1. February. Wow. How’d that happen already? Today is Groundhog’s Day and while I don’t know if Phil saw his shadow or not, I heard they’re saying six more weeks of winter. Fabulous. Don’t they say that every year? You know why? BECAUSE IT’S FEBRUARY. OF COURSE THERE ARE SIX MORE WEEKS OF WINTER. Sigh.

2. So, Chris Mann – the guy with a voice like buttah (I’m not entirely cool enough to pull off describing his voice that way – but HIS VOICE. Sigh. Amazing) is going to be on The Voice this Sunday after the SuperBowl. I don’t really care about the SuperBowl, but am so looking forward to seeing Chris because I know he is going to kick ass. How could he not? Go check out his EPs on iTunes if you haven’t already, and when he wins The Voice you can say you knew about him WAY before The Voice. Oh, and here he is. I love this picture that Rachel (A Southern Fairytale) took at Blissdom last year. Check him out on Sunday on The Voice after the SuperBowl.

3. Holy jalapeno… that’s an exclaimation from Pumpkin’s favorite book series these days – Skippyjon Jones. They’ve been reading them in school and she ADORES them. I don’t know, I can take ‘em or leave them (they’re kind of long for bedtime story reading), but some of the sayings make me laugh. Since I hate cats, I don’t blame Skippito for pretending he’s a chihuahua. Dude, I would too. If I were a cat.

4. I’m going to attempt the candy-coated Oreos on a stick once more. This time, instead of putting the freshly dipped Oreos on a cooling rack (oy, the grid marks), I have purchased a styrofoam block at a craftstore which will be covered with foil or parchment paper, and I will put the stick in the styrofoam, nearly right up to the pop (so frosting doesn’t drip down the stick), so it will look pretty from all sides. I’ll update y’all. I think it’s still gonna be a messy project. But yummy. And yummy trumps messy…almost every time.

5. My sister’s doctor is saying that she has pre-eclampsia and that the baby is measuring kinda big – which means my niece may be here a few weeks early. I’m kinda looking forward to meeting this new little person in just about a month. I can’t wait to see what she looks like, what her temperament is like, and frankly, I just want to spoil her.

6. When I stopped in for my cappuccino, the new kid working at Starbucks said I should get a venti because I “looked tired”. Was he trying to upsell me or was he clueless? Who knows. And yeah, I got the venti.

7. The Princess had a gymnastics meet on Sunday where despite very tough judging managed to bring home three red ribbons and a white. She found out a few days later at practice just how CLOSE she was to getting a blue ribbon for her floor routine – a frustrating discovery for her. BUT, she knows what to work on and hopefully she’ll improve that aspect for the next meet. And really? Every time she competes she is just so much better than the time before. Her progress is noticeable, visible and really just amazing to see. I’m very proud of her.

8. Got an email from The Princess’s fourth grade teacher that the unit on recorders in music class is over and that the kids should keep their recorders at school just in case they need them again. Hallelujah. I love music and I love my children being involved with loving and learning music – but that recorder? ANNOYING AS ALL GET OUT. No one sounds good playing one.

9. In just a few short weeks I’ll be road tripping down to Nashville with Kat for Blissdom – will I see you there? Looking forward to learning new things and seeing some of the friends I only get to see once a year. I sure hope Kat’s ready to karaoke with me again.

10. Book club meeting is next week to discuss “The Night Circus” and I need ideas to suggest for March’s book selection. What are you reading? Are you enjoying it?

1. First things first – this has been an amazing few weeks for music – several awesome downloads last week and this week’s release of Ingrid Michaelson’s new album, “Human Again”. If you’re an Ingrid fan (and I am), this seems a bit of a departure from her usual quirky Ingrid sound – seems a little sadder, a little less…fun. Still beautiful. Still lyrically Ingrid. It just has a slightly different flavor.

2. Since I’m already talking about music… I’m less than a month away from a road trip to Blissdom! Kat and I will be driving from hereish to there – which translates into SEVERAL HOURS IN THE CAR. Of course, I love a good road trip, I love me some Kat – and I am SO excited about the trip. But, Kat and I need some good tunes in the car – if you have suggestions for our Road to Bliss playlist, let me know.

