These Days...Life is an adventure

Today I spent the day running around getting things done. I had 2 doctors appointments, I went to the court house and got the marriage license, I signed the loan for my car, I picked up the u-haul truck. I ate lunch with the wonderful Debbie :-) She tagged along for the second half of my day and was a joy to be with. After that I packed, packed and packed some more. I am ALMOST done packing. I wish I was completely packed but I am not. I have to finish packing my clothes, my crafting and office stuff, my shoes, and my movies and then I will be finished. It seems like a lot but I've gotten at least half of my clothes and office stuff packed and my movies are in a binder I just need to make sure they are all in there. I load a bunch of stuff into the truck so that tomorrow I don't have too much work to do. It was an extremely productive day. Tomorrow is looking much the same. I have to get up early and pack, then I have to get the title and registration sorted, then lunch with Mandy and hopefully a good afternoon with her as well. Then dinner with Sarah Patch in Friendship heights. Then hopefully last minutes things like shower stuff with get packed and I will be in bed before 9 pm. Its a difficult schedule but I believe I can accomplish it all. This moving stuff has become kind of exciting. This life truly is an adventure!

Have a great night!

These Days...Sunday June 6th, 2010

Today was my bridal shower. I have to say, it was fabulous. I have the best friends and family ever. They threw an amazing party that was everything I could have imagined. Everyone who came was fun and friendly and gave me such awesome gifts. It was a perfect day.

My morning started with the hairstylist coming over to test run my hairstyle for my wedding. Next my bridesmaids came over to pick things up. Then they went to Tom & Ray's restaurant in downtown Damascus, while I finished getting ready. I showed up at Tom & Ray's and everyone was arriving. I started to get a little nervous, I wasn't sure what to expect. But like I said, it was fabulous. I had such a great time.

After the shower my best friend and Matron of honor, Mandy went out and got coffee. It was wonderful to get to sit down and talk to her about life and everything. Its been a long time since we've had the chance to just sit and talk one on one. I am very grateful for that time. Because she is amazing part of my life here that I am so sad to leave, I decided to use her as my subject today. I wanted to take photos of her that really show who she is. That is why there are 2 photos of her, one to show her silly quirky side, and the other to show her thoughtfulness and intelligence. She is a wonderful personm and has been like a sister to me and I will miss her dearly.

I have been thinking for sometime that I needed to go over to the old broken down laundromat in Damascus and take some photos. the laundromat has been there since as long as I can remember. My mom and I would go there anytime that our washer or dryer broke at home and we needed to do laundry. It had these awesome like yellow and orange colored washers and dryers it was very 1970s and I use to LOVE it. There was one time when I was maybe in 9th grade that we needed to go there and it was still open but extremely rundown. My mom and I were there at like 8 o'clock and it had gotten dark and we were the only ones there, it was SUPER creepy and there was this backroom with the door just cracked open but it was completely black in there and i kept thinking I heard noises in there and I wanted to leave and so I saw the door MOVE and freaked out and so my mom was like well its time to go anyway and we go to the main entrance and all of a sudden a man just appears at the main entrance door, like out of no where, totally freaks me out. We haven't been back since. But that's the time when I originally got the idea for doing a photo shoot there. At the time I thought a photo shoot inside would be rad, but since it has closed since then, an indoor shoot would be impossible. The outside has gotten more rundown and I wish desperately that someone would restore the building to its original splendor and make it a historic landmark. I dunno, I would just hate for it to get torn down. Its such a cool place. It even has a self-service car wash behind.

So today I decided that it may have been torn down by the time I'm in Maryland again and so I wanted to at least get a few photos of the place. I was way to chicken to wander too far from my car since a sketchy van was sitting in the parking lot as well. But I got a few shots. I hope to go back there with someone else during more daylight hours and get some more shots. But with all the packing and things I have to do, who knows if that will happen.

