i keep wanting to update.

but updating seems to require pictures. either downloading or taking.

e.g. I want to tell you about thanksgiving but I have yet to download the single picture I took.
additionally, I want to tell you about blanket progress, but alas, I keep forgetting to take a picture.

what I DO want to tell you is that I'm ready for it to get cold here. like, blisteringly chilly. I'd like snow please. and hot soup. and lots of blankets. I'd like to have power when that happens, though, if that's not too much to ask.

hands down, no contest--my least favorite thing about living in NC is that there's not a real winter here. I miss the snow. a lot. but man oh man do I love the trees here!

speaking of holiday-ish things...Matt and I really need to get on that. Our tree is still in the garage. With all of the ornaments. And I still have my super-awesome fall wreath on our door. I have a really lovely Christmas one, and it needs to go up. It's also officially time to start listening to Christmas music. :) Also, as a part of this Christmas season, my father-in-law discovered our mutual dislike for anything Christmas-related before Thanksgiving. Hence, N0rdstroms is our new favorite store. For the record, I don't count choir practicing in that list, because starting the cantata on the practice after Thanksgiving sounds like a miserable way to do it!

and now it's time to drink more mint tea. :)

feeling sew crafty...

yes, the sew was on purpose.

for a few months now I've found myself wanting to be crafty. I keep thinking of all sorts of crafty, home-decorator-ee things I want to do. I want to paint a wall in the upstairs bathroom. And paint a fall picture. And paint the half bathroom, too (but Matt would keel over if I tried to do that).

but those aren't "crafts" per se--just creative/decorator-ee.

I also had it in my head that I wanted to make this really awesome wreath like Renee had made--but then she extra super kindly made one for me for my birthday and I love love love it and it makes me smile when I see it every single day. :) see?

but anyway.

so, I have two half-finished projects at my house. one is a blanket that I began crocheting many, many years ago. it's a simple chevron pattern and I'd say I'm about 1/3 of the way through. I have had a couple setbacks along the way (namely, they stopped manufacturing all of the colors of yarn that I was using and I didn't have enough) but I recently got the urge to crochet and I'm sticking with it!

the other one is absolutely inspired by my very recent green and white craft project we've been working on for the new kaydee chapter at nc state. it's a secret, but it's involved a rotary cutter and a sewing machine, and it has made me miss something else I started once upon a time--my quilt. katie, you'll be glad to know I've decided to actually complete it!

I mean, I already did the hard part--three and a half years ago katie and I cut out all the pieces. now I just have to sew it together! And it's a very, very simple pattern, so I'm just going to make it happen. not sure when, but it's absolutely on my radar! maybe I'll work on it some in december/january when the photo stuff is sloooooow. :)

anyhoo, enjoying the craftage. just had to share. progress pictures soon!

it's my [blog] and I'll [post it later] if I want to.

um, yeah. so much for that whole october is awesome plan. 21 days was a good start though, yes? and then it got a little crazy. okay, a lot crazy. but that's okay, 'cause I finished it right up. just now. but about that craziness...

perhaps it was the four weddings I photographed.
or the amazing 30th birthday weekend.
or the beer festival.
or the fabric shopping.
or maybe, just maybe, it was the nine photo sessions.
or the copious amount of beer.

but somehow, some way, I ended up behind. like, in life. and I am still playing catch-up. I'm booking sessions like gangbusters, but my to-edit list is long. good news: I am not burned out. bad news: I probably can't keep up this pace without reaching there sometime soon. I have two weddings left--one this weekend and one in December. when i'm done I will have photographed thirteen weddings. my dear friend nicole does this full time and photographed like 27 or something. which tells me that I booked too many and I need to pare it down for next year. at least I had a TON of fun doing it :)

on the blogging list:

cheese making
birthday festivities
everything apple
and some other goodies. soon, I hope!

october is awesome. thirty-one.

in october, i love: fall decorations. punny nerdy pumpkins are my fave. :) I especially appreciate the perfect shape of the Pi. and this was taken in semora, nc near a bunch of farms. nerds are everywhere, I tell ya. :)

october is awesome. thirty.

