Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Speaking of Ten.

1. It seems like it has been a few weeks since I have posted a "ten" post. Actually, I am surprised that I have even posted anything at all in the last few weeks. We have been crazy busy with the end of the summer wind down. Now today, as Jonathan went back to work, I am suddenly feeling depressed that our summer is officially over. We had such a long, long winter that in my own, little, fairytale world I totally expected a super long summer to compensate for the dreary, drawn out winter we had to endure. Fall is definitely in the air - maybe, just maybe it will linger on.

2. Speaking of lingering on, my heel pain is not going anywhere. I went to a doctor and also a Physical Therapist, and I got an official diagnosis of plantar fascitis. This is when the fascia in your heal becomes very tender and you actually have little tears in the tissue. It is very sore to touch, and it is hard to bear weight on it. I have been resting it for two weeks, but I attempted to go to running practice last night. I can hardly walk this morning. Not good. I talked with my coach and she said it can be 6-8 weeks (at least) for soft tissue injuries to heal. She suggested to just take a break, and was really against me training for the 1/2 marathon. I am very upset about this, and I'm now quite sure how I am going to handle it. I am definitely going to need a new outlet.

3. Speaking of outlet, we went to the premium outlets in Marysville last week. I did some serious power shopping in just about two hours! Holland was my main focus as she was in need for some fall clothes. I found quite a few deals, and now she is set for school to start.

4. Speaking of school starting, Dylan is going to start "school" tomorrow in the toddler room at Holland's school. We absolutely adore her school, and we are very eager for Dylan to follow in Holland's footsteps. However, I am a little worried about Dylan starting so young. Holland had a whole other year at home before she started. I am sure she will be fine, I think it is mostly mommy guilt that I am feeling. (You know, the whole second child gets the short end of the stick theory). Holland is going to be very close by and she will be able to go in and help out with Dylan if she is upset. She has been waiting and waiting for her to come to school so she can show off her big sister skills! Jonathan also works close by so he can go in and check in her from time to time. Since she is going to be there on MWF, this means that I will currently have Fridays to myself.


5. Speaking of having Fridays to myself, I am going to try and book some fall photo shoots on those days. I am hoping to shoot some fun family shots for fall and also even start taking some Christmas card shoots. If you live in the area and are interested in having me do a photo shoot then let me know! I have recently found an online photo lab that so many professional photographers use (thanks to my already-well-established-photographer friend, Mary). They do an amazing job so this means that I will be able to offer seriously professional work!

6. Speaking of offering seriously professional work, I hired a graphic designer online to make a logo for "ashley potter photography". She sent me the mockups in an email, and I am very excited about them. I might have her make business cards and some other marketing items also, but I haven't decided about that, yet.

7. Speaking of marketing items, I have completed all of my photo shoots for the Isaac Foundation autism fundraiser calendar. I had my brother-n-law, who is a photographer, help me narrow down my first set of "contenders". He was full of praises and had some very encouraging words for me. I was starting to freak out that I didn't have calendar worthy photographs, but he was begging to differ. I think when I really look at individual photos and not look at the whole photo shoot then I discover some real gems. I am going to have (my previously mentioned) well- established-photographer friend, Mary, help me look at the photos also. We are hoping to get the calendar put together in the next month so we can get it printed and start marketing it for 2009. I also want to put a collection of the photographs on exhibit somewhere in April for autism awareness month.

8. Speaking of the month of April, Jonathan and I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary that month. We were suppose to take a trip to Italy to revisit the church we were married in and celebrate these amazing ten years. However, we are feeling like it just isn't feasible to get a family of four over there with the current state of the economy and also the current state of our finances. It looks like we are going to get to go in October though because one of Jonathan's college buddies (the one who arranged our wedding in Italy) is finally getting married himself. Jonathan is going to be the best man. Another one of their college buddies gave Jonathan his frequent flyer miles to get to Italy as a wedding gift to the college buddy that is getting married! Jonathan was going to just go by himself, but his parents graciously offered to buy me a ticket AND keep our girls for a week! I was initially very wishy washy about it, and I'm not sure what that was about. A week in Italy without children - can there be anything more appealing?

9. Speaking of without children, my sister and her husband are officially "empty nesters". They just dropped off my niece at college this last weekend. She is going to attend Jonathan's old Alma Mata, Whitman College. Today is her first day of classes so I want to wish her well..... Good Luck, Gabrielle! You are going to love it!

10. Speaking of loving it, we went to a Lucinda Williams concert this weekend in Riverfront park, and we absolutely loved it! She was great. I hadn't heard much of her before the other night, but had gotten rave reviews from my sister and my cousin! They both came over from Seattle with their husbands in tow and we had a wonderful weekend! We are looking forward to more weekends together!

Happy Tuesday!

1 comment:

Cathy said...

Ashley, I'd love to have you shoot our family! We can't do Fridays, since that's the only day I work, but maybe we can schedule a Saturday shoot sometime... why don't you email me and we can figure something out... cathyandasia at msn.com.