For those that are having a tough time adding my new blog to their blogger blog lists try this URL
http://www.michelleleighton.com/blog/?feed=rss2
That seems to be the one working.. Thanks to those letting me know they were not able to get theirs to work.
So I decided to combine both my blogs into 1 new one. So update your RSS feed with my new blog which can be found HERE
I know I have sadly neglected my blog lately. Part of the reason is there is not much exciting going on here and also because I am in the process of building a new blog that will encompass both my personal blog and photo blog in one. Then I will only have 1 blog to neglect instead of two.. Stay tuned for the launch of my new blog...
A couple years ago I was turned onto a photography message board. I am really fortunate to be part of this a community of photographers. I am not as active as I once was due to time restraints, the time sucker called facebook, and the whole stress of the moving thing and having ½ my life in boxes right now, but I digress. I have met several of these great people in person, but for the most part, we don't know each other in real life. However, as more and more time passes many of us have come to know and love one another.
Now the majority of this board is female and share the passion or photography on many different levels and in different manners, but a love for it just the same. It is a place we we come together to share things that are on topic, and stuff that is way off the topic of photography. We can share our latest photo sessions, get feedback on shots, and share our ever growing wish lists for gear, and often we enable one another to buy things that are photo related. In the way of off topic items there is good news shared, venting about something that has really rubbed us the wrong way, share funny stories and unfortunately we also hear about the bad news. I say unfortunately because no one wants to hear about bad things happening to our friends.
Just recently one photographer posted about how her Husband had lost his job. It was over something that was not his fault but was now unemployed as a result. With 3 kids at home and one that requires expensive medications this sweet girl who was worried about the future of her little family immediately put up some of her back up gear for sale online in order to help her family financially. It really tugged at the heartstrings of us all. Not only is she truly one of the most generous and giving people on the board, but it also meant she would no longer have back up gear and would have to turn down weddings and other photo shoots. Reducing her ability to get income in the future for her family in order to meet their immediate financial needs. It is amazing how much you can grow to care about someone that you have never met, but her kind and generous heart and the fact that she is really a talented photographer really just made the whole thing hard to swallow.
It seriously made me sick when I heard what was happening and well I sure was not the only one. Several amazing people pulled together and organized a fundraiser to “buy” this gear from her. I guess you could say we were going to buy it from her to give it back to her. So a significant sum was raised in just 4 short days (I love the power of the internet and PAYPAL) and earlier today another sweet girl from the board drove 2 hours to meet up with her and present her with the money.
So everyone that was involved is feeling a great sense of happiness today for being able to do a small part to help out such a wonderful friend. You would think we were the ones getting a gift today. It really is better to give than receive. In these tough financial times it really is hard for so many but when the masses pull together it really is amazing what you can get done. It is just another way to pay it forward for the good things that are done for us in our lives.
My Aunt and Cousin came in for a long weekend with sweet little Ellie... She had to meet her Great Grandmother on her mom's side of the family after all. Well we pulled out this picture of MomMom when she was a baby a little older than Ellie is now.
Then I took this picture of little Ellie today. She is looking a lot like her MomMom..
And since I am having so much fun taking hre picture here is a few more.. 
I even got one taken with her..
We got a 4 generation picture also. So fun..
Just a quick post to let people know I am still alive. Once I manage to get through the couple thousand pictures I took last week I will post again with some pictures. Vacation was good although the time off was too short as usual.
It was great to see the friends and family I managed to see. I am super proud of my baby sister for graduating and getting into grad school which she starts in a couple weeks. Wish I got to spend more time with her then a few days here and there once or twice a year.
I was tired when I came home but had to reassemble my closet before I could crawl into bed. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to put the attic access in the top of the closet but it meant having my closet taken apart so that the mold remediation guy could crawl up there to make sure there was no spreading mold from an old roof leak. the good news ... No spreading mold, the bad news.. I still had to take a apart my closet and put it back together and we not have a hole in the ceiling where they cut the bad drywall out. Getting that repaired is next on the to do list.
The house hunt continues.. no luck yet finding a new place to live that meets our needs. It might take a while. We might have to go with new construction so we can customize something and that means most likely moving out of the ward boundaries, and the stake for that matter. Boo Hiss.
