Running long ... runnin' on empty

I should have known better than to wear heels. But it's not every day the daughter of a President comes to campus, right?

When Chelsea Clinton came to Ball State last week, I had to work the event -- one of my first in my new role with Ball State's media relations team. So, of course, I wanted to look the part. Best suit, best dress shirt, heels ... heels I had to then stand around in for FOUR HOURS during the event!

If I was Carrie Bradshaw, maybe this wouldn't have been a problem, but nowadays, as a runner, I know this is a big mistake. With tender legs all week, I dreaded Nick and I's 10-miler Sunday. It was the longest distance we had to go before the Mini in May, and by willpower alone was I able to put one foot in front of the other and finish the run in about 1:40. Not a record-setting pace by any means, but that's not what running is about for me. Never has been, never will be.

No, for me it's enough to push myself up over that hump of discouragement -- the one that can be such a hindrance in real life -- and know that mentally and physically I can conquer something bigger than myself. Of course, feeling good in my favorite pair of blue jeans while rewarding myself with a scoop of cookie dough ice cream helps too.

A night with Hillary Clinton

What a night I had last night! As soon as we heard on Thursday that Hillary Clinton was coming to town, myself and one of my new co-workers, Stacey Grosh, decided we'd do what it took to see her. Having seen Chelsea Clinton on Ball State's campus earlier in the week, and being thoroughly impressed, I was excited to hear her mom speak for herself on the issues.

Hillary spoke at about nine o'clock last night at Muncie Central High School, inside the school's gym. Here's a photo of the line that I snapped right after we got there at about 5:30 p.m. — eventually, that line wrapped around three sides of the school. Stacey brought her 3 girls (who are 12, 11 and 9) and they were SUCH troopers! It was freezing outside in that line!

There was TONS of media there — including my husband.

It was interesting to see all the buttons vendors were hawking to those standing in line. One of my favorites was this one I spotted on a woman in front of us. Another I saw that I liked: "Hill YEAH!"

The crowd spent about two more hours waiting for Hillary once inside the gym. There was just this great "buzz" among everyone, the excitement of feeling included in this year's presidential primary. Despite voting for years, last night was really the first time I've ever felt such a part of our country's political process. It gave me goose bumps.

When Hillary finally arrived, everybody went crazy. She spent more than an hour laying out her platform to the crowd. My respect for her grew when I realized she was still campaigning after 10 p.m. She started her day today with another rally in Indy at 10 a.m. (I tried to get as close as I could for shots but I was TOTALLY envious of all the press photographers with their huge telephoto lens. This was the best I could do and I'm pretty happy with what I got)

What I appreciate about Hillary's platform is that for every idea she has, she proposes a way she'll pay for it. If you haven't taken the time to really get to know her platform, check out her Web site, then click on "Issues." If you take the time to educate yourself about her plans to address the "big" ones — from health care and education to improving our schools and promoting energy independence — I think you might find yourself more open to voting for her if you're still undecided.

That being said, whoever you vote for, just GET OUT THERE AND VOTE on May 7! And with that, I'll get off my soapbox now!

** In case you haven't noticed, I'm back to publishing photos in a large format on the blog again. After all, that's what you're here for, right? :)

I feel like a kid again ...

Do you remember the euphoria that came with owning your first Nintendo? I think I was about eight when my brother (Jeff) got his Nintendo for Christmas and -- to this day -- I recall that holiday as one of the best in my childhood memories. For HOURS, we stayed up playing Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt (did anyone else face the learning curve of physically "jumping" their arms with their controllers when they'd make Mario hop over turtles? Maybe that was just me!...)

One of my favorite games to play on Nintendo as a kid was Tetris (seriously, who didn't love that game?) Which is why -- as soon as Nick showed me this clip last night online -- I was both amazed by its creativity and simultaneously transported to the childhood bedroom of one of my friends, Krissy, with whom -- one summer -- we played so much Tetris I'm surprised our eyes didn't go crossed.

Return of the recurring outfits

If you check the blog on occasion, you may recall a few weeks back (while I still worked at the paper), that myself and THREE fellow co-workers were wearing the same black sweater-grey pants combo. Well, this time, it appears my husband and his fellow co-worker, Lathay, came to work today as "twins."

Do you remember, during prom season, one of your worst teenage fears being that you'd show up in the same dress as someone else in your class? That actually happened to me once ... my what we fret about at 16 ...

One step, one day at a time

I used to think being a photographer boiled down to the art of picture-taking. And at its core, of course that IS what it's about.

But I'm also learning there is a lot more to it than just pressing the camera's shutter button and saying 'That's it. I'm done!"

Truth is, after I've put my camera away, I'm not "done." I haven't even started.

There is SO much to learn when you are new to this art form — and I'm not even talking about how to better use my camera in manual mode — and the learning curve is so steep, that it is easy to feel completely overwhelmed and question yourself about little things.

