Catching Up.... Again!

Haha.. so much for blogging more often right? its been almost two weeks since my last entry.

I finished up my online class and thought I was done. I'd been planning on taking a summer school course, but it didn't start until June so I thought I'd have some time away from school. But then I found out my boss wants me to start working more with standards work.. which is awsome because it means more experience, plus its something that once I've learned it I can continue to do from wherever I live. The most exciting part? My boss told me he wants me to attend their standards meeting in June in Louisiana. My first business trip!!!

BUT.. that meant I couldn't take my summer class. I really do need to get 3 credits in this summer so I dropped the class that started in June and opted for a mini term class - a class that runs for three weeks, 5 days a week, 3 hours a day. And it started May 18th. So good news is, the class is super interesting, and the material is easier to remember because you have class daily. Plus I'm already done with one of the three weeks! Bad news is, I'm still working, so my days have been packed full and I'm exausted by the end of the day.

Yesterday I played Bunko.. and I one the prize for most bunkos! I've never won the bunko prize! Guess what I got? I beautiful potted plant to put on my front porch. I'm stoked, and I hope that since it's an outside plant it will be easier to keep alive.
Last night Jeff and I finished the 3rd season of Heros. If you don't watch Heros, you should. Go rent seasons 1-3. We were addicted after the first episode. I don't know what we're going to do now that we finished season 3.

This morning it was so nice outside I decided to take Gracie for a walk to check out the garage sales. I rode my beach cruiser and she walked at my side. (Well.. more like she tried to drag me off my bike for the first 20 minutes, but eventually she got tired and did walk at the side of the bike) I got suckered into buying like 6 or 7 glass bottle thingy-ma-bobbers. I only wanted to buy 1 or 2 but the lady said she'd give them all to me for $3 bucks.. so I said okay.. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with all of them. I had to ride home to drop them off before I could keep riding because they were heavy in my bike's basket and i was afraid Gracie would pull and they'd fall out and break. I tried to convince Jeff to go back around the neighboorhood with me but he didn't want to so I took Gracie for another mile or so run and when I got back to the house Jeff was sitting in the driveway out of breath. ;] After I'd left he grabbed his skateboard and skated around the neighboorhood looking for Gracie and I so he could have Gracie pull him... only we missed each other by a couple minutes and so he never found us!

When we got back home we let gracie play in the sprinklers (I've decided its her favorite thing to do). She tried to bite and attack the water as its spraying out at her and it is the funniest thing to watch. Drying her off was a crack-up too. All I have to do is hold the towel out and she'll rub up against it and roll around on it. ;]

Tonight we're heading up to Reno to celebrate Elizabeth and Justin's birthdays! Yay! Our whole friend group is finally 21 (me included) and so we can finally go places as groups!

Oh and I'm still doing my 365. I'll try to post some of those pictures on here soon. Or you can click here to go view the series on Flickr.

Catching up.

I've been way behind on blogging.. but at least I've kept up on my 365 project. Each image usually has a short blurb that's like a mini-blog on flickr.

Here's an update on the last few weeks of my life:
I've been consistent with my 365 project. I haven't missed a single day! And although I may not be as creative everyday as I'd like (especially these last couple weeks with finals), I've become a lot more comfortable in front of the camera. Which has allowed me to become more comfortable with who I am as me. And I've been carrying my camera with me everywhere and just taking pictures everyday. I love it!

School is just about over. The last couple weeks were hectic. I'll spare you the details, but I had way too many finals and papers due all at the same time. I only have one more online test and online essay and I'm done! (until summer school that is.)

My website has been up for a few weeks now and I'm already getting emails and interest from it! I'm very excited. Summer is a great time to do portraits and weddings!

Friday was my 21st birthday. I'm finally legal to do everything except rent a car. It was a great day. I spent most of the day inside either at work or home working on homework but I was in a great mood none-the-less. I attribute it to the good weather (Cake and strawberries at work helped too). Jeff and I went to dinner at Chili's and then stopped by a casino on our way home. Casino's are strange. There was a man and woman on a stage above the bar playing a guitar and singing, but the woman was obnoxious. She kept doing a woot woot noise and trying to get everyone else to join her. Plus there were tons of adults dancing in an area between some tables and the bar. It reminded me of a bad high school dance. Anyway, I put a dollar in a slot machine (I had to search for one that had the pull-down handle). It was fun for the 30 or so seconds that it lasted. I didn't win (despite my secret belief I'd hit the jackpot). Then we came home and finished the last few episodes of the first season of Heros.

