I'm a Supertaster!

I took the PROP test in my anthropology class while I was Texas A&M but never knew of the term "Supertaster" until this week. Thanks to my coworker Elizabeth for giving a term to my odd food sensitivities.

Wikipedia defines this as:

"A supertaster is a person who experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average. Women are more likely to be supertasters, as are Asians and Africans. Among individuals of European descent, it is estimated that about 25% of the population are supertasters. The cause of this heightened response is currently unknown, although it is thought to be, at least in part, due to an increased number of fungiform papillae (AKA taste buds)."

So this totally explains the yucky taste I experience from certain veggies, dark chocolate, olives, grapefruit, and "undoctored" coffee.

Interesting huh?

I should make a cape! :)

I love Nashville!

I have been in Nashville this week for work so please excuse my lack of posting.

I absolutely love my job. I am blessed to have phenomenal coworkers and friends and to be able to experience places with them.

We stayed at the beautiful Opryland Hotel where we did not meet a single staff member who wasn't friendly and overly helpful.

It was a week full of wonderful experiences such

as the annual lighting ceremony, breakfast on the Grand Old Opry Stage, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, ICE!- Charlie Brown style, and a wonderful night of Grand Old Opry music at the acoustically pristine Ryman Theatre. Despite the long 12+ hour days, sore feet, and heavy equipment I can't help but smile knowing that I love being a photographer. I love capturing the world through my eyes. I love the people I meet and the places I go. Some may say I am lucky... there's no such thing as luck. I am blessed. :)

Now, I am home and recooping... I have missed the simple things in life such as this...

This next week I am off for the entire week! Yippee!

Have a great weekend!

Sarah

Cool Site Tuesday

This week's cool site is...

Earth Album!

You can go there and browse the globe for photographs from all over! It even gets down to specific territories and states. Pretty cool huh?

And here's an idea... use this to teach whomever about various cultures and places around the world. It's amazing to see what a beautiful and dynamic place God has created. Here's an image from Taiwan I found (photographer unknown by me).

Enjoy, as always!

Sarah

Hurrican't

Hello Ida-

You choose to come on the wrong day. I need sunshine tomorrow for my photo shoot. You stink. So there. Now go cry your little rain tears like a baby.

Sarah

P.S. This isn't a very flattering picture of you.

Serving Sunday

So this week instead of Scripture Sunday we have Serving Sunday! My 3rd grade girls, fellow Faith Trainers, and a few parents met at church for our fellowship/mission project. We made blankets for the homeless here in Birmingham as well as lunch sacks to hand out. Everyone had a blast! Here's a few pictures for you to enjoy...

The girls being goofy!

Me getting things ready for the lunch sacks.

Paula & Shayna helping the girls pack the lunches.

The girls being goofy again.

Stretching out a finished blanket. And no, I'm not picking my nose!

I love sharing my time with this group! They challenge me to grow deeper in my faith as I teach them to grow deeper in theirs.

Sarah

Diggin' in the Dirt

This morning I ate Saturday morning breakfast alone. Dave left around 6 to drive to Atlanta with his dad to look at a few Jeeps. I thought about oatmeal then decided some good ol' French toast would be wonderful. So I whipped this up along with some coffee and orange juice and sat at our breakfast table watching the leaves fall outside. Our kitchen gets the best light in the morning. It's that warm light that you can feel on your skin if you sit in one place too long. It was nice.

After breakfast I did some house work... cleaning, laundry, organizing. Then I got the urge to do yard work. These come every now and then. It may be the calming effect of pulling weeds that draws me in or the satisfaction of stepping back and seeing results when you're done. I don't know. So, I started off by pulling weeds but ended up pulling up 30 of these guys by the time I finished. That's right... monkey grass... I am sick of monkey grass!

I told Dave I couldn't help myself. I got tired of looking at it. Plus, our grass was growing into it. Grass wins. :)

After 3 hours of working in the yard I headed inside for some more house work. Dave got home mid afternoon. They had looked at 4 Jeeps along the way and didn't find one they liked. His dad is looking for what Dave terms a "barbie Jeep" but, if you know my husband you know he knows Jeeps. And, he knows what to look for in a good Jeep. It might be pretty on the outside but he can tell if it will rust to pieces, has a bent frame, has any sort of leak, or is just flat out a bad choice. It must be like my thrift store adventures... he enjoys discovering these things or hopefully one day not discovering them. I love you babe!

We spent the evening watching Transporter 2 and eating pizza. Although I kept telling Dave we had seen it before but, he couldn't remember.

That was our Saturday.

Hope your weekend is going well!

Sarah

Thrift Store Treasures

Ask my husband... I can spend hours sorting through junk in a thrift store and be quite content. I love vintage things and more importantly, I love finding them for cheap cheap cheap. It's like treasure hunting... you never know what you are going to find (if anything) but the excitement when you find something totally rad is worth it. Old things remind me of life... they have stories to tell and marks to prove it.

Today I gave myself $10 to spend treasure hunting and these are my finds (minus one beautiful book I forgot to photograph.)

A squatty vintage stool made of solid wood and wonderfully broken in, a couple of old books, and an Eggshell Nautilus platter with a gorgeous peacock pattern.

Old books are alluring to me. This one had the most perfectly worn cover.

Here's a close-up of the china pattern. I couldn't find this one online so if you have any info I would love it! I am going to hang it on a wall somewhere... hmmmmm.

So the rest of my day you ask? I had a quick photo shoot this morning. I ate lunch with my hubby at IX Tapa on 280. By far the best Mexican food I have found in Birmingham. Coming from a native Texan that is saying ALOT.

I came home an took some pictures and after finishing this update I will wait for Dave to get home so we can work on creating some awesome pics of his Jeep. He's been wanting me to do this for awhile and with some new lighting techniques up my sleeve I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Happy weekend everyone! Have a nice one!

Sarah