3. Saw the movie “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” this past weekend. I’d been slightly (not very) hesitant because movie adaptations are never as good as the book. Frankly, I loved the book so much the movie didn’t stand a chance of measuring up. But. It was beautifully done and lovely and I didn’t cry nearly as much as I thought I would. And it’s got an Oscar nomination – making it the only contender for “Best Picture” that I’ve seen this year.

4. I just wrapped up reading a fun book this week, and I’m reading a book with The Princess for our Mom/Daughter book club, but I’m finally gearing up to dive into Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Have you read it? What did you think? I am not normally a reader of biographies, but thought I’d give it a whirl. I took the below photo outside the 5th Avenue Apple store in New York City.

5. I’ve reached the point of winter where I am bored with my hair and debating getting a major hair cut. I need to talk myself out of it. I have been growing out my hair since my last drastic above-the-shoulders cut two years ago and it’s down to the bottom of my shoulder blades. I don’t want to grow my hair to my feet – but I’m not sure I’m ready for a short ‘do again (or ever!). But… winter almost compels me to make a change. So… maybe I need a new color.

6. Pumpkin is on a SkippyJon Jones kick. I have to admit, I find it somewhat adorable that she’s added the phrase “holy frijoles” to her vocabulary.

7. A boy told The Princess yesterday that she was not “built for soccer” but that she was “built for math”. I don’t even know what the hell that means, but I’m sure it wasn’t intended to be nice. I’m fighting the mama bear urge to tell The Princess to give him the middle finger and say, “You’re right – I’m so good at math I can tell you exactly how many fingers I’m holding up.” But, that’s not the right answer. My gymnast could probably beat any of the boys in her class in a pushup contest, and being good at math is an awesome thing. I can only assume this boy just didn’t want any girls in a “boys only” game of soccer. To which I say THIS: pbbbbbbbbbbbbth. Whether you are a parent of daughters or a parent of sons (or of both!), you have a responsibility to challenge the gender “norms” that have been held for so long: girls can’t play sports, boys can’t play dress up or have dolls, everything made for girls needs to be pink. It’s 2012 not 1950. I have daughters – and it’s my job to let them know they are capable of doing damn near anything a boy can (except pee standing up – I’m not encouraging that mess).

8. I’ve made it a mission to work on strengthening my skills in the arena of food photography. It’s not easy – for sure – but, I’m intrigued by it.

9. My sister’s baby shower? It went WELL! Now to plan the shower for my sweet sweet friend who is due just four weeks after. Two baby showers back to back has taught me one thing: I was right in not pursuing a career in event planning.

10. Project Runway without Tim Gunn? No bueno. I even almost miss Heidi. Project Runway AllStars is kind of a miss for me. And that’s my hard-hitting reality TV opinion of the day.

1. My music library has had somewhat of a drought lately – hadn’t really added much of anything new. I changed that this week. I downloaded the new album by Florence + The Machine, the latest Ani DiFranco and the Taylor Swift/Civil Wars single from the Hunger Games movie, “Safe and Sound.” All good stuff. Happy ears.

2. The other song I’m loving now is Ingrid Michaelson’s cover of “Somebody That I Used To Know”. The song is all over the internet right now, with basically everyone on the planet covering it. I like her version. And I love watching what she’s doing with percussion.

3. The Princess had a spelling bee the other day and sadly was out in the second round. And she was devastated. She knew how to spell the word and her mouth just went a little faster than her brain. Poor kid.

4. I am on the second round of antibiotics for this 2012 Massive Cootie Germfest. Seriously. I think they’re working. My sinuses feel less like popping out of my face. It’s been…not so fun. But, I’m hoping I’ve turned the corner. I hope.

5. In the zone with baby shower planning – my sister’s shower is THIS WEEKEND. Pulling those last minute details together and really just excited about spoiling my sister and my unborn niece rotten. I think I’m finally done shopping for the shower. I keep picking up “one more thing”. So fun. Can you tell I’m a first time aunt?

6. American Idol is back. As someone who will never make more than a few sympathy dollars with her singing voice (I think it’s really good but I realize that every one else just lacks taste), I sure do love the first few eps of American Idol where everyone sings so horribly. It makes me happy. Which is awful, but I’m sure it’s the point.

