27 September 2009

73 Blessings

  1. People who give so freely--not just of material possessions, thought that's nice too, but of time, kindness, prayer, love and hope
  2. Sunshine
  3. Salvation
  4. Water recreation
  5. Friends who are there for a lifetime
  6. Fun vocab words
  7. Fellow photographers who are willing to share and uplift and be amazing
  8. New friends
  9. A job that teaches me more about what I love
  10. A car that gets me everywhere I want to go--in style, with my snurf muhnurf
  11. The Brits
  12. Jason Reeves's "Reaching"
  13. Food of a thousand varieties... whenever I want to eat it
  14. Piles of laundry, because they equal piles of clothes
  15. IMDB, dictionary.com, and Wikipedia, for ever-satisfying my curiosity
  16. External hard drives
  17. Sea World
  18. Friends who will go to Sea World with me
  19. A church family that envelopes--literally just smothers--me with love
  20. Photography and creativity
  21. Verizon
  22. Not being trapped in the corporate world
  23. God's faithful promises
  24. Friends who move closer
  25. Friends who are far away in different states or countries but still amazing and wonderful and lovely and missed
  26. Friends who have been here all along
  27. Friends who are willing to overlook hurts and just be friends
  28. Naps
  29. Puppies and puppy kisses
  30. New babies!!
  31. The Bread Cave
  32. Culture, of my own brand, but there nonetheless
  33. Books
  34. Wedding magazines, and people who are willing to speak wedding to me
  35. Family, even though they're all delusional iPhone lovers...
  36. Early exposure to Truth
  37. 60 mm 2.8 macro lens
  38. The Office
  39. Encouragements
  40. Dreams of the fantastical variety
  41. God's clear intervention in my life
  42. Full use of my limbs and ability to exercise
  43. Post-It notes of all shapes, sizes and colours
  44. Google Analytics
  45. Blackberry Storm
  46. Facebook being down for maintenance
  47. Julian, my lefty guitar
  48. ACDSee Pro
  49. Friends who know things like how and where to buy power cords when your Dell stops charging out of the blue...
  50. Two Dell laptops and one Dell desktop, so that I know I really don't want a Dell next
  51. Unexpected kindness
  52. Holding it together
  53. Southern California weather--I hear it's below 60 in most states now
  54. Sandals
  55. Okay, all shoes. Especially my mustard yellow ones...
  56. Cousins who double as best friends in their spare time
  57. Random people who do huge favours for me and my people because my daddy tells them to, and because we're fellow believers
  58. Baseball
  59. Wireless Internet
  60. Blockbuster Online
  61. Respect
  62. Not dying from eating almonds
  63. Having money in the bank
  64. Summer
  65. Jason and Colbie's "Lucky"
  66. Texting
  67. The colour red
  68. Loyalty
  69. Naproxen!!
  70. Photographs and tangible memories
  71. Birthdays!
  72. Game nights
  73. A boyfriend who is such a huge blessing that he could have a list all his own

15 September 2009

Motherhood

A few weeks ago, Generations had another beach day at Corona Del Mar, and as is usually the case, I brought along my camera. The rest of the photos will come later, but these two were too classic to wait for... My lovely friend Chantel and her beautiful baby boy Colton are not uncommon subjects of my photography, but that day was different...

Different because Colton is two now, and he has become, in her words, quite the monster. I love these two photos because they really capture what motherhood is like...

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07 September 2009

Fwd: I Hate You

For some inexplicable reason, my fairly internet-savvy father has failed to pick up on the fact that forwarded emails are like paper brown bags of poop on your doorstep. You see it sitting there, and you pretty much know what's in it, but you have to look anyway, just in case it's not... and then it is, and you have to decide what to do with it.

Several times a week, he goes through all his forwards and sends them out. Assorted pithy jokes? Sure. Interesting discovery in history? Yes. Fraud protection? Definitely. Virus alert? Check. Beware of gangs abducting women at gas stations? You bet... several times.

Because I'm addicted to my phone, and because right now there's an ant reenactment of D-Day happening on my nightstand, my phone has been sleeping with me. First thing every morning, I reach for it, one I squeezed shut, the other barely open, and check to see what's occurred during my slumber--in the form of emails (on three accounts), texts, and, yes, facebook (now, if only I could get my blog subscriptions, my phone would fulfill all my cyber-needs). This morning, not surprisingly, even though my parents are in a cabin in Big Bear without anything but a dial-up (remember those?) connection for the net, I woke up to a forward.

Ugh.

