HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!

Whoo! Can't really go all out on my picture tonight, but I'm making my deadline! I'm about to go downstairs to watch the ball drop with my family, so this is a quick post. But today I got to go skiing and to the mall! I got a hat that I cannot wait to take a picture in, it'll be awesome.

Picture # 261

Well, my self-portrait is crap today, which sucks since it's the last one from 2010, but you know, what can ya do? Life it tough sometimes, and I simply couldn't do anything about it.

I found this shopping cart right outside the mall and wanted SO badly to be able to set up my shot for the day here. But I literally had two minutes, and I handed the camera off to my sister and dove in. This was the least blurry shot. Oh well.

Double Feature Day

Today was movie day. Part of my present for Christmas was a trip to the movie theater from my Uncle Bob. I got to see Tangled and Chronicles of Narnia, which was amazing!!! Totally loved both of them, highly recommend. I was really impressed with Tangled, I laughed so much. In between movies I was able to catch a bit of sunlight, so I literally set up and took my picture in less than ten minutes.

Picture # 260

 Right now my mom and I are trying to make plans for New Years. Since I'm still up in RI and don't know anyone my own age, it looks like I'll be watching the ball drop with my great-aunt, grandmother, mom, and sister. Not that there is anything wrong with that, and it will be pretty cool to say I celebrated New Year's with a 100 year old, but I'm 21! I want to go out and see the world, to live up my youth! I never really got a legit 21st birthday party, and it looks like I'm not getting a New Year's either. Oh well. God is still good, and there is always next year!

Out and About

Why would I take my picture in my car's reflection?

Picture # 259

 So I could put the camera down and go sledding of course! We drove out to the local park where there are actual hills (I live in the flat lands...) and had a ball! The pond there was even iced over and on one of the sled tracks you could end up going onto the ice. It was pretty cool. One of my poor younger cousins hit a stump though. I think he bruised his tail bone or something. But he just kept going, even though he said his butt hurt. He'll push through any kind of pain. I remember when he was around 6-7 he broke his arm and he barely shed a tear. Hopefully he's ok.

Jessica and I on our last run

Great Aunt's house = slow internet

Don't call me vain, because I sit at a vanity.
Don't call me vain, because I look in a mirror.
Life is not all about looks, you know.
Call me vain when I cannot leave the pull of materialism .
Call me vain when I ignore the plight of the helpless.
Don't call me vain.

Picture # 258

Haha I hope you enjoyed the crap poem, I felt like writing something out to go with my picture today. I'm staying at my Great-Aunt Gerry's house and she has so many amazing things in her house. This vanity was the first thing I noticed walking into the room my sister and I are sharing... of course I had to take my first picture up here using it. She was telling us that she found the comb, brush and mirror years ago (I wanna say in the 60s? Probably even earlier) in a family member's house. They hadn't been used in years so they were all black. But Aunt Gerry knew that they were Sterling Silver, so she polished and polished until they shone again. SO COOL.

Aunt Gerry is such an adorable old lady, she is 100 years old, and can still walk up and down the stairs. Earlier today though she had lost her glasses so my mom, my sister and I were searching everywhere for them. She thought she might have put them down in the kitchen somewhere, and of course, I head straight to the fridge. Right after I leave the kitchen, my sister walks in and does the same thing. Then my mom checks the fridge right after her! You just never know where a 100 year old lady will put her glasses. I eventually found them on the other side of her bed. They had fallen down by between the side and her wall. Still, it's always worth it to check the refrigerator. 

Tomorrow I'll be in New England!

We are going to go skiing while we are up there. I'm super excited to spend some time up there and get away from my house. I've been so lazy here and lost a lot of my motivation. Especially for this project. Hopefully when I get up to RI I'll be so inspired I can't help but do something crazy for some photos. Here is a picture from my last trip up in RI.

Picture # 257

And I'm actually drinking hot chocolate here. It was delicious! And my bottom got SO COLD. But I had fun. It was worth it. And I wasn't as cold as I was during the Sunrise shoot, but I didn't stay out for very long. 

The Blizzard of Christmas 2010

Well.... My family was not able to make it up to Rhode Island today. We got way to snowed in. I'm not even sure if anyone changed out of their pajamas today. I definitely didn't... But I did put my coat on and run outside just to show you that it really did snow.

