I'm still alive...

See... proof:
I've not posted for a few days. Mainly because sometimes surprisingly, I do have a life outside of this blog. So for those that are checking the blog 4-8 times a day waiting. A.) here ya go. and B.) dude, seriously, go hug your children and make a turkey sandwich, watch a movie and get out more.

So, the corn is all gone now. The corn in back was taken out earlier this week, then across the road, they took it all out on Wednesday night, and all day Thursday. I suppose they were trying to beat the snow which came today.

{my back deck this morning}

Unfortunately, that screwed up their Turkey day. Happy thanksgiving to the farmers that worked on Thanksgiving. Without you there'd be no food on the table... well, maybe but it wouldn't be nearly as good!

Speaking of which, Carol kicked some serious butt on the T-day dinner.

There was only one "minor" incident. She wouldn't let me take a photo, so here's a reinactment:

Maybe not quite that bad. :p

I also took some maternity pics of Laura. I'll share some on a seperate post, probably next week as I have been backed up on some other pics.

Friday I spent with Mom and Amber black friday shopping. Started out kinda rough.

The rough part started Thursday night. I was wanting a paper, and we couldn't find ONE between Olathe and Maryville. *nothing*. Sigh. But in the process I remembered that Michaels was having cricut cartridges for $29.99 (regularly $90) I talked Gene into stopping by. Huge mistake, backed up by the fact that I saw they had restocked on Saturday.

So Thanksgiving night, I'm in Michaels, pick out a couple, get in line, which is long, clear back into the flowers. There's a man in front of me, and shortly after I come up, a woman gets behind me. Then, about 3-5 min later, I noticed this woman coming down another aisle and I thought she was trying to cross the line. I heard the guy in front of me say something like "ma'am the line for this lane is behind me." Then she said something back but I didn't hear it.

I called mom, for details of what the plan was for Friday, and in the meantime, the line moved. He started to move forward and the lady cutting in says "What do you THINK YOU ARE DOING!?" And he says "I'm moving forward. We've been standing here a long time" She says "So have we!" (which she hadn't because I saw her walk up, so it was after me.)

Then, the bitchy woman's cackly FAT friend says to the guy "You Fat F**k!"

WTH?

Happy freakin' thanksgiving ppl.

So I move up, the line splits and the guy is in one aisle and I'm in another. I get off the phone with mom and turn to the guy and loudly say, "and you were right, we were there first." He tells me thank you, and I then tell him, "Actually, you were in front of me. Please go before me" and let him cut into my lane.

All the while the women who called him names (and he was not fat, he was probably 6' 3" and 250... a big guy, but not "fat"... the woman that called him that was plus sized. I don't even know if he heard what she said).. anyway they were cackling like hens THE WHOLE TIME.

What is wrong with ppl? I was so embarassed for them. They really gave scrapbookers, women, plus sized women, SAHM, crafters, midwesterners, etc a really bad name. THEY are the reason why some ppl think we are back woods, bitches, fat asses, uncouth (ok, I'm kinda uncouth at times lol), lazy stepford wives. *sigh*

So anyway..

Back to friday. I met mom and Amber at Walmart - actually I never saw amber, we split up and they came seperate. I did not get the TV that mom was wanting. 20 ppl, 8 TV's.... didn't work out. I didn't position myself right - and my heart wasn't in it. I got the few things I wanted and made the mistake of going back by electronics. *NUTSO*

This is absolutely the worst black friday I've ever seen EVER EVER. no kidding. There were ppl freaking everywhere. Most were polite, but I've seen more unpolite than ever before.

I blame the economy. So you all decide you wanna save some money finally? Maybe you shoulda been thinking about that 4 years ago. Just sayin.

So we started at 5 a.m., I left mom and Amber at 2 p.m., then I went to Home Depot, Sam's Club and ended at Kohls. I had a gift card from when I returned something 2 years ago and then I couldn't find the merchandise credit card... I found it a couple months ago in an old purse I haven't used in ages. I picked up something for Gene - on sale, and then used the $10.75 card - only spending $5.42. Sweet.

Never been a fan of Kohls. Totally overrated, completely overpriced.

Spoils of war

Here's mack. He's helpin' out with the goodies. He got a new cat bed yesterday. Jingles and he would fight over the other one I had, so this one was a good deal so now they don't have to share anymore.

Oh.... and last thing.

Gas in St. Joseph Missouri - $1.37 yesterday.

I get amused easily apparently.

remember yesterday, how I ranted on Sprint and then in passing mentioned my land line company?

Well, today I log into my tracker and see that someone found me via a search for the company name. Then this afternoon, someone directly from said company logged in from a password protected company site. Probably tracking who's bad mouthing them (or good mouthing.. if that exists).

So to humor myself:
Embarq
Embarq
Embarq

hah.

That outta set off the radars.

Fly me to the moooooon...

Gene and I really want to go on a honeymoon. Really. Why not before now? Well, after the wedding, the girls were here for 3 weeks for starters, plus, since Gene started his new job in April, he had no vacation time, so any budget had to include all those lost wages.

So we kick around lots of ideas. Hawaii has always been at the top of the list, but I guess Southwest no longer flies there. (that was short lived). I really would like to see DC someday, but he's seen it - more than he ever wanted to. (He has a really funny NRA/Clinton story from when he was there). We contemplated saving for a couple years and going to Italy, which we probably would have ended up there had we stayed at Kenton. My main issue is dropping all the $$ it takes to go someplace. I've turned into a money hoarder. Go to Italy for a week, or buy a garage. Garage always wins out, but I end up being annoyed at garages.

So yesterday, I started researching flights to Chicago. Now when I say research, I mean I went to the website once and looked at prices. Schweet. The prices are stuck around 2001 prices (pre-911) and I'm really contemplating just comitting and buying the tickets.

I've always loved Chicago. I used to go about 1-2 times a year. 45 minute flight, enough to drink a diet coke and then land. So many cool things to see.. it's a fun city. So for now, Chicago is winning out, although I've been there at least a dozen times, I wouldn't mind going again!

April in Chicago is awesomely beautiful!

Had to share some funny pics of Amy and Zac. I finished their editing on Sunday and made a couple "pic" mosaics that normally would just be trashed. Not really something you'd normally hang on your wall, they are a bit fuzzy, but you can see how fun these two are together.

1. The hip bump. 2. The eye poke 3. Elbow to the gut.

She wins again!

OMG I'm engaged!!

LOL.

When you have your pics taken... HAVE FUN. Sure it's uncomfortable at times to have a camera pointed at your face, but slow down, have fun, act like yourself! In the end, you'll truely capture the real you!!

ipods are the devil

Oh yeah, I forgot...

