she came, she saw, she snapped

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

By process of elimination, we've determined that baby loves:

And baby does not so much care for:

All bets are off as to what this kid will make me eat. Prior to this, I'd never much cared for meat, save for the occasional burger, but now... well, let's just say last weekend I tore into a barbeque chicken drumstick like it was the last piece of chicken on earth and I hadn't eaten for six weeks. It was messy and heavenly in a deliciously barbaric way, that drumstick.

Despite the fact that baby seems to have inherited my love of ice cream (has anyone found the "ice cream" gene yet? I swear, it's there... check over by the "big ass" gene), I've only gained half a pound, which I'm told is good for someone my size. I don't have much baby belly to speak of yet, although something tells me it's growing, because I can't suck it in like I used to. But I'm pretty sure the majority of my belly is still good old-fashioned food-baby belly... no help from the ice cream, of course.

I'ma also taking two different yoga classes starting this week... I had my first beginner's course today, and I'll start pre-natal yoga next Wednesday. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I am not the only fat girl in the beginner's course, and I'm guessing I'm not the only one who thinks Downward Facing Dog is the pose of the devil. "Hello, heartburn! Hadn't seen you in a while! Wonder why I can still taste my breakfast? Hmm, could have something to do with all this butt-in-the-air business...."

I can't honestly say I have an opinion of yoga yet, given my limited experience includes today's class and a semester-long course I basically slept through in high school. So far the running theme seems to be learning to get comfortable in semi-unnatural positions. Oh, and breathing--lots of breathing--although I still don't quite get that part, as during most of today's class I found myself thinking, "Wait, you mean I'm supposed to be able to breathe in this position?!? Eurgh!" *cue collapse onto yoga mat*

I kid, I kid. The class was a lot of fun, and the instructor is very aware of different body types and how one can modify certain positions such that they get the benefit of a yoga workout without the back strain. All in all, I felt surprisingly comfortable--or at least as comfortable as one can be while stretching, bending, flexing, and pointing one's arse skyward.

So yes, other than the icky humid weather, this summer is shaping up nicely. I've been on hiatus from photography stuff, at least until I work up the energy to attempt another shoot--although I have a fun idea in mind, and Danielle has offered to help me, so that may happen sooner rather than later. To be honest, I welcome the down time... I appreciate it more now, knowing the hard work that's coming up. At the end of the day, one full-time job is enough, and I just want to relax while I still can.

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

Hello! I'm tired, and I appear to have contracted a vicious form of heartburn from hell. How one manages to get heartburn from a bland dinner of toast and milk, I'll never know, but I'm 99% sure that those of you reading this blog don't want to hear about all my bodily functions gone awry. So let me talk about something else that's gone awry: Housework, or a lack thereof.

Up until an hour or so ago, there was a pile of laundry at the foot of our stairs that was large enough to rival the Washington Monument. It had been sitting there blocking the door to the coat closet for, oh, about a week. Any time I wanted to get up or down the stairs, I'd have to do this strange semi-acrobatic swinging leap over the gargantuan pile of shirts, towels, and bedsheets. This morning made for a particularly fun stunt, as I tried to both clear Laundry Mountain AND navigate around the fresh pile of cat vomit on the second stair riser--thanks, Nala! At least she didn't vomit in the clothes, right?

But back to the laundry. Need a clean shirt? Here's a shovel, start digging. There's a reason we don't buy clothes that wrinkle easily. Frankly, I'm just proud of myself for doing that much laundry--getting it up three flights of stairs from the basement to the bedroom is the icing on the cake. Let's just say I was leaving it there because I wanted to admire my handiwork, acrobatic leaps and all.

Or how about this: until recently, our kitchen had come to resemble the scene of a natural disaster. Dishes, dishes, dishes--overflowing from the sink, onto the counters, the oven, and basically every available surface except, you know, in the cupboards where they belong. For a while I was forced to prepare my morning toast while holding the toaster in one hand and the butter knife in the other. I wish I could say the dishes in question were as clean as the laundry, but then I'd be lying. No, these dishes were far from clean. The kitchen had begun to smell like an old wet towel, and it wouldn't surprise me if we were growing some alien species of mold in the sink.

Next on the list, we have the eight giant bags of bottles laying on the back porch, waiting patiently for someone to take them to the recycling center. I'm pretty sure the homeowner's association wouldn't approve. And I won't tell you where the garbage bag of old cat litter currently resides (certainly not in the garbage can, there's no room left, hah-hah), because then you'd never come to my house and sit down on our one lonely plastic porch chair. *ahem*

This basically sums up the condition of our lives right now. Chaotic. Somewhat uncomfortable. A bit smelly. But what I'm coming to realize is, this is a situation we're going to find ourselves in more and more often in the coming months, years, and probably even decades. I need to become OK with that, or else I'll drive myself crazy trying to fight it. Life is messy.

So here's to airing our dirty laundry, even when it's clean. Surely I'm not the only person whose home is not the pristine vision of perfection that I (scramble to) make it out to be when company (or Mom--hi Mom!) comes to visit. And I can only hope that when our baby is born, DHS doesn't catch wind of this entry and come knocking on our door when we're in the midst of Laundry Mountain and Alien Sink Mold: The Sequel.