Jeff and I have recently become addicted to Heros. We got rid of cable because we decided it was too expensive, but we have netflix and an xbox so we just added tons of movies and TV series to our instant play and we watch that instead. We first started watching The Office, but we quickly finished all of the 4 available seasons, and then decided to try Heros. We're so addicted to Heros that we'll stay up till 2 in the morning watching episode after episode, despite that we have to get up early to head off to work.

Anyway, Saturday we went up with a small group from College group and watched an Ace's baseball game. They lost 8-5, but it was fun. I don't think I've ever been to a baseball game before and it was fun. Then we had a BBQ at our house. I made an awesome cake and Jeff cooked up burgers and hot dogs. Lots of friends came over and we all hung out.

Sarah brought me a super cute gerber daisy (its planted in a pot so it will keep growing!). Jaime brought strawberries she bought from a guy on the side of the road and some awesome peanut butter chocolate ritz cookies that she made. Ashley and Nicole brought a pretty bouquet. Randy brought me a bent card (ha ha he rode his motorcycle so he didn't have anywhere to put it but in his helmet).. but the card was a neat fuzzy cupcake. Alisha gave me some beautiful earrings and I also received a couple gift cards.

I got pictures of everyone, especially those who tried to avoid it. We decided to play spoons... and did 3 practice rounds before I decided we should do cake. I cut up my beautiful cake and it was awesome! Then everyone was out back and Ashley, Nicole and Jaime were all sitting on the hammock. Jeff told me to go sit with them and take a picture and I did. Only they didn't actually want me there for the picture. On three they pulled out silly string and started bombarding me. I curled into a ball. The hammock broke and we all fell on the ground. It seemed like a good 5 minutes until they ran out. The fumes were horrendous! Poor Jaime though. I ended up being completely curled up on her and while my face was hidden, hers was not, and she got a face full of silly string while I only had it in my hair and all over my body. ;] It was fun though. They got me good.

People started heading out. A few people stuck around and I opened the cards and we had a little bit of champagne and we all watched an episode of Heros. The the rest of the crew left. Jeff and I watched another couple episodes of Heros and went off to bed.

Today we heard an awesome sermon at church, came home and worked on homework and then headed to my parents for a joint Bday and Mother's day celebration. [Fun Fact: I was born on Mother's Day.. what a sweet present!]

Anyway, that's the past couple weeks. More to come I'm sure.

Photography special

Yay! In honor of my birthday I'm giving everyone that books a portrait session by May 22nd 10% off the session scheduled for a shoot date between may 11th and may 31st.

2 down, 50 to go

014/365 - April 24, 2009, originally uploaded by HarmonyHilderbrand.

So I've completed 2 full weeks of my 365 project. That means only 50 more weeks to go!

I'm so proud of myself. I'm getting less shy in front of the camera, and I haven't skipped a day yet! Plus, I'm starting to get inspiration from my day to day life for pictures.

In other news... I have 2 weeks of school left! { Oh my gosh! }
I thought I'd written my last essay for the semester.. until I logged onto my online art history course. Duh! Completely forgot about two more essays in that class. But at least they aren't nearly as long or hard as the one I just finished for History of Photo.

I'm so excited for it to be summer! I'm planning on working a whole bunch to pay off things (like last years taxes, our car, etc), and hopefully saving for a new camera lens or a computer! I'm also taking one summer course - 'listening'. Jeff's excited for me to take the class - haha just kidding, although even though he doesn't say it, he probably is. I'm excited because although I listen well (I think I do at least), I suck at retaining what I hear. So maybe it'll be a good course?

Other reasons I'm excited for summer:
I hate being cold - bring on the warm weather!
I want to go on walks and hikes with my doggie!
I want to hold and go to BBQs!
I'm excited for summer foods like watermelon and strawberries.
Farmers Market! {need I say more?}
Green grass, blue skies, pretty flowers.
And so on...

Altered Realities Project

Altered Reality #5, originally uploaded by HarmonyHilderbrand.

Click the picture to visit Flickr to view the rest of the photographs from this series.

Collaged Stereotype Project

College Stereotype #1, originally uploaded by HarmonyHilderbrand.

I promised everyone that I would post images of my photography projects from last semester.

Click the picture to visit flickr and view the rest of the series.

This series was titled Collaged Stereotypes.

Spring is Here!!

008/365 - April 18, 2009, originally uploaded by HarmonyHilderbrand.

bright colors. daffodils. camping. butterflies. clouds. dresses. picnics. frisbee. tulips. flipflops. lemonade. sidewalk chalk. daisies. bbqs. playgrounds. chirping birds. swimming.

Spring is Here! But if feels like summer! I cannot believe how warm it is! I love it.

The best part is I have 2 weeks until school is out (and until my birthday!).
This week I finished my final paper for the semester and finished printing my final photography project! Now I only have a few final tests week after next and I'm done!