Photography Goals

Several of my resolutions/goals this year were about photography.

1. I will not compare myself to others when it comes to photography and I will not let some of the photographers around here get to me.

To explain a little, I'm sure a lot of you have noticed that pretty much everywhere these days, people get a new camera and think they should start taking pictures of people and calling themself a professional. It's one of my ultimate pet peeves and last year I wasted a lot of time venting about how much it bothers me. It still bothers me, because I honestly think a lot of people need to spend a lot more time with their camera and figure out how to actually use it and use it well before they start charging people and calling themselves professionals. I still don't call myself professional and won't for awhile, simply because I know there is a lot more for me to learn. Anyway, I don't want to compare myself to other photographers anymore either. There are some insanely talented people out there and I also have a bad habit of comparing my work to theirs. Not really a good boost to the ego, so I'm going to stop doing that too.

2. I will upgrade my camera

Ideally I wanted to upgrade my current camera (Canon Rebel XSI) to the Canon 5D Mark II. In terms that might better explain it, my camera is a generic brand mixer, while the 5D Mark II is a Kitchen Aid mixer. There are some features of the camera I want, that my camera doesn't have. Unfortunately, the 5D is also way out of my price range, but I still need to upgrade my camera. So..I've decided to upgrade to a bit of an older model, the Canon 40D and continue to save up for the 5D. I'm also trying to add a couple new lenses and an external flash to my equipment this year too.

3. I will do things that challenge me

Last year I started a Project 365, but failed somewhere around April. So, this year I started again, though I have yet to edit any of the pictures I've taken so far or post them. I'm hoping that will happen this weekend. I swore when I first started doing portraits that I'd never do a wedding. For one, weddings scare me. If I shoot a maternity or newborn session and something happens where I'm not happy with the pictures, I can always do it over. With a wedding, you don't get that luxury. I also know that a lot of prep work and equipment are needed for weddings and that's scary for me. However, this year I've been asked to do two weddings. One is just a ceremony, nothing extra and the other one I'm really excited about, because it's one of my very best friends. I know that's going to push me as a photographer and make me better, which is really the whole point

4. I will make a business plan

I find this one boring, but necessary. In order to make it as a photographer you not only have to be a good photographer, but you also have to be a good business person. That is something I'm going to have to work on. I have a vision of what I want my business to be 5 years from now, but at this time, I'm not sure how to make that happen. I know when I get back to the States that I can't just set up a photography business and go from there. I'm going to have to have another job in order to get income to set up my business. Not to mention attract and keep clients and grow my business from there.

Right now I enjoy taking portraits of people. What I'm most requested to do right now is maternity, which I like doing. I'd like to do newborn, but it seems these days there are so many props you need for that. Also, I'm kind of over the whole baby in swing, bright backgrounds, cute hats, babies in baskets/bowls/etc. Don't get me wrong, I think it's super cute, but I think it's a tad overdone. If I did do newborn photography, I'd want to be different and do something not EVERYONE is doing. My ultimate goal is to one day do just boudoir/pin-up photography. I really, really enjoyed my boudoir shoot that I did a few years ago for Sean and I'd love to re-create that experience for other women. In Oklahoma right now there isn't a lot of people doing boudoir and I really think it's something I would enjoy. I have a few friends lined up to let me practice that sort of shoot with them (once I get back to Oklahoma), just to see how I like it and if I'm good at it. If it goes well, that will probably be my main concentration for my business.

So there you have it, some of my resolutions and goals for my photography. Hopefully I'll have progress to report later this year!

Book Review: January

I used to do a review every once in awhile about the books I'd been reading, but I kind of got out of the habit of doing that in the last six months. So, I thought I'd start back up again with the new year. This month I've read 12 books and I'm working on my 13th, which is a bio about Mickey Mantle.

Here is my list so far:

1. Cold-Blooded- Lisa Jackson

2. Dreams of Joy- Lisa See
3. Chasing Harry Winston- Lauren Weisberger
4. Prarie Tale- Melissa Gilbert
5. The Family Fang- Kevin Wilson
6. Stories I Only Tell My Friends- Rob Lowe
7. A Dark and Lonely Place- Edna Buchanan
8. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation- Lauren Willig
9. The Tiger's Wife- Tea Obreht
10. Girl Who Chased the Moon- Sarah Addison Allen
11. Story Of Beautiful Girl- Rachel Simon
12. Happens Every Day- Isabelle Gillies

Of the 12 that I read, my three favorites are:

1. Story of Beautiful Girl

It's about two people that escape from an institution in the 1960's and entrust the life of their daughter with a stranger they met the night they escaped. One of the main characters was caught and sent back to the institution, but the other character escaped and lived on the run for many years. I loved the main characters and I felt the story was heartbreaking, but had a great ending.

