Zombielicious

How dare I be so behind on my blogging! Not even sure what my excuses are - not counting the days that I work, which includes the past 3 days. I have been keeping up with these two beautiful blogs, by a couple other girls you may know: Pinterest Princess (cousin Jessica) & Something That We Do (friend Lindsey). 

On Wednesday of last week, I mentioned that I wanted Michael to let me put a prosthetic on him. I said I wanted to do all the work, but have him walk me though each step. It took about an hour to complete (though it didn't seem that long) and I had the same "this looks terrible" attitude he usually does, but I suppose it was good for my first time. Then Friday while I was at work, Michael's new best friend (Chris, from Metropolis) came over and Michael did a full face prosthetic on him. I think it looks really good - and a little silly because of the facial expression. Michael took that photo since I was gone.

Also, here is a short zombie video that Michael did some make up for a few months ago! Never mind, Michael says its password protected because its not completely finished yet. I'll keep you posted!

Sky Craft

Two weeks ago when I stopped by Gainesville on the way home from Tallahassee, Mia snuck a wonderful note into my purse, which I didn't find until I got back to Orlando. It was such a great surprise and a very sweet "best friend" note. Included was a poem that she wrote herself:

Roses are Red

the Sky is Blue

if I owned a Cloud

I would Fly to You

It became my own personal challenge to create a work of art (mainly through painting) for the poem. Although the finished product -not shown- didn't turn out how I hoped.. and now I have to decide if I want to redo it or just try to spruce it up.. above is a shot of the basic idea.

I got the new paintbrushes today - all for free!! That was pretty accidental, since the cashier and I were talking, neither of us realized that when she scanned the package, the bar code didn't read. And I didn't notice until after I got home.. Hmm, whoops!

Under Construction

Here are a couple more pictures I took that I have been meaning to post from Wednesday. You can see the sun setting behind the grassy mound behind Tonia. The lighting was nice then. But a quick 20 minutes later it was too dark, which is why Miriam's photo turned out grainy. I adjusted the ISO (in attempt to get the most light in as possible), but the higher you make it, the more grainy the photos turn out. Which is why I prefer taking photos in the middle of the day. We didn't have a problem with the "clubby photos" because there was enough artificial light coming from the store.

(And one more of Alana since I hadn't posted any of her with her boyfriend, Cody. If I didn't mention it before, he had a wonderful attitude that weekend, especially for the shoot - getting the horses to look where we wanted to and helping set up props!)

Portraits ~ Alana "Ashley Anna" Grace

We had been trying to plan a 3-day get together for ourselves (Alana, Cody, Michael and I) since January, however, our schedules didn't work out until this past weekend. I drove up to Tallahassee on Friday after a lunch date with Michael at Panera. He couldn't come with me because he was working all day on Friday. & I should note that although I called my mom on the drive up "with nothing to say", we ended up talking for over an hour! I felt a calm, mature sensation during our conversation. 
Friday night Alana and I spent a couple hours chatting and picking out outfits for the photo shoots. On Saturday, we spent three hours in the hot afternoon at the barn while Alana got the horses ready, then went back to her house for second showers and lunch, before making our way back to the barn for photos.

Although I took over 1,000 photos, we narrow it down to about 500, then me picking out my personal 60 favorites, these two are my very favorite. In my next posts I will show off photos of Alana and Cody then give her horses their own post.

"Life's Too Short to Blind People with Rock Salt"

This past weekend in Alachua was a nice getaway. I will admit that my internal clock's schedule got out of whack and I slept far too much, but the sleepover with Mia was well worth it and I am now on another glorious Glee binge, watching three or four episodes every night. Unfortunately, we did not have our much anticipated Indian Adventure, or visit kittens at the animal shelter(s), but still forced ourselves to be awake for breakfast with Grandpa on Saturday morning. We did get to spend a couple hours with Sharanya at her new house in the woods beneath the stars. She says there is a creek with a ten foot waterfall near her house, so we will have to check that out next time. Sometimes I wish I could stay for a longer amount of time, especially when I try to make lots of fun plans, but I would want Michael and Sasha there too.

