My New Baby

It's a CAMERA!

Ain't it purty? (This is, of course, taken with my old camera) 

It's a Canon Rebel T2i, and my first real DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera. I've got a little macro lens on the way, and am considering looking into a telephoto lens because the kit lens has very little zoom on it.

It took me a while to get the hang of the manual lens and the new arrangement of functions--it didn't come with a book, but I know enough that I've been able to adjust the exposure and f-stop and ISO. (Just don't ask me what those things stand for. XD)

Most of what follows is random pictures of random things around the house. I am loving the focus and the depth this thing has--there is an instant difference between it and the old camera.

Javert was not a willing participant. He won't look at the camera at all, and this was the first time I got him looking in its general direction. Mom had popcorn to distract him.

Mein brochter. I want to get the manual focus down, so some of these aren't as sharp as I'd like, but oh well.

Mein brochter took this one, actually.

Yee. I'm so freakin excited about this camera--you have no idea. :3 I'mma be a picture-taking fool!

Les Miserables: A Review

Finally, FINALLY got to see this. It was so amazing and incredible and tear-jerking and *splodes*

But before I continue, a disclaimer: what follows is my own personal opinion drawn from one viewing of this particular version and countless viewings/readings/listenings of other movies, the Brick, and cast recordings. I don't claim to be an expert critic, nor should this be taken as an expert's view. Thank you, and more after the break.

Murr' Chrusmurs!

(or, Merry Christmas!)

Christmas at my house is...how shall I say it...very relaxed. We go over to Grammie's in the late afternoon, but for the majority of the day we laze around. We didn't even get up until 8:30 this morning (I didn't, at least...), opened presents, ate a late breakfast at 10:00, and now it's time for naps and a day full of NOTHING. *turns on Josh Groban's Christmas album*

I love it. :3

(I know a family here in town that's expecting 65 family members today and has to feed all of them. I don't know about ya'll, but that sounds stressful and terrifying. O.o)

But on to Christmas stuff! I was more excited about Mom and Dad's gift and the dog's present than I was about mine...is that weird?

We gave Mom and Dad a coffee-maker because the pot on the other one is broken. This is one of those snazzy ones that has a button to fill one cup at a time, instead of funneling it into a pot and having it sit all day. It's a purty cool coffee-maker.

Oh! Javert's present! I'm ridiculously excited about this, actually.

It's a spiky collar! :3 Now he can be a big bad dog and protect us more effectively....unless it's from the resident wild cat, in which case he whines and cries because he's afraid of the cat but doesn't want it on our property either. -.-

I think it looks rather snazzy. When I showed it to him it was like he knew it was his, because he perked his ears up and got all excited. XD

I got tea and a traveler's press! Observe:

I love tea, but I have so much now that I probably won't need any for a couple of years. At least. O.o

On a side note: the ginger mint tea is POTENT. I popped the lid off to sniff it and got a snoot full of ginger dust. I couldn't smell anything other than ginger for the better part of 20 minutes.

I love Republic of Tea. (Even though they're probably Communists or something with their 'citizen this' and 'citizen that' and 'minister of such-and-such'. XD)

By the by, we DO have a white Christmas thanks to the snow storm that moved through last week:

It looked like this (and worse) all day last Thursday. (Or was it Friday?) There wasn't much snow, but it had rained before the temperature dropped, and with the wind and ice people were going off the roads like crazy. The main highway was closed until the wind stopped because it was deemed too dangerous to drive. O.o

Kitty prints...

Javert liked it too.

And with that, Merry Christmas!

Snow

This morning it was rainy and around 40 degrees...now, there's a howling blizzard and we're expecting a low of 17 F tonight. *shivers* Observe:

The snow doesn't look deep, but only because the howling wind flings it away and into drifts. Living on the Midwestern plains has its benefits, but zero protection from the wind is not one of them. I was called in early to work today and stayed late so that the people who lived out of town could get home--the roads were horrible due to the ice and wind. So many people have gone off the road today, it isn't even funny. And my feet are little blocks of ice as well.

I leave you with that frigid image, and a punny thought:

Bilbo awoke to 'Don't Stop Believing'...it was an unexpected Journey.

*slaps knee*

Ahhh...that was awful. I'll go to bed now. You're welcome.

The Hobbit: A Review

GUYS. HAY U GAIZ.

I finally got to see The Hobbit tonight! I'm now sleep-deprived and exhausted but I HAVE to write something of a review because, well, that's what I do. However, being the sensitive person that I am I'll save the review for after the break, and if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to be disappointed in any way by 'spoilers' then don't read any further. Please and thank you.

