Week #2 Photos

Week # 2 assignment was to take a photo of a door.

This is what I ended up sending for my finished project.

Church Doors

This was my # 2 choice. I didn’t send it because Nolan said there wasn’t enough focus on the door. I liked it anyway.

Stay tuned to see what next week brings!

Happy Birthday, Dear Friend

My oldest friend (not oldest in age, but oldest in the amount of time we’ve been friends) turns 30 today. It’s hard to believe that we have remained friends for 25 years. There aren’t many people who can remain friends after all those years.

While there were times of being apart, we always found our way back to each other. Now we live 5 minutes away from each other, just like when we were growing up. I can’t imagine life without her and I’m so glad that I can call her my friend. She is beautiful, talented, smart, loving and caring.

Here’s to you my friend. May your day be special!

Intro to Digital Photography

2 weeks ago I started a digital photography class. It’s 4 weeks long and meets for 2 hours on Monday nights.

Sometimes I have trouble doing things on my own, but this was something that I really wanted to do. I think that I have an eye for good pictures. Sometimes my pictures turn out great. Other times they are really bad. I don’t know what I do to make them good or bad. Now is the time to find out.

Week 1 assignment is to take a photo of your favorite beverage. We could send no more than 2 images. Here are mine.

Cup of Chai Tea #1

Cup of Chai Tea #2

Nolan was a great model, don’t you think?

boo!

This year I saw a costume idea in a magazine several weeks before Halloween. My plan was set, to make Georgia’s costume this year. You would think that since I had a plan to make this great costume that wouldn’t wait until the last minute to do it. You might think that….but then you would be wrong!

the little octopus ready to trick or treat

I did get it done a couple of days before Halloween, so I guess it wasn’t totally last minute. But, I wish that I wouldn’t have waited and would have thought to make a list of materials that I needed weeks before hand! Live and learn. But the question is, did I really learn anything….probably not.

       

The most important thing is that the costume was done on time and Georgia loved it. Goal accomplished!

Woowho! Vacation Time!

Nolan and I were thinking that since we’re both turning 30 this year a vacation is in order to celebreate. As we searched on the internet for vacation ideas, I started to see pictures of hi-way 1 in CA. They were breath taking. The more we talked about it, the more we liked the idea. It was something that we could do with Georgia, we could be apart of nature, we could go and have great weather in the fall…..is there anything wrong with this vacation idea? We couldn’t find anything.

Tuesday Oct 20 we flew out of Indy into San Jose, CA. We were able to meet up with some friends from our time in Atlanta who moved back to San Francisco after grad school. They have a 2 year old daughter, Celia, who is just 1 month younger than Georgia. The girls had so much fun hanging out and playing in a water fountain. After they got soaked we took a walk and got some ice cream. It was great to catch up!

Once we left San Jose, we headed to Monterey to our hotel. The drive was not as scenic as we were hoping for, but still pretty nice. There were farmers markets along the hi-way selling artichokes (that seemed to be the hot item).

After we got settled into our hotel, we headed down to The Fisherman’s Wharf to get some dinner! We decided that Crabby Jim’s sounded pretty good. I got the crab cakes and Nolan got grilled shrimp. They gave us an appetizer of calamari. Georgia tried it and like it. Who knew?!?! It was great to be near the ocean and get fresh seafood!

           

 

The next morning we set out for our scenic drive down hi-way one. It was supposed to be very beautiful between Monterey and Big Sur. That was an understatement. It was awesome. I found myself getting emotional because of all the beauty that surrounded me. It was a bit overwhelming. That morning we drove the hi-way and stopped along the way to take pictures and check out the beautiful mountain, ocean and wildlife that surrounded us.

   

After lunch at a cute little place along the hi-way, we headed to Big Sur State Park for some hiking. Entering this place was like going into an enchanted forest. I felt like a little fairy among these huge trees. It was exactly the way I imagined it to be.

  

We decided to take a trail up a mountain (a small mountain) to check out the valley view. Afterwards we hiked down to the waterfall and back to the start of our trail. There were some trails that were closed because of fire damage. It was very sad to see trees that had been burned. You see it on the news, but it was a strange feeling to see it in person.

After our hike we headed back to Monterey for the night. We stopped at a Baskin Robbins and Georgia got her first ice cream cone all to herself. What a treat. And what a slow eater!

 

On our last full day in CA, we set out to do the famous 17 mile drive. This is the area where Pebble Beach golf course is located. It cost $9.25 to do the drive. We took the drive and saw more amazing sights. My advice though, if you really want to see Pebble Beach and the famous Lone Cypress this is the only way to do it. But I think that my time would have been better spent doing something else. It was beautiful, but there are other areas that are just as beautiful and don’t cost anything!

   

In the afternoon we went to an area called Pacific Grove. There is a Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary here. The monarchs migrate here in Nov, so we were a little early to see the thousands of monarchs that come, but we did see a few.

We traveled down to the Dennis the Menace Playground. It wasn’t much more than a regular playground, but Georgia had a great time playing with the other kids. She was such a good sport on all of long drives that we really needed to let her run around a bit and this was a great spot!

   

Seals. Georgia talked all day about seeing seals.  So we walked along the boardwalk and at the end is a huge rock where lots of seals and birds gather to sit in the sun! They were smelly and loud, but she loved it. And we loved it too.

 

That night we went to Rosewood Restaurant. Chef Bobby Flay recommended the BBQ here. Everybody knows that Nolan LOVE ribs so that’s what he got and I got the chicken. It was yummy!

Before we headed to the airport, we checked out a local winery. The rows of grapes looked so pretty with the mountains and blue sky as the background.

