365 Challenge- Day Feb #5 – Arrangement

Feb #5 Arrangement..

Which I should subtitle ORDEAL.

“At what price beauty? ”

I think you have to be a woman to appreciate this one.

I pull a brush or two out of a drawer, and if I’m lucky they make it back into the drawer. Maybe that same day even!

Not this gal.. She’s got quite the ” ARRANGEMENT”.

And don’t mess with it.

 

This was one of the new Vintage lenses. But now I forget which one. I should’ve written it down. Sorry Marc.

The Sort of Hope Who Has Time

Hooray for 2013.

I’m beyond excited. I was invited to join a tiny little group of very talented female photographers called “365 days of learning and growing .”  It was started by a woman whom I both admire and respect.

I can’t wait to learn and grow with them. I tend to be an over- editor so I know that over -editing will be an all to familiar critique for me by the end of the year. But what a great journey. What a neat way to ‘perfect one’s craft!’.

Right from the start I know that I will never make it to actually posting a photo a day, my process is too cumbersome and my health isn’t always cooperative,  but I am certainly going to try. Maybe a 7 photos a week?

Today our photo was “Resolutions”. I took the literal/New Year’s  way out.  Not the photographic Resolution interpretation.

I can’t remember ever making a resolution but I figure now’s as good a time as any to start…

and speaking of TIME…

My resolution.

TIME. ~to appreciate it more, to forget it about it more often, to use it more wisely, to remember to cherish every moment of it that I have been given and to be thankful for it. To enjoy the TIME I get to spend doing what I enjoy, to not complain when it’s TIME I have to spend doing things I don’t love.  TIME to spend doing things for others and to remember to spend TIME  doing things for myself. TIME to cherish the TIME I have left.

TIME to stop worrying and TIME to just let life happen.

TIME to forgive. TIME to forget.

TIME to live. TIME to love.

TIME to hope.

TIME to stop watching the clock.

The Sort of Hope Who Helped Make Spirits Bright

Hello Blog world friends

I haven’t been able to blog much since the happenings in Newton CT last week. Haven’t been myself. Haven’t felt joy, or love, or even much  ‘hope’. Until just these past few days.

However, I’m beginning to feel  a tad bit better. I’ve witnessed at least 4 things that I’ve found noteworthy that have helped to change my opinion of our world. Things that I felt were worth sharing.

• Unbeknownst to me, I had a high school classmate who teaches in that very school district. Her name is Bonny. After the tragedy, Bonny began something called “The Snowflake Project”. She posted on FB that she wanted all of her friends help in making snowflakes to hang in the hallways of the new school (which was an old, no longer used school) where all the children would now be attending.  Thanks to the power of social media, Bonny’s project took on a life of it’s own. Everyone shared her status, myself included. My friends who don’t even know Bonny went on to share and act on Bonny’s project! It went completely viral. We were even making snowflakes here in the elementary school in little Oley, PA.

That made me feel a little bit better. Gave me a little hope back.

• I have a younger cousin who lives in all the way in CA. She had twins a couple of years ag0- one of each flavor.( I was so jealous! )She is also a lawyer who is married to a banker. Very successful. So proud of her.  She is my Godmother’s daughter. My Godmother was a wonderful woman who was taken from this Earth far before her time. She sent me an incredibly generous gift. A new lens. It’s a size that I had but it functions better than mine *and* it does Macro. It’s smarter than me right now, but have no fear, I’ll get there. When I sat down to edit some photos I took yesterday, I had to do little to no post processing. It was amazing- what a hand saver!! But what meant more to me than her benevolence, was the letter that she also sent to me. Her words. I actually contemplated sharing them, but just couldn’t. They are too personal for me. Too special. But I hope she knows how very much they will always mean to me.

More hope restored. People who do things for no reason.

• Then for the second year in a row now, I was lucky enough to be involved in something called “The Cups of Compassion” in downtown Reading, PA.An event that feeds the needy, the homeless in our area.

Got involved with it last year through Nick’s baseball organization. Due to a rainy fall season, and one fall snow-out, we had a bunch of left over food that we decided needed to be donated somewhere. Long story short- we found the somewhere.

I submit to you the letter that the President of Berkshire Baseball wrote which summed up yesterday so beautifully I couldn’t even begin to write another myself:

