When in doubt, smile.

I need to get up and do stuff today! I guess that means I’m feeling better .. or at least at the moment I am. The tylenol cold that the doc suggested I take .. sucked .. didn’t do anything for me. I woke up several times last night gasping for air (and I was wearing a menthol breathe right strip) .. at 4am I decided to try just tylenol and sudefed .. and like magic, I was clear and back to sleep in no time. So I stuck with that this morning and I’m feeling well enough to start picking up this place. Plus I need to set up the studio for my christmas card shoot.

So while I was in bed sick for 4 days .. the puppies managed to eat my only pair of sneakers, my tree skirt and a box of tissues (a new box .. Sean picked up the mess) .. and thats only what I’ve found recently .. who knows what they have hidden. I did find a big wooden button Little Girl had chewed on, but I have no idea where that might’ve come from. Ugh .. I guess they’re not ready to hang out on their own yet. Good news is that there were no ‘accidents’ in the house that I know of .. silver lining right?

If any of you guys want studio shoots .. I’ll have it up for a couple weeks. I’ll be out of town from the 10th - 14th or 15th and it’ll get packed up before the family comes in town for the holiday. But if you want to capture your little one in their holiday getup (kids and pets) or yourself .. come on over and play

arrived today. I can’t believe how on top of things Lindsay is .. just amazing .. its not even December yet

and this thing is still kicking my butt. I’ve realized its the same stupid sinus infection I used to get in college all the time because of allergies. Last week I forgot to pack my allergy medicine, so I was sniffling all weekend. Anyways, fast forward to this morning. I woke up with a splitting sinus headache .. it was so bad I was almost crying, the fever was back too. So I called my local dr. and made an appointment for 9:30 am. When I showed up there was a sign on the door saying the doctor doesn’t come in until 2pm! Apparently I made my appointment for their other location (which was another half hour away) So I re-scheduled for this afternoon and ran errands before going home and going back to bed. I went to see him this afternoon, he diagnosed me with acute sinusitis and sent me away with a prescription for antibiotics, tylenol cold, lots of fluids and rest. I’m so tired of resting! I hope these antibiotics work fast.

For some reason a bunch of numbers are missing .. but here we go anyway

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
Tennis balls for the dog park

2. When was the last time you threw up?
This summer after a night of drinking wine and a day with a 103 fever

3. What’s your favorite curse word?
shit

4. Name 3 people who made you smile today?
Nikki, Sean and the puppies

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
Sleeping

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Editing pictures

What happened to number 7?
Same thing that happened to all the other missing numbers.

8. Have you ever been to a strip club?
Yes

9. What is the last thing you said aloud?
Thank you

10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
Right now, mint chocolate chip

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Gingerale

12. What are you wearing right now?
Fleece PJs that Liz gave me for Christmas a few years ago.

13. What was the last thing you ate?
Pasta with butter and salt and a couple of crackers

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
Nope

15. When was the last time you ran?
This weekend when trying to beat the puppies to the hole in the fence

16. What’s the last sporting event you watched?
Gator football

18. Who is the last person you sent a comment/message on myspace?
My Aunt Linda

19. Ever go camping?
Yep

22. Do you have a tan?
Unfortunately .. I have a flip flop tan

24. Do you drink your soda from a straw or a bottle?
Can or glass usually

25. What does your last text message say?
i love

26. Are you someone’s best friend?
I think so

27. What are you doing tomorrow?
Maybe going to the doctor

28. Where is your mom right now?
At her home

29. Look to your left, what do you see?
Bottle of water

30. What color is your watch?
iPhone colored

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia?
The Shins’ song

32. Ever ridden on a roller coaster?
Yep

33. What is your birthstone?
Pearl or moonstone

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive through?
Drive through

35. What is your favorite number?
37

36. Do you have a dog?
2 actually

37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
Mom & Liz

38. Have you met anyone famous?
Yeah

39. Any plans today?
The day is almost over .. time for sleep, hopefully

40. How many states have you lived in?
4 .. FL, MA, GA & CA

41.Ever go to college?
Yes

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
Stupid cold and fever

44. Last song listened to?
Tomorrow was just on a commercial

46. Are you allergic to anything?
Nickel, dogs, rabbits, horses, dust mites and german cockroaches (thanks to my allergy test)

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
Flip flops

49. Are you jealous of anyone?
No

50. Is anyone jealous of you?
I dont think so

51. What are you craving right at this moment?
Pizza, eventhough I have a sore throat

52. Do any of your friends have children?
Yep

53. Do you eat healthy?
When I have time

54. What do you usually do during the day?
Entertain the dogs

55. Do you hate anyone right now?
No

56. Do you use the word ‘hello’ daily?
Possibly

58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
The big 3 0

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
Yes

60. How did you get one of your scars?
Laser attacked me while I was trying to block him from attacking Bobo. Left me a nice scar on the top of my left hand.

House Survey

1.) When you walk in your front door, which room do you enter?
Hallway facing dining room, between a living room and my craft room

2.)Do you have a dishwasher?
Yes

3.) Is your living room carpeted or does it have hardwood floors?
Carpet

4.) Do you keep your kitchen knives on the counter or in a drawer?
On the counter in a block

5.) House, apartment, duplex or trailer?
House

6.) How many bedrooms is it?
4

7.) Gas stove or electric?
Electric

8.) Do you have a yard?
Yep, an acre and a half

9.) What size TV is in the living room?
50″

10.) Are your plates in the same cupboard as your cups?
Nope, they’re next door

11.) Is there a coffee maker sitting on your kitchen counter?
Yes, a keurig

13.) What room is your computer in?
My office

14.) Are there pictures hanging in your living room?
Yep, a conversation piece that Sean picked out, a picture of a puppy eye and one from the Mojave desert.

