I have been very good about posts so far (except for taking weekends off but we all need a break on the weekends) until yesterday. Yesterday was one of those days that when you get up in the morning, it takes you firmly by the shoulders and pushes you off a cliff…several times…it’s a bossy day. Yesterday was an unrelenting day, one thing after the other, so I did not do a post, and did not keep my deadline. Will you forgive me? I promise to make it up to you with lots of photos, and a couple extra posts today. Today is going to be fun, today will not be a bossy day.
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Photography
Today I navigated (or rather the British Lady living inside my GPS navigated) my way through 4 states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. It took about 8 hours and I'm not gonna lie when I say that I was thrilled to be back in Tennessee. I'm a little exhausted at the moment. However, I had a fabulous trip, full of family, fun and fondue! But there will be more on that later, I promise. What amazed me was how glad I was to be home. Now, I love adventure, I love travel, and I'm not one to stay at home all the time...
but when I opened the door and Miss Sookie and Miss Briscoe came rushing towards me, I was pretty excited. Not to mention the great smooch I got from Speed Racer.
(Kinda like that...)
It's not amazing to love being home, everyone loves being with the ones they love, but what was amazing was that this felt like home. We moved to Knoxville a little over a year and a half ago and I think it has taken that long for it to feel like my home. Don't get me wrong, I still get home sick for the mountains where Speed Racer and I fell in love, but I am getting pretty fond of Knoxville and this house. I love our house.
This was Speed Racer's Grandfather's house. It means a lot to us to be able to live here. Although we are doing a lot of updates it's been fun to make it our own as well as have memories to build on. Coming home is a wonderful feeling, whether home is where you actually live, or to someone you love, or somewhere you haven't been for a long time. Home is where we make it, whether it's built or in the heart.
And on that note, there are some adorable kitties who are begging to be cuddled with, and it's good to be home.
For those of you who talk to me frequently (sorry about the daily calls!) you know that I have been raving about this meatloaf that Speed Racer and I made. And by that I mean Speed Racer made and I, well, took pictures. But I did make the buttermilk biscuits! And that is why there are no pictures of them. So there. But the meatloaf that we made was from my newest cookbook "The Pioneer Woman Cooks, " by Ree Drummond. Ree is a blogger extraordinaire, and mother of 4. She blogs about her antics of adjusting to life on a ranch, photography, cooking, and homeschooling her kids. If you haven't checked her blog out you need to, it's a great time, and she makes me laugh. My friend Renee (also a blogger check out her site too!) and I recently went on a Pilgrimage to D.C. (a post to come in the following days) to Ree's book signing, which is where I picked up the cookbook.
Now back to the meatloaf: I love this meatloaf, I openly drooled over this meatloaf, I would have babies with this meatloaf...you heard me, meatloaf babies. Speed Racer thinks this meatloaf and cookbook have saved him...I have no idea what he means by that.
Bacon does, in fact, make everything more delicious. I will vouch for that.
Happy little loaf...
Wrapped in a warm blanket of bacon.
There you have it, what I've been raving about all week. Once you've tried it you won't be able to stop either...I promise. The Pioneer Woman features several recipes from the cookbook in the cooking and tasty kitchen sections of her blog. I obviously, highly recommend checking it out!
In our "How Did I get Here?" series, I'm going to share with you how I realized that I wanted to become a photographer, and the steps along the way. It's going to be good, it's going to be bad, and some of it may be ugly, so please be kind. It's all about a learning process, right? Right. Don't worry though, we'll still have daily posts that are not based in the zany world that is my memory, ah memories.
So how did I get here? And where is here, in the middle of a field in front of a waterfall? That huge waterfall is Victoria Falls, on the Zimbabwe side, and I got there because I had a dream that I was sitting in that exact same spot...and that spot isn't in post cards. That dream was so real that I knew I had to go to Zimbabwe, I didn't know why, I didn't know how, but I knew I was going to need some help. So I coerced, bribed, prodded and sweetly asked these four amazing people:
And I couldn't have done it without them. We got funding from the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, and were set to go. While there we spent a lot of time talking to school groups about self image, peer pressure, and other things that all teenagers, all over the world need to talk about; but mostly we listened.
We were in Zimbabwe for little over a month. Unfortunately, our trip was cut short due to the Zimbabwean Government beginning a project that, literally translated, is called "Project Clean Out Filth." The filth were our friends, the lower class of Zimbabwe. What I've been able to find from reports shows that 200,000 people were relocated or without shelter in the city we were in. 700,000 were affected throughout the country, and still are 5 years later. We were surrounded by thousands of homeless, starving people.
