Another one!

It's crazy with the photography this week.....

Was just notified on Flickr that another one of my pictures is being featured on the Daily Friday Photo section of an online site, called Absolute Michigan. It is one I took in my backyard.

Click here to see the page with my featured pic.

Will write more later on, when not at work.

Spyder In Free Press

I was searching on Google, and ran across the fact that another one of my photos was in the Free Press. Apparently, they don't always notify you, but I found it! Click here to see the link. This was during the Woodward Dream Cruise, the paper asked for submissions of cars, and I submitted the Spyder.

Another Day, Another Dollar.....

So, work has been crazy this week. Kurt has been out on IRS meetings, so I have been doing literally everything myself and I have been sooo slammed. I swear, I spent the majority of the afternoon on the phone today--I don't think I set it down at all, except to get up and use the restroom. And for anyone who knows me, I HATE THE FREAKING phone. I guess I should get used to it and get over my hatred though, since this is my life until I retire. :).

Anyway, am psyched Boston Legal is back on tonight. Am watching it right now. Looks like there are two new characters--will have to decide what I think of them.

So, since Kurt is leaving the IRS, I had to get health insurance for us elsewhere. I was kinda nervous about the cost, but am now psyched and happy to announce that we were approved for insurance and it is costing us LESS money than his monthly payment through the IRS was. And I think it's better insurance. So more HMO, asking a doctor for permission to see another doctor bullshit. It's a PPO, so I can basically go to any doctor in the book. And looked up my current doctors, who participate in the plan. So yay.

I am having photography withdrawal. With the days getting shorter and nightfall occurring just after I get home, I do not have the opportunity to get out there and shoot after work ends. So, I have just been doing some work with my camera in the backyard. I am really blessed to have 35 acres to roam around on and take pics. I think my sanity would be lost if I did not have that. Photography really relaxes me at the end of the day.....

Back to my scheduled program, talk more later everyone.

Procrastinating

I want to work. Truly, I do.

OK, that was a lie. But, I need a quick break from the neverending documents and phone calls, and I am the only one here right now, so I am doing just that! :).

The Lions game yesterday was fun. Despite the fact that the Lions SUCK majorly, and the stupid stadium would not let me bring my camera in. I was so annoyed I wrote a complaint letter. Cameras are allowed in, but apparently, "nice" cameras are not. Or cameras that say on their face "over 50mm". My new lens is 300mm. The only thing I can come up with is that the photographers at the games don't want amateurs in the crowd trying to sell their shots. It's retarded. My old digital zoomed to about 200mm, I think, but it did not say that on it's face (only 10x), so they did not even look twice at that one. So, Kory and I had to walk like a mile back to the car to return it. Beyond stupid. And I did not get any shots! But, whatever. The game was fun.


When we got home, it was about dusk, and I went outside to try and take some pics since I did not get to at the game. Anyway, our yard at night is SOO nice. The crickets are just everywhere, and I got some shots of them, as well as the colors of the sky as the sun sets, and a kewl bee. So, that relaxed me.

Oh, Gretel was acting really sick, so Kurt and I took her to the vet. She was dry heaving and shaking nonstop and we were worried. She would not eat snacks, was not chasing and harrassing Bugsy or Vito and was just sitting there. So, we took her in. After we sat there about a half hour waiting, she suddenly seemed better. So, we came home, and she has been fine since. I will keep monitoring her, but maybe she was just not feeling well.
Back to freaking work.

Nothing Much

So, since I have been sick, nothing too exciting has been going on with us. Tuesday and Wednesday, I was running a high fever both days, blah. I still had to work though, of course. Was not very productive, but got some things done anyway.


Felt better on Thursday and Friday (fever was gone, but cold still there).



Friday was so dreary, and I really wanted to test out my new lens and filters. So, I just walked around the backyard and took a few shots of leaves changing colors, etc.


