Internship Interview

Anson has been getting one rejection letter after another and was convinced that he wouldn't get an interview for this first round of picks. BUT today he got an interview for......North freakin' Carolina, all the way across the US on the East Coast! His interview is in late January so we won't know anything for awhile.

What do I know about North Carolina?
Nothing, but here's something from the other Carolina!

And here is Jimmy Kimmel

trying to make sense out of what she said.

Funny stuff! But there is nothing funny about possibly moving to either Carolina!

Fun Facts about North Carolina:

The Outer Banks of NC hosts some of the most beautiful beaches in the country.

The first English colony in America was located on Roanoke Island. Walter Raleigh founded it. The colony mysteriously vanished with no trace except for the word "Croatoan" scrawled on a nearby tree.

Krispy Kreme Doughnut was founded in Winston-Salem.
 

The Venus Fly-Trap is native to Hampstead.

Grandfather Mountain, highest peak in the Blue Ridge, is the only private park in the world designated by the United Nations as an International Biosphere Reserve.

Pepsi was invented and first served in New Bern in 1898.

North Carolina has 1,500 lakes of 10 acres or more in size and 37,000 miles of fresh water streams.

My Art Evolution

I used to loved drawing, painting and other forms of art, but in the last couple of years my "art" has changed. I haven't enjoyed drawing for years because it takes so much time and you have to be so precise and accurate. It just wasn't fun anymore. The same goes with painting....it took a long time and the clean-up afterward sucked. I didn't enjoy that anymore either. So, I took up photography a couple of years ago because it was quick and easy. I didn't have to create anything. The art was right in front of me and all I had to do was push a button! I have come to realize over the last couple of years, that the type of photography I enjoy is nature and landscape but it wasn't until yesterday that I came across a photography blog of a "natural light photographer" and it hit me... That is exactly what I am, a natural light photographer!

Everything makes so much sense now. A couple of years ago, Anson bought me portable lights and umbrellas. What a great gift, right? But I didn't like them and took them back. Anson couldn't understand why I would do that. He really thought I wanted to do portrait photography but I didn't want to do that kind at all. I didn't want to deal with taking equipment somewhere, and blah, blah, blah. That was taking all the fun out of it, but I didn't understand that at the time.

Now I finally have a name for what I enjoy.
It feels really good to come to a realization like that!

Weightloss Update

I lost 3 more pounds!
That's a grand total of 5 lbs. folks!
Yea me!

P.S. Jogging on the treadmill yesterday was the easiest it has been since I started last Monday. I hope it's just as easy today. Time to put some tunes on and sweat!

American Pickers

I hardly ever win anything...really. So when I came across a blog that I follow called, Junk Sophisticate, who were actually contacted by the show American Pickers to giveaway their complete first season on DVD, I entered. It wasn't hard. All I had to do was leave a comment on their blog or facebook wall and mention something about the giveaway. I thought it would up my chances of winning if I actually mentioned my favorite episodes, which was "Mole Man" from season 1 and "Hobo Jack" from season 2.

If you've never watched the show before, two guys drive all over America looking for and buying collectibles and antiques. It sounds boring but it's not. They explore people's homes, sheds, barns and outbuildings and find all kinds of cool stuff. They meet a lot of unusual people who have a lot of unusual things.

Mole Man was a guy who dug tunnels underground and reinforced the walls with cinder blocks, old doors, furniture, and anything else he can scrounge. It's really amazing to see just how long the tunnels ran and how deep they went. That's a place I would have loved to have seen in person....as long as I wasn't alone with Mole Man.

Hobo Jack (season 2)was a pretty cool episode too. The American Pickers didn't drive down the driveway area to Hobo Jacks place because it was really muddy and they thought the van might get stuck. It was a heavily wooded area and the guys began walking down the long driveway. They heard music as they walked and it got louder and louder until finally they saw Hobo Jack sitting on the back of a car strumming his guitar and playing the harmonica. How cool would that be?! Hobo Jack turned out to have quite the collection too!

Season 3 premiers tonight and I'm very excited!
Anyway, long story short....
I WON the Season 1 DVD set! :)

I found the episode with Hobo Jack.
There are two stories on this episode...Hobo Jack is the last one.

I Heart Faces - Self Portrait Challenge

I Heart Faces, a blog that I follow is having a self portrait challenge and I thought that I would participate, since self portraits are something I like to do every once in awhile. This is a self portrait that I took last Friday.

Look what I got!

I think I blogged about this at some point, but just to refresh your memory, I entered a photo contest with my Credit Union and won 1st place and $200. Remember? Okay, good. Every year they make a calendar and put 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in it as well as other entries. I have been waiting and waiting and waiting, worried that they weren't going to do it this year because it was so late in the year, but it FINALLY came in the mail today! I was SO EXCITED!!! They sell for $10 at the Credit Union and all proceeds got to Doernbecher Children's Hospital. How great is that?! Anyway...

Here's the cover:

1st Place

2nd Place

3rd Place

And the back cover.
There was some steep competition this year!
My favorite is of that barn on the back cover.
Soooooo pretty!

Will we stay or will we go?

Anson has officially applied for an internship! Tacoma is the closest and everywhere else is SO FAR AWAY! The other places were Florida, Ohio, Nebraska, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii, Arkansas, Texas and 2 other places that I can't remember right now. I am so scared and nervous about it. I think we'll know by mid February if we need to start packing..... :(

I'm a little sick to my stomach.