30 Days- Day 20- Where I'd love to Travel

Day 20- Post a picture of somewhere you'd love to travel

There are about a million places that I'd love to see and experience before I die, but for time's sake and in order to abide by the rules of this '30 days' game, I had to narrow it down to one.  This one is kind of a given, too.  This is Australia's Great Barrier Reef.  I think finding the words to describe the beauty and majesty of this magnificent creation would be impossible.  The vibrant colors of the reef and all of the plant-life, the thousands of different shapes and sizes of all of the unique fish, and the intricate coral formations must be absolutely breathtaking.  In an amazing place like this, God's unfathomable power, majesty, creativity, attention to detail, and love are so evident everywhere you look. 

I need to see this in person!  Maybe someday we'll get to take a big anniversary trip there!

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30 Days- Day 19- When I was little

Day 19- Post a picture of you when you were little



Here is a picture of me at my house when I was a little girl.  Apparently, I was sharing an apple with my first doggy, Taffy.  I had a wonderful childhood and remember spending lots of time outside with our dogs and cats, blowing bubbles, riding bikes and my quad, playing baseball, and 'helping' Mom and Dad.

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30 Days- Day 18- My biggest insecurity

Day 18- Post a picture of your biggest insecurity

Stretch marks!  This is not a picture of my tummy, but this is an example of what mine look/looked like.  They have faded a lot by now so they are not nearly so dark, but they are still quite unattractive.  The whole tummy region is just NOT what it used to be, but I feel like that's generally to be expected after having a baby- especially when you have such a short torso like I do.  I can deal with my new tummy... Brennan is worth it!

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30 Days- Day 17

Day 17- Post a picture of someone who has made a huge impact on your life recently

Ok... so as you can see this is a tiny little baby!  Unfortunately, I do not have a picture yet of the baby that's currently in my belly so instead I posted a picture of their brother.  I think they probably looked pretty much the same at 8 weeks anyway!  Baby #2 has made a huge impact on me.  I've been sick, uncomfortable, and a bit stressed out while being happy, anxious, and excited at the same time.  Funny how such a tiny person can make such a big impact!  I'll be able to post an ultrasound picture on September 6th, when I have my first ultrasound.  I'll be around 11 weeks at that point (and we'll get a better idea from the size of the baby) so it will be fun to see.  Ironically, September 6th will mark the 9th anniversary of Ryan and my first date which happened back in 2002!



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30 Days- Day 16

Day 16- Post a picture of someone who inspires you

This is Faith.

Faith is an almost 9 year old lab/chow mix and as you can see, she has only 2 legs.  Faith was born this way, a stay, and because of it, was even rejected by her own mother.  After being rescued, Faith needed to be carried at first, but with lots of time, practice, and peanut butter, Faith incredibly learned to walk on her hind legs!  Now Faith has become an inspiration to millions of people.  She and her owner, Jude, travel around the country giving people hope and 'faith'. They have been to countless Veteran's hospitals to cheer injured soldiers and to military bases to inspire soldiers about deploy or just coming home. 

Faith is a stunning example of how we should all try to make the best out of a crappy situation.  It is a lesson that we should reteach ourselves everyday.  Even against huge adversity, Faith thrives.  She is really an incredible animal who deserves a ton of respect and admiration.  That being said, lets not forget who made this remarkable recovery possible in the first place- Reuben and Jude Stringfellow, who saved her from what would most likely been a short life and miserable death and taught her to walk, giving her a purpose in life.  This story really gets to me and I think we can take something really important from it. 

To read the entire story about Faith, which includes a few more pictures, check out this article: Faith Walks.



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30 Days- Day 15

Day 15- Post a picture of something you want to do before you die.

Before I die, I'd like to see a lot more of our amazing planet.  There are so many unique and beautiful places and hundreds or thousands of different cultures we can learn about!  I think it would be neat to see what else is out there- beyond our little bubble that we're so accustomed to.  I'd especially like to see Australia!



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30 Days- Day 14

Post a picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

There are a lot of people I can't imagine not having in my life, but Brennan probably stands out the most.  My life has changed so much since having Brennan a year and a half ago!  I definitely have many more responsibilites than I used to, including always having someone else to put first.  But it is worth it.  All of the hugs and the kisses make every moment worth it.  I love my little guy so much.  He makes me smile every single day and every day he learns something new that makes me proud.  My world really relvolves around him and I can't imagine my life without him anymore!



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30 Days- Day 13

Day 13- Post a picture of your favorite band or artist.

