These are days......

I've been tagged!

  Was tagged yesterday by my new cyber-friend, Shawna at Styleberry so here we go!  7 random or weird facts about me......

1. I've watched Young & the Restless since my college days, 1985 to be exact.  That's 23 yrs. of watching the Newmans & Chancellors in Genoa City, whoa.
2. After 15 yrs. of raising boys I'm finally discovering my girly side again.  Since I couldn't buy pink for my kids all these years I wasn't even buying it for myself which is just crazy......now I'm obsessed with it!
3. On Dec. 1 I get to see my favorite band of all-time, Duran Duran, for the 10th time!!  Trust me, it never gets old.
4. I secretly wish I could be tanned all the time, I think I look so much better & healthier with a tan, but now I'm now finally wise enough to avoid tanning salons when the sun can't do it naturally.
5. I didn't vote for Obama but surprisingly did not feel the horrible sense of dread that I thought I'd feel when he won the election.  I'm cautiously optimistic that everything will be alright.

6. I had Lasik done on my eyes 3 yrs. ago and it was the best thing I ever did for myself.  I'd HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who's considering it.

7. I hope to live on a farm or ranch someday surrounded by lots of grandkids, kittens, friends and love.

Now to tag 7 blog friends......

1. Chasity  
2. Andie 
3. Margo 
4. Katrina 
5. Kara 
6. Tiffany 
7. LeeAnne  

Happy Veterans Day to all of our American heros out there. 

Omaha or Bust!!

Arrrrrrggghhhhh!  That's the sound I'm making this morning thinking about all that needs to be done before I make my annual journey up north to the great Nebraska Bella Motherland early thursday morning.  Once again being the great procrastinator that I am, I find myself with a lengthy must-do list but I'm certain I'll be able to get it all done in time, or I'm praying so anyway.  When people ask me just exactly what Silver Bella is I'm not even sure what to tell them?  It's not just scrapbooking, it's not just papercrafting, it's not just crafts......it's a few days filled with creating art, having fun, being inspired, laughing, getting away from the daily grind and most importantly for me, being around women I admire and who totally understand my obsession with art, glitter, creating and all things vintage.  I'm so looking forward to going and hopefully coming home artistically inspired and ready to create and tackle the holidays with joy.  Maybe the creative juices will even flow over into my photography?  Who knows but regardless, I need this time away and look forward to it with glee each year.  This will be my 3rd yr. to attend Silver Bella (you can see my photo albums from previous yrs. over there <----------) and it's been fun watching it grow and evolve each fall.  This yr. is especially awesome though because one of my favorite artists of all time, Mary Englebreit, will be there!!  She created a print just for us and will be autographing them at the luncheon......oh how I wish I still had my Mary guest room all in place so I could display it there proudly but for now it'll hang above my scrap table in our bedroom.  I promise to come home with a ton of photos and stories to tell but before I can think about that, there is soldering, laundry, packing, gift-wrapping and work to be done! 

Little Miss Jazzy is doing well.  She's had a few potty accidents over the past week or so but they seem to be confined to a particular throw rug in the kitchen which sits on tile so I guess if she's going to do it anywhere, that place is "okay" since I can throw that into the washing machine.  I'm just trying to stay right on top of her which is pretty easy considering she follows me around wherever I go like a little shadow!  She sleeps in her kennel all night now usually without a peep so I'm getting caught up on my sleep and don't feel like the mother of a newborn baby any longer!  Her coat is growing out nicely, I need to take more pics of her since she's looking so much better. 

Brown-Eyed Girl Photography  is keeping me busy this time of year but it's a good busy, I'm just trying to keep it manageable and within reason so I don't freak out.  Wish I could say that I'm one of those gals who can have 500 things to do each day and handles it all perfectly but I can't unfortunately!  I have a hard time saying no but thankfully I haven't had to yet and have been able to manage the jobs that are coming my way alright.  Shot a wedding with Chasity saturday evening which was fun even though they're always a ton of work and I come home with super achy feet which is what I get for attempting to look fashionable rather than wearing more sensible shoes!  I've also done a few more assignments for Schertz Magazine and have been proud that my work has been on the cover of the last two issues!  It makes me proud having folks come up to me who notice my work and it's certainly helping generate interest in my portrait business which is an added bonus.   

