photo friday

A little while back I received a request to post some of my pictures. I have tons of them. When Russell and I take a trip I just can't seem to put my camera down. The first trip we ever took together was to Rome. I was totally swept away. I have to admit that when we first arrived, I didn't think I would like it. First, on the Leo Express, we kept passing by some very poor looking areas and I remember thinking "this is not what I expected Italy to be like". But we made it to the Stazione Termini at one of the furthest tracks away. While we tried to figure out a map on the wall to see where we needed to go next, the rest of the people had already dispersed and vanished. By the time we realized we needed some help, there was no one around to ask. So we sat on a bench and read through our books trying to find a clue of how to get out of Termini. About 20 minutes later, we found another couple who helped us out and we finally made it to the main area that was bustling with people and stores. This obviously made me feel much better. We walked out into the daylight and as I began to take it all in, I knew this was not a mistake.

So here are a few photos to get things started and I promise there will be more to come. Emma, these are for you!




Buon weekend everyone!

little miss attitude

When I got home from work this afternoon the first thing I did was go and check the bed. Sounds very strange, but you'll soon see why. This past semester while I was doing my internship for school, I was in and out of the apartment a lot during the day and some days I didn't have to leave at all. I think Ally (Russ' lab) got spoiled on someone being home so much. We would go outside many times during the day and on my off days I would take her to my parents to play with my brother's dog.

Well...I've been back working with my aunt for about a month now and Ally is not too happy with me. We still go through our morning routine - out to the bathroom and walk around, in for vitamin and food - and then I get in the shower to proceed with my day. During this time, Ally will do one of three things. A) sleep on the bathroom floor and ignore me; B) sit and stare at me; or C) go in the other room and sulk. Most of the time she chooses the first option. Lately, she's been doing a combo of B and then C.

In the last couple of days she has been taking her anger out on the bed. I came home one day last week and when I walked through the bedroom, I noticed the sheets were pulled off to one side and my pillow was on the floor. I am the last to leave in the mornings and I always make the bed. I asked her "who messed up my bed" and pointed to it -just to make sure she knew what I was fussing about ;) She will sit down, fold her ears back and look at me with these big sad brown eyes. If I don't respond, she will begin to nudge my hand with her nose. On Saturday, Russ was home before me and informed me that she had messed up the bed again. I went in to straighten it out and noticed that the fitted sheet was ripped in a few places. Ally will occasionally "dig" on the bed to move the covers around to make her point and this time caught the sheets. I was so angry! Fast forward to today, the bed was again in disarray with my pillow on the floor and more rips in the sheet! Unbelievable! I now have added a little sewing project to my to do list. Thanks Ally.

If there is anything that could be funny about this story is the fact that the sheets are always in a pile on Russ' side of the bed. The rips are all on my side and it's always my pillow on the floor. I guess we know who she's mad at.

get up and dance

Music is about 80% of my day. I listen to music all the time and I'm always in search of new songs that aren't being played out on the radio. (I seldom listen to radio, it's always the same stuff over and over) Late last night while I was wasting time on the internet, I noticed I had been tagged by Laura. My first tag! And it's a good one too. I am to choose a song (or a few) that lift my spirits and make me happy whenever I hear them. It was easy to pick the songs but hard to narrow them down to just a few. Here's what I came up with:

1. Def Leppard- Pour Some Sugar On Me. Hands down the song that will no doubt get me up off my seat. The majority of my memories about this song comes from the club. It reminds me of all my closest girlfriends and I dancing the night away and having fun. P.S. They will be in concert in Louisville on August 26 and Amy and I are sooo going.

2. Gigi D'Agostino- I'll Fly With You. This one has a beat I really like and I've always loved dancing to it.

3. Kenny Loggins- Footloose. Another dance song, I know. But after you've seen the movie with an old school Kevin Bacon, how can you not love it!?

4. AC/DC- You Shook Me All Night Long. This is one of the songs I turn up real loud in my car while I'm driving around town.

5. Bloc Party- I Still Remember. This is definitely a change from the rest. It's also one of my newest favorites. It's much lighter and just really good.

Just so you know, I could have listed many, many more. If you would like to join in the fun and share your favs, here's what you do:

1. Post about the one (or more) song/s that makes your heart sing, and uplifts your spirit every time you hear it.

2. Include a trackback to this post.
3. Tag three others and ask them to include a trackback to your post and Hilda Carroll's when they post.

give me a break

It is late and I should be in bed right now but I am waiting for the clothes in the dryer to be done. This is my attempt to preoccupy my mind while I wait. There seems to be an issue with the dryer anyways. Before I go into that, let me give you some background here. I normally do the laundry for Russell and myself. Which I don't mind. Since I haven't been working much lately because of school, I end up with more free time than Russ does. So I try to take care of most of the household stuff. I will often get preoccupied or busy with other things and not notice that the laundry needs to be done. Russell has adopted this little trick as a reminder for me...when he runs out of white undershirts he leaves the drawer open that they normally are in. When I get up in the morning and walk around the foot of the bed, I see an empty drawer hanging out and know what must be done. He's so clever.

