To be great is to be misunderstood

The Olympics, scooter rides, and watercolors.

2008-08-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

Who else has become utterly obsessed with the Olympics? I had hardly watched television in months and now I can't seem to turn it off. I don't think there is a sport I don't enjoy watching. I have stayed up far too late since it started watching every last bit. I'm evening recording it! Michael Phelps.....amazing! I've officially made the transition over from swimming to track & field. Tonight is the Men's 1500m final. That should be interesting.

Enough of that. I was in St. Louis/Chicago week before last and I got some neat photos. Once I can figure out how to post multiple photos on here without it taking me hours to re-size them I'll put them on here. I might just post them on my Flickr account and post the link on here that way I don't have to mess with sizing. (Edit: I went ahead and uploaded the Chicago pictures to Flickr. You can see them here: Chicago Pictures) My friend Nathan (aka Snarf) took me on a scooter ride in St. Louis. I must purchase a scooter now. What a fun way to get around town!

I have been really having an itch to get back into painting/any art lately. Instead of going back to my old favorite-oil painting-I have decided to dabble in watercolors. I have only done ONE watercolor painting in my life and it was back in high school. I have all the stuff I just need to sit down and have the patience to actually do it. That's where I normally have the problem when it comes to this sort of thing. I can't sit there long enough to make any progress and waiting for it to dry is hell. Once I've done a few I'll take some photos and put them up here.

I have officially lost 45(ish)lbs. I'm not sure how much further I'm going to go. I don't really care about the pounds-I just want to get to a size that I like. I'm pretty darn close though. I have a 5K this Saturday that I'm pretty excited about and another one the following Saturday. I have been having issues lately running because it has been so stinkin' hot outside. I have found that that is EXACTLY what has kept me from making any progress in the last 2 months or so. On rainy days I run fine because it's cool out-but if it's hot I almost can't run a mile. I'm really going to try and make an effort to wake up and run BEFORE work instead of in the evenings because its a good 10 or so degrees cooler in the mornings. We'll see if that happens though. Alright. I think I'm done babbling for now. Comment please. It's what encourages me to keep blogging.

Before. During. But not after. Part 1.

2008-07-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

I am having to do this blog in 2 parts because Picasa will only let you blog 4 photos at a time. I did the second one first so it would show up under the first blog so you can just start from the top.

I have been wanting to post some photos of my weight lost journey for awhile and finally have the motivation to do so. I know Grandma really wanted to see some so here we go. I'll try to put them in some sort of order.

This first photo is from Beth's (Pam's daughter) wedding back in September. It's right before I started running. I think I started running in November. There's definitely a difference between then and now.

This next one is right around the same time when Brandy and I went to a Braves game with my company.

In January I went to Savannah/Tybee Island with Jenna and here I am on the beach at sunrise. I think I had just started running at this point.

In March Brandy and I went to England to visit Jenna. I had finally started making at little progress at this point but not much.

Keep reading to the blog below.

Before. During. But not after. Part 2.

2008-07-18T13:39:00.000-07:00

Continued....
I believe I took this picture sometime in early May. I was obviously tired.

At the end of May I went to St. Louis and this is the first picture where I almost didn't recognize myself. This is my friend Art and I on my birthday.

The next two pictures I took tonight so they are the most recent. I have a little further to go but I'm much closer than when I started. The second one I'm just being silly and showing off my muscle.

Who's been drinking my funfetti?

2008-05-28T07:43:00.001-07:00

I just returned from Wrockstock (the second one-sequel to the one at Halloween). This has basically turned into a travel blog-nothing too exciting happens in my everyday life. I took many pictures and will post the link to my Flickr account when I upload and I even took some video this time. I think maybe next time I will see if Misti will let me borrow her video camera or something. Then perhaps I can learn to edit, etc. I didn't have any more trips planned for awhile (other than a weekend trip to Birmingham in July) but I think I may go up to Chicago for Wrock Chicago at the beginning of August. I can't resist seeing all those lovely faces again. This was possibly the best weekend of my life. I know I said that after the last Wrockstock but this one blew that one out of the water. I can only imagine how the next one will be. I am so fortunate to be involved in this movement. I'll post a blog on my thoughts later when I have more time (I'm at work).

