Photo Shoot

I have the best little models ever :) This is my niece Alaina Katherine.  She is six months old and the most precious thing ever.  I have so many photo ideas for her, so this is just the beginning!  The pictures of Alaina in the bonnet are not from the shoot, but I thought they were too cute to leave out.

Finally

It has been quite a while since I posted last, so I figured I would let everyone know what I have been up to.  I am done with classes for the semester, and I will be starting back up in the fall.  I am also helping coach my little sisters' softball team and my little brother's baseball team when they need the help.  I quit my job as a server.  I couldn't stand it anymore.  I have been at the place since it opened--five years.  The people haven't gotten any better, and there is only one person who has a position of authority that I respect.  Most of the people there cannot tell their heads from where the sun don't shine, so I had enough.  I'm in the process of looking for another job.  I'm waiting on an answer from one place, and I really hope I get the job.  I'm also trying to get motivated to write.  I love to write, but at the moment I'm stuck with the direction I want to go with my novels.  I might just have to find a new method.  


I'm also working at my parent's store.  They are opening an optical here in town, and it's been a lot of fun getting everything to come together.  I can't wait until it's actually opened and we get some traffic going.  Even though I don't have an actual job, I'm still keeping so busy that I feel like I don't have any time for anything.  


I also just got hooked up with an insulin pump.  I LOVE IT!! It's so convenient and so much easier.  I don't know why I ever thought they were bad news.  Probably just denial I guess haha....But the pump is a life saver.  If you are a type 1 diabetic reading this, I would recommend looking into a pump.  It's saved me so much time already, and I've only had it for three full days.  


I've been trying to do a lot of photography, and things have been really nice there.  We had a bat  laying on our driveway with a broken wing, so I got quite a few good pictures of it.  My mom and I also spotted a snapper on the gravel road just by our house.  We've also had gold finches, bluejays, and orioles out at our feeder.  Spring and summer are so awesome for photo ops.  I'll post some pictures at the end of this post.  Hope everyone is doing well!!

 Had to get my pupils dilated for my last eye exam.  They check for nerve damage since I'm diabetic..Luckily, everything looked good!

 My 6 month old niece, Alaina Katherine.  She is such a little bundle of joy!

 My new insulin pump!! I LOVE it :)

 These pretty blossoms were all over Omaha, Nebraska when we went to Nebraska Furniture Mart.  Best place ever.

 Just a dragonfly.  I love them.

 The nasty, but really cool, bat that was on our driveway.

 The snapper that was right down the road by our house.

TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY

TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY by Jay Asher

Spoiler Alert!

This book is haunting.  Hanna Baker committed suicide, and thirteen reasons led her to do it.  All thirteen reasons and interconnected, and Clay Jensen is one of the reasons.  Clay has practically been in love with Hanna ever since she first came to his school, so he has no idea what he could have done to affect Hanna so much.  Hanna left a box of cassette tapes explaining why she did what she did.  The tapes get passed around, and we find out the thirteen reasons are thirteen people.  The story is told by both Clay and Hanna's tapes.  We get to see the reactions of Clay and feel his pain.

When I first started reading this book, I was immediately hooked.  There is something so horrifying yet appealing about reading about suicide.  When I started the book, I loved it, but I also thought Hanna was crazy.  How could someone kill themselves over someone not saying goodbye, someone using you, or someone starting a rumor about you?  I thought "Wow, she doesn't have it that bad.  People go through that stuff everyday.  Heck, I've been through almost all of what she's been through.".  I don't think that anymore.

But her decision wasn't just based off of these things that had happened to her.  It was a lot of other stuff that resulted from each happening.  I still cannot fathom actually following through with ending my own life, and I'm sure many other people cannot either.  I've had fleeting thoughts about it when things got really tough, and I'm also guilty of thinking things would be easier for people, but I would never follow through.  But I also empathize with Hanna and anyone else who has been pushed to that choice.  I'm not sure how a person gets so far where all they think about is ending their life.  This is such a sad prospect to me.  You would think that there would at least be one person to make all the difference and reach out to them.

I am a person who is very very understanding of others.  I do not judge, I try not to judge unless given multiple reasons to, and I always see the good in people.  Despite all of this, this book made me want to be a much better person than I am now.  I want to be that one person who can make a difference in a person's life.  If that difference determine's a person's choice in ending their own life, I want to be the thing to keep them grounded and provide them with a little happiness.  A smile can make someone's day, and some people lack that simple act of kindness in their lives.  Even if you can't understand how someone can not stand to keep living, at least try to understand the reasons that would push them there.  Try to be a better person.  Reach out to everyone you can, and touch their minds, their hearts, and bring them happiness.  Even if just a little.  A little might make all the difference in the world.