Dreams and Dishes

I know i'm a weird person. I've come to accept it, but some of the dreams i've had are just bizarre. I've always had dreams and i like it i guess. It's like a movie in my sleep and usually i'm the star so that's pretty awesome. Anyway, most of my dreams are untellable. I only feel comfortable telling Chance the dreams i've had because i feel like if i told anyone else they would put me in a mental hospital.

So, my dream last night wasn't too crazy, or gross, or bizarre or inappropriate so i thought i would share. It's actually pretty funny.

There i was, hanging out in this mall that was floating on the ocean. Yep, just me and Ashlee Simpson. yea, i know Ashlee Simpson...i don't even like her. But apparently we were the best of friends. She was telling me how excited she was to get married and then she asked me if i wanted to go to her bachlorette party. "Sure Ashlee" i said like it was no big deal. Then Chance shows up, and he's hanging out with some famous person, (but i don't think it was a real famous person, but i knew they were famous in the dream) and Chance was all, "Dominique i don't want you hanging out with Ashlee Simpson." He said that right in front of her. So then i said, "Chance she's my best friend." and he was all "ok then." HAHAHA (this is what i love about this dream, nothing seems to be a big deal)
So the scene changed or something and Ashlee and I were hanging out watching TV with her mom. Her mom was really mean to me for some reason. Then her mom left and Ashlee was like we should call Britney, you would really like her. (Yea, Britney Spears. I don't know.) So we were all hanging out and then, they left me. I can't really remember what happened, but they left me. But i do remember that it really hurt my feelings in the dream. Get over it Dominique.

So all of the sudden Chance and I are in this shark park. The end.

Now I know people try to explain their dreams, and i don't think there's any explaining some of them, but i'm almost positive i know where this one came from.

Chance doesn't let me read all the people magazines and stuff like that because he says it's trash for the mind. And i think that's true, but sometimes i just can't help it. So yesterday when i was with Katie we were looking at magazines and I read an article about Ashlee Simpson's wedding. So there you go. Isn't it weird that famous people are in our dreams? or at least mine. I don't even know them, but i see them everywhere so much that i feel like were friends or something. That makes me siiiiiiccccckkkkkk.

And the part about the ocean, i watched LOST last night...so i had LOST on the brain.

When i woke up this morning i was still in the dream state, like do i know Ashlee Simpson? Should I call her? Well i realized that i don't know her and that instead of hanging out with celebrities today i had to clean my kitchen. Cleaning the kitchen is probably my LEAST favorite chore to do. I just about throw up when food is all dried up and everything. ssssiiiiiiiiiiiiicccccckkkkk.

But i finished finally and my kitchen is nice and clean and I’m jazzed. Hellllllooooo WEEKEND!

If your grandma likes it, i probably do too

Because I just stay at home, I've been trying to learn how to become a better housewife. I've been trying my best to do the laundry on a regular basis, clean the apartment, and cook for my husband. I was never really taught how to cook, so it's been an experience, but to my surprise, when i do cook (which has been slim to none), i enjoy it.

I have found that i enjoy many things. I LOOOVE baking, mostly because after you bake it, you usually get to decorate it. I've been making jewelry and stationary. I've been getting things together for scrap booking and I find it a real treat to go into craft stores. I now find myself wondering if i could MAKE something instead of buy it. I know, sick. I made a dress awhile ago with my grandma's help and now i feel like i should start sewing. I read those 'table decorating' magazines and i'm always online looking at party themes and decorations. And then I go on IKEA and try to plan out what my ideal room would look like. I love to read now and I've found that i have a desire to learn how to knit. My new thing now is wrapping gifts with left over fabric scraps.

So...to say the least, I've had fun staying home. When i think about things i enjoy it seems like i'm a 70 year old woman stuck in a 23 year old body. Weird.

Anyway, last night i was feeling really domestic so i made dinner. Since Chance and I are trying to eat better, i decided to make Organic Veggie Chilli. And it was goooooooooood.

I took pictures because i was so proud of myself...

