sunny days chase the clouds away

Yesterday I set a personal record for the most time watching the weather. It started around 2PM and I think I was still watching at 11:45PM. That's a long time so, it's a good thing I like Todd Howell. : )

The weather in East Tennessee was severe to say the very least. Every 45 minutes we were under some sort of warning. Tornado was my least favorite, but flood and thunderstorm were a close second and third, respectively. I called my sister and she came over with my favorite boy to keep me company. WE stayed in the basement all day and later on, I realized that our garage was flooding. Which is muey bueno because out garage is tiny and leads into the basement and our bedroom. So, I had to wake cranky pants up and get him to help me wet vac our garage. Let me tell you... he was SO thrilled pissed.

Later on, I started watching footage of the tornados from Alabama. It was heart wrenching. I was watching one with a huge tornado some guys were filming from the interstate. The entire time I kept thinking, MOVE! GET OUT OF THERE! Luckily, the men filming were OK. Many from the rest of the state were not..and will continue to not be OK for a long time... I wish there was something more I could do.

This morning I woke with the intention of taking my camera out to capture damage done by the storms. To my surprise, many of the places around here came out unscathed. The flood waters have even subsided from all of the usual places. When I thought about traveling to Knoxville and Loudon to capture damage, I immediately decided that was really to depressing and invasive, so I decided to try and capture some of the beauty that comes from rain and storm systems like the ones we were berated with yesterday.

Like the greenery, for instance....

and the clouds....

Things always seem calmer after the storm....I do SO hope your family and friends are safe and well after the crazy yesterday brought...

*Lady Gaga- Born This Way

zoom zoom...

This weekend flew by. So fast, in fact, that I almost forgot it was Easter. Until Saturday night when my mom called to remind me. (Thanks, Mom!) Thursday night, Mark and I embarked on a journey of pain. We helped a lady he works with rake her yard. Why, Oh WHY I forgot to take before and after pictures is beyond me, but it was totally worth it. : ) I got some serious cardio in, and Lee is an amazing person who's just cool to be around. We worked on the yard Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Lots of leaves, people! Saturday was the busiest of all. We went out to the lake lot to spray for ticks early that morning and then had a pancake brunch with Bill, Beth and Kyle. After that we scooted over to Lee's to finish up her yard. After rushing home, I showered (pulled off two ticks- YUCK.) and headed out to a photo shoot for the lovely Ellen and her boyfriend Michael. Ellen was nominated to attend the Dogwood Ball this weekend and I was lucky enough to take some pictures for her.

Talk about beautiful people! After the photo shoot, I rushed home to get ready for a dinner with some of my favorites- Bill, Beth, Paul and Mary. We hit up Don Edwardo's in Kingston and sat on the patio with mixed drinks and some excellent serenading from w guy who stepped out of a mariachi band. (No pictures, sorry!) Anyway, we were supposed to go and hear a band after that, but I just couldn't move I was so tired. We went home to chill and started mixing drinks and the evening just turned into one of those things that was meant to be. JT stopped by and Holly came over, too. We stayed up until 3 listening to music on the back porch. And then I promptly overslept on Easter Sunday.

After we finally got ready Sunday afternoon, we made the trip to my grandparents house to celebrate Easter. Mark ended up fixing a pipe under their sink and I took about 300 pictures of Ryan. (I can't help myself. This photo stuff is FUN. )

This kid can work a camera. That's just all there is to it! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I really need to start some laundry and think about cleaning my house. : )

*Automatic Stop- The Strokes

endorphins

It's AMAZING what a little exercise will do for your body and soul. I hit the track today and did a very slow mile. Like, about a 16 minute mile. I was also nearly lapped by a grannie wearing spandex. Talk about a pick me up! : )

In all honesty, I kind of felt like crap when I left for my walk, but after I got done I felt great! I can't wait for Mark to get home and get this weekend jump started. Oh Happee Day!

Enjoy your weekend, ladies and gents!

*Tom Petty-American Girl

on the radar

My friend Mandy is an amazing photographer. Have you seen her work? She's a budding photo bug, taking classes at night and being super momma by day. I'm super jealous of her! I WISH I could take some photography classes, but right now, it's just not in the cards. I'm just going to have to rely on my instincts and trial by error for the moment. : ) Anyway, I was reading Mandy's blog tonight and she was really kind of down. She was hoping to have more bookings by this point because she, like myself, is doing photo shoots for free- just to get experience. I was giving her a little pep talk comment (like she has so kindly done for me in the past) when I thought of something... What is the deal with all of these people recently who have gotten into photography? I have several friends who have found their way into the photo world, and while I am very happy for them, I can't help but wonder... WHY?

