our vegetable garden

one of the 1st things we did at the new home was plant a garden in the backyard in the dirt - so that was like march.

we have 6 rows in our veggie garden:

1. carrots
   
2. spinach
   
3. bell peppers & string beans
   
4. tomatoes
5. potatoes
6. herbs (basil, thyme) & broccoli
   

the bell peppers are growing very well. there are many plants with multiple peppers on them. all large. mostly green...one red right now.

the carrots aren't bad, though they're probably all squished together since we didn't thin them out as much as we should have.

the string beans were doing well...we ate a bunch of the beans a few weeks ago.

the spinach were flourishing well, but now they have a disease. don't know what it is, but the leaves are all spotted and yellowing. we didn't even get to eat any.

the tomatoes are half dead. they had great fruit, but then birds or what not have eaten some...and all of the ones that have fallen off. the leaves are half dead and we don't know what's wrong with them. some plants are worse off than others. they were flourishing a month ago and now they're all sad looking.

the potatoes are dying. though dh did harvest some cute ones out last week.

the basil is doing very well. we cook with the leaves regularly.
the thyme is doing better. one plant was about to die after we transplanted it, but now it's better.
the broccoli is growing well...lots of leaves, but it's flowering. it didn't ever really produce heads of broccoli, just branches of florets that one can't really eat.

gardening isn't my favorite thing to do...and i've been more neglectful of the garden than not...

the aloe vera we transplated is rejuvenating - turning green again. we probably overwatered it at 1st...(actually i put them in a bucket of water to "keep them alive" before we put them in the dirt...oops) and they were yellow for a long long time.

my strawberries died...b/c they were still in a pot & i forgot to water them (since they were on the side)

the cilantro is in a planter. it seeded and now is hanging on by a thread. i dunno if it's still alive.

it's getting hotter and hotter...we'll see how the plants handle it.

swarm of bees

totally random and totally scary.

this morning dh & i were weeding in the garden. we'd tackled a bunch of weeds and i was about to wrap it up.

suddenly i hear mass buzzing all around me as i was heading towards the patio. i turned around and there was a mass of black insects all in the air covering practically all the airspace of the size of the backyard. i freaked out (in my head i was like what? massive flies? black insects? did dh uncover some crazy insects in the weeds?)

i screeched and asked dh, "what is that?!?!"

he instantly replied, "get inside! call 911."

we both ran for the back door and quickly retreated inside our home.

dh said, "those are bees!"

as we peered out of our kitchen windows, we saw the mass quickly hover from the air covering our backyard into the air above our neighbors backyard.
we could still hear the buzzing through all of our double-paned closed windows.

they really just appeared out of nowhere! as just as fast as we noticed them, they were onto the next yard.

behind our yard, it's still a construction site. they haven't started building on the street, but it's paved. i don't know where the bees came from. but all of a sudden they were in our yard. and that ended our morning weeding. (a lot of weeding to still do - we're pulling weeds selectively - but the yard looks 100% better!)

celebrities before and after photoshop

found this link while researching photography... (specifically flash techniques)

http://www.hemmy.net/2007/05/25/celebrities-before-and-after-photoshop/
which i linked to from night-ray.com

some of these peeps i actually liked the photo before photoshop...like the very last one...

what a plasticized, digitized, fake, media driven world...

photoshop... i like photoshop...but i like real people even better!

Lots of new developments

So this is my 2nd post about my recent professional endeavors...and has more detail than the 1st where I was being vague and didn't want to say too much.

So I've booked my 1st event - not intentionally. She asked. I had originally told her I don't do events (too stressful for me)...and was just helping her out by designing invitations...but here I am...actually going to do the event - a 25th anniversary party in June - dh encouraged me to, so I told them yes.

Therefore I have A LOT of preparation to do!

Tonight / last night I invested over $1000 in glass. One glass. the Canon 24-70 f/2.8L. My 1st L lens! Wow. I also got the 430EX Speedlite. I figured it was enough vs the 580EXII Speedlite. I had wanted to focus on "natural light photography" but now with an indoor event, I'm going to need flash...since I don't have the camera body that has 3200 ISO or exceptional low light function.

