On knitting and being alive and such....

I AM ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RHINEBECK IS TOMORROW!!!! Is anyone else going???

I've signed up for Ravelry. I am #33256 on the list.... only 1898 people ahead of me before I am accepted to the site. How awesome is this?

So yeah. I am making a point to never "back blog" again. I think that is where my anxiety with blogging is happening. I get so far behind, then I don't want to catch up because there would be so much to do. As a quickie, here is a list of stuff I have done since my last blog:

June 22-24 Went to visit Erin in Toronto. We went to the Toronto Zoo, Romni Wools, Lettuce Knit, and had some sushi.


June 28 - July 3 Liz and John came up from Hollywood Florida for a little week long visit. We went to the Dinosaur BBQ for dinner one night with her mom and Bill.

We also went to Ichiban for sushi!!

John and Liz:


July 4 We had a little shindig at Mark's house. I made awesome sandwiches. They were definitely not for vegetarians.


July 7 Renaissance Festival in Sterling, NY.


July 20-22 Back to Toronto to see Erin again. Brought her mom up this time. Got to play with the Rhinos too.



July 27-29 Camping at Cayuga Lake State Park in Seneca Falls, NY, with Erin, Lisa, and Mark.


August 3-5 Erin and I went to the Belleayre Music Festival in the Catskill Mountains of NY. We stayed at Woodland Valley State Park. Artists featured at the show are some of the Hotel Cafe Artists. Some of the ones that we saw include: Ingrid Michaelson, Priscilla Ahn, Cary Brothers, Rocco Deluca & The Burden, Rachael Yamagata, Meiko, Jay Nash, Buddy, Kate Havnevik, Tom Mcrae, Jim Bianco, and Greg Laswell. I think I got them all. If not, my apologies.

It was a pretty awesome trip with Erin.


August 20-22 I went to Jennings, Louisiana to visit with my friend Scott. We mostly just relaxed. I also got to hold a baby gator!



September 14 I had a party. Whoot! Whoot! This is a picture of Lisa, Chris, Dave and me.


September 28-30 I camped at Wellesley Island State Park with Mark and Lisa.



That brings me up to October at least. I haven't uploaded anything from October to Flickr yet. For more pictures, just check out my Flickr site. :)

On an off note... today is my brother Ben's birthday. He is 28. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!!! (He doesn't read my blog though.)

Off to Wegmans. I really feel bad for those of you who don't know what Wegmans is.

Enos Wedding

Yesterday John and Becky got married. Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Enos.
The wedding party.

Mr. and Mrs. Enos.

Jon and the Boys.

Me and Tara.

Mark and Lisa <3

Boots 'n Shorts!

Megan's boyfriend Mike, has a Bluegrass band called Boots 'n Shorts. THEY ARE TOTALLY AWESOME! I highly recommend you go check them out. Here are some pictures from Mike's 30th Birthday Bash at Walter's Cafe in Fayetteville, NY.



Mike and Megan! (Happy 30th Mike!)

Megan and Lisa.

Resident Graduation Dinner

Last night was the Resident Graduation Dinner for work. This year there was only 1 resident, so it was a fairly short dinner, with shorter speeches. Yay.
James was my date.

Stan and Debbie were there. I am Debbie's Assistant at work.

Katie looked lovely! She is a float at work.

This is Dr.Charles Hodge and his wife Cathy Chu (NP). I work for Dr.Hodge.

Dr.Hodge and Debbie.

Katie, Dr.Ross Moquin, Debbie, and Me. Debbie really isn't that tall. She wore gigantic heels- don't let her fool you!

My girls :) Debbie, Karen, Josephine, and Me. These are the girls I'm with every day. We work so well together, it's great!

Memorial Day weekend at Limekiln Lake

May 25th - 28th, a bunch of us went camping up at Limekiln Lake in the Adirondacks.
(Me, Jim, Stan, Krista, Amanda, Bryan, Mark, Mike, Deshanna, Jon, and Becky) We really had a great time!
This is my little campsite, with my new Coleman 3 person Tent. It's FANTASTIC.

