photos that make me {mostly} happy on a not-so-happy day...

i'm having a rough day. no particular reason. just one thing after another and not very much time to myself today. looking forward to just relaxing tonight - but there are chores to do too...

anyway, i wanted to attempt some "portraits" on plexi-glass (placed over a backdrop, it provides a reflection which adds an interesting dimension to photos).

since i seem to have an abundance of cats in my life, and could only easily obtain a smaller piece of plexi-glass, they were a natural choice. too bad they're not the most obedient creatures. here are my attempts:

no award winners there... gotta figure out how to get rid of that blue streak in the 4th one... might be a lighting problem. and i think i want thicker plexi...

that's all i have to say today...

not much to say today...

just a few things on my mind:

• waiting on ScenicRoute to make phone calls to their 9 new designers... i want to be a part of this team so badly, but i recognize that there so many scrapbookers out there who are so much better than i... i realistically don't expect to be asked to join the team. but i am looking forward to seeing the results anyway.
  
• i broke my 29 lb barrier - this morning i weighed in at a total loss of 31 lbs! yay for progress. totally motivating.
  
• a few days ago, our ceo asked me to be a part of a very small team that will plan a marketing strategy for a new service we'll be launching soon. i'm super excited that he asked me - but the team meets in 40 minutes and i'm so nervous!
  
• matt swapped shifts with his teammate today, so he'll be working late... i'm looking forward to a little me-time. i've got photos to finish proofing, and some other fun stuff to do.

pictures tomorrow, maybe...

a little sneak peek...

i feel like sharing a picture, but i don't have any to share today... so i'll give you a sneak peek of a few layouts. i'm leaving them up for less than 24 hours though, because i have high hopes for their futures. ;)

{all gone - sorry!}

i'm still aching to buy some halloween themed stuff... might just have to do it and satisfy that ol' craving.

i've got the beatles stuck in my head today (speaking of big hopes: 'act naturally' in case you're interested in getting the beatles stuck in your head too...) which i suppose is an improvement over julie andrews (who was stuck in my head yesterday).

i wonder how they get in there, and how they feel being stuck in my head...

a few things on my mind today...

• the weekend's adventures left me feeling an utter domestic failure. a failed blackberry cobbler (the recipe said "berries, patted dry" - which i totally ignored) and a failed batch of blackberry pie filling to can (burnt it while trying to heat it up enough to hot pack. ack.).
  
• i'm really in the mood for fall. too bad the weather won't cooperate. i'm done with the 80ish degrees.
  
• i want to play with some of the amazingly awesome halloween patterned papers that are out there right now. too bad i don't have an excuse to use them on layouts. i smell lots of halloween cards.
  
• it's been weeks since i've scrapped. literally - weeks. haven't even made cards or other projects in that time.
  
• i got the stampin' up! holiday mini-catalog in the mail this weekend. some really cute stuff. those people get more clever with each new release. i already see a few sets i "need".
  
• i did a maternity shoot for a dear friend last night. we had so much fun - she was a great sport, and though i still have a ton of proofing to do, i'm pretty pleased with the results. will post a few when i get her permission.
  
• i can't stop thinking about a friend of mine... today he learned that his dad just died unexpectedly. they were so close. my heart hurts for him. if your dad's around, tell him how much you love him today. and for that matter, tell your husband or boyfriend or brother or son too.

i baked a pie last night.

it was terribly frustrating. crusts just aren't my thing. suffice it to say: i'm not a pie girl. i'm a cobbler girl. (you're talking to someone who'd rather make drop cookies than roll out cookie dough!)

and the saddest part? i didn't even make the crust. it was storebought. (kristi, i can hear you tsking your tongue at me! i know you're ashamed.)

but darnit, making a crust always looks easier than it really is. i mean - so few ingredients - how hard can it be right? blah. i never succeed.

so i do storebought. and it turns out, i can't even do a storebought pie crust properly. matt brought home a package of two pie crusts already in pans, and frozen. not quite what i had in mind, but the directions outlined making a double-crust pie from the two crusts, so i played along. i defrosted one, so i could remove it from the pan, and gently lay it over the top of my pie - just like the instructions said.

but apparently defrosting it in a warm oven was not what they meant (and i'm not the most patient person in the world.) because that sole act, it seems, screwed up my top layer of pie crust.

