The Highland way.. oh... and the bliss that is Sonic

Trying keep the zen that is this picture, but it is getting increasingly more difficult.
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I had a full post and we lost power - the trials of blogging here at work...
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Last night found out that Pudge Rodriquez is STILL in baseball, go you Mr. Man! I also found out that Chipper Jones is retiring. Way to make me feel ancient Chipper! I was there when you were an infant who had just made it to the big show and now this?! God almighty, time flies!
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You know what else I found out? Winnie the Pooh and his friends (yes, THE REAL POOH BEAR, not disney pooh, not classic pooh,)all live at the New York Public library. Yet another reason to visit the fine city again. (Besides seeing Daniel Cole and the Mrs.)
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Something happened this week that has put a full on STOP to plans on a grand scale, affecting every part of our lives. It's not our fault either, it's just a bitch of a situation. I HATE it when things I have absolutely no control over can just turn life and plans upside indiscriminately. Not that my plans were grand, but they were still plans. But we'll do what we do, fight hard, survive, live (the Highland way...)and this we will get through. I'm just over this and some other things and a renovation on everything/one/place is in the works soon, methinks.
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On a good note, my father's eye surgery went well and he is expected to be able to go back to VA the 2nd week of July barring anything coming up bad at the follow up on Monday.
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The photography is good. I have shoots scheduled, locations scouted, new models booked, a wedding booked, pregnancy shoot booked, layout for the book drafted up,the first round of Proust questionnaires are out, waiting on responses on those for the book, and will be sending out the 2nd round on Tuesday or Weds. The process is a long one, but I am excited about seeing the finished product. New business cards, photocards and branding design done, just need to be ordered. At some point, maybe after the daughter is finished with University, the photography can be more income producing because I might be able to devote FT hours to it as opposed to 1/4 time that I am able to now. I am aiming to have that balance be 50/50 by years end. We'll see how everything pands out. Till the the day job stays.
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Russell Crowe has signed to be in a big screen version of The Equalizer, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/06/equalizer-remake-russell-crowe-woodward.html -- I wasn't a huge fan of the show, but if Russell is involved, I'll give the movie a chance.
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I recently has SONIC for the first time ever. Needless to say, I am hooked. I have never in my life, had a better bacon sammy. I don't do tomato's so my BLT is a BL sandwich and this was amazing, texas toast, thick cut brown to a crisp bacon, no visible fate, it was AMAZING, paired with my strawberry slushy thing they do, I was in heaven. How is it possible I had never had this before I don't even know. I can assure you, I will be a frequent guest :)
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Don’t Be Afraid to Re-Evaluate and link love

NEW MANTRA --- Concentrate your hopeful attitude on a positive outcome and Don’t Be Afraid to Re-Evaluate
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Often times, I am asked by various friends how I have coupons for so many things. Well besides the fact that I am the crazy coupon woman, I also am a member of various quality coupon sites and rewards programs. I am happy to start sharing those programs here. Today is VOCALPOINT. It is free to sign up and free to participate. http://www.vocalpoint.com//index.html I receive an email from VOCALPOINT every week or so and give my opinion on products I have tried or the emails ask me if I want to try some product and they send said product out and I review said product. I'm not getting paid to do that. However, more often than not, that product comes with coupons. Sometimes even a coupon for the product FREE, and coupons for $1 or $2 off to give out to friends. I enjoy programs like this, my mailbox is always full, of these types of samples, products to try, so if you are interested, VOCALPOINT is a good place to get your feet wet.
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http://www.kraftfirsttaste.com is another good place to start. Kraft offers up samples and high value coupons for all sorts of their products. Some products are sent to your home and others you can just print out the coupons and get them at the store and try them. I always give feedback as a)I'm an opinionated broad and b)they appreciate it and it helps the marketing people know what people want in future products and coupon offerings. Again - it's free to sign up and participate.
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FYI - I am having serious wanderlust, I dreamt last night I was walking through fields of green and then on the pier of some lake/ocean/random body of water (neither of which I am anywhere near, what with being landlocked in the this suburban scene) and I woke up thinking it must have been North or South Carolina, which i have no real connection with barring my paternal grandmother (whom I am not close to) still lives there and an ex boyfriend (amicable split - I know, you can't believe it right?)used to live there. I YEARN YEARN to get moving. I stayed in MD for 10 years -- but I also traveled to Germany during that time and many day trips here and there, I am going on 6 years here, so I am not surprised this feeling is kicking in. It's quite dangerous, as my motto has always been 'If I'm not happy I'm gone', in pretty much every aspect of my life. It's not that I'm not happy, I just need to see new faces, new places, be away for a while, Chel is still in school at FSC, so I'm not going anywhere permanently until later, but I can assure you I will be moving, even if it's just to a new house or a new neighbourhood. Chelsea must also be feeling it because she just sent me a text that said "I want to emigrate back to England somedaaaayyyy" I smiled and sent back a text "ah, yes, but TODAY, is not that day" (She still has 3 more years of University left here in FL). I can also assure you that I will be taking more time to travel even if it;s just day/weekend trips, because otherwise one day we'll wake up and just get in the car and as my ever talented friend Matt Mackelcan sings "I'll just drive... down on 95...."
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nikoretro,flickr -- THAT? made me happier than you know - I LOVE lurve Luv blue cheese!
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Boondock Saints Prayer as best I can figure - in Irish - (again, really only for my own knowledge) ~ Agus beimid inár n-aoirí ar do shonsa, a Thiarna, ar do shonsa.
Tá cumhacht tagtha anuas ó do lámh,
ionas go gcomhlíonadh ár gcosa do thoil go tapaidh.
Sruthóimid ar aghaidh mar abhainn chugat
Agus plódaithe le hanamacha a bheidh sí go deo.