Now, on to the review!

A Punch in the Gut

Something of a serious post this time, folks, so bear with me.

Tonight I was poking around on the No Greater Joy website for their book Preparing to be a Help Meet (long story short I'm doing a study on the book starting next month and have been looking for inspiration etc). In the process I came across a blog run by a young man named Josh Eddy.

I was reading through some of the posts, thinking to myself 'wow, it's such a breath of fresh air to come across the thoughts of someone who is so sold out on Jesus and living for Him'. It's just not that common to find anymore.

The most recent post was put up on May 12th, 2012, and as I was reading I came across the bit that explained that the one posting it was Josh's captain during basic training, because Josh died on May 5th. The post was one he had been working on before he died.

I guess...to say I was shocked is to put it mildly. I don't even know this guy aside from a few minutes of reading his blog, but I had to cry a bit because it was so unexpected to read. He was only 19 years old.

It may sound like a cliche, but we don't know how long we have to live. It could be a day, a year, 50 years...who knows? The time ultimately doesn't matter; it's what one does with that time. Are you spending the time you do have on the things that matter? I'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to this--there's a lot of wasted time in my log. There's a lot of things that I 'ought' to do but don't for a variety of reasons (most of which are silly and selfish in retrospect).

I don't mean to get all existential and freaked out. But it does give a person something to think about...

New Bed

AND a new mattress! Check it out:

The frame is a walnut 3/4-size bed (or, more accurately, 'antique' sized). Apparently back in ye olde days they didn't pay much attention to making beds a certain size and it was hit or miss as far as that goes. We got the frame from some people that we clean for, and the mattress was custom-made by some company in Texas. They did a really nice job--it'll take a little getting used to, because it's a lot firmer than my last bed, but it's very comfortable. 

There's a little nook type thing in the opposite corner of my room now that has my two bookshelves, and I'm hoping to consolidate those shelves into one big bookshelf and get a comfy reading chair. But that's not of a pressing need, so it can just wait until I get some money.

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In other news we've been making dog food over the past week. I got the crazy idea not too long ago, so we cooked up the heart and liver and organ meat from our beef, chopped it up in the food processor, mixed it with rice, broth, cooked veggies, hard-boiled eggs, garlic, and Braggs aminos, and canned it in quarts. The stuff is crazy rich--the dog is only supposed to eat two cups of it a day, and we mix it with his dry food so that it can go even farther. (He's taken to licking it off the dry and going back to finish the dry stuff when he realizes we won't give him any more. XD)

I must say that Mom has been more on top of it than me. I leave for work and when I get home she's already got it mixed up and in the canner. ^^; But hopefully this will cut down on the dog food bill a bit, or at least stretch it out. Plus we feel more thrifty and less wasteful when we find a way to use the disgusting organ meat. :P

Job Applications

I don't know why they terrify me so much. Maybe I just don't like the thought of being rejected...from henceforth I'm going to make a conscious effort to go through with them even if I think I have no chance of getting the position. Which is most of the time...but I digress.

Tonight, on a whim, I filled out an application for a company that specializes in transcribing sermons. It's something I've wanted to do for a while, especially since I need practice while I'm doing the medical thing (and working at DQ isn't the greatest place to get typing practice, in case ya'll didn't know). And if I DO get considered or--wonder of wonders--HIRED, I can quit DQ and concentrate on gaining experience and finishing school. That needs to take precedence these days, and the longer I work at DQ the more I realize how much of a distraction it is from being focused.

It really isn't that bad--the worst part is how my schedule is so broken up that I have a hard time focusing when I'm home because I'm either thinking 'time to get ready for work' or 'I'm so tired from working all day'. It's a vicious cycle. But here's to maybe getting a different job! *crosses fingers*

I've also toyed with the idea of applying for a summer job next year, like at a kid's camp or on a dude ranch or something like that. I tried to get a job out West on a dude ranch when I was 18 and didn't get it, but maybe being 21 makes a person sound a little more competent. I think it'd be pretty cool to do something like that, anyway.

And ride across the country on horseback, and become a heavy weight lifter, and act in The Hobbit, and move to New Zealand (or Ireland or Wales or England or pastoral France)...I've got a lot of really big wishes and dreams, peeps. I just don't have the money or the strength to do all of them. XD

Oh! Oh! Speaking of The Hobbit, it comes out in 6 DAYS! 

