19/365

oh, cameos.

so romantic, elegant, classy.

i love them.

it's as simple as that.

i love everything about them.

they symbolize everything i

strive to be.

this is my newest addition to my collection.

a pink vintage cameo

that i bought myself for christmas.

romantic at heart

18/365

i was driving home late

last night from durango.

i had a choreographer's meeting to attend

and it took forever!

but i'm choreographing two dances

this semester.

the first is a trio involving isis wings.

the other is a contemporary dance

that is all about demons.

should be pretty cool. :)

anyway,

i was driving home late and saw this wall in aztec.

to be honest,

i'd seen it the other night and i thought

about stopping but just didnt have the time.

i dont know what it is about it

that really drew my attention.

probably the way the light is hitting the wall.

it makes me feel stuff.

too jumbled to figure out at the moment,

or maybe the echoes of memories

from my previous lives.

either way,

here it is.

the picture is sootc.

(straight out of the camera).

i didn't do anything to it

though i started to but nothing looked right.

so i left it as it was.

resonance

17/365

took the doggies for a walk

this evening even though

all i wanted to do was be lazy.

i wish my schedule was tuesday & thursdays

rather than mon/wed/fridays.

it's nice having an hour class at a time

rather than 2 hrs a pop

but dang it!

i want more days off.

last semester,

last semester,

last semester!

anyway,

we were walking along

and there was this kitty

just chilling in the middle of the road.

kitty kitty bang bang

16/365

i finally finished painting

my bathroom the other week!

finally.

i've had a couple of wall things

that i've been collecting

the last few months

to hang in our bathroom as soon as it was

finished being painted.

it sucks painting when you're

painting by yourself.

john hates painting and so refuses to do it.

and i can only con my sister into helping

me do it every once in a while.

okay!

so it's unfair to say "helping" me

do it since when she does paint

i'm usually only a hindrance.

but it's only taken me about 6 months to finish

the bathroom.

but it's done now and that's all that matters.

dream

15/365

oh, my little boy!

i remember the day he was born...

little brat came early

while i was in laughlin with my dad.

i was suppose to be in the room

with my sister when he was born.

alas! i was not.

but i've been there for everything else.

and he's growing up so fast!

pretty soon he'll be a teenager!

holy moly.

he wanted to spend some time with me

this weekend while they were here.

actually, he started crying when

his sister and i went for a walk because he

wanted to go and spend time with me. :(

he is such a little sweetheart.

i say often that when he grows up

he'll be a true gentleman.

anyway,

we were outside playing around

while i was snapping pics of him.

i love love love this photo.

still waters...

14/365

toni and the kids stayed over for the weekend.

brandin was drawing at the table

and little girl wanted to join in.

future artist

13/365

i can't believe how warm it's been here!

like it's not even winter.

the one good thing about it being so warm

is that i can have shoots pretty much any day.

now, of course since i said that

it'll snow and actually act like winter.

so, i've been on the hunt for a spiral staircase

in durango.

finally found it after another photographer

pointed me in the right direction.

had a shoot there the other day

and i gotta say that i LOVE that staircase!

katie

12/365

went out to dinner last night with sami.

like i mentioned in the post before this one.

got some roses and chocolates after.

if i didn't know better,

i'd be confused that maybe we were going steady.

i mean,

dinner, roses, AND chocolates!?

not really,

she didn't get a chance to give me roses

during dance comotion last month.

anyway,

these two roses alone made my

whole kitchen smell amazing!

sami

11/365

so one of my very good friends is

studying abroad in

france

this semester.

i'm happy for her

but at the same time i'm so bummed out

that she wont be here

for the next few months.

=*(

anyway,

we went out to dinner

the other night at old tymers.

i love old tymers!

probably my favorite restuarant in durango.

they have the best burgers anywhere.

and did i mention the fries?!

old tymers

10/365

it's been a year and a half since we went on vacation. i'm not so spoiled that i want to go on vacation every year (but you bet your britches that i would if we could)! but we haven't gone anywhere  since we went on our UK trip.

this last summer, i wanted to go on weekend trips. nowhere far, just around like down to carlsbad caverns since john has never been there, to monument valley, antelope canyon, the grand canyon. there's so much to do and see in the southwest that i figured we would finally start doing and seeing everything.

but i started working at the visitor's center and i, alone, had to work every freaking single saturday. and it was minimum pay which made it even worse to have to give up my weekends for.

and so now...? i'm jonsing for a vacation... bad! i keep looking at the pictures from other vacations we've had. i wanna go to the beach so bad. but not like in california or anything but somewhere we've never been. like the carribbean or south carolina or italy or or or!

so, we have this... thing that we got from hawaii when we were there back in 2008. it's made up of shells and hangs.. i dont even know what to call it. hawaii remembered

john's doggy needs a bath soon!

his white fur is turning a rather dull shade of gray.

bleh!

i've been taking them for walks everyday for the last two weeks.

this has been successful in having them calm in the evenings. :)

plus they love it.

everytime i got to the door and start bundling up,

i can feel their excitement start revving up.

i put my shoes on and they're hoping all around me.

i pick up their leashes and they can barely contain themselves!

they're getting so good at ignoring all the other stupid dogs that bark at us the whole way through.

johns furry face dog is so cute though.

