feeling random...

so quickly... the weeks fly by so quickly. i seem to have deliverables - things that require me to produce something - due left and right. some are for work, some are for ministry, some are personal goals. but life is busy and will continue to be busy throughout october. and then the holidays arrive, so quickly... and a whole different kind of busy-ness sets in. so, that's it for me. cranking through the ol' to-do list. broke out my fall decorations. working on a revision of my website. just dropped a wad of spending money on two new scrapbook albums that i can't wait to fill up with pages - one called "a million reasons why i love you" (pages about matt, on that theme) and another called "as told by dad" (old family photos matched up with stories my dad shares with me via email). neither will be the classic "theme album", where the same look is carried throughout. rather, like the rest of my "everyday" albums, they'll serve as categories for pages that fit the message. also bought an 8x8 book that i'm determined to make into a recipe book - and i'm telling myself that it's okay if the recipes aren't beautifully formatted and embellished. i just want one central holding area, and i want the outside to be pretty. now if only i could find my scrapbook desk. yep, i'm feeling random today.

carnival lights

(originally posted on my blog at the original groupee.com social networking site.)

after the concert at the fairgrounds last week, matt was kind enough to tolerate a little inspired wandering at the fair last week, so i could photograph the bright lights. thought i'd share a few - not really my favorite photographic experiment. they'd have been better if i'd been able to take them right at dusk.

i discovered a post-processing technique a few weeks ago that i really like - it gives a sort of blurred, romantic glow to the images. i applied it to most of my favorites because it enhanced the carnival feel. very different from my usual preference to tack-sharp images.

carnival lights...

matt was kind enough to tolerate a little inspired wandering at the fair last week, letting me take photographs of all of the bright lights. thought i'd share a few - not really my favorite photographic experiment. they'd have been better if i'd been able to take them right at dusk.

i discovered a post-processing technique a few weeks ago that i really like - it gives a sort of romantic glow to the images. i applied it to most of my favorites because it enhanced the carnival feel.

More here.

15 cups of coffee... er, um... 15 coffee cups

{the one that started it all}

(originally posted on my blog at the original groupee.com social networking site.)

confession: i'm addicted to starbucks coffee cups.

it all began with two starbucks coffee cups - a set given to me at christmas 6 years ago by my best friend. sadly, one of those cups is "no longer with us", but the other holds a special place in my heart as the one that started it all.

starbucks, in their glorious marketing efforts, continues to amaze me with their unique, artistic coffee cup designs. my usual M.O. is to wait until they go on clearance, but i receive many as gifts (does my family know my tastes, or what!) and occasionally come across one that i *must* have, even if i have to pay full price.

there are a few more not pictured here... i bought my husband a baseball-themed starbucks cup as a part of his birthday gift, and just "inherited" one from my mom that i'd been drooling over. i feel like there may be another not pictured, but i'm not sure. (that may be a sign that i have too many!!)

a little pre-Halloween project...

i usually start feeling fall-ish in mid august, but this year that feeling came a little later, (caused by a busy summer, i assume).

after halloween last year, i bought this wooden bowl from target, thinking i'd alter it for christmas. christmas came and went, and i thought about easter. easter came and went, and well - here i am at halloween again. so, a couple of weeks ago, i pulled out some of my favorite halloween papers, and bought a roll of orange crepe paper. this was the result.

i covered the rim of the bowl (which was orange to begin with) in the black text-print pattern. then i centered a strip of the orange striped pattern over that. i added gold rick-rack, hanging off the lower edge of the rim, for some sparkle. finally, i got cozy with my bottle of mod podge and added crepe paper ruffles to the inside.

the perfect basket for handing out candy on halloween night.

Mercy Me - Live at the Puyallup

(originally posted on my blog at the original groupee.com social networking site.)

my sister in law is quite the concert go-er, and got matt pretty hooked last christmas as well. for his birthday (i think?), she bought the three of us front-row seats to see Mercy Me at the Puyallup Fair (that's "pew-allup" for you non-locals).

i've never been a *huge* concert fan - maybe because i don't care for crowds, and i never feel like i'm getting anything out of a concert that i couldn't get from the CD (scoff if you will), but this was a totally different experience. it helped that they are one of my favorite bands, and i'm sure that being so close i could see sweat dripping off the lead guitar player had something to do with it. oh, yes - and my camera. i'm very easy: tell me i can bring my camera and i'm do almost anything. (well, i suppose i do have some standards, but that's another story).

we sang along to nearly every song. the lead singer told us he had walking pneumonia, so "if i turn the mic out to the crowd alot, it's because i think you guys sound really amazing, and not because i'm choking." that's ok - he sounded awesome despite that (and the crowd actually did sound really amazing!)

i'm really pleased with the photos i took - my experiences shooting for the COTS concerts came in handy. i wish i'd brought my wider lens, so i could get some shots of the full band (who knew we'd be so close?) but i didn't want to geek out. at some point, i thought "you'd better put that camera away or you're going to miss the concert itself". i waited until the encore to pull it back out, when they did a few of my favorites, including One Trick Pony - my favorite from their latest album.

the best moment was during the encore, when they "asked" if they could try a few songs out on us. before starting Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down", Bart (lead singer) said something that i've thought before myself about that very song that's worth sharing. He said:"this is a song that, when i first heard it on the radio, i thought 'man, i wish i'd written that.'"

