Friends

I've got a weird situation and I need some input.  Let me begin by saying that I have a disease called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), which can cause severe hormone imbalances.  Sometimes these hormone imbalances can make me very emotional, sad, angry, crying for no reason, etc.  Because of this, I can't always tell if my response to a situation is a justified response or an act of hormone treason.  This is where you come in.  I'll explain the situation and perhaps you can help me sort it out. 

I have a best friend, Angie.  We've been friends since we were 12 years old.  We see one another just about every weekend and we attend one another's birthdays, parties, holidays, etc.  Angie is a stay-at-home Mom and I recently started working again after being laid off for a year.  During my lay-off, I reconnected with a friend from high school, Tiffney.  Tiffney is also a stay-at-home Mom.  Last summer I had a party and I re-introduced Angie & Tiffney to one another.  They had met previously when we were teenagers, but had not remained in-touch.  Angie & Tiffney started conversing via Facebook and they've quickly become friends.  I think it's great that they are becoming close.  However, since I now work and have very little free time, I feel left out.  I see them making plans to go shopping or have lunch and I feel like I'm losing my friends.  I realize that I work and I can't always go with them, but it would be nice if they asked me if I could come with them.  Even if they go on a day when I usually work, I could ask for a vacation day and spend some time with my two good friends.  But, as I said, they don't even ask me.  It wouldn't bother me so much, but they post their plans on Facebook for all the world to see and I feel left out.

Today, this situation became even more hurtful for me.  I have another former high school friend, Dana.  Dana and I have spoken a little on Facebook, but due to some past confusion about the nature of our friendship and whether or not I was a good friend to her, we don't talk that often.  Dana's opinion is that I didn't listen to her and help her with her problems when we were teenagers.  I have a different memory of this situation.  I remember that Dana would not open up about her problems.  I tried talking to her about things, but she wouldn't discuss them with me.  I also was unable to attend Dana's wedding because I moved out of town and I could not afford to return for her wedding at the time.  I don't think she's ever forgiven me for not being there.  I apologized profusely for missing her wedding, but it was unavoidable at the time.  To sum it up, Dana and I are cordial, but we don't talk often and we don't spend time with one another.

Dana is a talented baker and she designs birthday cakes.  Angie has had Dana make cakes for her daughters' birthdays.  This past Sunday, Angie's daughter Macie turned 1.  Dana made a cake for the party.  She arrived to setup the cake a few moments before I arrived at the party.  I arrived after she had left and did not get a moment to speak to her.  Apparently, that was plenty of time for her to reconnect as friends with Angie and Tiffney. 

This morning I signed on to Facebook to see if I had gotten any emails and I see that Angie, Tiffney, and Dana are now making plans to go shopping together.  I felt like someone slapped me in the face.  Is it wrong for me to feel so left out?  I'm really confused about this.  I feel so hurt.  I feel like I'm losing my friends.  Am I overreacting?  Any advice would be much appreciated.

I took the photo below at a wedding shoot.  I saw them sitting there chatting away and it reminded me of the many fun, interesting, heartfelt, funny, touching conversations I've had with my friends over the years.

Friends Chatting in the Garden

Thanks for stopping by.  Please leave a comment.  I love hearing from my visitors!

MOUNTAIN LAKES & STREAMS

This past summer my husband, Cameron, and I took a drive across country.  We took a very scenic route through the mountains of Colorado.  There was beauty everywhere you looked.  It was breathtaking and at times, terrifying.  In my next post I'll tell you about the most terrifying driving experience I've ever had.  This terrifying even took place on the Red Mountain Pass in Colorado.  Never have I seen such beauty and been so scared simultaneously.  I can feel my heart racing just thinking about it.

The first two photos shown below were taken on the Red Mountain Pass on Highway 550 just south of Ouray, Colorado.  It was late July, but the mountains in this region are so tall that they still had some snow on them.  There were lots of little streams and waterfalls on the mountains.

