The World must be safe

because the first 7 mins of the news tonight was about the gas crisis. I wish that I could put into words how much this whole thing has completely annoyed the shit out of me! If the news didn't spend 7 mins telling people that we were out of gas then they wouldn't fill up every 3 gallons ,which would mean that only 100 cars would need gas a day instead of 1,000, which means we would not have as big of a shortage...what is so hard to understand about that? Someone called into the radio station that I listen to today and said that very thing and they acted like she was an idiot and they were just innocently reporting the news. This was news 2 weeks ago and would have gone away now if they had stopped reporting on it and let people return to their normal filling up habits. GEEZ! 11alive also has a great gadget where you can look online to find where there is gas. Ridiculous, that just fuels the fire (though I guess would be good in a crunch)! I understand that this started out as a legitimate crisis, fine, but then as they continue to report on it and make it into a bigger deal than it needs to be, it cause people to panic. Did you know that people are STALKING GAS TRUCKS? Don't they realize that they probably waste more gas doing that then if they would just chill out at home? Also, people are getting up and going to gas stations at like 2 or 3am to avoid lines. I feel bad for the people who do legitimately have to fill up every few days because they have such a far commute but I just don't feel like that is the majority of the people in line. And, it pisses me off that I can't wait until my tank is on E like I normally do because I will have to wait in a 30 min line to get gas and will run out in the process. Since I refuse to be one of the panicked people, I have decided to buy a Marta pass and will ride that...the only time I will drive is if I have to.

Ok, off soapbox.....not much else going on....I have been crazy busy at work and it is usually 5:30 before I know what has happened. I am getting a lot done though so that helps to pass the day.

Thinking that if this crisis is still going on this weekend I will venture out to one of these gas stations and use my new camera to document the great "Gas Crisis of 2008". Maybe I can get one of those shots that will be used in future generations the same way we see the shots of the gas lines of the 70s.

Gas Crisis 2008...seriously?

This has gotten ridiculous! I don't understand why people want to run to the pump to get gas when they are down 3 gallons but it is driving me nuts. If people weren't doing that then we wouldn't have this problem in the first place. I was hoping to go see my little busy bee on her birthday on Wednesday but sadly I don't think that I have enough gas to get there and back...I passed several gas stations on my way home and none of them had gas. I got sad that I could't see her and called my sister to tell her...then another thought creeped in.....her birthday party is on Saturday and I don't have enough to get there and back. I am hoping that this stuff ends soon. I am planning on riding marta the rest of the week to work but not sure how I will get some more gas. My sister says there is some up near her so hopefully I will be able to get some there...she said that they didn't even wait in line this morning.

In other news, I can finally see an improvement in my strength at the gym. Today I had to do this one exercise that used to have me resting constantly and sweating A LOT but today I was able to really do it without much effort. I was also able to do three sets of 15 pushups all in a row (yes, I am a wuss and usually not able to do that). I can't say that I see a difference in the clothes fitting yet, but at least I am getting stronger.

Working on getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night for a few nights to see how I feel..I just hate mornings and I am wondering if it is because I don't sleep enough. We will see how it works out and if I am even able to do it....

Long few days!

Thursday was another one of those not so fun airplane trips. I let Halifax on time from the gate but then we say on the runway a bit and when we finally took off it caused us to be a bit late getting in. Normally this would be ok but since I only had an hour to connect I was starting to get worried. We had to take a bus from the plane to the terminal..great, more time to wait. We came in to gate 11 and I had to go to 27...you wouldn't think that it would be that far, right...WRONG. It took me 15 mins of walking and moving sidewalks to get there. I didn't get there until they were boarding zone 5....yikes. Got on the plane around 7 and then backed out of the gate and sat on the runway for another 2hrs! We had TVs for I watched that Earl show and then the premiere of the Office. It was pretty good. When I finally landed and hour late (luckily since it is JFK's "international rush hour" they had built an extra hour and a half into our flight) I waited 30 mins for my bag and it never came. Another 10 mins in the baggage line...finally, they are going to deliver my bag to work the next day...awesome, no makeup or phone charger and my phone is almost dead. I don't wear a ton of makeup but pretty much refuse to leave the house without mascara....

Saturday..for UGA fans, need I say more? I was so upset in the first quarter that I couldn't believe my eyes! I had fun the rest of the day until kickoff. AWFUL is the only word to describe it. Then I drove home after the game and got home at 2am. Up at 9am this morning to take pictures. Ella and Emma were first, and I just love how cute they are. They are really starting to get their little personalities! Then I had 4 more for the day with the last one ending at 7:30 tonight..yikes! My 3:00 cancelled because they didn't have gas to get here and back home..not sure what happened...she said they had gas near her house but they didn't get any and then when they got closer to town there was no more gas and they wouldn't have enough to get here and back....

