2010 APO Week Twelve

There has been so much going on lately I have had very little time to actually catch up on my regular posts, and even worse, my life. I kind of feel like I'm losing touch with certain aspects of myself. Within this month, I've started my third job on top of my full time day job and my full time freelance business. I began teaching an Advanced Digital Imaging (Photoshop) class one day a week at a local college. It's not just any college either, but my alma mater to be more precise. It's so odd being back on campus. It brings back memories of sleepless nights, grueling projects and my very limited time for a social life. Now that I have finally been out in the "real world" I realize that very little has changed. Sometimes I often refer to myself as a workaholic, and I'm pretty sure that I've been called one by my Jim on more than one occasion.

On top of that, I had some pretty big happenings in my life lately. A friend of mine, whom I've pretty much known since pampers, lost her grandmother, which in turn felt like I had lost a family member of my own. Having grown up with her literally my whole life, I wanted to be there for her and give her that loving hug and a shoulder to cry on. I know I would have needed it if I were in her shoes. However, as we all grow older, we move away, and she is one of my two best girlfriends (you both know who you are) that has moved out of state, and I'm really longing for a get together with all of us. Especially with light of whats been happening in her life lately.

 Then there was the breaking of my antique coffee mug that was my absolute favorite, followed the next day by the news that the Folgers plant in down town KC was going to close it's doors. I felt like it was a sign from the coffee gods. If you've ever driven through downtown KC, you know that once you hit a certain point in the tangle of highways, you are instantly hit with that fresh ground coffee aroma. It lasts about a half mile, and trust me when I say that it really does make you feel like you've had a freshly brewed cup of coffee that kind of puts a smile on your face. I truly loved doing my grocery shopping in the River Market during the spring and catching the wind coming off of the other side of the highway and smelling it.

I've lived in the KC area for the last 8 years, and I haven't fully married myself to the idea, but I'm definitely starting to feel like it's become my home town. I'm really going to miss that smell driving through downtown, and it's going to be hard to move on. Trust me when I say it isn't the same as cracking open a new coffee container as the aroma wafts up to your face. I guess from now on I'll have to close my eyes and pretend. It's a good thing I'm a creative individual. I have a vivid imagination.

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I Have No Idea, So I Wouldn't Ask

So, this is what happens when a creative mind is left with very little or no stimulation during parts of the day. I doodled these over the course of a few weeks, and only in my spare time (which I seem to have very little of these days).  I didn't feel the need to go back and rework them at the time but as I was breezing through my sketchbook earlier, I found them. I might have to go back and revisit these ideas in the future.

Alien, Charlie my cat, and a Ninja Aardvark (?)

2010 APO Week Eleven

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2010 APO Week Ten

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Happy 100th Post...

 

I couldn't have gotten through it without a lot of this.

2010 APO Week Nine

It's hard to believe that we have already been through the first 63 days of the year. Doing this little project really puts time in perspective. It seems like I have done so much in such a short amount of time and yet when I look back, I am amazed at how long it's been since I began. Plus I'm being forced outside of my box more and more. I'm finding my confidence is being tested when it comes to bring myself to actually pull out the camera and take a picture in a place that might not be a common place for a camera. Just yesterday, my Jim was browsing through a set of my daily photos and stumbled on to one I took of him. He took me off guard when he stated that he has gotten to the point that he doesn't even notice when I take pictures. I'm starting to slowly accustom myself to think of the camera like a necessity I take everywhere with me.

On to another matter of business, my next post is officially my 100th posting since beginning my blog last February. I will also have almost 5000 hits since I've started keeping track, and secretly in my mind I've been praying that the two line up perfectly. I know that chances of me getting 200 hits within a week are slim, but a girl can't help but dream. I've got through some trials and tribulations and I'm proud to say that I can actually see some changes over that time period.  I'm seeing what is working and what isn't and I must admit that this photo project has taken a toll on my 'doodle' and designing time. I've definitely separated a few of my design projects to my other blog for my freelance business, so for the time being this blog has been a little neglected. I really want to post something special for this mini-monumental 100th post, and NOT next week's photo recap; this means that I will be posting before next Thursday. (Thursdays have been temporarily assigned Photo Odyssey postings until the end of the year.) I'm open to suggestions. Fire away.

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