It's Been Months

About three days away from two months, actually,  I don't know why I feel compelled to write something right now.  It's actually very inconvenient; Anna is laying on me so I can only use one hand, and I have a headache  Anyway, let's go over what has happened since I last updated.

Nothing.  Yep!  That was easy.

Okay, so things have happened, but nothing too strange, wonderful, or awful.  There was Valentine's Day, an abundance of birthdays, and today we got hair cuts.  That means that Anna got her first hair cut...at 2 1/2ish years old.  It's hard to tell anything was really taken off, but it looks much better evened up.  

I'm already tired of writing.

I would post pictures, but I need to upload them first and it literally takes me hours to upload and edit normal everyday photos.  That's a curse that I alone can bear.  But, speaking of photos, I'm going insane.  That probably doesn't sound related, but I promise that it is.  So far this year I've done one photo session...ONE.  It was a great one, don't get me wrong, but that's not enough!  We have a mini-session scheduled for the 23rd, but as of now the extended forecast says it's going to be about 39 degrees that day.  Yowza.  That won't work.  We also only have three people signed up with 11 total slots available.  As of now the only positive to that is we will only have to try to reschedule three people instead of more. 

In other news, I need to work out and stop eating so much junk.  How many times have I said that on this blog?  Well, I have 202 posts, so probably 202 times.  Miles is trying to exercise and eat more to gain weight and I'm wishing I had his eating habits.  With it slowly getting nicer outside there's more opportunities to go for walks and do active things outside, so that's nice.  Hopefully it'll stay nice for a while before it gets way too hot to do anything.

Okay, now I think I'm done searching for things to talk about.  I find myself very uninteresting.

During My Break

I consider this cold weather to be half welcome.  Around zero shoots are being booked which gives me a nice break from constant photo editing, but also gives me tons of time to do nothing.  I caught up on laundry and dishes...so there's that.  I finished The Great Gatsby and started reading The Lovely Bones the other day.  It's okay so far.  I assume that I'll finish it, but I don't know if I'll be recommending it others.  We'll see.

Last week I took photos of a house my grandparents bought.  They're going to be completely redoing it so my grandpa wanted pictures of it before. 

It's on Pickett and the yard is huge.  As you can see it needs a ton of work.  As it stands it has a possibility of five bedrooms.  Seriously, five!  It looks small from the outside, but that's just misleading.  The living room/kitchen is essentially an open floor plan, only separated by the stairs, but those are only half walls.  I'm excited to see what all they do with it.

In other news Anna is cute and has crazy hair.

Her hair is pulled back to keep it out of her face.  That only kind of works.  The sides are so short that they won't both pull back into one pony tail so one side is out.  Yikes.  Soon we'll be getting hair cuts and I might see about evening up her hair.  Also, in that photo she's singing into Grandma Mary's (Gama Mawee) flashlight. 

Also, possibly on the horizon is real estate photography!  Yay!  Obviously I'm not really where I need to be to charge people, but Miles has talked to an agent about me taking some photos for free for our portfolio.  I'm excited.  I realized while taking the photos of my grandpa's house that I enjoyed it.  I also realized how badly I need a camera cleaning kit.  Having so much in focus really brings out the dust spots.  No amount of wiping down the sensor with a cloth can take those off. 

We also have five weddings booked for the year so far.  Three others are a possibility at this point.  We've had a few other inquiries and one person that would really like to book with us but hasn't done the security deposit yet.  That also means that I should be doing a few engagement sessions in the relatively near future.  A lot of the weddings this year are going to be outside with a shabby chic/modern country themes.  Yay!  I'm stoked for those.  Not stoked for the super long days and a few long drives.  I should survive though.

Well, now I'm going to play bouncing balls then get the trash ready to put out.  Woo!

It's the Little Things

I feel like a lot has happened since I last updated.  We had snow, Christmas Eve, Christmas (usually in that order), a sick toddler, and...well that's basically it.  It seemed like a lot at the time.  Miles has been filling in for just about everyone at work, so he's been gone in the mornings and nights and that's always a bummer.  Usually he works 6am to 6pm on Saturdays and comes home super worn out, but today he only worked to noon.  That's nice, but it stills means he's taking a nap at the moment.  Anna just went down for the count, too. 

Let's recap the holidays thus far.

