When people want to pry into my business, especially regarding my financial situation. Asking things like

• "How are you getting by when you haven't worked in over a year?" 
• "How are you supporting Dawson all on your own? Where is the money coming from?" 
• "How can you afford all those expensive things?" 

Really? I understand the curiosity, but asking these just makes you seem nosy.. it's not like it's any of your business, anyway! But if you really must know..

My father passed away in 2007, and I got a very small share of his life insurance which I was saving to continue my education. (I was never able to qualify for grants or scholarships because my dad made a really good salary.) I worked as full-time as a receptionist from Feb. 2009 - Jul. 2009 and saved nearly all of my income that wasn't spent on car insurance, and at $9.50 an hour, 40 hours a week, it really did add up. I was 3 months pregnant when I got laid off, and couldn't find another job, so I was forced to live off of my savings and that's how I've been financially supporting my son for a little over a year now. Obviously my savings has dwindled, which is the biggest reason why I cannot wait to start working again.
As far as the "nice things" (which I'm assuming refer to my camcorder, computer, etc..), I have a grant and scholarships that allow me to pay for school and anything school related.

So, yes.. raising a child is expensive, I know. I'm not made of money, although it probably may seem that way. I've spent almost my entire savings on anything and everything Dawson-related.

This one was probably my FAVORITE! But the brown rock didn't really scream "GREEN" so I couldn't use it.



The duckie had a green head!



Again, another image that didn't exactly scream "GREEN", but was still a good one.



Green trees are too typical.



I liked the angle of the other one I chose.

This weeks assignment was to pick a specific color, notice it, and capture it. Can you guess what color I chose?





















I hope it was obvious that I chose the color GREEN, or I wouldn't have done a very good job on this assignment. I tried very hard not to solely capture plants/greenery, which explains the random objects in the pictures.

Yesterday was my Dad's 46th birthday. Even though he's not here, we still celebrate for him every year. I remember his first birthday after his passing; we went to visit him, brought him cupcakes & Capriotti's. It rained really heavily and was cold, but we still stood out in front of his gravestone and sang to him.

I have my photography assignment so I brought along my camera to capture some images. We stopped by a little park in Boulder City prior to visiting him. They had ducks and Dawson loved it!






 I was trying to be creative, focusing on the background & not the foreground image.












Afterward, we went to Lucille's, a place I'm sure my dad would have enjoyed.



More Lucille's pictures after the jump!

Merger


Fixed Merger


Simplicity


Fill Frame


Balance


Background


Rule of Thirds


Leading Lines


Framing

I'd say I'm pretty pleased with how the photos turned out. I couldn't really come up with anything good for "framing", so that one wasn't too great in my opinion.

Valentine's Day 2011:





Valentine's Day 2010:





It is my second Valentine's Day with the most adorable little Valentine in the world: my Dawson! :) Although, I am really hopeful that one of these years, I'll have a real Valentine who is good to me, romantic and whatnot.. It is better to be hopeful than hopeless.

I took Dawson to the store and treated him to whatever he wanted. We ended up in the book section and he picked out these books. I couldn't argue with a child who would choose books over toys. Hell, after the Christmas and 1st birthday he's had, toys are the last thing he needs more of.

These chocolates are incredibly delicious! They're limited edition and only available during Valentine's Day. Milk chocolate with white chocolate filling.. yumminess. Dawson loves them, too!

Dawson's been cooped up at home for days and I figured we'd go to the mall just to get him out of the house. He loved it! He loves riding in his stroller. I got so much stuff and only spent around $20 (on un-pictured clothes) thanks to the giftcards I got for Christmas. :)







On another note, my hair has gotten really long. I'm contemplating a major change - maybe chop it all off and dye it a light, chestnut brown?