Sunset

I'm back in Illinois now and detoxing after the holiday with my family and spending a total of 20 hours in a car, sharing a hotel room for three nights with my parents, and steadily going insane. On the plus side I got to see my niece for the first time since I saw her when she was born. She's more adorable and has picked up my favorite hobby--reading! Ha ha. It was good to see her and the rest of my siblings though. So I'm back in Illinois and back to my slow-moving life. It's ok. The weather is still nice even after the massive rain we got yesterday and with clear skies I decided to get out during that magical time during sunset (hey, I didn't say it was the magical photo time, my photography book said so) to capture some of the nature of Illinois. So enjoy what I've got here and then check out the rest on picasa.

Christmas cookies and an early Christmas for myself...

It's two days 'til Christmas. Whatever. It's a forced social holiday where you are supposed to be with people you love (whom you spend the rest of the year fighting with) and eat way too much food and spend money on gifts for the above-mentioned people in order to placate them until you can leave. That's one way to look at Christmas.

I like to listen to the music of the season. Forget all the hustle and bustle, the push to find the best present for your cousin's aunt's sister's dog, the massive amount of greed and avarice present in the holidays--forget all of it. All I like about Christmas is the songs, the classic cartoons, and well, that's pretty much it. I do like spending the holidays with people I care about and who care about me. While I do care about my family, we tend to fight too much...so when I think about my favorite Christmas, I think about my first Christmas in Korea. That's my favorite Christmas...spent with new friends who have become best friends, filled with happiness and no arguing, good food, watching Elf, and just enjoying each others' company...that Christmas is my ideal for the holidays now.

So an early Christmas for myself...there's really no one better at getting gifts for me than myself. :-) I always know exactly what I'll like and I have yet to disappoint myself. haha. So I bought a tripod for myself this year and a new camera lens. I feel ready to take on photography with a vengance...too bad the weather is still horrible. They're predicting this winter to be one of the worst in a long time for the Midwest. Yuck. While I bought the tripod, I was a little saddened that it didn't come with a carrying case. Having a case is important to protect the tripod, so I decided to make one for it. I spent a day sewing a plastic case by hand with fishing wire (ridiculous) and then made a fabric cover for it and assembled my tripod case. It's very me-ish with flowers and braided strap. There's no doubt that it belongs to me. haha. I'm glad that I've managed to give myself a great Christmas this year. However, I am headed to my sister's house in Georgia tomorrow morning for a few days with the whole fam for Christmas...

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Really, it is. The weather the last day or so has been basically horrible. Freezing cold, sleet, snow, slick streets, sliding around everywhere, and an early dismissal from school today. Yeah, feels like winter! But on the upside, I'm constantly playing Christmas music, wrapping presents (ok, I make my little sister do it), and baking Christmas goodies. I even had a candy cane today (it was blueberry). The high school secretary had candy canes for everyone today and so everyone in the high school had blue mouths all day. Haha.

I am now the proud owner of a new camera lens and this past weekend in St Louis I splurged and bought myself a tripod finally. It was expensive, but after testing out the less expensive options, I realized I should take the advice of the book I'm reading currently on photography ---be willing to spend money! So I did. I don't regret it either. I like my tripod which stretches to 72 inches and can also be taken apart to be a monopod (in case I ever decided to go into sports photography---did you know tripods are basically banned from all sporting events?) I was hoping for a clear shot this afternoon to go outside and capture all the winter wonderfullness, but it was still sleeting when I got home and I was worried about ruining my camera...I'll have to wait for another day.

John and Ben got home tonight...man, they've changed so much since I last saw them. It makes me feel old to see them growing up. Oh yeah, and we're all so loud when we're all together. It's ridiculous. Anyway, here are a few pictures of christmas-type stuff and the girls when I was in St Louis...snow shots and cooking baking silliness to follow later. As always, check out the rest on picasa. BTW-I'll be heading to Georgia in a week, so that means I'll be spending Christmas in a place where my scarves and hats are completely useless! YAH! hahahaha.

Some pictures from home

There's not alot of news on this end of the world. After all, I am unemployed and homeless (ok, I am stretching it on both of these...:-). But I did finally edit pictures from the last couple weeks here and wanted to share my favorite ones with you. Oh yeah, I do have an update though...one of the lens on my glasses is scratched really badly. I'm a little upset about it because it's really bothering me since I have to wear them all the time and they're my favorite glasses. I'm hoping to get the scratches patched up without having to do anything really expensive. That's my sad story of the day. In good news, I have gone to the gym two days in a row and am getting a yoga video so I can continue to do yoga at home. Yah for motivation! I also get my new camera lens tomorrow in the mail...can't wait to try it out! So for thanksgiving this year it was warm. I'm not sure how it was the last couple of years in the US, but since it was warm my family decided to go play tennis after our thanksgiving dinner. Since I'm not a big tennis person, I decided to capture it on camera instead. So enjoy. All the rest are on picasa.