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Hello my pretty!
A few years ago some friends asked if I would take their wedding photos. “Sure, why not.” Wow! Can I just say it turned out to be a LOT of work both day of and after. Don’t get me wrong it was a wonderful learning experience and I’m happy to say I’ve shot a wedding. Since that time I haven’t done many photo shoots. Just a few here and there for friends. I think I am definitely my own worst critic.
Anyway, a few months ago the little sister of the wedding I shot asked if I would photograph her wedding in September. She asked for a dollar amount and said she would pay! AHHHHH!!! I said yes, hesitantly. Since then my dad “said” he was going to start a photography business in the area. I spent several weeks getting a website ready as well as a facebook page. He did one special for a free photo shoot. Well he only ended up with two people participating, both of which were friends, so somehow my services got included. Since then we’ve done 2 separate shoots. Both of which confirmed, I need a new camera! {There is a strong WANT factor too but I feel like a new camera would up my game.}
Okay, well to be completely honest, I didn’t really know I wanted/needed a new camera until a few weeks ago. Matt’s parents were in town and during our all day shopping affair we stopped by Best Buy. I started fiddling with the new Nikons and well, fell in love! The new D7000 is AMAZING! So quiet for one. Has 2 memory card slots. Two programmable presets. AND a self cleaning sensor! {The bane of my current existence with my camera} And that’s just a few of the awesome features my current D50 doesn’t have. In. Love!
I’m not saying my D50 isn’t a good camera but when it came out it was the base model. The D7000 is the top model before you start getting into the actual pro cameras. Needless to say this bad boy comes with a pretty bad boy price too. I’ve been researching and found the refurbed D7000s are priced pretty well, and quiet frankly, less than my 18-200 mm lens I bought last year. Now my biggest hurdle is Matt. I need him to give me the go ahead. I couldn’t get it last month because we had vacation, we had to replace the water heater and we had to start paying for our football tickets. I plan the use the money I make from the wedding to actual pay for the camera but I need the camera before I get the money. Honestly it’s not a big deal and I hope to have it in the next few weeks. I’m just being dramatic!
I didn’t take a lot of time to learn all the ins and outs of my current camera so I want to have enough time to really get to know my new camera. I’ve already read a ton of reviews and found youtube videos with tutorials and such. So until I have it in my hands I will continue to lust over this beaut.
~k
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Pizza and Fire
Our weekend was pretty quiet except for Saturday night. Matt and I ran errands in the morning and while we were out we stopped at Trader Joe’s. We ended up grabbing some pizza dough, fresh mozzarella, and a basil plant (I am determined to grow basil dammit!).
Saturday night Matt grabbed the pizza stone and fired up the grill. We had decided to try making pizza on the gill with the stone. We go inside and start making our pizzas while the grill and pizza stone heat up. I had just finished topping mine when we headed out. Matt opened the grill and the whole thing flamed up. We laughed and he cut the gas off. Next thing we know the deck railing is on fire. Matt grabs the oven mitt and starts trying to put it out while I run inside and grab some water. A nice splash of water and the rail fire is out. Then I notice that inside the grill, where the propane tanks are are on fire. Crap! We grab more water and put that fire out too.
Once all the fires were out we surveyed the damage. Rail behind the grill charred. Christmas lights (from 2009 ish) melted to the rail. Keg trash can that had been against the grill, melted. Hose connecting the grill to the propane tank also melted.
That’s not even as bad as it first was but I didn’t get a pic. 
You can see the char on the rail and the grill and the melted lights. 
Finally, my yummy pizza. We cleaned up what we could and then moved the pizza stone to the oven. A few minutes later I had pizza and it was Matt’s turn to put his in the oven. Needless to say dinner was quiet interesting. We always have fun on pizza night, whether it’s smoking the house up and the fire alarm going off or apparently actually having a real fire on the deck.
Thankfully the whole thing wasn’t that bad, but we both know it could have been worse. The deck is in terrible shape and we are planning a redo in the next few weeks so that was fine. The grill ended up being saved when Matt found a replacement hose at Lowes. Needless to say the grill got a good cleaning on Sunday. From what we can figure, the stuff in the bottom of the grill caught fire. Then when Matt opened it up, I think that’s when it caught the rail on fire.
