shutterboo

I did it.  I wrote a post everyday for 30 straight days.  The cool part?  No one complained.  Well, not to me at least.

I do hope you enjoyed it because it took some planning – but I had fun doing it.  And I tried to include as many photos as possible to keep you interested.  I like pictures myself so I know how that is.  Now back to the days of… of… of not posting on the weekends!  Unless I get the itch.  Which is highly likely.  The itch to post, that is.

One thing that I’ve learned from NaBloPoMo is that I really like photographing people.  I don’t have a knack for it but it is fun.  Just this month I’ve photographed friends playing Guitar Hero, my undisclosed model’s zipper, people dancing at a wedding, and the hubs’s very active, very funny neice.   And I’ll continue to look forward to more Cooking With My Mel segments while Thurmeo is holed up in Michigan.  That’s like a twofer: practice photographing a pretty little face and learning how to cook.  Wam-oh!

So now that I’ve made it through NaBloPoMo, I only have to make it through the month of December.  And stop leaving my laptop at home like I did today.  Bad Brooke.  Only 24 days until another splendid stay-cation.  Ah yes, stay-cation.  Come to Momma.

A very true statement.  But I don’t have to be happy about it.  Nope.  I’m dragging this Sunday out as long as I possibly can and I ain’t doing jack crap.  Except going to the store to get the dogs more food.  But that’s it.  After that, it’s back to the couch and surfing the TV for holiday specials.

Today marks the end of my stay-cation.  My glorious six-day-paid-time-off vacation spent at home.  No more of this.  Boo.

No more afternoon naps curled up with the BDD. 

No more lunch breaks in front of the TV. 

No more playing on the internet because I want to. 

No more pecan pie or pumpkin cake.

No more taking random pictures of the doggin while she sleeps.

I’m actually going to miss that last one a lot.  I could do this at night but there just isn’t enough light to satisfy me.  I’ve come to realize my doggins do nothing but sleep during the day.  I like it best when I get to catch some zzz with them. 

Back to the grind tomorrow.  And it will be the grind because it is a super-duper busy day and I’m not looking forward to it.  That’s the bad thing about taking off work – you end up giving yourself more work in the end.  But at least PodMate’s smiling face will be there.  Well… let’s hope she’s still smiling.  She might be cursing my name by now.  :)

Not really.  Not at all in fact.  But I found a great way to put one of my nicer purses to good use.

So when I take my camera with me, I usually have the kahuna, the 50mm, the kit lens, spare battery and soft cloth.  I usually keep the battery charger stuffed in the bottom just in case.  And my “Photographer’s Rights” just in case.  Because you never know when you’ll offend someone while taking their photo.  Or steal their soul.  I still can’t get over that.  Weird.

And this is how it all fits in my lovely Crumpler bag.  I really like this bag.  A lot.  All of this tucks in there nicely. 

But when I go to weddings (which I’ve done a lot this fall) this bag just doesn’t work out for me.  For starters, it never goes with my outfit.  Not that I’m sporting Chanel or Versace, but velcro just doesn’t go with heels.  You get my drift?  And my huge-ass accessory flash [that I don't know how to use] doesn’t fit.  In other words, I look like a ninny and the Crumpler is over capacity.  But I found a solution.

When I go to a wedding, I usually sit myself at a table with fantastic people (also known as my friends or my family).  And do just that.  Sit.  Or if a really good song comes on, I’ll be up and at ‘em but the hubs will most likely be near the table.  My point?  I’m not carting my camera bag around with me all night so I don’t need to worry about the equipment as much or that I’ll drop it.  OK… just work with me for a minute here.

All of this will not fit in my Crumpler.

So I took one of my larger handbags that doesn’t have a velcro pull and used it as my camera bag for the evening.  And it worked out wonderfully.  Like I said, the purse stayed with the table so I didn’t have to worry about my equipment getting bumped around and the camera only came out with I wanted to use it.  Here’s how I filled this bad dog up.

