[ color inspiration 005 ]

The fan-tabulous orange & chocolate lining of my kickin' plaid ballet flats. (Which perfectly match the Old Navy dress I wore today!)

[ color inspiration 004 ]

Grey on grey. The interior of my car. Noticed it in a new way today.

[ you've got friends you can trust ]

Woke up to some glorious morning light shining through the gap between the top of the blinds and the top of the window, striking the fridge, and lighting up the faces of two of my favorites (& me) on graduation day.

[ friends will be friends by queen ]

[ color inspiration 003 ]

Dusty blue + mustard yellow. Weird, yet awesome.

[ 101 in 1001 ]

Taking a cue from Melissa Jill, a wedding photographer here in Arizona whose blog I frequent, I'm going to make a "101 in 1001" list. The point is to create a list of 101 things or goals you want to accomplish in the next 1001 days. I'll update as I go, as I'm sure my list won't have even close to 101 goals to begin with.

Start Date: July 28, 2007
End Date: April 24, 2010

001. Start a papergoods business
002. Establish FiveGoodGoats Photography
003. Travel to Las Vegas
004. Begin a collection of ampersand sign letters
005. Update my blog everyday for a month
006. Update fivegoodgoats.com regularly
007. Learn to cook new and exciting things - constantly working on it
008. Road trip Western America
009. Research a new photographer every week for a month
010. Finally finish printing photos from college for my photo book - complete 8.23.07
011. Visit Hawaii
012. See Jimmy Buffett live
013. Take art classes in various concentrations (especially painting)
014. Create card collections based on television characters that inspire me
015. Start hiking the mountains in AZ
016. Expand my literary influences - one new author a month
017. Start recycling regularly - plastic, cardboard and newspapers!
018. Research being green and implement some of the strategies into my life
019. Get giant prints of some of my work to hang in the apartment
020. Enter art shows across the country
021. Read The Photographer's Market and send my work to as many places as possible
022. Exercise every morning for a month to establish the habit
023. Wear my jewelry more often. Own tons, don't wear it nearly enough. - almost everyday!
024. Increase my fluency in Italian - reading, writing, speaking & listening.
025. Go back to Italy.
026. Learn to make jewelry.
027. Customize my Ikea furniture to really make it mine. - upholstered headboard 9.08.07
028. Create a portfolio book: a real, bound book.
029. Design business cards for 5GG. - complete 9.28.07
030. Really explore Phoenix: make it my city, not just where I live.
031. Take advantage of cheap Southwest flights, especially to really close places: day trip!
032. Get the new FiveGoodGoats.com up and running by October 1, 2007. - completed 9.30.07
033. Create a file system for my books and movies.
034. Create nameplates for both my books and movies.
035. For every book I read in English, read one in Italian.
036. Start shooting one roll of film or 50 digital images every week.
037. Go hiking once a week with Jesse.
038. Visit Rachel in LA.
039. Get all my negatives scanned (or scan them myself if I get a scanner soon).
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[ color inspiration 002 ]

This morning my breakfast matched my shirt. Canteloupe and spoon on the porch chair cushion.

[ i got beat at tic-tac-toe by a chicken ]

So life is good. Work is hectic, but good. I pulled back a little bit on my hours at Brenda's. Instead of working twenty hours a week there, I'm only working sixteen hours a week. I was just absolutely exhausted everyday because with all the driving I was pulling ten hour days everyday. Not cool.

But now I'm good. And once I start shooting weddings on weekends with Stuart (the first one is tonight!), it'll make up for the four hours I'm not working during the week. I'm not doing many of them right now, but starting in October, I'm basically booked every Saturday through the beginning of December. It's insane.

Next week, I'm going to be doing my first photoshoot with Brenda. She's pregnant, and due for a Living Art session (that's the name of her maternity shoots), so she's going to have me shoot it. It's going to be good practice. And she said that I'm going to probably be shooting her kids next week too, and then she'll work me into shoots with actual clients. I'm excited. It'll be good to be off the computer at work. I've been doing a lot of design stuff for her: baby announcement templates, baby congratulations cards, promo pieces. Good stuff.

In other news...

My PorchCacti are getting HUUUUUGE. Not really HUGE, but they are definitely bigger than they started. The bright green one is probably twice as big as it was!


Also, I finally got a frame for the vintage postcards I bought in Paris. They're fabulously aged, two are full of writing on the back, none of which I can read, because it's in French. Now I just need to hang them up.


Here's a nice blurry photo of the Roman's Oasis sign. Katie (Stuart's wife) told me that it used to be the bar that the farmers would ride their horses to for a drink. Awesome! It's a tiny building right near Stuart & Katie's house, and I drive by it everyday on the way to and from work.


The sky was seriously pretty on the way home from work today. The monsoon is kickin. Loving it. Crazy downpours.


Today after work, Jesse & I went to see The Simpsons movie. HILARIOUS! The entire audience was roaring during the whole thing. So so so funny. Spiderpig. Classic.

[ cletus / the simpsons movie ]

[ color inspiration 001 ]

Starting a new regular posting. I've (finally) started carrying my small camera with me everywhere, so now when I see a color or combination of colors, I can record it and share it.

Soooo, first one:


Hay bales stacked up on the side of the road near work.

[ not my daughter you bitch! ]

For anyone wondering if they should read Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, the answer is a resounding HELL YES!!!

I don't think I've ever read that quickly before... 759 pages in about 7.5 hours. About a hundred pages an hour. Holy crap.

So so so so freaking good. I will not give anything away, but I personally don't think fans will be disappointed. I wasn't at all. I was totally all over the place too: parts made me cry, parts made me laugh out loud, parts made me swear. One part got a resounding "ASSHOLE!"

