AZchick

• University of British Columbia next semester! - with a serious contemplation of a switch in Majors (graphic design, photography, or English/Secondary Education... maybe).


• No really big plans for summer yet. I think we just booked a condo in Mexico for a few nights in late June, and Courtney (hopefully) is coming to visit for a bit in July. School starts... September 5th, I believe, so I'll be headed up there in late August.


• Everything is swell with the family. I have no idea what Caleb's plans are next semester, but as far as future-career plans, he's still headed down the game-design track. "Dad's" school is opening another campus for the Fall, so that's kind of exciting. And mom is still working at the hospital.


• My grandparents (from my mom's side) came down to visit in... early April, I think it was. 'Twas nice seeing and spending time with them! We took them down to Mexico as well. Actually, there's a funny story attached to that trip (haha, I don't think the Body's have any trips without funny/ironic stories attached). Anyway, we bought these huge bags of Cheetotis (knock-off of Cheetohs), to bring back as gifts. And when I say huge, I mean huge... (here's a photo from our last trip when we saw them - )
  So anyway, we bought two of these bags, and of course, with the 6 of us in the van, we had to strap them to the roof. We found a trash bag and put one in there, and then the other one just on top of the roof, and tied them down with bungee cords. A few hours out, somewhere in Southern Arizona, my mom looks in the rear-view mirror and sees this trail of Cheetotis behind us... So we all turn around to look, and here we were littering them all over the road, and they were bouncing off the windshield of the car behind us... and the entire back of the car was covered in orange Cheetoti dust. Haha, I don't know why I didn't take a photo! Ah well. It was quite funny though, and we ended up having to sit with these huge (not terribly pleasant smelling) bags in our laps for the remaining (not terribly short) ride.


• Oh, and a family photo (missing Caleb!):
  


• I just got back from a trip to NC. I went for Courtney's graduation/birthday, so that was really fun. And, of course, another picture for you...
  


• And, lastly, I finally acquired a new laptop! (No, it's not a Mac.) Aside from the (somewhat-expected-and-increasingly-annoying) Vista flaws, it seems quite swell and I quite enjoy it! It's an HP tx1127cl... 12" Dual Core and touchscreen/tablet!
  

I have a bit of news, but I’m holding off until I’m sure of it. Though most of you probably already know. I just don’t want to get prematurely excited like the NY/Canada trip…

Anyway, I’ll be back shortly with a more informative update. Until then, have a photo.

Originally published at www.azchick.com. Please leave any comments there.

I know I'm a little, but better late than never, eh?

As for the drought of updates:
I ended up going on a (semi) last minute trip to NC.  I went to the beach with Courtney for a week, and then did stuff around Greensboro for a few days.  It was a nice trip; definitely nice to get away for a bit! :)

Then my old server died... again.  So I switched to a new host, which resulted in me having to re-upload everything.  I've been a bit busy and just haven't gotten around to doing anything until now!

Anyway, school started last Monday.  I'm terribly overwhelmingly excited with my classes (or ASU...), but oh well!  My photo job also started up again last Saturday (with a long day, I might add... 3am-6pm - Yikes!)

Speaking of photos, I decided to change the way my photos are!  I'm making it more of a "portfolio"!  I think I'm also going to keep the gallery I have now for "not-portfolio worthy" things.  We shall see.  Until then, I need to decide on a button/logo thing.  Which do you like better?

A:

or B:

Preference?  Click either one of them to check it out!  Let me know what you think! :)

Until next time; have a lovely week everyone!

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G'day everyone!

The semester has finally come to an end!  My dad informed me the other day that I have circa 30 days before I go back - yikes, that's a long time!  It'll be nice to have a break, though I'm sure it'll be filled with boredom (especially in light of my recently cancelled trip... long story).  We're looking for other family vacation options, so maybe one of those will work out!

Anyways, I finally got Christmas cards out!  For those of you who didn't get one, I uploaded it for you!  :)  The newsletter part is a bit different (let's call it the mini/beta version, shall we?), but it's close enough.  Click here to see them!

On another note, I made this tree earlier today out of hot sauce.  Lame, I know, but I wanted to try it last year (I think I wrote about it, hmm...), but we hadn't fully restocked our collection from moving.  But alas, we do now!

Right after I took the picture,  Scotch jumped up and rubbed on it, resulting in several toppling over... Ah, silly animals.

Well, that's about all the excitement on my end!  I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmastime so far! :)

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Hey everyone!

I hope your Thanksgiving was spectacular, with lots of tasty food and such! :)

We ended up coming up to the Northern Arizona/Utah area on a sort of last minute vacation! We were driving most of yesterday, and in the small town we ended up at, the only restaurant open was Denny's. So we had our lovely little meal there. Haha, it was kind of funny...