Spinach salad with organic avocados and tomatoes topped with pomegranate vinegarette dressing

Organic Veggie Chilli with Organic Sugarless Cornbread
(sorry this picture is kind of lame)



Organic strawberries and nectarines for dessert

PLEASE

please, if you have time. Watch this video. it's about 15 minutes. It's about food and ties into my last blog entry. PLEASE watch it. I love learning about stuff like this. Just click on the link to view the video, i couldn't get it on my blog.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/263

Sugar Blues

Ever since Chance and I got together we've been on this roller coaster ride to eat healthy. There have been times where we eat EVERYTHING organic with NO meat and there have been times when we eat pizza 3 times a week, (ah, i love pizza). It's really frustrating to us because we've spent time learning about the benefits of organic food and the deadly downfalls of sugar and processed foods. We strive to eat healthy, but sometimes it's so much easier to order a pizza.

Anyways, Chance and I have been talking about how we really need to start disciplining ourselves to have a healthier diet. We also understand if we know how to eat now, it will be easier to teach our kids good nutrition. We feel since we have been educated on the benefits of good health, it's almost ridiculous to ignore it.

So we are committing to eat healthy. We are giving up sugar completely, (which is SUPER hard for me because i LOOOOVVEE it), and we are hoping to mostly eat organic meals. It's going to be difficult at first, but we know that it will be so much better for us. And the times we have been dedicated to eat healthy, we have really enjoyed it. I encourage anyone and everyone to start learning the benefits of eating better.

Most people think that eating healthy is buying those 'healthy choice' frozen dinners, or ordering a diet soda instead of a regular. And that's sad. It's really annoying to me that our country fails so much on the education and issues of healthy eating. It really makes me sick. So if you want to learn more about the foods you eat, visit one of these sites....

www.wholefoods.com

www.whfoods.com <---this site is super cool because you can take this test and it will tell you the nurtition you are lacking and then it will provide a recipe for it.

http://macrobiotics.co.uk/

And if you are interested in reading anything, start with this...I started it and it was really good.

Sugar Blues by William Dufty

Blackberry or Blackjack

humm...what a choice. This last weekend Chance and I gave into our temptations and got new phones. I got the Blackberry Curve and Chance got the Blackjack. We did this because the people at att&t told us that we have 30 days to see if we liked what we picked. If we don't like the phone, we can exchange it for another one.

So the Blackberry is pretty sweet. It's like a little laptop, and it has this awesome camera with a flash. But the Blackjack is cool too, it has even more functions than the blackberry, but it's a little bigger. I have 28 days to figure out what I want and I can't decide. Feel free to give me any insight if you know about either of these phones.

Blackberry

Blackjack

My Husband will rock your face off

check out his stuff @ chancejamesphotography.com

Date Night

If you have ever read my previous posts then you know that Chance and I have 'date nights' as often as we can. On Saturday we kind of had a 'date day' and it was a lot of fun.

We got up, Chance cooked breakfast and we rode our bikes to Fig Garden. We read at starbucks and shared a coffee...then we went to lunch at like 1. After lunch, we went to a movie (Indiana Jones, not good) and then we went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We got an Outback giftcard from our friend Scott. Thanks Scott!

Sicko

I'm sick. I'm sure i will be blogging about 20 times a day because i'm sick and in bed with nothing else to do. This title reminds me of the movie 'sicko.' great movie. I don't agree with everything it says, but i do think people should have an open mind when they watch it.

Lazy Saturday

My cat is incredibly spoiled. Like to the max. We give her soooo much attention and on top of that, she's never seen another animal, at least not up close. Our friends Dorothy and Zach just got a puppy and they needed us to watch her on Saturday. Brighton didn't know what to do....




and then, she attacked!

Our List

Chance and I have this journal. We have been writing to each other in this journal since we first started dating. Chance was reading it last night and found this list we wrote together. I remember writing this list with Chance. We had been dating for about four months and we were sitting in the park.

When i woke up this morning my hubbs printed it out and stuck it on the fridge. It is something that we are really going to strive to follow as much as we can. the list is really sweet to read because it encourages us. some of these are inside jokes, but most of it is self explanatory. Here it is.

