Shutter.blog

Important Video - Kitchen Fires

2008-05-02T20:57:00.004-05:00

Just thought I'd post this, I know, I know, some major blogging slumber here on my end. Watch this video though, it could save your life.

Thanks!

The Search for a Name...

2007-10-09T22:44:00.000-05:00

So, I'm in a bit of a dilemma - I am designing a new website in my web 2 class, and it will be my new wedding photo site. Issue being that my current business name, Hannah Epley Photography, needs to change, because in less than 8 months now, my last name will no longer be Epley. I want Hannah Goering Photography to be a site for my more personal/documentary work, while for weddings, I need something peppy but professional.

How would you describe my photography? I need to come up with a logo, but I don't want to do that until I have a name. Any ideas?

What I've been up to...

2007-10-02T23:01:00.000-05:00

So I know I'm not living up to a post per day, and yes, I even disappoint myself. But with school the way it is right now and taking 18 credit hours, I am not perfect and am learning to trust God with my time!

Here are two web galleries you can look through from the past two weddings I have photographed. These were both lots of fun and the first weddings I have done entirely digital and shooting in RAW format. (Exciting!) I'll be shooting two more weddings in the next 5 weeks, so stay tuned for more photos!

Here's Abbey and Matt's wedding

and Nora and Bojan's wedding.

Both were beautiful weddings, and were so much fun to be a part of! I love my job!

I have some explaining to do...

2007-09-12T11:23:00.000-05:00

I spoke with my mother last night on the phone, and we discussed how I haven't blogged the past few days, NOR have I posted any pictures. Guilty as charged. So, I feel I should explain this mishap...

My computer has been at Apple being repaired (getting a new screen) since August 30th. I have, in the meantime, been using Josiah's old laptop for homework, internet, and pictures. My reasons for not having blogged? 1 - I've had friends from Iowa visiting since Sunday, 2 - Josiah's computer is pretty darn slow, 3 - For some reason, the Adobe Bridge I installed on Josiah's computer is missing Adobe Camera Raw, a necessary part of the program which allows my computer to read RAW files. Which I have been shooting in now, since I'm using my photos for class.

Yes, I have excuses. And they are valid, mother. Nonetheless, my laptop is being shipped back to me as we speak, and I should have photo-processing capabilities again very soon! I promise I have lots of pictures to show you and I have still been keeping my tally and forcing myself to shoot every day. I'll keep you posted.

Blah...

2007-09-08T23:54:00.000-05:00

I have been slightly dizzy for the past 6 hours, it started while I was giving a Segway tour tonight (I didn't let on as if I was feeling ill, I finished it, so no biggie). I went to the movie "3:10 to Yuma" with Josiah and some other Moody Bible kids after work, it was good but I felt as if in an attempt to look old fashioned, the movie was slightly out of focus 75% of the time, and I got a headache watching it. Nausea.

Lazy Day.

2007-09-07T23:59:00.000-05:00

Though I did run some errands today, it was a pretty lazy day around here. This evening Josiah and I watched "Catch Me if You Can," he hadn't seen it, it's a fun movie.

Today's picture: My new beloved friend. I picked him up at Home Depot. Wanna help me name him? (I've been dying to get a new plant since last spring. And now I finally have one.) He's a happy red-tipped jade plant, and I intend to keep him for years and years.

p.s. Josiah and I realized tonight that if all goes as planned, we will be getting hitched in exactly nine months from today! Hooray!

Carpe Diem

2007-09-06T22:21:00.000-05:00

It's been nearly two months since I've blogged. It's hard to believe how time can fly when you get busy. I've had RA training, move-ins, wedding planning is underway, and now school has started. Over the past few months I've gotten to feel as if I'm missing out on something. Like I'm not pushing myself as hard as I should be in this field. Tonight in my first Photojournalism I class with John White, a photojournalist at the Chicago Sun-Times, I came to the conclusion that it's time now to start kicking myself into action. No more lazy days with the camera sitting on the shelf. No more memory cards and film stashed away being unused. No more lens caps. If I am going to be a great photographer, I need to be constantly shooting pictures.

New shot: All I shot today was during class, when my teacher was challenging us to be quick with our reflexes and with the shutter, we were required to shoot exactly when his hands clapped, which is quite difficult when you teacher fakes you out 9/10ths of the time. I caught him twice, out of 45 shots.

And for your viewing pleasure, here are some old pictures from late June, Holly's senior shots:

Shoutout to Mike Colon

2007-07-17T22:24:00.000-05:00

I just was reading through Mike Colon's web blog, and have found it very interesting the conversation that is going on in his recent blog's comment box. Check it out, it's sure to rouse some deep thoughts, let alone a bit of emotion.

{Photo taken from another photographer's blog - David Burke Photographers}

Mike is a very successful wedding photographer in Newport Beach, California, and is a devoted Christian, and is always so open about his faith on his website and blog. Though I have never met Mike, some of my friends grew up with him and witnessed how he built his business. From what they've told me, Mike's success came from a lot of hard work, and faith in God. And though I may never charge $20,000 as my base price for wedding packages, I truly appreciate Mike's approach (as he knows how to MARKET himself) and his dedication to sharing his insight, rather than hoarding his knowledge to himself.

As a wedding photographer in the early stages of my career, gaining perspectives from my internship, school, and other photographers as Mike, I have come to pick and choose certain tips, practices, and styles that are forming into my own personal approach on wedding photography. And although I don't intend to follow Mike Colon's exact footsteps in his approach, I have come to respect him very much. Mike has found a system that works for him, and his clients are willing to fork up the extra money for what he offers. And Mike explains that he is always pushing himself to get better at what he does, which is something that I definitely want to do. It is so sad to me when I see a photographer so set in his or her ways that the market passes them by. Mike is definitely not one of those photographers.

So, here's a shoutout to Mike, check out his great portfolio, which is one of the reasons I wanted to get into the business in the first place. Again, Mike, thanks for being open about your faith on your blog.

Aloha Oe, My Dear Hawaii

2007-06-25T23:11:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are some photos from my family's trip to Hawaii this past March. I know, I know, these are coming really late in the game, but they are finally here, nonetheless.

I flew separately from my family to Hawaii, since it didn't really make sense to drive to Cedar Rapids, then fly to Chicago before flying to the Island. Adam picked me up at the airport, and I marveled at the full rainbow between the mountains. It was as if the Island of Oahu was welcoming me personally... Once we got settled in, we did some grocery shopping with Adam at the commissary, since we had a full kitchen in our hotel room, and we went out and took a walk on Waikiki beach later that evening.

Our next day, we scheduled our guided tours for the upcoming week, then took a trip to Hilo Hattie's, a huge store with all kinds of Hawaiian souvenirs and goods. Hilo Hattie's has, in their lobby, the world's largest Hawaiian shirt, a 400XL.

Dad really enjoyed this shopping trip after we had been there for a couple hours.

The next day, Sunday, my dad surprised my mom, informing her that they would be renewing their wedding vows in Turtle Bay, where they honeymooned nearly 20 years ago. (Dad and I had been scheming for months secretly to set this up.) We visited New Hope Church, then visited Adam's base at Palm Circle (he is really roughing it being stationed in Hawaii).

After our visit, we then headed for the north shore. On the way there, we stopped at a restaurant my parents ate at while on their honeymoon, Jamieson's By the Sea. SUCH great seafood.

The ceremony, led by Ron Valencia - a pastor who my parents met on their first visit to the island.

At Turtle Bay, during the ceremony. I love the look on my mom's face.

Family photo op - look for this one in the Christmas card, people.

The next day, we headed off bright and early for Hanauma Bay, a collapsed volcano-turned coral reef. It was our first time snorkeling, and we all had to learn the hard way how far down you CAN'T go before your snorkel fills up with salt water. It was an amazing experience. The snorkeling, not the inhaling seawater.

Hanauma Bay

That afternoon, after returning from the bay, Sam, Jacob and I headed down to Waikiki again (a grueling 4-5 block trek) and relaxed by the shore. Thanks to Sam for making Jacob into a sand woman, anatomically complete. Classy.

An acquired friend, we built lots of sand castles and sand carwashes and sand jacuzi's together.

I just couldn't get enough of the beach... consider me a natural beach bum.

The next day was a busy one for us, we headed via tour bus to Pearl Harbor and were taken to the Arizona Memorial which rests on top of the actual ship sunk during the attack. It was sombering to be there, standing on top of a ship that became a permanent tomb for so many sailors, seeing the oil surface that still seeps up from within the ship.

Next stop was a guided tour of the battleship Missouri. This thing was gigantic, and amazing. Our tour guide was really great.

The next day was our big trip to the Polynesian Cultural Center, where Polynesian customs, dances, etc. are demonstrated throughout the day. On the way there, we saw a sign for a "scenic point," and after getting out of the car, came to realize just what "scenic" really meant - a fascinating maze of lava formations stretching out into the water. We went exploring.

Mom included in the photo to give you a sense of scale...

We were hungry after all that exploring, so we decided to try out a Hawaiian McDonald's.

We actually didn't try the platters, but we DID all have Haupia pie. And oh, was it amazing.

More scenes along the way...

At the Polynesiah cultural center

She was really excited about getting to try that Luau food.

After the night show

And fun was had by all...

I hated to leave Hawaii, but if there's anything I can do about it, this will NOT be my last visit. Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Can You Hear me Now?

2007-06-24T18:58:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to let anyone reading this know that my cell phone is dead. I dropped it, and it has bitten the dust. Permanently. And in my new place, there is no land line, so I am unreachable, except by email and other online messaging methods, until I get a new phone. Blah.

Coming soon... (tomorrow?)... Hawaii photos!

Since this is a photo blog...

2007-06-12T19:17:00.000-05:00

I've begun to realize my "shutterblog" has taken on a non-photographic form lately, mostly due to a crazy schedule and a lack of internet connection at my new apartment. While I'm here at Panera downtown, I thought I would upload some new pics, and hopefully continue this at least once per week. There's a LOT of work I've done lately that I haven't put up.

Tonight's photos are of Jen and Steve's engagement shoot, I will be shooting their wedding later this year. They are a very laid-back couple, and a lot of fun!

And just so you know, this one was NOT really my idea, but once Jen had mentioned it, I forced them to let me shoot it. :-)

Coming up next... the long-overdue Hawaii vacation pics

Home, sweet home.

2007-06-05T01:39:00.000-05:00

This is the last blog I will ever write from room 1818A in the University Center. I am moved out! My room is very bare and I check out in the morning, then will head to my new short-term home in Wrigleyville (Go Cubs!) This move has been a very stressful one for me. I didn't really pack much before a couple days ago, and, well, you never realize how much STUFF you have until you have to pack it into boxes.

I have too much stuff. I'm not kidding, it barely fit in two car trips, and that's after sharing a closet of one of my 18th floor residents who is living at the UC over the summer.

This summer's goal: DOWNSIZING, and not buying more household objects or clothing. Except for maybe a wedding dress, that doesn't count.

I bravely faced the rainy weather this morning when I took a carload up to my new apartment by myself (since Josiah was at work.) I unpacked that baby in 35 minutes with no help, I was so proud. I figured, "I don't even have another load that size, this will be easy!" Then I went to my internship and wore my little body out, then I went to class and wore my little brain out, then Josiah drove my car to the UC so I could pack up the rest of my belongings.

The freak-out began.

TVs, surround sound, DVDs, dishes, blankets, photographic lighting equipment, pillows, random desk accessories, a scanner/printer and toiletries take up a little more room than you would expect. And nothing is ever made better by a heavy box whose bottom gives out on the sidewalk. Outside in the loading dock, I reached a meltdown point, thank goodness Josiah was there.

There are many good reasons why I will marry this man. Tonight he reminded me of his true love for me... when I reached the point of tears he held me and comforted me, telling me that he had been praying while I was up in the room, and that we WERE going to get all the stuff in the car, though it really seemed impossible, and that he wasn't going to leave me until I was moved in and safe at home. He cancelled work in the morning with his boss, and held my face in his hands and told me MANY times as I cried how he loves me. He carried all my heavy boxes while I carried lightweight items up the stairs, and would not stand for me telling him how bad I felt that he had to give up his sleeping hours to help me move. I can only hope that with God's guidance, I can love Josiah like he loves me, that I can be the wife he deserves.

I love you, babe.

My Legs = JELLO

2007-05-25T20:36:00.000-05:00

Today I whipped out the ol' bicycle in Chicago, Josiah and I both brought ours back with us when we came back this week. It's a relatively nice day outside, a little chilly but not too hot to bike, so I called Josiah up and told him I would come visit him at Moody via bike.

So we went riding.

Roughly 15 miles. I google mapped it. I am exhausted. The trip north on the lakefront trail seemed easy, so we went all the way up to where I exit Lake Shore Drive for my internship. Unfortunately, the trip back was into the wind and slightly uphill most of the way. I was sooo happy when we reached Chicago avenue again (where Moody is located), then groaned at the fact that I still had to bike back to my place.

I am hurting. Maybe not the best way to kick off the biking season, my first time this year and going 15 miles.

I keep telling myself it's for physical fitness. You know, when I can't walk in the morning.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2007-05-21T21:30:00.000-05:00

It has been a ridiculously long time since my blog has seen any action. And I apologize for this fact. A 17 credit-hour semester is mostly to blame. Also procrastination during that 17 credit-hour semester. And sleepiness and fatigue due to the procrastination during that 17 credit-hour semester. I could go on...

Usually for me, the end of May means summer vacation's beginning. And while my 17 credit-hour semester is over and I am surely rejoicing, this summer is a lot different than any summer I have ever encountered. This is my first full summer living in Chicago, and on top of still working at Segway (now as a certified tour captain), I am interning two days a week with photographer Stephen E Gross (Real Life Weddings), taking two photography classes at Columbia, getting an apartment for June and July in Wrigleyville (Go Cubs!) and...

JOSIAH AND I ARE ENGAGED!

Tuesday afternoon, Josiah and I headed to Iowa to spend five days with our families and friends, and he popped the question near the half-way point, in Galena, Illinois. Josiah was pretty fatigued from his new job at the school and mentioned he had wanted to make more than one pitstop on the way back so he would stay awake. Little did I know that when I suggested we pull off in Galena to explore the downtown area, that we would make our way up a walking bridge over a river and I would be proposed to! It was wonderful, and beautiful, and we both cried a little in happiness. On the way home, we plugged in Josiah's iPod shuffle that he had filled with love songs... what a romantic guy. I am so blessed to have such a great fiance!

