such a big boy and using the potty.... for #2's for quite some time now. so he got to pick out a toy. lucky for us we can still pursuade him into semi-cheap toys! un-lucky for us, he now thiks that every time he #2's in the potty he gets to run out and get another toy. and hes still too young to understand- Santa is coming soon. or Mom and Dad aren't made of money! he just knows that he wants another toy....... ugh.
terrible threes... thank you for coming right on time!!
after i dropped him off at the in-laws i got to work finding myself the Breaking Benjamin songs that i didnt have for my iPod. lets just say i found them ALL! i was so overjoyed! and their new album ROCKS!!
my other bit of totally exciting news is that Breaking Benjamin is coming to DM on December 8!! i'm SO STOKED to go!! i've recently discovered that BB is one of my favorite bands! i can't go wrong with their music! i love it all! i've sort of become obsessed... but thats not the point. last time they were in DM i happen to be 6 or 7 months preggo with Little E. so obviously it wasnt a question wether or not i should go. between me pry needing to sit the whole time or Matt and the guys all trying to surround me from being crushed or moshed into... it pry wouldn't have been enjoyable. so THIS time i am NOT preggo and i AM going!! i told Matt he gets to take me! i could care less who else goes... I WILL BE THERE!! he said hed take care of getting us tickets... so i will be asking him daily if he's gotten them yet!!
so all in all yesterday was good!
the news that made my day drop was that MSN reported that Steven Tyler is leaving Aerosmith..... this was sudden and its still a little unlikely in my mind. if you'd like to talk about obsessed you can talk to me about Aerosmith! i've read the biography plenty of times.....and i know that Aerosmith is Steven's baby. hes believed in it from the first song! he had MaKin tattooed on his arm even before the song was produced! so in my mind it seems odd that "internal issues" has made him suddenly decide that he wants to walk away from it. they've had those issues for 40 years! why is it suddenly different now?!?! msn's statement from Joe Perry and Joe's Twitter(yes i follow him on twitter...) don't exactly match up... but thats the press for you. the one thing that does make me mad is that Joe said that "4 guys who play this good together shouldn't be wasted. our songs SHOULD be played live. we are probably going to look for a singer to help with that" now... i can't speak for anyone else, but i would NOT pay money for a ticket to their concert if Steven isn't there. not because he's my fave or anything. its because please name one person who can REPLACE Steven Tyler's voice!!?? i really honestly dont think there is anyone out there. sure sure i'm sure they can find someone that comes close. but are they going to dress the part? really? i dont want to see Aerosmith break up... but really guys? i know you have a wonderfully special dynamic-something that other bands could only dream of!-but 40 years later... it might just be time. if Steven goes... maybe its just time to call it a day.
i'll be crushed if they do break up. hell the last 2 times i've bought tix to see them the shows been cancelled..... which pissed me off!! but if its a new singer or nothing... i'll choose nothing. sure maybe they can stay together long enough to finish this latest album they keep promising is there... thatd be sweet!
okay... i'm done. that was my Aerosmith rant that went on for longer than i'd anticipated!!
now... i must get back to work!! its almost 3! yeay! this day has DRUG on! BUT, i get my hair cut at 5!!! i'm 3 weeks over-due and ready to get my bangs back!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
4:00 and alls well!
doing: finishing up the Knoxville Dance Teams Calendar! I have 2 more "months" left to design... and only one picture. we might have a problem.....
feeling: tired!
wanting: FOOD!
today has been long to say the least. we were up super early to go and photograph the kids in PlayShop (local 5 and under preschool). its always fun and the kids are always entertaining, but it was early and neither of us felt like it! but it went very smoothly and we'll be there again tomorrow!
i realized that my last entry was on Ethan's birthday. since that was quite a while ago i thought i should update you on my life.
we've decided to take our house off the market for the winter. we had a glimmer of hope with a trade, but it didnt' end up panning out. so we decided to not renew, take it off until spring and then it'll be all new and fresh! aanndd we'll start all over. Matthew told me today that my "problem" is that i only think in absolutes. either we sell or we dont. either we live here forever or we get out. theres no middle ground. while that is true to some extent i could tell him the same thing. i say, lets build on, he says- we can't. i say - lets check with the bank, he says- we wont get anything. so--darling--if you are reading this, lets try to be more positive with each other.....
i try to think of ways to make our situation better or different and the answer always seems to be 'no' or 'we're poor'. its ebbing at my patience on the matter and thats the exact reason why i become shrill and bitchy when we "talk" about it. (i put talk in quotes because that really means fight and yell.) sure my suggestions may not be the best or thought out toally, but its only a suggestion. not like i went to the bank behind his back and am like "hey! we got 30K to build onto the house!"
thats not what i meant to talk about. mainly it was we're trying with the house selling again in the spring.
as for work. we just got back from our Fall Seminar, it was Nov 1&2! we always look forward to these simply because we aren't in the office! we dont HAVE to work and we can just be dorky and talk about photography ALL DAY LONG!! and everyone we talk to there loves it as much as we do!! we had 2 great speakers this year, Kirk Voclaine and John Hartman.
