mandaloo . com

what’s that sound? it’s the stars getting their mojo back. we just got back from the game and they did a great job tonight for the most part. it’s a different tale from the season so far, and i hope the teamwork continues to grow.

my red brick photo ad with theknot.com launched today. nina helped me to create a kick-butt logo and i’m pleased with the ad. i hope that it will drive up web hits and bookings. i’ve booked around three weddings in the last nine days or so and set up two consultations for next week. pretty exciting. i raised my prices some, so we’ll see how that all goes. *keeps fingers crossed that success will continue*

we’re getting our new flooring on friday. i’m stoked and then some. it’ll be nice not to have carpet in the living room and hallway. i’m sure it’ll help make the dog smell situation better. love the bassets… but not the odor (which somehow creeps up even when we’re diligent about our doggie baths).

jeromy is addicted to an online game, ikariam (or something like that). i’m hoping it’s a phase. it has become time consuming and there is a social component to it, as his fellow buddies and colleagues at work are participating as well. ugh. oh well.

work has been slow. like sllllllllllloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww. i feel almost pointless being there. i know… opposite problem from the last year and a half. heh. i’ve been keeping myself busy and trying to do marketing and filling my time… but none of it is billable and i hear my utilization crashing. man oh man.

i need to go to bed so that morning doesn’t kick my butt. go stars!

i stayed home from work today, so i have a little bit of down time to catch up on the blog. it’s the 20th and i’ve only had one day this month where i haven’t had to do something for work (real work or red brick work). i think it’s catching up with me. i’m overwhelmed and ready to buckle. this week and next weekend are busy, too… but things should slow down in november/december. but we’ll see.

i’m really excited for the holidays. jeromy and i have been thinking about getting some stuff to decorate the house soon. i feel like i didn’t soak in the season last year… i don’t plan on making the same mistake over the next couple of months.

jeromy, lori, david, and i went to the state fair a couple of weeks ago and it was fun. i hadn’t been since i was little. we just walked around and looked at the booths, cars, etc. it’s probably been the highlight of the month so far (anywhere that gives you free ice cream is awesome in my book).

jeromy and i have been trying to stay in more, cook dinners, keep up with laundry, etc. neo came over last night and when i got home from a shoot, the boys had a dinner waiting for me (fillet mignon, steak, mac and cheese, and corn). i am so blessed. we played rock band afterwards… ’twas lots of fun. i was able to make it over to mom’s for a church activity last week. it was great to see a lot of the ladies from my old congregation in fort worth and visit with them. some of the girls that used to be in my youth group are all married and have kid(s) now. craziness. i’m getting old…

we had an in home estimate to get wood floors laid in the living room and hallway. it’s about the price we were thinking and it will probably happen towards the end of the year. i think it will make the house look so much better – and will definitely be more dog-friendly. i shudder every time we vacuum and i see all the stuff that comes out of the carpet. blech.

jeromy’s doing good. he went camping with peeps from work on friday. i think they found a guy to hire to be on his team at work, so that should help things some.

i thought i had a lot to catch up on, but i guess i don’t. lame. ha!

the retreat two weekends ago was WONDERFUL. i forgot how much i love scrapbooking and renewed my commitment to keep up with my family album. i’m completely caught up on my family scrapbook (right up through jeromy’s birthday party) and i’m over half done with my wedding album. i did 79 pages total over the retreat. the weekend also gave me a chance to reconnect with my mom and spend some quality time with her. she’s a great lady and i enjoyed laughing with her for four days straight.

poor jeromy has been working a lot lately. i’m going to try to take it down a notch at work and try to be at home more to cook and keep up with laundry, etc. i’m so blessed to have such a helpful, respectful partner. i would be so amazingly stressed without him. i’m looking forward to a time in the future where i can take care of all of the “wifely” things and give him the home environment he deserves.

i’ve been getting some signals and post-it notes from god. some pretty big ones about some potential changes to come next year. jeromy and i are both being prepared right now. i’m glad to have a partner that has the same goals and values as i do. he is receptive to promptings of the spirit and it’s such a blessing to be on the same page. good things to come… i feel it.

first hockey game of the season this friday. we’ll be going with david and lori to kick things off. whee! i’m stoked to see some dallas stars action. i think we’ll be going to the state fair earlier that day, too… we’re still working out the details.

i had a dream that a polar bear was chasing me and trying to eat me. global warming rears it’s ugly head.

first hint of chill in the air this evening when i went outside. i love it. i’m hoping to start the christmas gift buying process soon. it’d be nice to have most of it done by thanksgiving, but we’ll see how that goes. my weekends are all booked to the brim with red brick shoots in october, which doesn’t leave me much/any shopping time. bleh.