Picture # 256

Then I got so cold I ran back in. Tomorrow I'll go out and play, since we aren't heading out till Tuesday morning.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Happy Birthday Jesus! Today was wonderful, but exhausting. I was so blessed this morning with my presents, including this laptop! I got this in September but laptops are expensive so my dad said it was part of my presents this year. Same with my vacuum cleaner from mom. Works for me! But you'll never guess what I got under the tree. A Kindle with a $25 gift certificate to Amazon!!! I'm so excited, even though I was never expecting one. Good stuff.

Picture # 256

 Again, last minute self portrait. Oh well. Here's a picture with me and my grandfather. It was hard on everyone since my step-grandmother passed away last week. But he put on a smile and was telling jokes and such. He knew that I was traveling up to Rhode Island tomorrow and was asking if we were going to stop in New York to visit my Great-Aunt. Wehn I said yes he said that he had been to New York once. He went in 1939 when he was around 16 to attend the World Fair there. Pretty cool! Two years later he got to travel the Pacific as a Navy fighter pilot in World War II. I hope I get to hear more stories of his past soon!

*99% sure I won't have enough internet access when I'm visiting family up in the North but if I can I will link on facebook.

It's Christmas Eve!

Yay for family days and Baby Jesus (who was actually born in the summer...)! Today was a lot of fun but I am so ready for bed. Tomorrow will be mostly a blast, but then I will have to pack up and clean out the guest room because we are leaving for Rhode Island the day after Christmas! I might not be able to post everyday on here but I definitely will be taking self-portraits, so I'll catch up after I get back for sure.
Anyway, I had to wrap all of my presents before I could post, so I just did my picture with the materials.

Picture # 255

Check out my mad wrapping skills!

Jessica's Present

Yeah, that's totally two different types of wrapping paper, what of it? Actually, wrapping gifts is pretty difficult for Lefties. Cutting the paper always gives me problems...maybe that's why I always put off wrapping gifts until last minute...

Reunion night

That's basically what it was. It was cookie day at my house today, and I had my friend Gracie and Andrew come over to help. We decided to spilt for dinner and then meet up again to hang out. Well.... in my town there really isn't much to do, so I suggested going to Applebees because after 9 the appetizers are half off. So we go, and there we meet up with Nick who had been a year a head of me and his friend Dave. But then, I saw my cousins Joe and Taylor, along with four other girls I used to be close with from middle school on. Then I saw a few other random girls up on the other side who I vaguely remembered from h.s. AND then I saw about four guys that I very vaguely remembered. I kept asking Gracie if they were who I thought they were and she would keep confirming. I'm 99% sure they didn't remember me though, as I think I look pretty different and I wasn't very memorable back then. Plus they didn't even attempt to say my name, when they definitely remembered Grace and Andrew's. Oh well.

Picture # 254

 Well, My first shot was way better framed here, but I had decided to leave it up to autofucus and it failed me miserably. I still like the feel though, so I made it my picture of the day.

Second time was terrible, but I love the interaction between Grace and I. Plus, we are in focus for this one. :)

Sucked in by materialism

If it was up to me, I would live a minimalist's life. I'd like to eventually get there, but my room is packed full of stuff I've had since childhood. Every time I try to get rid of "stuff," it just keeps growing instead. Example, a huge pile of stuffed animals was just chilling in my closet so I threw them out and got in the middle. Now, it didn't go all the way around my head, but I tried! And I think the vast majority of these animals are going to find their way to Goodwill sometime this week!

Picture # 253

It's quite embarrassing to see how many stuffed animals I still have. The pile went up to my chin when I was behind it!

Made some daylight!

Spent the day with family, but I got back to the house with a little bit of light left. My picture isn't amazing, but I've had a rough day. It's always hard losing a family member, and even though Ms. Marie wasn't my biological grandmother, she has been a huge part of my life in the past ten years. She and my pop-pop were very much attached to each other and in the past couple of years as he was going blind and losing hearing she became his eyes and ears. I can't even imagine the loss he is feeling right now. This is the second wife he has lost to misfortune. My grandmother passed away when I eight due to fighting cancer. Ms. Marie passed away from complications when she hit her head during a car accident. My grandfather came out of the accident with a broken ankle and pain in his side but he was able to recover while Ms. Marie hung on for weeks until she saw my grandfather and talked to him face to face. It's amazing what people can do when they are in love.