Philosophical Question of the Week

2007-04-03T09:40:00.000-05:00

If a potassium deficiency is in fact what causes your body to bruise so easily, and bananas contain huge amounts of potassium, then WHY do bananas bruise so easily?

Striving vs. Abiding

2007-03-05T12:01:00.000-06:00

I awoke this morning at 6am, reset the alarm for 7am, then 7:30am. I just could not get up, I was so tired. So I dragged myself out of bed finally and got dressed, combed the hair, brushed the teeth, and sat down on my futon to look over my assignment papers. I was still so tired, I fell asleep briefly. Finally I gave up, reset the alarm for 11:45am and crawled back into bed.

I should have been shooting all this morning, having all my film turned in by 10am, but I also needed the rest so badly. It's an overwhelming feeling, when you are so behind on everything and don't have the energy to do it. Once I finally got up, I grew anxious about trying to get it all done. I sat down at my computer and checked my email, and here's an email devotion that my dad forwarded on to me this morning. It was just what I needed. A great reminder that all my efforts will leave me exhausted, unless I abide in Christ.

Striving vs. Abiding

by Os Hillman

Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. ~ Psalm 127:1a

What does it mean for the Lord to build the house? It almost seems a contradiction when we consider that we might be the builders in this passage. God wants us to allow Him to build the house. He explains further:

Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat - for He grants sleep to those He loves (Psalm 127:1-2).

God is telling us there is a way of working without striving. There is a way to conduct business without sweating and toiling for outcome. His warning to each of us is to avoid thinking that outcome is based on our sweat and toil. Outcome is based on obedience. That outcome is sometimes more than we deserve. Sometimes it is less than we hoped for. His desire for each of us is to see Him working in our daily work life. He wants us to avoid looking to our own effort to gain an outcome.

One day Jesus called out to Peter from the shore of the lake and suggested he throw his net on the other side of the boat. It was this simple act of obedience that yielded a tremendous catch that he would not have received unless he obeyed.

We are called to work; He is called to bring forth the fruit. He is the vine. We are the branches. Fruit comes forth naturally from a healthy tree.

Today, ask God to show you when you enter into striving. Ask Him to show you the difference between loving trust and obedience and striving for outcome. It can be challenging for us to balance this in our daily work experience. He wants to help us walk in this freedom and rest.

My Studio, aka The University Center

2007-03-05T00:17:00.000-06:00

Today has been a busy busy day. I have taken a lot of pictures here in my building, some for assignments and some for fun. I will be forever grateful for the day that I have a real studio to work with and not my dinky light set, seams of cheap paper that need photoshop-ing, and the hassle of moving lounge furniture to set up my shoot. Though the situation may be less than ideal, however, I have gotten some really great shots today, and I am learning to make my little light set work some magic. Here are some of my shots from the day:

My beloved, half-heartedly posing for me (not really posing at all I guess you could say) as he watches the Avalanche beat the Redwings. Yay!

Tony, a resident on my floor who I randomly pulled from his room to sit for me. Ah, I love being an RA.

Ashley, a fellow RA, and a real sweetheart.

My wonderful roommate Hayley. We've concluded after today that she makes a good model, has good photo-viewing opinion/expertise, and a GREAT studio assistant.

Brentley = Happiness.

Chioma, who shall photographically stun the man that her mom is trying to set her up with with.

What else is new here in Chicago? Josiah and I went to the Colorado Avalanche game here at the United Center, and boy did we have a blast! We love going to hockey games, especially for $8.00 a piece. I think Josiah's dream is to live in Colorado together with season tickets. I have many more photos to post from the game, but I picked one of my favorites. We are kinda silly sometimes.

I've been swamped with assignments this week, the teachers are really piling it on with midterms around the corner. I just keep telling myself that there are less than two weeks until I'm in Hawaii! *Excitement ensues.* This past weekend I had a photography workshop for two days, and on each day, I shot nudes for about 6-7 hours. It was a good experience to have under my belt, though not really my favored genre of photography. Needless to say, I won't be posting any of those pictures online.

Well, that's all, take care everyone! Tomorrow I'll be up at the crack of dawn (actually before it!) to shoot pictures until around 10am. A full day ahead of me - wish me luck!

Baby Kaydence

2007-02-26T18:36:00.000-06:00

A while back, I had posted two pictures of my friend Ashley, who was expecting at the time. She came and visited me today, and we spent a couple hours in the studio with her now almost three-month-old Kaydence! Such a sweetheart, my first go at studio baby photography, and a very easy girl to work with!

p.s. Ash - Kaydence is so lucky to have a mom like you. I am so proud of you!

Catching Up

2007-02-20T11:55:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, it's been a while since I last posted. Now that the severe cold thing that I had has pretty much subsided, and after a last-minute trip home for my Aunt Mardella's funeral, I'm back in Chicago and ready to get back to my life. I know for a fact that I will not have my assignments that are due tomorrow even close to finished, and my teachers are aware of that. It's an overwhelming feeling, to be behind when more and more assignments are filling up the planner. But tonight, Thursday, and Friday will hopefully be very productive for me.

Oh, and one more thing, TAXES! I'm actually excited, I'm going to H&R Block on Thursday to have them help me with my taxes this year, since I'm not really sure how to handle the photography profit (the very small amount of it) vs. the purchases (camera, 2 new lenses, lights, etc.) that can be considered business expenses. Once I have my taxes complete, I can file my FAFSA, and once that's done, I can apply for a couple scholarships that would shave a nice sum off my tuition bill for next year.

No! Don't cut the dollar! I need that dollar for books!

Hope eveyone's staying healthy, drink that orange juice!

My Current Means of Survival

2007-02-12T12:38:00.000-06:00

And hence the reason I haven't blogged lately...

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

2007-02-05T12:24:00.000-06:00

I had my roommate Hayley take a picture of me before I went outside today to take pictures for an assignment. I had such a busy weekend, but I wish I would have done this assignment sooner so it wouldn't have been quite this cold.

So that's a long-sleeve T, two hooded sweatshirts, tights, leggings, jeans, two scarves, a bandanna covered by a hat, mittens, two pairs of socks and my shoes, and my roommate Hayley's coat. She is tall so it was pretty long on me, but it kept me warm! I can't believe how silly I looked. I'm having a pretty good laugh at myself, and I hope you are too. All I can say is that I had better become a better photographer because of this...

To Pass the Time...

2007-01-27T15:47:00.000-06:00

I read Haleigh's post while printing images as part of a two-day print workshop here at school, and she got me on a pop-art search. Here are some of my favorite finds:

Michael Kalish. I couldn't copy a couple of the ones that I really liked because his site is flash. He uses license plates and paint on sheets of metal and wood. Check it out here. p.s. my favorites are "Rain" on page 4 of his collection and "Humphrey Bogart" on page 3.

Marco Kooiman. Trendy colors and nostalgic scenes. His website here.

Ahh, there are more. But no time. Enjoy!

Glum

2007-01-23T10:36:00.000-06:00

I'm a little glum right now for more than one reason...

One is that I went to America's Best eyeglasses store today, which had a promotion for 2 pairs of glasses for $69 and ended up buying one pair for $194. The two pairs apparently is only frames and lenses when you basically pick the cheapest, lamest frames and have no real prescription. I could've gotten 2 pairs for $300. And I almost did. She was ringing up my debit card when I exclaimed, "No, wait, just the one pair." So I got these really cute metal frames with red on the top, and turned down another really cute pair of reddish-brown plastic frames. On the way home and now I am seriously regretting not getting the two pairs. The plastic frames alone were priced at $129. But do I need two pairs of glasses? I'm a poor college student, and my amazing frameless current pair is somewhere, lost in the abyss of Waverly, Iowa, and maybe I'll find them. But $100 for an extra pair? It's killing me inside. Geez, I am acting as if this is a serious life-changing decision when it's, well, eyeglasses.

The other glum-making factor is this video called "Children See - Children Do" that my friend Keri sent via email, which I felt like posting. It really makes its point well. Warning: I wouldn't show your kids this.

And lastly, I had my first class today, "Contemporary Issues & New Media" with my favorite teacher, Connie. However, when I arrived at class Connie wasn't there. Turns out that even though her name is listed in the computer system, she's not teaching the class. I was disappointed. (The other teacher guy seems pretty cool and off-the-wall as well, so I'll probably keep the class.)

On a happy note, my dad bought our vacation to HAWAII last night!!! Yay!!!

Recent Work 3: Laundrypile Kids - The Boys

2007-01-21T18:55:00.000-06:00

As promised, here are some of my favorites from the other half of the Laundrypile family - the boys.

Jack, Caedmon, and Tyler - thanks! You rock, boys!

Recent Work 2: Laundrypile Kids - The Girls

2007-01-19T20:44:00.000-06:00

Heth, this one is for you! I finally got my butt in gear and finished your kids' photos. There are too many to put all up on blogger, so I'm leaving some out and breaking it into two posts...

Gemma, Cam, and Noelle - you girls were the greatest!

p.s. heth, how do you want me to send you all the pictures? CD?

Recent Work: Katie's Wedding

2007-01-16T23:20:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! Just wanted to put up some of the pictures from my cousin Katie's wedding that I shot. I wasn't actually the photographer, I was the singer in the wedding, but I brought my camera along anyway! Here you are:

Proof that I was actually singing and not just taking pictures! Apparently this is my Ave Maria face. Great, huh?

Blessed in The New Year

2007-01-09T02:05:00.000-06:00

I know it has been a while since I have blogged. My reason: dial-up internet connection. When I'm at home in Iowa, I rarely blog because I cannot stand the internet at home. Back in Chicago now! And though it was great to be back on the dairy farm seeing good friends and family, I am somewhat relieved to be back in my city. Something therapeudic about the trains roaring past my building or the lack of having to spend money on gasoline (since I don't drive here). Since the new year is more than newly upon us now, I thought I would count my blessings from this past year and this new year via post: (in no particular order!)

1. New equipment that will make my photography business more efficient. The Canon 5D, two new lenses, and a light set all this year. I don't know that there is anything else right now that I could want. I feel like I am set to go for a long while. At least until I pay all this off. Some favorite images from my new gear:

2. Great friends. Both in Waverly/Waterloo and in Chicago. I got to chill with most of my good friends from high school at least once when I was back - shopping, movies, late night conversations. All wonderful. And now that I'm back? Late night board games, deep conversations and girls' nights. So priceless. I feel so blessed.

3. Family. Game nights, dinners with mom's macaroni, growing and changing, but always there for each other.

4. Love from a great guy. We've had our thick and thin this year, but I continue to grow closer to Josiah each day and am continually challenged to be a better person for him. I love you, babe.

5. Love and forgiveness from God. I seriously screw up every day, but He is always forgiving, and his love is the prime example that I must live by, because it holds no record of my wrongs and challenges me to live with purpose.

Here's to a great new year, everyone!

Website Analysis, No. 1

2006-12-19T17:56:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone - just wondering in you all could do me a favor - go to my website, which has most of the pictures uploaded now, and test it out. Explore the site, and leave me feedback here on the blog. I've noticed that the site reacts differently between PC and Mac, though it really shouldn't. Tell me what doesn't seem to work well for you when you explore it.

I would be eternally grateful!

Hannah Epley Photography

Girls' Night and the Ten Ren Tea Company

2006-12-17T02:35:00.000-06:00

Last night was the most fun night I have had in a long long time... I'm here in the University Center on duty for the weekend, meaning I really can't leave the building at all except to go to Panera (which is in our building). A bunch of other girl RAs are also on duty, including my roommate, so we invited the other ladies over for a girls' night. Before our duty meeting, I snuck out of the building and caught the train to Chinatown, which is only 5 minutes away by rail. I went to the Ten Ren Tea & Ginseng Company, quickly picked up a 1/2 pound of loose leaf tea, then headed back immediately.

We rented the new Woody Allen film "Scoop" and began watching it - we never finished, it is absolutely awful. Two great actors, Scarlet Johannsen and Hugh Jackman, were awful in this movie. When the DVD skipped and stopped an hour into the film, we took it as an omen that we should just stop watching it. Instead, we put in one of my favorite movies, Two Weeks Notice, with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. So we got our fill of romantic comedy and an amazing British accent. Good stuff.

Meanwhile, we tried the new tea I got, Mango Black Tea, and let me tell you, it is AMAZING. It was $20 a pound, one of the cheaper teas at Ten Ren (They have one green tea that they sell at $130/lb.) but it was so good, perhaps the best tea I have ever had. It has real pieces of mango dried up in it. I used my new french press, which I am so excited about, and Hayley's water boiler, and probably refilled it 6 times, thus about 30 cups off of 6 tablespoons of the loose leaf tea. I don't think I will ever go back to regular tea - I'm going to Ten Ren again tomorrow, so that I can take my time and get acquainted with all they have to offer. Supposedly they have 200 varieties of tea there.

Following the movie, we sat around and gushed about boyfriends and dating and life until after midnight. It was so much fun. A few of us had to do late rounds in the building still, so we headed out and girls' night was over. I believe we'll be doing another on Monday. Priceless.

Haircut!

2006-12-15T18:47:00.000-06:00

Got a new haircut! I LOVE IT. Thank you, Colin of London. Thank you, Polish girl Magi, you are amazing.

Another Semester of Perspective

2006-12-15T02:27:00.000-06:00

This evening I had my last class of the semester, History of the Holocaust. What an amazing class it has been; I have learned so much.

For tonight's class, we spoke on the topic of more recent genocide around the world. All semester, this class was sort of a downer for ending each week (though it was a valuable class regardless), but tonight I left the classroom very much saddened as I was reminded of the inadequacy of governments in our world.

As of December 31st, the UN will, I believe, have a new leader, as Kofi Annan will be stepping down after 10 years of service. I found a somewhat cynical but revealing article in the Tribune that I thought I would share, discussing the UN's failure to take necessary actions during these past 10 years.

