Kayla and Brody

Kayla and Brody, a photo by ashliek on Flickr.

Did a prom session for Kayla and Brody. It was Kayla's senior prom.

It's pictures like these that give me delusions of being a great photographer one day...

:-)

Long weekend

Man, I'm sore. Being a homeowner makes me feel like how Grandy's truck looks.

Welcome home and happy birthday!

I moved back home on my 29th birthday. Ian invited close friends and family over for a cookout. Here are some pictures. There are more details about our first week in our house over on the Conway Scrapblog.



They tried to make me a smiley face with the candles on my cake.


We all had cake and a great time!

Playing catch up

Hi folks,
Just wanted to pop in to give a quick update. I landed a fantastic job in Tennessee, and August 19th will be my last day at USC. I'm really going to miss the fantastic friends and colleagues I've made while here, but I'm looking forward to homesteading with Ian! My birthday is on the 20th, so I'm giving myself unemployment and my first home for my birthday!

Now to the pictures!
Here's the before:

And here's the after (adjacent corner):

One room down, one to go! WOOT!

The bathroom is the next room. We've already torn it up, but I'm at a loss as to what to do with it. We've got a mauve bathtub and limited funds right now, so that's hurting progress. I think I'll keep the pink bathtub just for fun, but how to plan around it? I have some of the floor tile that'll work with it, but the walls are stumping me. The whole bathroom is currently tiled halfway up the wall (except for the shower/tub area), and it bothers me. I like all tile or no tile (again, except the shower area). Also, the tile is white with little green/gold specs, so it looks off-white overall. Suggestions (and pictures of suggestions) are absolutely welcomed!

So stay tuned, friends. Looks like my 29th year on this planet might just be the best yet.
xoxox,
akc

I'm a lemonade factory

Where do I even begin?

A few months back, I hinted (either here or on the Conway Scrapblog) that some major news would be announced by the end of the year. I didn't want to announce anything until things were legal and finalized, but my excitement and my big stupid mouth got in the way. Ian's done some posts about it on the Scrapblog, but I wanted to officially announce it once and for all:

By the end of the year, I will be a homeowner in Tennessee.

 Long story short, we will be inheriting part of my Grandparents' farm, which is amazing because Ian and I want to expand on our organic farming, and also because we'll literally be right across the street from my parents. There are about 100 other really great reasons, but I won't go into them all here.

The property still isn't legally ours, and we have no clue when it will be. We had originally planned to move there at the end of October when our lease is up. However...

Ian lost his job. He's been so unhappy here for so long. It seems like every job here requires a college degree, and every time we get him enrolled in school something drastic or crazy happens with our finances, never allowing him to do more than one consecutive semester. Being the smart thinker he is, he realized that there are many more job opportunities in our area of Tennessee for non-degree holders, so he volunteered to move there and get a job. And he did.

Meanwhile, I find out that my boss has been offered and accepted a job offer from an extremely prestigious institution. She's leaving in the beginning of August. I'm unofficially second in command, so this has major implications for me. I don't expect to be interim head, but I do think I need to do my part to lead us through this transition. The administration have reassured me they'll begin a search to replace her, but it most likely won't be this year.

Now you might ask, gosh Ashlie, that sure is a lot of change! How are you holding up?
Why thank you for asking! I'm holding my own, I guess. I jokingly have started to call myself a lemonade factory...you know, the old saying, "When life gives you lemons, turn them into lemonade!"

Honestly the hardest part has been being without Ian. I don't sleep well. I don't really have anyone here in town without major commitments to hang out with. I've literally had to fight myself to get up and get out of the apartment rather than sit here and mope. Sure, I video skype with Ian, Mom, and Dad every night, but it's just not the same.

 So for now, I'm here and he's there...and that's just how it has to be.

But in the meantime, Ian's done some great photoblogging at the Scrapblog on what he's doing to fix up our house. Once we're both moved in we'll be doing some serious blogging about all the fixing up we'll get to do...so stay tuned!

Oh and before I forget- those of you who found out about all this before this post and left comments, tweeted, facebooked, or voiced your support and friendship- it has been GREATLY appreciated. I love how every day friendship is shown to me when I least expect it. We all need to have a little more of that in our lives.

Until next time, my friends....
xoxox
akc

Happiness is...

It's iris time in Tennessee!
We were back in Tennessee this past weekend, and the irises were really putting on a show! One of our neighbors has reportedly spent $300 on fancy varieties of irises, and I must say they are beautiful!