15.) Are there any themes found in your home?
Not really

16.) What kind of laundry detergent do you use?
Tide HE with Febreeze

17.) Do you use dryer sheets?
Yep

18.) Do you have any curtains in your home?
Not yet, but eventually I want them to cover our blinds

19.) What color is your fridge?
White

20.) Is your house clean?
Yeah mostly .. a little cluttered, but clean.

21.) What room is the most neglected?
The front living room, I have no idea what to do with it, it just collects junk.

22.) Are the dishes in your sink/dishwasher clean or dirty?
Clean, only because I ran it this morning.

23.) How long have you lived in your home?
1 year

24.) Where did you live before?
Our condo in South FL.

25.) Do you have one of those fluffy toilet lid covers on your toilet?
Uh, no.

26.) Do you have a scale anywhere in your house?
Yes, but it stays in Sean’s bathroom that I hardly ever step foot in.

27.) How many mirrors are in your house?
6 I think

28.) Look up. What do you see?
Tray ceiling in bedroom & ceiling fan.

29.) Do you have a garage?
Yep, 3 cars - 2 doors.

30.) Do you own or rent?
Own

So what do you do with an old blog / website that you no longer keep up with? I bought the domain JunglePhotography.com back in 2000, and it was the home to all of my rantings and snapshots from 2003 til 2005. So now I have a ton of data, pictures, comments and other nonsense that I may one day want to be able to read through and look at. But do I really care about what I did back one day in 2004? JP has been broken for almost 2 years now .. you cant view the photo albums, which was the only reason anybody would have probably had visited recently. I’d like to keep some sort of record of the images and their comments or titles .. but I dont know what exactly to do with them. I do kind of feel bad about dismantling JP, I mean one day somebody might come by who wants to relive some old memories. But to be honest .. I don’t really care to revisit it myself.

Thanksgiving was great this year. Turkey came out good, had fun with the family, lucked out with traffic on both our travel days, and got to see Lindsay, Kerri and Jay for the Gator basketball game. Ella was adorable this trip. Not only does she call me Erica .. but now she’s taken to calling me Auntie Erica She’s got so much personality now, saying sentences and having conversations. She even started flirting with Sean! Whenever she’d see Sean and get super quiet and say ‘Hi Sean’ while batting her blue eyes. It cracked us all up. Here’s one of my favorite hang out spots from this trip:

Click here to see more of our Thanksgiving pictures. It was good to see Rocky again, he was just as happy to see us as he always is. He actually amazed everybody by being super calm most of the holiday, where as our 2 kept trying to escape under the fence and driving me crazy. When we got back Saturday they slept for 5 hours straight, only getting up to eat, and eventually we had to carry them to bed where they slept another 10 hours. I think they wore themselves out running around with Rocky.

When I got up Sunday I quickly realized I had caught some kind of cold. My throat and ears were killing me. Eventually I got dressed and went to Home Depot to pick up our outdoor lights .. yay!! But when I got home I had a fever and I spent the rest of the day in bed. I’m still not 100% but much better then last night, stupid fever was over 101 even with me switching between advil and tylenol every 2 hours. I hate being sick! Especially with a high fever, my back was killing me for hours, which was the worst part. I really dont know where this came from, I thought I was having allergy problems at my parents house, but maybe it was the start of this cold. Hopefully I’ll be back to normal this afternoon, I hate laying around when I dont feel well

Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving!

I’m waiting for WaMu to open so I can get a new business checking account since BoA (who I am very loyal to) refuses to give me a free business checking account. So I figured I’d take this opportunity to fill everybody in on whats going on over here

I’ve been working on getting my photography businesses in order. I finally put up the new websites for both of them, eventhough they’re not complete, at least I started.
http://ericalynnphotography.com
http://furryfoto.com

You should see alot of familiar faces. If any of you want pictures for Christmas, now’s the time to do it. Email me and lets try to set something up!

This weekend Mom and Liz came to stay with me, and I enjoyed myself fully! Most of my weekend memories revolve around food, just a warning, this may make you hungry. I made a great beef stew with way too many dumplings Friday, while we set up my Christmas tree and put a few more decorations out.

Sunday started with a loaf of blueberry bread for breakfast, then we took a ride to the beach to see the shore. Then we did a little window shopping in Downtown Melbourne, and enjoyed a lunch at Island Pasta and some ice cream from Kiwlin’s. For dinner we actually got fresh veggies from the new veggie stand in Grant and bought some shrimp from Tony’s Fish Market. I’ve lived here over a year now, pass the fish market everyday and this was the first time I’ve gone inside. I highly recommend it .. the shrimp we bought had never been frozen, came right off the boats! Everything was so fresh and delicious! To top it off I made our first gingerbread of the season and Liz made perfect whipped cream! Liz - do you remember the proportions?? I need that recipe!

Sunday we had a huge breakfast that made it seem like we were already celebrating Christmas. We treated ourselves to homemade potato pancakes and scrambled eggs with tomato, onion, ham and green peppers. Yum! My stomach is totally growling .. I need to find something for breakfast.

Anyways, I think we’re driving down south today, well at least that was the plan yesterday. We’ve been trying to decided if driving Thanksgiving morning or this afternoon is better. We’ll see I guess. I’m hoping to make it out to a store or 2 Friday morning, really just Joann’s .. I have Christmas presents to make, and they have all the tools on sale

I hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving and I can’t wait to read all about them!

Also - I’m totally jealous that Megan is in Scotland!