Photos everywhere! So much excitement to share.

I am taking a break from my busy schedule of cleaning and organizing the house to bring you this blog entry.

This is Hermy. Andrew made him from a munny and gave

him to me for our six month anniversary :3

This week has seen one photo session, which is great! I finally made the time to wander and take photos with intention. I did another circuit around the house seeing as there are some new things to look at! Most of the new things are related to the fact that I live here now. My bookshelf is now loaded down with many of my favorite belongings, which makes me very happy! That may seem a little silly, but I can't help but smile when I look at my shelves covered in Nintendo and Harry Potter items.

Fun detailing such as his head ridges and eyebrows. I also really like

the curves at the edges of his excellently large smile.

 Dat ass.

In other news, I'm sad to report that of all the cucumber, onion and wild flower seeds that I planted, I have only one cucumber plant to show for it. I've never been much of a gardener, and I usually kill any plant that is left in my care (which reminds me I have to water the plant that my mom gave me!), but I still had high hopes for more than one plant to grow! I suppose the upside of this is that the one plant that grew appears to be extremely fertile, seeing as there are a lot of yellow flowers sprouting. At least three of them already have a chubby, tiny cucumber growing! So very exciting.

The majority of the shelf. You can't see the bottom

shelf, which contains all photo albums.

So many lovely Nintendo items to surround myself with!

There are a lot of tiny sprouts in random spots in the garden plot, and it's hard to tell if they're late bloomers or just errant weeds. I'm afraid to pull anything because I can't tell what's what! The most I can do is keep watering and loving. Another positive spot is that one of the two flower plants that already lived in the plot is blooming like crazy. I don't know what they are, but they resemble smaller pink lilies, which makes me happy since those are my favorites! Not necessarily the pink ones, but just lilies in general.

One of the many bunches of pink flowers that have been blossoming

large and proud. Also one of my sprouts that was savagely attacked 

by one of the cats that revels in pooping in my garden plot!

Look at all those potential cucumbers!!

Andrew and I have been making some exciting headway with the Weird Little Monsters (keep that site bookmarked!)! More sites, more designs and so much more in the works. Among all the hullabaloo of moving I've managed to finish my third monster and start on a fourth of Andrew's design. Things in the sewing department are going a bit slower than I'd prefer, but they're still moving forward which is a positive thing.

Monster number two, Rohmer.

I've been reading a really great book on sewing and there are so many useful tips for putting together really great monsters. As a result my sewing has slowed down because I'm trying new techniques. My stitch work is feeling a little shoddy, but I know that things will improve. It's thrilling to be trying and making new things. I've always wanted to be better at sewing! And it's incredibly satisfying to have a physical manifestation of my imagination.

Monster number one, who has yet to be named.

 Monster number three, who we've been calling Frenchie. That's 

probably not going to be his permanent name. 

There's finished Frenchie on the left with his hat and side pouch.

Pictured on the right is one of Andrew's designs that I started on.

And now for a completely unrelated segue!

The purging of all Nikon related items has begun. Andrew has a very handy network via his job, so he's handling getting the word out. It is greatly appreciated because I don't want to deal with ebay or craigslist. I have a lot of mixed feelings, of course. I'm glad that the items are being sold because the money will be very useful for a lot of things! I'm sad for the items to go though, seeing as I have loved them for so long and they carried me this far. But, I'm in a new stage! And I already have almost everything that I had previously, just for Canon instead.

And speaking of Canon, here are just a few more photos from Andrew's brother's wedding, which was an amazing and fun opportunity to further familiarize myself with the camera and gain speed and accuracy with the controls.

The bride and groom with their brothers :)

Some more photos of the property. The lanterns were a wonderful

and beautiful touch. The sky couldn't have been bluer that day.

Andrew's friend Alex there on the left, and then a snap of Andrew and me.

I'll go ahead and close with some information about the fashion/product shoot that I tagged along on last week! It was incredible, and a really fantastic time! I went as assistant to Brittany, makeup artist extraordinaire! She ended up not needing me much (but damn am I a pro at handing out bobbi pins!), but that's OK because that left me a little more time than expected to really take in everything else that was going on.

 This is a moon sculpture that Andrew's uncle Michael made (fb fan page).

It's really very beautiful and detailed, it is next to the bathroom. You can view

more of his work here!

The shoot was for Watto, an Arizona based company run by a very lovely husband and wife duo. They started off with only making belt buckles but have branched off into a variety of jewelry types. Their work is really amazing and interesting. It's all very chunky and loud and large. The shoot was in a garage space and the style was all very rockabilly. The models were so so so super nice, as were the designers and the photographer! The whole experience was incredibly positive and I'm really thankful that Brittany ended up needing someone to go with her.

 A teeny tiny fraction of the books that Andrew has. There are so

many amazing and interesting ones in his collection, and this 

section of Disney books really stands out to me. On the right is 

the sun streaming in through the front door.