In other news....about a month ago I ran my first 5K race! It was the Hustle For Hope 5K which benefited The Hope House- a children's respite center I used to work at. I really enjoyed it and look forward to running in many more. In addition to that I have officially lost 30lbs! I almost don't even recognize myself sometimes. Alright...I'll update later.

I have returned!

2008-03-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

I am back from my trip to England! It was a great trip but I am so glad to be home. It is so tiring to be away and in an unfamiliar place. I won't be able to get on the photos into this blog so I set up a folder on Flickr so you can see them all. Here's the link : England Pics On the right hand side there is a folder titled "England 08'". Click on that and then click on the pictures to make them bigger. I got to visit so many places I have wanted to see for years. I visited Colchester, Cambride, Oxford, London, Bath, Stonehenge, and Salisbury. My favorite part I think was either the Lent service I attended at King's College @ Cambridge or The National Gallery. There I saw paintings by Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, and many others. At the British Museum I got to see The Rosetta Stone and Mummies. It was all such an amazing experience but I think next time I will go for a little less time or try and not fit so much in one day. Now back to real life!

Savannah on a whim

2008-02-01T19:26:00.000-08:00

My close friend Jenna, who is getting her PhD in England right now, was in town for December and a little of January. A few weeks back after her going away dinner we were looking for something to do. We both really enjoy ghost hunting and had been to Savannah together a few years back so on a whim we decided to drive "down" there. We didn't encounter any ghosts but we got some really good photos at Bonaventure. Here are some of them. I'm going to England in about a month (Feb 29-Mar 8) so hopefully I'll have more to post about soon. Things have been pretty uneventful around here lately though so enjoy the pictures!

The next few photos are from Jenna's collection.

The Weapon We Have Is Love

2007-11-03T19:58:00.001-07:00

I'm finally sitting down with something to blog about. The last 4ish months I have been really busy planning an event that FINALLY took place this past weekend in Potosi,MO (about 2 hours outside St. Louis). The event was called Wrockstock Spooktacular and it was a benefit for The Harry Potter Alliance (http://thehpalliance.org/) I can't figure out how to do the hyperlinks right now as it's been awhile since I've used this and it's sort of late so I can't call Misti. The HP Alliance is a group that uses the imagery from Harry Potter to draw parallels in todays world relating to social justice issues like poverty,the genocide in Darfu,AIDS, and the environment. One of my best friends Abby had the brilliant idea some months ago to put on a weekend camp with wizard wrock bands (bands that sing about Harry Potter) and raise money for the HPA. Being in Abby's core group of friends I naturally hopped right on board with the planning. This was possibly the best experience of my life. Not only did we have a blast goofing of to wrock music but I made some amazing friends and helped with a good cause. I got to know the creator of The Harry Potter Alliance -Andrew- pretty well. I picked him up from the airport in St. Louis (along with some others that I'll mention later) and we ended up being bunkmates in the cabin at camp. Along with Andrew I picked up Maria, Tonks, and Cori-none of whom I knew before the even- and we all became fast friends. It was a 2 hour drive to the camp and 2 hours back to the airport so we had plenty of time to become chummy. They all (minus Maria who lives in Philly) live in Boston so I am going up there the second weekend of December for The Yule Balls (2 more Harry Potter events). I know you guys all think I'm insane for being so into Harry Potter but I have made some amazing friends through this "scene" that I will never forget. Naturally- I have a ton of photos so I'm going to post a few here:

This is a band called The Remus Lupins. They are one of my favorite Wizard Wrock bands and I've seen them play a few times. They always put on a really good show.

This is my new friend and bunkmate Andrew-the creator/founder of The Harry Potter Alliance. He colored his hair pink for some crazy reason (it was costume night) and he was wearing my tie. At least I got it back.

This is a band called Draco and the Malfoys. They act like Slytherins on stage but are possibly the nicest guys out there.

There's a band called Harry and the Potters who basically started the whole wizard wrock scene. They didn't play but one of the members was there. They are famous for closing their shows with a song called "The Weapon" which is about love and how it is the weapon we can use to defeat the evils in this world. Its the main theme of the Harry Potter series. The last night the last band had all the wizard wrockers there (even if they hadn't played) get on stage and see it. It was the most amazing of sites.

These are two more of my cabinmates Ty and Shawn O. They have a band called Tom Riddle and Friends and they are hilarious.

This is me and my goblin sidekick-Maria. We were in charge of getting all the behind the scenes stuff set up for the event. Maria and I (and her fiance Nathan) had quite a good time goofing off around camp.