The third photo shown is of a Lake Reserve in Colorado.  It was a pretty large reserve and there looked to be lots of recreation activities in this area.  We didn't stop to play, but continued on our journey.

The fourth photo shown is a windy little stream that went through pastureland in Colorado. 

The last photo is a small lake in the mountains of Colorado.

Overall it was an amazingly spectacular journey and I hope to someday take the trip again.

Muddy Mountain Stream



Mountain Waterfall

Colorado Water Reserve

Colorado Stream

Colorado Mountain Lake

Thank you for stopping by and please leave a comment.  I love to hear from my visitors!

What's Up With Colorado?

When I say "What's Up With Colorado?", I mean it in a totally good way.  This past summer my husband and I took a road trip across the U.S.  We wanted to take the most scenic route we could from Louisville, Kentucky to Tucson, Arizona.  I got out a map of the U.S. and used a highlighter to plan our trip.  I chose State Highways that took us through the Rocky Mountains.  It was one of the most scenic and beautiful drives I've ever been on.  Evergreen forests on top of mountains, grassy hillsides with running streams, cattle and horses grazing in fields, blue skies dotted with puffy white clouds.  You could see God's artistic beauty all around.  My next few posts will highlight the photos I took in Colorado.

 Grassy Plains & Evergreen Peaks

Rolling Fields 

Green Hillside

In my next post I will highlight some of the mountain streams and lakes.  I enjoyed our road trip through Colorado immensely.  If you are looking to see some stunning views, this is the road trip to take. 

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more photos taken in the Colorado Rocky Mountains!

Monday Morning Blahs

Does anyone like Monday mornings, really? I certainly don't. This morning in particular has not been a great start to my week. I woke up with a sinus headache that doesn't seem to want to go away. I won't even go into the details of my sinus woes. I can sum it up by saying that I get a sinus headache at least once a week and I get a sinus infection every time the seasons change. I have boxes of tissues in my living room, my bedroom, my den, on my desk at work, and I keep spare boxes of tissues in my closet. My sinuses are not my friend. I know there are many things to be thankful for in my life, but I'm not feeling very thankful for Monday mornings (or my sinuses). So, maybe I'll just talk about something I can be thankful for.

In July 2010, my husband and I took a road trip across the U.S. We started in Louisville, Kentucky and drove west through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and ended our drive in Tucson, Arizona. We spent 2 and 1/2 days driving to Tucson. We took a different route home and drove from Tucson, Arizona through New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and back to Kentucky. The trip home only took 2 days and I didn't stop to take photos.

I saw some of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen on our drive across country. I took over 2000 photos during our drive there and while we were in Tucson. My next several posts will be showcasing some of the photos I took this summer.

These are photos of clouds I took in Kansas. It was late afternoon and we had stopped to get gas and stretch our legs. I was noticing lots of small clusters of clouds and I had to snap a few photos. I used my Nikon Coolpix camera (which I keep in my purse at all times) for these photos. I love taking photographs of clouds and thunderstorms. I love the way the sun's rays poke through the clouds and send beams out all around.

Sun Bursting Through the Clouds

Suns Rays Shining Down

Lonely Thunderstorm

I drove most of the first day. After this pit stop, my husband assumed the driving responsibilities. We ended our first day's journey in a small town along Interstate 70 called Goodland, Kansas. It is about 25 miles from the border of Colorado.

\If you want to see the beauty of the Lord's creation, all you have to do is take a drive across the country. My next post will highlight just a few of the photos I took while driving through the mountains of Colorado. It was a magical experience and I can't wait to share it with all of my followers. There will be multiple posts with photos of the beautiful landscapes of Colorado.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless you all!

Time Flies

I've noticed that I have multiple entries trying to explain my lack of posting within the past year or so. I can sum it up by saying in the last year or so I lost my passion for blogging. Life got in the way and before I knew what was happening, a year had passed. I didn't stop taking photos, but I stopped posting them.

