I'm Ready, I'm Ready!

Christmas is almost here, and I'm ready!  I mean, I'm definitely ready, as far as being in the Christmas spirit.  I love the holidays, and one of the biggest thrills for me is getting together with my entire family - Jace and I always look forward to that.  But as far as actually being prepared, I'll admit it - most of the time I'm a last minute shopper. Not as bad as some folks, who are out shopping the night before.  But most years I'm still trying to juggle my budget, shopping trips and lists down to the last few days before Christmas... and since my family doesn't do our big Christmas at my folks until the weekend AFTER Christmas, you can often find me buying presents for my nephews and niece that week between Christmas and New Year's. But not this year, and here's the evidence:

Look at all those presents under the tree!  All wrapped and ready to go, with just two final items to buy this week.  This is the first year I've been this early, and I'm a little afraid a certain 13 year-old will consider a week's time is fair game for him to shake (and maybe even peek) at his gifts to see if he can figure out what Santa is bringing him.   And in addition to having almost all my gifts purchased, I am also getting my Christmas cards out early!    Early for me, that is - most years I end up sending a "Happy New Years" photo card out, but this year's are going out this week.

I'd love to say I've discovered the secret to being incredibly organized this year, and I could share some juicy tips with all of you about HOW I did it - but it is really just a combination of a few things.  One of the best things was that financially, I had some extra cash this year from a change in policy and one-time payout on accumulated sick time at work.  So that money made it easy to go ahead and purchase everything without pulling money from savings or worrying about how much was allotted from each check over the past six weeks.

As for my Christmas cards, I was able to finish them earlier than usual because I wasn't trying to get a family picture at Thanksgiving.  Instead, my friend Eric took photos of me and Jace in the park, back in early November.  So that gave me plenty of time to pick out which photos to use and make a trip to Walgreens to make my cards.  Thank you again, Eric!

Here was one of the photos that I used on the card:

We had so much fun with the photos, and my 13-year-old still let me be all affectionate with him, which was great.  I used four photos on this year's card - it had been way too long since I've had any photos of us taken; I won't let it go that long again.

Let's see - back to Christmas prep...  another big piece of my early Christmas preparation has been that I'm dating the #1 biggest fan of Christmas. Brian absolutely loves Christmas, and all the traditions that go along with it… the guy had his tree up before Thanksgiving! He is just like a kid about the holidays, and is so excited to make the holiday special for his 3-year-old… and that kind of excitement is pretty contagious.

Since he enjoys shopping, we’ve made a couple of trips down to the outlet mall and Branson Landing over the past several weeks. Our first trip was to meet my grandparents for dinner, and then to get a couple of photos for my homework project. I did manage to take some shots of the fountain that night, but I wanted to try again with a tripod. So we headed down last weekend, and I was much happier with the results. The fountain is always gorgeous at night, and the Christmas lights and music were so festive - this was one of my favorite evenings in a long time.

Fire and water show, on the hour

In addition to capturing the fountain, I also had fun with getting a photo of us - I'm sure I was a hoot to watch, running back and forth to hit the 10 second timer and then get back in place in time!  But this was one of my favorite shots:

Tonight I'm going to hear a Christmas concert by Mosaic, the group I used to sing with at another church here in town.   I am excited to be going to Poplar Bluff for Christmas, but was a little disappointed that I would miss our church's Christmas Eve candlelight service, one of my favorite Christmas traditions each year.  Apparently our church has heard that sentiment from a few folks, so they are having one this Thursday, as well.   I'm looking forward to taking Jace, it is always a very emotional service, makes everyone remember and give thanks for what we're really celebrating.

So c'mon Christmas, hurry up and get here - I'm ready for you!

Freeze Frame!

I finished my 8 week photography class last week, and hated to see it come to an end.  I forgot how much I like being in class and learning about something... all the more when it is something for fun, like this.  I made some friends in the class, and learned so much.    Our instructor was interesting, and many of things I had already started reading about and trying to learn - exposure, F-stop, shutter speed, metering and more - made so much more sense after the class.  And the best part was that as I worked on my homework project, I started to better understand my camera and what I had to do to get each shot - putting my new found knowledge into practice felt great.

My camera - didn't go with the more known
Nikon or Canon, but I love my Sony... Just bought
a new (longer) lens - and my wish list keeps growing!

