go look! go look!

It's 10:22 on 10/22 and IT'S UP!!!

It's now official. I have been working up to and waiting for this day for weeks now!

I'm sure you're totally as excited as I am ;)

Anyways, please go check it out! Then come back and tell me what you think!

amandaslakesphotography.com

Also check out my brand new photo blog while you're at it!

what not to wear

I love the show "what not to wear."

It's so pathetic, I could seriously watch it for hours... (disclaimer: I do need to be doing other things while watching the show, or I seriously feel like a loser)

Anyways, watching it all the time has built in this deep desire to dress nicer.

I absolutely love to dress nicely and look good, but I would have to say that only happens about 40% of the time. I mean, I look good all the time no matter what I do, but ya know, a girl's gotta have some style ;)

The problem I've run into is not necessarily a lack of fundage for my clothing needs, but a LACK OF TIME TO SPEND IT.

Hmmm... speaking of lacking time... that's probably why it's been over a week since I last blogged.

Anyways, I've been trying to get out and buy stuff little by little, but it's hard work! And I usually have a 2 or 4 year old with me! I think it's one thing to go to a store with a mission in mind, knowing exactly what you need and then just going and getting it done when you have kids trailing along... but it's soooo different when you want to take your time and hem and haw and go baaaaack and forth and in and out of the dressing room...

Kids just aren't into that.

Does anyone out there buy clothes online? And does it save you time, or is it just too much of a hassle to bother with... you know, wrong sizes, don't like it on etc.

Oh, and btw, if anyone wants to nominate me for the show, I can pull out some mean outfits for the secret footage *wink wink*

time for a meme

Mindless blogging? hardly.

I was tagged by Stephanie for this meme that's 7 odd/random things about me.

I would consider myself a fairly creative person, but honestly, these things are hard for me!

So here goes, 7 random things you probably don't know about me... and if you do, then your name is probably Melissa.

1) I have been to public, private and homeschool. I went to public K-2, homeschooled 3-8, and then private 9-12. There are certainly good and bad aspects of all of them... but I still have yet to decide how I will handle it with my kids... at this point I am actually leaning towards public, but we'll see.

2) I have done enough wedding planning in my lifetime to decide that I would rather elope than have a wedding (and I haven't done that much planning lol) But I am a realist and understand that probably won't happen...

3) When I was like 12 I decided that when/if I ever had children, I would like a boy to be named Jonathan David... then my brother and his wife had their 4th kid and named him David Jonathan. WTH

4) If you had talked with me a year ago, and asked me to take pictures for you, I would have flat out told you no. I had little to no confidence in my picture taking abilities, and I had been brainwashed by my old boss into thinking that there was no way I would ever love it if I made it my livelihood... guess he was wrong heh

5) my first cat was named sylvester (cuz he looked like the cartoon) and he was hit by a car going over 50mph in my residential neighborhood where the posted speed was like 25. I cried harder than I'd ever cried in my life up to that point...

6) the first car I officially owned was named small wonder. Because she was just that. I got her for free... they were sending it to the junk yard. I think i paid $400 to have it cleaned up and back in working condition... and it lasted me 2 years. It would have lasted longer, but once the registration ran up I decided not to re-register. the frame was rusting apart and it was just not safe. I had consequently saved up enough money to buy another car which lasted me almost 4 years... and now I have my new one... which in retrospect I should have started saving for when I bought the second one so i could have afforded to buy it cash instead of what i'm doing now. whatever.

7) this will be #6 continued. After I was done with my first car, I wanted to get rid of it. Since I had received it for free essentially, i wanted to pass it along as such. So i gave it to my brother's friend nate who consequently paid me $20 and proceeded to DESTROY it. He ran it through fields and over jumps etc. He also had plans to upholster the interior with gorilla fur, but I'm pretty sure the car bit the dust before that plan became a reality... poor little car...

Soooo, that's it! I'm not actually going to tag anyone, because honestly, I just don't want to put the links in right now. I know, i'm pretty stinkin lazy...

But if you want to do this too, please do! It's always fun to read random stuff about friends :) Even if we do only know eachother in cyberworld!

my dear followers

Dear friends, followers, family and stalkers,

I have an apology to make.

To you.

I'm nearing my one year anniversary of blogging and looking back have realized just how far i've come in such a short time. I never imagined that people would actually read my blog (of their own free will).

I could never have predicted how many things in my life have changed in the last year...

And I also never thought I would have to do this next terrible thing... the thing I am about to share with you.

Today, for the first time ever...

I clicked the button on my google reader... the one that reads:

"Mark all as read"

It's true.

I did it.

The truth is, I love my bloggie friends and this great blogging community that I have become a part of... however, real life calls. And lately it's been calling to the tune of 70+ hours a week.

Not including social activities or business planning.

My life is INSANE.