Thankfully I speak in the past tense, because my wonderful husband tackled both the kitchen and the laundry pile while I was enjoying my evening walk. But I document it here to prove a point! Although now the raging heartburn and exhaustion has made me forget what my point might have been... maybe I didn't have one, except to say, "Hi. See why I'm not blogging much? Forgive me."

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

I can't keep this secret any longer, dear Internets. Here goes:

My new super-awesome project is not so much my project as it is a collaboration between Mr. Tim and myself. And it's not so much a project as it is a lifetime commitment.

It's the reason I can barf up the spaghetti I had for lunch and not three seconds later think, "Ooh, I want a Rice Krispies treat," or, "I could really go for something deep fat fried and smothered in cheese." It's the reason I've totally neglected this blog over the last few weeks, because I don't want to do anything but sleep.

Yes, it's that kind of project... one of the baby-makin' variety. It's exhausting, overwhelming, and all-consuming... it goes without saying that T & I are thrilled, scared, and all other manner of emotions typically associated with new parents-to-be.

Without going into detail about my medical history, I didn't think I could conceive, so obviously this was a huge surprise. I woke up a few weeks ago feeling sick, and a little voice in the back of my head said, "maybe you should take a test...." So I did, and when the results came up, I didn't believe it. I believe my exact words to my husband were, "Umm, WHY ARE THERE TWO LINES HERE?" Being the wonderful man that he is, he just grinned. A second test proved the first one correct, and it took a trip to my doctor and a third test to convince me that I was, indeed, pregnant.

Holy shit.

The last few weeks have been a fog of morning sickness, exhaustion, and elation. These days, my typical train of thought looks something like this: BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY HOLY SHIT BABY.

I was going to wait to say anything here until I had a better ultrasound picture, but I just couldn't wait, so you'll have to look at the pee stick instead. I'm due December 26th... 11 weeks along and counting!

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

Where the hell have I been, right? Blog? Whatsablog?

I am hard at work on a new and exciting project that I would just love to reveal, but alas, it must wait a little while yet. Of course, this means all I want to talk about is said new and exciting project. Conundrum! (I love that word, conundrum!) Patience is not one of my greater virtues, so in the meantime, Tim gets to listen to me yammer on about this and that and the other. Lucky boy!

I haven't worked on a photo shoot in so long, I'm starting to feel itchy. We're already into May (!) and I haven't made a dent in the 2008 portfolio yet. Ouch. So! I need to get working on some ideas. I have new props and dresses and things from my earlier thrifty endeavors, and the weather is perfect for outdoor shoots, so it's just a matter of setting things up.

I'm also days (weeks) behind on my blog reading, writing, and commenting. But I thought I'd peek in here to say that all is well and I am still here. :) What's new with you?

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

The other day I took all that extra energy and went out in the woods to play with my camera a bit. You can see more photos at my Flickr! I picked up this Gunne Sax dress at the Goodwill on Friday when I was out with Susan... I have a feeling it will get a lot of use over the coming months. Spring has inspired me!

This evening I spent some time under the deck, sorting through my garden stuff so I'll be ready to plant flower pots in a few weeks. Yes, She of the Black Thumb will attempt to grow flowers this summer. I managed to do it a few years ago without many problems, and this year I have lots more space to work with.

I've been so caught up in other things this week that I almost didn't realize that between my two shops, I made my 100th sale today! Yay!

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

Busy weekend! A three-day weekend, even! Hurrah for Patriot's Day! Note the ample use of exclamation points! (And you thought I was exaggerating?)

Three-day breaks are wonderful, although I've reached the point where I've done almost everything on my to-do list (save for cleaning, but eh, it's cleaning) and I have a whole day left to kill. We have no Netflix, I'm between custom orders, and I didn't arrange for any photo shoots this weekend (d'oh) so I'm kinda floating and trying to figure out what I want to do next. The strange free-ness of time! I'm not used to it! Someone, quick! Give her a stopwatch and a schedule before she hyperventilates!

I hung out with Susan on Friday night for more thrifty good-ness and Mexican food. Have I mentioned how nice it is to have friends? Friends who you can even go out with and talk and stuff? I know it seems I've been living under a rock when I say that, but occasionally us rock-people have epiphanies of the obvious sort, and I'm particularly enjoying this one.

On Saturday the weather was so nice that T & I decided to take a day trip to the Ellsworth area for some sun and tasty food at Jordan's snack bar. They had fresh crab (!) so I got a crab roll that was delicious. It was so tasty that I couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the night (seriously--I went to bed drooling), so the next day we went grocery shopping and I splurged* on some fresh Maine crab meat. Then I got really brave and tried my hand at homemade crabcakes. The verdict: Tasty! Even better: Mr. Tim does not eat seafood, so they were allll mine! Muwahahahaha!

* Does the word "splurge" conjure up gross mental images for anyone else? Because whenever I hear it, or see it written, I think about puke.  And in current context, that's just unbelievably wrong.

