New Website

So, it's official, the blogging has moved over to a new website. I will probably start doing personal blogs on facebook and the official, I'm in seminary now posts at the new site. Make sure to go check it out!

Coming soon... Eranus!

As a perk to the rental of the lens this week, I took a couple of shots for my friend's nonprofit website that I'm building for him.

It's coming soon, we still have to transfer everything over to his hosting company and register a domain name, but for now, here are some of the opening shots from the front page:

Woodruff Family

My sister asked if I could take her family's Christmas card pictures this year. Of course I said yes... and used it as an excuse to rent a toy for the weekend... an f/4 L 24-205mm lens. Oh, my goodness, I am in love!

Loving without strings

Sometimes we have a problem loving without strings.

I think this is because we're taught from a very early age to not get screwed over, so we want to make sure everyone/thing feels balanced and equal.

But that's not very biblical, is it?

We absolutely should love without strings. We should show love to others no matter what the price to ourselves.

Why we love the New Testament

Talk to any Old Testament scholar, and they will tell you the church by far does not concentrate enough on these texts. They will tell you that without this earliest of histories of the church, we cannot fully comprehend the stories of the early church (i.e. New Testament). While I agree with them on so many of these counts (please read your Old Testament! Learn about Covenants and Levitical law!), I have redacted why exactly we love the New Testament so much. Both good and bad.

• New Testament is a quick, easy read-While I feel Numbers is very important in understanding the exodus fully (who knew?), you have to get past all of those censuses and names that, to us, seem to mean nothing
• New Testament is one big, bad, life application book-Do this, don't do that, love the Lord, etc... Truly, and unfortunately, we only tend to read the Bible for what it's going to give us in a tough time. If you need to know how to make a decision, you probably won't be surfing in the part of the Bible that tells you not to mix meat and milk (PS-there is life application in the OT as well... In case you weren't aware, just read Deuteronomy)
• We secretly like to hear people getting yelled at-Paul was all about scolding some people for their bad habits. OK, so maybe "all about" is a little unfair, but let's face it, the New Testament is filled with Paul's letters talking to the sinners of the early church about what they do wrong.
• If you love science fiction-Revelation, 'nuff said
  

Life, unexpected

I've been updating a lot on facebook but I'm pretty sure friends are annoyed with me by my incessant updates. So I figured I would take it some place where people actually have to hunt me down a bit. Or just a place where I can talk to nobody. Just space.

I'm moving out of my house this week. I've had a couple of sad moments, followed by reminders that I'm not really moving out, just displacing myself for a couple of years. A friend came by and helped move on Saturday. I was a mix of overjoyed to have the help (I thought I could do it by myself, but truly there was no possible way) and kind of upset, to be honest, that this person (me) who has 1500 facebook friends and who knows hundreds of people in Charlotte couldn't find more than one person to help. If I had known someone only had one person helping a friend move, I hope I would've shown up. But maybe I would've been the one complaining that it was too early/too hot/I hate moving/fill in the blank excuse here. But as Kelli and I were lugging heavy furniture out, it would've been very nice to have manly strength helping. Still, I logged it into my Livestrong journal as 3 hours of weightlifting. What? Is that wrong??

Now that my furniture is gone, I'm sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor. My couch is still here, so I was tempted to sleep on that, but opted that a sleeping bag is a much better option. Molly had a hard time getting used to it, though. She would crawl underneath the entire sleeping bag and then realize my feet weren't there and get very confused. She's so used to sleeping with me, but I think she's going to be crated at night while we're staying with friends for the next month. I don't want to risk accidents, and then she'll have a definitive "it's bedtime" order. Oh, yeah, in case it wasn't clear, Molly's my dog.

We got our tuition bills a couple of weeks ago. $9800. For one semester. Of that, about $4000 is paid. I'm trying not to complain about my scholarships, really I appreciate that at least $4000 is paid, but if I really stop to think about it, putting that other $5800 (per semester) hurts a bit. And that doesn't include books. This is where I plug that if you happen to be reading this, I would not turn down a Cokesbury gift card or two. Just saying.

