Life here in Farmland, Photoblog

Willow. Blankie. Sunday Afternoon Beautifulness.

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February 7th, 2010

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This is Willow.

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She is about four months old.

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“This is my house.”

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“Rawr. don’t come near my house. k?”

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“Is my house too.”

eatin.

Starr ripped her pink blankie, so I got her a new one. aww.

yums.

Breakfast is her favorite time of day. Except maybe, dinner.

munchie munch munch.
munchie munch.

munch.
munch. Doesn’t that hay look tasty?

boy.
he definitely thinks so.

ice
this is ice.

broke.
this is a broken fence. Fence-fixing is my second-least-favorite farm chore.

jezebelle.
This is a pretty horse.

field beautifulness.
this is snowy field beautifulness.

pine forest beautifulness.
This is pine forest beautifulness.

beautifulness
<3

And those are photos of my weekend.

The Daily Blah

So Weird to be Back Here

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February 3rd, 2010

Today I was on the Allendale campus to talk to ~20 unit heads (department heads) about effective ways to get students to use departmental websites. I was definitely scared silly beforehand. Little me? Talk to like 20 professors? for reals? no way. But I did it and it went great. Because I am a web diva. ;-)

Au Sable Hall

It was the first time I’ve been out to Allendale since getting hired by GVSU, and only the second time I’ve been back since school. It was a really weird feeling. This is Au Sable Hall, where I had a good 80% of my classes.

Lake Huron Hall

This is Lake Huron Hall, home to GVSU Classics, where I spent most of my not-in-class time.

Lake Huron Hall

All of the familiar places, the same but also vaguely different. It was good to check in with my professors. They’re still bustin’ their buttons over the fact that I’m a real Classics graduate thriving in a normal (read: non-academic) career. I’m like, poster child for Classics being a useful and beneficial course of study in the 21st century. That’s kind of funny to me. But I’m ok with it because it’s also true…while I haven’t sat down and translated Ciceronian prose since I graduated in April 08 (thankfully!), every day I use the skills I learned in those four years.

But that’s another post for another day. Mostly, being grown up is just weird. I’m going to go listen to some Ben Folds now.

The Daily Blah

Today was a productivity win.

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January 30th, 2010

Ran Errands. Did my Saturday barn chores. Made lentil soup & cornbread for tomorrow night’s dinner. Finished a website I’ve been working on for months and sent it off to the client.

I feel like I’m one step closer to being in charge of my life, instead of it being the other way around.

The Daily Blah

my camera and i are best buddies again

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January 29th, 2010

for the better part of two weeks after Colin & Lisa’s wedding, I spent most of my free time culling through and processing those photos. so after that, my camera and i needed to take a break from one another…ok actually, I had no real desire to ever shoot or process another photo. but my muse is back now, and my camera and I are joyfully reunited as constant companions once more.

Here’s what we’ve been doing lately.

stark.

Yesterday it was very cold. I wanted to go out and take photos at lunch, but I got about this far outside of my building (~40 feet), snapped a few photos, realized my face and fingers were starting to lose feeling, and went back inside, my desire to photograph things still unsatiated.
But i like this picture. Funny story: The little dark man way at the end of the bridge is actually a friend of mine (which I did not know as I was taking the picture.) I was about to head inside when he ran past me, yelling “Hey Britnizzle!” I said hey back, and I was a little bit weirded out, but then he yelled over his shoulder, “I gotta catch the bus!” and it made more sense.

Aaron, thank you for being slightly late for the bus. My photo wouldn’t be awesome without little dark you at the end of it.

self

Self-portrait….this is what I do a lot right now. work. and this is where I do it–my chair in the corner. or sometimes, my bed. (but lately that has resulted in falling asleep mid-project, and that’s not a good thing)
work is a winter thing.
in summer, i’ll get to play with the horses all evening instead. and sip wine on the back deck while the sun sets. yay.

hay, lights, rafters

Got more hay this week. My barn is full to the tippy-top. Hay, lights, and rafters make me happy. If it wasn’t so darn cold out I’d take a good book and spend an evening sitting on top of my hay pile reading. Hay bales are actually quite comfy you know–moderately firm with just the right amount of sproinginess.

rafters + lights
Artistic? Ridiculous? You decide.

handsome.
Isn’t he handsome? He’s such a good dog.

weird.

He can be handsome when he wants to, but these days he just wants to be weird and annoying. That’s mostly my fault because I don’t spend enough quality time with him.
We’ll spend quality time in the summer. When it’s not -2 out.


This is how it goes all winter: Max eats Jezebelle, who stands there and ignores him.


But then she gets annoyed and strikes back.

mare.
And this mare mostly just watches.

my silly mare.
She thinks they are silly.
{but she is silly too}


goodnight, moon.

Lists

Happy Life Things.

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January 25th, 2010

These are some of the things that make life happy for me. In no particular order. Not an exhaustive list.

Horses.
Plenty of vegetables.
People to love and be loved by.
Cooking delicious things and eating them.
Wine (especially a nice pinot noir.)
Chocolate (the darker the better.)
Snuggling (with humans, horses, and dogs, in order of preference.)
Big fat slow snowflakes.
Colorful leaves.
French bread.
In the summer, the veggie garden.
The smell of fresh pine shavings in a just-cleaned stall.
Trails in the woods.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
A barnful of sweet-smelling hay.
Hearing my students play beautifully.
Hearing my students play not-so-beautifully, as long as they’re doing their very best.
Working out at the gym.
Creating things, whether with pixels or art supplies.
My red shoes.
Ice Skating.
Mismatched socks.
Books.

