~For my friend who goes out of their way to make sure I’m feeling ok. This person recognizes when I’m not myself and they make the effort to at least ask whats going on. It’s small things like that which make a difference. I love this person for who she is, plain and simple. She doesn’t sugar coat, she’s always honest, and is never afraid to ask me to be real. Actually, she demands it. And I appreciate that more than you know. It’s so easy to put on a happy face but with her, if I do, she calls me on it. She has bailed me out of a situation that could have been potentially bad and she didn’t ask questions. She laughed her ass off at me, sure. But I deserved it for being an idiot. But she’s there when I need her to be and that is a lot of the time. She gives much more than I do in this friendship and yet, she’s still there for me every day. I’m thankful for her.

~ For my friend who has become my friend in such a short amount of time, that I know is legit because she and I are very much alike. She listens, and contimplates. She cheers me on and tells me to keep my head up when I’m feeling sorry for myself. She sits with me for hours and just talks, relates, laughs, and always makes me feel beautiful. She invites me over to her house because she knows we can easily kill hours upon hours just talking and she knows I’m going to need that in the next month. I’m thankful for her.

~For my friend who is ready to commit to landing herself in jail with me because she knows that we would have such a blast together, that we may end up in the back of a cop car. She sends me messages just to say hi and she loves me even though I love mayonaisse. And I love her even though she loves mustard. She makes me see the world differently through her photos. I’m thankful for her.

~For my sweet, sweet friend who is doing everything in her power to convince me to move to her state. She always has something nice to say to me, and she always makes me giggle a little when I need to. She is so strong and brave and I only wish I could be like that. I’m thankful for her.

~For my nerdy companion, who always makes me laugh out loud at the things he says. If I’m down, feeling bad for myself, or just hurting, he comes out of left field with something so random that I cant help but laugh my ass off. He recommends good music, good TV shows, and good food for me to try. As busy as he is, he’s always ready to listen and tell me what assholes men can be and how I deserve better. I’m thankful for him.

~ For everyone who has been there for me in the last 6 months. Your kind words have meant so much to me, I dont know how I can explain it or how I can repay any of you. I’m so, so thankful for all of you.

~ For you. You’ve changed me. Made my life better. Brought smiles back. Taken me places I never thought I would go. You’ve been on my mind today and I’ve been nothing but smiles. Everything feels new again and I wasnt sure I would ever get that back. I’m so very thankful for you.

I just want to say that having the friends that I have online has only enriched my life. Every single day, EVERY SINGLE DAY I am thankful for the invention of the Internet because it has made my life much more full. It may be silly to some people. I know that I can’t trust everyone I meet online and I don’t. But I do know, without a doubt, who I can and cannot trust. Who will be and who won’t be loyal to me. I have that awareness and I can only hope that the rest of you are that lucky.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I’m not really sure but then again, I’m not only pimping myself. I’m pimping the best damn photoblog on the interwebs.

Just One Look

Whuzzat? You mean you’ve never heard of it? Well shame on me for not whoring it out sooner. If you look to the right, you will see a feed with the three most current posts. The great thing about this blog, and lucky enough for you, it’s just not my photos on there. I’m lucky to share that site with some really kick ass photographers. I’m not even joking.

Go here and check out who’s sharing their snaps. It’s ok, I’ll wait…

… … … … back?

Yea, freaking awesome right? Did you check out the archive? Nice little set of thumbnails there.

In all honesty, I’m incredibly proud of this blog. I’m always getting sucked into Flickr by beautiful photos. Now I can go to one place and see some of the most talented photographers I”ve ever seen all in one place.

I love all our contributors. Every singe one. But I am always looking for more people who want to share the blog with us. If you are thinking about it, and are intimated by talent, don’t be. I mean, I put my pictures up there. And we aren’t about that anyways. We are about sharing our favorite photos in one place. Even if you don’t think you are good, send me some photos and let everyone else be the judge. I mean, people like my photos. And yea, they aren’t anything compared to what other people see through a lens.

If you are interested, please email me at justonelookphotos@hotmail.com.

I’m hoping to hear from you. And I hope you enjoy our photoblog.

I’ve been making a couple turn around trips to Vegas in the last few months. One good thing about living in Southern California is that Vegas is only 3 hours away.

The city itself is beautiful. Sure its crowded. Yea, its dirty. But you are looking at it wrong if that’s all you see. I got the chance to drive down the strip early in the morning on Saturday. I saw people jogging, girls walking back to their hotels in last nights clothes, couple’s walking to breakfast. The light is the best in the city at that time of day.

This trip I just took meant me meeting a friend that I’ve known for 7 years but never met face to face. She was in town for a wedding and I was not going to pass on the opportunity to meet her for the first time. We had a great time. We ate good food, went shopping (I did not buy it but damn I wish I could have), went to the pool, gambled (I lost. Fuck.) and hit up a strip club.

Being that my first experience’s with strip clubs have been in the last two trips to Vegas I have taken, the women’s clubs are much better. Maybe that’s just me but the male club was more comical. They both are, but watching men dance around in thongs just made me giggle. It was borderline cheesy. There was only one guy that I thought was acceptable, but it was only for his tattoos. Male strippers are so friendly. I found out he was from Orange County, had been a Chippendale’s dancer for 7 years, and that this was his second day at that particular club. The girls are chatty, but the one I met told me to watch my purse because the bitches there steal. Her words, not mine. Being at the men’s club just confirmed that I am a arms/shoulders kinda girl. Of all the places right?