Anyways, this morning my mom and I volunteered at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. We came a while back (4+ years) and toured, so we wanted to volunteer this time! It was really cool, playing with all the darling kitties. We ended up in the feral cat house (they have over 600 cats in various houses!), so they weren't all entirely affectionate, but still cute and some cuddly no less! Ironically, we both made it the entire time without getting bitten or scratched... So just before we left, we asked which house was the best to just play with the cats, and they sent us to the special needs building. Anyways, after all that, I was foiled ("attacked") by a blind cat (last photo!). There's a rather notable hole in my hand, haha, but that's okay. Gotta love irony.

Now we're staying at Lake Powell, for tonight and tomorrow. Sunday we're going to be hiking to "The Wave", which I am super excited about! I can finally cross something off my list! Anyways, until then, here are some photos from the animal place, our drive, and where we are now!

Have a lovely weekend!! :)

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Hey everyone!

Last night I went to the Beyond Measure tour, with Jeremy Camp, Hawk Nelson, and Adie!
It was an amazing concert, for sure!  I'm still working on my review, but until then, you can check out the photos, if you'd like! :)

[Click the picture to go!]

And now I must be off to class... for 4 more hours...  Yippee! :-P

Have an excellent week!

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I finally got a car last week!

It's a 2001 Kia Rio!  It's really small, which is nice, and it's a manual, so I'm still kind of learning how to drive it!  I drove home earlier today and I stalled like 4 times.  Haha, oops.

Last week I was trying to figure out various camera functions, and working on a photo assignment, and my mom was gracious enough to be a "model" for me, so I uploaded several portraits of her!  Also my mom and dad and I went to the Desert Botanical Gardens today.  It was the last day of their Monarch butterfly exhibit, so I took lots of photos there as well!  Have a look if you'd like [click below]! :)

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Yeah, I know, I need to work on my titles.

Anyways, my birthday went well!  Thanks to everyone for everything.  Far too many things to list, seriously, but my thanks is no-less heartfelt. :)

On my birthday, my dad and I went out on our annual little father-daughter-date thing.  There was some sort of 'bon appetite art walk' over in Scottsdale, with free food and lots of art galleries.  We strolled around there a bit and munched on all the tasty food!  Then on Friday our family went over to my grandparents' house to celebrate and open gifts and such, which was fun.

I've been wanting a better digital camera (death to dust!), and with a lot of my birthday present being money, I went ahead and bought a new one.  It's a Canon XTI Digital SLR.  Let me just say, it is a beautiful camera - definitely allows for more flexibility in shooting conditions and such.  Well, as soon as I figure out how to efficiently use it (ie it took me an entire day to figure out how to turn the flash off)...  Have a look!

And a few shots from it...

They're sort of random, but you can still see how they're completely dust (and noise) free, and how fantastic the macro function is.

Well, I have to be off to school, but I thought I'd write a quick update before the month was over!  Hope everyone enjoys their week! :)

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I got my glasses back yesterday.

It's such a weird feeling, though.  It's like, all my life, I haven't been seeing what everyone else has been seeing.  A tiny blur may seem trivial, but it's amazing what a difference it makes!  I feel like I've been missing the macro function on my eyes until now...

I've always wondered if maybe everyone sees something different.  For example, the purple I see, isn't the purple you see.  Like, when I see the colour purple, you see the colour orange, but we both call it purple.  Does that even make sense?  Or maybe there are colours that only certain people can see.  Crazy, I know, but it's kind of an ominous thought.  (Has anyone read The Giver?  My gosh, we would never even know what we're missing!)

Ok, sorry.  Enough seemingly incoherent babblings from me.  :)

On another note, I got this in the mail today - can't decide if it's cute, or slightly creepy.

A cake out of dental products?  Seems a bit aberrant to me...

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...And has nothing to do with this post.

Phew.

It's been an interesting day for sure!

So I think I may have already mentioned that the dogs I'm currently petsitting for were driving me insane.  Yeah, still are.  They ate my cell phone charger.

Oddly enough, it was plugged in when I found it.  And the whole top piece (like 1"x2") is completely missing.  As mean as it may sound, as Krystal said, "serves them right if it was plugged in".  Hmph.

Secondly, my mom and I were shopping for dresses for this Phantom of the Opera themed ball/gala we're going to in a week or so (for her work).  We went in this one store, and I found the most amazing dress.  I actually said "Oh my gosh that is the prettiest dress I've ever seen."  Now, mind you, I am probably the most anti-dress person you'll ever meet, and I don't believe I have ever in my whole life said I liked a dress before.  (It looked better in person, really...)

Anyways, I was like wow, I think I'm actually going to buy a dress.  So I looked at the price tag.   And nearly had a coronary.

Granted, I'm probably a bit too frugal at times, but really, come on.  Needless to say, I did not acquire the "amazing dress".  Oh well.  Then, while still at the mall, someone stole a credit card and money (and several much needed receipts) from my mom's wallet (which she left at a cash register in a store).  People these days.  Sheesh!

Then I got home.  And my computer had some serious internal error.  Asked my dad what was up, he fixed it (well, turned off and back on, if that counts), and was fiddling with the space bar (which has been skipping).  And it broke, and I can't get it back on right.  My solution?