Sunday the 23rd we went to Miles' aunt Trisha's house.  We actually got there almost on time, which is weird for us.  Usually we are late on account of attending other celebrations right before.  It was a good time.  We ate food (wonderful) and Miles and I played a bit of pool.  I beat him the first game and the second game was cut short because neither of us could make any shots and Anna was getting cranky. 

Monday was Christmas Eve and not much was happening around here.  Kristi was visiting from Iowa with her son Xavier. 

He's super cute and I hadn't seen him for probably a year or so.  The plan was for him and Anna to play, but Anna got super sleepy while we waited for them to get here.  Looking back it's probably good that Anna wasn't up and around since she was sick soon after.  It was probably brewing at that point.

They were here for probably a little over an hour then headed back to Kristi's parents' house for the night.  We were supposed to see them again on the 26th before they went back to Iowa, but Anna's sickness was really starting to show and I told Kristi it'd probably be best to avoid us.  Hopefully they'll be able to come back soon and I can take pictures of Xman outside. 

Next was Christmas day.  Miles had to work 8-noon, so we stayed home from my Grandma Pike's house.  I wanted to be able to wake up Anna and open presents here before heading out anywhere.  She eventually woke up a little after noon and we started with stockings.  I fully intended on taking photos of this, but she's not a big fan of opening presents yet.  And I really don't think she felt all that great.  She sat on my lap for 80% of the time and the other 20% I was opening my presents or hers so there wasn't much room for a camera.  We're not huge present buyers.  I always feel like making or buying something with some meaning or importance is ideal...quality over quantity, I guess.  Anna got a few filler presents:  a Toy Story puzzle, an Elmo holiday book, a Sesame Street holiday coloring book and markers, and some candy.  Miles bought her a Buzz Lightyear toy that we both expected her to love.  He bought it on eBay and it also came with a small plastic Woody doll.  Of course Anna became way more attached to the Woody doll over the Buzz doll.  Wouldn't you know it?  Miles and I also got her a little toy dog that walks and barks.  Anna was absolutely terrified of that thing.  We thought she'd like that, too!  Anna is apparently always throwing us curve balls...or we just don't know her as well as we think we do.  (Sidenote:  Anna is no longer afraid of that dog, now she's just unsure about him.  She went up to him today and said, "Hey, puppy dog!  What are you doing?!") 

After we were all done at home we headed to my Grandma Pistole's house. 

We got there around 3:15 (3 was the time we all agreed on) and hung around for a few hours.  Anna was putting on a show for everyone in the basement.  She was dancing and singing and doing quite a lot of talking.  She still jabbers a bunch but there are more words you can catch now.  Once Kris, Matt, Kenzie, and Dallas showed up we opened presents.  Anna hit the jackpot.  Of course it felt like I hit the jackpot since Anna won't open presents.  She was starting to get cranky at this point and was ready for a nap.  After presents we went up stairs and got ready to eat.  I tried to get Anna to nap on the couch while every one else got their food.  Naturally, I failed.  After Miles was done eating the replaced me on the couch and I ate some food.  Miles and Anna both eventually fell asleep and it was super adorable.  Now would be a good time for a picture but I don't have one...whoops.

After we left my grandparents' house we headed to my parents' house.  No pictures of that either.  I'm failing left and right.  Anna/I hit the jackpot again.  My parents bought Miles and me a new microwave (score!) since the tray broke in our previous one and our food kept burning on the edges while still being frozen in the middle.  After a couple of hours there we headed home.  Miles wasn't feel well, and Anna was starting to act like she didn't feel well either. 

The day after Christmas Miles worked in the morning again.

Anna had too much work for only one computer and played with her new flashlight from Ma and Papa.  Then we headed to my parents' house for lunch.  Anna was happy for the most part until we were about to head home.  She was super duper cranky, was warm, and acted like her mouth hurt.  I got her some medicine and we came home.  Once we were home she acted better and I got her some yogurt before I was going to give her a bath.  Well, right when I stood up to take her upstairs she threw up all over me...twice.  I gave her a quick bath and set up a bed for her on the couch and put on Baby Einsteins.  She fell asleep and I cleaned up the rest of the mess.  She woke up a few hours later and acted perfectly normal. 

