The goods- I think so anyway

Aeropostale yoga pants. YES! I have a few pairs now and they are amazing! I have the ones above, these, these, and a pair like these. They are wonderful!

Brown Sugar Vanilla lotion by Bodycology. It smells SO good!! I love brown sugar vanilla stuff by like Bath and Body Works but it gets kind of spendy.. So I found this at none other than Target :) Bet you guessed that... Haha, I'm kind of obsessed... :D So usually it's like $7ish at a smelly store but at Target its $3!!! What a savings... It's crazy good too its not cheap because it sucks either! I've had that happen where I buy something cheap thinking oh, its just a good price but then when you try it out it makes you break out or breaks, depending on what you bought... So ya, it's acually called body cream, but it's just the same.. They also have other smells but I like the warm and cozy smelling stuff. :)

Another thing that you don't even leave your computer or Idevice to listen to is this song. Its called My Hope is in You by Aaron Shust. It makes me just want to raise my hands and sing! A couple more favorites of mine are Fight For You by Jason Derulo, Whatch Ya Say by Jason Derulo, and of course Stereo Hearts! I LOVE LOVE that song!! I listen to it all the time, and share lyrics with her via txt. Haha, its a really good song!!

Another thing I like to do in my spare time is looking at beautiful houses. There are some AMAZING houses!! I know, Im lame like that, but hey watevs... I like looking at houses that I could never in a billion years affort! It's kind of fun and makes me want to save my money even more so I could possibly buy something like that some day...

I don't know, thats just me! What do you do in your spare time or what are some of your favorite things??
Sydney

What a LITTLE editing can do…

Now for the most part, I don’t edit my pictures. Unless of course its for a wedding or something special like that.

For example in the picture above I darkened it a little bit from the natural lighting because as we can see the daughter has a more fair skin color and is blonde so she just looks like a white blur. You don’t want to darken it to much because then the adults look way to dark. It’s fun just to play around with a just use your best judgment. I wouldn’t waist your time editing pictures like this,

Because the lighting isn’t horrible and the more editing you do to a picture, actually makes it look worse. It’s like applying make-up. If you just put on a little foundation, light eye shadow, and mascara you look fine but if you put three layers of liquid foundation, a few layers of eye shadow, and keep applying mascara after it dries, its going to end up looking horrific! Just do the basic’s and let the natural beauty show threw. :)

I’ll show you an example, BEFORE.

Now this picture isn’t horrible, there is just a few little things you can do to make it look a little better. On a side note, I did have my hair in a ponytail so that is why I look bald. So first off I would own your pictures. By that I mean make some sort of a copy right symbol.

http://www.astorytoldinpictures.blogspot.com/

http://www.photographybynealy.com/

If you look at either of these pictures you will see how Olivia has wrote “OLIVIA GRACE” in the left bottom corner, that is how she owns it. And Nealy has written a note at the top of her’s saying, it’s hers. Also please, please, please, if you use someone else’s pictures, GIVE THEM CREDIT!!!

So back to my picture,

If you have editing software, you can take this picture and zoom all over it and see what you need to do to make your client (myself for example) happy. I like my pictures a little bit darker than most, but that’s just me! So I just played around until I was satisfied NOT EDITING TO MUCH and came to a final picture that I felt good about and wanted to own.

So I made my face a little bit darker and cleaned up my skin. Nothing huge, just more to my liking. I think that making a picture a little darker makes it more rich (my eyes), but that’s totally just me! And sometimes I don’t like dark and some pictures, I think it just depends…

What do ya think? Any questions? What editing software or site do you use to edit?

Sydney

Nail Tutorial

If you are looking to find a way to paint your nails fun in a quick amount of time, I have the answer!! Just a pre warning, these pictures are kind of bad because I had to hold my huge camera with one hand.. Haha!

Start off with plain nails. I had just took of my polish to do this tutorial so that’s why its really rough looking…

Then I use a nail file and just clean them up a little. Shape them, trim them, etc. I hardly ever use a clippers to clip them because I do them like once a week and so they never get to long.. Haha.

