Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Update

Hey guys,
I'm coming up from my hole for just a minute to check in. I have had a rough week or so. I've been thinking about blogging but frankly I haven't really done anything at all. Then I saw that not one but two of my friends have recently posted about having some of the same problems and I figure if they can come clean so can I. I have been feeling down off and on lately, but I think it has definitely become something more. I blamed all my symptoms (hair coming out AGAIN, weight gain, extreme fatigue, muscle soreness, etc.) on my thyroid since I have been off meds for close to a month now. But I had my bloodwork done and all levels (including testosterone) are normal. Seems I shouldn't have still been taking the meds? I guess hypothyroid might be a post-preggo thing for me - who knows. So anyway I am going to come right out and say that I think I am depressed. I took a questionnaire and it said, "You apppear to have severe depressive disorder." Then it went on to say see a doctor and don't commit suicide. haha. So anyway I have been all over the place emotionally this week and falling behind on things (work and maintaining friendships). But my girls have been checking on me and I do appreciate that. It's not something I'm used to having - a group of girls who care so much about me, I mean. Anyhoo, I am here and attempting to drag myself out of the funk. I start work NEXT week (boooooooooooooooooooooooooo) and I am really freaking out (overreacting?) about not being able to see the people who ground me on a regular basis for months and months. But at least work means I won't be able to lay around all day. However, I will soon be lying in bed worrying about school related crap...can't wait.
This was a total ramble - just wanted to let you know I'm still here. I'll post more soon but for now it's a bath and bed for me.
Love you!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Rainbow ~ BSM

I just love this picture. I know it's not the best quality and the light was very low, but how can you not love this? Rainbow socks (Babylegs) and a white toddler bottom! I have had a trying couple of days with Greyson - I haven't been feeling well and he's been a beast. More on that later when I have more time. For now let's just say that this picture helped remind me how stinkin' cute he is and that he is really only a 2 year old!

**PHOTO REMOVED DUE TO WEIRDOS****

Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Bush Report

Back with an update on the Magic Shave experience...

All in all the grow-back phase had been close to shaving for me...a little itchy, some ingrowns especially after exercising, etc. Luckily, little ingrowns are not that big of a deal for me. Something you may not know (or ever want to know) about me is that I derive a sick sense of satisfaction from freeing ingrown hairs. Yes, I will kick back with a pair of sharp tweezers and go to town. I don't necessarily pluck the hairs, I just release them from their little skin-prisons. It's actually very rewarding. And horrifying for you to hear, I'm sure.

Tim is still liking it mucho, regrowth be damned. He is Magic Shave's (and Christen's) new biggest fan.

All in all it's something I'd totally recommend. Not sure if I have the time or patience to do it every time, but as Christen said, "I'm not trying to be porno-ready every night." Plus it stunk up my bathroom like crazy. But I have had a lot of sex in the last week. So, there you go...

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Look Over Your Shoulder

Scene: Playdate. Moms sitting in the shade and chatting. Children running around in the yards in various states of undress.

Mama: ...so I told him that we'd just have sex every day for a month and see what happens.

Me: You know, our ob/gyn told me that the optimum amount of sex to have when trying to get pregnant is every 36 hours.

Mama: WHAT? Every 36 hours? 36 hours in between? Ohhoho, I can NOT go 36 hours without sex!

General tittering laughter from mamas

Me: Really! If you wait too long, the sperm get lazy and stupid in there...but if you do it too often they won't replenish enough...

Mama: No way.

Me: I'm serious! You have to wait for the tanks to fill up.

More giggles from the peanut gallery

14 year old son of one of the mothers that no one had noticed suddenly gets up and flees the area

BWAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaa!

I wish you could have seen his face.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Best Shot Monday ~ Sugar and Spice

I think I've been bitten by the little girl bug lately. It seems that my friends all have these gorgeous and sweet little things who are so dainty and cute. I find myself sad that we decided not to try to get preggo this year for money reasons. I never thought I could do the girl thing, but watching the mother-daughter interaction has really been getting to me.

Anyhoo, my BSM this week comes from a shoot I had with this cutie. She was up all night teething and was sad and drooly. Her mama was worried about not getting any smiling shots, but I think sometimes these turn out more beautiful. She has the most amazing eyes.

I think I just felt my ovaries jump!

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More Best Shots hosted on Slurping Life this week...

Sunday, July 6, 2008

The Smooth Vajayjay Dairies

I came across a post on my mom’s group message board entitled, “For Your Vagina.” When I saw it was written by my friend Christen, I knew I was in for something good. Tell me, how could I not read it? Within the first post, I see the words, “nether regions”, “barely there hair”, “cooter”, and “girly parts.” Sounds interesting! Christen was spreading the joy she (or at least her husband) has found from a wonderous product called “Magic Shave.” She said that through her “nefarious connections” (haha) she discovered this product which is designed for black men who get razor bumps on their faces. But apparently, it works well on your cooter, too! Blushing, I check to make sure this post isn’t directly addressed to me. Has she seen me in a swimsuit? Too short shorts? Has her husband been speaking to my husband? But no, she was just sharing the love.
I laughed my way through the rest of the posts and jotted down all the fun words for vagina (which I will be stealing an using here). Heather’s post actually made me spit my Diet Coke:

Now I can't get it out of my head, so I wonder if I'll try it too. Oh, the things you O'Mamas drive me to. I spend too long on the discussion boards, and it's created all sorts of unrealistic goals in my head now, like:
1. Feed my child something other than Oreos every day
2. Have an identity outside of mamahood
3. Clean my house
4. Have sex with my husband
5. Get rid of my bush

Word, sister. Word.