It's no small secret that I love taking pictures. Have you visited this blog before? Ha. Why I never invested in a camera (a GOOD camera) years and years ago, I have no idea. I could have saved a lot of money having throw away cameras bought and processed. When I say that I love taking pictures, I really mean it. I have 2.. YES TWO Rubbermaid Totes (the extra heavy duty kind) that are full of old pictures and negatives. I also have many, many shoe boxes full of the same thing, pictures draped over every inch of my house that will stand still and then about a zillion more on my computer here at home once I discovered the digital camera. We actually had to get a new computer because I have so many pictures I bogged our old one down. I guess saying I like to take pictures is really the understatement of my 30 years on this planet.

Sorry. Tangent.... um, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, photography. Yeah. People are taking pictures like maniacs these days. One person I am friends with on facebook is trying to start a photography business. Actually, we are not really friends and I haven't seen him since I was literally in elementary school, so hopefully he doesn't read this. Anyway, his pictures are...well.... not so cute? Oh, God. Why am I even saying this? Karma is going to strike me down... but really. WHY? I mean, I just wouldn't be proud of some of the pictures he posted.... Like, I would have deleted them from my hard drive immediately. That said, there are other folks who are clearly armatures  who are taking GREAT photos. What gives?

I was sort of hoping to turn my hobby into something that might generate a little income, and I'm not saying that I never will, but with the cameras they make these days, I think it's going to be a lot tougher. Hopefully my passion for taking pictures will overrule these other peoples mere interest in it. They are flirting with photography. I am MARRIED to it. : )

I feel like I have to add that sometimes it feels like anything that I want to do, someone else comes along and does it better..or first, really. I think I kind of want for this to be my thing...and everyone is doing it. I'm an against the flow kind of girl.. I don't like being on the bandwagon and that's the way it sort of feels. Arg....

So, I guess the thing is this..... I'm bitching. Sorry. It's late.

*TiK ToK- Kesha ('cause she's cray cray.)

love

I have fallen in love with my new editing software. So happy with it, in fact, that I decided to share a few more pictures... just for funsies....

Olivia is a wonderful little model! Happy Third birthday to you, little one!

*Unchainged Melody- Righteous Brothers

editing

I've been going through photos and editing.. Let me know what you think. Really. Positive or negative. I can take it. Although, I think they look pretty sweet!

Thanks for checking it out....: ) Much love!

Jessie J- Price Tag

drugged

I've been feeling under the weather since my last post. Everything came to a head Saturday morning when I was trying to get my yard sale on. I ended up at the walk-in clinic that day, and to my surprise back at my regular doctors office yesterday afternoon. I left after he gave me 3 mystery pills, cough medicine and a breathing treatment IN OFFICE. He sent me home with 4 scripts.

I'm tired. I retired and I'm tired. I'm also ready to shake this funk.

No music. Just tired.

flowers and awesomeness

A whopping nine days since my last post. I feel like I have neglected my blog and blogging buddies! It's been sort of busy, sort of not. Allergies are getting the best of me today. Since I've been taking allergy meds, the pollen took residence in my lungs. Last night I started losing my voice and my throat was sore, so I did two hot toddys and a warm bath, which helped really not at all. Today I started taking Mucinex (-isn't that a disgusting name? anyway,), and it has helped some. I HATE a chest cold. They are worse than anything else if you ask me. YUCK.

I've been playing with my camera a bunch in the last few days because everything is just so pretty right now. There are shades of pink and purple everywhere and tulips galore. The dogwoods have bloomed out, too. The older I get the more I love flowers.

We also had my birthday party last weekend, and can I just say WOW? I had so much fun. It was Eighties themed and most people participated. All of the ones who didn't brought presents, so that was  pretty awesome, too. : )

Yo, B. Check us out. We're Funky.

In other news, the crazy cat hoarders from next door are being evicted. Or so we are told. I'm so happy about this turn of play I'm about to wet my pants. They have been cleaning out their storage unit in the back yard, so I am hoping everything plays out swiftly. As in they really do move and we inherit awesome news neighbors who like to plant flowers and listen to good music. They may have one male cat, but it has to be fixed. And if I'm being perfectly honest, they won't have a cat at all, they'll be dog people and we'll be best buds. Are you looking for a house to buy? We are fun people to have as neighbors. Unless you have a cat horde of unfixed felines. Then of course, all bets are off.

So! On the crazy front. I got my first 2 week appointment. Apparently, I am doing well enough that I may go 2 weeks without professional intervention. : ) It's nice on the pocketbook, too. I also had a job interview today and that's always uplifting. Still not sure what I wanna do, but I'm trying.

I hope your week has been awesome. : )

*James Blunt- Beautiful Dawn