I recently started working again within the last couple of months. I was laid-off for a year. I worked a temporary position for about three weeks and then I was re-hired by my former company. I'm very pleased to be back there as I had worked there for over 6 years when I was laid-off.

Now that I have less time to do things is the time when I feel like I must start blogging again. Go figure. So, I won't promise to blog every day, every week, or even every month. However, I will promise that when I have something interesting to say or an interesting or beautiful photo to post, you might hear from me. I hope you'll hang in there with me. I know how disappointing it can be when you start following someone and they never post anything new. I'll try to keep you entertained, but I make no promises.

I'm preparing to watch the President's State of the Union address, which I'm sure will be interesting. I may have some things I would like to discuss tomorrow after hearing the speech. In the mean time, I'm going to leave you with a couple new photos.

These photos were taken in the fall of 2009. I think fall is so beautiful here in Kentucky. The colors are breathtaking.

Please feel free to leave comments. I'd love to hear from you!

I'm Still Alive

Yes, I'm still alive. In November I got laid off from my job. Since then, my life has been pretty uninteresting. Mostly, I just stay home and read, do laundry, and then cook dinner. I haven't found anything worth writing about these days.

It's springtime in Kentucky. The trees are just beginning to bloom and the daffodils are are in full bloom. I'll be out with my best friend, my camera, soon. Once I take some photos worthy of posting, I'll be back with new posts.

Until then, I hope you'll hang in there with me. If I have something interesting to talk about, you'll be the first to know.

If you read my blog, please leave a comment and let me know how you are doing. I'd love to hear from you.

LIFE CAN BE CRAZY SOMETIMES

I'm still around and I'm still checking my blog for comments, but I've had a lot going on this past month and I haven't really had much time to post anything. I'll try and get a new post up sometime this weekend with some new photos. I've got a lot to talk about so I hope you'll stay tuned. It's kind of a public service announcement that you should look out for. I had to learn something the hard way, so I thought I would pass that lesson on to everyone else.

Stay tuned! And thanks for visiting!

Portraits - My First Wedding Shoot

These photos are of the first wedding I ever photographed. The bride is the niece of my husband's co-worker. They were doing the wedding on a budget and needed someone to take photos for them. I offered to do it for free just for the experience (although my husband's co-worker did give me some money anyway). On the day of the wedding, I was sooo nervous. What if the photos didn't turn out? What if the bride didn't like them? I was probably more nervous than the bride and groom!

The day of the wedding, Hurricane Ike came to Kentucky. There were winds of up to 100 mph. The wedding was supposed to take place outdoors, but had to be moved indoors because of the wind. The wedding took place at the Brown-Pusey House in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Later that afternoon, after the winds died down a little, we were able to go outside and get a few photos. The groom was pretty reluctant to get photographed so it was difficult to get him to smile for the photos. Overall, it was a great learning experience.

On a side note, I want to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, Cameron. Happy Birthday honey!

Sharing Sweet Nothings

The Bride & Groom

Waiting for the Groom

The Wedding Dress

Almost Time

Wedding Day

Portraits

Most of the photos I post on my blog are nature photos. I don't normally post any of the portraits that I've taken (with exception of my niece and nephew). I thought I would change it up a bit. I've recently starting doing some portraits for family and friends. I'm not a professional photographer and I still haven't mastered my photo editing software, but I love to take photographs of people. Despite my inexperience, a few people have allowed me to take photographs for them. My next few blog posts will be some of my favorite portraits.

These photos are of Abigail. Abby is about 12 years old (I think). She is the cousin of my brother-in-law. These photos were taken at Abby's aunt's house in Henderson, Kentucky. The house sits on a large piece of land with a barn-style garage and lots of greenery in the back yard and a little wooden bridge crossing a creek. It was a beautiful place to take photos. Abby is into dance and gymnastics, so I got a few action shots of her doing flips and cartwheels. These photos were taken in April of this year. It was a beautiful day in the upper 60s. I was suffering with a sinus infection that weekend, but I don't let anything stop me from taking photos. (In December, I took some photos for a friend and I was also extremely sick, again with a sinus infection - it happens to me every time the seasons change.)