With that, make sure you watch your grill! Shit can happen and it can happen quiet fast!
~k
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Weekend Recap
I don’t think we did anything on Friday night except watch a movie. Saturday my dad and I had a photo shoot with a few of my friends. We met them at the Duke Gardens at 10:30 and couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. Sunny and blue skies. None of us had been so we just wandered around taking pics in various locations. We even stumbled on to a wedding rehearsal. 🙂 The grounds were beautiful and still had plenty of flowers blooming despite the lateness of the season.
Matt washed the cars while I was gone and then later in the afternoon we went to see Fast and Furious 6. The movie was AWESOME! I am super excited there will be a 7! (This is a total guilty pleasure but I love me some Vin Disel and the Rock!)
Sunday Matt played golf so I went shopping. I ran to Lowe’s hoping I might find a clearance peony. Still no luck so I ended up with a gardenia. I LOVE the smell of gardenias and I used to have a few bushes outside my townhouse. I bought one with the plant to put it under the deck, however once I got home I realized I would really need 2. Next I headed to Briar Creek. I ran to Home Goods and TJ Maxx. I found an adorable ballerina pic. I thought it would go nicely with my old ballerina pics but at 59.00 I decided to pass. 🙁 (Kelly wants a new camera so….yeah.)
Monday we got up and ran to Lowe’s to purchase another gardenia. Then we went to the grocery to pick up a few items for our cook out with mom and dad. They invited us over to their pool to sun and grill. The weather was amazing and we laid out for a while before dad cooked burgers. We ate and headed home.
Overall we had a really nice weekend though I wish I was currently home in bed!
~k
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Garden update
Here are some pics of things that are currently doing amazing in the front yard.
The top photo is the before and the bottom is after. I am soooo happy with how well everything is doing!Happy Memorial Day weekend!
~k
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Hibiscus
I mentioned my hibiscus in a post earlier this week but I didn’t post a pic. At that time I hadn’t actually take a pic of the poor thing. So here it is. It’s supposed to be pink but who really knows. Oh and I also found out my mom used to throw hers out from season to season. Ummm, I had planned to keep it year after year so I’m a little bummed to think I might only have a few months to nurse this little guy back to health only to throw it out. (Although, if it doesn’t die and actually makes it through the summer he’s going in the garage! Dammit, I’m gonna try to save him.) 🙂
Happy Wednesday!
(See the water ring around? That’s from the soil around the plant.)
~k
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Jamaica – Wed & Thursday
Have been posted on the travel blog. 🙂 I’ll try to get Friday and Saturday done tomorrow.
~k
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Weekend roundup
Matt’s parents were up for the weekend. After my hair appt Friday, I came home, met them and the 4 of us headed to meet my parents for dinner at Porters on campus. Matt and I have been several times and we really enjoy it.
Saturday Jill and Steve had plans with friends so Matt and I ran a few errands. We stopped by Lowe’s so I could buy more flowers. Lowe’s had a pretty poor selection so I ended up with a few geraniums. I really wanted more begonias but they didn’t have any 🙁 I did manage to find a hibiscus on clearance. I have no idea if it will make it, the poor thing was soaked through but for $4.00 I thought it was worth tying to save.
We got home and pulled up my pansies and then planted the geraniums. I got about half the pot filled with soil for the hibiscus when I ran out of soil. By this point I was super sweaty and dirty so I didn’t feel like running back to Lowe’s for more soil. I figured we could run by on Sunday.
Sunday the guys were supposed to play golf but the forecast was rainy so we all ended up going to Southpoint in Durham. After like 6 hours of walking around and shopping we headed back to Raleigh to find dinner. We settled on one of our fave Mexican restaurants Dos Taquitos. As always the food was delicious.
Today I ran to Lowe’s and picked up more soil and finally got my hibiscus in a pot. The roots were soaked through. I hope it will dry out soon and be okay. I’ll post some pics if it doesn’t die. 😉
~k
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Good bye vacation! Hello Anniversary!
