Keepin It Movin...

...That's what I've been doing all week. I'm in a constant state of motion, never pausing to rest or have a "free" moment. What is free-time anyways? I haven't heard of that since college.

This week has been pretty spectacular! It all started with Tuesday night. I worked my first weeknight at PetSmart for a minute. The classes were both really great, but what I did after work was much more exciting. Adam and I had our first "investigation" with the Ghost Hunting club. We went to investigate the Lincoln Funeral Ghost Train in Urbana. There were a lot of (drunk) college kids there, some locals, and our group. They had all the cool equipment set up by the time Adam and I arrived - infared cameras, control station, temperature gauge, EMF detector, etc. It looked pretty cool - just like on TAPS! I think our group was just doing some PR for the club, because this wasn't a very serious investigation with all the students, noise, and goofing off going on. Needless to say, we didn't see a ghost train, but we had a blast.

The rest of the week was pretty normal (as opposed to paranormal), but this weekend was quite fun. The doggies successfully survived their dental cleanings. I dropped them off early and went to Inniswood Gardens for some photos. Here's a sample:

This is the image I took for my vertical panorama for next week's project. It's about 5 images put together.

This is the image I took there for my growth project this week.

I picked the dogs up after work. Speaking of growth, Tyson had some type of growth on his gums, but they weren't too worried about it. The boys were hilariously doped up when I brought them home. Tyson acted so wretched and old. They were both running into walls. On Friday night, Adam and I bought a cute new Bed in a Bag set from Bed, Bath, and Beyond for very cheap. Then we ate a late dinner at Red Lobster and went to see "Ironman" at the theater. Adam loved the movie, I thought it was quite blah and literally dozed off a few times (I was tired!).

Saturday we tried to sleep in a bit. Our deck guys were there early in the pouring rain to work on finishing the deck. We lounged around all day. I finished editing the photos from my cousin's birthday last weekend. They turned out pretty good.

In the afternoon, the weather turned sunny and I mowed the lawn while Adam was at work. Deck almost finished... That evening, we had another date night. We went to dinner in the Brewery District at Columbus Brewing Company, then to the Ballet Met for Romeo & Juliet. It was sooo good! I can't wait to go to the ballet again.

On Sunday I had an early morning. It was my first official photo shoot for my new business. I drove down to Dayton for a graduation. The weather was great and the photos turned out pretty good. I'm being super paranoid and critical about editing them because I want to make sure they look great. I'm in the process of doing that... think it will take a while since I took 370 pictures over a period of 4.5 hours. I plan on getting back to the editing again tonight, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the next...

After the shoot, I drove back to Columbus and stopped at PetSmart to teach my one class. Then, I headed home. Yay! The deck was done! It looks so awesome! Here is the timeline of our little deck... boy how he grew!

This is where we began... oh, how sad and pathetic it looks... I guess it wasn't as rickety as most of our neighbors'.

It quickly became a heap of lumber.
And stayed that way for quite some time... (Add a little cement and gravel into the mix)
It's getting closer... to looking like... something...

And finally, it's BEA-U-TI-FUL!!

This is the deck with the grill alcove cut out on the corner. To the left of the alcove will soon be a built-in wooden bench. Yes, the deck is huge. (Oopsie!) We still have plenty of yard, though.

My favorite part - the steps. They are so fancy-schmancy. We plan to do a bit of landscaping around the stairs with some bushes and decorative trees.A view from the exterior. Definitely would recommend our builder to anyone! It took him a little longer than planned to build it, but it turned out perfect. It's so nice to sit out on. Now, we just need furniture (which we will be working on tonight). Sunday night Adam and I watched an excellent move - "Gone Baby Gone." It's very sad, but the plot is so engaging, the acting so real, and the twists are so surprising.

Today, I've been at work at the college - not too eventful here. I've been doing some online shopping. I've picked out a patio set that I love. Adam and I are going to stop at the Home Depot tonight to see if they have any in stock. We have a huge list of other things that we want for the house, including a new porch lamp, grill mat & cover, fence stain, flower boxes, a trellis, and patio furniture! Hope we can find that all in an hour.

Well, that's about all for my weekly update. I'm looking at another busy week ahead. Never a free moment for me.