In class this evening I watched a very graphic documentary on the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and it was honestly so hard to stomach. In taking my African History & Culture class last fall, I gained a lot of perspective about Africa and why it is where it is today. This documentary had a lot of footage that I had never seen - scenes of rebels approaching people on the roads and hacking them with machetes, piles and piles of bodies lying alongside the road, hundreds of bodies flowing down the river into neighboring countries, lining the banks. Even writing now, thinking of these scenes brings tears to my eyes. I watched film from 1994 of a Clinton rep denying that genocide was occurring, struggling to save face amongst reporters. And then scenes of Clinton arriving at the airport in Kigali, apologizing for his country's failure to act, and then getting back onto Air Force One, engines never having been turned off. Really, is an apology enough?

The discussion quickly turned to Darfur and the current situation there. President Bush has used the term "genocide" many times when referring to the situation, yet the UN is too afraid to use that term. Why? Calling a conflict "genocide" demands action. The UN is bound by an agreement written in 1951 stating that it is its duty to prevent and punish even conspiring genocide. Quite frankly, the UN has a history of not wanting to get involved in countries where its interests do not lie. The United States is not left out of that either - though Bush uses the term "genocide," what have we as a country done that has made a dent in the conflict?

One of my very liberal classmates made a point that he thinks that the current administration would get support of the American people to send troops to Darfur if we would simpy educate the people. Several other students agreed with this statement. "You really think that the American public would be in support of that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. These same students ramble about the "Bush regime" and the 'pointless War on Terror' that is 'laden with corruption'... I'm not sure I completely support the war in Iraq but I'm definitely more supportive than most kids my age. Let's get some perspective here... Hussein's administration was not innocent of crimes against his people. Because of this war, we are giving these people a chance at democracy, a better way of life away from the tyranny of a dictator. The truth of the matter is, unfortunately, that Americans are often ignorant of the continent of Africa in general, and I can't see many citizens wanting to send troops into a messy conflict like Darfur, with the current level of support for the Iraq war.

I feel as if I've gone on a rant. I am very sensitive about Africa. Sometimes overly-sensitive. But I just can't stand the world's inactivity and failing to even care. I know there are good people doing great things to help resolve the conflict in Darfur. And I am not the kind of person who has no faith in our government. I love America and love living in this country. But considering Rwanda, we are following the same path to allowing genocide to occur.

How many times can we repeat the phrase "Never again" before it becomes meaningless?

*Lord, I pray that you can help us to make a difference not only in Darfur, but in places around the world where people are being savagely killed. Help me to remember not to place my trust in the government, but to place it in you.*

3...2...1...launch!

2006-12-14T16:33:00.000-06:00

Here it is... the moment we've all been waiting for. Ok, well, I've been waiting, anyway. The site isn't complete - I'm going to finish it up over the next week. However, it is at least up and running! Check it out:

hannahepley.com

Preview of what's about to come...

2006-12-10T17:58:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to take a couple mins to post one picture from one of my finals...

I promise I will post more, and soon. Just let me try to get through this next week first!

Changes a-coming

2006-12-07T06:55:00.000-06:00

After much thought and consideration, I have decided to make a few changes to my blog.

New look.

Will not be so pre-made. The new look will closely mimick my website that is launching in a week.

New name.

The city life isn't so new to me anymore. Actually, I'm pretty used to living in the city. Nor is this blog usually about living in the city! I figure since most posts I write revolve around photography and my making thereof, my blog should reflect that.

New links.

I will still feature those of your blogs that I frequent. *Note to those blogs that I frequent. A few of them would be great if the blogger would blog more than once every 6 months.* Now, I will have links to the photography sites that I adore - places to buy photo gear, resources for photographers, cool portfolio sites, etc.

New content?

Probably not, though I hope to update it a lot more frequently that I do now.

I hope you will keep checking back, and also check out my new personal photography website when it launches a week from today: hannahepley.com

Procrastination, Part 1

2006-12-06T09:24:00.000-06:00

Lately my roommate Hayley and I seem to be able to find anything and everything to do but our homework. It's as if we can't face the reality of how much we need to do, so we mindlessly waste away precious hours doing absolutely nothing. Last night, when I had 150+ pages in a book to read, what did we do? Hayley cleaned and planned a trip to Europe, I arranged some flowers, talked with Hayley about Christmas gifts, browsed through pictures on my computer, went to Myspace and Facebook, edited a paper for Josiah, vacuumed... the list goes on. I got very little reading done before my eyes were starting to shut on their own. So, alas, today will be another packed day of homework, including a trip to the Holocaust exhibit here at the Spertus Institute for class.

All these horrible things about procrastination aside, I wanted to share this AMAZING website that my cousin Kris sent to me... if you have ever cut snowflakes out of paper you will LOVE this site. Have fun, time's a-wasting!

Click here to enter a winter wonderland

Oh, baby!

2006-12-03T23:13:00.000-06:00

I hate that it has taken me so long to post a new blog. Seriously. I'm terrible sometimes.

But tonight, I wanted to share a couple photos that I took today of my friend Ashley. She had been planning to visit me for probably over a month now, and on Wednesday, she called me to say she was going into labor. The visit was off, so we thought. But her labor stopped, and since she's not due until the 28th, she and Darren made the trip downtown so I could get some "belly shots."

Here are a couple of my faves:

Like, Woah.

2006-11-17T04:48:00.000-06:00

Wedding photography. Go Here. Trust me. Would I ever mislead you?

20/20

2006-11-15T01:00:00.000-06:00

So I'm wide awake at 1 in the morning, due to my sudden desire to work out every night. Hopefully my peppermint chai will calm me to sleep soon. But in the meantime, I thought I'd post 20 random things about me, seeing as how I am officially no longer a teenager.

1. The answer to my riddles from my last post: All of those things are on my wish list right now... those boots, that camera, hair extensions, and sunny beaches. Secondly, my family is vacationing in HAWAII over this coming spring break!!! Wooohoo!

2. I seem to be forever doomed to hang around a girl whose name also starts with an H, so that everyone and their mom mixes us up. Best friend from elementary to high school = Haleigh. Current roommate and co-18th floor RA = Hayley.

3. Even more than longing for boots, cameras, thick luscious hair and Hawaii, I long to go back to Kenya, and so I randomly find myself on sites like cheaptickets.com to search for cheap flights for trips there that I can't afford regardless.

4. My current life's goal is to make a photodocumentary on slumlife in Kenya, a book including pictures taken by me and by Kenyans that I teach photography to.

5. I am addicted to Photoshop CS2. Coming soon, lots of posts with recent photo work of mine.

6. I am now hannahepley.com. Don't go there, I haven't designed my site yet. It will be done by December 14th.

7. I have recently discovered the best way to multitask. I head down to the University Center fitness room, and after lifting some weights, plop down on a bike and read class textbooks while I bike. And I don't even realize when my 30 or 45 minutes is up! Yess!!!

8. I am not moving back to Waverly this summer. Chicago will remain my home until summer 2008.

9. I skipped a year of college, (I'm a junior) thanks to CLEP testing. Angela, I owe you one for encouraging me to go for it!

10. For my birthday, I will celebrate by running errands, spending hours shooting pics in the studio, watching a movie with Josiah, and attending a mandatory staff meeting.

11. My definition of chai is not some severely-sweetened spicy drink that kindof tastes like eggnog. First off, I rarely put sugar in my tea. I like tea kinda bitter. But no, chai is 2/3 tea, 1/3 warm milk, and a little sugar. Kenya style chai.

12. I have the annoying tendency to over-adapt to the people around me. Not in a giving-in-to-peer-pressure sort of way, but by picking up accents, gestures, and tiny habits unconsciously until it becomes natural to me. You should have heard my English while I spent a month in Kenya, and you should see my gestures now that I live with a sign language major.

13. I spend an average of 3-1/2 hours setting up and shooting one still life for my studio class. (I have an A in my studio class as well. Coincidence? I think not.)

14. I cry almost nonstop during Extreme Home Makeover. Seriously. So touching. Every Sunday.

15. My desk is covered with an uncontrollable barrage of stickynotes and to-do lists.

16. I know almost exactly what I want in a wedding dress.

17. My brother Adam and I have been reading through the Bible together. Backwards. Meaning, we started at the beginning of Revelation and are now in the Old Testament.

18. I LOVE COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO. Distraught emo rebellious liberal kids aside, the photography department here ROCKS. I am so glad I did this and not a 2-year technical program.

19. Lately as I hand-write things, whether it be sticky notes or class notes or to-do lists, I find myself skipping letters and words, as if my brain is way too ahead of my hand. At least I always catch myself.

20. I'm 20 years old today!!!

Riddle

2006-11-08T02:05:00.000-06:00

1. What do all these things have in common?

2. Which of these is likely in March?

Child of Nairobi

2006-10-26T15:28:00.000-05:00

This post is to let you know of the site I launched called "Child of Nairobi" that was my midterm project for my Web Design class. Check it out here! (I'm really excited about it.)

Come on, Baby, Fight That Fire

2006-10-25T08:45:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to blog for a while now, but a special event awoke me from my blogging slumber. Yesterday afternoon I was in the photo studio when someone asked me, "Have you seen the fire?" So I was directed to the building's fire escape (not to evacuate but just to look), and saw a building ablaze a few blocks away with several news choppers hovering above.

I wrapped up my photoshoot and walked back to the University Center, only to have to make a huge detour, since the burning building was on the block across the street and lots of places were completely blocked off. I went up to Doran's room, on my floor, where my roommate Hayley was, to watch the fire with our amazing 18th-floor view. Here's a pic I took:

There was a big news report, which if you are THAT bored this morning you can check out at ABC News Chicago.

So some Columbia buildings are closed today and their respective classes cancelled, though I don't have classes anyway on Wednesdays. Some very happy students will have an extra week to study for their midterms. The fire burned through the night and stopped sometime this morning. There were 325 firefighters there last night, and there are still a few there spraying away to keep cooling the hotspots down. According to the most recent news report, the building roof and all floors collapsed all the way in, so all that's left of the building is freestanding walls - time for some demolition, kids!

My floor smells kinda like a charcoal barbecue.

Photoshop, I Feel Guilty

2006-10-03T22:19:00.000-05:00

Before: not a bad looking couple.

After: younger and prettier.

It's because of people like me who can do things like this that make for unrealistic expectations of how we should look. Shamey shamey.

Priorities?

2006-10-01T18:32:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've been stressing about school and work and RAing and lots of stuff.

Hmm, maybe it's because I've seen the Broadway musical Wicked once and Annie twice in the last week...

Oh, and don't forget the Lincoln Park zoo last Sunday after church...

I went to the grand opening service of Willow Creek Chicago this morning, which conveniently meets in Auditorium Theatre, across the street from my building. It was interesting... parts were great, but Josiah and I aren't really sure it's where we want to be quite yet. Give it a couple weeks. The opening song/drama: and Evanescence song "Wake me up inside." For a first Sunday, it had pretty good attendance... we had to be seated in the upper balcony, the auditorium seats roughly 3,900 people and I would say at least 3,000 were filled. Crazy.

On one more side note, I would like to offer an invitation for Waverly people to come visit me in Chicago - let's go catch some Chicago-style deep-dish pizza and go to "Wicked" - this musical is utterly amazing. Amazing!

He That Makes My Life a Little Brighter

2006-09-25T01:18:00.000-05:00

My first assignment for studio class was experimenting with various types of lighting. So Josiah and I spent a few hours on a Saturday afternoon in the studio, and had some fun.

Don't mind the poor scan quality and my lack of making up for it in photoshop:

Remembering Brooke

2006-09-20T00:52:00.000-05:00

It's a bit past midnight and I should go to bed, but I just felt like I needed to write something.

Today I have thought about a dear friend,
Someone I used to laugh with, study with, compete with, and just hang out with. Someone who never demanded anything in return for her generosity. With a sense of sweeping emotion, I have thought about her bubbling laugh, her chatty nature, the deep conversations, all the times I had vented about something so minute, yet she just listened, open ears, never rushing me.

I can hear her voice in my head as I play back a song we once sang together. I remember her dreams, her goals that I thought were so high, yet she attacked them, with ease.

I thought about her family, and what they must be feeling today.
And I wonder if I could ever fathom that type of pain.
I remembered Brooke today, whose death came first as a shock, then disbelief, then a tidal wave of memories, emotions, and tears.
Today, October 19th, would have been her 20th birthday.

I will never, ever, forget her.

Studio Time With Josiah = Fun.

2006-09-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

"So, what do you want me to do for these pictures?"
"Eh, it really doesn't matter much... I just have to use all different types of lighting."
"Why am I always the project that doesn't matter??"

Baby, you do matter. You are what makes these sorts of projects actually fun.

Scenic Tour Saturday

2006-09-16T22:33:00.000-05:00

Today was a crazy but fun day. This morning I had to go and pick it my car from the shop, and so my scenic tour began.

First I boarded a bus that took me to Chinatown. Interestingly enough, I haven't ever been there, and its mere minutes away from me. Next, I boarded another bus that took me to the repair shop, in Pilsen (Famous Spanish neighborhood.) I picked up my car and headed back home.

I didn't really know the fastest way to where I was going, so I called Josiah. "Hey, hun, can you look up real quick how I can get back to Hyde Park the fastest?" This phone conversation was very non-productive. For some reason, I continued driving south. Why? I saw signs pointing towards highway 90 and for some reason, that interested me.

"Take 51st street east," Josiah told me.
"I already passed 51st... I'm at 57th."
"Well go back and take it."
"Are you sure I can actually get onto the highway from 51st?"
"No, but try it!"

This is the point, about 5-10 minutes into the conversation, that Josiah was in fact using a paper map. And it was frustrating him that I was continuing to drive so my location was constantly changing. So I took 51st, and it did in fact lead me to the highway.

Let me just explain right now that the Dan Ryan Expressway is under intense construction right now, and the highway was a bad idea on my part. It was so packed, I ended up heading straight south on 94, which goes to Indiana, because I couldn't get off on the right exit. I normally take pride in my navigation skills. Really, I usually find my way out of situations pretty easily. But today, I don't know.

Next stop on my tour? 75th street. Eastbound. The "thank goodness it's daylight" part of the city. While traveling on 75th, I randomly decided to turn north, because the part of Hyde Park that I park my car in is on 55th St. Somehow, this unmarked street that I turned onto magically turned in to Lake Shore Drive. Fun, huh? Problem was that I missed the exit I was supposed to take, and ended up having to backtrack.

I finally arrived, having seen a great deal of the city of Chicago. Parking my car has never felt so good.

