I {heart} Earth.

last week the sky was amazing. Tell me you saw it!



every week Kassidy is amazing.

... ... ...

I'm feeling very moody at the moment.

and by that I mean... in the mood to make a video with the flip.

serious. as in a seriously awesome minor motion picture.

I've been brainstorming.

occasionally good does come from using my brain.

very occasionally.

<3

and here I sit...

a face full of oatmeal.

You would die laughing if you could see me right now.

oh man, I have a homemade oatmeal paste slathered all around my eyeballs and lips. If I get snackie I just give a little lick. ooh lala yummy. haha! when its gets all crusty and stiff I give it spritz of water so i can crinkle my brow again.

Soooooo I have to tell you about this because as Dr. Phil would say...

This is going to be a changing day in your life!

I actually had to look that up because I am not the Dr. Phil fan I would currently seem to be :)

A couple days ago my sister-in-law Kristi posted how she had given her daughter an oatmeal bath to help her with her eczema.

this was her exact post... Grind 2 cups oats in the blender, dump it in the bath, soak for 20 minutes and it helps relieve the itching from eczema. What the book doesn't tell you is what a mess the bathtub will be after the water drains! (I've been reading "Ezcema-free for Life" to help my little Chloe with her itchy, rashy skin.)

By the way, Kristi has no clue I went on her facebook page and copied her status to share with you all :) I think she's soon to find out though!

Kristi if you're reading this I must tell you that this is like a huge breakthrough for me. THANK YOU!

I feel like the leper that's been cured of leprosy! yes yes it's that good!

So do you know eczema? it's a horrid never ending disease which does not go away. ever. I assume most people know what this is even if you don't have it, BUT just incase its this dry scaly itching peely yuck skin.

My eczema is extra painfully annoying as it is mostly on my eyelids and above my lip.

oh? you thought I wore pretty pink eye shadow because I think it looks all rockstar? Ha! hardly. And I bet you think I drink way to much kool-aid too? n.i.c.e, but no.

that my friends is my lovely eczema. And that is on a good day when I've been very careful not to wear eye make-up. Especially eye shadow. and mascara.

I could show you my collection of ointments that have been prescribed but I think you would find it highly uniteresting especially because they don't work worth smelly old beans. they might tame it but IT IS ALWAYS THERE.

and then I met oatmeal.

I love oatmeal. I used to eat it when I was smarter. I mean for breakfast not just in cookies :) and now I wear it. I grind it up in my vitamix then add a little purified water until its pasty and then its just me and the oats slathering away in perfect harmony! I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it!

I like how i can smell it on my face. Smells all earthy and wholesome. But most of all i like how I have my eyelids back!

I even wore eyeshadow for the first time in forever! WOOT!

Try it.

TRY IT!

you will love Kristi forever too.

<3 you Kristi!!

P.S. - Katie sung this song to me in my car tonight... so this ones for her :)

and what is this you ask?


Dare I say sunrise? I woke up at 5:30 am to photograph the moon. Decided I liked the sun better.

and here is just this one more swirly photo of Kassidy that somehow only made it onto facebook. Well, until now :)



<3 !!!!!!!

{ wanted: whirled peas }

I feel like I'm always in this great race against the sun.

and I lose 100% of the time. I say that alot I know but seriously!!! It seems to be quite true.

It's a real bummer.




Can you tell where were headed with this next assignment?

Discovering the thrills of shutter speeds :) !!

I took Kassidy out to work on this little effect. It was really too late. Sun was down. I am satisfied with about one in 20 shots. Those aren't great odds for a film shoot.

Oh dear.

cross your fingers for me!!!

p.s.- this was not a recommended or suggested effect in anyway... I just kind of like it :)

p.s.s- 100% might be a slight exaggeration... maybe.

Drool.

Right in the middle of editing I was like BAM these need to hit the blog already!

His expressions are keeping me thoroughly entertained!

This is my nephew Brandon. You can call him brando if you want.









he likes me...

pretty sure.

I'm like 88% sure.

He likes me right Stace? Did he say he had fun? I thought we had fun together.

Asphalt. as in they're perched near it.

Yesterday I was so excited to scan my first ever handmade film image on to facebook.

I immensely enjoyed reading all the nice comments on it even though...



It's not prefect by any means.

And then off I giddily went to photog class this morning... where it proceeded to kick my butt. (the class, not the image)

I am not even kidding. I had a really hard time in class today. It was one of those Murphy's laws kind of days.

Even I have to admit I am glad its over :) know what I mean?

it's just that I am nearing the threshold of stress which one person can take and still also be sane. You. Don't. Even. Know.

It's not the photography. It just feels like it in the moment. It's all the 'other' stuff.

The stuff in which i dumped off my shoulders to a friend at lunch yesterday. I hate it when it all pours out. I hoped she didn't think me crazy and horrible and grumbly. I don't want to be those things.

Seriously bless her heart for listening. I couldn't possibly feel less judged.

She called me twice today. Yes twice. The first time she called it was 6am. haha! I bet you're wondering just what kind of friend rings your phone that early! (A very good one :) and then again unexpectedly later just because she was thinking of me all day.

and she said to me "I can't believe you didn't crack a tear the whole time"

I am admittedly surprised by that as well, but then again this isn't a new discovery.

Tomorrows a new day + someone cares, that right there is reason enough for me to put on a happy face and strive to find the good I seek.

Sorry I can't share more. Please don't guess. In a million years you'd never be right anyway.

g'night :)

if not for the shadows

how would you see the way the light falls?

and how can you say you love the light but not the shadows.

