Monday, April 4, 2011- Ketchup, Catch-up... Update!
Gotta love Dalmatian's... (see pics)
The first bright blooms in Mom's garden!! (see pics)
Where to start... I've missed so many days... Crap! Well- lettuce start on Thursday- the day of the big meeting- aka "I think I threw up in my mouth a little..." I thought I did. By the time I weaved my way through early am Grand Rapids traffic and got to the church on time (actually early) I was so nervous and so mentally bashing myself I thought I threw up in my mouth a little when I burped. Not a great feeling. Oh well- that is indeed why someone created gum, right? Halfway up two flights of stairs, trying not to fall on my ass in the massive "make me the height of am Amazon woman" heels, I realized chewing gum when walking into a business meeting- not so professional. So I swallowed it. Oh well- a few minutes of minty fresh will be doused by coffee anyhoo. Coffee? Dammit. I left my monster in the truck.
I walked in, desperately searching for a face I didn't know- he whom I was guest of- Business Card Man we'll call him. No easy feat since my brain was firing in about a zillion different directions at the current time. We met, we shook hands, and I signed in. I set a stack of my business cards next to my portfolio, thinking I was going to step off and mingled with the business types- not so much. I, in fact, stood next to my book of pictures, explaining some of the pictures to anxious on lookers and also simply saying to the questions of "My god, how do you photograph lightning"- "Oh... It's just a matter of a feeling and timing," I blushed. Can't give away all my secrets. I tried not to roll my eyes at the ministries person when they said my cloud pictures were of divine nature and highly spiritual- um, it was a pretty cloud I wanted to photograph, honestly, God didn't tell me to do it- I did it.
We all sat down, after finding my way out of the crowd of men that were honestly making me feel as though I was fresh meat, and the meeting began. It was all very informational- how this group will glean us business by way of referrals- professional blah blah blah... We had a business card swapping moment which dwindled my stack down to about four remaining and I fielded lots of questions about- "Do you do weddings?" While I'm sure I can, I'd like to venture out a bit more then that. "I'm an interior designer and I'm looking for someone to shoot that work I've done, kind of before and afters... Do you photograph architecture?" I'd love to give it a shot- no pun intended. "If my boyfriend and I wanted some," leans in close and whispers, "Sexy pictures- would you do that?" Of course! If you have any tattoos and piercings- we'll definitely talk!
We also did a 10 second ad for our company during the meeting. I debated, I sighed, I thought, frantically figuring out what to say in my 10 seconds of fame. "I'm Inkblot (name not actually used)- and I'm a photographer/writer. I will take pictures of anything and everything you think is important..." Did I just throw out the tag line for my blog with a picture twist? WTF was I thinking... Wait- they are smiling, some nodding... Hell- that works! Better then what I wanted to say- "Sup?! I'm Inkblot and I take snappy-snaps!" All in all- it went well. I have a pile of business cards and I'm sure someone somewhere from that meeting is pondering giving me a holler to take some pictures for them.
Now- we're onto Friday. I wasn't scheduled to work, but I was bored and I think procrastination is looming in regards to finishing the last scene for the book, so I went to work anyways- shuttle cars to clean! And I did. I cleaned the Ram ("Red" as boss calls it but it's really white...), the Cruiser (the Midget Hearse), the Cougar (Leprechaun love-ma-chine), and the Van (Purple People Eater). Then, since the vacuum was warmed up, I cleaned out Hubby's truck Libby (aka Girl truck that pulls out Chevy's and Dodges from mud holes...) Dad and I went out to lunch and came back- I finished up work on Libby and headed home for a potty break for both myself and Doggie Pup. I was just about to dash into Coopersville for a quick post office/gas station errand when my phone rang- It was Quebert, my lil brother.
"Are you home?"
"Yes."
"Are you busy?"
"Nope"
"Good, I'm going to hand you a sleeping kid, we gotta go- now."
"It's baby time?"
He hung up. I ran out the door to find them in my driveway. Quebert handed me my nephew, drowsy from sleep, and off they flew- gravel spitting from the tires and engine screaming. Yup- baby time. Sister-in-law had her stitch removed (one the holds in the precious cargo called baby) Wednesday evening, fully expecting to deliver right then. Nope- didn't happen. So they were sent home around 3:30 in the morning on Thursday. Still nothing, even after jiggle and bounce retail therapy- the little guy was really hanging on. Friday, after lunch with her family in Sparta, they headed home, when he water finally broke as they got close to our house. Hence me getting handed sleepy nephew.