This is the nail polishes I use in this one. You do not have to use all of them that I am, I’m just going to show you a few different things!! So first off, I'm going to paint mine black. I use Essie’s black and LOVE it! It works wonderfully! :) So just paint them all plain black for the back round.

You don’t have to use black I just do because I think it looks nice but use any color that you want it just cant be to BAM in your face… So once you have your nails dried like this, I use a skinny brush (you can just buy these at Target!) to do lines… I wish this picture would have focused right but it didn’t… :(

So hopefully you can see what I mean by skinny brush. Its just like a piece of string.. haha.

Here is a better picture from Google… So them just draw lines on your fingers how ever you want! And don’t make them all match because that kind of makes it boring and way more stressful that need be! Once you drew lines on your fingers and you are sure they are dry them you are going to do dots.

This is what I use but you can just use a normal toothpick! Take some nail polish (fun bright colors) and dump them on (what I use but pretty much anything will work) a index card. Just pour some out but not a ton! So take a sharp end (I use the right end) or the pick and dip it in one of the polish on the index card. Then plop it onto your nails all over. In the end it will look something like this…

and sense this is such a horrible picture I found another one that just shows you what it will look like.

So there you have it! I seriously love this look and I love how its not just one plain color too! Its fun! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and I hope to do more in the future!!

Sydney

The colors and what I did with them. Black- the base coat. Actually I use a different clear now (not the one pictured) by Sally Hansen and put that under the black because it will keep your nails from getting damaged or dark like how mine were in the beginning of this post. Skinny white and skinny silver, use ONE of these for the lines that you draw for the branches of the cherry blossom tree. Green, pink, and blue I dump for the dots. Clear, no longer in use.

Time Somebody Told Me..

Time somebody told me

That I am caring, loving and trustworthy

That I am happy inside

If they only knew

How that would effect me

Time somebody told me

That my mind is overflowing, crazy and full

That I should keep going and never stop

Time somebody told me

How they cared and loved me

How my heart is huge and my arms are loving

How good they feel when I hugged them with care

Time somebody told me

So, I had a talk with myself

Just me, nobody else

‘cause it was time

somebody told me.

This is a poem I wrote in school I think last year… I was reading my moms blog when I stumbled over it and remembered how proud of me she was. It was pretty much random thoughts put together and worked with but it turned out good I guess… Haha! I just thought I’d share this with you guys . Feel free to share poems your proud of with me by either linking it in the comments, or emailing it to me (sydance97@gmail.com). I would love to share them on my blog as a post to so just add that in there when you send it. Also if you have an issue that you want advice on feel free to email me and let me know what it is and the I can post it on my blog and not mention your name but then you can get my input and all of my readers input as well!! All ya gotta do it ask!

Hope your having a fantabulous week so far and survived your Monday!

Sydney

Long time, no write

Hello bloggers!! Miss me? I haven’t written on here forever!! Sorry about that. I finally found myself at my computer today, not knowing where to start… So I’ll try to make this easy to read but it could be totally random and all over the place!

Hoover Schmaltz Wedding

My aunt Kris got married!!!! And guess who was the photographer.. Yep, that’d be me! I was so happy when she first asked me I actually thought it was by mistake! Haha It was so much fun and I hope to do another soon!!

Here is a preview but I can’t give you anymore yet because she hasn’t gotten the pictures yet!! It was in beautiful Arizona in early November.

Eight? Really??

Also in November my lovely sister turned 8! I cannot believe how much she has grown… Its crazy!!!

For her party she got to go rock climbing at a local gym with some of her girlies…

Isn’t that fun? The gym had this at the entrance for everybody to see! It was so cute and she felt so special!!

She has lately been into peace signs and all of that hippie stuff… So for her birthday mom made cupcakes that had three layers (blue, yellow and red) then drew a piece sign on top. Once we got to the gym I set them up in a peace formation. It was so cute!

