2010 Catch Up

Memorial Day weekend? Already? Where has it all gone? I suppose if I were behing honest with myself, the answer would be simple. Time passes, even when you aren't paying attention. And I haven't been. Why? The list is actually quite long, but I won't bore you with the details.

The long and short of it is two fold: I've been writing a lot (actually sold my first story), and I'm working on designing an actual website to compliment the blog.

When it comes to either, I'm better at one than the other (hence the sold story and no website yet), but I'm working on it. I was going to hire someone to design the site, then I thought about the fees and maintence. Every time I wanted to change it, I'd have to go through them. No thank you. I'm much too much a control freak for that.

So I'm attempting to tackle Dreamweaver. I've had the program; just never been adventurous enough to try. I know Photoshop (enough to be danergous with it anyways), and InDesign, and a little of Illustrator. What's another Adobe product to learn? Wish me luck.

As for the writing, I've been trying to get at least an hour of that in every day. And like I said earlier, it's paid off. My first submission ever to an anthology was accepted. Within 24 hours of my submission, I had made the short list and 24 hours later, it was accepted. The book is being published this weekend. I'm not sure of the sale date yet, but it will be soon.

I'm going to make an effort to blog more, but this also means that some of these posts will be about writing. Hell, they might be some of my stories. Who knows where the whims of fancy will take me. They've carried me through five months of no posting so far, maybe now its time for the opposite.

How bout a quick photo recap?

Our New Years party (besides being fraught with my husband gutting a road kill deer he had struck with his Jeep hanging from the porch in our backyard 30 minutes before all our guests arrived) was a little hard on John. But it was the best night of pictionary and catch phrase ever.

John: What you want your wife to do.

My husband: Die. Get a job.

Me? I just shook my head. I can't even remember the real answer they were looking for. The game disolved into hysterics after that.

February brought snow. Lots of it. More snow than we've seen probably in the last three years combined. Yes, we live in PA and yes, PA gets snow. But we're 8 miles from the MD border and in the center of the state. We don't usually get much. My reps in Syracuse laughed at us because they deal with this from like October to April. Us? It didn't stop my husband and I, but it brought everything around us to a screaching halt. I guess that's what four feet of snow in five days will do to you. I love the snow. Still do. But that was a lot.


March brought...

Huh. Don't remember much from March. Must not have been all that important. Now April brought girls' weekend in the mountains.

Three girls. Three photographers.

Three cameras. Lots of fun.

Oh...and Bear! Bear! Bear!

May brought a few things. Five days in Mexico. Some time in NJ with my brother, his family, and my BFF Toni. And severe baby cravings. My brother has the most adorable little girl and boy. And a BBQ of Toni's neighbors, I got to spend a lot of time with another little boy. Being surrounded by all the babies just made me want one of my own horribly. I have three wonderful (sometimes) step children that I've been with for the last almost nine years. They might as well be my own. I do look at them like that. But there's something about having your own. I want one. Which means I guess its time to go see a specialist at Hershey. Hell, if they can give John & Kate eight of them, they should be able to give me one, right?

May also brought the short story sale.

Whoo hoo! (That's for Sofy!)

My story is entitled Uninvited. The name of the anthology its going to be in Silver Moon, Bloody Bullets: An Anthology of Werewolf Tails. It's the story of Lucas, a character in my series who will be introduced in the second book, and how he came to be where we find him. There's no spoilers in the short for the series. It's just his backstory.

There was also my husband's parents 50th (yes 50th!) Wedding Anniversary. Some pics from that:

Lee & Shirely

Lee, Shirley and all the brothers (my husband's top right).

Some of the grandkids having fun with me and my camera.

I guess you can say I've been busy. Hopefully that's a good thing. And hopefully this means I'll be blogging more. Maybe my friends at the OWG will remind me with the weekly blog party post. And maybe I'll have a website soon. Hopefully. Maybe.

The Harnish Family

So Izzy found this little spot and thought it would be a great place for a family portrait session. Permission obtained from the property owner, we set out the end of October and couldn't have gotten a more perfect fall day at a beautiful location. Here are some of my favorties from that day.

Here's Logan and Marissa

The whole family...

Logan posing for me...

Izzy and Sue

Logan and Marissa

Thanks guys!

Ashley and James

So back in the beginning of October, I teamed up again with Erin from Graystone Photography for Ashley and James's wedding in Long Branch, NJ. Erin and I met at 5am on that Saturday and headed for the Garden State. After four hours of driving, including missing our exit on NJ Turnpike because we were talking too much and stopping for breakfast down the street from Great Adventure, we finally made it to Long Branch. It was a beautfiul day at a beautiful location with a beautiful and funny couple who were ready for anything! Here's just a few images from that day.

For some more, be sure to pop over to Graystone Photographys blog and check them out!

The rings

The bride and her bouquet.

The beach where we took the group photos

James and his guys



The bridal party





Another bridal group shot.





Celebrate!

Thank you Ashley and James, and thanks to Erin for bringing me along!

Jason & Family

A few Saturday's ago, I had an opportunity to hang out with Jason and his two daughers, Renee and Alyssa, and Jason's sister Kim and her two children, Victoria and Matthew. Despite a little sprinkle of rain that forced us indoors, we had a great time!

Here's the whole crew!

Poor Matthew didn't want to have anything to do with the camera once we went inside.

He was happy wearing his uncle's hard hat.
Jason and Kim, loving sibblings!

We had to do funny faces!

Kim, with Victoria and Matthew.

Jason with Renee and Alyssa.

...and the girls having a little fun at their dad's expense.

But that's allowed because they love each other so much!

Renee and Alyssa

All four kids, hanging out. I love Matt's smile in this one!

Thanks everyone!

Carmel - Revised

Dover International

So I had an opportunity to tag along with my friend Matt to Dover International this weekend. He is a mechanic for the Joe Gibbs #18 Camping World Series team, which was driven by Matt DeBenedetto on Friday. We got there around 9am on Friday, and with awesome views from the top of the trailer in the pits, to actually standing with the crew for the pit stops on pit road, it was an awesome day with awesome views and awesome photos.

Here is the view from the top of the trailer.

Here is the driver, Matt DeBenedetto.

And here is the team waiting their turn on pit road for qualifying, which they qualified 1st.

A cool shot of the car as it waits for the race to start.

The cars traveling the speedway behind the pace car waiting for the green flag to drop.

#18 car out in front, leading the pack.


Michael Waltrip standing next to me watching his driver #00 Ryan Truex win the points championship for the Camping World Series.

#00 Ryan Truex celebrating winning the points

And since I got to stand with the press photographers.....

The sprint cup drivers lined up along pit row for their qualifying.

#9 Kasey Kahne


#24 Jeff Gordon

#20 Joey Logano

#29 Kevin Harvick


I loved this shot, though it's a little blurry. It shows how close I was to everything. I was literally sitting on the wall in the pit and the cars were passing this close to me. Way cool!





Thanks Matt B. for having me come down and hang out with you guys! You all were lots of fun and a whole lot of funny to be around. I hope we can do it again soon! Just be sure to carry your whistle with you! You never know when you'll need it!

Carmel

Revised show...