Email issues

The above is just to decorate this post and show you a cheeseburger I made the other day. I was craving a good burger but didn't want to go pay a restaurant for one, so I bought some groceries and made that bit of deliciousness! I want another one now.

But here's the real reason I'm posting: I don't know if any of you (besides Deborah) have tried replying to my blog post emails recently, but apparently there was a problem and responses were being rejected. Which means I may have not received recent replies if any of you sent one. I went and checked and somehow my "reply to" email address got changed back to the default (a no-reply email) instead of my actual address. I don't know how this happened! But I switched it back, so it will hopefully work now. Sorry about that! I do try to respond to most of my emailed responses, so if you didn't get a response, that's probably why.


One more order of business, while I'm here: earlier this year I sold a few of my nature pictures which prompted me to finally put up some info about purchasing my fine art photos. My dad said I should mention that here. :) It's nothing fancy.

Have a great day!

Art journal

I just finished cleaning up my place after procrastinating about it pretty much all weekend. It's not fit for a visit from the queen or anything, but I'm good with it for now. I hate cleaning, but I loooove a clean place.

How the heck are you? As always, I'm just getting into the groove of my weekend and wishing I had another couple of days off. But I suppose if I have to start back to work, I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

Here are my final art journal pages:

     

I'm too lazy to figure out prompt numbers, so I'll just explain what I remember.

My Day: Here we were supposed to make sort of a comic/graphic depiction of our day. I did it for this past Friday the 13th of July. I think it's mostly self-explanatory. Average day.

Favorite Flower Scent: This was based on a prompt my sister gave where she asked us to talk about flowers we like or hate for the scent. My favorite flower happens to be my favorite because of it's scent, not necessarily because of how it looks (although gardenias can look pretty at times--they just aren't quite as flashy as some other flowers). Fun fact: I never used to think gardenias could be delivered from a flower shop, but I was proven wrong when I was sent a beautiful bowl of floating gardenias one year for my birthday. This was pre-digital so I don't have a photo, and now I really wish I did. It was awesome!

My City: In this prompt I was supposed to talk about the city where I live, things to do, etc. I included some activities that aren't in Salem, but close enough to visit on a day trip, at least.

And here are some current events de Jessica.

Current weather: 77^° F -- perfect and welcome after feeling kind of cold this morning. I'm also kind of tired of the cloudy "mornings" (the clouds stay until afternoon, really), but let's just forget about it for now.

Currently watching: I'm making my way through Veronica Mars again. It's been a couple of years and I wanted something to turn on during meals and such. (Yes, I watch DVDs during meals--that's what you get to do when you live alone!) Who here likes that show?

Currently not watching: The Olympics. Sorry!! I feel weirdly guilty, but I just haven't thought to turn them on. I've never been big on them, though I don't mind watching if someone else is. I do love watching uneven bars in gymnastics, though, so I should probably find out when they'll be on.

Currently glad about: My computer had been acting up for the past week or so, and after many different sorts of scans, nothing was improving. But then I turned to Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and managed to find and remove a Trojan virus of some sort, and my computer's been working soooo much better ever since! (This sounded like a commercial.)

Currently reading: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. So far, so good!

Okay, I think this is long enough. Have a great week!

Flowers (Deepwood Estate)

Okay, here are these.

(I've noticed more and more that in customer service situations, when the employee hands something to the customer, they say, "Here's this," instead of naming the item or even just saying, "Here you go." It's weird and, frankly, a little lazy. Have any of you experienced this?)

These are flowers I saw at Deepwood Estate the other day, many of them unfamiliar to me.  Feel free to speak up if you know the names of some of these. I will put a number that you can reference. I will also put a caption on every photo today! That's my promise to you, blog readers. All 10-36 of you.


1. Let's start off with these chile pepper-like flowers. That's what they reminded me of, anyway.


1b. Here's another view.


2. Maybe this is called a Shower Head flower.


3. The Tongue-Sticking-Out flower.


4. Duckhead flowers! 


5. Don't these look like a small flock of quiet ducks that don't enjoy bread crumbs?


6. Gosh, what could this one be? It's so different than anything I've ever seen.


7. Don't worry, I know they're roses.


8. Forgive my lazy composition on most of these pictures. I just liked this rose but didn't really care enough to photograph it well. Only the best for my blog.


9. I'm not sure if this is a kind of lavender or something else.



10.  Can these still be called fuchsias when they aren't fuchsia? Mayhaps they should just be called pinks, or light reds, if you will. (And trust me, YOU WILL.)


