New Address

Hi Everyone, I know this is a hassle but I have moved our blog to word press. Please update your favorites and google reader accounts. There is a new post there now and I have also imported all of our old posts there as well.

http://chrisandmelis.wordpress.com/

Stepping out of the box.....

As I mentioned in a earlier post I attended a Photography workshop last weekend. Before the workshop we received a list of email addresses for everyone attending the workshop we all began introducing ourselves over email which was pretty cool.

Friday I drove down to my cousin Brynn's house (where I would be staying) and went out for a early dinner with her. I then headed to meet my carpool buddy Phillipa. I need to stop here and explain a little bit... This entire weekend was a total step out of the box for me. Which I have to say I am proud of myself for doing. As most people know I am pretty shy when we first meet.....after that wellllll not so much. ANYWAY I met my carpool buddy whom I had never met before Friday night (crazy for me) she was super nice and she drove everyday which is awesome cause I don't do well driving outside of Whatcom County. Back on track we headed to MeRa and Brian's house in Tacoma (yes, they invited all of us ladies to their home how cool is that)for the meet and greet. We arrived a little bit early so we just parked outside of their house waiting for 7:00 to arrive next thing we knew MeRa came out to the car and brought us in. It was so crazy seeing her after I have been reading her blog and admiring her work for sooo long. We met all the ladies that we would be spending the weekend with. It was a really fun time with lots of laughing. Phillipa and I left around 9:30 to head back. It was a fun night.

Saturday morning I met Phillipa bright and early for our drive down to Tacoma. Our workshop was held at Hotel Murano in their gallery space. What a neat hotelwith tons of glass sculptures. We stared out with breakfast and introducing ourselves. MeRa and Brian explained to us some camera functions, how to tell a story with you photo's, and how to capture a moment. In the afternoon we got a chance to put our skills to the test we split up into 4 groups and photographed mom's and babies. It was sort of a frustrating experience for me because I am not a mom and don't know what these ladies are feeling with 5 cameras pointing at them at once and also so many people in such a small place all trying to get the same shot. (there is a link at the bottom of this post for the pictures I took some of them anyway) We went back into the gallery for more learning. After a long day of learning Brian and MeRa treated us all to a nice Thai food dinner. I have to say dinner was a BLAST! What a fun time. We all got to know each other better. Phillipa and I headed back to get ready for Sunday our last day of the workshop :(

Sunday morning once again I met Phillipa bright and early for our drive to Tacoma (thank you so much for driving Phillipa). We each wrote about how we were feeling and shared. That was a great time I felt like that is when everyone sorta clicked together. We spent the morning learning about metering which was great to finally know how to do it. Then we headed out to do family photo shoots. This photo shot was more relaxed, more space and we all knew each other better. It was really fun. PLUS I shot the entire thing in MANUAL!!! WOO HOO That is exactly what I had hoped to learn. After another long day it was time to say good bye to all our new friends.

It has been almost a week since we all met and we have all kept in contact so far so good right? Seriously though I feel like the ladies I met this weekend I will be friends with forever. Many people asked me how the workshop went and my answer to everyone has been I cannot even put into words how I feel. I really can't it is sorta strange. I feel like a completely new person. This weekend was totally empowering and inspirational. I am so excited to see what my future holds with photography :0) Like some of the ladies have said "we formed a great cheering section this weekend"!

This is probably a super boring post to most people but I had to write it down so I don't forget about it. I know some of my family members are thinking Melisa never forgets anything. This has to be the longest post I have ever written and I bet it will be the longest one I ever write cause well, I am not a writer!

Here is the link to the photos I took:
MeRa Koh Photography Workshop Photo's

UPDATED:
I just realized something else about the workshop. We all received a handmade folder with all sorts of information in it. Well, I didn't read everything in it till last night. This really jumped out to me... here is what it said: MeRa and Brian have a heart to empower, ignite passion, and love on you. From their past workshops, they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that each of you are here for a reason. But the weekend won't be contained to the reason you came. Their prayer is that this weekend will unfold into a beautiful, life changing window of time. A window where you took time to water your creative soul - you stepped into an unfamiliar place with your camera and made space for yourself - you met new girlfriends who are on a similar journey and you began to find your voice in your images.

Flowers

Some photo's I took after work tonight!

