Amateur

I did it.  I finally bought a DSLR.  Once again, I need to learn how to use the darn thing but for now I can play with it on Auto and take some pretty good shots.  Its the bottom of the line with only one lens but lenses will come with time.  This is good enough for me for now.   First shot out of the box - still standing in the
Target parking lot. 

Its a Boy!

"A Baby is God's Way of saying the world should go on."

I was witness to a beautiful event tonight.  Well, not the actual birth part but the labor and the afterglow of welcoming a new member into the family.  I met her at the hospital just to get checked out because she wasn't sure it was really time yet.  Oh, it was time!  I sat with her while she labored and just as she was going through the worst of it and wanting the dad, the hospital room door swung open and there he was, just like in the movies.   Her parents and older daughter came up to wait along with the daddy's family and I sat with them, all of us anxiously checking our watches every five minutes. They didn't know beforehand if it was a boy or a girl and that made the waiting room excitement all that more, well, exciting!  Finally the moment arrived and the big double doors opened to a beaming Daddy who said "Its a Boy!"  My sweet best friend gave birth to a beautiful, perfect baby boy.  His name is Eric which means Peaceful Ruler. 

 Oh how I adore baby feet. 

Teenage Daughters

I absolutely HATE being the mom of a teenage daughter.  I thought it would be loads of fun but really???  Every time I drive her to school I manage to piss her off and then she gets out of the car all mad and I worry the rest of the day about her.  UGH.   As a disclaimer, I was the perfect child.  Seriously.  I didn't smoke, drink, do drugs, or even swear.  I respected my parents and did my homework.  I had a busy social life but I didn't even know there were parties going on... seriously!   I don't expect Kayla to be perfect.  I don't expect for her to be me by any means.  I just don't know how to handle the rebellion.  It nothing really.... she just has a couple of friends I don't like and she plays on her phone / itouch at times that she shouldn't.   And she disappears after school and we don't see her until she comes out to say goodnight.  I'm doing my damnedest to stop that habit.   And I know its normal.  She's 14.  She needs space and privacy and all of that.  But how much is too much and when do I speak up?  When do I worry?  I just want for her to make it though high school alive and with a good head on her shoulders.  Its hard work raising a kid.  Really hard.   I remember holding her when she was a baby and thinking of all the things I was going to have to teach her and wondering how the hell I was supposed to do that.  And now she's 14 and there is still so much to teach her.   Its terrifying really.

Teenage Daughters - Martina McBride

I ain’t complainin’
But I’m tired, so I’m just sayin’
What I think
And if we’re being honest
Than honestly I think I need a drink
My baby’s growin’ up
She think’s she’s fallin’ all in love
And that I hate her
At seventeen, she’s just like me when I was seventeen
So I don’t blame her
[Bridge]
Do do do do
Do do do do
What are we gonna do?
Do do do do
Do do do do
What are we gonna do about it?
[Chorus]
Remember when we use to be
Everything they ever need
We had them believing we were cool
It’s like it happened over night
We’re always wrong, their always right
We use to be the one’s breakin’ the rules
Now we’re just mothers, we’re just fathers of
Teenage Daughters

She rolls her eye’s when I’m funny
But she’s sweet when she wants money and her freedom
Oh my god, she’s got a car
Swears they wont go far
And I wish I believed ‘em
[Bridge]
[Chorus]
Their beautiful, wild and free
Everything we wish we could be
But their still crazy
Oh you know, the make us crazy
[Chorus]
Yeah Teenage Daughters
I ain’t complainin’
But I’m just tired, so I’m sayin’
What I think
If we’re being honest
Than honestly, I think I need a drink
Martina McBride – Teenage Daughters Lyrics

New Year, New Plan

Happy 2012!!  Hope everyone had a great night and that this year is filled with lots of promise of love and laughter.   I thought I'd try adding some more pictures to this blog... it might help when I have writer's block.  Its easier to comment on a picture than write a post out of the blue - not that I plan to stop doing that.  But maybe I'll post more regularly this way.  I love pictures.  LOVE.  I want photography to be part of my career one day.  I need to learn all of the technical stuff but I think I have a pretty good eye in general and I'm a master at self portraits.

