Thoughts on semi-vegetarianism

If I could, I'd probably be a vegetarian. Not a vegan - l love dairy products too much. And I do need the occasional egg meal every now and then. But there is a problem...I love bacon too much. And my kids and husband could never become veggie, even if I paid them. And finally, if an In-N-Out Burger came to Colorado, well - let's just say, I couldn't be vegetarian for very long.

But I really try to eat vegetarian when I can. I think I've generally lost my taste for meat, especially beef and pork, any red meat. Poultry is still my go-to protein, and I'll have fish on occasion, even though I'm not big on seafood.

Maybe my full conversion won't happen until the girls leave for college, and R needs to improve his diet. 'Til then...

Happy (belated) birthday, my sweet girl!

Even though it was three days ago, my oldest J had her 10th birthday. And her first day as a fifth grader, and mine as the psych at my school for the new year. Thus, we have a bit of a delay with wishes, and with this new entry in general.

She's gone from this...
















...to this.

And she's simply amazing, in every way! Have a wonderful year, sweetie!

Gaining ground

Now that the work school year has officially begun, I will inevitably have less time to devote to writing and photography. So yesterday was time to get things done. Getting photos submitted, finishing my next NYIP unit (I'm now officially halfway through - yay!), finishing up my first travel writing submission, and starting work on the second. So things are happening. Now I'm feeling a lot better.

Here's the photo I submitted to a holiday-themed stock photo challenge:

I just wanted to do something different, although I could've probably done something more traditional. It's probably too dark, but if that's the lesson I've learned from it, so be it.

It's been extremely warm here in Denver, and I don't really want to do much in the way of knitting. I think I've actually for the time being lost my knitting mojo. I do a little here and there everyday, but nothing that makes tremendous progress. And to think, I started this as a knitting blog at one time! But once the weather becomes a little chilled, that's when I'll start stitching again.

Time is running out...

So, I officially have one and a half days left until my summer vacation comes to its official end. In the time between June 2nd and today, I traveled to Florida, the Caribbean (which I still pronounce care-i-BE-an, not CUH-ri-be-an, like most people say), Colorado Springs, Durango and Chicago. I've probably covered more ground in terms of places than any other time in my life.

But I still need to find a home for all the ideas in my head and the articles I've written and the pictures I've taken. I'm not really afraid of rejection now, and I don't want to make excuses. But now a good chunk of my time will be taken with the job that pays the bills, not the work the feeds the soul. So I need to make a greater mental commitment than ever to say, "I'm going to be published by the end of the year, and I'm going to make some money from my photography".

It's the kind of thing I'll need to hang up on an index card and read it every day. I'm going to do just that.

Windy City recap

It's been about a week since my Chicago trip, and I would certainly want to go back there sometime. Of course, whenever I'm in these workshops, I never get to see really anything. But the day before, I did rent a bike for a couple of hours and took some pictures:
















It wasn't ever really windy, just hot and humid. And man, it was expensive! Normally I like to rent a car, but with $55 daily parking at the hotel and even some of the surrounding lots, that was out of the question. I didn't even get to ride the El train, nor have Chicago-style pizza. Wherever I went to, there was at least a 1 1/2 hour wait.

But it was a good place to run - very flat and low elevation. My ego got a boost when I went I was able to pass more than a few people on the lakefront trail. Yay for altitude training!

In Chicago

Well, I've made it, and I don't have a lot of time to write here. The workshop starts in 15 minutes.

After getting in at 10:30 local time, I got to the hotel and checked in (lucky I could do that - thought I'd have to wait until 3 and maybe would have to lug around my suitcase). Rick Bayless's restaurants were just four blocks away, so I had an awesome lunch in the bar at Frontera Grill. Excellent stuff - I had enchiladas with braised vegetables and cheese. Probably the most flavorful enchiladas I've had in a while.

Later, I rented a bike and headed to the lakeshore area, pedaling up and down Lake Michigan. Since I don't have a car, that turned out to be a smart way to get around.

Pictures to come, as always!

Crossroads

So I have roughly two weeks before I return to my real-world job of school psych. As enjoyable as the work can be, I would still like to be a work-at-home writer and photographer. R is very encouraging, but he always will add a dash of reality by saying, "a lot of people want to work at home doing (fill in the blank)"

I sometimes think I need all this uninterrupted quiet time during the summer because it seems to guarantee that I can get these lofty goals accomplished. But I don't want to think all I'm doing is busy-work. Any step that moves me forward is important, but now I think some of these should be purposeful movement. Such as tomorrow, write a query to one of these places I'm targeting, rather than keep reading the submission guidelines. Write up some photo ideas that aren't in the stock sites, and take those pictures. Keep progressing with the profit website.

Now it's kick in the pants time. And almost time to go to Chicago. I'm hoping I can do an entry or two from there!