As I sit down to write this post I can't believe how much has happened and changed in the last week. It has really moved by pretty fast.
I am going to be moving. I really didn't think I would move out of this house anytime soon. I love it here and it is a great house. So how in a week did I go from not even having moving on my radar to house hunting and having to get 2 households ready to be put on the market and moved? My grandmother is coming to live with us.....
Last weekend the discussion came up over dinner between my mother and grandmother about what my grandmother wanted to do when she felt she could no longer live alone and she replied. "I am coming to live with you." So that started the whole ball rolling. we looked into adding onto our house which was our first choice but that was quickly squashed when we found out we can only cover 20% of our lot and we are already at that percentage, so then we moved on to the next option which was selling both our houses and finding something new to move into.
So now I am interviewing Realtors, and starting to box things up in our house to declutter it so we can get it read to put on the market. The trash collectors are going to hate us on a weekly basis, but goodwill is going to love us. In other words lots of stuff that needs to go and we will donate whatever we can. I will be getting a storage unit this week to start putting stuff in as we declutter. My mom has started the painful process of going through all her books but has done a great job so far. My first big thing to tackle is my craft room and all my scrapbooking stuff. I already have a big pile of stuff to get rid of but have lots more to go through. Then I get to move onto the prep work, you know the deep cleaning, patching and painting.
So I will have plenty to keep my busy in the next few weeks/months.... Then I will be looking for a nice padded room to check myself into.
I know I have been neglecting my poor blog. Part of it is due to a busy schedule, part is cause there is not much going on, and I admit facebook has been sucking time lately.
Today was a good day. Church was good and then I joined the youth fo their Sunday Evening discussion, which was really a mid afternoon discussion. It was a special one for the graduating seniors and I made a little slide show for it so it was fun to go and be there when they watched it. It seemed to go pretty well. I love those kids, can't believe 6 of them are graduating this year. Going to miss them next year.
Yep another birthday has come and gone....
This was a pretty low key birthday, which was fitting since graduation was just a month ago and that was not low key in any way!!
On Thursday I went with Kristin Hood to see No Doubt. Kylie was supposed to go with her but she decided to be a weenie and not go, so Kristin asked me if I wanted to go. SCORE!! Here we are waiting for the show to start.
It was a little boring waiting, so I took a picture of my shoes, isn't that what you are supposed to do while waiting for a concert? We also did a lot of people watching. Concerts are the best place to people watch.
The concert was great, I want Abs like Gwen, serious envy for those abs.
The only bad part was the tree trunk of a man I got stuck standing right behind. he was a 6'6" was that just stood there recording the whole concert on his phone, it was kinda creepy, and the guy next to him just stood there, never clapping, cheering or even slightly swaying to the music. 
There was 2 opening acts, the Sounds and Paramore. Paramore was fantastic, the sounds had a couple of good songs but the lead singers profuse use of the *F* word was a turn off and her grinding up against her band mates just seemed out of place at this concert.
All in all great concert. So glad Kristin thought to ask me if I wanted to go with her.
Oh here we are in the green lights, guess a good concert changes your skin color after a while.
Friday came and I was beat but I got a little pick me up when this arrived for me at work from my friend Missy.
Saturday I didn't do much, I did go get my new driver's license picture taken, I know I live the glamorous life don't I? After that I came home amd loaded up my car with a full load for the good will, you would never know I got rid of anything looking around but it was a good start to cleaning things out. After that I let mom talk me into going to the mall, and then we went out to dinner at the Diner.
Today, my actual birthday, I went to church, came home and took a nap, I l;ove my Sunday naps, and then headed over to my grand mother's house. Then it was off to dinner with her and my mom. I have eaten too much this weekend and I am feeling it!!
As for presents I got this adorable purse from my mom and Grover and the rest was cold hard cash, since I am saving for a couple things and I got so many goodies for graduation I really didn't know what I wanted. 
So in Church this past Sunday there was a great Testimony given by my friend Elizabeth. She recently had to deal with a nasty infection in her mouth that she like many of us would do let it go for too long because it was not hurting and when she finally could not wait any longer for the surgery the lovely drugs that are used to keep you from screaming out in pain and scaring the other patients was not able to work through the infected tissue.. She did survive despite having to endure the pain she was in due to neglecting to completely take care of the infection instead of doing minor tweaks with antibiotics as soon as it was discovered.
