Monday, November 21, 2005

The weekend

Saturday's first appointment was a no-show. That seems to have been a common theme for last week. At 3PM I met a Bride2B downtown at a beautiful old church building and spent an hour making bridal portraits. Then we traveled back to my place and spent another 45 minutes taking some gorgeous images in the meadow with the last rays of the golden fall sun on the mountains, in the background. I believe they may be the best bridal portraits I've ever shot. :0)

Sunday morning, late, I headed up to Mom&Dad's house to meet the family and welcome Race home. Everyone was already there when I arrived. Race looks good--none the worse for wear!

WELCOME BACK, RACE!!!

Me and the kids went down to the barn and played chase on the rows of hay bales. Q, who was hesitant at first, was running and jumping bravely with the big kids by the time we were ready to head back. Everyone had a great time and we were all a little tuckered out when the cell phone call from the house--the modern dinner bell--came through.

Little W was awake when we arrived back at the house. He is such a good talker now! And still just as cute as can be.

Supper was just fantastic, as it always is at home: steaks off the grill, Montreal seasoned; baked, buttered sweet potatoes, fresh green salad, thickly sliced hunks of crusty garlic bread. And the WHOLE family there together to laugh and talk and enjoy it!

Austin and Jackson and I (with Q popping in and out of the fray, occasionally) engaged in numerous to-the-death light saber battles in the front yard, by the light of the porch. The boys' padded swords from martial arts endured a thorough workout that evening, as my bruised and battered knees and elbows will attest! It was SO much fun.

This morning, we headed up to the skating center (minus Em& the Gang) and I spun tunes from the DJ box while the kids skated and played games and generally frolicked. From there, it was lunch at the little family pizza and sub place. The USA Shooting Competition arcade game was played non-stop until the food arrived. We've got some real sharpshooters coming up in the fam, I'd say!



Well, that was the weekend. I'm back home, now, and pretty tired. The next couple of days are going to be full--lots of work to be completed before I can head home again. I'm really looking forward to the holiday: family(the WHOLE family), food and hunting!!! Does it GET any better than that??

Thursday, November 17, 2005

I KNEW it, I just KNEW it!

I mean, I always suspected it, but now it's just OFFICIAL!
(I found this over on Kathy Jo's blog, Barefoot Meandering))

You scored as Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones is an archaeologist/adventurer with an unquenchable love for danger and excitement. He travels the globe in search of historical relics. He loves travel, excitement, and a good archaeological discovery. He hates Nazis and snakes, perhaps to the same degree. He always brings along his trusty whip and fedora. He's tough, cool, and dedicated. He relies on both brains and brawn to get him out of trouble and into it.

Indiana Jones


88%

Lara Croft


87%

Batman, the Dark Knight


83%

William Wallace


71%

Maximus


71%

Captain Jack Sparrow


63%

The Terminator


63%

Neo, the "One"


54%

The Amazing Spider-Man


50%

James Bond, Agent 007


50%

El Zorro


42%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.


Monday, November 14, 2005

Yesterday's wedding consultation was a no-show. But, I accomplished alot of digital work and the portrait session with Austin went well. He and Jack stayed at my house for a few hours while Savannah was at ballet. When the pictures were finished we took the dogs for a run out in the field and climbed on the hay stack. The boys had a running light saber battle using dried cornstalks that was very amusing to watch and listen to. At one point out of the semi-darkness I hear Jack's voice announcing loudly to a fallen Austin "Drop your sword and I'll kill you quickly!". I was rolling.

When we got back to the house, the boys started a campfire in the yard and messed around with it until it was time to go. I gave Jackson my lighter (not without some trepidation) to light the fire. When I walked back outside I could hear Austin admonishing him to be careful, but allowing HIM to light it, all the same. I thought that was nice. Alot of big brothers would have wrestled it from him and lit the fire themselves.

They really get along well. Austin obviously finds Jack to be just this hilarious, wide-open little person and genuinely "likes" him. And Jack, even when he's trying to aggravate the sense out of Austin, will come to his defense in a moment if he thinks Austin needs defending. That's so nice to see. Too many people let their kids fight amongst themselves like cats and dogs instead of teaching them to respect one another and work things out. Now that's not to say the occasional little scuffle doesn't have it's place. I think it probably does. But there shouldn't be lasting mailce or bitterness.

The biggest incentive for me and my sisters not to argue and fight was Mom declaring that she would force us to kiss and makeup, afterwards. Oh, the horror! Many a fight was very quickly de-escalated that way, I'm here to tell you! LOL!

On the way out to meet Melissa and Savannah, we listened to U2's "Vertigo" a couple of times with Jackson repeatedly sneaking the volume up louder. The kid really digs his tunes! It was fun.