Last night Michael and I had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes then enjoyed a run through Target before they closed. I got a new skirt for work and a colorful tank top. Its going to be my favorite beach outfit for July! As the manager announced on the intercom that we had to check out, I ran to the freezer aisle for more strawberry flavored Toaster Strudels then yelled in Michael's direction, asking if he wanted one or two packs. He laughed and asked if I felt like we were on a timed game show. (He wanted two and yes, I did.) At home we snuggled on the couch with Sasha and watched our Netflix movie, The Darkest Hour. This morning after being woken up by intense thunder, Michael suggested we have breakfast at Denny's before work. That was a fun surpise. I tried the Fit Slam with spinach and tomatoes scrambled into egg whites, an English muffin and fruit. Not bad!

Stand-In Extraordinaire

The extended Blood Widow trailer came out earlier today. (The one before was a teaser.) I was able to watch in on break because one of the girls at my table brought her iPad. Although my anxiety to view its contents had been quenched, I enjoyed it the second time better - when I could increase the volume and pay more attention. I also really like it because.. I'm in it!! You don't see my face, but anyone can tell that it's obviously me. =)

~ HERE IT IS ~

I'm at 0:46 - over the shoulder, looking out the window. I was able to stand in as Blood Widow because Gabbie Henry (the actress who normally portrayed her) wasn't able to make it that day. Lucky for me, Gabbie and I are basically the same size. The shot after that in the journal includes my hand writing and rubbing-papers-into-the-dirt skills. At 1:08, you see a frail hand pick up a porcelain clown mask. That hand is mine. That was an insert shot that they needed to get after the actress, Kelly Kilgore (who plays Harmony) had gone home for the day. We haven't been informed yet when the premiere will be, but even more I'm excited now. *I have chosen to attach a self portrait of Ryan and myself from the middle of our three week shoot. I miss her already! I came up with a great idea of asking her if she wanted to hang out this weekend, before realizing her and Ben have left Orlando, destined for greater things. (Photo by Glen Stewart, Lighting Gaffer on Blood Widow.)

Yoder-Le-Hee-Hoo!

I want to tell you about my day in Amish Land, Sarasota with Ryan. I needed to spend a day with her before her and Ben leave to go work with the Ringling Bros. How cool! After a 2 and a half hour drive, we ended up at Yoder's Amish Restaurant. There was a bit of a line, but after maybe 20 minutes, we were seated. The menu was pretty big, but I ordered a tuna salad sandwich and Amish Noodles. Ryan got a hamburger (she said it was really good!) and a chocolate pie sample dessert. We had a lady take our picture outside the restaurant. Yoder's also has a gift shop (I got a couple items for my mom & a glass figurine for Mia). Ryan and I both found really cool collage keychain things, but they were kinda pricey for their size. We also went to the market and I got more Strawberry Rhubarb jam and Amish popcorn! After that we drove to Siesta Key beach and walked along the shore for a bit before heading back home. =)

BFF Polaroids

Here are a few other pictures that I haven't shown off yet. The Mini Polaroid was taken just before Mia and Sharanya left on the 29th (amazing day!) - I miss them dearly and wish we lived closer and that our schedules meshed better. I need them. 

The Wide Polaroid was taken by Michael at Coldstone on Wednesday night while Julie came to visit for a few hours. I always feel like a terrible host when we don't have other fun activities planned, but I was out after the ice cream idea. I was finally able to use the $15 gift card that I got for graduation last April. I got "The Pie Who Loved Me" - Oreo and cheesecake. Mmmm! Julie got "Oreo Overload" and Michael got a small funnel cake with vanilla ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream! I miss our Glee nights, but the show is on hiatus until a few days from now. I've been working every Tuesday lately while it's on.

OH! Mia recently created a webpage for her work as well & I wanted to share that with you. Its her work from her art since high school. Not it includes models for her Soil & Water classes. Very cool!