I'm a Serious, Enthusiastic, Amateur Photographer

This is a pic of Jordan when we were at the Cherry Blossom Festival a couple of years ago. He taught me everything I know about photography. I would call myself a serious, enthusiastic, amateur photographer. But, Jordan? He's an artist. He's modest so he won't like that I wrote that. Jordan studied photography in college. He has a BFA in photography. 

Another Thanksgiving....Another Birthday

My favorite daughter (only child) had her birthday on Thanksgiving Day! She has achieved so much in this last year. She is such an inspiration to me. She has worked so hard.

You remember last year she walked more than a marathon for Avon's Walk for Breast Cancer. I went for moral support and to camp in a pink tent. In just a little over a year from the big walk, she has really embraced the whole athletic thing. 

She has completed SIX races! She is no longer walking! She is RUNNING.  

She even ran the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot on her birthday/Thanksgiving. First thing in the morning...before the big Thanksgiving Feast! 

She has already signed up for her first race for 2014. 

She looks like she is having so much fun! I'm inspired...

11/28 is a SPECIAL DAY

D's 18th Birthday Celebration

Thanksgiving-2012 (Just last week)

Today is my daughter's birthday! Look at her as an infant. 

Isn't she absolutely adorable? 

She has the cutest, teeny, tiny hands. And her mouth is so little and perfectly pursed. I just love looking at the precious gift we were given!

My girl is one of my absolute favorite people. Seriously. LOVE HER!

So, I'll try not to be too mushy here...but I have to gush a little.

Daughter and I enjoy hanging together. She makes me laugh. But the weird thing is that D says I make her laugh! How funny is that? Actually, I think she thinks her Dad is funny too. Some of the clues for this is when she says things like: "You two are so funny".

1. "This is my life we're talking about"
2. "Mom, stop talking. I'm thinking."
3. "Can I have a Bull Dog?" ("Bull" sounds like "boul" in "bouillon".)

1: D. had taken two of the set of three hepatitis immunizations. She was still in pre-school. If you haven't had this immunization...it hurts A LOT! Big needle and thick serum in the muscle. Let me say, holding your little girl while this scary shot is administered is hard. Very hard. You know you are doing the right thing...but...

After the second shot (a month after the first) the nurse said just one more shot to go. {Which would be an additional 5 months later.} EVERY DAY D. would ask me how much longer until her shot. Every morning while we were driving to pre-school and every evening while we were driving home. "Mom, when is my shot again? How many sleeps?" I was so sad that my girl was so worried. When you are in pre-school time is measured in sleeps. And I could not imagine my sweet girl thinking about this for 5 months of sleeps. I told her to try to forget about the shot. It was going to be so long that she shouldn't be thinking and worrying about it. Her response? "I can't stop thinking about this. This is my LIFE we are talking about."

2: I was usually pretty chatty on the drives home from pre-school. One evening D. didn't seem receptive to my questions of "What did you do today?" But I was always so giddy when I picked her up I couldn't stop myself from trying to engage her in chatter. Finally, D. pleaded, "Mom, stop talking. I'm THINKING". Love that!

Okay. Last one.
3: One of D's favorite pre-school teachers became a family friend  She would often sit for D. at her house so Hubs and I could have a date night. You guessed it. The teacher had a bulldog. D. was completely in love with this big sweet animal. Almost daily D would ask, "Can I have a Buuuull dog?" I would always say, "No honey". And she would say, "Can I have a German Shepherd?" (Her uncle had a German Shepherd).  Again, I would say "No". To which she would say "Well, then can I have a Buuuuullll dog?".

She started practicing her negotiating skills young. Love that!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Baby Girl!  Love you!!!

Dakota

Two of my favorite people lost their sweet Dakota this weekend. They are heartbroken. I am heartbroken for them. 

I wasn't sure I would talk about this loss here. But I found that I couldn't talk about anything else. This is all that is on my mind. 

Losing someone you love when they leave this earth is truly hard. And really, really sad. And this weekend, my loved ones experienced this loss with Dakota. The fact that Dakota is a German Shepherd does not change that she is a "someone".

I have nothing I can offer to ease their sadness. My own losses do not offer any comfort. One loss does not ease the burden of another loss. 

All I can do is let them know I love them. Let them know I loved her. Let them know I am sorry for this hole they have in their heart. 

I can honor their loss by honoring Dakota's memory. I can honor her life and the happiness she gave while she was with us. Dakota will be missed. Perhaps this is all there is to say.

Guess Who Had a Birthday...

My Man had a birthday last week.
You'll remember that in May I had a birthday and we celebrated by going to Vegas. That vacation was exactly what I needed. It was a wonderful time of both doing and not doing. Doing=Several shows. Not Doing=Room service and time in a cabana.
The first time I went to Vegas was to celebrate a special birthday for Jordan. It's fitting that we would return for one of my birthdays.
When we were living in the Pacific Northwest I wanted to plan a birthday party that would take us to someplace fun and a little exotic. We decided Vegas could fit the bill. The Vegas trip for Jordan's birthday was filled with more Doing than Not Doing...which was also perfect. We saw several shows, went to MGM to see the lions and spent time at Siegfried and Roy's "Secret Garden" to see the tigers and other animals. (Including the Dolphin Habitat.)  The biggest memory? A visit to the Grand Canyon! We took a helicopter into the canyon for lunch.  A good birthday memory. This birthday was much quieter but no less special.  Here are few pics of the Grand Canyon visit: 

I'm Out~Taking Photos

If all goes as planned, I am "out" right now. Yep "out". We have to leave early in the morning to get the morning sun. Have I mentioned I'm not a morning person? Well, it may not be obvious....but I'm no morning person.