in october, i love: cooking. I love making all the warm foods in october--the soups, the baked pastas, the casseroles. and this october olivia, jennifer and I had a cheesemaking adventure-slash-failure-slash-butter-making-success! I love using all of the squashes and leafy greens. I'm getting hungry just typing this!

ps: you MUST try this. I think it is the bees knees--and my new favorite dinner recipe! It's something Matt can make, and I have started asking for it probably once a week--though he usually only relents every other week. (though it is my new favorite, he just thinks it's "good" and therefore isn't thinking about it all the time like I am, ha!)

october is awesome. twenty-nine.

in october, i love: the leaves. oh my goodness, the leaves. I am probably not a very safe driver during daylight hours while "the colors" are changing. because I just stare. and take it all in. and lock it away so during all of the other seasons I can remember the gorgeous fiery colors of the leaves.

october is awesome. twenty-eight.

in october, i love: decorating the house. something about the slightly colder weather (perhaps the inclination to stay indoors!) makes me want to paint and redecorate. I think Matt is very afraid because I want to paint the yellow in the kitchen a different shade of yellow, re-do a piece of furniture I just bought (an awesome dresser/buffet for $55!), paint a wall in the guest room and clean out the garage. anyway. I also made us a new menu board that coordinates perfectly with our kitchen!

october is awesome. twenty-seven.

in october, i love: sushi. okay, in all fairness, sushi is not unique to october. but this was BIRTHDAY sushi, paired with free edamame, free miso soup, free green tea icecream, four tall beers and three of my most favoritest people in the whole wide world. and sushi that was followed up with a surprise party at fullsteam. and the sushi was delish. :)

october is awesome. twenty-six.

in october, i love: the fair. every year we've been together matt and I have gone to the fair. we always ride the gondola-type ferris wheel and we always eat ourselves silly. this year was no exception. more on this soon. :)

october is awesome. twenty-five.

in october, i love: kappa delta. did you know that KD and I share a birthday? well, we sure as heck do! she's 83 years older than I am, but we celebrate together :) these are the lovely KD ladies that helped me celebrate at fullsteam!

october is awesome. twenty-four.

in october, i love: birthday cards. did you know that this is the first birthday card I have EVER received from a niece? And little katlyn even colored it for me! I'm not gonna lie, I teared up when I opened it!

october is awesome. twenty-three.

in october, i love: birthday pumpkin pie. made by ME! using my great grandmother's recipe, glass rolling pin and pyrex dish. LOVE. I am very proud to come from a long line of pie-bakers!

october is awesome. twenty-two.

(playing a little catch-up)



in october, i love: apples. I have always liked apples. this year I LOVE them. apple butter, apples as a snack, apples in salads. mmmm apples! as I type this I'm eating an AMAZING fuji apple jessica brought me from ohio!

october is awesome. twenty-one.

in october, i love: greens. specifically growing my own. some of which will end up in my (week)daily green smoothies! and in salads! mmmhmm!

this isn't the first (or the last) time I'll write about baby names

I have a cousin with whom I don't really get along. Oh, I mean, we hug each other when we see one another, and when I'm in their neck of the woods we meet up for lunch or whatever. I like him as a human being. But he and I have very, very little in common.

I'm liberal. He's conservative.
I'm broad-minded, religiously speaking. He puts God in a very well-defined box.

And a long time ago there was a....let's go with incident...where he lectured me on what was "Godly" and how I might go to hell for leaving my ex-husband. How I should stick it out for 5 years, have some kids and then make it work for the sake of the children. When I said, um, "hell no" he proceeded to let me know that, well, it's not really like we were actually married anyway, according to the Catholic church, so what was I so upset about anyway?

riiiiiiiiiiiight.

I actually think he had good intentions, for the record. But when I told him how hurtful he was being, it didn't seem to matter. Additionally, that is the only time he and I have ever spoken on the phone as adults. Ever.