The saddest part of the gas crisis for me is that I am not sure that I will be able to find the gas to get to my sister's on Wednesday to see Ariyana on her actual first birthday! So sad. I hope that the QT on Lindbergh will have some and I can get it there...even though I had to wait 20 mins the other day for it there. I have decided that I am going to run all my errands tomorrow when I was already going to drive to work and then will do Marta the rest of the week.

I am tired and I am going to get some of these pictures done....my hosts' new software sucks so the pictures don't look as good in the previews...they are really pixelated :-( Makes me wonder if any of my clients would be able to see the editing that I do or if I should just wait until I know which ones they order to edit (which would cut down my editing time significantly). It is not like I do that much but I do normally get rid of some of the redness in the baby's faces and that is what takes the longest. If you want to see the little E's ask Erin for the passcode...they are cuties :-)

Oh, and after reading Drena's post, I will NEVER step foot on a Ferry to Nova Scotia!! I was telling Craig about it and he said it was the same way when he went on it...said he didn't puke but he wished that he could have and he spent the whole time at the back of the boat. He said that it takes two days to go around and I said that if we couldn't go around he should just know that I will never be making that particular trip!! Also makes me rethink the whole ferries in Greece thing. There are not many things that I am afraid of but I really think that I am afraid of people puking around me. It gives me chills and shivers and I get all naseous myself and I can't focus on anything else...I imagine that is how some people feel about heights or spiders, for me it is puke...not sure why.

GPS is foolproof, right?

Nope, not when you refuse to listen to the woman when she tells you to turn and then after you turn the wrong way you won't just follow her new directions and insist on making a U-turn even though you were going the way you eventually needed to go. This is how we went past our hotel about 3 times yesterday before we actually made it..and no, I was not driving!



The guy that is here from the Canada office got up this morning and walked by the water...I thought it would be freezing and I was tired so I stayed in bed but I went tonight. Most of the shops close sort of early but I walked around.

Tonight we ate at The Press Gang..it was good. The service was REALLY slow but the food was good. After a while I felt like we were intruding on some family reunion...this group of guys our age came in and from what I coudl tell they were in film school or something and they were all about wine and oysters. Then all these older 50 something guys came in and were buying up wine and cheese and stuff and they knew the younger guys so there was lots of handshaking and shoulder patting going on ...it was sort of funny..sort of like we were in the movie Skulls.

Oh, by the way..the news here is all about mortgage crisis too.....Canada supposedly might be worse off....and the guy I am working with said that he last job the owner hedged against the US dollar and when it went sour the guy lost his business....still owes the guy I work with 6 months salary...who can go 6 months without a salary with 3 kids? It is also really funny to hear what the Canadians think about our politics and who they want in office (Obama) and how much they know about it all...I can't understand their elections...of course I haven't studied them and they don't effect me like ours effect them but still. He said that they have more than two parties here and so sometimes if one party gets voted in the other two parties will gang up and call for a new election....they don't have set elections, it is just whenever one is called for..I don't really understand but he said that they don't have set elections and sometimes it will be two years or sometimes it will be 9 months. Seems odd but he also made the comment that they don't campaign for two years here like we do...don't I wish that was true! These are the kinds of things that you learn when you work in other countries instead of just being a tourist in one...I doubt many people chat up tourist about politics but when you have to think of something to talk about over dinner it comes out :-) I sort of like to learn what they think....liked the same thing about working in Australia actually.

I am going to try to get some sleep....I am exhausted and I might go walking in the morning to get some blood flowing before work....I need to get in shape ...I keep saying that but then I don't do anything...oh well :-)

Oh Canada!

I finally got here...all flights on time..I think that is like 10 in a row now!

I expected it to be different here but it really is just like New England except everything is in French too and they use different money. There is not much here other than the downtown area. My hotel is nice....but it is a little strange that my "deck" door opens up to the indoor pool. Cool but also if I forget to close the curtains the people at the pool get a show.

It is COLD here!!!! I had on my winter jacket tonight and a scarf and was cold walking to dinner. We ate at Five Fishermen tonight. It was supposed to be the best seafood in town. It was good, but I wouldn't think that it would be the best. The creme brulee was REALLY good and I had a gooseberry with it! Funny, huh. The one thing that annoyed me about it was that the hostess that does that and the Little Fish restaurant told us that they were full until 8:30 (we got there at 7:45) but then the hostess from Five Fisherman said maybe 30 mins. We went to the bar and got a drink and it was a 5 min wait. Seemed like they were trying to be more special than they were. I think that tomorrow night the restaurant will be cool so I will let you know Drena. We walked by it tonight and it looked so cute that we decided to go there tomorrow. I know that you should definitely go to Peggy's Cove while here....Craig like it..I don't think that it is super special but it is the most photographed lighthouse in North America and he sold one of his photos of it for $300 so that might be why he liked it.