Even though their country was falling apart, we found so much hope in each person we met. We had fantastic guides that kept us safe and up beat, not to mention the people and kids we met on every street corner. But unfortunately, like in most crisis, everything became hard to obtain. We stood in line, like everyone else, for milk, bread, sugar, food, and most importantly gas. A couple times we, or someone in the group had to wait over night in a line to get gas:
The gas shortage kept getting worse, not to mention the political climate, and our sponsors soon worried about being able to get us out of the country. So we left early, and came back to the U.S.
So what does any of this have to do with Photography you might ask? It was in Zimbabwe that I realized I had to be a photographer. It wasn't that I should be, or that I took great pictures ( I had a tiny point and shoot), but the absolute need to capture these hopeful people in a world that was being destroyed around them, was overwhelming. When I got back to the U.S. I was amazed that no one knew what was happening in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is undoubtedly a part of me. What I learned there, and who I learned from changed me irreversibly. From Marie, I learned to be quiet and observe the simple things in life, from Clara I learned how to relax and experience the joy around me, from Peter I learned how to not care what people think and to stick with things, even when they are hard, and from Matt I learned how to face my fears and do what is right. But it was from the Zimbabwean people that I learned to find hope in all circumstances.
So after the summer was over I started back at college with a new determination: to become a photographer. The details were still fuzzy, but I knew that I had to make it happen. I knew that I wanted to capture what happens to people whether it is injustice, sadness, loss, love, happiness, or hope.
There are still times, at night when I fall asleep and feel the heat of the African sun on my face, and the smell of hot earth that smells like a home I've forgotten. I dream that I am sitting at Victoria Falls, with the thunder of the rapids and the mist rolling over me. Sometimes it makes me smile, as I wrap my arms around my knees in the tall grass, and sometimes it makes me cry.
As I woke up this morning and stumbled to my computer, grumbling something about coffee and the lack there of, my darling (also work at home) husband, Speed Racer was already at his lappy surfing the net. After I finally settled for some tea instead (there's just something about starting the day off with a hot drink, what can I say?) I sat down determined to do some work. As I sifted through the mass of emails in my inbox, my little gchat box popped up with a happy message from Speed Racer and the following link to LiveJournal.com, and as I looked, the following embarrassing phrase came out of my mouth, "OH MY GOD HOW CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!!" (Please do click on the cute link to see the post, you won't be sorry).
Wildflowers Photography shot an engagement session with a couple named, Lynette and James based on the movie "UP." And as the post states, most of us who have seen that movie cry every time, I know I do. The movie especially reminds me of my Grandfather, Chief Bald Eagle, who has been striving to live without my Grandmother, Pretty Brown Eyes, for several years now. Chief Bald Eagle was and is a huge hiker, the man still walks three miles a day and is 85 years old. He and Pretty Brown Eyes used to drive all over the U.S. including several trips to Canada and Alaska. He always tells the story of how when they got married, he looked into those deep brown eyes and swore that he would carry her to the ends of the earth. When they drove to the article circle, Pretty Browns Eyes swore that she had made it there. Their love and devotion is inspiring, and I think that's what "UP" shows all of us, that you can find adventure in the small, "boring", little things that you enjoy most about your partner.
As I write this I realize that it has officially been 11 months and 4 days since I married Speed Racer and each day has been better than the last. Sure, we have grand adventures planned as well, dreams that we carry in our coat pockets to keep us warm when everything else gets cold and hard. But it's the little adventures, the "boring" moments that I cherish most: the moonlit drives on the back roads of our home, where we were sweethearts; the way our hands still migrate towards each other when we're out, how he sends me links that he knows I will gush over, the warm silences when we walk together, and the sense that we have known that we were meant for each other since creation. Belonging, is the best word I can use.
It's this belonging that helps us appreciate the little things, the little things that make our love so strong. I know it's the little things that has kept Chief Bald Eagle in love with his Pretty Brown Eyes, so many years after she has gone. I know it's the little things that keep me falling in love with my husband daily. And I know that it's the little things that will keep Lynette and James together and in love.
Thanks to Wildflowers Photography and Lynette and James for sharing your story and photos with the world. Thanks, also for letting me gush, for making my day, for making me a tad jealous not only of the photos but that I didn't think to do my engagement pictures in the "UP" theme. And as for the readers, what are your "UP" stories? What are your adventures, your "boring" moments that will make our hearts ache? I want to hear each and every story, so please share.
Hello All! Welcome to Runawayalice Photography! I'm an Associate with Rebecca Claire Photography, you can check out her ninja stealth at www.rebeccaclaire.wordpress.com. Here you'll see lots of posts about, well, Photography! Whether it's a shoot I'm doing with Claire, a random adventure, mishaps in the kitchen, or whatever whacky mayhem that may come my way, I'll be sure to post about it. Thanks for letting me share with you, I promise lots of catch up posts and pictures to come!
