Stuff

Or, Things and Whatever.

I haven’t been around ye olde blogge a lot. Mostly, I’ve been devoting my time to my photography. And sleeping as much as possible. (On Daylight Savings Time Day, I slept 13 hours.) I think I have a sinus infection.

Now, I’m (somewhat hesitantly) participating in NaNoWriMo. Because, without being in school, I need a strong impetus to write. Novels aren’t necessarily my thing, but it’s nice to try new things, I guess. But, ultimately, it may mean that I’m blogging even less.

However, here are some things I have desired to write about since my last blog, but haven’t gotten around to:

Fall, Holding Hands, Nannying, Waking Up Early, Expectation, Trying, Tiredness, Acute Sinusitis, Love, Frustration, Ambiguity, Emotions, LaGrange, Nostalgia, Friendship, Loneliness, Missing People, C0-Dependence, Books, The Family I Work For, etc.

Okay, I officially declare this post random and obnoxious.

Compassionate

Or, Should have never have left you broken.

Today, I decided to sponsor a Compassion child. Until I started my new job, I wasn’t really in a financial position to be able to consistenly support a child, but now, I feel like it will be possible. I think that God has been leading me to do this for a couple of months, and now that I’m working more than just a few hours a week, I can commit to paying that $38 every month. I decided to sponsor a girl who was 11, in the age range of the youth that I work with. Her name is Angie and she lives in Colombia.

I am so excited for the opportunity that God will provide Angie, and for the compassion that I get to learn. And I am looking forward to praying for Angie and her journey.

Say When

Or, Favorite.

This is probably my favorite song right now. It’s so intense. I’ve taken to driving around screaming it. I just wanted to share it. (Although, I think the phrase “I want to share this with you” is really cheesy, so sorry.)

Say When – The Fray

I see you there,
Don’t know where you come from,
Unaware but you’re still from someone,
Don’t appear to care that I saw you and I want you,
What’s your name? Cause I have to know it,
You let me in and begin to show it,
I’m terrified cause you’re headed straight for it,
Might get it,

Hear the song playing on background,
All alone but you’re turning up now,
And everyone is rising to meet you, to greet you,
Turn around and you’re walking toward me,
I’m breaking down and you’re breathing slowly,
Say the word and I will be your man, your man
Say when

And my own two hands will comfort you tonight, tonight,
Say when,
And my own two arms will carry you tonight, tonight,

Come close and then even closer,
We bring it in but we go no further,
We’re separate two ghosts in one mirror, no nearer,
Later on if it turns to chaos,
Hurricane coming all around us,
See the crack, pull it back from the window,
You stay low,
Say when,

And my own two hands will comfort you tonight, tonight,
Say when,
And my own two arms will carry you tonight, tonight,

Come across you’re lost and broken,
You’re coming to, but you’re slow and waking,
You start to shake, you still haven’t spoken, what happened?
They’re comin back and you just don’t know it,
And you want to cry but there’s nothing coming,
They’re gonna push until you give in,
Say when,

Now we’re here and it turns to chaos,
Hurricane coming all around us
They’re gonna crack, don’t you back from the window
You stay low
All began with the man and country,
Every plan turns another century,
around again,
And another nation fallen,

Maybe god can be on both sides,
Of the gun,
Never understood why,
Some of us never get it so good, so good
Some of this was here before us
All the rest will come after us
It never stops until we give in, give in

Say when,
And my own two hands will comfort you tonight, tonight,
Say when,
And my own two arms will carry you tonight, tonight,
Say when,

And my own two hands will comfort you tonight, tonight.

Calling Couples!

Or, My love, she leans into me.

I need (cute) couples.

I’m building up my photography portfolio, so it is a little more commercially viable. I have a ton of portraiture, but I need 2-3 couples to take some really good photos. Like engagement-portrait style images. I can some to you. I want to take some good photos of you in a place that you feel comfortable.

If you agree to model for me, you’ll get a digital copy of my edited images to use in whatever way you want, and a 5×7 print of my personal favorite image from the shoot.  In exchange, you’ll agree to let me use your likeness in any of my digital or print portfolios, and any promotional materials for MaeFlower Photography.

If you are interested at all, shoot me a message on Facebook, leave a comment, or send me an email at amandamaea[at]gmail[dot]com.

Nannying

Or, Early and often.

Tomorrow I start my new nannying job. I’m only going to be working 2-3 days a week, which will be ideal once I go back to school in January.

I’m pretty excited about this job to be honest. The family I’m working for has three kids who are 4, 2.5 and 16 months. Thay are adorable and affectionate and funny, and I’m excited to get to take care of them.

I’m also excited because I feel like I mesh well with the family. I think we have similar sets of ideals, and the kids don’t have a ton of discipline, but they’re also sweet and respectful. And the family is excited to have me. And they are making concessions to make sure that I can stay with their kids, like buying another car, so that I can drive their minivan.

Also, they’re very welcoming, for example, Jess, the mom, asked me if she could keep anything around for me to eat or drink during the day, which I think is incredibly thoughtful. And they made me a chart to help remember the specific needs of each child, which is incredibly helpful, because with three kids, it’s hard to remember which ones like which things, particularly in the beginning of a job like this.

So, needless to say, I’m super excited.

The one downfall is that, until they get another car, I have to be there at 6:15, so Jess can carpool with her husband, and get to her nursing job by 7. I can’t even remember the last time I was up this early. I’m guessing during camp.

I pretty much need to go to bed right now. Too bad I’ll be watching SYTYCD and Glee. Then I’m definitely going to bed.

I’m Defriending You

Or, Making some cuts.