7. Sometimes I take a picture that I fall in love with. I wish I had had something better than just an iPhone with me but I still… I look at this and see exactly what had drawn me to his moment. Sometimes I see something – but it doesn’t translate. This, the emotion I saw in the empty chairs, carried to the end result.

8. Around the holiday season, everyone was talking about Love Actually so I rented it from iTunes and I thought it didn’t download. Well, I thought that because iTunes told me it didn’t. Then this week, I got notice that the rental period was nearly up. I’ve had that movie ALL THAT TIME? Well, guess what? Another year has passed and I still haven’t seen it.

9. In four months (WOW! Just four?!), I’ll be in Boston walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. You know it’s a good cause, so if you’d like to support me, please click to donate.

10. I’m really looking forward to the movie “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” that comes out this weekend. Would I have cast Tom Hanks? I’m thinking… no. Soooo, it’ll be interesting to see.

1. Well, the antibiotics are gone but this cough still lingers, as does this runny nose. It’s not fun. It’s not fun at all. I need all the Kleenex in the world right now. It’s not good.

2. As I type, the snow is falling and we’re expected to get a few inches of snow in West Michigan. We’ve been pretty lucky with a mild winter so far, so I shouldn’t complain about getting a few inches of snow in January except… I really don’t like snow.

3. And with bad weather comes… the lengthening of my commute. This morning’s drive in was super slow. And there wasn’t any snow. It’s ONLY GONNA GET BETTER!

4. So, the thing about Project Runway All Stars is… Tim Gunn isn’t on it. Pfft. What’s Project Runway without Tim? I’m rooting for Mondo, though, and yeah, I’ll probably keep watching.

5. With this cold that won’t go away, I have decided to heed the typical “drink lots of fluid” advice and have upped my water intake by about 100,000 percent. (I may be exaggerating). Those insulated cold cups with the straws? THE BEST for encouraging water consumption because somehow drinking with a straw seems to make it less of a chore. Probably the same reason I can drink ten diet cokes when I go out to eat (not really ten. Probably).

6. Baby shower planning mode in full effect. Do you know that baby shower planning is really tough work? It IS. But, I’m excited and can’t wait to surprise my sister with some really fun stuff that she has no idea about. Turned in the final head count today and we’re going to have a full house.

7. I am making it a mission to get better at food photography – I’m a rotten cook, but I want to sharpen my skills at making food look appetizing. I gave it a whirl photographing the brownies I baked tonight. Let’s just say I have a LONG WAY TO GO.

8. Do you use Pinterest? I was resistant to trying it, but love the photography ideas. And the cookie recipes. I really love the cookie recipes.

9. Did you pick a word for the year? I did.

10. Just finished reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close over the weekend and LOVED it. I am not a fan of writing and highlighting books – but this book made me want to. There were so many lines that resonated with me that I wanted to make note of them all. I didn’t. I may go back and track them down. I’m looking forward to seeing the movie (though now that I’ve read the book, I question the casting).

1. I had to call in sick to work today and I hate that. I realized after feeling progressively worse yesterday and then just being wracked with awful coughing jags last night and the overall feeling like I’m drowning in snot…then waking up feeling not at all better… that maybe I should stay home and maybe get in to see the doc. Doc gave me antibiotics, cough meds and orders to rest and drink lots of fluids. There may be a nap in my future.

2. When I don’t feel well, I crave carbs. Exhibit A.

3. Michigan beat Virginia Tech in the SugarBowl! Whoohoo! Would have preferred less of a tense, edge of the seat, game ending at midnight ordeal, but YAY! A victory. Hail!

4. Cough medicine is making me sleeeeeeeeeeepy. It wasn’t supposed to. Nondrowsy? Hmmph. I may actually take a nap today.

5. Book club last night – the book for January is The Night Circus, which I’d been wanting to read, and now I have an excuse. Whatcha reading?

6. After a holiday season of pretty much eating what I wanted WHEN I wanted (monkey bread, salted caramel cheesecake, ice cream sandwiches on New Years Eve), I have decided to start paying more attention to what I’m eating. Being sick has made this a little easier than it could be, since I can’t taste anything right now. I should be eating broccoli.