I had an interview on Friday. This has been my third interview. I decided this time around (for all three) that I was going to be completely, 100% truthful and me. None of this dodging questions because it's an interview or giving the "right" answer. After 12 years of being in the working world, the one thing I've figured out is that if you answer the way you know they want you to answer, you'll just end up in a miserable situation. So, when the question came up of "where do you see yourself in 5 years" I answered truthfully. Only God knows. For the first time in my life, I'm letting go (and letting God. Sorry, too cheesy, I know).

The ordination/candidacy process has been interesting. Don't get me wrong, I completely appreciate that the UMC runs people through the ringer to be ordained. But unless you love the UMC... and I mean really love the UMC... you're going to give up after about step 3. It's this corporate process where everyone answers the same questions and goes through the same steps and then at the end of the day if you jump through all the hoops just right, you're ordained. Poof. But if you really have the heart of a servant, you just want to serve. You just want your love of Jesus to shine through so brightly that there's no denying it. You don't want to wait 6 years and write 15 papers and take 15 written tests. You just want to serve.

When I get married...

A few weeks ago on Twitter, someone posted information about an organization called With this Ring. It's a cool concept. Basically, instead of giving money, you give away your diamond engagement ring and they hock it (my words) to give drinking water to a well in Africa.

My first thought was, that's a neat idea, but I would never do it. My engagement ring and the day it's given to me will be precious. One man, one ring. That's how I feel. No way am I giving up my engagement ring.

I started wrestling with that a little later, though. There's no way I would ever give up my engagement ring or wedding ring, but I would surely give up the diamond.

Weird random factoid about me that very few people know. After a hard break-up, I always plan an element of my wedding. I'm not going to tell you how much of my wedding I have planned, but it's a lot.

Still, as I have planned my wedding over the years, I have never been able to settle on what kind of diamond I want. I see people's rings and think, "Oh, that's nice" but honestly, I don't really like any of them for myself. And I have that disease that a lot of women have, which is that if it's not bigger than my friends', please do not bother.

So I'm putting this in writing. For whatever man gets to marry me (that's right, I said it, "gets to") please save up for a reeeeally nice diamond ring for me. I'm talking, a Tiffany's, platinum, 5 carat diamond ring.

But when it comes to actually proposing, give me a simple band that says something unique to us. And donate the Tiffany's diamond ring money to a cause we both feel is worthy.

Half-Marathon

Now that I've had a couple of days to recover (well, other than a wrapped foot, a band-aided toe, and sore muscles, that is), I figured I'd share my thoughts and experiences about the race.

First off, there is nothing more exciting than lining up with 9,000 people to run a race. Nothing. OK. Maybe Christmas when I was 5. And hopefully my wedding. But other than that, nothing quite as exciting. I found the first 10 miles extremely easy, comparatively. I didn't train quite as much as I should have. Although I was pretty diligent about getting the mileage in, I don't think I pushed myself hard enough to complete the mileage as quickly as possible. So, although the first 10 miles were a piece of cake, the last 2 miles proved to be nearly impossible. I actually had a thought go through my head of "Oh, my gosh, I'm not going to finish this thing."

If you've ever run in Charlotte, you know how hilly our best running roads are. I've heard other runners describe them as "rolling." OK, let me explain... I think of rolling hills as slight hills, not as hills that make you feel like you're hiking up a mountain. Not that there were many of these, but there was definitely one on Colville Road. The rest were ok, I guess, but many complaints were heard about the hill on Morehead. Honestly, I don't remember this. Probably because I was trying not to black out.