1.  Start with a nice big purse that you already have. 

2. Place the accessory flash and wallet in the bottom.

3. I wrapped my kit lens with a bag.  Yes, a hand-knit, rainbow bag but a bag nonetheless.  Gives a little cushion and protection.  They do make lens bags but I’m too cheap to get one.  This works just fine.

4. Place the awesome rainbow knitted bag in the purse.

5. Drop all the little goodies into the side pockets: batteries, keys, compact, lip gloss, etc.

6. The kahuna goes right on top.  And there’s enough room to zip.  Viola!

Now I do not recommend doing this if you will be out walking with your camera.  It’s best to give your camera and lens the support and protection they need.  And this bag got heavy fast.  That’s what’s so great about the Crumpler – it really is a comfortable bag to wear. 

But I was proud of my little bag-switcheroo-trick and wanted to share.  And I will be doing this again the next time we have to dress up for an event.  And I’m glad I took pictures because now I’ll remember how to pack it just right.

PS – Don’t you just love it when spell check finds zero errors.  Thank you public school education.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday de-wallpapering my kitchen.  My wonderful Mom did come and help on Tuesday but I finished it off on Wednesday.  I haven’t removed wallpaper in about four years and I don’t plan to do it for at least another four.  It sucks.

 But mine came off rather easy.  Had to use some elbow grease but for the most part, the project has gone smoothly so far.  Now I need to spackle and sand which I am NOT looking forward to.  At all.  I’m on the computer instead of working in the kitchen.  But I have to get that part done this weekend.  I have to.  Because painting is the easiest part.  And it will still suck.  I hate home projects.  Love the “after”, loathe the “doing”.

So here is how the kitchen looks now:

And it looks worse than it did before.  Awesome.  Even more of a reason I should get my rear in gear and go work.  It really does feel like it should be a “spend the day in pajamas and eat popcorn for lunch” kind of day. 

I don’t know how you Black Friday shoppers wake up so friggin early to drop bows with strangers.  I just don’t have any kind of spunk in me right now.

Seriously, my favorite holiday of the year.  And it is because it revolves around food.  I have no shame. 

I’ve been floating around the internet for a few minutes, reading others’ posts about what they’re thankful for.  I’m thankful for many of the same things: family, friends, well-being, health.  But I’m really thankful I was able to stuff my belly full of the Thankgiving goodness that was placed in front of me.  Amen. 

And smiles.  I’m thankful for smiles.  I know… you can’t hold yours back either, can you? 

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. 

Even to those of you who aren’t in America – I wish you a wonderful day of thankfulness and smiles.

There are three things in this world that I can completely live without:

1. Poetry
2. Wallpaper
3. Coach Kragthrowup

I don’t think there’s much I can do about number 1.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I just don’t get poetry.  Sorry.

Number 2 is taken care of… pictures to come at some point of my insanely messy but wallpaper-free kitchen.  I just wish my house didn’t smell like Downy.  I have the smell embedded in my nose hairs right now.  I hate it.

And if there’s a Thanksgiving Miracle lurking nearby, let’s hope number 3 is taken care of this Friday. 

Now I’m off to bake a cake.  Pumpkin cake that is.

*** UPDATE***

Number 3  was taken care of Saturday morning – press conference at noon confirmed it.  Coach Kragthrowup is no more at the University of Louisville!  I do feel sorry for the guy – I think he tried his best but it is beyond my being how his best was taking Orange Bowl winners 4 seasons ago and landing with a 4-8 season this fall.  Really?  Really? 

Here’s to UofL football!  May we pick ourselves up by our bootstraps and enjoy cheering the team that we love!  May we actually show up to tailgate at a decent hour and actually tailgate!  May we win more games than we lose! 

All hail to thee our U of L
As we stand up for her fame.
All hail to thee our U of L
As we fight to win this game.
Sing praises for a victory,
We wish our heroes well.
All hail the Cardinal Spirit.
All hail our U of L!
GO CARDS!