Amazon's a crazy place! Their prices fluctuate within minutes and items sell quickly and upon refreshing a page they're out of stock - if you're not quick enough at purchasing them. At least that was my experience today. Bought lots of new equipment and the joint present for my mom.

Tuesday, I signed up for Pictage. I hemmed and hummed over it for a month. And finally took the 1st out-of-pocket "investment leap" but then on Wednesday, I read a post on photo.net that didn't give it the best reviews. So I'm going to try it for myself and see. No contract commitment and I get the advertised new-member rate. They ARE rather aggressive with the "hard sale" lots of phone call follow ups and emails - I dunno if that'll annoy clients or not. I hadn't thought about it that way. But it was their persistent contact that got me to join.

I haven't been blogging on any of my blogs recently b/c I've been really busy and not feeling "bloggy." But with all of these new developments to the "business side of things" I felt like I should blog. Of course...it's unlike me to spill my guts to the world...but I do need to document things. I contemplated starting a new private blog documenting my journey, but I think my musings page should be enough.

I do need to revamp my photo blog...which isn't a blog much less a photo blog at all right now...I want to combine blog with website...like jessica claire.

I really do need validation and positive feedback at this point. Psychologically I've been struggling with the same "cycles" and I've felt stressed - which doesn't make me a happy mommy or wifey. Plus I'm a bit sleep deprived b/c my brain just keeps going and going.

This past weekend I was hoping for a maternity session, but when the time came, she was having contractions and didn't feel up to a photo session. She had her baby Monday night/Tuesday morning! I just found out today. But now I can do her newborn session! I'm excited!!!

A few weeks ago, I also talked to some peeps about senior sessions and the market around here...and found out lots of great information. And K.S. and her friend are willing to model for me - although they've already had their senior sessions. This studio is moving and they've basically been servicing most of the seniors in the area. So there's going to be a need this summer/next year for the next yr's seniors. So I'm thinking about tapping into the senior market...but dunno yet. I've also discovered a lot more studios and photographers that I didn't know about in the area...I'm slowly compiling a list. I'm hoping to network and make friends, but who knows how open and responsive people will be.

[B]ecker has been great at sharing info with the world and helping others in this business - including a daily school. Lots of info out there. Jasmine Star's journey is also inspiring. There's lots more...but too many to list.

I have one of my fave's & 1st inspirations that I visit still - Tara Whitney who's just redesigned her website and blog & also Amy.

So going back to the psychological thing - I did a baby 9 month session a few weeks ago, and I really loved how the pics turned out, but I didn't get any feedback from the mom b/c I didn't do a sit-down viewing session with her - I finished up the CD and let her pick it up. So it stressed me out b/c I didn't know if she liked them or what. I called and left VMs, but no call back. So Wednesday (yesterday) morning I emailed her a quick note to follow and for feedback, and got a reply within a few hours. I was SOOO excited! And felt SOOO much better instantly upon reading her words "I LOVED the photos." She's going to order some custom work too! I'm so excited!

I've learned so much...it's a huge learning curve, but I'm really excited for the journey and getting established in this venture.

I did some volunteer violin playing today - for a kids' Spanish class. Once again b/c someone asked (I've discovered that I rarely volunteer my talents) - and I'm going to help them out with their "program" next Tuesday evening.

It's cool b/c the classes are held at this art center here (small pottery center). While I was there a mother asked if I taught violin. She had a difficult time locating a violin teacher for her son, but found one in CC. I told her I used to, but I don't anymore. A few peeps have asked me about if I teach violin - I reply "not anymore"...but it always gets me to thinking.

It was fun to guide the kids and teach them a bit or two about music today...but would I want to teach again? I do enjoy aspects of it - like helping kids to learn. It's certainly NOT for the pay. Get more per hour doing other stuff. It's a thought...but that would be too much on my plate. I already don't give H as much attention as she would like.

I know some people say blogging should be short and about a point or something interesting that others would want to read about what not... but this is my musings blog...so I can go off on whatever...mostly what's in my mind...
and it's mainly for myself to "dump some of my thoughts down in words."

So if you're reading, thank you for being a reader...please feel free to leave comments...and if you're not...well...then you're not reading this and you wouldn't have seen this sentence anyways...but then is there a "you?"

lol