I have to remind myself that it's ok to take artistic license. I have to get that voice out of my head (my college photography instructor's voice) that says "that's overexposed! you messed with the colors! why all the contrast! enough with the sepia!" and just do my own thing. I think, maybe, some might say it's ok if not every picture looks like it was shot in your elementary school gym, with that ridiculous neon laser backdrop, in 1993. That's what I'm remembering now about that class - the instructor was SO moderate on everything photographic, and he wanted everything to look, I hate to say it, bland.
He'd have failed me for this shot. And I think it's not half bad! Photography isn't really about reality, is it? Otherwise, why would anyone even hire a photographer. I have to stop worrying about my exposure and just get on with it.

I launched my website today! You can see it here. Launching a website involved doing a whole bunch of things I havn't done in a very long time. It was a painstaking process, but overall, I'm satisfied with the finished product. Actually, I'm feeling great about the whole thing. I'm at such a good place in life right now - I've really never been happier, and things just keep improving. I'm really on a roll.

I was the only person to show up to my Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga class today, so my teacher, Shelley, decided she and I would do the ENTIRE primary series. So we did this. Yes, every pose. Did I know I could do a wide-legged forward fold, get the top of my head on the floor, then interlace my fingers together behind my back and leverage my arms onto the floor (3rd row, 9th from the left)? No, I did not know that. But apparently I can. I'm feeling just a little worn out right now, and a bit like my right leg might fall off. I wonder: will I be able to walk tomorrow?

A storm is rolling in and I'm falling asleep. Good night! Tomorrow promises to be an exciting day!

I hate wearing socks to bed. I have to fight off instinct not to take them off when I crawl in. Here's the problem: when I get up in the middle of the night with my little one and put her back to sleep, it then follows that I have to go back to my own room, and if I'm not wearing socks, the sound of my feet peeling off the floor will wake her up, and we'll have to start again. It never used to be hard to put her back to sleep; it took only seconds. Lately it's been a little more difficult, though she's sleeping through more often than not. I've found that she will almost always sleep straight through the night if I wear my socks to bed right from the get-go.

She's begun nodding. She'd been shaking her head "no" for three or four weeks now, and we were trying to get her out of the habit, and then last night she came up to Layton and I on the couch and began nodding with a big, self-satisfied smile on her face. It's too cute.

My cold is all but gone, which is nice and quite amazing. I was so out of it yesterday that I apparently put the grapes in the freezer. Layton discovered this and made fun of me for it, but then left them in there so, really, who's the idiot?

I am sick. I had a bit of a scratchy throat yesterday so I took Cold FX for it (I'm still not convinced that stuff works, but it's certainly worth trying) and woke up in the middle of the night nauseous and with a pounding headache. Luckily, the baby stayed quiet until nearly six in the morning (I know she woke up at one point and played with her crib aquarium, but then went back to sleep) but when I got up with her, I was woozy and ineffective and Layton ended up getting up and sending me back to bed. She still wouldn't go back to sleep so he brought her into our bed, which I don't like to do but I needed the sleep and so did he. The baby and I slept til 8:30, and then I found some daytime cold medication (that stuff definitely works) and got on with the day. I hate being sick. It's especially crappy that I don't get to enjoy the last two weeks (or week and a half, we will see) of my mat leave with a nasty cold. Lovely.

Our weekend at the cabin was cut short because the baby appears to have seasonal allergies and was up most of Friday night with a stuffy nose and watery eyes. We stayed until after dinner Saturday and then drove home - she's still recovering, but at least we all got some sleep last night. Apart from all her suffering (the kid was NOT stoic at all) it was a really nice weekend. On Saturday morning, after I got some sleep, we decided to head into town to wander around and do some shopping. I had been taking pictures since the minute I got there, but decided against bringing it into town. I've been there a thousand times; there's not much to see.

Or so I thought. The first thing we happened upon when we got there was a soap box derby! We stayed and watched for a while, and I snapped a few shots with my crappy point-and-shoot pocket camera and truly regretted my brand new 55-200mm lens sitting back at the cabin. After that, we went to the main strip to do some shopping, but had to park a couple blocks away because they were having a "Fabulous 50's" fair! It was still early and things were just getting underway and me with no camera. It was so disappointing.