*screams*

I am so freaking excited. You have NO idea. I even made a dwarf beard to wear to the movie! See?

I know my face is kinda derpy here. BUT BEARD.

I also found that it bears a slight, passing resemblance to Bifur. Observe:

Note that I said 'slight'. No hatchet in the forehead, for starters.... :p

Gah. So. Stinking. Excited.

A Medical Find

A medical book find, that is.

But first, the latest owl image!

Good thing I have a really nice lens, because this was at least a few hundred feet away and the moment I took two steps in his direction he took off again. Sigh. 

He was fluffing himself right there -- owls are so adorable. (As long as you don't look at their fearsome talons.)

But on to the book! 

Today Mom and I were setting up Grammie's Christmas tree, and after it was all decorated and pretty-looking I started digging at a stack of old books on the heater next to the wall. One was filled with home kits and stuff from the early 1900s (that was cool in itself), and the other was this massive tome called 'Medicology'.

It's 10 books in one, and freakishly huge -- I'd hazard a guess at the thickness being at LEAST 6 inches. And it's filled with quaint words and phrasings, medical terminologies, house building (!), sanitation, herbal/natural remedies (which include belladonna, hemlock, and nightshade in small doses so take it with a grain of salt--not literally, of course), marriage guidelines, exercise, EVERYTHING. It's weirdly thorough, and used to belong to my great-grandma (my grandpa's mom, I think). Apparently she relied on it all the time for the kid's ailments and such.

I love old books like these. They're so serious and quaint and fantastic.

Oh! Storytime! I was innocently flipping through and came across a series of plates with bodybuilders! Totally not what I was expecting. All I gotta say is that the guys back then took their exercise quite seriously. Man.

Lovely illustrations of arteries and muscles and veins and nerves...I'd rather read this book than my modern medical dictionary. That thing has pictures of freaky afflictions on every other page. I can't read it without bracing a little beforehand.

Oh! Before I continue: the next bit is the very first page I flipped to when I picked the book up for the first time. It cracked me up.

I mean--this--where do I even begin?? And then it goes off on a tangent about the terrible state of privies and 'closets' and the reason women are constipated is because of the deplorable state of said privies.

Maybe I just have a weird sense of humor...but I find this freaking hilarious. It kinda set the pace for the rest of the book for me.

I'm going to enjoy reading the rest of this book, that's all there is to it.

Autumn Sunset

Got the resident great horned owl as he made his escape -- I saw him sitting in a tree next to the pasture, hooting away, and while running across said pasture to get a better picture he took off flying. So this was the only picture I got of him...oh well. There's always a next time.

The sunset was crazy a few nights ago. Just saying.

Don't believe me? This is without any tweaking at all:

And this is with a 75% layer of Soft Light in Photoshop, nothing else:

Just bumped the contrast a bit. It was pretty awesome to see. 

In other news, I finally got my sassafras. I may or may not have mentioned a deal I worked out with someone I know to trade cookies for sassafras...6 weeks later, he made good on his end of the deal. I'm currently sucking down sassafras and marshmallow tea in an attempt to soothe my sore throat. I don't know how well it's working, but it can't hurt and it tastes pretty good.

In regards to The Hobbit premiere, I pooped out at 10:15. There wasn't much going on and I can always get a recap later of the best bits (Andy Serkis running down the red carpet and high-fiving people was pretty funny). I'm thinking it's time to watch the extended Lord of the Rings in anticipation for The Hobbit. Maybe even toss in the commentaries? Yisssss....that sounds fantastic. I'll crochet dwarf beards and watch movies now that I don't have to do NaNo anymore.

Don't mock me. Crocheted dwarf beards are pretty cool.

 Mwahaha.

What I'm doing tonight....

I'm watching the world premiere for The Hobbit.

Live. 

Excuse me for a moment..... *screams into a pillow*

Would you believe me if I told you that I seriously considered spending all my life savings to fly to NZ specifically to go to the world premiere?

Then stuff happened, and I rethought the moment of insanity, and realizing that I could livestream the whole thing in the comfort of my home made me very glad that I didn't go.

Well....very glad that I didn't spend all that money and stuff. I'd still love to have gone, but it's crazy packed and there's security guards all along that red carpet. I think I even saw some mounted police on the back streets. O.o

And in 8 minutes they start the red carpet walk and interviews and such! Gah! Right now they're 22 minutes into some kind of a concert by Neil Finn, who did pop-sounding version of 'Far Away Over the Misty Mountains Cold'. Not too crazy about his version, but meh.