Join the Bone Marrow Registry

June 8th-22nd is the Marrowthon. I believe it normally costs $50 to join the National Bone Marrow Registry...Here is your chance to join for FREE! All you have to do is go to this link Be the Match and click join now. They send you a cotton swab aka a long Q tip all you do is rub it on the inside of your cheek mail it back and you are a part of the registry! I joined over a year ago. This can truly help save lives.

Most of you know why I joined.... It was because of my grandma she had leukemia she was too old (so the doctors said I think she was a 50 year old traped in a 75 year olds body and that is how she lived) to receive a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. If she had been younger that would have saved her life. There are so many people that don't have a bone marrow or stem cell match in their immediate family that is where you can help. You could be that match! Please watch the video below. If you do join or are already on the donor list I would LOVE for you to comment on my blog. Just think about it you can save a life!

Photography Workshop

Some of you may know I went to a photography workshop this weekend..... Right now I am not even sure I can put into words at the moment how this workshop impacted me. So... I am just going to leave you with a link from MeRa Koh Photography so you can see how she described it! We had such a great time. The best part .... I'm shooting in MANUAL!!!!!! Oh and I get it!

MeRa Koh Blog

Backyard Pet

We have a new little friend that has been visiting us every evening....




She really isn't afraid of us either as you can tell! Chris fed her from his hand last night. She stand on our deck peering in.

The Kitchen is DONE!

Right after we bought our house


Before Paint

The Culprit

For the last several weeks we have noticed a cat walking by our house tormenting our cats that are inside. All our cats start growling and freaking out. It's really nice when your sleeping too. This cat has also been fighting with our cats. Anyway. We have also noticed some cat has been spraying urine around our house and in our shop. We know its not our cats they are all fixed (from what I hear fixed cats don't spray). Last weekend we were painting cabinets and came down to the garage to find one of the cabinet doors we were painting had been sprayed GREAT! Thank you. Then a few days later our bedroom window (it is close to the ground) and then the TOPPER our sliding glass door. So I got out my handy Windex Outdoor window washer and cleaned all the windows. All we could think of is how do we get rid of this cat we are pretty sure it is a stray.

Chris came up with the idea to trap the cat he said he would work on it over the weekend. Well, I decided to take it into my own hands called the Humane Society and told them our situation. They had me pick up a trap and guess what last night we caught us a cat!



Oh and let me tell you this cat was PISSED! Growling, hissing and making every noise a cat makes. Today the Humane Society is going to come pick up the cat. I feel a little bad but its not right that a cat is ruining our stuff and causing such a problem.

Cabinet update.... They are all painted we will be hanging the doors tomorrow!!!! Pictures to follow!

KItchen Cabinets

I decided to use my long weekend to paint our kitchen cabinets white. Here are some of the photo's so far. I didn't realize it would be such a huge job. Please note the time on the clock on the final photo!







OK so maybe you can't see the time but it was 1 something AM!

Camping at Silver Lake Group Camp

My family has been camping at the Silver Lake Group camp one weekend every year since I was in the 5th grade (that has been a while). There are about 15 families that go every year. Last weekend was Silver Lake Group camp camping trip. Chris's favorite part about camping at Silver Lake is there are great area's to drive his RC cars. I will post those pictures later. Everyone had a great time, only complaint was it was very cold trying to sleep in a tent. Almost everyone else was sleep in RV's.....someday! Here are some of the pictures I took.


These pictures crack me up! Austin is getting so smart and almost has his get away mastered!


I was trying to get a good photo of Austin and Grandma for Grandma's new mothers day frame. Austin wasn't having it!


Cutie Pie!


Every year for lunch my dad cooks a few salmon over the fire. They were very yummy!


There are paragliders that jump off a mountain edge near our camp and land a hour later or so right in front of our campground.

I won!

Well, sorta I didn't acutally win anything, except for a whole month people will see my photo with my name right under it. I entered a photo into the Whatcom Educational Credit Union 2010 calendar contest and they selected my photo! This is the photo they chose!

Taji-Fur

A lot of you have asked me how Taji is doing so I thought I should give everyone a update! She had her drains taken out yesterday. She was happy about that. She had started taking her own drains out the night before. Which was not good. She does still have big wide open wounds on her hind leg. They don't bandage them because the air is good for them and they want them to heal from the inside out. She can now be around the other cats and doesn't have to be locked in the bathroom. As long as she doesn't lick her leg raw again she doesn't have to wear her cone! She is so much happier and you can tell she feels better.

