Yeah... this is my kind of town. I took these today while out and about with a friend. I've had a few questions about the logo in the corner of the photos. Clique Photography is me. Until I get CS2 100% loaded on this machine, I can't watermark my photos, so this is the next best thing. Sorry about that. I know it distracts from the photo. Try to ignore it, and don't steal pictures. It isn't nice.

I know I've neglected you. I know that you miss out on the wonder that is my photography. So I'll leave you with a few shots I took last Thursday in or around my backyard.

Arrrrrrrrr

I have no new photos to post.

Well, I have new photos for sure, taken at the Pirate Festival. But they are still on my memory card. And my memory card is still in my camera. And my camera is upstairs.

And I'm too lazy to go get it right now.

Shutter up and deal.

Arrrrrrrrr

I have no new photos to post.

Well, I have new photos for sure, taken at the Pirate Festival. But they are still on my memory card. And my memory card is still in my camera. And my camera is upstairs.

And I'm too lazy to go get it right now.

Shutter up and deal.

Random photos from this last week...

The 2006 St. Louis Balloon Glow

Fine. I admit it. When I get over-stressed or down in the dumps I need a little something extra. Something different. Color. Yeah... I went to a friends house last night and she colored my hair for me. I've gone red before, but usually a light shade of auburn. This can only be described as black cherry. It wasn't supposed to turn out this color. I'm very happy it did! most of the things in my life that bring me the greatest joy were never supposed to happen. God is funny that way.

Check out these hooters...

Meet my future Son-in-law. He's a cutie.

Wedded Bliss...

The wedding on Saturday was as beautiful as I knew it would be. May there be many years of happiness and love.

I have 41 pictures proofed. Only 200 more to go. But I think I got most of the very important ones published already.

This weekend sees many things happening. The Balloon Glow is Friday evening. I'm going to make a night of it and go with a few friends. Saturday morning I will be heading to Wentzville to see what can be seen at the St. Louis Pirate Festival. I'll be working that night. Sunday morning I have no plans. I do have to work at noon, so that blows the day.

Have a nice Tuesday.

Where were you? Five years ago today I was sitting in my living room, holding my toddler and crying. I was in shock and I was terrified. My little tiny girl was living in such a scary place. A place where terrible things happened to good people. As the week wore on and the stories surfaced, my heart filled with pride. My fellow Americans banded together in the face of crisis to help each other. Many lives were lost that day. I remember trying to call family and friends. I had family in NYC and in DC. Thank God, my family made it o.k. My sister was in India and it took me hours to get through to her. But everyone was o.k. And while I said my prayers of thanks, I said prayers for the families that were no so lucky.

Five years. My children know nothing other than the last five years. Morgan was only a year old when the towers came down. They will never know a world without threat. It's sad.

I'm going to pass on a poem written about this...

This is long but worth the time.WHOEVER WROTE THIS SHOULD STEP FORWARD AND CLAIM IT!THE WORDS ARE POWERFUL:TWO THOUSAND ONE, NINE ELEVEN (2001-911)
Two thousand one, nine eleve
nThree thousand plus arrive in heaven
As they pass through the gate,
Thousands more appear in wait
A bearded man with stovepipe hat
Steps forward saying, "Lets sit, lets chat"
They settle down in seats of clouds
A man named Martin shouts out proud
"I have a dream!" and once he did
The Newcomer said, "Your dream still lives."
Groups of soldiers in blue and gray
Others in khaki, and green then say
"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine"
The Newcomer said, "You died not in vain."
From a man on sticks one could hear"
The only thing we have to fear.
"The Newcomer said, "We know the rest,
Trust us sir, we've passed that test."
"Courage doesn't hide in caves
You can't bury freedom, in a grave,
"The Newcomers had heard this voice before
A distinct Yankees twang from Hyannisport shores
A silence fell within the mist
Somehow the Newcomer knew that this
Meant time had come for her to say
What was in the hearts of the five thousand plus that day
"Back on Earth, we wrote reports,
Watched our children play in sports
Worked our gardens, sang our songs
Went to church and clipped coupons
We smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought
Unlike you, great we're not"
The tall man in the stovepipe hat
Stood and said, "Don't talk like that!
Look at your country, look and see
You died for freedom, just like me"
Then, before them all appeared a scene
Of rubbled streets and twisted beams
Death, destruction, smoke and dust
And people working just 'cause they must
Hauling ash, lifting stones,
Knee deep in hell, but not alone
"Look! Blackman, Whiteman, Brownman, Yellowman
Side by side helping their fellow man!"
So said Martin, as he watched the scene
"Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."
Down below three firemen raised
The colors high into ashen haze
The soldiers above had seen it before
On Iwo Jima back in '45
The man on sticks studied everything closely
Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly
"I see pain, I see tears,
I see sorrow -- but I don't see fear."
"You left behind husbands and wives
Daughters and sons and so many lives
Are suffering now because of this wrong
But look very closely. You're not really gone.
All of those people, even those who've never met you
All of their lives, they'll never forget you
Don't you see what has happened?
Don't you see what you've done?
You've brought them together, together as one.
With that the man in the stovepipe hat said
"Take my hand," and from there he led
Three thousand plus heroes,
Newcomers to heaven
On this day, two thousand one, nine eleven
Author UNKNOWN (What a shame!)

