Wish Me Luck

This weekend, I'll be shooting my first paid wedding. What's good is that I kind of knew the groom before they realized who I was (in the looking for a photographer stage). I know his parents pretty well, in fact, the groom's mother did some babysitting for us a while back. I wouldn't say they're "friends" but they definitely at least qualify as "acquantainces". Hopefully, this will help with some of the stress of the day on my end.

I'm excited, though, and keep going over and over the things I need. I'm so pumped to get this right. Additionally, I took some family portraits for a family last weekend near the Michigan City lighthouse on the beach. I put the pictures up for proofing on my website, and called the girl I scheduled with today to let her know they were up. She said she already knew, and that her mom called her at 6:30 in the morning to let her know they were up. She said she cried when she looked at them. Hopefully this was because she was happy with them, not because they were miserable. I assume it was the first scenario, as she seemed really positive about ordering soon.

The girl that I talked to about leasing Harley is going to go ahead with it. She's had horses her whole life and has a lot of experience. Hopefully she'll not only be able to keep Harley where he's at in his training now, but be able to progress him some, too. Sam's foot is pretty much better (I think) so Brian's gonna try and ride him for the first time in a month tomorrow.

Right now I'm dyeing 4 yards of muslin fabric in our washing machine. There's just something that feels wrong about dumping DARK GREEN DYE into the washing machine. I guess it does give me an excuse to run an empty load with bleach, though when I'm done.

Can you tell my day's kind of been all over the place? It seems like I've gotten a weeks worth of stuff accomplished in one day. Not that that's a bad thing...

We Got It!!

Well, it's official. We came to an agreement on the property in Colorado and are officially in the process of completing all the paperwork to get it official. Luckily because of technology, we'll be able to do the closing via internet and mail. Even though I'd love to go back there, financially it makes a lot more sense to do it this way. I think we'll probably go back out there next summer with the kids.

My life has been like a crazy person lately. It seems like for the next few weeks before my surgery everything I should do in June, July, and August is getting crammed into the next two weeks. It's a good busy though... my photography is responsible for much of the chaos.

I have a Senior whose pictures I just picked up and who will be coming to get them Friday. I have a meeting with a couple about a wedding right before that the same day. I have body safety tomorrow in Chesterton. Saturday, I have family portraits at the beach with another family and on Sunday I have to work the Indy 500. Then I have another senior coming to proof and order her pictures, another couple coming about a wedding on Tuesday, a wedding rehearsal on Thursday, and a wedding on Saturday. Finish it off with engagement pictures on Sunday - and voila! It's June!!!

Geez. I'll be really lucky if I don't forget SOMETHING. This with all the documents that need signed, the checks that need gotten from the bank...

At least it's keeping my mind off my impending doom, mostly. It kinda sucks that I feel mostly good right now and I know that I won't feel mostly good afterwards. Hopefully, though, this will keep me from having another major episode like in April when sitting on the toilet was a painful task. Putting on socks? Forget it.

Anyway. Since it's now official that we are going to be property owners in Colorado, I'll get the other pics I took of the lot prepped and put up for all to see!!! Yay!

A Little More About Our Trip

I was in a hurry when I posted my last page about our outing to Colorado. I wanted to get something up just because I'm a total dunderhead and didn't take the right software to post pictures while I was out there...

Overall, we had a really good time. It was definitely more "business" for the first part of the trip, but the last few days (after we found our potential piece of heaven) were really relaxing. The stay in Breckenridge was awesome. We were there totally off peak ski season, so our room was totally inexpensive (for a luxury room anyway) and the lodge was nearly empty. I highly recommend for anyone going to Breck to stay at the Mountain Thunder Lodge. It's one of the newest resorts there, and had truly all the amenities. The design was that of a true lodge right down to the huge log ceiling and wall beams. Apparently, the room we got for $190 usually goes for about $500-$600 during peak season. The 3 bedroom townhome (2 floors) can be yours for only $1,500/night, or you could just buy it and rent it out for profit for the low, low price of $1.5 mil. No joke.

So anyway, we have our offer in on our lot. I never realized just how big 40 acres of nothing is till we were out there actually walking it. We have a counter offer and we plan to counter the counter offer.

We got right back into home once we got here. We got a lot done today with home maintenance. I also had senior pictures for a local doctor's daughter. Here a re a few of my favorite takes:

I'm A Moron

Well I went to Colorado with everything but the kitchen sink. Of course I took my camera as well as my million pound zoom lens. The only problem is the software I need to convert my pictures to a viewable format is on the desktop, not the laptop that we had with us.