I could ramble on and on about the election, reality tv, Nascar, football, yada yada but I need to run and begin chipping away at this list.  Hope all of you are well, check in when you can, comment and say hello so I know you stoppped by!  Have a great week.

The newest addition to our family

Jazzy loves Juicy, originally uploaded by Jana P ~ Brown-Eyed Girl Photography.

Ok, I know I've been such a blog slacker lately. There's several reasons for this the biggest of which is that I just simply haven't been feeling "it" lately. Not sure what "it" is but I just haven't felt led nor motivated to write lately. Guess it's not just happening to me as I've noticed this happening to quite a few other friends who blog too, must be this time of year or something? Guess we're just all so busy and if something had to go, it was this but I have yet another excuse to spend less time online these days.......the latest addition to our growing brood, Jasmine. To make a long story short, my neighbor was trying to find a home for her. She belonged to her ill father-in-law who is unable to care for the 7 dogs he had in his home. He and his wife used to breed Maltese & Yorkes and I guess they decided to keep a "few" of them. Anyway, his wife passed away a year ago and when he fell ill last month he knew he couldn't effectively take care of all of them anymore and my friend thought that this one particular 3 year-old Yorkie and I might be a good fit. They named her Jasmine because I guess the wife loved the Disney princesses and because she's nearly 4 I felt it wrong to change her name now. I wasn't jazzed about her name but we call her Jazz, Jazzy or I call her Jazzy Belle when she's being a good girl and those names I do like so I can tolerate Jasmine I suppose! I took her in on a trial basis knowing she probably had some very bad habits and although she was loved, she was physically neglected and looked like Little Orphan Annie. She was flea-ridden, stunk to high Heaven, was full of knots & tangles in her over-grown fur, in need of vaccications and covered with scabs & rashes where she'd scratched herself so much due to the fleas. The first time I laid eyes on her I wondered what the *&%#+ I'd gotten myself into but her little face was just crying out for help and to be loved so I was pretty much smitten immediately plus she was a GIRL! Finally, another female in our male-dominant home who I could dress up and pamper. The thought made me giddy! She also had alot of BAD habits too unfortunately such as eating table food and never going to the bathroom outside.  She didn't eat for 2 days because she refused to eat the dry dog foods I bought for her but I knew that when she got hungry enough she'd eat it.  Although she still isn't crazy about it, she's caved and I know this will be much better for her and her teeth in the long run.  I guess they used pee pads in their house or something for the dogs, I'm not 100% sure, but have you ever re-potty trained an adult dog who's used to being able to go wherever, whenever she wants? Not fun. She'd give us NO forewarning she needed to go......she'd just stop & squat when she needed to go so I felt I needed to keep a constant eye on her at all times. Felt like I had a baby in the house once again, I swear. There were many times I wanted to give up yet I knew if I'd just hang in there and persist that it would be worth it and I'm thankful to report that I do see tremendous progress although we still have a long way to go. She did not like sleeping in her kennel at night initially either and would wimper & whine in the middle of the night wanting out yet I knew I couldn't trust her to be loose in the house so this is something else we've stuck with and that she's finally getting used to. So.......in the little over a month that we've had had her' she's been to the vet for a clean bill of health and shot updates, to the groomer a new sassy haircut & style which makes her looks SO much better and has a wardrobe that would rival Paris Hilton's. It's amazing what cute cheap doggie clothes you can find out there! This little 5 lb. lover has nuzzled her way into our hearts and is hopefully going to make a fun addition to our family. I'm not the most experienced gal when it comes to training dogs & such so if you have any advice I'd love to hear it! Welcome home little Jazzy Belle.

