Professional Retards a la Blender

When a professional wedding photographer finally drags herself away from her Adobe CS2 long enough to actually take some 'fun' photos, she really cuts loose! Here, Ricki was taking pictures of us all in the car, unable to split herself in two piece she had the challenge of photographing herself, a task she choose to do with the camera upside down. Sadly, this may be the best photo of Ricki to date. Rachel, on the other hand was pouting because I was forcing her to hear a lovely story of a boil I had once. WHY she didn't enjoy it is beyond me!!!
And here I am, modeling my ear warmers decked out with hot hands on the ears while telling my boil story! It really was fascinating, would you like to hear it? Still to this day it amazes me that I havent been killed in a car crash, I often laugh my head off and/or spray the windows while attemting to drive... just ask Rachel!

No long post today, maybe because I'm too lazy to type it, expect better of me tomorrow when I add the Halloween post to end all Halloween posts.

Colorful Hunger

At the bottom of Lookout Mtn we came across this lovely scene right beside the roadway. Some beautiful color that added to the atmosphere of the local lake front cabin rental. This turned out to be one of the 4 colorful places we found that day, as I said yesterday, not much in the way of fall foliage.

This being Rachel & my second trip to Rising Fawn in only 2 weeks, we pretty played tour guide to Ricki, who had never even heard of such a place as Rising Fawn. We took her to the cemetery that I posted about a few weeks ago. The scene wasn't quite as pretty as it was the weeks before, but the view of the surrounding mountains still made the stop worth wild.

The dogs that once called the place home were missing, all but one that was. The black dog we had saw running with his pack of white toned siblings had been too shy to come out to say hello to us the first time we had stopped there. Whom ever took the 3 white dogs apparently had no finer luck with getting the black dog to come out of hiding so it was left there all alone with no food or water. The little food we had brought with us for lunch, which was a shrimp and pasta salad, seemed to do the trick. Either the dog has the heart of a seaman or was so hungry it would've eaten anything. We tried out best with no luck of getting close enough to the dog to grab it and bring it to the safety of a real home. We left it all the water we had in the car along with the pasta and wished it the best. It really is sad that we couldn't do more for her. Rising Fawn is an hour drive from the house, way to far to travel everyday to feed it so I hope a local living near by will wonder up on the dog and try to save her.

Long Awaited Slacker

As I said... yesterday, yes, we'll call it yesterday, I've had many adventures lately. Ricki, Rachel & I went to Rising Fawn last week to take in some fall colors, shoot a lot of pictures and just have an all around fun day. It's been what seems like forever since we've all three went anywhere together that we all had to reintroduce ourselves. Our day didn't begin as grand as we'd have liked, mainly due in part to the fact that it was 42 degrees outside. Ricki, or 'The Baby' as we call her now, apparently wasn't much for this cold weather because she whined the whole time, not that she doesn't whine all the time anyway, but instead of her usual "I'm Hungry" there was an added "I'm Cold" or when we were in the car with the heater on, we heard the "I'm Hot." Really, she just celebrated her 18th wedding anniversary and I do send pity to her poor husband David... just know, there are those of us out here who feel for ya man. There wasn't as much color as we'd have preferred either, the patches we did manage to find were usually very colorful in spots, usually 4 or 5 trees right together that were full of reds, oranges & yellows all surrounded by green ugliness. We began our shoot atop of Lookout Mtn, or should I say, descending Lookout Mtn. We drove down the old dirt road which locals call 'The Crook' , I'm not really sure if that's because there has been a lot of robberies or if they just couldn't think of a better name. The last intersection (which is also a dirt road) before you start driving down the mountain is named "Plum Nelly." Ricki being as crazy as she is ,saw the road sign from the corner of her eye and thought it said "Petroleum Jelly." We all got a good hearty laugh from that of course, she being the person she is, is just woman enough to realize her retardations and get great laughs at herself. All along the old dirt path were hand written signs nailed to trees warning that the area was open for deer hunters. Assuming this was the end of us and that we would soon be shot, killed and tagged by a hunter, we drove with determination to get to the bottom of the mountain, foregoing certain scenes that would've made great photographs... oh well. More of the adventures tomorrow...

Swollen Trigger Finger & Heavy Eyes

Now that the Smokey Mountain Saga is finally over I plan on telling you all about the exciting adventures of the current week. It's been rather interesting indeed, I've went shooting more in this very week that ever before... in a row that is. I've had 2 trips to Rising Fawn, a trip to the Villanow Pocket and a trip to Alabama.

I'm rather tired at the moment because this morning I woke up super early, melted the ice off my car and went shooting with my good friend, Farter... opps, I mean Rachel. I'm much too tired to go into details just now but I promise that tomorrow's post will not disappoint! And by the way, I was sent a link to a certain local weather man's blog yesterday and was shocked to see that it had much of the likeness of mine! I feel rather bitter and raped... he stold the "Random thoughts" and the layout!

You just wait Mr. Benson, your day too shall come!

Fall Into a bit of Bordom & add a Ghostly feel!

Here's a photo I shot of a tire swing in a tree just down from my house. I've always wanted to shoot it and just never have. I FINALLY stopped today to shoot it but when I got home and took a gander they were a bit uneventful so I thought I'd take a few mins or an hour or whatever to spruce it up a tad. Whatcha think?!
And here is a ghost effect of it. I'm liking that alot. My lovely sister Kim should like this one! (waving) Hi Kim! P.S. Click on it and it gets bigger and easier to see. Just imagine it with some little girl laughing in the background like they do on movies. :o)

The Long Journey Home: The Ledford-Smith Saga Pt. 8

Our travels home took us through Gatlinburg, TN. A small town at the foothills of the Smokey Mountains and as you can see surrounded by mountains, ridges and hills. It's a happening little place, packed full of tourist in search of a relaxing vacation. What with all the tourists packed into such a small space I would imagine they all go home crazier and more stressed out than they could've imagined before.

