My life...just not on the road I expected (but it's still dang good).

Christmas shopping.

A few years back, Josh and I went to Lincoln City for the weekend to do all of our Christmas shopping and to get some time away (just the two of us).  And we made a pact that weekend that we would make it a yearly tradition.

Well, we hadn't done it since...until a couple weeks ago.

Went up to Portland for the weekend (left late on Friday night after one of Ross's musical performances). 

We stayed at a hotel in downtown Portland.  When we got to our room, it smelled really smoky (we had requested a non-smoking room) so when we went back to the lobby to talk to them about it, they upgraded us to another room which turned out to be the nicest hotel room I've ever stayed in (albeit, I've never stayed at any fancy-schmancy hotels).  

It had two big screen T.V.'s (we don't own a big screen T.V. so it was a real treat) and fancy things like really good lotion in the bathroom and really fluffy bathrobes hanging in the closet.

 

Josh's favorite part was the really good (free) breakfast (Josh is a big fan of all things free).

And we made a a new pact to be smart, simple shoppers this year so we put a lot of thought into everything we got and didn't overspend.  And I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I normally enjoy Christmas shopping.

 

Josh's favorite shop (it's a Beaver shop).

My favorite shop. (What could be better than a world of cameras I ask you?)

And then we parted ways because Josh had a Beaver's game to watch and I just couldn't stand to be in the Portland area without going antiquing in Sellwood.

 

It was perfect;  I got back just in time to watch the last 15 minutes of the game (that's all I really care about anyhow).

 

And the Beavers scored in the last few minutes to win the game.

 

And then we had dinner at Ruth's ChrisSteakhouse where I handed over my entire dinner to Josh so that I could save room for more Spinach Au gratin and Pomegranate martinis.

And then we got some dessert to go and walked back to our hotel to watch Mama Mia (my 5th time) on the big screen TV.  Josh fell asleep during Mama Mia (How?...it's the best movie of all time...except Grease...Grease IS the best movie of all time).

Headed home Sunday morning after filling up on free breakfast at the hotel.

 

And stopped at a few antique shops in Coburg on our way home where Josh amused me by trying on hats and serenading me with a broken ukulele.

 

 

S.C.O.R.E.  (it's a vintage sign marker stamp set from the late 1800's).

Laurel from Houston!!!

Laurel, you're the high bidder ($550)!  Congrats!

I don't have an email address or link for you so email me at karencrussell@charter.net so we can decide which food bank or homeless shelter we'll be donating this to (and so we can get you enrolled in one of the online Photographers' Workshops).

Thanks so much for your generosity and I hope you love the class!

Lithia Park.

We went out to Ashland the day after Thanksgiving.  Had been hoping to go ice-skating but they're re-doing the rink and it won't be open until January (which means I'll be posting ice-skating pictures sometime in January).

 

We took Cali (Ross's girlfriend).  Have I mentioned that I like her?

All the kids fight over who gets to sit next to her in the car.

 

Courtney Lee was telling Ross to jump and that she would catch him.

 

My Mom & Sister.

 

 

Watching the ducks in the duck pond.

 

Coley being chased by his Dad.

 

 

That's Coley at the top.

Coley being chased by his Dad (again).

 

  And my favorite shot of the day (man, she's lovely).

An auction (and a few other things too).

1. An old shot of Annie that I ran across today.

2. Lot's of emails and lots of comments in regards to the old window hanging in my living room.  I finally found the old post that talks about it.  If you're local, the best place to get old windows is from Morrow's.

3.  Also getting lots of emails in regards to when & where I'll be teaching in Florida.  I'll be at Pictures in Time on March 6th-7th and at Scrappy Boutique on March 8th.  I'll be teaching the One Day Photographers' Workshop at both locations but will only be teaching scrapbooking classes on March 6th at Pictures in Time.

4. Can't find the paint swatch that tells me the color I painted in my living room.  Will keep looking for it though.

5. The new camera strap I got (but haven't put on my camera yet) is from Black Rapid.  As soon as I get it on my camera, I'll let you know what I think of it.

6. And I've been wanting to do something for charity this month.  I am already giving away one seat in the online Photographers' Workshop for the Make a Difference food drive that Cocoa Daisy is doing.  But I think I want to give away another spot so I'm going to do an auction here on my blog that will go through the week.  Here's the guidelines:

- You can place your bid in the comments section of this post (please don't place bids under any other posts or they will not be accounted for).  The bidding will start at $1.00 and each person who wants to bid on the class would need to bid higher than the previous bidder.

- You can bid as many times as you want (just make sure your email address is listed/linked so I know how to contact you if you're the highest bidder).

- Bidding will end at 6am Pacific time on Friday, December 5th.

- The highest bidder will win a spot in a 2009 online Photographers' Workshop of their choice (the class is normally $275 but all classes are currently sold out with 280+ people on the waiting list) and will be able to choose the food bank or homeless shelter of their choice to donate their winning bid to.

7. Happy bidding!

We got the keys...

 

I didn't want to jinx anything by talking about the house too much...

But we closed escrow last week and finally got the keys today.

We won't be moving in until the Summer (long story) but that will give us time to get some stuff done anyhow (Josh is going to redo all of the electrical since it's got the old knob & tube wiring and we're going to have insulation blown into all the walls since there's no insulation...it was built in 1905 so there's plenty of work to do).

And I'm going to have a real scrapbook room/office (no more working in the closet for me).

And our niece, Taylor is doing great.  Unfortunately, the post they put into her leg during surgery split her bone so she had to go back in the next day for a second, unplanned surgery to repair it.  She'll be in a cast that goes from her leg up to her armpits and weighs almost as much as she does for about 6 weeks (poor pumpkin).  Thanks so much for all the prayers.

ETA:  I shot the picture holding the camera at arms-lenth with a 24-70mm f2.8 lens (at 24mm).