Our List

1. put God first
2. Divorce is not an option!
3. always say “I love you”
4. kiss in public
5. travel the world
6. don’t spend our money on stupid things
7. never be content with what’s easy
8. always remember why we fell in love
9. go on dates
10. go to the park
11. no secrets
12. pray together
13. be each others best friends
14. leave each other love notes
15. be romantic
16. encourage each other
17. always be supportive
18. pick fresh fruit
19. go on adventures
20. go on road trips
21. love each other with a selfless love
22. laugh together
23. love each other more than we love ourselves
24. always ask each other how we are doing and how our day was
25. take lots of pictures
26. film memories
27. never be content with what the world tells us
28. always strive to grow in our love and marriage
29. surprise each other
30. never let other people get in the way
31. never give up on one another
32. don’t stress about money
33. take risks
34. listen to the Lord
35. stare into each others eyes
36. cry together
37. seek wise counsel
38. be emotional
39. giggle
40. burp
41. sing loud in the car
42. dance together
43. stare at the stars-the north star
44. keep close friends
45. volunteer
46. pour into people
47. always look at this list
48. never say you are disappointed with each other
49. be patient
50. paint together
51. support each other in our decisions
52. do the things we love-and never settle for less
53. always take the narrow path
54. be active
55. eat healthy
56. make our kids healthy
57. take walks
58. Go Christmas shopping together!!
59. be each others favorite-always
60. remember that God works everything together for good
61. Remember we were made to love each other-
62. she is so beautiful
63. get excited about the little things

People

oh people really bother me sometimes. i'm sure people bother you too. i'm sure i bother you, or if i haven't yet...i'm sure i will because i bother myself.

Anyway, this blog is loooong overdue. This blog isn't directed at anyone in particular, but just a rant.

OK, so i could separate this blog into categories, and talk about some of the things that bother me most about people, but i won't, because if i listed it all, i would look like satan. And i'm not that mean. honest. I actually have a huge love for people. i'm a people fanatic, which is really odd considering that certain things about people drive me crazy. so anyway, i won't go on and on about dumb people because God has been convicting me big time lately, but i will say a few general things about people that are completely ridiculous. And i think that's ok.

So let's talk about fake people. not the kind of plastic boobs fake, but fake as in deceiving fake. the kind of fake that when you say hello to them and they say hi back you know they’re shady. you can sense they aren't sincere about anything really. everyone knows what i'm referring to, the friend or 'fake' friend that just can't chill around you. Or the person that bails everytime you need a listening ear. Or that friend that says ‘I miss you’ and doesn’t give a poop. i would describe it as the girl on myspace that has in quotes “i hate drama,” but you know it follows her everywhere. i'm talking about people like that.

Now we've all been fake. and don't be gay and say no you haven't. you have, even if it's for just a second, you have. and someone has called you fake. That’s because you were. And you were acting fake because to a certain degree you care what people think. We all do. Including me and you. Yes, you, don't lie.

I can honestly say that MOST of my life i have been honest about who i am. and i think it's a gift from God really. I'm not saying i have ALWAYS been true to myself, but mostly. Now, i'm not relieving this to look godly, or nice, or fly my own flag, but because i have realized it is way better to live the way God has designed me to live. i still need to learn and grow, but in my own way. I'm sharing this because it ties into what i'm getting at.

Fake people need help just like everyone else. We and they need to know that it's ok to be yourself, and it's ok to share your own view. I know i'm starting to sound like Oprah at this point, but it's true. We need to be comfortable in our skin and we also need to help those people that bug the crap out of us.

I'm really blogging this for me to read, because i've realized that i need to turn my passionate rage into passion for another person. let's make fake people extinct by loving them into themselves.

I claim peace, and I need to act accordingly.

A few things that make me laugh...

