{ 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!

The cheese post.

Finally!

Ok so this is something I have already posted on facebook waaaaay back in February. And my reasons for posting this to my blog 6 moths later are these...

A. not all my blog readers are my friends on facebook! Why I do not know, but it is what it is :)

B. I've been trying to cook more these days to benefit my family, ie... eat dinner at home with my kids all sitting around my kitchen table without interruption and well the obvious saving money issue I must always think about.

C. This is the perfect day after meal! ie... if for dinner you are planning to have spaghetti, ravioli or homemade pizza (or the likes of anything along these lines) ... you would put to good use your leftover homemade marinara/pizza sauce.

D. a friend of mine mentioned her attempted vegetarianism on the exact day I was making homemade pizza ~good timing Carly~ thus reminding me of my attempted veganism (didn't go well) upon which I invented this amazing sandwich which I do believe I could open a little restaurant based solely upon.

Because its really good.

and I want to share it with you...

because I love you.

I call this The Cheese Ball Sandwich

This is what you do...

toast 2 slices of whole wheat (careful here not all whole wheat bread is created equally)

I spread a little leftover homemade marinara from tuesdays nights vegetarian ravioli. I do believe homemade is key here. I wish everyone would try making marinara it is beyond yum and almost as easy as opening a jar of prego (blech!)

the next layer was fresh spinach

now dont get scared off here! after that i sauteed some fresh mozarella sprinkled with panko bread crumbs.

on top of that i had an egg cooked over easy (yes folks runny yolk... you can do it)

a layer of sliced avacado

few more scoops of marinara

freshly grated parmesan cheese

another layer of spinach then top it with your wheat bread.

YUMMY!

you're welcome :)

p.s.- I KNOW this is not in anyway a vegan sandwich (per my attempted veganism)

baby steps my friends. baby steps :)

p.s.s.- Lolo just reminded me to tell you that if you just can't deal with eggs... it's still a good sandwich, just not 'open a restaurant based solely on it' worthy is all. Omit the egg if you must.

A good little citizen of the United States of America!

As I was loading these pictures up I was eating cheesecake. I was like cheese... cheese... something about cheese.

and then I remembered what I had planned to post today. Plans change. Cheese will have to wait.

Unless you want me to tell you about how I once made a cheesecake that tasted exactly like cheese.

It was gross. Thats all there really is to that story.

...


Lucy finally got to start school today! She looks pretty excited don't you think?

no?

Um yeah no. BUT she did admit to having fun after the fact. We have been having some motivational issues with Lucy lately. Her main goal for every day is to stay home and play on the computer as much as possible.

She's an addict.


Perhaps it's time to move the computer out of her bedroom??


Do you think i dressed her patriotic enough for voting day? Total coincidence. I promise. I'm really not that nerdy.

Did you vote today?! I did.

If you live south of Guadalupe Rd. you probably didn't get to fully enjoy the monsoon taking place north of Guadalupe Rd. about dinner time. (it was a doozey) I got all excited to take my kids out in the rain and get some fun photos...

Pulled into my neighborhood... dry as a bone. What does dry as a bone mean anyway? I don't get it and yet I freely use it. Hmm.


conditions not being what I had hoped for I sat around and WAITED for the rain... that never arrived.

hence the flowing golden locks.

and the sky was moody, so even though the sun was up, it was hiding behind the dark clouds in the west.

Hence the graininess.

I saved this one for last.


I think because I love it most. It looks like an old photo I've seen before. I edited this photo three other ways and in the end boring old black and white is what stuck. With all the tricky B&W actions these days you'd think... but no.

Now i shall have to look through all my old photos to see why this is sticking out as familiar to me.

just a side note: my mom surprised me today. It was so sweet an unexpected. She must have read my recent blog post where I had posted some pretty things from Anthropologie... remember those pretty little vases?

They showed upon my doorstep today!!! Haha!! my mom is amazing.

love you ma! <3

(just goes to show what putting it out there can do for you!!)

cheese and tomato with a side of nostril rings

If I could choose just one word for today it would most definitely be

Sweltering!

This sweltering days is the day I happened to find myself at school for the first time in like, ummmmm... 10 years?

Wow. That makes me feel really old. But wait, community college style schooling, closer to 14 years. Crazy!

Here's my little synopsis of my time at college today...

Showed up with scant time to spare. Parked without a parking permit. What can I say? I like to live on the edge... not really though, I just didn't want to be late because I was really excited!! :)

Sat front and center so I could stare the teacher down right proper. He didn't notice.

Sat there kinda awkwardly for near 5 minutes whilst the rest of the class filed in.

and guess what! I WASN'T the oldest person in the class!! Woot! There was this one guy that was noticeably oldish. He gave me a wink and a nod, I think he was acknowledging our common condition. That being people over the age of 20. But just for the record oldish dude... no more winks or nods please.

When Mr. Williams started talking it went alot like this...

This is my first year teaching here, he said. I have previously taught at ASU, the labs here are much nicer

Yeah Yeah!! I like where this is going :)

At this point you can't wipe the smile off my face.

I was sitting next to Taylor. He has a liking for body piercing. Really that is just a guess... he had something shiny and loopy in his nostril. He is the only person I took any real note of and mostly because of his shininess. And maybe because he was sitting next to me. And I could smell him alot.

very smokey shiny little fella.

and then just like that Mr. Williams piped up again

This should be a short class, we can't really do anything without cameras.

Wait what? You people didn't bring your cameras?!?!?!?!!

*cue smile fading*

further along whilst reading from 'required materials' list

you guys will need to purchase a camera, I recommend thePromaster 2500PK with 50mm f/1.7 lens.

Wait what???? You people don't even have a camera yet??!?

oh and by the way, there's no class on Wednesday... take that time to gather your materials

and then it was over, just like that.

What? I feel so jipped off!

Sooooooo I packed up my camera and headed over to Tempe Camera to gather all the other supplies on the list. it was a long list. $191 long.

In all fairness it does say in bold type and underlines: $$$ Photography is very expensive!!! Expect to spend up to $400 for materials

So I guess that includes the camera?

But don't get me wrong. I am still super excited for the days that class is actually in session, which apparently is next week.

Remember the post I did a while ago with shots of Natalie that I did with my photography group? I kind of forgot to show you that one image I talked so highly of. Remember? It's the one Rhonda took.

Still. LOVE.

Here it is for you guys...



Something about it I just kind of adore :)

I had other postings planned for today but they will have to wait until tomorrow. Just think CHEESE.

Everybody loves cheese right?

well... until you eat too much that is. Then you suddenly don't.

Dear Lolo,

Do you remember that cheese and tomato salad I made you that one night? Remember how it was literally just cheese and tomatoes drizzled with oil and vinegar? Still one of my favorite salads, I mean if you add the cracked pepper and basil its better but we do what we can with what we got.

love, Jill

p.s.- That has nothing what-so-ever to do with the next post. Just a happy thought I'm passing along :)