Not much else to report.....I am dreading tomorrow because I got up at 5am today and even though I slept on the plane on the way to Boston, I know I will be tired tomorrow cause I always am on the second day! I ate too much tonight (no need for dessert) so maybe I will just go to bed. First I need to look up how to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius because it is cold in my room and the temp control is Celsius and I don't remember from Australia what is warm.

Another Day

Today went by really fast for me! I was working on a project all morning and by the time I looked up it was time for lunch. I left work a little early today to go and pick up the developed roll of medium format film that I dropped off. I am happy to report that my lighting was great on all of them :-) It is weird because pictures with settings that didn't turn out on my digital camera actually turned out with my new camera...the dork that I am did some research and learned the difference in the way the cameras read light and now I know why it is that way. I also learned that with film you have a little bit of leadway for the settings and that is good since the camera is completely manual. I was happy to see that the pictures turned out and I am excited to take it on vacation with Craig and I soon (well, a month). I kind of think that I am going to really love this kind of photography...it is amazing how close the pictures are to what you actually see and they don't need any adjustments..sort of makes the digital ones look cloudy (the outside ones, not the studio ones cause that lighting is spot on).

Still haven't gotten to talk to Craig much cause he is still working on trees with his dad..this is day 4! He is so tired when he calls that we only talk briefly. Tomorrow I leave to go to Halifax. I can't decide if I want to take my camera with me but I don't think that I am going to...I am only going to be there for about 48 hours and I have to share a car so I won't get to go where I want anyway and I will probably have to entertain and stuff. I think that I will just take the point and shoot.

The best part of Halifax? The highs this week are in the upper 50s!!!! It is going to be 30 one night...seriously? In September? Meanwhile, I will probably be sweating on Saturday while I am tailgating!

Not completely out of the funk and still have this stupid yuckiness in my throat...you can't swallow it and you can't cough it up ....it is just there. I did go to the personal trainer today though and I made it through it so I must not be as tired and worn out as I thought. Early flight tomorrow though (read 7:30am). I think that I am going to try something new and see if I can get 8 hours of sleep a night for a while and see if that helps me to feel better.

One more thing....

I sent out an email today about my Holiday card special and put the wrong dates on there...definitely not my day. I hope some of my pictures turned out though.

In a Funk....

I am in a funk and can't get out of it. I shouldn't complain really...my sister's wedding was fun, she looked awesome and she was so relaxed for the day (thank goodness after all that planning). I still feel in a funk.

I am still not feeling well at all..somehow the adrenaline got in me yesterday and I made it through the wedding (with a little dizziness before the ceremony that was solved by some sprite). I did have to cough a few times during it and I felt really bad about that but I held it as long as I possibly could!

Today was sort of cloudy and just blah so I think that contributed to my funk. I did get out and use my new camera so I am excited to get that film developed to see what I got. Sort of sucks that it is going to cost me $2 a picture to even find out if I got anything worth getting printed any bigger. I had a good time taking the pictures but I am still trying to figure out the settings that I need...not "auto" or green button on this camera...you have to set up everything manual. I like that aspect, but I think that it will be a little frustrating at first until I get good at it.

Lastly, I haven't talked to Craig in days really. I spent the night with my sister on Friday so that was a quick conversation and I talked to him briefly on my way home at midnight last night. He actually was part of those really bad storms from Hurricane Ike last weekend that left over a million people in the Ohio Valley without power. He has had power but he lost all the trees in his yard (including a couple big ones) so his Dad came in this weekend to help him clean them all up. He has been in his yard every night after work last week until dark cleaning it up and they spent all day yesterday and all day today doing the same thing. He said he has never been so tired, sore or thirsty in his whole life. This boy drinks like 20ozs of liquid a day, total and he said he had like 3 bottles of water, 2 cokes, and 3 lemonades today...he must be working hard. It just doesn't allow us to talk that much and you know when you are sick you want to be babied...or at least I do.

Since I am in a funk, I will have more about the wedding later when I am in a better mood. I hope I feel better soon cause I go to Canada on Tuesday and it is a lot of traveling. (like 6 hours of flying each way).

