Again...SORRY!

If anyone cares...I'm so sorry I have been so bad at posting on the blog.  So much is going on and the days seem to fly by.

Today I did a photo shoot on a golf course for one of the kids I follow at school.  It was nice out at first...overcast and not too chilly.  BUT...then the fog rolled in.  The golf course is right on a peninsula and the fog quickly turned into a light rain shower.  I was unable to continue the shoot although I did get some interesting stuff.  I look forward to returning to continue his story.  It was too bad I had to stop shooting and most people would hate this weather, but there is something about a foggy day on a beach/beachside that I love...it is one of my favorite weather days.

Tonight is another students 16th birthday and I will be taking photos in a little while of a little "party" in the dorm for her.  Cute...should be fun with all her friends.  I love when not the norm happens for photos here...it is like little gold nuggets.

Last night is the night I usually watch Glee but instead we watched a new show called The Voice.  I really liked it because it is getting back to basics...listening to a song someone is singing instead of looking at someone singing a song.  Reminds me of the '70's.  Those people did not care at all about appearance!  HA!  Anyway, we watched and taped it hoping to see a Tabor grad on the show.  Last night was not his night so now I have to figure out how to watch 3 shows at once next week.  UGH.

Oh...and yes, I am DYING to see Kate's dress on Friday.  Sorry for those of you who don't care about the wedding or have had too much media thrown in your face about it...I have not and am looking forward to it.  There.  I said it.

I am really looking forward to this weekend!  Friday night I am going out with a friend for dinner then to see the musical "Spring Awakening".  I have little to no idea what the show is about so it should be interesting.  Saturday I am getting a very much needed, long awaited haircut...FINALLY!  I'm sorry...I know it seems silly to be so excited, but it has been since Christmas.  Sunday I am seeing one of my best friends who I haven't seen in a while and we are going for dinner.  We have a lot of catching up to do! 

We are starting to plan our summer vacation.  I am hoping we can go to Smugglers Notch in Vermont.  If you have never heard of it or don't know about it, check out the site.  It is geared towards families and they have everything you could want or think of while on vacation.

Thanks for coming back to my blog.  The next couple of months is a bit hectic for me but I will do my best to take time out to post.

Here is a fun photo of my husband on his first day of school...he still wears the same outfit just longer pants now and still carries a brief case (i think he was born with one attached to his hand) and still is going to school...only now he is the teacher.

 

Hi there!`

Sorry, I know it has been a while.

A little update:  Ava had the flu last week...all better now, April vacation is this week, we had a birthday bonanza over the weekend, Easter is coming and the bunny has to prepare,and I have been playing around with my computer and some images i have...I have been a little obsessed and have been super distracted from blogging.

I promise it will all be worth it in the end.

This is a before and after photo I worked on today...not in that order...LOL.

Slow start...

I am having a slow start to a very busy week.  There is a lot that I am trying to fit in.  I have restructured some things in my business and now I am trying to follow up.  Ava is sick and we spend last night awake for most of it.  I am running on fumes today and trying to ignore the incredible exhaustion.

After all the tax prep for my business, I have made some changes in my pricing and what I can offer my clients.  I want to be available for everyone and offer the best quality proofs/printing/my time I can give.  At the same time, I have my end of responsibilities at home that need to be met.  It is a challenging balance and if anyone tells you it is easy, they are wrong.  So much time is put into every little detail of my work...a lot of thought goes in to what I offer and vendors I use.  I hope the new structure will make people feel at ease and comfortable with what I provide.  I love my work and I love being able to do it from my home.  I am around for my kids when they do get sick (like today) and I continually feel such a high from successful photo shoots and making people happy.  I love the "hunt" of the shot of the session and the past year I feel I got so much reward out of what I do.

That said...I have a lot to get done today in the little time while Manny is sleeping and I am on fumes.

I have been taking more photos of my kids around the house...I will post them later.

Enjoy the warmth today...even if it isn't sunny.

April 15th!

HOLY COW...how did April 15th come so quickly?  I just filed my taxes from 2009...or at least it feels like it.  I hate this time of year.

On a funnier note...we headed up to Quincy yesterday so I could help my mother bake the Easter bread we have every Easter.  The bread is special because it is a family recipe that has been passed down for generations.  My mothers grandmother made it and hers before.

