NH Photography Blog

I met with friends tonight, one new and one I've know for a year.  It was meant to be a networking opportunity for me and the friend of a friend who is also a photographer.  <3 Loved it!!  Through the course of conversation I realized what I am supposed to do with my blog.  I've taken some time off trying to nail it down.  We agreed tonight that all of the photography blogs are from the mid-west.  Some from other places, but precious few from New England.  I've only been able to find the occasional marketing blog on professional photographer's pages.

Need identified.  I'm not sure how the page will take shape, but I think it would be great to start talking about photography.  I work with a number of people who love to take photos, mom's who wish they could capture their kids just a little more artistically, and novice photographers who, given the right support, could blossom into great photographers.

Big goal, though...must break it into baby steps.  So, once a week, probably Saturday...my +1 is working and I have some time, normally...I will post a picture and talk about what I did to get the shot or the down and dirty settings on the camera.

Stay tuned for my first installment on Saturday!!!

A great photo to whet your appetite:

I love how nature combines eggplant purple and that amazing and vibrant green.  One of my favorite pictures right now.  I took this in Boston with the stock 18-55mm lens that came with my Canon T2i.  The lens was set at 18mm and the F-stop was 3.5 and I was all but touching the petals.  It was a great trek through Boston on a sunny Saturday in March...hard to believe we had blossoms in March!!  Crazy winter weather.  You just never know what you'll get in New England.

Right now...

Obsessing over:  My temperature.  I was at Urgent Care last weekend with a temperature of 102.9.  It has ranged from 99-102 since then, but I haven't been without a temperature since.  I've been taking it 3, 4, 5, 6 times a day.  

Working on: A project for my friend Brenda.  Pink!!  I love pink...so happy it is her favorite color right now. 

Thinking about: Studio Space.  I would love to be able to have a space dedicated to being creative.  If we had another bedroom it would get swallowed up by stuff.  I would love to live in a place large enough to carve out some creative space.  I just haven't gotten there yet.  Soon, though...soon I should be able to dedicate the necessary resources.

Anticipating: Going back to work on Monday.  Nothing worse than the first day back after being out unexpectedly.  I thought I would make it back by Wednesday.  I've been out for an entire week.  Projects pending.  Requests on hold.  Meetings missed.  

Listening to: A 2012 documentary.  My +1 loves documentaries.

Drinking: Water.  Lots of fluids and lots of rest.  

Wishing: I felt better.  9:32 and I am exhausted.  Time for bed!!


I like this format...it got it here.  


I've been reading a lot of blogs...that and watching Grey's Anatomy...I'm up to the middle of Season 4!!  What I'm finding is a lot of mom blogs.  I'm not finding many blogs that are creative, entertaining, and non-mom oriented.  At the risk of offending moms...which is NOT my intent...I wish there were more blogs out there I could connect with.  I am in a committed relationship, not opposed to marriage, creative, a photographer, friend, daughter, sister, aunt, mentor, and so many other rolls.  My uterus has only had recreational use...I've not gone pro = ) don't get me wrong, I love kids.  I find a lot of inspiration and energy from spending time with them.  I work with a great group of teenagers!!  However, I find the older I get the less tolerant I am of other people's children.  For example, I love the kids in my life, but the kids running around the locker room unsupervised at the YMCA drive me crazy.  


I find myself wanting to connect with other intentionally creative women.  Women happy and content in their life.  With or without kids.  With or without partners.  I am looking to surround myself with likeminded women.  Not sure what the universe has to offer.

Valentine's Day

As a single most of my life I just didn't get Valentine's Day.  Year after year it seemed like a bleak reminder that I was single.  In my thirties I started doing something nice for myself.  I began to see that loving myself and doing little things for me were something I could give myself permission for (I also buy myself a Christmas present and sometimes a birthday present).  There is something happy about pink hearts.  Often my gift was purchased the day after...no sense paying full price!!  Often it took the form of a Starbucks Valentine's Day themed mug.  Nothing happier than a very large coffee mug that is red, pink, and white.  For all my single girls out there...celebrate the love in your life.  

Love of friends.  Love of family.  Love of Self.  

