All these photos (and some other new ones, too) are in my etsy shop, so go have a look, if you wish. :)
Saturday, May 30, 2009
in bloom
Somehow, the world appears more beautiful to me when I'm alone with my camera. So after a rough day at work, I wandered around campus and took pictures, and it really gave my mental health a boost! Who knew Hattiesburg could be so pretty?!
All these photos (and some other new ones, too) are in my etsy shop, so go have a look, if you wish. :)
All these photos (and some other new ones, too) are in my etsy shop, so go have a look, if you wish. :)
Friday, May 29, 2009
white with foam
Another sale! A lovely fellow etsian just purchased this photo, which I took on my recent (spontaneous, Alex-instigated) adventure to Destin, FL! I was kind of in awe of the water there. The Mississippi part of the Gulf looks nothing like this. I guess the ocean is always greener on the other side?
I love the color fade and the calm, even pattern of the foam in the shot, and I'm glad to know that someone else does, too. :)
I love the color fade and the calm, even pattern of the foam in the shot, and I'm glad to know that someone else does, too. :)Wednesday, May 27, 2009
rhyme time
My dear friend Natalie has been writing children's poetry lately, and it has really inspired me to get my creative juices flowing. It really is an important outlet in the midst of the scientific, textbook-laden barrage of school work that's about to be in full force. So far, my best (ok, only) effort has been this silly little ditty for my beloved.
You're very unpredictable;
it's really quite alarming.
But I must admit your crazy quirks
are mostly very charming.
I hate it when you say you're dumb,
because you're very smart.
I love the way you use your brain
but also wear your heart
upon your sleeve so I can see
the things that you are feeling.
After all this time, I'm still intrigued
but what it's been revealing.
It's so much fun to share ideas
about therapy and fish.
To keep on sharing with you
is, I think, my biggest wish.
I hope you can forgive me, though,
for using all this filler
when all I want to say is that
I love you, Alex Miller.
:)
You're very unpredictable;
it's really quite alarming.
But I must admit your crazy quirks
are mostly very charming.
I hate it when you say you're dumb,
because you're very smart.
I love the way you use your brain
but also wear your heart
upon your sleeve so I can see
the things that you are feeling.
After all this time, I'm still intrigued
but what it's been revealing.
It's so much fun to share ideas
about therapy and fish.
To keep on sharing with you
is, I think, my biggest wish.
I hope you can forgive me, though,
for using all this filler
when all I want to say is that
I love you, Alex Miller.
:)
Sunday, May 24, 2009
better in black and white
14 and counting
How about an update about my etsy shop? I have so much fun with it, and I'm up to 14 sales! Here's what I've sold...
Two prints of this photo of a Live Oak on USM's campus. It's definitely my favorite Mississippi picture. I really, really miss the hills, but trees like this are one of the things that I love about this place.
Two prints of this funny photo from Costa Rica. Maybe my favorite picture I've ever taken.
Two prints of this photo of beautiful Autumn Leaves in Emory, VA (where I went to college.)
Two prints of these crazy male nuns in Prague. (I wish I had an explanation for this.)
One of these. This photo was actually taken just a few yards form those yellow leaves (but months later.)
One of these, which was a surprise! It's a picture of the inside of my windshield while I was driving through a car wash.
One of these redbuds. This one was taken at Central Park in Ashland, KY (my hometown.)
One of these from a shrimp boat tour in Biloxi.
One of these from my trip to Walden Pond.
And this one, which I took on my trip to St. Francisville with my friend Natalie in December. This was my most exciting sale, because the buyer contacted me and wanted an enlargement because she was so in love with it. She ended up ordering a 16x20, and it looked wonderful!
It was rather ironic too, because this is not one of my personal favorites at all. Since someone loved a photo that I think is just ok, I've started adding new photos to my shop more often, thinking something similar might happen again. Go check them out!
Two prints of this photo of a Live Oak on USM's campus. It's definitely my favorite Mississippi picture. I really, really miss the hills, but trees like this are one of the things that I love about this place.
Two prints of this funny photo from Costa Rica. Maybe my favorite picture I've ever taken.
Two prints of this photo of beautiful Autumn Leaves in Emory, VA (where I went to college.)
Two prints of these crazy male nuns in Prague. (I wish I had an explanation for this.)
One of these. This photo was actually taken just a few yards form those yellow leaves (but months later.)
One of these, which was a surprise! It's a picture of the inside of my windshield while I was driving through a car wash.
One of these redbuds. This one was taken at Central Park in Ashland, KY (my hometown.)
One of these from a shrimp boat tour in Biloxi.
One of these from my trip to Walden Pond.
And this one, which I took on my trip to St. Francisville with my friend Natalie in December. This was my most exciting sale, because the buyer contacted me and wanted an enlargement because she was so in love with it. She ended up ordering a 16x20, and it looked wonderful!
It was rather ironic too, because this is not one of my personal favorites at all. Since someone loved a photo that I think is just ok, I've started adding new photos to my shop more often, thinking something similar might happen again. Go check them out!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
the pros of prose
I just logged on to poetry.com and was planning on composing a little PIM to post here (surprise, surprise), but I was very troubled to find that the website has completely changed, and the Poetry in Motion feature (the only good part of poetry.com) is nowhere to be found! I am very sad about this.
