May Day

May 1, 2013. It's been two weeks, and I just haven't been right since we returned from our trip to NYC.  Not to go casting about for sympathy, but I've been battling some kind of stomach bug for the past two weeks, and then, because that wasn't enough, added a nice dose of strep throat onto it just yesterday.  My gut was bubbling and boiling like the cauldron belonging to Shakespeare's witches, my head felt like it was being crushed by two cinder blocks, and I now what lightening tastes like because I swear that's what in my throat every time I swallow.  I'm pretty sure I had a fever because my pajamas were sticking to me with a coat of sweat normally reserved for a Zumba class.   I'm going to pieces and I'm still a few months away from 35. 

Somewhere in all of this, I'm still doing the normal day-to-day stuff that keeps the household running. Lunches are made, hair is done. Laundry is washed, and folded, and put away.  And laundry is washed, and folded, and put away. And laundry- - -you get the idea.  I had this grand plan to have my new website up and launched by this exact date. May 1st is pretty auspicious. It's the first day of a new month, a month that is traditionally associated with spring and new beginnings.  While my intentions were good, my timing has been off and I've been doing the unveiling in bits and pieces.  My site is up, but the current homepage is just a place holder until the real splash page is complete. I'm really excited about it, and burning to tell you what it's going to be, but I want to wait until it's all done and you get to see it for yourself.  It'll be worth it, trust me.  The new site has links to this blog, my tumblrs, my writing and my photography business.

Ahh, the photography business. Totally re-vamped -- new name, new webpage, some new pictures.  In addition to my main site, I've also built this one from scratch.  Talk about small victories. When I finally got all the links active and directed to the right locations, I took a victory lap around my office.  When the homepage slideshow actually behaved like a slideshow, I popped a few bottles.  Learning how to build a web-page, inserting HTML, and interacting with Go.Daddy customer service is like navigating Dante's Inferno.  Blindfolded.

One of the other projects that I'm working on, because clearly I don't have enough on my plate, is this tumblr I started called f/365. I'm in love with instagram and I started one of those "photo-a-day" challenges back in February.  It was fun and I thought it would be a great way for me to stay sharp behind the lens, even if I was just using my phone.  February turned into March, then April and I kept it up.  So, I decided to catalog this little journey and started a tumblr dedicated to one photo a day for one year -- f/365.  f/ refers in photog speak refers to the f-stop, which basically is the size of the opening that lets light into your camera.  Further adding to the confusion, the larger the f/ number, the smaller the confusion. Technically, a f/365 (if there was even such an f/stop) would be a pretty small opening, but I was trying to be clever and witty, not scientific.

I'm onto May and have used the challenges I've found on The Idea Room as a my creative springboard. By February of 2014, I'll have finished. As to what I'll do with the images, who knows. Maybe make a coffeetable book, maybe make a calendar, maybe use them as a screensaver on my computer.  Maybe I'll do nothing with it at all other than reflect on the different pictures I've taken. At the very least,  it keeps my creativity firing.  

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Another project I'm working on this month is Vivi's first birthday. What the what, right? Where did the year go? I feel like she just got here, but sure enough, she's about to be one on May 18th. She's crawling, babbling, pulling up and doing all the other milestone things that I have been trying to remember to document.  I have, however documented her growth on the 18th day of every month since she's been born. 

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I'll still do a photo once a year like I've done with Mo and Co to capture how much she's grown wearing a piece of clothing from my closet, but I this has been a nice thing to work on, too.  As for the party, we're keeping it low-key. Just the grands, the god-parents and us.  My brother keeps asking me what a one year wants as a gift; I need to take him up on his generosity, but I am drawing a serious blank. We have books and toys and clothes and the basic things that a wee one needs during the first one to two years.  What's left? An iPad? How about MacBook Air? C'mon, kids these days need to be up on the latest technology, right? Maybe I'll get on Pinterest and see what I can come up with. 

But first, I'm going to dose up on antibiotics to knock this strep out before May Day becomes Mayday! Mayday!