Blegh.

Moving sucks. Better post coming in a few days after I get all settled down in Monterey.

Time for an update.

I realized that it's been a long time since I've filled everybody in on our beeswax so here is the latest scoop on our busy life!

Well, today is August 7th, and we're moving on August 30th, Labor Day weekend, (and my birthday! lame!). It's coming up very quickly. We really only have 3 more weeks to get ready and pack up the apartment, because on the 24th, we are taking a trip up to Oregon to visit my grandma and enjoy the beautiful, green, COOL forrestland. It will probably be my birthday vacation. (It makes me wonder if Brett's got any tricks up his sleeve!) I'm really excited for this trip because I haven't been to my grandma's farm in years. She keeps trying to sell it, so I need to hurry up and take Brett up there so I can show him what was such a huge part of my childhood.

We are about 80% sure that we've found our apartment. It will actually be in Marina, which is right next door to Monterey, and it's right on the beach, which is slightly awesome. Our apartment (if we get it) will be just a few blocks from the beach. The cool thing about Monterey Bay is that Monterey and all the other little towns near it are all right on the bay, so wherever you are, you are no more than ten minutes or so from the beach. The lame thing about Monterey Bay is that because everything is so close to the beach, you pay for it in rent. Even little, dumpy places cost a ton of money to rent, probably because of the beach views and access, so we were having a hard time finding a place. One bedroom apartments generally start at $1100, and two-bedrooms (which we need) start at at least $1200 but most are closer to $1400. Hardly any of the places allow pets, and if they do, they charge you a huge pet deposit and pet rent. We were lucky to come across this little apartment complex in Marina where the two-bedrooms are only $1000, AND they allow pets with a smaller pet deposit. They're not the nicest apartments ever, and they're pretty old, but they're clean and appear safe. And again, its RIGHT BY THE BEACH. Hello! So anyway, keep us in your prayers that the two-bedroom will be available for us when we move!

I'm pretty excited to not work two jobs anymore. Well, at least, I think I won't be working two jobs. Hopefully only one job so that I can put more time and energy into my photography business. The plan is that I'll be able to quit my day job sooner than later and be a full-fledged professional photographer. Aaaaah, it will be so nice to have my own business and not have to answer to a boss or clock in anywhere! I can't wait! Until then, I'm thinking about getting a job at a photography store, because, well, that would be perfect for me. I could learn a lot about photography and maybe get a good discount!

We've seen some pictures of the new Islands where Brett will be working, and we've visited the mall where it will be. It's going to be a REALLY nice restaurant, and its in a really nice, higher-class mall. The restaurant will have a different feel to it than the other Islands', which are really casual. This one's going to fit in with the mall. Brett has met all of his co-managers, and they all seem pretty cool.

I am getting so stressed out just thinking about everything we have to do before we move. And I have to be working 2 jobs during the next three weeks. On top of that, I stuidly took on five, that's right FIVE shoots in the last few weeks, which I've not even had time to barely touch. That just goes to show me how time consuming my business will be, so I'm going to have to work hard to make it lucrative enough that I can quit my day job and only do photography. GAAAAHHHH!! I just try not to think about it. But, I am excited for this big change in our life and the new beginnings that it will bring us! Wish us luck!

What a woman!

Happy Birthday to Lissy! She's 23 today, which means that I'll be 23 in 27 days. Check out this woman! I took 407 pictures of her a few days ago, and these are a couple of my favorites. Unfortunately, my photography blog will have to wait a few weeks for a post on her shoot as I have four - count them: 4! - other shoots that I'm working on, plus working two jobs and getting ready to move in less than a month. Ugh. Why can't there be like 50 hours per each day rather than a measley 24? Suck!

Anyway, I quite like Lissy. She's been my best friend since I was 6 years old, and we also happen to be (distant) cousins. We've been through thick and thin together, and have many years to come of more thick and thin. Hopefully, though, it will be thick wallets and thin bodies together from here on out! Hehe... Love you, Lis! I hope Dan and the puppy are treating you right today!

Ha! Check it out!

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Ancestors - Family reunion

Ah yes.

Morgan and Silk vanilla soy milk are together again. Sooooooooooo much better.

Good Morning.

Don't buy the Safeway brand of soymilk. It tastes like crap. Not worth saving the 50 cents instead of getting the Silk brand.