I've quickly come to realize that this could be a very expensive hobby, as I learned about more and more accessories (lenses, filters, and gadgets) that I need (want) to have in order to take better photographs.   We drew names for our family gift exchange at Thanksgiving, and my grandmother got my name.  Normally my M.O. with gifts is "just surprise me"...  I'm not picky, and getting me anything to do with books, music, coffee, wine, or a variety of things will make me happy.  And it is fun to open the present and be surprised.  But not this year - when we saw my grandparents that Friday night for dinner, I told my grandmother that I would make it easy for her this year, as I already knew what I wanted for Christmas.   With that in mind, I'm buying my tripod later this week - yay!   I'll be taking it home for family Christmas at the end of this month, set it up to take a family portrait, and THEN put it under the tree for the gift exchange.  Merry Christmas to me!

Our class homework was a scavenger hunt - taking 10 photographs of specific items/types, using totally manual settings, ISO 400, no flash and no editing (other than basic cropping) after the fact.   I wish I could say I started early on the project; but honestly, the first five weeks we were still learning about the different components.  I just really didn't feel like I had the tools to really take the photos.  I was worried I was totally behind, but everyone felt the same way - that we weren't ready until the last few weeks.   So I bit the bullet over Thanksgiving and took them over the final two weeks of class - and really, the last few were taken in the two days before class (perhaps I should remember this when I chastise Jace for procrastinating on school projects - the apple may not fall far from the tree).

Here's my first photograph:

My holiday weakness...

Ok, this photo wasn't really one of the assignments.  But I loved it... I took it over Thanksgiving at my parents.  Guilty confession - I have already enjoyed my first bag of Candy Cane Hershey Kisses this holiday season.  Now I'm on a rationing program - one of my staff members at work has my stash, and gives me five kisses per day.   Desperate times call for desperate measures, folks.  :)

On to the real homework photos:

SCENIC:  Tree at my folks' house

WATER:  Fountains at Branson Landing

STATUE/NIGHT: This photo of a 
reindeer at Branson Landing worked 
for both statue and night, 
two of the ten shots.

ANIMAL:  Cinco, my mom's horse
(the blue cast is because of the blue sky
and shade - realized afterwards that 
I should have adjusted my white 
balance to cut out theblue tones;
 lesson learned for future!)

MOTION:  Jace in action - this looks cool, but isn't
 really what I wanted... this was one photo that I really had
trouble with - I think capturing motion will be much
easier with a tripod, rather than trying to hold the camera
still when using a slow shutter speed.

LOW LIGHT WITH FLASH:  Jace and Rocky

PORTRAIT:  One of my favorite shots...
I took this while home for Thanksgiving....
 loved this one of nephew Sam!

FIRE:  Just a simple shot of a votive 

SELF PORTRAIT:   Taken with camera on
a bar stool, 2 second timer ...  (colors
on this photo were much better, but
compressing it to upload to the blog
made it much "brighter"... ?)

Scrolling back up through these, I realize I've critiqued half of them, stating what I didn't like, what I'd do different, etc.  And I realize that's just part of it - I'm learning, and I need to remember that.  I did love some of my photos, especially the one of Sam and the one of the fountain at the Landing.  We all brought our photos on the last night of class and displayed them so other students and our instructor could see them.  I was happy to see that I wasn't far off from most of the others, as far as beginning shots.  And I got some great ideas from others' photos and how they captured some of their images.

I'm buying my tripod tomorrow, and then Brian and I are heading back down to the Landing after doing some shopping at the outlet malls.  I'm excited about trying some of the night shots again, I want to see what I can do with a slow shutter, with the camera more stable.

Happy Friday to all, hope you have a great weekend - AND, you're further along on Christmas shopping than I am!

Family Thanksgiving 2011

This year's Thanksgiving at my folks' house was the first one in many years that we all fit around one table, and didn't have a second table full of people in the other room. With only 12 people, it was a small gathering, but we still had a great weekend.   We missed having Tara, Ann and Thomas and their families with us - it was just me, Susan, Rob and our families - well, it was just me and my two dogs, since Jace spends Thanksgiving each year with his dad and their family.  Landon and Payton always miss seeing him at Thanksgiving, but it is nice knowing that we'll all be together a month later for Christmas.

I've been hard at work completing my homework assignment for my last photography class tonight.  After it is finished, I will post my ten photos on here as well!  In the meantime, I want to get this post done, but it will be skimpy on the storytelling... the photos of our family turkey day will have to tell their own story:

The Z boys and their dog, Daisy

Payton in action

Run, Payton, run!