Picture # 252

 And my sister's dog Angel wanted to get in front of the camera too! She was precious, she stayed around me the whole time. She's been a great dog, it's still weird not having Holly though.

# 251

I have lost my drive on this project! I think I've hit a wall. My pictures are once again becoming more and more static and last minute. Hopefully I can snap myself out of this soon. I want to grow my creative vision even more. I do think that tonight's picture came out pretty cool though. Even if it was last minute...

Picture # 251

Anyway, I have to go to my step-grandmother's funeral tomorrow, so it's going to be a somber day. If I don't feel like it's proper to take a picture around my family then I won't. As of right now the vast majority of the day is going to be with family. As it should be, but this will make it difficult to plan out a picture. We shall see. 

R.I.P. Marie Ewing :(

Drove home

I think this was one of the worst trips yet. I made it home safe, thank God, but a lot of it was just unpleasant. And I brought my cat back with me and she was just miserable. She puked twice, it was pretty disgusting. And smelly. But she's just fine now and I think she's settling back in ok.
Yay for Christmas trees!

Picture # 250

Ok, I'm going to try and catch up on some much needed sleep now. P.s., my church back in Virginia is going under some severe spiritual warfare. It's very sad, and people have split from the church because of it. There is also now a broken home and I am definitely praying for this couple, as I can't imagine what they must be going through to have to out their four boys through this.

Getting ready to leave

Tomorrow I'm heading home for Winter Break. Didn't really do to much today, but I had a short job interview that I'm really hoping I get, and I went out to dinner with Mike and Jess!

Picture # 249

Tomorrow is all church, packing, and driving about five hours home. Hopefully my creative drive will make a comeback, because these past few days I've been really lazy. I've got a few cool ideas for December I would like to do, but we shall she if I can complete them on the budget that I have (aka, $0). I have some really dramatic ideas for the spring, so I might have to start begging people to help me with the cost of my art! 

Me and my sis... again!

We do weird things, I know. I'm pretty much an odd one in my group here, but my sister takes the cake everywhere (In the best way possible!). I love her and the crazy things we do.

Picture # 248

Gotta love Sparkling Cider with Green Hornet masks. Oh yes. 

Snow Day, but I stayed in

And had hot chocolate! Plus two home cooked meals by my roommate Lauren. It was a quiet day, but I got a lot done and was able to hang out with some friends. It was pretty sweet. I was supposed to pick up my sister, but it was snowing like crazy and I didn't want to risk it. So once I go and get her I'll probably play around in the snow or something.

Picture # 247

Two different personalities! Fun fun. Can't wait for tomorrow's picture!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas...

Totally the same type of shoot as this picture, but I like the pose I did today a lot more. And I got to fool around with different tools in photoshop which is always fun.

Picture # 246

I should have asked Lauren to join me, but I forgot my other Santa hat in the car. :( 

And sadly, Amy has already left for home, so no more pictures with her until next year! Wow how the time flies. 

Kayla left = :(

Well, I can't believe I actually fully skipped a day. It's been awhile since I have, like back in September when I was trying to get back into the habit. But anyway, I skipped and I'm sorry. Not worth the stress though to have stayed up even longer and post something. I had been out and about everywhere last night, it was ridiculous. But such is my life, and I would rather have it this way than not.
I'm going to miss Kayla so much!

Picture # 245

And.... shoes. :)

Yes, I am wearing Red and Purple. What are you going to do about it?

Movie night

Mmmmmm Movie Nights are so delightful! I love going to/hosting movie nights. There is just something special when you get to connect with a bunch of your friends over a story. Tonight, it was just Amy and I, using a comedic movie to escape from studies for awhile.
Now when I watch movies, I get fully into it. I'll yell at the characters, flinch when something jumps, and give huge belly laughs when I find something funny. Some people are fine with this, some people can't stand it. Amy... joined in with me! We both just about died of laughter so many times. And we made plenty of jokes about some of the situations. She really is an awesome, beautiful person. Especially for putting up with all the odd things that I do (like hit her knee repeatedly when something embarrassing happens to a character).