Going to Vegas means you are gonna have a good time. But I really believe that it depends on the company you keep there. I’ve been many times. Mostly with my ex. These last two times have been with people who are my friends. The first trip, unforgettable. The city will never be the same to me. This trip, a good fucking time. I really know what Vegas is about now. Freedom. Fun. Unlimited amounts of alcohol. How can that be a bad thing?

Anyone wanna meet me in Vegas? I can be there in 3 hours.

There are soooo many photo challenges on the web these days. Foto Friday, Wordless Wednesday, and I’m sure a whole lot more that I don’t do. I tried the 365 project with Rura but that shit ended faster than it started.

But every once in awhile, a really funny, sexy, and classy blogger comes along. And she makes a photo challenge. That I just HAVE to participate in. Because if I can up my classy status just a little bit, then I am totally IN. Because participating in the Classy Chaos Challenge will most definitely make me a little classy by association right? Right??!

Don’t answer that. CCC#1 was to take a picture looking down at the top of my kids head. He has a really big head. A big head on a skinny body. And big ears. But I love every inch of that head and that skinny body…. so I really don’t mind.

Wow… I can almost feel my classy points raising.

I love to think outside the box. Thanks HO, for giving me a challenge.

It was a pretty nice day, for March. It was overcast and I ran over to the video store to pick up some movies. I grabbed JFK because I was hard up for a good conspiracy movie and hadn’t seen JFK in a while. I was pretty excited because it was the first day of my pregnancy leave and I was SICK of Target. I had a good week ahead of me before I expected him to come so I was ready for a mini vacation before EVERYTHING was going to change.

I headed over to the base to my checkup which was supposed to be pretty routine. I felt good going in and was already planning my day. Turns out, that little fetus inside me had other plans.

It has to be said. The worst thing that can happen, while the doc is all up in your biznezz, is for him to get a bewildered and confused look on his face. Not a good sign. Never a good sign. He asks if I am feeling any contractions. Nope actually, I feel great. I rented JFK. No plans for a baby tonight. It wasn’t to be. I was at 4 centimeters and that’s doc talk for admittance. But first, walk for two hours. Then come back and get felt up again.

Grab the ex from his job in the hospital and tell him that we gotta go NOW and get my bag. And of course stop at Target for PJ’s. Go home, grab my bag and pillow and walk around the mall for an hour. Drive the 30 minutes back to the base and get checked, only to be told to go walk some more.

We end up at the apartment of one of the ex’s friends. They play cards while I watch HBO and attempt to time my contractions. Which I couldn’t really feel. End up back at the hospital around 11:00 that night.

The next day rolls around. I have a room with a view of the roof of the hospital and the parking lot. It’s raining. I’m on pitocin. The ex insisted on making all my IV’s. I had to put my foot down when he suggested that he put the IV in me. Uh, no.

SEVERAL hours later and a good half hour of PAIN and I’ve got an epidural injection that will last 45 minutes instead of the normal IV. I’m dilated to 10 and its time to push.

30 minutes later and there he is, all up in my world.

At 1:19 pm, my life changed forever.

This kid makes me smile every day. He makes me want to pull my hair out just as much. He has a crazy sense of humor and it so smart, I don’t know how he came from me.

7 years and he still sleeps with his arms flung over his head, just like he did when he was a tiny little baby.

As crazy as he is, I wouldn’t trade him for anything.

Happy Birthday my sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are grey.

BTW, I never did get to watch JFK. But the video store decided not to charge me a late fee when I returned the movies 2 months later.

I was going to name this post “up this ass” because I wrote a nice long post about something I am truely interested in and wordpress ate it. Ate it up. Gave it to me straight up the ass with no lube.

Then I thought it would be a good idea instead of a real post, to just put up some pictures. Because people do that all the time and get away with it and I thought, why not me? Then I thought that since some of those pictures might be of SBJ, a post titled “up the ass” would be so not appropriate. Now I just thought that I never really AM appropriate so what the fuck do I care? And then I just thought that I should just stop thinking and post some damn pictures already and why am I still fucking typing?

Ok. On to the pictures. From Disneyland.

Bwahaha we are making the same face.

All the orange and white is mini pumkins. The magic of Disney people.

Waiting for his favorite ride. (It’s the haunted mansion decorated for Halloween for you non-Disneyland addicts)

Thats my daddy back there, looking up. And looking pasty.

I totally heart Disneyland during the Holidays.

Holy crap I have so many more pics…. time to start getting selective.

I absolutely love all the small details that can be found around the park.

I was yelling at him to make him move out of my shot and he was laughing at me and this is what I got. I love that kid. The shot he “ruined” can be seen here. The rest of my pics from that day are there too.

We LOVE Cars. These two ride around the park during the day.

Not at Disneyland. When I dropped off Rura at his house this morning, I noticed this lavender rose in the flower bed next to his driveway.

That purple flower wound its way UP the rose bush. If you go to flickr and look at the large size, you can see it.

Well thats it. This short picture post took me two hours.