146 days until our cruise.

going to bed. nighty-night.

so… i know i sound like a broken record, but things continue to be busy. last night before jeromy and i went to bed, we could rattle off at least 15 productive things we did during the weekend. we sold the couches. got new chairs and rearranged the living room. bathed the dogs. had a red brick shoot. edited janie and david’s wedding photos. had a birthday party for jeromy. designed a sample graphistudio album for red brick. etc., etc., etc. and there is still so much left on my “to do” list i made last friday. i seriously need two of me. things haven’t been much better on jeromy’s end – he’s been having to work a lot.

jeromy’s birthday party turned out well. he doesn’t officially turn 25 until next weekend, but i’ll be out of town and last saturday seemed to work well for most everyone. we went to outback and enjoyed a great dinner. the batman cake was a hit (thanks, hot chocolates!), and we finished the night off with some batting cages. great times!

mom and i are leaving for a scrapbook retreat on thursday morning and will be gone through sunday. i’m looking forward to the down time, but at i know my mind will be racing with all the things waiting for me at home. i’m looking forward to starting a family album for jeromy and i as well as getting to spend some quality time with mom.

jeromy’s at a ranger’s game with neo and david. i’m glad he’s getting to go out and have some fun. they offered for me to go, but i’m not a baseball person. at all. maybe i don’t understand the game, but after five minutes, my little impatient mind takes over and i’m done. i’d be a pest if i had gone along.

’tis 11:00 p.m. … time for this mandy to hit the sack.

it’s been a long time since i’ve posted, but not really much has been going on.

one thing of note is that my mother-in-law got married last weekend. the wedding turned out nice and i think that she and david are back from their arkansas trip. i need to get some of the photos edited and posted (as well as some joshua ones i took a while back). i hope that they have a great time settling into married life.

jeromy’s trip to london didn’t happen. i’ll let him describe all of the details, but he did not and is not going. i think he figured out how to get everything up and running from this side of the pond, so no biggie.

hung out with my family yesterday for a good while. it was nice. i’m going to a scrapbook retreat with my mom in two weeks, so she and i were getting our layouts ready. i’ll be starting a family album for jeromy and i. i think family history is so important – sharing stories behind photos, etc. when we have kids, it will be all the more important, so hopefully i’ll keep up the habit.

someone came by to look at the couches and should be coming back this evening to pick them up. i’ll be happy to get the living room all fixed up… we’re using the couch money to get some chairs we’ve been eying at ikea.

jeromy and i bought our tickets for this hockey season. . . we’ll be at 13 games. we’re both excited to see the stars in action. it’ll also be nice to have a built in date night with the hubby from time to time.

so yeah… almost a month gone by and almost nothing earth-shaking going on. but that’s not always a bad thing.

another crazy weekend gone. two shoots. neice’s birthday party. and a partridge in a pear tree.

random panic/anxiety/what-the-heck-am-i-doing attack came over me yesterday. just feeling a bit overwhelmed. thought this weekend was going to be slow, but it’s quickly filling up. i need some down time to catch up on laundry (although jeromy is doing great at making some headway on this), cleaning, edits, etc. never mind all the personal things i should be finding time for – exercise, consistent scripture study, volunteering, etc. how does it all fit?

turco cornered a frog on the porch tonight. we got to him before he tried to eat it and get a case of foamy mouth.

i need a shoulder rub. bad.

jeromy bought some kick butt sneakers this weekend… they have bright orange shoelaces. friggin’ adorable.

i’m adoring the cooler weather. it hints of the approaching fall season. mmmm…. this excites me bc holiday season will be here before we know it. i love the end of the year – especially looking forward to jeromy’s and my first set of holidays in the house. whee!

it’s going to be another busy weekend. have two shoots, a birthday party (still up in the air if i’ll be able to make it), potential shoe shopping outing with the girls, editing, etc. I think just about every weekend from here to the end of september is all booked up with something. heh.

i’m digging the brown hair. i love when stuff like that changes. i’ve gotten a lot of compliments, so i guess it’s a hit.

i want to shop. like totally go on a girl session and get some new tops, makeup, etc. it’s weird bc i normally don’t feel that way. maybe i need to quit watching tv (it’s been on in the background all today while it’ve been working at home).

jeromy is going to london next month – probably for a week and a half. i’m totally stoked that he’ll get to go somewhere like that. i’d love to go with him but i can’t take off for vacation at work without totally wrecking my utilization goal at work.

guess i should go do something productive. heh.

i’m a brunette. it’s not that i hate the red (my mother lamented “red is sooooo you…”) – i just need change. so it’s back to brown. i’ve been a blonde before, but it’s been four years since i last played that card and i think it’d be a bit much right now.