I guess I'd have to say that Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are my 'forever' favorites, but my new/up-and-coming favorites are probably The Band Perry.  It's a hard question, though.  I like all sorts of music.  For example, I really like Green Day.  But for the most part, I'm a country girl.  Anyway, Tim and Faith are both super talented singers and actors... they are so multi-talented.  I think they are a couple of the very few famous couples that are actually 'truly' in love.  They seem to be loyal to eachother and treat eachother well.  They live as normal a life as possible with their three daughters and I think they are genuinely kind people.

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30 Days-Day 12

Day 12- Post a picture of something you love.

Alright... so the Internet is really a hard thing to post a picture of, but you get the idea.  I really love the Internet!  I've always been a naturally curious person, so whenever I wonder about something or think of a question I need answers to, I'm on the Internet and Googling it.  I love the fact that you can find or do almost anything Online.  I love that you can connect with people from around the globe in the blink of an eye.  I understand the general concept of the Internet, but how it all ACTUALLY works is beyond me- mind boggling!



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30 Days- Day 11

Day 11- Post a picture of something you hate.

Wow!  This is soooo the easiest day so far!  I'm petrified of needles.  I hate shots and blood draws and avoid them like the plague.  I need to use a numbing cream on myself before having any needle procedures done to prevent me from kicking the nurse or technician trying to stab me.  My parents/husband have had to hold me down in the past during needle procedures.  It's a darn good thing I'm not a diabetic!  You may wonder how I possibly made it through having a child with such an irrational fear.  Let me tell you, it wasn't easy!  There were a lot of tears and dread involved before tests, but by the end, I had definitely improved, mostly thanks to my amazing numbing cream, my sympathetic and understanding husband, and very patient and nice doctors and phlebotomists.  Here's a word to shudder at and love at the same time: epidural.



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30 Days- Day 10

Day 10- Post a picture of the person you do the most messed up things with.



This is my little sister, Haley.  I don't think I do a ton of 'messed up' things nowadays, but I defintely used to.  When we were growing up, Haley was the one by my side doing even more messed up things than me.  We used to make up ridiculous songs (Haley, you know the one I'm specifically talking about, but it doesn't really need mentioning...) and dances.  We'd do things to make absolute fools of ourselves.  We'd even have stupid nicknames for eachother.  I remember going for quite a while just calling eachother 'Clyde'.  Childhood was awfully fun with Haley around, especially when she wasn't beating up on me!  That's right.  Haley liked to lay a good beat-down on me and for the longest time she got away with it since she is five years younger than me- that is, until Mom caught on.    But now and then her over-aggressive attitude paid off.  I specifically remember her telling off a much older boy at the McDonald's play place when he wouldn't let me through the entrance.  She got right up in his face (at probably 3 or 4 years old), looked him right in the eye with an intimidating scowl and warned him, "YOU LEAVE MY SISTER ALONE!"  He took off so fast!  She's really something!

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30 Days- Day 9

Day 9- Post a picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.



This category is also hard for me!  It is really a toss up between Ryan and my Mom.  My Mom helped me get through the huge adjustment of going from a parochial school to high school.  She helped me cope when Ryan left for his first year of college and we had to start a long distance relationship.  She was there for me during all of the ups and downs of high school.  The biggest thing she has helped me through was my miscarriage.  Ryan and Mom both were such huge sources of support during what was probably the most painful and difficult time of my life.

Ryan helped me transition from living at home to moving away, which was so hard for me.  He has supported me in my decisions to go back to school and then to stay home with Brennan.  And speaking of Brennan, Ryan helped me through the horrible weeks of morning sickness I had and helped me recover after my c-section.  There is so much more that they both have done for me that I haven't even mentioned!

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30 Days- Day 8

Day 8- Post a picture that makes you laugh.



This picture makes me laugh!  Enough said!

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30 Days- Day 7

Day 7- Post a picture of your most treasured item.

Today's picture post is hard!  I couldn't narrow it down to ONE most treasured item, so I did my top 3.  Obviously, I'm not including people as 'items'.  So, in the top 3 we have my wedding ring/anniversary band, my hard drive which contains all of our pictures and videos (Don't worry!  I'm in the process of backing them all up!), and Brennan's day-old-foot replicas we made.  I would be heartbroken if I lost any of these items.

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30 Days- Day 6

Day 6- Post a picture of the person you'd love to trade places with for the day.

 This one is a hard one for me.  In a way, I think it would be better to switch with your spouse so that you understand what their day is like.  At the same time, it would probably be more fun to switch with someone whose life is completely different from your own.  That's why I posted a picture of Rachel McAdams.  She has been in several great movies including 'Mean Girls, 'The Notebook', and 'Wedding Crashers'.  I think she is absolutely beautiful and it would be really fun to be a curly-haired brunette for a day!  Plus, the dimples are too cute, as well.