Juggling Act

I'm here, I promise.  Lots going on.......new job.  New dog.  Busy boys.  Trying to juggle it all the best and I can and if something had to go in my life to make room for the new stuff I guess it was blogging & what little creative time I had left.  I miss it though and I miss YOU guys, hearing your comments and reading about what you've been up to as well, so I promise to sit my can down and tell you all about it soon, k?  Talk to you SOON! 

SO much going on!

Hi All.  It's been a crazy week around here and it's only wednesday morning!  Just wanted to post an update of what's been going on.  If you read my "happy news" post then you know about my new photography gig with our local town magazine.  The next day after they contacted me asking if I'd work for them they called and gave me my first assignment which was to re-shoot the flippin' COVER shot for the October issue!!!  *gulp*  THANKFULLY the subject of the shoot was my friend/neighbor who used the photo I took of her & her daughter and got me the job in the first place.  She's a news anchor so I went downtown to the news station and we took her shots there.  The lighting was challenging but hopefully I rose to the challenge and presented shots to the magazine that they're happy with.  I took the disc w/the images to them yesterday morning and haven't heard anything so I pray no news is good news!!!  My next assignment is tonight where I'm shooting presenters & scenery at some banquet at our local civic center.  I'm not very excited about this shoot but I am excited about the opportunity and the challenge so I hope I come through for them. 

Workouts are still going well.  I have two more w/my trainer then I'm on my own to continue the momentum.  Javier is really stepping up our sessions and is pushing me extremely hard these last few sessions but I'm trying to rise to the challenge to get the most out of them that I can.  When our hour is done I am literally dripping in sweat and although I still get the occasional headache from pushing myself so hard, I'm going to do it anyway.  I REALLY want to see results and reflect back and see that all of this hard work was worth it.  I wish the results were as evident on the outside as they are on the inside.  Inside I feel healthier and tighter but then I look at myself in the mirror and it's just not as noticeable unfortunately.  Grrrrrrrr.  Despite all this work I haven't had a single person comment on how my body looks and I promise you that the first time that DOES happen that I'll probably give them a big fat kiss on the lips! haha 

My laptop is nearly maxed out to capacity and is running slower than molases so it was time to either get another or begin thinking about a desktop so we've been shopping around doing our homework and decided to get a new desktop this time.  Our family desktop PC is ancient and the boys use it to play computer games but that's about it so neither Steve nor I ever use the thing anymore and decided it was just time.  It was taking me hours to edit just a few photos and of course I can't charge clients for all the time it took me to edit their session just because my darned computer is slow so it cost me alot of valuable time which was becoming utterly frustrating.  Now with this new desktop editing will hopefully be a breeze plus it's an added bonus looking at images on a 22" high def monitor rather than a 15" laptop screen.  I know iMacs are the BIG thing now but we chose to purchase another HP computer because they've been phenominal for us plus we were able to get so much more bang for our buck so I'm happy with our decision! 

My parents are arriving on friday so I need to get busy cleaning and getting things ready.  Hope your week is going well, check in and say hello if you stop by!! 

Happy news friday

It's high time for some happy news.......

• friends from Houston are slowly getting power back and checking in when they can.  I'm happy to hear that they're alright and that most of them recieved little damage from Ike thankfully. 
• Project Runway might be boring as all get-out this season but Survivor starts next week!
• my birthday is in 10 days. :-)
• my future baby daddy is going to be on Samantha Who? http://www.sheknows.com/articles/805698.htm
• the weather has been utterly GORGEOUS since the hurricane and according to the hubster who jets all over the country, it's pretty much the same story all over the US which is awesome to hear! 
• things are rolling along again at Pink Ink Studios and the girls are working hard adding new goodies to the store.  I posted a new blog entry there so stop by and say hello. http://www.pinkinkstudios.net
• the happiest news of all......my friend who's a local news anchor here in San Antonio is being featured on the cover of our town's magazine which is mailed to all 34,000+ residents & local businesses each month.  They're using a photo I took of her & her daughter in the article and liked the photo so much that they called and asked me if I'd be interested in doing freelance work for the magazine!!!  Um, lemme think about that for a while.......SURE!  My first assignment is next week. :-)  
• TGIF! 