So without further ado, here are my photographs for today:

I have to say, that I am a bit frustrated with the change in saturation and color between the version in lightroom and the jpeg I load onto picasa. I am too tired to go back and over-sat and re-load it to post so enjoy the "not quite right" versions of these photos :-/

These Days... meets Wordless Wednesday (for real this time)

These Days... Tuesday June 1st

This evening we worked on finishing up the little details with the Jam for my bridal shower, so my photo today is of that. Its WAY to grainy for my taste but I didnt have the chance to take a better one.

So here it is.

"These Days..." Saturday, May 29th, 2010

With the These Days... project I've been trying to document my last days in Maryland, and/or the things I will miss about Maryland once I'm a citizen of Austin. Well, I spent my evening tonight, not just busy but busy with something I will dearly miss once I move. I came home from Babysitting for the last time in Maryland. I babysit on a pretty regular basis for this one family, and let me tell you, they are A-mazing. The parents are so kind, friendly and funny. The 2 children are so well behaved for their ages and are so much fun. We build forts, we play basketball, we put on concerts/performances, we play hide-and-seek in the "dark" house, we play mother-may-I and Red-light-green-light. We have a BLAST. I am really going to miss this family when I move. This evening was special, since it was the last time I'd be babysitting for them, so I decided that I was going to do something special to commemorate this. So, I went to the store and got supplies for make-your-own Ice cream sundaes, AND I also got a package of parachute-men. Let me tell you the evening was a success. We all had a great time. We even watched a movie. So, I brought my camera along so I could get some pictures of our epic sundae making and this is how I have my photo today. I got a lot of cute photos of the kids, but I won't be posting those here tonight. I hope you like my photo.

I know you all must be thinking, "Didn't she just post a picture of ice cream a couple of days ago?" and the answer would be yes. But this ice cream, while it may not be delicious jimmy cone, is way more special. It was a wonderful time with a family I'm going to miss. So attempt to refrain from calling me a fatty, at least until/if I post another ice cream photo. ;-)

Have a great night.

Wordless Wednesday meets the "These Days..." Project

these days...

I have to tell you all, that I have an amazing commute to work. Its not amazing because its super short or traffic free, but amazing because its a beautiful drive. I want to remember that about my life in Maryland, and so I took a picture at one of my favorite places on my commute. Its not the best photo and I may attempt to take a better one. So here it is:

These Days... Day 3

Today was a good day, even though things didn't go quite as planned the things that did were wonderful. It was nice to have the time to slow down today and just enjoy the little things, like eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I just never have time to do that in the mornings any more and so it was nice to do today. I am going to miss the little things like the cereal bowls my family has had most of my life. I dunno, its such a small thing but it sticks out to me and I'm going to miss it.

My first photo today is of my breakfast for that reason, I'm going to miss this bowl and this mug. My other photos are actually from the place where I'll be having my wedding this fall. I decided to drive over there today and walk around and look for good places for portraits. Its such a beautiful place, it was nice to explore a little bit. So its super late and I would have posted these earlier but I fell asleep by accident and woke up not to long ago to finish up stuff for the day. Have a great night!

These days...

I'm starting something new here today. This idea has been mulling around in my brain for a week or so and I have decided to act on it. I happen to be moving from this wonderful place called the dc metro area, to the amazing city of Austin, TX. This is both a happy and sad occurrence. It will be so difficult to leave everything I know, all my friends and family and move half way across the country. But at the same time, its so exciting to move to Austin, where I'll get to see my Fiance every day, and start a new job, and be where I'm suppose to be.

So, I'm a mix of emotions. The idea is, to photograph my life here in Maryland from Today (Sunday) until Wednesday June 9th, when I leave on my 2 day journey. Originally I thought I would just document the Maryland side of things, but upon further consideration, I have decided that I shall document the entire journey, including the move into my new apartment at the end of June. SO, that means everyday for the next 37 days, I will be posting 1 or 2 photos from my day. Not of random things like I usually do for my photo of the day, but of the things and people that make up my day. To document the things I love about Maryland, about my 2 day drive to Austin, and about my new life. It will most certainly be a challenging thing but, I am sure that I will be glad for it. This is the biggest thing to occur in my life so far, I think its worth documenting.