I conquered the shuffle. It can live another day, but I swear I want to smash it on principle alone.

Craziness ensues at the Cease Fire Ranch

One of the suppliers that I'm buying prints from, is having a big sale on 16 x 20 prints. I really want to hang some of my *artwork* in the house as really, I've only put up portraits, not really anything else.

I want it to be pics I've taken here at the "ranch", all nature, very simple yet graphic, and bright.

Here's my options:

The tree and the dandelion are in. Both are 2 of my fav pics ever. I really like the sky, I think it's well balanced. It's much more impressive when you see my neighbors house below it as it looks HUGE, but I didn't want a pic of the neighbors hanging in my living room. Gene voted for the sky, but liked the raindrop too. I personally like them both but neither makes me say *oh i love you*.

Opinions?

I ordered all 4. They were such a good deal I wasn't out a whole lot, plus I can hang the extra someplace in the house.

I spent a great deal of time today literally yelling at Sprint. My gut told me to not get the cells from them, but they had the best reception and that was a problem. Basically, Gene and I like to take pics with our phones. Sometimes we email them to each other or other ppl. With tmobile, no problem, they came straight to the phone. *now* with sprint, you have to go to a website via the phone, and even tho you can "receive" them for free, you have to view them on your pc, which IMO is bullshit. I was told no less than 5 times that there was no additional charges.

After having to yell in slow English to 2 women in the Philippines, I hung up on them - she called me back and I hung up on her again. Such a long long long story short, I called again on a different # and argued with one woman in America, then asked for a supervisor and explained how antiquated that process was since I was sending msgs with tmobile for 3 years with no problem. She actually agreed with me.

I get it. It's another way to gig ya... but don't swear on your dead grandma that I won't be charged anything extra, don't print materials that only reveal your true pricing if you understand the technical aspects of the inner workings of sprint messaging software (ie: employees - if that), and then, claim that it's all in writing and I should know.

In the end, she gave me data transfer for free. So no more .03/kb to view a photo on my phone (which takes about 7 steps now, and was one before. sigh).

but don't fret, it's sprint, so this will still be wrong, and in 30 days, I'll have to speak to them at least once more, probably twice because my bill will be screwed up. Been there done that.

At the SAME TIME, my land line/Internet went crazy. Embarq actually came out within a couple hours and I think fixed the issue. Seems that there was a problem with the line down the road from me. I knew I wasn't crazy... and I paid the bill!

So basically, that put me behind schedule today for pretty much everything. I see a late night catching up with emails and things I should have had done today!

Tag yer it.

I was tagged by Amber:

Three names you go by:
1. Lana P...
2. Lana R...
3. Lana Cease

Three things you are wearing right now:
1. Socks
2. T-shirt
3. Shorts

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. For my family to live long lives
2. The world to just get along

Two people who will probably fill this out:
1. Laurie Ann
2. Linda

Two things you did last night:
1. Wrapped Christmas presents
2. Worked on picking some photos to print for my living room

Two things you ate yesterday:
1. T-Bone Steak
2. Fuji Apple

Two people you last talked to on the phone:
1. Amber
2. Tanner

Two things you are going to do tomorrow:
1. Edit photos
2. Clean

Two of your favorite beverages:
1. Diet Coke
2. more diet coke

Three of your favorite bands/singer
1. Faith Hill
2. Lynard Skynard
3. Carrie Underwood


******

My phone is acting weird! I guess that's one of the blessings living in the country, your services are sketchy at times. I can't get a dial tone, and when you pick it up it's nothing but static. Glad I have a cell that works out here now. Internet seems to be off and on too.

Yesterday was kinda quiet. We mainly hung out at the house, gene put the heat tape on the main and insulated the water filter. I think he started to understand I was super tired of hearing about it. LOL.

I worked on some christmas gifts last night. Wish I could share, but ppl that read this blog are getting stuff, so that's no fun :p

Saturday we went to St. Joe - bought a huge caramel apple pie for thanksiving at mom's house - I finally had to hide it from him. LOL.

Normal stuff to do today - it's monday... cleaning day. I like that on monday, gives me a chance to freshen everything up with no one under my feet.

I also am working on some super large prints to go on my living room wall. I want 3, all of pics I have taken here or very near here, all simple yet graphic. I have 2 for sure picked out (I'll share later), but can't decide on #3. I have this awesome butterfly shot, but it's not large enough file. grrr.

Sorry for the short boring post, but my internet is in and out.

Gene's personal mantra -

We've been singing this commercial all morning after our breakfast/meat run to Hy-vee. funniest. commercial. evah.

The freezers are maxed out. NO MORE MEAT.

My review:

Edward Cullen:

ehh.. notsomuch.


I can see if you're a 16 year old girl that has just outgrown Miley, that you'd LOVE IT. If you are over 19, maybe you should stay home. If you LOVE EDWARD, then really, go love on your husband a bit because he's your *real man*.

I didn't feel like slitting my wrists when I was done with it, but I can't say the same for Gene and Cole. Gene said, and I quote "Ok, I need to go to the bathroom now, I think I got my period."

That's his review.

I said to Gene on the way home, I wonder how many 16 year old girls are going to get preggers after watching that movie. "Billy Bob, just call me Bella ok?"
LOL

*too much teenage sexual tension*
EEK.

I would NOT BUY these books for Cheyenne.

The corn man cometh....

and the corn man taketh away.

They are finally harvesting around the house. It looks so bare, but in the end, I'm glad they have finally come. Something new, something different. Now the racoons and mice will say "Look! To the oasis!" Only the oasis is CLOSED FOR BUSINESS! LOL.

Quicky post. We're waiting for Amber and Cole to show up any minute. They wanted to see Twilight, so we said we'd go with them. I bought tickets at 4 p.m and their was a line out the door, so it's gonna be packed... and I don't sit in the middle. I like to sit near the aisle so we need to be their EARLY. We'll see what all this hype is about and I'll give a thumbs up or down.

Went to pick up Gene's new glasses today - they 'upgraded' *wink* him to bifocals. He seems to be doing well. He managed to talk me into getting my eyes checked. It was November of *2000* last time I was in. No kidding LOL. I have worn nothing since then, although I'd worn contacts for years. I just don't have to have them to see. I have noticed lately that my eyes are feeling very odd after a shoot. Well, just the right eye trying to super focus.

In the end, the eye doctor said my eyes are better without glasses than his are with glasses. Sad. I probably could have saved $79.00. He gave me a trial pair of contacts and I don't see a HUGE difference. I'm not sure if I'm going to wear them or not. Maybe a pair of glasses instead, although a year of contacts is just $40 after a rebate. (which would last me 3 years at the rate I wear them). We'll see. I have a month to decide I suppose.