I called Hubby to let him know he was officially off baby delivery duty (something he was actually quite nervous about- she's my sister-in-law and that's a hell of a way to REALLY get to know someone) and if he could please grab me something from the gas station on his way home since I had little guy and no car seat. Nephew settled in living room, dumping out a pile of toys we have for him to play with and watched "Lilo and Stitch" while I cleaned up the house. His gramma on Sister's side picked him up after about an hour and some change. New nephew- still called Baby in this blog thus far- was delivered after a seven minute stay in the hospital. Her water broke around two- and baby was delivered by 2:49. Nice entrance into the world. Hopefully tonight Hubby, Globug, and I will go over and greet the adorable 7 pound, 4 ounce, 21 inch long little peanut!
Saturday we headed north to do supplies for the ambulances then went to a friend's house to help build a secondary hayloft. It went quick after some planning on how and was finished within a couple hours. Sunday- Editor Girl and her hubby Ah My Ride came over to chill and watch Nascar. Actually- the kids played and watched movies in my bedroom, the guys talked while glancing at the race once and a while, and Editor Girl and I had lots of girl talk and novel talk. Both about mine in it's finishing stages before going to her for chapter break ideas and general editing- and her's that she is about to start writing. All the while munching on Ah My Ride's delicious Caribbean chicken and the side dishes Hubby and I made. An al fresco lime salsa; a fruit salad of pineapple chunks, carrots, orange marmalade & curry; another salad of cucumbers, radishes, and mango's drizzled with a honey, sea salt, and lime juice dressing, and a rice dish consisting of rice, cilantro, peas, and chili powder. YUMM-O!!!
Now- we're current. Monday- today. It is crappy cloudy with drizzle (no I didn't get up last night to photograph lighting, sorry. But I did get up to see the one inch hail stones pounding our trucks outside at three AM). I'm hanging out in the Que work wise. There will be a double run up to Hart at some point today. Double, because there is no shuttle vehicle up there for me and someone has to pick my butt up, and also waiting for the evening arrival of Globug. She is coming up for an annual thing at this point. Tomorrow- she, myself, and Hubby (who requested the day off and is burning PTO for it) will be going to the Gardens. Tomorrow will be an adventure, like many others before, we will be hunting butterflies with our cameras. Sucking in the fresh green scented air of an indoor spring and at some point, munching on a lunch of designer cafeteria food. I cannot friggin' wait!!! Stay tuned for pictures of butterflies later this week!!!
And just because my finger keeps finding this damn button and I have deleted it from various places in the blog today... . There. I feel better!!!
Gotta love Dalmatian's... (see pics)
The first bright blooms in Mom's garden!! (see pics)
Where to start... I've missed so many days... Crap! Well- lettuce start on Thursday- the day of the big meeting- aka "I think I threw up in my mouth a little..." I thought I did. By the time I weaved my way through early am Grand Rapids traffic and got to the church on time (actually early) I was so nervous and so mentally bashing myself I thought I threw up in my mouth a little when I burped. Not a great feeling. Oh well- that is indeed why someone created gum, right? Halfway up two flights of stairs, trying not to fall on my ass in the massive "make me the height of am Amazon woman" heels, I realized chewing gum when walking into a business meeting- not so professional. So I swallowed it. Oh well- a few minutes of minty fresh will be doused by coffee anyhoo. Coffee? Dammit. I left my monster in the truck.
I walked in, desperately searching for a face I didn't know- he whom I was guest of- Business Card Man we'll call him. No easy feat since my brain was firing in about a zillion different directions at the current time. We met, we shook hands, and I signed in. I set a stack of my business cards next to my portfolio, thinking I was going to step off and mingled with the business types- not so much. I, in fact, stood next to my book of pictures, explaining some of the pictures to anxious on lookers and also simply saying to the questions of "My god, how do you photograph lightning"- "Oh... It's just a matter of a feeling and timing," I blushed. Can't give away all my secrets. I tried not to roll my eyes at the ministries person when they said my cloud pictures were of divine nature and highly spiritual- um, it was a pretty cloud I wanted to photograph, honestly, God didn't tell me to do it- I did it.
We all sat down, after finding my way out of the crowd of men that were honestly making me feel as though I was fresh meat, and the meeting began. It was all very informational- how this group will glean us business by way of referrals- professional blah blah blah... We had a business card swapping moment which dwindled my stack down to about four remaining and I fielded lots of questions about- "Do you do weddings?" While I'm sure I can, I'd like to venture out a bit more then that. "I'm an interior designer and I'm looking for someone to shoot that work I've done, kind of before and afters... Do you photograph architecture?" I'd love to give it a shot- no pun intended. "If my boyfriend and I wanted some," leans in close and whispers, "Sexy pictures- would you do that?" Of course! If you have any tattoos and piercings- we'll definitely talk!