Coming home Saturday night worked out well. It was almost like having a long weekend, and we got a lot done that we otherwise would not have, namely a little more work on the mini bathroom reno and a small amount of yard work. The baby is still stuffy but certainly improved.

My cell phone contract expired last month and I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade or just stick with what I have. My LG Dare is only a year and a half old and still works perfectly (in fact, I only have to charge the battery once a week) but I kind of want an iPhone. It would cost me a little more on a monthly basis but it'd replace my piece of crap iPod. I'm not sure. I think I'll walk over to the mall tomorrow and ask some questions and then I'll decide. With something like this, I may as well just do it, otherwise I'm going to sit around contemplating it forever. It's dumb because there's nothing at all wrong with what I have now. But who doesn't like new stuff? I will probably sell the Dare once I get a new phone, and it looks like I might be able to get over $100 for it (I only got $42 for my Chocolate when I sold it) which will cover half the cost of he 16G iPhone (on a three year contract of course) and that's definitely cheaper than buying a new iPod...OMG I'll decide tomorrow.

Layton got off work early so we're going early!!!

I was driving home from my cousin's place yesterday and I saw a moose. It bolted across the highway ahead of me and then lingered in the ditch. When my car got close, it looked like it was going to come back up to the road, but then it suddenly turned around and jumped a fence and ran through a field. They're such strange, awkward creatures.

It's going to be a great weekend. We're heading out to my parents cabin. It's so relaxing out there. I hope the baby enjoys it. We haven't taken her out of town for a weekend since she was two months old, when we went to visit some of his family. I'm a bit nervous, but I think it'll be a lot of fun. I'm excited to see her little face light up at all the sights. I'm very glad that we got a new three-wheel stroller so I can take her for walks on the gravel roads.

Well, it's the first time this week I haven't had anything to do, so I'm taking my little pigtailed angel for a walk.

I feel like it should be raining. I remember just where I was two years ago today. As a thank-you for putting up with a lot of crap for a few years, my employer hosted a private screening of the latest Indiana Jones movie for a couple hundred of us. I'd already seen the movie twice, so I left early, but not because I was bored. Someone on my facebook had posted a status update that said "Pray for Kyle's safe return". I sat there through about a half hour of the movie hoping she wasn't talking about who I thought she was talking about, but I couldn't stand it. So I went home and confirmed it. My friend Kyle, who I knew from kindergarten, who was one of the best people I ever knew, was missing, and had last been seen fishing with a friend and the friend's young son on Devil's Lake.

I still drive by there every once in a while, on the way to or from my parents' cabin. It's still a bit unreal to me that he drowned there, although I went to the funeral and I saw his body, his skin tinged grey and so, so unreal. I didn't cry at the funeral, but I'd been crying for days. It was profound, the injustice of his death. The world lost an amazing person. We've all suffered for it since. And I miss him. I hadn't seen him in a year or two before, but running into Kyle was like running into someone you just saw yesterday. He cared about everyone, knew everyone well. Kyle was the popular kid who didn't know he was popular, and wouldn't have cared if he did know. He treated everyone with respect. He was like no one else. And I miss him.

The sun is shining, and it's a beautiful day.

My daughter is finally teething again. She's had her two front bottom teeth since she was seven and a half months old, but nothing else has appeared in the past four months, until now. It's a front tooth and it's definitely on its way. The poor girl is beside herself, but Tylenol seems to be helping a lot. Except in getting her to take a nap.

Her five-day sleep-through-the-night streak has been interrupted. She woke up at a quarter to five and just wanted me to watch her sleep...ugh. She raised her head every couple of minutes to make sure I was still there. After twenty minutes, I just went and got her a bottle and it put her right to sleep, and then she slept until well past eight, which was actually no good because I had a doctor's appointment this morning and needed to get the baby and myself ready and then take her to her aunt's and then myself to the doctor and I ended up having to do it all very quickly. I really must get back into the habit of setting my alarm.

The doctor appointment went well; I'm in great health. I've also apparently grown half an inch taller in the past year. Hmm.

Well, baby girl is finally down for her nap so I should tidy up and then get to the business of watching some Grey's Anatomy.