With all the photos we'd taken and the fact that we were not prepared for a trip to the Smokey's, Rachel's camera battery was running on low and not knowning what we'd be photographing between there and home we stopped by a local camera shop to see if they'd have the heart to charge it for her. Apparently tons of people run off and leave there battery charges because they were more than willing to charge it for it, for a small fee of $8.00 of course. (She found out when she got home that it wasn't charged at all and the guy totally ripped her off) The camera guy told her it would take 45 mins or so to charge so instead of standing there staring at him we decided that would be a great time to grab something to eat.

Next door at the Smokey Mountain Bar & Grill we found a spot in a corner booth, Rachel took a look at her images on her laptop and I stared out of the window into the abiss. We ordered a large cheese pizza and waited eagerly for it to arrive as we were starving to death! Shortly thereafter the waitress came with our food and we dug in. I was just finishing up my first piece and Rachel was just starting on her second, each of us looking out the window and taking in the sights. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a silver blur followed by a large crash... the stand that held our pizza toppled over and our yummy hot pizza splattered on the window and slid to the floor. Naturally the entire restaurant turned to look at us, both of us had a dumb struck look on our face and a jaw full of pizza... right before we burst out laughing that is, after that I'm not sure where the pizza went because I don't remember swallowing it. The waitress felt pity for us and offered to bring us another one so all ended well. Whenever you're in the area of Gatlinburg you should stop by the Bar & Grill and order a large cheese pizza and think of us! :o)

We headed out of there and picked up her freshly charged battery (or so we thought) and set out on down the road. As it turns out we didn't stop after we left there for anything other than some gas and a potty break, so the camera charging turned out to be a complete waste of eight bucks. We got home around 6ish and were both dog tired. I walked in to discover that my power was off cause by a downed tree so I went to the porch to swing and take in the cool weather. I'm not sure how long I sat there before I fell over asleep, all I know is I woke up a little after 8:00 from a good long nap and a numb arm from where I had laid over on it.

All in all it was a great trip, we had a great time, laughed so much we were sore and came home with some great photos and memories. Turns out being a bit spontaneous and going back was the best decision we could've made. At the end of the month when the bill collectors start calling me I'm going to refer them to the blog and let them know there money went to good use!!

I'm Flying! : The Ledford-Smith Saga Pt.7

At 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's highest point. It is the highest point in Tennessee, and the second highest point east of the Mississippi. Only North Carolina's Mt. Mitchell (6,684 feet) rises higher. Isn't that fascinating! It was a beautiful place, as you can see in this photo, you can see he tops of the clouds from atop of Clingmans Dome. I've never flown but I imagine this would be your view. The wind was blowing, the air was crisp and it felt wonderful!

Apparently Clingmans Dome isn't a hidden wonder because everybody and there brother were there it seemed. We didn't hike to the observation tower, mainly because everyone was going and from the cars in the parking lot it would've had to be full. I just don't have the urge to climb a few 100 flights of stairs just to have the tower over load and tip over. After an hour or so of looking and shooting we decided to call it quits and see what wonders awaited us on the ride down the mountain.

For a Wednesday the mountain sure was full of people, we pulled off at a spot I remembered from when I was a kid and we're drive over the mountain. We'd always stop there and picnic, it's one of the prettiest spots along the mountain but nobody stops there. The whole hour we were there not one person bothered to stop. Not that I'm complaining I just can't believe how crazy people can be about such things.

It was such a beautiful place and we couldn't have stopped at a better time. The sun was just right and the rays of light were coming through the trees just like they should. The water on the creek was gleaming in the sunlight and there were colorful pops of fall in just the right places. It reminded me a bit of the movie Fern Gully, even though it was a cartoon, but just imagine it wasn't and that's what you'd have. The image on the right here is of the small creek that appears to have run over a log just long enough to hollow out the center. Now the water just flows right down through the tree itself. It was a well preserved bit of land, a genuine treasure that apparently goes unseen to tourists, I find that shocking considering it's about a hundred feet from the main road and even has its own parking lot.
Since we were there I thought best to keep tradition alive and have a bit of lunch, actually it was a banana and an apple we'd taken from the hotel but it was great all the same. This was our last real spot along the Mountain. I spent most of the ride down the mountain voicing my opinion of the drivers in front of me who insisted on riding there brakes and slamming them to a sudden stop at the sight of anything that remotely looked like a curve. The funny part was that all along the road there were signs every few miles stating the fact that you should put your car in a lower gear to avoid frying your brakes. Apparently that was too hard to them to understand, I did find out where the smoke from the "Smokey Mountains" comes from though, it's not fog or clouds, it's from the stupid peoples brakes who never learned how to drive!!!!

Come on back tomorrow when we finally wrap up this adventure and move on to another!

Rise in Elevation: The Ledford-Smith Saga Pt. 6

Because the night time, is the right time.... to smother someone with a pillow... according to Ray Charles... well, he said something like that anyway. The nights sleep in the same room with Rachel was rather interesting. I crawled into bed, the lights off and the TV on... do you know that light the tv puts off? Kind of an odd sort of glow? Well, Rachel was laying in her bed and she was blabbing on and on about something and while she was blabbing she kept moving her eyes. Well, she was in line just right with the TV light because it made her eyes look like they were bugging out of her head, and with them twitching she looked like something out of a horror movie. The very sight of them creeped me out so that I turned over towards the wall and tried to ignore her and soon fell right to sleep. Luckily she didn't do any real snoring, only a few mins of light piggy sounds before dropping off again.

