Life through the Lens...

Inspiration 31

So many blogs that I am following have done this. I don't know what I am waiting for doing mine.

So here it is...in photos of course! 31 Things at 31. (My age. Oh yes, seriously. My age. What's the big deal about people being afraid to tell their age? I just don't get it.)

1. Smiling is the best medicine in life.

2. Art is a wonderful expression that human beings can share.

3. Thomas.

4. Oliver, our newest addition to our little "family" this year.

5. My sweet hubbie of course!

6. My family...we have been through some of the roughest times through the years... But thank God it is getting a little better with time. And, I'd like to kill my brother for not coming home in time to take a picture with us...we have not had a family picture in a LONG time! (Like, since before my youngest sister has been born...!!)

7. pics: our friends. We can't possibly have asked for better friends in this life. 

8. Visiting with children is delightful. We are SO wishing for one of our own. And yes, despite the constant cleaning, the diaper changing and potty training, the scheduled feeding times, the shopping for clothes, the sleep deprivation. Yes. We're ready.

9. The only way to freeze time is through photography. You will never physically relive those days again, but you can at least see it through the lens.

10. Facebook. Honestly, I'd never thought I'd join, but then I quickly realized, after moving away from Chicago, it's the best tool for keeping up with your friends without using snail mail.

11. Art follows me everywhere; case in point...

12. My laptop is a Godsend. Because most of my work depends heavily on it.

13. If you must put something in your body, it better be good and healthy. Cooking rocks. 

14. Old faithful suitcase in my favorite color: been with me for several years, and still going strong. Now if only those damn airlines would discontinue the luggage fees.

15. Always discovering new hobbies I can pass the time on. It's so much fun.

16. I HATE driving my husband's car. After the 20th time popping the clutch, I feel tempted to drive a car with no air conditioning in it.

17. Being a nerd is cool. Really. It's cool. With so many subjects out there in the world to learn, how can you not bring your inner nerd out?

18. My career is based on helping patients get better. And no, I am not a doctor. At one point though, after high school, I considered becoming a doctor. But then, I met several of them, and found that some think that they are God. I also found out it takes nearly a decade to train. Since I already loathe school, I could not put myself through that. So, the next best thing? A nursing assistant.

19. Sometimes, dumpster diving is a good thing. We found this lamp that someone got rid of. I mean, come on, why would you waste such a good lamp?

20. Never be too proud to say, "I'm cheap." Why? Because companies outsource their work out of the country, and they pay those people pennies; and so therefore, I buy cheap...Kohl's, Marshalls, TJ Maxx...

21. Drinking is not for me. After having a friend of ours in the hospital in an ICU after drinking, and an uncle who passed away last year because of drinking, I'll take virgin, thank you very much!

22. Love going to scrapbooking stores more than a clothing store. Is that wrong?

23. I finally cast my first vote for President of the United States when I turned 29. And guess what? He won. 

24. I'm all for socialized society. Because in the end, we all have to take care of each other.

25. Got married after finally finding someone worth my salt. (I know, I know, I should have posted this before posting about my hubbie. But, what counts is this all happened before I turned 31)

26. Being married is hands down, not easy. But we learn to work out...despite a list of differences. Marriage is a sacred thing. Cherish who you are with...and of course, try not to go to bed angry.

27. Have as many dinners by candlelight as you possibly can.

28. Be grateful, always, for the things you have...because it could be worse.

29. I have learned that giving the gift of memories are priceless. Another reason why I love photography and the work that goes along with it.

30. Cartoons are funny. It's an art all it's own. (Credit: MSNBC Political Cartoons section...you will find all sorts of stuff there!) Some will also make you think.

31. Celebrating milestones, for me, is in the every day. Enjoy your life and live it to the fullest.

There it is. My inspirations and life lessons learned in 31 years.

Dare I pour water on him?

One day, I walk to my vanity sink, and this is what I find:

I was sorely tempted to turn the faucet on him, but I cannot be that mean. There is also this:

And this:

Oliver is getting into EVERYTHING. Knocked several things down, broke a vase that we brought back from Arizona from 2008, broke some seashells that John had for a long time.

Funny thing about it is...we do not even have kids yet!!

This is going to be very interesting when we start that phase in our lives.

Monday is school all over again.

I am in my office, trying to sort out this chaotic mess:

This is not the latest picture, but the mess is pretty much the same. But I have been plowing through some progress though on getting all of the pages I have done photographed in case something happened to them:

Just to show a few.

I am getting there though. I'm challenging myself to use most of the extra supplies that I have to this cause, and since then, have taken so many more pictures, in which I will have to put into albums as well.

There is a real issue of why I am doing this. I'm doing this for what I call "trigger mechanism". To trigger my memory in case I forget about the stories that happened to me when I was younger. My parents, as old as they are now, they do not remember the details of their childhood anymore.

I don't want that happening to me. I intend on telling my children about growing up in Chicago, and what that was like, what stores were around, what restuarants that we went to, what schools did we attend. I want them to know about their parents as much as possible.

And it all starts with writing it all down, while I can still remember.

This is what a "road trip!" looks like.

I have officially lost it.

I have no idea how I got suckered into driving nearly 8 hours to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania all alone. Crazy!

It started out that my husband and I were arguing about me coming with him to Pittsburgh...too expensive, he said, and I will be bored. There is nothing to see, he says.

