After being engaged for over three years, my fiance and I were finally able to set a date and get married! As of September 1st, we are now husband and wife! =)

Originally, I had planned on working the 31st, that Friday before the wedding. But about 2 weeks before hand, I started having second thoughts. I didn't have anything that needed to get done that day, but why not give myself a day off, just for me? So, I did. =) And I'm so glad that I chose to do so! Come that Friday, I was thinking more and more about the wedding, and less and less about work! Since I had nothing to keep me occupied the day before the wedding, I took a trip to the Virginia state arboretum, just a few miles up the road.

I visited this arboretum earlier this summer, back in ...

Since I ran out of time the other day, I would like to continue the story of my marriage weekend. =)

Though the ceremony was small, beginning at 2pm, we didn't leave the church until after 3pm! The ceremony itself was only about 10 minutes long, so where did the time go? To the photographer, of course!

One of my husband's aunts is a professional photographer, so she took the pictures for us. It had been a few years since she had done weddings, and I think she was having fun! As she posed us here and posed us there, she kept going, "Oh! I have another idea!" and would jump up enthusiastically to direct us to another spot. It was rather enjoyable. =)

As much as I would love to post pictures from our ceremony here, I cannot because I am not the copyright holder. =( ...

I think many of us go back through our "archives" from time to time, even if we're not really doing so just to look for those dusty gems.

I like to go back through old photographs now and then, just to reminisce. I was going through a box of photos from about 5 years ago, when I stumbled across a simple photo of a toddler walking up a hiking trail. The little girl is the niece of a guy I once dated (which is why this photo was hidden in a box). I always thought the photo was adorable.

I felt it was a shame to put the photo back in the box, so I thought, "Why not try it out as stock?" The photo is only a 4x6, so I had it enlarged to 8x12, then scanned it using my home scanner at 300dpi. It took me a good little while to fine-tune it in Photoshop since the film was grainy ...

If you were to win the lottery, what would you do? Let's say it was several million dollars -- definately enough to support you for life, if you handled it right.

Would you quit your day job? Would you go to working part-time, if you are already full-time?

I'm not sure what I would do. I just bought a subscription to the Virginia lottery, and I got to thinking: If I won, what would I do with the money and the rest of my life? Since it's been a crazy past few weeks at work, I feel I would seriously consider losing the day job! But, what would I do during the day? I'm sure if I won enough money, I would be able to keep myself occupied with more camera equipment, finally a studio of my own (no more corner in the apartment for me!), and helping to babysit a little cousin ...

This may be a strange question, but I am going to ask it anyway. :)

Since our profile picture isn't anything someone can download (right-clicking options set aside), am I assuming correctly that we can use an image of ourselves that someone else took?

I ask because I haven't taken very many pictures of myself, nor do I really have that many of myself anyway. I'm almost always the one behind the camera. :) But, I have recently been given some recent, and surprisingly good, photographs of myself.

It started a few weeks ago. A short message was attached to an image approval email. I read it. I wondered, "Why?" I paid it no mind.

A couple days later, I clicked on the "Blogs!" tab. I started reading some of the articles posted. Some where interesting, some useful, and some seemed more fitting for the message boards or an IM. "Okay," I thought, and moved on.

A few more days went by, and my curiosity grew. More and more blog articles were read, churning my mind. I've had some thoughts of my own sitting on my mind, so I started to share them, too.

I wrote a few articles, included a few images (mine and others'), and received some credits. Being a contributor and not a designer, I was at a loss as to what to do with these credits. Not really thinking,...

When my husband and I first moved in together about two years ago, I bought some new stove burner covers. They were black. They looked very nice. ... at one time.

I've always been a little "touched," as some people call it -- I have a tendency to be absentminded, even more so when something is on my mind.

Cooking is one of the domestic activities I picked up quickly, and rather enjoy. After a rough day at work, it really feels good to chop and shred and cook the life out of something. heehee =)

Morbid imaginations aside, I truly do enjoy cooking. It helps get my mind off of my worries and stressors, and lulls me into a restful evening. The downside is, it doesn't get rid of my absentmindedness. One of the 'lucky' burners was singed a couple of times, and outright ...

I just wanted to take a moment to share some of my recently selected Halloween pictures, along with a brief history of Halloween and its traditions.

Halloween traditions are known to have began over 2000 years ago with the Celts. The traditional festival was called Samhain (pronounced sow-in), and was celebrated at the end of October and first of November. This time was their new year. During this time, they would celebrate their ancestors, and ward off evil spirits by holding bonfires and dressing in scary costumes.

As time went on, the Romans conquered the Celtic territory and adopted some of their ways, including the celebration of Samhain. The Romans used this time to celebrate the passing of the dead and to honor the Roman goddess of fruit and ...

I resubmitted a bunch of images to be fully re-keyworded earlier today. They're just getting back into the queue, and already I've noticed an astonishing increase in the views hits they are receiving! Here are a few of those images.

Thanks DT team!

I definitely recommend using the keywording program for times when one is stuck on creating words, or if you have an image that doesn't seem to be getting many sales or views. Those were the types of images I picked to have re-keyworded, and so far I am pleased with the results. :)

Getting your images re-keyworded is very simple. Simply click the button above "Your Uploads" list of images. The screen will refresh, providing a button on the right of the screen for ...