Kirk is a fabulous senior photographer! he has a smart head on his shoulders and it shows! the funny thing about him is that he is NOT even close to who you'd think of when you see his images!
http://www.kvphoto.com/ <-- Kirks website
http://seethelight.ca/img/speakers/kirkvoclain.jpg <-- Kirk
we got to hear him talk about his studio, his business, his photographing techniques and his photoshop work. it was all interesting and i got some good notes out of it!
John Hartman was our other speaker. he talked mostly about the business part of it. he told us how he shoots and a little about selling. i got some good notes from him too!
http://web.mac.com/jrhartman/Contemporary_Photography/Home.html <-- John's website
all in all-like we always do-we came back inspired!! now, like always, we just need to find an outlet and time to put all this stuff to action!
the other "fun" part of Seminar (i put fun in quotes because i mean not-so-fun) was that Jeff-being on the board-is in charge of hospitality this year. this means that he--WE--have to pick up speakers from the airport, get food and drinks ready for the hospitality room that's open most every night and a bunch of other little things. since Jeff is SUCH a generous boss.. he LETS me help him. lets just say i was up at 2am on Monday morning washing dishes in the hotel bathtub. and that was only one night! at Winter Seminar there are 3 nights. we have to have a meal plan and hope we dont run out (which we did this time) and have plenty of booze because, lets face it, photographers like to drizink!
well, i have an order coming in soon and then i get to go home! i'm SO hungry! and i have a church meeting tonight. it never stops does it! hopefully i'll be home in time for Glee! that will make my night!! I LOVE GOOD TV!!!!
feeling: tired!
wanting: FOOD!
today has been long to say the least. we were up super early to go and photograph the kids in PlayShop (local 5 and under preschool). its always fun and the kids are always entertaining, but it was early and neither of us felt like it! but it went very smoothly and we'll be there again tomorrow!
i realized that my last entry was on Ethan's birthday. since that was quite a while ago i thought i should update you on my life.
we've decided to take our house off the market for the winter. we had a glimmer of hope with a trade, but it didnt' end up panning out. so we decided to not renew, take it off until spring and then it'll be all new and fresh! aanndd we'll start all over. Matthew told me today that my "problem" is that i only think in absolutes. either we sell or we dont. either we live here forever or we get out. theres no middle ground. while that is true to some extent i could tell him the same thing. i say, lets build on, he says- we can't. i say - lets check with the bank, he says- we wont get anything. so--darling--if you are reading this, lets try to be more positive with each other.....
i try to think of ways to make our situation better or different and the answer always seems to be 'no' or 'we're poor'. its ebbing at my patience on the matter and thats the exact reason why i become shrill and bitchy when we "talk" about it. (i put talk in quotes because that really means fight and yell.) sure my suggestions may not be the best or thought out toally, but its only a suggestion. not like i went to the bank behind his back and am like "hey! we got 30K to build onto the house!"
thats not what i meant to talk about. mainly it was we're trying with the house selling again in the spring.
as for work. we just got back from our Fall Seminar, it was Nov 1&2! we always look forward to these simply because we aren't in the office! we dont HAVE to work and we can just be dorky and talk about photography ALL DAY LONG!! and everyone we talk to there loves it as much as we do!! we had 2 great speakers this year, Kirk Voclaine and John Hartman.
Kirk is a fabulous senior photographer! he has a smart head on his shoulders and it shows! the funny thing about him is that he is NOT even close to who you'd think of when you see his images!
http://www.kvphoto.com/ <-- Kirks website
http://seethelight.ca/img/speakers/kirkvoclain.jpg <-- Kirk
we got to hear him talk about his studio, his business, his photographing techniques and his photoshop work. it was all interesting and i got some good notes out of it!
John Hartman was our other speaker. he talked mostly about the business part of it. he told us how he shoots and a little about selling. i got some good notes from him too!
http://web.mac.com/jrhartman/Contemporary_Photography/Home.html <-- John's website
all in all-like we always do-we came back inspired!! now, like always, we just need to find an outlet and time to put all this stuff to action!
the other "fun" part of Seminar (i put fun in quotes because i mean not-so-fun) was that Jeff-being on the board-is in charge of hospitality this year. this means that he--WE--have to pick up speakers from the airport, get food and drinks ready for the hospitality room that's open most every night and a bunch of other little things. since Jeff is SUCH a generous boss.. he LETS me help him. lets just say i was up at 2am on Monday morning washing dishes in the hotel bathtub. and that was only one night! at Winter Seminar there are 3 nights. we have to have a meal plan and hope we dont run out (which we did this time) and have plenty of booze because, lets face it, photographers like to drizink!
well, i have an order coming in soon and then i get to go home! i'm SO hungry! and i have a church meeting tonight. it never stops does it! hopefully i'll be home in time for Glee! that will make my night!! I LOVE GOOD TV!!!!
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