Glory on a bun.

                   HOT DOGS.

               WRAPPED IN

                       BACON.

All I eat are hot dogs anymore, so I thought it would be fabulous to put a special twist on them.

Boy was I right.

Glassy Green's Ice Cream.

      My dad was eating some Green's brand butter pecan ice cream. He began attempting to chew what he thought was a pecan shell when he suddenly made the weirdest ice cream eating face I've ever seen. Upon asking him the reason for the face, he picked something off of his tongue and said "There's a piece of glass in here."
      Calling the phone number on the carton proved to be unsuccessful, so he sent them a "strongly worded" email, receiving no response so far. I told him that he needs to call the company again and inform them of his dissatisfaction in his angry manly voice. He must demand a year of free ice cream or we sue. Simple as that.

Here's to hoping for tons of free ice cream, pass on the glass shards.

My new "job".

     I was traipsing about a local gallery at the mall with a friend, when the owner approached me and inquired if I was an artist. (I assume he was judging from my camera bag and less-than-common-looking hair.) Slightly taken aback, I responded with a hesitant "Yes, I am a photojournalist-in-training," and patted my camera bag resting on my hip.
     "Oh really? Where do you go to school? Around here?"
     I explained to him that I go to RIT. He seemed to become slightly more enthusiastic upon hearing this and insisted that I meet his wife. I was still slightly puzzled, but thought heck, this has to be a good thing, so may as well stick around. A few minutes later, I found myself introducing myself to Simona, an adorable woman with a thick Romanian accent. She asked me to bring in a portfolio so she could see my work and possibly display it in the gallery.

    I
   was
      so
      pumped.

"Sure, sure, I can bring in a portfolio!"
After I make one...
"Sunday? Two days from now? Sure!"
Crap.


     Thankfully the friend I was with works at Walgreens, so I was able to utilize her discount to make some less-than-awesome-but-still-okay-for-a-drugstore type prints and slap them in a presentation folder I already had from school. I typed up a pretty information sheet and hoped for the best.
     So on Sunday afternoon, I strolled into the Star Gallery with a skip in my step and a smile on my face. Simona was quite impressed with my work, and she told me to frame as many as I wanted and to bring them back in; I would have my own wall section in the gallery to sell my photos and make commission. All I have to do is provide a small "membership" payment and "work" at the gallery 6 hours a week, which is actually broken up into two 3-hour shifts. Easy as pie. But lonely at times. Oh well. I'm getting out there!

The owners kindly ask that photos are not taken of the artwork. 

When I get bored, I take pictures. 

I was surrounded by art 360 degrees.

This is my solution.

On a semi-related note, I got another job working for Vector Marketing.

That's my fabulous training manual.

My babies!

I made an exception, since they're mine and all.

Downtown.

Anonymity is a uniting factor throughout all of these images containing people.

Cliche flower picture.

Cliche couple picture.

I wasn't built for this... was I?

     {When regarding life, it is nearly impossible to tell how much}

 { is too much. } 

The following doesn't relate to the emotion behind the photograph, but it explains a lot about my lack of hair.

      I got my hair cut on Thursday, and it was the first time my mother wasn't the one holding the scissors. I asked her best friend Anne (she and my mom both have hair-cutting licenses) to have the honor of removing twenty-some inches of my hair and providing me with a super-chic pixie cut. Needless to say, she did a stand-up job. It was pretty emotional since my mom had always cut my hair since...well, forever. But I made it through, and now I have a rockin' hairstyle that is (according to multiple people) more "me".
      I'm sorry to be a tease by making it obvious that something is terribly wrong and then not talk about it... But photography is my outlet, and this picture represents how I'm feeling. My blog is where I post photos about my current emotional state. It's just how I cope. Hopefully things will get better soon.
   

Because they need us.

      This is the first post I'm publishing on my blog that isn't my own creation or doing. I came across this advertisement and went to the website, which prompted me to "take a pledge". I assumed that meant they wanted a monetary donation, but it turns out you can pledge to simply raise awareness of the issue and rally fellow big-hearted people to help support the cause. I decided it was worth a blog post. (I also added a "No kid hungry" frame to my Facebook profile picture.) People in less-than-ideal situations have always had a special place in my heart for many reasons. I extend a hand and a warm heart to those that I can, in hopes to improve their lives in small to substantial ways of which even I may not be aware. So I can only hope that my effort to bring awareness to the fact that there are 17 million hungry children in our country is not in vain.