Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Fall



Dear Thanksgiving, I miss you already. I love Winnsboro so much. I love being down there in the quiet. Less stress. Slower pace. We did these "science camp" things today after the kids took a two hour long standardized test. Not sure who's genius idea that was. But either way, I'm exhausted. Got there at 7:15am and literally no break all day long. Lunch consisted of me shoveling my food in my mouth for about 5 minutes and then racing to the bathroom. 24 weeks and 3 days left. Gracias a Dios.

I took some pictures when I could over the break. They aren't astounding but I wish you could have seen the colors up close. Nature is so pretty! Here are a few snapshots...




This was in the car on the way to the hospital. Talk about a gorgeous drive! Dad is a little over an hour away from his house. I hope he gets strong enough to go home soon.





This is a view from their front porch in the morning. Mom is right, next time I need to try and get some rocking chairs and teacups in this shot.





I...just adore a front porch view...





On Thursday, we drove to Corinth to have our Thanksgiving meal at my Aunt Chelle's place. So happy to see everyone and the food was delicious as always!





Gold.





House.





My mom, the dog herder. She can't say no to babies. They moved down there with just Sadie, and since then have added Dixie, Dollie, and Lucky.





Run Sadie, run!





Lucky hasn't quite figured out that fine line between "playing" and "annoying as hell".





Sadie is definitely the Alpha dog of the pack, even though she's 3x smaller than the rest. She's the oldest and the only one who gets to sleep inside.




Eagle. (I think...)





Berries.





Orange.





Into the woods.




Yellow.





My special Lucky Puck!



Monday, November 19, 2012

Thanksgiving

THANKSGIVING BREAK STARTS TOMORROW AT 3:30PM!!!...and I am SO thankful. Get me out of here. Get me to the country. Get me to the quiet. This will be an interesting Thanksgiving. Baltimore brother just had a baby today! She is a beautiful little baby Taylor. Dallas brother will be with the in-laws this year. Dad is in the hospital for the second time this month. So that leaves me and Mom. Might get some turkey...might get some Luby's we'll see what happens :)

An idea came to me last weekend. And, I REALLY, really want to share it with you. But I think it will be a much more fun surprise if I just post the outcome of this idea once I collect a few of it's photos. And, once I get the courage to take them. I CAN tell you this though...I'm inspired by the work below!! Esther Havens. I want to BE her. She's incredible. I love everything about her website. I'm totally in love with her work. Humanitarian photography is my absolute dream job. Maybe if I get good, I could shoot weddings to pay the bills, but my heart would belong to non-profit pictures. Hypothetically speaking. I can look at them for hours. Incredible.

Guess what else? Per Esther Havens twitter suggestion, I followed her footsteps and signed up for a conference in March in Ft.Worth! www.swpjc.org I'm so excited for this I'm about to choke on my water!!! Okay, enough. All this photography talk and I actually have class to go to right now. In a much better mood today than I was Friday. Accepting that some things are beyond my control. Accepting God knows what He's doing in my life. Accepting that the happiness I've been praying for my ex may have showed up in a different shape than I would have chosen, but an answered prayer none-the-less.

If you have some hours or days to kill, go to www.estherhavens.com
Prepare for uncontrollable smiling.





Saturday, November 17, 2012

26 Weeks

Earmuffs Mom...This week was shitty, and that's all there is to it. There was a small mound of shit handed to me at work on Monday...then each day shit was piled upon more shit, until the grand finale of a shit erupted yesterday morning. All of this at the start of my day...before I had to put on a happy face and deal with 14yr. olds all day long. There is no need to go into the details of the shit. That will just increase the stench all the more. So there it is, off my chest.

One thing I can never deny though is how much I am loved. I type one emotionally charged post on my facebook and throughout the day was reaffirmed through multiple texts and posts aimed at cheering me up. I love my friends. I truly have the best friends in the world and I'd gladly take a bullet for any one of them. I mean that.

So I've been taking my second ever photography class. Which actually sort of feels like my first photography class, because I didn't learn a thing from my first teacher other than the rule of thirds. I'll share my weekly assignments with you here. Last weeks assignment was a scenic view with objects in focus in both the foreground and background, with the closer object leading your eye into the picture. Being the procrastinator that I am, I put off this assignment until the MONDAY MORNING before my class, which means I had to take them at school. Not too proud of them, but here they are.









This weeks assignment is an informal close up. I took these of Ginny this morning at "Biscuits and Groovy". She's a good sport, and I told her no one would see them but the old ladies in my Photo class. This is mostly true, because I'm pretty sure just my mom and Teal occasionally read this thing. SO DON'T BE MAD GINNYBOO!






Lots of blues. Not my best, nor my most creative. But I AM learning at least a couple of things each week about the thousands of settings that my fabulous camera offers. I've been looking up photo conferences lately too. Been hoping to sign up for at least TWO conferences before June. I think I can pull it off. Here's the thing folks. I see LOTS of "professional photographers" on facebook that shoot babies and weddings and couples and seniors. And some of the people I know are really talented and have such a creative eye. Then there are other people that are somehow actually continuing a "business" in this field, that don't even follow photography basics. Now, I'm not tooting my own horn here. I'm not pretending to know everything, and I'm not by any means pretending to be an awesome photographer myself. But sometimes, I look at some peoples work and think, "WOW. People are PAYING you for those photos? Shame on you. Those suck, and those people should have just spent their money buying a camera with a timer on it." But then again, I am a little bitchy. Especially at this point on the lunar calendar. So my idea is, if THOSE people can get paid for their work that I view as terrible, then maybe, just maybe...people would pay ME for work that could be slightly better. And then maybe I would enjoy my job. And everyone would win.

You know what made yesterday all better? I went running with my friend Alex. We've been running a 3.1mile loop around town lake a few times a week. It's been awesome because we didn't really know each other at all when we started. So there is lots to talk about, which makes the running go by quickly. And there is accountability to show up after work and not just plop on the couch. And I ALWAYS feel better afterwards. I always feel like my day was not entirely wasted after that small half hour. It seems to be having an affect on my waistline as well, which I'll gladly accept.

In other news, I really miss my Mama. Like a whole, whole, lot. In just three short days I'll have the freedom to spread my wings over her 50 peaceful acres in Winnsboro. I love it there so much. Wish I had a man to bring home to Thanksgiving, but as for this year, I'll just enjoy my relationship with Mom. Can't wait.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Celebrity Weekend


Such a fun weekend with two of my best gals! They got in Friday night and got to meet some of my Austin friends. One of my favorite things in life is combining friend groups! I know...I know its awkward, but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy and now each of them will know who I'm talking about. Then we went to Gruene, TX for the day Saturday.


 She's lived in both. Dallas raised me so I will never whisper a bad word about her, but I AM having so much fun in Austin!


I love this picture so much!


...and if I could edit out that pipe I'd love this one just as much...

And here we are at Gruene Hall!





Late lunch at the Gristmill. I'm so impressed with this town. It's been around since the 1800's!!! I just kept trying to visualize real cowboys walking around every where we went.


Pre-new year's resolutions.


BUBBIEEEEEEEEEES!! Ginny brought Sir Charles, Charlie-Bear, Charles-in-Charge, Mr.Bates. I love him so much.


At Whitehorse...


WHERE WE MET JUSTIN LONG!!! I was NOT cool at all y'all. He talked to Ginny and I just watched, speechless. I've never met a movie star before!

Yummy goodness Friday night at my favorite restaurant in Austin.


And Sunday afternoon I had to run all that business off...


Until next time!