Thursday Anna woke up happy.  She had cereal and acted normal again.  She played for a bit then acted tired, so I put her down for nap.  She slept for about 15 minutes before waking up crying.  I brought her downstairs to sit with me when she got super fussy.  Time for round two!  I had just made her a bed on the couch again and was getting Baby Einsteins ready to her when she threw up all over the couch, Miles' pillow, and her blanket.  At least this time Miles was here to help!  He cleaned up the living room while I cleaned up Anna.  I got her laid down on the couch while Miles went to the store to get her some soup and gatorade.  She fell asleep for a few hours and woke up acting a bit better.  Friday she had a few moments of fussiness (I keep typing fuzzy instead of fussy), but was better overall.  And today she's basically normal!  Of course normal Anna is a handful already, but hey, that's much better than a super sad sick baby Anna. 

As for the rest of the day...I think I'll finish my chips and dip then take a shower.  We're in desperate need of a trip to the store so I think I'll do that.  I took down the tree yesterday and cleaned up a bit today.  Of course there's always more cleaning to do, so maybe I'll do that, too.  Eh, we'll see.

P.S.  The whole reason I titled this post "It's the Little Things" wasn't even mentioned.  Let me touch on that. 
1)  I was happy that Anna's first bought of vomiting mainly landed on me since we have carpet.  Never before did I think I'd be happy to be puked on over it landing on the floor.
2)  I bought new trash bags and they stretch to fit around the top of the trash can.  The last bags we bought kept falling and were super annoying.  So, these new bags make me happy...way happier than trash bags should.

Catching Up

Sitting at home 95% of the time makes me feel like I have nothing to write about.  I've been trying to take pictures of typically mundane things just to post them.  The only issue with that is that it's hard to get the desire to upload photos of nothing.  Yowza. 

Well, my work for the year is on the decline.  That is amazing.  I have one set of family photos to edit, and one wedding to edit, then I'm done.  Well, unless something else comes up.  With the weather being so warm and nice, another session wouldn't be too strange or hard to schedule.  Either way, it'll be nice to not have photos to edit for a while.  I'm sure when that happens I'll just end up with a ton of photos of Anna being cute.

Speaking of Anna being cute:

She got in trouble for drawing on the wall, so this was her solution.  Notice how close to edge of the paper she gets.

I thought she'd like this.  She really was not impressed.

Yep, she's cute and I like her.  I wish the photos would show up bigger.  So, soon I'll be changing the layout of my blog.  I kept starting on it, but it will take way longer than it should and I can't justify spending the time on it now.

So, Thanksgiving is Thursday, as it is every year.  Sadly, I feel like I'm at the age where I should contribute to the dinners I attend.  The dinner with my mom's side of the family on Thursday I'm making mashed potatoes.  The dinner with my dad's family I'm making a chocolate cheesecake, and I have no clue what to make for Sunday.

We'll call that good.  I have a few more things I could possibly write about, but hey why write it all now?  Maybe this way I'll write again soon....maybe.

25

Well, it's been almost a month since I've updated.  I'm still boggled as to how I ever updates more than once a day at the beginning.  What in the world was going on in my life that I felt it needed to be typed out ASAP?  Yikes.

Anyway, I figured I should type something now since I'm not in the middle of any projects.  Let's see...what is going on in my life now?  Well, my birthday is tomorrow and I'll be 25.  I forget that I'm not actually 25 already.  At times I feel like I never passed 19, but then I'll feel like I've been 24 forever.  Tonight my mom is having a dinner for me for my birthday.  We'll be having roast beef, homemade noodles, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, and egg noodles.  Seriously!  I was jokingly telling her all of the food I wanted her to make for me and she said she's do it.  Amazing!  I think I'll probably gain 20 pounds tonight alone.  It'll be worth it!

Yesterday Miles took me out and about.  We started off by eating at Cheddar's, which was pretty tasty.  Next we went to Old Navy with the intention of buying a purse.  The purse I'm using now I bought for about $3 at Kmart before I even got pregnant with Anna.  The problem is that I hate about 90% of purses that I find at stores these days.  Anyway, Old Navy was a bust, so we moved on to Target.  We checked out their clearance, tried on a few dresses and some dress pants.  The dresses were tragic and the pants fit my waist but were too loose on my legs.  Then we stopped by TJMaxx.  I usually don't really like TJMaxx but I was surprisingly successful.  I found a pair of comfy dress pants to wear to the weddings I'll be photographing in the upcoming months for $20, and a dress for $15.

It had some snags on a few of the frills, but I snipped them off and it's perfect!  Now I just need a reason to wear it!