The next morning we got up early and gathered our stuff together to leave. We went down and ate a free breakfast on the hotel of cereal, muffins and apple juice, then hit the road to tackle the Great Smokey Mountains. We managed to catch just the right morning like in just the right spots it seemed. Along the path we traveled across a professional travel photographer who gave us some pointers on where to go next. What a great life she must have! Traveling all over the world getting paid to be on vacation and take incredible photographs of the best places known to man. In my next life that's what I'd like to come back to be... a Travel Photographer!

This image here was taken along a pull off only half way to the top of the mountain. There was a light fog mixed with low clouds and early morning sun which mixed to create such a great view. The fall colors weren't in full bloom as of then but our weather has been so dry that I do believe it won't get much better than this before the trees are bare. The temperature was just perfect, an average of 50 degrees on top of the mountain, the wind blowing just enough to make the experience enjoyable and all the tourists running around in fur coats... all those except me, I wore my t-shirt the whole time and I loved it!

Read more about the top of the world tomorrow!

Directional confusion : The never-ending saga of Something or another: Pt. Whocares anymore

As told yesterday, the question of " To go or not to go" was upon us... for no real surprise for those who know us, we logically choose to go home instead of staying the night in such a happening town only to follow up by an early wake up call for fabulous a.m. photos of the Smokey's. We turned around and headed back toward home, both feeling rather sick to our stomach over what we'd just done. Unable to stay and unwilling to go we drove on, hating all those cars we past headed in the direction in which we wanted to go. We talked about nothing else but the fact we were both insane for not staying, the fact that we were indeed just right there and we didn't even bother to take advantage of the situation. The odd strange feeling we both had as to why and how we actually ended up where we ended up kept coming up in our topics of conversation.

We drove on, not really seeing any of our surrounds, only wrestling with the inner demons trying to fight there way out of our bodies to grab the wheel and do a 360 in the road, we ventured on. Somewhere between 45 mins and an hour away I finally thought I was going to loose my cookies so I pulled over at "tourist viewing deck" as they're called to get some fresh air, take in the sights and actually have proof that we'd drove all the way to the Smokey's and at least gotten out of the car. Rachel and I still convincing ourselves that leaving was the smartest thing we could've done and fighting the thought that we'd somehow turned into our mothers, or in my case, a grandmother/mother mix. Staring down at the rapids of the Ocoee River, the sounds of rushing water in our ears, my mouth escaped the words I so longed to say, the words "Let's go back," so we did.

(This photo is a sign of the very spot where we come to our senses and turned around. It was taken by Rachel, if you'll look closely you can see that it's a tad blurred, I asked her about it and she said " I was so darn excited I was shaking," plus when you add in the fact that I was hauling butt, a little motion blur is bound to happen.)



Yes, that's right folks, we went back! Quite proud of our choice we talked with such excitement the whole way back, our sick feeling sinking back into a happy place. The distance we had traveled before we snapped to our senses suddenly became apparent. After what felt like forever of driving we realized we were still only half way there. We planned in the car what we wanted to do once we got there, there being some place we'd just left, and all those things we were planning could've been well underway by that time had we realized we were being retardedly stupid early into the journey backward.

We decided to let logic take a small part in our night affair and thought better to grab a hotel room before we did anything else. Finding a cheap one with no bugs in the rooms was a top priority, one that proved to be harder than it seemed. We must've went to at least a dozen hotels, most of which were nearly $100.00 a night, that was $100.00 more than we owned of course. A nice hotel in the $50.00 range was more our style, both growing trying of asking desk clerks for "availability and price" I decided I had had enough, I announced that the next hotel was the last hotel. A stroke of luck and a good long prayer later we heard the words "available double queen bed room for $59.99 a night." Plum giddy at the very thought we shouted "We'll take it" and nearly scared the poor ole desk clerk to death, not to mention those trying to sleep in nearby rooms. Official bound to staying and checked in at the Comfort Suites Inn, rm #117, we unloaded our items from the car. Granted we had planned to go to Panera Bread for the day so we were less than prepared for a fun night on the town 3 states away. Armed with the clothes on our backs, our laptops, our cameras and the complimentary shampoo & toothbrush from the hotel.


If you know anything about Cherokee, NC you know they have a Harrah's Casino, it's location being less that 3 miles from out Hotel. Rachel had never been to a casino & I told her she'd be mad to pass up such an opportunity so we headed that way for a few hours of sinful fun in the slot machine sun. Weighed with a stomach full of Wendy's dollar menu items, a pocket full of nickels and a head full of dreams we glided into the casino on a cloud of air. Proud of the fact we were carded at the door we walked around sticking coins in every shiny available machine we saw before finally parking ourselves at a nice little nickel slot machine. Having no clue as to what we were doing or how to play there video machines, the nice older gentleman down the way gave pity on our retarded souls and offered to help us. Spins and dials, locks and holds, nickel after nickel we placed our hopes on each coin that dropped. Our hope, as it surprisingly turned out, was worth nothing because we didn't walk out of there millionaires, or even hundredaires, we did win back the money we had spent there plus an extra $7.25 from a quarter slot machine before calling it a night.

A little past midnight and a headache later we arrived back at our hotel, lesser than the whole hearted selves we'd been before we left it, we took a shower and found our way to the beds. Having never been on an overnight trip with Rachel before, one never knows what to expect, I mean what if she snores or sits up bolt in bed in the middle of the night and screams at the memories of her mother or something. All a possibility and another great story later, I retire for the evening.... come back for more of the trip tomorrow.