i desperately tried to coax it from the sides of the aluminum pie pan without any success whatsoever. the crust stuck to my fingers, to the pan, and to itself. there was no way out. in frustration, i used my finger tips to scrape the dough out. i stared at the wad of dough for a few minutes, trying desperately to devise a way in which a pie crust resulted without use rolling pin or flour. sensing the inevitable, i floured the counter, tossed the mound onto the dusty surface and began rolling. and for all of the same reasons that keep me from making my *own* pie crust, i quickly grew frustrated with this one.

over and over, i wadded up the failed half-rolled dough and tried again, until it was so coated in flour that it refused to adhere to itself. rolling was no longer an option.

in sheer desperation, i did what i probably should've done at the beginning. i picked off chunks of the dough, flattened them (um, with my palms) and piece-mealed together a layer of crust atop my filled pie and retired to the couch, covered in flour and needing a stiff drink. when the pie finally came out of the oven, it reminded me of those maps of the world before plate-techtonics kicked in...

but at least it tasted good. :)

blackberries

i think i've decided that this is the best part of summer.

blackberries are my favorite of all of the berries, and late august is most definitely harvest time. matt took me up to the creekside campus, the 30-acre campus our church purchased and is currently remodeling, to harvest our own blackberries from the overgrown bushes that encompass the soccer field. we showed up with two big aluminum mixing bowls, and the staff that was still there working didn't even have to ask what we were up to: they looked at me, they looked at the bowls and they said "your containers aren't big enough."

so we filled them nearly to the brim, until our arms ached from holding the bowls up (matt could only be bribed to keep picking with the promise of a pie) and then headed home. the scale tells me that we've got about 14 pounds of them. no idea what i'll do with them all (besides the pie, of course!) but i'm thinking a few jars of pie filling, and maybe some jam. unless i can come up with more interesting ideas. :)

travel on the brain...

thanks to my sister-in-law who's daydreaming about a trip to italy or france or germany or disney world, i have travel on the brain.

this is a terrible state to be in. i have stuff to do at work, i even have lots of non-work-related stuff i could be thinking about, but no - i'm thinking about europe.

the travel bug has bitten yet again, and this time, really, really hard. so, today, i'm thinking about here.

and this totally made my day...

got an email from charissa yesterday over at homegrown scrapbooks, a totally fabulous monthly kit-club that i've been thinking about subscribing to... they have really great taste and deliver a ton of product in their kit.

anyway, charissa emailed me asking if she could do this. {third one down.}

{if you wanna see the layout up close, it's here.}

totally cool. thanks charissa! :)

this weekend, i rediscovered a childhood pastime... bicycling. not that bicycling is reserved *just* for childhood, like jump-ropes or hopscotch might be, but to me, it was a childhood pastime given up long ago in lieu of lazier activities.

we rode bikes regularly as kids. sometimes, it was just at play on our street. other times, it was to accompany our parents to the local beach. i have vivid memories of dreading hills (uphill *or* downhill, thank you very much - i'm not much of a speed demon either). one summer, we packed up our camping gear and headed for the san juan islands. one day's activity consisted of riding the ferry from Orcas, where we camped, to Lopez, an itsy-bitsy island with all of one school (K-12, where the senior class consisted of 3 students) and only the necessary stores and stoplights. i can still picture *the* hill. it was huge. quite steep. very long. i don't know that my sister and i even bothered trying to ride up it. my mom will tell you that alicia cried as she walked her bike up the hill - but i'm pretty sure i was doing the crying. or at least, i was crying too.

so, i don't have much in the way of fond bicycling memories. lots of hills. not many great experiences. so when matt has suggested a bike ride, i've always had an excuse.

"eh, it's just not my thing."

"i'm kinda nervous on the roads. i don't want to be around traffic." (a fabulous excuse that has served me well, since seattle is known for it's traffic.)