Following suit with so many of you girls out there...

What is his name?
Brett Adam
How long have you been together?
2 years and a couple months
How long did you date?
Hmmm, we dated for almost a year before we got married. About ten months, I think
How old is he?
30 (haha, my husband is over the hill.)
Who eats more?
Who eats more or who SHOULD eat more? I can hold my own, but I'm trying to let him eat more than me so I don't feel like a man.
Who said I love you first?
Him, I think? I remember when we started saying it, but I honestly can't remember which
time was the first. The first few times all felt kinda monumental I guess.
Who's taller?
Brett- He's 6'2" and I'm 5'7"
Who can sing better?
Um, probably me. I don't ever really hear him sing unless he's goofing off or singing in
Sacrament meeting and he actually is familiar with the hymn.
Who is smarter?
Um, definitely Brett. He's really old. He's had more time to gather knowledge than I've had. :-P
Who does the laundry?
Both of us. Whoever's available when the laundry is piled up.
Who pays the bills?
Brett. It's better that way.
Who mows the lawn?
We don't have one. If we had one, um, him. Unless I'm wanting to burn some calories.
Who cooks dinner?
Eh, me, most of the time. But whenever he cooks it's always really good and really healthy too.
Who drives?
Usually Brett.
Who is more stubborn?
I think it's a tie in that area.
Who kissed who first?
Brett kissed me first.
Who proposed?
Brett proposed.
Who has more friends?
Brett. Once again, he's had more lifetime to gather more friends. Haha... (JK Brett, if you're
reading this. You're not old at all! You're still my young buck! Love You...)
Who is more sensitive?
Me. I'm the one with all the frigging estrogen and PMS hormones shooting through my veins.
Who has more siblings?
Me. I have 4 siblings and he has 2.
Who wears the pants?
It depends.

I tag Steph, Meghan, Tara, and Lissy (if she HAD a blog. Lame.)!

News Flash!

New blog post at Morgan Werner Photography!

Check it out!

I've got a new blog for my photography stuff... Come see the fruits of my labors!

Move Over, Ansel Adams!

I had the pleasure of breaking in my camera this week on a couple of shoots. On Monday, I met up with Maddy and Sarah, and they assisted me with Meg and Kayla's shoot. We took them up to Lincoln and shot on the cute little main street. We got started pretty late, so we lost a lot of daylight, but we still got some good shots. I'm still working on a lot of the pictures, so I'll post those later. Here are a couple pictures from the shoot. Some of them have been processed, some have not. (I know they're out of order, but I'm in a wee bit of a hurry right now. I'll get a more formal post up soon, and I'll probably just start a photography blog and leave our family blog to family matters only.)

Let It Be Known...

...that all is well, and my new camera is in my possession and safely nestled in my camera bag on the floor next to me. I know that all of you were just at the edge of your seats waiting to hear the conclusion to my camera saga. Well, your minds can be put to rest. Just know that from now on, if you see me with camera in hand and you're within 55-200mm zoom lens distance from me and you look in any way cute, pretty, handsome, or interesting, your photo will be taken.

And I must say, it was broken in pretty nicely last night with the help of some friends. I'll post last night's shoot when I get home.

Look, I'm pretty excited. I'm not gonna lie about it.

Lame.

Yeah, forget my last post. I definitely did NOT get my camera last night. Hopefully I'll have it by my brother's graduation this Thursday! We'll see...

AAAAAAAAHHHH! The Excitement!!!!

I might be getting my fancy-schmancy camera today! I'm so excited I can't even see straight! It's not THE fanciest, $10k one, but it's a start! Check it out!

Why I'm Excited to Move, But Sad to Leave

I am so excited to move to Monterey Bay, but I'm also pretty sad to leave the Sacramento area.

I'm happy to move because...
...hello! We'll be living by the beach! What more could a girl ask for?
...it will be good for us to be new to a place and ward together, where neither of us will be any more or less familiar with the people or surroundings. Anywhere we go in the Sacramento area, I'm bound to know someone in the ward, or at least someone who knows someone that I know. Poor Brett is still new to the church as a society and culture, let alone newer to the area. I've been here my whole life!
...I will be stepping outside of my confort zone, not knowing anyone or anything. I'm up for the challenge of starting over!
...we'll be closer to Brett's family geographically, so we can see them more often and I can get to know them better.
...we'll get to live in a new apartment (but hopefully a house!) that I will finally have the time (and also hopefully the funds) to properly decorate!
...it will be a great opportunity for Brett to stand out as a manager with Islands, opening a new restaurant and everything. This move is really a beginning to our future!
...lots of things to take pictures of! Be assured that I will be doing a lot of panoramic shots!