- someone falling
- Chance dancing on the couch
- Brighton watching T.V.
- My Dad
- me.
- someone falling
- people when they don't know they have a pant wedgie
- someone getting a wedgie
- someone falling
- when you say 'hi' to someone and the person you say 'hi' to doesn't respond, but the one in front of them does. hahahahaha i do that all the time.
- my obsession with blogging, it's funny
- someone falling
- our PG&E bill
- the word 'Vagina'
- My cat hissing at me
- markmayfield.blogspot.com
- Chance calling me DJ
- the muppets
- Brighton's tail catching on fire
- someone falling
- my fools (cousins)
- Kids that can't say their 'R's
- someone falling
- Chance telling me he wants a Vespa
- Arrested Development
- Big hat days
- Lucille Ball
- Old grandpas
- People that are dillweeds
- someone that has something in their teeth
- someone falling
- my hubbs
- Tyra Banks (laughing AT her)
- When Chance and I role play commercials at home together
- when someone isn't as good at singing as they think they are
- People who think they are too cool for anything you like
- high school Sevevin plus Shira
- someone falling
- awkward moments
- the fact that I worked for Starbucks for less than two weeks. hahahahha
- freaking on the dance floor
- full house
- pictures of me in elementary school
- someone falling
- my parents almost killing me when i got a dog, that they now own
- dressing up like someone else for anything and everything. i love that.

these are just a few things...

Phone Pictures

I've never been into phone pictures, so i only have a few on my phone. Today my old Samsung phone kept telling me i needed to delete some stuff from my memory card because it was too full. so i did. I finally emailed myself some of the pictures from my phone. here's a few.

the many faces of Chance



Brighton watching T.V. She does this ALL the time...



Me trying to be cute



Pesto, Veggie, Chicken Pizza. wicked awesome. i could do without the chicken though.



Brighton hates me



Me at work. When i USED to work.



Brighton watching her television. again.



Chance at work



Me hanging out the window when we were driving around Hawaii

Dwight, you ignorant slut

if you recognize this line, or recognize the name Dwight then you probably know what i'm talking about. Yep. The Office t.v. show.

Is it just me or has this last season of The Office been a real bummer? I mean, there are always funny parts, but it seems like it's lacking the absolute humor that it once had. i don't know, but i hope next season is going to be better than this last one. Because it was a dud.

i want arrested development to come back.

This is incredible

How come I LOVE this painting?



because it's freaking hilarious that's why.

My Favorite Blog

My dad is freakin' hilarious. Besides Chance, he's the coolest guy i know. His name is Mark Mayfield, but he likes it when people call him Markimus. I don't know...he just likes it. Anyway, he started his own blog today and i just want to prepare everyone for the reading goodness you'll experience if you partake in enjoying his blogspot.

I'm not promoting my dad's blog because he's my flesh and blood, or because he's really buff, or because he's a great dad, but i'm promoting it because he is amazingly talented at words and i know you will like it. My dad is really one of the funniest people i know and i can guarntee that his blog postings will serve as treat for your day.

If you go to my link list his blog is under 'my favorite blog.' Enjoy folks.

I don't get it

There are a lot of things I still have to learn about God, not about the christian faith, but about God. I realized the reason I have been struggling to live radically for Christ is because I barely know Him. I mean, I know about Him, and I have faith in Him, but I need to constantly get to know Him better. I need to know the God He is to me. I’ve gone astray too many times. I've gotten so lost in trying to base my faith on christian doctrine, and church worship and christian people and pastors' sermons that I’m forgetting the God I serve. I’ve become stale and I’ve lost God.

When I look back on my journey with God, the thing that served as the basis of my faith, the core reason I believed He is the almighty, was knowing God was there with me. He wasn't literally there of course, but I could feel Him guiding me, leading me and showing me His character more and more. I knew Him and I knew what he wanted for my life.

My faith isn’t based on certain people’s interpretation of the bible or the times someone else was telling me how to live my life, or even listening to pastors’ sermons, but it’s based on the times God called me out to follow Him. It was those times when I read my bible, or looked at the sky, or drove in my car crying talking to God that He revealed Himself to me.

You may think I’m coming off prideful or just plain arrogant and I apologize if I offended you. I understand that there is a need for bible interpretation, and there is a need for discipleship, but personally I think more and more people need to engage in the mystery of God. I'll be the first to admit that I’m guilty. Many times I have relied on pastors or other christians to tell me how to live a godly life instead learning from Jesus Himself.

The reason I wanted to blog about this is because I had a question to anyone and everyone about worship. And again, I don’t want to offend anyone, so please don’t take this the wrong way. I am simply just curious and have been thinking about it for awhile.

When I was in church last night I was distracted during worship. Yes. I was distracted during worship, so kill me. My mind started to wonder off, thinking of things I needed to do and errands I needed to run and then God got my attention. I started to ponder on the whole raising your hands thing during worship. I started to ask the question, ‘why?’

