Concerts, more concerts

The boy had a show tonight with Family Force 5. They did awesome.


The boy during their set.. Check them out on myspace (myspace.com/southboundfearing)

However, opening bands don't generally get the best lighting conditions for photography. So I got a few shots, then decided to put away my camera and just enjoy the show.


FF5

I'd never really heard of Family Force 5 and had no idea what to expect, but I will say that...



THIS is the kind of synthesizer I'd want to play!! :)

Books.

I debated for a long time about putting this photo up today. For quite a few reasons. First, I have stuffed animals. I'm 24, I understand this, but they are still cute and sentimental and what am I to do with them? Throw them away? Never. Secondly, I didn't anticipate my movies being in the shot either. Remember the last post where I was laying on the floor with Crackers-the-cat? I took this then - blind - so each shot was a surprise to me. And third, most important, books are special to me and I am quite sensitive of this.

I like buying books. People can scold me, chastise me, or scoff at me for this, but the fact of the matter is I like buying books. I love walking into a bookstore and just wandering. Each book I happen to land my eyes on has about a ten second time span to convince me to pick it up, then 7 seconds to sell me. Rarely do I choose books with poor design, dull colors, or horrible typography. It has to look as delicious as it will read.

Inevitably, I end up with a collection of books in bright colors and fun typography. I wish I could say I read to further my education or spark intelligent pondering (and that's not to say I never do) but I prefer to escape into a world of fictional characters doing silly things and falling in love or picking up the pieces of their lives to find better pathways or laughing their way through ridiculous situations. Books that keep me up all night just because I can't bear to be away from the story are my favorites. Even better than that are the books whose characters become so real that when their story is finished, I feel as though I've lost touch with a friend.

Sigh. Don't judge me.

Also, I take the dust jacket off my hardcovers till I've finished reading them (so they don't crinkle!) I have boxes of books in the basement and in various other locations that didn't make the cut for my super small book shelving space. I hate lending books to people who dog ear pages or bend the corners of the covers. I am attempting to get through that book on actionscript 3.0. I've only read a handful of my books twice and those will probably be read a third time before any of the others a second. I liked the Princess Bride book better than the movie - and that's just crazy.

Sunsoaking

I think Crackers-the-cat enjoys laying in the sun even more than I do!


Hope you all had an excellent weekend, I know I did!

Bubbles & Ligaments

I've had a pretty stressful day. My dearest pup, Roxy, had to be taken in for x-rays. Turns out, she's torn her cruciate ligament which means surgery. Since I'm not working my dream job and am also trying to save up for a wedding, my wish list of items, and paying off debt, this means STRESS!

Where am I going to come up with an extra thousand dollars?

I was in tears. My poor puppy. She's moping around and didn't even eat her dinner. I'm convinced she knows what this means. Sigh.

A few weeks ago, I lost my card reader in the living room of my parents house. I tore the place apart, and in doing so, found this:



Bubbles. The boy told me I wasn't allowed to blow them inside the house. Well. I think today's news called for some rule-breakage. So I cheered myself up with some bubbles. Crackers-the-cat enjoyed them too!

Beaches

I spent all of last week at Sunset Beach, North Carolina. My week consisted of laying on my brightly colored beach towel on the scalding sand, wading into the ocean for a few moments before being freaked out by the unseen (and repeat), playing Mexican Train with my brother and sister-in-law and the boy, spending quality time with the fam, eating delicious home cooked meals, and RELAXING.



I took these photos on our last night at the beach. Every year, I usually make it down to the pier. I pay the obligatory pier fee ($1 a person this year!!) and walk down to the end, scare the crap out of myself, and walk back to the beach.

All of a sudden this year, it was Friday, and I hadn't been to the pier yet. I convinced the boy to walk with me while I tried to capture the sunset. Not much of a sunset, but some pretty cool wave-action and reflections in the wet sand.