8/365

we were watching "diners, drive-ins, and dives" the other night-

i think it was new years eve.

in fact,

i'm pretty positive it was new years eve

cuz we were having a few drinks.

johnathan was a little foxed,

and kept saying

"we should make that!

doesn't that sound good?"

hahaha!

anyway,

one of the things he was talking about

was italian meatballs and spaghetti.

i'm surprised he remembered all the ingredients listed.

they didn't give specific measurements

but he still managed to get it just right.

it was delicious.

italiano.

7/365

I had a shoot with a momma and her son as well as his daddy today. i went to a spot near the river that i've used before but never in winter. it was perfect with the snow! only problem was getting down the slight incline to the river. poor girl was in peep toe heels, trying to get down the incline that was iced over and slick.

luckily, we made it down and back up with no incident and got some gorgeous pictures out of it. the little guy just laughed his head off at his dad and i got some super super cute pics of him cracking up. i may just edit those and give them to the couple as extras cuz they were too cute.

but this pic is one of my favorites from the shoot... a mother's love.

6/365

i love valentines day! it's my favorite- even competes against christmas.

so, alot of stores already have their valentines stuff out. i love looking through it, wishing for practically everything that's there. one of my favorite things to collect besides fairies are frogs. specifically frog princes or frog couples or anything that has to do with frogs and love.

this little guy sits on my tub. i finally scrubbed the shit out of my bathroom (pun intended) and my bathtub is sparkling white. it hasn't been that white since we bought the house!

anyway, this frog prince sits there and says "kiss, kiss" to me everytime i look at it. :)



5/365

i had a mad craving yesterday

for a banana split but it was

like 10:30 at night.

so after thinking about it all day today,

and after my vampire diaries
(which of course, we know i just cannot miss),

i mean, really, i've waited an entire month

while it was on a stupid

"mid season finale".

AAAAANYWAY!

it's back on now,

so everything is right in the world.

plus

damon finally kissed elena.

*sigh*

what was all this about again...?

oh yeah, banana split.

all chocolate with a cherry.

4/365

if you've been following
since my last 365,
you know that my neighbor's yard is filled
with all types of interesting stuff.
here is just another example of the
photographer's playground
that makes up my neighbor's yard.

this was at about 5:15 this evening.
i'm loving that the sun is starting to set
later and later in the evening.
i hate when it's like 4:45
and it's already dark out.
me no likey!

3/365

took the dogs for a walk earlier

and couldn't resist snapping a pic of

this barn and fence.

it's up the street from where we live

and everytime i pass it i always think

"man! that would be a gorgeous place

to take pictures!"

but alas, the owners are on the mean side.

at least, the woman is.

so...

until i get up the nerve to ask,

this is as close to it that i'll probably get.

2/365

we went back to newcomb today to help my momma with her water heater.

john roughed out the whole area for an electric water heater and it turned out that the water heater that was bought and paid for was a natural gas water heater.

anyway, we spent all day out there. it felt so good to just be there. that's where i was raised- at my grandma's house which my mom now lives in. to me, i'll always think of it as 'grandma's house'.

it's funny because when i dream of home, it's always there. in the house, around the sheep coral, up along the rocks on the hill, down the other side of the hill to the road. it's always where i dream of. i've never dreamed of the home we live in now and i rarely dream of the teacher housing we lived in when i was a teenager. it's always there- tse' lizhin. 

 

roaming around the area today and just looking at all the places i used to play with my cousins... it's bittersweet because the memories are good ones but the area is not the same anymore.

i knew those rocks like the back of my hand. i could run all along the top with my cousins from one side to the other and never fall off; we knew where all the dips and juts were, how many steps it would take to get over a certain rock, the trick to getting around a particularly difficult area.

we played house in the old camper behind the shed where i "cooked" with an old pan that my grandma let us play with. we'd find chicken eggs and i'd mix it with dirt and water from the sheep's barrels and make my cousins eat it since i was the 'mom' and also the oldest of us. (hey, they lived!)

even the old car that i photographed today was part of our playground. we'd play car or pretend it was a bus. i usually got to drive but not always. sometimes i was the passenger screaming, pretending that whichever one of my cousins was driving was about to hit a pedestrian.

now it's just a shell of it's former self.

like i said,

bittersweet.

1/365

i've been patiently waiting for the last few months for the first of the year to get here so i could start another year of my 365 project. as the weeks were passing and the countdown was on, i was so excited i could have peed my pants (not really, but you get how excited i was!).

i have so many hopes for this year and i'm optimistic! i have goals that i want to meet as well as being kind of adrift and having a "we'll see what happens" attitude. whatever does happen, i know that i'll be surrounded by people i love. ♥

here's to making 2012 a good one. sit back, buckle in, and enjoy the ride. it'll be a fun roller coaster with ups and downs, moments that'll make you laugh, scream, or make your stomach drop. i'm not promising that it'll always be interesting, stimulating stuff but that's life- c'est la vie!