Now, I’ve raised my hands before. When I first began to learn the things of Jesus, I would get so into the music that I would raise my hands too. But to be honest, it was NEVER genuine. And why is that? Why is it that when I would want to praise God I felt like I needed to raise my hands??? It could have been because I thought that's what you did if you really wanted to show God how much you loved Him or it could have been that I felt that it was the only way I was allowed to express myself during worship.

Wait...ok let me get this straight, if you are one of those people that raises your hands to the sky, I’m not saying you're not genuine. I'm not judging you or telling you how to worship best because I certainly don't know, but I do want to ask you this...what does it really mean?

Chance and I were talking about this last night. We both really don't know what it means to raise your hands. Is it symbolism for reaching to God, or bowing to the Creator? And if that's the symbolism I'm cool with that. It's just that soooooooooo many people do it and I don't think they know what it means. Or maybe it's just me. But if that's everyone's way of worshiping then a lot of people are super similar. I never see people dancing around or even just kneeling when they are worshiping. They all raise their hands, because it's not too crazy, it's safe. This brings up another point.

What about the churches that have people dancing up and down the isles? you know what I'm talking about. The churches that have everyone dancing and hopping as they sing. This is weird to me too, because it seems like no one is ever sitting in silence or simply standing there, but instead they are screaming and kicking. I don't think it's bad, as long as it's genuine.

So my question is not only what does it mean to raise your hands, but why do you do it? Is that how God made you to worship or is it just 'the norm' in your church community. I don't get it.

Rob Bell...

...you rock my world. If you don't know who Rob Bell is, or if you don't like him, i feel sorry for you. He's amazing. I love the videos he makes, the books he writes and the way he put things into perspective. He's a Christian author that isn't annoying like a lot of biblically based authors.
Check out his website. Nooma.com or read one of his books. I'm finally taking my friends' advice and reading Velvet Elvis and it's really good.

Leona Lewis

So the song i have on my myspace is 'keep bleeding' by Leona Lewis. When i first heard this song i was all "this song is soooooo gay." i tend to say that about every super popular pop or rap song. i hate at first for good reason because it's about something lame or something super dirty you would never repeat unless it had the beat to it. for example, a song like 'my humps' i could not STAND when it came out, then when you hear it enough, you start to go, "ok, ok it's not so bad. I mean the part about rubbing your hump doesn't sound tooo dirty when you sing it, it's catchy." then the next thing you know you can't wait till they play that song on the dance floor so you can shake your hump.
whatev. this happens to me all the time. I don't mind listening to crap as long as it's catchy. you win Leona Lewis. I love your song.

Maybe another time MAC

So i have a really sad story to tell, and it's sad for two reasons, first because sometimes i don't follow my own good advice and second, because i didn't get my precious Apple computer.
Here's the story.
Chance and I have wanted a Mac for a while now (like two months) and we, (or maybe just me), think it would be a great computer for our photography stuff, but we just didn't have the extra two grand laying around. soooooooo being the worst person that i am, i talked my husband into getting a 0% for 6 months credit card. Chance never charges things. He doesn't like it and since we are still trying to pay off my debt, he's not too keen on the idea of another credit card. hummm. good idea. BUT being the great person that he is, he worked it out that if we paid a certain amount each month we could afford to pay it off before the 7th month. i know this is boring, but it's all background information that ties in. So anyway, we get the card in, we activate it and drive to the mall all in the same hour.
I walked in with the biggest smile on my face. I was FINALLY going to be a MAC owner. you know, now i could be part of the MAC secret club. All the employees were saying how much we were going to love switching over to MAC and how it's like the best thing on the planet and then all of them starting doing this like secret handshake, and then Chance was knighted into the MAC owners club. ok, maybe the last two parts didn't happen, but it wouldn't be weird if it did because MAC people are so convinced that their computers rule the school. and they do. that's why i wanted one so bad, because i wanted to have the best. EVEN though we have a great computer i felt like i had to get an Apple. This is why my husband calls me greedums. that is our word for super, gross, big time greedy.
and yes i was. so moving on...we walk into the store, i proudly point out the Mac with the biggest screen and the coolest stuff and i told the sales girl..."yea i'll take this one." She's asked if i wanted a printer, i said yes. and of course i had to get the warrantee. so chance and i are piling things on acting like we're super rad. basically. The employee comes out with these huge boxes, adds up the total and swipes our card.
Decline.
we then called the card company and they gave us a limit of 1000 dollars. what the crack? whatever. so we couldn't get the 2000 MAC. we walk out like idiots.
the crazy thing about this is that i felt like that was suppose to happen. God didn't want us to get that just to get it. He knew we didn't need it now and not only that, but Chance and I have been praying about ways to bless others with our money and possessions. i had a feeling buying a MAC would only help myself and maybe Tom on myspace. so it's all good. i still want one, but i want God's plan more. even though it sucks sometimes.
when i opened my fortune cookie that night it said "be smart with your finances, start a budget." awwww. i felt like that was confirmation again. thanks God.
but i still want a MAC.

