Friday, May 30, 2008

Undergoing construction

I'm trying to rework my blog a little... Please excuse the mess :) I hoping to make the pictures bigger eventually.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Jamie's Creation!


He's been creating a lot of interesting projects with his legos lately. Just the other day he made a handheld vacuum! It was great! It had tubes, funnels for sucking dirt and of course, the garbage holder. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of that one. But I managed to get one of his 'castle'. Very clever.

So today we went to the thrift store in search of a camera for Jamie to play with. While, we found a nifty polaroid and a fisheye camera ... that's not all we encountered...
We were (I was) browsing the shirts when we both heard a loud-um- fart behind us. I turned to see what caused it and it was this little old lady! I tried to act like I didn't hear anything but of course, Jamie couldn't let the deed go unnoticed.
"Mommy, what was that??" he's speaking very loudly-as usual.
"Nothing."
"Mommy! That man farted!" he says, pointing to the little old lady.
"Shh!! Nobody farted. Keep your voice down!"
"Hehehe It's STINKY! PEEEUUUUU ICKY!" his voice just seemed to have gotten louder with each word.
I was mortified but luckily, the little old lady seemed to be deaf and didn't notice that my child was humilating her. /phew.
It was hilarious. :)

Available for purchase!

I've decided to try and sell prints of some of my work. I found a very cool site called ImageKind that will host my pictures! Take a look!

Another Fine Mess Prints

This site will let you purchase a gallery print or a set of notecards. :) If anyone does purchase, let me know about the quality!

Saturday, May 24, 2008

In the air tonight...

Tonight I had the absolute pleasure of exploring nighttime/low light photography with a friend from work. Nighttime is one of my most frustrating moments when it comes to photography but I think I learned a lot. I love how it breaks me from the mold I was getting entirely too comfortable in and made me see patterns, shapes, light, textures... eye opening and enriching! I would totally do this again! We started around 7:30 and lost track of time until 11:30pm! Yikes! Of course, I forgot my phone in my car... Mike didn't freak out too badly though... :)
Here a few of my faves. See my flickr stream for the rest! Please... feel free to let me know how you like the processing, framing, composition...etc.






***Updated... holy cow. 16 hits since I originally posted this!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Today was an uninteresting day. Until now. I always seem to find something that speaks to me, nearly moves me to tears because I know that I was meant to read it. I don't want to be an uninteresting person (I'm not saying that I believe I am...) I don't want to be the person that fades away. I don't want to look at myself anymore either. It's in our nature as human beings to protect ourselves. We buy things, make choices, choose certain friends, say what sounds good and reasonable all because we're selfish. I catch myself doing it all the time and I try to silence the tiny voice that comes back to remind me that I sound like someone else.
Oh I know I'll get a few family and friends to remind me that I'm not a selfish person and that I should stop talking this way... thank you. But I know, we're our worst critic.
Anyway, I wanted to share the post I saw... may you find it inspiring as much as I did.

practice makes perfect

a quote we have all heard, and definitely one with more than a little truth to it.

that being the case, what is it that you practice?


if i may suggest,,,


no matter what you have practiced before now, let nothing and no one (not even yourself) deprive you of your right to change what you choose to practice at any time,,,

practice enlarging your heart,,, see how many more people you can fit in there,,, how much more of yourself.

practice believing what you know in your heart is true,,, not what you have been told to believe, not what you believe for the sake of others,,, practice believing the wild dreams your heart once spent all day imagining,,, the ones that have since been too-often put in the childish or i need to grow up bins,,,

practice remembering the many strengths and gifts you have,,,

practice making memories worth having,,,

practice being brave,,, one day someone's son or daughter may come up to you and tell you that though you have never met, your braveness once changed their life,,,

practice the good kind of crying,,,

practice letting yourself be moved,,,

practice speaking up when your sensibilities tell you to be quiet,,, remember: being sensible usually isn't

practice new things - it's hard to write an interesting life story when your fingers keep typing the same four letters,,,

practice telling the truth - most of all to yourself,,,


my many amazing friends,,, without fail, we become masterful at what we practice - let's let go of practicing the things that don't belong to our peace,,,


may you find your peace, joy, and so much love,,, wherever you are *

jesh *

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

A treasure trove

And so my musings and obsessions with quotes continues;