This is Andrew,Tonks, and I when Andrew was getting ready to fly back to Boston. There were 5 of us in our little traveling crew that we like to now call "A-Slack's Traveling Crew" but only Tonks and I got to see Andrew off.

Here are a few pretty shots I got around camp. The leaves had started to change (unlike in GA at the time) and I loved taking photos of them.

Last but not least here is a video of the finale of the song "The Weapon". I guess I have made up for the lack of blogs with the length of this one. I'll try and keep it up better..if not- I'll at least blog when I get back from Boston next month :)

I'm not missing.

2007-10-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't blogged in forever but I haven't had any photos to post lately! I am going to St.Louis this weekend for a Harry Potter thing and will have plenty of photos to share when I return. Stay tuned!

More of me...

2007-07-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to update. I'm not very good at blogging because most of the time there's nothing too exciting going on. A few weeks ago the family and I went to Missouri to visit everyone. It was loads of fun and I'd really like to go back more often. We went to Ha Ha Tonka (a castle ruin) and I got some really neat shots. Here are some photos I took while we were in Missouri.

Tux, Hans, and then one of me and Hans. I love these dogs!

This was Grandpa Cole's barn when he was a kid. It was so neat to go around and see where he grew up. We even got to go inside an old school house!

These next few are from Ha Ha Tonka. It's a castle up on a mountain that burned down in the 40's. It was a really neat site to see.

This is my favorite of all the ones I took that day:

Enjoy the photos. Hopefully I'll have more up soon.

Phoenix Rising in New Orleans!

2007-05-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

I hadn't blogged about it yet because I've been so busy but this past weekend I went to New Orleans for a Harry Potter convention. Please hold back the jokes! ha. I know I'm a dork and I don't need to be reminded about that :) I took a ton of pictures but this thing only lets met blog four of them through blogger and I don't feel like uploading them all into photobucket right now. So, right now you will have to settle for a few. I flew in Friday morning and met up with some friends for bienets ( I have no clue of how to spell that) at Cafe Du Monde. It was so tasty! That night there was a Wizard Rock concert on Bourbon Street and Mtv was there covering the convention! I wonder if they got any footage of me bustin' a move. Probably not because I didn't do any dancing. Saturday just hung out with friends and that night my friends @ Spinnerscast and Spellcast put on a live podcast. That was loads of fun. I ended up having to take an EARLY flight out Sunday morning and had the craziest cab driver ever. He was pretty entertaining. I had a what I thought would be 3 hour layover in Cincinnati but ended up being stuck there for 10 hours!!! That's what I get for flying standby. Don't know that I will ever do that again. I didn't get settled back at my apartment til' 11:30 that night. Ugh. Well, here are some photos!

This is a cathedral in the French Quarter. I wish I had had time to get a closer shot.

Just a neat building.

Paige and I at Cafe Du Monde. YUM!

A shot of Bourbon St by night.

I'll try and post more pictures later.

Chirp chirp

2007-05-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

Chirp. A friendly bird came by to say hello.

Updates and weddings

2007-05-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

I have been begged to update about the ducks. Last weekend I wrote a long update blog about the ducks and other goings on but it didn't save so I got frustrated and didn't re-blog. It seems the ducklings might have gone off to the great farm in the sky. They started as 8. A few days passed and then it was 6. A few more days went by and there were only 4. About a week into it there were none walking around anymore. I have no idea if they died or if they just moved to the bigger pond. I went over to the big pond the other day and didn't see them so I fear for the worst. Hopefully the ducks will have more ducklings.

In other news: one of my close friends got married this past weekend! He, Jeremy, married a lovely girl named Hope whom I think is pretty amazing. The first time I met her we really clicked and I feel like I've known her this whole time. They got married at The Historic Dunaway Gardens in Newnan. It was so beautiful!! And thanks to Nathan's dad I got a full history of the place. Turns out it used to be an acting camp and celebrities frequented it in the 1930's. Walt Disney and his brother used to dine there when in town. I of course got a few pictures of the ceremony and the beautiful bride and handsome groom.

I really like this first picture because it seems the background is blurred like a Monet painting but the flower girl's face is in focus. It is very medieval looking to me.

Hope's dress was absolutely gorgeous! Possibly my dream wedding dress. She looked so beautiful! They are such a happy couple.

