San Marcos, San Antonio, Six Flags and the Riverwalk. Ate at the yummy Casa del Rio. I am flat out exhausted, and going to bed.
Joke of the day:
How many guitarists does it take to cover a Stevie Ray Vaughn tune?
-apparently all of them
2? What's the difference between an oboe and an onion?
-chopping up an onion makes you cry
:)

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Last night after lots of teen drama at youth, the girls got on the bus with 50 other highschoolers for the 15 hour overnight drive to Alabama. Then Josh and I had a great late dinner with Michael at Chuy's. This morning the photo shoot at the airport went great, and I think I got some really good stuff. It was so cool to walk in and see my pictures hanging on the wall. Proud moment for me. It was nice to have Josh as an assistant, i could totally get used to that. Just a little bit of payback for all my years as his roadie. :) Then we had to go buy him a new phone cause his croaked during the shoot. Had a nice lunch at the Arboretum, then some shopping at the Domain, then went home and had a nap cause we were crashing from only 5 hours sleep. Then had dinner at Z- Tejas, and are now waiting in the theatre to see Salt.
Josh got a Droid and I must admit it's pretty cool. He's the type that will enjoy writing his own apps and messing with the open source code.
Movie time..

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Here are my photos hanging at the airport

Kids are leaving tonight after church. (I wish my laptop auto capitalized like my iphone) Then i have a photoshoot at 7am. Yuck. (to the hour, not the shoot) But then Josh and I are free as a bird till Saturday night! Can't really go anywhere though cause with less than (where's the less than sign on here?!) 3 days, there's not enough time for to and from air travel. So we're thinking a couple of day trips are in order. Maybe go down to San Antonio river walk where we had our first date, maybe a small town in the Hill Country, or the beach. Plus, I may get a call for a job interview, so need to be close by.
So my spouse went and started a blog. Copycat. http://joshkarnes.blogspot.com/    Not for the faint of heart, he's rather long winded. :)

"Never say chivalry is dead". This was said to me as a 14 year old girl in New Mexico while playing tennis one night at my grandparents clubhouse when my ball went flying over the fence and a handsome young man went and fetched it and threw it back. He smiled at me as he said it. I will never forget that young man, nor what he said.
He was right you know. It's not dead; its merely nearing extinction. But today I was reminded that its not gone yet. As i watched my daughter walk down the driveway and this fabulous 19 year old walk around his truck to open the door for her, I smiled. I was so proud of him. Not that I can take credit, but proud that there are still gentlemen out there in his age bracket, and our family managed to find one. (Apparently he proceeded to open every single door for her that they came across - all day) Now who knows if they will ever end up together or just be really great friends. Doesn't matter, he has renewed my faith for the next generation. Maybe he will say to her one day "never say chivalry is dead", and she, like I did as a teen, will expect that from her guy too.

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yes, I'm an eternal optimist..

You miss 100% of the shots you never take - Wayne Gretzky
:-)

Ok I know this isn't a thought, but it's a fact.. I got a new/used MacBook! From a friend of josh's, dirt cheap. I'm very excited about this. I can now view and download photos in the field. And work on planes :) I'm a happy camper. Now I just have to go figure out how to use it..
Oh, and cook dinner too..

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Weekend: friday night we saw Inception. Good movie, but not sure about all the hype, it wasn't the best movie ever. Saturday I was sick. Not sure what with, just sick. So we stayed home all day and watched more movies. Sunday morning I had a photo shoot with an attorney that attends our church; it went well. Then I was sitting in our coffee shop area between services when a guy came up and said, "Hey I saw your pictures at the Georgetown airport, they're amazing!" Rene apparently has taken my calendar shots and blown them up and had them put on canvas for the walls. I need to get up there and see them.. So last night I still wasn't feeling good so we watched "Moon". Pretty decent movie. That brings us to now. I'm back on the job hunt. Having lunch with Nancy, then a paid focus group in town. See, you haven't missed much by my not posting this weekend.
Tomorrow Jordan is going with Michael to get a tour of Baylor. He goes to school there and is pretty much one of the only boys around here we would trust to take our daughter out of town for the day. She is pretty excited. They seem to really enjoy each others company :)
Wednesday night Jordan and Hannah leave for a youth conference in Alabama or Atlanta, can't remember, but they'll be gone until Sunday. Gonna be real quiet around the house this week.
I think this week I will entertain you with 'thoughts of the day'.. starting this afternoon..stay tuned