In ainm an Athar, agus an Mhic, agus an Spioraid Naomh
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Speaking of that - This man makes me laugh till I cry http://www.billyconnolly.com/
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It's been lovely - see you soon :) Til Then have a Brilliant Brilliant

New logo for business, foodings,

This is the prototype of my new logo for the photography business. I had a white cotton tee shirt made with this logo in black placed on the bottom left corner of the shirt to see how much I liked it. I love it. The only tweak I am thinking about is making the "O" in the middle a camera lens. New cards will have to be made up but that's good, I need to get re branded all around. Am thisclose to deleting the old myspace accounts and the extra facebook and starting fresh. All the other photographers in this town use their names, and really, mine is so much prettier..lol.. I mean how many Collette's do you know? So yay for new vision.

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Today brought yet another reason for me to be thankful. One of the things on my LIST that is an ongoing list to make my life fuller in all sorts of different ways, I was able to do. It made me happy to do it and also gave me a way to show gratitude to the power that is, the force that listens. I think everyone should make a list and try and do something on the list, even if it's an ongoing self-improvement thing, like giving gratitude on a daily basis, every day.

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I lost 2 pounds last week. I am hopeful that next week will show the same if not 2 pounds more lost. We shall see. Regardless, when I went grocery shopping today, it was with healthy meals in mind. Let me tell you something as well, I bought tomatoes. I don't think I have ever bought tomatoes. I don't care for them unless they are in a sauce or chopped up in salads, and I'm talking chopped up. But I did, I bought some romas, because my L told me I could chop them as fine as those ones I love, without too many seeds, so I'm going to give them a try with my gorgeous lettuce and cucumbers... I know I'm SOOOOOO adventurous with my salad, right?Mind you, I say this whilst eating Stouffers Mac and Cheese (my comfort food if I ever had one...)

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Leave it to Isaac Mizrahi to come up with craziness. His line for Liz Claiborne is too too fun and very me. But this? I love this idea! It's tartan cheesecake. I myself do not care for cheesecake, but I LOVE TARTAN and would most definitely buy one for entertaining at the holidays. Brilliant, this.
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While we are on the subject of food... the glazed carrots at Cracker Barrel. I know, I know, you're shaking your head "CRACKER BARREL?!", but I am an addict for those carrots. Believe me, if I could get the recipe and just do it at home, I'd never go there.

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Now, Ya'll will just have to excuse me while I go kick my sister's arse at Yahtzee :)

The shopping, the nostalgia, the rambling, oh my!

(image - catinsosa) knows what I mean about stretching that dollar! Target and Walgreens roundup today, not my best work, but it was a good day.

Armed with my trusty coupons, my ever present Diet Coke and $....

I won't bore you with the details of the two transactions, just that Walgreens- I walked out with $27.92 worth of stuff for $4.68. Target was not as great but I'm happy because I got some things I needed and HAIR COLOUR (oh yes, my friends, IT'S TIME). Walked out of Target with $25.02 worth of stuff for $11.88. All in all not a bad trip. The woman who checked me out at Customer Service in Target was so awesome, I even left a "customer appreciation" card for her manager to put in her file for when performance evaluations come up. Groceries tomorrow.

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I was feeling nostalgic the other day, I thought about how fun it would be to see FDR's production of Grease. I put the call out for any of my classmates who may have a copy of the show on VHS (as that's all there was back in the day, kiddies) to please let me know if they could copy it and ship it to me if paid for the duplication and shipping. So far only JF thinks his mom and dad may still have the old tape. I hope so. It'd be a shame if we all lost ours. Voila, Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo. (Stock Studio photo) Given my druthers and perhaps a different path choosen, I would have hoped my foray into musical theatre/acting would have taken my 1/4 as far as that woman. I think she is a brilliant actress and as the First Lady on The West Wing she was outstanding. I joke with my own parents that if they weren't available, that Abbey and Jed Bartlett (Stockard Channing and Martin Sheen) would have been my parents of choosing.

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It's a dark quiet night here. I think it wants to rain and everything in me says snuggle up in bed and read a good book. I've decided that Chili needs to be made in the very near future. I LOVE chili. Giant grocery store in Maryland has the best chili, failing homemade of course. Wendy's when it's not all liquidy is good as well. Me, I like a variety of black, red beans, corn, peppers, garlic, oregano, chili powder, you know... the usual, but I also add a little bbq beans (shh. don't tell...)to it as well, just to get a smokier flavour. Some people like it with ground beef, I can have it either that way OR vegetarian. It's brilliant with cornbread. so yes, there will be Chili.

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Tomorrow - Groceries, the beginning of the media culling, OMG! I'm opening up the desk drawers that must never be opened (you know the one with all those bits and bobs we all accumulate throughout the year), if I find anything coolio, I'll let you know:) Till then!