Today was dreary AGAIN. Blah. Whenever I have some free time, the weather is not cooperating with me. Damn Michigan weather. And damn the weather for changing just as I get my new camera, LOL. Mother Nature does not love me. Today, I ran to Best Buy to take my laptop in, as it stopped working last night. Then, I went to Sam's Club to buy some Propel water and blueberries for Kurt and cereal. After that, stopped at Border's, as I wanted to buy a photography book. Found one that looks really good called Digital SLR Pro Secrets. I have not looked at it yet, but will tomorrow after the Lions game. Or before if I get up early enough. Went after that to Heritage Park to try and get some shots. It rained on and off though, so I did not get too many. I did get a bunch of duck shots, as they were all swimning close to shore in the lake at the park. Since it was dreary, the duck's reflections were really obvious in the water, so I cropped the following shot to show just the duck's reflection in the corner of the photo. It cracked me up.



They are on my Flickr page if you want to check them out by clicking here. We went to dinner tonight to watch the Michigan State game at Pete's Garage, but other than that, the day has been noneventful.


Talk to you all later.....

Featured Photo

How Strange. Somehow, one of my pictures from Flickr was chosen by a website as their photo of the day, but they never notified me! I was psyched to see my pic was chosen, but wish they would have told me! :). I love stuff like that!

Click here to see the page where my pic was featured.

The website it was on is called Michigan is Amazing.

Still Sick, but Improving

Well, still not really up to posting anything long, but I am feeling better today.....I still have the sniffles, but no more fever and am way more alert....Hopefully, I can post a lot more tomorrow and get more rest this weekend.....

Still sick.

But, I am starting to feel slightly better. I think. We will see as the workday progresses. I heard someplace that a headache is the end of a fever and now I have the headache, so hopefully my limited medical knowledge is correct. Will try and post something longer tonight.

Ugh.

I. am. so. sick.

Therefore, I can barely even look at the computer and have no desire to blog. As soon as I don't have a high fever anymore, I will post again....

Bridge to Eternity

**Taken at Lake Erie Metro Park, Brownstown, MI

How to Relax

Photography has really taught me how to relax. It's almost parallel to meditation for others.......I can have a stressful day at the office, come home, grab my camera--take pictures for 15 minutes, and feel immediately relaxed and better. It does not even matter what I am taking shots of--it can be the pugs, weeds, trees, whatever. I could even care less if the shots come out well or not, although it's fun to have something new to post every day. My Mom always told me during law school that I needed to find something to "chill" myself out, and I really feel I have found that with photography.

Today I went outside once I got home and it had stopped raining. So, I decided to do some experimental stuff with raindrops on trees, leaves, etc. and I think the stuff turned out pretty fun. You can look at my Flickr site to see the latest entries.

After work, I went to Best Buy and bought a case for my camera, yay. Luckily, they had my camera there, so I could put it in the bag and make sure it fit. I wanted one that was compact and easy to carry around.....But, I will most likely, in the future, buy a larger one for photo trips. Plus, right now I only have the lens that came with the camera (and one other that is coming in the mail).

That's about it for the night......Really tired, so I am going to sign off for now. Oh, Dancing with the Stars--I loved Emmitt Smith. Great personality.

I Have to Work Why?

Sunday was fun. I let Kory have my Lions ticket to go with Kurt, and I decided to go off alone in search of the latest pics for my collection. So, I drove to Lake Erie Metro Park in Brownstown (about 11 miles up the road from my house. On the way there, I stopped at several spots that I thought provided good photo opps, and then hiked about 3 miles in the park. I literally saw only two people during my hike--another guy with a camera, and one with binoculars scoping the birdies. It was so peaceful and relaxing and I really need stuff like that in my life. Work really stressed me out.

Anyway, at Erie Metro, I went on two nature trails. On the second trail, I found the highlight of my walk. There was a lotus area, and I have never seen these in my life. Kewlest looking flower/plant (whatever it is) that I have ever seen. And there were literally THOUSANDS of them. It was so gorgeous just being there. Also saw a ton of cranes, ducks and other birds on this hike. Although without my zoom lens (which is coming in the mail), I can't really get totally close up to them like I could with the old camera.

