A lesson....it's there I promise

Before the lesson, here's the thank you card I made for Hubby's cousin and wife for letting us use their condo for our (botched, barfy) 10th anniversary weekend getaway. I think I laughed my bum off (because it's easier NOW) the whole time I was making this card...maybe I only crack myself up.



Ready for some rambling?...here we go*!*

On Friday, some folks from Hubby's work were getting together (along with spouses) for dinner. I was SO excited because we were going to a restaurant that Hubby had been RAVING LIKE A LUNATIC about for months...Seems that while I am at home cleaning pbj and applesauce off the walls, Hubby and his co-workers find themselves at this particular restaurant for "business" lunches all. the. time.

ANYWHOOO....

Now a little about me (I'm hoping you still have a pulse when I'm done) I have my camera with me 90% of the time. I'm not sure my brain works like most folks. Whenever I go somewhere, anywhere, I'm looking for photos. I break everything down into small, rectangular bits and parts...everything. I don't know how to explain it really. The right side of my brain kicks into overdrive and all I can see are the photographic possibilities everywhere. I just see images. It's even more complicated than I can explain...it's almost distracting. I've done it since middle school I guess...ok so I'm weird. I learned early on that regretting not having taken a photo really bites. It didn't take me long to realize that being embarrassed, getting dirty, or maybe even (myself) a little hurt was no excuse not to get a photo. Thirty seconds of embarrassment ("Is she really going to lay in the middle of the road?") leaves me with a photo that lasts a pretty long time...and that I might be extra proud of too. Mind you, I never invade other's space...no no no. I just could NEVER do that. I could never be a member of the paparazzi or the press. Nothing against them, I just could never do it. What I'm talking about is:

Dangling my arms over the glass at the fish market to stick my lens up against the glassy, smelly eyeball of a fish...with the employees and and customers STARING at me.

Busting out the camera in the middle of a VERY cool pizza joint where WE were the old folks, making the waitress wait to pass so I could snap a photo.

Sticking my kids' bums in a (recently cleaned) cigarette bucket in front a nice little crowd that formed because...well...ya know.














These are mild examples of course...I've climbed trees, laid in the dirt, and stood on top of tables while 8 months pregnant before to get a good shot. Pretty much, if I think it will be worth it, I'll (most of the time) do it for a memorable photo.

BACK to the restaurant...
We walk up and of course my mind is racing thinking about the camera in my purse...this place is awesome. It's a tiki hut-style thatched roof over a wooden deck, semi-outdoors. It's right on the bayou and surprisingly enough, it's not hot...just enough breeze coming off of the water to make it feel heavenly. There are boulders lining the deck, palms scattered around beyond that, and of course sand. There is a marina that surrounds the restaurant in the bayou so there are masts of all different heights bobbing up and down into the sunsetting sky. There is texture everywhere and the setting sun is casting A-MA-ZING shadows everywhere. My trigger finger was ITCHY! The photo I wanted to get THE MOST though was right over our heads where we ate. We walked under the thatched roof that was lit upward toward the peak as well as down on the customers and I told Hubby, "When it gets darker outside THAT is going to be the best shot." And it did look awesome. But I didn't take a single photo. Why? Because I I didn't want Hubby's co-workers to think I was strange. Don't have a clue what got into me. Now, my family is VERY used to me getting up from a table, or walking away from them to snap photos...I don't even think twice. Anyway, I would get the shots next time we came, because it was now my new favorite place. Honestly, I've never been so excited about going back to a darn restaurant before....that was Friday.
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This was Saturday. I was SO mad at myself.

And that's JUST a restaurant.

Have you ever regretted not taking a shot of a loved one, an event, or a moment because you thought twice?

I know I'm simplifying things here but I think you know what I'm trying to get across.

And there's my lesson for the day :)

You can wake up now...