North, South, East or West of Nowhere? : The Ledford-Smith Saga Continues Pt. 4

Our journey carried us to unknown destinations, mentally anyway. Along the road we saw the signs of Cherokee, NC, each time the numbers of distance smaller. Without really knowing why, we for some reason, ended up in Cherokee, mainly just because we'd come this far, might as well just keep going. We gave Cherokee a round trip windshield view visit, which took all of 30 mins, before we hit the crossroad for decisions.

Do we stay or do we go? That seemed to be the golden question, one that was indeed hard to answer. After all, we had came this far, why not stay and get some enjoyment out of it. Then again, we were as poor as dirt and really shouldn't be spending the money to stay either, granted we had just spent $50 bucks in gas to get that far.

We pulled over into a parking lot of a shop who'd already rolled up there sidewalks, at 6 pm, to think about the pros and cons of the ultimate question. After all, we had left the house bound for a local Panera Bread only 30 mins away and ended up 3 states away and 4 hours later. Neither of us knew exactly why we had done such a thing, so the decision to stay or go just fell that much harder to answer. We had the opportunity because, after all, we were already there, we'd been talking about going to the Smokey's for pictures during the fall for years, and there we were, on the foothills of them and we both had our cameras loaded and ready. There in the parking lot we brought up points of why we should stay but all the reasons why we shouldn't seemed to make more sense, those being that we were poor, we had responsibilities at home and we both had bills due at the end of the month that we couldn't afford.

Did we stay or did we go you ask, well you'll have to wait until next time for the continuing adventures of dumb and dumber..... opps, I mean Ledford & Smith. Goodnight, Ya'll

North Bound & a Misty River Pit stop : The Ledford-Smith Adventures, Pt. 3

Misty River, originally uploaded by knledford.

As we were pulling out of the driveway at the Olympic Center my car somehow took a mind of it's own and went right, towards Copperhill, Tn.

Thinking back, I'm not sure why, I just thought if we'd come this far, might as well hop back behind the wheel and go a bit further. That bit of idiotic logic seemed to point the way through the rest of the journey because where ever we were we seemed to want to go a bit further. We drove through Andrews & Murphy, Tn... both charming little places.

Murphy was a happening little town, little side street shops and views in the distance of mountains. I'm not really sure why we didn't stop there and have a look around, thinking back it seems a bit retarded to waste the opportunity. We saw a lot of great photo ops, yet we just drove on...

This photo here was taken somewhere along the Ocoee River just past Murphy. As we were taking pictures there one of the passenger trains steamed by loaded with on lookers. It seemed like such a great way to travel, relaxing on a train, cars with beds and restaurants, comfy seats and huge windows just right for sight seeing. Trying our best to get a good photo of it as it past, we came home empty handed, to say the least...

The Continuing Adventures of the Ledford-Smith Sage. The Unexpected Road Trip - Pt.2

Bridge to Color, originally uploaded by knledford.

Our first stop along our path to insanity was the Occee Olympic Center in Occee, TN. If you recall, I shot a wedding there a few months ago, and I must say it was prettier this go around because of the color in the trees. However, the river itself was a complete disappointment, they had the water turned off so it was only a few inches deep. I must say though, for a Tuesday the place was pretty busy indeed, people from everywhere, there to see some foilage and find a bit of sanity.

While we were walking around taking pictures I happened to brush into a bush loaded with pointy razor sharp stickers that cling to you like stink on a clove of garlic. I must've had a few thousand on the legs of my pants and it was 10 mins or so before I even noticed they were there. It's not everyday you look down and find that you have two legs full of murderous hitch hikers!
I wasn't enjoying it too much, Rachel on the other hand thought it was the funniest thing ever, or at least since I washed the inside of the windsheild rather unexpected like. I actually thought she had injuried herself from laughing so hard... her face turned redder than a wagon, all the veins on her neck were popping out at least two inches, she was doubled over into the fetal position and she couldn't breathe!

Oh revenge is sweet!

Peek - A - Boo & a Ticket Outta Here Pt. 1

Peek - A - Boo, originally uploaded by knledford.

Here is a photo of my nephew Logan playing peek-a-boo from behind a tree. He's gotta be one of the cutest things to ever land on this planet!

Today I had great intentions of finishing a photo book. I called Rachel to ask if she wanted to ride to the Ft. O Panera Bread to work on the computer then go through the "Pocket" over near the house afterwards to take some pictures. We were heading towards Ringgold when I asked if she'd rather ride to Occee instead, since it was such a clear pretty day and take some photos. Naturally she said yes so we headed that way for what we believed to be a few hours of a pretty ride, some good pictures and some peace and quiet.

More of the adventures tomorrow...

First Steps & a bit of Elvis in the Blood

First Steps, originally uploaded by knledford.

I'm proud to report that my nephew Logan, whom is only 11 mons old, took is first steps a few days ago. Granted he only takes 6 or 7 at a time before he comes to his senses and realized it's less work to sit down. I think he looks a bit like Elvis in this photo, hunka hunka burning love baby!

Country Living & a Lack of Productivity

Country Living, originally uploaded by knledford.

This weekend resulted in a complete absence of living. I had intended to go shooting but ended up doing nothing instead. I did workout a good lot though, logging in nearly 2 hours a day for Sat & Sun, which I'm pretty proud of, considering I'd rather have been napping.

This photo was taken in Kinsington, Ga last week. It's one of my most favorite photos I think. It has a bit of a different angle on what the country's really like... weeds and great views!

