To Europe and back...

Well, a lot has happened since my last post ages ago...I've had surgery to remove my gall bladder in a province I was visiting while my daughter was playing a hockey tournament there, and I've been to Europe on a trip with my two daughters and 13 other kids from the school where I teach. Yep, I've been busy!! haha Actually, those things listed above all happened within a week of the other. One weekend I had my gall bladder out and the next weekend I was on a plane to Europe. Can you say exhausting??

This is an idea I had that was inspired by Pinterest...yet another obsession of mine! lol! I've been wondering for awhile now about how to display Brittany's hockey medals, because she had so many, as you can see. It was kind of a shame not to show them . So, after seeing all the great ideas on Pinterest, I came up with this one.

We took Britt's first ever hockey stick that she bought for herself and we, (we, meaning my husband) drilled small holes in the stick and I had bought some cheap Dollar Store hooks a few days prior to this. TaDa! Cool idea, if I may say so myself! She was quite proud of it, so I was happy with that!

Finding Time

Time is not what it used to be. When I was a kid it seemed as if Christmas was every two years. That's how long time seemed to go in between each Christmas. Today, it seems as if I am dragging out the Christmas decorations to put them up again after only packing them away the day before. What is with that? Don't get me wrong...I LOVE Christmas, the money racket that it is! But why does it have to come around so often, right?

Time for me seems fleeting. I have so many things I want to do but never time enough to do them. I really love photography!!! I mean, LOVE it! But I don't have the time to dabble in it when I'm working. It feels as if I can only balance one of it at a time. So much for being a multi-tasker!! I've had an amazing response to my pics on Facebook and people have been coming out of the woodwork asking me to do their pics. I have loved the challenge of photographing each and every subject. However, I was feeling a little overwhelmed, and if I am to be transparent, a little less focused on my real job. So, unfortunately I've had to turn people down lately. I have a few sessions left to get done before November when reports are due and the business of that takes over. In addition, I think I've dropped and struck my camera too many times. I believe I have something wrong with the focus on my baby(aka, camera) and it pains me to think it will be out of commission pretty soon. What in the world am I to do then????

My oldest daughter went to her appointment for her braces today. My youngest walked the Murray Hiking Trail all the way with grade 6-12s, and then had practice at our church for the youth emphasis service this coming Sunday morning. I walked as far as the Moose  Barrens with my grade 4/5 class and the grade 3s. It was an AMAZINGLY beautiful day, so sunny and warm! Loved it!

I am super excited to be going to Baie Verte this coming weekend. My youngest is a newly appointed pitcher for the school's softball team and the boys are going down for soccer. I watched my baby girl play on Wednesday at Springdale and I was very impressed. It was the first time I'd seen her play this year and I see an improvement...she's a pretty good pitcher! My oldest daughter is super excited for volleyball to begin. That is her sport...she loves it! Life is good...busy, but definitely good!

Here's a few pics of my baby girl playing playing this past Wednesday. P.S. I love her expression in the second pic! So funny!

SIDE NOTE: I love both my girls very much but my oldest doesn't like getting her pic taken as much as my baby. So I apologize in advance for posting more pics of my baby girl than my oldest. I love them both equally! HONEST! :)

Well, it's a good job we have all these modern day conveniences to help make our workload easier and faster, 'cause how slow and behind my chores would I be without them! Whew! I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday, and just now squeezing it in- just past 11 p.m. I have been busy with work and carting my youngest daughter around from one function to another- softball practice, piano lessons and hair appointments...Crazy! She's busier than the Prime Minister!

I have been online awhile today doing more photography research and soaking up every bit of knowledge I can find! I feel a little obsessed, but then again that is directly in line with my addictive personality. Folks like me take on a project or new interest and we are all Gung Ho, not even sure that's a word, but it's certainly a phrase we use around here. haha!

Had a chance to take a few snaps of my girls today, not the glamorous kind but while they were watching T.V and eating a snack. You gotta grab 'em while you can with those two...lol! Take care!

My Sunday Stress

Above are a few pics from today's photoshoot.

Well, today was no different than any other Sunday in one respect- I was late for church again! Really late, like 10 minutes late. Don't even know why. I was up in plenty of time to get ready, no rush! I think I just lost track of time. You should see the looks I get! Friends of mine pretend to wipe the sleep from their eyes when they see me rushing in. And I've had people say they know they're really late if they get to church and meet me in the parking lot. I mean, REALLY???!! Oh Dear, I really have to try harder to make it on time. My tardiness really annoys my hubby. But he wasn't there to witness it and I am NOT spillin' the beans. Anyhow, yet another thing I need to work on. I'll file it away with eating healthy and losing weight. Oh boy, do I have my work cut out for me! :)

I had the opportunity to take pics of a married couple today. The wife had been leaving me messages asking me to do it for about a week or so now. Today, we finally had a nice, calm day for it. I think they turned out well. But this causes me stress too. "What ifs" are the things that drive me crazy! What if I get home and none of the pics are focused? What if I can't get one good pic for them to get printed? What if I can't remember any poses? Again, I relive a dream I had a awhile ago that awakened me from my much loved sleep. I had dreamed I was photographing a family and I couldn't get one pic to turn out right. They were blurry, underexposed, over exposed, etc. I awoke in a sweat! NIGHTMARE!

My First Post

The above pic is of my youngest daughter, B. I posted this pic first because it is one from a group of photos I took this summer that really started to get people to notice my photography skills(cough* cough*...I have a hard time referring to myself as a photographer or even one with skills, for that matter). It was, to be completely honest, a moment of pride. It was then that I realized that all my research and online tutorials were starting to pay off, or take effect at least.

I honestly don't think I have much else to share today. The sole purpose of this blog is to share my photos and maybe, if you're lucky, I'll share some of my wisdom. *wink *wink It's Saturday, so that means I slept in. Why, do you ask? Because I LOVE not waking up to an alarm clock and apparently my body enjoys sleep, lots of it!

I now have to stop babbling and try to figure out how to add photos to this thing. I am so excited to begin a 365 Day project this coming January. However, January seems so far away and i'm dying to get started with the challenge on taking a pic everyday! Don't get me wrong my camera and I are never far apart but there are days go by that I feel there is nothing special to photograph. So, my challenge will be to find the beauty in my surroundings, even in the most mundane of things. I guess photos don't have to be beautiful, I know that already, but they should spark an emotion of some sort.

Short break in writing and I found how to add pics on here! Yah me!!