Locksley

Locksley, originally uploaded by Jana P ~ Brown-Eyed Girl Photography.

I have a pretty cool story for ya. Don't know if you guys watch MTV at all but they've been running quite a few Rock the Vote ads featuring a band called Locksley. When we were in Washington DC this summer for vacation, we saw Locksley filming a music video on the steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial so we stopped and watched them for quite a while since none of us had ever seen a music video being filmed before plus the song was quite catchy! I thought the folks with the Clinton, Bush, Obama & McCain masks on were funny so I grabbed my camera and began taking some shots. I posted this particular shot on flickr and the guy who played Obama in the video saw it and emailed me asking for a copy for his portfolio, I guess he's an aspiring actor. Cool stuff, you just never know who is going to see your work!!

Hope your week is going well so far. I'm not sure what's gotten into me but I've been a cleaning/organizing fool the past 2 days. I really honestly think it's the cooler temps that are motivating me to get moving! I know that sounds crazy but we woke up yesterday morning to super cool dry air so I thew open the windows, began going and didn't stop till it was time for bed and boy, was I tired!! Wish I could say that I was nearly done but if I keep going strong it'll probably take me another 2 days or so to get things completely done but it'll be worth it. It's been tough not having a guest room available any longer to use as a catch-all room, now everything in this house has to have a home or place to go and our house isn't all that big so it's been tough finding homes for all the junk, er stuff, that was in that guest room! I refuse to just cram it all into closets & drawers so that's what I've been working on so fervently while also trying to change around our stagnant decor and pretty things up around here for the fall. Busy busy!! Speaking of which, I have crap all over my bed waiting to be organized & put away or else thrown away so I'd better get going on that. Have a great evening!

PS....did you see that Cowboys vs. Eagles football game last night? Holy heck, talk about exciting!! Thankfully my boys won. :-)

Checkin' in

Windmill, originally uploaded by Jana P ~ Brown-Eyed Girl Photography.

Happy saturday, hope your weekend is off to a good start.......better than it is for many folks here in Texas anyway who are in the path of Hurricane Ike. Earlier in the week we were thinking that we might get schwacked here in San Antonio but thankfully Ike took a easterly turn and spared us here but my heart is aching for folks who are flooded out or homeless now. It's been a heavy week between the anniversary of 9/11 and then preparing for a hurricane but we got through and are now looking forward to a nice date night tonight with the hubby (I'm SO grateful he was able to make it home safely due to the weather!). We are going to a local breast cancer fundraiser gala that we attend every year w/friends so it would've been a bummer of have to go alone since it's our one chance a year to get dressed up go out! Hope you have a great weekend too!!

I'm still here!

Hello All.  Sorry it's been a while but I'm still here, alive & kicking although just really really busy catching up on things that didn't get done over the summer now that the boys are back in school.  Wish I had a really great excuse such as I'm preggers or I've been away filming a movie with Brad Pitt or Duran Duran asked me to go on tour w/them as their personal stylist & masseuse or I've been so busy w/photography clients that I just can't stand it but unfortunately I can offer no such excuses for my absence.  I blame it on lack of inspiration and interesting things to write about but hey, such is my life these days so if I don't write about my mundane life then what the heck AM I going to write about I ask you??! haha  I think the gorgeous weather on this summer morning has snapped me out of my funk hopefully.  We've had a long hot & nasty summer here with no end in sight however early this am as I left the house to run Ryan to early band practice I noticed that the horrid humidity was gone and there was actually a slight coolness in the air!  WTH??  So I returned home to quickly throw open the windows of the house that hadn't been opened in months and fill the house with fresh, dare I say it, fall air!  I'm sure the temps will quickly climb back into the 90s this afternoon but for now I'm enjoying a lovely cool morning breathing in fresh air and the kitty is enjoying it too. 