Here's the happy couple. Jeremy sort of blends in with Ben's dad's suit. Haha!

The communion prayer. I lucked out with this great pic. I had a hard time getting focus from a distance.

The weather could not have been more perfect. We had a grand old time at the reception hanging out with old friends (i.e. Nathan and his wife Courtney). The band was fun and played some great tunes and Ben kept burning himself with the sparkles at the procession. I am officially the last single one of the group. I don't really know how to react to that. Social gatherings will be a little odd from now on I guess.

They have arrived!!

2007-04-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

When I got home from work yesterday there was a pleasant surprise waiting for me on the sidewalk. The ducklings have hatched!!! They are so cute. They follow mummy around everywhere. She is teaching them all sorts of things. She spends alot of time trying to get them to climb out of the water on to the bank...the aren't quite big enough for that though. Sometimes they make it with a flying leap though. They'll learn. When they are't swimming or walking around she puts out her wings and they sleep under them. It's so cute. I'll keep posting pictures as they grow bigger. These ducks are going to take over!! Oh....and I got a Flikr account so everyone can see all my photoraphy. I can't always post all my pictures on here...so keep an eye out @ www.flickr.com/photos/haleythehero .

Finally....again.

2007-04-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

I had to make the last blog into 2 blogs because I was having so major issues with sizing of the photos. Also, I cannot figure out how to blog more than 4 photos with Picasa. Maybe Misti can help me with that. Here are more photos:

Yesterday I took some picture of Crookshanks. He's the "stray" cat that I feed. He's a cutie.

These are just some random shots I got throughout the week.

Finally...

2007-04-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

I finally have some new photos to post. Mom has been asking me to blog again-but I like to have photos to include. This past weekend I went to Chattanooga to hang out with Nick and Bethany and to see our friends J-Roddy Walston and the Business play. Before the show we went out for Greek food at The Acropolis. It was really good and I took a few photos.

This is what I got- Pastitso (or something like that). It's like a Greek lasagna.

Here's Bethany eating my Avgolemono (sp??) soup and Nick in the background watching the game. It was Final Four weekend. I didn't like the soup much but it was ok because Nick said it didn't taste much like the real this his Papou makes.

A few days before Misti and Jonathan were at Mom and Dads and we took him to the park. He's getting so big! I think he really likes to swing.

Spring is here!

2007-03-22T16:55:00.000-07:00

Dad and I went to the St. Patrick's Day parade downtown Saturday. My picture's aren't that exciting though. My favorite part of the parade was probably the Irish dogs that came through with shamrock bandana's and other cute outfits. The Irish folk dancer's were cool too. Dad and I were pretty surprised at just how many Irish schools of dance there are in the Atlanta area. This first picture is from the subway escalator- it is the steepest one I have ever seen. I got so dizzy going up and almost couldn't take a photo on the way down. This is probably my favorite picture of the day.

This is a neat statue @ Underground Atlanta. At the end of the parade there was a St. Patrick's Day festival there and dad and I walked around a bit.

Yesterday when I got off work I noticed that alot of the tree's outside my apartment were in bloom. I decided to grab the ole' camera and take a few shots. These are a few of the photos I got. The hour right after sunrise and right before sunset is called "golden hour". It is the best lighting for outdoor photography so I was lucky to catch it.

Its hip to be square

2007-03-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

It was another adventurous weekend around these parts. Saturday morning Dad and I went to a booksale and I got a few things. Nothing too exciting there though. Afterward Bryce met us at the Marietta Square to pick me up so we could go around town. Since we were there we dropped by to see JonBenet Ramsey. It was obviously a sad atmosphere but it was more so because her mom's grave was unmarked. I wonder what that was about. Of course I got a photo:

From there we went to the Silver Comet Trail and went on walk to an old factory. Those photos did not come out that good but here is one of a neat bridge that goes over the trail:

The rest of the day we just hung out. Sunday around noon Becka called to see if I wanted to go on another photo excursion in Woodstock because she found this SEEMINGLY abandoned barn. We got there and the land seemed to be some sort of dump site for some hillbillies or something. I got this neat shot of an old truck:

There were also some neat trees and it was a beautiful day so I tried to get a good shot with the sky in the background:

That was a good time. I think there is something wrong with my camera so I may have to take it into the shop. Hopefully it's nothing too serious or expensive. I will close with this cute picture of Jonny Stinkerton...a photo I stole from Mist's blog. For those of you who don't know he is my nephew and is 5 months old today! HAPPY DAY to you! He's getting so big.