Picture #244

 Welcome to our room! Hopefully next time Lauren isn't working and gets to joins us.

Down to the Wire

It's that time again. Finals. College students are pulling all-nighters right and left. I'm lucky, my finals shouldn't be to hard, but it's all the other stuff I have to get done that's stressing me out.
Love the Christmas tree!

Picture # 243

Sorry I'm so late for today's. I was up in my school's computer lab till midnight editing stuff. Which is my least favorite (well, maybe audio is worse for me) part about broadcasting work. I'll be a PA till two in the morning. I'll get into a rowboat and deliver lines. All band season I carried around a heavy camera bag, and I would do it again if I didn't have to edit the footage I'm shooting. My brain just isn't wired this way. 

*No make-up Sunday! Wooo!!! And I brought Kayla to my church, it was awesome. I really, really, really love this church that I'm going to. I got all dressed up for the first service I went to, but the worship leader was wearing an old gray hoodie with holy jeans. He is such a hippy. And the pastor was wearing an argyle sweater. I've been going in whatever I felt like since. Because it simply does not matter what you look like there. They are going to love you. 

Just a weird day.

Two pictures for today. I got to take a nap and put off doing any serious work till tomorrow, but I have been in such a weird mood lately and something is just driving me crazy! And the annoying part is I can't pin-point why. My mom has some theories, but none of them are good to talk about on here. Anyhoo... Two pics!

Picture # 242

And I went out for brunch with some of the most amazing girls! No cattiness in this group, nope, all of them are so sweet that you could end up with cavities. ;P

*Pardon the terrible joke. I'm so tired, and I've been saying really random stuff ALL day. The good thing is most people laughed at my jokes. This makes me feel like I'm funny. :)

Christmas Coffeehouse!!! Elf Style.

Sooo.... I kind of missed "yesterday's picture." I ended up being out and about all day and just never set anything up, figuring I'd have time later. Well I went to my school's Christmas talent show, which started at 11:30 pm and didn't get out till 2 am. Here are a few random fun ones, and then I'm crashing!
*Note; NO EDITING! What you see is what you get. Night all!

Picture # 241

I found Santa!!! And why does he look so familiar??? Cause it's Kyle!!!

And just for good measure here the bottom part of my outfit, with my cute shoes from Egypt and Kayla's feet. Love it! I only wish that I had grabbed a picture with my friend Olivia and her boyfriend Austin. They are the only reason I got to go, b/c I had put off buying a ticket and then it was sold out. But Austin found one for me and it worked out perfectly! Mad props to awesome friends who never leave others behind. :) & <3

Exhausted! But worth it.

I definitely burned the candle at both ends last night. I'm heading to bed as soon as this is posted. On the bright side, my friend Kayla is in town visiting! I had to be at the train station by 6 am this morning to pick her up but we had a great day. And I completed a rough cut of the footage I have for my project, but unfortunately a good portion is missing so I'm really praying that somehow a copy got saved and I will have it for tomorrow. If not, I'm going to have to scramble to do some last minute filming.

Picture # 240

As you can see, I got to take a short nap in the middle of a hallway, in the middle of the day. And judging by the way I'm holding my tri-pod, I'm probably dreaming of all the photoshoot possibilities. 

Big project coming your way!

I spent a good portion of my day editing, well, more like trying to edit. It took forever just to get the footage to a place where I could edit them. But I did and I'm pretty happy with what I've got so far. It's a huge video, so it's going to take most of my day tomorrow as well. And then I've also got to worry about adding audio, color correction... oh boy. I'm feeling burned out. So this is what happens when my overwhelmed self decides to relax.

Picture(s) #239

Yup, I was relaxed all right...

*Note, to LU people, this was Sparkling Cider, haha.

Secret Santa time!

Earlier this week one of my good friends contacted me about getting a surprise together for his wife. I absolutely adore this couple (their wedding was the first one I ever shot!), and really wanted to do it. It was hard getting all the stuff that he wanted, so I ended up improvising a lot. But I think she was happy.

Picture # 238

My roommate has a fondue pot and the husband wanted me to make Chocolate Covered Strawberries, so I did but then had some chocolate left over and dipped bananas in since my roommate (Lauren) absolutely loves Bananas. 