So today was my Christmas Day, my wife sometimes tells me that I am a scrooge, but that really isn’t a true statement. I really do love Christmas, I just hate the commercialization of Christmas that we experience in 2012 and really for most of my lifetime. Christmas isn’t about trees and lights and presents and gift cards and crazy crowds at the mall fighting over the latest video game or camping out to buy a $180 pair of sneakers.Christmas is about peace, love and joy. Christmas is about true giving. Not the giving of material things, but the giving of real things. Giving a hug. Giving a smile. Giving your time. Giving a meal. Giving to those in need. Giving because you as the “giver” receives as much joy from seeing the true joy that your gift brought to someone else. Whether that someone is a friend or stranger, you can touch someone’s life without running up your credit card debt.Today I was honored to be part of a community that has been labeled as the “poorest in the U.S.” and if a stranger stopped at 5th & Penn today, they would have sworn that we were the richest city in the union. There was no wrapping paper, no gift receipts, no disappointment in what we received. There was no pushing in line, there was no complaining.What there was, was love, joy, peace and giving. There were hugs, there were smiles, there was spirit. There was patience and understanding. There were burgers and dogs and soups and fresh fruit and cookies and coffee and hot cocoa and blankets and hats and even ice cream. There was black and there was white and there was music and it all blended together to make a perfect harmony and a beautiful sound.For about four hours today in this great city, we were all one. The size of our bank account didn’t matter, what we drove didn’t matter, the size of our house didn’t matter, the color of our skin didn’t matter.The only thing that mattered was that we were all there, together. Helping each other with what we had to share. Some gave time, some gave food, some gave money, some gave talents and all gave smiles.For two years in a row now, the true spirit of Christmas came to this city. For two years in a row, I have been able to celebrate my style of Christmas.I am humbled and grateful to be a small part of a great event with such wonderful and caring people.I showed up this morning to give what I could and again walked away this afternoon feeling as though I had received.Thank you to everyone who helped again to make “Cups of Compassion” reflect the true spirit of this city and this season. ~ Dan Clouser, President Berkshire Baseball

I am so lucky to be a part of an organization like Berkshire Baseball that fosters an environment of  compassion and community spirit. More hope restored. People who do things just because.

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And finally,

• Today at work, an elderly lady was telling me when she checked out that she couldn’t keep her next few appts to get her hair shampooed and set because she was behind in her doctor bills. She went on to explain that her insurance didn’t cover regular doctor visits and it cost her $200 every time she got checked. She wanted to make her appointments just for a set ( which is cheaper). We talked for a while longer. I listened and I als0 told her I understood completely because of my condition and the treatments I am currently undergoing. When she left, I shared her story with my boss. Without hesitation my boss said we were going to make her regular appointments happen for her even though she can’t afford them. In fact, she said, we were going to take it one step further and send her a Christmas Card informing her that she had won our drawing for 6 months of free shampoos and sets!

We are just a small salon. Things like that can’t be easy for my boss to decide to do. But she does. All the time. Without hesitation. And she never turns anyone away it seems. I am so lucky to be a part of that environment. More hope restored. People who do things just because. Difference makers.

~”why can’t every day be like Christmas?”

my apologies.. I’m getting past my limit physically right now and sometimes my mind struggles with coherent thoughts when my physical self reaches it’s max. It’s a constant battle between what I want to do and what I can do. 😦

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=438336

Too Much W(h)ine

“Too much w(h)ine”.

or feel free to make up your own clever title. I’m at a loss.

Got my first photo back  from my recent shoot with Kevin Brett at Soul Imagery

http://soulimagery.zenfolio.com/portraits/h31300e3e#h4f081874

I’m so lucky that I am a grown up who still gets to play dress up.

The Enough is Enough Sort of Hope PT2

“And the rain rain rain came down down down” ~ Winnie the Pooh

(That ‘s now two Winnie the Pooh references for me in 2 days. )

Day 2 Hurricane Sandy. I’m tired of hearing her name already.

Things that I can’t get out of my head when I hear the name Sandy-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZfmXzIbHI8 – the song from Grease that John Travola croons out in the Drive Inn.

( I know I should like “Good Sandy” better, but c’mon.. those pants!!)

and naturally,

Sandy hasn’t even really reached us yet. All schools remain closed. Many local roads either closed or unpassable. I am unable to access true storm data. Which you’d think would be available in this day and age. Can’t get rainfall totals or wind gust speeds. But I can tell you that it’s windy as heck and it really hasn’t stopped raining since this morning. It’s 7:00pm or 19:00 hours for you military folks or other daughters of Marines.

My facebook status this afternoon said ~that sad, sad moment when you open the door to leave your doggie out into the raging rain and swirling winds and she looks back at you with those big brown eyes and tilts her floppy eared head like ” are you freakin kidding me? ” My poor Sophie dog. She’s battling ear troubles too and in this wind I really wish I could find a doggie hat or something to send her out in. I suppose dogs don’t really like hats though, do they ?

My Sandy shots so far. Or, photos I should call ” pictures I could take without leaving the comfort of my home” .  I came back in as soon as the wind started to blow me away.

I’m so brave.

The Sort of Hope Who is Happy to Have a Beautiful, Indulgent Daughter

Distasios’ don’t sit still well.

I’m not sure what most other families do while they wait out “states of emergencies” called for the impending arrival of a hurricane, but in this family, we ‘play’ photographer/ model. Between Natalia and I, we can make pretty much anything into a “photo shoot”. We’ve done glitter, water colors, hats(that was a long time ago) heck,  we even grabbed a few friends and made a “circus” once!

I suppose it’s a good thing that I don’t have a truly functioning portrait lens or my kids would be perpetually annoyed with me instead of being only occasionally annoyed with my requests. In addition to occupying each other, doing things like this sometimes help to keep my mind off of how yucky weather like this makes me feel. Storm systems can wreak havoc on someone with a condition like mine. Hurricane Sandy has certainly been no exception.

This is the result of what we got finished so far tonight.

School is closed for the next 2 days.

God only knows what that will find us doing.

Stay tuned