I Topped off the evening with 3 hours shooting pictures of Josiah in Columbia's main studio, followed by a trip to the beach, followed by a nap, followed by a cheeseburger from the cafeteria.

I searched google maps to see how far off track I really was - I'm including a personal illustration of my trek below. I'm ready to sleep now.

And So, It Begins

2006-09-06T10:53:00.000-05:00

Move-ins are OVER! I am so relieved. No more beggining-of-the-year floor meetings. No more anxious parents asking me to personally take care of their child. No more pointless 7:30am OR 6:30am meetings. It's finally time for me to be a student again, to have a real job again!

Classes started yesterday. I had my Advanced Color Photography class in the morning and my Studio I class in the afternoon. Later in the evening, I dropped my Advanced Color class and switched to something better - the teacher had let us know up front that there would be a great amount of shooting and hours of printing for this class, all done on my own time. Too much... I already have studio photography hours to put in, website design lab hours to put in, and digital II hours... lots of additional shooting and hours of printing didn't sound inviting enough!

I am amazingly excited for this semester! I can't wait to learn all about studio lighting, to use the amazing equipment Columbia has. I learned yesterday that I did in fact get another federal grant this year, and now my student loans are all in order. Today I start training on the Segway, so soon I'll be a Chicago tour guide. Tuesday, I'm taking a group of students from my floor to the Cubs vs. Dodgers game. All free tickets, provided by my building. I'm not sure who I'm truly cheering for - I live in Chicago so it SHOULD be the Cubs, but Dad is asking me to put some cheers in for his Dodgers... I may just make a t-shirt with both logos on the front.

The possibilities are endless... it's going to be a great year.

Recent Photoshoots

2006-08-29T00:38:00.000-05:00

A little over a week ago, I got to go out with my roommate Hayley and her boyfriend Jim to take some photos... we had a great time, despite a little rain. They are a cute couple - here are a few of my favorites from the shoot:

Earlier this month, all us RA's got to go on an 'architectural cruise' on the Chicago River, meaning simply that we were on one of those tour boats with a wonderful tour guide talking about the history of the buildings. From there, we took a water taxi, and we all went up into the Sears Tower. Oh, did I mention all this was FREE... very nice, considering it costs something like $12 to go up in the Sears Tower. Great day. Here are a couple of my fave shots... more to come, I'm sure.

A Big Day

2006-08-24T18:45:00.000-05:00

I now officially work at the only Segway dealer in Chicago, as a tour guide. I had a complimentary tour today, then was asked by the manager, "So, what did you think?" And he offered me a job. My first interview Tuesday was the easiest and longest I've ever had.

Flexible hours, $8/hr plus tips from the rich, old people who actually sign up for the $70 tours, and best of all, I get to ride one of these babies and get paid for it. Added bonus: I love having jobs where I guide people and get to tell them things they didn't know.

Yay! So after my interview, I decided to have some fun. Fun I have not had lately. I went to Starbucks, got a mocha and a rice krispy square, then went shoe shopping. I tried on some $85 Diesel sneakers that were awesome, then went to payless and bought some cute Champion sneakers there instead. I may have just gotten hired, but I will probably never be the girl to spend $85 on sneakers. Oh, and Heth had talked about Payless's 'buy one, get on 1/2 off' sale, and so I also bought these beautiful babies, plus a matching purse. What will I wear them with? Not sure. But I will make it work. I could NOT resist.

Ahh, what a day.

Talk talk talk talk talk

2006-08-23T18:16:00.000-05:00

That's all I feel I've been doing lately. Let me explain:

I am a resident advisor at the University Center in Chicago. Move-ins of our 1700 residents have been occurring since this past Saturday. And there's no sign of stopping, any time soon.

Move-ins are exciting, I have been living on my floor nearly empty for the past three and a half weeks. I love meeting people that are moving into my floor. That phrase that I had to wait three weeks to say, "Hey! I'm your RA!" is finally being of use.

The schedule for move-ins, however, is a little tiring. Morning meetings are at 7:45am. "Early is on time," so my supervisors say, though we still never seem to begin the meeting at 7:45. Most days move-ins begin at 9am and end at 6pm. We go in shifts and all man different stations around the building. An almost-well-oiled machine.

In addition to moving 200 people in each day, there is night duty, floor meetings, special last-minute projects, floor programs, etc., etc., etc. At the end of the day, I am exhausted. Well, during the middle of the day, I'm also exhausted. But my sugar keeps me going.

About the 'talk talk talk' - when I am the greeter, I stand and await their car door opening so I can give a big cheerful "Hey there!" I inform them of all the procedures for move-ins. I make small talk with the parents so their students don't get annoyed with them. When I am manning the ID card station, I get to give a wonderful shpiel (how DO you spell that word?) about what their card is for, and what happens if they must replace it. Then there are resident questions. Most are good questions, like, "where do I throw out my trash?" Others I can't quite understand, like the suave guy on my floor who keeps asking me if I know anyone who's 21 so he can get some alcohol. Um? I'm your RA, and I'm pretty sure that's a stupid question.

In a perfect world, or a perfect residence hall rather, the RA's would move folks in, get their extra work done before or after their shift, and have some "me" time. I find it amusing when people arrive at our building at 11pm expecting to be moved in. Did they miss the memo?

Nevertheless, I am enjoying myself here. More exciting stories to come, I'm sure of it.

20 Questions

2006-08-20T23:41:00.000-05:00

Lawsuit depositions. Not a fun way to spend my Thursday, let me tell you.

Silly lawyer: "Can you give me an estimate of how fast the driver of your vehicle was going?"

Me: [well advised by my attorney not to make assumptions] "I couldn't see the speedometer, I'm not really sure. However, I do know that the driver of the vehicle did not typically speed during these kinds of trips."

Silly lawyer: "Well, I'm not asking about that, can you just give an estimate of how fast the vehicle was moving?"

Me: "I couldn't really tell you, I'm not sure."

Silly lawyer: "How fast did it feel you were going?"

Me: [giving a definite 'what part of "I don't know" don't you understand' glare] "I simply don't know."

Silly lawyer: "Did it feel faster than normal? Above 55? Below 55?"

Me: "You know... no, I'm not just going to throw a number out there. I don't know."

Late Thursday night, I got off the metra, and instead of going my usual public transportation route, I hailed a cab. Exhausted. Bewildered. Frustrated. I gave the driver a 75-cent tip. Are you supposed to tip a cab driver for a 3-minute ride, in which he talks on his cell phone and speeds through every intersection right as the light turns red? He looked disappointed. I'm sure I just looked worn.

On another topic, Josiah moved to Chicago in the Moody Bible dorms yesterday. His birthday was today, so we went out to an Italian place in Wrigleyville. Very yummy. GREAT to have my baby back!

To Endure, or Die? The Struggle to Run...

2006-08-14T09:49:00.000-05:00

So along with a new living place here in the city, I thought I should take this golden opportunity to get into new healthy habits. I want to get in shape - so that I don't go panting when I climb the stairs from the subway. So that I have muscle definition in these legs.

My roommate, Hayley, runs every morning at 7am. I went with her last Monday, and never in my life have I felt so lousy. Even though Hayley's style of running is more like a drawn-out, hour-long slow jog, we hardly went 25 minutes and I couldn't go on. How pathetic! So this morning was the second time that I went with her. We ran for 20 minutes, a little faster than last week, all the way to the planetarium along the lake shore. We stopped to stretch on the back side of the planetarium, and discovered a sandy beach there. [Might I add that Chicago is the most wonderful city... parks, big buildings, cozy cafes, and random stretches of beach all within close proximity of each other.]

So we thought, 'OOOH! Let's run on the beach!!' Mistake. Running in sand is HARD, especially if you're as out-of-shape as I am. After about 10 seconds, I cried out for mercy and we took the stairs back onto the path. then we walked almost all the way back, because I could not bring myself to run any longer. Once we got back to Michigan Ave, we ran back to our building, and at a regular, quick running pace. It was exhilarating, for the 5 minutes that it lasted.

Why is starting to run so stinking difficult? Ugh... Nevertheless, I'm going to try to force myself to get up tomorrow morning and do it again. Maybe, though, I'll just go at my normal running pace and die after 10 minutes. Whatever it takes.

Scalpel, please?

2006-08-06T23:38:00.000-05:00

"Ma'am, I have some good news and some bad news. First of all, your loved one had a successful surgery. All the infected tissue was removed."

"And the bad news?"

"The bad news, well, there was such extensive loss that we are afraid that your loved one may go into a severe shock. We don't know just how long her recovery will be, or how successfully her body will handle this sudden loss of limbs."

My plant underwent extensive surgery this evening. I decided, after a short conversation with my mother, that I needed to get rid of all the dying, infected, shriveling leaves. So I pruned my plant, probably way too much, considering that 1/2 of the long fronds were dying. Before my plant's move to Chicago, it was a flowing, gorgeous plant that looked healthy. As soon as it arrived in Chicago, however, it started to look brownish, shriveled, wilted. I don't know if it was just too much direct sunlight hanging in the car window for 5 hours straight, or the sudden loss in humidity? But even with good sun and reasonable water it's been looking sad ever since.

I told my mom that I feel so bad, I feel like I should be taking it to the plant hospital or something. Going to my local plant doctor. But as for now, my plant is in recovery from a critical home-done surgery, with closely monitored waterings, sunlight, and steaming while I take a shower. I am praying for its recovery.

What I've Been Up To

2006-08-06T10:37:00.000-05:00

I am now back in Chicago, living in the University Center once again. Since I was in hibernation from blogging this whole summer, I thought I'd give a recap of what I've been doing all this time:

Garden department, Home Depot. I watered plants, loaded brick and mulch, sold lawn tractors, and planned out people's gardens with them. I enjoyed my short stay at Home Depot, with its good pay and simply the fact that it was a home improvement store. Josiah worked there with me, so that was a plus as well. I was supposed to transfer to a store in Chicago, but it just didn't happen. So I'm currently looking for another job. Again.

Summer classes. I took "Art History I" and "Diversity in America" online through Hawkeye Community College. And I will NEVER, I repeat, NEVER do this again unless it is absolutely necessary. Sure, I saved thousands of dollars by getting these classes out of the way, and I'm grateful for that. However, when running into friends asking how my summer has been going, I hate talking about homework. All online classes ARE is homework.

CLEP tests. I took four $80 tests in Psychology, Natural Sciences, College Mathematics, and English Composition; I passed them all. So, I got 27 credits, more than will actually transfer but 27 nonetheless, out of $320. Good deal, huh? I think so too, the math and English tests were really pretty easy, the psych test was an educated-guessing game, and the science test was definitely the hardest test I have EVER taken. So now, I might be a junior instead of a sophomore. I don't really know.

Sunday morning worship. I got the opportunity to help with praise and worship at Open Bible a couple times, and it was great. Singing with the old team, God really reminded me of the power in music, how it's a medium in which we connect with him. Then there was the morning Pastor Bill sort of threw me a curveball - I got to practice early that morning to realize that I was leading the worship that morning, then came to discover how dreadfully HIGH the songs were for my range. Though I was freaked out, God really humbled me that morning, and I was forced to give my abilities all to him, and he made it an amazing time of worship. Unforgettable.

The best family reunion ever. Epleys from all over came to Waverly in the scorching heat, we ate lunch then played in the sprinklers back home, had water balloon fights, got a history lesson about the family farm from my great aunt Florence, sat and caught up with family members that I don't even really remember ever meeting in person. At night we grilled burgers and sat around and talked. I left early the next morning for Chicago, so I missed the last part of the reunion. But like I said, it was, in my perspective, the best family reunion ever.

Highlight of the summer: the family dinners where Josiah came over, and the night that Megan and Jarred came also and we built a bonfire. If I have one regret over the summer, it is that I didn't spend more time by the fire, making s'mores, cuddling with Josiah on my swing, watching the stars. I miss the stars when I'm here in Chicago, the city is so bright that you can't really see them.

So there's my summer in brief, now I must begin a new story in Chicago. Stay tuned...

Drawing Class, Spring Semester 2006

2006-05-31T11:50:00.000-05:00

OK, it's taken me a long while to finally post this. But here they are, my drawings for this past semester, as promised a long, long, time ago.

By the way, you should totally check out Haleigh's site and look at her awesome artwork as well.

We'll start with some sketches:

And now the drawings:

OK! There are more, but this is all I will include this time. Hope you enjoy... I am in the process of making an actual updated blog, since I'm finally back in Chicago.

Can You Say, "Scam?"

2006-05-24T12:03:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been searching through the web trying to get a good price on a new lens for my camera. I've also been browsing eBay for some equipment. I am amazed at how many camera scams there are on google and eBay. For example, Geniuscameras.com, who offered the lens that I want, which retails at $1600-$1700, at a mere $1400. This excited me, but I did my research. SCAM. And how about all the scammers on eBay trying to sell the magnificent Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II digital camera for $1000 each? Very suspicious. Considering this camera retails from $6000-$8000. (16.7 megapixels, people. Yes, it's expensive, but it's meant for professionals. It is AMAZING.) I feel bad for people not intelligent enough to research who they are buying from. And also for those people who will be judged for such horrible scams once they DIE! Ugh.

On a lighter note, I'll be posting some of my drawings once I can get some good digital shots of them. Josiah's bringing his digital cam to my house on Thursday, so maybe by this weekend I will have a few up.

My Photo Memoir

2006-05-19T11:51:00.000-05:00

Here is, as promised, some shots from my final project in my color photography class. My teachers (the lecturer and the darkroom teacher) both loved it, and I'm pretty pleased with it myself. Here goes, starting with my artist statement (aka the intro page to my album).

"This project is created in loving memory of my grandparents, Ivan and Evelyn Epley, who both passed away in 2005. Losing these two very special people has left my family with many things: objects, responsibilities, and most of all, fond memories. Rummaging through the boxes of their personal belongings brings a sense of a rich family heritage, a legacy of hardworking farmers, dedication, faith, and love. This project’s purpose is to show the connection between what Ivan and Evelyn left behind and the makeup of my family, so that we may look back in fondness and understand the significance of this couple that influenced us so deeply."

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus, Please.

2006-05-17T12:46:00.000-05:00

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah... are you singing it in your head? I know I am.

I am finished with my first year of college and I'm back at home in Iowa!

Well, actually I'm sitting in Panera bread to take advantage of the amazing bagels and free wireless internet. But it's still home.