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30 Days- Day 5

Day 5- Post a picture of your favorite memory.

This picture was taken on our honeymoon.  We went on a cruise to the Western Caribbean.  The day this picture was taken we were at a swim-up bar in Costa Maya, Mexico.  I'm not sure that this day in particular is my favorite memory, but I think the whole week is.  It was just so much fun being brand new newlyweds and having so many fun things to do and new things to see... and it all being packed into one short week.  It was our first big trip together by ourselves and it felt so 'adult' to be all on our own!  We were only 19 and 20, so were really were kids still!



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30 Days- Day 4

Day 4- Post a picture of a habit you wish you didn't have.

These pictures aren't of myself, but it describes the habit I have that I HATE!  It's called Trichotillomania and it basically means that you have a strong urge to pull out your own hair.  People with this disorder all have different ways or rituals of pulling their hair and they may pull it from different areas of their body.  It is embarassing, at least for me.

I started pulling out my eyelashes when I was about 12 years old.  I don't know why I started, but it felt comforting so I kept doing it.  I would develop 'holes' in my lashes like in the pictures.  Eventually, I moved from pulling my lashes to pulling my brows.  My eyebrows resemble those in the picture.  Now, 13 years after this habit started, I'm still struggling to stop pulling out my hair!  It sounds crazy to the normal person... only someone else with the disorder would understand.  Boy, do I wish I could just knock it off!

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30 Days- Day 3

Day 3- Post a picture of the cast from your favorite show.

I like a lot of shows.... it is hard for me to pick a favorite, but Little House on the Prairie is way up there on the list!  It is such a good, wholesome show that really makes me think.  I love to imagine what life would have been like in a different era, living like Laura.  I love the family's unwavering faith in God even when life gets extremely hard for them.  The characters are amazing.  I feel like I know each one personally.  They elicit strong feelings from me... so many episodes get me tearing up!

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30 Days- Day 2

Day 2- Post a picture of you and the person you have been close with for a while.

As most of you probably know, this is a picture of my husband, Ryan, and I.  It was taken last summer at a Minnesota Twins game.  Ryan and I have definitely been close for a while.  We met in September of 2002, got engaged in January of 2004, and were married in June of 2005.  It seems funny to think that we've been together for so long already... time really flies.

Ryan is a lab tech in the drugs of abuse lab at Mayo clinic in Rochester.  As of yesterday, he is also an 'official' EMT.  He was just granted his state license so now he'll be working on call as a part time EMT in our town.

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In Honor of my 100th post!

Hi everybody!  I can't believe that I just published my 100th post today!  I thought it would be fun to do something new in honor of my 100th post.  I noticed this fun photo project that my cousin, Christi, is doing on Facebook and I thought it would be really neat to give it a try.  It is called 30 days and it is a great way for people to get to know a little bit more about you.  I challenge you all to give it a try, as well.  If you do this on your blog, please leave me a link so I can come check it out! Today is day one and over the next 29 days I'll be covering the rest of the 'days'.  So, without any further ado, here we go!

Day 1- Post a picture of yourself with 10 facts.

Ok, anyone who reads my blog definitely already knows what I look like... I post hundreds of pictures!  But to satisfy the requirement of day one, here is one of my favorite pictures of myself.  It was taken in November 2009 on an unseasonably and pleasantly warm day when I was about 6 months pregnant with Brennan.

And as far as my 10 facts... I've listed some facts about myself a couple different times, but I can't remember offhand exactly which ones I told you, so I'm going to just start fresh with the first ten that come to mind.

1. I love to take pictures... surprise, surprise!
2. In our household, Ryan is the primary cook and I'm the baker.  And I make a killer cheesecake if I do say so myself.  The recipe is listed here: http://fivefeetoffun.blogspot.com/2011/05/chantals-new-york-cheesecake-recipe.html
3. I love animals and have had a lot of different pets throughout the years including dogs, cats, fish, a rabbit, a lizard, a baby turtle (we found it on a road and "fostered" it until we released it safely), and a gerbil.  Currently we have one dog, two guppies, and a snail.
4. My toenails are painted red for 90% of the year.
5. I cannot make my front teeth touch regardless of how I move my jaws... you should see me eat a sandwich with lettuce!
6. I can't ride in the car without singing with the radio.
7. I absentmindedly throw bits and pieces of Spanish into my everyday conversations.
8. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I just love to decorate with lots of Christmas lights.
9. When I was little, I had two imaginary lion friends that were named Mario and Luigi.
10. My name, Colleen, is of Irish origin and means "girl".   I suppose I fit that description.

:)  That was fun!  Come back tomorrow for day 2!

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