7. Before we got our puppy, there was this lovely spot by the sliding glass door where the sun spilled across the floor in delicious warmth and I would lay in the spot and read, soaking in the golden rays of the sun. Yeah. Not anymore. Pup’s claimed that spot as his own. Booooo.

8. I watched the first two hours of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” (the latest version with Daniel Craig) and thought it was well done – though I ended up leaving early because of a migraine (do you wonder why I hate winter so much?). I felt it stuck to the book a lot better than most movies do and I thought it lent a different layer to Lisbeth that I hadn’t gotten from the books – sometimes it’s hard to visualize, but I think it made her vulnerability more apparent and made her make sense.

9. Now that winter break is over and kiddos are back to school, do you find your kids are thrilled to be back? I think mine are – but it’s definitely an adjustment period after two weeks of a willy-nilly schedule.

10. Project Runway AllStars starts tonight. I don’t watch as much television as I used to but ALWAYS ALWAYS make an exception for PR.

1. This is the last Thursday Ten post of 2011 – and either you’re really excited (WHOO! I DON’T HAVE TO READ ANOTHER ONE OF THESE UNTIL NEXT YEAR!) or you’re sad and mourning the passage of time and are grateful that with my weekly Ten lists, I made the time seem like it was flying and how, HOW WILL YOU EVER REPAY YOUR DEBT TO ME (I’d like a new car, please).

2. To celebrate the end of 2011, I’ve done what millions of other people have done before me: I got a cold. Today, I’ve got cold medicine on board – but there’s definite tradeoffs. While I definitely feel less like my head is a stuffed up mess, my brain on cold medicine is not what you would call…functional. Oh well.

3. As a treat for myself, I bought myself some nice shampoo and conditioner. I had been using some great stuff from Avon that I received to review (and I love it), but I wanted a break because I have missed the smell of Aveda Shampure. I stopped at a salon on my way home yesterday and picked some up. Right now, I am sniffing my hair while typing this post (something I could not do successfully without cold medicine, I might add).

4. In fun news, I’m working on a playlist to try to define, musically, what my year looked like. Not as easy as you’d think – also, trying to not include anything by Ke$ha (what was 2011 without Ke$ha – uh. Kidding. Kind of). Not all the songs will be from this year – some just define the moments, and some are songs I was drawn to over the course of the past twelve months. What songs would be on YOUR 2011 playlist?

5. Day after Christmas, half off candy canes. I won’t tell you how many boxes of candy canes I bought (a lot), but I’m so glad I bought them. Yummy minty goodness.

6. In an effort to be “more healthy”, I have decided to drink more water (hydration!) and more green tea (metabolism boosting!) and less Coke Zero (all the evil things that taste so yummy!). I’m wondering how long does it take for my metabolism to speed up and JUST HOW MUCH TEA I HAVE TO DRINK TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN.

7. The days are getting longer. I look forward to when it’s light when I drive to work and light when I drive home. That will be nice. There are so many ways that winter is awful, but the darkness – the stupid darkness – is one of the biggest.

8. I wore leggings today. This was only my second time venturing out in public in them. I am tremendously comfortable and not nearly as aware of my thighs as I thought I’d be.

9. Do you go into a new year with a word or a theme? I decided my word for 2011 was “HOPE” and I have yet to decide what my word will be for 2012. I don’t make resolutions – but I’ll pick a word. Seems a little less daunting.

10. Seems like this post needs a photo. Here’s Chicago. I LOVE Chicago. One of my favorite cities on the planet. Definitely in my top 3.

1.  So, yeah, I haven’t been here in awhile and there’s been no new content for awhile and while I don’t think anyone noticed, if you did notice, I’m so sorry. Also, I realize that “notice” and “care” do not mean the same thing. So, I’ll pretend that yes, if you noticed, you also cared and mourned the lack of new content in this space. Whatever, it’s my blog. I can do that.

2. Well, where were you Sarah? I’m glad you asked. I was in Dallas for the second time this year – this time to photograph the wedding of my dear sweet friend. What an amazing honor to be asked to capture her special day. I am elbow deep in editing pictures – that’s definitely a time consuming part of the process – but it’s fun to re-live the day every time I open up Lightroom on my laptop!

3. Another trip means another series of plane adventures. Smooth flying and not at all worth the worrying I did before hand (Don’t you dare remind me that next time I am freaking out about travel). I still don’t love air travel – but you can’t beat the convenience, and how else am I going to get this view of Chicago?