All that being said, I am reminding myself that, as Bob says, life's challenges are better approached in baby steps. So that's what I'm doing ... just sticking with this goal of mine and ending the day happy if I've done any of the following:

• Picked up my camera and taken even one image.
• Flipped through a photography book and learned one new thing.
• Trolled the photo forums I stalk online and discovered something (a camera setting, a software suggestion, a composition tip) that I didn't know before.

Tonight, my baby steps have come in learning how to use Lightroom (that's the image editing software a lot of pro photographers use and that I currently have a trial copy of) and its presets for touching up images.

Here's a sampling of what I did from a shoot pre-Christmas of my friend TJ's daughter, Riley. The preset gives it a bit of an "antique" feel. You like?

Who's this little guy?

Keeping with the trend, here are some more photos shot over the Christmas holidays that have been making their way from my flash cards onto the computer. This is my nephew, Sam, who is the son of Nick's oldest sister, Angela and her hubby, Alan (they are expecting another this summer - so exciting!)

He is such a hoot and he's grown SO much even since these photos were snapped (I took a bundle of photos of him last weekend, but those are for another blog post on another night). This series below was from the Werner Christmas at the Markarians in Cincinnati.

Sam testing out the binoculars Aunt Gina and Uncle Ken got him for Christmas

Bucked up and ready to open some presents after refueling with a cookie!

This was the present Nick and I got him for Christmas. A Melissa & Doug fuzzy-make-your-own monster puppet. We were a little uncertain whether Sam would take to this toy (something my husband spotted at a local toy shop and went bonkers over)

Minutes out of the box, he was warming up to it already! Angela has assured us that in the months since, he now totes it around everywhere and has discovered how to rearrange all its parts. She and Alan are pretty close to being pushed over the edge with having to do their best "monster voices!"

(For the record, all photos I took over Christmas were in terrible halogen-induced lighting, thus the reason for the yellowy glow. I tried adjusting my white balance in camera to adjust, and tinkered a bit in Photoshop, but my hope is that, come the '08 holiday season, I'll have my lighting situations better under control)

Remember this face?

So it's terribly embarrassing, but this image of my niece, Emily, is months old - FROM CHRISTMAS!!

That's the backlog a person faces when she has memory cards with tons of images on them taken over the past few months with no place (until now) for them to go!!!

Slowly but surely, I'm getting back in to the swing of shooting and processing (and saving) my images. But let me emphasize the "slow" part of this equation. Slower yet because I'm trying to use a new program to manage my images (Lightroom), trying to brush up my Photoshop editing skills (using this awesome book that was a birthday present) and just all around getting used to the marvels of working on a Mac again after years at home with a PC (I'll never go back - EVA!)

So for now, expect a steady trickle of images from the past. And it's probably likely that this little one below will continue to take center stage on this blog. Because, well, she's a ham (what can I say, she IS her father's daughter!) and because, well, I don't have my own little ones yet to pester with the camera so for now, that's where nieces and nephews come in!

Think spring ...

After starting the month with a snow storm that dumped nearly a half-foot of snow on Muncie, I quickly decided I was over Old Man Winter. He needed the boot.

So I was elated Friday when I saw these little guys popping up out of the ground as I got home from work.

Isn't it amazing how quickly plants and flowers can just spring up from the ground over night?

I guess, like the rest of us, they're sick of Old Man Winter too.

FINALLY!!! We have a new computer!!!

This has been an event a long time in the making (as you all are well aware!) but over the weekend, Nick and I FINALLY got our new iMac!

And let me tell you, this is one sleek puppy. I love the new display and all the cool things I'm gonna be able to do with it (the iLife suite is AMAZING!)

Also cool has been the big-bucks education discount I got on all the software I'll need (seriously...the Adobe Premium Design suite for $325? Ummm ... check please!)

I'm overwhelmed with all the new things I want and need to learn (both about this machine, the new programs I have on here and in the world of photography itself), but for now, I just wanted to spread the glorious word that Nick and I have rejoined the world of technology.

(Nick just discovered Facebook ... oh my goodness, that is a riot in and of itself! "Yeah ... who's cool and has 45! friends on Facebook now?" (This is what I heard tonight as he ran between American Idol commercial breaks to check his profile - HA!)

Thanks for hanging in there with me (all you who still might check the blog.) Now say hello to my not-so-little friend:

When I opened the box, there was a part of me that wanted to start patting this thing to the words "And I will love him, and hug him and name him George...."

The new Macs have the thinnest keyboards. I feel like I'm typing on some futuristic credit card. And you know what? Me likey....... ;)

*I should make a note and say that these photos I posted? Just some quick snapshots that aren't very good! But I wanted something to throw up here quick as my "proof of purchase"! :)