I have decided to name this little thing of mine the These Days... Project. The title is inspired by a song from the Denison Witmer Recovered Album called These days, the original song is by Jackson Browne. I have had this album since it came out and I just love his rendition of the song, and lately its been stuck in my head.

Today, after church I met up with Miss Sarah Patch. We got lunch in Adams Morgan at Tryst, and then headed down to the National Gallery of Art, to enjoy a Photography Exhibit . It was a great day. I am certainly going to miss spending time with Sarah, she has been one of my good friends since I was in the 5th grade. It was great spending the day with her, and so I made her my subject for my photographs today.

Now I'm off to the grocery and then I'll hopefully get to curl up with some hot tea and talk to the fiance. Have a great night!

Mandy + Joe the Full Post-Wedding Preview

I think this post's title says all that needs to be said. If you've followed my blog for any amount of time, you know that this post has been long coming. So here is the story: back in November the 3 of us headed down to Alexandria, VA and the district to do a little post wedding shoot for them. They had been married about a month and I wanted to try out a new camera. So we made a day of it.

Enjoy!!

This would be great right now...

Moroccan Mint Tea, Chocolate Salty Oat cookie...

This would be great right now... but maybe with hot tea...

Busy Busy Busy

SO I have been Busy Busy Busy this week with editing of photos, wedding stuff, moving out stuff, and work has been super busy with a bunch of special events this past week. To top it all off, I went to my friend Jess Morris's wedding on Saturday to see her become Mrs. Jessica Friley. It was alot of fun. Today My mom, My sister, My aunt and My cousin all went with me to a bridal expo in Gaithersburg. We had a great time, and it gave me some great ideas. The main one is what my table centerpieces will look like. Originally I thought I would do eclectic candle centerpieces but have decided to modify that by adding mason jars with flowers in the center of the table with a mish-mosh of candles surrounding them. I did a test run so that when I meet with the florist, hopefully this week, I'll have something to show her. I thought that since I was going to be taking pictures of them anyway I would post them here as well. Enjoy. Have a great Sunday afternoon!

From blog stuff

So the secret...

So the secret that I was going to post about a few Monday's ago was this photo book I made for my boyfriend for Valentine's Day. I took a bunch of photos of ways to say "I love you" and then put it together with pictures of us and made a book for him. I think he might of liked it, I hope he did any way, I worked so hard on it.

I apologize for not posting about it sooner but, I have a good reason, I got engaged! He proposed on Friday night (2/26) after we went to the opera at the kennedy center. That has caused me to be a bit preoccupied with wedding planning and the logisitics of life after the wedding. Busy Busy Busy, stressful, stressful and busy, that has been my life this past week and a half. I feel as though with all the stress and busyness and work I've been doing that this thing should be planned and ready to go, but it isn't in the least bit, I haven't even decided for sure if its going to be in Austin or in Maryland, I've got to price it all out and then book a location. Tonight I plan on putting in requests for info for a few places in both Austin and Maryland and finding out what they've got to say. Hopefully by Monday I can have a decision about location, so that I can move forward with plans.