Three Little Doggies All In A Row

Three Little Doggie's All In A Row, originally uploaded by knledford.

Here is three of the four dogs that call the Rising Fawn Cemetry home. The fourth of the bunch was terribly shy and wouldn't come out of hiding for anything. I was so glad to get home and see that the dogs in the photos were still there and that they weren't ghosts or anything!

Colored Fall & Slacking

Here is another photo from the shoot in Rising Fawn. I added a painted filter to this one which I'm really liking a lot.

As I posted yesterday, I had remembered this place from when I was a kid and have wanted to go back and take some pictures. Wednesday I finally did get to go back and I was so glad that it wasn't a disappointment. I know some places I remember when I was a kid and then went back to later on turned out not to look anything like I remembered, I was really glad this place wasn't one of those places.

Today I've worked on a Portrait Album which isn't going as well as I'd like. It's taking forever for some reason. I'm just not feeling very creative this week and from what I've done with the book so far it shows. I'm hoping to finish this thing by Monday so wish me luck and send me a bit of creative energy through the mind powers of time.

I managed to workout this morning, I went to the mailbox and it felt so good outside I thought I'd just take a good long walk. I tell ya, these hills around here will kill ya! I've been working out 6 weeks now and from the way my legs and butt was burning walking up those hills I have a way to go yet. I'm going to do my usual evening working this afternoon so I should be nice a tired by bedtime and hopefully lighter!

Saturday I'm really hoping to get out of the house and take some more pictures. The air is that clear fall glow, no haze in sight, it's cool outside and I'm ready for a hike to a bit of silence & tranquility. A workout with a dash of fun and some sanity equals some good blog photos... aren't ya'll lucky!

Valleys & Such

A View of Fall, originally uploaded by knledford.

Wednesday was fun, my friend Rachel and I went shooting. I haven't been shooting just because I wanted it in a long time. We started out for Lookout Mtn but ended up in Rising Fawn. I remember a long time ago when some of my family was buried at a cemetery in Rising Fawn and I remember it had such a beautiful view of the valley.

I've been wanting to go back there and take some pictures for years and had just never done it. Well, Wednesday was the day! Since we really didn't have a plan I thought, Hey, why don't we go there... so we did! Turns out Rachel had some family there too! What a small world! I took a slew of pictures, including this one. I'd like to go back in a few weeks when all the leaves are in full fall color.

Caribbean Way & a bit of Rage

I just love smoothie King... and it's healthy! I always get the Caribbean Way or the Blueberry... you should leave right now and go get yourself one!!! While your at it, you should get me one too... or at least a gift certificate. :o) This photo by the way was taken of me and my Caribbean Way. I must say, I feel the real urge to go out and run a few 100 miles... I have 3 chins... why wasn't I aware of this bit of information!! Some friends I have!!

I worked out last night, only an hour worth but it's better than the nothing I've been doing lately. I walked 1 1/2 miles and did only 1/2 of my weights and such. My leg was really giving me problems so I thought I'd better not push it too much or I may end up in a wheel chair. I keep trying to get people to join me in my fitness crusade but so far, no takers... dirty slackers. I'm making a solid vow that I'm going to start eating super healthy. I have been eating pretty healthy already, a lot more salads and such, but I'd like to start eating "great for me" foods like some fish and more chicken, more veggies and fruits. My friend Ricki and her husband David have started eating really healthy, tons of organic stuff, so I thought I'd give it a whirl myself. If you're interested here is a website to aid you in this, your time of need. http://www.whfoods.com/

I would just like to make a public statement that my friend Rachel is a total slacker and deserves to be beaten with a large stick. I think I called her 38 times today and she never once answered or called me back. AND, I signed on yahoo to try and catch her but got nothing! You just wait, one of these days I'm finally going to win the lotto and I'll call her up to say I'm feeling a bit whimsy and I'm flying us to New York to buy out B&H Photo and poor little Rachel will be too good to answer her phone and she'll miss out on all the goodies!!! HA! Serves her right!

Peace out, yo....

Stone Cup or Bust

This morning I got up and got ready to get out of the house to work a little bit. About the time I was packed to leave my friend Ricki calls wanting to know if I can go to Stone Cup with her to do the same thing, talk about the luck, not to mention the gas savings! LOL

The very thing I was going to get done today was begin and finish the little boys portrait book. In order to do that I have to get to my smugmug site to see which the family picked to go in the book. Naturally, with my luck and all, smugmug's site is down for emergency technical service so I can't do anything until they're up and rolling. I did get some of my eBay photos edited of all the junk I own and need to sell, so they're a small step for today.

Ricki introduced me to a gentleman, whom we see everytime we come to downtown Chattanooga and she'd met and befriended a few months ago. He is single handedly trying to solve the homeless problem in the downtown area. He was telling us that he'd had a gun pulled on him a few days ago because he'd gotten 3 gang members arrested for beating up a 60 year old homeless man. Apparently the other members of the gang didn't like it too much. It's a great cause when you hear all the things he trys to do. He trys to feed them and find them jobs, get them back on there feet again. He apparently knows everyone here around the Coolidge park area because nearly everyone who passed said Hi or waved. Ricki gave him some money to fund is mission and I know I saw others doing the same. If you hang around the Coolidge Park area you more than likely know who I'm talking about, it takes a special type of person to do such things with there life.

Spread a little sunshine ya'll...

Steamless & Unforgiving

Today has been another lazy day. It's Columbus day so the banks and post offices are closed, which were on the top of my to-do lists for today. I've gotten a few things done on the computer, although nothing that I really need to be doing. I need to build the book for the little boys portrait session that took me so long to edit. I could for sure use the money from it so I need to get it finished.

