I am Sparta

I spent the last two days in the hospital and three doctors and two nurses told me that I "look really good for someone with an abscess".

That, apparently, is "looking really good". Mostly, I was weepy and woozy. I did all my eatin' through a tube in my arm and that, my friends, was not nearly as much fun as other kinds of eating. The first solid food I had in two days was an apple and that crisp, crunchy goodness nearly blew my drugged-out little mind.

The Guy was working at night so ended up spending the last two days without sleeping at all so that he could take care of me.

He did some hand-holding, brought some books and fresh socks, took care of the puppy, and basically proved himself (again) an all-around awesome boyfriend. The hairy growth that seems to be sprouting from his neck? That was me. I was hiding my face because by that point I'd gone about twenty hours without swallowing anything at all and despite the lack of liquid in my body, I'd squeezed surprising amounts of water out of my eyeballs. They were swollen up like basketballs. I'm not sure what that says about me - I was in pain, woozy from dehydration and scared of what was going on but I still had to take a photo and not look hideous - but I'm sure it says something. Probably something not very flattering, in which case I will assume it's jealous and pay no attention.
I've been given jugs and jugs of antibiotics and some painkillers (all the medications are liquid, in case I'm unable to swallow again. Isn't that thoughtful?) and some Dire Warnings about what happens if I don't take the meds on time and sent on my (droopy) way.

I'm home again, my dog is frantic with joy, my cat is outwardly indifferent but inwardly relieved and my plant seems not to have noticed. I'm going to drag myself into bed and stay there for at least twelve hours, or until the puppy needs to pee, whichever comes first.

*I should probably mention that I am currently all drugged up and if this entry makes no sense, I blame the codeine.

I've got a dog and he has Special Needs. Namely, food, water, and constant attention. It turns out that my adorable "non-needy, quiet, well-behaved" puppy has Separation Anxiety (fancy talk for He Freaks Out And Turns Into A Maniac Whenever He's Left Alone) and worms. The worms I don't mind. A couple of visits to the vet, a couple of pills forced down his throat, we're all set. The Separation Anxiety? That's a whole other can worms (See what I did there? HA!). Since he's relatively quiet when I'm around, I still don't know how obnoxious he really is when I'm at work but my neighbors have been quick to inform me: He's a whining, barking, yelping nightmare, producing brain-bending noises for HOURS at a time. I went outside to type this entry and as the door shut behind me, the yelping started. It's a sort of high-pitched squeak right now, like the world's longest fingernail scratching the world's biggest chalkboard.
The dog is adorable, and sweet, and needs to be trained. I'm not gonna give up on the beast but I've got to figure out how to get him to shut up. If anyone's got any tips, lemme have 'em.

How cute is that guy? How deceptively well-mannered of appearance.

Sigh.

Yesterday, I was confused, heartbroken, feeling lost and hopeless. Maybe my life shoulda taken a left at Albuquerque. I didn't know what was going on or how I'd ended up in such a mess. Today? My new boots have arrived and all is well with the world.
Well, I'm not so shallow as all that. Things had straightened themselves out by the time I'd gone to bed last night but the boots? They only confirm that, yes, things are going to be awesome indeed. How could they not be whilst shod in these?

Steve Madden, you always know how to make a girl feel better.

Getting the ball rolling

Earlier this week, I decided that I needed to replace my car, get a new computer, buy a new lens, and get a bigger apartment- all this in addition to enlarging my dress and shoe collections. Clearly, I'm going to need another job. I poked around the internet and moaned to anyone who would listen how much I hate waiting tables and I don't want a crazy office job and then I remembered: I take pictures and sometimes, people give me money to do it. Therefore, if I take more pictures and get paid for them, I would make more money and I wouldn't need a second job. I could just keep doing what I already do and be able to afford the things I need.
This was all very exciting and great but I'm pretty terrible with the whole 'not being lazy' thing. I see now that it's going to take a lot of work to get a viable business off the ground, one in which shoot more than just once a month. Still, I need the car, computer, lens, apartment, dresses, and shoes so yesterday, I got cracking. I set up a business page on the facebook, did a fashion shoot, edited and uploaded lots of pictures, agonized over making them public, did it anyway, and generally feel like I am off to a good start.I finished most of the pictures I took of Amber months ago - this is one of my favorites:She's just so happy!