BUT. Maybe that means it's time to write something else in here. I really do miss the days when I wrote my experiences and thoughts in here. Somehow, when pieces of my life are recorded, they feel more real...like I have not fully experienced something until I have adequately reflected on it. And, clearly, reflection has been lacking, at least in any sort of concrete way.
I certainly can't make up for the whole academic year of stuff that has happened, but maybe if I do a quick re-cap, I will be able to get back into the groove.
So. I'm in graduate school in counseling psychology, so that's what constitutes the largest portion of my time. I'm doing well, but it's not the sort of challenging, exhilarating experience that school used to be. I didn't realize just how much I love learning until last semester. I was so excited to be a student again, but I didn't feel like I was learning anything new, and it was very frustrating. I've had moments of actually wishing that I were less intelligent or that I had not been so well prepared by my undergrad experiences. I'm regularly jealous of people who are struggling to grasp new stuff. It sounds weird, but it's kind of sad, really. The weirdest thing about is it that I really have never felt this way before. I've always been smart and a good student, but I was always happy with what I was learning and felt like my teachers/professors had something great to offer me--that I would benefit from their guidance and wisdom. Now, it's more like "I just have to get through this so I can do what I want to do," and I don't like that at all. Maybe I'm just disillusioned with academic nonsense, or maybe I've just become a self-righteous and arrogant snob. Probably both.
And my snobbery comes into play at my assistantship too, because I have to deal with being disrespected and demeaned on a regular basis (not by my boss, just to clarify--she loves me). I can deal with it a lot better now than I did at first, but there are still rough days.
It's not all bad, really. I like the people in my program very much, and I don't know what I would do without my "best Mississippi friend," Natalie. And my weeks are bearable because I spend them looking forward to weekends, which I spend with my beloved Alexander, usually at his house on the coast. It's funny how we rarely saw each other before we moved here but miss each other MORE now. The more time I spend with him, the more sure I am that I want to spend more and more of my time with him. His house, and our relationship there, feels much more like home to me than my apartment in Hattiesburg or my role as a grad student. The disconnect between the two is hard, but the one makes the other all worth it.
I've also gotten involved in a small group at the church I go to when I'm in Hattiesburg, and while I haven't been particuarly stimulated by the books we've read, I really enjoy the fellowship. Even though I tend to be a loner, I've always found it essential to be part of a community of believers, and I'm grateful to have found that.
Despite the list of complaints here, I really am happy. It's just that I feel such a strong conviction that I will be happier. The best is yet to come.
BUT. Maybe that means it's time to write something else in here. I really do miss the days when I wrote my experiences and thoughts in here. Somehow, when pieces of my life are recorded, they feel more real...like I have not fully experienced something until I have adequately reflected on it. And, clearly, reflection has been lacking, at least in any sort of concrete way.
I certainly can't make up for the whole academic year of stuff that has happened, but maybe if I do a quick re-cap, I will be able to get back into the groove.
So. I'm in graduate school in counseling psychology, so that's what constitutes the largest portion of my time. I'm doing well, but it's not the sort of challenging, exhilarating experience that school used to be. I didn't realize just how much I love learning until last semester. I was so excited to be a student again, but I didn't feel like I was learning anything new, and it was very frustrating. I've had moments of actually wishing that I were less intelligent or that I had not been so well prepared by my undergrad experiences. I'm regularly jealous of people who are struggling to grasp new stuff. It sounds weird, but it's kind of sad, really. The weirdest thing about is it that I really have never felt this way before. I've always been smart and a good student, but I was always happy with what I was learning and felt like my teachers/professors had something great to offer me--that I would benefit from their guidance and wisdom. Now, it's more like "I just have to get through this so I can do what I want to do," and I don't like that at all. Maybe I'm just disillusioned with academic nonsense, or maybe I've just become a self-righteous and arrogant snob. Probably both.
And my snobbery comes into play at my assistantship too, because I have to deal with being disrespected and demeaned on a regular basis (not by my boss, just to clarify--she loves me). I can deal with it a lot better now than I did at first, but there are still rough days.
It's not all bad, really. I like the people in my program very much, and I don't know what I would do without my "best Mississippi friend," Natalie. And my weeks are bearable because I spend them looking forward to weekends, which I spend with my beloved Alexander, usually at his house on the coast. It's funny how we rarely saw each other before we moved here but miss each other MORE now. The more time I spend with him, the more sure I am that I want to spend more and more of my time with him. His house, and our relationship there, feels much more like home to me than my apartment in Hattiesburg or my role as a grad student. The disconnect between the two is hard, but the one makes the other all worth it.
I've also gotten involved in a small group at the church I go to when I'm in Hattiesburg, and while I haven't been particuarly stimulated by the books we've read, I really enjoy the fellowship. Even though I tend to be a loner, I've always found it essential to be part of a community of believers, and I'm grateful to have found that.
Despite the list of complaints here, I really am happy. It's just that I feel such a strong conviction that I will be happier. The best is yet to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)