epiphany

Ever have one of those? One of those moments where things just become clearer? Well, I just had one.

You know what? I'm sick of myself. This is going to deviate from my previous happy-go-lucky posts that seem to be uplifting or something, but it's real, so there you are. I'm sick of worry, self-doubt and whineyness, something that I seem to be adept at, despite my loathing for said attributes. I deserve to be on this:



That said, I can get off the dang failboat if I just can get around to changing things. Luckily, who I am can only be changed one way. By me, and by God. Okay, so it's up to me. Just me, not anyone else. So me, what are we going to do? We're going to change. Yeah, it's nicer to sit back and complain, but it's better to do.

I'm going to realize that my life is pretty freakin' amazing. I have good parents, good friends and an amazing wife. I've got a job. I live indoors. When I stop and look around, I don't have anything to complain about. So why the rant? I really hope that this opens not only my eyes, but some of our readers as well. Far too often in life we're complaining about something and we hear from a friend "Well, look at so-and-so. Your life isn't that bad." And I always hate that - because I know that I'm being irrational, but having someone tell you that does no good. Well, here's me telling you that my life isn't so bad, and maybe you'll think for a minute that hey, yours isn't so bad either.

With this newfound epiphany, what am I going to change? I'm going to change my outlook, and start changing what I'm doing. I need to start enjoying the simple pleasures in life that I used to love but have forgotten in the drudgery of work, death and taxes (the unavoidable things in life, reference Reliant K.) I need to be childlike. I need to stop seeing things that bog me down and start seeing the things that lift me up. And you, dear reader, please feel free to whack me upside the head with a large trout if you don't start seeing this blog filling with my joyful, youthy adventures.

Insomnia

Insomnia is what happens when you forget that your body is super sensitive to caffeine and you drink two sodas at dinner. Then while insomnia takes over your exhausted brain, this is what you do to entertain yourself. '

1. Surf the web for hours researching quilting patterns and ideas.
2. Pathetically attempt to convince men everywhere to donate their unwanted ties to your quilting projects.
3. Message your other sleepless friend about funny things you've found online (please note the image that Becca messaged me earlier displayed below).



4. Fart around on facebook and look for more insomniac buddies.
5. Edit photos
6. Blog about how you're farting around on facebook while your photos are exporting.
7. Think about trying to go to sleep.
8. Realize your mind is too awake to sleep, and then go back to "stumbling" around the internet.

Happy sleepless nights!

Tie Quilt

I'm planning/thinking/plotting/scheming on making a quilt out of ties. Unfortunately, the few ties my lovely husband owns are his only ties which he probably won't be keen about donating to my crafty quilting hands. That being said -

does anyone want to donate ties to my project?????? Please?!

Exciting News!

There have been so many exciting things happening in our life, so I'll keep this post brief and filled with pictures!

First off, my little niece, Zoe Danielle-Lynn Griffith, was born! Isn't she adorable?





I'm so excited! I made her a quilt for her first birthday present. I forgot to take pictures of the quilt, but I'll try to remember to next time I see Robin and the family.

Then, onto our exciting news, Andy and I put an offer in on a house. We're soooo excited! We plan to close at the end of April, and if everything goes smoothly, we'll own our very first home!

Here's some pics that the builder posted:













When I get a chance, I'll try to remember to take some "real" pictures so that you can get a better idea of what it looks like!

We're really really excited about our new home and moving in! I've been having a blast imagining all the homey ways we can decorate.

I'll post some of my ideas later when I'm not so crazy busy with photography, buying a house, etc. Well I'm off to edit Natalie and Kris' wedding!

Inspired

I was inspired by Zack Arias' tutorials (http://www.zarias.com/?p=123) to try out some fun stuff for myself. Becca (my lovely friend) shot this photo of me in my office. We just propped a light on the ground and then shot away. I think next time I play with this idea, I'll probably set up the whole gamut and have fun with it (and maybe I'll actually do the shooting next time!).



The original looked like this:

Chore Buster!

So, recently Andy and I have decided to be more responsible and diligent in our house maintenance efforts. Since we haven't had a time to sit down and divvy up chores, I've enlisted the help of the all mighty chorebuster.net to help us out. I spent a little time this morning imputing chores and their difficulty levels and then chorebuster will send us a list each week of what chores we need to complete each day. Hopefully, it will be helpful and not irritating. :)

However, we desperately need to do something about our living habits - see our living room that has Elisha's quilting stuff everywhere?






However, look at the pretty quilt I'm making!!!







I've finished the quilt face, but I still need to do the back and then actually quilt it all together. ::grins happily:: I heart quilting. :)

Okay, I'm still on a mad rampage to finish editing Sam & Laura's wedding. Hopefully I'll get it all finished today. Woo hoo!

More editing

I'm keeping myself sane by periodically blogging throughout my photo editing filled day. I'm such a procrastinator that I tend to push off BIG editing jobs until the last minute and then I stress and spend hours upon hours trying to get everything finished in time. Boo on me. Anyway, I thought I would share the beauty of Lightroom. This is a before and after of a photo that our assistant, Becca, shot.

Before: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ After:


Pretty much I just raised the exposure a bit in Lightroom and did some other minor adjustments and voila! - you can take a photo that is too dark and not usable and make it something that you would be happy to give your clients.