Tonight was epic. Erin retained her title. After about 10 games Chase finally beat her, once, and he went nuts like he had won the lottery or something. Running around and screaming. It was absolutely hysterical. During dinner all 9 of us were sitting around the table cutting up and laughing and Jordan gets a text from this guy that likes her and won't quit bugging her despite her ignoring him as much as possible. So the guys wanna take care of it for her. The resulting picture below is plan A. They have lots of plans. I love these guys..

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no crossing the Jordan

3 guitars going , and not one if them is my husband! He must be exercising great restraint..

Another busy day, but we are now prepping for the big rematch tonight. The guys (Chase, Michael, Chris, and Abel) are coming over for our bi monthly get together and tonight's the final showdown between Chase and Erin. There's been smack talk going on the last 2 weeks. Yes, it's only a Wii boxing game, but this is for the honor. Chase is a 20 something young man, Erin is a petite little 16 year old female missionary kid who lives in Thailand. She took him down hard last time and he has been hearing about it from his band mates. We always have so much fun on these nights. Good food and lots of laughs. It's just what I need tonight.
Hannah has started calling it 'big brother night'.  :)
I would rather die than miss these days with my kids and their friends. They will all be gone before I know it. And this once loud house will be quiet. I will treasure every one of these last few years with them.

Below are pictures of my Hannah leading worship as seen by me in the media suite while learning about the multi camera production thing. She did so good. She got tons of compliments after. I think she's pretty much giddy.
Jordan totally aced her exams. She got near perfect scores on the reading and writing tests, and much better on Math than most highschoolers and some college kids. And she finished in a little over 2 hours. I also posted resumes for a dozen plus jobs and made 2 photo cd's for people, learned how to operate a studio video camera, and barely had time to breathe. All in all, a good day.

Ok in case you're wondering what I'm looking for, here is an example of what I applied for today -
File Clerk, Bank Courier, Admin/ marketing assistant, receptionist, admin assistant, creative water garden expert, personal assistant, legal assistant, facebook(austin office), realty technician, and a florist. Yep. I'm open.

Oh, and Hannah gets to sing a solo tomorrow night in youth, and I get to see it cause I'm training on camera in the media suite in there! So proud of that girl. And Jordan has to take a 5 hour test for placement into ACC classes in the morning. Poor kid. Proud of her too.

Well things are getting worse around here financially. We're down to the wire on our taxes, plus we now need money for tuition, braces, and hopefully a car and insurance for a teenager. Yikes. So I have given up on finding part time and am now looking for full time. I want to be home for my kids, but at some point, you just have to pay the bills. We've made it nearly 17 years without this having to happen. That's not bad.
Again, any leads are appreciated.

So on friday night (yes I know it's monday night) we stopped in at the church family picnic for a few minutes and one of the people we talked to is Daniel, one of our staff worship pastors. We got to talking about Africa because he gets to go next month for the Xai Xai grand opening. I was sooo jelaous as he was telling all about buying sound equipment in South Africa, then driving it cross country to Mozambique. Then getting to set it all up and just the whole process of opening the place. That would have been right up my alley. I bet some of you don't even know I used to be a sound engineer. At our old church there were 2 of us girls that rocked the board. We even had shirts made that said "sound chicks". Anyways.. that would be such an amazing fun adventure, after all the work that has been put in, what a neat way that would have been, to see it through. And I could have shot pictures! Grand opening pictures!
Anyone got that time machine made yet?? I'd like another shot at 2007-09 please.