We also did a 10 second ad for our company during the meeting. I debated, I sighed, I thought, frantically figuring out what to say in my 10 seconds of fame. "I'm Inkblot (name not actually used)- and I'm a photographer/writer. I will take pictures of anything and everything you think is important..." Did I just throw out the tag line for my blog with a picture twist? WTF was I thinking... Wait- they are smiling, some nodding... Hell- that works! Better then what I wanted to say- "Sup?! I'm Inkblot and I take snappy-snaps!" All in all- it went well. I have a pile of business cards and I'm sure someone somewhere from that meeting is pondering giving me a holler to take some pictures for them.
Now- we're onto Friday. I wasn't scheduled to work, but I was bored and I think procrastination is looming in regards to finishing the last scene for the book, so I went to work anyways- shuttle cars to clean! And I did. I cleaned the Ram ("Red" as boss calls it but it's really white...), the Cruiser (the Midget Hearse), the Cougar (Leprechaun love-ma-chine), and the Van (Purple People Eater). Then, since the vacuum was warmed up, I cleaned out Hubby's truck Libby (aka Girl truck that pulls out Chevy's and Dodges from mud holes...) Dad and I went out to lunch and came back- I finished up work on Libby and headed home for a potty break for both myself and Doggie Pup. I was just about to dash into Coopersville for a quick post office/gas station errand when my phone rang- It was Quebert, my lil brother.
"Are you home?"
"Yes."
"Are you busy?"
"Nope"
"Good, I'm going to hand you a sleeping kid, we gotta go- now."
"It's baby time?"
He hung up. I ran out the door to find them in my driveway. Quebert handed me my nephew, drowsy from sleep, and off they flew- gravel spitting from the tires and engine screaming. Yup- baby time. Sister-in-law had her stitch removed (one the holds in the precious cargo called baby) Wednesday evening, fully expecting to deliver right then. Nope- didn't happen. So they were sent home around 3:30 in the morning on Thursday. Still nothing, even after jiggle and bounce retail therapy- the little guy was really hanging on. Friday, after lunch with her family in Sparta, they headed home, when he water finally broke as they got close to our house. Hence me getting handed sleepy nephew.
I called Hubby to let him know he was officially off baby delivery duty (something he was actually quite nervous about- she's my sister-in-law and that's a hell of a way to REALLY get to know someone) and if he could please grab me something from the gas station on his way home since I had little guy and no car seat. Nephew settled in living room, dumping out a pile of toys we have for him to play with and watched "Lilo and Stitch" while I cleaned up the house. His gramma on Sister's side picked him up after about an hour and some change. New nephew- still called Baby in this blog thus far- was delivered after a seven minute stay in the hospital. Her water broke around two- and baby was delivered by 2:49. Nice entrance into the world. Hopefully tonight Hubby, Globug, and I will go over and greet the adorable 7 pound, 4 ounce, 21 inch long little peanut!
Saturday we headed north to do supplies for the ambulances then went to a friend's house to help build a secondary hayloft. It went quick after some planning on how and was finished within a couple hours. Sunday- Editor Girl and her hubby Ah My Ride came over to chill and watch Nascar. Actually- the kids played and watched movies in my bedroom, the guys talked while glancing at the race once and a while, and Editor Girl and I had lots of girl talk and novel talk. Both about mine in it's finishing stages before going to her for chapter break ideas and general editing- and her's that she is about to start writing. All the while munching on Ah My Ride's delicious Caribbean chicken and the side dishes Hubby and I made. An al fresco lime salsa; a fruit salad of pineapple chunks, carrots, orange marmalade & curry; another salad of cucumbers, radishes, and mango's drizzled with a honey, sea salt, and lime juice dressing, and a rice dish consisting of rice, cilantro, peas, and chili powder. YUMM-O!!!
Now- we're current. Monday- today. It is crappy cloudy with drizzle (no I didn't get up last night to photograph lighting, sorry. But I did get up to see the one inch hail stones pounding our trucks outside at three AM). I'm hanging out in the Que work wise. There will be a double run up to Hart at some point today. Double, because there is no shuttle vehicle up there for me and someone has to pick my butt up, and also waiting for the evening arrival of Globug. She is coming up for an annual thing at this point. Tomorrow- she, myself, and Hubby (who requested the day off and is burning PTO for it) will be going to the Gardens. Tomorrow will be an adventure, like many others before, we will be hunting butterflies with our cameras. Sucking in the fresh green scented air of an indoor spring and at some point, munching on a lunch of designer cafeteria food. I cannot friggin' wait!!! Stay tuned for pictures of butterflies later this week!!!
And just because my finger keeps finding this damn button and I have deleted it from various places in the blog today... . There. I feel better!!!