Last night I had a minor meltdown about the fact that I have so little time to do anything that deviates from my jam-packed schedule.

... and I decided that I would have to make some sacrifices.

There are a few things that I'm cutting down on and some I'm actually giving up...

But since I love blogging so much and I really feel that it helps me stay focused, that is not one the things to be going.

However, I am going to change my reading/commenting madness policies.

I am going to try and read blogs during the week... but if I don't have time, at the end of the week... they're all getting marked as read. And a new week begins.

Anyways, I wanted to let you know so you didn't think i dropped off the face of the earth! I'll still be around, I just can't be around as much as I used to be. When winter rolls around, we'll see if that changes... but honestly, I thought that when fall rolled around, things would slow down. I'm busier now than I was in the summer!

Ok, enough said. I hope you all have a wonderful evening. I have a LOT of pictures and will be sharing them as soon as I finish editing them. I did 2 shoots last week and have 3 scheduled for this week. YIKES! and then more next week... my goal of 3/week for next summer is starting to look more realistic...

Also, my website is coming along quite nicely! I don't want to jump the gun... but a little birdie told me it may be out sooner than planned ;)

killer cat

This sweet and innocent looking cat is pretty much anything but.

He is a torturer of small woodland creatures.

I often catch this little monster prancing across the yard with a little chipmunk or mousey hangin out in his mouth.

HE DOESN'T KILL THEM.

Should I tell him that it would be more humane if he did?

Just yesterday he had one such creature. A small a super cute chipmunk.

His tail had been stripped and was bleeding and he was just batting around at it!

Now, I know this is the nature of cats, but seriously, I started to cry when I saw this little chipmunk shaking and trying desperately to get out of the clutches of death.

So I found a stick and let the little chippy crawl on it and then carried it over to the woodpile and put him inside. I don't know if it helped...

I know cats do this stuff, but I can't handle seeing it! Poor little chippy :(

twitter me softly...

Well, I decided to give it a shot. I've resisted for a long time, but we'll see if this is something I actually like.

I automatically had 10 people that I'm following, but I only have 1 person following me. So if you'd like to follow me here is my url http://twitter.com/aboynamedbarry.

I guess I should add it to my blog somewhere, but I don't know how to do that. I guess I can figure it out.

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In other news, I got home last night at about 4:30 whereupon i promptly opened my laptop to see if it would connect... and guess what

IT DID!

Wanna take a stab at what I did the REST OF THE NIGHT! All the things and more I've been dying to do for the last 2 years!

I watched TV the entire time and sat in the chair with my feet up editing pictures and staying ONTOPOF my email like nobody's business.

In fact, I got an email from a friend telling me what time to come over tonight to babysit... and I had not written it down and consequently made other plans. So i called him up and he was like "whoa, how in the world did you resond so fast?! do you get email updates on your phone?" no, no i do not. I simply have wireless internet that works!

My conclusion about Best Buy. While I had a heckofatime trying to get what I wanted... I got it eventually. But really, it shouldn't be this much work.

I shouldn't have to call up more than once and get to the verge of an all out yell-fest to get what I want from my warranty. I'm going with newegg.com when I get my 5D. Of that I am sure (and the fact that Best Buy doesn't sell those anyway!)

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I have three photo sessions coming up this month. Hopefully a 4th, but I really don't have the time. I had hoped that I would be able to continue booking sessions through the fall and into the winter, but I never really thought it would happen as well as it has!

Thank God for yearbook deadlines and procrastinating parents!

I met a lady the other day at a super huge consignment sale and struck up a conversation with her about photography. She was so excited to have met me and I am going to call her today to try and schedule something for November.

I decided that when the website goes live, and I have something official to send people to... I am going to go out and literally and personally solicit myself. What I want to do more than anything is newborn photography... like under 10 days kinda newborn.

So this is my idea... and you can tell me if you would be totally weirded out by this or if you would have welcomed this opportunity.

I'd like to go to the mall or target or heck, even babies R us and find pregnant women, approach them and engage in conversation and let them know I'm doing a promotional to get my business started. Give them my rates and then offer to take their newborns pictures (within 10 days of the birth) for FREE and if they like them, they can purchase prints from me...

Personally, I would probably freak out at an opportunity like that... but I'm looking for some opinions here. Would you be weirded out? Excited? Wondering why in the world this crazy girl thought it would be ok to come talk to you in the first place...?

Heh, it will be interesting. So let me know what you think you would do, or how you would react.

it's back

Well I went and picked up the computer today. They told me a lot of things that may be causing this problem, and since I don't know any better, I have to test it out before I start yelling.

However, I am reserving my judgement on whether or not it's actually fixed until tonight when I get home. We'll see what happens then.

And if it works, you can bet your bottom that i'll be blogging in every. single. room in my house... over the course of awhile obviously. But I will be SOOO happy to be wireless.