I will add some more portraits in my next post.

Let me know what you think of these photos. I love to see your comments and of course I'm always open to advice from experienced photographers. And, as always, thanks for stopping by!

Defying Gravity

Jump for Joy

Spring Beauties

Abigail

Pretty in Pink

Country Girl

Are You Still With Me?

I know, I know. I've been slacking. I really do enjoy getting comments on my blog posts, but you can't keep commenting on the same post forever, right? I'm sorry. I've just gotten so caught up in day-to-day nonsense that I'm not taking the time to do the things I truly enjoy, like spilling my thoughts out for all of the world to read (or least the 5 or 6 of you who actually read my blog. By the way, thanks for reading.).

There has been a personal problem weighing on my mind pretty heavily within the past few weeks and I'm seeking some advice. I'd love to hear from someone who has some experience with this kind of issue. Let me explain....

I have (or possibly had, the jury is still out on this one) a friend. Lets call her "Jane" because I certainly wouldn't want to violate her privacy or hurt her feelings by discussing this with all of you. Jane and I met at work in 2001. We became friends and started going to lunch a few times a week. A couple of years later I left that job, but Jane and I remained friends. We would go to lunch or shopping about once a week, sometimes more often than that. I really enjoyed her company. Over time, Jane and I became close friends. We talked about just about everything. I learned that Jane struggles from depression and bi-polar disorder. I struggled with depression when I was a teenager so I can understand that. However, I don't know much about bi-polar disorder.

When Jane first met me in 2001, I would consider myself a "ride the fence" kind of Christian. I believed in God, but I didn't really have any strong convictions about my religious beliefs or what the Bible says. When I was in elementary school, I attended church fairly often, but as I got older I quit going and I didn't read the Bible much. Within the last few years I've felt the Lord working in my life, drawing me closer to Him. I started attending church regularly, I got Baptized, and I joined a Bible study group. The more I learn about God and his Word, the more passionate I've become about having a relationship with Him. I've also become more passionate about the things I believe. I'm a lot more firm in my beliefs these days. I'm not judging anyone, because we are all sinners. However, I'm not afraid to call sin for what it is, sin, even when it is my own sin.

Over the past year or so, Jane and I have had a few times when our friendship has been on rocky ground. These situations usually arise from an email. One day we are shopping and lunching together and she tells me what a great friend I am and how I am like a sister to her. The next day, I mention something in an email conversation, like abortion or politics, and the next thing I know she's telling me that I'm trying to tell everyone how to live their lives. (This isn't the case, by the way. I don't tell anyone how to live their life.) I know that email isn't always the best way to communicate because the written word cannot always accurately reflect the tone of the writer. However, I never considered this to be an issue I had to worry about with a close friend. Friends understand what you mean, right? Jane will turn something innocently said between friends into something hateful and judgmental. Usually, when this happens, after a few days of me explain what I was trying to say, she'll understand what I was saying and that I wasn't being judgemental. I was just having a conversation with my friend. One of the last times this happened, she told me she tends to overreact sometimes and that I needed to call her on it when she did.

Of course I want to bring others to Christ, but I can't do that on my own. God has to call them to Himself. I don't shove my beliefs down people's throat. As a matter of fact, I don't even discuss my beliefs in casual conversation unless the person I'm conversing with brings it up first. However, Jane and I have known each other for 8 years. I've always thought that with a good friend, you can discuss anything, without fear of being judged. Friends don't have to agree on every issue in order to be friends. I have lots of friends and family that have differing opinions. I don't get angry if their opinion is different from mine. They are my friends and family regardless of their religious or political beliefs. My best friend, Angie (real name), and I have been friends since we were 11 years old. There is nothing that she and I don't (and haven't) talked about. Even though we agree on most things, we don't agree on everything. That hasn't stopped us from being friends. It also hasn't stopped us from discussing the things we disagree on without worrying about getting angry at one another. I thought those rules were understood between friends. Am I wrong about this?