Getting to the start line was difficult. There were several spectators standing directly beside the start line, which is understandable, but for whatever reason the people with numbers on their chests trying to get through had no sort of priority for these spectators to move. I barely made it to the start line on time, and there were several others that were having a hard time getting there as well. Still, running with a crowd that large is pretty cool. Next time, I would like to be able to run fast enough that I fit into one of the pace groups. One of the struggles that any runner will tell you is figuring out which of the crowds you need to stick with, and which of the crowds will be too fast or too slow. Unfortunately, they do not offer pace groups for "extremely slow, barely making it through" runners. My only option is to speed up.

Like I said, the first 10 miles were incredibly easy. Although I wasn't running with anyone, there was a point (at about mile 8 or 9) where I looked around and thought, "Wow, this is so cool... having this many runners with me pushing through!" I kind of felt like we were on a stroll in the park with friends (except, running of course). I told you I was with the slow group.

I will definitely run with a fuel belt next time. I didn't want to run with a huge water bottle strapped to me, but the ones made with little bottles were super expensive. So, I did without and relied on the water stations. The water stations were correctly instructed to give us half a cup of water (any more than that will make you throw up), but I was still super thirsty by the time I finished. Next time I run, it will be with a nutritionist guiding my caloric, salt, and water intake.

The last 2 miles were horrific. Serious thoughts of stopping crossed my mind. And not in a "I'll just give up" kind of way, but in an "I'm not sure I have the ability to finish" kind of way. There was a band at the final (.1 mile) stretch that played "I thank the Lord for what you've done for me" and I literally started crying. I was really tired. I wanted to go home. Or, at least, sit down.

A friend asked me right after if I would do it again. I said absolutely not. Honestly, though, I can't wait for my next one. I'll just try to train longer. This was the start to my training. Next year, watch out!

In case you missed it...

As of last Wednesday, I am now a freelance writer over at the Examiner. I will be writing about all things young pros in Charlotte (from places to eat/drink to networking to all news affecting YP's). Pleeeease support me. This is where I beg. I get paid based on my readership. No readers=no paycheck. This means that not only do I write more over there, I also am slightly more interesting, if you can believe it.

So far, my top 2 articles are:

How to live off of $25/week

How to calm your networking fears (without resorting to vodka)

If you follow me on Twitter I will be Tweeting out whenever there's a new post.

Because my blog is the latest, greatest thing...

Look to the right and you'll notice a little fundraising widget. It's been up there for a couple of weeks, but recently it changed (and actually has money on it).

Yesterday, I announced that I will be running my first, possibly last, half-marathon. It's crazy, considering I ran a 5K on Saturday and made it 2 miles and then got sick. Lovely.

But still, I am convinced I can do this. Hoping to not walk any of it, but we'll see. And in the meantime, I've committed to raising $2000 for the Bethlehem Center. But I need you to help me get there. I will match every donation that is made up to $1000. That means if you donate $25, it really is like you donating $50, and so on and so forth. Just think, if you donated $1000, too...

Anyway, I just posted this yesterday and have already received 3 donations totalling $85. I'm impressed! But we still have a long way, so if you could just click on that widget and donate, I'd appreciate. :-)

A little bit insane...

A few months ago, someone gave me a newspaper clipping that stated that Run For Your Life was looking for charity beneficiaries for their Thunder Road Marathon in December. Obviously, I jumped on that. I headed over to RFYL in Dilworth to talk to them about adding Bethlehem Center as one of the beneficiaries.

We have been added to their list of charities. In support of this event and what Run For Your Life does, I have decided to enter the half marathon. Which is insane, for so many reason. One being that even in my top shape (I ran track in high school), long distances have always been difficult for me. Our warm up was 3/4 of a mile, and I even struggled with that.

Still, I'm determined. I ran a 5K on Saturday, and am currently running 3-4 days a week. Save me now.

I only have $10... Now what?

As a fundraiser, the most frustrating thing that has ever happened to me was someone taking back a nickel because it wasn't enough. In a charity, nothing is never enough, and every little bit helps.