This afternoon was my friend Jess's bridal shower, she is getting married in April. It was A LOT of fun. It was so intimate and fun Mandy did an awesome job with things. After that we went over to Glen Echo to walk around and take photos, it was relaxing and fun. THEN I got home and went to David's Bridal to browse and get an idea of what they have so I can be ready for my appointment next Saturday morning. So much to get done but it'll be worth it. Honestly all I really care about is getting to marry the love of my life, the rest is just details. I want to get all that planning out of the way so I can get back to living life more normally, I dont want my life to become consumed with planning this one day for the next 8 months, because it will be over and real life will resume, a much better real life than now, because I will get to live life with my best friend, but still it will be really strange to not be constantly planning. So the faster the planning is over, the better. :-)

So here are the photos from my Valentines day project:

secrets, secrets :-)

So for awhile now I have been working on a secret project. I have taken lots of interesting photos for it but cannnot post them until next Monday for fear of compromising the project. It fills me with so much excitement! I am SO bad at keeping excitibg secrets in, it makes me feel like I'm bursting at the seams. I have also been busy playing catch-up, editing photos of Mandy + Joe as well as finishing up Melissa's session. Should be finished with Melissa's by the end of the week, which will be such a relief.

In other news, I got my cast off today! So exciting, but also kinda rough, because I still have a lot of pain and it limits my use of my left arm a lot, almost more than when I had the cast, only because there is no support and nothing stopping me from jerking or twisting my arm in too hard or in the wrong way. Hopefully it'll get better soon. The boyfriend comes on Sunday the 21st and I'd really prefer to not be injured when he's here.

I am not operating under any false illusions, and so I know that you haven't come to my blog soley to read about my terribly unexciting life, thus I shall post a sneak peak from Mandy + Joe's post-wedding session.

Have a great night!

wordless wednesday

this is the snow that never ends, it goes on and on my friend...

so it snowed for 2 entire days and is going to snow again on Tuesday. I have to say I actually dont really like snow all that much, but I do like taking photographs of snow and hulling up in the house with a cup of hot tea and a good book or movie when its snowing.

Today I decided to venture out and take some photos. Here's the only one I really liked...

Tomorrow I have to leave work early to head back to the doctor to get my arm checked out again and hopefully get this big blue cast off...

My arm still really hurts, actually just about the same as when thet put the cast on, but I hate having the cast on, 1.) because its really itchy and 2.) because I hate the limitations it creates in my normal everyday activities. But we shall see what is to happen next. I'll update in the next couple of days. Have a great night!

P.S.-The photo of my cast was apparently taken last Tuesday, which leads me to believe the meds the doctor gave me caused some me to do some time travelling, because I don't remember taking it :-)

A good excuse

I know it has been quite some time since my last post, but I promise it is not without good reason. That reason is that I have been busy editing photos from my various photo shoots and adventures, and setting up a flickr.

The other really good reason is that I fell shoveling snow and cracked a bone in my elbow and now have a big blue "L"-Shaped cast on left my arm (which happens to be my dominate arm) that makes everything take a lot longer and that makes typing rather difficult. I think more than anything, its just frustrating, because I'm use to the conviences of bending and turning my arm and hand and thus everything in life right now is that much harder. Plus, my arm does hurt a good bit.

But enough of that. Here is proof for you that I have indeed been working on things:

Also check out my flickr. Have a great night and enjoy the snowy-craziness that is maryland this weekend.

Nothing quite like a clean and organized work space. :-) I spent Sunday night cleaning and organizing my creative space because, frankly, it was a HOT mess. Nothing was organized it was just all piled up, so much so, that I couldn't even use it at all. Lol. But now its wonderful and clean and has inspired me to be crafty once again. I made a cute new valentine's day mug cozy that I'll be putting up on my etsy page tomorrow. Since every post is better with a photo, here is one of my newly cleaned craft space:

Photo shoot-Melissa 2010

On Wednesday I got a text message from my good friend from college, Melissa. She asked me if I would be able to do a last minute photo shoot with her so she could have some head shots for an audition she has this Sunday. Well, of course I jumped at the chance. I can't turn down a good challenge, taking and editing photos all in one day. It was a lot of fun and I got some really amazing photographs of Melissa, she is just stunning and amazingly photogenic. Here is a slideshow with the photos I edited for her today. I'll post a full preview next week when I've gotten around to editing more of them. Have a great Saturday, And thanks Melissa!