Lazy Saturday

After quite the blogging hiatus, I'm baaack! :-)

Today was a pretty lazy Saturday, from sleeping in and lazing bed for a while, to finally taking a shower and pretending to be a grown up around noon.

Kiddo and I set up and knocked down a number of domino creations, I went on a brisk walk (whew, it's chilllllyyyy out there!), Matt is making some kind of amazing (so he says) dinner, and then I'm off to hang with my friend The Crafty Geek. TCG is a good friend I met through the Timbers Army knitting group, and we have since learned that we used to attend church together and would occasionally run into each other at events. Life is so funny sometimes!

While I was out on my walk, I saw this sparse, beautiful shrub covered in these purple berries. Any ideas what plant this is?

A Little Brilliance

With a few photoshoots under my belt, happy clients and (mostly) happy photographer, I'm able to look at these sessions and happily see where my strengths are. Not so happily, that also reveals the weaknesses. In my research to help strengthen these areas, I've been reading quite a bit on The Strobist blog. If you are at all interested in photography, hobby or otherwise, this blog is a just a treasure trove of information and ideas.

One such idea I came across today is something I'd like to start making myself do on a weekly basis. While doing a shoot, snap a shot of behind the scenes. The overall set up, location, lighting, everything. After the shoot, use an example shot and the set up shot, and do a write up of how everything went, what did and didn't work, etc.

Seems like a rather brilliant plan to see what works and what doesn't, and to have record of it to refer back upon as needed!

As an artist, do you have a way to track what does and doesn't work, or do you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants with every project? Perhaps a bit of both?

Portland Siren Miss B

A few weeks ago, I announced the opening of my new venture, Portland Sirens. I've since had the pleasure of photographing the lovely, bashful Miss B. She was a bit shy but warmed up as we laughed and had a good time. A little "Wild Thing" on the radio helps kick things up a notch as well!

Don't you just adore her beautiful eyes? I am so privileged to do this work with the wonderful ladies I meet!

Enthralled with You

"Describe your relationship with your spouse."

There are so many wonderful words in the English language that could be used to describe our relationship! If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know two things: I'm madly in love with Matt, and I love making lists.

My marriage to Matt is:

• Encouraging
• Faithful
• Gentle
• Full
• Patient (mostly, we're not saints!)
• Loving
• Peaceful
• Strong
• Adventurous
• Messy
• Beautiful
• Fun
• Exciting
• Supportive
• Kind
• Adoring
• Compassionate
• Mushy
• Breathtaking
• Intoxicating
• Thrilling
• like a fairy tale

In short, I wouldn't trade any part of this relationship for anything in the world. 

 

Love of my life <3

This is question 3 from "30 Things My Child Should Know About Me".

3 Things That Terrify Me

In case you missed it, the other day I announced the launch of Portland Sirens! Please check it out if you're needing a Valentine's Day gift for your partner, or a little self-love :)

 

Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears.

I would like to interject here that a fear is a fear - whether someone else considers it "legitimate" has no bearing on how that fear affects your life. My fears may not be reasonable, but they are all legitimate.

1. The dark. I'm not talking just a darkened room, that's generally ok. I'm talking dark enough I can't see anything at all, or just barely make out shapes. It doesn't just make me uncomfortable, it truly terrifies me...my brain goes into overdrive and immediately that bookcase is a serial killer hiding in the corner, just waiting for me to come close enough for him to make his move. My mind doesn't stop there, it goes into gory detail about what would happen, how the end result would look and my family's reaction. Every single shape or shadow turns into an instant threat, and I've taken to carrying my phone with me even when I get up in the night to pee, because it has a flashlight on it, and I can shut down that crazy train.
2. Spiders. As a general rule, bugs don't bother me. I don't particularly like them, but I'm fine with "live and let live" with most bugs, because God created each of them to do some job in the world. Spiders, however, operate on their own agenda. I don't do the whole "scream and run out of the room" deal if a spider is spotted (mostly because I become frozen in fear), and it really depends on the type of spider, but generally, spiders seem to follow me, drop on me, otherwise assault my person and do everything they can to push my panic buttons. I don't appreciate surprise contact from other humans, so spiders why do you think it's ok from you?
3. Losing my job.  While I do want to become self-sufficient, it is not something that is in the cards right now, and we need my job to help us stay financially afloat. This has nothing to do with the economy and how hard the job market is (though that does factor slightly into the fear), and everything to do with how unstable my current position is. It's in a market that is heavily season-dependant, and as I deal with the financial end of things, I personally get to deal with how strapped we are in the off-season. Any time there's a closed-door meeting, I can barely breathe until that door opens again and no one calls me in to join them. One of these days, I will get to leave of my own accord. Until that day, I live in the fear that this security blanket will be ripped out of my hands.

Question 2 of "30 Things My Child Should Know About Me"