We then went to st. joe. Had Gene's belated birthday lunch. He took me to MY fav place to eat. LOL. he's so sweet. Hit michaels, looked at new computers at best buy, looked at computers at Sams. Bought huge bottle of baileys. Mmmm... I caved. Bought a ginormous pie to take to mom's for thanksgiving.

Gas is $1.47!! in st. joe. GET OUT.

it's freaking 1998 all over again.

Came home, stopped at walmart, Gene tried my very last nerve. LOL. We need to insulate the under house water filtration system, and he had in his head what he wanted, which they don't make. Any suggestion made by me was met with a FAIL.

MEN!

Ipods are the devil

Really.

I need Tanner to come home so he can fix this thing. I'm sick of looking at it. I am about to give up. No really. I'd like to stomp on that little cute green shuffle with the heel of my new mary janes. It'd be so worth it.

"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

Thankful Thursdays

Which brings me to my Thankful Thursday.

More things around me that I'm so thankful for.

Inspiration - So happy to have inspiration in my life in many forms, family, friends, other artists, flickr, magazines. Simple things... some I even come up with on my own.

Communication - Imagine what your world would be like, without the internet, cell phones, good old land lines, email, snail mail... your voice. Sure, I suppose sometimes it's good to get away from it all, but communication is what brought Gene and I closer together. Talking on the phone made us learn so much more about each other. Those rides back and forth to work every day - 1.5 hours each way, we usually had interesting coversations, or spirited debates, or sometimes just hand holding. But we ended up closer. This wonderful square headed boyfriend of mine (my computer) has opened me to a whole new world of ppl that have taught me, befriended me and inspired me... even this stinkin' blog that sometimes leaves me feeling like I'm talking to myself. That cell phone makes it easy at any given moment to be within earshot of someone I love. And sometimes that's a not a good thing. LOL.

The ability to connect. That's good stuff.

Determination - These past few years, I've slowly built a determination for many things. Better photography, better friends, unwillingness to get used by ppl, lose a few pounds (still working on that), to *better myself*. If we were not determined, we'd be slugs on our couches (well, some are slugs on their couches, but we can't help those poor souls). It feels good to set a goal, and to try, and even if you don't make it, the satisfaction of knowing that you have improved yourself.

Love - no matter how much you give away, there's always enough for everyone.

Blah blah blah.. just stuff.

So very very boring today. Almost not worth a post. LOL.

Headache all day, which is making me kind of slow moving. I am pretty positive it's my neck *again*. I'm going to have to give that really expensive pillow another shot (that's on my guest bed).

Two nights ago, I distinctly remember in the middle of the night having a really valid reason to move my pillow out from under my head. when I woke up at 7:45 a.m., I thought "this is the flattest pillow on the planet". Probably because I had moved it and laid it on my legs sometime during the night. Not sure what is up with that, but it sure helped along my headache!! (4 advil did not cut it).

Gene and I went through gifts last night, and made some decisions on holding some stuff back for Easter, which outfits would be their christmas dresses (how did I get myself roped into that tradition?), etc. And you know the funniest part of this all? They switched schools and now wear uniforms to school!! LOL. I guess that means their clothes will last longer now.

Now, I get to start wrapping. Yay freakin' me.

If you haven't noticed I changed the layout of the blog, but I'm not sure I'm loving it yet. In fact, I might chang it back. I really want larger pictures posted, but I haven't figured it out yet. I also am really ticked that sometimes you can not click on images to see a larger view, plus, when I add images it adds tons of extra spacing. GRR. I'm seriously considering doing *something else*. What that is, I don't know yet.

Cleaning like crazy today for some reason. Probably because I'm so sick of crap on my desk. One thing I love about recycling is getting to throw things away and feeling less guilty about it. I've also still been donating a lot of stuff lately, at least one maybe 2-3 trips a week for donations. Next I have to start going through christmas stuff, which I have a load in my car to sort. I think the donation place is starting to recognize my car. I've ran into the same lady there twice now.... which is funny considering that she does shabby chic stuff remaking old stuff as a biz.

I'm slowly ticking off my list of things to get done. I still have that super fun job of paying bills. Sucks to get to make a big deposit, then 3 days later you check your balance and it doesn't go up!

OK, off to kiss the advil bottle again. I'm gonna give it another go. I might share a pic later, if I get a chance!

Christmas Carnage

Something I've been itching to do for a WEEK is to drag out every single christmas present, assess what we have, sort, make a list of what's needed and possibly wrap some gifts.

{I'm *planning* on mailing gifts early and often this year}

Carnage.

Utter, undeniable carnage.

I need a system that helps me keep track better of what I have bought and what I need to buy. As usual, I've overbought for those that are too easy to buy for, and underbought for those that I have a hard time buying for.

I still haven't gotten to the point where I write it all down. Well, I tried to start that back in the beginning of the year, but as the bags piled up, I did not keep it up, and what difference does it make when you don't have the list with you while you're shopping eh?

I do think, that I'm very near the bottom of the list. A few things for Gene I wanna get, something more for Seth (only the hardest 19 year old on the planet to buy for), Gene's brothers and I think I'm done, except for maybe a couple gift cards.

Yes, I know, last year I vowed to buy gift cards for everyone for christmas, then I ended up getting mom, Amber and Lori for christmas and well frankly, they're too easy to buy for. I'll go back to gift cards when I get stuck with Darrell and Cole again. {worse than seth!}

I'm still in my pj's, but I got up early today. Much left to get done. At the top of the list is now cleaning up the mess that is my living room. I think I'll save wrapping for later. I have to get labels first - which will probably be homemade ones.

Pay bills

Catch up on emails

Work on some xmas gifts

burn some CD's

Edit some photos

I was planning on a trip to storage but I don't think I can handle more carnage today. Maybe one small load as I pass through town later.

bleh

Merry farking Christmas ppl... now MOVE.

I'm gonna try to make this a quicky post, as gene is on his way home and I gotta start supper and straighten up a bit.

Went to St. Joe and had a good trip. I got some christmas presents out of the way. Decided on what my "homemade craft" will be this year. Seems like every year, there's something that I do a bunch of for EVERYONE. This is so me and i think it will go over well. I was trying to wrack my brain and think of everyone that might like it.

I went to Jesse James Antique mall, and hit the motherload of awesome photography props for CHEAP. In fact, once I hit this booth, I just made myself leave and not finish because I was gonna spend more. LOL.

I saw this first. Sooooo cute worn out yellow step ladder. $12. Even sat on it and figured if it'll hold me, surely it'll hold up to a toddler. Hopefully. It passed the test.