And on the off chance he, or his wife, or one of our relatives is reading this, well--I'm telling it like it is. It was a long time ago. There's a lot more dirty laundry I could air, but I think this encounter sums it up--he and I can co-exist just fine (and heck, sometimes even enjoy one another's company) but at the core of our respective persons, we just don't mesh.

so.

about the baby name part...as I mentioned here and here we like the name Nathaniel Jahue and Lilah something-or-other. Matt has been planning on a George IV since his brother decided not to have kiddos. And I have loved the name Cleona for probably 15 years now. Here's a post where I mentioned it in 2005.

Previously, when this cousin had a little boy, I was TERRIFIED that he would be choosing Jahue as a middle name for his son. Partially because I plan on having it as a middle name for a boy, but also because my brother Adam plans to have John Jahue J*nk the 2nd. We are just fine with one another's use of the name, by the way.

But now I am afraid that I've gotten myself in a sticky situation. My cousin's wife is pregnant with a little girl and was asking for names. I suggested Vera, which is a family name. I love that name, but it wouldn't work with Matt's last name very well. I also felt torn--do I mention Cleona and say we've staked claim because, um, hello, I'm her namesake? Or do I pretend like it doesn't exist and hope she doesn't find it in our family annals? I went with the mention and stake claim to be safe--I guess we'll see how it goes. It's just...it's just that since my cousin and I don't go together like peas and carrots, if they like the name Cleona, I'm afraid they might disregard my feelings on the matter. Or request it anyway, a'la Friends.

Another cousin of mine threw out the name Lila--and although I'd be sad to let that possibility go (because really, two second cousins named Lila is tricky.) I would be really miffed if they picked Cleona.

does anyone else worry about things like this with family names? I know my friend Renee does (her amazing 100+ year old Great Grandmother's name is Mora, and she's not the only one who wants to carry on that name!). But does anyone else?

I mean, I am SURE it will all work out. Who knows if those names will actually fit our children? Who knows if we'll even have children? Etc. But these things are running around my brain today, so I had to share....

october is awesome. twenty.

in october, i love: fall flowers. particularly fall-colored flowers from my husband. cute, yes? and the colors make me oh so happy!

sometimes I wonder if I'm making things up

or exaggerating. I mean, yeah, between my two jobs I work a lot. I work weekends, I work evenings and I work days. But I like what I do, and generally enjoy both the engineering and the photography.

and I knew October was going to be a smidge nutso, so I've tried to schedule in down time and all that good stuff. I mean, I even took Monday off to rest since I had a wedding on Saturday and another wedding on Sunday.

but, um, my body is telling me that my efforts aren't working. I'm being plagued by something that last happened to me SIX years ago, right around this time of year. there was a lot of sh*t going on then--and I'd link to it, but it happened before I even had a blog!! as it turns out, I have something called per1eche. or angular che1itis. (those 1s are ls, people--I just don't want the go0gle monster to find me!) before forewarned there are pictures--but here's a description, check it. right now it isn't too bad, and they've called in a prescription, and I should be right as rain in no time. definitely before my birthday!

but since I know it's not a vitamin deficiency, and since I don't wear dentures, I don't lick my lips (and they aren't chapped) and since this is what happened last time--this means it's a compromised immune system. i.e., allergies + stress + not enough sleep = problem. which means that no, I'm not just being wimpy--this is the real deal, and I need to do better with the whole taking-care-of-myself thing.

this makes me want to leave work early and take a nap :)

october is awesome. nineteen.

in october, I love: fall veggies, soup fixin's (how do you spell that? it's fixin'--so how do you make it plural? anyone, anyone? bueller?) and my new dr pepper crate. I have wanted a vintage dr pepper crate for.ev.er. like, since high school. and when I found one on etsy I snatched it up post haste. convenient that it goes with my kitchen, huh?

october is awesome. eighteen.

in october, i love: gourds. and pumpkins. and their awesomeness. need I say more?

october is awesome. seventeen.

in october, i love: weddings. this month I'll be shooting four of them. two were this past weekend. one was for my friends lisa and richard. and I LOVED shooting it. and? it was a wonderful way to celebrate six months of marriage for matt and me. :)