LOST

I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with LOST. LOST, the television show. I can't take my eyes away from it. I've been to blockbuster 3 times in the past two days renting the seasons of LOST. i guess you could say i just got 'lost' in the show. ok, that was a lame joke. But to everyone that i have ever made fun of for watching this show, i apologize. I was completely wrong. this show is wicked awesome and i now know that it is so much more than people stuck on an island. it's super radical and i wish i was Kate.

Bike Ride

Chance bought me a bike last week. I love it. We now have matching bikes. gross huh? anyways, we went on a bike ride to Fig Garden and ate at Chipotle, walked around and rode back. It was such a nice day too. It was one of those 8 days out of the year where the sun was out, the wind was blowing and it was actually enjoyable to live in Fresno. Hopefully we'll get more use out of our bikes.

Photography

yyyyyeeeessss. Chance and I have been working on a website for the last 3 days and we finally have it up and running. Check it out at chancejamesphotography.com -let us know what you think. Don't judge us if it's not super duper cool...it's our first website!
And remember, if you like what you see, don't be scared to recommend us. Thanks for the support.
also, check out our blog @ chancejamesphotography.blogspot.com

"I'm a feeling person"

Some friends might laugh at the title of this blog because I've said "I'm a feeling person" probably 83,000 times in my life. It's probably more like 87,000 times, but whatever. Anyway, I don't even know how to begin to describe myself, because I think I'm really complex and weird, but one thing is for certain and that is that I'm full of random feelings.
What does that mean you ask? Well it means more then I could even begin to type, but I wanted to write about it because certain things have been brought to my attention in this season of unemployment
Feelings. Passion. It has really effected how I live my life. And it scares me because I've realized all the things I've been passionate about that I have yet to do. It's not good for me to live based on my emotions, but it's so much of who I am. My passion can be good and bad. Sometimes I start using curse words just for the heck of it. I'll say something like "I'm so damn hungry:" or "what the Hell?" just because I want things to sound dramatic. And in reality it just makes me look dumb.
I can't count the number of times I've tried to take up something new, or how many books I've only started and never finished. Or how some days I wake up and I think, wow…I'm going to go running 5 miles a day, everyday. Some days I think I need to go to school to become an actress and other days I feel like living out of a VW bus and hugging trees. There have been times I feel the need to be an expert dolphin trainer and other days I feel like I should become a politician. Then sometimes I think I need to open my own craft store. Most of the time I'm a people fanatic. I love hanging out with people, loving on them, making them feel good about themselves…but then other days I get so annoyed by the world and its people that I want to sock someone in the face. I know. I'm crazy.Ha. yea…I don't know, I'm all over the place.
My point is that my passions and feelings are what drive me, but they die out too soon. They are always genuine, but also short lived. So recently I've been working on learning new things and finishing what I start. I've been trying to actually take the time to finish things so I can find my niche. And it's going well…
…for now.

New Bloggerson

NEW BLOG NAME! As much as I loved 'takeachanceanddom.blogspot.com Chance and I have decided to change the name. It is now chancejamesphotography.com
We are working on a website and it should be up soon. Thank you to everyone who actually reads our blog and supports our business. I know there's only about 4 of you so far, but we love you dearly.