066/365: Possibility...

I ended up reading a totally fantastic book last night. It was The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan. I love this author and his books (my favorite being Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist)... and this book was no exception. I found this story absolutely uplifing, filling the reader with both hope and possibility.

I took a picture of one of my favorite parts of the book...

065/365: Bite Me!

I was exhausted when I got home from work tonight! EXHAUSTED! I decided to have a lazy Friday and just lay on the couch and read. Tonight I enjoyed this fun lil Young Adult read: Boys That Bite by Maru Mancusi.

I thought this was a really cute book with an interesting spin on the vampire story. I read the whole thing tonight and now I can't wait to check out the sequel... Stake That!

064/365: Luv

I had a Teen Advisory Board Meeting (TAB) today after a mildly stressful Staff Day Meeting! I only had 3 teens show up... and there wasn't a lot to do at this month's meeting, so we ended up playing Pictionary Jr. for 30 minutes! Haha! We loved it! They even asked if we could play again next month!

As we were cleaning up, one of my teens (Alexandria) wrote me this not on our dry erase board! It totally made my day...

063/365: Link

I went out with Dave and his roommate Paul tonight to see Dave's coworker and friend, Chris, play at Chickie & Pete's! It was so great! I loved the music... and the crab fries!

This fantabulous picture is of Dave's shirt! We all agreed that Link was looking pretty bad ass here so it just had to be my pic of the day!

062/365: Books!

I had an Emerging Leader's meeting today at the Mt. Laurel Public Library! Not only did we learn how to host an effective meeting, but we also got to take a tour of the library's "Trading Spaces" demonstration site! I left with a lot of great ideas that I can't wait to try at my library!

This picture was taken in the Children's section! I love the colors, the way the books are displayed, and the all around feel of the area! What a great library!

061/365: On the Pole

I had pole class tonight and everyone was kind enough to let me snap a few pictures of them! This one was my favorite though!

Thanks for letting me post the picture, Michelle!

060/365: Karma

Well, karma finally came knocking on my door today!

I keep teasing Dave about his sucky parallel parking skills... and then look what I do? I had plenty of room and a very tiny car, but I still missed the spot *and* managed to pull up on the curb. Luckily I was in South Philly, so this is totally acceptable. I swear.

059/365: Really BIG Burrito

Dave and I went on a double date tonight with JD and Brian to El Azteca! The company was great and the food was banging!!!

This is a picture of the menu and the "Very Big Burrito"! Mmmm! I should mention that none of us ordered the "Very Big Burrito"... so we don't really know how big it is. Maybe next time...

058/365: Ducks in a Row

I went out tonight with my family to hang out with some friends! This was the first time I've been to Susan and Diane's house and I LOVED it! My most favorite part? The duck clothes hangers!

057/365: Snapshot Day

Today -- Thursday, February 19th -- we are collecting information about our use and programs so that we can participate in the New Jersey Library Association’s Snapshot Day. Snapshot Day is intended to collect a “snapshot” of information about what happens in NJ libraries on a particular day that can be used to show our value to the community.

My library took part in Snapshot Day... and guess who got to be the photographer? That's right... ME! I took pictures of staff assisting patrons, patrons using computers, children's crafts and programs, and other little "things" that makes our library both special and unique... Like our Pennies for Peace collection jug!

056/365: Mardi Gras

We celebrated Mardi Gras a day late today at the library! My boss, Miss Jennifer, read the kids stories about Mardi Gras. Then she gave them all beads and let them decorate their own masks!

Some of the kids really got into the mask decorating. They colored, glued on sequins, added feathers and ribbons, etc. It was a great craft and I really enjoyed taking pictures of all of the kids!

055/365: Ouchies!

I had an idea for today's picture.... but it didn't turn out like I had planned. It involed hanging upside down and taking a picture of my boots up in the air. Yeah. Didn't quite come out like I had visioned.

Sooooo.... Jamie, being a great sport, let me take a picture of her ridiculously painful looking bruise!! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! And they say pole dancing isn't a sport...

054/365: Sore Loser

So, it's like 10:30 and I have NO picture for the day! Boooo! I'm sitting at my computer, talking to Dave about my picture dilemma, and he tells me about the new Street Fighter game he wants me to play with him. NO WAY, BABE!

I *hate* to lose! HATE! And Dave knows this! We tried playing Halo a few weeks ago. It was a disaster. He kept killing me. I wasn't happy. At all. I decided no more games (unless it's Rock Band, DDR, or Wii Sports). I get way too upset when I lose because I'm too competitive. It's not possible for me to lose gracefully. Luckily, I'm pretty sure he doesn't really expect me to play Street Fighter with him. Right?!

053/365: Butterfly

Dave and I went to dinner tonight to celebrate Valentine's Day (one day late)! He took me to get Chinese... and despite the super scary fish tank when we first walked in.... dinner was fantabulous! Plus, the chef made butterflies out of the carrots! Yummy and pretty!

We were going to go see Coraline in 3D afterwards, but we ended up turning the BBC miniseries Jekyll on... and we didn't leave the couch until we saw every episode. Yes. It was that good!

Thanks Dave for a fantabulous Valentine's weekend!