Luxuriate in the knowledge that you are very much loved for Valentine's and everyday!!

I'm no longer single and I find Valentine's to be less important than I thought.  He has wished me Happy Valentine's Day a handful of times today...even before I left for work.  My heart soars when he says it. I like everyday happiness over a single day of flowers and chocolate...doesn't mean I'm going to stop buying myself a Christmas present!!!

Happy Valentine's Day friend...I love you!!

One of the EASIEST decisions in my life...

I am a Libra...I don't make choices easily.  I have to pick up the choice and review it from every angle.  I have to weigh all of my options.  Sometime choices are made for me...you take too long and the opportunity goes away.  In the moment, that loss of opportunity can hurt, but I often find that the choices I delay are often the things I really didn't want to do, but didn't want to hurt someone's feelings.  "I don't want to" doesn't often factor for me.  I am far more likely to ask myself "Should I??"  I do a lot of "I should..." 

Whether it is a major purchase, new job, or college applications, I am the type to do a lot of research ahead of time and submit one application.  I probably could have gotten into a number of colleges...I applied to two over the course of 4 years.  I got into each of them.  I attended each of them.  Making decisions for me takes time and it is rarely easy.

The easiest decision I have ever made would have to be the car I purchased.  I was shocked.  I had done research, gotten approved for my loan, and then went shopping.  I went to the Toyota garage recommended by my site director.  He knew the owner or manager so I felt confident.  I went alone...again, shocked!!  I don't do things like that alone.  Looking back on it, that took a lot of confidence!!  Anyway, I test drove the 2008 Toyota Matrix and immediately fell in love.  I haggled the price with the guy and left.  I hadn't driven anything else.  I called my dad and asked, "is it OK to buy the first car you test drive?"  He said, "sure."

I never left the parking lot.  I went back in.  I bought my car.

Many things factor into the ease of this decision.  I was driving a 1995 Chevy Cavalier with no AC.  Less than a month earlier I had left my husband.  Said husband kept telling me that I couldn't buy a new car. I was living in Mass and didn't have a support network around me.  It was just me.  I was approved for the loan ahead of time.  And, more than anything, I was making enough money to afford it for the first time in my grown up life!!!

10 Things I can't live without, I mean, Simplify!!

I have this sign in my bedroom...SIMPLIFY.  I try, I really do, to simplify my life.  Some parts are easier than others.  I have simplified my personal life by focusing on me.  Nobody else can be my whole life.  I am important and I matter enough to be at the center of my life.  Easier said than done, some days.  I have simplified my work life by finding work that is pleasing and pays enough to have one job.  I have simplified my family life by moving away...just a little.  Fewer disappointments and fewer misunderstandings.

The area that I am still working on is simplifying my stuff.  Everyone who has been to my apartment has commented that I have a lot of stuff.  I would argue, and have, if you packed up all of your worldly belongings after 40 years...you would have a lot of stuff as well...stated in my most petulant tone, arms crossed, and a bit of a foot stomp.  I like to think that I need everything I have.  I know that isn't true.  I know that I don't need to hold onto my Missouri report from the fifth grade, the rocking chair from when I was a toddler, or the Texas A&M keyring that you can no longer tell that it says Texas A&M because it is made of pewter and no longer legible.  I just can't bring myself to pack it all up and throw it away.  Somehow if I throw it away, it didn't happen and I don't exist.

One of my goals in moving into this apartment is to live someplace that I can pay the monthly rent with less than a single paycheck.  Goal one...accomplished.  The second goal was to get rid of the excess...simplify.  Really, there is enough space here...I just haven't finished unpacking.  I am not the girl who moves in and unpacks...never have been.  I have to live in a space for a little while...no, that isn't right.  It takes me a long time to make my space a priority.  Before I got promoted a moved here I had three jobs, served as the chair of the Christian Ed committee at church, which placed my in a leadership position at church.  I taught Sunday School and to this day, continue to lead the Youth Group.  When I moved here in June, I packed all of my belongings into my parent's garage for a month.  I lived on a six inch air mattress with my toothbrush and hair drier.  Over the course of June and into July I slowly moved my things over here.  July 4th weekend was the remainder of my furniture and it filled the space.  For six weeks I moved around the boxes and vowed to unpack just one box...just one.  Some nights it happened, more often than not, I was distracted...busy...otherwise engaged.  I was not the priority.