Awesome cute cute cute red shabby chic chair. If I were to draw a picture of the perfect wood only photography chair for a prop, this is what it would look like. It fits in the back seat of the car. Double score.. Oh, and $8.95

Really sweet hand crochet baby afgan. Really great condition. I've seen pics of babies on them, and wanted one badly as I don't have a white one. I got it for $4.95 - I'd Never in a MILLION YEARS make it for that.

And that sweet little hat, just fits over my fist. Perfect for a newborn sitting. It was between this and a bigger green one, but I think this one is so perfect for a boy or a girl. $10 and that is a steal for these little hats. On Etsy or Ebay, they sell for $20+

And as a bonus, I ran into an old scrapbook buddy that actually owns the place (her and her husband). She was working for the day.

Got home and I won my ebay auction. Since Cheyenne doesn't read the blog I suppose I could share. We bought her an Ipod Shuffle for christmas. In the stores it retails for $50, but with ebay and an ebay coupon, i got it brand new for $30. Score. I'm going to fill it with some of her favorite music, which will be easy because I've been saving pepsi points from Gene's pepsi addiction (that sounds like a band name). So she'll have plenty of teeny stuff to listen to. I never listen to music.... I take that back, I listened to christmas music on the way home.

Only 2 incidents of wanting to punch ppl in the face today, which is good considering the season we're coming upon makes people more stupid by the second. Got stuck in line not once, but twice at Best Buy. Dumbarse me, picked up the wrong ink the other day, and had to exchange it. First I get behind the guy that doesn't even know how to use his debit card, who is buying a computer, printer, extended warranty and god knows what else was in that cart. Then, I made the mistake of talking to a moron about ink and then computers. I really was trusting his opinion of computers until the point I brought up refresh rate on a monitor and he started talking about contrast.

Know the difference between a car salesman and a computer salesman?

The car salesman knows when he's lying to you.

That never gets old.

So on the way back, I get stuck behind the chick that is buying TWO DVRs and a netgear wireless modem, and extended warranties for them all. But she was the better one.

The other lane had the mom and the daughter, in matching long denim skirts, black boots and grey hoodie sweatshirts. *dork*cough*dork*. Mean I know, but they were annoying as hell. Apparently, mom was picking up daughters laptop that was there for repair, and they were having a huge discussion on when it was bought and if it was under warranty... not that anyone cared or asked, she just decided that we all needed to hear about it. Then the daughter, whom had a hearing problem (I know this because I saw her hearing aid) was ignoring her mother because she couldn't lift her head out of her book for 3 seconds to answer her. Yes, she was in best buy with her nose buried in a book. Something told me it was probably a harry potter. So basically, everything that mom said she had to repeat because daughter needed to be smacked or her hearing aid turned up one or the other, and she had to e.nun.ci.ate. every single word the second time, I'm sure because she thought daughter couldn't hear her, but in reality, daughter was IGNORING HER. (probably turns down her hearing aid on purpose).

And JUST when you think they are going to go away, mom starts up a new topic THREE TIMES. I so badly wanted to tell her to shut up and grow some social skills.

I'm sure she thought she was cool, as the line had to look at her for 1/2 hour.

I was so pissed by the time I left.

Second time was at Target, not quite as bad but I was still stinging from Best Buy. there had to be 20-25 ppl in line, and 2 checkers. Hmm. took FOREVER to get more lines, and then the stupid cow right behind me took the open lane although I was standing right NEXT TO IT. Sigh. The line I was in, was moving unbearably slow because friendly no-teeth had to have a full on conversation with every customer. Oh, and the customer 2-3 up from me had 700 $1.00 spot items. And then daughter (2 or 3) wanted tic tacs. AFTER everything else was rung up. Mom literally said "Honey, can I please get this someplace else??"

Of course the answer was no... nice to see the 2 year old was in charge.

So mom had to get out her *credit card* (I saw her sign for it), for .79 in tic tacs. no shit.

Aren't I just a bundle of holiday joy?

I really DID end up having a good day, not that you can tell now. LOL.

Someday I'll share the story about when I got someone fired at Kmart on Christmas eve. No really. Technically she got herself fired, but I was apparently the straw the broke the camel's back. Or maybe I'll save that story for my christmas cards (if I actually send any).

Happy Birthday to my Man!

{Circa 1961}

Today is Gene's Birthday. He is XX years old. Or years young. Whatever.

Last night I got a burst of energy, so I sat up and scrapbooked a page with NINE pics on it from the zoo. Considering I took 281 (really), I only have a trillion pages to go.

Anyway, I pulled out the standby stickers (word stickers from autumn leaves) and there was a big "G is for Grateful" sticker. I decided to make him an on the fly b-day card. It took me about 5 min, and I wrote a little note inside about how grateful I was to have him and that I loved him blah blah blah. ;)

I left it on the microwave and this morning woke up to a little love note back:

And some of you question why I love him so much.

So happy birthday baby. I love you!

Some pics from the past year. I can't say they are my favs, but they were the ones I found off hand in 5 min.. and he probably has had more pics taken of him in the past year, than in his entire life! lol.

{ On the boat with amber and cole in August}

{Planting our new pear trees - in June}

{Moments before marrying me - with Chris - In July}

{OH MY GOD WE'RE SO HIGH.... Goofing off on the Ferris Wheel at the fair in July}

I so badly wanted to share some other cornball pictures, but the last one is really the bravest I can get before he would KILL ME. LOL. Oh trust me, I've got some good ones. Lesson: Never make a stupid face when I'm taking pics of you. It will be caputured forever. I don't delete them... they are my favorites.

In other news..

I think I'm going to St. Joe today. There's a couple things I want to pick up, and with gas at $1.75/gallon, it's like going for FREE. Yay for helping the economy! heh.

Last night I kicked ass on christmas shopping. Somewhere around midnight I *started* on amazon, ended up over on eBay and I bought 4 christmas presents. Well, 3, we'll see if I win that 4th one or not in 3 hours.

Go me.

Also, complete tangent. Jingles is driving me nuts. He has this horrible howling habit that makes me want to choke his pretty little neck. Usually around 11 a.m., I'll stick him under the covers in my bed and he'll sleep until 4-7 p.m. (oh to be a cat). Anyway, for the past week or so, he's been standing by the dryer looking up howling his HEAD OFF. Kinda like Lassie trying to get Timmy to help save the boy who fell in the well. Only annoying.

I think I might have it figured out.

It's the sun... it isn't shining on the dryer like it was a month ago. *sigh* He would lay up there in the sun for 1/2 the day. I think he is pissed at me, because i went and moved the sun.