This is our third color challenge so far.  I really like the color challenges.  There’s more room for playing with subjects and I think it’s cool to see how everyone else captures the color. 

What I’ve experienced so far is that the subjects I do plan for never really pan out.  It’s the last minute, “oh wait, this will work” stuff that comes along and drops itself in my lap that I really like.  Like Susie’s wedding dress for white.  And Amy wearing the red hat that’s been in our office forever now (this is still my favorite weekly so far).  And this odd Italian beer that the hubs has been sipping on for a couple weeks now.

Here is my green:

We had just walked out the backdoor to say farewell to Rev and the Mrs and I spied something green.  “Just hold it up and take a drink.”  To which the hubs pointed out its contents were gone and he didn’t want to do it.  Model that is.  But he gave in.  And I got my shot.  And I like it.  If only this happened more often…

For next week, the challenge is “fork.”  In hindsight, this seems like the dumbest subject ever but we’ll see if you guys can cook up some fun.  Don’t forget to check out the flickr pool’s photos or click on the challenger roll – everyone’s doing a kickass job and feel free to join any time.

Today marks the beginning of my stay-cation (I totally ripped the word off from my friend Natalie…thanks Natalie!).  And I decided that I want to do something I’ve been wanting to do since I’ve moved into my house: take down the wallpaper in the kitchen.

It isn’t “ugly” but here’s the thing - I hate wallpaper.  It’s repetitive, loud and is only useful when playing Sims because it makes your darn Sims happy.  It does not make me happy.  And you can’t put holes in it.  Because they stay there forever.  That didn’t stop the previous owner though.  Nope.  We have wallpaper in a couple of other places in the house, but I can live with those.  I cannot live with these green and maroon ivy leaves any longer.  They must go.

Meet my kitchen.

It’s cute.  It’s cozy [which is just another way of saying cramped].  It’s useful.  But I hate the wallpaper.  I really don’t like the honey oak cabinets either but that’s way too much commitment right now.  Or the fact that there’s a laminent backsplash around the entire length of the cabinets.  But again, too much commitment.  So the plan for this week is to remove the wallpaper, spackle the areas I messed up and prime.  And prime and prime and prime.  Because I’ve realized there is zero primer under all this wallpaper.  Dammit.

I hope this goes smoothly.  I really really hope this goes quickly.  I hope I don’t take out too many chunks of the wall.  Because I really need this.  I need solid color.  I need my cabinets to look less “honey”.  I’m so frickin needy today.

Oh – and Happy Birthday, Nicole!  Hope the Hoosier Life is treating you well!

Nana-nana-nana-nana-nana-nana-nana-nana… BAT DOG!

All I have to do is make it through today.  Thing is, I don’t know how long today will be.  Apart from the regular 24 hours in a day thing.  I’m talking workday.

My work tends to be cyclical – my client is super duper busy 6 months out of the year.  And that happens to be right now.  I don’t mind being busy.  I’m just not that great at doing constructive thinking 9+ hours a day.  My brain turns to mush about four o’clock.  Speak of the devil…

One thing you may not know about me is I’m a doodler.  So when I’m on telecons, at inter-office meetings or gathered with  my teammates, I’m doodling.  I’ve tried to stop myself but my pencil keeps going back to the paper to make little drawings.  Couple this doodling thing with work picking up speed and this is what you get:

I drew this in September.  Knowing that my whole body would be mush by the time Christmas came around.  Which is why after today, I ain’t doing nothing for the rest of the week.  Take that back.  I am doing stuff but stuff I want to do.  Like remove the wallpaper in my kitchen.

Goodbye green and maroon ivy.

Hello solid color paint.

Six straight days of stay-cation.  It will be wonderful.  I’ll get to sleep in a little, take some aggression out on wallpaper, eat lunch in front of a TV, maybe go on a walkabout with my camera, wear pajamas all day if I want to… magical.  The point is to get rejuvenated – to come back to work Monday morning with guns blazing, ready to negotiate my way to Bermuda and back.

I’m really looking forward to it if you couldn’t tell.