On the up side..all my cousins are huge Ohio State fans (even though they didn't go there) and it was nice to see UGA win last night!

New Symptoms

So I thought I was feeling better and I thought that the cough was a sign that it was all going away but that doesn't seem to be the case....I get lightheaded sometimes with this medicine so I haven't been taking it as often. I am just so tired and then tonight I laid down and tried to nap and it ended with a lot of sneezing and a stuffy nose :-( I was supposed to go to a concert with Dudley tonight but I asked her if she could get someone else to go and luckily she did. I am going to go to bed early again tonight but I am sick of being sick and I really wanted to clean my place tonight and pack since tomorrow night we are staying in the hotel room with my sister for the night.

On the bright side....I will get to meet my dad's mystery date on Saturday. Looking forward to that. I am a little worried about the fact that I have been sick all week and the activities start tomorrow at 4 and go until Saturday at 8pm. I know we will have fun, I just want to feel better.

Feeling a little better

I am tired and have a little cough but I think after a good night of sleep tonight I will be a new woman! I got the film for my camera in the mail today (you can't just go to any store and get it and the one store you can go to closes at 6 so I can't ever make it there in time). I got it all loaded into the camera and am all ready to try it out. Not sure when I will get to try it out since it gets dark earlier now. I thought about taking to work tomorrow and going somewhere at lunch time but I am not sure where I would go that is close enough....

I also tried out the Wii Fit some more tonight...didn't do anything really strenuous since I am still trying to get better but I did play the hula hoop game..I could see how you could get fit if you played that over and over again. I look forward to actually being able to use it once I feel better.

With all this free time on my hands (no sessions last weekend or this weekend) I find myself becoming a real camera/photography geek....I spend a lot of time looking stuff up and researching different ideas and clubs and shows and contests.....hopefully it will spark my creativity and I will get some good pictures for you guys.

My weight in OJ and my new toy...

Today I got some OJ in the morning on my way to work and I think that I drank half the thing by the time the end of the day was approaching...I am not sure if it is helping and with all the medicine I am taking I have to make sure that I eat or I get really naseous.

On to the fun part..here are some pictures of my new toy (I didn't use my flash so some of them are blurry). It is a medium format camera...which I am sure most people don't know about. Basically it means that the film size is bigger than 35mm. If you think back to your 35mm camera and how big the negative was....it was tiny. Every time you ordered a print it was 4x6 or larger. That means that they had to take that tiny print and blow it up to 4x6 or larger...losing some detail and sharpness. A medium format has a bigger negative so that you don't have to "blow it up" as much when makint prints. In return for not having to blow it up as much you lose less quality. If you look at the detail behind a lot of the beautiful travel pictures that you see, most of them were taken with a medium or large format camera. It is just especially good for landscape photography. To give you more of an idea of how cool it is, they have not really been able to duplicate it in digital photography. The closest they have gotten is a $6K 40MP camera....yes, 40. Even some people say that it doesn't come close. This camera was last made in the 80's...can you believe it? It was on my list of 101 goals and something that I really want to learn. It forces you to get back to the basics of photography and not just shoot, shoot, shoot. I think that it will take some getting used to because the image is actually backwards in the camera and you obviously manually focus it. I am really excited though and can't wait to take it on my trip this fall!

In this last one you can see the viewfinder popped up...you actually look down into the camera instead of through a viewfinder like we are used to....there is a little magnifying class that pops up and makes it easier to see the image.....fun stuff. I plan on taking some pictures this week once I get some film and I will definitely post some once I get some developed....it is definitely more expensive than digital at $20 to get the film developed, low res scan, and 5x5 prints for a roll of 12 pics! Yikes! I do want to get one roll done before vacation so I can make sure I know what I am doing before I ruin several rolls and end up with no pics. Thanks for reading about the photography dork in me!

Yep, definitely sick...again

I haven't been sick this many times in forever...I wonder what the deal is....I blame it on all the cute and cuddly little ones that I have been holding and playing with lately....they are so cute and I always want to hold them but they definitely carry germs and I know I saw little Charlotte's nose running and so was my niece's....grant it, I wasn't kissing all over Charlotte like I was my niece...so it is probably Ariyana's fault!

I have taken Zicam religiously for the last 12 hours and I took a vitamin C pill that the Target pharmacist recommended....I don't know how I feel about this nasty Zicam gel stuff...it seems to make the sore throat worse. I also gave strict orders to Craig to make sure that I am laying in my bed by 10:30. I do not want to be sick for this wedding. It makes me sad cause I found a cute little place to order props for my photography from...I need ideas for boys!! I also found a cool website that lists photography contests that I wanted to check out....most of them are free so I thought, why not? Then there is the working on the albums for my clients who will be turning 1 soon and finishing the other one, plus getting together my xmas special....and I am not going to be able to get any of it done tonight....I guess it is better to get sleep tonight so I can do more tomorrow.

