We Bought a BOX! + Daily Photo Challenge

Sooo, about three weeks ago we bought a box.  I know that doesn't sound like much of a big deal, but it's not your typical box.  Ha, I'm not sure why I'm trying to be so vague when anyone who reads this can instantly look a few spaces down on this page and realize that I'm talking about a car.  It's the Scion xB, but the car salesmen call it "the xBox."

I'll be honest, I'm really not a huge fan of the shape of the car, it's too square-ish and boxy for me, but it's got the perfect amount of space that we were looking for.  We wanted something slightly bigger, since we have 2 large dogs that like to tag along with us for a ride in the car.  However, I think they still like my car better, seeing as they can't really stand up in the xB and they always fall down at almost every turn.  (It's kinda comical)

But it's been great for us, having two reliable cars once again, and I have kind of even forgotten that I have a car during the day again!  It also means that I can finally get back to work and complete college.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE our house, but being stuck in it day after day is getting more than a little old.  And boring!  I have an interview/meeting set up this coming Monday for opportunities and I'm really excited!  Although I am a bit nervous as well, because I'm not the best at selling myself.  Either way, I just can't wait to get back to working and continuing college again.

Life's about to get a lot busier...

---

I started this new photo-a-day project for the month of July.  It's something that I've seen a few friends of mine participating in, and I thought it could be fun to try out.  At first, I thought it was only taking a random photo every day and posting it on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook... But when I actually researched it further, there's a list that a volunteer puts together every month, with a theme for each day.  So here are the first 10 photos I've taken from those daily inspirations, collage-style:

Some of the themed photos require further explanation than simply a one-word description, so if you're confused on why I took a particular photo (IE: day 9, which I know doesn't seem to make any sense from the word "big"), feel free to visit my Photo-A-Day Challenges board on Pinterest for more information.

I'll end this post with two photos of Napoleon (Nappy) looking absolutely adorable while he enjoyed some sun and posed for me:

Fourth of July Parade

So I hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July this past Wednesday!  Mine was okay, despite the fact that Jacques was on call the whole week, and of course, the one day he got paged with a problem that he had to report in to work for was on the holiday.  So although our original plan was to go see a fireworks display that night, we ultimately decided against it, since there would be no option for making a fast getaway if we needed to.  We ended up spending our holiday trying out a new recipe for dinner, Blackberry Chicken, and watching a couple movies (Gone and This Means War).

However, the week before, I got a random visit from our realtor, giving out some invitations to a 4th of July BBQ lunch party out in Danville.  They had a parade beforehand and the party started directly afterwards, so we were able to attend that, and we arrived in time to watch the parade as well.  So here are a few photos that I took of the parade.

Distractions before the parade started... I liked how these two trees came together, to an illusion of one tree with different colored leaves.

Closeup of the red leaves, with the sun shining in the background.

I was able to capture the crowd's reaction to a Bell UH-1 "Huey" flying around before the parade started.

People carrying a large United States flag through the parade.

This was the "Huey" that was flying around before the parade and getting lots of attention!

Diablo Valley Flag Brigade.

War veterans on their "float" through the parade.

Distracted again by this lonely leaf in the middle of the walkway.

While it wasn't really the July 4th celebration that I had been planning on, I still had a good time spending it with Jacques ... aaand some random people in the Oakland ER, where I had to wait while Jacques took care of some IT issues with a printer.