pictures

New Camera & Zoo! (Pictures)

29 June 2008 / adam, aidan, living in chicago, pictures, weekend

Today, Aidan, Adam, and I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo so I could see giraffes AND play with the new camera. Let me tell you, it was an adventure getting there. First, we hopped on one bus, then we got off to transfer to another bus, only the other bus only runs on weekdays. THEN Aidan had to potty, so we had to backtrack a lot to get to McDonald’s so Aidan could use the bathroom. (I had to go too, so it was fine.) Then we waited FOREVER for the Clark Street bus, and it just got more and more crowded. But there were some really good-natured people on the bus, and I had a lot of fun. Aidan yelled at me three times for laughing in his ear. :O

We ended up getting off a few stops before because the bus was just getting out of control with the number of people on it. It was nice out (at the time), so the walk was pleasant. The Zoo is free (except for parking [$12], which is why we decided to take the CTA instead of drive), and it wasn’t too crowded. Both cameras got quite a workout.

These are from my new camera:

Ostriches!

Deer

Flowers (with the macro setting)

Lion

Lion again

Aidan and me with the giraffes, ostriches, and a gazelle.

There are these pictures too, taken with the SLR:

More here.

The Sony camera has this vivid color setting which I love, and a mode which automatically detects if a person smiles. You go into this mode, push the shutter down, and the camera waits for the person to smile before taking the picture. This one was taken with the smile detector last night:

Pretty neat, huh?

I also took this one last night of Aidan and Crookshanks:

Aidan & Crookshanks: Booknerds in Training

I’m enjoying the camera. It’s a cool little machine and will be great to carry around with me when I don’t want to deal with the big SLR. Now, here’s the question. What do I do to get that kind of rich color in the photos I take with the SLR? When I first got it, I was getting AMAZING pictures with beautiful color. I typically don’t retouch any of my pictures, but now I’m having desperate urges to, just to get the saturation up. Now, I can’t seem to get anything that doesn’t look washed out, whether I’m inside or outside. Any tips?

That’s all for now. See ya!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Wedding Stuff & Honeymoon Registry (Picture)

26 June 2008 / disney world, ivy, pictures, ronni, wedding

Today, Adam and I went and got our marriage license. It was surprisingly hassle-free. There was no line, and we didn’t have to swear we weren’t drunk or there against our will. He did ask if we were related, though. Because we TOTALLY look it.

Bwah.

So, the details consist of this:

Ronni & Adam’s “Elopement”
Date: July 27, 2008
Time: 10:30am
Location: Edgewater Beach (rain or shine!)

If you want a ride, Adam’s planning something with the Weird Chicago bus. Will probably meet at the Rock & Roll McDonald’s at 10am or so and head down from there. I’ll get clearer details on that soon.

Afterward, us newlyweds are heading to a cafe or some such to eat (probably one of the Nookies). If you want to tag along, feel free. 🙂

In the meantime, I need to do the following:
– get a new dress
– get new flip-flops
– get a new outfit for Aidan
– get a new outfit for Adam
– get a wedding band for Adam

I suppose I am allowed to treat myself to a mani/pedi (well, at least a pedi) for this, huh? 🙂 (I already know how I want to wear my hair.)

Ivy’s and Kelly’s flights are booked, Adam’s parents and sister are all confirmed. Still need to call my parents. Anyone else coming? Let me know in the comments or through e-mail.

Also, FYI, the Disney honeymoon registry is up. Disney’s site isn’t the most stable, so if it errs, try it again. Anyway, here’s the url:

Disney Honeymoon Registry

And you can search for Adam Selzer or Ronni Davis, July 2008. ºOº

I can’t think of anything else for now, but once I do, I’ll let you know. See ya!

P.S. 86 days ’til Disney World!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Two Surveys (Picture)

18 June 2008 / pictures, ronni, survey

Stolen from Helen.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Blasts From The Past (Pictures)

14 June 2008 / dork, lol, pictures, ronni

Adam’s in the suburbs for the day, so I am helping myself to his scanner. I’ve decided to embarrass myself by posting a few old photos of myself.