Overall, I absolutely loved it, and am dying for Jesse to finish it so I can read it again.

Good stuff, good stuff.

[ molly weasley, hp & the deathly hallows ]

[ ten days of perfect tunes ]

I am absolutely completely and totally obsessed with Jose Gonzalez. I don't know if everyone's seen the amazing commercials for the Sony Bravia television, but the music for the one with the bouncy balls is the song "Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez. It's so peaceful and chill and amazing.

For a tidbit, watch the commercial, or click here for the Pandora page on the song.

Not only is the song amazzzing, but Jose Gonzalez has made me a FANtabulous Pandora playlist that I listen to at work pretty much every single day. Awesome.

[ heartbeats by jose gonzalez ]

[ i've been a bad bad girl ]

I'm so bad at blogging lately. I've just been a little crazy. Rushing in the morning to get ready for and to work. Too tired at night to do much else than cook dinner and relax with Jesse. But here I am, home for the afternoon because Brenda is heading to Vegas today, so I didn't have to work.

Annnyway... life is good. I've been living in Arizona for just over a month now (it was a month on Tuesday). And I love it. I love so much about being here. For exaaaample:

- Working. Love it. So much fun.
- My HAIR. I'm such a girl. I don't think I've had a bad hair day since I've been here. No frizz!
- That 100 degrees is refreshing. It makes me laugh.
- Living with Jesse. It's great. We're big dorks. We have fun together.
- Landscape. It's beautiful. We need to explore more. We've been lazy lately, so we need to get out there.

So yeah. It's awesome. It's been a crazy, hectic, fabulous month. And I'm sure it will only get crazier. Especially since I'm working my first wedding with Stuart next weekend! I can't wait. And he told me what weekends he's going to need me in the fall. Basically every Saturday but one in October and November. INSANE. But it will be fun.

As for personal stuff, I have zillions of ideas for my own designs, but I haven't had the energy to get going on it. I really need to get my website done before I move forward with new stuff.

So yeah. Life is good. Now, I must kick my own ass into gear, and do some work on my website.

[ criminal by fiona apple ]

[ i can't deny you, i feel so alive ]

Long time, no post. Well, it's only been a couple days, but whatever.

I just have time for a quick post before I head out to work. I'm now officially working full-time (well, part-time times two). I'm gone from about 8:30 am until around 6 pm, with a hefty chunk of driving in there.

Life is good. I'm loving work, I'm loving the apartment, I'm LOVING that Jesse is here. He got the job he interviewed for on Tuesday!!! He starts on Monday, and he's completely stoked.

Thus far, I've been editing and designing albums like crazy. Brenda let me play around in her studio for a little while yesterday, and was impressed (I think) with what I managed to come up with using only the random props she has. She's going to have me shoot her kids sometime soon to get some practice. I think it's going to be kinda hard for me. I'm not used to instructing people on what to do during shoots. Babies will be easy... they don't do what you tell them to, so you just catch them naturally. But little boys (6 & 4)... they have minds of their own.

Time to break some comfort zones.

Gotta run.

[ alive by pod ]

[ i'm so excited, and i just can't hide it ]

Jesse will be here in the morrrrrrrrrrrrrrrning!

[ i'm so excited by the pointer sisters ]

[ but now it's not so fun ]

Got a call from my dad. Apparently, my last box of books & DVDs has evaporated somewhere in the middle of the country. Somewhere between NC and AZ, the box broke, and the contents became separated from the address. Now I have to try to remember what the hell books and DVDs are missing.

So far, I know two of my English Harry Potter's aren't here, as well as three of my Italian Harry Potter's. My Steve McCurry portrait book isn't here (quite possibly my favorite photography book that I own). My vintage copies of The Witching Hour and Oliver Twist aren't here. One of my all-time favorite books, QuirkyAlone (which was a gift), isn't here. Season Three of Family Guy (my birthday present from Jesse) isn't here. The Poisonwood Bibles by Barbara Kingsolver isn't here.

Now I'm staring at my bookshelves, trying desperately to remember any other books that aren't here. Or movies. The list above might be it, but I doubt it. I only have about 60 books here, and I'm pretty sure I own at least 80. As for movies, nothing is jumping out at me except for the Family Guy.

Pissed off. I want my books. The vintage books are irreplaceable. The Witching Hour was published in 1908, and it was beautiful and perfect with awesome illustrations. Oliver Twist was part of my 19th birthday present from my father. He bought it (and The Adventures of Robin Hood, which made it) for me in this little tiny, practically caving in on you, stuffed with books used-book store in Asheville.

As they say, hindsight is 20/20. I should have written down all the books I had, and which books were in which boxes, so I would know.

Shit.

[ angry situation by save ferris ]

[ let that pair of golden earrings cast their spell tonight ]

Got home from work today, checked my mail, and these BEAUTIFUL earrings were waiting for me! They are my first (and probably not last!) earrings from Sulu-Design. I've been wanting them for a while, and when I noticed they were on sale, I snatched them right up. They're fabulously delicate and dangly. I'm in love.


Thanks Susan!

[ golden earrings by peggy lee ]

[ you say it's just for kicks ]

[ pictures of me by elliott smith ]

[ this is a strange enough new play on words ]

As I said before, I'm working on updating / revamping my personal website. Here's attempt number one at working out a homepage image using typography and one example of my work. I'm not 100% loving it yet. Opinions?


I'm thinking I may need to put a black & white image on this. I think it's the combo of gray texts and background with the color image(s) that I'm not feeling.

[ the remedy by jason mraz ]