This is Oslo's next trick

iPhone Calendar

A calendar feature can be found on most phones nowadays. There are calendars in our email, on our walls, etc. But I never used a calendar to its full potential until I got my iPhone.

Now my days are so organized it's insane. I even had an event in my calendar to call my dentist to make an appt on Monday, and set an alarm to remind me to call (which I did).

I had this capability in my last phone, and I used it occasionally, but it took like 7 steps to even reach the calendar, then inputting anything was so difficult. But the iPhone is SO easy! You push the calendar app on the home screen and your calendar is open. You can view the month, day, or just a list of events. And it couldn't be easier to add/edit anything...you simply press "+" or "edit" and type. As seen in the picture, a dot on a day means you have something going on. You can touch that day and a list of events is shown at the bottom. SO handy!

Now I can tell you what I'm doing every day and don't forget appointments anymore (I used to forget dr. appts if they didn't call to remind me the day before). I even put in tentative plans since it's so easy...and since I'm SO popular I'm sure never to double-book :)

I LOVE my iPhone. Everyone needs one.

One Minute Painting

Awesome One Minute Painting - Watch more How-to

Asians are awesome!

Japanese Treadmill Challenge - Watch more Free Videos

The Garden Song

Safe Landing

This is fascinating. What an amazing job by this pilot!

Oslo catching a snowball, then fetching his real ball

Trip to Arizona

My cousin got married in Seattle this past May. In December her family had a big party at their house in Arizona so that all their friends and family who couldn't make it to Seattle could celebrate with them.

Chris and I went to Arizona Dec. 27-28 and got to see my grandpa for the first time in years. It was the first time Chris had ever met him. And the first time my grandpa got to meet his first great-granddaughter. I won't got into all the details, but once my grandma passed away several years ago, my grandpa hasn't been the same person. There was a lot of tension in the family once he remarried. But recently he's been slowly coming back into our lives. On Dec. 27 we had 4 generations of our family in one place.

Here is a picture of my grandpa, my dad, my sister, and my niece...


Madison loved her great grandpa. And I think Grandpa enjoyed Madison. She would smile at him whenever he'd make silly faces at her, and she kept reaching for him.

It was definitely worth the trip to be able to take this picture and see four generations of our family together (it would have been worth the trip anyway, however). Who knows if this will ever happen again in my lifetime.

Ok, Go - Here It Goes Again

The Office: More of Jim's Pranks on Dwight - "The Best of"

Super Mario Reanactment

Holy cow...this is SO awesome...especially for a Nintendo junkie like myself!

The Office: Jim vs. Dwight

My Newest iPhone app: iHeart Radio

Chris and I are addicted to the Mikey Show on Rock 105.3 in the mornings. We wake up to them, laugh in bed for an hour or so before we get up, listen while we get ready for work, and listen on the way to work. I often find myself sitting in my car in the parking lot to finish listening to a bit before I go into the office. I recently got a shower radio so I could listen in the shower, and Chris got a Walkman so he could listen when he takes Oslo to the dog park. When we drive to Mammoth we download podcasts of past shows to listen to on our long, boring drive. Makes the time go by so much faster! We're ADDICTED!

Well, Chris just found an app for our iPhones called iHeart Radio. It's put out by Clearchannel so you can listen to all of Clearchannel's radio stations on your iPhone. Now if we are driving and go out of range...just listen on our iPhone. Chris doesn't need his Walkman anymore because he can listen on his iPhone. If there's a good bit on when I need to go into the office...just listen on my iPhone. You get the picture. The iPhone apps and features never cease to amaze me.

(For those who are curious about my addiction, The Mikey Show is on 105.3 weekday mornings 6-10...sometimes 10:30...or whenever they feel like finishing. You can also listen live online at www.mikeyshow.com)

Family Guy: Peanut Butter Jelly Time

iPhone Feature of the Day: NOTES

I've had my iPhone for about 5 days now, and each day I fall in love with it more and more. As if it's not awesome enough, I keep running across new features and find myself saying "Wow, that's SO cool!" Then I show whoever is around how cool it is and they agree. Then I tell my fellow iPhone junkie, Meli, and she agrees :)

So...I'm starting an "iPhone Feature of the Day" label for my blog!