Here’s a photo of me when I was sixteen years old. I LOVE my Life Saver earrings. I was also very into The Party, as you can see by the pictures on my wall.

Here I am at my high school graduation.

In my sophomore year college dorm room. Can you guess what I was really into then? (And still am?)

This was July 4, 1996. Almost twelve years ago! Isn’t that crazy?

I challenge you to post old and possibly dorky pictures of yourself. 🙂

See ya!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Up & Down (Pictures)

10 June 2008 / adam, family, ivy, mommyhood, pictures, sad, work

A week after I quit that job, I am now starting to feel the depression of not having full-time work. I know I did the right thing in leaving, but right now, that “You’re worthless, no one wants you on their staff unless they’re going to mistreat/underpay you, why can’t you just suck it up and deal with working in miserable conditions just like everyone else” voice is beating heavily into me.

This week started off so great, too.

Adam’s family, Aidan, and I went down to Millennium Park and to Cloud Gate, which never gets old for me. It was Aidan’s first time there, and he LOVED it. He’d been talking about seeing “the big bean” for ages now.

Aidan lifting the “bean”.

I realized that there were no pictures of me without a camera in front of my face, like this one:

So I had Adam take one of me:

Aidan got wet in the giant fountains. I mean SOAKING!

But he didn’t care much for the train ride home. He was scared to death to go underground (he thought it would be very dark) and the train was very loud. He cried at first.

Yesterday was a good day.

Today started off nicely, too. It was a beautiful day. Perfect temps, sunny, blue skies and fluffy clouds. My most favorite kind of day. I got to meet Adam’s business partner Troy, and I took pictures of the Weird Chicago guys down on the lake shore. Cassidy treated me to a manicure (hadn’t had one since prom) and a pedicure (hadn’t had one since 2006) and my toes look adorable:

We ate lunch at an adorable Italian place in Niles, IL. and acted silly when we were stuffed to the hilt.

After popping into Target where I found out the gift card Ivy gave me was $40, not $25 like I’d thought, the Selzer’s dropped Aidan and me off and are now heading back toward Georgia.

I’m letting the little disappointments get to me. I got a little carsick today on the way to Target. Didn’t puke, thank God. The new pillow I got reeks and I have to return it. I feel like I’m letting everyone down for various reasons, and I honestly feel like crawling into a hole for a while. Everything’s eating away at my heart and soul and I know it’s a matter of time before I break down (again). But I have my little guy here and he loves me no matter what, so I’m going to hang on to that.

The job hunting blogs keep bleating the same thing. “YOU WILL NOT FIND A JOB SCOURING THE JOB BOARDS AND THE WANT ADS. THE ONLY WAY TO GET JOBS IS THROUGH CONTACTS AND NETWORKING.” Well, that’s nice and all, IF YOU FREAKIN’ HAVE CONTACTS. Guess who pretty much has ZERO contacts in Chicago. The agencies have been somewhat helpful. There is one here that I’ve had really great luck with, one that I’ve had OK luck with, and one that I’ve had a bit of luck with. But none of the full-time stuff I was up for panned out. That’s about as far as having contacts goes for me. It just seems like that “dream job” is always going to be out of reach. I want to do what I’m good at and what I love, and I want to be compensated well (or at least paid a living wage for goodness sakes) and treated with respect while I do so. I don’t want to feel like I’m wasting away while someone gets rich off of me while I’m away from my adorable little boy. But that won’t happen as long as I seek work for others… but I’m too scared to try to do this on my own on the self-employment route. I feel trapped and stuck and scared. Like I’ve gone backwards instead of forward or even lateral, and that’s the way it’s always going to be for someone like me, whose talents are a dime a dozen in one of the most competitive fields out there.

And folks, that’s how I feel now. Sad and tired (haven’t had a lot of sleep the past several days) and like the world’s biggest failure except when it comes to Aidan. And sometimes, I have my doubts about that too.

Bye.

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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