A rare smile for the camera from Miss Eva!

Ole JCrew , as I like to call Ron,
with his catalog model good looks...

Wrestlin'

More wrestlin' (had to put two photos - one with each
of them getting the best of the other...)

On the phone with Tara, as we prepare
to eat Thanksgiving dinner...

Zartman Family - I got to play
photographer this year!

Yes, Dad, we know -  it is "only coffee" in your
cup... the deacons at church will never know 
any different!  :)

Mmm Mmm Mmm... KC!

Last weekend I enjoyed one of  the best weekend road trips I've had in quite awhile, with some of my very favorite people in the world:

Me and my little brother, Thomas

Thomas has lived in Kansas City for... well, probably three years or so?  Maybe a little more - time goes by so fast.  We always talk at holidays about getting together for a weekend in KC, and we had been planning this one, with cousin Krista and her hubby David, for the last couple of months.  Unfortunately, Krista and David had to cancel after some last minute changes at home (I was looking so forward to hanging out with them, but we are planning another trip, very soon.) and  I didn't let that keep me from going - I had really been looking forward to my weekend in KC.

I was so excited to get to see friends Garry and Heather, and their kiddos Ryleigh and Christian. 13-year-old  Ry hung out with us quite a bit, but afterwards I realized that Christian is not in a single photo - he is 17 and was downstairs playing X-Box the entire weekend.   Garry and Heather are some of my favorite friends ever- two of the many friends that I made while Dave and I were together.  Garry and I hit it off instantly the first time I met them 5 years ago, because we are both huge music fans.  Ok, I have to give him props and admit that he is head and shoulders above me, as I have had to say in this blog several times.  BUT I still do fairly well, I think he will agree.  And Heather is wonderful too (even though Ryleigh likes to give her a hard time about being a musical idiot, but that's really not true!)  She is sweet, funny and always so interesting - in the know about food, art, travel and lots of other things that we catch up on when we're together.

In addition to just being awesome people, they took Paige under their wing when she started college at William Jewell 2.5 years ago - I know they have been her family there in KC, and they absolutely adore her as well, of course.   She was over at their house every week for dinner, and I am certain that they are missing her terribly while she is away at Oxford this year.  (The bonus for next year will be that when I make any trips to see my KC friends/family, Paigey will be back there as well.  If you haven't seen it, check out her blog, Inhabiting Oxford - she is an amazing young woman, and a very talented writer, and I'm so proud to have her in my life)

Ryleigh, Heather and Garry

While I didn't get to meet up with Krista and David in KC, I did bring someone along with me on my road trip.   This is Brian, a southern boy from Charlotte, NC (hello, Annie! He's from your neck of the woods....) who has lived in Springfield for the past five years.

He and I met through mutual friends, and the best thing about him - he makes me laugh.  Other than that, we have a lot to talk about, quite a bit in common.  Both just out of second marriages, and both lost our mothers when we/they were young...  just easy to spend time with him, and I really enjoy it.  So he headed with me to KC on Friday, happy to get away for a weekend and hang out with my friends and family.

We arrived in KC late Friday afternoon, and met Garry and Heather for happy hour at Buddha, in Zona Rosa shopping center.   After we visited a bit and got caught up on the latest happenings in all of our lives, we headed back to Garry and Heather's house, to enjoy some appetizers with the rest of the family.

 Heather fixed two kinds of  pizza, plus some awesome crab rangoon (Ryleigh made those) and some fabulous "Bang Bang Shrimp", which I think H. said is a yummy dish at Bonefish Grill...  but all my shots of the food looked pretty yellow and didn't do it any justice! I am learning about white balance in my photography class, but obviously I wasn't workin' it while I was taking these shots - Next time, I'll do better.

Friends Brent and Laura also joined us for the evening - they had a babysitter for their two little ones, and could've gone out on the town for the night, but decided that we would be just as much fun - and I think they were right!

One of the highlights of the night, hands down, was this lady:

Grandma Rose....  this photo is perfect - the cheetah jacket,
the HUGE glass of red wine... and I'm sure whatever she
saying was hilarious, as always!

