I tried to avoid it. I kept my lips far from my sick hubby, but alas his germs proved to be too tricky and have found another way to get to me because today I am SICK! You know the feeling when your head is so stuffy that you’re sure it’s effecting the way your brain functions? My brain feels like a mixture of zombie and 2 year old. I just can’t seem to articulate what I’m thinking today. So forgive me if this post is full of grammatical errors or reads like that of a kindergardener’s (truth be told…I just had to google how to spell that after the spell check said ‘no guesses found’). Oh boy, this might be a rough one for me!

So I decided I wanted to do something a little different today. I’m going to call it “Boos + Woo hoos”. That’s just a fancy (or maybe lame) way of saying I’m going to tell you some things that I’ve been giving a thumbs up to lately and things that get a thumbs down. We’ll see how it goes, shall we?

Woo Hoos!

1. Matt Chandler Podcasts: I’m officially obsessed. Matt Chandler is the pastor of The Village Church in Texas, one of the many churches in the Acts 29 network of which our home church is part of. Some of my friends had encouraged me to podcast his sermons and now I am officially obsessed. This man knows how to preach the Word people! Every time I listen to a sermon I find myself audibly (or in my head depending where I am) saying ‘Amen!’ about a million times :). Matt is currently battling brain cancer and has a compelling story, but in the midst of it all, he NEVER gives the glory to anyone but Jesus Christ. That’s what I love most about listening to him. Please do yourself a favor and start listening HERE!.

2. Quick trips to Tucson: Yesterday morning Joe + I drove up (over? down? I’m not sure!) to Tucson to visit our photog friends Casia + Eric of Purple Nickel Studio. We’d been wanting to get out there since last February when we first met them at the WPPI photography conference and we finally made it happen! We only had about 4 hours to actually be in Tucson before we had to head back to Phx to make it to the 5pm church service where we had to serve. In that time, they showed us their sweet studio apartment built out of an old ice house warehouse, took us to their photography studio, took us to lunch and showed us around the cute little downtown shops. It went by way too fast, but we were so glad that we got to spend some time with them.

3. Good reads: I’ve recently fallen in love with reading again. I used to read a lot in high school and then just got out of the habit somehow. But this summer I grabbed “The Book Thief” and it was the catalyst I needed to get started again. Be on the lookout for my ‘Book Reports’ soon!

4. Pinterest: At first I didn’t know what to make of this website. What was the point? I didn’t get it. But now?? Oh, I SO get it…in the worst way possible. In the ‘what would I do without you?” kinda way! Now all of my ideas for photography, decorating, cooking, hair, etc all reside in one, beautiful, inspiring place. If you haven’t checked it out you, please do! (Or maybe don’t. I don’t want to be the one to lead you into an addiction!)

5. Vintage cameras (for free!): I’ve always loved the look of vintage cameras. I mean, what photographer wouldn’t? I’ve had it in the back of my head that I would invest in some old cameras…someday. Well last week while Joe + I were in WI, his grandma graciously gave me a 60+ year old camera. It was actually the wedding gift that she gave to Joe’s grandpa. Pretty rad, right? I love it!

Boos!

1. Getting sick: I think that’s a pretty universal ‘boo’, right?

2. The never-ending 90s: No, I’m not hating on the 90s era, I’m hating on the 90s temperatures that have yet to leave Phoenix! It’s almost November people.

3. Dirt back yard: It wasn’t dirt when we first moved in. It was actually rocked nicely and required very little maintenance. That was before we got dogs who somehow have the ability to make the rocks disappear slowly (but very noticeably) exposing the dirt underneath. I joke that I don’t ‘dust’ the house, I have to ‘dirt’ the house. I love my dogs but dang, they make my cleaning routine much more difficult. Boo to that!

But let’s end on a ‘woo hoo’ note, because nobody wants to see pictures of ‘boos’. Check out my beautiful (free) vintage camera

Isn’t it gorgeous? Look at that leather case.