Annual Photo Shoot

I usually like to take my own family photos.  Well, I don't LIKE doing it, but I don't want to pay another photographer big bucks for something I can do myself.  But this year, a girl in my ward advertised that she was doing family photo shoots for $65... so how could I turn that deal down?  I couldn't!  You can see more of her work at www.acritchfieldphoto.blogspot.com.  Annie is amazing and I'm so sad we are losing her to the big bad "Y" up in Provo.  But it's good news for my Utah friends...  if you ever want to hire her, just let me know and I'll give you her contact info!

Thanks Annie for giving me some gorgeous family photos to put on the wall... now I just need to get them printed and hung up somewhere where every one can see them!  

A Picture of your Dream Job

Two Christmases ago, I got this…

And I couldn’t have been more thrilled.  And then I became overwhelmed.  It took great photos on auto, but I knew they could be even better on manual.  And then there is Photoshop.  Trying to learn how to really use my camera on manual settings and do the basics in Photoshop was about more than I could handle at first.  I’ve learned a lot since then, but I have a lot more to learn.  I love the idea of taking portraits for a side job, but at the same time, it scares me.  I don’t feel like I’m experienced enough to handle it.  More often than not, people want their picture taken for big events, or when they have a group of people together that don’t get to see each other very often.   That’s a lot of pressure, and as I discovered over Thanksgiving break, sometimes when you are under pressure, you blank out.  At least I did!  It was a good learning experience though, which everyone needs, right?  So for the next year, I’m going to go into “portfolio building” mode.  I want to try to do as many portraits as I can of different types… couples, teens, kids, families, babies, etc.  I’m hoping that if I practice enough, I’ll be ready to make some money off this hobby of mine in a year from now.  I’m also planning on signing up for some classes over at the local community college that start in January.  I’ll admit, I’m nervous about that too.  Every time I think about putting myself in a group setting with other photographers, I panic… but I just need to have more confidence in myself!  So, it’s official – if you know me and want me to take your pictures, I will!  Free of charge – as long as I can include any pictures I take of you or your family in my portfolio.  Win, win, right?

A Picture of My Favorite Drink

I could wax rhapsodic all day about how much I love Diet Coke, but when I was google-ing an image to include in this post, I stumbled across this blog post that expresses exactly how I feel about it.   And please don’t leave any comments about how bad artificial sweeteners and caffiene are for me.  I know all these things.  Like the other blogger says, “The Diet Coke Obsession is a cult movement, sorta like Scientology… but a lot less weird.”  On a side note, I don’t endorse most of the stuff printed on the linked blog above, so don’t explore it on my recommendation.  I’m also becoming a fan of Dr. Pepper Ten… but it will never take the place of my One-True-Love!

A Few Faves

In keeping with the writing prompts from the Facebook challenge, I’m grouping 4 together that all fall in the same kind of theme. 

My favorite band/musician:  I don’t really have a favorite band, but this is my current favorite CD.  I could listen to it over and over again… and Rachel even does a great job with the Carpenter’s song remake.  And I hate the Carpenters.  I bought the newest Christmas CD (volume 2) and it’s good, but not as good as the first one.  Many of the songs on this CD were sung in the Glee Christmas episode from last year (season 2, I think?)  It was my all time favorite episode of Glee ever.  Rachel trying to win back Finn’s attentions by taking him to a Christmas Tree Farm and singing “Last Christmas” by Wham.  And the Glee Club collecting donations for homeless kids, but losing them to Sue (the grinch…)  It was a great episode with great music.

My favorite TV show:  This was tough.  It was a 3 way tie between Bones, Castle and Psych.  But if I had to choose just one, right now it would have to be Psych.   I’ve decided in most TV shows it takes a male/female duo to make engaging chemistry on TV.  But not so with Psych.  The best friends from childhood duo, Shawn and Gus and hilarious.  And as a child in the 80’s I get most of Shawn’s “obscure 80’s references”.  In a nutshell, Pysch is about Shawn Spencer, who pretends to be a pyschic detective.  Why psychic?  Because he’s incredibly observant and has a photographic memory and when he tries to help the Santa Barbara PD solve a case, they think he most be invovled with it because he’s knows so much about it.  Thus, the “pyschic” charade is born.  It just gets funnier and funnier, the more you watch.

Here are two quotes from various episodes I lifted off IMDB:

Carlton Lassiter: Now I need to know your process.
Shawn Spencer: Do you really want to know my process?
Carlton Lassiter: Absolutely.
Shawn Spencer: Well, it starts with a holla! and ends with a Creamsicle.
Burton 'Gus' Guster: And if there's time in between? ThunderCats. Ho-oh!

 

********

Burton 'Gus' Guster: I'm not going out there.
Shawn Spencer: You cannot sit here in a dark car all alone. You'll be picked up for mopery.
Burton 'Gus' Guster: Mopery?
Shawn Spencer: With intent to creep. Trust me, you don't want that. It'll put a big hole in your future.

My Celebrity Crush:  Colin Firth, also known as Mr. Darcy 

      

Here he is on the left as Mr. Darcy in 1995.  On the right, doing a photo shoot for The King’s Speech.  He sure has aged well, hasn’t he?  I am DYING to see that movie, so if anyone gets their hands on an edited copy, please invite me over to watch it.  I’ll be eternally grateful! 

My Favorite Movie:  I have a lot of favorite movies, and it was a a close one between this and Star Trek (the newest movie).  In the end, this one beat out Star Trek because of the amazing music.  Plus, it has Colin Firth.  I am very excited that they are making another Star Trek movie, though. 

So there you have 4 of my favorite things.  I’m sure there will be plenty more posts like this to come!

A Picture of Something You Want to Try But Are Scared to Do….

