[ 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 ]