For The Record...

GO PACK GO!!!

Yes, that's right.  A post just to celebrate this evening's post-season victory.  And it feels oh-so-good.

<3

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like... Thunderstorms?

I'm sure this is probably true no matter where you go, but we in Wisconsin are known to boast about our strange weather.  Last month there was a tornado in the state.  Yesterday it rained.  Today there are thunderstorms in parts of the state.  I'm sorry, what month is this?  December?  Yikes.

2011 is fast approaching.  Last year around this time I looked back at all the wonderful things that happened in 2009.  Allow me to recap, along with some 2010 highlights.

2009: Rang in the New Year in the Dells with some great friends.

2010: Rang in the New Year with Zach and Maxi; first New Year in the house.

2009: Bought a house with the love of my life.

2010: Still here!

2009: Finally got a dog! And she's such a wonderful pup.

2010: Still a wonderful pooch!

2009: Got photos published in not one, but TWO state-wide calendars.

2010: Got a photo published in the 2011 version of one of the aforementioned calendars.

2009: Took two amazing mini-vacations (in WI) and one fantastic long vacation (in NV/CA).

2010: Had an amazing honeymoon in Disney World!

2009: Turned 25 and had a blast on my birthday in Lake Tahoe.

2010: Turned 26 and went to the zoo for my birthday!

2009: Got accepted to PSU and completed my first semester back to school with a 4.0 GPA.

2010: Finished my Spring semester with an A and an A- and made my first Dean's List (cumulative from both semesters)!  Also got accepted to the Psychology program.  :-)

2009: Got good news health-wise at my last physical and am overall pretty darn healthy AND happy.
2010: Same, only fatter.  Who needs to be skinny when you're happy, right?  ;-)

2009: Got back in touch with some good friends (including cookie nights with Vertigo, a zoo trip with Amy, Isaac's wedding, and other good stuff).

2010: More cookie nights with Vertigo, Sunflower came out to my house for a party, LOTS of fun times with Mandy and Chadder...  So wonderful to have great friends!

2009: Sold my first photo to the owner of a car from the Power Tour.

2010: Got 4th place in the 2010 Wisconsin State Fair with one of my photos (Transportation category).

2009: Got engaged!

2010: Got married!!

I have to say that these have been two stellar years, and I can only hope that 2011 is half as good!  Hope everyone has a happy and healthy holiday!  :-)

Talk, Talk, Talk

This morning, my husband asked me why people feel the need to express themselves in front of a camera, even when they have nothing of value to say, or don't know what they're talking about.

"Because everyone wants to be heard," was my response.  

I think that's pretty accurate, right?  Yes, some of us talk just to hear our own voices.  And some of us talk to fill uncomfortable silence.  And some of us talk because we don't know what else to do.  But the point of communicating in the first place is to get your message to someone else; the point is to be heard.

For example, I am (for the most part) a pretty quiet person.  In groups, I tend to be the listener, the one who sits back and lets everyone else do the talking.  And yet, this is the latest of many blogs I've attempted along the way, so clearly I want to be heard by someone, even if I'm not actually speaking.  

When we feel our opinions and ideas are falling on deaf ears, we can tend to get riled up.  It's then that we grab our soapboxes and scream from the rooftops just to be heard.  Even if the only response we get is, "Shut it!" or "You're an idiot!" at least we know that someone heard us.  There's something comforting about getting a response, no matter how negative...  Almost like we need reassurance that we haven't become invisible, and that our words - our voices - aren't just in our own heads.

It's at that point that some people choose to go in front of a camera in order to be heard.  And whether or not they have anything of value to say isn't the point, but rather that they will reach an audience, who will inevitably have something to say about it, and receive that affirmation of existence.

On the other hand, some people are just idiots who like to talk.