They're almost ready to start the red carpet walk! I may or may not check in later with my crazy bits of coverage. Mwahaha. :3

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In other news my throat is killing me. Last week I was rather sick with a sore throat and it's reared its ugly head again.

Holy crap, there's 100,000 people at the premiere. O.o Red carpet walk is about to start! There's Peter Jackson! Gah!

I be back laters. :3

NaNoWriMo 2012. Status: Finished.

The first hideous clunky first draft is DONE. Now I get cool badges and a certificate and the right to put it down and never look at it again, if I so wish. I might (MIGHT, mind you) come back and try to do something with it. Maybe.

In the meantime, like my stuff?

The final winning count!

 

And my little website badge. I also decided to get a t-shirt because hey, doing something for four separate years has to have some kind of commemoration, right?

Post Florida, Pt 2

I just realized that the title could read 'Post Florida' (as in, after Florida) or Florida Post (as in, a post about Florida). See? See? Isn't that funny?

*crickets chirp*

We grammar nerds have it rough. Sigh.

But enough jokes! It's picture time! I got to meet up with a dear friend of mine that I haven't seen since February (and since then had a baby! Holy cow!). I've been skyping with her on a pretty regular basis so we've kept in touch that way, but it's just not the same as actually seeing her face-to-face.

So the Wednesday I was there, Lydi and I hauled the boys up to Orlando and met up with Tricia at a mall. It was pretty great. :3

Wade and David meeting for the first time...hee hee.

I'm not sure if they knew what to make of each other. XD

So basically we talked and walked around this outdoor mall for hours--most of the shops were too expensive, but occasionally we popped in just to see what they had. Each circuit of this place was at least half a mile, and we walked around it in full four times that I could remember. It might have been more, I don't know.

There were little kiosks with guys hawking their wares, and they tried to draw us in every time that we walked past. After the third time that we had waved off their attempts I told the others that I was going to stop intentionally just to see what they were selling. It makes for a good memory, but I was caught for what felt like forever by some French guy trying to sell a manicure set. It was funny because he was flirting the whole time trying to get me to buy this thing from him, but I wasn't about to pay $70 for some nail kit.

It was still pretty fun, though. :p

Baby pictures time! This is David, Tricia's baby. He's pretty adorable and smiles at EVERYBODY. Holy cow. (My brother was like 'he looks like an old man!' and I told him to be quiet because he doesn't know what he's talking about. XD)

(BREAK!)

Post Florida, Pt. 1

Oh man. I had a great visit with much picture-taking -- I've got lots of pictures to share. Because there's so many and I don't want to break it up into several different posts, I'll post a few and then have more after the break. 

Warning: Beyond this point are babies. Lots and lots of babies.

Enjoy, folks!

 So Wade was sleeping when I first got there, and seemed very confused at my presence when he woke up. When I went in to get him up he just stared for ages trying to figure out who I was.

Then he ran around and showed off and all had a good time. It was great. 

Ben is a pretty cool baby too. See dem shades?

At first I wasn't too crazy about this one, because you couldn't see his face. But it's a pretty good representation of Wade, come to think of it.

BREAK!

Reporting In

...from sunny south Florida, as Rush Limbaugh would put it. 

This is my second day visiting my brother, sister-in-law, and two nephews. I've taken a few pictures, but haven't uploaded them yet so this will be a text-based post. 

Yesterday was uneventful for the most part--I spent the night at a friend's house halfway between where I live and the airport, so it was only an hour drive. I did get patted down by the TSA and they checked my hands for explosive dust. (I guess I looked like a terrorist or something--must work on not looking angry in the airport. XD)

I did leave my wallet on the plane though. Funny story about that: I didn't notice that I had left said wallet on the plane until I had been at my brother's for a while. Then I remembered that my grandma had sent some money with me to give to them, and while searching for it I realized that I couldn't find it. Cue a growing sense of doom and the feeling that I was going to completely lose it...thirty seconds after I realize that my wallet was gone I get a call from Mom, saying that she had just gotten a call from the airport saying that they had found my wallet on the plane and I could pick it up at the airport. 

Thank. Goodness. I was seriously about to start bawling or something, because it had all my money, my credit card, driver's license, etc in it. And when I picked it up from the airport, it still had everything in it. So that was exciting and thrilling all at once.

