The Reluctant Mommy Blogger

I am on a medication that I cannot stop taking and because I am not in Virginia I cannot go to my doctor to get a refill. So I am taking it every two days to make it last until I can get to my doc. Since I started taking it so sporadically I have been having some really bizarre dreams every night. It’s not unheard of for me to have weird dreams, just not with the regularity I have been having them.

Last night I had this dream that I was in this strange shopping/attraction place with my family and the kids. There were weird exhibits and rides. It was like an indoor amusement park that sold designer stuff, too. I was going crazy buying purses and I was excited because each bag came with some sort of gift inside. (In reality I don’t go that nuts over bags, at least not like some women.) I had a whole bunch of bags that I was getting for really good prices and all of a sudden there were all these people with abilities, like from Heroes or X-Men. They were battling in the store, and people were dieing. I got separated from my family. I had become so focused on shopping for purses that I didn’t even know who the baby was with. I couldn’t find anyone and was frantic about the kids. The really weird part was that I couldn’t stop looking at bags even though all this stuff was happening.

Well, since I was also having a dream about superheroes, there were of course ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys.’ The bad guys had taken out every single good guy except for this one girl. She was had short blond hair and could control the air. She could suck all the air out of building or make really powerful wind. She could also somehow freeze and control time when she sucked all the air out of a building. I know this makes no sense, but it was a dream. When everything seemed really awful and almost everyone was dead, she wound time back and a lot of people came back to life, but everything was still destroyed. I was looking everywhere for my kids, I knew they had died, but I was hoping that the blond girl had been able to save them. I don’t think I ever actually found them. It was so weird.

The night before that I had another dream that I became a Greek Goddess and I was leading these people through a very baren land. That one was so strange. Another night I had a dream I was married to a guy in prison, and I was in prison with him. We broke out when someone else killed all the guards and we stole these top secret, experimental fighter planes. A few nights ago I had a dream that was like the Titanic, but at the same time it wasn’t. There are so many other weird dreams that I have been having, too, I just don’t remember all of them. All of them are completely out of the blue, and having nothing to do with anything I have been recently doing. As soon as I get back to Virginia I have to see my doc so I can start taking my meds regularly again. It’s kind of neat having all the dreams, but some of them can be a little bit disturbing.

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What can I say about “Dead Snow?” A movie that combines the ‘nazi’s are evil’ and zombie genre’s can be called nothing less than brilliant.

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I just got back from going to my dear friend’s wedding. I love going to weddings, especially when I know that the couple is really really good together. It just makes me feel so good to see people really happy once they are together. It reminds me of the happiness of my own marriage and makes me feel like the world is more in tune, in harmony and all around better place because of it. I just love to feel happy for my friends.

The wedding was really cool because I saw a lot of people that I haven’t seen since I was in college. Not that I went to college with all of these guys, I just knew them all while we were all attending different places. It’s so weird seeing everyone settling down, but I guess that really starts happening once you are approaching thirty years old. Garrick and I are the only ones that actually have kids out of everyone who we knew there, but I think we are allowed since we’ve been together for so freakin’ long.

The ceremony itself was really beautiful and mercifully short. Heather looked so beautiful, loved the dress. The bridesmaids wore strapless black gowns, which I thought was super classy.

I took no pictures whatsoever, but if I can find someone who took a picture of me with the bride and groom, I’ll post it. Many well wishes to the happy newly weds.

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I try to never blog about tv commercials, but this one was just so ridiculous I had to post the youtube video.

I mean really, how fantastically tacky is this??

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So, something I am not looking forward to is having to relearn video. When I went to school in the Army to learn my job I had to study video in addition to still photography. While it was pretty interesting, I really like and prefer still a lot better. So I am not really looking forward to the changes that are happening in the photography world.

Everything happening in photography right now is combining those two worlds. Civilian photography is finally catching up with the Military photographers. If you like taking pictures and are really passionate about it, your competition and the work load is getting even worse. I don’t know if I want to continue to pursue this line of work if this is where it is going. I really need to weigh my options. Maybe I could continue as just an amateur photographer and turn it from being my profession to my hobby. Anyway, as my much as I enjoyed video in school, I don’t think it is something that I want to make a living out of. I know that thought process is suicide for a photographer, but I cannot help the way I feel.

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Since I have been visiting my Mom, I have had a little time to watch some TV. I completely forgot about the Comedy Central show, Dr. Katz. It’s still pretty funny, even though they haven’t made any new episodes in ten years.

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I went to visit my Aunt Julie last night. We stayed up way too late and looked at old family photos. She has all the Creative Memories stuff and all the pictures are scrap booked in those albums. It was really cool seeing pictures of myself, siblings and my cousins (altogether sixteen of us!) from ten to fifteen years ago. I couldn’t believe the glass’s that I wore, and I completely forgot about this tacky and fantastic white leopard print cowboy hat I had in high school. My brother had a habit of laying across everyone’s lap when they sat on the couch for a picture.

It was just really neat seeing what we all used to look like. Who says family pictures aren’t fun??

Update October 9, 2009: I found my fantastically tacky cowboy hat. Still fits. Maybe I’ll have a silly hat playdate in the near future for the Joy Troupe.

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I think I want this T-Shirt.

T-Shirt T-Shirt

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When I was in high school my Mom used to take my siblings and myself to the Yankee Candle Factory in Massachusetts. It was really cool. The place was a little cheesy. We would go there in August, but they had all of this stuff set up to be like Christmas inside, but it was still very neat. It felt like there was a lot of effort put into the place to make it very special for its customers. There were all sorts of demonstrations and entertainment throughout the place. As you walked from room to room the themes changed and you were taken from one setting to another. From a room set up to look like a traditional candle making house from a time when people had to make their own candles, to a fake Bavarian village, to Santa’s workshop. I always used to love the “magical forest” you had to walk through to get to the Bavarian village.

Well, since I am home I figured it would be fun to go there with my Mom like old times. We made the drive out to Massachusetts in four hours, though usually it’s only two. We sort of forgot the way to get there. It was a beautiful day for a drive at least. Once we got there I was sort of disappointed. I remember the factory being very special, and this time it just wasn’t. There were so many things that were different, and not in a good way. It seems like now, the company is only trying to get money from their customers. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that the entire purpose of having a business is to get money from people. It’s just that ten years ago, when they were trying to get my money from me, it seemed like they had put more of an effort to make their customers happy. I don’t know…. I was just very disappointed. I don’t think I will go back to the factory in Massachusetts. I think I will try and give the factory in Colonial Williamsburg a shot at some point, but I’m not expecting much.

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As I lay in bed suffering from insomnia due to asthma, I heard my oldest son fall out of bed over the baby monitor. After rushing into the room, tucking him back into bed and reading him a short story, I decided to come back and blog about it. Then I realized, to my absolute horror, that I am becoming…. (insert ominous music here) I am becoming a mommy blogger! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I’ve been sitting debating what I wanted to post for a few minutes and feeling slightly delirious and out of order (and sorts.) At first it was to be about toddlers falling out of bed, but then I became disturbed by that. Then I figured I would blog about not writing about photography. How my life has gotten in the way and I don’t have time to devote to f-stops and charged coupler devices. I feel slightly guilty that this blog is called Marla Anson Photography, but there is virtually no photography portion. Then I decided I would just write about this entire emotionally chaotic experience.

You can tell I’m really tired because I am all over the place here! My mind keeps racing in weird circles. I guess I can write about whatever I want. It’s my blog after all! If I want to write about photography, I will! If I want to write about my two year old falling out of bed I will. Then I shall feel guilty again! And so the vicious cycle continues….

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