I went on vacation the second week of August.  I drove to Canada to meet up with my Aggie Sister and her family for four or five days of parks, giggles, and talking.  Lots of talking.  I had a lovely time.  On the drive back I stopped in Buffalo for a few days of scrabble, art, and wine with my life long friend...well, since we were 4.  We enjoyed one of the best bottles of Riesling from the Organized Crime Winery.  It was a great vacation.  One of my best.  I digress, a week after I got back from vacation I ruptured my bicep tendon.  I had surgery to repair it and spent ten days in Keene and my mom and sister took really good care of me.  40, drugged, unstable on my feet, casted from finger tips to my shoulder, and staying at the house I grew up in...that's a blog for another day!!  I didn't lift anything heavier than a cup of coffee with my right hand from August 20th to Thanksgiving.  Most of the boxes in my house are heavier than a cup of coffee.

November and December were busy with the holidays and, in January, I started on the boxes again.  I made a good bit of progress.  I could walk around in both the kitchen and the living room.  My bedroom was coming together as well.  I decorated both of the beautiful stone mantles in the bedroom and the living room.  And then...yup, that's right...another distraction.  This one was good, though.  A good distraction.  The fruition of an eight month dream.  I was no longer alone.  But, he brought stuff with him.  More stuff.  I know, I know.  Everyone has stuff.  But it added to the stuff and now...I'm overwhelmed.

So, I started this post thinking I would write about the things that are most important to me and I ended up writing about simplifying my life.  The best laid plans.  I will say this, though, my favorite night here was some time after I had moved over my couch and my bed.  I was sitting on the couch reading a book.  Windows open.  Peaceful.  Calm.  Simple.  Going back to that isn't going to happen.  I am realistic.  I know that I can't clear everything out.  I just need to get closer to that.  It will happen...I have yet to set a goal that I haven't achieved or have clear plans to accomplish.  I will regain that feeling...peaceful, calm, and simple.

I am a work in progress..thank God...how boring would I be if I weren't growing!!

Boston

I drove into Boston last night to pick up my +1 from the train station.  It was the first time that I have ever driven into Boston at night.  It was also the first time I've driven in by myself since I moved to the middle of the state.

I was really struck by the beauty of the sparkly lights.  As you drive down route 93 into the City about 10 miles out of the city you go down a hill and the city just lies out at the bottom of the hill.  It is an amazing sight.

Boston City skyline at night

Let me tell you a little bit about living in New Hampshire.  I lived most of my life in a small "city" in the southwest corner of the state.  It is 30 minutes from Vermont and 30 minutes from Massachusetts.  It is really located nicely...2 hours from the ocean, mountains, and Boston.  2 hours.  A two hour drive means that you plan for the day.  It isn't a place you just run to for the hell of it!!  I am now about 40 minutes and man, was it nice to simply drive into Boston after work, after my time at the gym, and still be home before 10pm.

I used my GPS and got where I needed to go.  I was on streets that I have never in my life been on.  I found him...which is always a plus when he is the reason you went in the first place.  It was a testament to my growth.  I drove into Boston by myself, after dark, and didn't make him take another train further north.

And for my next area of growth...I'll keep you posted!  Thank you for reading...love you guys!

Truth is...

There is a fad going on over on FaceBook.  I know, I know...there are a lot of fads going on over on Facebook.  The one that has caught my attention is the "Truth is..." posts that some of my girls are seeking.  They post on their profile "Like my status for a Truth Is" and when you click the "Like" button she then posts on your page something like "Truth is...I think  you have a beautiful spirit".  What if our girls were honest and told the truth on a more frequent basis.  What would happen??  I'm picking on the girls only because I've never seen a boy post "Like my status for a Truth Is"!!

Truth.  The truth is a funny thing.  Does it really set you free??  What if the truth sets you free and imprisons someone else.  What if the truth changes the perception the world has of someone close to you. What if the truth ruins everything??

The truth is...