I love photography

2007-03-04T20:02:00.000-08:00

I have been blessed with making a new friend these past few months who is into photography as much (more actually) than I am. We went on our second outing yesterday and got some good shots. Hopefully we will be making more trips like that once the weather gets better. We met a really cute old woman named Jessie who allowed us to go in her backyard and take photos of her old chicken house. Here are a few shots I got:

Becka with her fancy camera:

I think this one turned out to be my favorite :

We found this old abandoned house on the side of the road:

We also ended up at this fresh outdoor market in downtown Woodstock called Market On Main. It doesn't open for another 2 weeks but when it does the farmers will have fresh produce out there on Saturdays. The 2 women that own it let us walk around and take pictures of it for over an hour and they are even going to pay Becka for some of her shots! It was a good time and I can't wait to re-visit when it is officially open. They had the best preserves and lemon water-YUM!

At Uncle David's request I am going to be messing with the layout of this blog. Turns out it was sort of hard to read?

Early Spring visitor

2007-02-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

This evening when I got home I noticed a new friend perched out on the rock. My batteries in my camera were dead so I had to scavenger for some- 2 from my remote control/2 from my toothbrush. I got a good many pictures but here are a few good ones. And is it just me...or is that bird missing a foot? Wild!

Pope John Paul

2007-02-25T11:39:00.000-08:00

I finally have a new car! I have been driving old ones ever since I started driving (as most do) and I was ready for a change. I have had my eye on a Toyota Yaris for about a year now and did alot of research. It' seems like it was the best for what I could afford and consumer ratings haven't gone below 9.5. I went yesterday with Dad and got it. I love it. It drives so smoothly and it is so easier to manuever. I love having a cd player/ipod jack. The only thing I don't like about it is it does not have power locks or windows-but I can get over that easily. Here are a few photos of my new car : Pope John Paul :) Nice name eh?

2007-02-22T19:44:00.000-08:00

Weekend before last I had an opportunity to do something I have wanted to do for years. The office I work in was participating a Habitat for Humanity project and I was free to sign up despite not actually being an employee of the hospital. The house was for a girl who actually works for the hospital so we got to do something really special for one of our own. I had no idea of what to expect because I had only read about these projects and watched Extreme Makeover:Home Edition. A co-worker and I were going to do it together but at the last minute he had to backout so I was afraid I would get bored. Boy was I wrong! I had more fun then I have had in a long time and I was so busy I hardly even noticed he wasn't there! When I first got there we just moved siding from one pile to two other ones (on each side of the house). Then the real fun began. We got split into groups and went to work. I was in a group that was in charge of siding one side of the house. There is this specific type of siding that is made of cement that you have to nail up and you can paint it-which is why I would like it better than vinyl siding. It also doesn't burn so that might come in handy sometime. I was one of 3 people who didnt mind getting up on the ladder's so I kept working long after most people who were putting up siding. I was there almost an hour after most people (not counting the roofing people) left. I took some before, during, and after shots. Here are a few:

This is how the house looked when we first arrive. If I remember correctly we were on the second weekend of work.

The roof went up pretty fast. I didn't have anything to do with that part but it was really fun to watch them at work.

Here is a part of my crew putting up siding. At first it took alot of people because the siding was really long. After awhile we cut them into shorter pieces to fit and we split off into groups.

Here is the side of the house where I helped put up the siding. I took it all the way up to the roof!

Finally. The after shot. When I left the house had a roof and siding. I can't wait to drive by in a month or two and see what the finished product looks like.

This is one of the best experiences I have ever had. I have done alot of neat things in my life but this is in the top 5. I was more sore after this than anything (well...maybe more after white water rafting), but it was well worth it. It is so fulfulling to be able to do something to help another person out. If you have ever thought of participating in a Habitat build- I hightly recommend it.

Post Hoc Ergo Proctor Hoc

2007-02-20T18:07:00.000-08:00

At the request of my mom I am starting this blog to keep my family spread across this great country updated on the goings on in my life. I can't guarantee that it will be exciting- but I will try my best to keep it updated. It will probably be full of random pictures I take and the humdrum of my daily life. I hope it is enjoyable for you.