Well, I'd better get back to work here. I just wanted to jot that down while I was thinking about it. At the moment, I'm trying to wrest myself back away from the ibuprofen bottle and heating pad so I can make some more progress with the house reorganization project.

Have a great day!!! :0D

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Stuff that's been happening

Well, I just haven't felt like bloggin. I really haven't. And I still don't. But I will. Because eventually, I WILL feel like it again and I will have lost my little readership. :0D

SO:

Tuesday I worked the polls and Austin stood there with me and helped hand out literature to the voters. We both enjoyed ourselves. Later that evening, I headed back out to the post election "victory" party at the Wingate Inn with a dish of mini-fried-green-tomato-BLT
-biscuits-with-chili-mayo under my arm. Our local delegate was there and he won his race. I'd met him the week before at a campaign supper and he came over and asked how things went at my polling place. I'm glad he remembered me, as it's always good to have friends in high places. I met a few new people, but the atmosphere was not overly conducive to cheery, chatty conversation. As the numbers for the governor's race were flashing up on the TV screens, it became obvious that our candidate was getting beaten by a disappointingly large margin.

The better part of last week was spent deep in the midst of a massive home-office reorganization devoir (translation: throwing out a TON of CRAP!). I bought some new shelves and other organizational necessities at Lowes. I also purchased a toilet tank kit, which I'm dreading to deal with. It's just gross to mess with toilets, even if it IS just the tank part. Yuck.

My poor little shed is just bursting at the gills, but still, I keep hauling more stuff out there. It's gotta go somewhere and I simply cannot stand to have the clutter underfoot any longer. The massive shed reorganization devoir can wait until next spring!

Friday afternoon, Savannah and Jack came over to visit. Savannah and I did an art lesson while Jack explored the yard and played with Hilda. We then transformed Savannah into a beautiful Fall fairy and drove down the road to a pre-appointed location at a pre-appointed time when the sun is doing just what I need it to do. These are all works-in-progress, at this point, but I think they have a lot of potential. Savannah makes such a pretty fairy!

VU4R1087 copy

VU4R1081fairyc

VU4R1066fairyc2

VU4R1089fairyC


After de-fairying Savannah, we headed out for pizza and a movie. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is weird but funny. We all enjoyed it. I dropped the kids off back at home and chatted with Melissa for a while.

Saturday was spent cleaning house and then prepping for a 4PM Senior session. The shoot went really well and the images are extremely good. The girl was attractive and easy to pose. Her mother, I despised. Truly. I'm not going to get into it, even, I disliked her so much. I don't often have that kind of gut reaction to a person, but rarely does my gut lead me astray.

Anyhoo, other than one of my lights breaking and another catching on fire, it was an uneventful session. Yep, that's right, up in flames. Had to fling it into the yard. Thankfully, it was the end of the session and I played it off the best I could. I mean, you can't exactly say "Oh, it happens ALLL the time, no worries!", but when I showed the girl her images she couldn't have cared less about the fire. SO, I guess that's good, right? Could've been alot worse! ;0)

Well, anyway, that's what's been happening with me. You're up to date!

G'night, folks!

P.S. Please continue to keep Melissa and Race and the kids in your prayers!!!!

Monday, November 07, 2005

Showcase

Well. It was not the stunning success I had hoped for, but it was pretty good.

It bugs me a little that I put so much effort and careful planning into it, only to end up doing my usual dumb routine of forgetting things and rushing around at the last minute. I am rather proud of the fact that I was all packed and ready to go on Friday night, to include having my outfit all pressed and ready to slip into. So when I arose on Sat morning, I had only to shower, brew java and hit the road. Which I did. Without my suit jacket and without the door prize I was supposed to bring. *SIGH*

I arrived at the Showcase in plenty of time to run out and get a new jacket from Goody's (just across the street, thank you, Lord!) and the door prize will be mailed out to the winning bride this week. Problems solved. Another one cropped up almost immediately as I started setting up the table for the enormous TV to be displayed upon. The desk I had taken apart the night before would NOT go back together again. I begged a larger screwdriver off of another vendor, but still no luck. I was all sweaty and disheveled and frazzled by the time the TV guys arrived and the thing still wasn't assembled. I told them the problem and began to clear away my albums and frames to make room on the small booth table---I just didn't have any other place to put it. The guy stopped me and asked for the screwdriver. L.D. (that was his name, no joke!) and his little assistant proceeded to whip that desk together for me with the speed and skill of a master carpenter. They were done in a jiffy and had the TV set up for me in no time. God bless 'em, chivalry is NOT dead!

