RIP Laptop

It was the moment I haven't been waiting for.
My laptop is dead.
As in..
...crashed,
...black screen,
...nada
...done-zo.
Everything is gone.
And I mean EVERYTHING.
Every program, every file, every picture.
GONE.
For the past 4 months my laptop has been acting sketchy.
Like really sketchy.
Not booting up, freezing up, not holding a battery charge, randomly shutting off, etc.
So, I wasn't surprised when I turned it on Saturday evening & after I booted it up, I saw this message, "Windows Error Recovery".
I immediately panicked, had Kevin come check out the computer & I didn't push any buttons until he told me to (he is the computer savvy one).
We ran the start up repair on it & it didn't work, now when I turn on the laptop, I get the dreaded black screen with a blinking cursor on the upper left hand corner. Not good.
Yesterday, we tried running the Recovery Back up disks, but the CD Rom of the laptop doesn't work, so that won't work either.

Oh yeah, and on top of all this, Kate had the stomach flu this weekend, so the crashed laptop was just the icing on the cake.

I am bummed my laptop crashed because it was only 2.5 years old.
I thought it would last at least 3-4 years.
I am not getting a new lap top anytime soon. Kevin has a laptop, so I will just use that.

But the good news out of all of this? Because my laptop was acting sketchy the past 4 months, I have had a bad feeling that it was going to crash, so I have been backing up all my files & pictures on my external hard drive every week. Just 2 weeks ago, I even backed up all my fonts!

I did lose a few things that I have worked on the past week (like cupcake toppers & favor tags for Claire's party) but I can recreate those.

So, the moral of the story? Back up your files/pictures AT LEAST once a week!

I got this laptop when I was 5 months preggo with Claire, so every single picture that I have taken of her was on that laptop. I am SO glad they are all saved on my external hard drive. And, luckily all the photo shoot pictures I have taken & edited were backed up.

And, because I am so paranoid, after the girls wake up from their naps today, I am going to buy another external hard drive so that I have a back up if anything happens to the original external hard drive. Yes, I am crazy, but I would FREAK if I lost all the pictures of my girls lives. I would have to commit myself to a mental hospital if I had lost all the pictures of their lives.

So, stop what you are doing and go back up your files & pictures!

Flashback Friday: Hurricane Katrina

This weekend marks the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

It was one of worst natural disasters to hit the United States.
5 years later, people in New Orleans & the Mississippi Gulf region are still not back in their homes.

After Katrina hit, I knew I wanted to help in some way, even though I lived across the country in California. During my Spring Break of 2006, my younger sister Rebecca & I went with our church on a mission trip to New Orleans & the gulf shores of Mississippi to help build houses for people who lost their home when Katrina hit.

This was the 2nd mission trip I have done within the United States, the first one was 9/11 relief which you can read about here.
(Becks & I)

Churches from all over the country were involved in the project.
Sponsor churches built the framing of the houses in church parking lots & all the framing was sent on trucks to Mississippi/New Orleans for a neighborhood project called Victory Park.
Another group of churches had been there the week before pouring the foundation, so when we got there, our jobs were to get the framing up, put up the siding and windows, plumbing and electricity & then paint the houses.
This is the house framing that our church did & then they were shipped to Mississippi on a truck:
A total of 16 new homes were built.
Becks and I volunteered for the painting team. It was a lot of fun!

Scafolding was fun to be on!

A view of some of the new houses:
Becks & I painted the majority of this house along with 2 other people.
In front of one of the houses we painted:
The second to last day we were there, they had a ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication of the houses. People in the community who were hoping to put a bid on one of the homes were there.
It was amazing & inspiring meeting them & hearing their Katrina stories. It really put things in perspective.

We had the opportunity to go to a Sunday service at one of the local Baptist churches.
We were the only white people there. In fact, we were the first white people to ever attend a service there. It was shocking to see how segregated it still was in this little town in Mississippi. The people at the church were WONDERFUL. The pastor, Greg was amazing. We were there on Palm Sunday. It was one of the best services I have ever been to in my entire life. I will never, ever forget it. Ever. Pastor Greg is an amazing man & we got along great. His family is awesome.I send him a Christmas card every year!