Chris and I are leaving to go camping tonight after work and we will come home and give Taji her medicine tomorrow and check on her. She is on the road to recovery!

Sick Kitty

Some of you know this already last week we took Taji to the vet because she wasn't feeling well. They looked her over she was dehydrated but really couldn't find much else wrong with her. They drew some blood and decided she had an infection somewhere so we started her on antibiotics. She was doing fine just kind of staying away from the other cats and sleeping.

On Sunday we noticed her hind leg was very swollen. We called the vet on Monday morning and of course they wanted to see her. Turns out she has several abscessed wounds on her hind leg. We couldn't see them cause she is a very furry cat. All the wounds were drained and drains were put in. I will spare you the photo of what her leg looks like now. She is at home and we have quite the list of daily care items for taking care of her. For now though she is living in our bathroom which she is pretty happy with. Nobody bugging her. We should find out more information today on how she is doing. For anyone who cares here are a couple pictures of Taji with a cone!


Taji with her cone! She hates it.


Taji in her little cozy cardboard house Chris made her. She looks worse in this pic that she really looks.

Relay for Life Fundraiser

Our team Edna's Fan Club is going to be selling Live Love Laugh necklaces!



They are $27.00 each I am in the process of ordering them! They come in a cute gift box. All proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society. If you are interested please email me Melisa@EdnasFanClub.com and I can provide you with more information.

These three words have more importance to me than ever before. These words are how Grandma lived each and everyday! I hope that she will shine through us each and everyday.

Live….Love….Laugh….

Live life to the fullest in all that you do.

Love with all your heart and it will be returned.

Laugh often and especially in times to pull you through.

Live, Love, Laugh are the lessons I have learned.

Tulips

Chris and I went to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
this weekend. Here is one of the pictures we took go
to my flickr page to see more.

Fun with Austin

Last week Justin and Ginna went to Vegas my parents watch Austin one of the nights they were gone. I took the day off work to hang out with them. We had a lot of fun!

















Grandma Had Fun!


So Did Grandpa!








Driving Grandpa's Boat!

Exciting Morning.....

So this morning I woke up to Chris yelling Melisa come here now. Nice way to wake up at 6 am :) I ran out to the garage and found that our hot water heater had drained /leaked all over. Our Hot water heater is at the top of our stairs in the garage so the water dripped down the wall to Chris's storage area under the stairs. Everything down there was wet. There was nothing of value ruined.

I should mention I had to drive from Sudden Valley to Lynden this morning to take a shower at my parents before work. Boy did I wish I still had a gym membership this morning it would have saved me some gas :)

So any way $700 ish later we are the owners of a new hot water heater. What a pain. Today is one day I wished I could have called a landlord to make the repair! I spent my morning calling about 7 plumbers to find the best price. The JOYS of being a homeowner!

Easter Egg Hunt

This weekend Ginna, my mom and I took Austin to a Easter Egg Hunt. He didn't actually hunt for the eggs but he played at the playground! Here are the pictures I took.

Whatcom Falls

Here is a photo I took on my lunch today! I walked around Whatcom Falls Park.

Tired.....

Chris fell asleep looking for socks in his clean clothes pile! This was after a very long day of yard work. Marley came up to him and started meowing I think he thought Chris was dead! Then he curled up and took a nap too, until I showed up with the camera.

Yep.... We Are Still Alive

Wow I haven't posted in a while.....

This last weekend Chris and I worked in the yard on both Saturday and Sunday! We have gorgeous weather right now! It was 70 degrees yesterday! Funny considering last Thursday it was snowing on my way to work. Ah Washington weather!

We raked all the leaves off our backyard/hill and trimmed all the ferns down to nothing. We heard they grow back. I really hope they do! We planted a bunch of Rhododendrons that we have had and transplanted a few too. We took 2 full truck loads to the Clean Green place. I will post pictures later this week. Chris is still finishing a couple rock projects! Chris and I both love gardening and its fun to do together!

Are you kidding me.....

Chris was on the news again.... It's going straight to his head again!!!! He was freaking out when he saw it. He will probably kill me for writing that. lol

http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=345995&shu=1

He is the one picking up and carrying the bricks at the beginning and then end. lol

Austin Pictures

Here are pictures of Austin from this weekend. He is growing so much and walking all over.