Mexico

It was around this time of year three years ago that Mom and I took a trip to Texas. We drove (well Mom drove and I rode) for 32 hours straight. It was wild though because when we got there, we couldn't go to sleep. I guess after being in the car for so long, we needed to just unwind for a bit. We ordered a pizza, and then finally went to bed about 2 or 3 hours later.

I was thrilled to no end to know that we would be so close to Mexico (I think it was about 100 miles or so)!! I asked her just about every day if we could go...and then one day WE DID!!!

We found "Nowhere" on the way. I'm not kidding - There was literally nothing but fields and mountains in the distance for miles and miles and miles. We joked about it while we were riding along that this must be what people were talking about when they say that something 'came out of nowhere.'

We stopped at a gas station just before we crossed the border at Del Rio and learned something kind of interesting from the cashier. In Texas, as long as a minor is with his/her parent or guardian, they are allowed to consume alcohol. And not just at home, but even in bars!! I was 18 at the time and though it should have been kind of cool, what the hell did I care? I was going to Mexico...I was gonna grab a beer when I got there, anyway!

I LOVED Mexico!! When we crossed the border, we went right into a small town called Cuidad Acuna (I hope I'm spelling that right). The streets were pretty much what you'd expect - Dusty. There were kids running all over the place kicking soccer balls and playing tag in the alleys. And every time I reached a new store front, there was someone holding the door open for me "Come in Senorita!!" We shopped around for a little while, mostly just to check out all of the different stores. I ended up with my favorite Harley t-shirt, a couple bottles of tequila (the kind with the worm in the bottom), some cool bracelets and a cowboy hat! LOL I don't even think we spent more than 10-15 dollars on that stuff.

We went to a bar called the 'Corona Club'. There was one table of what were pretty obviously tourists and the rest were what I'm guessing were locals. The bartender was quick to ask what we wanted, and there was a man with a shoe-shining kit offering up his services. I ordered a Corona and Mommy Dukes, being the responsible mom that she is, ordered a Pepsi. I tried to take our picture at the bar, but it didn't turn out great. I guess the bartender saw that I was about to try again and offered to take the picture for us. I'm glad he did, though - I really like that picture!

I was about 1/2 way through my first beer when some people starting coming in...One of them a really loud people!! It was the loud one (go figure) that spoke up to ask mom if she was married. She said yes of course, and then he turned his attention my way. It didn't take long for one of them to notice my eyes. It was kind of the same reaction I get here. Most people just want to see. But there was one guy who moved away...Quick...All the way to the other side of the bar. I was kind of offended at first, but then I thought of the woman who thought I was 'possessed' when I worked at Food Lion, so I brushed it off. Some people are crazy!!

So Mom and I were left talking to the loud one and his friend, Edgar (I can't remember the 'loud one's name, but I know it was hard to pronounce!!). They were pretty freakin' hilarious - Kept us laughing pretty much the entire time!! We found out that Edgar and his family owned one of the largest ranches in Mexico and that the 'loud one' had actually been a professional bull-rider in Mexico, as well as America. Somewhere around that time, the man with the shoe-shining kit came by for the second time, and even though his shoes looked brand new, the loud one indulged the man and had his shoes shined. I thought about that for a second and found it kinda cool. I mean, this guy didn't need his shoes shined. He let the man do it so that he could make some money. I dig it...

There was a beautiful girl that came in just as we were about to leave. They showed her my eyes (I'm so used to this), and she was so sweet, complimenting not only the color of my eyes, but the shape. Made me feel a whole lot better about that man that moved away from me so quickly at the bar!! We thanked the loud one for my beer and mom's soda and said goodbye to Edgar. I hated to leave - I would have stayed a LOT longer if I could have.

I'm not sure why Mexico had such an impact on me. Maybe it was the way the kids played in the street. Maybe it was the way they all greeted us at the front of every store. Maybe it was the old Mexican woman selling Jesus Christ necklaces on the bridge over the Rio Grande....I dunno. I'm not sure what it was, but Cuidad Acuna has stayed with me. I would love to go back there one day....I WILL go back there one day.

