What????

As I posted a few weeks ago I had a wedding to photograph and all went ok. What I didn't mention was that I was not happy with the photos. I was not happy at all. I seriously expected these poor people to be in tears over the lack of good images to capture their special moment. Well...To my surprise they were not just happy with the whole lot of them but ecstatic.
Who would've guessed?

Here is the groom and his Grandmother. If I had to pick one (and I mean if I had to pick one) this would be my favorite. Not exactly a pleasing back ground or angle, but at least it isn't too cluttered and you can clearly see two people! I think it is a sweet moment.

The other two are of their youngest son and their oldest. They were the most serious kids I've ever encountered, so I am quite surprised I caught them smiling. It seemed as if they had a third eye that watched me at all times, so most of the images of them capture their sad/serious faces.

Dead Seagulls Rejected from Heaven.

A father was at the beach with his children when the four-year-old son ran up to him,grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore where a seagull lay dead in the sand.
"Daddy, what happened to him?" the son asked.
"He died and went to Heaven," the Dad replied.
The boy thought a moment and then said,
"Did God throw him back down?"



........I so cannot wait until Xander is old enough to ask me these kinds of questions.

Happy Birthday Miha!!!!!!!!!!!

This was a great birthday celebration! So much fun that even Tony was dancing. Don't believe me? Check out Photobucket.

Ok..I just realized that I have no pictures of him actually dancing. You'll just have to take my word for it.

The Amazing Xander and His Ever Expanding Vocabulary.

His first word was Doggy. Then Mama, which seems to be synonymous with joy, sadness, hunger, contentment and anger. This and That, Daddy, Gee (granny), Pop (poppy), Sis (rachel), Uncle Barry (i didn't actually hear that myself), More, Want Some,I'm going, I did, and a sleu of jibber jabber that I can dechipher, but nothing that can be put into writing.

Lately he has been really interested in body parts. Now..while he has always enjoyed pointing out his mouth, eyes, ears, elbows etc...I think it was just a game to him. Recently he has been pointing to new body parts on myself and Tony and then pointing to his own. These new body parts include but are not limited to places I have told him are private. I give him the clinical names and tell him they are mommy's/daddy's private area. I thought that was the end of that.

Last nite we were in bed trying to sleep. Xander wasn't excited about that idea so he was playing with his baby Tad and telling me all kinds of stories. Then he looked at me and said "boobooboobies"
"What?" I asked.
"mama boobies"
I'm sorry but I couldn't help but crack up laughing. This of course was bad, very bad. Then he poked at them and said "mama boobies! ha ha ha". Then he looks at Tony and says "mama boobies!"

Now I'm afraid to tell you that this is more than likely going to be his new word. How do I know this you ask? Because it was the first thing he said this morning before he even go out of the bed, and he said "mama boobies!" several times on the way to daycare and even made sure that the ladies at daycare where aware that I have not just any old boobies, but "mama boobies". I'm sure they didn't know that.

Before I get any "Oh Erica" emails let me say that I am making an attempt to turn this around, but he just doesn't think Tony's boobies are as interesting.

Pointless. But Fun!

Sound like me?

"Of unusual beauty, does not want to impress, well-developed sense of justice, vivacious, interested, a born diplomat, but irritable and sensitive in company, often due to a lack of self-confidence, acts sometimes superior, feels not understood, loves only once, has difficulties in finding a partner."

This may or may not hold true, but the part that frightened me is "..,loves only once,..".
This freaked me out! Those three words have been echoing in my head for days.
Maybe that is because I have thought this for quite some time and to actually see it in writing referencing me, regardless of how trivial and silly the source is, was disturbing.

Maybe it could mean I love sushi only once (disgusting stuff..but I must try everything once) or that I will love retirement only once. Who knows. It really is a vague statement isn't it?


Click Here To See Yours.

What Do You Remember?

The 5th anniversary of 9/11. It has been long enough that the popular question seems to be "What do you remember?". Understandably.I suppose we should not forget. In the midst of the sorrow for those lives lost and lives damaged, the unbiased patriotism and what seems to me a very narrow side of the emotional impact of 9/11, there is something I want to say.

In no way am I trying to disregard anyone else's experience or downplay the tradgedy that our country endured. I'm simply going to give you (my dear internet) my thoughts, emotions and memories of 9/11 and the aftermath.

I woke up that morning and did something uncharecteristic. I turned on the television. Before I had coffee or even went to the bathroom I turned on the television. It was relatively early. I think around 9 or so. The first image that came on the screen was of the first tower that was hit. The smoke billowed toward the sky. It took me a minute to realize what had happened. Then I just sat there in my pajamas, without my coffee or bathroom break, with tears slowly streaming down my face. A million thoughts ran through my head. I don't know how long I sat there in disbelief.
Hayan came home with his friend Louie. He came in so quietly and sat down next to me. The three of us sat and watched the events unfold in silence.

The enormity of what happened hit me in waves, like most of my intense emotional experiences do.

I felt sorrow for those who lost their lives. I felt the kind of grief one has when you are helpless to help those in need.

I felt proud of the rescue workers and every other person who risked their lives to help in anyway they could.

Then the inevitable happened. The backlash. The hatred. The ignorance.

