think, think, think.

Is it just me...or have you noticed that since I've become a photographer my blog has been sadly lacking in written content. Maybe because a picture is worth a thousand words?

The other night Chickie couldn't sleep. My great-aunt Jean gave her some bedtime music when she was born. My favorite was the Bedtime Bethoveen CD. So she has listened to it almost every night since she was just a baby to go to sleep. And yes, she loves classical music. Today she was looking for her ipod. She didn't want to listen to mine, she wanted to listen to pretty music with "piano's and flutes" while she painted.

Lately she has been calling me in at night asking if I will restart her bed time music. She said she forgot to listen and she apparently likes to fall asleep during the first two or three songs. She was really upset one night because she said she just couldn't stop thinking. Turns out that first graders have a lot more on their minds than babies do. In the end we decided to turn off the music so that she could devote her last waking hours purely to thought.

I had a similar experience with my Grammy shortly before she died. It was early in the morning and we were getting ready to take her to dialysis. She was all dressed and I needed to go get ready. I asked her if she'd

like to turn on the TV while I got dressed. We flipped through a few channels together and then I left. When I came back to her room it was quiet again. I asked her if she couldn't find anything interesting. She said, "Sometimes when your own life is so full, you don't have any room for that.... Do you know what I mean?" "Yes, Grammy. I know what you mean." We sat there quietly. Sometimes life is so full there are no words for such a moment.

Just a few unrelated thoughts about thought. I've had a lot on my mind lately. But none of it is conclusive. Does that ever happen to you? I think too much in general anyway. At least now I know I'm not the only one.

And I thought I didn't have any pictures for this post until I remembered our recent trip to the corn maze. Yes sometimes in life you end up at a dead end or biff it in the mudd, but it is still quite the adventure! You might as well laugh and enjoy it as much as possible.

first grade

Olivia drew this at school. It made me so happy. She has a good life. It says from left to right: I like my family, I like to watch my show, I like to play dress up, I like to go to my friends house, I like to read, I like to hold my bunny, I like to play tennis, I like to swim.

Today I'm going to her school to be the Friday Friend for the first grade. I am going to read Emily's Art by Peter Catalonotto it is one of our favorite books. And then I'm going to talk about my job. Speaking of which I just posted some new photo shoots on my blog last night. :)

Then (because I know you want the play by play of my day) we are going to buy supplies for making some pretty rockin' Halloween costumes. We have a few days off from school and I am planning on staying home and sewing. I had to go to too many places over the past two weeks and I've realized something about myself that I should have already known. I really would just rather stay home and make things.

Since I'm the Queen of getting ahead of myself...

I have a new photo blog and it's so pretty that I can't stop looking at it! And the sad thing is that I haven't even posted anything on it yet! How funny is that! But guess what! I designed my very own favicon! I think that's the think I'm most excited about!

That's enough exclamation points for one post. I'm going to bed now. And tomorrow I'm going to go to Knoxville for a fun engagement shoot! (ok just one more exclamation point)

You just can't make stuff like this up!

Today I did something I'm not too proud of...but I'm blaming it on the cabin fever resulting from a week of solitary confinement due to Chickie's swineflu/strep combo. How's that for a long sentence?

So we're eating lunch. Bentley says, "Mommy, why is she naked?" I look out the sliding glass doors in front of our kitchen table and see a rather large woman collecting walnuts from under our tree. She is holding a grocery bag. If she had been wearing the bag it probably would have been more modest than what I was seeing. She was wearing what looked like a bra and panty set. And she was bending over. And over and over. The bra was too small and it had a hole in it. I shut my curtains to protect the innocent. I peeked out for a moment trying to solidify if what I was seeing was really and truly real. It was. I contemplated saying something, started to open the door. I stopped myself because I knew it wasn't going to come out very nicely.

At this point I should probably explain that we live in a condo with a big shared backyard. And this naked lady is one of my neighbors. We haven't officially been introduced.

I call my other neighbor and bid her to look out her window. We start laughing hysterically in disbelief. Annie points out that she probably thinks it's ok since she is wearing a sports bra and what might possibly be bikini bottoms. We discuss complaining to the homeowners association and decency laws in our town. We laugh some more and hang up.

I go to my fridge and open the door. I have the sudden thought flash through my mind. I failed the test. When I was a teen/twenty something I was obsessed with magazine quizzes. It all played out in my mind.

Question: Your unsightly neighbor decides to pick walnuts in a makeshift bikini in the fall in your backyard, you...

A. Explain that there are children present, and would she please wear some clothes. Offer her an extra grocery bag and bring her a fresh batch of pumpkin muffins to thank her for being such a great sport about the whole thing.

B. Shut your curtains and laugh it off, people are quirky.

C. Call a friend and laugh at your neighbor together. And blog about it later.

D. Take a video and post it on YouTube.

E. Call the police.

In my mind, when filling out the answers in the magazine, I would think I'd be person A. Maybe B would have been the best thing to do. But no. In actuality I chose C. I'm a terrible person. But in my defense... it was one of those moments so unbelievable that it really had to be shared.

So maybe my neighborhood is kinda worse than I thought it was. And I have never had one moments second thought about moving here. Everything has been really great. Except one thing. I miss living in a town where we can afford a really nice house. Kind of a lot.

I'm thankful for the weather today it was really nice...maybe a little too nice.

So seriously though! What would YOU have done? I really want to know.

my sweet Grammy

My Grammy with her older sister my Great Aunt Jean

My Grammy died on September 10th. We went to Moab, UT to be with family and to help with and attend her funeral services. I felt really proud of my family. The services were perfect. We had a viewing, a traditional funeral at the graveside, and a family memorial service up at Warner Lake. Warner was the place she loved. She said being there filled her soul. We told stories about her. More that made us laugh than made us cry. It seems she made everyone feel like family, and accepted us all in spite of our differences. I loved her very much. She was a huge influencing factor in my life. I feel different now. I have to be more of a grown up now. I am going to take some time and try to make my home look slightly more grown up. That sounds so funny, but I'm serious. Hopefully I'm capable of having a grown up house. I think some of the old college paintings might have to come down. Grammy was always one to get things done. I think I definitely inherited that. But I'm going to take some time to make sure I'm moving forward and getting the best things done. Move forward with a specific purpose. So I may be a little quiet here on my blog for a bit longer.

I'm thankful for many, many good memories. I'm especially thankful that I chose to live with her the summer after my freshman year in college. We had a lovely time together and she taught me to quilt, one of her greatest passions in life.

this weekend

We hunted for treasure, and found it.

We got to be a part of something wonderful! We went back to Knoxville for Addison's baptism.

I had to laugh when I was taking these pictures I told Ryan and Add to just talk to each other and interact. Ryan then gave Addison a hug and then he said in the sweetest, most natural way, "Now hug me on the other side." Now you can tell his wife (my dear friend Heather) is awesome about taking great pictures of her family.

I miss these guys! But I'm glad we live within driving distance.

And I sewed! Finally got a little done on Chickie girl's quilt.

What did you do?

new frontiers

I just put Andrea Larsen Photo on Facebook! How exciting. You can become a fan and make my day! Right now I have 2 fans and one of them is me. Hopefully I will have a few more by the end of the day. I'm also running a special. You ready for this? If you book in September $150 for a 1 hour photo shoot with 10-15 edited images in color and black and white on a disc! Editing makes all the difference my friends. I may throw in all the un-edited images as well. I can't decide if it's more overwhelming to get a disc with 100+ images or if people would rather just have the really great ones. Any thoughts?