paying it forward

so, quite some time ago I won a little pay-it-forward giveaway. alllllllllllll the way across the pond is a nice gal named Rhianne who send me this package o' goodies.


music. chocolate. jewelry. a compact. and cards? SCORE! and how kind. :) thanks again, Rhianne!

well, well, in turn for my spoils I promised I'd do a giveaway--and now is the time. I'd been meaning to do one for a while, but I have lots to celebrate as you can see!

I'm giving something away to 3 people. here's what you'll get.

Prize 1--$100 certificate to my photography business. That'll get you a free hour-long session or $100 worth of prints! Additionally, you'll get a reusable bag and some other green goodies and surprises. :) Annnnd a $25 gift certificate to give away to someone who's new to my photography.

Prize 2-$50 certificate to my photography business. A reusable bag and some additional fun items. And a $25 gift certificate to give away to someone who's new to my photography.

Prize 3-two $25 certificates to my photography business--one for you, one to share with someone new--and some other fun goodies.

(and no, no cash in place of prizes!)

to enter: leave your comment on my photography blog.

also, you can do any of these and comment again to get another entry!

tweet it (but you must link to my PHOTOGRAPHY blog)
refer someone to me
blog about it
or become a fan of my photography on facebook (and if you already are, let me know)

I'm not allowing comments on this post so you'll go visit my other site. And there are a few more details there! Please help me celebrate all the good things going on for my photography! :)

love, love.

i end up writing a lot of blogs about

people.

people I know.

people whose behavior kiiiiinda blows.

and deleting them or saving them as drafts because though I'd really like to vent I don't want the drama. rarely is it someone who actually reads my blog--but a lot of times its someone who knows where it is or could find it if they wanted. and sometimes they already read it. and anyway. there's something to that anonymity that Jackie was mentioning, I think.

worst of all are the hypocrites. the ones who complain about things that are entirely of their own causing. you made your bed--nay, you chose your bed. please don't expect sympathy from me.

(eg--if I were to complain about how far away durham is from glenwood avenue. hello, I chose durham. I opted to buy this home. I knew what I was getting into. I have definitely said "well, I'd come, but by the time I got there, blah, blah, blah, so it wouldn't make sense--but I don't bitch about it and I don't ask for sympathy for it, you know?)

I mean, it's one thing when all of your life situations kind of get crazy all at once. I'm not heartless, I get that sometimes even when we pick our path we don't realize the full ramifications of that decision. but yeesh.

additionally, and in the same vein, I have decided to very much lower my tolerance for bullsh!t. there are a few people who I very much feel are either using me, manipulating me or taking advantage of me. and I've had enough of that, thanks.

it is terribly frustrating to be one who tries to be kind and understanding and mostly a benefit-of-the-doubt-giver and have it be totally abused. so no mas. no mas.

anyhoo.

on a happier note? today I shall try to post about my giveaway. I've been meaning to do that for a while now.

"blue, the color of our planet from far, far away..."

~regina spektor

her new cd is kind of super awesome. I heart it.

my body's schedule is allllllllllll out of whack. I hope I get some sleep tonight! I was sleeping pretty poorly last wed/thurs/fri, and then I took a nap on friday to catch up, but then stayed out pretty late that night.

I talked to my mom on the phone until 2am. Yep, 2am.

On Friday afternoon my Aunt Carolyn, my mom's oldest sister, passed away. She was in poor shape and I haven't seen her in at least, oh, 9 or more years? She didn't want anyone to see her like that (it's a long story and too personal for the internets, but let's just say that the demons in her life took their toll, and left her much the worse for it). When I was younger I thought she was the very best Aunt a girl could ever have. We lived with her for a little while when I was probably, oh, 6? My mom was sick so she took care of us while my mom got better.

I remember making forts out of her couch cushions and her huge backyard and sleeping on those foam flip chairs. and terrorizing my poor cousin, her son. he's, what, eight years older than we are, so having two little girls at his house when he was a teenager was pretty much his worst nightmare ever. ha! :)

and there's kind of a strange thing between jonathan and my siblings. well, and memories. so, jonathan doesn't have a lot of "good" memories of his mom. his most vivid ones are of her deterioration over the past, oh 15-20 years. and he saw sides of her that I never would've even imagined, because we would come and leave, not be there day in and day out, you know?

but I looooved my Aunt Carolyn. I adored her. She was pretty fantastic.