September 11, 2006, will soon be approaching.On this day, please wear red, white and blue to work or school to show your support for thosewho lost their lives on 9~11~01 and to honor the heroes who worked to save them and the families left behind.

At noon your time on September 11, 2006, no matter
where you are or what you are doing, stop, put yourhand on your heart, and say the Pledge of Allegiance out loud or to yourself and say a prayer for our Nation. In addition, for those of us who drive to work, please drive with your headlights on to also give honor and remembrance to those who perished on September 11th.If all of us do this together in every time zone round the world, we will have a powerful chain of thoughtssurrounding us. Please keep this going to your friends and family.

And my photo for the day is one that was taken last year, but is sitll one of my favorites.

Here are a few photos I took last Thursday.

Here comes the Bride.

Ma Lynn is getting married today and congrats to her! I not only made her wedding cake, I will also be doing the photos. Big shock there, eh?

Just not sure what I should wear. I keep reaching for black and then remember that you really shouldn't wear black to an afternoon outdoor wedding. Right? Ack. This is why I wish I still lived next to Sandy. She knew all that crap.

Well, I'm off. I suppose I should try to put some makeup on or some shit like that.

The days of cowboys are long over. Good guys don't always wear white and the bad guys don't always get caught. It's kind of sad now. There are all these shades of grey where Right and Wrong once stood. I'm a big fan of vigilante justice. The courts are so bogged down with bleeding hearts and PC lawyers, it makes me sick. Our justice system is failing at almost every turn. I saw a news story where a court overturned a conviction. A man was searched and found to have drugs on his person. He was arrested and charged. Then some lawyer said that the search wasn't a legal one. I don't care if it was legal or not. They FOUND ILLEGAL DRUGS ON HIM. He was breaking the law. And because of some bleeding heart SOB he won't have to pay. Things like that happen all the time. It makes me wonder when the world is going to crumble. It will fall down sooner or later. How does a murderer walk free? It makes no sense to me. None at all.

Since everyone and their fucking brother is on Blogspot, I figured I'd give it a try too. I'm getting tired of the issues over at FOD and I'm not crazy about blogging on MySpace. Too many freaks over there. And I've been told it is time to start a photo blog. So I'm going to do it. It's not like I have anything better to do right now.

For anyone that doesn't know me and wants to (Anyone? Anyone? Didn't think so.) I live in St. Louis. I've lived here my entire life and I'll most likely die here too. It's not that St. Louis is wonderful or anything. There are many better places to be. But I've gotten used to it. I'm comfortable with it. Most of the time. In my 26 years I've managed to be sentanced - er.. married - for almost seven of those years. I've also spawned two offspring. Cheeky little things, but they are cute, so I choose to keep them. For now. I have what most people would consider a very crappy job. I work at an electronics store on the weekend. But fuck those people, I really like it there. During my week I do the Mommy thing. What's the Mommy thing? It's getting up at 6 am and prying my eyelids open long enough to get lunches made for my husband and my first grader. I also have to put a granola bar in a lunch sack for my 3 year old so he feels important. Breakfast tends to be whatever I have the energy for. Sometimes cold cereal, sometimes fresh blueberry muffins. After cleaning that mess up the race is on to get teeth brushed, hair combed and clothes matched in time for the bus. Then it's just me and the ankle biter until the afternoon. That's when I pick up a kindergartener. That one doesn't belong to me. He's my best friends son. He's also a great kid, so I don't mind. It's very entertaining to see the moms at his school. Not a hair out of place, perfect nails and golden tans. Then there's me. I'm the queen of ripped jeans and funky t-shirts. I get some strange looks, but for some reason it doesn't really bother me. It's taken me a long time to figure out who and what I am and to get comfortable in my own skin. Now that I've managed that, I've somehow become a nicer person. Kind of.

I have a nasty temper. I'll admit it. But it's gotten better with age. I see most things in black and white. Right and wrong. The exception to the rule is that I try my best to put myself in the shoes of others. Walk around a little. Try to figure out where they are coming from. It's not going to make me change my mind, but a little bit of understanding never hurt anyone.

I've got some wonderful friends. They keep me sane and make me laugh. They mean to world to me and when I think of them, I don't think of them as only friends. They have become my family. We aren't related by blood, but somehow that's better. If you've ever met any of my blood relatives you'd know that they are all nutty and I'm lucky to be as normal as I am.

So that's me. All wrapped up into a neat, nice little blog package. I suppose if you want to get to know me, you can check in here sometimes and see what I've been up to. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm just hoping mine are worth half of that to you. To me, there's a good chance they are worth much more than that.