What a beautiful day it is.  To save myself from blowing away, I've decided to enjoy this sunny weather in my sunroom while listening to some Michael Buble; how perfect.  Im just relaxing for a bit reading my Communication Arts magazine (Graphic Design type magazine), and I came across this amazing photographer who I thought I would blog about (since nothing really exciting happened for me today to blog about).  I love photography, it is my passion, and when I saw this guys photos, wow!  I want to get more into commercial photography compared to fine art, and this guy just takes some of the most amazing commercial photos (along with fine art too).  


Erik Almas is the photographer I'm talking about.  I love how he takes photos from different perspectives and how he edits his photos to enhance the mood in them.  His work is just incredible!  My magazine had a whole article about him, and I found this interesting... "Erik Almas scouts the landscape by speedboat, looking for any angle that will reveal its natural beauty in a fresh way.  The next day he's hanging from a cliff with a camera around his neck, harnessed to a rock and shooting the shoreline 500 feet below.  Later he blogs, 'I'm amazed about the places my camera takes me.  And yes, it takes me.'"  He's so passionate about what he does! I love looking at his work.  Here are some of my favorites. :)

So today I worked for 6 delightful hours, boy was that fun.  Actually, it really wasn't all that bad, I didn't mind having to work today.  The store was pretty busy for the first 3 hours of my shift, but the last 3 were slow and unbearable.  Today was also filled with a bunch of people who just weren't in good moods, which made the day ever so slightly more interesting.  Oh well, I got paid time and a half because it was memorial day, so that made everything slightly better.  


I could not believe, when I left work at 8 that it was so HOT! wow!  It is so hot and sticky out it's crazy!  I got home, and sat outside for a few minutes, my dad had just cut the grass and it smelled so summery, also with the smell of the lilac bush across the street... It was a pretty good end to the day, nice and relaxing :)  


Oh, the other day I got to see one of my friends!  It was so nice catching up with her, now that I'm home for the summer.  We went to The Bar and had a few drinks and just chatted for a few hours.  We tried this one shot that she recommended, which she called the "sperm shot."  I was slightly skeptical about trying this shot, but it was actually really good.  It was a combination of baileys and lime juice.. which you wouldn't think would be good, but it was a good combination of sweet and sour... But the combination of the two made the substance curdle, which is where the "sperm" comes in.  Haha it was rather different, but good.  They also played Mmm Bop by Hansen at the bar too... That totally made my night a hell of a lot better!  Ahhh that was just a fun and much needed night :)


Now I'm going to sit with my mother... have a strong drink and watch, The Secret Life of The American Teenager!  Yes, I know what you're thinking... that is the stupidest show ever!  Well, I fully agree on that, the show is all about who and who isn't having sex, at age 16.  It is slightly ridiculous, but it is so funny to watch!  I haven't missed an episode yet :P


I thought maybe in these blogs too I'll post a favorite painting or photo that I really like, so here go's :)

I love Van Gogh!  I love the way he paints!  My style painting can be a lot like the way he paints, with definite brush strokes.  (So I've been told).  This is one of my favorite paintings, called "Cafe Terrace On The Place Du Forum." (1888)

Footprints

One night I had a dream...
I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord, and
Across the sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand;
One belonged to me, and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of my life flashed before us,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that many times along the path of my life,
There was only one set of footprints.
I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in my life
This really bothered me, and I questioned the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
You would walk with me all the way;
But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life,
There is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why in times when I
needed you the most, you should leave me.
The Lord replied, "My precious, precious
child. I love you, and I would never,
never leave you during your times of
trial and suffering.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."

Another Day

So I figured I'd give an update on how these past days have been.  This week hasn't been too bad, I finished my painting I've been working on, which you can see in the previous post.  So I worked 6 hours yesterday, and oh man was it extremely slow!  Of course, it was so beautiful out so who in their right minds would spend the day inside a mall shopping?  Well, not a lot of people.  We do have a Memorial Day sale going on at Vicky's, so that brought in a few more people... But still, the semi-annual sale starts June 14th, so people also don't want to buy now when they can load up on sale items in a few weeks.  Anywho, nothing too exciting or memorable happened at work, I just walked around, was perky and helped customers... oh and shopped at the same time... The only thing I don't like about slow days is that I constantly look at everything I want :P Ooopsies.  So after that, I can home and finished my painting and just relaxed and enjoyed a nice night to myself.  


Today was pretty nice and relaxing.  My mom and I spend the day together and went to lunch at Olive Garden... Oh man they have such good food, so that was a great start to today.  And, since I've been feeling slightly down lately, what would be a better way than to fix it than by retail therapy? :)  So we hit up the Rib Mountain stores and then went to the mall and bought a few things at Vicky's (surprise surprise) ;).  Now, I am just sitting here, with a Rolling Rock, watching Say Yes to The Dress and admiring my new shoes that I got today.  Yes, I do feel not so slightly down at the moment.. Who knew new shoes could have such an impact on a persons mood? ;)  Haha, and Since I am known for having such cute shoes, I had to get another pair!  And since I like them so much, why not put a picture of them on this blog and show them off, along with another pair of my favorite shoes? Ahhh sounds like a good idea to me! :D

So, these are my new, 3 inch heel shoes! MmMmM gotta love them :)

These are my absolute favorite shoes!  I got them at the beginning of the year and think they are the sexiest shoes ever!  And they are amazingly comfortable, which is a plus.

Well, that's my past 2 days and such, and those some of my many shoes... What can I say?  I'm a sucker for cute shoes :)  I work tomorrow for 8 hours, so maybe I'll have some fun and entertaining stories to tell.   

Painting :)

So, I've felt inspired lately and have been working on a painting for the past week or so.  It is painted on 4 small canvases using acrylic paint.  I am very pleased with how it turned out.  This painting was inspired by a photograph from my "Beauty in Abstraction" series.  I took one of my photographs and dissected some of it into 4 parts...  Here is the original photograph that I used for my inspiration for this painting...

Here is my final painting... It is not exact to look like the photo, I changed the colors up a slight bit, but you can see where the inspiration came from :)

Lets see... What happened today..???


Well, I got the hiccups.


That's pretty much it...

I feel so inspired today, which doesn't happen super often.  There has been so much on my mind lately that I haven't really had the chance to let myself be inspired.  Today I just feel so much more refreshed and clear, and I feel inspired now more than ever.  I decided to start a painting I was planning on doing during the course of this past semester, but never actually had the time to do.  It's a small abstract painting, and it is coming along pretty awesomely, if I do say so myself.  Painting just puts me in my own little world, takes me away from reality for a bit.  It is very relaxing and just puts me in the most amazing of moods.  Plus, it is so beautiful and sunny and warm out, which helps :)  At the moment I'm taking a break from my painting, sitting in the sunroom basking in the warm sun.  The window is open and there is a nice breeze that blows the smell of freshly cut grass in (from my dad lawn mowing).  I could not be in a better mood today, really, this is just so perfect.  I had a meeting at work this morning from 9-11, but the rest of my day was off.  PERFECT way to spend a Sunday afternoon of not working.  I'm going to visit my grandma soon, since it's been a while since I've seen her (because of being away at school), then I'll maybe work on painting a little more and try not to get freaked out from the supposedly bad storms that we are supposed to get tonight. 






Quote of the day:
"When you wanna give up, and your heart's about to break, remember that you're perfect, God makes no mistakes."