I'm really starting to feel guilty because I haven't worked out since last Thursday. Granted that when I did workout on Thursday I hurt my leg AGAIN worse than before. I actually thought I had broken it. I was jogging and then I heard a "snap" and just knew that was it. I hopped all the way back to the house and put ice on it. By the time I hopped home it was swollen like a softball and hurt like a mad dog. Seeing that I had a Wedding on Saturday I didn't want to risk working out on Friday and actually breaking my leg this time so I took it easy. You could say that Saturday was a workout because I was some kinda dog tired when we'd finished. Sunday I just flat out didn't want to and today I kept telling myself "later" until it was too late. I suppose my leg could use the rest though but I really need to get busy. I have been eating healthier, except for the whole Panera thing, even while we were out of town, so that's one thing to be proud of I guess. Tomorrow thought I need to hop back on the workout wagon and get to running my butt off, lord knows I have plenty to run off! :o)

Til tomorrow ...

Everybody Wac-A-Stick

Heres an image from this past weekend's wedding. I really like this photo, all the motion blur and everything. I cant recall ever seeing a female drummer, she was really great though.

We left for home around 11 this morning with a quick stop at Panera Bread for some breakfast. I mixed my unhealthy bagel with some fresh fruit, hopefully it'll balance itself out in the end... thats what I'm telling myself anyway!

When we got home I went straight to the sofa and I haven't moved since. I didn't feel tired this morning but man when we got home it hit me sudden like. I've watched 2 movies today, an old Elvis movie I found on TV, Clambake, where he's a billionaire who's sick of being a billionaire... poor baby. Then I watched the first Harry Potter movie. I just finished reading the 1st book so it seemed only fitting. I actually like the book better I think.

Dog Tired

It's currently 1 am Sunday morning and I just got back from the wedding not too long ago. I'm about as tired as I've ever been, my feet hurt, my leg is killing me and my head is pounding. I escaped death three times today, an interesting story, let me explain...

After the 12 o'clock hair appointment ended we followed the brides maids back to there hotel, which was also the one we're staying at, anyway, we photographed the ladies getting ready and the bride getting into her dress.

We wrapped up the photo shoot at around 3ish and was going to get over to the wedding venue to start the bridal portraits. Ericia, who is our lovely photo assistant, was suppose to be coming down from Chattanooga to help with the wedding and was to arrive at the hotel at 3:20 or so. So we wouldn't lose any time shooting while we were waiting on her to arrive, Ricki told me to catch a ride with one of the Bridesmaids.

The bridesmaid whom the bride said I could ride with was riding completely alone in her car. I realize now that I should've figured something was up when I saw that all the other cars had 5 and 6 people packed in them and this lady had the whole front & back seat of her SUV available. We get into the car and crank it up to pull out of the parking lot when she mentions that she's drank at least a whole bottle of Champagne in the past few hours. While she was telling me this information she was drinking a glass of it as she was driving, baring in mind that we're in downtown Atlanta. As we're driving she's wondering all over the highway, singing bad Dave Matthew's music and playing air drums on her steering wheel. We draw closer & closer to the major intersection of Roswell Rd, all the while with the light red. I was thinking in my head that surely she can see that the light is red and she'll stop just anytime now. Apparently you should never assume because she just kept going, right out in the middle of traffic. People slamming on brakes every which a way and me yelling like a sissy girl. We all get stopped, luckily we did not have a crash and all turned out well, she she floors it and just keeps going, continuing on through the red light across the other two lines of traffic. Nothing was coming from that direction at the time thank god. The people we were following had slowed back to a near stop, most likely watching the entertainment in there rear view mirror. They sped up in a hurry because she came within a few millimeters of hitting them in the rear and only missed them because she whooped over in the other line. Thinking that this must be the last of what could happen, she nearly side swiped a car driving in the lane next to us. The hotel and the venue was only a mile or two apart, but that had to have been the longest ride of my life, I'd never been so glad to get out of a car in all my days...

The wedding went pretty good, a long day but the weather seemed to be on our side for the day. They served an incredible amount of booze, 90% of everyone there was falling down they were so drunk. After the wedding we stopped in IHOP for some midnight breakfast then off to the hotel for a shower and some rest. It was a pretty adventurous day, I've about had all of it I can take so I believe I'll just go to bed... expect photos from the wedding soon...

The Georgia Rain

We left this morning bound for Atlanta, Ga at 9 am. There was a light mist at the house when we left and it did nothing but get heavier as we drew closer to the big city. We hit 2 major traffic jams, the worst of which was just south of Calhoun, which is miles from anything. A big rig over turned and littered the highway with bits of large and small truck & trailer parts. Once we got clear of the first traffic jam we stopped by Cracker Barrel for some breakfast. I had a scambled egg sandwich with light mayo and 2 slices of tomato on sour dough bread and a banana. It was some kinda good too, I had never had that before so I ordered it because it looked like the healthiest thing on the menu. It took 45 mins to get our food and 15 to eat it, which just doesn't seem right at all. We got back on the highway but by that time the retards on the highway had had enough time to have another wreak only a few miles down the road.