Wade has changed quite a bit since the last time I saw him--he was just pulling himself up on things and mostly crawling around. Now he's walking (or doing the Wade Waddle, as I've dubbed it) and getting into everything (per the usual) and sort of talking. It's mostly in single syllables and there's multiple meanings for each syllable: 'ba-ba' can mean 'bottle', 'bath', and 'bye-bye'; 'tee' can mean 'thank you', 'here', 'train', etc. It all has to do with context, apparently. 

When Wade saw me for the first time he had just woken up from a nap, and he spent the next ten minutes or so just staring. I don't think he remembered me...or maybe he did, I don't know. He likes me now though.

Ben is cute, but quite fussy and is in a constant state of 'sleep--eat--tummy problems--spit up--sleep--rinse and repeat'. He smiles a lot when he's not hungry or urpy, and he likes to be held unlike his big brother. I can't wait for him to be able to support himself and crawl around and stuff. It's gonna be awesome.

And that's all I got for now...oh, and I'm almost to 25K for NaNoWriMo. My story is very scattered, but it's been fairly easy to sit down and pound out 2K a day. Over the first week I was hitting 3-4K a day, hence the being way ahead of schedule...it's pretty cool. I'm hoping that after my story is 'done' for NaNo I can have the gumption to go in and start carving at it and rewriting and researching more thoroughly in order to make a tight story, because I have an idea for what I want it to be about...it's just meandering as the month progresses. Sigh. 

And with that, I'm tired. Good night, folks.

November 1st and Costumes and Foxes and Stuff

I'm going to try to update all the things, hokay? Hokay. Just don't worry if all the convolutedness makes you confused.

Today is November 1st! It's also NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)! I started doing it in 2008, and have done it every year except last year. I'm a bit more organized about it this year, at least...

For the uninformed, NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I always try to hit 2,000 words a day, just to build up a buffer of sorts (and once I get going that's a really easy goal). There's no prizes aside from the pride of knowing that one has done it--I mean, yeah, one could take 50,000 words and enter it in the word counter thing, but what's the fun in that?

What am I writing a novel about, you ask? Well....it's a story idea that's been percolating for a very long time, let's just put it that way. And I hate talking about my writing stuff because other people might find it silly. But I still enjoy doing it--I just don't show it to anyone. XD

Just know that it's a horse story. But there's lab experiments and stuff, so it's an updated horse story. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Yesterday I got to dress up all day--I don't like Halloween as far as the 'scary' stuff (I don't mess with stuff like the undead/dead/demonic/whatever. That's just something one shouldn't mess with, imho.), but I do enjoy cosplaying and it meant that I got to go to work dressed like Katniss Everdeen. Mwahaha.

(This was after being in costume for well over 10 hours. I think it held up fairly well.) (I would also like to point out that those shoes are slicker than snot on tile and I almost fell several times at work and walking into the house.)

Like the mockingjay pin? Ah made eet mahself. :3

I followed this tutorial on DA, painted it gold, and then sprayed it with shiny sealant. It's not exactly original, but it was fun (and better than the original idea of cutting out a picture and pinning that). Don't mind the flecks, they're just bits of ice cream from work...

There was a party at church for little kids (*cough* and the big kids too...), so my friend and I painted faces and hands and such.

I can paint a mean taco, apparently.

That was all fun in itself...and I got to go in later to dig through the leftover candy and pull the stuff that I wanted out. I have a bag full of Junior Minds and Whoppers and peanut butter M&M's hanging on my door to dole out over the next month. Ees gonna be awesome.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This morning we saw the fox. Outside. In broad daylight. 

This happens VERY rarely. But it was still pretty cool.

As soon as I heard Mom yelling about it in the kitchen I ran to get my camera, and got exactly 3 pictures before he saw me. But again, it was pretty cool.

He (she?) was chasing some birds here or something, because he looked up in the pine trees after stopping.

This is my favorite--I was crouched behind a block of wood off the porch and keeping very quiet, but somehow he knew I was there. This was the expression he made for about 5 seconds before taking off into the tall grass.

I was able to get such a close picture because the zoom on my camera is awesome that way. ;)

We used to have battles over the chickens with the resident fox...but since we got rid of said chickens I guess we don't have to go after him anymore. He's way too pretty (and wily) to trap anyway. ;)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Oh! Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles--I got my Kangen water filter hooked up today! I've been so excited for this--you have no. idea. 

So basically Kangen was is ionized water, and the filter allows one to chance the PH balance of the water. The more alkaline the water, the better it is for you (with 8.0-9.5 being the best range, alkalinity-wise). The idea is that people eat and drink things that create so much acidity in the body that they need to balance it out with alkaline foods and drink. I've known people who have been on Prilosec and acidity medication for years get off of it with this water, and it's helped my brother with canker sores in the mouth (they're triggered by acidic food). I've wanted this filter for ages, and finally bought one last month. 

