Emily August

Been really sick lately. Haven’t gotten very much done, but I have gotten the chance to spend some time with Allison and Rory, which is nice. This weekend I took them to the vintage store and then to brunch at Madame Claude’s, which is this little French cafe on a quiet corner just a few blocks away from our place in Van Vorst Park. My croissant came with a little pot of jam and a cube of real butter. Allison’s crepe was stuffed with goat cheese, and Rory’s omelet looked lovely. The coffee was good and all in all, it wasn’t too pricey.

We keep finding neat little pockets in our neighborhood: you can walk down one street and feel like you are in Downtown Newark, then the next block will feel like Savannah, Georgia.

I loved this little Religion Store on Brunswick:

Afterwards, Allison and I hopped on the PATH to go to Target and the Newport Mall. It didn’t take very long at all to get there, but, getting back after dark, I realized that I haven’t yet recovered from my die hard cold. After dinner and dessert (home made baked apples with maple syrup), I took some Nyquil and retired from the world.

This morning Rory let me sleep until after 12:00, and then we went to do our laundry together. After both sets of laundry were spinning away, we ran over to Sweet Priscilla for some coffee and scones, and the manager was playing PJ Harvey on the radio. When we got back, we had some time to kill so we sat on the benches and people watched (okay, maybe only I did that). It was super cute: him reading MAKE, and I reading CRAFT. A gay couple folded their laundry together at the table in front of us, and I thought to myself, “This could be Portland.”

And, just for today, what with the Nyquil and dizzy fever, I believed it.

I spent some time this weekend researching web templates for art/photography portfolio sites. I found one company I really liked, but its going to be a lot of work to cull through my photographs and feel like I’ve got the final body of work I’d like to use to represent who I am as a photographer. Lots of “is this photo just ‘good’ or is it ‘really fantastic’?” The process is fun, but at the same time a little emotional. It feels like a behemoth task to go through these visual memories and be objective about composition, tone, and quality.

This is why I enjoy using flickr so much. I can just dump everything on there, highlight a few choice photos in my blog(s), and rest assured that there is an archive to go back to. The good and the bad are all mixed together… too bad that’s a horrible method of showcasing my talent for prospective freelance work!

That being said, if anyone remembers a great photo that I’ve taken and wants to help me out by telling me so– I am all ears, er, eyes.

Anyway, stay tuned. I should have something up soon!

Ruby finally made it onto her favorite web site! Click her picture to go to the ICHC link.

My cousin’s daughter Chloe is in the “CUTEST THING IN THE WORLD” stage right now. She singlehandedly made me want to renounce my status as an unmarried non-mother with no plans of having kids of my own any time soon. Why does God make babies this cute? To torture us with eye strain?

While visiting my aunt’s house down in Virginia, my family got to witness firsthand Chloe’s actual first steps. Her jubilation at this feat, or these feet, was just the thing to pick up our spirits during a trying time for my family (grandmother’s funeral, which I will write about later). To encourage Chloe, as she hesitantly inched forward step by step, we all started clapping and cheering. Her face lit up brighter than the flash on my camera, and she began clapping too!

Then: step. step. step.

Honestly. I’ve held cute babies before, babysat a handful of beautiful children, and watched my friends give birth to tiny copies of themselves over and over. I have never been so enamored with such a little face like this in my life!

UGH. *falls over and dies*

I have an announcement! My apartment is CLEAN and ORGANIZED, and I have a pile of things for donation, waiting by the door for the Vets to come and pick up when we make an appointment. It is a wonderful feeling. Thank God for the long weekend, beautiful weather, and our fabulous Jersey City penthouse. I spent a tiny bit of money on new clothes for Fall, got rid of some of my poorer wardrobe choices from last season, and threw out a lot of old junk that I’d been hanging onto for sentimental value. The walk-in closet feels organized, even open and airy. The rest of the apartment is pretty well organized, and as long as we run a vacuum for a few minutes to catch stray Ruby hairs, we are truly living the high life. Now I think we can start planning a housewarming party (hah).

Now, if I could only get the cat to stop crying at the foot of my bed at 4:30 in the morning, life would be near perfect… I think I now know a bit about what its like to have children wake you up every night at odd hours and not let you go back to sleep. I have misplaced red veins in my eyes and a noticeable hunched walk these days. I’m pretty sure I look hungover every day when I show up to work like this. The cat is killing me.

To “correct” Ruby’s behavior, we are working with the old spray bottle trick, but I think I’m going to have to move on to soda cans full of pennies, because she’s always on the other side of the apartment when she’s cat-calling. Its shrill and annoying, and I wish she would stop–particularly since she likes to wake me up earlier and earlier these days.

Is there a cat behaviorist in the house?