I need your opinion

I survived this weekend's photo shoot without breaking my camera or making my models cry. I did give myself a slight concussion trying to get some props out of my car. I need to be patient and wait until the door is completely open before I lean in looking for umbrella's stashed in the center console!

I have to admit that I am really happy with the results. It really helps to have gorgeous girls to shoot who love to smile! They made it easy for me and helped me calm down and get into the flow. We made the most out of our afternoon and a half-mile stretch of my hometown.

So let me know what you think.

A tale of I & T

There are two feisty ladies that attend our regular monthly crop.  I don't really know their entire story but from all appearances, they have been friends for a very long time.  Their social calendar would put a debutant to shame.  They are always doing something, going somewhere, up to something! They are the matriarchs of our matriarchal group.  Everyone loves them!

The funny thing is that we all sit there working on our scrapbooks and we overhear bits of their conversations.  'T' will remind 'I' where they were in a particular picture. 'I' will remind 'T' that she promised to go to lunch after they were done.  They are cute.  They have fun.  They sometimes bicker with each other, but in a way that only really good friends can bicker and fight.  They remind us of ourselves.  On more than one occassion, Nik and I have commented to each other "you know that is us in about 30 years" and we laugh.  

Today, I had to crop by myself.  Generally, I try to convince Nik that the bricks will wait, but Mother Nature has been in an exceptionally good mood for the past week or so.  I didn't even ask (I'm saving my begging for times when the weather isn't so great).  Plus I knew that Nik had a date with Lawrence, bricks, and gingerbread molding.  Even though it isn't quite the same, I went all by my lonesome.

'I' & 'T' were up to their usual antics today.  Slowly enjoying their morning cup of coffee before they start working.  Catching up on each other's lives. Showing off their completed pages to each other for encouragement. 'I' giving 'T' a hard time because now in addition to their plans to crop, share some lunch, and then off to the mall for a little shopping, they also needed to squeeze in a trip to the local craft store since someone passed along a 40% off coupon to 'T'. One of the other regulars was also there without her usual sidekick and she looked over at me and said, "you know that is 'D' and I in a few years".  

I had to laugh because that was exactly what I was thinking.  So, Nik, enjoy your bricks this month without regret, we still have a long, long time to crop together!

Conquering my NV envy

I have a problem.  

My Most Excellent Friend, Nik, has something that I want.  No, I don't want it, I need it.  I drool over it, I dream about it, I obsess about it in every free moment.  There are very few things in this world that a MEF won't do for you but I can't ask her for this.  What she has is very personal and not something you just ask for from a friend.  She has the most amazing blog and I want one.  I want to be just like her and I want one of the coolest blogs that anyone has ever read.

I told her once that I wanted to start a blog but that I was scared that I wouldn't be able to blog on her level.  Nik gave me the best piece of advice that I could have ever gotten.  She wisely said, "It's not about competition, it all about sharing!"  And with that one simple sentence, she started an obsession. 

I've started to create this blog several times and for one reason or another, I have chickened out (whining voice in my head - what if nobody reads it?).  Now is the time to do something about it.  I'm losing sleep over this and I need to get all of these ideas out of my head and onto the world wide web so that I can finally get some rest!  It only took me 3 months to work up the courage to create the blog.

Now, I only have to work up the courage to hit the publish button!