I'm thinking about joining twitter... i've ignored it's calling for a long time... should i?

Decision 2008

I usually don't get too involved discussing politics. I don't like to be at odds with people and I often feel that talking about my political views is just an open invitation for disunity.

However, I just watched this video, and while I'm skeptical and hesitant to let myself be swayed by political videos, this one (when watched in it's ENTIRETY) was very good.

I'm totally stepping out of my comfort zone putting this up here, but I was very intrigued to hear and watch this info.

It explains a lot of things that I have heard about but not really understood.

So, agree with me or not, I'm just puttin it out there. Let me know what you think if you want to.

let's connect to my network shall we?

Dear Best-Buy,

It was about 4 years ago that you and I first met. I bought my first camera from you. And when I did that, I also bought the 4 year service plan. At the time it seemed like a good investment, however, I haven't had to use it...

Let's keep it that way.

I cannot say the same for my other two major purchases from you though. Two summers ago, my brother accidentally cracked the LCD on my little camera... your warranty did not cover it.

At the time I purchased said camera and warranty, I was led to believe that it would cover literally everything. I asked you if I were to "drop my camera in the toilet and fish it out, would you fix that?" And you told me "YES." I seriously asked you that.

When I brought the camera in for repair, confident that my warranty would fix the problem, you told me that the LCD is not covered. Hmmm... a convenient oversight I suppose... a strategic withholding of pertinent facts. Maybe if I had dropped it in the toilet after the LCD broke, you would have fixed it?

Instead, I had to pay almost $200 to have it repaired. Silly me, I should have just bought a new one as the model I had is probably well below that price now.

But enough with the past. Let bygones be bygones... and let's look to the future.

Last week I helped my mom buy a new laptop from you. And while I was skeptical of your warranties after my aforementioned experience, you did a phenominal job of what I would consider "covering all the bases" and assuring me that the service plan would indeed cover any conceivable problem.

As a result of you convincing me so well, I decided that my personal laptop could use some fixing up. You see, ever since I bought it 2 1/2 years ago, I have been unable to get wifi on any kind of consistent basis. Sometimes it connect, sometimes it doesn't. Does that sound like a faulty wireless card to you? You assured me that if that was indeed the case, you would replace it for me and it would be covered under my warranty.

And while I was at it, I realized that the plan covered battery life as well! Joy came to my heart as I read that part. My current battery drains in a matter of about a half hour... not convenient.

It was hard to carve out the time to give up my precious lappy... but I did it. Confident that giving up a week would fix these problems...

I had noooo problem making this sacrifice.

Until today.

When I received the phone call.

You told me that the diagnostics have shown there to be "nothing wrong with my wireless card as it will hold a connection for over 24 hours on our network."

Key word. On YOUR network.

Of course it stays connected on your network! You are the Geek Squad! You have the most perfect and ideal internet situation probably in the history of man! But it won't stay connected at my house or at my job where the other FOUR laptops in the house DOES stay connected! And there are 4 other laptops!

I would like to explain to you that running further tests in order to recreate a problem that I am "supposedly making up" would be a whole lot simpler if you tried connecting to my network.

Wait, what's that? Oh, you first have to send it out to the manufacturer with a minimum 2 week turnaround time? I'm fairly certain I've already explained to you that my LIFE is on that computer and I want it back. And I want it back FIXED.

I'm not sure a strongly worded letter is going to do the trick. Or even a near hostile phone conversation.

I am pretty sure that I'm going to have to take this further, and that saddens me. I should not have to fight for you to fix my computer just because you're not smart enough to recreate a computer dummy's problem.

If we can't work this out civilly, I'll end up coming into the store to sort this out face-to-face. You may lose some customers.

I am not happy.

Sincerely,

what's more important than blogging?

I am currently in one of the worst blogging slumps of my blogging career.

After thinking about why this is happening, I realized there are a number of things contributing.


A) somehow, I have found more important things to do than blog *GASP!* I know, I said it...

there is unfortunately more to life than blogging... please don't burn me.


B) My computer is at best buy rendering me somewhat useless. I rely on that thing so much for pretty much everything. I called today and found out that they probably can't fix what I took it in for to begin with... I'm going to write an open letter to them in a post later on.


C) I have some SERIOUS frustrations right now, and while I don't like to rant on the blog, there are times when it is therapeutic. I don't want to express myself in this format however, because I never know if this person I am annoyed with will read it! And since this situation is taking up more brain space than it has been allotted, I find myself at a complete loss of things to write.


D) Because I have no computer, I have no way to process pictures. Usually when I can't think of anything to blog, I just upload all my pics and figure something out. Not now though... darn you best buy


That is it. Seriously, that's all I have for now. But rest assured that I will work on my open letter and submit it to you all in short time. Thank you for not abandoning me :) haha