Except... as I started reading, I found myself actually laughing! This list of "truisms" my dad sent were actually worth my time. So like it or not, I'm posting the list here. I just love them too much to let it die!

1. There is a great need for sarcasm font.

2. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

3. Bad decisions make good stories.

4. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

5. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

6. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

7. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again

8. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

9. Was learning cursive really necessary?

10. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

11. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

12. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

13. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

14. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

15. What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

16. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

17. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

18. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

19. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

20. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

21. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

22. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

23. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

24. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

25. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

26. 'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

27. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

28. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

29. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

30. Why is a school zone 15 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

31. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

32. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

33. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

34. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

Happy Labour Day!

05 September 2009

Perspective, part 2

(Disclaimer: There are no pretty pictures for this post. There is no pretty analogy, like the first "Perspective" post. This is just a raw, simple exploration of my thoughts.)

Rather than complain about how much clean up there was after the party tonight, I am thankful that I am surrounded by amazing people. So many people in this world are feeling alone right now.

Instead of being upset over how many dishes there were to wash, I am grateful that we had an overabundance of food. Millions are starving right now.

I will not fuss about the pain in my knees, but praise God that I can not only walk, but run... and dance. All over the world, there are people who cannot stand.

I won't grumble over the vacuuming I've left to do, but whisper thanks for the roof over my head, the carpet under my feet, and the many rooms in my house. I've built homes in Mexico that are smaller than my bedroom.

Nor can I complain about my irreverent dog jumping up on the table and eating our cake; or my cat dragging the bloody carcass of a mouse through the party. I am so blessed to have animals who look at me with adoration. There are people in this world who are not loved.

Wherever I look, something I could complain about becomes something to praise God for.

04 September 2009

Lizzie

My oldest friend in the world is getting married... Well, technically, she is married, but she hasn't had her SoCal celebration for it yet. Tonight, Lizzie's bridal shower kicks off the official wedding stuff (for lack of a better term), so I thought I'd post some super old photos I did of her when I was first starting out as a photographer... Embarrassingly enough, I was not so good as I thought myself to be back then. Looking back at these, I cringe. Literally. Seriously. Cringe. I almost don't want to share them.

But she's my oldest friend in the world, and she's beautiful and laughing and carefree, and she jumps and twirls and smiles like she sees your soul. So here they are anyway, even though I'm fairly certain this is the batch of photos I'm least proud of in my three years of shooting.

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02 September 2009

Portrait of a Room

As a photographer, the word "portrait" is for people. It's a face, eyes, nose, mouth, neck, shoulders. Sometimes more. Sometimes a little less. But it's distinctly a person. After all, a portrait is to show character.

But as a writer, a portrait can be of anything. My favourite Creative Writing professor emphasised to me over and over again that the setting was just as much a character as the people in the story... In fact, I can think of many stories to tell without a single breathing thing entering the picture.

Because of this, because I am a writer, I am a different kind of photographer. A portrait isn't just of a person. A picture is not interesting only if it has eyes staring back at you... This is my first experiment with an official portrait of something other than a person. I've done this a hundred times before, but this time, it's here for you to see. Imagine it as if you were reading it in a book. Who belongs here? What might be happening? Use your imagination... I'm barely setting the stage.

(Obviously, this is my stuff, but that's not the point... I just find it fascinating to put the pieces of a puzzle together in a different, creative way...)

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01 September 2009

Yayyyyyy!

So my hard drive crashed back in June, and today I got it back fully recovered! Photos to be posted tomorrow... Just thought I'd update you, in case you care...

Now, I was up until 6:30 am this morning, so I'm off to bed.

Who What?

My photo
Megan thinks it's so much fun to write about herself in third person that she can't help but do that now. Megan was born the plump child of two staffing industry sweethearts. At the precocious age of three, she learned to read, bite her younger brother, and help people. She followed her compassion for and love of people into hospice, working as the Volunteer Coordinator, and later Director of Volunteers, for two LA-based hospice agencies. Her experiences there were rather grim, so in December 2009 she made the leap into staffing, satisfying both her compassionate side and her epic need to crush competition. Away from the office (er, laptop, as she is glued to her computer and Droid, and annoys her fiance by working far more than she should), Megan is heavily involved with her church. She loves to write and will someday publish 482 books, loves movies (and alphabetising them), and believes that the Brits spell everything correctly.

About This Blog

Really, this is purely intended as an outlet for me. It's not for you... Okay, maybe it's a little for you. I want to write and take pictures and share both with everyone who wants to read them. So that's all this is. Just my gallery wall, my best-selling novel.

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