fourth of july

Here is my somewhat belated Fourth of July post! There were over 7000 people there, and it was a veritable sea of red, white, and blue! The music was fantastic -- the BSO played various pieces throughout the evening, including the ever-popular 1812 Overture. My favorites were the Ives pieces, though. I took hardly any pictures because I was just enjoying the music so much, so here are my two favorite shots of the day.


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My iTunes: Mahler: Rückertlieder - Blicke Mir Nicht In Die Lieder by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson

photoshoot: birthday party

This was the first of the images I edited of the birthday party I shot yesterday. It was a very fun party, every five-year-old girl's dream party. Lots of pink and princess. XiXi had a blast and by the end completely crashed. I've just started editing, and I'll share more photos as I go, but I loved this one and had to share it right away.

Lots of graduation-y events today. I'm listening to the traffic outside and it sounds like it's raining... that should put an interesting spin on the events. But I'm wearing my fabulous new pair of shoes -- super comfortable turquoise wedges. I'm pretty excited!
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My iTunes: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

cookie cutter

My iTunes: Santa Claus is Comin' to Town by Bing Crosby and the Andrews' Sisters

Quick post before I head into a week of finals. We had our second annual Bible study Christmas cookie baking. Things got a little crazy with the flour -- I'll include a few pictures below to give you an idea. My friend's daughter, XiXi, really got into it! I think there was more flour spread on us and around the kitchen than was in the batches of sugar cookies we made!

But for now, I'm off to bed. I have an ill-timed sinus infection, and have been trying all my usual stand-bys -- drinking water and tea like it's my job, steaming my head like a lobster, humidifying my room until the windows fog, using nose spray, and taking vitamin C/guaifenesin/ibuprofen. Let's hope I can get through my voice juries tomorrow evening, then off to my new job...

the candle

The Candle
September 2008

My iTunes: Tu Es Ma Came by Carla Bruni

I feel proud of everything I accomplished today. I started with a to-do list that literally reached from my elbow down the length of my arm. Now the list fits within the length of my hand. Hopefully I'll finish the rest of it tomorrow.

Here's some of what I did today:

Bought the rest of the frames for the photographs I'll be displaying and selling at the local coffee shop; mailed off a list of my expenditures to be reimbursed for my most recent trip to Philadelphia; mailed a package; set up three more students; set up a time for a photoshoot; wrote a paper; set up my senior recital; picked up four books at the library; ordered refills for my allergy medicines; replaced my broken sunglasses; bought a few dress shirts since none of the ones I wore before back surgery fit anymore; got my hair trimmed; took three girls out for coffee; wrote out the IPA for my new German songs; read four articles for a reading assignment; made and ate dinner.

And now I'm going to order the prints for the coffee shop -- I'll have them as my post for tomorrow!

shiny

Shiny
September 2008

My iTunes: Nel furor delle tempeste by Marcello Giordani

Quick post today -- I'm off to run a few quick errands, then class from 11:00-3:00, practice voice for an hour, and then go down to Washington, D.C., to see the Washington National Opera's performance of The Pearl Fishers at the Kennedy Center! My voice teacher is in the chorus and had two tickets, so she gave them to me. She really is the best! I'm very excited -- I'm taking one of the girls from my freshman Bible study with me. It's so wonderful to introduce people to opera and then watch them really enjoy it! I'm going to try out my new opera glasses, too!

pink

Pink
September 2008

My iTunes: Die Mainacht by Brahms, sung by Bernarda Fink

Well, I promised that today's picture would be pink! I made about 60 cupcakes for Bible study last night -- it was J's birthday and she loves pink almost as much as she loves Jesus, her family, and her standard poodle. (Okay, so maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but you get the idea.) They were strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing and pink sprinkles with pink candles. I think she liked them. I'll probably be sharing some more shots over the next few days.

jumping for joy

Jumping for Joy

July 2008

My iTunes: Just Showed Up for My Own Life by Sara Groves

Move over, Ross -- this blog has a new star! My good friend Betsy and I were able to spend time together this afternoon for the first time since my back surgery, and we decided to do an impromptu photoshoot at a nearby lake. Betsy is a great sport, and a ton of fun to work with! And she's always been really supportive of my photography, so she's as excited as I am to take photo outings! I think I'll keep her :)

There were so many great shots, it was hard to pick which one to share first, but I think this one is the winner.

Can you believe it's JULY already?!?!

18 candles

18 Candles

June 2008

My iTunes: Ninety-Nine Red Balloons by Countdown

These were what was left from the conflagration that was my brother's birthday cake (the cake itself, cherry chocolate with chocolate icing, is long gone!). But despite the challenge presented before him, he had no trouble blowing them all out in one breath. (If you see the picture I posted on his birthday, you can see why!) We'll see if he gets his wish!

I spent most of yesterday researching, but not the type of researching I've been doing for the past few weeks. Yesterday I was researching graduate schools. Because I disliked the search for colleges so much, I've not been looking forward to beginning this search. But my experience in Philadelphia inspired me to begin. That, and the fact that deadlines will be coming all too soon. My first discovery was that there are a LOT of graduate schools. I can start the work of narrowing them down, but I look forward to having my voice teacher's input. The two that have caught my eye so far were James Madison University and University of Maryland. We'll see what the next few months will bring.

And thanks for all the kind comments about switching my blog header from "Through the Amateur's Lens" to "Christy Thomas Photography"! I still feel like an amateur, but many people have commented to the contrary.

you defy explanation

You Defy Explanation

June 2008

My iTunes: Miracles Happen by Myra from The Princess Diaries soundtrack

One look at this card and I knew it was perfect for my brother. "You defy explanation." The picture is of a little boy dressed up as a superhero (I decided not to post an image of the whole card incase that would be copyright infringment).

happy 18th birthday

Happy 18th Birthday
June 2008

My iTunes: Vogue by Madonna

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Ross, Happy Birthday to you!"

Today is one of my "little" brother's birthdays -- Ross is 18 today. Neither of my brothers are "little" though -- they're both taller than me now (not a hard feat to accomplish). I told him he would be the star of my blog today. He (or at least his picnic party) might end up being the star for the week. I got a bunch of good shots.

While I'm wishing Happy Birthday's, it is also two of my really close friends' birthday as well -- Happy Birthday Ava and Happy Birthday Ellen! One is no longer a teenager and the other, well, let's just say a dyslexic person will not confuse her age for the next year... :)

In other news, I'm starting to look at graduate schools... it's rather overwhelming. I should get back to that.

p.s. Perhaps I should add a disclaimer about the music I'm listening to on iTunes -- it's from The Devil Wears Prada soundtrack. It's not the best chick-flick in the world, but I was in the mood to watch it today, then realized I had the soundtrack on my computer thanks to the public library. (I pay taxes, therefore I pay for the music, right?)