Beautiful Beginning
I’ve written half of about a dozen posts. Something always pulls me away. Life is wonderful and very busy these days.
For now, I think I’ll go back to posting photos. I miss that. Hopefully it will also encourage me to actually cull the images from my recent vacation and edit them.
This is the first scenery photograph that I took on a recent trip with my boyfriend. The light was delicious, and the environment was peaceful and serene. It was the first photo from the trip, the first of about 1500, and ended up being one of my favorites. :)
It was actually one of the first photos that I have taken in a LONG time, months and months, that was just for fun. 
Tappity tap tap
Wow, I’m just useless around these parts recently, aren’t I? Life has been so busy, though!
I finished my summer class. It involved a ton of textbook reading, which is rarely interesting, and the six week duration of the class meant the pace was VERY fast. I earned 100% on all of my papers, though. I walked away with an A. Not a bad way to kick off going back to school.
Also, to fulfill one of my B31 goals, in the spring I enrolled in an online language class that I purchased through Groupon. I did not like it. At all. I’m glad it wasn’t expensive, although it seems as though I definitely got what I paid for. I gave it a shot, though, so I’m going to consider that goal met – although personally I have every intention of finding another class and continuing on.
My store has done amazingly well, I’ve just been far too busy to do much dyeing lately. I’ve barely touched it in the last month. I have a ton of stock here to dye, and people buy it right up, it’s foolish of me to not make the time for it. I need to get on that this weekend!
I also participated in the Tour De Fleece – which is a giant community spin-a-long (as in hand-spinning fiber into yarn) that happens in conjunction with the Tour De France. It had been a while since I had touched my spinning wheel, so it was nice to have that project to encourage me to use it. I’ll have to post some pictures of the yumminess I created.
And lastly, but certainly not least, I have a new person in my life. I admit that is taking up quite a bit of my time, which I am gladly and willingly giving. There is no weirdness, nothing shady, no complications or bullshit. He gives me absolutely nothing to be doubtful about, and that is a welcome and wonderful feeling – I forgot what that felt like. I won’t say that he makes me happy, because I had already found my happiness again on my own. I’ll just say that he accentuates and enhances my happiness greatly, and I’m feeling happier than ever these days.
Life is good in the land of Kellee. What’s been new with you?
School and Yarnz and Spinning.. Oh My.
I hate when I have big gaps in posting. I never know what to say or where to start after so much time, and so I continue to put it off and say nothing. Hell, at this point is anybody still even bothering to read??
I mentioned in my last post that I have arranged to go back to school. I’ve been taking an accelerated class this summer. It’s only one class, but it is a six week class, so the workload due to the fast pace is more like taking three classes. That has kept me busy. Plus, the class is very reading intensive. I’d rather do just about anything than read a textbook – especially history textbooks. (Although, admittedly, I have found a few hilarious tidbits along the way. Sanabich is now one of my new favorite words, after all.) I have about one week left, though, and then a six week break before the fall semester. I’m looking forward to the semester, I’m taking some applied physics classes that should be interesting. And I admit it, I’m also looking forward to the break!
I think the most interesting development since my last post is that I have opened a second Etsy store, and it has been much more successful than I would have ever guessed. I’m thrilled and having a wonderful time. No matter how much I dye every week, I can’t seem to keep more than 2 or 3 skeins in stock in the store, and that’s a good thing! The name of my shop is Ethereal Fibers. I’ve opened up on etsy, of course, and can be found here. There are only a couple of skeins in stock right now, but you can check out my sold orders to get an idea of what I’ve been creating.
I’m in the process of working on some graphic design, and I may or may not start a second blog strictly for knitting and fiber related goodness. I’m not sure, yet, but it’s been a lot of fun so far! All the yarns are entered in the ravelry database, as are each of the associated photos. Also, about the only photography I’ve had any time for has been photographing the yarn!
I’m also participating in Tour de Fleece, which is a huge spin-along that happens in conjunction with the Tour de France. We have to spin (fiber) every day that they spin (on the bike). I’m hoping to have a nice selection of handspun to show for myself by the end of it! You may also remember that one of my B31 goals was to knit something that I’ve dyed, spun, and designed myself. I have some of my own hand-dyed fiber ready to go, and I’ll be spinning that up as part of TdF. Lots of fun!
There are some other things, but I have to start somewhere, so I’ll save that for another post. I know that I need to not neglect my little corner of the interwebs like I have been. More soon!
B31: School
One of my Before 31 goals has been to meet with an advisor to find out where I stand with school, and to then take the necessary steps to continue.
I’ve always been proud of the work I’ve done to support my family. When I left my other job in the gaming industry to step in and take over here, I knew the extent to which I was helping them. It is unlikely they would have found another person that could run and manage the business, handle all of the accounting, perform the mechanical engineering, speak Spanish, and handle the sometimes rigorous physical tasks that pop up on occasion; I’m suited for this job in a way that nobody else would be. My versatility has become even more important as the economy has tanked – I’m the only person that can step in and perform every single function required to make this business run.
