A little bit of this and that... updates and whatnot.

 I'm going to be doing some construction on the blog for a while trying to get it just the way I want it. In the meantime I'll attempt to get someone to read it so that I'm not just  talking to myself. Until then,  here are a few updates that have been going on in life.

• We've returned to the 617. Yes we have returned to living in the house that was the inspiration to my blog in the first place. We were displaced for almost a year because my husband had to take a lower paying job due to the closing of his family's company. Of course the family company didn't close, and we lived with family members for far too long, but we are slowly but surely getting back on track. It's been difficult, probably one of the most emotionally difficult situations of my life. I really didn't expect it to have such an impact on me, I also didn't expect to end up in therapy with severe anxiety because of it either. Of course these are all subjects to be addressed in upcoming posts. 
• My tiny princess is 2. She walks, and talks, and forms opinions. She has started playing "mommy" to all her baby dolls, and it's so heart warming to see her talk to them and rock them the way I do to her. She tells me all the time she wants to play the piano, the violin, and go to dance class. According to her she is a princess and learning to be a ballerina.  We are currently in negotiations about potty training, then hopefully the rest will follow soon after. 
• I've fallen in love with blog reading, and although several of my favorite bloggers don't write too much anymore, I've found a few more that just make me happy to read. I plan to share.
• I turned 30, in turning 30 I became a vegetarian. I have not had meat since the day I turned 30. It's kind of a deal I've made with myself about becoming healthier before I have health problems I can't turn around.  I've made it easy on myself by being okay with wanting to eat meat again if I decide it's what I want. So far I haven't wanted it. It's also helped with a lot of the health issues I was having before. My husband is a part time vegetarian, and my daughter is not. She likes chicken nuggets and hot dogs. I really try to shield her away from the processed stuff as much as possible, and we don't cook meat at home so as of now it's a once in a while treat for her. Hopefully as her tastes develop she will add more to her menu of acceptable foods and I can take away the not so great stuff as we go. 

So that's the updates for now, hopefully I will have some well thought out blog posts soon and this is not just another empty attempt to keep up with this. I know I have the time for it, I just need the motivation. So if you have read this, please comment with something to motivate me. Until next time. 

Thinking...

I've been thinking about blogging more. I really should write down all of these things that happen and pop into my head. There are several subjects I have thought about writing about, however the thought of writing where no one is reading makes me not want to put in the work. That's probably a bad way to look at it. I should write more, even if no one is reading. So I just may just dust off the old blog, dress her up a little, and get to writing the magazine of my life and all the things that interest me, along with the life and times of my family. Why not give it another go?

I need to write more!

I really do need to write more, maybe one day someone will actually read this blog and there will be nothing to read, and that will be very sad. I don't know how likely that is to happen, but either way I really should be writing more.  So, what have I been doing? I have been dieting, reading the 50 shades trilogy, getting over the depression that follows the 50 shades trilogy, sniffing scentsy, spending time with friends from out of town, randomly going cross eyed, finding out I need "all the time" glasses as opposed to the "reading " glasses of yore so apparently i'm getting old yay, snapping pictures at absolutely every turn, STILL adjusting to life in the commune (my in law's home), watching the view, eating pepper jelly, spending way too much time on Pinterest, moving furniture, reading apartment therapy.com, and quite possibly getting my urge to bake back. Today I'm making square corn dogs in my pampered chef brownie pan.  I'm hoping to bring in some extra writing help and spruce up this blog a little.

the business of pictures n stuff

To get back to where I was very recently, I officially accomplished a few tasks today. I enrolled back into a photography certification course (because while I know the basics, and a lot of the advanced, the certificate means a lot to me... and learning more than what I already know is a sure plus!). Super importantly I applied for my Tax ID and Occupational Licensing, purchased my domain, and worked out some hosting issues. So www.6seventeenportraits.com is officially a website, it is still pretty empty... I'm working on that.  I'm also working on free portrait sessions to friends and family to build up some fresh pictures for the website. I really hope to get support from my friends and family for my business venture. This has been my dream for a long time, and I'm determined to make it work. The name, of course, is the same inspiration as this blog. This blog has been big inspiration for me too. Thanks for being there blog, and readers (eh, reader? you there?).