However, she learned a big lesson from this experience and compared it to another area of her life. Now although her story of putting things off, especially when pain is involved, really rang true with me this next part did even more so. I am taking some paraphrasing liberties here and maybe not the exact point she made but it was what she shared that made me think about this. SO Elizabeth if you are reading this and I twisted your beautiful testimony forgive me please... She talked about how we let the world in or more worldy things into our lives and it slowly eats away at us, and if we do no do regular spiritual check ups and put off cleaning up areas of our life it can get to the point where it is no longer a little thing to deal with and now it is a much more complicated and sometimes painful thing to deal with. So you have to move on from spiritual antibiotics to a spiritual surgery or two...
I know this will take on a different meaning for many different people. For me this is what I personally took away from it. I have known for a little while now that life has gotten to overwhelming, and I also know it is because things of the world have become too large and imposing on certain aspects of my life. Now that I am finally done with school I am seeing it even more so. While in school I had tunnel vision to get done with classes and other things were sliding but I really didn't realize how much till I was starting to try to get some order back in my life. So I have the goal to get things back in control but I also know it is not something that can be done over night or with just one or two changes, it is going to take several areas of change.
First up for me is getting rid of some of the physical things cluttering up my life. So far I have 5 bags of clothing/shoes/purses, 4 boxes of misc knick knacks and a couple pieces of furniture for the good will, and lots more to be added to that I am sure. I have not even thought about going through everything in the basement yet, or my scrap booking supplies. While I work on that I am also going to work on getting some sort of a routine back, to help manage my time better, since i have so little free time still.
Lots more to do and lots to think about, but I am glad I am thinking about it and working on it all.
Taking pictures and LOTS of them..
First there was pictures of the Perry Family
Second a 6AM trip to Philly with the just Matt and Chelsea
Third was some quick family and kid pics for the Braodbents
Fourth I got to sneak in some pics of Zach and Kate
Fifth was the sweet Cole Arthur.
Sixth was pics of the equally sweet Hall baby.
Seventh was some quick senior pics or Breckyn (Which I will finally have blogged tomorrow)
Since then I have been trying to take some more pics of the M&M's I got for graduation for a wall picture but have given up and decided to just eat them!!
Aside from all that just lots of working, and editing all those pictures and thinking I really need to redo my blogs, but have not gotten to far on that...
Phew, graduation weekend was a whirlwind but now it is time to get the blog up. Since my cousin Ryan refuses to get facebook I have to post this blog so he can see the pictures and stop bugging me about when I am goign to blog them.
It was great to have a few out of town guests, my Dad and Bobbi made it for the weekend from Maine. Plus my cousin Ryan and his girlfriend Michelle also made it from Boston. Jamie, Aunt Lois and Ellie didn't make it, which was a bummer but hopefully they will come visit later this summer.
My Dad and Bobbi arrived Friday night and we went out to dinner at the cheese cake factory. It was just them, my mom and I which was nice.
Saturday morning was when my graduation took place and I was just glad the rain had held off. It was really warm and humid but no rain which was good. Things started right on time. Since they give the evening students their diplomas first we had to sit through the rest. I admit I was really pretty zoned out most of the time during the speakers, as were most other people. I even started snappign pictures with my little point and shoot to pass the time.
The funniest thing was when the fire alarm at the fire station literally right next to us went off. They usually ring the siren 2 maybe 3 times but today they rang it 9 times. Then the 1 fire truck that drove by had sirens blaring even though the road was closed for graduation and no one was on it. Yea you might say they are not big fans of the dean or the college in general. I just thought it was funny , but it was loud and hard on the ears.
I was spoiled big time this weekend.
My Aunt Lois got me the Blythe doll I wanted. She swore my mom was pulling one over on her when she told my aunt this is what I wanted. Here is a quick snap shot of Penelope Paprika… more photos to follow.
My Aunt also got me personalized M&M’s I am not sure if I should be flattered or disturbed that my face is on these. While Penny helped her regaina favorite Aunt status after bailing on graduation, these disturbing portraits almost made her lose it again. But hey chocolate is choclate and they still taste great.