Back to my reality, my resume has made its way throughout the city. I have applied for so much randomness, there's no telling where I'll end up.
As I was helping prepare dinner, I put some green peas in a bowl and set it down on the counter and immediately my cat Oscar jumped up and started eating them as if I had put them there just for him. He had never had them before so I scooped out a few and he ate them from my hand!! That cat is nuts, he's the only one other than me that eats peas in this house.
Tonight at the pool, I sneezed and all of a sudden the place where my uterus used to reside (hysterectomy 6 years ago) hurt like you know what. Oh wow, the pain. I don't know if I tore some scar tissue or tore something, but  I was doubled over and had to get out of the water to sit down. I still am not feeling quite right.
I'm going to have some mint chocolate chip ice cream now, maybe that will make it feel better..

So tonight I got to serve for the first time in well over a year. It felt good. I helped out at G1, which is our new members class. I took photos and also helped tear down and clean up. While I was there I ran into the staff  media guy I used to volunteer for and he asked what I was up to, I told him I was now available to volunteer again and asked where he needed help. He asked if I'd like to run camera. I of course said YES! I've always wanted to learn that, it's kind of an extension of still photography. And CC livestreams our services and also broadcasts to another campus, so it's a big job. I start training tuesday night. I am VERY excited.
New day, new season.

Had a good time at the pool party today for the band and vocalists. We played three fabulous games of 6 on 6 sand volleyball. (And this was after playing hours of water volleyball) It was flat out exhausting. I ended up face first in the sand on several occasions. One of them was because my own teammate tripped me! He didn't understand the concept of staying on his side of the court. He's a college football player and he just sees the ball and goes for it, no matter where it is..even if I had already gotten it back over! Anyways, it was a blast, and I am gonna be sore tomorrow..

‎"Never look back. The past is a wilderness of horrors." -Sir John Talbot

So last night we took the girls to Zilker Hillside theatre to see Annie. It was..very hot. But cute.

Then today we went down to Barton Creek mall to go jean shopping. Ugggh. Not fun. We were there all day and left with one pair each. They found them at the last place we tried. Of course. It is so hard to find jeans that fit. Especially Jordan. I can feel her pain, it has always been that way for me. And now if you don't like your jeans pre-shredded or oober skinny, you have an additional disadvantage. Oh well, at least we had some success.
Now they are about to go to their weekly friday night extravaganza and I have date night!
Oh, I heard from the shoe company ad people today and apparently their company has had a "set back" in their project. Yeah, sounds fishy to me too. Oh well, God is in control, no need for us to fret, He has the perfect job already lined up for me, it's just a matter of His timing... not mine.

"You've got to know when to let go and leave. If a horse dies underneath you, get off of it."

My lips are sealed, closed tight, sealed shut, yup.

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Sorry its been so long. Been busy and haven't heard anything worth reporting. The photos for the shoe company WERE narrowed down to 3 people, and now, as of Monday, its now 2, including me. So I'm still in the running. The wait is getting pretty ridiculous. I should never have even mentioned it until I actually got the job, because now I will look like a loser if I don't get it. But I was just so excited.. And I REALLY want/need this job.
On the other job front, I am also in the running for a job at a law firm downtown. They said there was "an overwhelming number of applicants" and they have narrowed it down significantly. I made the first cut, but will try not to get my hopes up. Although if I make it to the interview round I may let myself get excited. I think I interview pretty well. :-)
I have half a mind to just go down there and introduce myself. But Josh thinks that's unwise and unprofessional, so I won't.
I do have a picture that's going to be in the September issue of the Dupont Registry. It's in an ad for Charlie Bravo Aviation. That's cool.
There's so much I wish I could do, I should just open a one stop shop myself. I'm your local florist, baker, photographer, travel agent, humanitarian, and spy! How would that fit on a sign?

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Had a fun day- ate lunch at Hula Huts, went canoeing on town lake, took a dip in Barton Springs, got smoothies, went to the pool, and Josh is about to leave to go be on a radio show where his friend James is going to have him play some of his original songs. I am wiped out, but in a good way.

tonight in my beautiful city..

Decided to hit a local regional park, and went down one of its trails. I just love it in there. It just rained so everything's wet and so green. You can hear all the birds chirping and leaves swaying in the tropical style breeze. Reminds me of the Costa Rican rainforest. Sort of. And it reminds me how much I love trees and bushes and grass and plants and flowers.
We are rarely quiet enough to really hear..
Lame, I know, just trying to see the positive in the world around me here, folks

Just got asked to go on a date! Cya..

