I went to Best Buy today to look at a lens I was considering for purchase. Turns out, I instead fell in love with the upgrade of my camera, along with the incredible lens that it comes with. It's quite a price tag, though, so I'm going to have to begin to save... now. I've decided that in order to truly pursue the art of photography, I'll need to get a camera that will allow me to grab the right pictures - especially in natural light. I also probably need at least two lenses to get not only portrait shots, but also wide-angle.

Tomorrow I'll try to post the items I'm going to sell. I'd like to see how much money I think I'll get for each. I plan to sell them in person or on a website.

Starting my own little photography business will take time, effort, understanding, and patience. I realize that if it all works out, I may have to pay taxes on it if it becomes a small "business," which makes the whole thing a little scary. In the meantime, I plant to learn what I can from photographers that I already know. Hopefully I'll get some tips!

Wish me luck.

p.s. TGIF

I smell summer

and it smells so sweet. However, before I get there, I have a variety of things going on.

Senior grades: finished! This was a big thing to get done this weekend, and luckily it didn't take much time to do. I only had about two papers to finish in order to submit final grades. I won't have seniors anymore, which is weird (but awesome) because I won't have any students during first block. They've been a lot of work, so it's an earned freedom!

Last week and two days of school: I mention this as a task because it truly is. You wouldn't believe the struggle of simply getting the students to do the minimum amount of work for the last week of school.

Training my new cat: J and I got a new cat - he's probably one year old or two... no one is quite sure. More on his story later as well...


Graduation: High school graduation is coming up, so that will be one big event of next weekend...

Funeral service: Next Saturday, after graduation, I'll be attending my grandfather's funeral service. It's going to be a quaint, quiet little service - possibly more people than I am expecting - but either way, it'll be perfect for him. It was a tough couple of days, but things are getting better. I could write a whole blog post about love, loss, and mourning, but I'll save that for another day.

Summer plans: Luckily, J and I both have the summer off, so now we're trying to decide what to do. We'd like to have a peaceful summer at the house - doing little things - building a fire pit, mulching the plant beds, and cleaning off the roof - ya know, the norm. We'd also like to take a small trip for our one-year anniversary. This was a toss up between NYC and the beach. I think we've decided that the beach will be more peaceful of a getaway after a long year of school. Maybe we'll go to NYC during winter break. We also will be going to visit my Gma and other family - my amazing family - and I can't wait! When we're going is the question...

More later. For now, I'm going to finish watching my guilty pleasure (not telling) and planning for tomorrow. I hope you had a great long weekend.

5/22/12

May 22, 2012. This man was one funny character. I will always remember him for my childhood filled with "ride toys" and trains, as well as my teens and adulthood, where we not only lived in the same household, but I got to watch him tinker, listen to his radio, invent various things, and make all sorts of food in the kitchen. He will always be remembered and loved; his stories will be told to my children one day. 

 

Rest in peace, Grandpa. Enjoy God and his many angels. I love you.

Preview - Elijah

I told you I would post about my birthday, but so much has happened since then, and it's been a bit crazy.

My birthday was wonderful. After school, Justin and I had a cookout with friends which was great. It was so relaxed. Justin made homemade mac 'n cheese (the best), and we grilled out. Have I told you how much we love using our new little charcoal grill? Awesome.

While eating and socializing, I looked forward to the coming night: the midnight showing of The Avengers movie!! It was so worth it!! J and I had so much fun together that night - we stayed out so late. It felt like college .. or high school.. so fun!

The next day, I did get up to go to school - not sure how, but I did - and I had a good day. That evening, Dana and I went to have a lovely seafood dinner at a nearby restaurant.

I'm telling you, it was one of the best birthdays I've ever had, and I'm not really sure I can pinpoint a specific reason. 25 felt pretty good!

________________________

Fast forward a few days. Now for the more serious stuff. As you saw, my (only remaining) pet from my childhood passed last week. The next morning, J and I found out an old friend had died in a car crash. Phew. After that, I found out my Grandpa now has Hospice; the nursing home can no longer do anything for him.

So, one week after my birthday, J and I spent Friday night at a viewing, surrounded by friends, celebrating a life took too soon and supporting our friends.

Saturday was prom... for my students. I made Justin go with me. Enough said.

Sunday was Mother's Day, and it was a day well spent. Matt and I threw together an amazing shrimp dinner (okay, he did), and I brought a sweet little bouquet of flowers for her. It's always nice to spend time with family.

As you can see, it's been a busy couple of weeks -- bitter sweet.

Hope life is going well for you. More updates coming soon! 

RIP Bud

For those that understand the love for a pet, a companion, a cat: Only six months and two days later, I say goodbye to the other half of the duo pair from my childhood: Bud. He was my birthday present from my third grade year, and I named him Butterscotch because of his fur color. I have so many pictures of his life and mine, from when we were both tiny and young, through our adult years. He was such a good companion, and he rocked at hide-and-seek.

Not only am I sad that Bud is gone, but it's also that he and Allie passed within just six months, even though they were two years apart. It just goes to show that sometimes you just can't live without the other half. Also, it is the week after my birthday, and because he was a birthday present so long ago, it adds to the sadness - yet somehow makes it sweeter.

Lastly? Bud was the last of my childhood pets. My brother and I grew up with Allie and Bud, and sadly, they're both gone.

The cycle of life is beautiful and painfully sad.

Earlier today, I took pictures of pictures (yup) that I was arranging for an artistic design for my wall. My animals were hanging out with me, and J was making kabobs -- which were, amazing. The whole point of this, though, is that I learned more about my camera today, and I can't wait to learn more. Note that the lighting of these photos are pretty nice, even though the house was actually a bit darker than that. I've learned how to manually correct photos - to some extent - and I'm hoping to get better quickly.

So, I'm planning to take my camera with me each day to take a new picture -- kind of a picture-a-day kind of deal. It'll be fun! I'm not taking it to school, but I'll be working with it after school. If it's raining or cloudy, I'm going to try to find ways to make it look better. Let's hope this will be a great learning tool for me! I can't wait. 

Oh yeah, and I'm going to create a watermark for my photos to start using soon. This isn't because I think I'm amazing or anything - definitely far from - but I don't really want any of my photos to get around on google and in someone's unknown hand, which I've heard can happen. I think I've told you before, but a woman's picture once ended up on a billboard in another country because the owner just googled and found a random photo to use. Ha!

Tigergoose photography... what do you think? Other than that, I'm struggling to think of a name.

Sunday 5-6-12

I have so much to tell you about the past week, but for now I'll post a couple of photos from today. More coming soon about birthdays, cookouts, and teaching myself how to use my camera. Ah - and how could I forget? The Avengers movie. Get a good start to your week, everyone. I'm trying to do the same.