1 Year Anniversary

This is an anniversary I have mixed emotions about. If you have not been reading this blog before/during the end of December than you most likely have no idea what I am going to write about. Well lucky for you I wrote about the whole thing in a school story not to long ago…

It was a Saturday night in December I remember clearly. We were having a movie night at my mom’s house enjoying life. Everything on our minds just went away and we smiled, laughed and enjoyed the quality family time. My mom is a busy person. She’s always getting phone calls and emails. Her phone rang but she just dismissed it. Once our movie was over we just kind of sat there and started to fall asleep because the movie was long and it was late. My mom checked her phone to see who had called her. It was Chalsie, my Uncle Nick’s girlfriend. We all looked at each other with confused faces thinking, why would Chalsie be calling? So of course my mom listened to the voicemail but I just walked up to my room because I didn’t really care, it was probably just Nick calling off of her phone saying that he had lost his or somthing… And I thought that until I heard my mom crying. Right that moment I knew something bad had happened. Possibilities raced threw my head. I waited for her to get off the phone, me still in my room, and tell my step-dad, Bill, and my sister, London, what the news was. After she hung up and relaxed her body down she said some of the worst words that could ever come out of her mouth.

Nick had been working on the oil rigs and was wiping down the pipe with a rag as it was coming out of the ground. They weren’t trained on this; it was just something you did. While he was wiping it down it was still spinning out and caught on to his rag. This sent him spinning around in circles. Not to far away from where the pipe was, another pipe was sitting there. So every time he spun around, his legs hit the other pipe. He ended up breaking both of his legs completely, broke one arm, and cracked some ribs which caused internal bleeding. Once I heard this I instantly started crying and couldn’t stop. I started praying hard and sending txt messages asking my family and people from church to pray.

The next morning we gathered ourselves together and went to church. I cried at church when people comforted me and asked how my family and I were doing. Once church was over my mom just felt the need to drive to Bismarck, North Dakota, where Nick was, to be with him and her siblings. I called my dad and he let me go with. It was probably one of the worst drives ever. We were all tired from the low intake of sleep the night before, it was dark, and the drive took around seven hours. Once we got there we were instantly surrounded by family. We got to go into the room and see him. Right then I knew that this was going to be a long road to recovery. He stayed at the Bismarck hospital for a week but his injuries were too severe so they transported him to HCMC in Minneapolis which was an answered prayer within its self! To have him 15 minutes away from my house was amazing but I wasn’t sure what a toll this was going to take on my life.

I enjoyed being with Nick. Even though he didn’t really communicate for the first couple weeks other than if he was in pain, that didn’t matter to me, it was just sitting in the chair next to his bed and being thankful he was still with us. I loved watching him make progress!

First time walking in two months

To this day I still l admire him for all that he’s done. He got out of the hospital in February and has made it so far in life! His is now walking with a crutches and is a daddy. He still has to come down for Doctor visits a lot so we get to see him a ton which I love!

Elevating while waiting in the movie theater to watch “Moneyball” (I had just got my birthmark removed)

Some might complain about having to go to a hospital and sitting still for long periods of time, but I just smile and thank God I still have my uncle.

Corbin Graham- Nick’s very handsome, loving son!

iPad

We got an iPad at my dads house and my mom got one at her house too!! They are so fun! I love photo booth the most :)

Sometimes I wonder if I have a life or not…

40 something..

My dad had his birthday in November too!! He turned 43, 39!! :) We didn’t do much except we went to a bunch of Harley (Davidson Motorcycle) stores. I got a hat (I know, for my dads birthday I got a hat :P). Its super cute though!!

Tap tap zap!

I got a new phone!!

It’s a HTC Incredible (1). Its so fun!! I added a zap in the title because every time I type it vibrates. It’s pretty neat! I have internet on it so I can facebook 24/7 which is pretty nice… Also I love being able to set up my own slides. So what that means is when you take your finger from one side and drag it to the other, it goes to another slide and you see different things. So on my main page (which is like the one pictured) I have my clock thing, which is above, and a facebook thing where I can see peoples status without actually going into the app (so instead of those little things I have that covered with facebook. Then you can slide either way but it would take way to long to explain all of my apps and junk on all 5 pages.

I am in <3

God saw you getting tired and a cure was not to be, so He put His arms around you and whispered "Come to Me." With tearful eyes we watched you, and saw you pass away. Although we loved you dearly, we could not make you stay. A Golden Heart stopped beating, hard working hands at rest, God broke our hearts to prove to us He only takes the best.

