Lying is bad... but reading Stephanie Meyer's books is fun.

I lied. Apparently all I can read is Twilight.

Last night, while reading some brain sharpening book by some brilliant author, I decided that I really just wanted to indulge my Stephanie Meyer addiction a little more and I read Twilight, again, for the umpteenth time. ::sighs::

Is there no hope for me?

Inkdeath

After reading Twilight, I've found that no book can capture my imagination and transport me to imaginary worlds where adventure and untold enjoyment lie. The lackluster I'm feeling towards books includes my recent visit with Inkdeath which, ironically, is about literally disappearing into a book's story. I LOVED the first two books in the series, Inkheart and Inkspell, but that was before Twilight came and changed the allure that books have for me. However, the spell that Twilight has cast over me, making all subsequent books seem dull and uninviting, has not made me want to read less. If anything, I feel compelled to keep reading until I can again lose myself in the wonder of a story unfolding on the pages before me.

Now, after disclosing my very unfair prejudice against all non-Stephanie Meyer books, I have to say that all-in-all, I did enjoy Inkdeath. While I didn't escape into the book, I did enjoy my visit there and found her writing to be tolerably enjoyable, but I think I may have to leave the genre of young adult fiction for a while, and jump back to the world of non-fiction and adult-ish books. Alas, while my young heart yearns for adventure, princesses, dragons, vampires, and other magical and creative creatures of the book world, I may be temporarily ruined due to Stephanie Meyer's ability to weave me into her world and leave me there, yearning for more words to sate the addiction that she's created. So, perhaps, my brain will just have to be sharpened by the brilliant intellect of C.S. Lewis a little more. If I can't disappear into a book with magical worlds, I might as well choose books that will make me think more deeply about God, life, and the meaning of the universe.

So wish me luck as I embark on this new and old adventure of the mind - seeking out truth where it can be found.

Life and all that good stuff

I have been terribly remiss in blogging the last month or two. I do have excuses. Lots of them. However, in order to figure out what I've been doing, we're going to play a game called two lies and a truth, and you have to figure out which statement is the truth:

1. I've was captured by a dragon and was only recently rescued by my knight in shining armor, also known as Andy.

2. I was at the grocery store and tried an apple and have been asleep until recently when my knight in shining armor kissed me.

3. I have been busy editing, shooting weddings and senior sessions, designing albums, meeting with a bunch of potential clients, picking a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch with the family, reading Inkdeath, and just trying to keep the house clean and stay on top of life.

So what do you think? What have I really been doing lately?

On to more interesting subjects of note, I went to Chantel's choir performance this week and it was awesome! They did a super job. I was so inspired by a violinist they had accompanying them that I've decided to take a violin class. I'm really excited about learning. I've always loved the sound of stringed instruments above all other musical instruments and the violin and cello have always been at the top of that list. So, here's to a noisy home for the next few months while I struggle to learn how to play!

Oh wait - here's a picture of my cute sister doing her choir performance!

Also, I have super exciting news! I recently got a job at a bridal store! We weren't sure whether I would have time for another job (I'm still not convinced), but we figured that once wedding season begins slowing down I'm going to be lacking things to do. So, we decided that it wouldn't hurt to give it a try and see how things go. So far I LOVE the job! I get soo excited to go to work. It's hard to believe because it is the only job (besides photography) that I have ever been excited about. Pretty much, I get to hang out with cool people, help brides find the dress of their dreams, and promote our photography business at the same time. It couldn't be more perfect. They've given me permission to chat with brides about our photography business, which is awesome! The job is even better because it's commission based, so a lot of the girls are easily making more (per hour; not net income) selling wedding dresses than I did at the law firm. So, all said, we're pretty happy about it.

Alas, photo editing pulls me back like a curse of obedience forcing me to succumb.... I'm excited for the season to be over soon!

Bringing home the bacon venison!

Well, as Elisha lamented earlier, I headed off to hunt the illustrious Mule deer in Eastern Oregon (just East of the Santiam Pass.) I had a great time, though the weather wasn't too friendly. Despite that setback, I brought back some grub for the winter - my first deer. A picture says a thousand words, and as a photographer, I tote that advantage whenever I can! Here's some shots (if any look blurry, it's because the lens fogged up because it was so cold!)

As he fell after one shot:

Victory!

Preparing for the butcher:

Elisha didn't go hunting, but she likes the results:

Urrghh:

Hunting, Church, and Life

Andy went hunting this weekend and left me to the company of my imagination. Fortunately, my imagination imagined me out with my mom and sister in downtown PDX looking at art galleries, grabbing food and drinks at McMenamins, and exploring the wonder of the Greek festival (which, in the end, wasn't so wondrous). However, we could have been sloshing through muddy fields in the pouring rain and it still would have been fun. It was so lovely having a girls day and just laughing and spending time together.

And then, to my happy surprise, Andy called this morning and said he's returning to me early! Yay for shooting a buck early and coming home to his wife, who has missed him. :D

So I'm off to church this morning with Taleah & Jeremy (we're looking for a church, by the way. Does anyone have any good suggestions for the Clackamas/SE Portland area??). We're trying Eastridge this morning and we'll see how things go. The church looks a little too big for my tastes, but then a big church may not be so bad. I guess we'll see!

And I just started reading Ink Death! Woo hoo! I'm excited to see if it is as good as its predecessors!

Grinning

Gah. I'm having a bad day. A REALLY bad day. The kind of day where even losing yourself in the world of Stephanie Meyer doesn't help. The kind of day where taking a soothing relaxing bath with candles doesn't help. The kind of day where a long walk to our mailbox doesn't help. The kind of day where you still don't feel better after your mom and sister come over to try and cheer you up. Yup, I'm having that kind of day.

Why? All because I care WAY too much about people's opinions. I get that we're not perfect. I get it. I get that God loves me even though I'm not perfect. I get that life is good and being upset about silly comments from random strangers shouldn't upset my feelings of self worth. I get it. But I can't seem to let that comprehension settle into actually believing and living like I know those things. So what do I do? I sit and stew. And edit photos and stew. And blog and stew. With all this stewing, you'd think I'd have made enough to eat to feed the 5,000. And yet, all I have is an upset stomach and the inklings of an ulcer (okay, the ulcer is a bit of an exaggeration).

What's frustrating is that I can't decide whether I want to laugh at this whole situation, or cry, or punch something, or drown myself in a world of make believe, or scrub the bath tub to a sparkling shiny white. I just want to do something that will help me to stop stewing. What is more frustrating was that I thought all these stupid insecurity issues were resolving only to have them fly back as soon as someone hit the "right" nerve. The right wrong nerve. Argh.

Okay, as much as I would love to keep blogging and start trying to focus myself on something positive, I have endless editing to attend to. Not that I would probably be positive in the rest of this post anyway. I would probably just rant more. If you start a blog negatively, it's hard to bring it back to a positive note. It becomes stuck in negative land. So I'm leaving negative land - or at least I'm going to attempt to.

::grins::

See, I'm already grinning.