Laid Out

Today marks the first day in four years that I have actually used an unplanned sick day. I've used a few for being out of town, but today I woke up feeling awful but not willing to change my lesson plans for a substitute, so I went in anyway. Halfway through first period, realizing things were going downhill fast, I called for a sub for the second half of the day. My three hour nap helped give me a little strength and now I'm feeling much better, though it seems I'm always better at night. We'll see what tomorrow morning brings.

While I'm resting up, I decided I'd try to redeem myself from the whole Nebraska Patriots thing, so I'm watching the World Series with Andrew. Besides calling Pedro Martinez "Manny" as in Ramirez, things are going well so far. Too bad I already missed the highlight of the game - John Legend singing the National Anthem. Honestly, it's going to take some serious restraint to keep from using the sick card to get Andrew to let me watch Grey's Anatomy and Real Housewives tonight. (My apologies about that sentence. I just don't have time to deal with fixing all those infinitives. Gotta ask Andrew who we're rooting for!)

Natural Cleaning Solutions

Andrew has some exciting stuff in the works. He's starting a new business, Natural Cleaning Solutions: Green Cleaning for Home and Office using all natural, eco-friendly products. If that sounded like a commercial, good. It was supposed to! If you or someone you know needs some cleaning done, give Andrew a shout.

This flyer may be appearing in a mailbox near you. And how about that logo? Copied and pasted from istockphoto by yours truly.

I spent today at the Norris Grist Mill crawling over about ten other photographers. People were practically waiting in line to take pictures on this gorgeous autumn day.

This session with the Kara and Larry was delightful - they're beautiful and full of life and sure made my job easy!

Mason's second photo shoot was much fun. He's grown so much in just a few months! Click here for more.

Booked Up

I'm learning that Fall is a big season for photographers. With the combination of wanting pictures for Christmas cards and gifts and wanting to utilize the beautiful fall colors, I shouldn't be surprised. I have five sessions this week (two through another photographer) and one next week. I'm having a blast and am getting pretty close to pulling the trigger on that new lens!

As I was browsing around etsy for Christmas gift ideas, I couldn't help but purchase this adorable flapper style beanie. I knew Lilah Grace would be adorable in it. She didn't disappoint.

Click here for more of Lilah Grace Part II.

And by "Booked Up," I don't in any way mean I'm not accepting new appointments. Keep 'em coming! I've got a few Christmas gifts I need to purchase too.

Nebraska and Nigusu

Today was an ideal day in the McAffry house - well, except for the half inch bone I crunched on while eating leftover Calhoun's barbecue. Note to self: Remember giving up barbecue a decade ago after pulling pork all weekend for a church fundraiser? That was a good idea. Never succumb to the pig again. Never.

Anyway, back to the scheduled programming. I spent most of the afternoon rereading The Awakening and The Scarlet Letter on the couch while Andrew watched football. Every now and then he attempts to talk football with me, and being the sweet wife that I am, I try to pretend I know something about this sport that he so enjoys. Today when he mentioned Tom Brady, hoping to participate meaningfully in the conversation, I said, "Who does he play for? The Nebraska Patriots?" The minute it escaped my mouth I wanted to stuff it back in. No, Sarah! Never volunteer unsolicited information about sports not involving a racquet. I learned my lesson, and I'm afraid Andrew did as well. We spent the rest of the afternoon silently enjoying our respective hobbies.

Since we were unable to attend Catalyst this year, I've been watching any video I can find. This one in particular is unbelievable. If you have time, watch it in its entirety. Otherwise skip to 3:45 to see a Compassion child meet his sponsor of 19 years. We will never write a letter to Nigusu in the same way again. And I hope one day we can travel to Ethiopia to meet him. May we impact his life as this sponsor did for his child.

Catalyst 2009 Compassion Moment from Catalyst on Vimeo.

Family

Last weekend we celebrated five Cole family birthdays. It's so fun being part of such a big family.

Eighteen of the twenty in the Cole family were in attendance; that's a rarity.

Guess who was the star of the show?

None other than Miss Lucy.

Yesterday Lindsay and I drove through the rain to see Brittany in Johnson City.

This long overdue two hour visit was worth the three hour drive. Brittany graciously treated us to lunch at Cafe Lola, a lovely little French bistro. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend it. When we we saw the dessert menu, we just couldn't decide which one to share so we shared three different desserts! Man I love these girls.

Since we can't make it to Audrey's 8th - yes, that is her 8th birthday - on Saturday night, we decided to take her shopping.

She chose to go to Target - my kind of gal. I got sidetracked a few times, but we made it to the girls section, and she found the perfect outfit.

A girl after my own heart, she chose ice cream instead of a pretzel at Target.

Menchie's in Turkey Creek is officially my new fave. After our California trip, we dreamed about opening our own self-serve yogurt shop because they were on every corner out there, but somebody has beat us to it.

Audrey wanted to draw on the chalkboard before we left. She wrote "I love Andrew and Sarah." Couldn't have given us a sweeter thank you.

Oh, and she drew a heart, a peace sign, and earth. We may have a little free spirit on our hands. When Andrew asked her why she erased the earth she drew, she said, "I don't draw good earths." Hilarious.

Things I Learned This Week

• I have one of the best jobs on the planet. I left work three days this week thinking about how much I love my job. Unless a job exists that requires wandering the streets of Paris, taking pictures and eating baguettes, I think I've got it pretty darn good.

• Wealth isn't always measured in financial terms. In fact, I have found that the less I have in my bank account, the more wealthy I feel. It reminds me to take account of the many other blessings God has given me. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. Psalm 16:6

• Sometimes God calls us to do things that keep us shaking in our boots (or kitten heels as it was today), and He doesn't always take that fear away. In fact, in the words of Ms. Beth Moore, He tells us to "Do it scared." I just hope and trust that there's a reason for it - cause it sure ain't much fun. As we learned in The Inheritance DVD tonight, we can't be wimps; He is developing our muscle to be able to handle the blessings he has in store.

• I love DVR. I used to just pretend that I didn't like any TV shows. Truth was I never even watched any to give them a chance. This year, I have a few too many shows on my lineup: Brothers & Sisters, Modern Family, Real Housewives (shhhh), Guiliana & Bill, Rachel Zoe. The first episode of Modern Family had me laughing for two weeks.

• Sometimes I can be obsessive. What's that I hear? You're not surprised? Okay, me either. I decided yesterday to work on my website, so I ended up in front of the computer screen for 12 straight hours. But it's done! If you haven't seen it yet, please visit the new Sarah C. Photography official website. I feel like a legitimate business owner now. Hope you like it.

Infrequent

Friday night Andrew and I stopped by the Powell game so I could join the PHS Singers and alumni to sing the alma mater and national anthem before the game. Considering how much I hate standing in front of that many people, all was going well as the stadium silenced in preparation for the first note. One of my 4th period students chose this precise moment to stand up and scream my name across the crowd. Oh my. I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

Only time will tell if I'll be courageous enough to brave the crowd again.

Saturday I finally broke down and decided to clean the house after not sweeping for - well, maybe I'm not yet ready to share that kind of information. I share a significant portion of my life on this ole wall, but I'm not quite ready to disclose how infrequently I clean our floors. I'll admit it's even more infrequent than the blog posting has become lately. Rest assured that the McAffry residence is looking good now though.

I spent Saturday evening with this sweet girl.

Click here to see more.