Garry's Grandma Rose turned 90 this year, and is, quite simply, amazing.  She is one of the most young-at-heart people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.  I've had the opportunity to spend time with her several times over the past few years that I've known Garry and Heather; I always enjoy her wit, her stories, and her love for red wine - a woman after my own heart, in that respect!   We enjoyed appetizers and drinks with her, and then we all sat down in the living room to watch the photo montage that one of her daughters had made for her 90th birthday celebration.   Rose and her husband had seven children, and she has spent time all over the world.  Garry's grandpa was with the CIA, and I've heard stories from Garry about his mother and her siblings' time in different countries, but it was amazing to sit with Rose and listen to her comments as we watched the story of her life unfold in California, Italy, Cypress, and more.

We did enjoy some cocktails over the course of the evening, including a chocolatini concoction that Garry made for the ladies:

Yum!

Later in the evening we also broke out some wicked dance moves - (note: one of the benefits of this being MY blog is that all of the totally embarrassing photos of me are - well, they seem to have gotten lost... hmmm.)  But please note Garry's fine form (wearing his wife's sunglasses) below:

The fun didn't stop Friday night - we enjoyed a relaxing Saturday morning, topped off with lunch.  The girls all enjoyed Mexican for lunch, while Brian had to have some of his 5 Guys Burgers and Fries, so he and Garry headed there.

Lunch at Jose Peppers

Then Brian and I headed down to the Plaza for the evening, and met up with Thomas for dinner.  The weather was absolutely beautiful for mid-November, with temperatures in the fifties that evening.  We had a few drinks at Fred P. Otts, one of Thom's favorite hangouts.  Thomas didn't like this photo, but I thought it was great - I know the iPhone isn't a real camera, but I love the special effects... so fun!

Drinks at Fred P Otts

Sunday was beautiful, and we started the morning sitting outside of Scooter's coffee shop on the Plaza, enjoying the sunshine, before heading back home.  (I took several photos... may try to post a few soon, but they'll have to wait for another time.)  It was a wonderful weekend and a great getaway; "Thanks! "to Garry and Heather for a wonderful Friday evening of food, drinks, family and friends.  And then for Saturday, a huge "thank you!"  to Thomas for getting us a fabulous room at the Raphael at a great price, and for showing us some of your favorite spots on the Plaza.  Had a great time, and looking forward to doing it again soon.

Three Quarters of a Century... Holy Smokes!

I have a whole post waiting to finish, a post about a fabulous KC weekend with friends and family, AND  some great photos to go along with... but this one takes precedence (although it IS a day late, due to some technical difficulties with my browser):



Dad and all of us kids - 2005, at his retirement party

 


One of Dad's typical poses for the camera

 
Happy birthday to the most hard-working, determined and honest man I've ever known.  Dad, you make 75 look darn GOOD.  You're still as busy as ever, but now you've made the upkeep of The Ranch your full-time job.  In addition to mowing and brushogging the 17 acres, burning all of the piles of brush, keeping up the pond/spring, and all of your other outside landscaping chores, you  have turned into a DIY pro inside as well.   This past year you've perfected the art of picking the right wall color and expertly prepping, taping and painting most of the walls in the house... (thanks in part to some expert tips from DIL Michele)  Pretty impressive!

We all know that your work ethic will be with you until the day you leave us - but even still, you have mellowed out a little over the years, (or maybe we just think you've just mellowed out because we're all grown up and not at home anymore?) and somehow you've forgotten all the "tough love" you put us through... So today I wanted to help remind you - and all of us - about the good old days and some of your all-time classic phrases that we grew up hearing from you.  So I'm posting part of the list that we kids all helped to put together 10 years ago, for your big 6-5.  I know anyone outside of the family reading this won't get most of these, but for all of us, we've heard them countless times over the last 25-40 years. :)
 

1. "Osh-ee-bulla!!"  (a phrase handed down from Pop... none of us really know what it means, other than you use it with the dogs, cats and children interchangably, whenever you wanted us to stop doing something.)
2.  “Reveille, reveille, up all hands. Heave out and trice up, reveille.” (Courtesy of your Naval boot camp training, and bellowed to us over the sound of classical music playing, at 6am in the morning.)
3.  "You're doing it half-a**ed!!  Here, let me show you how to do it."
4.  “Bye, mmm-hmm, Bye” -- Always before you hang up the phone.
5.   “I’m going to take you down to the barn and wale the tar out of you!”
6.   “This is NOT the place to be having fun!” -- quoted by you at the dinner table one night while everyone else was laughing at something no one can remember.
7.  “When was the last time you had your oil changed?”
8.  “Holy smokes, _____! Look at this car- we’ve got to wash this!”
9.  “What kind of grades are you making?  I want straight A's”
10. “Tough love, _____!” (fill in the blank with each of our names)
11.  “Nothing good happens after 12 o’clock, you don’t need to be out!”
12.  “Those turkeys!” (A derogatory comment often voiced by you against someone who has done something wrong, etc.) 