I mourn for last week. I miss it. My heart hurts sometimes with the weight of vacation being over.

How dramatic can I be!?

So yesterday I woke with no plans whatsoever. Turns out my Wednesday shifts at the Y were passed on to another lucky front desk-er (my choice) and I hadn't picked up Wednesdays at my other job. Yawning, stretching, and dreading sitting in my room looking at the non-unpacked mess, I tinkered around on the web. I checked out my favorite blogs (see bottom right) and scoped out my friends who still use AIM.

Carley was on. She's invited me to visit her numerous times and I've never gone. I gave it a shot.

9:19:34 AM Rachel: so what r u up to today
9:19:42 AM carley: chilling out.
9:19:50 AM carley: maybe running to st joseph topick up the marriage license.
9:19:58 AM Rachel: r u not working?
9:20:59 AM carley: its summer break,
9:21:09 AM carley: so i dont have any teaching... and my freelance is waiting on clients today
9:21:14 AM Rachel: ohhhh ... would u like a visitor today?
9:21:27 AM Rachel: im off work and i have NOTHING to do and i'm trying to find something funnnnnn
9:22:49 AM carley: REALLY!
9:22:51 AM Rachel: if not no biggie
9:22:52 AM carley: yes!!!
9:22:56 AM Rachel: haha how far away are you?
9:23:04 AM carley: toldo? 2 hours EVEN
9:23:21 AM Rachel: cool! what should we do
9:23:23 AM carley: i could take you to the beach, get the marriage license, and maybe bike? we cna use our bikes... you game?
9:23:30 AM Rachel: i'm DOWN
9:23:34 AM carley: SWEET!!!
9:23:38 AM carley: you leavin now??



She took me to a beach where I couldn't tell the sky from the water. She told me to leave my purse at home which meant not only did she have to buy me water & starbucks, but I also forgot to grab my camera which resulted in this lousy camera-phone photo. She told me to leave my shoes in the car which resulted in serious burns to the bottoms of both of our feet. She took me for an 11 mile bike ride that hurt my butt and shoulders but was AMAZING. She, her soon to be hubby, and I went to eat delicious Mexican and to view the Touchdown Jesus. She convinced me to shoot her wedding in 2 weeks. AAAAAnnnndddd it was all very fun.

Sigh...

The boy is out of town this week. He's a leader at church camp and has absolutely no time to deal with his crazy lady back home. This is just weird considering we spent nearly every moment together all last week during vacation!

I remember when we were driving to Mansfield on Saturday (where he was to be dropped off) I thought "man, this is going to be a nice break. He breathes so loud and drives so erratically" and I'm sure he thought, "boy this is going to be so much fun. I get to spend the whole week whistling without being told to stop."

And then I dropped him off.

And about 20 minutes pass.

And I miss the crap out of him.

He's having a great time though, and I'm doing my best to be patient.



Alsoooooo, I'm going to renew my blogging vigor and attempt to pick back up on the day to day posting. I have tons of stuff I want to start planning - for the wedding, for our new business(es), and for miscellaneous projects. Helpppp me stay focused!

ohmygoodnessitsbeensolong

I am a slacker. It's been officially 2 weeks since you've heard from me last. I promise I will get something up from my vacay last week! Consider this a placeholder....

Acoustic guitar

I tried to learn how to play the guitar once. In my opinion, I tried very hard. I failed entirely due to my irregular fingers. You see, they would bend in weird ways that I did not ask them - creating a foul sounding 'chord' that just did not do. So I stopped trying.

A couple years later, I meet this guy who's simply spectacular on the acoustic guitar and once again I have guitar envy. I can play the piano, sure. But I don't have the luxury of toting a piano around and stumbling onto the oh so perfect, yet relaxed and unplanned opportunity to showcase my musical abilities. Instead, I get to stand beside my husband-to-be and watch him pick up a guitar that just so happened to be within arms reach while we are huddled around a campfire and in need of some harmonious sound.