I'll be sad to leave Sacramento because...
...first and foremost, my family is here, as well as my friends. I will miss everyone like crazy. I like being here in town with my family and when my friends come home to visit. I'll be seeing everybody familiar to me much less, which makes me sad. I like being able to go over to my mom's whenever I want and eat the cookies that my sister makes all the time. Peyton always welcomes me with a hug, even though he's almost 12 and his brothers are too cool to hug their sisters!
...I won't be able to work at Islands anymore. Don't get me wrong, I hate waiting tables. But, sometimes the money really is there for me. I'll also miss some of the people I work with there, especially the managers. They're great guys to work for! (I won't be allowed to work at Islands in Monterery with Brett as a manager.)
...I do NOT want to have to find a new job out there. I HATE job hunting. Pray that I can get people to pay me to take their pictures for them soon so I don't have to get my own job!

I Signed It.

You should too.

http://www.lc.org/index.cfm
Scroll down a little bit and you will see it under "Petitions." Click on "Federal Marriage Ammendment Petition."

Sorry DeGeneres, love ya to death, and your show too, but I don't want you to be allowed to marry Portia. To me, it cheapens what I have with my husband. Portia does have a cool name, though.

Now I Feel Silly...

Ok, so I hope my last post didn't make me sound crazy. I hope I didn't make anybody think that I am against vegetarianism. I just wanted to express my feelings against vegetarians or vegans saying that it is wrong to eat meat.

Ok, I feel better now.

A Soapbox of My Own

My good friend, Elisse Newey, made me think about a few things today with her vegetarian post. It really made me think in depth about the things that I believe in and how certain councils in the church came about, and I found myself stepping right up onto a soapbox of my own. Poor Elisse, I left her the longest comment on her post, and I decided to post it on my own blog. I had to write it out on a Word doc before I posted it on her blog so that I could more easily edit it, and it turned out to be two pages long on Microsoft Word.

Here it is:

I disagree that eating meat is wrong or entirely bad for you. Heavenly Father agrees with me. I have a very strong testimony in the Word of Wisdom. It says that we should eat meat, but sparingly. Do you really think that Heavenly Father didn't intend for us to eat meat at all? I don’t. In fact, I know he didn’t. D&C 89:12-13 plainly states, “Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly; And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.”

When the Word of Wisdom was brought forth, what were the problems and bad habits of that time? Smoking, chewing, and drinking, but not eating habits. Even Joseph Smith liked him a good whiskey. The men were disgusting with their tobacco chewing. They would spit all over the floors, not only outside. In our modern times, we know that wine and beer do have some good qualities to them. One glass of wine, or one bottle of beer will not hurt you or make you an alcoholic. One glass of wine is even good for you, and beer has some good stuff in it too, as well as other liqueurs. You can make a little concoction of whiskey, lemon juice and honey for a child that has a cough. My husband’s family used that remedy, and I guess it works. We were even instructed to use wine in the Sacrament.

But, the idiots out there who have no self control, the ones who get drunk and hurt their bodies for fun are the ones who ruin it for the rest of us. It’s kind of like when you were a kid and your parents would take away a certain privilege or toy from all of you just because one of you couldn’t play nice. The masses were sacrificed because of the few. In the early 19^th century, the drinking and smoking and spitting were getting out of hand. We had to be reminded that tobacco was for bruises and the animals, not for us. (Tobacco helps kill worms and stuff in horses and cows and other beasts of burden. My grandma used to feed tobacco to her horses once in a while.) It was to be used with “judgment and skill.” Because a few of us couldn’t use those things in moderation or in any proper way at all, the rest of us had to suffer and it was “taken away” from us.

