I was thinking that my longing to move south had to do with winters in Florida, but I know it's not that... it's the ocean. Being here in RI makes me want to live here or the cape or anywhere near the water. *sigh* I have GOT to live by the sea....

i am so totally with you on that. my husband just doesnt understand the love of the sea. but i am slowly making him a believer. the lifestyle is sooo nice and chill. i would literally make macrame bags or pictures out of seashells for a living. and i'd drive a golf cart. and i'd never wear shoes and a tube top to the grocery store. i think we even have a floor plan we want. and i just bought ANOTHER subscription to costal living .. okay, embie, are you in ?

it's nice except for when the big wind comes along and blows it all away

Anyone who knows me knows I love photography - ever since my first point & shoot many years ago - the photos you see in our gallery aren't that good, but I love to take photos I've got galleries on picasa of mostly family pictures, on my dad's business site I have thousands of car/truck photos, on flickr I have a good number of my better travel photos.

In the last couple years I've begun wedding photography. Graduating from 'that guy' who stood up in the audience to take a snapshot of the bride I've actually begun practising enough to be pretty ok at it and have started getting paid for it. I've shot weddings as second shooter in Dallas, Austin, Houston and even Louisiana but most often here in Beaumont, Texas with Amy Lou's hubby DrewNothing major, yet... but it seems to get my artistic and geeky side stirred to photograph such nice events - bridals, wedding ceremonies, receptions, trash the dress - it's all fun

I started a blog site recently to promote my wedding photography (and a little of the fun stuff I shoot too ). Check it out if you like, post a message if you like I just enjoy the art of the work

what is trash the dress ???

"Trash the Dress" was pioneered by John Michael Cooper as a way to take that dress most spend $$$$$ on and strap it on one more time for a session where you get to take fun photos - the dress may get dirty, may get wet, but it's no big deal. Some photographers choose to call it "Rock the Dress" where it's handled a little more gently, but the concept is the same

ah, gotcha. love it. now the trick would be getting back INTO the dress. see, i never got to wear my wedding dress. it's still in the closet, all puffy and sorta white ... and john's never seens it. sounds fun.

Most can't on down the road Most of the time the TTD session is done fairly close to the wedding, within a year or so The girl you see in my photos was married a couple weeks prior to that session.

anyone else when they can't sleep and are mad, or are just upset get to cleaning as therapy ? my house should be spotless. i got up last night and cleaned out the medicine closet, where every bottle of all hair stuff, lotion, medicine etc lives and both of my bathroom drawers. tonight i got upset so i cleaned out both junk drawers in my kitchen and rearranged my coooking ware.

anyone else have this frenzied but totally productive talent. half the time, i am so upset, i dont remember how well i did, so it's a surprise the next day ... really strange "up" side to things.

Spotless...

When I started getting anxious some months back, you could eat off my floors. There wasn't a thing out of place, my cleaning agents were aligned in their storage baskets by height, and if a window blind was off an iota from it's next door neighbor, I couldn't sit still...

I even had to have my doggie's toys in her basket a certain way...

Issues I tell ya, issues...

This will help you keep your issues alphabetized...........

You guys could come visit for a week, every quarter

Have ticket?

Will travel...

i would simply freak out. i am super duper ocd mode and ill vacuum anything. baseboards, beware. you are gonna get it. did you all know .. that not only do fan plates produce PASTE .. the legs of all your furniture will literally GROW dog fur or dust! another place i never thought to look, that makes me stay awake at night ... lay on your floor in your kitchen, in front of your oven, and look up. at the underside of your counters.

arrrrrrrrrrggggggggg

Just the kind of cleaners we are looking for... can you fix a slow-draining bathroom sink?

absolutely. go get TWO of the extra strong liquid plumbers and run super hot water, follow directions, and do it twice and then if that still doesnt work, there is this thingy you can get at home depot that is like a spiral, that goes down in there and yanks up the gunk. it'll save you the $50 on your home owners insur.

bill is in the mail.

and since i just figured out that you are making fun of me ... i am now sticking my tongue out at you.

I wasn't making fun, my sink drains slow for some reason. I've tried the liquid plummer twice. Time for the spiral thingy.

Plus, I don't help Mel enough around the house, sometimes I'm part of the problem and not the solution, if you can believe that We need someone to come in once a month and lighten the load

i am a MUCH better housecleaner than i used to be. what happened to me was 1)john handed down the "you better figure this housecleaning stuff out pretty soon when we were first married" and 2) when i was in my nesting stage when my second child came, i went overboard and actually realized WHAT needed to be cleaned (plus i really loved my house in lousiana) and never got out of the nesting stage.

even once every three months will make it manageable

Yes, david is a hurricane now. He finally decided to start drawing... on the front of the TV, last night. It's not too bad, but he's still young and has lots of markers

Note to self... *washable markers*

The moving truck is coming tomorrow. I have to work until 6pm tonight and I still have half of the house to put into boxes... and I wonder where my children's procrastination tendencies comes from...

Oh, and today I told the spider I was so sorry before I squashed it with a tissue...

I am a mess!