2.A Dark and Lonely Place

I really did enjoy this book, although the overuse of "Darlin" in the book got on my nerves. That being said, this book is about two times in history. In the early 1900's, a couple in Florida live a life on the run after John Ashley is falsely accused of killing a man. They are devoted to each other and the story follows them through their life on the run with an untimely end. The other part of this story is about present-day where a Miami detective and a model are thrown together in a similiar circumstance and it seems history will repeat itself. This book was a very fast read for me as I found it very interesting.

3. Prarie Tale and Stories I Only Tell My Friends

I'm lumping these two bios together because they were similiar AND they dated each other, which until I read Prarie Tale, I didn't know.  Both biographies were pretty good and although Melissa Gilbert mentions Rob Lowe a lot in her bio, he mentions her maybe once or twice and hardly says anything about their relationship. It was interesting. I think I learned more from Rob Lowe's bio, simply because I didn't know that much about him. I also didn't realize that huge amounts of his part as Soda Pop in the movie The Outsiders were cut from the film. I always wondered why his part in that movie wasn't bigger. Melissa's bio was eye-opening in the fact that I didn't really know what other work she'd done since Little House on the Prarie and I also wasn't aware of her substance abuse problems. Not that I'm that surprised, but still. Interesting.

The other books were good reads too, but the above that I mentioned were my faves of this month. Any books you guys have been reading that you care to recommend?

 

A Recap of this Week

This week has been all kinds of crazy. For starters, we've had 3 earthquakes in the last few days. Two of which I've felt. The strongest has been 5.2 and it happened yesterday. Each time it happens I think I'm crazy, then I realize I'm not imagining things, the floor really is shaking. It gives me an uber-creepy feeling.

Still no word on when we are leaving Italy or where we will be going. I just love not knowing things! We had a brief about this whole medboard process last week and being the good wife that I am, I went with Sean. UGH! It was the worst 3 hours EVER. To begin with, there were 5 of us crammed in a small office trying to look at slides off a desktop. The gentlemen giving the brief liked to spend at least 20 minutes on each slide, when it wasn't even necessary to do so. He also liked to name-drop and tell stories of things that had absolutely NOTHING to do with what we were discussing. Not to mention he also kept talking about "The Orient."  I told Sean later that I wasn't aware we'd gone back to the 1800's when they actually did call it the Orient.

I'm obsessed with reading right now. I've always loved reading, but right now it's like I can't get enough of books. I probably have 10 books checked out right now and I've actually already read 10 books this month. I'll be doing a post about that at the end of January.

Sean has staff duty all day/night so I'm making him pulled pork sandwhiches with hot corn casserole. For myself I'm making bacon wrapped jalapenos and currently I'm enjoying a fabulous Raspberry Beer Cocktail that I found on Pinterest.  It's all kinds of delicious. I highly recommend it.

I realized today, while searching around on YouTube for old school rap videos from my youth, that I know all the lyrics to this song:



Don't Judge.

Pinterest Jackpot

If you don't know what the Pinterest Jackpot is, or at least my version of it, then keep reading and you will by the end of this post.

Last week I was looking at this adorable set that I'd pinned on my Fashion Faves board and decided to look for this particular dress.

Imagine my dismay when I found out this dress (by H&M) was two years old and most certaintly out of stock.  So with a heavy heart, I hopped over to Ebay thinking by some slim chance it might be there.

Not only did I find the dress, in my size and in perfect condition, but it was 99 cents! How is this possible?! Talk about Pinterest jackpot! So, after waiting a few days and even waking up extra early on a Sunday just to be able to bid on the dress, I won this little beauty for $4.25. Oh the wonderfulness that is Ebay.

Also, if you're on Pinterest, and you care to follow me, I've provided a little "Follow Me on Pinterest" button off to the right side of my blog.

Thoughts About Weight

I know I've shared before on here about how I struggle with accepting myself and my ever fluctuating weight, but I had a few new thoughts about it and wanted to share.

Every year I vow to myself to "get in the best shape ever", but I think I've finally started to realize that my best shape ever doesn't necessarily equal this:

Let's face it, I'm not six feet tall with a long torso and legs that go on for miles. I'm a shorter girl who happens to have hips and more muscular legs. I've told myself over the years that I could be a shorter version of that ideal, that I could have skinny legs and amazing abs like that, but the truth is I can be in shape and I can be toned, but my body is never going to look like hers.

You know what though? I'm finally starting to be ok with that. I want to be muscular, I want to look fit and toned, but I don't want to look sickly and I don't want to starve myself or cut out amazing things that I love to eat (in moderation) just so I can try to be a size 6. I think I look good at a size 10 or 12 and even when I lost 20 lbs, I still was in a size 10/12. Evidently that's just my body. 

