quick post from fayetteville...

we're in fayetteville this weekend, celebrating my birthday a few days early with my mom and grandma. notes from this trip so far:

-fourth fridays make me proud to be from fayetteville. everyone there enjoys the downtown area, there are so many new shops and restaurants popping up all over the place, and you can simply enjoy the atmosphere as you browse, wine-taste, listen to music and have little snacks.

-as much as i love my nikon d-slr, i quickly came to the realization that it is not practical for all situations. hence, i am now a new owner of a sony cybershot w80, a tiny little 7 mp camera that easily fits in a pocket and does the job that my big, honkin' camera cannot. like...

-going to a concert tonight! mom's co-workers gave her tickets to the biggest concert fayetteville has seen in a long time: reba and kelly clarkson. she figured i would most enjoy attending the concert with her, so that's the plan for this evening following my birthday dinner at grandma's.

and it's a bye week for football, which makes me happy. i see the light at the end of the tunnel (justin also sees the light, but has a totally different perspective on it. what can i say? i'm just footballed out.)

that's all for now. later, y'all :)

school social worker by day...

and now, a freelance photographer by night.

the past two weeks have been busy, with lots of developments in various areas. i set myself a lot of goals for the new year, and it feels like i'm finally really getting into it.

the biggest change has been a new side job with the local newspaper, the daily reflector. i've been a member of the "greenville" group on flickr for a while now, and the group boasts both amateur and professional photographers. one of the professionals, a photographer for the paper, e-mailed us to ask if anyone was interested in taking on some freelance work to further develop the paper's website content. several of us met one night at the paper's office, got our press passes and have been sent to work. my first job was last night at the ECU basketball game where they also recognized the football team during halftime and showed off the hawaii bowl trophy. i spent about 3 hours at the game (about an hour and a half before and another hour into the game to halftime) and took pictures of fans in the stands, getting personal information to go with each shot. once i got home, it was another 2 hours to get all of the photos uploaded with captions. this is tough work, but i thoroughly enjoyed it and have another assignment next week for a chamber of commerce event. of course, if you want to check out the photos, go to www.reflector.com and click on the slideshow at the top of the page (or the photos/videos tab to find other slideshows).
also, i am getting more involved in groups at church, volunteering with the youth group for the first time this week. the teens meet on tuesday nights at the church, having an hour of "hang out" time where they can eat and play games in the loft area that is designated for the youth, and then an hour of worship and devotion. though i know it will take some time for me to develop relationships with the kids, i feel like i got off to a good start and look forward to becoming a regular. this is one area that i have wanted to help out with for quite some time, and now i finally have the opportunity :)

professionally, i've got a case study due by the end of the month and am collecting "continuing education" hours as often as possible. this week, i had the chance to attend an art therapy workshop where we learned about how art therapy is used in a clinical setting and then got to actually do several projects. that's the kind of conference i really enjoy, and i was more than happy to let my creative juices flow on the activities.

and finally, our brief sighting of snow flakes last night. they didn't last long and anything that accumulated was gone by morning, but it was still nice to finally see some snow after enduring lots of rain all day long. mike and debbie had been hopeful when putting this snowman yard stick out in the yard to measure the forecasted snow. though there wasn't enough to need a yard stick, it still made for a good picture.


and that's all for now. later, y'all :)

where has the time gone?

so i think it's easiest to describe the last couple of weeks by saying... it was our typical holiday.

and it's easiest to imagine everything we did by going and checking out my flickr photos. you won't be dissapointed.

but i'll try to add some details as well.

the UNC game--such a cool experience! going to visit my aunts and nieces, getting to walk along franklin street, shop at the shrunken head and chapel hill sportwear, and enjoying a walk on campus to visit the old well. and of course, the game itself. though it was a little too close for comfort, they still pulled out a win and we had a great time.



we had a great time during the days leading up to christmas and spent time in fayetteville, going to the christmas eve service at hay street and enjoying christmas morning with my family. we headed to greenville for a christmas dinner with justin's family here that afternoon and played games after eating (balderdash and the every-popular wii).
after relaxing for a few days, we went back to fayetteville for the FTS band alumni reunion. this is sure to become an annual event, as we had a great turnout and loved catching up with everyone--even washburn!
new year's was spent with neighborhood friends along with scott, melissa and the kids. it was a tough transition back to work, but atleast it was a short week and then we were off to the coast, stopping in beaufort for lunch and browsing, then at harker's island and cedar island to take engagement pictures for alan and rachel before we had dinner at my grandparents' in atlantic.

and now we're back to the grindstone. fill in any gaps :)