today.

today is a day when i kinda sorta wish that i could just write a blog of all the ins and outs of life. but i'm not. i keep alot of things to myself, and that is ok. today however i feel like sharing and here's what i've got:

joyous news:: a tiny little baby is growing and we are expecting him or her to arrive in july! it's exciting, scary and wonderful all at once. we have to trust God and His timing and just put it all in His hands. we sure do love this baby already though and hopefully that's a good start.

newsy news:: my husband is going to OSU in january to become a school teacher! i'm so excited for him. he loves computers and showing people how to use them so he is going to be a high school vocational computer teacher.

living news:: i love our new apartment! i love it! it feels like home and that is a very good feeling indeed.

christmas news:: i have a couple gifts crossed off my list, none wrapped, a tree up, stockings hung and lots left to do. christmas cards may not get sent this year. my energy gets zapped pretty quick but i'll just save them for next year.

holiday kitchen news:: i made some christmasy chocolate covered pretzels and i plan to make these and nathan made this and i would like to try these .

photography news:: i got my first paying gig assisting the amazingly talented nick fancher with a wedding. i was one of 2 other shooters and i had a blast. sadly i don't think i did very well but it was a great learning experience. i am trying to learn as fast as i can because i do so love taking photos. (by the way - the photo above was taken with my iphone, so not the greatest quality)

that's all i've got for now. happy holidays to you and yours!

creativity

it's been brewing for awhile now. i think i first got the inkling of it back in 2001. it was really there all along. as a little girl making up stories for my barbies and drawing, drawing, drawing and telling myself stories about the drawings. the run away imagination that got me in some trouble at school. a daydreamer i was and am and ever shall be. coloring. colors. photographs. old photographs. reading. traveling to distant lands with the turn of a page. days spent pouring over books at the library. nights huddled in the darkness straining to read by the street light outside my window. making tapes of myself doing radio shows. cooking. reading cookbooks. craft books. listening to music and getting lost in it. cake decorating books. martha stewart books before she was a corporation. watching cooking shows. dreaming about the cooking show i would have some day. acting. in one act plays, in skits at church, in dress up clothes in my bedroom and on my front porch. painting. water colors. making ginger bread houses and christmas ornaments and spending hours wrapping gifts. writing stories of our adventures at cornerstone. playing with makeup. doodling everywhere. journaling. more dreaming. taking pictures. making collages. taking trips to the museum. loving colors.

so where did i get the idea that i was more of a business person and should take that path with jobs? maybe it was the apathetic art teacher who made me wonder why i kept taking art year after year in high school. maybe it was the marketing class and winning a deca award and unrealistic ideas of the advertising world. maybe it was neccessity and having to take jobs to pay the bills. maybe i thought if i couldn't create any art or sing or play an instrument then maybe i would work behind the scenes. in radio. in the music business. at an advertising agency. at a cement company. at the grocery store. waiting tables. moderating message boards. at the bank. in telemarketing.

so for a long time i felt like a square peg in a round hole. wondering why i don't fit in the business world. wondering why i get so burned out and can't just go with the flow. i started to realize it slowly and i've spent alot of frustrating days in between. other people have even told me. i need to do something creative. that is where i thrive.

but how? how when you have to make money to pay the bills. i don't regret a single step that lead me to where i am today. how though? how when the 9-5 sucks all your energy and time?

all i know is this. i love taking pictures and i love telling stories. this little old blog has been sorely neglected but a new day is coming. sure i've said it before and maybe i will say it again......but it's coming. it has to. i want to see the beauty in the everyday and share it with you. i want to show ways you can live beautifully without a beautiful budget. i've started taking more pictures and soon i'll start to let a few people here and there know that if they want me to take pictures i'll be available and i'll try to help folks out that can't afford an expensive photographer. and i'll keep writing and looking for beauty in the everyday. and i'll try to do those things i love again like drawing and painting and cooking and decorating cakes and experimenting with color.

so we'll see what happens. even if no one else ever reads this blog or sees any of it, i'm so excited to begin again.

things i'm loving

Horses on Cumberland Island, originally uploaded by Nathan Smart.

these wedding pics i stumbled upon, taken in my home state, of one of the cutest weddings i've ever seen anywhere

this television program, that we are very late to get in on, that has us completely mesmerized

these two love birds and their gorgeous wedding, which gave love and joy whole new meaning

jancee dunn, whose first book i really loved and whose new book i can't wait to read

re-reading old books from my youth.....like this and this

these t-shirts my husband is designing

oh yeah...and summer....

quote of the day

If I can do it with my tough schedule and Paula Deen cooking for me and standing in our restaurant day after day, y’all can too. - Jamie Deen

i read this on jamie deen's blog where he reveals how he has lost weight (just common sense and eating healthy). bless his heart, i believe he's right. i'm inspired. this photo is a cover of his latest cookbook which i'll check out for sure. i'm also getting more excited for our vacation to charleston, savannah and cumberland island every day. now i don't think i'll be able to pass up paula's cooking on our visit but i have started counting calories again and i'm going to give it my best shot.

so here's what i'm thinking.......

I wish I was a better blogger.
Big plans…..that’s what I have for blogging but they keep getting pushed back and back and back …until … a year or more has gone by. Last night I got inspired all over again. So here’s a list of things of some things I want to do this year:

1. Blog more – starting now at least once a week, then twice, then three times and working up to daily.
2. Launch goldiestereo.com and an Etsy store with vintage objects and hopefully someday artwork.
3. Keep learning about photography, take pictures, lots and lots and lots of pictures.
4. Write and write and write.

I’m excited in life. For the future, for our road trip with friends in May, for
other trips to come, for the chance in life to get caught up in at least one area, for my husband’s monthly
comedy show, for my new
camera, for our
community, for Spring, for new beginnings.

things are looking better....

think pink, originally uploaded by goldiestereo.

nathan's mom is doing so much better, she might even get to come home in a few days (edit 1/11/09: she came home!). thank you to everyone who prayed, we believe it's only because of your prayers that she is getting stronger every day. thank you God. so here's to mamma pam today and here's to more days like
this

autumn

wishing, hoping, praying, reading, wondering, thinking, dreaming, writing, making, living, loving.

currently loving

my new macbook! :)

my husband not just for buying me a laptop as a huge surprise, but also because he's wonderful AND because he further surprised me with flowers to celebrate my very first brand new computer after years of hand me down computer cast offs.

my job (yes! i said it! i actually love my new job)

the thought of saving up to go to this

plans with my friend for a day of photo exploring

sweet memories of sun filled days at the beach

daydreaming about paint colors for the new apt we'll move to in may

hints of spring in the air, windows open and 70 degree weather

counting the days till the billy joel concert

reading books again

looking forward to our first anniversary

road trip ahead to see my much missed family soon

flowers popping up here and there :)

this and this and the song here but not so much the video, and the webcast here featuring my all time favorite announcer.

the great blizzard of 2008

pretty much all plans got canceled, our house guest for the week got stuck with us, there have been soup, chili, miller's cinnamon rolls (modified), bad movies, good movies, and lots of relaxing. i always wanted to get snowed in.

hibernation

it's that time of year. it's gray and cold outside (although not as cold today) and it was the perfect weekend to stay in your pj's all day, watch movies and make a big pot of chili. so that's what we did this weekend and it was just lovely. we only left the apt to go to church and then lunch w/friends afterward. the holidays are so consuming, so busy, so FUN, so wonderful, so full of activity....i loved every minute of them but..... it's so good to r-e-l-a-x.