I'm also excited because the various PH balances can also be used for cleaning anything from mirrors (6.0 PH) to sinks and tubs (2.5 PH--high acid), to taking stains and oils out of clothing (11.5--high alkaline), to mixing with essential oils (11.5 again), etc. It's just an awesome filter. These have been used in Japan for about 40 years in hospitals and such, and are starting to catch on in the US. I'll probably be spazzing about this water for a while and doing experiments and such...chronicling them here, of course. :D

But now...it's not even 9, and I'm ready for bed. All this getting up early and writing nonsense has put me back a bit. Sigh. I'll be back, hopefully before another week passes.

A Ride and Other Happenings

Yesterday I took the horse for a ride for the first time since...well, since late last September. (That ride has yet to be chronicled--suffice to say it was an adventure, to say the very least.) But yesterday's excursion was an adventure of the more relaxing sort.

On the way home from running errands I noticed that the library was having a book sale; instead of stopping with the car I decided to ride downtown with a backpack, load up, and head home that way. Y'know, because that was much easier.

It was entertaining, anyway. Especially since I found out while taking Colletta up that her bridle was broken--the screw that attaches the headstall to the bit fell out, leaving said bit useless. Fortunately, I've ridden Colletta with just a halter so many times that I was able to attach the reins to her halter and ride her downtown that way. And there were only a few funny looks from the local peasants--er, pedestrians.

(I found 4 books for two dollars at said sale, by the by: all old ones and pleasingly vintage to my eyes. They're proving to be worthwhile purchases.)

I would like to point out that riding with a backpack, even if said backpack straps are fully tightened, is not very comfortable with an Aussie saddle. The bottom of the bag kept hitting the top of the seat and it just didn't work very well.

After coming home and ditching the bag, I snagged the dog and headed off across the fields south of town for a couple of miles. Javert kept up for the most part, but he definitely started slowing down by about the halfway point. Colletta hit her stride about halfway but upon getting home she was covered in froth (that hasn't happened in ages, even during the ride last month) and moving rather slowly. My animals are embarrassingly out of shape, to say nothing for myself. <.< >.>

And today it dropped 30-some-odd degrees and it's blowing and raining and miserable and horrible riding weather. Sigh. So much for endurance stuff.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Speaking of horrible weather, this is the day that we had the dog shaved. To make a long story short, he sheds. He sheds a lot. And Mom, being sick of sweeping up ravenous hair bunnies all the time, requested that he be clipped. 

The result has yet to be filmed. But mere hours after he left the groomer, it started blowing, pouring, and the temperature has dropped from the mid 70's to lower 40's. It's nasty out there. But at least he'll be more inclined to stay home.

Well...that's the plan, at least. 

It's a very sneaky plan.

And...um....it's late, and I haven't done anything noteworthy in the past few days aside from attempt to go Primal again and surf the internet and rouse myself to accomplish some schoolwork. It's been a slow month, what can I say?

Elizabeth Marie ::Senior Pictures::

Last Saturday I had the privilege to take the senior pictures of a friend of mine. I think they turned out rather well...but see for yourself.

(This isn't all the pictures I'm giving her--just some personal favorites. It was rather overcast, so I got to play with exposure and different filters to achieve a warmer or brighter effect. That was fun.)

This was taken outside of an old run-down middle school here in town...the place is a mess, but there's little pockets of interesting-ness if one knows where to look.

A set of interesting doors at the same middle school.

Changing locations to off the square at the 'old jail'. Fun fact: my grandma used to live here because her dad was the sheriff. It's an art studio now, of all things.

If the streets in town weren't paved, they'd all have this brick cobbling. It's interesting to look at, but rough as all get-out.

Trying some different angles...

...and trying out one's modeling poses. XD

Taking advantage of a yard filled with leaves! Thank goodness for church friends and their beautiful trees.

I think this one has almost a washed look to it...not quite like a painting, but somewhat. I like it, anyway.

And this was at the lake. Said lake might not have many redeeming qualities, but it does provide a nice backdrop.

I hadn't taken pictures for anyone for a long time--a poor experience doing wedding pictures has scarred me for life--and it was really nice to get out and take some pictures without a huge amount of pressure or fuss.

(Thought I will never do wedding pictures professionally again. Just sayin'.)