Today I played with the NOTES app for the first time. I was making a shopping list for Target (very cool in itself...no more post-its shoved in my purse). I was about to call Chris to see if he had anything to add to my list, but then I saw a little envelope button at the bottom of my screen. Being the curious person that I am, I pushed it to see what it did. It pulled up an email with my list already in the body. I simply emailed the list to him...he emailed me back what he needed. Since we both have iPhones, we got the emails instantly.

WAY COOL!

Oldies but goodies

BLAH

I'm in a weird place today. No, I have been for the past week. Ever since I came back to work after 1-1/2 weeks off I've been thinking a lot about my life and what I'm doing with it. I love my home life...my husband is amazing, my dog makes me happy, and my crafting hobbies keep my creative juices constantly moving. I have an awesome place to live, a supportive family, a niece who I adore, and the best friends a girl could ask for. But I feel like I'm missing something lately.

Chris is working on his graduate degree and has a pretty good idea of where he's going with his career. And quite frankly, he and I have been discussing what he's doing with his life so much, that I haven't given much thought to mine. (Not that I'm complaining...he comes first in this discussion.) But where am I going...what am I doing? I know I'm capable of so much more than I'm doing right now. Eventually I want to be a stay-at-home mom, but I'm not able to do that yet. I know that I want to do something where I get to use my uber-creative talents. I've been trying to figure out how to make crafting more than just a hobby, but it's a slow process. My job at Christian Ed Publishers has gone downhill with the economy...it's now more stressful, less fulfilling, and sometimes just plain miserable. If it weren't for my co-worker, Erika, I don't think I could have lasted this long! But it's a job in a time that many don't have one.

Which brings me to whatever plateau I'm currently at. A plateau in my professional life. I've been doing a lot of soul-searching but am not quite sure how to decipher what I need to do. I have been putting a lot more effort into my crafting business and my crafting blog (Playing with Paper), so hopefully it will lead somewhere. I have so many ideas to make it even better, but not enough time (with a full-time job) to put those ideas into action. I want to love my job. It's something you spend too many hours of your life doing to not enjoy. I guess I will continue in my search for the next stage of my life...

I'm officially COOL!

Last night Chris and I became proud new owners of iPhones! We've both been wanting one for a long time, so we both asked for Apple/iPhone gift cards for Christmas. Our family/friends were so good to us! We were able to get 2 of the 16GB iPhones and only had to pay $50 out of pocket. Here's a picture of the used gift cards. Our Genius Apple tech got a kick out of scanning all the cards. He said we hold the record for the most gift cards used. Go us! He's actually the one who staged this picture :)


I was so excited that I couldn't even hold the box forward for the picture. Thanks, Meli, for documenting this important milestone in our lives! I'm glad you don't have to be embarrassed to be my friend anymore! :)

Winter Wonderland

Chris and I were in Mammoth from Dec. 29 - Jan. 4...a whole week! That's the longest we've been able to stay up there. And I could have stayed so much longer. Oslo has never been more tired in his life. He played his heart out the entire time and at night he was just konked out! It was hilarious...coming from an endless-energy dog (so I thought).

H loves playing with his ball in the snow, but he mostly loves digging. Here is him trying to dig up this tree. He dug about 5 feet...


On Friday it was snowy and fabulous! We went up to the lakes (where we normally hike in the summer). The lake was frozen over and was covered in snow!


Here's our cute little family in the snow. You can't really tell, but it was snowing and Oslo has an ice beard :)

Maddie's First Christmas

Well, 2008 marks Madison's first Christmas. You'd think we would have been better about taking pictures for this milestone...but we weren't! She missed a nap on Christmas eve and got pretty cranky pretty quick. She loved playing with the tissue paper from the presents.

This is finally the first picture we got of Chris and I both with our darling niece. This was her (and our) favorite present she got...a nipple ball! It was from Daddy.