The colors are really starting to change too, which is great for photography, but kinda sad for me in that summer is ending. normally, I love the start of fall, but I missed most of summer studying....BLAH. I took the pic below while lying on a bridge in the park. Yes, when others are not around, I will do most anything for an interesting shot. The red leaves on the bridge were really pretty. Click here to see all the pics I took at the park.

Had dinner at Red Lobster on Sunday night with Kurt and Kory.

Today, work was productive. I got a lot of stuff done, which needs to be because we are going out of town on Friday. Britton is staying at the house and watching the animals, because our normal dog sitter is out of town. Plus, I kinda want someone to watch Bugsy, as he has not been without me for even a day yet since we got him.

I Trespass

Things have been so busy! At least it's not totally with work and non-fun stuff.

I got a new camera! YAY YAY YAY. I have been waiting for the new Canon to come out, and the site simply said "available in September". I want specific dates people! Anyway, I did not have to wait long. It came out on Tuesday. I found out on Wednesday. We went and bought it after a long day at work on Thursday. I just bought it with the standard lens, because I wanted to use it for a little bit before I decided on additional lenses. But, in using it the past few days, I know I need a telephoto zoom lens. My old camera zoomed up to 10x and this one does not. I need a different lens to do that. So, I bought another lens and some filters on ebay which should be shipped soon. So, click here to see my camera. It is the Canon Digital Rebel XTi. It is a great camera because I can grow with it as a photographer and continue to buy things for it that will make me able to do more with photography. So, this was one of the most exciting purchases I have made in a really long time. Since I took the bar, I have had more time to pursue hobbies and the like, and photography has really been the main one I have been practicing.

So, the night after I bought the camera, I went hiking at Sterling to test it out. It is going to take a little bit of getting used to, as it is much more advanced than what I was previously using. But, after hiking for about 3.5 miles, I really started to get used to it.

Today, we were supposed to work part of the day, but Kurt could not tear himself away from his computer. I wish he would have known that earlier in the day, as I was invited by a friend to go to this art gallery, and had to turn her down because i thought we were working. So, once I figured out Kurt was not moving, I headed out into Monroe to take pics. There are so many kewl places and things in my city, and I never really take the time to go see them. So, today I started. It was a lot of fun. I went to three different churchs, two small parks, and a boat launch. At the start of my trip, at the first place, it started POURING and I thought it was going to ruin the day, but it stopped after about 10 minutes.


I am getting more brave in my photo adventures as well. I was by this set of train tracks and a bridge today with a sign that said "no trespassing". Ummm, kinda ignored that, just a little bit. Really kewl thing too, which I was there (attempting to photo graffiti and ducks under the bridge, a train came! So, I got my first shots of a train, actually moving! That was pretty fun. Click here to see all my pics from the Monroe trip.


Oh, and exciting news! On Flickr, the site I use for uploading all my pictures and displaying them, one of them was selected by this online blog in Grand Rapids as their photo of the day. I guess when I posted the picture to the Grand Rapids Flickr group, I was also entering some kind of contest where they could use my photo if they wanted to on their online blog. So, click here to see my picture on their online Grand Rapids blog. It is the September 9th picture. The picture is from my trip to Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids with Rebecca and Lesley.

Here is the pic that was chosen:

Moving On.

So, everyone who knows my number and calls me, I wanted to announce that I am getting rid of my home phone....we are switching to just our cell phones. Which is great, because it will save me money every month, unnecessarily spent money. Yay.

My weekend was awesome since I last posted.


Sunday, I got up early and headed to Rebecca's in Ferndale. Lesley met us there too and we headed to Grand Rapids for our visit to the Frederick Meijer Gardens. Stopped in East Lansing on the way there to see Lauren and use her bathroom.....The gardens were beautiful. There was an outside part, and the indoor conservatory. Both were awesome, but I liked the outdoor part the most, especially the part leading through the marsh. We saw a muskrat there and so much other wildlife. And, of course, took a ton of pics, which you can see by clicking here. After that, we had lunch in Grand Rapids at a Spanish place, which was yummy. Drove home and was so exhausted. Long drive and long day, but it was awesome.


