Thankfulness part quatro

Today I am thankful for OUR COUCH!!!!  My husband's aunt is moving and offered us her loveseat.  We had not yet purchased a couch and I have sorely been missing having one.  Our options for snuggling while watching a movie are a pile of blankets craning our necks to see over the coffee table, or cramming into an armchair.  Both options are only comfortable for about 30 minutes.  Needless to say I am SOOOOOOO thankful to have a couch now :o)

Thankfulness pt drie

Today is a dreary, dreary day in Detroit.  It's wet and grey and I don't like it.  I'm already sleepy and this weather just makes me want to crawl right back into bed and stay there the rest of the day!

Instead, I am choosing to be productive!  Today I am thankful for my love and (if I may say so) talent for cooking.  Days like today are also excellent comfort food days, which means I'm seriously considering hitting up the grocery store and trying out one of my new soup recipes that I just discovered...  cooking is very therapeutic for me.  I love being in the kitchen and smelling the smells, tasting the ingredients as they go in and come together in a beautiful meal, and I love the joy it brings to those who eat it.  My husband and I have been trying to get into healthier eating habits and so it poses a challenge to me when I'm cooking to make better choices when I plan out the meal, or decide whether or not to add more salt or butter or what have you.  It's also reawakened my love of veggies... I just wish we could find a good local farmer's market or something rather than having to spend a ton of money at a gourmet grocery store for nutritious and fresh produce!

Thankfulness pt. deux

Today I woke up before the alarm.  This has happened in my life approximately never.  Ok maybe once.  I have been under a lot of stress the last several months, and it has taken a toll on my sleeping.  I don't remember waking up one single time last night, until I woke up a little before the alarm was set to go off.  I feel great!  My husband and I enjoyed some time together watching The Sting, sorting through the paper and eating breakfast.  Now it's time to get ready for church, something I haven't done in awhile but promised my mum I would this week, so it's been a nice morning.  Not rushed, not stressed, very enjoyable, and I am thankful for it!

Thankfulness

So those of you who know me know that when it comes to Thanksgiving, I'm not generally a fan.  Thanksgiving in my family has never been a huge thing, sure we do the meal and dress up, but my thanksgivings usually held more frustration and boredom than cozy happy memories, so in general, I'm more of a Chandler when it comes to the day of the turkey.

This year I'm trying to make it better, even though I probably won't see my husband most of the day since he'll be setting up and tearing down the local parade downtown, so instead I'll be at my aunts most likely eating and trying to avoid being sucked into getting my butt beat sorely by my younger cousin on the Wii.

In an effort to show that I'm growing as a person, I'm going to try and post a daily entry from now until thanksgiving reflecting on the purpose behind the holiday and what I can be thankful for in my own life.

So today, I am thankful for my wonderful husband.  He has been a real support for me during my tumultuous past months, and I really truly enjoy his company.  He's been sick the last few days, but not so sick that he isn't bored out of his mind, so we've spent a lot of time together with me trying to keep him entertained.  He loved my 30 second pantomime of Macbeth start to finish, we read Paul McCartney's High in the Clouds together, and today I played my guitar (first time in years!) while he told me which chords came next for Rachel's Song.  I'm thankful that I have him in my life, and my love for him grows daily.

I'm in a Book!

my dear friend and long time photography mentor, Jim Doty Jr. has published a book, and I'm in it!  He told me about the book this past spring, and had me officially sign off on the possibility of having my photo included in the final copy.  He did NOT tell me it was in the "for Dummies" series and actually a super huge deal!!  I'm so proud of him!  I haven't been in a store yet to see the photo of me, but he told me it's in there, so check it out.  And my photog friends pick up a copy of the book, I will be!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0470647620/jimdotycom-20

Changes Part 1

So I've felt a burning need to make some changes in my life recently (like I haven't had enough I guess?).  I guess I've been feeling the need to make tangible changes that I can control completely because there has been so much chaos in my life these past several months.  In that spirit, I bought myself some hair dye the other day, and tonight was the night!  It's a bit darker than I expected it to be, so we'll see how it looks in a few days (it's supposed to be a dark auburny red but it kinda looks black with a red tinge at the moment).  In any case it made a difference, even if I'm still the same person on the inside, it helped shift my mood a bit and for that I'm glad.

 

new directions

given the chaos that has been my life these past several months, I have done some reflecting on the use and purpose of this blog.  I used to be really into journaling.  It was a great form of therapy for me, and I used to use blogs with a similar intent.  As I shifted the focus of this blog to my photography, I felt I lost the ability to use it as a journaling platform as I try to keep a relative separation between personal and professional spheres.  As a result, I have created a new photography blog to share with you all and invite you to check it out at
http://shutterbugdesign.blogspot.com/


I'm hoping it will become a far more interactive forum for my artsy community friends, and invite you to post your reactions, own related works, etc to help us all continue to grow, learn, and be inspired by each other!  This blog will return to being a more private forum where I can share updates on my life with friends and family, and vent when I need to about various life issues, without feeling like I am alienating my professional sphere.


Thanks for your readership and bloggy friendship, I hope to see you at the new spot!