got a d300. i wasn’t able to use it on any of the weddings this weekend since the controls and all are a lot different from my d50, but i was able to go around the stockyards some and grab a couple of beginning photos on my new camera body…

it’s going to be another crazy week at work. i’m doing some projects that consist of things i haven’t done in years, so there is a bit of a learning curve. i’m just doing the best i can to pick everything up and deliver a good product to my clients.

i’m such a blessed little girl. everything has been taken care of and i’m so fortunate to have such a great husband by my side. there have been some issues lately in which i see just how well we communicate and work together. i’ve never trusted anyone like i do him. he always makes an effort to understand me and is the most genuine person i know. i’d be lost without him. especially now with trying to juggle work and red brick… i have another two-shoot weekend next weekend and two consultations with potential clients this week. jeromy’s attentiveness and help is so valuable right now during this demanding time in my life.

poor turco has had some tummy issues last week. he seems to be doing better today, so that’s good. i felt bad for the little guy.

time for bed. the alarm will be ringing soon, i’m sure…

five years can change a lot. this hits me hard today – a day that has become a background benchmark of life happenings whether i like it or not. i’m amazed how much can be lost and gained in the blink of an eye.

i got a d300 today. last one in the area from what i can tell from my calling of different stores. i found one (the last one for that store) and had it put on hold. between the time i called and went to pick it up, someone came in wanting to buy it, so i’m glad that i was able to claim it first. i haven’t been able to play with it yet, as i had to leave for a wedding immediately after getting home. i couldn’t take it to the wedding bc the battery wasn’t charged and i need to learn what all the buttons and crud do. i’m going to play with it tomorrow morning and if i feel comfy with it, i may take it on tomorrow night’s wedding.

tummy problems lately. i hope they go away. i think i’m on day five of issues and such. bleh. i have a headache, too, but that could just be from the day.

happy birthday, nina!

sounds like my parents are getting more and more set on moving to wyoming. the new projected date is two years. we’ll see how everything goes.

this was a good week at work. i feel like i’ve made progress in some areas and felt actively engaged in everything going on. there was actually a day where i looked forward to being there. crazy, huh?

a perfect storm of boy distraction has hit my household and i’m sitting on night seven of jeromy leaving/not being home. quakecon was last week, so from wednesday through saturday, he was off in downloading/gaming heaven. then i guess the fishing gods have been tugging at his soul, as he has been answering the lake’s call for the last three nights. to be fair, i tried to tag along last night, but i mainly sat in the car while he ran in to bass pro to buy a new rod/reel and made some client calls. at this rate, i’m tempted to find a random hobby that takes me away from home in the evenings. know of any evening basket weaving classes? heh. just kidding.

at least i’m a productive little thing when left to my own devices. i finished up a ton of laundry over the weekend (put it away, too), cranked out two sets of wedding edits, and got well into a third. did some other stuff, but i forgot. oh yeah – i got my hair cut. i had a red brick consultation yesterday evening.

my family stopped by yesterday to see the dogs and house. man, i sure miss seeing them regularly. jeromy and i both decided that we’re going to try to get back in the habit of going over there on sunday nights. i can tell my brother has gained more confidence since starting school, which is wonderful to see. dad is still looking for a job. i think he had a good interview recently… but it was for a job in dallas. it seems to be the trend with a lot of jobs in the area. i think he’s trying to weight the costs/benefits of taking the train that far every day. he reads a lot for his position at church, so it would give him a set time to do that daily, as well as just give him wind-down time so that when he’s home… he’s really home. but i know how long commutes can wear on a person, so we’ll just have to see. i hope god can find the right position for him.

job situations are looking scary all over. susan and jeromy’s aunt jan both got released from their jobs recently (well… i think jan’s last day is coming up soon, but still…). it’s scary times and it seems like there are more “requests” to add to my daily prayers. there are a lot of good people that have been let go from my company, and i’ve heard that there may be more cuts to come. craziness.

208 days until our cruise.

some unexpected payments have come in from clients and i think i’ll be buying a d300 this weekend if all goes well. stoked? you bet!

i’ve had a lot on my mind lately, but not much to say. and when i’ve tried to communicate, it seems to all tumble out wrong. ever feel like you need a translator? don’t get me wrong – i totally love my life and i’ve never seen so many blessings. but there are a couple of areas that i want to make significant changes in… and i just can’t seem to get there.

i have plenty of things to work on right now but don’t feel like it. absolutely nobody is online… which is weird. well – nina’s light is on, but it’s red and she says she is “oot and aboot.” going to bed early is looking like a pretty tempting option right now. maybe my brain won’t be dragging on the floor tomorrow at work. g’night.