"i don't have a helmet."

but last week, mom mentioned that she'd biked one of her old routes, which includes the Seattle City Right-of-Way, a wide alley-like road, only to find that it had been paved as a continuance of the Interurban Trail. still wide, with room for bikes and pedestrians, and tons of shoulder room for dogs.

saturday morning, as i was working in the yard, mom showed up on her bike planning to drop it at our house and run one of her old routes. not even 2 minutes out of my driveway, she came back and suggested that she help with the yardwork instead. since matt and i were already toying with a bike ride up to see the trail, she talked us in to riding back with her when we'd finished our yardwork. it took us a few minutes to get the bikes tuned up enough to ride, but once we were on the road, i discovered what i'd been missing.

there's an amazing feeling in cruising along with the wind blowing in your face - especially on a warm, sunny day. we rode all the way up to the end of the trail, said goodbye to my mom and headed back, stopping for a few minutes to snack on warm blackberries dangling in the sun. halfway home, we detoured into the cemetary - beautiful, park-like grounds with paved roads and quiet ponds. the whole trek must've been just over an hour, and just enough excercise that our tails have been complaining ever since.

so, in the past 48 hours, i've thought about bike riding roughly 572 times. we'd planned to go out again last night after dinner, only to find that my bike had a flat that we weren't able to get repaired before dusk. we were disappointed, but looking forward to our next ride. we bought helmets yesterday, looked for necessary accessories (water-bottle holder for me, bike lock for matt, etc) and even found ourselves a free bike-rack for the car. maybe i've finally found a sport i really could love...

did i mention...

that i finally purchased this bunch of loveliness?

yes, the long-awaited, long-sought-after, illusive Crumpler 5 Million Dollar Home. and i love it just as much as i'd always imagined.

after stalking an online store that sells them at a discount, waiting for them to be stocked after weeks of being backordered, i finally gave up and purchased from my local camera store. we paid a little more for it, but oh well.

the brown exterior is more green than it looks in the photo, and i love that. :) for those of you considering purchasing the 4, 5 or 6 (or 7) Million, i'll share what i can fit in this bad boy:

drebel xt body
50mm lens (usually attached to body)
18-55mm kit lens
spare battery, memory card
lens cleaning kit (baggie w/ fluid, cloth and bulb-brush)
filter case & filter

and there's still room for at least one more lens - or a flash unit or light meter. i will say that i was worried the 6 Million would be too diaper-baggish, and while it is a bit larger, once i got all of my equipment into the 5 Million at home, i was kinda wishing i'd bought the 6. so... if you're torn, i'd recommend aiming higher. i do love the 5 though. :)

uhhhh....

i'm struggling to find anything interesting to talk about. (heck, i'm struggling to find anything interesting to *think* about!) how lame am i?

i'm quite excited that september is nearly here - fall being my favorite season, ya know. but the excitement of the back-to-school atmosphere leaves me wishing i had a kid of my own to send off to school... (i know, you think i'm totally crazy. and i won't argue. you're talking to the woman who casually suggested to her husband that a baby would be great for practicing photography...)

soooo, yeah. now that my entire blog readership (what, 2 of you?) thinks i'm totally insane, let's move on to other things. where were we? oh right - fall!

one of my favorite traditions that takes place this time of year is my Annual Gluestick Stockup. yeah, you heard me. gluesticks. i use gluesticks for nearly all of my scrapbooking (are you horrified? i bet you're not as horrified as you were two paragraphs ago when i suggested that i should get have a baby just to so i can take pictures.) anyway, for the last couple of years, i've made a habit of stocking the gluestick bins at target and staples, waiting for them to hit rock bottom (usually 10 cents a piece), and then i buy about $3 worth. this keeps me in gluesticks for about a year, no kidding. love a good bargain.

i'm also looking forward to the leaves turning colors (speaking of photographic opportunity). i'm hoping to talk matt into some long drives to get out of town this year.

and apples. the price of apples will soon hit the "dirt cheap" level, and that always seems to coincide with the height of my nesting tendencies. apple cake, apple sauce, apple pie filling, apple butter, etc. i need a few new recipes this year, though. i've grown unimpressed with my apple pie filling recipe, and i still have like 3 quarts of it from last year. eek. i might just have to try apple rings this year. does it get any easier than that?

and clothes. i love cozy clothes in warm, dark tones. any excuse to wear brown, really. and i have an excuse this year to add a few new items to my wardrobe. can't wait for that!

ok, that's really all i have to say today. who knew i could talk that much about nothing at all?

another funny cat picture...