Long Time

It has been a long time for me not to post.....

I was in NJ with granny for Wednesday-Friday. Famous quotes from granny:
"Pasta two nights in a row? You aren't going to fit in your dress for the wedding." -Thursday night as I had pasta two nights in a row...for the record, I not only fit in my dress, but I actually lost a pound or two last week...so HA.

"I like the other one better." -Wednesday night when I logged onto Melissa's Camera to show her the picture that made it into the show at Showcase. Everyone has their taste I guess....a couple people have said the same thing but I can't help what the judges picked.

I made it home without any hitches on Friday, waited around for one of my aunts (two aunts and granny arrived on friday for the wedding coming this weekend), then we ordered pizza and I beat granny in Wii golf (she plays real golf a couple times a week). After that I became a complete dork and started researching camera stuff for the big camera sale the next day that Carrie and I were going to.

Saturday I got up and Carrie picked me up at 8:45 for the KEH sidewalk sale. When we pulled up at like 5 till 9 it was already PACKED. I am not good at these kinds of sales when there are people everywhere rummaging and I am looking for something specific. I wanted a medium format camera and I had done all my research. I thought that they would have everything out that they had online (normally you can't go to this store, it is online only but they are moving so they were trying to get rid of a bunch of stuff). I didn't see any of the cameras I wanted but I did see a guy who had one....then again, everything was just thrown in boxes so I was probably better off not getting one at the sale and just ordering one online. I did serach through the lens cap box...Craig has this one nice lens that he is always losing the cap to and I could use some extras too...then I looked through all the filters...the old fashion way of photography since a lot of it you can do in photoshop. I am trying to get away from photoshop though so I dug around for some filters. I also found a grip for the camera that I was going to order. By the time I got done I could barely hold all the stuff. It would have cost a couple hundred dollars normally and was supposed to cost about 40-50 even at this sale but I got it all for $15! Love it. I was disappointed by the lack of Nikon lenses and stuff like that but I guess this was mostly just their junk they were trying to get rid of so it worked out. After we left there we stopped off to get my photograph framed for the show....they require a 3-4 inch mat all around the photo which means you can't get it in any standard frame...so the picture that I am displaying and will be on sale for $150 has now cost me $110. Whatever. I went home and bought the camera I was hoping to get at the sale...then I researched where the heck in Atlanta I could get the special film that it takes developed...turns out there are about three places in town and one is just down the road.

Then off to watch the game where I held either Ella (first half) or Emma (second half) the whole time....we barely won, which was scary. The rest of the day was football. Yesterday I slept in a little bit, edited some pics and then headed up to my mom's house to hang out with the fam. I played with my niece mostly. She is walking now and likes to be chased. She also wanted to be held a lot yesterday and who better to hold her than me? She knows I am a sucker so when people put her down she will cry a little and then look at me with her arms up...she knows I will pick her up...maybe it is good I don't see her all the time or she would be really spoiled :-) When I got home I finished up all the pics I had to edit and then I hooked up the Wii Fit...I only played on it for 4 mins cause it was midnight but now that I am all caught up with editing, I plan on playing with it tonight.

I think that I am getting sick...this is really bad timing so I am going to try to go and get something to stop it....wish me luck!

Neverlost?

yeah so today was a little rough. I flew into NJ and am working here for the next two days. I am working just down the road from where my grandmother lives and where she has lived my whole life. So, why did I end up in the Holland Tunnel and then in downtown NYC today? Cell phone and calling my employee, that is how! I knew I had to get on the turnpike and go to exit 15W so when I was on the phone (illegal here by the way) and looking at the sign and saw exits 14A, 14B, and 14C I thought that I should go that way. Then I noticed that I am getting closer and closer to the city and that there are lots of signs for the Holland Tunnel. Hmm, that doesn't seem right. Call the location and she tells me she thinks that I have to go past the Holland Tunnel...this definitely doesn't sound right since that dumps you out in NYC. Hmmm, so I figured I will turn around, go to get on the turnpike and I am on a one way street with no way out but the Holland Tunnel...oops! Then I am downtown with no idea how to get back in the tunnel...the location is no help. She tells me to find someone who knows...great idea...where? There is all kinds of construction. I call my aunt who lives in NYC, no answer. I call my uncle's cell who lives there, no answer. I call Craig to look on a map, no answer. Finally my mom answers (all illegal since you have to use speaker phone here while driving). She is helping me as my uncle calls back and I finally get back to the tunnel. Then going back down the turnpike the numbers are counting down again...what? I need them to go up....call my uncle again. Need to be on a different road going North...see the road, can't make the split across 4 lanes of traffic so get on going South...oops. Can't turn around cause roads suck here so end up going like 20mins out of my way. By the time I got to the location it had taken me an hour and a half for what should have taken 30 mins...yikes!

