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... Saturday June 5th, 2010

I was having some issues with my photo editing software yesturday and so I was unable to post my photo for the day. But all is fixed for now and so sorry that it's late. Don't worry I do a completely different post for todays photographs. So I was on the metro and there was a guy who sat down 2 rows infront of me and I saw the image form in my mind. I was SO glad I had brought my camera with me when I was running errands downtown or I would have missed this. These are the simple things I enjoy about Maryland/DC.

Have a great night!

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...

My photograph today, makes me feel like a Cat-Lady. I'm not by definition a Cat-lady, I mean I'm engaged and I have a social life. I most likely wont live my life out knitting at home alone with 7 cats. But, my photo today is of my cat. Her name is Princess, my family has had her since I was in the 2nd grade, which makes her something like 16 years old. She has been a loyal, calm, gentle and loving cat her entire life. I will miss her more than words can express, when I move. The past 2 weeks she's been having some issues that frequently occur in older people, she's a cat and we've never had a cat live quite this long so we are unsure whether this is a normal "old cat" problem or if its indicative of a more serious problem. But, we're worried, and the thought that I might NEVER see her again, is down right devestating to me. So, my photo today is of her.

Have a good night.

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.

Tonight was the last night for Monday night 24 crew for me. It was so much fun but so sad at the same time. I am going to miss these girls SO much. Monday night crew has made mondays something i look forward to, instead of something I dread. I wish I could just teleport all my amazing friends from Maryland to Austin so I can still do these kind of things. So my photo tonight is of this Monday night. Its maybe not the strongest image but it has people I care about in it so its good in at least one way.

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... Project Day 2

Today I had a lot that I wanted to capture for this project and I didn't end up photographing any of it. But I did spend sometime packing, and when I was packing I came across my supply of blank canvases and it got me thinking. I sat for awhile with this canvas in front of me and just wondered what it would be. I use to sit and stare at canvas and imagine all the possibilities. I haven't done that in such a long time. So it was nice to take some time to do that, then after I made a stack of the blank ones, I found a bunch of my paintings, some that I love, some that I hate and wish I could just throw away and it was very inspiring for me. I probably spent an entire hour just sitting looking through these paintings of mine. I realized that out of everything I did today, this was the most refreshing and was the thing that reminded me most of my life here in Maryland. So that is what my photo is of today. Its not a particularly great photograph, but it was something worth documenting. I might read this tomorrow when I wake up and think I must have been crazy when I took the photo and wrote this post but, right now its right.

So, enjoy, or not, but this is my day:

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!

The LONG awaited Mandy + Joe Post wedding sneak peak!

So, I know everyone has been waiting, for a very long time to see the rest of the Mandy + Joe post-wedding shoot. It happened back in November and its now Mid-May. But trust me, it will be worth the wait for this last installment. :-) I am almost finished with the entire set, and will most likely be posting the full preview here tomorrow night, but I am just too excited to wait til then, so I thought I would post a little sneak peak.

So enjoy this PDA-licious photo. Mandy and Joe are totally not PDA people, but they pushed thru this inhibition for this session and I think they will be glad for it. So without further ado, I present to you the offical sneak-peak:

Have a great night!

sneak peak!

Here is a little sneak peak of Ashley's Senior session. Ashley is my cousin. She is super smart and is graduating a year early, this June, and so we headed down to DC to do some senior portraits. I'll give you more info about her when I do a full post. Enjoy!

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:

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 :-)

Its photo of the day

Its kind of late and I'm more than kind of tired.

Photo of the day:

Runner up:

Family

Today I spent the day with my sister Katie and her family because its my mom's birthday. We went shopping and then to my niece Grace's (my sister Katie's daughter) christmas play that was rescheduled. The play was so good. It was simple and pretty short, maybe 30 minutes but it was really nice and all the kids did an amazing job. Right after the play was over my sister was holding her other daughter hannah and it was such a sweet moment so I told them to look at me and I snapped this shot. You might remember both of them from my photo of the day this past wednesday, originally this fact had deterred me from choosing this photo but it was just too good to pass up.

I've decided that I am really over winter, and that the only reason I thought I liked it was because of the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. I wish the cold weather would go away because it makes me a bit mopey, I tend to want to curl up in a ball and avoid the world. Not a good thing to do so I'm trying to fight through it and hold out for Spring. Well enough random musing, have a great night and a great Monday tomorrow!

Photo of the day

I spent the entire day wandering around Alexandria Va. on a photo adventure with my Best Friend Mandy, so naturally my photo of the day is of her. Just a little more insight into my life. It was SO cold, it definitely felt like winter. When we first went out we were like "Oh its not that bad, everyone was just over reacting" and then we were out there for more than 10 minutes and we were Freezing! I'm sure I'll be posting more photos from the day in a week or so. But for now here's my photo of the day:



Have a great night.

Day 2- Photo of the day

Today I was able to have coffee with my best friend after work. It was a spur of the moment thing and I am certainly glad for it. It was great to sit and chat and catch up while drinking some coffee. I took some photos while we were there to use for my photo of the day today because it definitely fits the bill for this photo week challenge of being a sneak peak into my life. So, I present to you, my loyal readers (all 2 of you :-) ) my photo of the day, along with 3 other photos from the event. Have a great night!