CharlotteONE: recently started the BeONE campaign to raise money. The point is to have 40 people donate $10/month ($4800/year, for all of you math slackers). As you can see, this adds up quickly. Still, it isn't a ton of money towards the cause. But that's ok.

The point isn't necessarily that every $10 helps, although it does, it is more to get people on a regiment of giving. $10/month--$2.50/week--seems like nothing. Ok, I have one more teeeny bill, but compared to my $500/month in student loans, this seems like something I can handle. So, I start giving monthly. Well, then I realize that I can up my giving to $15/month with very little effort, and so on and so on, until finally that starts adding up to some major buck-a-roos.

At Bethlehem Center giving $50/month would put you amongst our top 10 individual donors. A fact that made my Board of Directors gasp when I told them. In all honesty, we can all afford $50/month. Truth is, you probably easily spend that on lunch in a week b/c you don't want to eat PB&J every day (ok, or am I just speaking about myself right now?).

I challenge every one reading this blog right now to find a cause and start out donating just $10/month. No fair with counting event ticket costs in that amount. Set up your bill pay or use their fundraising services. Let's see how much of an impact $10 can make, shall we?

What in the world has been going on??

Yes, "what in the world" is right. I haven't posted lately, due to a miriad of factors. Specifically, I haven't shot anything praise-worthy in a while, although I hope to shoot an engagement session for my friends who recently got engaged. This is the friend who was my first model when I got my camera. Poor guy.

Recently, I've been trying to find my passion, though. There were definitely a couple of days of me not wanting to get out of bed b/c I couldn't find the motivation to. To say that I need a change is an understatement. Don't get me wrong, there are things that I enjoy, but sometimes it's hard to remember those things.

Anyway, before I change this into a sob story, I wanted to update. I am still looking for study buddies for the GRE, since I haven't been doing a great job of staying on top of it. In the meantime, I have been looking for opportunities overseas to study economics hands on before I go back to school. This has not been easy. After all my searching, I found one fellowship overseas that is exactly the type of thing I'm looking for. I would be away for approximately 3-4 months, living and shadowing Kiva, an organization that pairs business owners in poverty with donors that can help them with their mission. It's an amazing organization doing something very similar to what I've already studied and talked about. I've also researched opportunities with their partners. Ideally, I would like to find something in the states that would give me the opportunity to travel overseas from time to time, but actually working and living overseas for a few months before I head back to school would also be a great opportunity.

Prayers are appreciated. I'm very much a believer in open and closed doors, so I trust that God has my ultimate good in mind. Still, I'm getting slightly impatient with his revealing of that plan to me!

High School Times

I haven't blogged in a while, and my next blog will be a "for real" blog, but for now I've stolen some questions from my friend Kevin's blog. Because, well, I'm not that creative, obviously.

1. What was your fondest high school memory?
Choraliers, hands down. It's the only high school memory that I would love to repeat. I was on the track team, and loved the bonding that we did as teammates, but to this date there is nothing quite like the adrenaline of getting on stage before a tremendous performance.

2. What was your most embarrassing high school moment?
Honestly, my most embarrassing high school moment is one that everyone at my high school knows of, but that I still do not feel comfortable putting here. It really shaped my junior and senior years, I'll put it that way. My second most embarrassing moment was senior class elections. A group of us had always been on student council, and we had pre-selected, basically, all the senior class officers. Jennifer was fun-loving and caring and good with people, so she would be Student Council President. Allison was a lot of the same, so she would be Senior Class President. I never wanted to be president, but was also very hard-working and dedicated, so I was selected as Senior Class VP, and Beth was phenomenal with numbers, so she would be treasurer. It came to election time, and although maybe the rest ran against people, they had it in the bag. Mine was not so easy. The captain of the cheerleading squad decided to run against me. Now, I was never nerdy by any means, and even sat at the "popular" table, but I also wasn't captain of the cheerleading squad. This girl had no experience, had never been on student council, and only just ran because she hated me. I decided that my speech had to be memorable, so I decided to talk about how similar Clover High was to Columbine. Big mistake. I had this big 70's outfit on with rose-colored glasses. I lost by a landslide. Very sad. But more so embarrassing.

