gramma update

if you have been following mine or my sister's blog for some time, you will remember posts we have written about our grandmother. she has been battling cancer for several years now and was told on Friday, June 5, that she only had days to live. the following (last) week was awful - funeral plans, digging through old pictures, and mostly, caring for our poor grandmother who was in lots of pain and became immobile.

Saturday, June 13, our beautiful grandmother Betty Jane went to be with Jesus. we are happy she is no longer in pain, though sad because we miss her greatly. she was an amazing woman of God, and through her prayer and petition, helped lead my whole family to Christ. we will forever love her, think of her, and miss her, until we can see her again.

viewings are tomorrow (Tuesday) 2-5 and 7-9 at Dusckas Martin Funeral Home, 4216 Sterrettania Road, in Erie, PA. service is 10am on Wednesday at Grace Church. you can read her obituary here.

we have a winner!

the winner of my very first giveaway is...


KRISTEN from and then i found $5 !!!

(no, this was not rigged! actually, my co-worker "clicked" the button on www.random.org which came up with the number designated for Kristen's entry, #25)


Kristen is debating between the salt & pepper set and the simplicity vase.


thanks everyone for entering! hopefully i'll be able to do another giveaway soon!!

baby shower

two weekends ago i did my first paid photography gig! it was a baby shower for the sister-in-law of a friend of mine from church. i knew the family pretty well (but not the mother-to-be), so they insisted i eat (which i did) and enter into the chinese auction (which i did NOT). they are expecting a boy and decorated our church Commons blue and brown. also, they had cupcakes from Linda Austen Cakes, and they were AWESOME.

i was so honored to be asked to help with the shower! thanks, meg!

Day 30

yesterday (Tuesday, June 9) was day 30 of Making the Cut. co-worker bethany and i did pretty well staying on track for the breakfasts & lunches (sometimes dinners), definitely not weekends, and not really working out. however, officially i lost about 8 pounds and i think she lost over 10. that makes me happy!!

on Friday when we heard the news about my gramma, the whole idea of a "diet" didn't matter to me anymore. i've just been thinking, who cares in times like these? my gramma actually noticed that i lost weight, told me i looked great, and that i shouldn't lose anymore. she's sweet :) she's still hanging in there, don't know how much longer that will be though.

i would definitely reccomend Making the Cut for anyone who can be at least 85% serious on sticking to a diet. i'm looking forward to trying some of the other recipes in the book, and i think bethany and i will continue on many of the breakfasts and some lunch and dinner recipes as well. we will probably also continue the plan of eating every 4 hours (and try not to eat any more after dinner) and a 3pm snack (we enjoy our snack time).

anyway, it was worth the $9.00 from Target! now i just need to use the 30-day shred video more consistently!

here's my weight graph from when i started, May 12th, until today...

...and i'm showing everyone on the internet how much i weigh...

the days continue...

if you've read my sister's blog (or follow me on twitter or facebook), you've heard the news about our Gramma - the hospice nurse says we may only have days left with her. we were told this this past Friday, and Gramma is still hanging in there now. she's on enough medication now to make visits with family and friends easier for her and fun for us.

Saturday was pretty rough - i went to sing at church at 3pm but found out around 4pm that my Gramma was asking for me (probably since she was seeing all her other granddaughters that day except me), so my awesome brother-in-law told me i could go be with them (i also had a breakdown during practice and was having a really hard time singing anyway). it was so nice having all the family there (my cousins came up from pittsburgh with their mum), and we listened to music for a powerpoint of pictures of my Gramma.

we're expecting her to pass this week and my mum and aunt have most of the funeral and dinner planned already. it's sad, but we know she is going to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus, so we are comforted and happy about that.

thank you for all your prayers, hugs, love, and support for my family.

exciting news!

thanks to everyone who's already entered the giveaway! i'm so excited about this. if you haven't entered, don't forget to comment on the post below! also, if you've tweeted the giveaway, shoot me an @reply to make sure i see it. thanks!!



i just found out this amazing news today - Maleno Development has been chosen for ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in ERIE, PA!! they will have one week to build a house for a worthy family starting June 25 and ending July 1. also awesome news - Grace Church is a sponsoring partner and rachel (www.puremotif.com) is doing pictures for Maleno as the project gets underway! this is so exciting and amazing!

you can follow their progress or sign up to help here: malenoextremehome.com

my first giveaway!

a few weeks ago, Jamie from All Modern asked me if i would like to host a giveaway on my blog that they would sponsor. of course (in my mind) i answered "HECK YES!" i have always wanted to do a giveaway! it's taken me a while to sort through their (huge and awesome) site and find something that i think you, my readers, would love to win. i've picked four (super) awesome things from one vendor (MENU) that the winner can pick from. each item is up to a $40.00 value.

All Modern has a great selection of modern furniture, home accessories, eco-friendly bedding, wall art, lighting, and other decor items from brands like Knoll, Herman Miller, Alessi and Blomus. obviously - they have Knoll (and similar awesome design companies), so i was immediately in love with their site.

here are the items the winner gets to choose from:

Pernille Vea Mini Magma Stone Set

Henriette Melchiorsen Fine Salt and Pepper Set

Christian Bjorn Lighthouse Hurricane Lamp

Pil Bredahl Simplicity Vase

i thought all of these items were unique, modern, and something i would personally want to win!

MENU was established in 1979 by Simon Hansen as Danish Steel House. The company specialized in steel products for the catering industry. Nine years later, the company’s famous Irish coffee set was developed by Bjarne Hansen and instantly became an international sales success. Today Menu is known for it's innovative and stylish modern accessories.
information via allmodern.com



to enter this giveaway, all you need to do is comment on this post* telling me the item you would pick from the four options. you'll get an extra entry if you tweet this giveaway (if you do, leave your twitter username in the comment box - unless i already follow you!). a winner will be chosen at random when the giveaway closes, which will be Friday, June 12, 2009 at 10:00am. i'll try to get the winner up on Friday, but if not, definitely by Monday, June 15.

thanks and good luck!


**note: this giveaway is available to US residents only. i'm sorry that i didn't mention it before (slipped my mind!) and i apologize if you have already commented or tweeted this and are not a US resident.

i'm not gonna lie

yeah, there was pretty much NO DIET this weekend. i'm not going to give any excuses though...i just didn't care! staci said to me yesterday, "aren't you on a diet, mase?" and i said, "not today!" whoops. bethany and i plan on going pretty hard this week (at least breakfasts, lunches, and working out). we have 10 days left i believe!

this weekend:

• josh and i had a date night at TGI Friday's. we also started watching the movie "The Hustler"
• saturday i photographed a baby shower and made cuppies with stace & kristen for katie's bridal shower (sunday)
  
• josh and i played pool with mikey j, his brother todd, and our friends dustin & laurel. we also finished "The Hustler" (movie about pool). i think i became a semi-pro player after josh's tutelage!
• sunday was an awesome service at church, katie's super fun and beautiful bridal shower, and a volunteer appreciation DESSERT at church. so yummy.
  
• josh has been getting into the series FRINGE lately (well, he has all the episodes and we've been watching them). pretty good...though i cringe a lot watching them. i was hiding my head in his shoulder several times last night.

also, check back for:

1. baby shower pics
2. cuppie pics
3. katie's shower pics
4. AND AN AWESOME GIVEAWAY thanks to allmodern.com