4. Looks like we’re going to be having a green Christmas in Michigan this year. Ask me if I’m heartbroken (NO!).

5. Really looking forward to seeing the US adaptation of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. I read the trilogy, but the Swedish version of the movie was too intense for me. I’m already loving the Trent Reznor soundtrack – so I hope the movie is good as well. I don’t have a thing for Daniel Craig, so that aspect doesn’t really appeal to me. Should be interesting, anyway.

6. I wonder if there’s been studies done on how songs get stuck in one’s head. Today, I’ve been hearing that weird song from the grinch movie (If substituted all the made up words to “Dara Torres, Dara Torres, Welcome Christmas, come this way…”).

7. Are you done holiday shopping or are you the last minute sort? I think I’m done. We’ll see – midday tomorrow, I’ll probably come up with something I have to buy. Hope not. I’m so over shopping.

8. The shopping may be done but I have yet to start baking. On my agenda this year – a salted caramel cheesecake and as per my tradition, monkey bread for Christmas morning breakfast. What will you be baking this year?

9. And once the holidays end, I will kick into high gear of planning my sister’s baby shower. Cannot believe my niece is going to make her debut in our world in just a few months. Having so much fun celebrating her already and she’s not even born (and you know, her middle name will be Sarah. How much do I LOVE that?).

10. In case I don’t manage to blog again until next week (I’d like to say that won’t happen, but, I can’t!), I hope you and yours have a lovely Christmas, or Channukah or whatever you celebrate. Wishing you the best this holiday season. Lots of love, light and candy canes.

1. You’d think that things in December would slow down, life would mellow out and we could all dial it back a little and just chill out and eat Christmas cookies and maybe sing a few carols while sitting next to the Christmas tree doing ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY NOTHING. Yeah. No go.

2. Every year around this time people start talking about holiday movie classics – and I guarantee, I haven’t seen most of them. “Love, Actually”? Nope. “Elf”? Never. “It’s A Wonderful Life”? Not even that gem. I’m just a dork that way. Maybe I should make it a point to see at least one of them this year. What’s your favorite?

3. Tomorrow I bake cookies like a mad woman to prepare for our annual cookie decorating party. Every year I forget what a gigantic pain rolled cookies are, but it’s worth it when the kids have so much fun decorating cookies with their friends.

4. Lot of people talking about and thinking about John Lennon today. I’m no different.

5. Usually I am SO MUCH FURTHER along on holiday shopping than I am this year. Not even close to done. And I keep forgetting to send my dad’s gift to California (though, he always opens it early, so maybe it’s good that I wait). Was hoping to be done by next week – not sure if that’s going to happen.

6. I started reading Chris Bohjalian’s new book and had to put it down because a plane crash was a central theme and I have to get on a plane next week. I know the statistics are in my favor but that was just too much creepy too close to airplane time.

7. While holiday shopping I bought some of Sephora’s “Naughty Is The New Nice” nail polish – a gorgeous, glittery icy-silver-blue polish. Well, that gorgeous polish DOES NOT WANT TO COME OFF. I’ve tried a few different times with nail polish remover and now I’m on to that age old remedy of picking it off with my fingernails. My nails really look like hell.

8. New music is old music – I reloading the soundtrack to “Waiting To Exhale” into my iTunes. In college, there was a period where I fell asleep to that album every night… and instantly when I put it on last night, thirty seconds into track one my eyelids got heavy. Old habits.

9. I really miss having time for photography. The past few pictures of the day have been hastily snapped during lunch hour – and I have only been mildly okay with the things I’ve shot. I miss the time I could spend on it. I still carry my camera bag often – because you never know. But, yeah… it stinks.

10. I have not wrapped a single Christmas present. I don’t want to. That’s the least fun part. Three rolls of wrapping paper in the office and a tree with nothing under it says maybe I should get moving soon. Bleh.

1. I really love carbs – and as I type, I’m enjoying a slice of sourdough bread covered with melty butter and really I think if there was ever a reason when I would have to not eat carbs anymore I would be so sad and life would NOT BE THE SAME.