3. Who was your favorite high school teacher and what did you liked about him/her?

Mrs. Richardson, our AP Calculus teacher. Let me start off by saying that although I was (and still am) extremely intelligent, I am also a big slacker when it comes to studying and reading. So, I had decided to drop down to CP Calculus (at Clover, AP was highest, then honors, then CPl) for my senior year. My Honors Algebra II teacher decided to convince me to do AP instead. He said that I had the intelligence to do it, but that I needed to make sure I did my homework. Just like the many years before, I didn't follow his instructions, never studied, and never did homework. Mrs. Richardson had this tradition of making tacos at her house for a mega study session right before the test. I went, and wouldn't you know it, after very rarely doing homework and almost never studying, I got a 4 on the exam. I'm still a little upset with myself b/c I probably could've gotten a 5 if I hadn't been a slacker, but a 4 was still a very good score.

4. If you could have nominated yourself for one senior superlative, what would it have been and why?
So, funny story. Similar to the elections, superlatives were usually in the bag before even voted on. Grady would be most likely to succeed (extremely intelligent football player), Marsi would be best dressed (her outfit for "tacky" day was a brown belt with black shoes... seriously), and I would be Biggest Flirt. Well, for some reason, that year they decided to do away with Biggest Flirt and Best Looking. So, no superlatives for me. But I definitely wanted Biggest Flirt. I did get a few votes for best dressed (I was always head to toe Gap, which was cool back then), but I knew I was no competition for Marsi.

5. Who of your high school friends are you still in touch with (and facebook stalking does not include being in touch with).
This is going to sound so random to those of you who knew me in high school, but our family is still pretty close to the Killians, and since we went to college together I still see Laura (Killian) and Mark Goddard about once or twice a year. Mark and Laura had their baby the same week as my nephew, and Ashley and Lucas live very close to my parents, now. Elizabeth Maroska and I used to meet up for drinks together, but that stopped a couple of years ago, and Paul Sutton is now dating one of my friends and I see him once or twice a month. Other than that, I still talk to people pretty often on facebook, but no real relationships.

6. What is one high school experience that was so exciting you would love to relive?
I have a lot of really fond memories of things that I did outside of high school, but absolutely loved going to Canada and going to New York City. Like I said before, though, being on stage with the Choraliers was amazing.

7. What is one high school moment you wish you could take back?
Two words: Josh Sharpe.

8. What was the wildest thing you did under the age of 18?
Pretty much everything I can think of is kind of lame. I made out with a guy on our chorus director's boat. I cussed and was sent to ISS (so lame). I went to high school parties. Mostly just normal kid stuff, though.

Free Ringtones

So, I have become recently OBSESSED with Slumdog Millionaire (best movie, ever!) and after lots of research, have finally found a site that has Salim's ringtone.

Free Ringtones

Check it out!

I had one of the best nights ever a couple of Saturday nights ago.  Not for any grandiose reason.  It was actually a pretty lame Saturday night on paper.  I went with two friends to a fish fry in Fort Mill, SC, and then to a fireworks show in Rock Hill.  For so many reasons, you would be shocked (assuming you know me) that this was what I would define as one of the best nights ever.  For one, it didn't include everyone I know... and everyone they know...  and everyone they...  OK, you get the picture.  For two, I do very well avoiding having fun in the city I live in.  And for 3 (and not meaning to go back to for 1) I very rarely have fun in small groups... unless that "small group" is 2, not 3.  If you get what I'm saying.

But on this rare occasion, I had such an amazing time.  It was two friends, one of which I have known for about a year, but never really talked to, and another one, that I had known about 2 weeks.  We spent time talking about everything.  From friendships, to religion, to jobs...  I learned more about these two people than I know about friends I've had in 3 years.

