courtney jade’s blog

As I sit here in my living room turned to office, cuddled up in my hot pink and zebra minky blanket (with a beautiful silky edging, might i add!), it keeps ringing in my head that today is the very first day of the year. The first day of 2010.

How should we say it? Twenty-ten? Two-thousand ten? oh-10? Just 10? I guess that part really doesn’t matter much anyways…

So, it keeps coming to my attention, that as the first day of the year, today is a day to start new things, new routines, traditions, regimines, etc. I keep thinking “I should blog EVERY day”. Well I only have about an hour and twenty two minutes left of today, so I thought (in-between netflix movies) that I should take a moment to jot down some thoughts for the day.

How did I spend the very first day of the new year? Well, I woke up at 8:08 wide awake as could be. I tried to roll over and fall back asleep, but I simply could not (go figure, I finally get to sleep in a little and my internal clock refuses). So I get up, shower and get ready for the day. I had plans to go to breakfast with my dad and cousin, so I went to pick my cousin up and we headed to the breakfast joint.

One of my favorite breakfast places here in Portland. They are small, a little grungy, and very old school– The Gateway Breakfast House. They have the most awesome sign up on their wall (one among many!), and as a former waitress I appreciate it all the more. It reads “All children left unattended will be given a large espresso and a free puppy”. Also, on their menu, it reads “rude and grumpy customers are subject to a $20 fee” (or something close to that anyways). Hilarious! I love little hole in the wall gems like this. Plus, the food is to die for, and the prices are insanely low! (If you live in the area, you MUST check them out!). Oh, and I also love the assortment of white sphere lights that hang from the ceiling, some working, some not. Here is a pic from a previous breakfast at the Gateway Breakfast House via my iPhone, and you can view another on my flickr if you like

Anyways, we had a lovely breakfast, bid my dad adeu, and Alishia (my cousin) and I headed off towards the movie theater! We have a habit of seeing movies and eating at the Olive Garden, our date night usual when we’re able to get together. We ended up seeing Nine. I honestly had no idea what it was about going in, other than everyone I know wants to see it and it had some big name stars in it. It was very well done! I recommend it, quite entertaining!

After our little day-date, I dropped her back home and headed home to my boy. He was, of course, cleaning While he finished up and got ready for dinner, I cleaned the bedroom (my, it feels SO good to have a nice clean vacuumed bedroom with no clutter and no dust!) We went out in search of a delicious dinner from Trader Joes, but they were closed so we settled for Subway It was nice though because I had been craving Subway since everyone at work yesterday was eating it… lol.

Anyways, we came home, relaxed a bit, and I FINALLY got to see Confessions of a Shopoholic! I’ve been dying to see it since it came out and I’ve even read the book! It was quite excellent, I just adore Isla Fisher (and her hair!!!). The colors, music, storyline and humor all just lined up. I know, I’m a sucker for those movies, but what can I say??

Anyways, the first day of the year has felt like Sunday all day… except it’s only Friday!! That means two more whole days of weekend! Woohooo!!! Today is also the anniversary of Mark and I being together- 5 1/2 years, officially! Seriously crazy how time flies.

Hopefully I will be able to blog at least once a day this year. I will really try, even if it’s just one image, or one sentence. I hope that my personal blogs will help you all to get to know me a little bit better, and please feel free to leave comments, suggestions, or smileys on any of my posts! I’ll leave you with this photo I found online of Isla Fisher, and how I wish my hair looked… sigh.. how does she do that???

Happy New Year!!! <3

A decade ago, I was a freshman in highschool, just 14 years old. It’s hard to believe how fast time goes by.

A year ago I was trying to recover from being laid off, working the worst job I’ve ever worked in my entire life. It was probably the most challenging time in my life thus far. I was completely unhappy with my job, the job market was horrible, i’d been applying and interviewing, yet not landing anything. I was forced to enter back into the world of food service, and it was completely devastating.

I think it’s the hardest when you have so many goals you set for yourself. You get ahead, and then life and circumstances send you 3 steps back. But I buckled down, persevered, and focused on the things in life that made me happy, like photography.