And I was honored to be her namesake (Carolyn-> Carrie. her middle name was Mae, which is my Granny's middle name and Anna's too)

but the thing is that Jonathan? well, so you probably know that I don't have the greatest memories of my father. if this is news to you, well, trust me, you probably don't want to know the stories. but Jonathan's dad died when he was 5 (well, was murdered, another not good story you don't want to know, either) and so my dad (at my mom's insistence) would take Jonathan to go do "guy stuff" sometimes. And Jonathan just has a lot of really positive memories of spending time with my father.

It is bittersweet that we each have the "parent-ee" memories of each other's parents that we (in an ideal world) should have had for ourselves. I didn't even know how much this was the case until this weekend, honestly. But, I must say that since I *try* to remember the good about my dad, knowing how Jonathan thought of him is kind of reassuring.

right.

okay, pulling it together now...anyway. I am not sure yet if I'm going to the funeral service in Tulsa or the graveside service in Frederick or to anything at all. Gotta talk to my boss in the AM.

for now it's time to put on the pjs, brush the teeth and cuddle with the kitties. and hope I can finish this preable and rule for phosphoric by noon. :)

I'll tell you later about the wedding this weekend--wedding 8 of 9 (not including photographing ones where we weren't friends with the bride and groom beforehand). it was SUUUUPER fun. and I had fun snapping some candids and all. and here's a fun ring shot I took, just 'cause I love it. night night.

wbw--the high school years

wait, wait, what? I am awol for practically an entire month and now I'm posting twice in one day?? believe me, it's not like I'm less busy.... :)

ps? other than last month, I have NEVER posted so few times in a month since I began my blog. in two-thousand-and-four. wtf?

anyhoo.

so, here's a good part of "the gang" our senior year. (I think. maybe? not sure. perhaps these are both senior and I cut my hair near the end of the year?) in any case... it was superlative day. man, I loved that skirt! please excuse the spots on the photos (and don't whine about the one on your forehead, SJG!) this pic was stuck to another one, and healing it would make me late to our softball game!

and here's melissa and me. we were co-editors of the yearbook. and argued over commas. :) and man, those JEANS! I was a rail back then, and those jeans are CRAZY!

hypertrophic.

um, this might be a medical overshare. a huge one. consider yourself warned.

I have been having digestive issues on and off for quite some time now. AccuFlora made my life better for a while, but I've been having more issues. ones that hurt.

I went to my regular doctor twice. Things got a tiny bit better and then worse. six weeks later I saw a specialist. they thought I might have colon polyps. rock on.

yesterday I had a flex sig. it's like a mini-colonoscopy, but they don't sedate you. and let me tell you what--it is UNPLEASANT. people, they fill up your colon with air. I started sweating and shaking and was in paaaaain. the nurse was so very nice though.

and even though it only took ten minutes? if I ever have to do it again I am SO letting them sedate me. just fyi. I'll just work from home in the AM.

on the plus side? I was praised for how "clean" my colon was an how well I had done the prep. which, by the way, was two enemas. and that was no cakewalk either.

so: diagnosis? I have a hypertrophic p@pilla. go google, I'll wait. done? yeah...

not a ton of info on those. everyone has 'em, they're just normally not hypertrophic. surprise, surprise, me having a not-super-duper-common issue. on the plus side: not colon polyps (which can be cancerous sometimes and which would require a full colonoscopy [shudder]) and not hemorrhoids, which require a visit to Mister Colorectal Surgeon.

however, since when I do hurt I hurt A LOT, when the doc said I have the option of "wait and see" or going to see Mister Colorectal Surgeon, I said "let's se, we're up to at least 12 weeks of this. I'm not waiting around anymore."

my referral says I "requested" this option. I asked the nurse and she said "if I were you I'd be going too--that is not normal."

oh and, after that fun?

I came home and sleptandsleptandslept

and once I woke up I sat on the couch all night. farting. yes, I said it. they PUMPED AIR into my colon. it had.to.come.out!

and then I got up and my folded-up easel fell over, right onto where my foot was already injured. It was allllmost done being sore. Now I think I might have another week or so before it's done? maybe? that bruise was DEEP!

and then as I was getting water and giving Gobi his medicine before bed? I stepped on a piece of glass from a broken beer bottle and bled all over the kitchen floor while I waited for matt to come help me.

and then I couldn't fall asleep.
and when I finally did?
I woke up to find out that Gobi and Hazel had taken over my pillow. le sigh.