Amanda insisted on swimming in the FREEZING water.

I took some portraits of Stan and Krista at the Lake.

We are BEAUTIFUL.

Limekiln Lake is even more beautiful though.

Mark brought his canoe and took people out for rides.

We drove down to Old Forge to rent some Pedal Boats.

Stan made some good fires.

On the way home I stopped in Inlet to take a picture of the memorial where my "Aunt Jo" has a spot.

She worked right near this pier for years and years. She passed away a few years back.

Around Town

Mike, Heather (his beautiful wife), Fathi, and I decided to walk around Syracuse on April 29th and do a little photoshoot for school. I have yet to upload my black and whites that I took for the assignment, but I did take a bunch of color digitals. Here are just a couple pictures of the area.
This is outside the Landmark Theater.



The Dinosaur Barbque



A beautiful tree in Clinton Square.



This is what I look like on a photoshoot. 2 cameras in hand.

Playing catch-up

It's been a while since I have bothered to write in this blog. I've been up to no good as usual ::evil laugh:: No, really..... I have been so busy this last month it isn't even funny! Not to mention, I was living without internet from home ::GASP!::

1. Everything with Kevin is over and has been for quite some time. I don't want to talk bad about anyone, but let's just say this... Some people seriously need to grow up. Surprise Surprise. I'm really glad I didn't waste too much of my life before I figured THAT out. I don't want the "oh, I'm sorry" comments. Really. I am QUITE fine :)

2. My job is FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. I really love the girls that I work with. I feel like I fit in for once. You all know me... I don't generally get along with girls too well.

3. I got my finances all under control. I am now going through a debt management company to assist me in lowering my payments, etc. A couple years and I will be DEBT FREE!

4. Erin is graduating from JCC soon! I am so proud of my girl! She will spend 2 months this summer at the Toronto Zoo.

5. In the next couple of weeks Erin is moving in with me. Eventhough she will be in Toronto, when she comes "home", "home" will be my apartment. When she is done up there, then she will be here all the time until she finds a job or decides where to go from there. I can't wait to have Erin around a lot more!

6. I went Ovo-Lacto-Vegetarian a few weeks ago. So far I am loving it! I do miss my Filet Mignon, but I feel like I'm doing my part for the animal population. Not to mention, I am doing a lot for my own body. I haven't lost weight yet, but that will come soon.

7. My gym membership begins Monday. I will be going to the gym right next door from my office at University Hospital. YEY. I also joined a pilates class that meets Tuesday nights in May. This would be right at work as well. How freaking convenient is that?!

8. I can't wait to go rock climbing!!! I just bought my first pair of climbing shoes and I am psyched. Who wants to go ?!!? Rock climbing at the Jewish Community Center in Syracuse is on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Thursday may just be my night.

9. I feel some of my friendships growing stronger. I have become close with a couple people these past few months, and now I can't even imagine my life without them in it! (yea, that's you SHREK!)

10. This semester is over. PHEW. Next week I have 1 final and that's it. It will be sad not to be with my fellow photo students.... I will be getting a Community Dark Room membership instead. Either that, or Jim, Mike, and I will be creating a dark room in Jim's spare bedroom. YAY. I am not sure what I am doing with school anymnore. I need to find a direction and just go with it. Problem is, I want to be happy- school for the past couple of years has been bogging me down mentally. They're lucky I never went postal.

To see some of the stuff I've been working on, check out My Flickr! Photo page, or Jill Rachel Photography on Myspace.

Portraits

So I've been working hard at my photography class this semester. I just wanted to share some portraits with you folks... These are just some digital ones- the ones for class are all black and white and I will have to scan them in one of these days.

If any of you would like portraits done by me, please contact me at jillrachel@gmail.com and I will let you know the prices, depending on what you are looking for. I'm really trying to get this business started!

Enjoy :)

Models: Heather and Mike







Model: Shayne


Models: Stan and Krista




Model: Walter