...Tis' the season to be broke!

So I was telling a few friends about my bounced child support checks recently. Everyone has said "blog it, it's the same thing a grocery store would do by putting your name up on the wall." Well....I definitely don't want to put names up on the internet, I will be nicer.

I deposited 2 checks, both bounced and of course I am charged at my bank. 3rd check came in the mail and I went to Arvest bank today and the lady told me there weren't enough funds to cash the check.

Tis' the season to be broke! It's a good thing Doug and I know how to save money and we balance the check book daily. Child support checks usually go into Amelia's savings, glad we didn't do it this time because I only balance her savings once a month.

Silent Migraine

Info from this website: http://www.relieve-migraine-headache.com/silent-migraine.html

For years I've been dealing with a mysterious problem. Years of frustration. Years of not knowing what the heck is wrong.

I get SILENT MIGRAINES!!!!!! What the.....never have heard of that but I finally have figured out what is going on. A nurse - of ALL people told me I had migraine aura. Doctors couldn't figure it out....it was the nurse!!!!! I had a horrendous silent migraine today. No headache just all the crazy symptoms. Today I was dealing with horrendous vertigo, nausea, pressure in my back/head/neck/eyes, weird eye spots and an overall pain. I always forget what is going on with me and then "duh...migraine." Easily fixed with an Advil migraine pill. Ugh! At least I know!

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Silent migraine is one name for a type of migraine attack that doesn't include a headache. As strange as it may sound, it's actually not all that unusual. Over the years, silent migraine has gone by other names, including acephalgic migraine, sans-migraine, migraine equivalent, eye migraine, visual migraine, ocular migraine, painless migraine or simply migraine aura without headache. Today it's usually called migraine aura without headache.

Migraine aura is a term used to describe many of the other symptoms that go along with migraine, but it's usually referring to visual symptoms. This might include seeing zig zags or flashing lights, or having dizziness or vertigo. It's estimated that only about 15% of migraineurs deal with aura. There are actually a host of possible symptoms that can hit, usually before a headache stage, such as slurred speech, numbness, pain in other parts of your body such as in the face or on the skin, and ringing in the ears.

Interestingly, migraine aura without headache more often occurs later in life, and more often in men than in women.

As you may imagine, with so many symptoms in silent migraine, it's prone to misdiagnosis. Sure, if you were to get a one-sided headache, or any headache, migraine might be suspected. But without the headache stage, the migraine diagnosis is often missed.

I recently read an article by a patient who was first told he had had a mini-stroke, then he was diagnosed with things like hypoglycemia, meniere's disease (an inner ear disorder), depression, fibromyalgia and myofascial pain! It's easy for silent migraine to be mistaken for many other diseases - and that's no help to the patient.

Even those who get "normal" migraine can get silent migraine from time to time. It's estimated that 20% of migraineurs have had a silent migraine. Of course, it's easier for someone with a history of migraine to recognize the symptoms.

Silent migraine has not gotten a lot of specific press, probably because it's often simply lumped in with other migraine. Most of the migraine books I own don't specifically mention it in the index by any name, although they do talk about it here and there. This can make it pretty frustrating for the patient looking for information.

Birthday!

We had a little gathering for Amelia's 9th birthday. Invited Doug's family and 2 of my friends from school to come out and celebrate. We got the cake from Mickey's which is the best cake I have EVER had! OMG - scrumptious! I cooked 10 lbs of potatoes, 3 london broils, 4 lbs of glazed carrots, dinner rolls, 2 lbs of stuffing, and cranberry sauce. I also had chocolate raspberry dip with apples and graham crackers. And put out red velvet cake balls as well as chocolate covered pretzels. Homemade goodies! We had 17 people over here. Amelia had a great time playing with the kids and opening gifts! It was a great birthday!


The 3 of us!


My new BFF's. Silver, me and Justin. They are theater majors. Coolest guys you'll ever meet!






And unfortunately Justin was in a car wreck. A lady going thru the stoplight couldn't decide whether to go or stop when the light turned yellow. She hit the gas and went through the red light and in turn hit Justin. This was at the light next to our house. Doug's cousin called when they left our house and said "I think one of your party guests was in a wreck." I called Justin and he sounded pitiful. Sara and I jumped in the car and drove down the driveway and sure enough Justin was sitting down with a head injury. Silver was there. The police called an ambulance.