I began to feel fear for Hayan and others that I cared about when I heard of a young arabic girl who was severly beaten on the campus of Henry Ford Community College. The fear and disgust was pretty well set in when I went to Kentucky to visit my family and drove by a mosque that had been burned to the ground.

Then I felt hopeless and weak as co-workers, friends and strangers berated me with nasty remarks filled with hatred. Ignorent hatred.

I'm not sure what I feel now. I'm not sure what I think either. I suppose I'm an idealist and that doesn't sit well with most people. I don't judge individuals based on their ethnic or religous background. The diversity that we are so priveledged to have in this country and the access to knowledge should not be taken for granted.

The world is a giant place and goes far beyond our little back yards. If we can just take a moment to look past the end of our nose and see what's going on. Know that it is happening to people, not those two dimensional figures on the television, but actual people. Realize that just because they have an odd accent or eat food you have never heard of or worship a god your not familiar with or have customs that just seem odd does not mean they have less of a right to speak their minds or live on this planet than you do.

If we (meaning humanity in general) could stop being so damn judgemental and greedy and instead focus our energies on creating governments and policies that benefit humanity instead of just one or two humans then the world would be one step in the right direction.

Alas, this is not human nature so I for one am not to optimistic. I think I have ended on a tangent so let's call it a day, shall we?

At The UAW Pic-Nic...

He had so much fun! I was busy painting faces....badly I might add (poor kids) while Xander was riding pony's, sliding down giant inflatable slides, crawling through mazes, eating cookies and having an all around good time. His little cheeks were red and dirty. His hands were freezing and his diaper was full. All of this and he still cried as we walked away. Fun Times.


There are a few more pics on photobucket if you'd like.

Dance, Dance.

I just have to post this before I forget, because my memory is not the best. Especially when I am in school.

After spending the afternoon photographing a wedding(which went pretty well) myself, Tony and Xander went to Toledo for the Greek Festival. It was entertaining. There were dancers and musicians and beer. So of course it was great because there was beer:)

The most amusing part was Xander. He seems to be my source of amusement lately, but I digress.

He was not content at sitting a few feet from the stage, oh no. He found his way right up near the stage next to the ginourmous speakers (i'm not to sure how good it was for his ears,but?) and proceeded to dance the night away.

He was so cute I almost couldn't stand it. Eventually he became to tired and sat down, covered his legs and watched the dancers until the music stopped. I never would have guessed he would enjoy that as much as he did.

I do have some video of him dancing in the front yard.....I'll have to post that sometime soon. Sorry I can't post it right now.I am off to the union pic-nic. Please enjoy this new picuture of Xander until I can get the video going.

Waiting Patiently..as patiently as DeeDee waits for squirrels.

For once I've gotten lucky when it comes to anything to do with EMU. All but one of my classes are being taught by lecturers or guest lecturers which means they are not in the union that is striking as so are able to cross the picket lines. In all reality they are obligated by contract to cross the picket lines and teach class. History of Modern Art is waiting patiently to be taught and I am anxious to get started.
It is my understanding that the Administration issued an ultimatum to the Union and Faculty that said if they had not accepted their offer by 10p.m last tuesday then they would walk away from the negotiating table. Which they did, literally. Even though they were in the midst of negotiation and from what I can tell the union believed there would have been an agreement had the Admin. not walked away. So now I guess there is talk about going to court and such, but from what I can tell there is no way that the faculty can be forced back to work since they and the union where still willing to negotiate. I guess we'll see. I'm trying to keep up but am unfamiliar with this sort of thing so if you are horribly curious as to what's going on please check out these sites that are much more informative than I can be.
Steven Krause (great blog, great forum for this issue)
Union site (very informative)
EMU site (not so informative and quite frankly it seems to exxagerate)


On a more personal note, I have a wedding to photgraph tomorrow. This will be a new experience for me so I am nervous and excited. I hope all goes well.

Speaking of photography. I am really excited about my photography class this semester. It will be my first time developing my own film and working in the dark room. My instructor seems equally concerned with subject and message as she is technique so I think I will be learning a great deal.

GO! FACULTY!

Classes start today. I am curious to see how this will go. EMU faculty have been striking since September1. I have been keeping up on this mainly because I can't believe how the administration is behaving. I feel like they are use to getting their way (ahhem..the new student union) and now that the faculty are not backing down they(the admin) are behaving like juveniles. At any rate...I guess I'll keep up on my experiences here. If any one is interested further in the story check out here, and here. It is amazing how assinine the admin. sounds after reading the union site and Krause's blog!

I am beginning to think that I made a huge mistake coming back to EMU. It has been nothing but a hassle and a disappointment so far. I am to overwhelmed with disgust and frustration to say anything constructive. So I took Xander to Fort Wayne over the weekend.

It was a great distraction and a learning experience. We were the only visitor there on Sunday.Which was sad, but good for us! We got to ride in the golf cart and our tour guide showed us some "extra" stuff that normally wouldn't have been accessible.
We spent today in Detroit as well. We joined Mom, Clint and Rachel in the Labor Day Parade. We paraded for ourselves it seemed, but fun anyhow.

Check out photobucket if you feel like it.