I see this floating around Pinterest all the time:

And I think it's a load of crap. I can think of lots of things that taste better than skinny would feel. Potato casserole, cheese enchiladas, chips and salsa, and a cold Dr. Pepper are just a few. Obviously I believe that you should eat and drink those things in moderation, but I'm not going to cut them completely out of my life. I mean, in the end of my life, am I going to look back and care whether I ever was a size 6? Are my children going to care if I ever made my goal weight or only gained 10 lbs when I was pregnant with them? No, I think not. And because I don't think it really matters, I'm not going to worry about it anymore. I'm going to worry about making myself healthy and getting into shape. Not trying to look like some ridiculous idea of what people think "in-shape" is.

I'm sure this new thought process is going to take some time for me to switch over to, but I'll try to update you with how this new process goes.

What's For Dinner?

Around our house I try to do a meal plan so it's easier for me to buy groceries and in the end I think it's a lot cheaper.  So..in order to keep the meals interesting around our house, I've been trying out a few new recipes. These are a few I've tried in the last couple of months with my (and Sean's) honest opinion. (Just click the title to be taken to the recipe.)

1. Shepard's Pie via Skinny Taste

I've never had regular Shepard's Pie, so I can't compare, but both Sean and I LOVE this dish. It's enough to last us for a couple of days and I think the flavor is awesome. We make this one a lot.

2. Crockpot Minestrone via Skinny Taste

I've only made this once and I wasn't a fan. Sean happened to like it. For me, the rosemary was just too strong and this is coming from someone who actually likes the taste of rosemary. I've thought about cutting down the rosemary and making it again, but I'm kind of on the fence with that one.

3. Turkey Burgers via Trying Our Best

I've been meaning to make these forever, but our commissary is always out of ground turkey. They finally  had it in stock, so a couple of days ago I made turkey burgers. Oh. My. These are delicious! And honestly quite easy to make. Thank God it was enough for leftovers, because I can't stop eating them.

4. Sloppy Joes via Skinny Taste

I used to make Manwiches for dinner. You know, ground beef and sauce out of the can. Then one day I decided to try the sloppy joes on Skinny Taste and I haven't looked back. They are great, packed with veggies and taste like normal sloppy joes. I'm actually making them tonight and Sean and I are both very excited about it.

Now...for a couple of recipes that are specfically for dinner, but I wanted to review them anyway.

1. Jalapeno Popper Dip

I found this recipe via Pinterest and thought it would be fun to make for our Christmas Eve party at my grandparents' house. It was a huge success. Everytime I've made it, people have asked me for the recipe. If you love jalapenos, then you are going to love this dip. It's addictive!

2. Nutella Peanut-Butter Cookies

I'll be honest, these were good, but not good enough that I'd make them over and over. For starters, I'd add some more Nutella then the recipe calls for. Seems like you could barely taste the Nutella and although I do love peanut butter, I don't love peanut butter cookies that much.

Any recipes you guys have made recently that are amazing?

Things I Love!

Time for another edition of Things I Love! Which could also be called Things I Just Bought or Things I'll Buy Soon.

1. Rising From the Sea dress from ModCloth

How awesome is this dress? I love the color and the style. Pretty sure it will be perfect for my 29th birthday (which isn't until July). So I popped this little dress into my shopping cart and it will be mine!

2. Rockaholic Flexible Hairspray from Tigi

I had to leave my hairspray in the States, because my suitcase was over the weight limit, so coming back to Italy, I needed a replacement. I didn't really like my other hairspray anyway, as it left my hair kind of sticky, so when I stumbled upon this flexible hairspray, I knew I had to give it a try. Well, thank god I did, because it is awesome. Seriously, it holds curls so well and they are soft without being sticky or stiff. Love this stuff!

3. Slipper boots from Old Navy

Ok, so the picture is small because the Old Navy site is stupid about saving pictures, but you get the point. I have these exact slippers and in my cold apartment with freezing floors, they are a lifesaver. Plus they were on clearance for like $6 and you can't beat that.

4. Hunger Games

As with many popular items, I'm behind the times when it comes to reading The Hunger Games and the other two books in the trilogy. However, I finished all three books while I was home for Christmas and was quite impressed. I must say that the first book is my favorite and I'm super excited to see the movie. So, if you haven't read the books, you really should!

5. Pepperidge Farm Coconut Cake

I had this cake on New Years Eve as a special treat with my family. I must confess that I'd been eyeing it for awhile, but refused to buy it and eat the whole thing by myself. Let me just say that it was amazing. If you remember Little Debbie's Coconut Cakes (that they so unfairly discontinued years ago) this cake tastes just like that. It was gone within hours after we opened it. It's that good, people.

There you have it! My list of Things I Love. Anything you guys are loving right now that you'd like to share?