My dad is extremely proud of the fact I graduated with a 4.0 Check out the hat he got when we were walking around the mall. He finally got a hat I would not be embarrassed to see him wearing, of course he gave it to me so he will still be wearing the dreaded cheerios hat. I am thinking I should wear it to my sister’s college graduation this summer. You know to just remind her that even though she is the tall, thin, pretty sister, I am the smart one. :-)
Aside from the hat he and Bobbi got me this very pretty bracelet and matching earrings. I love it…
My cousin Ryan and the other 4.0 Michelle gave me cash, yep that went right into my fund which will be used for either a laptop or the “zebra” lens I really want. I was so happy they were able to make it down. I can’t wait till the next time they visit so we can see some of the sites in the area. I got really lucky Michelle came because she was able to take some pictures for me of graduation. They will be at the end of this post. Thanks again Michelle for doing that for me. I love them.
From Jamie, Jeff and little Ellie I got this very cool clock. It was once a camera that was turned into a clock. It is right up my alley that is for sure. I still have to decide where I will keep it. It still didn't bump her or Jeff up to number one again but you know it kept them from slipping any further. 
My grandmother got me a right angle view finder. She had no idea what it was used for but knew I wanted it thanks to my mom getting something from my wish list for her to give me.
Speaking of my wish list from B&H my mom went crazy shopping from it. I was expecting my ipod that I picked out 2 months ago and the speakers I got for it. Which I did get but she also got me a lens I wanted, and a bunch of other accessories I had on my wish list. I was seriously stunned, and very thankful. She also treated everyone to dinner at the William Penn Inn. 
Dinner was great. My friend Missy joined us which was great. I was really happy to have her there. She gave me this very cool snow globe, with a very nice engraving. She didn’t even realize it plays pomp and circumstance. Good thing she didn’t realize that because Bobbi would have started crying at the dinner table had she known.
Here are some of the Pictures that were taken at graduation. Thanks Again Michelle K.
So My friend Val has a very inspiring blog. It has things from thrifty craft projects, to fun recipes, gardening tips, healthy eating tips, cute pet pics, A great idea for thrifty cloth napkins and the latest thing that caught my eye is her cleaning challenge. She has already attacked her linen closet and bedroom closet with pictures included in other posts, so be sure to look for those. I confess I would be happy if my closet looked as good as her before pictures.
I have been trying to weed through things but without much luck and very little purpose behind said cleaning and purging. But last weekend I did pull out all my purses and bags and managed to get rid of about 1/3 of what I had. Ideally I should have probably gotten rid of 2/3, but it is still a tiny step in the right direction. I have other bags in the basement I need to go through too, but decided not to drag them up and will attack that when I get tot he basement cleaning. So each week I am going to tackle a new project or area of the house. I won’t be able to do everything I want since my mom lives with me and she is worse about holding onto things then I am. Although to her credit we did manage to get rid of 10 bags of clothes of hers not too long ago, it hardly made a dent in what she still has left but it was a great stride, and it took us hours to do. We also managed to throw away a trash bags worth of kitchen gadgets and such that were broken or just of no use any more.
So each week I will venture forth to clean out things, condense and organize. I might even take pictures from time to time of the before and after when I remember.
I think I need my cousin-in-law Jeff to come out and work his magic, that man can clean and purge like nothing else.
AHHHH Grades have posted and I some how managed to get to graduation with my 4.0 intact. I have never been a huge fan of school, well the homework aspect of it in particular. So next Saturday when I graduate it will be Summa Cum Laude with my 4.0. I am a bit in shock honestly. I am not sure it has sunk in I am actually done with classes.
My sister was kind enough to let me know I am sick fo getting a 4.0. but you know seeign as she is a crminal it is hard to take her seriously. (Long story on the criminal story, pretty funny actually.)
So next Saturday is graduation, so that means I got to spend a good portion of this weekend doing yard work and house work. a portion of that included 7 loads of laundry. Still LOTS to do before the family gets here next weekend. I think I need a house cleaner.. Still feeling Bummed that my aunt Lois and cousin Jamie with baby Ellie are not coming now but we skyped today and got to see sweet little Ellie. We will Skype next weekend for sure.