The Daily Blah

My Blog Is Not Dead, I’m Just Living My Normal Life

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January 18th, 2010

Hi. I used to write on my blog a lot, but then I got boring and busy all at once.

This post will cover several things, including WEDDING PHOTOS, which I finally finished last week.

1. Lack of Horse Photos. some people have told me they are sad that I haven’t posted any horse photos. Here’s one.

Horses.

This is mostly what they look like right now. Very Hairy. And they stand around a lot. Because it’s winter. That’s pretty much it. But they’re still fun and cute. I actually like winter horsekeeping. There’s a rhythm to it. And frozen poop doesn’t smell. As long as the pipes don’t freeze (causing me to have to carry about 30 gallons of water from inside the house every day) then I’m happy.

2. Working at Grand Valley. My new job is great and I enjoy working as part of a team again. I love being back at GVSU–it really is a great institution. I started work during the winter break but now the semester is in full swing and the campus is positively bustling, with students everywhere. Whenever I’m walking through campus I get this hopeful feeling that I’ll see one of my buddies from undergrad and I have to remind myself that they’re not here because they’ve all moved on to amazing things too. So it’s kind of a bittersweet feeling.

3. Stuff I do. These days I am a very happy person living a very busy-but-boring life. I work out at the gym as much as possible and ice skate 2 or 3 times a week on my lunch break. I’m trying to read more books, study the Bible more, work on my languages, and spend less time online. I drink like a fish and have developed an unabashed love of Pinot Noir. My room is still a mess. Today I decided to switch shampoos. I still freelance way more than I should, even though I’m making more money than ever, and I need to learn how to tell people ‘no’. I need to spend more time with my family. I need to start planning for next show season.

4. Wedding Photos. It’s Colin & Lisa’s one-month anniversary today, aaawww! In honor of that, I’ve prepared a slideshow of my favorite photos that I took as the official photographer on their wedding day. Enjoy. Be sure to click the ‘full screen’ button.

The Daily Blah

Apologies.

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December 27th, 2009

A few days ago I made a mistake–omitted a step–in a web project I was working on for a freelance client. As far as screwups go, it wasn’t inconsequential, but it wasn’t enormous either; it fell somewhere in between. I fixed the problem and apologized for my oversight, and the client’s response was, “You are forgiven.” And that was that.

For some reason, in spite of my screwup, I felt good about the whole situation. I think it was because my client didn’t try to minimize or brush aside my apology with something like, “Oh, no biggie,” or “don’t worry about it,” or “everybody makes mistakes,” or “It’s ok.” The fault was acknowledged (by both of us); forgiveness sought; absolution extended in the most matter-of-fact language, without any sidestepping.

And this rather insignificant encounter reminded me that admitting fault doesn’t kill you. While our knee-jerk reaction when somebody admits fault is to immediately minimize it for them–you’re not that bad really!–that doesn’t actually do anything for the faulty person. Generally she goes away feeling even more faulty(”Yes but if you only knew how bad I really am….”). An honest acknowledgment of guilt, met with honesty, forgiveness, and graciousness, is better for both parties involved.

God forgives our faults, the large ones and the small, in great things and small. Remembering that and practicing it in daily life is not necessarily easy; but it is rewarding.

The Daily Blah

twenty three, going on three

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December 23rd, 2009

Tabitha gave me a giant 150-count Crayola crayon set for Christmas. It weighs at least two pounds and has all the glitters and neon colors and everything. I’m so thrilled. I plan to go home tonight and use it to christen the Enchanted coloring book that my mom got me a couple of months ago.

Also, today I am wearing Sleeping Beauty socks.

The Daily Blah

Wed.

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December 19th, 2009

Two very special people got married yesterday.

my brother, as a groom
One of them was my brother.

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The other one was his beloved Lisa.

I had the privilege of being official photographer for this event. Two of my photography-loving friends–Dustin and Kristen–helped capture the memories, too. I have over 1700 shots to comb through. It’s going to take me awhile. Eventually I’ll post the finished product, for all to see. After Colin and Lisa get to enjoy them first, that is.

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They’re definitely beautiful together.

Want to know who else is beautiful?

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Micah. He is beautiful AND makes beautiful music. This is possibly one of my top ten favorite photos I’ve ever taken. The look of concentration. The strong lines of the piano, framing and reflecting the strong lines of his handsome face. It’s really pretty great.

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We’re pretty beautiful too. Gorgeous, in fact.

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And silly.

The Daily Blah

The Last Day

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December 11th, 2009

winterness.
It’s been fairly snowy this week.

Today was my last day of work at Acton. It’s been almost two years since I started there. In some ways it feels like a lot longer than that, but of course in the grand scheme of employment two years isn’t all that long.

Overall, working at Acton was a great first job. I had to really hit the ground running, and I learned a whole lot in very little time. I got to attend some pretty neat conferences. I worked with some amazing people. I made some amazing friends too. They gave me a wonderful send-off party at the pub down the street.


My boss John has been really, really, really great. Wonderful to work for, and extremely supportive and happy for me, with regards to my new job. I’ll miss him.

marc.
And then there’s marc.

(That’s all we’ll say about that.)

(And I did not get a photo of Tabitha, or the other wonderful people, but they do exist.)

So what’s next? I’m back on the webteam at Grand Valley. Except this time I’m a full-fledged developer, not a student worker, and I’m bringing back an additional two years of experience. It’s something new and old, both at once. It’s going to be sweet. Also, faculty and staff can take classes for free. So I’m really super excited about that.

But that’s a whole two days away. in the meantime, I’m going to chillax. Yay weekend.

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