Thank god he's cute, or I'd have the softest pair of mittens *ever*

Won't you be my {Paper} Pal?

This weekend was a nice slow weekend. Little was accomplished, that's what Mondays are for.

I spent a good chunk of the weekend cleaning my scrapbook room. Yes, after the last big clean, I had to clean it again, and it's not really clean yet. After I had it exactly how I wanted it, I ended up having to clean out the storage pod in our front yard, and there was more stuff in there that needed to be put away. Most of that has been sitting in 5+ boxes in the corner.... overwhelming me. That's my problem, I can clean up and get everything *almost* perfect, and then I end up with that one last basket/box/bag of stuff that I don't know where it's home is. It's when I get a couple of those, that I start to feel unorganized and overwhelmed... and I hate that. So I've learned to play a game with myself, and it works well. Well one of 2 games.

First one... If I touch the item, I have to find a home for it. whether it's the trash, donate or keep, if I keep it, it has to be in a logical place. Not just stuffed in a drawer.

Second game is a flylady spinoff. Quick pick up 10 things and put them away. Only have to count to ten. Slightly better, now let's do it again. After counting to ten 3-4 times, I end up not counting but still going. I guess it must flip a switch in my brain because then it's easier and things make sense. So now, I'm down to just a couple boxes in the scrapbook room that need homes, a full box for donation and a bunch of stuff I've been honest with myself that need to be trashed.

I started to go through a box of memorbelia (and I have quite a bit of that being a scrapbooker/mom), and found some paper dolls I had as a child. I really hated to get rid of them, because I remember playing with them a lot when I was a kid. I tossed them in a recycling pile, then *on the way to recycling bin* I realized that they were bright colored, and flat, and paper, and not yellowed a bit, so wouldn't that make a fun scrapbook page accent?

So I just decided to make a super simple, super quick page about my old paper dolls. I will be tossing all the clothes. It hink it's a nice compromise. Any other 70's girls remember the Honey Hill Bunch? I think they had a line of real dolls too. Lenora Smith gave this set to me in the 4th grade for christmas. she paid 79 cents, which was probably a lot for a 4th grader back then.. you know... in the stone age.

I decided to share that one, and while taking that, realized I had other pages never shared, and I did go to that crop last weekend and never shared those pages either.

Here's a page I did FOUR YEARS ago. Yes, it's never been put in an album. I don't know why, because I've assembled albums since then. (I keep all my pages in a pile, and then once in a great great while, I put them in albums).

yes, It's a page about W winning re-election. Yes I'm a conservative girl. Yes I'm proud of that and get this.... Yes, I'd vote for W *again*. Shoot me, but I like him. *sigh*

Yes, I know that the E has fallen off my "4 more" on the right. I need to find a replacement.


Madison being the princess that she is. These are some of my favorite pics from the mini session we did when she was here.

Also...
A few layouts from the wedding album. OK, ALL the layouts from the wedding album. I only have 3 so far. It will take me 20 years to scrapbook all the pics we have.

This one is about Cheyenne being Gene's "Best Gal" (that's what he called her the whole time). Needs journaling, which won't be much.

"The One".

I love this scalloped paper. I could use it on every single layout I do. LOL

The opening page to the album. Yes, I know the colors are not "fourt of july" but there are reds and blues, and I really wanted to use more muted colors for the wedding, but frankly, I'm not anal retentive enough to chase down every single thing that needed to be tomato red instead of fire engine red. Seriously.

I didn't spend the *entire* weekend in my sb room. I did venture out for a while to trim out the guest room door so I can get it stained and the knob put on finally.

I started to trim out tanner's door, but it's a MESS. GRR. I think the whole thing needs to be undone on one side (of course that's the side with the most screws in it) and straightend up. I'm so ready to just put up a curtain and be done with it, but I think 14 year old boys tend to like doors. I dunno I haven't checked lately.

Lots of things to get done today... which ticking them off the list as the day goes on. The usual monday chores like dishes, laundry and vacuuming. I also need to take some things to donate, order some prints for a client, go make a deposit, order some christmas presents online and swing by storage to pick up a load. I think I'll also try to get some of this stuff sitting my my dining room that need to be moved out to the shed GONE. Driving me nuts!

I have laundry backing up on me! Must go.

**insert your own creative title here**

{Sunset out my back door on Sunday night}

Another day nearly gone. Why does time seem to travel so fast!?

Today was productive. I actually got the shower checked off the list. Yeah it's sad when you schedule your shower. Have to do that when it takes longer to mess with your hair and do makeup etc. Plus, I think I might be allergic to the hair color amber used. Ever since she colored it, my ears are about to itch off, then today, I had a HUGE patch of dry skin on my forehead and cheek. All scrubbed off. Maybe it just dried me out. I'm a "dry" type person anyway.

I actually started my day with a bowl of cereal and 3 back to back Holmes on Homes shows. I love that guy! He's incredibly smart, incredibly tough, incredibly giving and damn if he's not incredibly hot. IMO anyway LOL. If you hadn't noticed I kinda like the bulldog type.

Met with Sarah today, she's really sweet and getting married next summer in the park here in Maryville. It's actually a park where I've taken pictures on several occasions so I'm excited about that. I'll be doing her photography for her, plus, I'll get to do an engagement session in the spring. I've already got some fun ideas!

Tonight is crazy windy out, so it's appropriate that the Wizard of Oz is playing in the background. Right now, they are singing about the Lollipop guild.. only the BEST PART of the whole movie. I remember when I was little being scared as crap by that movie. The monkies scared me (and most ppl). I still watched it tho.

Tomorrow morning I meet with Eric and his mom. Eric was the senior I did portraits for last month. I was really happy with how they turned out. They'll be looking over their proofs tomorrow. After that my weekend is completely open! Well, except for going to get Gene's glasses tomorrow. It's time for a new set, and he's going to get an extra set just to wear for work. Think Buddy Holly. bleh. I told him to change them as he came into the house.

My goal for the weekend is to finish Amy and Zac's session editing so they can see all their awesome pics!

At some point, we'll probably end up at that stupid storage unit doing some cleaning and organizing as the storage on one side ends at the end of the month. I really prefer not to do it all by myself! I will probably just start bringing the christmas stuff home and sort it here instead of in the cold. I also have a bunch of old designers library stuff in there I think I'm going to have a BIG SALE and get rid of 95% of it. Watch for that. Don't expect it in the next week either. LOL.

Can I just say one other thing?
I'm so sick of Oprah. There i got it out. I'm so sick and tired of her idea that she can single handly change the world and that she thinks she knows better for me than I do. Really, I think that she has gotten wayyyyy too big for her britches (think Starr Jones honey). And personally, I think that Obama sold his soul to the devil.. and her name is Oprah.

