There is no doubt the past few months have been jammed packed.  So jammed that I haven’t had time to blog about anything.  We have been really busy and secretive around here lately, and for a very good reason.  My dad, brother, and I planned a surprise party for my Mom’s 50th Birthday.   I couldn’t say anything on twitter, my blog, or even text my dad with information.  My dad even created a new email account because they share the other one.  We were sneaky.

We all did our part in making the party perfect.  I will say my dad did a wonderful job and did a lot of the preparations all by himself.  Here is just a little of what I’ve been busy with.

Scanning pictures from the past.

My mom is from a family of 10 kids.  9 girls and 1 boy.  Here she is in the front and center…this is my favorite picture ever!  The sisters in the back are what makes this picture so perfect and funny.

Creating Invitations

Thank gosh for Shawn’s editing skills.  I originally had it say, “Shh…it’s a surprise.”  I guess the way I had it formatted wasn’t the best.  When he read it aloud didn’t have the cleanest of words.

I had to change that…quick.

Sweet Treats

Last Sunday we spent the entire day making chocolate covered pretzels for the party favors.  (We only ate a few!)

My brother and dad picked out all of the decorations and my dad chose a yummy cake.  They did a wonderful job!  It all came together and the best part of everything was it was a surprise!  She really had no idea.  I’ll tell all about the *perfect* way that we got her to the place (without her having a clue) in another post this week!

Thanks to everyone who helped make this party such a special day for my mom!

It’s been too cold outside to even think about a long walk. I feel like I have neglected my dog and she is trying to make up for the lack of attention. I went to take a short shower, and when I got out, I noticed it had snowed tissues in my living room. Scarlett had gotten up on the couch, invited herself to my desk, and thought it would be fun to destroy the tissues. I will have to admit that she has kind of been ignored lately. When we are home, we’re too busy to even throw her Snoopy. Today it warmed up to 51 degrees so I took Scarlett for a walk. A real walk. I let her sniff the bushes and lead the way. She really liked it. When we got home I made a point to throw her Snoopy and give her a rawhide. She loves rawhide.

The other day I made this random video. It was my trial at learning (i)movie set to video, music, and pictures. Before you watch it, let it be known: It’s pointless. It will waste one minute of your life. I look terrible and Scarlett looks scared. It’s so random.

2009 My Life in Pictures from Katie Stasiak on Vimeo.

I watched The Sound of Music the other day and it reminded me I was going to write up about my favorite things!  Oprah does it, so I can too.  These are just things, material things, and we all know that material things are not the most important “things”.  I felt the need to put that disclaimer in there.  Hehe.

Alright, first on my list, is my trusty, lovely, can’t live without 50mm 1.4.  Primes are wonderful!

Where would I be without my Dell Inspiron?  This trusty thing, as slow as it is and as much as it doesn’t hold, has served me very well these past 4 years.  I have promised her (yes my laptop is a her) that if she holds out until the Mac 27 arrives, I will delete all things related to photography on her.  She will live again.

Yankee Candles…I have a candle to go with every season!  Sun and Summer and Christmas Eve are two of my favorites!

I’ve been saving money for other things this year, but every once in awhile when I need something, or I want something new to wear, my first place to go is H&M.   I can always find way more than I came in for but my favorites are their scarves and summer dresses.

Two words: Power Windows.  Seriously, never before have I had power windows.  Sometimes I open my back windows in 15 degree weather, just because I can! Two more words: Power Locks.  0% financing is another favorite thing.  Ok, ok, before I make a huge list, I’m just going to say, my Jeep is a lot of my favorite things.

Sirius Radio!  My favorite stations are The Pulse, CoffeeHouse, and Willie Radio.  Ohhh, how I will miss it so much in February when my free year subscription ends.

Favorite Find of 2009:  Google Reader.  It’s free and it’s amazing…how did I ever live without it?  I love most all things “Google”.  Picasa, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Chat, Google Text…I could go on.

I love Children books!  I get just as excited as the kids do when the book orders come back.  This is a really hard category for me to choose my favorites.  Two of the most read books in my classroom this year were an old favorite, Miss Nelson is Missing and a new favorite, Purplicious.

Favorite thing to live without?  Cable.  Who needs it when you have the internet and can get all of your TV needs there?  I’m not against cable at all, I just don’t have it.

So here were a few of my favorites of 2009!  My camera equipment and computer definitely top the list my favorite material things!  Everything else is just in random order.  Ok, no more advertisements from me for awhile.