When my grandma passed away in January all of her kids and her grandkids got a picture of her with a rainbow in the background and this saying. Isn’t it great?? I love it!

First snowfall prints

This week we had some snow. It wasn’t a lot but enough for some paws to make prints. I let Max go on the deck to discover snow a little bit more while I made lunch and came back to this and instantly thought, “where is my camera??”

Well that’s pretty much all I can put you guys threw so I hope you enjoyed and come back to join me threw my days of blogging!

Sydney

To old for dress up?

So tonight Bill and mom went out with some friends so it was just me, London, and Max… I thought we could have a little fun! :)

Me! :) Sporting a Aeropostale sweatshirt, lime green tutu, and jeans. Likey? haha I actually kind of had fun with it! Your never to old for dress up!

 

Max-i-poo had a bath tonight so he looks a little skinnier because his hair isn’t all fluffy! Haha

I just LOVE this picture with his tongue! haha

 

My new headband!!! Don’t you love it?! I went and got my hair cut today and she just couldn’t stop talking about how much she loved it! Haha! I know it’s kind of blurry but I really wanted to share it with you. It’s a flower (duh) and it has a bunch of diamond like jewels all over it. Its so cute I think!

Of course London dressed up too! In her blue dress two sizes to small and her Barbie jacket she wore for Halloween like 3 years ago! Oh London..

Miss.Thang wouldn’t smile so I tried humiliating her (we were the only ones home, don’t worry) and she only smirked. :p

Nothing…

Oh but if she gets to hold Max, it’s a different story..!

Just a girl and her puppy…

I love my hat.. I got it from Paris. Like its actually from Paris! We had this thing for a school field trip and they brought all these things from different places all over the world and I (of course) bought this hat and a white bag with Paris written all over it in pink! LOVE, but I haven’t used it because I’ve been to scared that I would ruin it! haha

And there can’t be fun shoot without a tongue stinkin out picture! haha

 

Have a great weekend!!!!

Sydney

Reason

So in my last post I said that I was sorry for not posting for like, a week!! Well here is the reason(s).

1. So Shelia’s cousin, Gerard, has cancer. He needs a caregiver after surgery's and chemo so his mom, Kathy, came down with him. They live in North Dakota so they left to come to our house in Minnesota last Tuesday (9 days ago). Once they got here Tuesday we went out for dinner, blah, blah, blah… Wednesday I went to my moms. Fast forward to about Monday. We found out that he was going to get a dose of chemo on Tuesday and they might get to go home Wednesday. Well come Tuesday, they got up bright and early to the hospital. After he got two doses they released him and told them that they could leave for home then. So after traffic pasted they left. It was kind of stressful because my dad’s house is kind of small, like its small but it works for me, dad, and Shelia. Anyhow it was kind of crapped with 5 people in a 3 people house..

 

Please pray for Gerard. His cancer has gotten very, very bad! Want to know how bad?  The doctor said that if the stuff they are doing now (which is everything they can),  if it doesn’t work, he will most likely, he will die before this coming spring. This is a very serious thing and I am begging you to pray for him! He is a very nice and caring person! He is only 20 and if he would die, he wouldn’t get to experience what most people would in life. One thing that is very inspiring to me though is that he is very positive!! When they were staying at our house we had lots of time to talk and hang. NEVER once did he say something in the words of that he was going to die and there is minimal time in his life. What he did talk about is going back to college, finding a wife, and making a family. I think that if I were in his position, I wouldn’t really know what to do but him, all he does is laugh! So again, if you could just pray for him, that would be SO wonderful!

 

2. NICK! If you have been reading this blog for a while now you will know my uncle Nick’s story. If not I attached a link to his name is caps above and you can click on that which will bring you to his Caring Bridge site. Well you could read this on the site too but this is what has been going on with him… This is last.

October 28th

Have you ever had to do a science experiment either for yourself or your children?  We've had a few in this house from crystallizing salt to a molten lava cake (definitely the tastiest). We left HCMC today feeling a little like Nick is now a science experiment.  Don't get me wrong, it appears to be very good news.  The plan just has many variables.

