Guess what I did?!

I ran a half marathon! 13.1 miles! I have to say that it was a spiritual experience for me. I know that I have been through a lot in my life. I have always known that I was emotionally and spiritually strong as well as wise but I never believed in myself physically. Now I know just how strong I am. I almost cried when I crossed the finish line. I'll never forget what that race meant to me. I am proud of myself and I feel stronger, happier and more connected to myself than I ever have been before. Thank you Eric, Geno, Katie and mom for always encouraging me in my running! I love you guys!

Just a couple of photo assignments

I am pretty bummed that the school tore down the darkrooms. I was having so much fun even if I did waste 4 rolls of film in my old busted up camera. At least I was able to spend 7 1/2 hours in the darkroom on the last lab day to catch up on my assignments. Here are a couple of pics that I have done for my Photo Vision class.







Taking an interesting picture of an egg is not as easy as it sounds! These will have to do for now.

Oh my!

Eric and I love each other. We love Murphy. We also love Lily. Murphy loves us. Lily loves us. However, Murphy and Lily hate each other!

I know that Christmas is like 3 months away but one of my Christmas wishes is that Lily and Murphy will be able to live civilly together without trying to kill each other.

My other wish is that we will be able to afford to live in our house after my sister moves out.

I'm shy..

but I really wanted to take this man's picture. So I sucked it up and asked. He said ok. Nothing too special but I like them anyway....

Work sucks. School is good. Dog and cat fight. Husband and I are like passing ships in the night. I might go meditate with some Buddhist monks in November. Sister and her boyfriend still live here.


Sigh.

Cats are perfect companions for...

brilliant people!

My writing blog:

http://jvswrites.blogspot.com/

Growing pains

This post has nothing to do with Frida Kahlo or art. I have just been obsessing over her lately and I found this picture of her that I really like.

..........

Growing up I never would have imagined that I would have gone through half the crap that I did. Some of it was good, some of it was bad and some of it was awful. But in the end it's all ok because I am here and I am genuinely happy. I am married to an awesome man. I have so many wonderful people in my life. I have a beautiful home. I am continuing my education. My job really sucks but at least I have job and it's not flipping burgers! And I'm healthy. Maybe I didn't move to Paris or become a National Geographic photographer. That doesn't matter though. What matters to me is that things are good. My life is almost exactly what I imagined it would be at nearly 30.

On the flip side so many of the amazing people that I grew up with, the people that I thought would have gone somewhere, are some how stuck. It's like they never learned how to grow up or they just gave up trying. So they do all that they can to stay in their little safety zone. And when they get pushed beyond that zone they don't know what to do. They either sink or swim. It's kind of pathetic. And I'm not saying that in a mean or hurtful way at all. It's just so sad to see hopes and dreams crushed by the people that gave life to them. Their own worst enemy. And change wont come easily, if at all. It breaks my heart.

Anyway, I guess the whole point of this is that I never gave up on myself. Even when I thought that I did, even when I desperately wanted to, I never could. It makes me wonder about the people that do...

Our house is a very, very, very fine house...

These are just a couple of pictures to show how awesome and how far our house has come. We get compliments on our house all the time. And people are always stopping and asking if they can have some of our apricots. Yesterday I let a lady and her husband take some and they are making jam with it. She said she would bring some back for us. So nice! I love our house, our home.

Just a couple of pics

Andrea

This is just a short pre-post about my sister Andrea having her baby. Camera phone pics included.

After 30+ hours of labor my sister Andrea had her baby girl. It was very surreal. Both mom and baby are beautiful and perfect. Baby Sloane came into this world on July 2nd, 2010 weighting 5 pounds 15 Ounces and reaching 19.09 inches long! She is a tiny, sweet little baby. I love her and I love Andrea very much. I am proud of them both. More to come later after sleep!

Happiness

The loves of my life!

Today I was not a wimp!

There was an oil leak here in SLC this past weekend. On my run today I saw some guys cleaning up part of the Jordan River by our house. So I ran home, grabbed my camera and went directly back to the site to take pictures. I wasn't shy at all. As a matter of fact I spoke to both men. I didn't have any paper on me so I forgot some of the things they told me. Amateur move. Anyway all I know is that they work for Kodiak Wildlife Management in Idaho and they plan on being here in Utah for 1 to 2 months. I really need to take a journalism class or something. I was so not prepared today. But I am proud of myself for doing it. Practice makes perfect.

PS we went to Lagoon last Friday with Eric's work. It was very rainy. We still had fun though. Eric won me 2 little stuffed whales. Cute.

Random picture post

Ask and you shall receive

You know it's funny when you ask for something and suddenly it happens. Then it's up to you to decide what to do with it. I was a baby about taking the pictures. Horrified actually and a little bit embarrassed. But I did it. They might not be award winners and I don't care. I just wanted to see how close I could get. I wanted to see if I had even just a little bit of a photojournalist in me. I think so? Anyway, next time I'll get a little closer.

By the way Katie, Eric and Geno got the huge tree stump out of our yard on Sunday. It was a pain. They are tuff. We are so glad that thing is finally out of our yard!