day nineteen...in which i have ingested too much diet coke



100 ideas by keri smith::number 12
Make a map of everywhere you went in one day.


i did draw a map of
where i have been
but rather than posting it here
i decided to post
a different map of where
i have been.
these photos represent
where i have been
in a totally different way...
and not in a day
but in what feels like a lifetime...
i have a hard time meshing my two lives
together...
there was before them...and after them...
and they have changed me so much...
i have changed me so much...
and that makes me happy.

there is a wooden christmas tree
plugged in by the couch
and i can see the glow
of the lights reflected in the window
beside me
and that makes me happy.

i received a phone call today
that puts me one more tiny step
forward towards
officially opening a photography business...
and an email yesterday from a friend that
i thought had forgotten about me
and today i emailed her back with some hard
questions...it was hard for me
because it felt like "putting myself out there"
but it felt good at the same time...
i watched a video blog of someone else's
good news...
tonight is greys anatomy and a taped
episode of glee with a fudgestick
and maybe even a mug of hot chocolate
while i sit wrapped in fuzzy blankets
and allow myself to be lost
in someone else's life a while...

but i'm always happy to come back to my own.

day seventeen...the night of the concert...


14's concert was tonight...
beatlesmania 2...
she did great...
i can't even explain how proud
of her i am...
how when i see her up on that stage
my heart expands
until my rib cage hurts
and sometimes,
my eyes get teary
so i force myself to focus on the camera instead...
telling myself i will take photos of her
that she can edit...
trying to distract myself
from the vast, uncontrollable-sometimes-a-
little-painful pride and love...
and i wonder where she came from...
this bundle of nerve and emotion...
of bravery and happenstance...
who can stand on that stage
under those lights
and belt out the beatles like she was born to do it.

where did that come from.


but this is also to explain
why i am late to the page
and running kind of scattery...
my thoughts feel like they
are all over the place today....

i have a ton of photos to edit...
emails to answer...
a wedding album to deliver
and wedding photos to upload...
laundry to put away...
kids to cuddle on the couch with
to watch the middle and modern family...
fimo snowmen to build...
a husband to snuggle with
{who is making chocolate chip cookies
for us as we speak}

so i'm scattery
and i'm late...
but you love me anyway,
right?

day sixteen....playing along with simple things...{a day late}


cold diet coke straight from the can
crossing things off the to-do list
red starburst candy
surprise kisses on the back of my neck
a clean house
a possible yes
new fuzzy flannel pajamas and big puffy pillowy slippers
raspberry flavored lip gloss
new jersey sheets
a perfect pot roast done in the slow cooker
deep relaxing sleep
birch bark trees
playing with modeling clay
the smell of markers
hot foamy bubble baths
getting lost in a good book

more simple things here...go see...
you won't regret it.

day fifteen...in which i do a last minute blurb and call it a post...


hmmmm...
i'm starting to feel like this is kicking my ass...
two days in a row
and i can't come to the keyboard
with a completed 100 ideas in hand

7 kids underfoot all day
including two 3 year old
adorable but busssssy twins...
a christmas card photo shoot...
one birthday party at the movies...
driving in pouring rain,
scared of hydroplaning...
one trip to horrible mcdonalds for supper...
an hour's worth of dishes to wash this morning...
one long nap on the couch after all the kids
had gone to their respective homes...

and i am done for the day.

hope to be back in full swing monday
with the 100 ideas...picking up where i
left off.
{in between an 8:30 am meeting and
3:30 photo session an hour's drive away...}

but i love my life right now.
love, love, love it.

day fourteen...in which i am exhausted and ready for bed


i had three photo sessions today...
one at ten, one at twelve and one at three thirty...
all in different areas...
then i grabbed some groceries
and now we are going to have pizza
with our own 2 kids
and the 5 extra kids spending the night.

my husband volunteered to watch the kids.

i am going to eat my pizza...
run a hot bath complete with relaxing scented
bath salts and a mug of hot chocolate...
put on my new fuzzy pajama pants
and smurfy tshirt
and climb into bed with a good book
{and maybe another mug of hot chocolate}.

so...
no 100 ideas today...
i will it tomorrow...
tomorrow, i will gladly draw a map
of everywhere i went today...

but not today.

night.