It doesn't even make sense.

The shadows help define the light... think about it.



5:30am | looking eastward down Elliott Road as the sun rises.

I found this photo the other day and it struck me as a bit strange... especially considering the circumstances of which it came to be.

AND IT BUGS ME. because what happened was a couple months ago we were having issues with our smoke detectors. You know how when the battery gets low it beeps very randomly... usually in the middle of the night making it that much more of a nuisance?

yes well, this wasn't that.

it was full on going off. Like my house was on FIRE.

This photo came to be on the first incident. it was approx. 5:30am. Chad doesn't even get off work until 6am. The kids were freaked out. I texted Chad numerous times... *crickets* Not knowing what was going on i decided to leave my 'used to be blue' house and go to my moms. We used to call it our 'little blue house', but it's faded to white and so it is now known as our 'used to be blue house' :)

I sent the kids out to the garage and I went back in for my camera. (indeed this is the part that bugs me)

I didn't think the house was on fire... but I didn't know. I mean it appeared not to be, but what if i missed something?

I grabbed my camera?!?!

what the heck! You see, the problem is that the camera is so super-de-duper replaceable. The images it's captured not so much.

Next time I'm grabbing the mac!!

and when I came out there was this note hanging from the door knob...



I love how they gave him my phone number! huh?! haha!!

I found the whole note hilarious. Plus I knew Chad would freak a little coming home to that which serves him right for not responding to wife texts with key words such as *fire* and *screaming bloody murder* at 5:30am.

haha. J/k about the serves him right thing. i knew he just didn't get them...

but incase you wondered, yes it does horrify me to see just how grubby my garage door/wall is! GROSS!!

p.s. if I start getting funky calls in the middle of the night... well, I doubt I will even notice because half the time I can't hear my ringer when I am awake... but still... don't do it.

not literal irony. That's MY motto.

You might want to prepare yourself...

to be super un-impressed!

Ha!

I thought I would share a bit of what I've gotten to do in my photography class.

These are my photograms...

I got a little excited and did 3!



Mr. Williams had us bring objects from home for these :) Can you tell what I brought?

let me help you out here!

a key. super cheap forever 21 necklace. 70's looking glass I found at Goodwill a while ago. scraps of fabric. Pretty little fabric sack I pack earring and bobby-pins in when I go on vacation so they don't scatter in my make-up bag. and marbles. some of which are in a plastic sandwich baggie. Yes katie, YOUR marbles... good for more than just the 'great jar of bravery' I borrowed them for :)

I had so much fun that day!

Mr.Williams gave us an assignment. I took one look and was like. pshhhah. This will be so cinchy. NOT! Haha!

I struggled with it like crazy. He gave us 12 words. We were to capture each idea on a 24 exposure roll of film. Thats 2 tries for each word. BTW... he added that they weren't necessarily literal subjects.

There were words such as 'a tree' 'a house' which seem easy at first glance but in reality were hard because um... well I don't like to be generic. (I have been known to over think things from time to time) and then there was 'light itself' which I wondered how that would look black and white...

and 'irony'... no thank you. I'd rather not.

We don't even speak that word in my house anymore!!!

needless to say my irony photo is not literal irony!

Did I tell you we went to Sedona and Jerome for labor day? I thought it would be perfect. I could get my homework done and relax all at once.

again... HA!

I should've known. Well anyway, just so you know...

my photos are fabulously generic :)

But the great part is that in school today we got to develop the film!!!!!!!!!!!! I was just happy to see something on there! Seriously, you never can tell with film. Well I can't anyway.

I tried to scan the negatives (because I am antsy, and I wanted to see what they look like if I inverted them in photoshop)

Yep. My scanner doesn't do transparencies.

I suppose I will just have to wait for Monday to see what I got.

You know what?! I am so happy right now. Like floating on air happy.

ahhhhhhhhhh! Time to go mop the floor and bring myself down to earth just a bit. Earth... yet another one of my words.

nighy night!

Krissy and James are having a baby!

I'm just going to ruin the surprise right now and tell you

IT'S A GIRL!

Do you ever have those moments where your rolling down the street, singing along with the tunes... a good song comes on and then suddenly you hear it.

Your Bob Marley ringtone. it's competing with your favorite song (that almost never comes on the radio)

You don't recognize the number so you have to make the crucial decision, ignore and continue your singalong, or turn it off and take the unsuspecting mystery call...

I took it. Honestly so unlike me. I am extremely good at ignoring the phone. Plus I have to get my singing fix somewhere (you know it's not going to be at church... right!) Ever wonder why I won't sing at church? Maybe I will tell you later. aaaaaaaand then again maybe I won't.

I was caught completely off guard When asked if I would do photos!

You can probably imagine why. It's bloody hot these days! I usually try to talk people into waiting until it cools off but this baby isn't waiting around for cooler weather!

Lucky for us we had a bit of a cool down last week. I think it only got to like 101 that day, but it was humid as heck!

Hats off to krissy! She was fabulous to work with! Didn't complain even once, but she did continue looking gorgeous till the very end :) !!






Perfect nails... just sayin.

















Krissy giggled nearly the whole time. Can I just say I love happy people?!

Thank you guys! I loved meeting and working with you! Your baby has no choice but to be gorgeous!

p.s.- I saw pictures of the nursery... oh my gosh! It is DARLING! Krissy is an artist, maybe that has something to do with it? Or maybe it's James's crafty skills. The world may never know!