A year ago I registered my photography business with the state. It’s interesting to look back on the goals I had for my business over the past year, and how far I’ve come. I’ve accomplished many of those goals, exceeded some, and there are some which remain on the list for this coming year.

In July, I landed a career-oriented full time position, and I was able to escape the food service industry yet again (this time hopefully for good!). I feel completely blessed and lucky to have the job I have now. I get to utilize my education and degree, learn TONS, and there is so much room for growth and promotion within the company. Not to mention, it has enabled me to really focus on my photography business and it’s growth.

I’m VERY happy to say that this fall I was completely booked! It was busy, at times stressful and chaotic (it’s not easy to run your own business AND work a full time job at the same time), but I made it through, and I’m really happy with the work that I accomplished. I think that this coming year will be a great year for the growth of my business. I have recently re-branded and re-packaged everything, and I cannot wait to reveal it to everyone! I’ve also upgraded all of my equipment, so my quality has gotten much better.  I feel like I finally have a sturdy foundation for my business where I can now focus on perfecting my style and workflow. I am excited to see what the new year brings in photographs

I’m not much of a “resolution” person, but I am a crazy list maker and goal setter. I guess they are similar, but still different.
I, of course, have a list of goals for the coming year (and the coming 5 years, lol). Here are a few for this coming year that I look forward to working towards:

• Take more personal photos. Possibly, at least one a week– if not more. It would be great if next year I could re-cap the year in photos a bit more accurately.
• Bake more cupcakes
• Travel out of the country (I’m looking very forward to Costa Rica!)
• Blog a LOT more. With photos.
• Pay off some debt, if not all of it.
• Grow my cupcake collection
• Take Quincey on more walks
• Cook more dinners at home. Learn more recipes and start a recipe collection of my favorites.
• Let go of negativity, and those who are constantly negative. I don’t have time for this in my life anymore, and I refuse to be an “enabler”. This one could be really tough, but I’m just not willing to keep dumping positivity into people who keep dumping negativity on me. It’s completely exhausting, and a waste of energy. I look forward to surrounding myself with positive and inspiring people.
• Make a better effort to spend more time with friends.
• Save more, spend less, stick to a budget.

And there are some more which are top-secret for now! (I have to keep SOME things to myself, until they happen at least Don’t worry, hopefully you’ll find out soon enough)

Also, here is a list of things I’ve accomplished this year

• Turned 24 (gasp!!! getting so old…)
• Learned how to bar tend/cocktail/ mix drinks
• Made some great new friends
• Landed a career-oriented position at a growing company that I really believe in
• Spent time and made memories with friends and family
• Quit the job from HELL, on the spot, no notice. Something I have never done, but man with that job, if you only knew… it felt SO good.
• Visited Mark’s family in Reno for Thanksgiving
• Really focused on my Flickr account, and through it, had a couple of my photos published
• Built up my photography business: got serious, booked fall season, shot a few weddings, re-branded everything, upgraded all equipment, found new sources of inspiration.
• Celebrated 5 years with my boyfriend <3 (so crazy!)
• Had Quincey’s 2nd birthday
• Baked cookies, from scratch!
• Had my very first ever “paid vacation” days! eek!
• Booked my first “destination wedding”
• Went to my first Blazers game (thanks little sis!!)
• Finally tried In-N-Out, haha

I’m sure there are many more things, but I’m pretty sleepy haha. Anyways, this year went from crap-nothing, to everything I could ask for. I feel like I have finally found a place in life to plant, and this coming year will be about growing and establishing roots. I feel so lucky and fortunate that I have been blessed in so many ways this year, and I hope and pray that this new year brings more good than bad (by a lot). I also hope for some other things, but I’ll just keep that to myself for now

Thank you all for reading my blog, and loving on me and my work. It truly means the world to me!!! Look forward to many more posts, and even more delicious photos this year, as I intend to really bump up the blog! So excited. I hope that all of you had as exciting of a year as I did, and I hope that the new year brings a clean slate, a new sense of hope and optimism, and more good than bad.

And because I feel weird posting without a pic… here’s a random couple Mark and I on Christmas 2009

and Quincey and I <3

cheers to you and yours! <3