Family and friends
Well, I told you that every once in awhile you'd find something new on here... I just got a new camera! I love it. It's one of the APS cameras, and I got it for next week, when I go to a medieval war in Mississippi. I wanted to try it out and get one roll developed before I ended up buying $30 worth of film that wouldn't look so great once developed.
So I played around, and am more than happy with the results! Also, I got some much-needed pics of some of my family.
This is my mom. She's incredible and I wish I could be just like her. However, I AM just like my dad. He's the surly looking one with the beard. He looks a lot like Sean Connery when he wears a fedora and smiles, though!
Now here's a rare picture... not found just anywhere. Yes, dear reader, these are the elusive and entirely-too-hard-to-capture-on-film BROTHERS. I have three of them. The oldest and youngest are a little camera shy. The middle one is most decidedly NOT! --grin-- I love them all dearly, even though two of them are teenagers.
This is mom and me, obviously. :)
And this is mom and me, just being silly. This is one of Sal's favorite pics. Not sure why... --innocent little grin--
Speaking of Sal...
Here he is in his rapier practicing garb. We are in the SCA, a medieval re-creation group. I have a link to that information at my homepage. Check it out!
Here is the love of my life (and me). 
There's actually a sweet love story that goes along with this...
Sal and I dated about 6 years ago. We met when I was working as an assistant manager of a book store. He came in to buy Magic cards, I sold him a Robert Jordan book he already had, and we talked for nearly an hour while my co-workers grinned and covered the store for me.
We didn't even exchange names at that point, but I knew in my heart that I would see him again.
I didn't realize that that 'again' would take two weeks, during which time I went slowly bonkers, wondering if I'd managed to let slip away the nicest, most intelligent man I thought I'd ever met. While my co-workers told me that he came into the store, looking for me, for some reason I was never there when he was! Argh!
Finally he came back when I was working, and I know my entire face must have lit up. His mom was with him, shopping in the mall. We talked for a bit, then he had to go take someone to work. I mentioned (okay, I all but asked him out!) that I wanted to go see Romeo and Juliet, but that I wasn't going with anyone. I think he thought I was just babbling. lol Silly man! I found out later that once he and his mom left, she told him I was basically asking him out, and he was Mr. Oblivious. So he came back and we decided to go see the movie when I got off work.
Ever been on one of those magical dates where it lasts for 15 hours, and all you do is talk, non-stop? That's what happened on our first date. The sun was coming up the next morning when I suddenly recalled that I had to work that day, and that my parents (I was living at home at the time) were probably a bit worried.
He wrote me an excuse note to give to my mom, explaining why I was late. My heart melted.
Basically, from that point on, if we had free time, we were together. On his days off, he'd join me for lunch, and we'd spend the weekends (when I wasn't working) exploring the Blue Ridge Parkway or Boone or Blowing Rock.
However, as all things must, this came to an end. I hadn't had much confidence until I met him. He gave me the confidence to leave him, thinking that I'd find someone better out there.
NEVER LEAVE A GOOD MAN!!!!!
I was a schmuck. I broke up with him. We stayed friends over the years, and he was always there when I needed him. I wish I could say that I was there when he needed me, but that's not the case. (because I was a schmuck!)
Seven months after we broke up, he asked me to marry him. I thought about it long and hard before I said no. I thought I wanted something more.
Anyhow, a few years passed, and I dated. He dated. I dated some more. We stayed friends, went shopping, hung out.
The funny thing is, so many people around me saw how much he loved me, and thought I was a fool for letting that get away. He's such a wonderful man.
Well, it came to pass that I ended up in Tennessee. I had moved in with a guy I had met through a friend, and we had visited several times before realizing that we wanted to be together. --shudder-- What seemed so wonderful in those stolen weekends turned into a nightmare when I moved in. He was a domineering, chauvanistic person, and I couldn't handle his ordering and condescension. He couldn't handle the fact that I had a brain and spirit. He was unable to accept that I could do a lot of things on my own, and I think he needs to be needed more than I needed him. Anyhow, it got really bad, and we broke up. I moved into a place of my own over there, determined to go to college. But it didn't work out that way. I found myself driving back to NC every weekend, just because I was homesick.
So Sal told me I could move into his spare bedroom. That's all I needed to hear. By this time, I had already figured out that, no matter what happened in my life, Sal was the first person I thought of to share it with. I had come to realize that I had never stopped loving him, and that if he would only give me one more chance, I would never let him go again.
He was, understandably, a little leery of this! I had hurt him not once, but twice.
Well, to make a long story short, after several months of living together as friends and roommates, we ended up back together. Now we're happily living in a bigger place, laughing, tickling, hugging, and loving whenever we can.
I can't imagine being with anyone else ever again, and while I"m sorry that I left him that first time, I think that dating the men I dated in between ended up giving me a whole new appreciation for Sal.
I love him with all my heart and soul.
Told you it was sweet! :)
... even when he takes pictures of me in my PJ's with no makeup on! Grrrrr....
Vacation Pictures
Put in pictures from your last vacation.
