Spent the whole day doing set decoration, which included building and painting 5 trees. Love the group of media and production women I get to work with, we all seem to be cut from the same cloth. Hard, but productive and fun day.
Here's a cool pic from service tonight..

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What a long day. Worked for most of the day at the agency, then finally decided to go see a dr about some illness I have. I am a stubborn patient and it takes alot to get me to go in, but when Josh started to worry, I decided it was time to go. I have been having vertigo for about 3 weeks now, along with flu like aches and pains and headaches, and a low grade fever. Today the dr said I have a bad bacterial infection in my nasal cavities. Random. NOT a sinus infection he says, but a rare infectious disease that is easily fixed with strong antibiotics. Should fix all my symptoms. Well I certainly hope he is right, cause I'm tired of being sick. Plus, his diagnosis is better than what I had come up with… either mono or a brain tumor.  :)    Anyways, after that I had to go to HEB, then a quick trip home to fix dinner and throw it in the crockpot before heading to church for rehearsals. I feel like I could sleep for a week. But instead, tomorrow I'm going to help decorate the stage at church for Christmas. That should be tons o fun, no really, it will :)
gtg..

Any of my out of town friends live or work near an H&M store? I need this dress in a size 6..

Maybe need is a strong word, I would strongly desire this dress, and this stupid store doesn't have online ordering..   :)

Happy Birthday to my husband Josh. I am so thankful for you! And Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
And congrats to Joe and Lisa!

It's the most, busiest, time of the year.. 3 birthdays down, and one to go, mine, and of course Christmas in less than a month. Definitely my favorite season. It just gets a little expensive with everyone's bday in this house being within 6 weeks of each other, and being right before Christmas.
I didn't plan that very well...

Happy 15th Birthday Hannah!!!

Can't believe my baby girl is 15!!!! She is beautiful, sweet, helpful, compassionate and incredibly TALENTED! In addition to her amazing piano skills, she is picking up guitar at a lightning pace..  Oh, and she got to sing front line vocals this morning in all 3 adult services! So proud of my baby girl.

Picture from my brothers wedding last night... more to come, ...  of the actual bride and groom :)

For as long as I can remember I have gone to Junior League Christmas Affair on this day with my friend Sarah. Except the last 2 years. We kind of fell apart when I, well, fell apart.
So anyways, today I decided I didn't want to miss it so I was going to go by myself. I whined and cried quite a bit to God on the way. Not that it was His fault, but that I was just sad to have lost yet another relationship.
So I get to the place, walk in, turn the first corner, and guess who I see? Of course it's Sarah! We were both so excited to see each other and immediately decided to hang together today and to never let the tradition falter another year.
God is so good to me.

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My brother is in town for my other brothers wedding on friday, so tonight we got together for a family dinner down south, followed by a family talk that was long overdue. It was a good night.
Thankful today for family. They love you no matter what, just as Jesus does. He loves us through the good, bad and downright ugly. I've learned recently that this is the real meaning of love. It is not conditional, it is not based on how you feel on any given day or your circumstance. It is either born by blood or chosen, then strengthened, through time, but it does not go away.  In the same way, God will never leave us nor forsake us, because HE is love.

I think I may have caught something on board. I have been feeling progressively worse all day, and right now I feel positively dreadful.
:(

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Found this pic on Carnivals site today...if you look at the bow of the ship I'm standing to the right of the flags, above that microphone :)

Spent the day and about to spend the night on board the new Carnival Magic doing what they call a ship inspection, in Galveston. Part of my job. Rough, I know, but someone has to do it. Maroon5 put on a show and are rumored to be sleeping on board the ship. So completely cool. We (meaning me, Debby, and thousands of other travel agents) are having a blast.

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Thank you to all who have served, and are serving. I honor you.

It has been a really long time since I was a ballerina, but I miss it. I want so badly to twirl on my toes and glide across a wooden stage right now. I remember vaguely how my toes used to hurt so bad at the end of practice, and how I was seemingly always turning my ankle, and also how my lower back hurt. But it was worth it. There was nothing like it. I remember how important and grown up I felt when I got to wear toe shoes for the first time. I remember the way they smelled, and the little pads you put around your toes to cushion the wood tips when you're spinning on the top of your toes. I loved the uniforms and tights and skirts. It's such a beautiful art form.
I really love dancing, and I wish I had the time, energy and talent for it now.

 

TEXT: An elderly lady did her shopping and upon returning to her car found four males in the act of leaving with her vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun proceeding to scream at the top of her lungs, "I have a gun and I know how to use it! Get out of the car!" The four men didn't wait for a second threat. They got out and ran like mad.
The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and then got into the driver's seat. She was so shaken she could not get her keys into the ignition. She tried and tried and then she realized why. It was for the same reason she wondered why there was a football, a frisbee and two 12-packs of beer in the front seat.
A few minutes later she found her own car parked four or five spaces further down.
She loaded her bags into the car and drove to the police station to report her mistake.
The sergeant to whom she told the story couldn't stop laughing.
He pointed to the other end of the counter where four men were reporting a car-jacking by a mad elderly woman described a white, less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white hair and carrying a large handgun.
No charges were filed.
If you're gonna have a senior moment, go big.

Yesterday I, along with most of the Celebration church production team, were invited to help out at an all day photo shoot for the Story Conference for 2012. It was a long, exhausting day, but a honor to be invited, and fun to get back into something creative.
Every time I think I'm leaving it, it comes back to me.
At the end of the day we were supposed to shoot a cemetery scene with smoke and strobes and the whole thing, but we were late and there was no one to let us in, so we just jumped the fence and hauled all our gear over this thing, except the generators, which we left on the sidewalk outside. Crazy wild shoot I won't soon forget. Here are some pics I took on my phone, and others people took with me in them..

Matt Garner - " Story location 2 - Great shot...on your phone! Shileen Elizabeth Hollis Karnes photographer extraordinaire."
Kip Farrar - "Amazing! Shileen Elizabeth Hollis Karnes is brilliant. "

I just found out that my best friend from my 'former life' became a grandma this weekend. If I weren't such a screw up I'd have been there with her.
R - if you still read this, first of all, congratulations! (I can't believe we're old enough for these things to start happening. )
Second - I'm sorry I'm not there with you celebrating this joyous occasion. It breaks my heart all over again.

When you commit a sin so great that you forever live with all the consequences it's really hard not to get down on yourself. Even being forgiven and loved again can't take away the long term consequences. I feel helpless that there's nothing I can do to change it either. No amount of good I do can undo the bad.
I miss being respected and trusted.
I miss having close friends. Seems these days, all the new ones keep disappearing. There's nothing like being known by someone, for a long time. I desire it again so much.
I miss being excited about my work.
I feel like I'm aging, but not progressing. It's a scary sensation.
And the worst part is, it's all my fault. No one but myself to blame. Do you have any idea how hard it is to convince yourself you're good? When all evidence is contrary?
If I can't convince myself, I have no hope. Why invest in the future of someone that's been labeled defective.

Sorry folks, just one of those days I suppose, when I remember what I've done