It is always a time that I look forward to...the bread on Easter morning.  It is a sweet bread with an orange flavor and hits the spot with Easter breakfast/brunch.  I have never made the bread.  I really enjoy baking too.  My nieces and nephews have baked the bread and even my sister...but, not me.  I had felt bad because I wanted to know so I could pass it down in my own family.  So, I took my family with me and we headed to my moms to make the bread.  There is a step in making this bread that involves cooling down some ingredients that have been heated on the stove.  To do this, my mother always places a big bowl in her generously sized sink with cold water running.  As the water is running, Ava is saying over and over again "No running water, no running water..." (a mantra she has learned at school).  I explain  to her that in this case, it is ok to have the water run but thank her for thinking of that.  I go to the next step and start getting more ingredients out.  I hear my mother gasp...the running water was accidentally positioned over the bowl ruining the heated mixture.  We have a good laugh at how we should have listened to Ava and that if there was a time to make a mistake, it would be then.  We continue on repeating the process and we finish the bread and bake it.  We taste it....we forgot a key ingredient in the mixture when we had to repeat a step.  We laugh and are relieved that we have more time today (sunday) to make more bread and agree that I will make another trip to help out.

I go to bed last night only to wake up at 1:30 and could not fall back asleep until around 5.  Manny woke up at 6 and Ava spent half the night in our bed.  I have a migraine.  I call my mom and we call it a day...she is making the bread.  I will go to her house on another day before Easter and help her make more.

Sometimes  you just should just go with the flow of the universe.  LOL

Enjoy your beautiful Sunday...I will be preparing for April 15th inside.  YUCK.

Thank you Patty!

Today I had a tedious job to do.  I have some wedding clients from a long time ago and they are just ordering an album.  Because it has been so long since I took the photos, I have since switched to digital photography.  So, the photos I took at their wedding were all negatives.  I had to make sense out of old negative systems we had in place so long ago I had forgotten a few things.

Patty helped out so much today with the organizing.  She is the best assistant!!  Thank you Patty!!!  As always, it is so fun to work with her and the day just flies by.

1000!!

WOW...this is a huge milestone for me.  I never thought I would get 1000 hits on my blog, but it has happened!  I have finally visited my own blog 1000 times...I need a life.

Anyway, this past weekend was a good one.  Jose had Saturday classes on Saturday, yay...then we hung around Saturday afternoon and played a game of Uno while the kids played.  I had sent Ava outside to play with some other faculty children (one of the benefits of living here, being able to send your kid out to play without hovering over them) and was hoping she would stay outside...next thing I knew there was a playdate at our house with 3 little girls.  They had such a great time playing.  Manny chased them around and we got some time to have fun ourselves.

Sunday was a beautiful day outside and my parents were going to come down and visit.  My mom called and said that she wasn't going to clog up our day with a visit and we should get outside.  LOL...so, I for once in my life listened to my mom.  We packed the kids in the car, packed the bikes and the bike trailer, packed some PB&J's and headed to Falmouth for a bike ride on the bike trail.  It is so freeing to ride my bike with my family again.  Ava now rides her bike and Manny is big enough for the trailer so it is great to be able to get out with everyone.  Ava sang while riding her bike along the beach path and Manny couldn't have been better.  We had our snack and headed to Old Silver beach.  Ava wrote letters in the sand...she is learning how to read and is fascinated with words and letters.  Manny picked up every rock he could find...which was a lot and if the time we had at the beach while it was windy and a bit chilly was any indication of how the summer would be, this is going to be the best summer EVA!  LOL

I still have not found my solution about food yet, but I am working on it.  I know it is all tied in emotionally...I have to work on some issues.  I am chipping away at them.  Baby steps.

Eating Air??

After my rampage about the ww plan and how it has changed to Trixie, I did a little internet surfing.  What is my issue.  Why is this struggle with food a struggle for me and not for others?  What other options are out there for me?

I searched Dr. Oz.  "Think yourself thin" was the name of the show.  FABULOUS...I will just think about it...the Dr. explaining the method said that the people thinking themselves thin ate 40% less.  The theory is that you sit down with an empty bowl and spoon/fork/eating utensil of your choice...I will sit down with a big kitchen spoon and a big serving dish empty in front of me.  Then you imagine yourself eating the food before you actually eat the real food.  So you go through the motions.  The idea is that you fire off the eating senses early so that they aren't so charged up once your actual dinner arrives.  Great.  First of all, can you see me sitting in the dining hall surrounded by the entire school while I pretend to eat dinner with my empty plate?  Let's see...then, what would I be eating?  Hmmmm....this is a delightful idea...I could eat anything.  I think I will serve myself up some creamed spinach with a crusty salty bread crumb topping.  Next I will move on to the second course...an extra large papa gino's pizza with butter melted on top of it...better make that extra cheese too.  Don't forget my chicken fingers and egg rolls...Oh, and a big jar of peanut butter...make it a large wonder bread filled fluff sandwich with doritos on the side followed by a raspberry lime ricky.

Oh goodness...I have to go take a pretend tums.  My stomach is killing me from all that food.


C'mon people.