The boys have quickly settled into school and the year is off to a good start thankfully.  We have one in middle school, one in junior high and one in high school which makes things interesting and challenging at times, esp. when we need to be 3 places at once and the hubby is on the road working, but we always work things out somehow.  Wish I could offer cute fun first day of school pics but it was still dark outside when the younger two headed down the street to the bus stop plus they would've been mortified if their mother was outside taking pics of them in front of their neighborhood friends anyway so I spared them the embarrassment! 

So now that the kiddos are back in school I have a to-do list a mile and a half long of all the things I need to get done soon that have been looming overhead for a while now.  My first priority is my photography business though, getting it back on track and updating a few things and hopefully filling up the autumn & winter months with senior & family sessions.  I placed an ad in our local high school's football program which is sold at all the home games and from what I understand will also run in their other sports programs as well so we'll see how that goes.  Last yr. no photographers advertised there and this year there are two of us (of course, just my luck) but even if I only book once session from it, I've made my money back so no harm in trying!  I'm just really trying to target the high school seniors since to me they're the most fun clients to work with since they're all about having fun and looking cool.......my kinda client!!  Speaking of that to-do list, I need to get going on it so off I go but I thank you for stopping by and hope the weather is as pretty where you are as it is here.  Have a wonderful day!

Grab your tissues folks......

.....because it's official.  Matt & Shayne are officially splitsville.  I had NO idea till my friend Marra and my SIL Jan told me about this yesterday.  :-(  Why am I so bummed about this??  The fantasty if over but did I really honestly think for one second that they were actually going to make it?  I guess I did and I really wanted them to make it work for the show's sake because after all these years I still really love it and want to see it continue although it's success-rate is just downright pathetic now.  I didn't watch a single episode of Deanna's Bachelorette season but hopefully she and her ski-dude boyfriend will make it. 

Haven't talked about the gym or working out lately but I am happy to say that I'm still very much into the groove and going strong.  I took 2 weeks off during my trips to Arkansas and then to DC/Chicago but Javier claims that I didn't skip a beat and just picked up where I left off which was sweet of him to say considering I didn't always eat healthy and had my fair share of sodas and junk while away.  Heck, it's VACATION right??!  Who wants to eat salads in a nice restaurant??!  Not me.  I had a session yesterday and could tell that Javier decided it was time to really step up the pace during our hour session and I sweat out so much and got a tad nauseous when we were finished, so much so that it felt like we were back to week one, but thankfully other than a naggy headache that developed after lunch, I felt fine and actually woke up relatively pain-free this morning which is huge for me.  My arms and legs are slimming down although my abs/butt still leave alot to be desired, I think this is where the cardio comes into play and I know it's time to really step that up and begin burning more calories in between sessions.  It's been hard watching everything I eat with the boys here over the summer  but once they're back in school I intend to really work on my diet too and try hard to slim it down to 1500-1800 calories per day which will also help. 

Ok, I seriously need some intervention, folks.  I need to stay the heck away from TJ Maxx!!!  I go through this every summer where I'm so sick & tired of the heat and when the new fall fashions begin to arrive in stores I just love it and can't stay away.  It's not that I buy alot, I just love looking and yes, when I find the bargain of a lifetime that I can't resist, I'll get it but it's not like I can afford to spend a ton of dough right now.  I try to pick up just a few good basic pieces that'll update and coordinate what I already have like a great pr of jeans, a cute pr of boots or a new handbag.  Speaking of handbags, I bought one like this one in the pic but only in red for $39 at TJ Maxx and it still had it's $89 original tag hanging on it which is crazy considering it's not even leather but I guess these Kathy Van Zeeland bags are en vogue right now so there ya go.  I'll totally pay $39 for it but not $89!  Also snagged myself another pr. of Hudson jeans that are two miles too long but that can be fixed, right?! 

Alright, I need to look good in these new jeans so I need to get myself to the gym and on the treadmill.  Take care and have a great weekend!!