Here is Pastor Greg helping us on the work site:

One of evenings after our work day, we took a drive to the gulf coast and saw the devastation in Biloxi, Mississippi. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what damage Katrina had done to this city. It pretty much wiped it out.

Gorgeous sea front homes were unrecognizable.
We were there 6 months after Katrina hit & nothing had been cleaned up. It was incredibly sad.
It was an amazing week...a week I will never ever forget.
My heart has a special place for the people of New Orleans & the Mississippi Gulf.
I am still praying for them, 5 years later.

Eight is Great

8 years ago, Kevin and I said "I do"
I am so glad that we did!
3 different houses, 2 little girls, 1 dog & lots of fun, here we are 8 years later.
Thanks for loving & serving me through it all.
I am so glad we get to experience life together.
I am beyond grateful for the amazing man God has created you to be!

And, Happy 36th Anniversary to my parents!
(yes, we have the same anniversary!)

Of course.

Of course we are getting a heat wave the first week of school.

Of course.

We haven't hit triple digits all summer.
But today? On the first day of school? 100 degrees.
Of course.

The coldest summer in Nor Cal in over 40 years and now we are getting a heat wave.
Of course.

Right now, it is 10 o'clock at night & it is still 80 degrees outside.
Of course.

Do you want to see our weather forecast for the next few days?
Yes, you read that right. It is supposed to be 106 degrees tomorrow.
And, 102 the next day.
Then it slowly drops so that it is in the 70's for the weekend.
Seriously? What is up with this crazy-town weather?

I decided that even though school started today (which went great by the way, so far it seems as though I have a really nice group of students! Ask me again in a month. ha!) and because the weather was so hot, I would just pretend it was still summer.
So, when I got home from school this afternoon, we went suited up, lathered on the sunscreen and went swimming in the backyard!
And, you know what?
For an hour while we swam, it felt like I was still on summer break.
I am just glad we are finally getting summer weather!
Even if it did arrive about 3 months too late!
I have a feeling we will be swimming a lot this week!
I want to get as much use out of the pool as we can!

The Summer List in Pictures

Summer is officially over.

I have been back at school for a couple of days getting my classroom ready.
Students come on Monday. *sigh*
I thought I would re-cap our Summer List Picture Style.
Did we complete everything on our list? No. Not even close!
But, we still had a great summer!
Here is our checked off list:
Here is the summer list in pictures!
1. Go to Lake Tahoe:
and have Christmas:
2. Make a polka dot (funfetti) cake:
we actually made a polka dot cake and cupcakes!
3. Go to the zoo:
We went twice!
Here
and Here.
4. Music Class
5. Walk Downtown for Pink Bagels
6. Make Coffee Cake
7. Go to Dance Class
(didn't happen..maybe this Fall or Winter)

8. Learn how to swim
(didn't happen...hopefully next summer, although both girls are very comfortable in the water)

9. Have a pool party in our backyard (we had several!)
10. Help Jimmy make homemade ice cream
(We didn't help him make it this year, but we sure did eat some!)

11. Go to the 4th of July parade
12. Make chocolate dipped pretzels:
So good & so easy to make!
13. Make S'mores
14. Watch a movie outside
(didn't happen...hopefully this Fall...or next summer!)

15. Have a picnic
Not just any picnic...a Chinese food picnic!
16. Mommy & Kate go on a date
17. Go on Jimmy's Boat
(didn't happen...maybe this Fall or next Spring/Summer)

18. Go to the Fair
19. Farmers Market
(we went several times! Love it!)
20. Play Soccer
21. Paint a Flower Pot
with a purple flower, of course!
22. Sleepover at Grandma's
(I don't have any pictures of this, but they had 3 sleepovers at Grandma's this summer!)

So, we completed 17 out of 22 items on our list.
That is a 77% or C+ for all you teachers out there!
(just trying to get myself back in the school mode! ha!)

It has been a great summer!
Kevin said this has been one of his favorite summer's in a while.
It has also been the coldest summer in over 40 years.
We have only gone in our pool TWICE in the month of August!
It didn't even reach triple digits this summer!
That is just UNHEARD of.
The weather has just been cold, in the 70's mostly.
I bet September & October are going to be hot. ugh.

I hope you all had a great summer full of memories with your family & friends!
Now...Bring on the Fall!!!!!

Linking up with I heart faces on 9-7-10