In Other Words

Crash...

Wow, wow, wow...what a month it's been.   Business is booming, kids started sports classes, my husband is busy with a new position at work, life is BUSY.   I've had more shoots this month alone then I think I did all of last summer...it's crazy.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.  I'm having a blast doing what I do, but combined with my husbands new role at work and added responsibilities it's been a bit of an adjustment for us both.

The weight of all that's been going on this past month hit me like a ton of bricks last night at about 5pm.  I was making dinner talking to my husband and with every word my voice just kept fading.  By the end of our conversation my voice was completely gone.  I have NO voice...NOTHING.  Now, this isn't out of the ordinary for me.  My voice is usually the first thing to go when I'm tired and stressed.  When I was working as a teacher I lost my voice every single year during the first week of school without fail.  Then I'd lose it again during the last week of school.  Stress is not good for my voice.

Unfortunately, this bout of laryngitis comes at a VERY bad time.  See...I have a high profile photo shoot tomorrow.  Yep, go figure eh?  This is something I have been anticipating for over a month.  It's something I never thought I'd have an opportunity to do, yet here I have a nationally known client on the books for tomorrow and I have NOOOOOO voice.  Needless to say I'm in a bit of a panic.  Luckily, I'm not sick...not even a little sniffle.  It's just that I can't talk louder than a whisper.

Thankfully my uber-talented-soon-to-be-famous-opera-singer brother-in-law, Sam, e-mailed me with some helpful voice restoration tips.  I thought I'd share them all with you in the event that you ever find yourself voiceless the day before a big event. 

• Drink A LOT of water.
• Humidify- hot steam, shower, etc..
• Do NOT whisper
• Use Robitussin (or another decongestant)
• No antihistimines
• No asprin
• Don't gargle
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine (sorry...can't give up my tea)

If you have any good voice vibes to send my way I sure would take them right about now!!!!!

10,000 Clicks

10,000 clicks...is it really possible that I've pushed the shutter button that many times on my camera?  I guess so!  I reached that milestone while shooting this series of little Noah.  It seems fitting as Noah was one of my very first test subjects.

Back when I was starting to experiment with photography I used to hound all of my friends to let me practice on their kids.  Looking back I'm mortified by the results of those sessions.  Oh, the horror!

Poor little Noah took the brunt of the experimenting as he and my oldest son were born within days of each other.  His mom, Heather, and I spent a lot of time together over the first year which means she has a lot of pictures (a lot of really bad pictures) of Noah's first year!  Ha!!

It's been 4 years now and I love it when Heather calls and asks me to come to take pictures of her kids.  It's quite an honor considering the product I delivered to her in that first year.  Thank goodness she is a true friend...one who has encouraged me from the very beginning, one who believed in me, and most importantly one who was thankfully able to see the potential through some really horrible pictures way back when.

It seems fitting that I reached 10,000 clicks on my new camera during Noah's shoot.  It gives me a point of reference in my photographic journey.  It will be interesting to see where the next 10,000 clicks take me!

Oh where, oh where is spring?

A few weeks ago I started to get a bit of spring fever.  The kids were outside playing nearly everyday...I was starting to poke around in the flower beds...the sun was shining.  Where, oh where has the sunshine gone? 

Last night I had a speaking engagement at the University.  Fun, right?  WRONG!  I had to park quite a distance from the building and I forgot what it's like to walk cold distances in frozen tundra.  Ugh!  I arrived half frozen and  thought for sure my teeth were broken from the constant chattering during my walk.  Then when I woke up this morning...more snow!  That's right...it's S N O W I N G in April!  Oh, the joy of living up north.

I'll just have to be patient and wait for Mr. Sunshine to make another appearance.  Until then, I'll need to get creative with indoor activities.  Most everything in they toy room is old and boring.  It might be time to pull out the crafts.  So much for my clean house.  I imagine there will be glue, paint, glitter, chalk, crusty play-doh, and many other random craft objects scattered about the house by the end of the week.  Oh well.  Perhaps my kids will enjoy the warm weather even more when (if) it ever comes!!

 

April showers bring...

April showers bring May organization??!!  I guess so!  The past 4 days have been nothing but rain here.  Cold, rainy, dreary weather...yuck.  The nice thing about it is that it has forced me into an organizational mindset. 

It started last Thursday when the kids and I were playing in the toyroom.  My son was playing with a toy and it was missing a piece.  And so it began.  I started in one bin and worked my way through them all, then the closet, then the bookshelf, then the craft cupboard.  When I was done in the toyroom I went to work in the bedrooms...bye-bye old clothes.  4 garbage bags worth of clothes are sitting before me waiting to be tagged for a garage sale!  And those 4 bags are only from MY closet!!!!! 

I mean to tell you this place is ORGANIZED.  I know where every piece to every toy is in our house.  There are no unmatched socks waiting patiently in our drawers for their mate.  All the pens are tucked safely in a little box in what used to be the "junk drawer".  Magazines are all sorted by topic and are resting comfortably in their baskets.

Life is good.  Now...I wonder how long this will last?!

On a sidenote:  With all the rainy weather my poor kids have been cooped up for days.   Thank goodness for Hullaballoo !!   If you have pre-school aged tots running around you might consider buying this and tucking it away for a rainy day!  So fun!!