5 months!

The clock just keeps ticking doesn't it?

Well I'm almost done with my 30 days without fast food.  I will say twice I got a quick sandwich due to 13 hr workdays and poor planning on my part, so I'm taking 2 days onto the end... that puts my end date at December 10th.  However, it's been easier than I thought so I'm going to still work at making fast food a truly last resort, and I will work on actually eating healthier food at home.

I've worked out once.  I know, not too great for training for a 5k, but I've got 5 months and I will get there.

I'm working on getting my finances together so I can get pre-approved for a mortgage and then I can really look into buying a home.

The 30 days of drinking 2 bottles of water has proven very very difficult.  So I'm going to start again.  I'm thinking tomorrow might be good for that.

My sales on TPT have been slower this month, but there's a huge sale tomorrow and Tuesday that I'm hoping will give me my biggest month yet!

With the amount of subbing I'm doing I've been able to put a couple hundred bucks every two weeks towards my summer savings so here's hoping I'll reach that savings goal ASAP!  I just need to get more days in and the districts that pay me just over $10 an hour.

Thanksgiving was great this year and I have so much in my life to be thankful for.

Hope the start to the holiday season is going as wonderfully for you as it is for me!


Here are some of my pic a day pics:

Nov 1: My boy Titus.

Nov 2:  I was clearly a sexy King Pig for Halloween.


Nov 3:  Driving home from Columbus- Instagram automatically flipped it so I left it.


Nov 16: (I have more pictures, just not posting all of them here.)  My first date surprise.  He got more dates :)



Nov 25: Months without working out.... I was not happy.

Sara in Colorado: Day 2-3

Day 2 and we were still in Fort Collins.  We took our time having breakfast, hanging out with my aunt and uncle, and gathering the supplies we were borrowing from them for our week of hiking and other activities up in Estes Park.  Finally we got our stuff together and began the drive up up up several more thousand feet!

I'd forgotten how many twists and turns the road into Estes contained.  Surrounded on either side with walls of rock that shimmered in the sun (I'm thinking from mica) and following a flowing river we continued our journey.  There were several signs that had symbols for mountain goat crossings but no matter how much I looked I couldn't find any.

We arrived at the Y and checked in rather painlessly and I began my favorite part of the Summit, greeting all my friends I hadn't seen in a year!  These people have truly become family to me and it is just as exciting now at 28 as it was at age 12 to see my friends again!  After 17 years I can't imagine not attending one of these events.  

It was chilly and rainy and cloudy up at the Y but I really liked the view.  I don't think this picture truly captures how literally in the clouds we were but it really was beautiful.

Day 3 was the first full day of the Family Nature Summit!  I decided to start my week of easily with a four mile hike to a visitor's center in Rocky Mountain National Park.  We crossed streams, saw wildlife, and beautiful scenery.  It was the perfect hike to start the week with!

There's a deer sitting in there, smack dab in the middle- can you find him?

After my morning hike I was much more exhausted than I'd planned.  I think the altitude had finally caught up with me and I was forced to lay down instead of going to a lecture I had planned on attending.  Upon awaking though I felt much better and was able to spend some quality time with my friends.

Stay tuned for rock climbing, wine tasting, and much much more!

One Touch of Nature: Photography

I've been fiddling around with photography for years- ever since I took some classes at the Cleveland Institute of Art during high school. Back then I was shooting on black and white film and developing my own pictures- which I loved. Since then I have moved into the digital world, and last summer finally was gifted a new DSLR- a Canon Rebel XS 10 megapixel- with a standard lens and a pretty standard zoom lens. I love it. Eventually I'll want to upgrade to a nicer one, but I want to earn the money to do that by selling some of my photography on Etsy.

I have reserved the name One Touch of Nature for my future Etsy shop based off of this Shakespearean Quote: "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."  I just love the sentiment of it!  Now I just need to decide which images to start with!

Grass Lake near Lake Tahoe

North Lake Tahoe

North Lake Tahoe

Tahoe Region of California

Here are some of my favorites- I have the first and third ones up in my apartment blown up to 16x20.  Which is your favorite?  Do you think people would consider buying prints or note cards featuring these images?