Hate afternoons like this. Kids are gone, husband is busy, friends are busy, and I'm alone, again. This is happening way too much lately. Used to not bother me as much because it was a welcome break. It is slowly becoming the norm however. Don't like that.
Why can't I get a job?!?
Gonna go shoot some photos..
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Had a great time with the guys last night. I absolutely love having them over. They're a great group of guys.
After dinner and the Lebron James announcement, we broke out the Wii and played a bunch. Erin took down Chase in boxing. It was a complete shock to all. He has requested a rematch in 2 weeks.
I am working on bringing you some video blogs soon.
Still job hunting.
And the shoe company gig? Well he emailed me this morning and said they've narrowed it down to me and 2 other photographers. Good that I'm in the hunt, but bad that I have 2 competitors. :(   So I guess I have only a 33% chance of getting the gig.
This has definitely motivated me to put more effort into this stock photo business though.

Had a great long dinner with René. So good to catch up with my friend who has been gone for weeks. Saw another long lost friend tonight but didn't talk to them. You know how you just get tired of going to them and you get to the point where it's just their turn to come see you? You look at them across the room and think, maybe today?.. but no.. I guess not today. Their loss.

In other news I just heard the chorus of my daughters first song writing venture. She wrote and played it on the piano. It was so beautiful. I am so proud of her.

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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Teddy Roosevelt (26th US President 1901-19...09), 1858-1919

..As sweat dripped down her glistening skin, and her chest pounded a steady fast rhythm, she exclaimed, "oh my God, it's hot out there!"
This proves you just can't run in Texas summer heat after 10 am. Or do lunges coming back up your hill. I am a disgusting mess.

Just finished a long day of shooting and editing. Just emailed the guy 44 more pictures, and he already replied and said he thought they were great and would show them to the team in the next few days and get back to me. He was also told to ask about whether Jordan had ever done any modeling! This could be lucrative for the both of us!

So excited I can hardly contain myself

I submitted some photos on my stock photo agency looking for pictures for a shoe company ad campaign. I didn't think I'd have much of a chance considering the number of photographers in the world, but they emailed me this morning!! Asking for some additional poses! They said they all at the company agreed this girl (my daughter) was what they were looking for and they liked the style of the photos!!!!! Gotta go get to Work. (this is VERY good money if they pick my photos) (very very good)

Happy Birthday America! I love Independence day. I looove fireworks too. Especially when you're lying in bed and about to fall asleep and you are continually startled by your rogue neighbors launching bombs into the sky. Sounds like Bagdad around here..

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Just scored a record 4 letter word!!!! 114 pts!

2 photo shoots this morn..

Last night was fun.. as usual. Heather and I went downtown to El Sol y la luna. 

Do you ever wonder about what became of someone that was once a major part of your life, or maybe just shared a piece of it, or even just an experience? I think about people who I have done life with, and wonder where they are, what their life looks like now. I wonder if they remember me. Like there was this kid Michael that lived in my neighborhood that I used to hang out with all the time, haven't seen him since high school. Or another best friend Cathy that left for the military and haven't heard from her since. Do you remember being in a relationship and thinking there is no way we will ever not be a part of each others lives? But yet, here we are. Yes, I've been listening to that song by Pink "Who Knew",and it got me thinking. There's a line in it that says, 'if someone said 3 years from now, you'd be long gone, I'd stand up and punch them out'. You never know how long someone is gonna be walking beside you, before their exit comes up and they're gone, down their own road. Do you ever wish you could know how long they'd be around? Would it change how much time you spent with them? Maybe not take them for granted? Or would that put too much pressure on a relationship? I suppose foreknowledge can really screw stuff up. There are lots of things you'd never walk into if you knew then what you knew now. But you'd miss alot of life that way.
I think losing people grows us in some twisted way..
I actually think I kinda like the mystery. Never knowing if someone will walk out of my life tomorrow, or on the flipside, someone walks in.