I had to laugh as I went through the list and chose some to post.  Is it bad that I'm 40 and still hear you saying a few of these when I'm home??  (well, mainly the ones about washing my car and changing my oil).

I know all of us kids like to joke with and about you; but truly, we were all very blessed to be raised by you, our moms, and Grandma G, there in St. Clair. I loved growing up there, and have so many fond memories. And I'm thankful that we all still get together, and looking forward to this year's holidays with my family.

Happy birthday, Dad.  We love you, and are looking forward to many years more.

Closing a Chapter

As of Tuesday, October 24th, our divorce was final.  I have run the gamut of emotions for the past four months - many, many tears  (less frequently now, but it still happens, sometimes when I least expect it.)  And, of course, some anger - at Dave, at myself, and just with the whole situation... but thankfully, mostly what I'm feeling now is acceptance. There was a time that I was very worried about how I would feel when this day happened.  As with most things, though, time has helped me to be prepared for it.  It was sad to read the papers, see the judge's signature, and know that our marriage is over.  But at the same time, it felt good to have the closure - we were able to end things amicably, and this is the final step.   I want Dave to be happy, and I want to be happy - and this is a step towards that, for both of us.  We didn't actually know that the judge had signed the papers until Sunday, when the attorney forwarded the papers to Dave.  He forwarded them to me that evening, since we had been discussing how we would handle health insurance costs for the month of November.

And so on Monday night, I decided that it was the right time to drink our very last bottle of the Thumbprint wine we had bought/shared together from our trip to Sonoma Valley.    So I cracked open the bottle, poured some of it in my coffee mug, and started my annual trick-or-treating traipse around our neighborhood with Gail, Caitlyn, Connor and Jace.


I'm having such fun with the camera on
my iPhone... the "emo" special effects are great!

Gail's daughter is 8, but with Jace and Connor being 13, I warned Jace that this may be his last year for Halloween... ("Son, when you're gettting close to being as tall as many of the people handing out candy, you're probably  too old for trick-or-treating!")  Of course he doesn't see things the same way, but we'll discuss it next year. This year was nice - it had been 60+ degrees that day, and the mild weather made the evening very enjoyable, which has not always been the case. There have been many cold and rainy Halloween nights spent walking around the neighborhood over the past several years, so I'm always thankful for the good weather!

I could end this post here, and make it all about my divorce being final - but life goes on, and that's the whole point, isn't it!?  So what was the rest of my week like? 

Well, by the time we called it a night on Monday, my throat was getting scratchy and I could hear my ear popping when I swallowed... uh oh. I hate getting sick.  By  mid-morning Tuesday it was obvious I had something going on, so I left work and headed to the walk-in clinic.  The nurse practitioner took one look at my throat and accompanying 101 degree fever, and diagnosed me with strep throat.  I filled my prescription, headed home and went to bed, with Vicks and a towel on my chest (reminds me of when I was little!) and slept on and off for 18 hours...  Gail, bless her, brought me over some warm chicken noodle soup and crackers on Tuesday night.  By Wednesday morning Jace was also sick, so I met his grandmother at the walk-in clinic and she waited with him while he saw the nurse practitioner.  Then he and I spent the day moving between our beds and the sofa, and just taking it easy.  We're both feeling better now, thankfully. 

Last night I met my friend Larry for drinks and appetizers - he is a wonderfully talented vocalist, and I always loved singing with him.  But more than that, he's a great friend.  I've missed him over the past couple of years - since we don't sing together anymore, we've just not made time to get together.  We caught up on each others' lives, and both agreed we wouldn't let so much time pass again!

Today will be a busy day - I'm already awake, and figure that I'll head out for a walk when it gets light.  Then I'll get the grocery shopping done for the week, and do some much-needed cleaning around the house.  Next I'm headed to the mall with my sis Suz, while Jace and my nephew Payton keep themselves entertained on the Xbox for a couple of hours.

I'm hoping that the weather cooperates tomorrow; if it does, then Jace and I are meeting my friend Leslie and her husband after church - he's the one in the photography class with me, and is going to take some shots of me and Jace with the fall leaves.  So exciting!