I am glad it's Wednesday. And there's softball tonight. And I can go home and do work and edit photos and chilllll out. and hopefully not have any events involving scopes, enemas, farts, broken glass or pillow stealers. :) at least my faboo matt got me Uno's pizza and took good care of me, and tonight I can enjoy leftovers!

so, we went to new mexico--to the wild west town of the foothills.

well, we were staying in pueblo. but we drove to NM so I could get my pics o' the state.

we visited a little town called Cimarron. It was pretty cute. The visitors center was roughly the size of my deck. but it had swings! the one I was on was TALL! I heart swings. this is tonya swinging with me. and I have this awesome series of photos where Matt is jumping off, but y'all only get two right now. :)

The people were friendly and the sky.was.gorgeous! we went in this cute icecream shop where tonya bought a bracelet and I bought a charm. it's an apple green rectangle of gaspeite, and I LOVE it. I also learned later that it's supposed to bring about good fortune, reduce stress and help with heart, gallbladder and lung problems. :)

we went on the "historic walking tour" which was about 1/2 a mile long. it was purdy. we took pictures. tonya and george are SILLY. george was getting over being sick, so they couldn't kiss. they pretended, ha!

and we walked down to the water and saw the prettypretty surroundings! and george and matt had a who.is.cooler contest. :)

and at the end visited a placed the St James hotel. it was purdy. also, George & Tonya's anniversary is on Valentine's Day. Sure fun that those numbers are next to each other on roulette, huh?

when we left...and saw the beauty of the open road. or something. and a family of pronghorns--see the mommy and the two babies?

we stopped to take pictures of those sunflowers above and Matt thought it was HILARIOUS that the sign by the car said "pass with care." sooooo: picture! he was in a silly mood. he also "chased" a male pronghorn. silly, silly.

and we did cute things.

and THIS is my favorite picture of the day!

it's pouring right now.

as in, when it rains it pours. and not in the literal raining sense. why in the GEEZ does everything happen at once...

so pictures to appease the masses...

these goodies also came home with us from oklahoma. brilliant matt had the foresight NOT to put them in the same bag as all the beer, just in case it leaked on the way home. anyhoo, aren't they loverly? I need to find a home for them in my house. all in good time, all in good time.

also, next up in the blogging world:

-paying it forward
-nc's policies on wind farms (thanks, m!)
-biodegrading those icky plastic bags...
-a giveaway by yours truly!
-and a story about this guy. ground white pepper. oh, silly me.

just you wait. some day I will catch up.

some day.
maybe.
possibly.

perhaps just in time to begin something else, hmm?

ps: hope you can read this. I got tired of my layout and changed it up. I'm sure I'll be changing it yet again soon. and adding a label cloud (thanks sarah!). and such.

pps: the MANY grammatical errors and typos have been removed. obviously, I am thinking about other things, ha!

I need to take some pictures...

but I am getting pretty excited about this whole "guest bedroom into Carrie's office/creative space" kind of thing.

and I think I might have a color palette.

and I think I might only paint one wall. a very faint yellow. I LOVE yellow, okay? and at least it wouldn't be green.

picture it:

-hot pink velvet fainting couch (will share pictures once I go to oklahoma in THREE weeks. omg.) to arrive next summer. in the meantime, twin bed.

-wallpaper from my granny's old house. this stuff was in her kitchen, and it is AMAZING. I will take a picture tonight. very colorful, very 70s. floral. I have a piece that is probably 20x24, and I will have it matted and frame it and hang it in the room.

-these guys from the container store. probably not the brown, but maybe.

-and depending on space, either shelving or maybe repaint the $17 piece of furniture I have now, or something. the only thing about the piece is that the bottom drawer broke and it now just has an open shelf area there. which is fine, but kind of jangety, and a shelf might be a better use of space. we shall see.

-and I also have LOTS of pink and yellow and orange pictures that I can put in there if I want, too.

bedroom 2 here is what I'm talking about. I need to buy a desk, and before I can buy anything I need to do a LOT of cleaning and going through and whatever, but this could be pretty rad!

Also: question. [with clarification from before]So, we have two bedrooms in our town home, both upstairs, and the whole upstairs is carpeted. I usually put the cats in this second bedroom at night, and they have torn through the carpet at the door already!

