Freeze Frame

What's a few years skipped in blogging between friends?  I'll tell you what...it is total proof of the validity of my previous statement about myself...multitasking, entrepreneurial spirit who doesn't finish what she starts! 

...but that's not all it is.  It is also the sign of a full and busy life.  During those years that I neglected my little fledgling of a blog, I did so many things.  There were vacations, jobs, projects, family gatherings, and creative endeavors pursued.  And more.  There was so much more that it would be the worst run-on sentence in history if I listed it all here...and I wouldn't want to commit such a literary offense, so I'll simply hit fast forward and arrive at my present-day life!

At the beginning of this year, in pseudo New Year's Eve resolution style, I decided to stop paying lip service to a desire to do photography as more than just a hobby and actually make it happen.  It is pretty scary to put yourself out there...and there was (and is) SO much to learn.  It is a daily battle of successes (according to client feedback) and feelings of inadequacy.  It is also feels like I'm stifled.  I feel like I catch glimpses of my own creative muse from time-to-time, but then I run from that to the relative safety of mimicry.  There are so many incredibly creative people out there...you see their work and think, 'I'd never have thought of that'.  But I do have some original ideas, at least something I had not SEEN done before (hasn't everything under the sun been tried or done?)...but it takes a lot more courage.  You risk failing and I am still trying to learn to be brave...and how to successfully fail.

Photography has been consuming me these days...I am ALWAYS learning some new setting, trick or editing style or simply perusing images and cementing my ideas about art.  In the last day or so, I've decided to come up for air.  I wanted to make sure I don't miss this amazing season in my life - literally and figuratively.  The leaves are the most glorious colors.  The days are fleetingly temperate and it makes me feel like every degree left on the thermostat is a tiny opportunity I need to use before the freezing temps arrive and many activities will be put on hold for the long winter.  But a little part of me relishes the idea of the first snow...of warm cups of coffee and even hot chocolate in the season of scarves, mittens and boots.  The upcoming holidays are my favorite and I am already smelling the first hints of Thanksgiving feasts and can faintly hear a Christmas jingle.  I have my family and friends...my health...the promise of tomorrow - I guess you could say I am feeling blessed.

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First Post...Good to the Last Drop

...Well, I don't know if my blogging will be, but my coffee sure was. I named my blog the Java Nook because I adore coffee (but try to limit myself to two glorious cups per day) and it has always been a time of either chatting or reflection...depending on the company at hand. "Coffee Time" is also when I call my mother and we talk about anything from gardening to politics...or sometimes settle in front of our respective computers 1,000 miles apart with our respective cups of coffee and peruse Craigslist together, sometimes in earnest, sometimes falling into raucous laughter over inane posts. Coffee, java, cup o' joe, liquid courage (my pet name for it), go juice or whatever you choose to call it, has in similar ways signaled warm, inviting, or at least interesting moments in my life for decades...so it seemed an appropriate name for a blog that could have happened around the breakroom table or on a porch swing with a steaming cup of goodness in hand...

About me: Ugh...I always hate bios. The ever-so-predictable "I'm the happily married, mother-of-two..." (which I am) march of words across a page that sound half-braggart, half-resume. But how else do you introduce your life? Well, I should warn you...I might be crazy. I always seem to be going in twenty different directions and I have the heart of an early American entrepreneur...unfortunately the funding and organizational skills didn't follow. I'm a multi-tasker to the nth (which may sound organized) but the problem is...I'm not a "finisher" of tasks. When I'm online, I have twelve windows open, I'm IM'ing my sister, emailing my mom, simultaneously talking to my husband on the cell phone and fielding questions from my son whose in the flesh. (Son is early teen, daughter is leaving for college...another blog altogether!) I am a part time substitute teacher (you grammar Nazi's out there need to remember the freer spirit of blogging!) and have done some freelance writing and photography work. My hobbies are many and varied (but, of course!) and include: jewelry-making, scrap-booking, scuba diving, racquetball, softball, hardcore DIYer (not by choice, budget dictates projects!), fishing, hunting, RVing, gardening, and of course, the aforementioned photography and writing. I'm a seasoned bargain hunter/deal finder (see my links under Abe for recession shopping!). I'm the poster mom for overprotective parent and by the way...have been held hostage by two cats for the past several years. This blog is actually the only way I could think of to secretly get a message out...it is a cry for help.