Monday Photo Shoot....Negative Thoughts.....

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Life in Negative

Time for your Monday Photo Shoot, and this time, I thought we'd try something just a little different, which will require the use of some photo tools:

Your Monday Photo Shoot: With photo editing tools, take a picture of yours and turn it into a negative. The idea here is not to take just any picture, mind you, but one that you think will look particularly striking with its colors inverted.

 

My Negative Thoughts.......

 

kmh 2006

 

 

 

kmh 2006

 

For more of other peoples impressions on this please visit John Scalzi's blog and play along.

 

Monday Morning photo Shoot

My Life (last 30 days) in rewind.........

My life (at least the last 30 days) in rewind.............

Did some 'mad' cleaning because the in-laws were coming in for a visit.

Survived another 4 day visit with the in-laws!

updated our Wills because of trip to Jamaica (the last time we updated our will was 1991)

Not only dealt with the DH's 1st wife but flew on a plane with her all the way to Jamaica and not one incident (that I am aware of, but you know her tongue was a wagging anyway! lol)

Our oldest Daughter got married and all that entails! lol

The DH and I took our first real vacation alone (well semi-alone if you want to include our oldest Daughter, her groom, his family, their friends and let's not forget the 1st wife and her family) but the majority of the time on the Island we were alone and that was delicious!

Came back from Jamaica to find out Middle daughter relationship with her live in boyfriend was over ( it needed to be over)  and then 3rd day home found out he has been stalking her, getting into her apartment and CLEANING it, yes you heard me right he cleaned it! lol But that more drama was taking place and Momma had to "end it" or he would have to deal with the wrath of Momma! lol! My only "Job" right now is to protect my children and teach them to protect themselves and to always keep them aware of their self worth..that's what Momma's do!

Survived a bleeding UTI in another country......water, cranberry juice and a bottle of antibiotics.....never leave home without it! lol

began to feel the effects of peri menopause....it ain't pretty! lol lol lol

Found a lump in my left breast the size of a nickel and watched my left breast increase in size while the other soft tissue around it has grown hard and painful. I have a mammogram and an ultra sound scheduled for the 27th of this month. Doesn't look good right now, but hey......I'm a tough Irish broad right??

And I lost another 4 pounds!!! That gives me a total loss of 12 pounds! My Husband gained 7 pounds while in Jamaica and I LOST 4 pounds!!!! While at an all inclusive resort and I hadn't been to work out since the 7th of June!................How is that for the "GLASS HALF FULL????"

So here I sit, teetering on the edge of something....holding my breath...I wonder what the next 30 days has in store for me?

But we didn't order a water bed! lol

With the ceremony over and a few hours to kill in between the ceremony and the wedding dinner everyone retreated back to their resorts. With the heat and humidity on the beach for more wedding photo's (Which I did not have my camera with me, I left it behind at the table) Jim and I thought it was a good time for our afternoon siesta....I know we weren't in Mexico but hey....A king size bed, fresh linen, a quiet air conditioned room and not to mention we are ALONE a siesta sounded fantastic!

Around 2:00 O' clock in the afternoon and really big storm came ashore......this was the time the wedding was originally scheduled for, so it was a blessing that they switched it to earlier in the morning. Jim and I were both sound asleep when the phone rang........it was the new Son in law..........the men had come to our room to get ready for the wedding that morning  and Tony was wondering if his clothes were still there because he could not find his wallet.....So just as I hop out of the bed to check his pants pockets I feel.............drip.........drip.............drip! I look over at Jim and he is laying in a rain shower.......the slanted roof over our bed was leaking .....heavily! I assure Tony his wallet it safe and sound and that we are in the middle of a down pour in the middle of our room, in the middle of our bed...now I know why the bed was up so high.....it doubled as a life raft during the torrential down pours! lol lol lol ....time to call the front  desk! lol

The water bed that wasn't! lol

So with just a few minutes to spare we are whisked away to the Paradise building, this room was larger, more open and had a beautiful balcony along with flowers climbing up the vine and a view of the island and the mountains off in the far distance....only draw back to this room was it was on the third floor and the balcony had french doors in the middle but on the ends of that wall it had slatted (glassless) windows with  screens on it, so the heat and the sounds still came through, the air conditioner was no match for the humidity.

The new room........

The view from the balcony...........