After we left the winery, we raced back to the airport. We had to drop our car off by a certain time and we weren’t certain we were going to make it. That was our only problem on the trip, thank goodness. And we got the car back in time!! Yea!

We were all sad to leave California, but glad to be going home to our other kids (Herbie and Myrtle), family and friends. Goodbye Cali, we had a fantastic time!

Pumpkin Patch

Georgia was obsessed with pumpkins this year. It seemed like every time we went to the store, there were pumpkins. She would get so excited to see them. Having a 2 year old really puts the excitement and magic back in these holidays!

We decided that a family trip to the Pumpkin Patch was in order since Georgie loves pumpkins so much. We headed to Waterman’s Farm-it’s about a 5 minute drive or a quick bike ride from the house.

The pumpkin patch ain’t what it used to be. I remember going when I was in grade school and the big event was the hay ride and picking your pumpkin. I do remember Waterman’s having a straw maze, but other than that, nothing else.  Now there is a petting zoo and all sorts of rides and fun things for the kiddos. There is even a dinosaur who roars and eats pumpkins.

Nolan loves the slide just as much as Georgia

ready to head to the pumpkin patch

we made it to the pumpkin patch

Georgia found a pumpkin more her size!

We picked a lovely afternoon to go, Nolan and I were both off of work for vacation time (we were leaving for CA the next morning) so it wasn’t too crowded either.

Georgia had so much fun that she fell asleep on the way home holding onto her pumpkin!

We love the fall fun at the Fletcher Lichti house!

October

At the beginning of the month, there were birthdays!

10/02 is my niece Rachel’s birthday. Her parents are in a bowling league that meets on Friday nights (her birthday fell on a Friday). We met up at the bowling alley and celebrated with her there.

the birthday girl after a good round of bowling

Georgia, letting her hair blow from the fan

Nolan threw a 30th birthday bash for me. He made reservations for a party at Barcelona Tapas.

friends since the age of 5

I had a lot of friends come which made the day extra special! Thanks to all, especially my wonderful, caring, loving husband!

My mom cooked a birthday dinner for me and my niece Rachel. Thanks mom for the yummy food!

the birthday girls

In between all the birthday celebrations we were able to go to the apple orchard. This has become a yearly tradition for us. I believe this makes the third year in a row that we have done this.

so happy to be hanging out with mom & dad for the day

Usually we go with my good friends Carol and Karen and their husbands to an orchard. This year we were unable to go with them, so we went on our own. We couldn’t miss out on apples!

the apple store where we got yummy carmel apples and cider slushies when we were finished picking

We had good weather and got to pick some yummy apples. We will not be making apple sauce this year like we did last year with Nolan’s mom. There was no trip to Kansas in Oct for us this year. Too bad! I’ll just have to find something else to do with them. Apple pancakes are always a favorite!

The second weekend in Oct starts The Covered Bridge Festival in southwestern Indiana. Nolan and I always go with my parents to their cabin and then head over to the festival.

Along the drive to the festival are all sorts of yard sales. This year I found an antique vanity. I’ve been looking for one for a little over a year. I combined the money that I got from Norm and Vicki (Nolan’s parents) and my parents to buy it! Thanks guys!

It was a great find! And we were able to pack in our SUV to take it home! Even better! I do plan on recovering the seat of the chair, but otherwise it is perfect for me!

Nolan and I have been running for about a year now. We decided to team up with our friends Sarah and Ben to do a Marathon Relay. There was a 5k, Kids Marathon (which is 1 mile),  Marathon Relay, 1/2 Marathon and full Marathon.

Our team finished in 4 hours 21 minutes and some seconds. We didn’t feel too bad about that, but there were people who ran the entire marathon who finished before we did. That was a little disappointing, but they probably trained a lot harder than any of us did! I got lucky and ran the first leg, which was 5 miles (although it did have a lot of hills), Ben got the hardest leg, #2 which was 7 1/2 miles with lots of hills. Sarah ran the 3rd leg and it was 6 1/2 miles. Nolan bought up the end with 7.2 miles.

We were all very tired by the end (and cold too). But we had a great time and it was a lot of fun seeing all the runners cross the finish line after completing the Marathon. What an accomplishment! Nolan and I signed up to run the Indianapolis Mini Marathon in May. Wish us luck as we begin to figure out our training schedules!

30, it’s just a number. Right?

Now I’m 30. It doesn’t really feel any different, should it feel different? I have a feeling that great things are going to happen in my 30s.

Great things happened in my 20s too. I guess that’s why its a little sad to see that decade has passed. I’ll still hold the memories just as well in my 30s as I did in my 20s.

To being 30….may this be the best year yet!

September

The weather was perfect for some camping during the middle of the month. Our small group from church decided to take advantage of this and camped for the weekend.

Nate and Georgia relaxing

We had a great time hiking, cooking over the campfire, playing games, singing around the fire in the dark and getting to know each other a little better.

Ready for a hike with our new backpack carrier!

Now Mama’s turn

Skipping rocks with Robin

HIKING!

A great weekend was had by all, even us with a 2 year old. We figured that Georgia would either love it or hate it. She did great. We will be camping in the future as a family! This makes Mommy and Daddy very happy!

Also in September we celebrated the marriage of Tobin (Nolan’s brother) and Shannon! We were so happy to see their lives join together and to participate in their special day. Congrats!

I … Know… YOU!

Nancy sang “I Know You” from Sleeping Beauty to Georgia quite often when she was trying to get her to sleep. It is now part of an ever-growing repertoire.

She can sing the whole song, but got a bit distracted at the end. All attempts at trying to get her to sing for the camera since then have pretty much failed.