Justin is fine. Thank God! He just has a big bump and a massive headache. It could have been worse. So much worse. His poor suv is messed up. The front axle is bent. The CV joints busted and the radiator is broke. Silver and I were able to drive it back up to my house and we have it parked in my lot. Not sure if the car can be fixed.

Things like this just really open your eyes. Make sure to tell everyone you love them before they leave the house. It could be your last time seeing them. Justin's wreck really got me to thinking about taking all of my friends and family for granted. To all my family and friends - I love you!!!!!!!

Makeup, Photography & Styling

I'm insanely addicted to makeup. I just got the Ben Nye makeup catalog....My next purchase is airbrush paint so I can start body painting models. I'd like to paint their bodies into a scene. I sometimes wished I had a big budget for all my fun projects! I'd be creating stuff daily!

The photo above is Kayla. Lashes, and the makeup by me. And styling with cyrstals by me. Then I do the photography. I tend to get exhausted but I can't help it. It's so much danged fun! And having good models to work with --helps!!!

Here is Melanie:





Colleen had to help me with this makeup job. It took us almost 6 hours to complete. We were SO tired. It's not as easy as some think it is! It takes lots of time and TONS Of patience from both makeup artist and model. Melanie did a great job but you could tell she was Tiiiiiired after all the laying down with nothing to do! But she was a trooper and perked up for the shoot!

Makeup is a lot more time consuming than people think. Lots of patience is required! :-)

How do I keep it together?

Ha...how do I keep it together? Sometimes I wonder how I get things done.

Last night I picked Amelia up from visitation with her dad. I told her that Doug and I had 2 dates over the weekend. She always loves to hear what we did when she wasn't home. So I told her that Doug and I went out for Thai food on Saturday night. Then on Sunday he took me to the Ringling Bros. circus at Alltell arena. Then she said "mommy, you're married! You can't go on a date with Doug!" And then she said "how squishy!" Uh-hum....she learned that word from Sara. HA! So I explained to her that marriage doesn't just happen. It takes 2 people to make it work. And when 2 people love each other a lot - they go on dates! I told her that I never wanted to divorce Doug or ever put her through a divorce ever again. I told her that I knew it was hard for her so Doug and I would do everything to continually work on our marriage. I told her that I love Doug and that we enjoy going on dates and she said that was cool. So squishy!

So the semester is over. I have one test left on Thursday. I made the "nerd" club this semester- which is an awesome thing. (high grades) So next semester I have 17 hours on my plate but I'm considering dropping 1 class. Not sure if I can handle 17 hours. I work 3 jobs. I love - LOVE - all 3. I shoot weddings for Janet Hudson-Schroeder. I shoot boudoir photography on my days off. And I work 10-15 hours as a receptionist. I love all the stuff that I do. Sometimes it's extremely exhausting. Sometimes I mess things up ... like forgetting to order a print out of an order of 20 but I always end up ordering the extra after the fact. I'm definitely not perfect. I'm human. We all are.

Doug and I have to keep a good household. If Amelia didn't have her chores and Doug didn't help out, I don't know what I'd do. There's nothing sexier than seeing my man standing with a broom in his hand when I come home from a wedding.

I have the best family ever!

New Photos!

Here are some new photos from the weekend! Thanks to Crystal and Kayla! They did an amazing job at posing. I did the makeup/hair/styling! They did fantastic!

Updates, Updates, Updates!

I haven't blogged in awhile. I've been so fantastically busy that I don't have time to get on the blog....

I work for Janet Hudson-Schroeder photographing weddings. She had to hire an intern to keep her blog going because she's such a busy lady! She is now photographing rock concerts. I called her up and said "uh.....hello! you better take me along to the next rock concert!!!" She just photographed Metallica. Urgh! Take me next time Janet - gosh darn it. HA!!! So yeah, I'm a lucky girl. She's doing AC/DC next. Check out her blog:

http://www.jhsphotos.blogspot.com/

Looks like she's going to be really busy with rock concerts. I'm going to be busy with the weddings. And hey, that is fine by me but if she takes me along every now and then - I'm so there! Rock and Roll baby!