My days, though much less stressful than during finals week, are still pretty busy:

Job searching. I had an interview with Karmen (a wonderful Waverly photographer) today, and she is going to give me a day or two per week working/shadowing her and her assistant. I am definitely thanking God for this, because Karmen wasn't even looking for someone. She doesn't need someone. But out of the goodness of her heart, she is giving me a small job. I cannot wait. I also have a second interview at Home Depot on Friday, and hopefully they will hire me for 30 hours a week or so. Need to make some money, people!

Sorting/unpacking/repacking. I'm trying to go through all the stuff that I brought back from college. I had WAY too much stuff. Seriously. My parents brought their beautiful 2005 Honda Pilot to pick me up, and with my futon and television, all my clothes, and odds and ends, we couldn't fit it all. Josiah had loaded his stuff into my car and we had to sandwich as much of the rest of my stuff in there as possible. We got it all in... "easily" as I told Josiah (what a joke. More like "barely".) Needless to say, I was the designated "blind-spot-checker" for my love. So my room is totally loaded with stuff that I'm putting in plastic containers for next fall. Yay. Can't wait. Thank goodness I have two and a half months before I have to move it back. Ugh.

Sleeping. I think all those late nights have begun catching up with me. I could probably sleep 20 hours straight for the next week before feeling energized. Oh well, such is life. Can I include that as part of my busy schedule? It does consume hours and hours of my life.

Next post, which I'll probably post yet today, will be some pictures from my final photography project. Maybe some of my drawings will be posted soon as well.

GLAD TO BE BACK!!!

Almost...finished...

2006-05-08T10:21:00.000-05:00

The school year is about to end. Three more days of classes. Know what that means? Many things:

- I am very fatigued. Late nights, early mornings. Lots of work to do. Photos to print, books to construct, value studies to draw, ONE more test, science, to study for.

- I am eating very well, for two reasons - I need the food to stay awake, and I'm TRYING to use up all my food before Friday.

- I am baking 2 boxes of brownies on Wednesday night. (See above.)

- My greatest desire at the moment is to pop popcorn, paint my nails, and watch a movie, and finish off with ice cream.

- My second greatest desire is to take a long, relaxing walk in Grant park.

- I want to come home now. My stuff is pretty much packed up.

- I want to stay here. Funny, huh? It's all because of the parks. The trees are all in full bloom. All the streets are lined with flowerbeds with tulips. The lake looks blue and inviting, rather than icy and full of death. Chicago is best in the spring, summer, and fall. At least I got most of the fall part, and a taste of spring.

- I am somehow extremely emotional, laughing AND crying within the same 10 minutes. Just ask Josiah.

- I am starting to make statements, like "this summer I want to..." as if it's new years day and I'm setting my resolutions.

- I am starting to wonder how I'm going to make enough money to survive next school year. Anybody wanna offer me a job? That's above minimum wage? It's hard coming from Chicago where I am paid $8.50/hr to settling for something so far less.

- As of Thursday, after 12:50pm, I'm sortof officially a college SOPHOMORE. Woah. Isn't that special.

Strange Happenings in Dreamland

2006-05-03T12:39:00.000-05:00

Lately, I have been having really strange dreams. Not that this is very abnormal for me... My dreams have always been weird. Like the time that I dreamt that my brother Adam pulled a lever in the haymow that unleashed a leopard onto him that tore him to shreds. Or the time I dreamt that I was in the ending scene of Star Wars episode II with my ex-boyfriend. But lately, my dreams have had a very college-oriented strangeness to them.

Sunday night, returning to Chicago from a weekend of shooting over 160 photos for my final photography project (of which I will post pictures from eventually), I dreamt that all the photos that I had purposely over-exposed (to get more vibrant color) turned up to be a magenta/white graphic design on my contact sheet, therefore I had no pictures to use.

And last night, I dreamt that I awoke to a phone call from Josiah, saying, "Hey babe, where have you been? I still want to come over and hang out with you tonight, but you haven't been answering your phone" And then I look at the clock and realize I slept until 7pm, missing the final test for my first class and the final science lab today. Scary.

Needless to say, I'm a bit stressed about finals, I have loads of work to do, and on my bulletin board is a well-planned-out schedule that includes a bubble-bath next Thursday night. Eight more days until freedom, nine more days before moving back to smalltown Iowa.

Why I am a Weirdo

2006-04-26T11:48:00.000-05:00

Heth tagged me, so here I go: Six reason why I am a weirdo.

1. My hands and feet are abnormally wrinkly. Ever since I was a kid, I have looked like my hands are twenty years older than my face. Just look at them sometime when I'm at home. I used to hate it, but have come to accept it as perhaps a tradeoff - God made me creative and good at certain things and as a tradeoff gave me wrinkly hands. To keep me humble.

2. I have been in FIVE car accidents and only one of which was my fault - I rolled my car on gravel when fifteen years old. Going 35 miles per hour. Poor car. Poor Adam, who just sold me his beloved Z24 that soon enough bit the dust. Literally. As for the other four, I guess I have had a tendency to just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And some other people really suck at driving, sorry to say. Happily, I am now accident-free for, hmm, about a year and 3 months now, I think? Woohoo.

3. I shouldn't be admitting this one, it will come back to haunt me. But whenever someone touches the back of my hair, I get a shiver down my spine.

4. I grew up on a small dairy farm in rural northeast Iowa, yet feel very much at home in downtown Chicago. Is that weird? Maybe not, but some people do think I'm crazy.

5. I can't eat those little, round red hots candies, they make me sick. I loved them all of a sudden in second grade, when I decided they were so great I could eat 62 of them in a row. Came home and puked. Every. Half. Hour.

6. I fold my underwear into neat little piles in my drawer, sorted by the ones I actually like to wear, and the ones I only wear when all my nice ones are in the laundry basket. I can't stand a messy underwear drawer.

Yes, I could think of a million more. I am kinda weird, I must say.

I'm tagging Bill, Natalie Joy, and Haleigh.

Looks Like My Sister, Maybe.

2006-04-24T17:18:00.000-05:00

I had to do a self-portrait for drawing class last night, of course I did it after midnight, since that seems to be the ongoing trend for due-on-Monday drawing assignments. I tell you what, staying still for yourself while drawing while watching yourself in the mirror is a challenge. I am pretty pleased with my drawing, though I entitled it, "Self portrait + makeup + plastic surgery"

Fast Lenses, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and the Time of Achilles

2006-04-20T00:32:00.000-05:00

Three things interesting me within the past three hours:

I need a fast lens for my camera. So that in low light situations (a.k.a. weddings), I don't have to concern myself so much with blurry pictures from slow shutter speeds. For real, I can't deal with the f/4-5.6 anymore. For those of you who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, I'll spare you and myself the trouble. In general, non-expensive lenses = slow shutter speeds. Mom, Dad, you know what I want for an extra-early Christmas/Birthday gift.

I LOVE chocolate chip cookies. The University Center, where I live, makes really tasty ones. I always take four of them, which is literally way too much to eat at once, and I dip one or two of them in my milk and scarf them down, and put the other two wrapped in napkins in my backpack for when I have a break from classes. Problem is, I always feel kind of nauseous after eating more than one. I don't know if it's all the sugar, or if they left some ingredient out. If it were a Chips Ahoy cookie, I could eat like 20 of them. It truly baffles me. I have been breaking off tiny nibbles to munch on from tonight's dinnertime cookies, and almost can't stand it. But I keep on nibbling. It is an addiction, I fear.

I watched the movie "Troy" tonight with Josiah. (My first viewing of it, not his.) I honestly didn't know who to root for between the Trojans and Greeks. The youngest Trojan prince, Paris, was a coward, stole someone's wife, and killed a good guy in the end. Josiah and I both couldn't stand him. But the Greeks were greedy and bad as well. But they had Achilles, a mighty warrior and good guy at heart. MY favorite character, Hector - Paris' brother - was killed. I was really bummed. However, it was a good movie. Josiah had to laugh at me because I kept mixing up who was who. The armor between the two armies was different, but still, why couldn't they have worn different colors, like in the Patriot?

Citibank, My List of Grievances

2006-04-18T16:13:00.000-05:00

When our founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence, they first made a list of grievances to Britain to justify breaking away from them. Personally, I have had a great deal of trouble with my own 'Britain' - Citibank. I opened an account there at the beginning of the school year, and now plan to pull my account in a couple weeks and deposit my money into the good ol' State Bank of Waverly.

My list of Grievances:

1 - When my roommate and I filled out brochures to open accounts at your booth, you guys processed her account over the weekend and one employee even gave her his personal cell phone number, just because she is cute. Am I not cute? It took you two weeks more simply to process my account.

2 - I am certain I signed up for a checking plus account with overdraft protection. Yeah, I guess you guys lost that application?

3 - You sent me two debit cards in the mail that didn't work in the ATM, and made me wait for over an hour to get it corrected.

4 - Your website is not updated enough, and you don't post all the debits to let me know what my real balance is.

5 - When I came in 30 minutes before your office closed, your security guard told me you wouldn't have enough time to see me today. And none of your personal bankers were busy.

6 - The next time I came in, the same thing happened, though I stood my ground and got an appointment.

7 - You charged me $180 in overdraft fees that I shouldn't have been charged, AND you did it while I was on vacation.

8 - When I called to get the problem corrected, a woman promised I would be reimbursed. Two weeks later, I got $30 back.

9 - When I stopped in at the bank in the middle of the afternoon to get the problem really fixed, I waited 45 minutes, then was told I couldn't be seen because in the whole Michigan Ave location, there was only one banker there.

10 - The second time I used your phone service to correct the problem, I was promised $150 back. The customer service representative never even filed the request with her supervisor.

11 - I don't receive any statements or notices in the mail.

12 - Your bankers seem to not want to deal with people. When I wait in line to make a deposit, and it's my turn, they ask me to use the ATM. Not even any people in line behind me.

13 - The supervisor I spoke with on the phone to FINALLY get my overdraft problem corrected proceeded to tell me in her own sneaky way that I was a liar, and that the account information isn't available anymore since the problem happened a month ago.

14 - The supervisor also tried to refer me to someone else, though that person has no power to reimburse me.

15 - When I get off the phone to you, I sometimes start crying, and sometimes even scream. At the top of my lungs.

For real, how does Citibank survive with this kind of customer service??

Coca-Cola Blekkkk

2006-04-18T14:55:00.000-05:00

Walking back to my room after picking up my rolls of film from photocenter today, there was a small group of people with a cooler handing out promotional bottles of the new Coca-Cola Blak drink - it's a "carbonated fusion beverage" with a lot of sugar, carbonated water, and coffee. Maybe there's some cola in there too. So I snatched one, and tried it.

All I can say is, the taste reminds me of root beer barrels (which I do NOT like), and coffee mixed together. And it's carbonated. Sorry, not interested. At least it was free.

Way to Sock it to 'Em, Mom.

2006-04-17T12:56:00.000-05:00

This is a random short post, since I have to eat lunch yet and get to class within the next 30 minutes, but I wanted to share an Easter snippit.

On my way home from Iowa to come back to the windy city, my mom gave me a call. She proceeded to tell me about a trick she was playing on Jacob at the moment -

Jacob had been pestering her to have an Easter egg hunt out in the yard all afternoon. Easter egg hunts are a tradition in our family since my little brothers were old enough to search, and since our yard is huge and filled with all kinds of trees, farm buildings, nooks & crannies, it is quite the hunt. However, this year it had rained a lot, and was still raining on Sunday. So in response to Jacob's pestering, my mom was explaining that it would be too messy to have an outdoors hunt. He persisted, so Mom said, "alright, give me 10 minutes, go to your room, and no peeking out the windows." She then got her coat, opened up the door, and shut the door. She then hid all the eggs around the inside of the house. Eight minutes later, she sent Jacob OUTSIDE to search for eggs. Ten minutes later, Jacob came in after realizing that Mom didn't hide any eggs outside at all.

Needless to say, we all had a good laugh at Jacob's expense. Sorry Jakey.

If only I were coordinated...

2006-04-13T13:04:00.000-05:00

I found this on Adrea's blog, and wanted to re-post it. It is crazy.

Click to watch the juggling.

Yesterday I finally did my taxes... I already had my federal ones done 3-4 weeks ago, but I had to do Illinois state taxes (they wrongly withheld IL taxes, and I wanted it back) and my Iowa ones. Oh, and Illinois state taxes were ridiculous... the Non-Resident forms have two columns - one that's easy to fill out, the other makes you first look up another file with a bunch of instructions, which then refer you to the IL-1040, and so on. For crying out loud, just simplify it, or don't make me file! So...the damage? Seems being a poor college dependent with a job still means the government should get money. Only like $70 or so total. I'm pretty pleased.

Reckless Generosity

2006-04-13T02:03:00.000-05:00

I have joined the Life Journal bandwagon. Woohoo!

For those of you not from Open Bible Church or who haven't ever heard of a Life Journal, it is simply a daily devotional journal that packs a lot of meaning into a small little entry. It's simple, but after 2 in the morning, hard to explain. You could visit Bill's blogand read his Life Journal entry, or Angela's as well.

Since beginning the Life journal, my devotion time has been awesome. Convicting, inspiring, intimate. Funny, since I had a devotional journal before I started the Life Journal. In almost the same format, and it was a struggle. Now I can't go to bed if I haven't spent that time with the Lord. Yay. You should really give it a try.

Here's tonight's late night journal:

Reckless Generosity

Scripture - 2 Corinthians 9:9-11 (Message)

"As one psalmist puts it,

'He throws caution to the winds,
giving to the needy in reckless abandon.
His right-living, right-giving ways
never run out, never wear out.'

This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God."

Observation -

In a time and culture where generosity seems scarce, these verses speak volumes as to how we as Christians should be different. We have been given "more than extravagant" gifts. We have everything we need, and we should be able to show it through our giving and loving spirit.

Application -

What can I do in my daily walk to reflect the lavish love of my heavenly father? Who does he want me to touch today? I get so caught up in school, work, errands, etc. that I often lose sight of the people who really need God's love.

Prayer -

Lord, help me to open my eyes to opportunities to give love recklessly! May my life be a reflection of your great generosity.

You Know You're in Art School When...