I’m friends with a whole lot of people on facebook that I am not actually friends with in real life. I mean, I might see them in passing occasionally, but we don’t actually talk. Thus, I feel like I have  a lot of non-legit facebook friendships. Some of my real life friends, I communicate with almost solely through facebook, and I feel like that’s okay. We do at least communicate. It’s not okay, however to be friends with random people, who I can’t even remember. Those people are clogging up my news feed.  So, I’m trimming down my friends list. But worry down, if you’re reading this, you probably made the cut.

UPDATE: The first round of cuts is over. 121 people were eliminated from my facebook life. I feel much better.

I Have Decided

Or, Needless Desire.

I have decided. It is necessary for me to have a mac. I always thought I would be perfectly content with my trusty Toshiba, but after experiencing it crash one too many times, and going through my fourth power cord, because they don’t have the nifty mac cord that pops out when you trip over them, I am officially over pcs. Plus, I really like the mac commercials with the guy from Accepted, and I am extremely susceptible to advertising of any kind.

Quite some time ago, my good friend Denise decided that she needed one, and made a chart to stow away money for it. I’m totally stealing her idea. Unfortunately, I am notoriously bad at saving money. So, I don’t imagine I will often fill in a little square. Hopefully my poor little Toshiba will hold out until i get them all filled up.

I priced macs a few minutes ago. And a basic macbook, with a couple of necessary upgrades (4 gb RAM, 250 gb hard drive, office for mac, mini dv to vga, etc.) the total comes out to $1336.95. Fortunately, apple generously offers free shipping. That means I’m making a graph with 446 squares worth $3 each.

So today, I’m making a contribution to my mac fund and filling in a square. If you would like to help me fulfill this dream, feel free to donate to my paypal account here.  If you do, I will totally personally give you a hug and or send you a hand-made card. [Yes, I am so pathetic/desperate that I would ask complete stangers online to give me money. I hope that doesn't break any solicitation laws or anything.]

Summer Reading, Statistics Edition

Or, The first of many.

Some “statistics” (in, like, the loosest sense of the word) about what I read this summer:

• I read 8 (33%)  non-fiction books, and 16 (67%) works of fiction.
• 9 (38%) of the books I read were Young Adult Fiction.
• 5 (21%) of the books were “Chick Lit,” a genre I discovered with the personal guidance of Jen Lancaster (and her outrage at my having not read anything by Emily Griffin, or knowing who she was.)
• 5 books were random selections from the bargain bin.
• 4 (17%) books were recommendations.
• 1 (4%) book was borrowed.
• 1 I had been waiting to read for about a year.
• 6 (25%) Books were by authors I had read previously.
• I had read 1 book before. (About 4.5 years ago.)
• 12 (50%) Were selected at random.
• Out of the 23 I bought, they cost between $1 (Easter Rising) and $24.95 (Pretty in Plaid).
• I went to Borders and got two new books every Monday I worked at Camp Pine Acres. (And spent 1000% too much money on books in the process.)
• 24 (100%) affected me on a personal level.

Books that were particularly important to me, that I’ll remember for a long time:

• The Geography of Bliss
• Peaches
• The Last Summer of You and Me
• Something Borrowed
• Converting Kate
• Downtown Owl
  
• Looking for Alaska
  

Fall

Or, Awesome.

Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year. It makes me feel amazing. Here’s one of my all-time favorite postsecrets, that perfectly describes my feelings about it:

Summer Reading

Or, I know what I did.

Here’s sincerely hoping that you just got the 90’s horror film reference in that subtitle.

One of my goals for the summer was to read 2 books per week, or, roughly 24. It was a goal that I actually completed. I’m pretty excited about it, actually.

Before I put the list on here, however, I would like to clarify. I did not read academic books. I did not read a lot of books that taught me a lot about life, were incredibly enriching, or even that I’m particularly proud say that I’ve read. However, I did read 24 very entertaining books. I actually started reading 28, but stopped reading books I didn’t like, or were just boring, and I’m okay with that. I only finished the ones that kept me interested in what was going on, because this project was all about me enjoying my summer.

I’m going to publish a couple of subsequent posts about how I felt about particular books, the stats of the list as a whole, and whatnot. This is just for the sake of making a list. Here it is:

1. Bright Lights, Big Ass, Jen Lancaster
2. Rising Tides, Nora Roberts
3. The Geography of Bliss, Eric Weiner
4. The Best American Non-Required Reading, Edited by Dave Eggers
5. Pretty in Plaid, Jen Lancaster
6. Everybody Hurts, Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelley
7. Peaches, Jodi Lynn Anderson
8. A Long Way Down, Nick Hornby
9. The Secrets of Peaches, Jodi Lynn Anderson
10. The Last Summer of You and Me, Ann Brashares
11. Feathers, Jacqueline Woodson
12. Something Borrowed, Emily Griffin
13. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Chuck Klosterman
14. Converting Kate, Beckie Weinheimer
15. The Song of the Innocent Bystander, Ian Bone
16. Easter Rising, Michael Patrick MacDonald
17. Something Blue, Emily Griffin
18. The Truth About Forever, Sarah Dessen
19. Catalyst, Laurie Halse Anderson
20. The Enthusiast, Charlie Haas
21. The Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs
22. Downtown Owl, Chuck Klosterman
23. Lullaby, Sarah Dessen
24. Looking For Alaska, John Green

Also, here are the four books I started reading, but didn’t finish, just in case you’re wondering:

1. The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom
2. Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp, C.D. Payne
3. Chasing Cool, Noah Kerner, Gene Pressman, Andrew Essex
4. The Scenic Route, Binnie Kirshenabum

Yay, Books!!!