(like i said: my crowd of willing subjects seems to be dissipating!)

anniversaries are great...

really - they are. it's like a birthday, but for both of you. i think that's awesome.

i've always been into the "traditional gifts" and matt knows this. i thought for a few weeks to come up with a good gift that both fit the "cotton or china" category and would be something he'd use and enjoy. i finally settled on a t-shirt bearing the logo of one of our new favorite shows, american chopper. i thought my idea was pretty clever, given that he could've gotten stuck with a monogrammed bathrobe or new underwear (both fitting for the anniversary, but not really something he'd enjoy).

but his gift for me was even more clever - and i'm impressed. matt replaced my broken camera lens - not cotton - but included a new lens cloth embroidered with our wedding date. how cute is that? yep, there's my disgustingly cute and romantic husband again.

2 years...

{"Today I marry my lover, today I marry my friend". Created Spring 2005}

the last two years have easily been the best two years of my life. i can't tell you how much i love being married to this guy. and while i'm glad we waited a year longer than we really wanted to, i'm glad we married young. i'm thankful that we can sit around and enjoy married life with absolutely no pressure to have kids or own a house. even though these are things we really want - and would love to have now - we just know there's no hurry. i love that. i love my life with this guy.

and wow - what a quick two years it has been. i really can't believe it! thanks, baby, for a great two years. i can't wait to see what the future has in store.

greetings!

it's monday again - funny how that happens... and i have pictures to share!!

i was up late friday night, frustrated because i couldn't come up with anything interesting to photograph, and i was getting the strange feeling that my current subjects are through with me:

figure A:

figure B:

finally, matt promised to take me to seattle center on saturday (probably just to get me to stop talking, so he could sleep!) anyway, we went down for lunch, and wandered around. matt dropped a bunch of cash playing carnival games, and i shot 100+ photos, practicing with conscious use of kodak's "sunny f/16" rule (and boy, was it sunny). i'm pretty pleased with the results, though i still see some exposure issues i'll have to fix. i really need to master my stupid TTL meter.

figure C:

and that's my weekend! :) happy monday!

you know what feels great?

searching madly for something clean (and decent!) to wear to church... and weeding out about 5 shirts that are officially too big in the process. that feels great.

(and yes, i did manage to find something to wear to church!)

and the canon came tumbling after...

i busted my favorite lens last night. after convincing matt to sit for me for a few minutes, i'd downloaded the photos to my laptop and decided to take the machine with me to the couch, so i could proof my new photos. i picked up the computer, forgetting that my camera was still attached to the USB cord - and that the USB cord was still attached to my computer - and walked off... and you know how that story goes.

thought i'd busted the whole getup at first, but was relieved to find that it was just the lens. still sick to my stomach. at least my favorite lens is also my cheapest lens! and it's a good thing that the camera bag i want is backordered for a month, because i apparently need my savings to replace the lens! ack.

and i was hoping to do an engagement shoot sunday for a coworker and his fiancee. i guess i can do it with my kit lens, but ... well, ... waaaaah. :(

changing confidence...

i've come to an interesting realization in the last few weeks. weightloss is changing my body image. sure, to some extent, you have to have confidence to make the effort in the first place, but as i lose, my confidence is increasing.

i first noticed this when i ran into an old friend from highschool a few weeks ago. we chatted briefly, and having just left the hospital, i was sloppily dressed and in need of a shower. and yet, i was excited to see her. we talked about the comings & goings of a few other friends, and later that evening, i found myself wishing the four of us old friends could get together, just to catch up. i wished we'd exchanged phone numbers.

a year ago - nearly 30 lbs ago - i never, ever would've felt this way. ashamed of myself, i always felt that my extra weight, no matter how little it really was, played a part in the relationships i had - and didn't have - in high school. even though no one ever said anything, i always felt that someone, somewhere, was holding my weight against me.

and these three girls - we weren't particularly close in the last couple of years of highschool. in fact, one downright had it out for me (can't remember why now...) and as often happens, i just grew apart from them. but now, i wish we had the opportunity to get together.

i felt this same willingness to re-establish old roots last night, after listening to a guilty message from my long-time best friend. she confessed to me that a very old ex-best-friend of mine had gotten in touch with her, and asked how to get in touch with me - and she'd given that old friend my email address.

i groaned, and then laughed. and thought my history with old-friend. i thought about how we "broke up" - going separate ways to different highschools, turning into totally different people. i wondered what old-friend was up to now, and how she's changed. i tried to determine if i was looking forward to her potential email, or if i was dreading having to find an excuse to not get together.