Yay for friends! I'm really going to miss this girl when she moves to Ohio. She's leaving this Friday. :(

Woo for no make-up days! And mad props to her for being pregnant and working hard to get all of her finals done by Friday. No kids for me for at LEAST four years. But when I do start adopting and whatnot, I hope our kids will be friends. That'd be so awesome. 

Band Banquet '10!

 Tonight went so well. I got to dress up, got my "hair did" by Gracie, and went to the banquet with a complete gentleman (Scott!). So I've got three pictures to share. :)

Picture # 237

Forgive the face, I am TIRED. But I love this dress. It blows my mind that I actually bought this dress my freshman year of high school. Yeah, you read that right, HIGH SCHOOL. But then I ended up buying a different dress for homecoming my freshman year, wore something else my sophomore year, could fit into this my junior year, and didn't even try my senior year. So it's been hanging in my closet for alllllllll these years, and over break I go home and try it on, and it fit so well! Anyway, I'm done my little ramble. 

The group!

Brittney and I are both fans of The Ravens, so we and our dates rocked out the Purple and Black! Sadly, our team lost last night in the last quarter, but... we are pressing on. We all had a great time and Scott won a "Fruit of the Spirit" award! He totally deserved it. :)

We didn't want the party to end...

We all went back to my apartment where my roommates were very gracious and let us talk and watch a movie. I highly recommend Meet the Robinsons. Such a funny and encouraging movie. 

Now I'm going to go change, wash the goop off of my face, and sleep hard. I've got my first final tomorrow! :(

Plans fall through

Life is unexpected. Nothing ever flows perfectly well, friends can let you down. But you only lose out when you allow the negative to impact you. Sometimes... all it takes to turn things around is a new perpective. :)

 Picture # 236

Twenty days till Christmas, CRAZY!!!

A little Christmas Coffee

Today was awesome. That's the only way to describe it. I got up late, went shopping with Lauren, saw my college's performance of A Christmas Carol (The Musical), went out to dinner with some friends, and then went out for some coffee (Hot chocolate for me, I don't actually like coffee)!
Here is a picture with my band banquet date, Scott.

Picture # 235

We were feeling goofy. And yes, that is real snow on the tree behind us. We've had flurries all day. It was so beautiful! 

A Box and a Bow

Gotta leave my apartment soon to go support one of my favorite non-profit organizations, Freedom 4/24,
but I wanted to post my picture first. Aka, I'm tired and once I get back from downtown I will be crashing. Then I've got HUGE plans tomorrow so I definitely need sleep. And Jesus. I always need a little more Jesus. :)
Maybe that's who's underneath all this wrapping paper.

Picture # 234

Haha this picture kind of makes me think of someone really sketch trying to sell something even sketchier... What do you think, how could I have done better?

Mirror me!

Gotta get some homework done, but I have two pictures to post for today!

Picture # 233

Ooooo serious reflection time. Almost complete missed that the mirrors lined up perfectly to take a self-sustaining shot. Might have to re-visit this place again to experiment when I have more time.

And here's Mason and I, fighting for attention.

Mason (scroll down for past pictures of/from Mason) is trying to break into the stock photography world so I was helping him (and vice versa I guess) out with a photo shoot this afternoon. It was ridiculous. 

Video is live!!!

Ok, so I'm still going to post my picture of the day later on (I'm about to go on a photo shoot with Mason actually) but I just uploaded the video I shot yesterday and wanted to give you guys a first look. Just click on the title. Enjoy!

Ive got the best date to Band Banquet

25 days till Christmas!

Where has my time gone?! Life is just flying by me, and I've heard it only goes faster. This semester is almost over and I still have so much that I want to do! Sad times.
Anyway, had a video shoot today, starring little ol' me and the lovely Brittney! Almost done editing it, I should finish sometime tomorrow hopefully. I'll definitely post a link on here then. I also went on a girl date with my good friend Emily, where we talked for over an hour in a book store and just got to catch up. That is the number one thing I miss about the dorms. Is I could always grab a girl and chat if something was up, but now it's much harder with most of the girls that I trust are off leading very busy lives.

Picture # 232

...Yes, I realize we are not facing the camera, but I love how this turned out! The total oppositeness (Yup, oppositeness) in this photo just makes me happy I guess. But, I'm also going to post another one just because Brittney's adorable face deserves to be seen!