I miss you Carrie Bradshaw!

     Sometimes I enjoy a lazy day.  Sometimes it is brought on by a bout of mild depression. That's when I enjoy a lazy week and a half. This time it is probably because I finished my class and have had nothing pressing to do for a little while. I have also made the decision to change the school that I'm attending. I don't really want to get into the details here about the reasons because I'm not an expert on the school itself, but there were some tuition and legal issues with the school itself that I'd rather not get myself into a bad situation with.

      All of that aside I am still planning to pursue my photography professionally and continue to attend classes. I am working on a new website portfolio for my work and obtaining a business license. I have also scheduled 4 portrait sessions this morning to brush up my portfolio and have some fresh work for the site. I know that it seems as if everyone who buys a camera or can use photo shop is a photographer these days... and sometimes it can be a bit discouraging. There is beautiful work out there. I also know it is very hard to break into a field already bombarded with amazing professionals and semi-professionals and really bad non-pros trying to come across as professionals.  This is a lot of the reason I have never really charged much for my pictures. I enjoy doing it and at this point have done countless family portraits, senior pictures, and kids photos. I have done 4 weddings.  I've been doing this for over 10 years now, I'm waiting for the time that I can get rid of the fear of looking like one of these really bad non-pros. I also hate over processed, over photo shopped photography. I assume that the only things that will help me is to do great work, and to have confidence in my work. So I'm growing up and building a website to showcase the work that I think I should be proud of.  Getting a few photo jobs out of it would be great, at least getting my family and friends to get me to do their portraits would be great (they don't, I don't even think most of them know I take pictures, or they just absolutely hate my work because they are always hiring out. This makes me feel super special and is a whole other story for a never time however.)

     So on these lazy days, like today, when I'm on the couch researching website building and setting up photo appointments, sometimes something as great as 2 hours of Sex and the City on E! and nap time align, and all is wonderful with the universe. While watching Carrie Bradshaw write her article on men, being single, and the pursuit of happiness, I realized how inspiring the show is. I think if Carrie had in fact given up on writing her column and moved to Paris for good she would have at least taken up blogging.  Between the cancellation of this show and Friends, NYC based (even if just in theory) shows are really few and far between. I miss them all.
 
      So that's what I've been up to, what about you?



(pic from http://eastcoastchic.com/carrie-bradshaw-adventurous-and-unforgettable )

Mondays are for...

Mondays are for organic toaster pastries, grits, coffee... blog updating... A new week of lecture reading, assignments, and text book chapters... Washing laundry from the weekend... Coffee with my sister... and later today Monday will be for rain.

To my shock, my first class is actually teaching me something. This is a strategies class for learning, doing college online, reading ability, time management, and basically how to work with your abilities and limits and use them to your advantage. One of the assignments last week was to make a calendar for everyday during the week to map out time for everything in your life. Of course including enough time for reading, studying, and doing assignments. I love my calendar. It has made me realize how much time everyday we actually spend doing very random meaningless things. Now I'm not one for enjoying having every minute planned out, but just allowing specific time frames for things has made it possible for me to accomplish an entire weekend in one day. Sunday my family woke up, showered and dressed, had coffee on the patio, played in the backyard, cooked on the grill, had a picnic, went to a birthday party, visited friends, made it home in time for baby bed time and mad men. It was very fulfilling to have such a full day to spend with my family. So if you can't tell, school is on week 3, and going very well so far.

One of the side effects of being so busy and not yet having cable in our part of the house is that I have been watching very little to no television lately. Mad Men on Sunday nights I watch when it airs, sometimes on Wednesdays I watch TV with the husband if I'm done with everything I have to do that day... and other than that i may watch one show online when i have the time. That's approximately 4 hours of television a week. Now lately my sweet pea has been in front of Sesame Street anytime she is home, luckily I've found her playing with her toys more even if the TV is on, but I hope to get her to do more without the TV soon.

That's pretty much what's going on in my head today. Now it's about time to get to work. I hope if anyone is reading this you have a great week!

Road trip, INSTAGRAM style.