2006-04-10T11:11:00.000-05:00

I have been looking forward to blogging for so long now, not about anything in particular, but simply because I've been so caught up in hours of schoolwork that it hasn't been possible. There actually is a lot to blog about, but it may be a little while yet before I get around to that. With less than 5 weeks left of school, I've come up with a list relative to my art school experiences, all of which are true experiences of mine...

You know you're in art school when...

-Your dorm is covered in a light film of charcoal and oil paint residue

-Your shampoo bottles are arranged as a still life in the shower

-Trying to fit a gen-ed into your schedule is like trying to put a cat in a bucket of soapy water

-If you want to use the toilet in your room, you have to first move a stack of oil sticks and brushes

-Faculty in the science department have to try really hard to entertain you enough with creative labs for you to come to class

-You could do an oil value study on the dark circles under your eyes and your teacher would tell you that "you kick @!%!"

-When looking at others' old family and senior portraits, you critique the color balance of the print

-Rather than stressing about tests and enjoying art, now you stress about art and tests aren't very important

-One of your greatest joys in life is writing sticky notes with one of your 45 different colored sharpies

-Nearly every class discussion turns into a rant by some disgruntled student or teacher who hates the United States government

-When you get paid, you think, "I can buy photo supplies now!!"

-Your laundry drying rack doubles as a photo project storage unit

The list could go on, but I need to go to the digital lab and scan some negatives...

What I really Need is...

2006-03-09T13:03:00.000-06:00

In response to Heth's "filler" in which she listed things that google came up with that SHE needs, I did the same thing, and googled "Hannah needs." Interesting results:

Hannah needs a new name.
Hannah needs adoptive parents
Hannah needs to use more than skills to escape the trap
Hannah needs a little help
Hannah needs a little sister from China!
Hannah needs more than 10 hours to paint a room
Hannah needs to wear a cute black mask
Hannah needs to make a decision
Hannah needs to travel to this spot

And my personal favorite:

Hannah needs all of her training and resolve to unravel the tricky legal maneuvering and all of her athletic strength to survive.

Woah nilly, I'm busy!

2006-03-08T22:39:00.000-06:00

This past week has been CRAZY with schoolwork, midterms, photo projects, and drawings. Thankfully, I'm past the worst of it, and sunny Los Angeles is a mere week away! Yesterday, I made a huge schedule/to-do list, partially not believing it was possible to accomplish it all, but praying that I would. Not to be prideful, but just as Natalie had her super-mom day, Tuesday was a super-student day for me. I got up before 8:30, bought camera supplies, took film in, picked up my film, ate lunch, went to the darkroom and printed photos, went to the digital lab and scanned and printed photos, ate dinner, went to work for 5 hours, then came back and studied for my science midterm. EVERYTHING on my to-do list. I don't think that's ever happened.

Lately, Josiah and I haven't spent much time together, because we're so bogged down with work, and most of the hours we've been together have been devoted to schoolwork. I'm so proud of my baby, he's such a hard worker and hasn't procrastinated a single bit this entire semester. And he has such a ridiculous amount of homework - many compare the coursework of Moody Bible Institute to be as difficult as Harvard, and by the looks of it, I believe it. Sometimes he has way more homework than I do, but my homework is so much different it's hard to compare. Where he is reading books and writing papers, I'm shooting pictures, printing pictures, altering pictures, making drawings. I promise I'll post a couple of my drawings once I've gotten them back from being graded.

I've got to go so that I can make a couple phone calls before I head outside with another photo major to take some late-night pictures for my midterm. I'll post details on my project soon.

Death to charcoal.

2006-03-06T00:40:00.000-06:00

It's 12:41 am and I'm just so sick of drawing. Time for a 5-minute blogging break.

Today after church, what I planned on being a one-hour nap ended up being more like 2 hours, 20 minutes. And I've been lethargic ever since.

Josiah and I went to the University Center's Oscar party, spent a couple hours longer than planned there. It's been so long since I've watched an awards show, I had forgotten how long they run. We didn't even stay for the last hour.

But now I'm kicking myself for not getting my drawing homework done. I completed all my 15 minute sketches (10 of them), and now I have a 2-1/2 hour charcoal value study to do. And I'm to that point where I don't even want to pick up my charcoal.

Oh well, back to work. So much homework these days... midterms coming... ughh

$60, no, PRICELESS

2006-03-03T00:18:00.000-06:00

Tonight, for the first time in a long while, I have had time to kill. Whew, that feels good, doesn't it? So what have I used the time for? Sleeping? No. I've been listening to music and checking hockey scores. "Hockey scores?!?" some of you may be asking. Yes, hockey scores. I never used to care at all about the NHL, but all that has changed thanks to my guy, Josiah. He's an avid Colorado Avalanche fan, and has turned me into the same. Want proof? Here's a picture of me in my Avalanche track jacket:

Where am I standing in this picture? At United Center, of course, where Josiah and I saw the Avalanche play the Chicago Blackhawks back in January! (Meant to post a block that weekend, but I got really busy...) So here's a play-by-play of our hockey game experience:

We take the #19 Bus to United Center, excitement is building. After all, this is our first real life NHL game, and we paid 60 buckos for these tickets, and they are gonna be good. We arrive and find our seats, to discover the seats really are good ones.

Note the look of satisfaction on my face because we have a great view of the rink!

The players come on the ice and start to warm up. Hey look, there's our favorite player, Joe Sakic! He's the bomb.

Josiah could tell you probably everything about this guy. What kind of boxers does Joe Sakic wear? Just ask Josiah. Ok, Josiah is not a stalker, I'm just kidding about the boxers question. But seriously. This guy rocks.

The pregame show consists of fancy lights and music. Pretty cool, we got some good video but no pictures. I can't be taking pictures ALL the time, after all, I have to just watch sometimes.

The game starts, and within 17 seconds, the Blackhawks score! Ugh, that's not the way to start off, Avs!

At this point I would like to insert this picture, where we can clearly see the Blackhawk player in red the totally whiffing a shot. How embarassing... Yeah that's right, nice job. Boo. Thank goodness, the Avalanche score about 5 minutes later. So, we're happy and hopeful as the first period (three in hockey) comes to a close. We head out to buy a $4.50 slice of pizza and $4 Root beer, woohoo.

Seriously, we're psyched about using our life savings to buy concessions.

The game starts up again, and we are dismayed that the Blackhawks score two more goals before the Avalanche score their second. I mean, the Blackhawks are at this point considered one of the worst teams in the league, and the Avalanche have a big winning streak. Why, God, WHY? When our beloved team gets to this point, the Blackhawk fans surrounding us are starting to wear on our nerves.

The Blackhawks score again. The score is now 2-4, we are losing. The second period ends, we head out and buy two $4 hot dogs and another $4 soda. Since our life savings are already exhausted on these refreshments, I put it on my visa. I'll have to work for months to pay back that bill, let me tell you.

Third period starts, and no one ends up scoring the entire time. Both teams must be tired or something. I know I would be after two twenty-minute periods of skating. Then again, I can't ice skate very well. And I lack hand-stick coordination. At least I think I do, I haven't played ice hockey in my entire life. Just floor "hockey" in elementary school gym class, you know, where if you lift the stick above your waist, you get a whistle blown at you and have to sit out for the rest of the game? Back to the subject. We are sad. Hence the first picture where I'm frowning while showing off my cool track jacket.

But sad enough to regret paying $60 and going to the game? No! It was soooo worth it. We had a lot of fun, it was exciting, the atmosphere was awesome, and I learned a valuable lesson: it is much easier to see the puck in real life, when you aren't dizzy from the ESPN camera moving fast back and forth.

My Choice

2006-03-01T12:54:00.000-06:00

Last night was honestly a breaking point for me, I have been overly stressed lately due to an apparent lack of trusting things to God. After spending a very long time last night having a heart-to-heart with Him, I feel a huge burden lifted off of my shoulders. I received an email today that I wanted to post, since it embodies where I'm at right now.

By Max Lucado Taken from “When God Whispers Your Name”

"It’s QUIET. It’s early. My coffee is hot. The sky is still black. The world is still asleep. The day is coming.

In a few moments the day will arrive. It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun. The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the noise of the day. The calm of solitude will be replaced by the pounding pace of the human race. The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made and deadlines to be met.

For the next twelve hours I will be exposed to the day’s demands. It is now that I must make a choice. Because of Calvary, I’m free to choose. And so I choose.

I choose love…

No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose to love. Today I will love God and what God loves.

I choose joy…

I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical…the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I choose peace…

I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live.

I choose patience…

I will overlook the inconveniences of the world. Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I’ll invite him to do so. Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray. Instead of clinching my fist at new assignments, I will face them with joy and courage.

I choose kindness…

I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.

I choose goodness…

I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I will boast. I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness.

I choose faithfulness…

Today I will keep my promises. My debtors will not regret their trust. My associates will not question my word. My wife will not question my love. And my children will never fear that their father will not come home.

I choose gentleness…

Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.

I choose self-control…

I am a spiritual being. After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal. I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek his grace. And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest."

I Need Some Rocky Road Ice Cream

2006-02-27T20:06:00.000-06:00

Swimsuit shopping.

Most women who are reading this now are probably making a horrible face of disgust already, just by my topic. Tonight I went looking for a one-piece suit because I'm going to try swimming as therapy for my lower back. Starting tomorrow. Needed a suit.

So, I figured Target of all places would have a good variety at a low price. However, I quickly came to find that the only one-pieces that Target had were size 14 and up. Nice. Old Navy had no one-pieces. I went to TJMaxx, hopeful.... I love TJMaxx in Waterloo, but this place was really REALLY ghetto. I tried on six swimsuits there. A quite interesting suit I tried on was the "miracle suit, guaranteed to make you look 10 pounds thinner instantly!" Like I really need to look 10 pounds thinner... 10 pounds thinner for me would be pre-8th grade weight. the suit was extremely tight top to bottom and was slenderizing, but had this weird support in the butt that lifted so much that, well, it made a crease where there shouldn't be one... I'll leave it at that.

So finally, I went to "Filene's basement" which is just like TJMaxx, only better. Tried on 4 more suits. Found a Ralph Lauren sport one that fit nice.

What gets me is, I'm a small girl who doesn't feel the excessive need to change her body, pretty happy with where I'm at. Just being here in Chicago and living a busy lifestyle has made me lose weight I wasn't trying to lose. So why is it, that the size of clothes I normally wear is tripled or quadrupled to be the size my swimsuit? How's that for a self-esteem builder? And those lights in the dressing room, someone needs to wise up and realize that women would buy more clothing if the lighting was more flattering and not so show-me-all-my-imperfections-to-the-max.

I'm glad I found a swimsuit when I did, I was about to give up. Blech.

Home and Back Home

2006-02-21T12:27:00.000-06:00

I first off want to apologize for my blogging... or lack therof I guess. But I did warn beforehand that with school starting up again this semester that the continual blogging would diminish. That being said, I would have to admit I have really missed blogging and reading everyone else's blogs.

I went home this past weekend to smalltown, Iowa. I was supposed to leave Thursday afternoon since I don't have classes on Fridays, but the huge snowstorm kept me inside. It snowed a lot in Iowa, but the storm must have shifted, because we pretty much just got lots of rain. (I'm not a snow person, so I am not complaining.) So I made the usually-5-hour-drive on Friday instead, and finally understood this "cold" the Iowans were complaining about. It was so bitter cold. When I called Josiah from Iowa and told him it was -7 degrees that evening, he told me that Chicago was still pretty nice, in the 20s/30s still.

Of all the things I planned to do while at home, I accomplished relatively little.

Original plan:
shoot 4-5 rolls of film, including 2 rolls of portraits; get my federal and state taxes done and my FAFSA started; spend the night with Haleigh Saturday and go to church with her Sunday; have a relaxing weekend at home; get my sketchbook assignment done for drawing class. Ambitious huh?

Here's what actually happened:

Babysat Bill & Nat's kids and failed to use that opportunity to take pictures. And to do my sketches. I had hours. But I just chilled while the kids slept. At least I got to see the kids and Bill and Nat and my good friend Megs. I did relax though, overnight got to use the marvelous sleep number bed. My sleep number is 25. Or was for that night, anyway.

Shopped at Goodwill with Mom. I don't think she fully understood that I take hours to shop there because I try a million things on out of hope for a steal. She had wanted to go so that she could look at all the house stuff like cups/dishes/etc. I bought 7 awesome skirts and two short dresses to wear over jeans. I was pleased. But we were there for probably 2-1/2 hours at least.

Went to dinner with the fam, got to ride in the new family vehicle. Wow, we have never owned something so nice. Good job, Dad. I'm impressed. Leather interior and everything. We ate at Pizza Hut, which was fun, I still get my employee discount because I'm technically still on the payroll. (I never officially quit, I may work there some in the summer.)

Tried to do taxes, but Dad had chores after dinner and I was so tired, I gave up before he could really help me. I went to bed, my federal taxes are maybe half done. Haven't even touched Iowa taxes, and I may have to file in Illinois also, I haven't figured it out for sure yet. And FAFSA? Ugh. Not now. Maybe next weekend.

Drove to Ames Sunday morning, saw Haleigh, went to church. Had a great time, ate a good and cheap lunch, shopped at Target. Proved my theory that if I go into Target for 3 things, I will always find more that I "need" and end up spending $50 or more.

Drove back to Chicago. It was the longest drive of my life, I felt. Highway 80 is quite... non-exciting. I had real issues with trying to find a good place to fuel up and use the restroom, the places I pulled off ended up being either way out-of-the-way or closed. Let me tell you, when I saw my Chicago skyline, I got very excited, and got that feeling of, "thank God, I'm home" that I would normally get coming back to Iowa. I love being at home in Iowa, but there's something about this city that feels so familiar, so comfortable to me. But sometimes I feel as if I don't fully belong in Waverly or in Chicago. I think a part of me has to have both to feel satisfied.

Pepper spray in my pocket, and boyfriend 15 minutes away again, I am at ease.

Amendment to my previous post, by request

2006-02-11T00:34:00.000-06:00

I got some comments asking, "What about Josiah?" from my last post, so here's the nitty gritty of it:

Hours spent talking on the phone to Josiah per week:

Probably around 5

Hours spent with Josiah each week (in person):

Probably about 30

So basically, i'm not actually spending those 27 hours doing homework nor those 56 hours sleeping. Just like T said, everything looks better on paper... it doesn't actually work out as planned.