A guest post regarding the Facebook Breast Cancer Awareness "game"

This is my little home in cyberspace and I don't have many followers but for the ones I have I wanted to share this fabulous post regarding the Facebook Breast Cancer Awareness game going around.   So well said and I have to thank her for being courageous enough to put it all out there.   As I read this post I thought of so many of my friends who have battled infertility (even I had to have "help" to have my babies).   This is for you Tracie, Betsy, Sarah (a breast cancer survivor), Shannon, & Mollie, among many others.   Thank you Christine for sharing these thoughts with the world.  I hope you don't mind my posting the link to share.   Dear Readers, if you are as moved as I was, please pass it on.  And feel your boobies.   - Betsey

Post from C.G.Ward Photography

Claiming my blog on Technorati  :)   ZV7ATPVBCUCK

"Life is a Special Occassion"

Most of you know I have my dream job... working for Hallmark.   My name is Betsey and I'm a Hallmark-aholic.  I'm about to celebrate my one year anniversary at the company although I've worked at two separate retail stores.  The customers at any store however are the same - they are all just looking for some way to make an ordinary moment special.  That's where I come in.  I get to spend my days helping people pick out just the perfect card for a sick co-worker or just the right thank you gift for nurses who took care of a sick husband in the hospital.  Its very gratifying to go home knowing I made a difference... or at least tried.

Hallmark's new media campaign is Life is a Special Occassion.  I have long believed that is true.   I just wanted to take a minute and share with you some of the Hallmark moments that make going to work a true joy for me.
 
One especially touching moment came when a woman needed help picking out a birthday card for her ex husband.  She had a few specifications which included not too mushy, not too simple, and nothing that talked about birthdays in the future.  You see, this would be his last birthday.  He was in Hospice and the family was getting together that weekend to celebrate him before it was too late.  She was not invited to the gathering though as the new wife had forbidden her to see him.   Its amazing what you can find out about someone in just a few minutes if you take the time to listen.  We searched several cards and finally found the perfect one.  It was a beautiful card that spoke of how he had touched so many people in his life and how she just wanted to let him know she was one of those people.  It was a sale that ended with a hug.

In my job we are supposed to walk the customer to the section of cards they are looking for.  A man came in one day needing an anniversary card for his wife.  I started to walk him over to those cards when I noticed a woman standing by just that section with a very surprised look on her face.  Turns out they were married to each other!  We all had a great laugh and they decided to go to lunch together instead of shop for cards.  So, I didn't sell anything but it was worth getting a glimpse of this couple's life and knowing they would most likely have many more happy years together.

Last week a woman came in and purchased one of our Disney plaques that featured one of Walt Disney's most famous quotes,  "If you can dream it, you can do it".   She picked it up so quickly I asked her if there was a significance to the purchase.   She told me that her 7 year old granddaughter had a dream about learning to ride her bike without training wheels.  She told her grandma, "If I dream it, I can do it!".   What a special moment!

A young man named Mario asked for my help finding a few special gifts for his baby sister who was headed off to college.  He had a very small budget to work with but we found some fun things in the clearance section of the store.  By the time he left, he was quite happy with his special gift bag for his very special sister.  His eyes teared up when he thanked us for helping him and told us how very much he was going to miss her.

This job has even brought me three new friends who started out as customers, reunited me with an old school teacher, and most importantly, makes me feel like I'm living my purpose.   I know it sounds silly... I don't make the big bucks, I don't have a college degree, I don't even have benefits since I'm part time.   But to me its not "just" a retail job.  Its a mission if you will - a mission to help others connect, to make memories, to love, to laugh, to heal.

When is the last time you sent a card?  When is the last time you found something in your mailbox with your name on it that wasn't a bill?  There are cards for every occasion you can think of - birthdays of course but also anniversaries, get well, potty training, thinking of you, sympathy, hi / hello, entering the military, going off to college, miss you, congratulations on your job, new house, new pet, even blank cards so you can create your own occasion.  Next time you pass a Hallmark store, stop in.   Make today a special occasion.  Just because you can.  The smile on someone else's face will be well worth your time.