This is not fair.

It's my fingers. They bend funny. I'm serious.

Chalky footprint

My nephew, Cyrus celebrated his third birthday on Saturday in Toledo. Yes, I will be cliche and say - I can't believe he's 3 already! My how time flies... Cyrus is such a joy. He's 3, which comes with the inevitable meltdowns and tantrums, but this weekend I was constantly amazed at who Cyrus is growing up to be.

He's smart. Seriously smart. I'm not just being a proud aunt here. The kid knows his shapes. Octagons, Pentagons, 9-sided shapes (he's smarter than me apparently). He loves to spell. He loves to figure out how things works and always wants to know "what are YOU doing?"

He has this way of looking at you with a goofy grin on his face that pretty much forces a smile out of you. This is a problem when he's trying to let the dog free or throwing his bagel cream-cheese side down onto the carpet.

When he sees me, and I bend down for a hug, he comes RUNNING. I just love it. I wish I could bottle up those feelings and save them for the times I could use a laugh.

Oh to be a senior...

Meet Julia, a recent high school graduate and amazing tennis player! I had the pleasure of shooting her senior photos on a rainy Friday afternoon. Her mom, sister, and our mutual friend Rachel joined us to keep Julia laughing!

She's seriously a natural in front of the camera. It made my job so much easier! I just had to deal with uncooperative weather, but that was no biggie. :)

Congrats Julia on graduating! I can't believe it's been 6 years since I've graduated high school. That frightens me to think about, but I am loving life so much right now I would not trade places with my high school self! I think back to those days and how different life was then, and appreciate all the years that have gone by since.

Since 2003, I have...

Moved to Kentucky. Met one of my favorite people in the world - my next door neighbor in my first dorm, Leah. Spent 9 months in a beautiful town with wonderful people.

Moved home.

Attended BG, met another one of my favorite people - my roommate for 2 years, Megan.

Lost a boyfriend, gained a puppy and a new perspective on who I am.

Met my best friend, and walked with her through some very difficult life changes.

Moved into a house on my own, with my puppy.

Met my favorite person in the world, and fell in love with him.

Moved to Charlotte, spent 4 months with fascinating, entertaining, and educational people at Sean Busher Photography, and got to know my Mom's family in a whole new way.

Graduated college & moved back home.

Got 2 jobs. Painted my 'apartment' above the garage blue and green to make me smile every day.

Agreed to marry my favorite person in the world, the boy.

Got to know my oldest, closest friend all over again & spent 3-4 days a week with her at the gym!

Started blogging & fell in love with blogs all over the world.

.... wrote this post about important things and don't know where to stop so will stop here.

I can't wait to see what's in store for me :)

Old friends...

Do you have a favorite pair of jeans? Are they ripped? I have a pair of jeans that came already kind of ripped up. This is something my dad will never understand, and I will shamefully bow my head and admit that I fell prey to this particular fashion scheme.

This pair of pre-destroyed jeans has been ripped up a little by me as well. They're not exactly worn in yet, but I think I'll keep 'em around for awhile before tossing them into a bin labeled 'winter' that is really just a collection of clothes I feel guilty for getting rid of but will probably never wear again. I wonder if I could ever create that perfect destroyed look on my own. How can you just barely rip them apart to the point that all the threads going in one direction stay in tact while still appearing to be ripped? I just don't get it.

I'm tired now. Sleep!

Coldplay rocked my socks off

I've always been a huge fan of concerts. I can't even count how many concerts I've been to in my lifetime. A handful stand out as amazing shows, and last night's definitely was amazing. There's this feeling, a high, that I get after hearing amazing music live that just doesn't compare to anything else. It must be a mixture of the music, friends, and the thousands of people surrounding, completely as pumped as you are and singing every word too. Good times.

Getting a little insider's scoop from a friend who already went to this show provided us the opportunity to end up 10 feet away from the place they came out to on the lawn. Thanks Amanda!