~Just as a side note: Mom and I have been going back and forth about the 'Copyright' on the bottom of some of my photos. I put the year that I actually placed the copyright on the image. Mom thinks I should put the year that I took the photo. So, the photo up top was taken in Mexico in 2005. I put '08 because that's the year I actually put my name on that photo. She thinks it should say '05. Any opinions?~

This is what I saw a LOT of this weekend. All the guys were over Friday and Saturday night and then after football on Sunday...That means a whole lot of games. And not exactly the fun kinda games, like the ones that I like, but the very, very BOY games (And I don't mean girls CAN'T play. It's just that this girl is no good at it, so she doesn't even try anymore.) Ya know the ones - Madden, Halo, Call of Duty...

All in all, I don't mind too much, really. The guys generally keep me laughing. I do kinda stick out like the sore thumb, though. The only taco at the sausage fest....
I'm used to it and I kinda actually dig it most of the time. But next weekend, I can almost promise you won't see me hanging out with the guys while they 'game.' I've had enough weekends of that for a little while.

Ideally, I'd like to just set out driving and see where I end up. And hopefully there will be some cool things to take pictures of along the way...Or when I get there. Either is fine, really. Always seems like a good idea until the weekend actually gets here and other things come up. Just gonna play it by ear and hope for the best I suppose.

I did take lots of pictures this weekend. Most of them were football pictures, though. The guys play every Sunday and have for about the past two years or so. I had gone out to take some pictures for them a couple of times before and they've been bugging me lately to come back out, so I gave in this Sunday. I ended up shooting about three rolls of film, so we'll see how those turn out. I'm betting there are some pretty good shots in there. I'll keep my fingers crossed and I'll post some when I get them.

The plan is to add at least three new posts this week (and not individual posts since I usually add more than one at a time, but three different days of posting). I'm also hoping to be entering a new photo in the Bissell Pet Photo Contest this week, so I'll be posting when I do that, as well.

Here's to a great week!!

Weekends

As much as I would like to, I don't think that I'll be doing too much blogging on the weekends. Since I work from home on the computer and have to stare at it all day long during the week, I spend as little time as possible on this thing during the weekends. Today's a bit of an exception, but not too much really. I've vacuumed everywhere, dusted, picked up dishes and laundry and just overall been busy for most of the day, so I decided to give myself a small break and post a few photos.

These are just a few that I took while I was having a few beers with the guys (while they were playing Madden....Go figure!!). Madden is much more tolerable for me after a few beers, so when it's game night for the guys, I sit back and drink a few and find something else to do - Like take random pictures. I buy a canvas and paint sometimes, too. That can be a lot of fun. Never know what you might end up with when you have a canvas, some paint and brushes and few bottles of Miller Lite!

Here's to a good weekend (Glug, glug)!!

'Rolling Thunder 2007'

Well, I had originally thought that I would be able to get online a bit later tonight and post some more 'fun stuff,' but it doesn't look like I'll be able to. Instead, I chose to make this my last post of the night.

These are photos from 'Rolling Thunder '07'. If you have never been, I recommend you jump at the opportunity should it ever be presented to you. It's a pretty awesome experience. Thousands and thousands of people from all over ride their motorcycles to the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C. (or drive their cars to D.C. to see the bikes coming in and the parade they ride in). Bunches of others line the streets and overpasses on the interstates holding up American flags and signs with all kinds of inspirational messages. A group of I don't even know how many thousands of bikes met in Triangle, Virginia and rode out escorted by police. At one overpass that we came to, there was even a firetruck parked with the fire fighters waving and holding up American flags. It's incredible - All of those people show up for one common goal - To honor those that fought and those that were lost in the Vietnam War...They deserve every bit of it. I hope you enjoy viewing the photos as much as I did taking them!

Daddy and Lyle waiting to get on the road with 'Rolling Thunder '07'

Mommy Dukes and DaddyMan

They're grrrrreat (much like Frosted Flakes)!!! :P

Lyle and Bruce

Meet Lyle (top) and Bruce (bottom) - A couple of 'Harley buddies' of my parents...
They are both military service veterans and both hilarious!! Sooo....Both of these photos show two serious and VERY rare moments!!!

Destiny

This is my sister, Destiny. She loves to be in front of the camera, anyway, so I took advantage of it. The photos turned out pretty good and she was thrilled with them, so it all worked out well!