I was thinking about possibly putting (fake) wood flooring in this room instead of the carpet that's now in there (and torn up). would it be strange if the only carpet in the house was in the master bedroom, on the stairs and in the bonus room downstairs? meaning: all of the upstairs was carpeted except for the guest room? I don't want to put wood floors in the whole upstairs ('cause then I'd feel like I needed to do the stairs, too, and it'd cost a TON) but would that be totally strange? Just wondering what the internets have to say...

breakables.

we came home with LOTS of breakables when we left oklahoma (yes, I am skipping the middle. I'll get there).

we brought home two big suitcases and a duffel bag. amongst clothes and toiletries we also had
-two orange pyrex oval dishes, one w/ lid
-three pyrex mixing bowls
-two frankoma pottery mugs from 1969 and 1970
-two sixes of boulevard wheat
-one bottle of boulevard pale ale
-22s of Marshall Brewing Company's sundown wheat, atlas and mcnellie's
-some old Golden Hurricane cups
-a Marshall Brewing Company pint glass
-and lots of cookbooks, which I'll share later.

here are the breakables. most of these came home with us, but I already had some of the pyrex dishes. (the yellow casserole dishes and the yellow and orange mixing bowls). I found the orange ones in my granny's kitchen while rooting around for things I wanted, and I almost did a cartwheel when I saw them! And THEN my granny saw them on the counter, realized one had a lid, and it matches what I already have--WOO HOO! I was so happy!

AND they got home all in one piece. the bag o' beer was searched of course, but even with our getting stuck in st louis and all, nothing got injured. yay!

ps: eventually my posts will be less photos and more text. maybe. if I can crawl out of this craziness at work, that is!

pps: in case you think it's weird or rude or something that I say "granny, can I have this thing you own?" it is a)per her request, b)to avoid future conflict, c)not and d)nunya. :) seriously though, this is how she'd prefer it, and honestly she loves the part where she sees people enjoying her gifts o' fun. she knows I will LOVE using these dishes. :)

off to sushi!

it is 1:13 raleighwood time.

I am still awake.
I have been doing work for the past FOUR hours.
with a few very short breaks for sanity's sake, but still.
FOUR hours.
on a spreadsheet I've been working on since thursday.
that they asked me about yesterday.
and TODAY at 345 pm told me they needed at 5.
obvs, they didn't get it.
folks are supposed to review it in the AM.
I am SO worn out.
but softball was fun.
and my kitties are cuddly.
and yes.

see, now I blogged again. :) I'm increasing my # of posts by 20% this month. sakes alive.

more later. like about seeing ARIEL! or my GI doc visit. :( Or how I think I need to hire a chef. and a maid. ha! okay, I might be serious about the maid. or a helper-with-going-through-crap. volunteers? I will pay you good money and feed you! but you must promise not to judge. :) anyhoo. I must sleep now. g'night!

um, hi, remember me?

your friendly neighborhood eco-friendly blogger?

I just saw that it's the 21st of July and I have only posted FOUR times. this is horribly low. I mean, yeah I've spent the night in five different states already this month (omg I'm going to reach SIX this month) and I've already put in like 4 extra days of work or something and I've shot a wedding, six mini photo shoots and some bridal portraits and I have another wedding this weekend, but that is NO EXCUSE!

er, um, perhaps it is.

nonetheless.

I went to Oklahoma. I took some pictures. Here are some of them. the only one that I edited was the very first one--of the weathervane. 'cause there was an undesirable sun flare on one side. otherwise, these are SOOC. (straight out of camera for those of you who don't speak photographer.)

tuesday night we got in late. our flights were both delayed a bit, which ended up working out okay as I got to have dinner at 42nd Street Oyster Bar and destress a bit (flying stresses me out. packing. arriving on time. ugh.) by the time we got in it was midnight central time (1am to me) and we met some folks out at another round on brookside. it. was. awesome. we stayed there until ~245 (at 150 they served us one last round and told us we could be on the patio as long as we liked but they had to lock the door and couldn't serve us anymore alcohol). I met THE Mad Dog from TU (dude, it was like I got to meet Mickey, only creepier) and I got to hang out with Randi, SJG, Miranda, Chris, Ashley, Miranda's matt, Miranda's roommate and Loren. too fun. pictures stolen from fb.

we visited marshall brewing company. their beer is GOOD. their owner/founder/brewmaster/awesomeness and I went to high school and college together. we are doing a tour of their brewery as a part of our high school reunion. yay!

a lot are from empire. we went there wednesday night. I got a little camera happy. my friends were good sports. if you look closely, in one of those beef and lemons pictures miranda and ashley are trying to lick the sticker. it was funny. the beer probably made it funnier. but being so dadgum tired probably made it the most funny of all.

also, loving the reflection in the pics of SJG and Andrea. They say "Guiness. Empire Bar." I heart my 50mm lens, I do, I do.

I love how that one of the lamp right above catches the dude playing pool. and I love the stoli sign. and I even love the one of the cigarette even though I think smoking is pretty gross.

and this brings us to thursday morning. I'll blog that eventually. :)