We finally arrived at the Roswell Rd exit nearly 3 hrs into our journey and began our long search for the venue of the wedding. It's a sort of old house, it's actually a city slickers version of a farm house, being from the country it's kinda funny to think that these city folk pay to have there weddings there. Our problem at the moment is that the ceremony was to take place outside and of course it's been raining for 2 days and is suppose to continue through noon tomorrow. The alternative plan is to have the ceremony in a tiny gazebo which is maybe big enough for 20 people standing. They're going to try to fit 12 members of a bridal party, the bride & groom of course, a preacher, a full band ( which all by themselves will take up half of the space) and all there family & guests. Shooting pictures inside one of these things is just about impossible because in order to expose the people standing inside it, you have to blow all the details of the background... Not a very good picture. I seriously hope that the rain doesn't wet the ground anymore tonight and it dries off enough that all the people who step on it wont sink into a crater!

After the rehearsal we went to a local pizza place, "Ray's New York Style Pizza" on Roswell Rd & ordered the Greek Pizza. Let me tell ya folks, it was some gooooood pizza! After that we stopped by Wolfe Camera for a few things I needed. As you know, my bag was stolen so I basically have nothing. I needed a camera bag, some lens & camera caps, a lens cleaning cloth, a filter, some batteries... basic stuff like that. They didn't have much in the way of camera bags but I got one anyway. The cheapest camera backpack they had, it was still $50.00! I think I spent 80.00 or so on just little stuff I didn't even want but had to have. My friend Ricki though got a shopping bug while we were there because she spent nearly $1000.00!!!!! I nearly fainted! She got a new SB-800 flash, a 4GB flash card, a new lens bag & some other things like batteries and cleaning supplies.

For those of you who shoot, the 4GB card she got was on sale big time. Lexar is getting rid of there supply of 40x 4GB cards, which usually retails for nearly $500.00, was on clearance for $315.00!! The man at the store said they just keep marking them down, I believe I'll watch and see just how low they go and get me some, if I can find the money that is. :o) If you shoot a lot of pictures you should really consider buying one yourself, it's a huge savings, or you could buy it then resale it on eBay for a hundred or more than you'd be giving for it! Feel free to send me your profits from your sales. :o)

Believe it or not, as big as Atlanta is and as big an exit as Roswell Rd is, it took us forever to find a hotel. The one nearest to the venue was booked completely so the clerk sent us up Hamill Rd for what seemed like 10 miles until we finally found another Hotel. The building you see hear is our view from our hotel window. It's foggy out because of the rain and cool weather so it had a really cool effect. I'm not sure what building it is, one thing is certain, you don't see things like that in LaFayette!

My day begins at 11am tomorrow and will last until 11 or 12 tomorrow night. Talk about a long hard day! I can honestly say I'd rather be on the beach somewhere sipping something fruity with an umbella in it!

Wish me luck...

Slap Crazy & Gone

I am so excited about the new Harry Potter movie. My niece Megan & me had a nice long talk about it today. I remember when the whole Harry Potter mania started, right after the first book came out, she was crazy about Harry Potter. I told her she was off her nut and continued to tell her so until a year or so ago. I was flipping through the TV channels one night, looking for something half decent to watch, mind you, we have 3 channels out here in po-dun, when I came across the first Harry Potter movie on tv. My only other options were 60 mins and Law & Order, normally I would've picked 60 mins but they have a special on wanted murders, I tend to stay clear of such programming. So anyway, I watched the movie and to my surprise it wasn't nearly as stupid as it looked. My only regret is that I didn't become addicted sooner! I went out the next day and rented the 2nd movie at the video store, which is when I became completely hooked. Luckily the movie was on TV to promote the 3rd movie, which was at the time about to come out in theaters, so I got to experience the mania first hand. Anyway, if you haven't read the books or seen the movies, I highly recommend them. The 4th movie comes out in theaters November 18th and also on IMAX. If you hurry you should be able to get caught up on the story by then and be able to experience the mania yourself!

I leave for Atlanta early in the morning. I'm shooting a wedding there on Saturday and I have to go down tomorrow for the rehearsal. I usually enjoy weddings that are out of town, it's like a working vacation. Granted when we're not shooting we're sitting in the hotel room, sleeping or eat... but all the same, it's the closest thing to a vacation I've had in about 2 years. I'm hoping there will be a little extra time to grab some "fun" pictures while we're there. Things like night time city scape shots and the like. I also hope we'll be in a safe part of town, not that Atlanta really has a "safe part of town" but some are much worse than others. I have great news though, if I get mugged and all my camera equipment is stolen, the little that is left anyway, I am now fully insured. I went today and got equipment insurance just in time for this weekend. It's a HUGE load off my mind, ever since my bag was stolen I've been scared to leave the house with my camera , but at the same time, I've been too scared to leave it home in case the house catches on fire. It's been slowly driving me crazy!!! I've been laying in bed at night thinking over in my mind what I would need to grab in case the house went up in flames... trust me folks, it's no way to live!!!

Chat ya'll up from Hotlanta!!!

Merry Christmas & Happy Fall Craft Season!!!!

No, I'm not on crack, I swear! **crossing fingers behind my back** I took this photo at the recent Rock Springs Show & Sell. I really like art & craft shows, us artists have to stick together, ya know. ( yeah yeah, go ahead and laugh.)

This coming weekend is the New Salem Craft Festival on Lookout Mtn. The first 5 years of my life, I lived less that 1/4 of a mile from where they have it. The New Salem Fire Department, which is also used as a community hall where square dances are held every month. It's an old building, filled with history. The art show begins in the old building and loops around out the back and stretches a good long ways. I remember when I was a kid and my mom use to take me to it every fall. I remember the smells of the leaves and the sawdust on the ground where you walked, and my mom would always buy me a pop gun. ( I didn't know it at the time, but Rachel's grandpa is the one who makes those... talk about a full circle) I always loved going to it! I guess we stopped going every year when I was around 10 or so, when you're that age you could care less, of course. But I went back with my mom a few years ago and it still looks the same, smells the same, has mostly all of the same people still there... talk about a walk down memory lane. I only lived on Lookout Mtn five years, but it makes me miss it even still.