Then, a few days later, he asked: would I consider driving to Pittsburgh? We looked up how long it would take (nearly 8 hours like I said) and I started looking up stuff to do in Pittsburgh. I do not know a lot about this city, but only the fact that there is a baseball team, and that Mr. Rogers lived and worked in Pittsburgh, doing his longtime children's show, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

Oh yes, of course I am a big fan of Mr. Rogers! At nearly 31 years old. The Pittsburgh Children's Museum has a Mr. Roger's Neighborhood exhibit, and, while I was driving around trying to find the museum, I passed by the sculpture that an artist made in his honor, situated right beside the Allegheny River.

But before I get into all that, here is my road trip from NC, to PA.

The Cathederal of Learning, at the University of Pittsburgh.

Visiting the Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood exhibit at the Pittsburgh Children's Museum.

Visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater home, an hour and a half away from Pittsburgh.

Sculpture honoring Mr. Rogers along the Allegheny River.

Colorful flamingoes!

Entering Warhol-world at the Andy Warhol Museum.

Driving towards downtown Pittsburgh.

Our poor exhausted Ion...on the right.

Our Ion is literally beginning to be on it's last legs before we start a regimen of numerous repairs and replacements. This November, we are buying a Honda Cr-V.

And that, my friends, is what a road trip looks like.

So here's the deal...

Lately, I have changed my format...instead of just a couple of photos and a lot of words, I chose photos and very few words. We'll see how this goes.

So much has happened since my last post. But when you keep looking you will understand why:

I think by now, you get my drift.

He is our new orange tabby named Oliver. How we got him is a long story. But you can see that he has been keeping me away from the blogosphere.

But now I have lots of fresh material to go on.

A plea...

Something that made my day:

How often do you read a brutally honest sign?

Whoever wrote this was pure, absolute, genuis!

Heartstrings can use a tug...

What to do when you suddenly find yourself complaining about life's little annoyances?

You read this booK:

You may have seen him featured on ABC World News Tonight at least a year ago now (or more). He was featured in a story that can guarantee a tug on even the hardest of hearts.

Read it, and you will see what I mean.

Taking inventory of friendship...

I guess I never looked at it this way before.

Facebook has a way of bringing people together, even if it means seeing people that you have not seen in a long time.

For those who are familiar with Facebook, there is a side list of the people you are friends with on Facebook. For me? The friends list is actual people that I have met during the course of my lifetime. Well, almost all of them are on there. I have yet to find a few others of my friends that I went to school with.

And the rest of course are family members. I have a HUGE family. Both sets of my grandparents had nine children (each!) so you can imagine the number of grandchildren...on my mother's side, there are 47, with me and my two sibs, and a cousin making up the last four. Her brother had 12, her sister had 7 and the rest are either two or three or maybe even four. And don't get me started on great-grandchildren. The last I heard, that number had already reached around 42 with more coming...only because there are a few of us cousins that have yet to have children (myself included). I didn't even mention my dad's side of the family either...who I had just gotten in contact with again as recently as last year on Facebook...

Facebook is a great tool...communication has come a long way since the days of mail, and the telephone invented by Thomas Edison. Now we can also fly to destinations not even possible just over a hundred years ago. So you can understand why I view Facebook as a great tool with communicating with everyone so far away from you.

I first read the title to this post in a book.

This morning, I'm looking at the Facebook Friend List and it struck me how many people I have met, from practically every walk of life (literally!). May I regale you with a few? 

Since I do not have current pics of two, let me start with an old-school (literally) photo: my friends (clockwise after me on the left) Adam, Kathy, and N'Donna:
My best friend Jessica:

Our friends who I met while working on the Spirit of Chicago: Jason & Nick...

And of course, the friends I met when I started dating John...starting with Jaron (and of course, the two mentioned in previous:

Derrick:

Eric:

And a whole host of others, that if I do post it on here, this blog post will be a mile long.

Every friend that a person makes is a blessing, and it's a blessing that should be cherished. I find that I do not do this enough. But, it's an activity worth doing as often as you need to...keeps you down to Earth and humble to the fact that life is more than about yourself.

Remembering those who have gone before us...

Sad day today.

But it does remind me of ones that we have long lost.

Recently, I put this photo up of my mom's family:

Grandparents, two uncles, long gone. I'm working on getting pics of my dad's family up too.

Today was a sad day. Because we lost another one:

My hubbie's grandmother passed away today. Lived a very long and good life. John was fortunate to have seen her just a couple of months ago.

Hug your love ones, always!

A sign that you really are homesick...

I know at work you have photos somewhere of the people you love.

Usually though, it's family. Me on the other hand...

I didn't have the heart to leave anyone out.

I guess the real reason why I am missing Chicago so much is my family and friends.

This is a space on the wall on our desk where we use as a bulletin board. One side is a bunch of work-related stuff, the other side is where four of us stuck pictures of our families and friends.

Needless to say, I took that concept a bit too far, but thanks to Photoshop, I was able to get almost everyone in there without invading other people's spaces for their pictures. 

The cute little boy at the bottom? He's my co-worker's son and that is her space right below mine. 

My pics include mostly of me and my hubbie John, but the rest is my family, and our friends. We miss them more than they will ever know.