Now the problem is not with our dryer. Once the wash had finished I naturally open the door of the dryer. As I did, the air felt hot and smelled damp. I reached in to see where the heat was coming from and as I withdrew my arm, there was water on it. I bent to look inside and saw wetness everywhere- dripping in some areas. I was completely confused because I hadn't used our dryer in about a week. Russell came to the conclusion that it had to be that one of the neighbor's vents was blocked. So tomorrow I will be calling maintenance to come check it out. The guy that was patching our bathroom ceiling just finished today and not even a couple weeks ago we had the tub re caulked and a new lock put on the storage door. Oh the joys of apartment living. I promise we don't live in a dump!

Moving on to happier subjects...

I was at my parents house tonight to let Ally play with Bella (my brother's dog).

(Bella is standing above Ally who doesn't care much since she is chewing on a toy. And by the way, Bella is bigger now)

They play so much that they crash when they are finally separated. Ally slept in the car on the way home and is now sleeping on my foot. Anyways, this past weekend when I visited my parents, their neighbor had asked me if I do any photography on the side. Since I'm currently not working in a job with photography, everything I do is on the side so to speak. Long story short, their daughter (whom I used to babysit) is getting married August 4th and they need a photographer. Tonight I agreed to do it. Yay! Things just keep looking up. Then on August 18th Russell's sister is getting married and I will be taking pictures at the reception.

The dryer just buzzed, we'll see how this goes.

gotta love tumbleweed

On Monday nights, Tumbleweed (a local tex-mex restaurant)has $0.99 margaritas. Crazy I know. My friends and I used to go drink margaritas and eat the free chips and salsa. It was always an extremely cheap night out. Apparently many other people had the same idea because one day, it changed. Margaritas were still $0.99 with *gasp* the purchase of an entree. Noooo! Okay, it wasn't that bad, but we didn't go as often. Tonight I met up with Amy for dinner there and we left about three hours later. We did a lot more talking than drinking but I still couldn't believe we stayed as long as we did. Anyways, we had a good time.

It seems like the later it gets in the week, the busier I get. Last week I went out and bought a trunk load of picture frames, literally. It looked pretty ridiculous and I guess I got a little over excited about my pictures selling but it's really good motivation! So for the last few days I've been working on making the prints to take in to work. The website for my aunt's business will be up and running soon for Kentucky Woman Gallery on which will have thumbnails of some of my pictures for better exposure. That, and I've gotten some new ideas on things to do with my images. It's all very exciting! Russell was in Florida for the weekend to visit a friend and watch the shuttle launch. He said he had a relaxing time which is good because I know he needed a break from work. Now that he's back, I've been bombarding him with all kinds of information and ideas. He is fully supportive of me and always pushing me to do more. It's about time a found a good guy!

an exciting monday

My aunt owns a little store not too far from where I live. It's roughly about 3 miles or so. She supports women artists and the horse industry in Kentucky. The store is a mix of art, crafts, jewelry, western items, home decor. The list goes on. It's a really fun place because there are so many women from all kinds of industries. Really great for networking. I have been working for her occasionally while I search for full time work (gotta have insurance). Anyways, one of the bonuses of working there- and of being her niece- is that I get to hang my photography in the store in hopes of someone purchasing a piece. Back in the fall I sold a couple of pictures. Actually the same picture, to three different people. For months now the other photos have been gracing the walls and looking rather nice but I wondered if it was just beginners luck that the first ones went so fast. Today I got another vote of confidence. It was the first day I've worked there for a couple of weeks because I had been finishing up my semester at school. I went in and began opening the store doing my usual routine. As I made my rounds I noticed that a few of my pictures were gone. Now, I should clarify that my aunt has a tendency for rearranging her store on a regular basis. Weekly sometimes. So at first I figured she had just moved them. After a while it dawned on me that they were gone! I went straight to the office and looked for some sort of confirmation of their disappearance. Aha! There on my inventory sheet was four tally marks. Four! For four different pictures I might add. It is such an exhilarating feeling when someone actually pays you for art that you've done. Now I need to replenish the stock and add more to the walls. Yay!!