Just When Things are Looking Up.

Something stupid happens and sends me back into a weep at everything state. This time the catalyst was my two year old willow trees. I plucked these little twigs off a freshly cut down old old willow tree that was probably 50 feet tall and raised them from rootless sprigs. I tenderly put them in cups of water. moving them from one room of the house to another to keep them in the sun as long as possible. It seemed impossible to me, but my dad assured me that they would sprout the roots that would grow them into a possible 70 foot tall wonder. Sure enough, after two weeks, my little twigs had roots. I quickly bought two flower pots and some potting soil and moved them from their cups of water to actual soil. Boy oh boy, they flourished! Within two months, they had outgrown their pots, so I dug up two holes in my yard. I kept them fairly close together, with dreams of a bench under the drooping branches where I could sit and read. All that summer, I watched as they quickly grew to be about 6 feet tall. I was so proud that I was able to take these little 6 inch branches and help turn them into actual trees. They made it through that first winter, and slowed in their growth the following summer. That brings us to this winter. We suffered a MASSIVE ice storm that shut down the town for 5 days. Everything was coated in 6 inches of ice, followed by 4 inches of snow. It was too much for my trees to survive. I noticed once it started warming up and everything was turning green that my beloved willows were not. I called a local greenery and they confirmed my fears, my willows hadn't been hearty enough to withstand being under so much ice and cold for so long. I cried at the loss of my trees, knowing that it wasn't just the loss of my willows that was making me so sad. It may seem silly to some to cry over trees, but I grew these from practically nothing. Looking out of my kitchen window and being able to watch them grow almost before my very eyes was so fulfilling. My mom has offered to buy me two new ones, and I will take her up on that offer because I still have a dream of reading beneath their overlapped hanging branches, listening to the wind rustle the leaves. I will do this one day, and I will think of my baby willows, and my dad, and all that I've lost this year.

What I've Been Busy With

During the time my computer was broken, I was still busy taking pictures. Once I got it back, I spent two or three days getting caught up on all my work. I've already shown you my nature pictures, now you get to see a peek of the other stuff I've been working on. :)

Spring has Sprung!

This is by far my favorite time of year. The flowers are blooming, trees and grass are starting to turn green again, it's life beginning again. This is what I've needed in a year that has brought so many losses. I'm going to share with you today some of my nature pictures that I've acquired (taken) over the last few weeks.

We had tornado warnings this night.

I snapped this one tonight after storm chasing.

I love weather photography and am obsessed with getting the perfect lightning shot. It hasn't happened yet, but I know it will eventually.

This is one of my most favorite places to visit. I came here all the time with my dad.

Inside the covered bridge.

I love the sunset.

I also adore taking pictures of flowers, and just being out in nature.

I love daffodils.

Wild Violets.

Apple blossoms.

I hope you enjoyed the photo documentary of my spring so far. I'm sure there will be many more pictures (hopefully one will be the elusive perfect lightning.) For now, enjoy the life springing up around you. Take it as a reminder that even though life sucks sometimes, and you have to say goodbye too soon to those you love, new life and new beginnings are just around the corner.

It's Review Time!

I had this review planned out over a month ago, but my computer died on me as I was prepping the photos. I'm going to talk about Virus Insanity Eyeshadows today. VIE isn't a vegan company (which doesn't make a bit of difference to me) and she sells some of the most awesomely bright shadows I've seen since taking my leave of Glittersniffer. I've ordered from VIE twice, once was a gift and once was for myself, and both orders arrived to me within a week and a half of payment. There was no need to contact Jenni to see where my order was or if it would be shipped. In fact, each time I ordered, Jenni let me know when my order was going to go out. The purchase I made for myself was the St. Patty's Day collection and I loved every color. I don't remember the cost now, but VIE often has sales that offer either a random 10/$25, or you can buy 6/$20, 10/$30, or 20/$55.

Now, on to packaging. My package arrived in a bubble mailer a couple of days after shipping. Once I opened the bubble mailer, this is what I saw:

Securely wrapped in a plastic bag

After you manage to get the pots out of the bag (they were very secure in there, this is a good thing) I noticed all the pots had labels on the top with the color name, and the bottom with ingredients.

I then took the lids off to begin swatching, and was met with more security measures. Sifter stickers!!!! I love these and I love it when sellers use them.

Are you ready for a swatch fest?! Here it comes!

Shamrock

 

 Shamrock is a pearly white with green and lime glitter

Drunken Leprechaun

 Drunken Leprechaun is a medium green with a red sheen. Neatest color ever.

Kiss Me, I'm Irish

 Kiss Me, I'm Irish is a medium/deep green with gold glitter.

Pot of Gold

 Pot of Gold is a pure gold with green glitter.

Luck of the Irish

 Luck of the Irish is a light shimmery gold

Lucky Glitter

Lucky Glitter is a mixture of lime, green, and gold glitter.

All of these color are available for purchase over on the VIE Facebook page, go check them out!



*none of these shadows were given to me for promotional use. I purchased all of these without the intention of doing a review, so the seller didn't give me special treatment.

The computer is still on the fritz, bit since I have several shoots coming up, I will hopefully have it working by this time next week. That would be super awesome since I did a shoot over the weekend that I cannot wait to edit. The images look amazing on my camera, I can't wait to see how awesome they are once I work my magic on them. Until next time, take it easy everyone. I hope to have some awesome things to show you all soon!

I just wanted to pop in real fast to let everyone know that my computer has died and that's why there's been this long silence from me. Once my computer is fixed I plan on doing a review of a mineral makeup company I recently discovered and posting lots of pictures of my LOTD (look of the day) and a few pictures from a recent maternity shoot. Hopefully I'll be back to blogging soon.

A Rare Photography Post!

I know it's been forever since I've featured any of my photography on here. I did a super fun maternity shoot with an adorable couple. I was lucky enough to shoot their wedding in October and they were kind enough to ask me to photograph the next special moment in their lives, her pregnancy. I'm hoping once they have the little guy that I'll be lucky enough to shoot him as well. Anyway, I worked on a few pictures tonight and this one stuck out as my favorite, so I'm going to share it with you guys.

click for full size view

Aren't they adorable?! I can't wait to see and hopefully meet their little bundle of joy when he arrives in a few months.