Hey everyone!

I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year!

2008 was awesome and I’m looking forward to what 2009 will bring! My family is safe and in good health, school starts on Monday, and I’m learning my way around Atlanta slowly, thanks to my trusty GPS. I really consider myself soooo blessed to have a husband who picked up his whole life to move down here so I could fulfill my dreams of getting my MFA in photography. Love you!

I promised myself I wasn’t going to make resolutions for next year, because I always always break them, but tomorrow I’m going to start the new year off right by going for a jog (okay…speedwalk LOL) with some of my ATL transplant friends. I’ve committed too many tamale and chocolate sins this past week…way too many. Although we’re going to finish New Year’s Day off with a yummy potluck dinner at a friend’s house, I’m determined to try to live a bit healthier this year. We only have one life, and one body, so we have to take care of it!

I also want to jump up and down in this post and announce my website REVAMP! Cory and I have been working super duper hard these past few months on the site and I hope everyone loves it as much as we do!

I figured I’d close out the last blog post of 2008 with a photo from my Random Folder, I think it’s a constant reminder to keep climbing, no matter what obstacles block your way.

(BTW this was taken, if I recall, at the National Gallery of Art in DC. The name of the piece is Ladder for Booker T. Washington by Martin Puryear. Thanks to Andrea (click click click! her art is AMAZING) for refreshing my memory!)

Again, Happy New Year to everyone

I feel so blessed to have family to be around during this time of year! I think that’s the best gift ever…that…and tamales.

I hope everyone’s Christmas is filled with blessings, quality time with family, and LOVE.

Scene: Marlene and Cory are on the road in the verdant country hills of Virginia. Or at a supermarket. Or a museum.

Suddenly, Marlene darts off. With camera. Begins Maniacal shutter-clicking.

Cory is usually in midsentence. Or looking the other way when Marlene darts off with camera.

This scene usually plays out with or without my camera. I get distracted easily by cool stuff. And cool stuff might be some bricks covered by ivy. Or something broken. Or pillowcases on sale at Ikea. (Okay, who doesn’t get lured by pillowcases at Ikea?!)

It’s part of who I am. I am enchanted by the world. I wish I could capture everything. And usually when I don’t have my camera at the ready I’m lamenting saying, ‘Argh but if I just HAD my camera on me, I could have gotten the photo!’ and Mr. Voice of Reason (guess who!?) says, ‘You’re not going to be able to capture everything, you know.’

And…he’s right.

But I’m a stubborn kinda gal There are those moments where I see something, and happen to have my camera on me, and getsta clicking. I drag the files into a folder and then…a week will pass…then a month.

I sometimes forget about the stuff I shoot for myself. Until now.

I decided I wanted to close out the blogoyear with some of the photos in the “Random” Folder and try to remember what exactly drove me to capture them. And whooaaaa are there are TON.

I’ll begin with the Fruit Stand Series:

Tires behind the stand.

Cows across the highway. For the record…cows scare the beejeebies outta me. Across the street was the closest I got:

We were in West Virginia, heading back from scouting a wedding location, and a ramshackle fruit stand along the road caught my eye. Another observation: living near a big city makes everything in the country seem that much more vibrant.

I am fascinated with what we leave behind. What remains.

As the shutter clicked away I couldn’t help but think about who inhabited the fruit stand. Was it a family business? Was this fruit stand their livelihood, how they put dinner on the plate each night? When did they leave? Why did they leave? What memories were created when the paint wasn’t chipped and peeling away; when ripe apples sat in wire baskets, swinging in the country breeze?

The final photo in the series felt like a reminder that no matter what we do to this earth as humans, nature always reclaims what belongs to it.

These thoughts haunted me as we drove off, back to the four lane highways imprinted in the earth like giant fingernail trails and teetering buildings, giant granite trees sprouting from the soil of our city landscape.

What remains?

Hey there! I’ve been MIA and I’m sorry, we’ve been trying to get settled (judging from the boxes that are surrounding me, it’s safe to say that’s a work in progress), and I’m pretty sure Comcast hates us, because the internet is spotty! . Internet, you know how important you are to me…please call Comcast and tell them to get it together!

So my birthday was the 26th, so it was kinda cool, I’ll only be 26 on the 26th once and I got exactly the gift that I wanted; to spend much needed time with my familyyyyyy and put down my camera and computer for a few days and did just that (Cory will attest to the fact that sometimes I fall asleep on the floor next to the laptop while doing a late night edit session. I can practically hear him grumble right now. Wait. He might be grumbling because his editor gave him an earlier deadline this week. I’ll pretend he’s grumbling for me though .

Some of the few photos I snuck in:

In Atlanta, it was kinda like….WARMER. This was taken on the 26th, in Charlotte. Can you hear the crunch of the cold? I can. I kinda…don’t miss that about the DC area

I think the only words for this photo are ‘BURRRRRRRP *food coma*’

1+ year old + plate of mushy looking food = this. Somehow he looks more disgusted that I’m sure he is. Actually, I’m betting that he was DELIGHTED as he did this. Yes, he’s back.  I know y’all missed him.

He tries to hit the high note. Watch out Prince.

He decided to help Mommy put up the tree.

He’s really thinking hard about his wishlist. I promise.

Here he is with Cory, watching Mommy struggle with the tree.

He decided to demonstrate his rubber arm to me. My nephew’s talented.

Before…

He learned that they don’t bounce. Okay…I broke this one. He broke a red one.

Stay tuned. This hat will make an appearance in a future blog post

(Yep, he’s inside the Christmas tree box. I know, adorableness is gushing.)