While it has sometimes been a heavy burden, being so responsible for my family’s well-being has been gratifying in its own way. It has also meant that my educational goals have suffered. Being one person performing the jobs that normally at least 2-3 people would perform has left me extremely busy. There were years when I worked 7 days a week and barely had time to grab 5 or 6 hours of sleep at night, let alone attend class.
In years that weren’t so busy, I was still on call basically all of the time. Having to drop everything and be somewhere for an emergency meeting at the drop of a hat was a very regular occurrence, it didn’t matter that I was supposed to be in class for a test. Being informed at the last minute that I needed to pull an all-nighter to finish something by 8am the next morning happened frequently as well, regardless if I had classes that evening or not. The unpredictable nature of my schedule made attending class very difficult. I was able to circumvent some of that with online classes, but only so many classes are offered online.
That was always the right choice for the business and for my family, but clearly not the smartest choice for me. I started college with nearly a years worth of credits under my belt from all of my AP classes in high school, so the fact that I’m 30 and haven’t managed to finish is very unsettling to me.
The current economic climate has allowed things to finally slow down, which has allowed my life to blossom again in many ways. I feel certain that I can start kicking school’s ass. I’m thrilled that I am officially enrolled in both Summer and Fall semesters. I just hung up the phone with a professor who has agreed to allow me access into his class in the fall, which will be taken care of tomorrow. Everything is on track. I’ve never been particularly excited about school before, but that is exactly how I feel now. I’m finally to the point where I refuse to watch life pass me by as I struggle on carrying everything by myself. If things become busy again, someone else will just have to step up and help me.
Find out what I need to complete my degree and begin working on it. Check!!
B31: Photography Group (WTF Friday edition)
So… this will be my second post in about 6 weeks. Yikes. Life has been very busy and fun these days! I hope to make a little more time for this space, though. I need to pick up the camera again!
One of the things I wanted to do this year was to attend a local photography group. On April 8th, I did just that. A sweet friend of mine came along, both of us very excited about what was sure to be a very educational and interesting experience.
On the 2nd Friday of each month, this group holds an informative program where a speaker comes and discusses a certain aspect of photography, e.g. black and white photography, lighting, portraits, operating a photography business, etc. This is one of their few functions that is open to anyone who might want to come and listen, and we decided this would be a great place to start before forking over cash becoming invested at a deeper level.
Friday arrives, and we found our way to the conference room, signed ourselves in, found seats together, and took a look around. We gave each other the “arched eyebrow” look, and took another glance around the very crowded room. I don’t typically say (or even think) things like this, but I’m quite certain we were the only “normal” people in this room. It looked as though all the locals from Deliverance had thrown down their banjos, taken up a camera, and shown up for the meeting. The very large man sitting next to me was wearing denim overalls, boots, and a straw hat. I might be making the straw hat part up, but not intentionally; I SWEAR that is how I remember seeing him. My friend (sitting next to me) texted me and asked, “Is it just me, or does it seem like we’re the only ones in here who haven’t been arrested for child molestation?” It was creepy, to say the least. Rarely in my life have I ever felt that truly uncomfortable in a room full of people, especially solely based on appearance. It truly was THAT bad. An alarm kept sounding in the back of my mind, wondering if perhaps they were planning on eating us after the program.
But it was all worth it, right? We at least had an informative experience to counterbalance the awkwardness, right?
Sadly… no. If only. It just went downhill from there.
The first man that stood up to speak was from some sort of national photographic society and looked like Donald Sutherland’s pervy older brother. That would have been fine, except he was a passive-aggressive asshole to boot. He insisted on making snarky comments to random people. The cherry on top was when he came over and sat between me and Overalls. I wanted to elbow him in the face for being such a douche canoe politely inform him of his inappropriate and rude behavior. I somehow managed to resist.
The main speaker – an elderly man who had recently had some sort of surgery – was up next, and he started out by warning us that he might have to haul ass out the door and to the bathroom at a moment’s notice. He really was perfectly pleasant, but extremely long-winded and rather boring. He was a long time member of the group, and once upon a time had been asked to prepare a program as a backup in case they had a speaker drop out at the last minute. They decided tonight was the night he was going to do his program.
It COULD have been good. It wasn’t. He showed us 50 years worth of photos. It went on for hours. This might have been really enjoyable, but in that entire time there were about 5 shots that were remotely decent. I’m not saying that as a photography snob, because I’m not, they were just truly not good. Snap shots at best, with neither technical nor artistic merit, and he insisted on discussing each one in depth.
My friend and I kept looking at each other and wondering what the hell was going on. I had seen some work from some of the group members, and it was excellent – so what the hell was this crap? I don’t know if he chose these images because they were the best he had or because he thought he could spend the most time talking about them.
It finally, thankfully, came to an end. We all but ran out of that room the moment we could, and immediately drove straight to the bar and had a much needed drink.
It was a painful evening.
I haven’t quite decided what I think about the group. We both agreed that we likely went on the worst possible night to go when they were deviating from their norm, and that the usual presenters were probably much more enjoyable and educational. I don’t know if I have it in me to go back and risk it, though. :) I very well might give it one more shot. If there is a chance that the group is usually better than this and might actually provide a rewarding experience, I think it would probably be worth it.