Tomorrow is the 7th anniversary of September 11th. I sort of forgot but seeing as how all the stations here are NYC stations there is a lot of news about it! Still very sad!

I am happy that I was able to "steal" internet from Granny's next door neighbor though. I know, not ethical!

Moreno's Missed Spotlight.

Sorry to talk about the play again but I just found this article funny. I found it funny because I texted Craig right after the play and told him to watch the highlights so he could see it (they didn't show the game in OH) and I called him again later when he didn't text back to make sure he saw it. Then when I was watching SportsCenter after I got home I didn't see the play showed at all...hmmmm. Then I got an email from Morgan that said "they just showed highlights and didn't show Moreno's hurdle....wtf" So, today when I went to log on to read everyone's blogs (that none of you have been writing in) I saw that article on Yahoo and thought that it was just too funny.

I am finding it very hard to be motivated to edit tonight..I need to get doing on it and it probably will not take me that long once I start...or at least I hope, but I just can't seem to get started.

Tomorrow I leave for NJ. It is for work but since it is located 15 mins from my Grandma, I am going to stay with her. It will be good to see her...probably won't have internet for the next three days other than the bb but it will be fun to see her.

Today I did some research on medium format cameras. I think that I am going to get one this weekend at a camera store sidewalk sale that Carrie and I are going to. I hope that I find some good deals...I left my list at work though :-( Hopefully I will get some good pictures for you guys :-) once I get it...oh and the lovely contest that I won is going to cost me over $100 because I have to get the print matted and framed a certain way...that sucks. Oh well, it will still be cool to be up at a show...and if it doesn't sell it will at least be ready in case I ever enter and when with it in another show. I want to look for some more to enter.

I heart Lance

I know that some of you don't love Lance Armstrong but I do! I think that he is one of the greatest athletes of our time. 21 days on a bike in all kind of weather, mountains, sprints and such in a row for 7 years straight and winning....that is awesome in my books. Anyway, this was announced today and I couldn't be more excited!!! I will making a trek to my mom's house to see him if they go by there (which they have in past years) for the Tour de Georgia. And, I would seriously considering going to Paris if anyone wanted to go with me!

The Moreno Hurdle

For those of you that live out of state or who just didn't see the game...they didn't really talk about it on SportsCenter that I saw because stupid ECU upset another ranked team, blah, blah, blah and Washington had some controversial call with BYU but this was one of the most awesome plays I have seen live...other than the David Green fake play against Auburn (wasn't it Auburn the first time? Anyway, for your enjoyment:

Exhausted!

Wow....I just took over 600 pictures! I spent all day yesterday at the UGA game...where I got to see these two cuties at their first tailgate (and I didn't even know they were coming, we just happen to see Erin walking on North Campus with Ella) :-)

It was HOT with all caps! I always feel so nasty after those games but it is always worth it.

Of course when I spend all day one day at a football game on the weekend it means that the next day is full of picture taking...which gets me to the 600 pictures...whew! I must say that all my sessions went really well today but getting up at 8 on the day after being in the sun all day is a little hard for me. Off to edit!

And the winner is...

Well, not really the winner, but out of 459 entries, they picked 77 and this was one of them. Remember the contest I said I was going to enter, well, I did, I just didn't share the pictures that I entered because, honestly I didn't think that I would get one in there. It is going to be displayed in a gallery October 1st-December 12th. If any of you that live in Atlanta want to go by and check it out...I will try to find out more about where exactly it will be and stuff...

Melissa's Camera

It is still a work in progress, but if you guys want to check it out...here it is. I will let you know when it is all done but don't hold your breath, I am so slow at this stuff.

To my conservative friends....

I watched most of Palin's speech last night and she was also a good speaker...they should have her talk more than McCain! I didn't really listen to the whole thing but I did read an article this morning that said she got some of her facts wrong but who knows since I didn't really listen to what she was saying the whole time (not on purpose or anything).

Dayton, Part 2 and other stuff.

So, somehow writing that whole entry last night, talking to Meghan and Molly's response made things a WHOLE lot clearer and I think that an actual plan has been hatched. I will definitely let you guys know when I have more details but I feel really good about it all right now.

