Halloween Par-tay

Over the summer, I showed you photos from the photo shoot with my brother and his darling family. I consider that my first attempt at doing some professional photography. Yesterday, I stepped even further in to the field. A friend asked me to come and take photos at her annual Halloween party. It was a great treat to see all of the little ones that I see everyday, dressed in their Halloween best. Here are a few of my favorites.

It's MY blog...

I can say Happy Birthday, to myself if I want to.

Helllllooo, Costco cake. I've been dreaming of you, literally. Thanks to Mom and Dad for a GREAT day at the fair yesterday (pics on flicrk as usual). I love you, tons.

Smart Boy

Maine Is For Lovers

And loggers, and fisherman. And, Ray Lamontagne.



Ray gave a beautiful show last night. It is amazing to me that he is so shy yet can sing with such passion. He graced us with three encores and though he didn't sing my favorite song, it was a joy to hear all of the old stuff and be excited by the new. His new songs seem so much happier, of which I am glad.

Here is Ray doing the second song of the third encore, Jolene. It was followed by the last song of the evening, All the Wild Horses. Amazing.

We Walked...

And walked, aaannnddd walked.

Oh, I went to Boston, last week, with my fam. Mom, Dad and Granny. Great times had by all. "Recalculating route" was the theme to the week. A blessing and a curse, that phone GPS. Apparently, big tall buildings block that pesky satellite from keeping up with us.

Moving on. I had been to Boston during my senior year of high school and loved every second. I was excited to spend more time, being able to see some of the same things and lots of new. Harvard, Concord, Walden Pond, historic sites, and my latest obsession: cemeteries.

I took over 1,500 pictures during our five days there. I managed to weed through those and find 470 some to post on flickr. I'm not even going to attempt to consolidate my favorites. I'm just going to post one and give you the link to my flickr page.

Of all the photos I took, this one may seem strange, to be my favorite. But, I knew when I snapped it, that it would mean the most for some reason. I think, maybe, because I felt such a connection at Walden Pond. I find such comfort in being in a place where others have lived, and found themselves. I suppose it is because I am still waiting for that, myself. But, this plant growing where Thoreau chose to find time and space to himself, has locked itself in my mind.

Sometimes, this is all you can do...

This is Mikey. He is my brother's brother-in-law.

This is a link to his website. Please read, and help if you can.

Notes

-I need a mood stabilizer. The grumps are back and I'm having a hard time with them. They aren't related to anything, except the moody side of my personality.

-Going back to Boston, this weekend, 15 years after my first visit. Very, very excited. Here's to hoping the camera can keep up with me.

-This cool weather has me convince that I have S.A.D., I can't stop thinking about Winter being on it's way and how miserable it will be.

-Here's a new video of Mr. Boy, himself.

The Super Cuteness

I went to visit my cousin Ryan and his wife Stephanie, this weekend. They just moved to a little town named Weldon and can I just tell you, super cute. I look forward to going back and seeing more.

Cleaning House

Oh my, I had a lot of junk to get rid of today. The cool weather making it's way in to my wardrobe forced me to take my long sleeves and pants out of storage. So, I pulled all of the containers out and cleaned out those items I hadn't worn in a while. You know they say, "If you haven't worn it in the past year, get rid of it." I also had to get rid of some clothes that I love, but can't wear anymore. It's great that they are too big, but it's hard to find cute clothes in my size and it stinks to have to admit that they need to go.

So, I donated 22 shirts, 8 pairs of pants, 6 pairs of shorts, 4 sweatshirts/coats, 6 skirts and 9 pairs of shoes. Ugh. Painful to see all of it go, but I think that means I get to restock. Right?

Busy, Great, Happy Day

Cousin Ryan and his lovely wife, Stephanie, came down to spend the day and we were busy little bees.

• Coffee/Hot Chocolate at Bean Traders
• Bennett Place
• Music Store tour of Durham, with a purchase of one keyboard
  
• Lunch/Brunch, burgers, omeletes and breakfast burritos at Alivia's
• CenterFest
• Walking tour of Trinity Park neighborhood
• An introduction to The Streets at Southpoint Mall
• Cheesecake Factory
• Burn After Reading

A great way to start Fall! Random pictures of our day over on flickr.

Soothe My Soul

I'm not sure if I have communicated my need for music. I cannot survive a day in my life without music around me. This man, is like water and air. His words find places inside of me that I didn't know needed healing. I will be in his presence on October 16th, and it is my 32nd birthday present to myself. A cleansing and blessing I have needed for so long.

Pardon Me

While I interrupt you. I can't help it. That's not true, you can help every bad habit you have. As an ex said, "you can, you just CHOOSE not to." Fair enough.

I would like to invite you to enjoy a list of my bad habits:

- I leave dishes to soak in the sink for too long (days).
- I have no self control, when it comes to going to bed. I will just keep farting around until I feel like I am about to pass out.
- I get bored entirely too easily. This is also why I am not allowed to have a pet.
- I smoke, even though my lungs seem a bit more sensitive than my enjoyment allows for.
- I think of something while the other person is talking, in conversation, and immediately open my big fat mouth to share my anecdote.
- I am impatient.
- I still sleep with a stuffed animal (that I DID NOT steal from my then 18 month old brother).
- I get a little too worried about those in traffic around me. If someone passes me, I'll get offended that they think I wasn't going fast enough for them. Crazy? I know. Trust me, I KNOW.
- I speed way too often.
- I am horrible at keeping track of money. With my math skills, it's a miracle I can keep a relative balance of my checking account in my head.
- I bite the inside of the corner of my mouth when I don't even realize and usually end up in pain.
- I spend WAY too much time on my computer. Half the time I'm refreshing websites I was just on five minutes before. (laptops are fruits of the devil)
- I don't play one-on-one with the kids as much as I should. They are amazing at independent play and I really should stop depending on that so much.
- I only make my bed once in a blue moon. Train of thought: why would I make something that no one is going to see, and that I'm going to get right back in 15 hours from now?
- I don't really like my roommates cats, so when she goes out of town and asks me to give one of them medicine, I don't really work to hard at actually doing it. Horrible, I know. (yet another reason why I can't have pets)
- I often have a hard time finding the positive side to a situation. If I have any negative issues going on, I tend to dwell a bit too much before allowing myself to be more open minded.
- Many people won't believe this, but I can be a bit shy. It usually takes me half way through an event to be comfortable enough to mingle and socialize with the crowd/guests.
- I don't know when to shut up. I tend to ramble.
- In a strange balance: I don't care what other people think and worry too much about what people think.

Oh, right. I'm shutting up now.

P.S. (last one, I LOVE to cuss. That is a tough one.)