I remember last summer, meeting this guy.  We tried to date, for like a split second.  It didn't work.  I pictured him as someone else from the start.  But I appreciated what we had for that split second.  We stayed up until the sun rose talking.  Just talking.  What about, I have no idea, can't remember, but it was amazing.

I miss talking.  I miss those moments of enjoying someone.  And a couple of Saturdays ago, I got a taste of what it feels like.  And it was amazing.

Going home for Easter

I haven't for-real shot anything in a while, which is why my blog has all of the sudden gotten very boring. I'm looking forward to heading home and grabbing a few shots of the nephew, who is always my favorite subject.

Besides, life has been insanely busy. With volunteering with Engage and Club Red, my schedule has been so packed it has been crazy. My boss has let me know that he wants me to rearrange my schedule so that I'm actually getting two days off a week (crazy concept, I know!) so I'm really excited that I can start getting things organized around the house, work on the photography a little more, get my sanity back. Wow-za.

Because this is just too cool not to share...

I got a phone call last week.  This person wanted to talk to me about the Bethlehem Center and volunteering.  Pretty typical day in the Amy life (I get about 1-5 inquiries about volunteering now that the economy's down the crapper).  Well, as we're talking, I find out she's with Delta Zeta sorority.  I respond that I'm a Delta Gamma from USC, but that I had several DZ friends as well.  We compare notes, do the name game, etc...

So, we schedule and appointment, blah blah, and as we're closing up, she admits to me that my name is a little familiar.  She says, "Wait, do you have a blog?"  Why, yes I do.

Scroll down, and the phone call was from Sylvia, who commented on my last blog post.  Since then, she's given me advice about my situation, which I've figured out might need to be removed from the Internets (you obviously never know who's reading).  Such a cool fun time.  She's coming to my birthday party next week.  But we've never met.

On a side note, I went to the gym yesterday (A regular occurance, since I'm trying to drop 15 pounds before summer.  If you follow my Twitter you already know this).  I was meeting up for a guys/girls combo Bible study, so I went to the gym at 4:45 and showered there.  So, I'm standing in the shower, fully clothed, and my arm hits the handle.  Yup.  Full blown shower, while fully clothed.  Luckily, I had another shirt in my bag.  I think it was a sign that my J.Crew button down really WAS too wrinkly to wear!

Lupus Foundation Mardis Gras Gala 2009

OK, so I finally think I've gotten this blog to the way I want it to look. Sorry if you've checked back over the past week and have seen 15 different versions. We're cool, now. :-)

The pictures below are from my first "official" shoot. I was so excited to be a part of this event. Jill, a former Bethlehem Center intern, is now the development coordinator at the Lupus Foundation and asked me to come out and shoot. I was fortunate enough to have another photographer there so I got to play around a little more than I normally would. We both had a lot of fun, and as you can tell from the pictures, so did the crowd!

Pausing

I'm in the middle of working on editing the pictures from last night, but I just wanted to pause for a second.

If you've been reading my blog or know me at all, you know that there are 3 major photographers that I stalk, I mean, er, study on a regular basis. David Johnson is a good friend of mine and one of the biggest reasons I got into photography. Cheyenne Schultz is a friend from way back when, and is also a tremendous photographer. She and David have both shot for CharlotteONE: and have worked together before in wedding photography (*cough* thanks to yours truly *cough*).

The third, though, is someone that I've never met before, but is a photographer that I've heard about through relentless stalking of Cheyenne. Her name is Scarlett Lillian, and I admire her work a lot. It might be hard to tell, but I model a lot of my style in photography after her. Or at least, make some attempts at it.

Although I've never met her, I feel oddly as if I call her a friend (yes, it's odd, but also not odd if you know me at all), so I wanted to go ahead and put this out there. Scarlett's dad passed away this past weekend after an 8-month long battle with cancer. Since we're not really friends, I feel as if I would do injustice to explain what she's been going through over the past several months, but I encourage each of you to say a prayer for her, and read about her family's journey here.