So, several weeks ago I got an email from Jane. She was talking about a co-worker/friend of hers that had told her that she thought God had placed Jane in her life for a reason. Jane said she thought it was wonderful to see God working in her life. I was at work when I got the email, so I just quickly replied back that God is always working in our lives and every once in a while we will actually get to see that. Then I mentioned that I had done a Bible study called, "Experiencing God" that had really helped me to learn to see God working in my life and had deepened my relationship with Christ. I said "I know you said you attend a Bible study group at church, may I suggest the Experiencing God series for your group." That was all that was said.

I get a reply from her talking about how everyone needs to live their lives as they see fit and that was okay. I agreed with this statement. I didn't understand where it was coming from, but I do agree that everyone has to live their own lives. She also said she would recommend the series to her group. I replied that I found the course to be very therapeutic and it really helped me search my soul and grow closer to God.

The next thing I know, I get this email accusing me of calling her a liar about the fact that she attends Bible study because I said, "I know you said you attend Bible study at church." She took the "I know you said" as some sort of affront to her honesty. That I didn't actually believe she attended Bible study. Then she went on to tell me that I'm judgemental. I tried to respond logically, reassuring her that I had no reason to doubt the fact that she attends a Bible study group, I was only following a train of thought. I also tried to reassure her that I was not judging her. I was only recommending this series because she said she enjoyed seeing God working in her life and this series helped me to better see Him working in my life. So why wouldn't I suggest this series to my friend? Well, the conversation went downhill from there.

I sent a couple of emails trying to figure out how all of a sudden I was a terrible friend when just a couple of days before she was telling me I was a great friend, that I was like a sister to her. I also reminded her that she told me to bring it to her attention if I thought she was over-reacting to something. Of course, that went over like a ton of bricks.

I just wonder, is it the bi-polar disorder that is causing the problem? I don't think I said anything offensive, especially since Jane attends a Christian church and has a Bible study group.

I haven't heard from Jane in several weeks now. I really miss her, but this "friendship" has sometimes been difficult and caused me great turmoil and heartache. A couple of weeks ago I sent her a card just telling her that I missed her, that I was praying for blessings in her life, and to call if she ever needed me. I also left her a voicemail saying something similar. I've gotten no response from her.

It has totally left me brokenhearted. Someone I love and trusted, someone I considered a good friend, just turned on me. We lunched together, we shopped together, I drove her to and from hospital visits (for an unrelated medical condition) and spent 12 hours in an emergency room with her. I've been there anytime she needed to talk. I thought I was being a good friend. I thought that since she was a good friend, I could discuss anything with her without her taking it personally or as some sort of judgement on her life. However, in this case, I don't think I said anything that controversial. This whole situation has me completely confused. I know that God has this situation under control and I have to trust Him to work it out for His glory. I'm just trying to figure out what went wrong.

Is this something that happens with people who suffer from bi-polar disorder, or am I a bad friend, as Jane says? Maybe you can help me sort through this mess. Let me know what you think.

On to happier thoughts....

This past Sunday I went to the zoo with my sister, my mom, my nephew, and my niece. We had a lot of fun, and of course I had my camera. It was a nice day here in Kentucky on Sunday. It was in the 70s (when it usually in the upper 80s or lower 90s with 50-80% humidity). Since we were having such lovely weather, I thought a day at the zoo with the kids would be fun. Apparently, everyone else in the city thought it would be a good day to go to the zoo. I spent 20 minutes just trying to find a parking space! Despite the delay in the parking lot, we had a nice time. I got some nice photos of the kids and I took some photos of flowers (as seen below), which I am prone to do. I hope you enjoy and please feel free to comment on what I've discussed above or the photos below (or both). Thank you, loyal readers, for keeping me company.

Time to Collect the Pollen

Orange Beauty

White Bloom