I found the BEST site ever! The woman, Myla Kent is also a photographer and I discovered her on a blog about blogs... (pause. let it sink in) and found out that she also has a flickr account. So I add her as my contacts because I like her work. She announces that she's started a separate website purely upon her love of quotes that she's collected since '91. My word... she has quite a collection!

If I can ask anyone who reads this for a small gesture that lets me know you're there... please send me a comment on a quote that you feel best describes me or just any quote you personally love.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Stephanie & Judah

Last night I had the pleasure of photographing an old co-worker's daughter and her fiance. They're so sweet! I could feel that they were a little nervous about being photographed so within 20 minutes, I was launching blonde jokes and any other kind of joke I could think of. I'm not sure it worked but they did loosen up towards the end of the shoot. Stephanie has the most beautiful eyes! What a gorgeous shade of blue and I was lucky enough to capture them!
Once I got home, I was estatic to see how wonderfully they photographed! I literally had hundreds of great shots and I had to pick only a few to upload to flickr so Stephanie could preview them :P From the sounds of her recent email, I think she's tickled. ;P
Enjoy my faves from Stephanie and Judah... Their wedding next August is sure to be a hit!


Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Eschew Obfuscation

Just a fun tidbit: This is my 103rd post on the blog! Geez. :)

I love quotes. I google them often. Doesn't matter if they come from Grey's Anatomy or my newest collection: "Oxymoronica, Paradoxical wit and wisdom from history's greatest wordsmiths"; I simply adore quotes. I think my facination stems from searching for just the right way to express how I feel. I love to write but sometimes, I think I could use alittle help trying to explain the deeper things. Often what happens is that what I meant to say gets misintrepreted as something else or it loses the punch that I so desperately wanted the reader to feel. Or loses the underlying expression of desire for understanding.

Sometimes I find comfort in the words of people that have been there before. Their artistic understanding of love, loss, friendship and various other highlights of ones' life is just something that clicks so well for me. Simply having someone say "Awww I'm sorry about that" doesn't always fix it. I am NOT saying this to get every single person in my life to throw quotes at my face whenever I'm facing hardship or victory. Sometimes all I just want is a small "I'm sorry" And I'm just fine and can move on. I just like quotes. It helps me express what's trapped inside my mind, waiting to be exposed. There's a lot to be said for a quote that I may use. It may be posted and have various reasons behind them. They're not always there for the most obvious reason. Before this turns into me digging a bigger hole, I'll share some of my favorite quotes :)
(be prepared... there's a lot of grey's anatomy quotes)

"I've heard that it’s possible to grow up, I've just never met anyone who’s actually done it. Without parents to defy, we break the rules we make for ourselves. We throw tantrums when things don’t go our way. We whisper secrets with our best friend, in the dark. We look for comfort where we can find it. And we hope against all logic, against all experience, like children, we never give up hope."
-Meredith (Grey's Anatomy)

"We’re all damaged, it seems. Some of us, more than others. We carry the damage with us from childhood. Then, as grown-ups, we give as good as we get. Ultimately, we all do damage.
And then we set about the business of fixing…whatever we can."
-Grey's Anatomy

"Silence is more eloquent than words" ~Thomas Carlyle

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned" ~William Congreve

"At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, all we really want is to be close to somebody. So this thing where we all keep our distance and pretend not to care about each other, it's usually a load of bull. So we pick and choose who we want to remain close to, and once we've chosen those people, we tend to stick close by. No matter how much we hurt them. The people that are still with you at the end of the day, those are the ones worth keeping. And sure, sometimes close can be too close. But sometimes, that invasion of personal space, it can be exactly what you need. " ~Grey's Anatomy