Armed with mama knowledge, I descended upon HEB for help taming “the beast.” Walking up and down the shaving aisle, I’m starting to feel sad when lo and behold I find it snuggled away on the end-cap next to the hair relaxer! And under $2 - score!

Once home, I pass the child off to Tim so I can get rid of my bush in peace. Reading the directions, I see “scrape off with spatula.” Spatula? WTF? Surely they mean the included little paddle, right? Wrong - nothin’ in there. I scrounge around in the kitchen drawers looking for a spatula small enough to maneuver easily yet firm enough to get the job done. Frankly, I’m looking for a spatula I can spare for ooooohhhh….ever. Something tells me I won’t want to stir the eggs in the morning after I’ve used said spatula to scrape my cooter the night before. Or am I just being a prude? I will not be using spatulas at Christen’s house in the future. I resolve to just scratch away with the metal measuring spoon I’m using to mix it up.

Armed with my supplies, I mix up the gray sludge, strip down and have a seat on the toilet with a hand mirror. I slather the mix up one side and down the other. When I’m done, I’ll not be “porno-ready” but I will have a nice landing strip. I check the time and lean back, legs akimbo to read my new David Sedaris book. I enjoy the breeze but I can’t help but wonder what David would say about this scene.

I forget to check the time and don’t look down until 12 minutes have passed. By this time, the cream has solidified into a lovely grey concrete path paving the way to the promised land. But no burning! Paranoid about getting it in the inner sanctum, I scuttle like a crab over to the shower with my teaspoon in hand. With the water running, I start the scraping process. Miracle of miracles, the hair is coming right off! I feel like I am painting on smooth skin!

The wad of evicted hairs starts to plug up the drain and I keep having to pull it out of the way with my foot. I once went to get a wax and the lady took one look and said, “Oh…You hairy!” I am not making that up. And if I remember correctly, I had trimmed it up specifically for her. So I was fairly sure this powder would not work on my pubes, seeing as they are spun from steel wool. But it did! Smoothest cha-cha ever! (“Cha-cha” being my favorite of the stolen words) I’m still skeptical about how long it will last - my body hair grows like that kid on The Amazing Peanut Butter Solution. All those Omega-3s, you know.

Tim was practically waiting outside the door. Seal of approval from him I think. And beer coming your way, Christen!

Love

Well, I finally finished the pictures from the wedding I assisted with. I was pleased with them overall and I had fun playing with them and trying new things. Unfortunately that takes FOREVER and I am very very tired of looking at these. Here are some of my favorites and the rest are on my Flickr strting here (and going left).

The bride was gorgeous as you can see - that makes it really easy. The thing was that she was so stinkin' cute AND had the perfect body AND is extremely smart (an engineer or something). She is totally the kind of person who you could hate. But she was very sweet. I think she was one of those people who have the opportunity to become a mean girl and then chose to become friends with everyone instead. It was nice to meet such a genuine person and I think her personality shows through.

The groom looks a lot like my brother in the face and it made for interesting shooting. Though the camera it really felt like it was Kyle up there getting married and I was totally getting misty. He just looked so darn happy.

The couple was very religious and had communion together separately before the actual ceremony. They were so giggly and giddy! The ceremony itself was held outside and I don't think you can tell how HOT it was! But that's good, right?

I enjoyed doing the candids, and I am proud of the result but it was A LOT of work proofing all those pictures!! Whew! I don't know if I have the stamina! AND I still haven't been paid my lousy $100 for uncountable hours' work (or gotten my card back!!)...

Anyway, here are 10 that I liked:

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Thursday, July 3, 2008

Bitchin' Bird's

I took Greyson to get a trim at Bird's on Burnet. I thought it was so cool there and G finally got a haircut that I liked. That is to say that you can barely tell he got it cut. But it's out of his eyes! They had free videogames and beer! Wow. I can't wait to go take some more pictures there. Next time I want to try to get Tim to get his hair cut at the same time but at the south location so I can get pics there.

I think I would like to start photographing local businesses here in Austin (for myself, not for business, obviously). I did that as my final portfolio project when I took photography classes in Fort Worth. I really enjoyed doing it. There I focused mostly on older family-owned businesses, but here there is so incredibly much to choose from! It looks like the business will be pretty slow in July, so maybe I can do this as a project! If you have any ideas of cool places people (I) don't know about, let me know! I think I'm excited about this! Can you tell from the exclamation points?!!

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