11. I like the middles of these hydrangeas.


12. Here's a caption.


13. These are really cute. I wish you could've seen them in real life.


14. L and R - more cute, more hydrangeas and their middles.


15. Okay, Jessica, time to move on to another flower.


16.  L: Okay these are fuchsias for real. That word "fuchsia" always makes me think of an episode of 90210 (the original) where Kelly (Jenny Garth) said her favorite color was fuchsia. Maybe just because I could tell they chose that color for her character. Oh Kelly! R: I don't know what these are.


17. I wanted to show you the size of these. It doesn't look all that impressive in this photo but these were pretty large compared to the ones I usually see.


18. White Firework.


19. L: I don't know. R: More hydrangeas.. sorry, guys! What was I thinking?


20. Okay, here's a better look at these. Flower Muffins, we'll call them.

Whoa, how abrupt was that ending? To me it was--I didn't think the Flower Muffins would be the grand finale.

I have a couple more art journal pages to show you, but then I think I'm done. The topics stopped inspiring me and I never said I was committed to doing all 30. (Apparently I feel I need to defend myself.)

It's Tuesday! It's summer. It's time for me to end this post. Goodbye.

Photo Contest Update

I wanted to let you know which photos I decided to print up for the state fair photo contest. If you don't like them, don't tell me! It's too late now.

 

I was planning to do the one of Hollie where she's lying in the grass in her white dress, but I couldn't find the high-res edited version. (I think I might've accidentally saved over it with the backup original.) It had a lot of editing due to the plastic mat she was lying on sticking out around the edges, and I just didn't have the energy to redo all of that, so I chose a different one. It's funny that all three of these are verticals when I tend to take more horizontal photos. I also wasn't necessarily planning to stick with ones from the samples I showed you, but the idea of going through my photos seemed tiring. This is just supposed to be for fun, not a huge chore. So these three it is! We'll see if any get chosen for display.

Thanks again for all of your input! I really appreciated the different recommendations, and your participation in general. I had to narrow it down somehow, so I ended up going with a few that I felt were pleasing to the eye, somewhat creative/unique, and that took some thought and effort for [hopefully] successful composition and lighting.

Thankful Thursday

I'm feeling behind on all things blog, but I know that bothers me way more than any of you. I'm behind on my art journal pages, on responding to comments, and posting in general. It feels better to acknowledge that here, for whatever reason. Meanwhile, here are some good things:

1. I bought my plane ticket for Albuquerque in October. I'm going to the hot air balloon fiesta again! Best of all, I get so see my adorable nephieces and the rest of my family. Even my parents will be there for a portion of my visit!

2. I had a good dentist appointment today. I don't generally dread the dentist like some people, so it wasn't a big deal, but it seemed to go even more smoothly than usual. I didn't have sore gums afterwards and everything looks good with my teeth. The hygenist is really nice, too (and so is my dentist, though I generally only see him for about 30 seconds per visit).

3. I feel pretty good. I've felt like that several times over the past months. I have less anxiety than I once had, and it seems like God has given me a little break, and many areas of life are just mellow and uneventful, which is a very good thing.

4. My friends are having a garage sale. This is good for me because I was able to contribute some stuff to hopefully be sold! I'm a little nervous about craiglisting things when I'm living alone, so this was a good opportunity to try selling my office chair, for instance, and a few other things that have been taking up space. Fingers crossed my stuff sells!

(Avocado stuffed with chicken salad.)

5. Avocados are better this year. Last year they were really disappointing, and I hadn't really eaten any for several months. I've recently been able to enjoy them again!

6. Deepwood Estate. The other day I wasn't feeling well and thought an evening walk in some gardens might help. I just love having local, pretty, free places to visit.

7. Flowers. Man, there are SO MANY kinds of flowers. I was reminded of this at Deepwood because many of them I had never seen before. I'll post more photos later on.

8. Caller ID. (I'm writing this just after receiving/ignoring a phone call from an unknown number--probably a sales call.)

9. It's still mid-July. Even though the year is going by quickly (as always), and sometimes I can't believe Independence Day (or even Easter :P) has already passed, it's nice to know we still have a couple months of good weather left.

10. Other day-to-day nice things. Like walking out into warm air after freezing in an air-conditioned room. Pretty dresses. Inspiration. Trying new recipes. Having freedom, as a single person, to make my own plans and have a quiet home. Ceiling fans. Photographing a butterfly or bird that's hard to capture. Seeing deer on my way to work. Having a reliable car. A pitcher of cold water in the fridge. A good song coming on the radio. Wii frisbee golf. Being able to blog and connect with friends and family in a little way like this.

Have a great weekend! Do you have special plans?