I spent most of my time inside with Brittany watching her do hair and makeup for the models. I wish I had their contact pages so I could link you all to their work. They were very talented and professional. It was a real treat interacting with them in a relaxed and goofy manner and then watching them transform into serious, focused workers while the camera was on them.

Everyone that assisted/worked on the Watto shoot was given

$100 in credit to shop from their store. They had many items on

hand, and I am now the happy owner of this very cool belt buckle!

The shoot lasted about six hours and was fun the entire time. The last session circulated around a series of story photos with an old fashioned car. It all had a classic, traveling, definite rockabilly feel to it. Everyone did such a great job. I wish I had any photos at all to share with you all, but I have none! Not even a cellphone photo! I didn't feel comfortable intruding with my phone. Of course, if you keep checking back to the Watto website you'll see the photos before too long! Here is a sneak peek that Brittany linked on her facebook fan page (go be a fan, she's very skilled and has beautiful photos up from the shoots that she participates in!). I can't wait to see the rest of them.

-MJ

Ireland Day 17 - A Wedding

Woke up very tired this morning, but it was important! Brad had a wedding to shoot today and I was going along as his assistant, aka pack mule.

While unloading the gear, I discovered that we had a hitch-hiker.

We met in the morning and had breakfast while he talked about the order of the day and what he'd need me to do. Weddings are always such an ordeal, they take a great amount of energy. After breakfast we bought sandwiches to eat later (which was a very good idea).

Around 10:30 (or half ten, as they'd say here), we arrived at the bride's house. Actually, first we went to three wrong houses and then we arrived at the bride's house :P Took a lot of photos there before heading to the church, a great old one in the Claddach. The bride had an amazing dress, it was gorgeous. The train was intensely long and so was her train. She was beautiful!

I like this photo, but the more I look at it the more I feel that it looks as though her wrists are broken. Thoughts?

The church was impressive, very old. I was mostly helping Brad and not really taking photos at that point. The ceremony was Catholic, to be sure. It was about an hour and a half and the priest was funny. That took me by surprise. After the ceremony we walked across the street to the long walk on the middle arch and he took bridal party portraits with the Claddach houses set as the backdrop. Looked fantastic.

They had their reception at a hotel in Salthill and that was fantastic too! We didn't stay for long, but the little I saw was absolutely hoppin'! The dinner room was decked out and all of the lights were a moody sort of purple/pink. Sounds hideous, but I assure you it was not. Brad also took a few more bride/groom only photos at a park just across the street from the hotel. Those were lovely with the woods and a small pond/bridge. All in all, a good time and a good day!

Now I am home. I'll be going out before too long because there's a birthday party I've been invited too! Should be a good time :D I hope so at least. It's for Owen, Geraldine's boyfriend. They're very nice people.

Depending on the weather, I may go to the Aran Islands tomorrow or Monday. Currently the plan is to go to the Cliffs of Moher on Tuesday. Hopefully nothing changes there. Wednesday I work, then Thursday it's Ladies Day at The Races! Horse races. So many new experiences. Friday - Monday I have off and I'll be in Cork! Cork Cork Cork. I look forward to it, I hear it's very scenic, which is funny because where I am now is scenic!

Those roses were hands down the most fragrant flowers I have ever had the pleasure of smelling.

We will see.

At the wedding, Brad let me use his 85mm 1.4 lens. :O :O It was awesome. Then, surprises abound, he told me to borrow it and have fun! :O :O :O So now I have an 85mm 1.4 in my employ and boy will I be using it. 1.4. Delicious.

He also lent me a DVD set called Father Ted. I guess it's big here in Ireland? Everyone watches it and thinks it's hilarious? Dave sent me a link to one episode and it was very strange. Now I have the whole three seasons and I'm going to give it a whirl. The one episode I saw reminded me of Monty Python, but funnier? I dunno, I've never found Monty Python to be all that funny. Either way, Father Ted, I'm going to watch it.

I got to talk to my mom on the phone today! I guess Brad has great rates to the states, so he said I could call her after we were done with the wedding. It was nice to dial her number and have her answer, just like when I'm home :)

They were a lovely couple. Congratulations to them!

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8:20 am: 33 bus: Almost missed the bus. I was at the corner when it pulled around the bend. I ran at it looking panicked and it stopped. Can't be late today, there's a wedding to tend to!

8:37 am: GBC (a cafe): Blink 182 - What's My Age Again. I haven't heard this song in a long time. I am 24. Yikes.

8:43 am: GBC: This station has played four songs in a row that I like. Unprecedented! It's I 102.4 and they have an iPod/iPhone app.

10:01 am: Gas Station: Irish gas station toilet- just as bad as the ones in the States.

11:16 am: Bride's house: Brad is letting me use his 85mm 1.4 today. Mmmmm. I want one of my own.

2:46 pm: Church: Catholic Wedding! Quite different than any ceremony I've ever attended. What an experience!

4:58 pm: Stalhill Hotel: Jessica's Irish doppleganger!

-MJ