052/365: Stargazer

Three of my stargazers (and all of my irises) opened while I slept last night! They are so amazingly beautiful! Have I mentioned how much I love getting flowers?

I have work today... and then I'm spending my Valentine's Day night with Dave and his son!

051/365: Valentine Flowers

I got home from work today to a special delivery! Dave sent me flowers for Valentine's Day! I am so so so happy!!! I LOVE flowers.... especially Stargazer Lilies! I can't wait until my flowers open...

050/365: Sophisticated and Refined

It was after 10 and I didn't have a picture for the day... so my brother Anthony offered to be my model. We decided that we needed a few props to make this picture look more sophisticated and refined.... so we added a tumbler, a magazine, a pipe, and of course some sepia tones!

Well played, sir!

049/365: Keys

I had quite a few pictures that I like for today. Dave taught me how to take black & white and sepia pictures with my camera (Duh, Christen!) which is AWESOME! But I still liked this picture best. Probably because it took me 10 shots before I got a non-shakey blurry mess.

So on Day 49 I present you with... Dave's keys!

048/365: Candy Sushi

My teen anime club made candy sushi today. It wasn't overly pretty... but it tasted pretty good. (Of course my stomach was like, "No more sugar!!!!!" afterwards!)

In this picture, I took a cut up twinkie, wrapped it with fruit by the foot, and shoved some gummies into the frosting. Voila! Candy sushi! And the best part? My teens LOVED it!

047/365: Coupons!

I used coupons today... and it was thrilling!

I'm mildly anti-coupon. I have no idea why. Even my family likes to tell "stories" about this coupon aversion. But these are tough economic times and a girl on a budget needs to do what a girl on a budget needs to do. So today I rocked some coupons at Acme! Just check out that receipt! I actually saved more than I paid! SHA-ZAMMMMM!!!!!

046/365: The King of Parallel Parking

Carraba's Part II! We went tonight and only had to wait 15 minutes! Muuuuch better... and so so yummy!

We get back to Dave's place and he parallel parks his car. Please notice that he is like a foot and a half ("that's what she said") away from the curb. Hmmmm...

This is actually a picture of Dave (who ran like a track star back to his car) trying to fix his parallel park job before I got the picture taken because he was embarrassed. So this might not be a great picture... but man it was funny trying to take it!

045/365: Party Shoes

It's Saturday night and Dave and I have a date! We're going to Carraba's. Well... we were going to go to Carraba's. Then we were told that there would be a 75 minute wait. Ummm... What? I thought this was a time of economic crisis? A 75 minute wait at a restaurant just blows my mind!

Needless to say we didn't stay. We went to Acme instead for some Thin Mint ice cream and Steak Umms! I'm not sure if my pink party shoes were really appreciated at Acme... but at least I looked stylin'!!

044/365: Ma Petite

I love coming home to my dog, Stitches! She's always so excited to see me! I wanted to get a picture of her in the window waiting for me... but as soon as she realized it was me at in the driveway she ran to the door! J'aime ma petite!

043/365: Forced Perspective

-Anything you can do, I can do better...

-I can take this picture...

-But my perspective's better...

So, it's like 10 o'clock and still no picture for the day. Dave walks over, drops a roll of Wegman's toilet paper on his counter and tells me that the tp will be my subject. As I line up for my picture, he comes over to show me what angle I should be standing at. Okay...

We then begin the tp/macro stand-off. Who can get their macro to work better? Who's the best at forced perspective? Does anyone else really care?? HA!

Dave is the better photographer. He has an artist's eye. But I'm trying!!! Sometimes my competitive nature kicks in and I don't want to listen to him because I can do anything that he can do. (But I secretly watch him and then practice the shots he's taken when he's not around. Shhh!) So today's picture is of Dave... showing me how to take an amazing picture of the Wegman's tp...

042/365: Picture Perfect

Beautiful WONS!!!! I woke up to a whopping 8 inches of snow this morning and it was glorious! Then I found out that I still had to go to work. Suddenly the snow was not so great.

I took Stitches out for her morning constitutional and decided to bring my camera along for the jaunt. This is my favorite picture from this morning! My mom told me that it could be a postcard!! That made me happy!

041/365: Evening Snow

It has been snowing all day... and it is *finally* sticking now. Oh... and it is BEAUTIFUL!

040/365: Another One Bites the Dust

I got to the mall (to work at my part time job) and found out that two stores closed down today: Libby Lu and Gadzooks. This is the view from my store entrance. It's depressing. All night long I looked out into the darkness that was Gadzooks.

People have been talking about "the economy" for some time now... but I guess I never realized how much it applied to me. I have a brother who can't find work, a friend whose work place is making the employees take furlough days, and my job... well, I would rather not talk about it... I'm a little scared these days.

039/365: Sweets

What a crazy weekend! I can't believe how much I packed into it. Do you know what the best part of a crazy weekend is though? Kicking back and relaxing after all of the craziness has passed...


After I finished work, I went over Dave's and made cheesesteaks for us for dinner! Mmmmmm!!! After dinner, we watched High Anxiety, drank some Woodchuck, and ate a little candy. It was the perfect end to the weekend!