As far as food is concerned, back then people were a little better about that kind of stuff. They probably ate as much if not more meat than we do now, but they were up and around working on their farms and doing all kinds of active chores. There were no computers or video games or TV for people to zone out in front of. There were no cars, so people walked if they didn't have a horse and/or wagon/buggy. They probably needed more calories in the winter to help them stay warmer without the heating systems we have today. It wasn't harmful for people to be omnivores because they could afford the extra calories and they didn’t eat processed junk food. Everything they ate was pure. It was all organic back then.

What if the Word of Wisdom was written in these days, when most of the country is obese from eating TOO MUCH crap? Do you think that the Word of Wisdom would be more specific about processed foods, candy, sweets, and all other manner of non-healthy junk food? I sure do. I also think that it would more specifically stress the need for all of us to get a decent amount of exercise. Yes, it is very harmful to your body if you eat too much meat or animal-type, processed products. (Trust me, I know this first hand. Where do you think my dad's heart attack(s) came from?) No, meat and dairy products do not have fiber, but they have protein. We need a little bit of what meat can offer us. Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water!

Aside from the health reasons to eat or not eat meat, there are the moral and ethical reasons. Now, keep in mind that I'm not really a steak-eater. I don't eat that much red meat. I don't even like poultry THAT much. Turkey's ok but chicken has a tendency to gross me out lately. I’ll have a burger now and then, or some tri-tip if we go to Lucille’s, but I prefer fish. Fish is VERY good for you. You don't get fat or have cholesterol problems from eating too much fish. Can you eat too much fish? And fish is an animal. God put the animals on the earth for our (responsible) use. That is the natural order of things. That is why our species has dominion over the earth and the beasts thereof. I do NOT believe that there is anything morally wrong with eating animals. I do not agree with that writer when she states that eating meat contributes to poverty and that kind of crap. Buying almost any kind of consumer goods and not growing our own vegetables and raising our own livestock “contributes” to poverty in one way or another. I do, however, believe that animals should be butchered humanely. I don’t like it when people hunt or kill animals just to kill something. I do like it when my uncle (and dad, back in the day) brings home fresh fish or deer or buffalo that he hunted and oversaw the preparation of so that our families didn’t have to buy the over-priced meat came from animals that were given hormones and injected with who knows what.

Well, that’s all I have to say about the war in Vietnam.

So I’m opinionated, so what?

Something

I need a business of my own.

I need a business of my own so that I can set my own hours, answer to nobody but myself, work as much as I want or as little as I want.

I need my own business to help me feel more self... self... self, uh, something. Self sufficient. If you know what I mean.

I want my own business so that I can make money doing or producing something that I enjoy doing or producing, instead of sitting in front of a computer all day answering phones and getting secretary butt (it's a really serious condition. Symptoms include but are not limited to the widening of the butt area), or waiting tables. I HATE waiting tables. Customer service sucks.

I want my own business so that I can feel the gratification of somebody liking something I made or did so much that they gave me money for it.

I want my own business so that I can still bring in some income when I have babies, because I do not want to have a "real" job when I have kids. I want to be able to spend as much time as I can with them, even if I'm working with a baby on my back or in a little play pen in my [home] office with me.

I want my own business in case something happens to Brett and I need something to fall back on.

I want my own business so that I can work a little extra if there is something that I want to buy for my husband, kids, or myself. My mom and grandma taught me about the importance of a woman having a little "mad money" stashed away for a rainy day. Even when Brett and I have been really strapped, I've tried to keep $10 or so in my sock drawer so that I could go buy myself some lip gloss or a Jamba or something. Shopping really does make me feel better. Always has. I don't know why.

I want my own business so that in addition to being able to blow my own money if I want to, I can also work a little extra to pay off this credit card faster, or pay that bill early, just to get it out of the way.

You know what I mean?

2 Things

1. My hair is going straight!!!!! I did not straighten this part (see my little finger pointing) at all. This is what my hair does when I just let it dry with no product whatsoever. It used to be insane unless I did something with it. Oh, boy, if it goes completely straight all over I will be throwing a party and you all are invited.

2. I have a nice kitty. I don't have to force her to come sit with me. She walks right up and curls up in my lap.

(Sorry about the lame webcam shots. My digicam needs new batteries.)

Ok, off to the gym!

Woohoo!

Economic stimulus checks are HERE!!!!! Steak dinner here we come! Oh, don't worry. I'll take pictures. You know I love taking pictures of our food. ;-)