  

Ragnar.  Another one of those things that is on my bucket list.  The bucket list I’ve never written down.  It involves lots of running and not enough sleeping.  I have friends who’ve done it, but I’ve never felt like I could ever do it because of my IT Band issues.  (That’s the medical term for my knee pain that will cripple me for days if I run through it.  And there’s only so much I can run through it before I’m crippled.  Trust me, I’ve learned this the hard way.)

Back in October, I was just a week out from doing the Casa Grande Triathlon and I went out for a run.  I felt good that morning, I stretched, did my yoga, foam rolled… everything I  am supposed to do before I go for a run to minimize my knee pain.  And 11 minutes into my run, it started.  I had to walk/jog the rest of the 3 mile loop.  I came home and lost it.  I cried.  I was doing everything I know to do to be able to run and I couldn’t even run for 11 minutes without pain.  It just didn’t seem fair.

So that’s when I did what every self respecting Stay at Home Mom would do… I got on Google.  I started reading forums and blogs and chat discussions about how to handle ITBS.  Almost every forum had multiple mentions of ACT (Active Release Technique).  I didn’t know what this was, so I Googled that.  Turns out it’s a stretching technique used by Chiropractors to help people with issues like mine.  I’ve never in my life been to a Chiropractor, and I had no idea if this treatment was legit or a bunch of made up internet you-know-what, so then I mentioned it on Facebook.  Because if you ever need a referral for something, Facebook is the place to get it, right?

A girl who used to live in my ward had not only heard of ACT, but had worked for a Chiro who is licensed in it.  Oddly enough, I had already been on her webpage checking it out.  I took it as an omen that she would refer me to the exact same Chiro that I’d already done some internet research on.  I called her up, asked her some questions that I was too embarrassed to admit to, and then called to schedule my first appointment. 

I didn’t really know what to expect, but for anyone who is dying to know… she basically digs her elbows into pressure points in my hip area and then rotates my leg around into very painful positions while holding the pressure point.  It’s about 15-20 minutes of weekly torture.  But after the first session, I saw improvement.  And now 5 sessions in, I was able to run 5 miles with minimal discomfort on Friday night.   I’m to the point where I’m going in every two weeks, and hopefully in the next month or so, we’ll be down to one visit a month.

The best news, is that after just two sessions, I felt like I could commit to join a Ragnar team made up from ladies in my ward for the race in February.  Everyone of us lives in my ward, or has lived in our ward at some point.  And, I’m not running the shortest distance!  When I first committed, it was under the condition that I got first dibs on the shortest leg.  But now, I don’t want the shortest leg!  I don’t want the longest either, but I’m so excited to challenge myself in ways that were never possible before.  I find I am actually looking forward to running now.  I love it.  I still have to stretch and do some yoga and some foam rolling, but at least I can run a decent amount pain free.  It’s an amazing feeling!  So, yeah, I’m still scared to do Ragnar… (mostly because ya’ll know how much I love my sleep), but I’m so excited to be able to do something that I never thought would ever be possible.  So thank you Google, my FB friend Whitney, and Dr. B!  And thanks to my new found love for running, I may even survive the holidays without gaining my usual 10 pounds from over eating! 

My Favorite Little Kid Show

This was tough.  I had lots of favorites as a kid… The Smurfs, CareBears, Looney Tunes…. my brother also got me watching He-Man, GI Joe, TMNT (the original cartoon), and Transformers.  (My boys are always shocked at my knowledge base of boy friendly cartoons.)

The other day, the radio program I was listening to played the theme song from The Muppet Show.  Do you remember it?  LOVED it!  It was definitely a family favorite in my house growing up.  My parents were in town last week (hence the gap in my return to blogging) and we went to see it together.   My plan was to go with mom and dad while the kids were in school, because none of my kids are big Muppet fans.  (One of my biggest failings as a parent.  Sigh.)  But then I realized that Ian and Brayden had a half day on the afternoon set aside for the movie excursion.  So I bribed them.  I didn’t really have to bribe Ian, but I promised him lunch on the way to the theater.  Brayden was a much harder sell, so I also promised him lunch and that he could have his own soda cup in the movie.  SOLD!  (Good thing our movie theater has cups with $1 refills!)

    So we all went to see the Muppets last Thursday and I loved it.  Yes, it was silly and cheesy, but it was classic Muppets.  I laughed a lot.  I cried a lot, too!  Jason Segal was so cute as the big brother to Walter, the newest addition to the Muppet crew (and admittedly, the Muppets #1 Fan.)  Amy Adams was adorable, as JS’s girlfriend of 10 years who is getting tired of waiting around for JS to propose.  Chris Cooper nailed the villainous Oil Tycoon out to destroy the Muppets.  And yes, there is a performance of the classic song, “The Rainbow Connection”.  And even though Brayden promised me in advance he wasn’t going to like this movie, I caught him laughing on more than one occasion, especially when Fozzie walks out on the stage with whoopie cushion shoes.  Classic!

So if you grew up watching the Muppet Show or any of the Muppet movies, go see this.  You won’t be disappointed.  I definitely wasn’t! And since it’s the month of December, if you can get your hands on a copy of A Muppet Christmas Carol, watch that, too.  It’s my favorite movie version of the classic Dickens story.  Michael Caine is awesome as Scrooge.  Kermit is Bob Cratchit and Fozzie is Fezziwig.  And I can say with confidence that it’s perfectly cast because I finally read the original story by Dickens last month, and I’m telling you when Bob Cratchit’s wife is griping about Scrooge, she sounded just like Miss Piggy.  It was uncanny!   I’m disappointed to see that Netflix doesn’t have this one in their stash.  I might have to email them and complain.  Seriously, it’s awesome.