This is one from yesterday:
Absolutely fantastic model. It was a great shoot, lots of fun, she was on her game, knew exactly what she was doing, trusted that I knew what I was doing, and loves having her picture taken - that makes a huge difference, when it comes right down to it. Models that are comfortable in front of the camera are so easy to photograph!

I'll be buying the lens next, then setting up a website. Very exciting stuff.

Other than that, life has been pretty quiet. Quiet is nice right now.

THIS STAYS BETWEEN YOU AND ME, INTERNET
My laziness has reached epic proportions. Yesterday I moved furniture around my apartment so that I could LIE ON MY COUCH AND SEE MY LAPTOP. I am really that lazy. I moved FURNITURE so as not to have to move a laptop. It was only one piece of furniture, really. Just the couch. It makes a certain kind of sense - I'm dragging around ONE couch instead of unplugging, untangling, moving, and reattaching, like, THREE cables (external hard drive, speakers, mouse). Plus one laptop. That's four (light) things to move instead of just one (incredibly heavy) thing.
I can't believe I'm trying to justify this. I am lazy. I am ashamed. Sort of. Mostly, I'm really comfortable.


ALL THAT COMPLAINING, WASTED.
Now that my work schedule has abruptly gone back to normal, I find that I'm freaking out. I didn't want to work all day every day but I liked having money. I'll still have money, mind you, just not as much. I liked all that much. I was getting used to it. My concern is such that I'm seriously considering getting a (gasp) second job. My job, as it is, pays enough to cover my bills and the rent but SHOES!! All those lovely shoes that I can't buy! Not to mention all those gorgeous summer dresses that are going on sale RIGHT THIS MINUTE! This is why I need a second job. The extremely shallow aspects of my nature are stronger than the very lazy aspects and I'm going to drag myself out of this extremely comfortable, well-positioned if not very decorative couch and get another job. Then I will be able to lie right back down again while wearing the beige Steve Madden platform pumps I have been coveting for months now. I recently got the electric blue ones and they are a dream. Shortly after getting them, I saw photos of Victoria Beckham, my beloved Posh Spice, wearing those very same shoes with three different outfits. It's kismet. We're meant to be besties. I can tell. We have the same taste in shoes.




IT'LL CHANGE YOUR LIFE, I PROMISE
The other thing I've been enjoying lately is 8track. You can make your own playlists and share them. I love anything that lets me force my favorite music down other people's throats and my obsessive love of making lists means that I have playlists about EVERYTHING. This is my playlist that has songs about Paris.


I also have playlists about coffee, breaking up, zombies, shoes, Los Angeles, covers, death, unrequited love, circuses, and photographs. They will all eventually make their way onto that site. I'm having so much fun with it!

This may not work. . .

this is an experiment. i was going to try and write some bloggy stuff using my keypad on my super nifty smart phone only it is not working out as well as i had hoped. my notsosmart phone will not let me use capital letters or any symbols. it is incredibly annoying and i am aborting the bloggy attempt now.

goodbye.

And then that happened

Some things are inevitable. I live in LA, I've been driving for over fifteen years, and I drive nearly every day surrounded by wackos. Friday, it happened: I was in an accident that took out not one, not two, but three cars, two of them completely totaled. One of the destroyed vehicles was the car I was driving and it wasn't my car. Good news is I'm ok and the dog that was in the car with me is ok.

That is the dog, being OK. My airbag didn't deploy and my brains are pretty rattled but China, who was in the passenger seat, flew straight in to hers, bounced gracefully off, then slid gently down to the floor of the car. When I could finally come to a stop, I was frantically pushing airbag out of the way to find her confused and happy, hanging out under the dashboard.
I've been in a few accidents, mostly fender-benders here and there and a couple big ones when I was a passenger but this is the first time I've been involved in something like this as a driver and I'm still waiting to find out what I'm going to need to do (pay) and how I do it. It's all very exciting (nerve-wracking).
I'm ok, sustained no permanent damage, just some whiplash and muscle pains. I should be as right as rain in a couple of weeks. And if you're in the LA area and need to go to emergency care, go to Cedars Sinai. I cannot recommend that place highly enough. I was in and out within three hours, everyone was kind and professional and, given the situation, it was a remarkably pleasant experience.

That's it really. That's the big news. Car accident.
I did a photo shoot the week before and I'm pretty happy with how those came out.

The model was a doll, super fun and easy to work with, despite the fact that she was sick. She was a trooper. People like that make me look good. Here's another of my favorites:

She's all super-model styles here.

Some days, I love what I do.