Today, we met with his orthopedic doctors.  His cast and stitches were removed and a visual exam was done.  He was given instructions to bear weight as tolerated on his right leg.  If you are wondering, yes, it is still broken.  This appears to be the experimental portion of the story.  His surgeon think that it could help break up scar tissue.  He also told Nick not to worry if he hears a crack...made me instantly nauseous!  We think that part of this opinion is that it can't get anymore broken than it already is.

Don't get me wrong.  We have the utmost faith in his medical team.  I certainly do not mean to sound like I think they are being flippant with their decisions regarding Nick's care.  I just think that there are so many unknowns in the medical world that there is a need for some experimenting.

Here is what the plan appears to be as of right now:  Nick will return for a follow up visit on Tuesday, November 1st.  At that time, he will meet with ortho and infectious disease.  He will have x-rays and blood work.  On October 31st, he will take his last dose of IV antibiotics.  He will need to have at least four weeks off that medication to ensure that the infection is gone.  They can not proceed with any further surgery until that has happened.  There are a few different options right now.  What seems to be the first on the list is a bone graft.  The bone will either come from Nicholas' pelvis or a cadaver.  The cadaver graft will be the least painful.  The doctor gave us some information about it today and it does appear to be the best option.  Another option is bone marrow injections.  Let me be clear, these are not choices that Nick will make.  They are decisions that the doctors will make once they view x-rays.  There is a possibility that they will not have to replace any hardware in his leg.  That is very exciting!

So, what do we know for certain?  Absolutely nothing!  It is definitely a matter of hurry up and wait.  It is hard to believe that we are only a month and a half away from the one year anniversary of this accident.  Just thinking about receiving that phone call from Chalsie brings tears to my eyes.  This past weekend at my church, we sang a song titled "Blink".  The lyrics of the song sum up how I feel about this life we've been given.  Life changes in the blink of an eye.  Treasure it!

A few people have been asking about Nick's personal life.  So we've decided to share a little information.  At the end of June, Nick and Chalsie's relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend ended.  However, they are doing a wonderful job in their relationship as Corbin's parents.  It has been sad for everyone involved.  I want to say a public thank you to Chalsie's family for all of the love and support given to my brother in the days, weeks and months following the accident.  We wish them all well!

Recently, Nick has began dating again.  His girlfriend's name is Heather.  She is a delightful young woman.  Over the past few days, I've witnessed her ability to care for Nick.  She has been kind and patient, while still not taking any grief from him.  Those of you who know Nick, and especially those of you who knew Darrell, will understand the teasing that can come from him.  It's nice to see the smile that she brings to his face.

The end of this chapter is that Nick will return to Grand Forks tomorrow.  Our sister Dawn and her family have been a tremendous help to him, even with things that may seem small to many but are a big deal to someone in need: like wrapping up an arm with a picc line so you can take a shower or putting together a gas grill (right Mandy?  =]).

We appreciate all of the kind thoughts, words and prayers.  Please keep 'em coming!  

Nick's Sis,

Misty

 

 

That was the last post my mom had put on the caring bridge site and that is all I know. Except now his surgery will be on November 7th (London’s birthday) instead of whatever date was posted above.

So as you have read, I have been very non-stop lately with life and I hope you forgive me for not posting. I have a couple fun things I can’t wait to post about so please join me for those posts.

Thanks for reading!

Sydney

I can explain...

You guys! I am soo sorry for my lack of writing lately!! There really is a real reason to why I haven't been posting! And it's actually serious, like when I tell you I'm gunna ask you to pray about it. But right now I am way over tired and totally wouldn't make an ounce of sense!! I promise you if you just give me one more chance I'll tell you whats been up!! Stay tune

The Apps and the laughs

If you have an iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone you know how you can get apps that have cute sayings and stuff. Well I just downloaded one and found some cute ones I thought that I'd share!




Absolutely!! If I have ever talked to you about my future, you'd know that I say this all the time!




<3




Haha




One of my friends use to say this...




I have been on this diet for a long time!! I like it a lot!




And this is why you should always ask your surrounding friends and family how they are! They could just not say anything but really be hurting inside...




The thing I love about this one is how it's just completely out of order and messy! Very imperfect!

What's your favorite one???
Sydney