Cuz I'm thankful ... and stuff.

Time for Thankful Thursday. Just a little reminder to myself (and you too if it works) to look around and appreciate the good things.

I'm thankful for (including last week's post too of course):

1. My critters. Yeah I know... hokey, but they are part of my family. They were there when I have been sad and down, and it's funny, when I've cried, instead of taking off like a "fraidy cat", they came over to give me love, and it works!

2. The rest of my family, you know, moms, dads, siblings, aunts, uncles. Sometimes your family can be a better friend than a "friend". My Aunt Norma is probably my mom's best friend. Norma and my dad are siblings. Norma came first, then Dad. Say a little prayer for her. She found out last week she's ill.

3. The man that invented advil. (or woman)

No really.

I've been having to use it a lot lately. It's the only thing that kicks a headache for me. Feels good to have RELIEF. Today I think it's because I didn't eat anything until 1:45 p.m. and didn't have a diet coke until like NOW. Yes, I'm an addict.

And on that note, I'll leave that for today because I have a headache.

I can haz a happee

more animals


more animals

LOL. amen amen

On another note, I saw the coolest thing today. I took the trash to the corner, and heard something. Was it a truck coming? A loud truck out on the highway? or was it a plane? Because it was way louder than usual.

I looked up and saw TWO low flying planes, full sized jets but much closer to ground than a plane going to LAX or something. They were right behind each other. I think one was refueling the other. THAT WAS SO COOL. I wish I coulda got a picture, but by the time I would have gotten to the house, and back, they would have been gone. Besides, my 18-55mm lense wouldn't have gotten a good pic anyway. Which is what makes me pine for a super long lense!

Something else cool that I'd like to say I found today, but instead it was sent to me via Photojojo newsletter. Photojojo is a really cool newsletter about photography tips, tricks, techniques that you can do with your camera. Not even necessarily high end cameras, but even consumer end point and shoots. Ayway, they posted an article on having your own fabric printed. You upload your photo to Spoonflower and for $18 a yard, they will print some fabric for you *no minimum*. How freaking cool is that. In a couple weeks, you could have a purse with your cat's face on it. And for the record, I already have a purse with my cat's face on it, but it's still cool!

The theme today is: Anal retentive is bad... or good... maybe. I dunno!

Did you miss me?

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Or at least more stalkerish.

I had a ZILLION hits yesterday on my blog (ok, not quite a zillion but a lot). Sorry to disappoint in the "nothing new" category. Oh I suppose I coulda mustered up something, but in the end, I just didn't feel like blogging.

I did however, get some things done yesterday. The basics, dishes, laundry, getting dressed - 2 trips to town, etc. Felt like I was walking through sand all day tho.

I worked on this:
I had to rehang it as originally it was in the center and I'm soooo not symmetrical. I hate equally balanced stuff. "Oh I have one pic on this side of the fireplace, I must have another exactly like it on the other". Shoot me.

Reminds me of a lady once that came into my store when I had the craft mall. She brought in a pillow with her to match a mauve on a photo mat. She wanted two matted pictures to hang on each side of the couch, or room, or whatever. She's holding the pillow up to the mat, not the outer mat, but the teeny tiny inner mat. *I could not tell the difference in color*. But apparently she could. Mind you, I would hate to have the guest in my home that would shun me after holding up a pillow to a mat and proclaiming they were leaving when discovering the 2 colors were 1/2 of a shade off.

That set a benchmark of anal retentive for me. *don't be that*

ANYWAY....
The old picture window I spent quite a bit of time on. I bought it like 4 years ago, and knew what I wanted to do with it, I just haven't gotten around to doing it. I ended up painting it our lightest house color and then using a razor blade to get 40 years of old paint off of the panes. Oh that was fun.

In each of the panes there'll be an 8 x 10 photo. Several from the wedding, several of family members, etc. That might take me a bit to get filled while I pick my fav 8. Because I know my fav 8 will not be gene's fav 8. Like, my fav pic of Carol is from the wedding - her giving the Italian stink eye, but I just don't think that Gene would think that was an acceptable photo of his mamma. :p

Something else I got done last night was a project for the free Jessica Sprague class "Stories in Hand".

Traditionally, I don't do online classes. I tried it a couple times and felt like it was just fluff that I easily could have come up with on my own. By the end of the MONTH, I was just deleting the emails.

That and online courses have gotten really expensive.

Then Jessica comes along, and posts a class that is not only relevant to me, but that keyword: Free. What do I have to lose eh?

From her site: "Lately, I've been realizing, that for me, there needs to be a way to capture little stories that can either be made into scrapbook pages, or not. There needs to be a way to fill in those gaps for which there might not be a full-blown 2-page spread that took me 4 hours. But that is a story worth telling nonetheless.

I'm confident that I'm not the only person out there in this situation. So that's why I developed this class. We ALL have stories. And whatever way it is that we choose to tell them, we all need a way of capturing them first. So that's where Stories in Hand comes in."

Yeah, I've got those.

In fact, I'm the anti-journaler. I've felt guilty for having the thought of "who the hell needs journaling anyway? It's a pic a the park, dude, figure it out." I've considered making a post about "those ppl" that feel that every picture must have some flowery lovey-dovey script about how this moment changed their life. Sometimes, it's ok just to say "We went to the park. we had fun". Seriously, trust me on this.

But then there are "other stories". Those ones that every once in a while pops out of the recesses of your brain (like the mauve mat lady) that need to be told and put down somewhere because SOMEDAY, someone's going to give a crap what you did at some point in your life. Unfortunately, you'll probably be dead when they start to wish they knew more about you.... if that's the case, maybe you can embellish a bit.... you know, stories about summer affairs with leaders of communist countries and maps to non-existent treasures. That'll teach your family not to ask you before you're dust.

So I decided last night late, about 10:30, to start on the book project. Basically it's a book with tabbed sections and hundreds of prompts to help you remember old stories that you thought were gone forever. It took me around an hour or so to finish the book, thankfully I have a big chopper paper cutter and a paper drill. Flat out, the paper drill was one of my favorite purchases. $25 and it will drill a hole through a stack of 100 sheets of paper in a few seconds. If you're going to do any sort of book making on your own, you need one. It will also drill holes in chipboard and canvases.

Let me tell you, if all classes were like this, I would take more classes. Yay for anal retentive (despite what I said earlier... well, don't forget to not be anal retentive... no... do be anal...... crap I don't KNOW).

The little book you make alone is awesome, and would make a really neat gift by itself. And it's THICK. So thick I have to go buy larger notebook rings for it today.