Since I didn't bring my camera to the dinner and I am still waiting for wedding photo's to be made for me (from the professional photographer) and at some point everyone who attended the wedding trip is supposed to hook up and share their photo's so everyone can get copies, I'll have to post them at a later date......this will include full wedding gown shots......my camera was acting up so bad that details were lost while trying to get a shot of Melissa in her gown.

I will be posting random shots of more photo's from Jamaica in my Photo Blog  "Photographic Memory" so be sure to check them out over there.........thanks to everyone who sent well wishes to the Bride and Groom......The wedding itself was PERFECT and that made everything else that happened before and after seem so insignificant.

Photographic Memory

The Ceremony

The mornings in Jamaica are very still, no breezes, hardly any movement out in the ocean and still very humid. Melissa and Tony's wedding has been rescheduled for 10:00 a.m. giving them a little more privacy on the beach since the late night revelers are still sleeping if off and the ones that are in Jamaica to relax are still having breakfast, it's about as quiet as the beach can get.

At the last minute the 1st wife (Birth mother of the Bride) decided to include me on the getting the Bride ready for her wedding rituals and for that consideration I am thankful. It was while Melissa was getting ready that the 1st wife finally referred to me as Melissa's other Mother.........took 20 years but I finally got the props for being a good Step Mother. The 1st wife and I took turns helping Melissa with her hair and her gown and it was while just her and I were alone in the bathroom that she looked at me in the mirror and whispered she wished she would of just eloped like her Father and I did. It was another precious gift to me that I was still her confidant. For a minute I spied the little girl who used to love to play dress up with all her pretty pretty princess clothes. She looked radiant even if her nerves were getting the best of her.

When the time came for her Daddy to give his little girl away I was bawling like a baby........all the Mom's were. The ceremony was lovely, the words were lovely, the tears streaming down my new son in laws face were lovely.........His face said everything I needed to hear....he adores her.

First glance of his Bride coming down the walkway to the aisle.....

kmh 2006

Listening to the Preachers words on Marriage...........

kmh 2006

The Wedding Cake................

kmh 2006

I'll post more on the day later..........Ü

I wanna be a Beach Bum when I grow up! lol

The next day began with Mimosa's on the beach and then it was off to breakfast.......is it me or is breakfast ALWAYS better at the oceans edge?? lol We spent most of the morning wandering around the resort and laying on the beach. After lunch we decided to take a walk to Beaches Sandy Cove that is the resort were Tony's family was staying at and we thought it was the perfect opportunity to get to know our daughter's new In-Laws.

To get to their resort you have to walk through a public beach area....it was about 800 feet wide and on this little stretch of beach is were the locals come to peddle their wares....you want t-shirts? they got em! You want wood carvings? They got em! You want to get your hair braided? They do it right there....I didn't think the Bo Derek look would go over well for the wedding album! lol Then the last thing they would offer you is Ganga (weed) or Hash.... They were not as pushy as the street vendors in Mexico....so one polite "No Thank You" took care of that.

We hooked up with Tony's parents and spent the afternoon sitting ocean side with them while Tony's Father tried to ply me full of shots the native drink down there....Appleton Jamaica RUM.....let's just say that SMOOTH is not one of it's qualities! lol The bartender took sympathy on me and made me a softer drink called BBC......Banana's, Baileys and coconut rum blended with ice..........YUMMMMMM!

A lot of beach and palm trees were lost during the Ivan Hurricane a few years back and for the remnants left behind wood carvers made artwork out of the tree stumps.......to be able to create something beautiful out of something destroyed by Mother Nature changed the whole effect of the devastation left behind. There were pirate carvings, Bob Marley carvings, eagles and this beautiful Jamaican mermaid........

kmh 2006

The gardens located on the inland side of the resort had beautiful statues everywhere..........indoor, outdoor and up high on carved mahogany enclaves........


kmh 2006

kmh 2006

This last shot is of the garden where we had Champagne and Hors d'Oeuvres  after our daughter's wedding ceremony... complete with Koi Pond........ this was also the view from our second room with more to come on that later........yes we had to be moved!

kmh 2006

This was also the day that my Daughter saw another wedding taking place on the beach and was dismayed over the amount of people encroaching on it. She had built her dream wedding up so big that at first she was disappointed when she arrived at the resort....her suite was not set up they way she thought it was, the beach was too public for a private wedding ceremony, the stress of everything caught up to her and since she anticipated so much it sent her into a mini downward spiral.......I knew she had to work through this on her own. Since I really didn't put much thought into the expectations that I was very pleased with just about everything. She decided to meet with the wedding coordinator later in the afternoon and switch everything.....she isn't anywhere near the "Bridezilla's" you see on that TV show but she wanted a more private ceremony than she thought the beach would allow. In the end it was a good thing she switched the ceremony from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m. because a really strong storm came ashore the next day which was the day of her wedding around the time the wedding would of started.