In other news, I drove home from Statesville today. I have a lead foot. I made it home in 4hrs and 15 mins from a town that is 45 miles NORTH of Meghan. I also stopped for starbucks once, gas once, and then in commerce to go to one store. I also looked down and saw my speedometer at 95 at some points....that couldn't have been right though, right? Who knows.

Tonight the Wii will be used!!! I am going to the personal trainer at 6 and then I am going to come home and set it up. Carrie said she got one last weekend and she loves it! That is what everyone says so I am going to get it hooked up!!

I can't believe that it is already Thursday! I get to go to my first Georgia game of the year this weekend and I am pumped!! Hope I don't melt!

When am I moving to Dayton?

Good question, and one that I get asked WAY more than I am comfortable with. One that Meghan innocently asked tonight and one we talked about at length over wine and dinner (we were there 20 mins after the restaurant closed). I don't want it to come across that I am being rude or angry when I get asked this question and appear to blow it off so I wanted to explain. I often joke that I will send out an email if anything changes, but more than likely it will be a blog entry. I also want to say that I know all of you ask because you care about me and want me to be happy (haven't had the best record with guys and sadly most of you have had to witness that).

I am not sure when I will move. It is something that I think about every day but I just haven't come up with a good answer. To set the record straight, this is not some plan I came up with on my own. Craig and I talk about it all the time..it is more like "when you move here" or "If I lived here" or "we like this area of town" or "let's look at houses in this area" than it is "why don't we try to get this done in 6 months." but we do talk about it. There are many reasons for me not having a good answer. First off, Craig is a go with the flow person and if we are both having fun then let's have fun, things will come when they are supposed to. Me, not so much. Secondly, I am a little scared. It is a big step for me. I have only ever lived further than 2 hours from my family for 3 months (when I was in NJ with extended family for a summer) in my whole life. I thought a lot about it last year when Craig and I had our issues and I talked to my sisters and my mom and even some of you to decide if I really could make the move there. For the whole time we were dating I just assumed that he would move to Atlanta and when I found out he couldn't it took a lot of soul digging on my part. Most of you missed that because it was during the holidays and I didn't want to be a downer but it was a long road for me. At the end of the road I realized that not ONE person told me I shouldn't go. The people who knew me the best, actually knew him (cause most of you have only talked to him once or twice) and knew us together thought that there shouldn't be a question in my mind. I came to the same conclusion.

You know how you want to do something really big but when it comes to actually taking that step it becomes so much harder? Have any of you ever said that you want to start your own business and work for yourself (Molly and Drena not included, I need a different example for you guys) and then you never could find when that perfect moment was because there was this reason and that reason for why you couldn't? That is what it is like. Logically (cause in case you guys don't know, I am an extremely logical person), I know it will be ok. I know it will work out and if it doesn't I can always come back, and I know people will talk about it behind my back but they will support me. I don't really have doubt that it would work and I would be happy with him there. Then the other thoughts creep in...what if I don't get to see Ariyana and she forgets me or the next time I see her she is scared of me cause she doesn't know me anymore. What if something happens to one of my parents? What if I freeze to death in the wintertime? What if I don't get to make it home to see my family as much as I want and what if I just want to see a friend that I can't see? Then other thoughts....I can always fly home, I can make sure I see Ariyana (and all future nieces and nephews) enough where the won't forget me. I will have to come back for my job so I can see family and friends then. Then it becomes...we have never lived in the same town so what if we don't get along with that much time together? Then I think about all the time we spend together and how we never get tired of being with each other and how we can already see little differences in ourselves but it isn't anything that would be major. I am scared I won't make friends, but then I remind myself that most of my interaction with my friends now is over email or blogging so that won't change. I would probably see some of you the same amount of time I see you now (sadly). There is just all this constant back and forth and it is really enough to drive you crazy if you let it so sometimes I just try not to think about it.

As you can see, this isn't just something I can pick up and do, but at the same time it is something that I need to just pick up and do. As you can also see, most of my fears have nothing to do with Craig and I....and have everything to do with me. I know you guys don't know him that well, and I know from the outside it might look like I am being treated like I have known to be treated by guys before. It isn't true in this case and you have to trust me on that one. I also know that some of you are wondering what the big deal is, if I love him, move. For me it just isn't that simple and I know that some of you will not understand that. It is ok, I may not understand some of your decisions and people being different is what makes the world go round.

Anyway, like I said, this isn't meant to be rude but I just thought it would interest you guys to get a peak into my head and the thoughts that are constantly in there so that the next time I get asked when I am moving and I just respond "I'm not sure" you will know that I am not just blowing you off but I just haven't figured it out. We haven't figured it out.