Matt and I arrived home around midnight on Sunday. It was a long day to say the least. Thankfully I had taken Monday off so while I slept in he got up and drug himself to work. Actually I didn’t really sleep in. I was up and showered by 9 am so that was pretty good, for me at least.
Once I was up I started on our laundry, then I started working on the pics I had taken. I ended up with more than 300 pics from our trip. First I sorted out the ones I actually wanted to edit and then I began. Mostly they just needed a few minor adjustments and I had to spot remove on a few. (Not gonna lie, I’m a little pissed off about the spot since I took it to the camera shop and had my sensor cleaned a few days before we left. Good thing it was free!)
I got about halfway through my editing before I had to stop and run to the store. Monday was Matt and I’s 2nd Anniversary! (WHHHHAAATTT WHHAAATTT!!!!) Like always, we decided to grill steaks. I ran to Earthfare, grabbed a couple of filets and set out to find some sides. I was a little annoyed they didn’t have any green beans so I had to stop at another store on my way home. Anyway, Matt was pretty tired when he got home so he napped for a while and then we started dinner. The steaks were delicious and the green beans were pretty good considering I googled a recipe and threw it together. 🙂
It’s hard to believe we’ve already been married 2 years. I love Matte more each day and find myself constantly telling him he is a great husband. I hear my friends talk and I’m so glad we have the relationship we do. 🙂
Anyway, I have put some of my Jamaica pics up on my photosite. The link may change (I’m trying to change a few things around) but they will still be listed under travel. As for our trip, I will try to start blogging that this week on the travel site. 🙂
~k
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Oh, hello vacay!
It’s so nice to see you! YAY! Matt and I set out early tomorrow morning for our 2nd anniversary trip. Oh yeah, our anniversary is next Monday! WHHHHAAAAAAT!?!?!
Thankfully today is over. The morning started off kind of slow but the afternoon picked up and well, didn’t go so great so I decided to head out early. 😉 Now I just need to finish packing and a few last minute cleaning touch ups and I will be set.
Till next week!
~k
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Marriage is hard
You see this phrase often. Just yesterday I saw this in some article I was reading and I thought to myself, “I don’t feel like being married to Matt is hard.” I wondered what Matt thought about this so I asked him last night and he said the same thing I did, “being married isn’t hard.”
I feel like I need to say that everyday you have to work at being married but overall I don’t feel like it’s hard. (We still have our disagreements and the first 2 years hasn’t always been a picnic but overall it’s good.) I’ve been in relationships that were hard or difficult but for some reason our relationship just seems to fit. I think a lot of this comes from Matt not being the type to try and piss me off and me understanding and realizing this, therefore I don’t “sweat the small stuff” nearly as much as I used to. I feel I’m very conscience in my thinking of “is this really worth it”. Most of the time it’s not worth the extra energy to make something a bigger deal than it really is.
I have a lot of friends that got married around the same time as us and it seems like there are a lot of complaints, from small stuff to large stuff. I’m honestly so glad that’s not me, not anymore. We have our routines and things just seem to work. Sure Matt annoys me from time to time and I know I annoy him and that’s okay.
This morning I saw an article about contracting marriages for 10 years. This would be to cut down on the divorce rate I guess. You give it 10 years and at the end decide if you want to renew your contract or leave. I’m not really sure how I feel about this concept. On one hand, I would absolutely sign a 10 year agreement with Matt. But not because I thought it wouldn’t last past that or that one of us would want out but because to me that’s like saying I KNOW we can last 10 years, and 20 and so on. So if that’s my thought, then would I really need a contract? I guess not.
Honestly I feel like it’s a pretty silly “solution” if you were. I feel the biggest problem with the divorce rate is people aren’t willing to fight for their marriages anymore. I’ve been divorced and 1 person can’t make a marriage. Both people have to be willing to fight for it. I think we are a very throw away society now and that is reflected in the divorce rate. I also feel a lot of this comes from having 2 income households. Back in the day it was much harder to leave because women weren’t able to provide the way they can now. I’m not saying I think we need to go back to this it’s merely a thought.
Clearly I have no solution for this problem and I’m going to start rambling soon.
Happy Friday!
~k