I thought that since I am sitting here now anyway as David stabs my scalp repeatedly...I mean highlights my hair for me, I should go ahead and do a little blogging. I wasn't feeling all too great yesterday, so I convinced myself that it wouldn't hurt to skip posting something. Kids portraits were the last posted, so I think the next thing should be some portraits of adults that I have taken. Soooo, I'll be posting some of those now, and then maybe some more 'fun stuff' a little bit later tonight.

Don't remember this little guy's name, but he was definitely a pool player in the making...And really cute!! :-)

Rhiannon and Halle

On the top is Rhiannon (with her Mommy, Misty) and on the bottom is Halle

Monique

What better to come after pets than kids....
This is Monique

I thought this little guy was cute!!

'Dudley'

This is Destiny's (my sister) newest friend, 'Dudley.' He's a cutie!!

Kittens

Since I started with the Pet photos, I thought I should continue with that trend for the next few posts. 'Doodle' is on the top, and 'Chicken' is on the bottom.

Simba

This is Simba! He's our 14-year-old 'cat-human'... He's pretty much the coolest cat ever!

Bissell is having a Pet Photo Contest on their website. There are 7 (from what I can tell) voting periods left before the contest comes to a close. The five photos with the most votes from each voting period advance to the final round. Of these finalists, one photo is chosen to be on the Pet Hair Eraser vacuum and Bissell will donate $10,000 to the Pet Cause of the winner's choice.

I entered Simba's photo for the voting period that begins on February 26, so if you happen to come across this, be sure to stop by Bissell's site: http://www.bissell.com/Vote_on_Photos.aspx

I'll be entering a new photo each voting period - I would be happy if just one made it to the final round!! I'll keep my fingers crossed...

'Scrappy's' Birthday!!

Today was Scrappy's 7th birthday and though I'm not sure why, I woke up with the incredible urge to throw him a party... So, I did!! I went out to the store and picked up the party hats and plates, called Destiny and 'Dudley' to invite them over and even made a birthday cake - Not just any birthday cake of course, but a peanut butter sandwich cake!! LOL
Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Probably more for me than for Scrappy, but at least one of us enjoyed ourselves. Dudley showed up a bit late to the party (and wasn't much in the mood for pictures! :P ). I'm pretty sure Scrappy was okay with it. 'Dudley' is kind of like Scrappy's "friend" that he doesn't want to invite, but his Mom makes him, anyway...

I'll be working on the blog for at least the next hour or so. I have LOTS more photos to upload, so I'll be hanging out on here getting some of that done.

There were a couple of comments that I wasn't able to respond to, so I just wanted to say... Grace: Thank you! And I don't have any photos OF quilts at the moment. I have, however, found that some of the quilts can be great backdrops for photos, so I have a couple like that. My mom and I are waiting it out a bit for the warm weather and green trees, and then I'll be taking pictures of some of her quilts for her.
Annieliz: Thanks to you, too! :-) I'll definitely be adding more SOON, so hopefully putting me on that 'favorite blog' list will prove worthwhile!

Be sure to check back soon, as this blog will hopefully undergo bunches of changes for the next few weeks as I continue to add to it. Thanks for stopping by!!

In Progress

So, I'm giving this a shot. Mom's been after me for a few days now to 'just go online and look up photo blogs.' I checked it all out earlier today and I must say, I was a little overwhelmed. The first site I read was talking about all kinds of software and html code....And all I kept thinking was 'I don't have time for this!' Then we were on our way to the movies tonight ('The Bucket List' was reeeeally good!!) and Mom told me about BlogSpot. What do you know Mom? It's only a few hours later and I have a BlogSpot in the making.
It's late now, about 1:30 in the morning. I'm heading off to bed soon - Got quite a bit of work tomorrow, but I'm hoping to finish up early enough to have some time to post more. We'll see...

Mica Springs Farm in Louisa, Virginia

Cave at Cumberland Falls

Cumberland Falls, Kentucky

This is kind of the photo that started it all. My mom and I had gone to visit my Grandfather and went to visit the falls while we were close by. I loved this as soon as I saw it on the display of the camera...I was about 12 or 13, I think? I've been snapping away like crazy ever since. Also happened to be the day I first fell in love with the Canon Rebel...I finally got one about 6 years later!!

So, this is me!! This picture is a little out-dated (May of '06), but it seems to be a favorite, anyway. It was a gorgeous day though! I received my Career Studies Certificate in Allied Health Preparation, and then the family, David and I all went to lunch. Very good day - I love hanging out with the family!