Monday, I went to Cranbrook Gardens and to lunch with Auntie and Carl. This place was gorgeous as well, I highly recommend going there to anyone who likes hiking, flowers, being outside. It was very peaceful and frankly, I was really shocked to find such a serene, quiet place in the congestion of Oakland County. Pics from this trip can be seen by clicking here.


Kurt and Kory got all the trees moved from the rental house to our yard. They moved about 46 large pine trees and it is so kewl. Our yard, while walking through it, is starting to feel more like the woods and less like a field.

Leave Her Alone.

So, Friday I left work early. YAY YAY YAY. We rarely, if ever, get to do that, so it was awesome. Headed to Ferndale to Rebecca's house. After I paid some attention to Simon, we left for our Belle Isle journey.....We were kinda bummed because the conservatory was closed, and we really wanted to go in again. For all of you who go there, it's closed until November! Crazy. After that, we headed down to Tiger Stadium to get some shots before they blow the place up. Sad.

Then, we ran some errands Rebecca needed to run, and stopped at a camera place that was recommended to me in Birmingham. They did not have the camera I wanted yet either, it should be coming out sometime in the next couple weeks. Sigh. I WANT IT NOW. Since I know what I want, I am just going to either buy online or someplace close to home....WE had dinner at Katana and I had this awesome tuna and rice meal and a kinda miso soup. Yum. I love Katana. Stopped at Old Navy and I bought a really cute sweatshirt like sweater to wear, as I was kinda cold. Weather here has been kinda cool the past couple days........

Today, I was going to try and head out someplace to get some shots, but it rained pretty consistently all day here. So, instead, I ran errands. We pretty much had NO food in this house, so I went to SAMS Club and Meijer to buy groceries. Then, I did some stuff around the house, laundry, etc.

I can't freaking wait until 10:00 a.m. That is when I am leaving for Grand Rapids with Rebecca and Lesley, to see the botanical gardens and grounds there. We should get some kick ass shots there! And a road trip with the girls is always fun.......

Keeping Up.

So, last night was really fun!

After work, I went and walked around Heritage Park in Taylor, because I had about an hour to kill before dinner with Nancy. The place is gorgeous. I wish it would have been that way when I lived here! I did not get to do much, since I had a small amount of time, but I walked a few trails, then found this awesome garden and took some shots...Click here to see them. I do need to go back though, because there was a lot more to see that I needed more time for. The trails were very kewl though, some of the trees looked 100 years old or more......

After that, drove to dinner to Andiano's for dinner with Nancy, who I have not seen since school got out in May. We were there over three hours chatting! I really think that may be the longest I have stayed at dinner with someone! And I could have stayed later, but both of us had to work in the morning.....It was awesome to see her, and she is one of those people who "get" how I think (she is another one of those crazy liberals, hehe).

Nancy said something last night that struck me as funny. I don't even know what we were talking about, but I said something to her, and she laughed, and responded, "Lori. anyone who CLAIMS to be modest and humble [about whatever] is generally the exact opposite." I really tend to think this is true, and it put something in perspective in my life....which I kinda already knew, but it helps clarify when someone else says it sometimes.

Can't Believe I Almost Forgot.

OK, this will not be exciting to most, but.....My order came in the mail! Fresh
had an awesome sale a couple weeks ago and I placed an order. I got a ton of stuff for incredible deals....Like almost everything was like 75%+ off. Yay. They also included like 10 free sameples in the box, which was awesome. I love trying things.

Today, work was long. Misty called in sick, so I had to answer the phones and deal with clients coming in and do paperwork. Blah. Too much work. I hate phones. I like being able to screen my calls........



Today, after work, I decided to go hiking in Sterling State Park to relax, and of course, took my camera. Got a few shots......Highlights of the hike were two things...First, I saw a Monarch butterfly. OK, that in itself is not a highlight. But, the fact that this butterfly sat in one spot for like 10 minutes so I could take pics IS a highlght. Second, I walked to one opening by the water, and a muskrat was swimming around, eating grass and water greenery. I got to watch him for like 5 minutes too, before he went underwater and disappeared. Sigh. I live for stuff like that. Click here to see the pics. They are pics 1-33, but this will change once I upload more. You can also see them in the Sterling State Park Set on Flickr.