Need glasses?

I just got mistaken for a movie star by a lady at the auction who very clearly needs a stronger prescription on her glasses. She went on to say how I might get discovered because she discovered me :-) Have to love older ladies....or Caroline Holbrook who also sees movie stars in all of us..or at least Drena and Molly.

Long day!

Today has been a long day! I went to bed after UT got upset by UCLA last night (way to go SEC) and got up at 4:20am. Went to the Dayton airport for a 6am flight, slept the whole way (I am sure the guy next to me hated me cause I am sure I snored but I don't care). Got my bags, rode marta to get my car at work and hit the road for a 4.5 hour drive..yikes! Got to Statesville at 1:30 today and then left work at 6. I am tired! I got to my room and it was freezing...literally 64 degrees and the air was broken..next room. I am tired. Working on my melissa's camera website, starving and watching 90210 (but not really, couldn't tell you one thing that happened so I will have to catch up later). I am tired.

I think that I will go to bed soon. Tomorrow I am going to meet up with Meghan so that will be fun.

Also freaking out a bit because last year at this time Craig and I saw each other over Labor day and then not again until mid October when we broke up. Saw him this weekend and will not see him again until mid October when we go on our trip. I know it is dumb so no need to tell me that but a little part of me is freaked out...being a girl (or at least being me) sucks sometimes.

Weekend in Review

I can't believe it is Monday already and I should be back at work if it was any other weekend. Huh. This weekend has flown by but that is probably because we have done a lot! When I got here on Friday Craig wanted to take me to their downtown and show me the fountains that go off every hour on the hour, they were pretty and I got some pictures that I will post later. Then we waited around for a "laser" show that they do. It is nothing like the Stone Mtn one and was actually only about 5 songs long but it was stil cool.

Saturday we got up and I was so excited for the first football game. I took my shower and turned on Gameday..and it was in Atlanta...another reason that I am glad I made it out of the city this weekend..too much going on and with the construction on top of it all! Yikes. I had to drag Craig out of bed and hurry him along as he wanted to play with the cats and I was worried we would miss kickoff. We get to the bar and we are the only UGA fans there in a sea of Ohio State fans..YUCK. I can't stand Ohio State fans because they talk so much shit about how good they are and then they get their asses beat by SEC teams two years in a row in the National Championship. I swear, mark my words...if they go to the National Championship this year without being undefeated and absolutely demolishing everyone they play then I will NEVER watch the National Championship ever again unless Georgia is in it! When we first get to the bar there is this cool outside covered patio with all these TVs and people sitting in their red so I get excited and say...."hey, let's go sit with all the Georgia people" at which Craig points out that Ohio State is also read...darn it, he is right. So we wait and finally the other UGA people get there....then we have to figure out the TV situation. They had one TV they were going to show it one but then there is another TV in the corner where we could actually HEAR the game...after some negotiating we finally get the TV in the corner but the channel isn't right. I am getting upset that maybe we drove an hour for nothing and we aren't going to get to see the game. Not to mention the fact that I basically dragged Craig there (he was a really good sport but you know how you feel guilty with something doesn't work out when it was your suggestion to begin with?) FINALLY they get the right channel on and we have missed the opening drive (and UGA's debut) but we do get it in time to see the first touchdown scored! Go Dawgs! The people at the bar were really nice and it was fun to watch the game. We left in about the 4th quarter once they put in the 2nd or 3rd string and went to the Cincinnati Zoo. Craig loves animals as much as Drena so he is like a kid in a candy store. I took a couple shots there too that I will have to post.

Yesterday we were going to go and see my cousin and his new baby but it didn't work out so we just hung around and went to play putt-putt. I hadn't played in forever and wanted to go. It was pretty fun but I lost :-(

Today we don't have much planned...there is some soccer game on at 1:30 that Craig missed the other day because we went to see the Georgia game and it was on at the same time so we are going to watch that. He is mowing the lawn right now so I decided to get some work done while he works on that. (work as in photography business work).

Tomorrow is going to be a long day for me...I fly out of here at 6am and then when I get to Atlanta I have to drive to Statesville which is like 4 hours away and work all day (or the rest of the day). Then, I think that I might try to meet up with Meghan either Tuesday or Wednesday night if she has recovered from her weekend.

Hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend..I can't wait until next weekend to go to my first game this season :-) And, if you live in another city, you should check out your alumni bar...I have been to a few in different cities and there is just something fun about watching the game with all the UGA fans...when Jenn and I went to the one in NYC they did the calling the dogs thing on every kickoff...you seriously wouldn't have known you weren't in Athens watching it.