Also of note, this past Tuesday, Feb. 7th was my 1-year anniversary with Josiah, from the day we were officially not-just-friends and a real dating couple. Tonight we celebrated, since Tuesdays he has his ministry training at an inner-city youth group. We exchanged gifts - I bought him this awesome Colorado Avalanche (our fave NHL team) sweatshirt, and he gave me a "Best of Coldplay" piano book and some other sheet music, as well as some adorable magnetic kissing stuffed animals. We ate at a casual steakhouse called "Ronny's" and shared a 20-ounce t-bone, baked potato, corn, garlic bread, and some unbelievable good lemonades. All for less than $25. Woohoo. What a wonderful year it has been. Being together almost every day now has really stretched us in many ways, but excitingly, we are growing closer as a couple and much closer to God. I am so blessed!

One favorite date place of ours... Sunday afternoons at Lincoln Park Zoo.
(It's free, and there are penguins.)

p.s. Keep me in your prayers for Saturday morning and after, I'm interviewing to be an RA for next year, which would save me a nice $11K for next year.

Where has all the time gone?

2006-02-10T01:48:00.000-06:00

Wow, I actually feel kind of guilty for not blogging for so long. Actually, maybe guilty is not the word, it is "amazed." The past three weeks of school has really flown by. How has all my time been spent? I felt the desire today to mathematically determine how ridiculously over-scheduled I am. So here's the weekly breakdown:

Hours expected from my teachers to work on my homework:

Hours to actually sleep 8 hours per day:

Hours spent in class:

Hours working at H&M:

Hours devoted to an average of 40 minutes to get ready in the morning:

4.67

Hours devoted to eating two meals per day at 20 mins each:

4.67

Hours in church on Sunday:

Hours on public transportation to get to church and work:

2.5

Hours walking to and from class:

1.67

Daily devotions:

sadly, a mere 2.33 hours per week

The grand total of these activities.... 134.8 hours

How many hours are in a week? 168.

Theoretically, I have nearly 5 hours to spare each day. If only it worked out that nicely. And looking at how my time is spent, I am sort of saddened. I sometimes find it hard just to spend those 20 minutes a day with the Lord. I spend twice as much time per week getting ready in the morning than I do reading the Bible and praying. It's humbling, a real reality check.

Trip Down Memory Lane, Part 4: Kodak Moments

2006-01-26T11:26:00.000-06:00

This is my final photo installment in this mini-series (egh I sound like I'm trying to make it so official or something...) devoted to those pictures that just capture the moment so well. Here goes:

Part 4: Kodak Moments

Natalie Joy, do you recognize the beautiful baby in this picture? This is the day that Haleigh and I came to visit new baby Mel in the hospital... AND she smiled for the picture!

Megan and I got tired of shooting still-life pictures in the junkyard, so we played around. We found this oversized tricycle... I want one of those to ride downtown here... wait, parking would be too expensive...

Hehe, look at the fire behind those blue eyes of mine. You may also notice that I am completely missing my front-left tooth, which got knocked out when I was one years old when I fell on my bottle. I like to think of myself as the calm, sensible child of the four of us, but by the looks of this picture, I must have had some 'obnoxious' in me at an earlier age.

This is in Bill and Nat's old backyard where we had youth group one night. Haleigh and I had just been out taking pictures together all day.

On our very second photoshoot, Haleigh and I took a bunch of timer photos. For this one, Haleigh stood in the water and I pushed the button, then ran and jumped in the creek. What I didn't know what how HORRIBLY cold the water was. It startled me, quite frankly.

While in England, our choir group stumbed upon this professional violinist playing in a square. It was so insane... he put on a cd of a famous symphony and played the lead violinist part of the song. Wow.

Though betraying the idea that these are all pictures I dug out from my old photo album, I had to end with this one. It is one of my favorites from my trip to Kenya, where I worked with Christian Mission Aid in the slums of Nairobi. This little girl followed me around quite a bit, and one afternoon, she was just standing in the doorway of the school building (a shack, really) and when I pulled out my camera, she smiled (Kenyan children adore getting their picture taken!) Every time I see this picture, I want to jump a plane and go back there...

Well, that's all for this series of photos, eventually I plan to write about Kenya in detail and show more pictures from the trip, but I want to have time to pour my heart out into it, and with school started up again, it will be hard. Thanks for taking time to look at my blog!

Trip Down Memory Lane, Part 3: My Funny-Farm Family

2006-01-25T22:30:00.000-06:00

Years ago, my mom sent my older brother, Adam, a card at church camp signed "from your Funny-Farm Family" and the term kinda stuck with me. Note the hyphen... it joins the two words into one... This is my third installment of pictures, dedicated to my wacko but wonderful family...

Um, what better picture to start with? It fulfills everything you could imagine for a crazy family. The grumpy looking farmer father, the disinterested eldest son, the goofy mom who still loves the concept of bunny-ears, the over-glammed daughter, the over-stressed twelve-year-old, and the never-ending perplexity of a young'un who never seems to mature!

AWWW... look at me in my carseat.... awww look at.... AWWWW.

Doin' what he loved to do... Haleigh, you took this one the first day we took pictures with my new camera. I will cherish it forever.

Why the weird finger thingy? I don't know. It was Jacob's idea.

This is a picture from one of my "vacations" to Chicago... we went to the best Cubs game ever, I think four homeruns were hit or something?!? It was AMAZING.

I think the best part of this picture of Jake is how ridiculously innocent he looks... do not be fooled, my friends; there is obnoxious fury hidden behind all those freckles!

Adam, I want those glasses. Oh.... I was thinking I should try this hairdo sometime again, the one where there's a curlyish tuft on top of my head and all the hair on the sides is real thin and worn down.

My grandparents, who are now footloose, eternally dancing together like the first day they met.

And finally, (phew, that was a lengthy one!) the two rejects. Theme for this photo? I'm guessing indigestion and constipation!

Hope you enjoyed that! I sure did. Coming up next - the final installment: Kodak moments

Trip Down Memory Lane, Part 2: Memories of OBC

2006-01-24T16:20:00.000-06:00

Alright, here's the second installment, as promised...

Part 2: Memories of OBC

Ever need a really awesome place for a date? This is a picture I took of the Chicago skyline during our missions trip to Chicago. This was the trip in which I first got to know and fall in love with this city. Taken from one of my favorite date places of all time, Navy Pier.

The Chicago trip ended with a bang, literally... I took this picture after our 5-vehicle pile-up, telling Jess, "Smile big, we're in Chicago!" I love this picture, though I am reminded almost daily of the not-so-good part of the accident, my sprained back!

Road trip to regional music/drama competition. Bill was taking a long time to buy snacks, so Tim, Jess Teidt, and I washed the car right there at the gas pump.

Back to School Retreat, click on this one to see it bigger for sure, the expressions and personalities are so fun to remember. We were goofballs. Wait, I don't think that's changed.

Another good one from the Chicago trip, I think this was all but a couple people that went... I remember that one guy (Jon Wolfe? I don't remember) stayed upstairs in his room for the evening, and Brenda took the picture, and we went out to walk around downtown. That was such a fun night, walking past all the ritzy stores and beautiful lit wall with water cascading down... Ahh I love my Chicago.

My worship team, celebrating our immense victory at Mosaic (woohoo... a trophy.) Actually, I believe we got scholarships to the Chicago trip from this one? Maybe I am mistaken, but good times...

I'll finish with this beauty, taken of the two koolest girls ever... that year at church camp was crazy... we were incoming freshmen, on the worship team, and we both were hit on big time by upperclassmen. Ughh. :O)

Alright, that's all for this installment, coming up next: The Funny-Farm Family.

p.s. I posted an additional picture on the last installment, when I made the original post it simply wouldn't upload. But I got it to work, and it's definitely worth checking out...

Trip Down Memory Lane, Part 1: Silly/Unforgettable

2006-01-23T22:01:00.000-06:00

Today I have been "cleaning house," though it actually seems I am making a worse mess since I'm plotting to re-arrange my room. I just have gotten so bored with the setup of first semester. I may have to enroll some of my neighbor guys to help me move the bunk beds tonight. Consult my roommate? Why? She's NEVER HERE. Anyhow, as I was "cleaning house," I opened up my photo box and perused my old photo album and a loose batch of photos... oh what memories. So I wanted to post some of my favorites, so you all (that know me) might take the same trip down memory lane and enjoy yourselves. This will be a three or four-part blog.

Part 1: Silly/Unforgettable

This is me at the peak of my training. Notice that boxing is no longer grueling for me, that it's become easy and fun to knock out my friend, who smiles because she expected to be clobbered anyway.

This one was taken at church camp when I was on worship team. It was rainy, and we all made a slip-n-slide down the hill at the ol' campgrounds. Pheew... that mud had a nasty smell, let me tell you...

Whoahh!!! That gravel can be tricky sometimes... I performed this rolling stunt at age 15 with my school license on my way to cross country practice. Funny thing I just noticed: you can see my hand print on the door where, in my shock and horror after flipping, I jumped out of the broken window and ran home (only a 1/4 mile away.) A moment of silence for the car, please.

This picture at Winsor Castle in London is pretty self-explanatory.

I will never be able to forget this picture, or how significant it has been to both Haleigh and me. Derek had wanted so badly to plan prom and be able to attend, and he did both of those. He passed away less than a month later from complications of cancer.

There you have it... coming up next: Memories of Open Bible Church

Veddy Interesting...

2006-01-20T11:47:00.000-06:00

I was reading Chilihead's blog talking about a site she found with digital retouching of a bikini model, so I googled a phrase and came up with another great site to look at. It's so fascinating (and disturbing) to me how much work is done to the models' pictures. There are women who do have gorgeous bodies and skin, I'm sure, but it's not as normal as we make it out to be. Take a look at the site, if you scroll over the pictures, you will see the before version. Interesting...

Getting to Know Me... Getting to Know All About Me

2006-01-19T23:36:00.000-06:00

Bill tagged me a while ago with this meme… I was wondering the same thing, what IS a meme? Just a game? Where does the word “meme” come from? Oh well, here goes…

Four jobs you had in your life.

1. Huge milk bowl watcher – once my dad’s milkhouse equipment was acting up when I was probably 6 or 7 years old, and he had me watch to make sure the milk level inside the huge glass sphere didn’t go beyond a certain level. Problem was, probably after about 5 minutes, I was so bored and worried I would have to be there forever that I ran out into the barn crying, saying I didn’t want to watch it anymore. Luckily my dad let me off the hook.

2. Hay raker. What could be better than sitting on a tractor, just making sure I stay in a straight line, all the while getting a tan in the skimpiest bikini I owned, and singing as loud as I could to my little brother’s Cadet CD? Oh, AND I was paid $7 and hour to do it.

3. Pizza Hut waitress. “Can I get you a refill?” “I’m sorry, there was a mistake made in the kitchen. Your pizza was made ALL with pepperoni and sausage instead of half and half.” “Sorry sir, I’m the only server tonight and I have twelve other tables that ordered their drinks before you!”

4. Caretaker for Grandpa. When I discovered that my grandfather was engaged twice before he even MET Grandma, something my dad didn’t even know. The best job I’d ever had.

Four movies you could watch over and over.

1. Spanglish. So many quotes I could put down, I love it!

2. The Wedding Singer.

3. Sabrina. Not the teenage witch. The movie with Harrison Ford. I watched this movie every single time I came home sick during high school.

4. Two Weeks Notice – because it’s Hugh Grant. Sorry, Josiah.

Four places you've lived.

1. Mama’s belly. It was wet and dark in there. We were both pretty happy when I decided to move out.

2. RR 4 Box 123. Before our country road even had a name, just a number. It was a good old blue house, with lovely shag carpet.

3. The main Epley farm. I love it there.

4. Chicago, IL. Fast paced, just right for me. But when I go home to the Epley farm, I hear imaginary city noises while in bed because I’m not used to the peace and quiet anymore.

Four TV shows you love to watch.

***I do not really watch TV anymore. These I have liked in the past:

1. Family Guy

2. Average Joe

3. Friends

4. Who’s Line is it Anyway?

Four places you've been on vacation.

1. Chicago, a few times.

2. France and England, if you call a choir trip a vacation.

3. Maryland, because that’s where my aunt, uncle, and cousins live.

4. Maasai Mara, in Kenya, Africa, where I went on a 3-day safari.

Four websites you visit daily.

1. google.com. I don’t know why, I just don’t feel fulfilled unless I’ve googled something each day.

2. hotmail.com and aol.com, to check my email.

3. facebook.com. The college version of myspace.

4. blogger.com. I love reading what’s new with my favorite Waverlyites.

Four of your favorite foods

1. Spaghetti

2. Chicago style pizza – my new favorite is Giordano’s.

3. Mom’s macaroni casserole. Coming to a church potluck near you. Seriously, it’s the greatest.

4. Stir fry, preferably with some steak strips inside.

Four places you'd rather be right now

1. In Kenya, doing just about anything.

2. In Los Angeles with my brother. (My spring break plan.)

3. Hanging out with Josiah, anywhere.

4. On a Caribbean cruise.

Four bloggers you are tagging

1. Haleigh, though her blog isn’t up and running right now.

2. Angela

3. Uhh… anyone else I can think of that hasn’t filled this out…

4. …?

My TV's Ethnicity

2006-01-11T22:44:00.000-06:00

In an earlier post, I explained that my TV was broken, that it wouldn't work no matter what I did. So when Josiah moved in last week, his parents helped me out by driving me down to the repair shop to take in the television.

I must explain that mapquest was quite misleading in its estimated time of 17 minutes to get there. First of all, the shop is located smack dab in the middle of the Spanish part of town. Spanish part = narrower streets. It took us an hour to get there. Why Philips doesn't have a closer repair place to where I live, I am baffled. Anyhow, we got the TV to it's repair shop, I paid my $50 deposit, and headed back home.

A couple days later, I got a message on my answering machine asking me to call and explain what the problem was with the TV. I was a little confused, since I explained pretty clearly when I dropped it off. Nevertheless, on Monday, I called the store and explained thoroughly how my TV set was broken. They said, "OK" and told me they would call me when they figured out what the problem was.