I'm already planning my next trip out of the state of Arkansas. I told Doug that I would rather travel than own a home. Owning a home is NOT my "American Dream" - it's not my priority. I'd rather travel and see things. I like renting. I like the fact that I can call my landlord and say "hey, this piece of crap thing broke, come fix it!" I see all the drama unfolding in the housing market and I thank my lucky stars that we didn't jump into some crazy mortgage. Being debt free is the most amazing feeling in the world. I highly recommend it. It allows us to save money for trips! We just went to Disney World and now we are discussing our next trip. We have tickets for a free cruise to the Caribbean and we are definitely using them. BUT....after a free cruise we are planning something else. We were talking about either Amsterdam, China (one of my BFF's is living there now) or Hawaii. Choices. Choices. Amelia is voting for Chicago. We talked about possibly taking the Amtrack up there and going to the museums. It sounds like an adventure. Travel is my addiction and MY American dream. Doug and Amelia love it, too.
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Now that the holidays are here - we all need to remember to donate to the bell ringers in front of the stores. I donate EVERY single time I go past one. If everyone did this, they could raise a ton of money. If every single person that went into the store gave 25 cents each time....imagine what that would add up to! Sometimes I throw $5 in and sometimes just a few quarters. It all depends on what is in my wallet. I wished everyone had that mentality vs. "OH gawd....the ringers are out".....donate a few quarters - you'll feel good about yourself. We are so blessed to be alive, warm, healthy and have food in our bellies. It's good to donate. Do it!



The studio is complete except for 2 floor tiles that I need to measure out and cut. I've already done 2 boudoir shoots in the studio. The space works out really nicely...especially the bedroom scene.






Went to Disney World for an entire week of fun in the sun! Got to go to all 4 theme parks. Got to ride those rides repeatedly as it is the slower season. My sis,bro and his son scored dream fast passes that an employee gave them - year of a million dreams! Doug and I rode the rock and roller coaster - the Aerosmith coaster at Hollywood studios so many times - I was ready to hurl but it was too much fun!!!



Photographed a really cool bridal session at the capitol yesterday. Holly's wedding was back in October so we just now got around to doing bridals. Lots of fun! She was so relaxed and had fun running around in her dress!





I photographed a big dance show at the University! It was fantastic to watch and to photograph!

Studio furniture

I just got this couch for the boudoir studio! I also got a really cool vintage couch that is mauve - very victorian sexy! I'll get photos of it up soon!

Fireworks!

Here's a photo from the wedding I shot in Hot Springs with Janet (JHS photography). Janet gave me the greatest lighting advice for fireworks and it worked like a charm - awesome! Thanks Janet!

CANCER FREE!!!!!!!

Today is a good day. Real good day. Doug had a check up today and he is still cancer free. No tumors. No cancer. No nothing. This is good. Really good. We are very happy!!!!!!!

2 years baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is the day....2 years ago....that Doug and I got married! Awwwww.......so I'm taking a quick moment to blog it ;-)

We spent today cuddling together..........and then we went out to eat at PF Chang's - LOVE that place. We also got Amelia a small "anniversary" gift....Hanna Montana stuff of course!

AND...........Doug got me a PEARL necklace!!!! It has diamonds in it, too. It's beautiful! I've wanted a pearl necklace forever and ever and I got one. It was so sweet. I'll post a photo when I have time.

Anyways....2 years and many many more to come! I can't wait! Each year gets sweeter!

The good news and the bad....

So I went to the corneal specialist.

There's good news and bad. So I ask for the bad news 1st. The bad news is that my insurance probably won't cover the surgery. I said "how is that bad news?" It's stupid money and I can pay for surgery if need be! If I need something medically, I will do it! Then I say "what's the good news?" He said well you can have the surgery and it may or may not work. HOW in the world is that good news? I told him - that's still bad news. What's the good news? He said "it will probably work." Probably? eh.....that's still bad in my opinion. So he told me that if it didn't work, I'd have to do a corneal transplant. Hmmmmm......he's only done 1 surgery on another person with my same eye disease. Apparently there aren't many of us walking around. In fact I'm #2 case for him to see. And he almost fell out his chair when he looked at my eyes after the dialation. That bad huh???

Here's the problem. My stroma (I think that's how it's spelled) is the layer under my cornea. It has canyons and holes in it. Well the holes and canyons get deeper and bigger as the years progress. I have 100's of them all over the eye. As I get older the holes and canyons will eventually just be one big hole which will then lead to blindness. Nice!

SO....I think I'm going to wait to have surgery. He said to come to him when I'm really bothered. Well I'm not 100% bothered yet. It's getting there but not quite. I'll wait another 5 years or so. Right now I'm just sunlight sensitive and I can deal with that by putting on a pair of shades. Maybe in 5 years he'll have seen another case or 2 and have done another surgery on someone with this eye disease. Nice.

The economic crap!

I never really took interest in politics or in the economy until recently. I've been reading so much that it's overwhelming.