2. I had a migraine on Monday that knocked me flat on my butt.  Between the aching pain of the headache and the queasiness, I was miserable. I used to get migraines a lot more frequently and Monday was a reminder of how lucky I am that I am not a chronic migraine-sufferer. UGH. No fun.

3. The past few days I have not used my dSLR at ALL. It’s weird. Even my pictures of the day have been with either my iPhone or my point and shoot. It’s weird – they say the best camera is the one you have with you – and that’s true – I’d rather have my iPhone camera than none, but I miss shooting like I’m TRYING.

4. After some initial adjustment and glitchiness, I think I really am starting to like Lightroom. Witness below, a portrait of a blogger playing with some overdone Lightroom preset.

5. What’s been keeping me amused this week? The latest from the guys behind the “Whole Foods Parking Lot” video. “Yoga Girl” is just as funny – even if you are like me and aren’t really a yoga person.

6. Go see The Muppets. Go. Go see it. I know, it’s expensive to go to the movies, and the kids will probably want popcorn and stuff and it will cost roughly the same as a month’s mortgage payment… but it’s adorable.

7. Tis the season for my email inbox to be filled with daily emails from the same online retailers trying to get me to buy stuff. SO MUCH JUNK MAIL. It’s crazy-making. Same companies, every day. I just delete them all. I don’t even read them anymore. Wonder how many good sales I’m missing?

8. Go Blue! Michigan beat Ohio State last weekend which was a long time coming. That was a very close game and I’m glad they finally won (also big congrats to Michigan’s coach, who was voted Big Ten Coach of the Year! Awesome!).

9. Okay, admittedly, I started writing this post hours ago. When I indeed had toast and butter. Now, I have a lukewarm Coke Zero and a bag of beef jerky and I WISH I had another slice of toast. I estimated yesterday that probably 95% of what I write/tweet/talk about is food. I haven’t officially checked that – but I can’t be far off.

10. Tis the season…for people to drive me crazy. There’s probably another post brewing – but I received an email last night from one of the classroom moms of a kiddo in The Princess’s class. Even hours after I clicked delete on the sucker, it still irks me. I don’t much care for the Mom Olympics – and this rallying to be the BEST PARENT EVER by coordinating the teacher’s holiday gift (despite receiving three SEPARATE letters from the school and teacher with specific requests of what to get – none of which this parent is adhering to). You know what? You probably don’t get a prize for kissing the teacher’s butt. And if you do, I don’t want it anyway.

1. Happy Thanksgiving. I have had Alanis Morisette’s “Thank You” stuck in my head for a large part of the day. The rest of my list will be things for which I am thankful – but beyond the typical family, friends, and roof over my head stuff because frankly, everyone’s list looks the same when you do that, and it should just go without saying.

2. I am thankful that Jeremy Piven is in almost every John Cusack movie (maybe all of them – there are John Cusack movies I haven’t seen). Serendipity is on TV right now and Jeremy Piven is – as is typical – the best part of this movie (See also: Gross Pointe Blank).

3. I am thankful for a hair stylist that knows how to cut curly hair without making my head look like a pyramid. Also thankful for Ouidad hair products.

4. I am thankful for the people who choose to hire me to take pictures, who like my vision and my style and honor me with the opportunity to share their special moments and capture them. It is an honor. Looking forward to a wedding next month. Cannot wait.

5. I am thankful for Netflix Streaming. I know, I know, I should be mad at Netflix for all their wishy-washy hand-wringing policy-changing hooey – but frankly, I’ve been kind of enjoying watching Felicity reruns from episode one of season one (See also: My So Called Life).

6. I’m thankful for how easy it is to buy music online (TOO EASY). Doesn’t take much for me to populate my music library with refreshing new stuff. I love that. I also love the various ways people are able to share music online – so I can discover music I wouldn’t have otherwise. Love it.

7. I’m thankful for tacos. (What? It’s my list. Shut up.)

8. I’m thankful for picture frames from IKEA that are simple and cheap so I can frame lots of my photographs – even though I have yet to hang any of them up.

9. I am thankful that I have been able to somewhat dull my fear of flying with either Rescue Remedy or alcohol because I love travel.

10. I am thankful for y’all – if you stop by and read my goofy posts – today or ever… Thank you for stepping into my corner of the internet. I appreciate it.