An hour or so later, I got a call saying the TV was fixed and ready to pick up. Why, I wondered, was it fixed so fast? Suspicious... So yesterday, Josiah and I took my car from Hyde Park to the repair shop to pick up the television. Mapquest's directions this time conveniently took us through the "lock your doors and pray we don't get shot" part of Chicago. Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad, but it was pretty ghetto. We spoke with the technician who worked on my TV... he plugged it in for us and it worked great. Then he explained that he did absolutely nothing to fix it, he even opened it up and checked to make sure everything was fine, and it was. Josiah and I brought the TV back, plugged it in, and voila, worked fine.

I have since played with many theories as to why my television acted as it did. Maybe the outlet it was plugged into was messed up. But I have it plugged into the same outlet now, and it's working great. Maybe, as my grandmother suggested, the car trip to the repair store jostled something back into place. Perhaps. But I have decided on a much better theory:

My TV is of Spanish descent. Why else would it suddenly start working again once it got to the Spanish part of town? It must have felt comforted to be home, around people speaking the same language, who looked like family. That comfort gave my TV the strength it needed to do its daily job once again.

Next time your TV is broken, maybe you could try playing some ethnic music to soothe its homesickness. Maybe it would have saved me $50.

A Funny Forward That Was Actually... Funny.

2006-01-11T11:56:00.000-06:00

Today in my email I got a forward from my cousin, Kris. It had a link to a very funny (and clean) video, which I wanted to share: (clicking below will start downloading the video.)

http://www.military.com/Video/050303_DanceTime.wmv

Enjoy!

Young and in Love, part 2

2006-01-11T11:31:00.000-06:00

Now that my scanner is working, I also wanted to share my new favorite photo of Josiah and me together. As I've already discussed, his love has taught me so much! I love you, babe!

Diversity at Columbia

2006-01-10T22:06:00.000-06:00

I got my scanner working!!! Ok, for my first semester photo 1 project, I decided to do "diversity at Columbia." So the following pictures were my attempt to capture Columbia's diversity in ethnicity, student life, and personalities... enjoy!

Eh... it's the new year, why not?

2006-01-05T19:31:00.000-06:00

I read this survey in Angela's blog... Ang, I love reading your blog. Oh, and my mom and I have decided you and Matt are the cutest couple. It is so obvious how much you love each other!

Here goes...

1. What did you do in 2005 that you had never done before?
Traveled overseas by myself - many lonely hours in London Heathrow airport, let me tell you!

2.Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I honestly don't know if I set any. I'm sure I did, but don't know what they were. This year I'm going to try to read more Christian literature (other than the Bible.)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Mandee and Heather

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Both of my grandparents... that was hard.

5. What countries did you visit?
Kenya and Uganda, working with Christian Mission Aid (www.cmaid.org)

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
A year free of car accidents!

7. What dates will remain etched in your memory and why?
January 20th - first date with Josiah - met for coffee at Cup of Joe
February 7th - officially dating Josiah - our anniversary!
May 29th - graduated from high school
June 6th - boarded a plane for Kenya, working for CMA for a month
June 26th - my grandma, Evelyn Epley, died while I was still in Kenya
August 27th - moved to the windy city
November 8th - my grandpa, Ivan Epley, died
December 25th - Josiah and my first Christmas together!

8. What's your biggest achievement of the year?
I could say being valedictorian was pretty big - it all came down to how I did on my physics final test... if I had missed a few more questions I would have tied with the #2 person.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting more scholarships to pay for my expensive Chicago education maybe?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I mostly just dealt with my usual back pain, but I had really horrible food poisoning while in Kenya, so badly in fact that after puking my brains out all night I had to go to a tropical disease clinic to be tested for malaria, (test was negative), then was given an IV to restore the fluids I had lost.

11.What was the best thing you bought?
My 67-300mm zoom lens for my camera!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Josiah - when I first met him, he told me that because of past relationships, it would be hard for him to fall in love. But he has turned into the most amazingly sweet, loving guy!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and disgusted?
The liberal democrats, who try to make everything good about our country seem like a crime and who try to convince the world that everything our government does is corrupt...

14. Where did most of your money go?
I'm tempted to say Kenya, because that was expensive, but college has definitely drained my bank account much worse.

15. What did you get really, really excited about?
Falling in love with a wonderful guy, and doing missionary work in Kenya.

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
Hmm. To put one song to it would be impossible.

17. Compared to this time last year are you?
a) happier or sadder? happier
b) fatter or thinner? thinner. not by much, just 5 pounds or so.
c) richer or poorer? that goes BOTH ways, moneywise I am much poorer, but I have become richer by the many blessings that have come my way!

18. What do you wish you had done more of?
Spending time with loved ones, studying God's word.

19. What do you wish you had done less of?
Stressing about unimportant things.

20. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
I went with Josiah to a friend's house, where we ate pizza, watched a movie, and played games, and of course, I kissed my love at midnight!

21. Did you fall in love in 2005?
YES!

22. What was your favorite TV program?
I honestly don't watch TV anymore, nor can I remember any particular program I loved.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I do not hate people.

24. What was the best book you read?
I think I would say the Bible.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I fell in love with many bands... 'Coldplay' and 'Deathcab for Cutie' are two.

26. What did you want and get?
I wanted to really fall in love, and i definitely did.

27. What did you not want and not get?
Malaria.

28. What was your favorite film this year?
Oh boy. What movies did I see? Ones I liked were Hitch, Bewitched, King Kong, Chronicles of Narnia, and Monster-in-Law.

29. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I worked, quickly ate some cake in front of my dorm-buddies, then went to African History & Culture class.

30. What one thing would have made your year measurably more satisfying?
Having spent more time with God, and less time doing pointless things.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion in 2005?
The continually recycled wardrobe.

32. What kept you sane?
My relationship with God, my family, Josiah

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I can't say.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
The Democrat's discrediting everything great that's happened in Iraq.

35. Who did you miss?
Josiah, my friends, but most of all, Grandma & Grandpa Epley.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Josiah by far.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005.
Even when you are least expecting it, or incredibly undeserving of it, God will bless you.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"its time now to sing out, though the story never ends, let's celebrate remember a year in the life of friends. Remember the love." - "seasons of love" from the musical Rent

Young and in Love

2005-12-27T17:18:00.000-06:00

Josiah just left a few hours ago to go back to his home in Waterloo, Iowa, and I miss him already.

We weren't planning to be together on Christmas, since I'll be home on Thursday and then he's moving to Chicago to attend Moody Bible Institute. But when the night of the 23rd rolled around and I came to the sad conclusion that I would be alone on Christmas, Josiah said goodbye to his buddies and got permission from his parents to make a trip to the city. He left the next morning and got here around 3:30pm... and it was so exciting to see him. We stayed in the room mostly, napping, making freezer meals, and watching dvd's on my laptop. His parents gave me "The March of the Penguins" on dvd, which I had never seen, so we watched it together. What a great movie.

It has been really hard being away from Josiah this past semester. I can't even express how he makes me feel. When I look back on old high school dating relationships, whether mine or others', I am amazed how apparently shallow they were. It's one thing to have a crush on someone, to like someone. But it's totally different when you find someone who you can truly love, and who loves you just the same. Someone who is there to grow with you, emotionally and spiritually. Someone who looks forward to every moment with you. Who wraps his arms around you when you're happy, sad, or even just bored. Someone who picks the big chips out of the bag because he knows you don't like the crumbs. I feel so blessed to have someone like that.

Having found such a wonderful person and such a wonderful love has taught me a lot about the love of my Heavenly Father. The love that Josiah and I share is amazing to me - how much more amazing is the love of Jesus? His love is perfect, unfailing, unconditional. He loves us no matter how many times we betray Him. No matter how many times we let Him down.
one of my favorite scriptures about love is Ephesians 5:2, "Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that."

My love for Christ has inspired me to love like he loved, with my whole heart, unselfishly. It surely is a challenge to meet such a high standard.

What do you do when you're poor and bored to pieces?

2005-12-23T00:28:00.000-06:00

So I'm still here in Chicago until the 29th, just hanging out and working (I work at H&M on state street). I didn't think it would be so bad. Sure, I would much prefer being home right now, but this gives me the chance to unwind, have some "me" time, make some money. My life here is pretty... what's the word... sufficient? I live in a building in which I could never leave and be fine... There's a cafeteria and a gym on the second floor, a laundry room on my floor, I have my own full bathroom, 7-eleven downstairs, and Panera just opened up on the ground floor as well. I have my tv and dvd player in my room, surround sound (no I am not rich - far from it - my surround cost $40), and my laptop. Not to mention my phone, in which a decent chunk of time is spent each day talking with Josiah. Life here during the holidays would be awesome, so I thought.

I came to find that my meal plan for the cafeteria is de-activated for the break, so basically, I'm on my own until January 23rd. Today I ate my last freezer meal, a hot pocket, which isn't generally my cuisine of choice, but satisfied my appetite. Apart from the unused box of stove top stuffing, some triscuits, and my favorite peach applesauce cups that still remain, I'm eating chips and salsa. For all of my meals. It's a bit redundant. Oooh I just remembered, I still have some leftover ice cream cake from my birthday in the freezer. I'll eat that tomorrow. Like I mentioned earlier, there's a 7-eleven and a Panera in my building, which would come in handy if I had money... haha. It's my own fault for using the last of my previous paycheck on clothes at H&M, but it's ok... I get paid tomorrow. I'll go to the grocery store and buy some milk and some macaroni or something.

So my food options are... less than stellar, but I still have my entertainment, right? hmm. Well, yesterday before my roommate went home, she tried turning on the TV, and said, "hey, what's wrong with the TV?" There's no picture. It's black. With a white line across the top. No sound. I can still see the channel numbers, faintly. I went to the menu to see if the settings somehow messed themselves up (funny how electronics, systematic as they are, seem to have evil personalities sometimes), and discovered that if I move the brightness and color all the way to 100, I can see the picture. However, the picture is scrunched to the top 2/3 of the screen, and the bottom 1/3 is still black. I don't get it... I just watched 'the wedding singer' the night before, and it worked perfect. Oh well. I can handle a break from watching dvd's I guess. Josiah's best friend is home from the military for a couple weeks, so I don't get to talk to him as much, and the gym downstairs closes really early. Tonight I got all excited and went down in my workout clothes, and they told me they were closing in 10 minutes, so I pedaled as hard as I could for 10 minutes.

so I was really bored today, wanna know what I did? I woke up at 10, checked my email and sat around doing pointless stuff on the internet till 1pm, went back to sleep, woke up at 4:45 and called Josiah, checked my email, ate a hot pocket, talked with my family on the phone, checked my email, laid around, rode an exercise bike for 10 minutes, then came back up to check my email. For the fourth time today. I think I must deep inside believe that I will get some amazing email, one that is thoroughly entertaining, making me laugh so hard, then being touching at the end, so a tear will run down my cheek. Then this email will send me to a webpage with lots of entertaining things to do, and will play scenes from my favorite movies. If someone could invent an email like that, I would give them a hug.

Ahh, college life...

p.s. I miss everyone at home, can't wait to see ya and say, "hi!!"

It's c-c-c-cold

2005-12-19T10:51:00.000-06:00

So, Chicago isn't called the windy city because of the wind. It's called the windy city because of the politicians. But it is so cold and windy here! This morning I went to move my car (to avoid being ticketed - I park for free in a neighborhood in which I don't live...) and I definitely should have worn TWO pairs of sweatpants instead of one!

By the way, yes, my sense of style has changed since living in the big city, but you wouldn't be able to tell when I go to move my car - so stylish in my Nike's, grey sweats, and long wool pea coat!

Ahh... Now I can relax!

2005-12-17T23:11:00.000-06:00

Finals are FINALLY over! Hence, my title.

Tonight on the phone, my older brother asked me what kind of finals college students at an art school had to do... for two of my classes I DID have the usual test/research paper. Once I actually took the time to do these, they were a breeze. For my photography and darkroom classes, I had to present a 10-photo final project. Finally, for my design class, I was to design a 7-panel cd insert and the cd label.

My brother quickly came to the conclusion that art students have it easy. HA. It's a little more complicated than it sounds...

I don't even want to try and calculate the hours I was in the 10th floor darkroom the past three weeks developing and printing photos. It's so tedious. Perfection in the darkroom is not as easy as I thought it would be. For one of my photos, I probably printed 12 different copies, maybe more to get it right, so about an hour and a half at LEAST on a single image. I finished my 10 prints on Thursday afternoon, after being in the darkroom for 6 long hours. I came back after my Thursday night class to cut my mats and mount the photos. Phew... what a relief it was to have them done!

(Here are the photos)

The cd design thing... that's another story. Yes, I did procrastinate an awful lot. After the darkroom on Thursday, I hurried to my place and worked to finish it as fast as I could. My printer is not large enough to print the format my project was in, so I thought, no problem, I'll take it to Kinko's...

What a mistake.

After explaining to the man behind the counter (which is underneath a huge sign saying, "we're here to help you!!") what a rush I was in and what I needed him to help me with, he casually said, "Well, I'm a little busy, so you'll have to do this yourself on the self-serve copiers." He also explained that Kinko's can only print on 8.5X11 paper just like my own printer, and I would have to reduce my image. Why, I wonder, does a professional printing shop not have a larger-format printer? The final step in my Kinko's plan was to print a computer file onto the image. The man behind the counter argued with me for 5 minutes that I could not print text on top of an image, because after all, the background of my text is white... thus, the white would cover my image... At this point, you can understand I was getting a little fed up. I asked why white would cover the image one more time, he told me that because the background on the screen is white, it will print out that way and ruin my colorful image.

"What... you have white ink in your printers?!?" I exclaimed, pretty sarcastically. I'm sorry Mr. Kinko's man, I didn't mean it.

I gave up on the self-serve guess-and-check Kinko's and went to my class. Luckily, my teacher gave me an extension until Tuesday.

Friday morning I presented my photos, then hopped on the L to the north side of Chicago, where I went to an Aveda salon/spa. I had a scalp massage, shampoo, deep conditioning treatment, haircut, and aromatherapy hand massage... it was sooooo wonderful! (I think, if I can afford it, this may have to be an after-finals ritual.) I came back to my room, talked with Josiah for a while, and SLEPT.

Still posted on my bulletin board is my 4-week layout of the previous month, with my plans for getting finals done. Though I originally laughed hysterically when my good friend Megz told me she felt she would need a straight-jacket by the end of finals, I can almost understand that.