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all" ~Emily Dickinson

Ok ok, I'll stop now. I have a ton, as always- that I relate to :)

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Good Times

I got a message today from an old co-worker of mine waaay back when I first started with Borders. Admittedly, we weren't exactly best pals but she was enjoyable to chat with. A little crazy most of the time but still funny.
It makes me reflect back on the past and my beginnings with Borders. I didn't start with the company with high hopes of gaining a management position or a fancy career (that came later). I just needed some source of income as a newlywed and a constructive way to spend my time. When I first got hired on with the company, we had so many managers that I used to get their jobs confused! On top of that, we had countless supervisors; even one with a made-up job as "Special Projects Lead" hehe :) We called our special orders clerk, "Spock" and now I cannot recall why. She was a shy, quiet girl with plain brown hair and glasses. I had a favorite manager named Mark, also called Diablo, who was always so much fun to talk to! He entertained me to no end with his sarcastic comments and off-the-wall banter. Once Mark left, my friend Jon filled that void and work became a fun place to be again. We were pranksters to the core and battled to the death daily on Soul Cailbur during every break.
We had some crazy sellers too. One that sticks out in my mind was a professed Genius named Lorenzo. He was so looney! I remember a time when Mark and I stood at the information desk and literally watched him SPRINT all the way to the registers to answer an assistance page. He SPRINTED! NO one sprints!
Also, there was another rather crazy charactor who was Mexican goth named Michael (I think?) he always had weird things to say; mostly about metaphysical things like Runes and Tarot. He 'confessed' to me one day that he reads people's tarot cards occasionally for money. It was hard not to laugh. :P
Now that I'm still with Borders but at a different location, things just aren't the same anymore. I realize that change is inevitable. But it just 'feels' different. The people aren't as quirky as they used to be. I try my hardest to wear my quirk on my sleeve but it doesn't seem quite as appreciated as it once was.
What I wouldn't give to go back to the days when I really looked forward to work. It truly was the people that gave it all meaning, whether or not I was friends with them. They were themselves and shared a piece with me. I don't believe I would be the person I am today if it weren't for all these quirky charactors in my story. I have been shaped and I am thankful. :)

Friday, May 2, 2008

Shawnta & Dee; continued:

I had the pleasure of meeting up again with Shawnta and Dee yesterday at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. Much to my (and theirs) pleasure, the sun was glorious! We had a blast and I was literally giddy when I finally came home and uploaded the photos.
Once they were flickr worthy, Shawnta emailed and thanked me profusely for the beautiful photos! It definitely helps that they were so engaging and outgoing; made my job cake! I love being a photographer!
Here are a few of my faves!



Thursday, May 1, 2008

Is Organic for me? (or healthy for that matter)

So I've been trying my best to choose foods that are healthier for my family. Shopping the local fruit & Vegatable stands and purchasing organic. I've talked with a few people that I know that buy organic and it seems that most are of the opinion that no one needs to break the bank just because it says organic. I have to agree. While this takes more time in grocery shopping because I want to compare prices, it's worth it. Take for instance, organic milk. I haven't seen a 1/2 quart go below 3.50 yet. There's no way I'm purchasing it at that price when I can get a 1/2 quart of skim for half the price. We're not made of money ya know!! I just try to be more choosey with the regular milk that I buy.
But I haven't fully converted to organic of course. There are some things that I will continue to buy that's regular simply because I KNOW the organic counterpart tastes like cardboard. Meh.
It's funny, I've noticed all these advertisements screaming for us to GO GREEN! In fact, I think (I could be wrong about the brand) that Pottery Barn is even offering an Organic Sofa!! Oh geez. Uh no, I'm NOT spending close to 2k on a sofa just because it's made of soybeans and natural fibers. Ridiculus.
I just want to make sure we're eating healthier. There are too many health problems occuring and if I can help Jamie's future by getting him hooked on healthy foods, he'll be set for life. :) But if you know Jamie, you already know he eats healthier than Mike and I already. This kid is funny. He chooses carrots over chips! :)