My husband is a gifted photographer. {Really gifted}. I've been able to tag along on many of his photo shoots. 
When we were much younger I also got to watch him work in the dark room.  I watched as he mixed chemicals and managed precisely timed chemical reactions. I watched as he experimented with getting the image exactly "right". A second more or less made a difference. 
Everything about darkroom work is precise. I think that is one reason Jordan (Hubs) is so good in the dark room. His nature allows his precision.

You may remember I purchased a trinket as a nod to my youth and dreams of photography. In fact, one of my girlfriends and I actually took a photography class in high school. 
*Aside: Why is it that teachers who teach these really cool classes, like photography, actually rob the joy out of the class to prove that it is not a "crip" course?* 
It was my first time with a 35MM camera. Why did I have to focus on reflections and all of these really awkwardly staged photos to pass? And darkroom procedures? Are you kidding me? We're talking "burn and dodge" and "frame and focus". I don't think my husband knows about my high school photography course. I was sufficiently damaged to not want to pick up a camera again for several years. I declared myself only fit for snapshots. 
But, over time, and with improved technology and gentle coaching by my Hubs, I have gotten the bug for photography. Many of the photos on this blog are by my husband. ~I know, right? He IS good. 
A lot of the photos on the blog are also mine. Don't judge my photo skill by the pics above. That was all iPhone and taken indoors (the local art museum) and I was trying desperately to capture the woman whose outfit mirrored the colors of the exhibit. It was pure serendipity. The resolution is low, but I still like the image enough to show you here. 
If I had been prepared with a "real" camera the image could be so much better. But knowing it isn't perfect is okay. 
For fun, I'll re-share some of my photos (by that I mean photos by me) that I feel more confident about. 

Relationship Philosophy and a Fortune Cookie

He's a handsome guy...right? That is the Hubs. How funny is he as he hides behind his coffee cup? I'm sharing these pics and quips about the Hubs because I realize he is often mentioned, but rarely shown here on this blog.

Many people would say that the Hubs and I are opposites. I'm never sure if that's actually true. I know the adage "opposites attract" but is it really true? Is the spark of opposites sustainable for a long and happy relationship?

Hubs and I have been together for more than half my life. And we still enjoy each other and make each other laugh. We are lucky that we chose each other. Lucky that we have a similar sense of humor and enjoy so many of the same things. We genuinely enjoy just being together.

On the surface, Hubs and I are different. We tend to relate to social situations differently. He's fairly quiet and conservative in his interactions with others. I'm typically talkative and laugh a lot {and loudly}. These differences are what people see when they look at us as a couple which leads to the analysis that we are opposites. 

I gotta say, though, I don't think we are truly opposites. In fact, we are probably more similar than different. Who knows what makes a relationship work? I suppose it doesn't matter exactly what makes it "work"...as long as it does. 

Since this post seems a little philosophical, I thought I would share Hubs most recent fortune from his last fortune cookie.  

"On the right track, means need to run even faster, or got run over."

One more day before...FRIDAY!! It doesn't get much better. 

I LOVE MOTHER'S DAY

The little cherub to the left is how I joined the Mother's Day Club. {This photo is the day we were leaving the hospital.} This was just the beginning of the motherhood adventure.  This little, little person has grown up to be a lovely young woman. And, yes, as her mother, I deserve ALL the credit. {Thank you...thank you very much.}

Of course, mother's day is not just about me.  It is a day where I can reflect on the Mothers I have been blessed with.

I am Margaret's firstborn.  This makes me the "good one".

28 YEARS

I {heart} April Fool's Day

What can I tell ya? I'm a romantic at heart. Today (4/1/12) is my 28th wedding anniversary.  I know, I know...I'm way too young for that to be true.  But...in fact, it is true.

Hubster and I met in college. He was the photo editor of the newspaper. I was the associate editor of the yearbook. Because all of the college publications were on the same hall of the student union, and because we all shared a dark room as well as other resources, I had plenty of occasions to interact with him. In fact, he came to my rescue at least once.

Working late into the night, my yearbook editor and I realized we did not have as many photographs as we thought to fill the layouts that were due. MM (the editor) and I ended up working through the night to get ready for the publisher's pick up that was scheduled to be first thing Monday morning.

Lucky for me, Future Hubs was at the student union that evening. He was hanging out in the lounge area (with the TV)...so I gathered up my courage to actually have more than a two-minute conversation. In fact, I had to ask him for something...ask him for additional photographs that we could use in the yearbook.  Photographs that may have previously been in the student paper, or never published...whatever, I just needed photographs.

He saved me that night. He gave us enough photographs to make the publisher happy. And somehow, in his quiet competence, he sort of won my heart.

Our first "date" was April 1st of the same year. Again, we both found ourselves at the student publications on a Thursday night. At some point, I offered for Future Hubs to take me out for pizza. I'm sweet like that. I was like: "Hey, I'm hungry. You hungry? How about we go out for pizza. You can drive, right?"

And the rest, as they say, is history.