So this week will be pretty busy with getting ready for family next weekend. Then I am determined to do some major purging of stuff that I have been collecting. Time to get rid of stuff. I feel like I have a ton of tings to get caught back up on now that I am done with school.
Thanks to everyone that was so supportive and encouraging while I finished up my degree!!
I have been having muscle spasms on the left side of my back for a few days now. It is making me crazy. I suspect once I get through my last final exam tonight and my stress level reduces some they will subside but until them they are more than a bit annoying!!
Tonight is my last class and the final group project that stands between me and graduation. Have I mentioned how much I do NOT enjoy group projects. Did I also mention this project is also all that stands between me and a 4.0 GPA at graduation.
I have lots of blogging to catch up on once school is done and I get caught up on yard work and house work before the family comes next weekend for my graduation. However, since it has rained for like the last 9 days and my yard is swamp like I might not be worrying much about the yard work part. Plus since my cousin and aunt are not longer coming we skip the white glove test on the house cleaning, now it just has to be presentable, or at least I hope I can get away with presentable.
Yep the title pretty much sums up the next few weeks and probably months for me.
School is winding down and I will graduate on May 16th from the evening program at Ursinus. However, before that happens I need to finish up my two classes which mean lots of homework, and preparing for finals.
I also have a few photo sessions coming up. Next weekend I get to attend the First communion of a coworkers daughter and take pictures of her afterwards. I got to go for her big sister last year so I am excited to get to do her pictures this year. These girls are just adorable.
Then the following weekend I have a couple of appointments in the morning and actually have a free afternoon which I am sure my mom will snatch up if something doesn't get booked. She has lots of yard work she wants me to do....
The following weekend is Graduation and i am so excited for it. My cousins are coming in for it, as is my aunt. My Dad and step mom are making the drive from Maine for it also. My friend Missy also wanted to be part of the festivities so she will be spending a good portion of Saturday with us. (She has no idea what she is getting herself into.) I guess everyone just wants to witness the miracle of me finishing school, finally.
That brings me to Memorial Day weekend and I get to take couple pictures of the Perry's down in Philly on that Saturday before they move on out to Kansas. We are also going to do family pictures of them. Man am I going to miss them.
Plus I will have other sessions I am doing during the week after work. I know of at least one little boy that will be born in May that I will be taking pictures of.
Before I know it June is here and I have a family session the first weekend in June and a wedding to shoot in Florida the last weekend in June, and I will turn 36 some where in the middle there...
Busy is good though, it keeps me out of trouble, well maybe only a little.
So I got the chance to do two photo sessions this weekend and I have to admit it made me a little sad.
First I got to Take Emily over to Valley Forge to do some maternity pictures. Isn't she beautiful? You can see more pictures here.
Then I got to take Chelsea and her girls over to Ursinus campus to get some spring pictures of the girls. You can see more of those here.
So why did this make me sad? Some might think it is because I am still single and as much as i want to be a mom I have no kids but actually that isn't it at all. It is because both of these families will be moving in the next bit as their husbands graduate from Dental school. This time of year is always tough as the friends you make over a 4 year period graduate and move on. But I wish them all the best!!
Okay I confess I am slightly obsessed with Blythe Dolls. I really want to get one of these dolls, she would be a blast to photograph. Now for any of you old enough to remember the original she was a short lived doll back in 1972 (Her color changing eyes kind of freaked kids out) but she has a new following and has started to be made again in 2001. You read about her history here.
I think she would practically be the perfect subject since I won't have to chase her to get pictures of her. You can buy all sorts of Wigs, hats, clothes,Stockings/Tights and other accessories for her. Of course the dolls themselves are hard to come by especially in the states even with Hasbro owning the rights to her.
Maybe one day I will have one or maybe even 2 of these stylin' dolls in my possession.
You can see more pictures of these unique dolls here.
I managed not to get a cold all winter long. (I had other sickies but no colds). Well the Easter Bunny decided to bring one to me this weekend and man do I feel icky. Hopefully it will run its course quickly.
But to cheer me up I pulled up some pictures of the little Ellie Bunny that I took a couple weeks ago. Can't wait till she comes to visit in May!!
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