Another thing on my mind is Anna's birthday.  I had previously decided that I'd put on a super simple party for her since it's going to be a fairly busy month for us.  Turns out, I'm just not happy with that.  Go figure!  I'm still not planning on doing anything too fancy, but I just can't leave well enough alone.  I worked on her invitation the other day.  I would go ahead and make them, but we're unsure about the location and time as of now.  I'm thinking that I'd like to have it at our house since the kids could play on the swing set in the backyard, but I'm not sure if there's enough seating.  We'll figure it out.

I glittered up an A for her!  It'll be hanging somewhere for her party.

Alright, now I need to go be productive.  I see vacuuming in my near future...and hopefully some cleaning of tables and desks.  This place is cluttered!

Stuff and Things

I keep meaning to write a new entry, then I remember I never have anything to write about.  So, this time I'm going to post some pictures!

Okay, so something I've thought about possibly pursuing is real estate photography.  Most of the pictures of the houses for sale in town are terrible, so I thought it'd be a good thing for me to learn and maybe one of these days I can try to make some money off it.  I took some photos of our house the other day as practice and I think I'm happy with them.  Of course as far as photos go, they're not too exciting, but I'm still posting them!

Our terrible kitchen.

The living room - please excuse the mess.

The living room pt. II - again excuse the mess.

So in the pictures of the living room you can see the lights are on, right?  Well, I found a video that shows how to take two photos, one exposed for the natural light and one exposed for the lamp, and merge them to show both forms of lighting.  I like it!  The bad thing about these photos is that since I have to do long exposures all of the dust and dirt in my camera shows up, so I have to edit that out.

That is just Anna being cute.

And our backyard.

I'm really wanting to take pictures of big fireworks this year.  I don't think I'll be seeing any huge displays, though, so that's a bit of a bummer.  I also want to go to some waterfalls for photos.  We are lacking waterfalls in the area, though.  Maybe I'll just have to take a trip to Rochester Falls very soon. 

Anyway, it's Sunday.  Ever since we've moved into this house last year we always got a paper on Sunday.  Now we've never paid for the Sunday papers, they've just always shown up.  Well apparently our subscription is up.  No paper today, bummer.  I like to see if I know anyone that's getting married, divorced, or has gotten a ticket.  I guess it'll just have to be a mystery today.

My Baby Won't Sleep

So, here we are.  It's 1:45am and Anna won't sleep.  Oy vey.  She went to bed around 12:30 and was almost asleep when I laid her down.  Usually when she's like that she'll fall asleep pretty quickly, but apparently she wasn't up for that tonight.  I would let her just ride it out and fall asleep on her own, but Miles has to work tomorrow morning so she can't just sit up there and talk for half an hour. 

Since it's technically Thursday, this evening I'll be going to IHOP with my mom and possibly my sister.  We're going to get the potato soup because it's delicious.  Usually I'd get the chicken fried chicken with the soup beforehand, but I never eat much of the soup since I have the chicken coming.  This time it's just going to be the soup, and I'm stoked.  So stoked that I'm writing about it.  After I leave IHOP I'll be going grocery shopping.  We are out of just about everything.  Well, not really everything, but all snacks and things that don't take forever to make. 

Friday I'm starting the 30 Day Shred for the second time.  Hopefully this time I get some results and stick with it longer.  Last time was in January, I think, and I didn't get any kind of results.  Maybe it's because my diet didn't change at all and I was only using one pound cans of beans.  Yeah, that's probably why.  Now I have 2.5lb weights and I'm planning on cutting down on the junk food.  Hopefully that will help.  I have apples, bananas, grapes, carrots, frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, and lettuce on my grocery list.  Granted the lettuce won't be touched by me, it's still a pretty good list.  I found some recipes for strawberry slushies, so I plan to make those.  Hopefully the fruits will replace random sweet things I would usually be eating.  Now to find something to replace the salty things.  That will be tougher.

Saturday is the day of my mini-sessions at Krug Park.  I have a total of three people signed up.  Their times are 2:00, 3:30, and 5:30 and they are half hour slots.  Seems as though there will be quite a bit of standing around.  It seems that people aren't so interested in me for mini-sessions.  Maybe we can try again later, or maybe we should just do it this one time and forget it.  I guess we'll see.

This post is looking super boring with out photos.  Maybe sometime soon I'll update again and actually have something to look at....if I remember.