On The Road To A Cure

I'm not really sure how many people read my blog (or how many of you have read my blog from the past), but if you know me you know I have have Multiple Sclerosis. I was diagnosed 8 years ago and while I'm very healthy and doing well, this is a condition I have to treat with meds as well as regular check ups with my neurologist.

My daughter Shannon is finishing up her senior year of high school, and as such she had to do a senior project. She chose to do her project on MS, raising awarness for it. She has made a movie (staring moi) as well as putting together a Power Point presentation she will give at school this week, about her project. Part of this endeavor was to raise money for the Accelerated Cure Project, which she worked with while making her movie. It's an amazing organiztion that has done so much to not just help those with MS, but to find a cure.

How is she raising money? By selling t-shirts online here at www.booster.com. She has set a goal to sell 50 t-shirts with all the proceeds going to Accelerated Cure.

I don't who reads this, but if you do, I would love it if you could check out the link above and make a donation. And spread the word. This is all going to a very good cause and you will have my undying love for the rest of ever.

Thank you so much.

The Old College Try

My daughter has just under a month left of her senior year of school. In the upcoming weeks she'll have her go to her prom, she'll go on a few senior trips and most importantly, she'll decide where she will go to college.

The college process has been daunting, to put it lightly. Deciding which schools to apply to, jumping through the hoops of what college wants what for their applications (essays, test scores, etc), actually getting it all done then waiting to see who sends you the big envelopes and who doesn't.

Luckily, my daughter got all big envelopes and was wait listed at one school (which she wasn't sure she wanted to go to anyway so that was good). To say I'm proud of her is an understatement. She has spent her high school years working her butt off and it's paid.

Since October we have been going to most of these schools, to see which ones she likes and which ones she doesn't. Pictured above is Salve Regina in Newport, Rhode Island. The campus actually sits in the middle of all the mansions (the Breakers is next door). It's a stunning location, right on the ocean and gorgeous as all get out, but it wasn't what she was looking for. 

We have a couple more schools to look at this weekend, but I have the feeling she knows what she wants to do. I know as her mother what I'd like her to do, but I also know that if I push too hard in a certain direction, she won't want to do it (it's the law of teenagers. Whatever you want, they don't). 

She has until May 1st to make her final choice and I'm going to be brutally honest here…the next few weeks are going to be rough. When she finally does decide, I'm going to take her out for the biggest dang dinner ever to celebrate because one, she did it and two, because I lived through the process. But mostly for number two.

Life With Cali

Everyday, around 1:30 to 2 pm, my cat Cali will come upstairs where I'm sitting at my computer looking up pictures of Leonard Nimoy on Pinterest.

Don't judge me.

She will not fully come into the room I'm in. Instead she will sit at the door way, scream at me a few times and try to look cute, so I will stop my Leonardy pursuits and feed her lunch.

Wouldn't you like to feed a cat like me?

Look at me, all cute and rolling around like a spaz.

I will even stretch my wee little paws out toward you mommy.

You're just going to sit there and take pictures of me?

I'm so done.

I don't know what's more disturbing. The Leonard Nimoy admission or the fact that my cat and I know each other as well as we do. Either way…send help.

Downton Jenny

This week will go down in history as the week I became utterly obsessed with started watching Downton Abbey. 

Several of my friends have been watching this show for awhile and have begged me to start watching it. Every time I saw an ad for it I thought "This isn't for me. It looks boring and slow paced and not at all something I'd like." And when season 4 premiered recently, all the same friends were planning English dinners to eat while they watched it. I laughed at them, thinking it was silly even though the new season of Justified was premiering at the same time and I was trying to decide which bourbon to drink while I watched it. 

But that was different. It's Rayland after all.

Then something happened last Wednesday…I was at home alone, cleaning up files on my computer and there was a Polar Vortex so it was -356 degrees out and as such I wasn't going to leave the house for anything (other than to pick my kid up at school). So I turned on the TV, went to Amazon Streaming and saw Downton Abbey was available for instant viewing for Prime members (turns out membership does have its privileges). I decided what the hey, I'll watch the first one and see what it's like.

The rest, as they say, is history.

As the first episode ended, I texted my husband to tell him I watched it, it was so much better than I ever thought it would be and he had to watch it when he got home. Which he did. Then we spent Thursday and Friday watching the rest of seasons 1. And since Saturday was rainy and awful we thought "What the frak…let's spend the entire day watching season 2!"

Funny side note: I got a backache from sitting on the couch all day binge watching this English masterpiece. Such an affliction from binge watching a show shall henceforth be known as "Downton Abbey Back" or whatever body part it is that ails you.

As Saturday evening came to a close, Cali joined us on the couch and became as enamored of the show as we were.