I'll post more later   Ü

Monday Photo Shoot....Aquatic

Your Monday Photo Shoot: The Life Aquatic

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Go under the waves (or at least pretend to) and take a picture relating to something aquatic. Fish are always nice, but anything you'd usually find underwater will work. It's okay if they're not real. Work with what you've got.

This topic is a very good choice for me right now!

Jim went snorkeling while in Jamaica last week and since I was not allowed in the water (UTI! GRRR!) He brought up a treasure to share with me..........Don't worry folks no starfish were injured during the making of this shot! It was lovingly returned to the Sea! lol lol lol

To play along with John over at By The Way ...... just click the link ~~>> By The Way

 

kmh 2006

The bigger the bed...the harder you fall! lol

When we arrived at the resort we were greeted with smiles and champagne....my kinda place I tell ya! lol Our room was ready upon our arrival and I have to say the best bellman EVER! was there to help us to our room.........what I loved about him most was that he said Jim's suitcase was waaaaay heavier than mine ;) He can never call me the "Queen of over packing" again!

The room was gorgeous it had a (extremely....more on this later) high four poster bed with a wonderful king size mattress on a frame of slats........no box spring...it was heaven to sleep in for the first 2.5 days....(I told ya more on this later! lol)......The view was of the garden side..... nothing particularly lovely from our view.....but that was about to change later. The room itself had a slanted high ceiling over the bed, a mahogany bedroom suite including a lovely armoire and writing desk, the hallway to the bathroom had a lovely marble bar on one side and plenty of closet space on the other and the bathroom was more than adequate for space but the one thing it did not come with was an electrical outlet..........hmmmmmm where do I plug my curling iron in....the bathroom was the only room with a mirror......now imagine yourself trying to handle a hot curling iron, then actually attempting to curl your hair with a blind fold on.....what to do?.....what to do?

Ok, back to this bed.......I stand 5 feet tall with zero inches to add after that fact....in my family you were either given long legs or big boobs....let's just say I didn't get the long legs! lol So in order for me to get up into this bed........(ok, visulaize yourself getting on a horse) with my hands firmly gripping the sheet, I throw my right leg up over the side of the bed and Jim pulls me up/over from his side of the bed.......now remember that I have a UTI and I am flooding myself with water and cranberry juice...let's just say I know where every bathroom is on that resort..........by the time night time comes I have worn myself ragged running to the potty.

Now here I am sleeping I'd say 1500 miles away from my own bed and I wake up in the middle of the night with this unbearable urge to empty my bladder and I forget I am almost 3 feet off of the floor and I fall off of the bed......HARD.....into a wall....on my way down! Does the DH hear me? NOPE! But I am sure the occupants underneath my room did........who knew getting in and out of bed could cause so muchbruising.....by the end of this trip .......I HATE THIS BED! for more than this reason ;) .....more later on that! lol

BAD BED! lol

kmh 2006

Now our resort is right nextdoor to the nudie resort Hedonism II.......let's just say that there were some people that should of been naked and that there were some people that should of never been naked.........with a few of them that should not of been naked even at BIRTH! lol lol lol what I did find amusing is that partial nudity is always somewhere on the beach but no flames are allowed naked! lol  see below picture....lol

kmh 2006

This was on the front of the fenced area from the view of my room........told ya, nothing spectacular to look at....I just thought this sign was too funny not to photograph since people were naked only one resort down from us! lol lol lol The picture below is of the sunrise the next morning from our room.......we never actually ever got to see the sun crest over the land because the view was always blocked by the palm trees. I never was able to see a Jamaican sunset either....every afternoon a squall would come it for about an hour and then leave the sky mostly cloudy the rest of the afternoon with the sun breaking through some of the time, but never at sunset. :(....hmmmm maybe I need to go back again sometime.

kmh 2006

I'll post more later...............Ü