but the fact that i contemplated it shows me again that i'm more confident today than i was a year ago. even though i'm still carrying more weight than old-friend ever knew me with, i'm still more confident, because i'm doing something about it.

and if coffee with an old-friend isn't motivation to keep going, i don't know what is. ;)

hello monday!

i can do monday. i don't mind. (much.) i wish i had pictures to show you, but alas, my home computer is on the upswing (maybe) after yet another viral infection, and is not really interested in cooperating with the internet right now. (hair of the dog that bit ya, dontchya know.)

so let's see... we tried to watch Syriana friday night. 7 minutes in, we were terribly confused, and decided to stick it out. 30 minutes in, still confused. hoped it would all come together. 56 minutes in, when george clooney is captured by... scary guys... and they start pulling off his finger nails with the meanest looking set of pliers i've ever seen, we shut it off.

saturday morning, i roped matt into some yardwork - the calibre of which i am paying for in muscular soreness today. we tore out a bunch of morning glory, weedwhacked, and pulled up the weed-infested raised beds. followed that with some new-kitty-spoiling shopping with my mom - boy, i never get tired of that! - and then some playtime with said kitty. matt worked saturday evening, so i hung around the house, crossing things off my to-do list here and there. afterwards, we went to visit some friends for drinks & dessert and four rounds of skip-bo.

thanks to a migraine and various stomach problems, i was in no shape for church sunday morning. when i'd recovered later in the afternoon, i ran a few errands and then set up a still-life shoot (not sure how i feel about still-lifes, but that's another day, another post) in my dining room. matt helped with youth group, so i spent the evening working through more of my to-do list, and even found time to roast a chicken. yummy.

so, yep - that's it.

meet kenji.

more:

{click to enlarge}

my mom adopted kenji on wednesday, and it's safe to say, he's the cutest thing ever. (shh, don't tell my cats!!) a little skittish still, but understandably so. he let me pet him and hold him, and even purred for me. quite the little motor. we brought him a 'cat-warming gift', a fuzzy feathery thing on a string, tied to a stick, which he absolutely loved. kenji was a good compromise for my mom. she's wanted a dog ever since we lost mocha, my childhood dog, a few years ago. bob, however, is most definitely not a dog person, and as he works from home and would be home with the dog all day long, she felt like she couldn't do that to him.

then our CEO at work got a pixie-bob. mom loved the idea - the breed is known for it's intelligence and trainability. they have distinct dog-like qualities that make them especially unique (and they watch tv!!) pixie-bobs generally have 6 toes on each front paw, and bobbed tails. kenji has his full tail, but has the polydactyl feet. in fact, just this morning, i'm wondering if they named him because of his catcher's-mitt-like feet...

and in case you're not familiar, kenji is the namesake of Mariner's catcher Kenji Johjima.

thursday...

not much to say today. i'm kinda feeling "ugh" today. i've been feeling that way most of the week, actually, it just seems especially obvious today. i'm ready for the weekend i guess.

the blue angels are practicing today, and flying in and out of seattle (between seattle & bellevue). they keep zipping over our office building. once i remember what it is, and that the end of the world is not upon us (not today anyway), i rather like it. would rather be outside with my camera (and, um, a really long lens) tough.

matt seems to have progressed to full-on sleepwalking. he's always been a sleep-talker, but what started out as pie tart conversations and the like seems to have worsened... around 1:30 this morning, i awoke to him standing next to my side of the bed, hands on hips, with something to say. too bad i don't remember whatever nonsense he was rambling. once i realized that whatever he was talking about was clearly dream-related, i suggested he go back to bed. he got all huffy and stormed around to his side of our queen-sized mattress and FLUMPED down onto it... okay then. (of course, he remembers none of this today!)

so that's my thursday.

shoe fetish?

took this picture a few weeks ago, after dusk. it was underexposed (because i hate flash) and undersaturated. a little level bump, and some added contrast brought out more life in her dress, her eyes and the grass. wish i could give it more - but it just got too weird after that. so, here it is. i love digital.

nothing exciting happening these days. just letting life happen. trying to get my camera out more as it was pretty stationary over the last few weeks. there are pears on my pear tree... i think i'll set up some still lifes this weekend. :)

my mother is getting one of these. so jealous.

how's that for a random wednesday morning post. :)