As I began arranging my display, it became apparent that I was missing...something. It eventually dawned on me that I needed something behind the booth--like a backdrop or giant tri-fold panel. All of the bigger businesses had them. Ah, well. Too late to do anything about it then. But a large and boldly lettered mental note was made to be sure to get one before the next show.

The placement of my booth was not optimal. In fact, it was probably the worst in the whole joint. It's like they hid me.The vendor locations had apparently been rearranged at the last minute and I just kind of got stuck wherever. I had chosen #22 on the booth placement chart, but #22 had been relocated--unbeknownst to me until I arrived that morning. The only thing that may have saved me, is the fact that every bride had a little sheet that every vendor was supposed to sign in order for said bride to be eligible for a cruise vacation giveaway drawing.
So a large number of brides had to actively seek me out (with binoculars and compass!).

Oh, and my booth was also directly under one of the speakers. The steady stream of music and announcements was a little distracting to myself and my potential customers as I tried to promote my wares.

By the time the show began and the brides started milling about, my booth was all set up and my friendly-wedding-service-provider smile was all pasted on. Over 500 brides-to-be attended the show and I lost count of how many brochures and business cards I handed out.
I received alot of compliments on my images and alot of folks (the majority, I'd say) perused and thoroughly extolled my albums. So that was good.

It was too busy for me to get around to check out all of the competition, but there was ALOT. Too much, really, for the size of the show. There were many more photographers than any other type of vendor. Heck, I had 4 other photographers within 50 feet of me and I was facing the wall! I guess I felt a little cheated in that regard. Most shows will hold the number of each type of vendor to a minimum in order to optimize each vendors marketing opportunities.

The show itself was a little more upscale and better attended than the last one held by this company. They had a very nice bridal fashion show and a couple of big surprises, too. Two different gals involved in the event were proposed to by their boyfriends, onstage. That was neat. And of course one lucky b-2-b won a cruise. Sweet.

All in all, it was okay. I handed out a ton of info and I made a couple of new business connections. And I learned some things, too. :0)

Here's a snapshot
of my not-QUITE-as-impressive-as-I-wanted-it-to-be-but-still-pretty-okay-I-guess display:

Showcase booth

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Mullet Haiku

Tracking the haiku theme from the Crib Chick's blog, I found this posted by Hillary in KS in the comments section on Jo's Boys blog. Unfortunately, I don't know how to link to them all cool-like here in the text of my post. But that's where the haiku originated.
It's just too hilarious not to share!

Mullet Haiku:

Party in the back
Luscious locks blow so gently
No wind can tame me

Hillbilly tresses
Ponder the meaning of life
Soaked in Budweiser

Short, for such is life
Long, for freedom has no bounds
American way

Born to Run Hairdo
Whither doest thou wander, Dude?
Home to New Jersey..

I'm a champion
My mullet sways with each pitch
I'm Randy Johnson

It's not a trailer
Angry mullet man insists
Manufactured home

His tortured nightmares
Phish concerts and micro brews
Hippies kick his *ss

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Show Prep Update and a Few Pics

As I'm currently up to my eyeballs in Showcase prep work, I'm just going to take a couple of minutes to scribble something here. I don't want to put off the few faithful readers I have by non-posting! :0)

All of my Big Gorgeous albums arrived and are in the process of being filled with Big Gorgeous example images. Sleek, newly designed brochures are printing off as I type. A 50" flat screen TV is scheduled to be delivered to my booth on Show Day. I have business cards and pens a-plenty, to hand out. My work outfit and hairstyle for the day is all settled upon. My car is just a giant dung heap and MUST be cleaned out in order to haul my stuff (and to be seen in civilized society). I have some corrections to make on the Slideshow DVD I'll be playing on the big TV. 16x20's still have to be printed and mounted. And I'm sure there's lots of other stuff that I'll forget and have to rush around to get finished by Saturday. Set-up time begins at 9:00AM and Showtime is 12:00.

I volunteered to make phone calls for my political party to "get out the vote" for November 8th's election, this week. This is not a great week for me to be volunteering, but I've ebbn meaning to get involved since I moved here and I was already committed. I have a car load full of campaign signs that I need to get put up along the road, as well. Thus far, I've struck out with every person whom I've asked for permission to put something up in their yard. That's just disappointing. And when your heart's not in your work to begin with, it's a little difficult to stay motivated when folks just keep shooting you down. Ah, well. I said I would, so I shall. I shouldn't complain. It's an opportunity, not a chore, right? (Right?Anyone?... a little encouragement here?)

I have a short, humorous story/observation to share about the volunteer phone call operation at the Republican HQ. When the Show is over and done I shall share it.



In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure:

Steeplechase at Oak Ridge 2005 (and Terrier races!)

VU4R0951 copy

VU4R0955

VU4R0934

VU4R0936

It was alot of fun!