De-railed

Two days ago we received some news that threw us so far off course, I have absolutely no idea how to get back to our regular rhythm. My blog is definitely being neglected because of it, and I'm sorry. I'll be back when I sort everything out, and when I get this video edited! It's turning out to be a lot more work than I thought it would be.

Hyperfocus

Some say I have attention deficit disorder.

As my brother so accurately put it, I have attention displacement disorder.

It's not that I can't concentrate... the problem is that I concentrate too hard, in the wrong places, and end up losing track of everything else. This blog is clearly not the object of my focus lately - the proof is in the sparse reading the last few weeks. Where has my focus been?

The Benefits of Marriage.

I started this project with one thing in mind: gather a few peoples' thoughts, throw them together in a video, and present it to my class - mostly to avoid standing up in front of everyone and forgetting what I wanted to say, humiliating myself in my first attempt at a presentation in a college course.

This project is so much more to me now. I wish I could say I've made a lot of progress, since it's due to be shown in class in just one week.... Instead, I've put too much into it and I still have hours and hours of editing to do... but I have learned so much. Hopefully I'll get everyone who participated to give me permission to post the video here when it's finished so more people can benefit.

To make up for my lack of posts lately... New pictures of my family!

Husband & I

Family

The Husband

The baby

The wild one

The 7-year-old

Us - October 2010

All photos by Jon Miller, in-home appointments available (in Utah): intjonmiller@gmail.com

A Plug

I don't often do a post where I advertise for people/companies, but this one is worth it.

My brother Jon is a great photographer with tons of experience and equipment, who needs a little bit of help so he can see his girls for the holidays. If you're located (or visiting) in Utah, here is Jon's offer:

Anyone who contributes gets me as their official photographer. Here's the breakdown:

• $50 donation - Free individual or family portrait. (Aubrey, can we get some examples posted for everyone to see? :) Includes a large print up to 16x20.

• $100 donation - Free individual or family portrait EVERY YEAR for the life of the camera (I'd figure at least 7 years based on my track record with these awesome Nikons). Includes large print up to 20x30.

• $250 donation - Free "day in the life of" photo shoot of your child (I follow your child with a camera for a day, or as much of a day as you'd like me to do, and document everything s/he does in a creative way) and a beautiful, professionally designed, printed, and bound photo album of the pictures you choose from that shoot. May be substituted for "wedding photographer" style coverage of the family party or other shoot of your choosing.

• $500 donation - Basically whatever you want me to do (photographically? let's talk) up to one full day, plus incredible quality printing and presentation of the work. So many options. I can light and photograph your home to look like something out of a magazine (how fast would your home sell if your pictures were better than the snapshots realtors take from their car window?). Or you can have several large prints of my LDS Temples collection ("Kingdoms of Glory"). Website coming soon-ish.

• $1000 donation - Full wedding photography package (the kind I used to charge $2500+ for), discreet photojournalistic documentation of your vacation, etc. Basically whatever you want me to do, but now we're talking about multiple days.

• $5000 donation - I will bear your next child. I don't know yet how I'll manage that, but I swear I'll find a way.

• $25000 donation - You own me. Yes, everyone has a price. For a limited time mine is only 5 figures.

-Jon



Here are some examples. He does great work and editing - he's a Photoshop genius, if you need any touch-ups or want any special effects. The adorable little blonde girls are his daughters. :)

Yes, he took my wedding photos. I'm so lucky to have him in the family!!

This Friday I have an appointment with Jon for him to make me look as pretty as this. (above)

When my Max was in the NICU, Jon came with his equipment to take pictures of him. We weren't sure he was even going to live past a few days, and we were so grateful for this... just in case.

This is hard to see, but it's a panoramic he did in Washington D.C.

And my all-time favorite.... Me, my husband, and my baby in the NICU...

I can't wait to get our family pictures taken Friday! When I get them back I'll show them off for sure. :)

Self-Improvement Sunday

There are about a million different things that I struggle with every single day, with a few really dominant ones at the very top of the list. I'm sick of being limited by my every flaw, and with the help of my new therapist (who I love, btw), I am ready to institute Self-Improvement Sundays.

My first mountain to climb:

Thought control.

About eight billion (or so) times a day, a negative, mean, jealous (or worse) thought comes to my head, and instead of murdering it like I should, I entertain it... ask it to pull up a chair, serve it a drink, and then reminisce about all the miserable thoughts that preceded it.

This week, I will be excusing the negative thoughts from the table, and asking them to please not return. Who knows, maybe a few of them will take the hint and leave me alone?

What do you need to work on?

Forget Yoga. All I need is a little bit o' money.

There are three things that can bring me back up to the surface when I feel like I'm drowning in life and school and motherhood and wifehood:

1. An overnight babysitter & somewhere fun to go
   
2. A new outfit (check)
   
3. New haircut/color (check)
   

Two down, one to go. (Thank goodness it's fall break!)

Hair color and cut: c/o my sweet friend Courtney @ Salon L.A. Camille
Sweater and jeans: Kohl's
Shoes: Payless 2 years ago

I went in search of fall basics (yay!) and stumbled upon this sweater. It wasn't in my list of "basic" items I could mix and match for fall, but I fell in love with it. Story of my life: looking for one thing, stumble on another, impulsively choose something I didn't mean to choose based on infatuation.

The jeans.... I'll admit, until yesterday I believed skinny jeans should ONLY be worn by people size 9 and smaller. I guess you could say I felt like a whale who could never fit into that size pond. Well I'll tell ya what... I am in passionate love with these jeans. I took a chance because someone had called them "slimming" and I gotta tell ya... I'm impressed.

I also came home with a pair of boots that I'm saving for cold weather... but I can hardly stand to keep them to myself! Boots for $10? Definitely can't beat that. (Plato's Closet, you are my friend.)

Is it weird that wearing a new outfit to school on Test Day gave me extra testing confidence?