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

It's SPRING! Spring spring spring spring SPRING! I am manic, what with the 70-degree temperatures and the green grass and the buds on the trees and and and !!!!!

It feels so good to be alive right now, I can't even tell you. A co-worker mentioned the nice weather to me the other day in passing, just making polite conversation, and I was all, "Oh, I KNOW!?! Isn't it wonderful?!? I'm so ecstatic!!! I love it so much!! I want to roll in the grass and frolic through the fields and hug a tree!! Let's go!"

They backed away a little, understandably so.

I'll be abusing my adjectives and my exclamation points until at least June, when I finally settle into this beautiful lovely gorgeous magnificent superbly spectacular weather! You've been warned!

As you may remember, T & I gave up our cable a while back, because we weren't really using it. We decided to switch to a larger plan on Netflix and get our media fix there. However, there's a slight problem... see, Tim has something like 60 movies in our queue, and I have a grand total of, uh, 2. That's right, 2 movies that I actually want to see vs. 60 that I don't because they're really bad sci-fi. This is not good, people. I need your help!

What's good in movies these days? I like documentaries (mostly for present-day subjects, not so much historical), indie films, creepy horror (not gory horror), good science fiction (note the part about "good"), comedies, etc. I'm not so much into action movies, but if it's a must-see, throw it on the pile. I'm trying to avoid a whole summer of really bad B-movies, and given our track record with movies, I definitely need outside intervention to do so.

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

I finally have a chance to catch up with my favorite blogs and get down to business! The business of blog-writin', that is.

I've been working on a lot of projects lately, and each one requires me to shift gears a little. Programming, design, photography... all distinctly different processes that have me feeling like a Jack (Jaqueline?) of all trades; but it's a very competent feeling. That's good to have when one is swamped with work!

The photo to the right is part of the recent product photography I've done for Allison Strine Designs. Allison is an incredibly talented artist--I adore her work, and was honored when she accepted my bid. I've had a lot of fun working with her and I've enjoyed working with her products, so much so that I had to keep a pendant and a magnet for my very own.

Last weekend's EtsyMaineTeam meet-up was wonderful! It was great to put faces to names, to network a bit, and learn more about what the artists in our state are doing. I had the pleasure of meeting our team leaders, Becky and Jennifer, as well as Ms. Jamie, whom I've known online for years but had never met in person. She came with her crafty family to boot! She and her husband and sister just opened Sweetland Retreat, an artists' bed & breakfast in Manchester, Maine.

I also did some trading while I was there. I made out like a bandit, and my prints were well-received. I will have pictures of my new treasures soon. You can also look forward to reading my posts every Friday on the new EtsyMaineTeam blog! Double the me, double the fun, right? I thought so!

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

Tim's birthday was on the 8th (happy 26th, hon!) and then I got a surge of custom orders, so I've been absent from blog-land for the last few days, and I don't think it's going to slow up any time soon! I was lucky enough to be featured in yet another edition of Etsy Finds (thanks, Anda!) and have since found my sales at Calobee Doodles a little overwhelming. But overwhelming in a good way!

Speaking of Etsy, I'm quite excited about the upcoming EtsyMaineTeam meet-up this weekend in Augusta! The last meeting was snowed out and rescheduled to a time when I couldn't make it, so I'm eager to catch up and meet everyone.

Now, we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for a dose of girl-talk, of the "OMG SHOES SQUEE" variety. Please forgive me in advance:

On Tuesday evening we took a trip to Target, where I found not one but two pairs of cute shoes. This is amazing, because I haven't bought a pair of shoes in a retail store in years (save for the occasional $5 flip-flops, and my annual trip to the Saucony outlet for new sneaks on-the-cheap) because they never fit. My feet are very short and wide and tall--a shape that pretty much rules out anything that has a pointed toe, or even the slightest hint of a pointed toe... in other words, anything that isn't designed to be worn by a duck. In fact, every pair of dress shoes I've ever owned (that would be 2 pairs, mind you) in my adult life came out of a "special" mail-order catalog for people with ridonkulously weird feet.

That's right, folks, my feet are "special." And now you know why I spend 99.9% of my time in sneakers.

But my new shoes? They're cute. And when I say cute, I mean, adorably perfect in every. single. way. They're comfortable and stylish, dressy enough for the office but casual enough for weekend wear. I bought two pairs--one in the ribbon style, one in black--because I'll probably never find any shoes so perfect ever again. In fact, I recommended them on ThisNext long before I'd seen them in person, so it must be fate! The shoe gods are smiling upon me.

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

More doodling for your viewing pleasure! I'm really kinda proud of this one... partly inspired by my father, who said, "You should draw a little girl with an umbrella." So, here you go, Dad. Little does she know that her umbrella has other plans aside from just sheltering her from the rain... she's also available in the shop!

Today was a beautiful day. I woke up to a sale (YAY!) and I took a long walk to work and back. It's just warm enough that I think there may be hope for spring after all. Bring it on, I say!

Now T and I are settling in with some Ben and Jerry's to watch Pursuit of Happyness. Goodnight, dear Internets!