We're headed back to Tennessee tomorrow after work, but I don't know that I'll get to take (m)any pictures. Ian has an interview, and I'm sure I'll be working outside. As I first reported here, Ian and I are gearing up for something MAJOR. I don't want to say anything publicly and jinx us, but things are really looking up. If this comes into fruition, it will truly be a life changing experience for the both of us.

...and no, we're not expecting a baby.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a bit of our happiness. Living in such a big city (yes, I know Columbia isn't like NYC) can really erode your love for your fellow man. Being around family like we were this weekend, and having people be so excited for you...wow...it's just so refreshing.

Springtime busy bees

Gosh can you believe spring is already here?


I put up this picture of one of Mom's crocuses. It's funny how her daffodils and buttercups have yet to bloom, but they're fully involved everywhere else I've seen them.

Here's hoping I can get out and do some photography this weekend. Conway Media is doing a video on me (sorry I keep rescheduling!), and I'm looking forward to getting that done.

Hope y'all are well!
akc

First large format

So technically, this was the last image I took with my cambo large format camera. I haven't had a chance to scan the others.

I posted the next to largest size (yes, I know it doesn't really fit in the template...) because I just don't think the smaller sizes do it justice. Ok, so now it's a smaller size. Whatever.

I'm totally in love with this picture. I think it's one of my best works, and not to my surprise, I've gotten very little feedback about it. LOL! I guess you have to be raised in a house with a wood stove to appreciate it.

Hope you all are well. I hope to announce my exciting news later this week.
xoxoxox

One down, one to go

I knew going into this weekend that I'd get to have two totally new experiences. Mom & Dad got me a 70-300mm Nikkor telephoto lens for my D80, and I'd get to try out my large format film camera.

We got here in TN just after midnight, so when Dad pulled out the large format to explain everything, I was half asleep. The telephoto hadn't come in yet. I slept in until about 10 the next morning, and tried out the telephoto once it arrived in the mail. The picture above was taken with it. It's not super great because I was so eager to try it out I didn't use my tripod, but I think it's a really good start.

We were busy all day today so I didn't get to try the large format. We're heading back to SC late tomorrow, so I'll get to try it sometime tomorrow morning.

In the meantime, I'm setting up my account with RedBubble. I think I'm going to move from Imagekind to that, but it's going to take a while.

I'll keep you posted...

Backlog part one

I've almost cleared out my backlog just in time for us to travel to Tennessee this weekend (so I can build up another mass of 500+ pictures to sort though).



I've uploaded almost all the abandoned house/farm pictures from my Kingstree, SC folder. Up next will be all the nature pics, then I can move on to the Valentine's Day folder.

Outside of that, I've been busy doing laundry. Life can resume somewhat because my big presentation is over. You can read about it on the Music Library's blog. This was also my first presentation done on the PowerBook, so I wanted to say thanks to Mom and Dad. Also, thanks to my husband, Ian, for picking up the VGA adapter on the way back from a video shoot.

Now if only I can figure out what's up with the dubbing studio computer (sigh, I really am developing a hatred for PCs), the top tape deck, and get caught up on all my reference email questions, I'll be able to attend all the meetings I have this week and next!

But enough about the library!

Did you hear?


We might have a snowpocalypse2.0 in Columbia. I am SO ready for summer. I want to bike up and down Hunting Island and go camping. Or maybe go biking while camping on Hunting Island. Either would make me happy.

Heart and Soul Photo Contest

Just when I say in my previous entry that I'm too busy to blog, life handed me a great big piece of pound cake (not literally of course, because if I had pound cake I'd be somewhere besides the computer eating it, but that's about the best sounding thing I could think of at the moment).

I just got notice that I am not a finalist for the Orton Family Foundation's Heart & Soul Photo contest in which I entered, BUT...

The judges liked my entry photos so well that I'm getting a special recognition prize (TBA), AND...

(Gosh this is starting to look like one of those political proclamations, isn't it?)

I was the only person from South Carolina and/or Tennessee represented in the finalists/special recognition winners!

If you're curious, I entered a handful of the pictures from Ridgeway, South Carolina. I just adore that little town.


So there's a happy spot to light up my two extremely busy weeks.

I did upload a few more pictures from my massive backlog to flickr tonight. I need to add my watermark to my Valentine's Day pictures and get them up & out.

Thanks for your patience with me!
xoxox