You can see how worried she is about poor Mr. Bates and Anna. We all were.

And now here I am, the newest devotee of the Crawley family and the rest of the brilliant cast. I'm more than ready to sit myself down and watch season 3…I want to see what happens with Matthew and Mary (I think they would have the most beautiful dark haired, blue eyed babies on the planet), Mr. Bates and Anna (I cry ever single time they have a scene together) as well as Miss O'Brien and Thomas (creepers keep on creeping with those two). 

Now I'm off to Amazon to see if I can find an English tea set to buy so I can drink my tea properly while I watch it. Send help.

Here's My Card

So I've been thinking about getting myself some business cards so I can try and get a photography business thing started for myself, but I'm feeling a little apprehensive about actually doing it.

I discovered a website called moo.com this afternoon (thank you Instagram) that has some really awesome, artistic business cards, like these Polaroid style ones above. They use 5 of your own images and have all your contact information on the back in a really cool looking font.

I picked 5 shots from the various senior portrait sessions I did with my daughter last summer and fall, then typed in some random info on the back, just to see how it would look.

The answer? Like I know what I'm doing.

But as I looked them over a few things started to nag at me…

• I don't have specific information where people can reach me (just my regular numbers and email address but that is easily remedied).
• I don't really have any set price lists in case someone wanted me to do a session.
• I would actually have to hand these out to people, which means talking to them and that always strikes fear in my heart.

I will freely admit that starting a photography business of my own is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but the fact that I don't really know where to start or how has always been a huge obstacle for me, so I tend to let it go and say to myself "Well, maybe someday".

But in my year of being open (and really trying to live up to that word), I've begun to think that maybe now is the time to do it. And maybe if I buy myself some business cards and actually hand them out to people, I will find someone who says "Hey, I'd like you to take pictures of me, my kids or my cat!" Because I would seriously do that. I really would.

But I've got this little nagging voice in the back of my head that keeps telling me there are a million billion photographers out there already, who have way more experience than I do and why would anyone ask me to photograph anything for them?

Yes, there are a million billion photographers out there (some with more or less experience than I've got), but they've managed to carve a little niche out for themselves. Why should I be any different? It's not like I want to do this everyday for the rest of ever, I'd just like to offer my services to people out there who'd like a nice portrait of themselves, their children or their families at an affordable price. 

And what's the worst that could happen? I get these cards, hand a few out, no one calls and I'm stuck with the rest of them? They're really cool looking so it's not a total loss… 

The Weekend

Thanks to the snow day on Friday, we had a nice, long weekend.

There was a salon appointment for me (way cheaper than therapy)...

Cats in boxes (always with the boxes)...

Taking down the tree (way more fun putting it up than taking it down)...

Chocolate souffle cake in a mug (a/k/a everything that is right with the world in a mug)...

Trivial Pursuit for National Game Day (and the first time I've beat my husband ever)...

Playing in the snow (you're never too old for this)...

Making a snow girl (named Regina George who was personally victimized by the warm weather we had today)...

And a fresh roast turkey dinner from our favorite local farm (turkey...it ain't just for Thanksgiving)...

Hope your weekend was good.

Snow Day

Today was our first official snow day of the year. 

Since  I knew it was going to be a snow day yesterday afternoon (my daughter's school called well in advance instead of 5:30 am the morning of the actual snow day), I was super smart and stayed up until almost 1 am reading a really great romantic historical fiction book (don't judge me). As a consequence, when it was time to get up and feed the cat, I was doing a pretty good Rip Van Winkle impersonation and was unable to rouse myself. Thankfully my loving husband did it so I could be a lump. Of course, once the cat was done with breakfast, she decided to join me in bed because why not?

In order for me to get out of bed at a human regular time, I had to turn myself into a contortionist a la Cirque de Soleil to get up without disturbing the furry hell beast cat. 

Once I was up (and having only pulled one muscle doing so) I went downstairs and made pancakes because IT'S WAS A SNOW DAY.

Regular pancakes for the rents...

And a fun snowman pancake for the kid. Look at that...I even sprinkled it with powdered sugar to give it a snowy effect. Y'all can stand in line behind me, THE MOTHER OF THE  YEAR.

As the day went on, there was a debate as to whether our daughter would go to her voice lesson in the afternoon or not. After much debate where my husband and myself tried to persuade her to just stay home, she won and I took her to lessons despite the 12+ inches of snow and 12 degree temps.

MOTHER OF THE YEAR PEOPLE.

The day has ended with our daughter going to a post holiday party with some friends while we stayed in and pretended I'm we're not living somewhere where it's 2 degrees out. My husband suggested we get pizza and watch Timeline this evening. So in the end...greatest day ever.