I have a wedding this weekend in Atlanta, I'll be gone Fri & Sat, but I've made it perfectly clear that I want to be back early Sunday so I can go to the festival. I think I'll see if I can drag my mom along, maybe I'll buy her a pop gun. :o)

You Complete Me...

I can proudly say that I am completely finished with edited the photos from this little boy's portrait session. I'm overjoyed by this happy news!! Of course now, I have to design an album with them, but I am going to work on that Wednesday. Hopefully it wont take long and I'll be finished in a few hours!! ( wish me luck )

I also finished the whole wedding album cover thing today and emailed them my final list of changes and layout designs. My first order should go into it's finished printing and binding this week. I already have a second order to place of the same book and hopefully can get that out to them this week so they can get started on it as well. I'm really excited about these books, the mini 5x5 sample album I have makes me giddy so I can only imagine the excitement the 10x10 album will give me!!! I have decided to use this company as my official wedding album company for my future weddings. They have some great people working for them and there quality is fantastic... what more could you ask for!

My friend Rachel is coming to stay the night tonight. Her husband is out of town working and her son is staying the night with a friend. We're gonna stay up late, watch movies, tell bad jokes & eat popcorn. I know what you're thinking, "what fun!" right? Well, I rarely ever got to do that in highschool so you've got to make up for lost time somewhere! As ya'll know I've been on a workout rampage for the past month so I figured since Rachel will be here, with no real way of escape, I'll drag her in on the action!!!

>:o) I'm evil, I know, but I think it suits me!

Tri-Wizarding & the Double Bubble Glowing Wonder Boy

I edited more photos from Chase's portrait session today. I really do need to get these finished, I only do a few dozen at a time and I have a few hundred to do, I'm sure the parents are wondering just why they haven't received there photos yet. Tomorrow I'm going to make myself finish these photos so I can be done with them once and for all. I'm a tad in love with this photo, by the way. If there's a reader from a bubble making company out there anywhere, you should purchase this photo from me for your promo purchases! Who wouldn't want a jug of bubbles after seeing this picture!!

I also hung out with my "almost" kid, Summer, while her mom took Logan to the doctor. We watched Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets. I can proudly say I've gotten her hooked on Harry Potter! She likes the Chamber of Secrets movie because of the flying car, she keeps asking for one for Christmas... I wish Santa would bring me one too while he's at it! ( A note for anyone who's interested... the new Harry Potter movie " The Goblet of Fire" comes out next month.) I seriously hope they did a good job with this movie, it's my favorite book of the series. I've seen the trailer for the film and it looks like it could be the best yet and even hold up to my imagination that the book brings. I am a tad disappointed with who they cast as "Mad-Eye Moody" though. He doesn't fit the mold at all of what I think he should look like. The magical eye is the dorkiest looking thing I've ever seen! For a first hand look at what I'm talking about, you can go to www.harrypotter.com for a look at the new characters, check out the tri-wizard players, download swag to show your support and watch the trailer for the film.

A Slow Easy Sleepy Day

I didn't get home from my long day of shooting until 11:30ish last night. Even though I was dog tired when I walked in the door, I laid in bed until nearly 1 in the morning waiting to go to sleep. My back was killing me, my feet hurt something awful and my head wouldn't stop pounding. After 3 advil's, a muscle relaxer and 5 Andy Griffth Show episodes later I went fast to sleep in la la land. Apparently la la land is a nice place because I didn't wake up this morning until nearly noon and even then I do believe I could've went back to sleep... I fought the strong urge and forced my way out of my nice soft comfy bed.

As for the rest of the day, I watched 3 long movies and did not much else. Just off the top of my head I can think of so many hard working jobs and from a logical stand point, a photographer doesn't rank anywhere near the top 100 of the list. From a personal experience, I think it's one of the hardest jobs I've ever had. It's a full day of non-stop going, both mentally and physically. At any given time at least 20 things are going through your head all at the same time. Physically you're moving around from one location to the next and one is never close to the next. Trying to keep your cool and look professional, all the while on the inside your thinking "I haven't had water for 6 hours and I think I may die at any second!" It usually takes me a day to regain my energy after a wedding day, I can't imagine those photographers who book a wedding on Fri, Sat & Sun... I know I'd be dead after that, if I even made it through it!

Tomorrow I have the same old stuff planned... ebay listings, editing photos, cleaning, etc etc... As usual, I know most likely I won't get any of it done, but hey... a girl can dream!

Grandview a hike

Today was spent shooting a wedding at the Grandview on Lookout Mtn. This was my 2nd wedding I've shot there, so I must say this time I knew the pros and cons of the location.

The groom of the wedding was the best looking thing I've ever seen up close and personal. I actually considered kipnapping him but figured that might look bad and hurt my future business. I think it might have been worth it though!

The actually shooting time wasn't as long as some of the weddings last but it seemed like it went on forever. We arrived at 12 noon and left around 9 or after. Nine straight hours without a break, food, drinks or bathroom time... let's see Martha Stewart do that if she's so tough! What kills me is these weddings that end after dark, seeing that most of them are outside. It just seems that when the sun goes down time just drags. One thing is certain, these Grandview people know how to party! I've never seen so much booze in all my days!! ( A little tip for you, never travel along the roads which travel up or down Lookout Mtn. or Friday or Saturday nights... the location doesn't provide shuttles so you may be in for a whale of a crash... if you know what I'm talkin'. ;-)