Mercy Me in concert...

yep, it was awesome. more photos and the story here.

concerts and cell phones...

and in no way related - they're just both on my mind right now...

matt has this reputation with cell phones. he goes through them. since we've been married, we've replaced two for general "old age/brokenness" (but i'll tell you, mine don't get "old" as fast as his do), and i counted yesterday to realize we've lost 6 to water-related accidents.

one in a mud puddle.

one in the washing machine.

one in the lake. (yep, it went swimming with us.)

three to very small bodies of water that we won't discuss in detail... let's just say he's a very bad "multi-tasker".

so, tuesday he dropped his cell phone into one of those said small bodies of water. yesterday, on our way to work, i left my cell phone with him, knowing he needs a cell to communicate at work, and i have a desk phone. on his way home last night, walking up the path to our house, he dropped my cell phone on the concrete, snapping the antenna off. he's beside himself. i think it's funny. sure, i'm annoyed by the amount of money this "habit" is going to cost us, but it's funny nonetheless. it's a new record - 2 phones in less than 24 hours. i think i've finally decided which stocks to invest in.

and concerts: tonight, Mercy Me plays at the Puyallup Fair and we have front row tickets. yes, really. it's been *years* since i've been to a fair - let alone the Puyallup. and front row tickets to one of my favorite bands, performing from one of my favorite albums? well, let's just say i'm not sure which i'm more excited about - the fair or the concert. and my camera's already packed.

august in review, and my weekend ahead...

a new little blog tradition i'm going to start: posting a "month in review" post at each month's end. my blog is supposed to be a record and journal of sorts, so if the day-to-day blogging continues to suck as it has beem at least i'll have some sort of life summary to show for my time.

so, then - on with the show.

august in review

1. celebrated our 3rd anniversary.
   
2. took a mini-vacation to sequim.
   
3. saw hairspray, the movie. i'm in love.
   
4. kids ministry: went to the zoo.
   
5. set some goals.
   
6. didn't make a ton of progress on said goals (i'm asking for an extension, to see what i can accomplish tomorrow!!)
   
7. kids ministry: took a few of our boys bowling.
   
8. had a few photo sessions.
   
9. kids ministry: ended our Summer Olympics program, and celebrated with an awards ceremony.
   
10. relished the last month of my best friend's summer vacation at home, and said goodbye to her for the 6th time as she leaves to start a new school year.
    

and i'm super excited about some downtime this weekend (sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?) sunday is "family service sunday", so our kids will be in the "big service" (you know, the one with "big people" in it) - which means kate will be in the big service, which means kate has very little prep work to do this weekend. so if i run my church-related errands today, i can have tomorrow to do whatever i want. compound that with monday being a holiday, and i have the makings for a very nice little stretch of time off.

matt's going fishing bright and early (dark and early?) tomorrow morning, and i'll be stranded at home sans vehicle. i've got a couple of projects on my mind (hint: i'm already thinking halloween, but i have to buy some orange crepe paper.) and might even go for a walk.

speaking of walks (wow, when it rains, it pours, huh? i'm practically rambling.) - i found the perfect thing to coerce me into exercise. since matt started his new job, we've been carpooling, which means i don't listen to my mp3 player, which means i'm seriously behind on my podcasts. the other day, i decided to take a little walk at lunch, and got 15 minutes into this really long, really great podcast. since i wanted to keep listening, and walking seems to be the best way to do that without trying to "multi-task" and missing half of it, i've decided that i'll use my podcasts specifically for walking. i've walked three days this week. so far, so good. and there's always more where "that" came from, so it's not like i'm in danger of running out of listening material!

ok, that's it for me. off to do something productive. happy end-of-august!

last week was a busy week for me in terms of photography - and it felt great. a shoot on tuesday, and a shoot on thursday with expedited editing needs. the time-crunch felt good.

these are a few of my favorites from thursday's shoot:

i've known and loved this family "forever" - nearly 12 years anyway. allie is my best friend, we met in middle school. we've shopped together, scrapbooked together, vacationed together, grown up together. and we've been figuratively by each other's sides - even when more than 3000 miles separated us - through much more than a little blog summary could explain. it's hard to remember that we're "all grown up" now.

and her little brother - who's not so little anymore - will always be that 10 year old little punk who listened in on our phone conversations and then pretended he didn't know us at school. (sorry sean!) ;)

so taking these photos was especially fun for me, and reminded me why i love family shoots so much. even if i don't have these memories of the family i'm photographing - someone does. and i get to be a part of that little piece of documentation.