Or perhaps I am just a glutton for punishment.
B31: The Schnoz
Wow. Has it really been nearly a month since I’ve posted anything? How on earth did that happen? Life has been busy and exceptionally awesome recently, and I’ve been fully enjoying being engaged and happy.
A couple of weeks ago I finally made it out to the Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist to check out my nose. As I’ve mentioned before, I have no sense of smell. I was a teenager before I even realized that, and I wasn’t bothered enough to really have it checked out. This year, however, I had made it one of my goals to finally have my nose poked and prodded.
The med students in the office were all kinds of fascinated with me, since I’m a bit of a rarity. The doctor came in, stuck several medieval torture devices up my nose, and said that everything looked fine. He decided to send me for a head CT, to rule out any sort of mass in my brain causing the problem, but basically said that it was just “one of those things” and that there was nothing to be done about it, provided that the scan came back negative. This was not news to me, and is basically why I had never bothered to go previously.
A few days later I went to have my scan. I was asked several extremely poorly worded questions by the technician. For example, she asked me if I was diabetic. I am not. I am, however, taking a medication that is generally used for diabetes, although not in my case, which is ultimately the information that she wanted to know. Why not ask, “Are you taking X medication?” rather than, “Are you diabetic?” That kind of stuff irritates me. Ask the right questions!
The scan was quick and painless, and far less noisy and claustrophobic than I was expecting. It was also very expensive. I was not particularly pleased about that part, but hey – at least I’m well on my way through my deductible for the year. 
The office called back a few days ago and let me know that my “scan was negative”, which is a relief. Not so much for my sense of smell, I’m just glad to know there is nothing growing up there. They also said, “The doctor said to come back in if you continue to have problems.” I’m sorry, but how the hell am I supposed to interpret that? If I continue to have problems? Don’t the results of that scan indicate that I will permanently have this problem? Meaning if I don’t magically start smelling sometime in the near future, that I need to come back in for another appointment? That irritated me as well, why can’t medical professionals just be clear?
At the end of the day, though, I now know for sure that I’m not destined to smell. I’m okay with that. The only thing that has ever really upset me about not being able to smell is that I’ll never know how the people I love smell. I’ll never smell my children, or the man that I love. I’ll never smell something that will transport me back into memories of my grandfather, or something like that. From everything I understand, scent memory is extremely powerful. I’m sad for missing out on that, but I’m okay with this outcome; it is the one that I always expected, and I’m certainly used to not smelling a damn thing.
So – my friends – for once and for all, I can’t smell. Please stop farting around me to see if I’m lying or not.
Photos: B30 Valley of Fire Part II
As we walked back from Elephant Rock, a lizard darted past us.
This caught the attention of Dante immediately. We had a good laugh watching him stalk the lizard, and *POINT*.
Photos: B30 Valley of Fire – Part I
So, you go somewhere you find exciting and take hundreds of pictures, and think that maybe-just-maybe you did a decent job. You get home, eagerly scroll through your work, and instantly hate all of them. Every single one. And then a month goes by and you take a second look, and you realize that… wait a minute… these aren’t SO bad. No, actually, I quite like that one, in fact, and this one, too.
Sound familiar?
That happened to me BIG TIME with my photos from my Before 30 hiking trip to Valley of Fire. I looked at them the first time and felt entirely disappointed. I just now took another look – and perhaps it’s the fact that I did not sleep at all last night – but I actually quite like a lot of these now.
Either way, it was a special trip with my girls and my new “nephew”, and I’m glad to have the mementos and eager to share them. This will have to be a series of posts in order to share all of these photos; I’m not about to flood you with that many pictures in a single post. I’ll probably share ten or twelve at a time.
This first set of photos is from our little hike up to Elephant Rock, which was hilarious. We took this meandering, stumbling, uneven, winding (but short) hike on the designated path – only to arrive at our destination, which we promptly realized we had driven right past as it is literally on the side of the road. It was probably a quarter of a mile round trip “hike” to arrive somewhere about thirty feet from our starting point. We laughed our asses off when we got there, and walked back the thirty feet on the side of the road when we were ready to go back.
Also, yes the rocks are that red! I did not enhance the red saturation in any of these photos at all. I DID desaturate some of the other colors because the intensity of all the colors became overwhelming. I think that is perhaps why I was initially put off from these photos; it was easier to appreciate the lovely red rock formation without a glaring, nearly too bright blue sky behind it.
Ready to Dye
So, as some of you may already know, I’ve been dyeing up a storm. It has always been my intention to start populating my store with hand-dyed yarn, and I want to start that soon.
So, any of my fiber loving friends, I can use your advice. These are the results from dyeing earlier in the week, what do we think? Sellable? Etsy approved?
Photos: Downtown Art
Finally – these are the salvageable photos from my very brief venture downtown as part of my Before 30. I really do love the area. It’s part ghetto, part artistic rebirth, and 100% graffiti. It feels both scary and intriguing. I love this first picture, not because it is a remotely good picture, but because it kind of sums it up perfectly: Art District and Bankruptcy.