Came home and listenned to Kurt bitch about the Tigers until Monroe hit a game winning home run. HA.



Go Tigers.

Something Good

Soooo, we finally closed on the land. I don't even recall if I posted about this before, but WHAT A PAIN. Everyone showed up today, we closed, and we are DONE. I never have to deal with the guy we bought our house and land from ever again. I can totally understand why the guy would not like us, but C'MON. I owe you money, just freaking take it. Anyway, all is done. Closed. Finito. Yay.

Came home after work and went on a really long walk outside with the dogs, Kurt and my camera. Took some shots of my yard. Click here to see them. I love my yard. It's so kewl that I can go out and get some fun shots, just by walking around my yard. It is so relaxing.......

Got a hilarious shot of Vito "jumping" in the yard for Kurt. Kurt was holding a flower and Vito thinks those are toys, so he jumps to try and get them.....

Just Another Manic Monday.....

I really don't like Mondays. The weekend is over. I have to be at work. I have to get up early. Seriously, what could make Mondays good?

Anyway, had a long day at work today. We were there until almost 7 p.m. Blah.

I got an email today from MSN telling me that Karr's DNA did not match that of the Jon Benet case. Shocking, but not. I never actually thought it was him, but it was crazy to get that email.

My friend Hollie's doggie is having surgery in the morning, and I am hopeful, but still stressed for her and their family. :(. People annoy me. She is going through a horrible time, and some of her friends and family are actually telling her she is "crazy" for spending the money on surgery for "just a dog". This is one thing that drives me insane about society today. I am truly in the minority with how I view my animals as part of my family. If one's human child was sick, they would spend anything to save it....but an animal gets sick, and most people will just put the animal down. It's ridiculous. Animals are not possessions and it makes me sick how people just think they are so disposable. Anyway, enough of my rant. Please think about Hollie and Buster tomorrow. He has bladder stones, and it is really serious surgery. I really, really hope everything turns out perfect for them all.

It is raining really hard here, storming. Which is fabulous, because my trees really need it. Yay for rain. :).

I am thinking of taking a day trip to Grand Rapids this weekend. I want to go to the botanical gardens there.....they are supposedly the best in the state. Kurt and Kory are doing some yardwork and finishing up the beach house this weekend, so I need to find something fun to do......

In the Hidden Lakes Gardens

I woke up today and it was dreary out....looked like it had been raining and the sun was not anywhere in sight. Bummer. Rebecca, Lesley and I had plans to go to Belle Isle to the conservatory and to walk around.....I was thinking maybe it would be nicer up near Detroit but as SOON as I thought that, Rebecca texted me telling me it was pouring rain there.....and we decided just to do the trip another day. I really, really wanted to go out today and take some shots for Flickr and my collections, so I started trying to figure out what I could do.


My Aunt emailed me and I asked her if she knew of any indoor conservatories that I had not been to yet. The only one that was not really far away was called Hidden Lakes Gardens. It was about an hour away, but it was closer than anything else and I really needed to get out of the house and be outside. So, my Aunt came over and we went there. It was SOOOOO kewl. Loved it. We did the indoor conservatory, and walked the gardens on the grounds, including the hosta garden which was really unique. We also did the long drive around the property through the different tree gardens, which was interesting. There were hiking trails too, but we were really hot as it was an annoyingly muggy day and we had already been outside a lot in the gardens. So, we are going to go back sometime and do the trails when its not so high in temp out. I took a ton of pics, and you can see all of them at this link.


Came home and did dinner with Auntie, Kurt and Kory.

On another note, I know I posted about the camera I wanted in the last post. I have since, yet again, changed my mind. For a person who cannot stand indecisiveness, I sure am displaying the attributes of that kind of person right now. Anyway, I was looking up the camera I wanted and found out that a newer model is coming out next month. So, I am going to get that one I think. Click here to see it.