Nonetheless. It was a great trip. We had a rough start when our plane didn't take off till it was supposed to be landing in Denver. Some little valve in the engine went out which caused the little air thingies to blow out hot air. The cabin was at least 90 degrees. So we sat there in the 90 degree cabin for 2.5 hours while they fixed the valve thingie. We could have taken off with the nonworking valve and still have been on the plane in the heat for the same period of time.

The first few days were disappointing as far as looking at property went. Some were just SO remote it would almost not be safe for us to be there. Really. Others were just too much in the valley, and looked just like what we have here only windier. Some were just really close to WT, which I never realized was so rampant in Colorado. Or at least I never paid attention. I just don't understand why you'd own acreage in the most beautiful place in America (IMOH) on some of the most beautiful land there, and fill it up with trailers, campers, broken down cars, and old school buses. Seriously, people.

I think the most interesting thing we saw, other than the mountains, was this...

As best I could tell, it's a non-poisonous gopher snake. It was about 5 feet long, and we drove right over it on the road. We thought it was dead so we turned around to find it slithering off the roadway. Yikes.

Anyway. Just about when we were ready to give up and on our second attempt (due to the 12 inches of SNOW the area got the day we were scheduled to look), we found this.....

It's 40 acres near Colorado Springs (take Hwy24 west for about 30 miles, go thru Wilkerson Pass, and you're there). These views are literally 360 degrees in any direction you look. It's right by 2 large resevoirs with fishing, camping, and boating (within walking distance to one...) and is only about 1.5 miles from National Forest land. Therefore, all those trees and natural stuff you see is pretty much guaranteed to stay that way, unless they start selling off the National Forests to support the war... but that's another post.

We put an offer on the land and are waiting to hear back. We're both really excited. I'll keep you updated. I want to relax...

The Count Down Begins

Well, it's Friday which means it's less than 2 days till we fly out to Colorado. I have to make this post short b/c I am on my way to take Vincent to preschool, but this is where we are set out for!!!

So There You Have It...

We went to Wal Mart today to get a few groceries. While in the check out line Vincent, of course, had to have an in depth conversation with the clerk. She was pretty friendly. Actually, she was kind of annoying friendly. I just wanted to say, "Look, lady, it's been a long day and I still have a ton of stuff to do, so can we cut it with the chit chat and let's get bagging." But I didn't.
I think it was only after Vincent's oral dissertation that she realized Jade was actually in the shopping cart. She exclaimed with her high pitched, overly friendly Wal Mart employee voice, "Well, hi there princess!!!"
This face is what she got in return with a stern (and convincing) reply. "I am NOT a princess."
And no, I've never told her to say that...

Universe 1, Jen 0

I had a lot of ideas for the title of this blog. Ranging from...
1. Why is Jen mopping the kitchen floor at 11:30 CST.
2. Why is Jen sweeping the kitchen floor at 11:30 CST.
3. Vive le vino!
4. This sucks.
5. I suck.
6. My life sucks.
7. Why do Border Collies find it necessary to walk back and forth over a freshly mopped, glass covered floor?
8. What is it with my pets and foot injuries?
9. You're not going to the vet so get over it.
and 10. Where the hell is my wine?

Well, I was just sitting here, minding my own business, catching up on a few emails and reading a few blogs when it happened. I thought to myself, "I'm gonna sit and have a small glass of wine and catch up on a few emails and read a few blogs." So I did, and I was, until it happened.

I turned too quickly and hit the wine glass. Well, that wasn't the problem. The problem was my idiot knee jerk reflex to catch the wine glass (that wasn't falling, mind you) which in turn knocked the wine glass, nearly full, off the buffet.

There's nothing I hate more than vacuuming and mopping than vacuuming and mopping at 11:30 CST.

I just can't win for loosin' this week!!

Meme

Amy just tagged me for a meme, so I'd better be a good blogger and play along.

Here are the rules...
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Here are my random things:
1) I think it's absolutely hilarious when my daughter misbehaves. Mainly, I think this is because I totally can relate to what she does and when she does it. I think she's my clone.
2) My idea of a vacation is camping in a hot tent, with a hot camp fire, riding hot horses all day, then sitting outside all night with a cold beer.
3) My favorite movie is quite possibly Braveheart.
4) One of my biggest regrets is not staying in touch with friends from high school and college. Hi Sean!!!
5) I subscribe to several magazines; Horse and Rider, Creating Keepsakes, and Real Simple.
6) The thought of scuba diving totally freaks me right out. I'm pretty sure it's one thing in life that I quite possibly will never do.

Now I'm tagging Allisa and Jessica. Since the only other blog I subscribe to on a regular basis is my tagger, sorry, but I don't know 4 other bloggers to tag.