Today's story on CNN about the 90 year old lady shooting herself because the bank wants to take her home back is horrible!!

I've been reading about how banks work. How the government works. How the economy works. And I've been reading about how an economy collapses and what is involved. I think we are right on the edge of falling off the cliff into something bad economically.

History does repeat itself right?

I hope everyone I know is studying up on the economy and getting educated on how all of this works and why.

An interesting webpage is here: http://survivingthecrash.feedba.cc/live/banks.html

It shows a map of the USA and which banks have closed down.

Quite interesting for sure.

No more eyeglasses!!!!

I can't imagine myslef without glasses!!!!

I was born with a corneal dystrophy in my eyes. As the years have progressed, my eyes have changed. In the last few years there have been some changes in my eyesight. I have been putting off going to a specialist because my dad has had 2 corneal transplants in one eye and I was so afraid I would have to get the same thing done. I really don't want a transplant. I've been told for years that I would need one by the time I was in my 40's which is less than 10 years away.

Lately I have HATED - LOATHED the sun. I hate the sun. I would rather it be cloudy and rainy every day because my eyes are always in pain from sunlight and always watery. I have sunglasses but even on the sunniest days - it still irritates me. I stay indoors because going outside is awful. I'd rather sit in the dark.

Well my husband is a licensed optician and he started talking to Dr. Jaros about my eyes and Dr. Jaros asked me to come by so he could look at my eyes. Well we got to talking & he said he'd do some more research into my particular corneal dystrophy which is in the stroma of the eye. Well Dr. Jaros found a cornea specialist here in LR that has done some new surgeries for those with my eye disease. I have an appointment this Friday to see if I can have this surgery. Dr. Jaros is very sure I will be able to get the procedure done. So I get to go in and be looked at and hopefully schedule the surgery!

From what I understand I will have great vision after this. I won't need a transplant - thank goodness for advancements in medicine!!! I won't have to wear eye glasses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! I can't re-call what it's like not to wear them. AND.....while they are doing this surgery for me, they are going to do lasik at the same time.

I cannot imagine life without glasses. I can't imagine knowing I won't need a transplant in my 40's. I just can't imagine the cool advancements in eye surgeries.....

Wedding on the air force base

I photographed Lorie and Justin's wedding at the AFB in Jacksonville. I worked this wedding through Janet-Hudson Shcroeder Photography. I do quite a few weddings thru her company each year. I really enjoy working for her. She's so sweet!

Lorie and Justin were an awesome couple. Lorie's mom, Debbie rocks out! Best mom of bride ever! I could have taken her home and called her mom. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE my mom but Debbie could be a 2nd mom! HA! I can't re-call laughing this much at a wedding and having such an awesome time. Thank you Debbie for the flowers and cake. I'm still eating it over here....I told ya I'd probably gain 10 lbs from it - but that's ok - it's GOOD cake!!!

Estate sales are addictive

This fairy dress came from an estate sale! Too cool!

I have come to realize that Little Rock has one thing that Fayetteville doesn't really have....estate sales!!! OH MY! I'm addicted. I usually hit up 2-4 estate sales on Fridays & Saturdays around my neighborhood. Today I stopped at one and it was kind of sad :-( It was this huge HUGE house full of everything you could imagine. All the kids stuff, everything. The owner must have loved Nikon cameras because he had TONS of them and tons of lenses. They might have been shop-a-holics because they had a lot of stuff. A lot of items still had new tags on them. The lady of the house must have been very concerned with appearances - most of her clothes were Armani. I can only imagine these folks were trying to keep up appearances and bit off more than they could chew. I've gone to several of these kinds of estate sales lately. Lots of younger folks having to sell off the house and everything inside. I've been to a few of the "folks croaked over and everything for sale" kind of estate sale but it's mostly big fancy houses with modern items.
Today I scored a crazy feather hat, a crocheted tablecloth that I will use for vintage photos and a really cool mosquito netting -- all name brand of course! I can't wait until next week's estate sales!

Cool Video

http://vimeo.com/1569305

I thought this was pretty cool.

Camera on a kite!!

Wedding with Kimberlea Bass

Kimberlea Bass in Fayetteville, AR hires me to 2nd shoot at a lot of weddings. I love to be the 2nd shooter because I'm always looking for something the main shooter is not getting. They main shooter is usually busy with the "must have" shots. Here's some images from August 31st. Wedding was at Cooper Chapel in Bella Vista. Flowers by Shirley's Flowers in Rogers.