So there you have it.  The happenings of my day. Not a good technical day, that's for sure!  Haha, hope yours was better. :)

((Laptop and iPod skins with my photos will be available soon!!!!))

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Clearly.

Just added some new photos!  They're from yet another digital photography project, this time dealing with space and time.  Take a gander if you'd like! :)

Time Stopped (pretty self-explanitory - make "action" look like it's stopped)

Time Blurred (something blurred due to motion)

Space (mess with aperture/depth of field)

Crab update: I ended up returning Sans the Destructor - he made me too nervous, not to mention, was a bit painful.  Got a nicer one from the place Sable and Sebastian came from, and name it Spock!

Sorry I don't have something more exciting to write about! Maybe next time.. haha! :)

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I initially decided on the name Sans, for my new hermit crab.
(Sans means "without" in French.  As in... he's without manners and/or a better name, ha!)

However, upon further review, Sans is too "nice" of a name.  So I had to tack on something perilous - thus, I present to you, Sans the Destructor  (even though it'll more likely still be Sans, for short).

(Yes, it's the same picture - but look closely - he even kind of looks evil, eh?)

Anyways, evidence:

The ball on the left is from Sans' "isolation cage".  Keep in mind, he's only been with the ball for 3 or so days.

The one on the right, is from Sable & Sebastian's cage/tank/whatever.  They've had it for several weeks.

Plus, Sans attempted to assault both Sable and Sebastian earlier this morning (I was trying to be nice, so I put him with the others, he looked lonely...).  He climbed on top of Sable, and was pinching down at his eyes and legs.  And then he just up and full on attack Sebastian.  Needless to say, Sans is once again in isolation.  And I'm seriously contemplating returning him. (Can you return hermit crabs?!)

Oh well.

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[Originally Posted at www.azchick.com]

Well then, I didn't expect to be updating for a while - had a bit of a "scare" with my server, but it seems to be back up and running again.  They recommended switching to a new server as they are having difficulty with this one, so we'll see what happens!  Now, on to more "exciting" things!

I decided to get a head start on fall, so I bought and carved a pumpkin earlier this week!  'Twas quite fun - here's a photo or two!

I "loved" the orangey colour!

Also, I got another hermit crab the other day.  Only thing is, he's not the friendliest of fellows.  He gets really freaked out when you mess with him, and he pinches like crazy!  He actually pinched my dad yesterday and made him bleed!  Silly crab!

He's really really dark coloured, almost black.  I'm kind of afraid he has "shell disease", but I'm probably just paranoid.  (Just to be on the safe side, I have him isolated from my other two - for now - so they don't get sick too!)   Anyways, hopefully he'll be nicer!

Let's see, what else... Oh, yes!  I got a job!  It was one I applied for online, not entirely expecting a response, but what do ya' know, I got one!  I'm a "youth sports photographer" - it's pretty self explanatory - you know, the posed shots with the kid and the bat/ball/glove and then the team shots.  I get to work with kids and cameras, so it's pretty nifty! It's only a few hours on the weekends so it won't interfere with school and such.  (And the pay's not too bad either... $20/hr!)

Lastly, I uploaded about 50 new pictures!  They're a series on the train track from my digital photo class.  Check 'em out!

That's all for now!  Hope everyone is doing exceptionally well! :-D

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First, a new photo!  I'm rather fond of it if I may say so myself! :)

Now, another story...

So during class the other night, a fellow student decided to "make fun of" the way I write.  Well, not really make fun of.  More like "HA!  You write funny.", in a non-threatening-not-trying-to-be-mean kind of way.  Or so I think.  Anyways, that's really beside the point.

We thus discovered that I do not hold my pencil properly.

Example A:  The correct way to hold a pencil (except it's a marker... just pretend it's a pencil)

Example B:  My way.  Which is apparently, not correct.

Naturally I figured it was just a family thing, you know.  Except it's not.. I'm the only one in my family who holds it this way.  And I can't for the life of me figure out why I write like this.  Oh, and when I try to write "normal", I'm pretty unsuccesful (the bottom writing sample below).

Does anyone else write funny like me?!

The bad thing is, that's probably not going to be good being a teacher...  Haha, all my kiddos are going to write funny.  Oh well.  I think I want to teach 5th grade instead of 3rd now.  And hopefully kids know how to write by then...

(Sorry for the blurryness... I've also discovered I can't take very clear photos with my left hand... Ha!)

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I decided I should do something a bit more productive with time off.

So... I made a new crabitat for Sable and Sebastian!
Krystal has officially labeled me a dork for my valiant efforts.  :-P

Anywho, without further adieu -

Sable enjoying his brand new super fantastic orange paper origami boat!

I have no idea what Sable was up to here.  He ended up getting stuck between the coco-hut and the little log, so I had to rescue him.  Haha, silly crab!

So there you have it.  A glimpse at what I do in my spare time!

Perhaps it's a tribute to good 'ole Steve Irwin.  It's a tiny contribution to helping better the lives of wildlife - or in this case, my darling crabs.  :)

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