Unfortunately they are no longer taking registrations, but maybe she'll do it again. I'm recommending taking her classes because there's attention to detail here, and I don't feel like I'm just getting left behind. I'm hoping to finish the class as usually life tends to happen to me and I can't keep up, but right now, things have slowed down a bit. Slow is good right now.

Which is probably a good thing as I think I'm getting a cold. I almost always wake up stuffy in the morning, but this is a new level of stuffiness in my right sinus, plus, Gene got me laughing last night which turned into a huge coughing fit, which was all rattly in my chest. BLEH. Colds suck. I might try to head it off at the pass with some Vit. c.

Also today, answer some emails, and run errands, ww today again, finally fold that basket of laundry and put it away, shower, take some photos for a promo that I'm working on, copy some contracts, get some packages ready to mail, run by the bank. *that's a short list folks*.

I swear I'm Gene's personal assistant, and I feel like *I* need a personal assistant. And a maid. And a chef. And a really hot pool boy.

Happy Fall Ya'll

Today is a little bit of me day. Here it is 12:30 and I'm still in my PJ's. I decided I was going to do a few things *I* wanted to do. Unfortunately, that still includes dishes and laundry (that gene said he did, but really, he washed his work clothes and left them in the dryer... in his mind, laundry... CHECK. LOL)

Yesterday morning, I had a photo shoot with Denae and Jesse. They were really sweet. He's quiet and she was super giggly. That means lots of smiles, which makes my job easier. Unfortunately it was SUPER COLD. My plan of sneaking into the library to get some funky (different) shots was foiled by the fact that the library didn't open until 9 a.m.!! DOH. So everything had to be outside, but really, even tho the shoot was shorter than usual, we still ended up with tons of awesome shots.

Here are my favorites from the shoot:

She has the most beautiful amazing eyes. I could have taken pics of just her eyes for 20 min easily.

We were lucky and found a tree in a park that still had the beautiful orange leaves on them. Sadly many are gone and things are turning icky and brown. Bleh. Welcome winter. That's why god makes snow, to cover up all that muck.

Today as part of "it's all about me - cept for the laundry", I'm working on the "CEASE" letters that I told you about last week. I am finally going to get the big window with panes painted in the same color, and then get pics to put in each window (8). Hard to explain, I'll just show pics when I'm done!

Yesterday after the shoot, I went up to Amber's to get my hair done. I've not taken any pics yet, because like I said, I'm still in my PJ's and my hair is all messy and really, that's too much work. hah. It's really dark underneath and then she put brown/caramel/blonde on top. Very different from what I've had in the past. It'll take me a bit to get used to. Gene thought it was red when I sent him a pic. Um. not sure how he got that but ok.

Someone should have taken me up on that $100 bet yesterday on the corn near the house. It was still here when I got home, and now it's rainy and yucky out. So it will probably still be here for a while. I read an article the other day, that harvesting is a month behind schedule due to the floods we had in the spring and replanting.

These 2 guys above, were parked up the road yesterday morning.

OK, off to get things done!

Meet Riley

We hung out today for a bit, taking pics of Riley and her mom and Dad. We did a combo of baby, engagement, family shoot all in one.

Man was it COLD.


She was a trooper otherwise. Only got bored a tiny bit. Riley was a turtle for Halloween, so they wanted to get pics of her cutie turle costume sans turtle head. heh. This is Riley, getting ready to eat a leaf.

She kinda stole the show. Sorry.

This is Jeff and Courtney - aka - the 'rents. We only had to smack Jeff twice to get him to loosen up. :)

They were fun and sweet - and husker fans. Don't hold that against the poor dears. :) heh.

JK!

Too bad it was so freaking cold.

And I have another shoot in the morning, and it's supposed to be colder. So working on "options" for the long stinking winter.

On the way home saw this:

Just up the road. About 1/4 mile from the house. Tomorrow I go to Iowa to get my hair done. I will bet $100 the combines will come in when I'M GONE. GRR. I will be so stinkin' annoyed if they do.

I'll post a hair after pic. I haven't decided for sure what color I wanna do. Blond of course, but amber is hell bent on coloring my hair something that Tiffany Amber Thiesen did for her wedding. I'm kinda leaning towards highlights as usual. Whatever I do, I need to do it asap as my hair needed it 2 months ago. It's bad. I'm tempted to go my natural color for a while.

Yesterday went to the crop, got a few wedding pages done, and about 1/2 of Laura's baby shower cards done. Well, each card is half done, none are completely done. They'll be cute. Victorian baby shower themed is not easy. I had an OK time. Left early. *over stimulation* Plus I was tired and getting cranky.

Today I talked Gene into going to st. Joe again. The goal was to find and buy a dishwasher. Once again, came home with nothing. They have some really stupid ppl working in Home Depot that sent me on a goose chase between them and Lowes. By that time I had to get back to get ready to shoot.

We wasted too much time at Famous Daves, but I will say, this is the first time they actually had perfect service.

I'm deathly tired today. So that's about the extent of my wit and witticisms today. I'm OUT.

And now my favorite topic... ME!

Well, I know you're just on pins and needles waiting for a post. :p

I went to St. Joe today for a little me time. Never told Gene I was going even. Nothing specifically that I wanted other than some wooden letters to spell out our name like this on our accent wall that you seen from almost every room in the house.

Really got into christmas shopping although I don't have much left to do. I keep finding things I want to buy for ppl I've already bought too much for (Cadience, Madison and Amber) and nothing for those ppl I really need to find stuff for (Gene, Seth and Bud).

Found REALLY CUTE stuff for the new baby. I can't wait to be crazy Aunt Lana *again* and spoil her. Also got some stocking stuffers - that's something I normally save until a few days before because I *like* the craziness, but I can't pass up fun bargains.

Stopped at the Rusty Chandelier, which for the record, I could drop $10k there in under an hour, but instead, I just bought a pair of antique roller skates (no key) to put under my antique themed christmas tree. ($7) I didn't need them, but darn, I knew I'd think about them for weeks until they were gone. They'll go well with my raggy annes that I put under that tree.

Got home, with a msg from another bride wanting to book my services for this summer. I'm excited! Several brides so far, and most of them weren't even on my radar. I'm fairly confident of 2-3 more.

Tomorrow, all day crop. I'm going to work on Laura's baby shower invites, which I have zero idea what I'm going to do, but I thought that'd be a good all day project. Plus, I'll take along some wedding photos to scrap in case I get bored. I'll take pics. *of course*

Tomorrow also is Seth's 19th birthday.

I can't believe I have half ownership in an almost 2 decade child. ARGH. I do feel better because 2 ladies at the nail salon the other day asked me if I was a college student. heh. whooop. Fat. That is my secret. It fills out wrinkles. seriously.

