Sad week, crazy/beautiful photo shoot, the return of Grams, and a couponing record.
+ It's been one week since I said goodbye to my puppy. In some ways it feels like I can't believe it's already been a week without her, but mostly the sadness feels like it's been inside me for a long time. I haven't cried much lately; just a few things set me off. (Like, the last Project 365 pic I uploaded to Facebook was of her, three days before she died, and when I saw that I lost it. Could it have been that recently that she was with me, giving me that cute but annoyed, why-are-you-taking-my-picture-again look?) I miss her.
+ I had a photo shoot today! It was just a TFP shoot, but it was great. The photographer is fantastic; I swear there's not one picture on his website that, even if it's not my cup of tea, isn't excellent. The makeup artist made my eyes striking, melding lilac and black. First we did some more normal headshot pics, with normal hair and no adornment of any sort, and then we went nuts with the photographer's "vision". I had a feathery black collar/choker thing with clear beads that hung down and they used seemingly an entire can of hairspray on my hair as I stood with my hair upside down, so it was crazy. This hair was even weirder than the hair I had for the magazine shoot, I think. But from the side it looked awesome. Even from the front I think it worked. And they added this little black viney flower thing that went from my hair to my forehead that was just awesome. He showed me some of the pics and they're gorgeous. I can't wait to see the finished ones! This shoot was very good for my self esteem. I came in and he and the makeup artist looked at me and said, "Wow. You have an amazing face." And then they examined me closer and declared me "perfect" and decided my face "has no flaws". (Maybe they like scars?) All through the shoot he kept saying, "Gorgeous. Just gorgeous." I've never had a response like that before, LOL! I would say maybe he just knows praise is a good motivator, but I really think he meant it. Which is good - very good, in fact - because he has tons of contacts here, and in Atlanta and Miami. So here's hoping someone at a big city agency sees these pics and wants to hire me. Here is the sign of a good photographer though: he used one camera, the natural light from the window, and the wall of his apartment as the backdrop, and seriously, you would think we were in an expensive studio with professional lights everywhere. He did use a background light eventually, to highlight my hair, but still. Clearly he knows how to get fantastic results in any environment. Anyway - as soon as I get the pics, I'll show them to you. I'm sure I will make at least one of them into an LJ icon. Oh - and Isaac went with me because the photographer was a Scary Internet Man, and so he spent 3 hours this morning enjoying our beautiful 75º weather on a second story balcony overlooking the St. John's River, reading a school book and occasionally petting a sweet gray cat who was chillin' out there too.
+ Grandma will be here Saturday night! I'm so excited! Although I can't believe it's been 5-6 months since she left. Holy cow. Mom asked if I wanted to go up to MI with her (she flew up and then she will drive Grams down), and I almost said yes, but I decided I didn't really want to fly up just to spend the next two days driving. Plus, now I get to have the action movie night for Isaac's birthday and go to the Beatles Rock Band party at AAAC's house Saturday night. Oh - and the whole photo shoot today thing!
+ I think I set a personal couponing record last night. A bunch of coupons expired since it was the end of the month, and I wanted to get some free/cheap stuff. I figured since I was going two places, I might as well go to another. I went to CVS, Target, KMart, and then later I went to Winn-Dixie and Publix! AND I went to Walmart first, but for a prescription, not couponing. I haven't added up the W-D and P details yet, but for the CVS, T & KM trip I got $111 worth of stuff for $20. It was fantastic. Never before have I gone to 6 stores in one night though! It was tiring, but exhilarating. Saving money like that is always exhilarating. And now we have 10 bottles of juice in the cupboards. That should last Isaac, oh, about two weeks. ;o)
+ I had a photo shoot today! It was just a TFP shoot, but it was great. The photographer is fantastic; I swear there's not one picture on his website that, even if it's not my cup of tea, isn't excellent. The makeup artist made my eyes striking, melding lilac and black. First we did some more normal headshot pics, with normal hair and no adornment of any sort, and then we went nuts with the photographer's "vision". I had a feathery black collar/choker thing with clear beads that hung down and they used seemingly an entire can of hairspray on my hair as I stood with my hair upside down, so it was crazy. This hair was even weirder than the hair I had for the magazine shoot, I think. But from the side it looked awesome. Even from the front I think it worked. And they added this little black viney flower thing that went from my hair to my forehead that was just awesome. He showed me some of the pics and they're gorgeous. I can't wait to see the finished ones! This shoot was very good for my self esteem. I came in and he and the makeup artist looked at me and said, "Wow. You have an amazing face." And then they examined me closer and declared me "perfect" and decided my face "has no flaws". (Maybe they like scars?) All through the shoot he kept saying, "Gorgeous. Just gorgeous." I've never had a response like that before, LOL! I would say maybe he just knows praise is a good motivator, but I really think he meant it. Which is good - very good, in fact - because he has tons of contacts here, and in Atlanta and Miami. So here's hoping someone at a big city agency sees these pics and wants to hire me. Here is the sign of a good photographer though: he used one camera, the natural light from the window, and the wall of his apartment as the backdrop, and seriously, you would think we were in an expensive studio with professional lights everywhere. He did use a background light eventually, to highlight my hair, but still. Clearly he knows how to get fantastic results in any environment. Anyway - as soon as I get the pics, I'll show them to you. I'm sure I will make at least one of them into an LJ icon. Oh - and Isaac went with me because the photographer was a Scary Internet Man, and so he spent 3 hours this morning enjoying our beautiful 75º weather on a second story balcony overlooking the St. John's River, reading a school book and occasionally petting a sweet gray cat who was chillin' out there too.
+ Grandma will be here Saturday night! I'm so excited! Although I can't believe it's been 5-6 months since she left. Holy cow. Mom asked if I wanted to go up to MI with her (she flew up and then she will drive Grams down), and I almost said yes, but I decided I didn't really want to fly up just to spend the next two days driving. Plus, now I get to have the action movie night for Isaac's birthday and go to the Beatles Rock Band party at AAAC's house Saturday night. Oh - and the whole photo shoot today thing!
+ I think I set a personal couponing record last night. A bunch of coupons expired since it was the end of the month, and I wanted to get some free/cheap stuff. I figured since I was going two places, I might as well go to another. I went to CVS, Target, KMart, and then later I went to Winn-Dixie and Publix! AND I went to Walmart first, but for a prescription, not couponing. I haven't added up the W-D and P details yet, but for the CVS, T & KM trip I got $111 worth of stuff for $20. It was fantastic. Never before have I gone to 6 stores in one night though! It was tiring, but exhilarating. Saving money like that is always exhilarating. And now we have 10 bottles of juice in the cupboards. That should last Isaac, oh, about two weeks. ;o)