I would share photos of seth, but really folks, you've seen almost every single picture known to man of seth this past few months. He pretty much looks the same, and well, that birth story never gets old.

Happy Birthday Seth!!
Only 7 more years and you can legally drink. No really.
Luv you.

Thankful Thursdays

In my attempt to remember that November is not JUST the preamble to Christmas (although I do admit that I brought home christmas paper yesterday so that I could start wrapping presents - no lie), I decided to share on each Thursday of November (well, cuz Thanksgiving is a thursday der) for all the things I am thankful for.

I am thankful for:
1. Finding Gene and having someone in my life that really cares about "taking care" of me, although I really don't need to be taken care of.
2. That I have great kids that don't get into trouble. My #1 goal has always been to get them through school drug free, not in jail and not a father. Almost there.
3. That in this time of economic crisis in our country, that we are doing "OK", have a home that we can afford, that's WARM (with a new foundation) and that even if we both had to work min wage jobs, we could make it ok.
4. That I begrudgingly have a freezer stocked with meat (thanks Dear), so if there was no job, we would still be able to eat for at least a month.
5. That I have true friends that are always there for me. (Linda and Stacy I'm looking at you)
6. That I have my health, my sight, my hearing, the ability to walk (heck run if I had to lol), etc. When I get down on myself over something like weight loss - I try to remind myself that I have it better than a lot of ppl.
7. That I have a creative side. ie: Scrapbooking and photography. Life would not be complete without a little creativity.

I have more. I could go on for hours, but instead, I'll just save those for next Thursday!

Oh this exciting life I lead

I have basically nothing exciting to share at all. I'm so boring lately. No pics since Sunday, and those were boring house pics anyway. I really don't feel like going out and finding something to photograph, although I've only taken like 20 pics on my brand new 30d. :(

Last night it rained like crazy hard and electricity is fine. Today, slight breezy and my electricity flickers and I lose all my stuff I had open. wth?

I did work on editing Eric's pics last night. I've decided that shoots need to be shorter as I walk away with so many pics I love, that I have a hard time culling them out, and also the fact that it takes me too long to edit them all!

I'm working on a facebook page, which is nothing more than a basic website, but for facebookers. I'm sorta starting to "get" facebook. I can see how fun it could potentially be, but I still feel old when I'm on there. Link on the right.

Today of course, let me try to finally get to that one spot I've been trying to get to all week to pick up the deposit check. *sigh* I want to try to finish up eric's stuff which will probably be several more hours and having some honest conversations with myself about which pic is better ... this one or that one.. and prune them back quite a bit.

I need to go pay the light bill because I keep forgetting, and did you know they don't let you keep using electricity when you don't pay for it? wow... communist pinkos. We're liberals now. I should get that stuff for free.

I need to figure out some sort of calendar/reminder system for shoots/clients because my memory is not going to serve me well, and my little date book already looks chicken scratched up. I might delve into parts of outlook never seen before.

I will probably add a few more stock photos - but it takes too long IMO. I hate writing keywords because I sit and look at an awesome pic of corn, and have to come up with not only a description that's better than "awesome pic of corn", but it needs to be at least 7 words. Oh, and 10-30 keywords. Please describe corn or corn related products in 20 keywords to draw customers. GO!

Harder than you think. I did start using "Ethanol" on all corn pics. Clever one I am.

Maybe I'll swing by storage and stare at the heap of christmas terror. ohhh.. I can take my camera and get a pic of those metal shelves I've been meaning to sell. but BlEH... they're black metal shelves. Got a mental picture? OK, well then why do I need to show you?

I'm apparently growly today eh? Heh.

OK.
Gotta rock out and get back to work!

Look at it this way, we now get 2.5 years of *peace* before we have to start hearing about elections again.

I'm so glad this election is finally over.

Am I happy with the results, no, of course not. Am I going to slit my wrists? No. Personally I think both candidates sucked. Mccain was barely a republican to start with, Palin carried him in that department IMO.

Now is just the time to pray for the best. You have no other choice.

It's been so busy here the past few weeks with the fair and the garage sale, and then on top of that some shoots, editing photos, working on the website. I've been working 10-12 hour days (which I LOVE btw). I was editing pics until midnight last night, and wanted to keep going but was so tired I was forced to go to bed.

In return, I've been given a present of a nice cold sore. yay me {sarcasm} I did a little research and found that L- Lysine and Vit C will help reduce the life of a cold sore so I bought a pile of it last night. It seems to be working, it's very small and not very painful. The last one I had several years ago was big, annoying and embarassing.

Today, I met with another bride, Brigett. She is so sweet and her fiance is in Iraq right now. He'll be home in March. I will be doing their wedding photos in September and I'm *so excited*. She sounds like she really wants to do something "different", which is what I'm hearing from brides. The photographers in the area are great, and take nice portraits - for sure, but I think brides with sites like theknot, bridal magazines and TV shows like Platinum Weddings are looking for something out there - something special. *that* is what I'm striving for.

Got some errands done now that I have a car, but forgot to pick up the stupid deposit check, and I DROVE RIGHT BY. *grr* I also stopped by the storage unit and have all the halloween decor down to a large tub and a med sized tub. That's more than enough. Anything new coming in, something old has to go out. Period.

I'm going to work on getting my christmas decor culled down too. I have until the end of the month to get rid of my storage unit so I'm going to work on it a bit every few days. I'd like to get that down to like 4 boxes. *for real* I have probably double that if not more. I have 3 christmas trees! (ok I like them all). But I really don't get to put all that stuff out anymore, so it's time to face reality. I don't need a ceramic bear dressed like santa. And I need to get it done soon so the local thrift store can sell it before the holidays.

I also need to work on my stock photos today (I have a BILLION to add) OK, maybe 1/2 billion.

Then edit edit edit.

I'll probably share more photos later if I have time!

More Amy and Zac

These 2 were fun! Always smiling and making funny faces. You really can tell that they love each other.

My overly used, classic fav - legs only. I promise you, I will continue to overuse this shot because it's my camera and I'll do what I want :p

This is something I normally do not do. I usually do a little vignetting, color pop/saturation or desaturation... etc. But not the "weird" filters. I got to playing with this filter and made a "sketch" of one of the photos. I really liked it, and Amy is the artsy fartsy type, so I think she'll like it too.

Love this shot... sexy and fun both.

I'm about 1/3 done editing their photos, have the rest of Eric's to edit yet too. When I get done, I will probably add a couple outtakes from Amy and Zac's shoot. I have some really hilarious shots. Not engagement worthy I suppose, but really captured their personalities.