A Delicious Meal.
I actually got home a little early and decided that I wanted to make a nice dinner, since I was in such a good mood! Maybe my meditation from Monday night helped clear some clogged passageways. :) After looking around to see what ingredients I had to work with, I thought I would make some fresh basil pesto pasta with home made garlic bread. Just writing about it now has induced a Pavlovian response!
Unfortunately, I had not the basil that one would need to create basil pesto. Ah, ha, fortunately though my wife was at Wegmans and was able to pick up not only the basil plants I needed but also a loaf a fresh, crusty bread. I’ve never made garlic bread by scratch, only the frozen kind. So, this would be somewhat of an experiment.
I took the bread and cut it length-wise, then cut individual pieces, buttered them and pressed a few slices of garlic into them. I then put them on the bottom rack of the oven and broiled them until the tops were browned, flipped them over and browned the other sides. Perfect!!
Meanwhile, I had prepared the pesto, getting the consistency juusssssssssst right. And, cooked the pasta til it was absolutely perfect. The meal really was fantastic, if I don’t say so myself. :) If I had thought about it then, I would have asked for my wife to purchase some strawberries for desert – oh well. :)
Overall, a fantastic night with a hearty meal and some wonderful company! :) Tomorrow, I’m going to explore my 2nd stress management relaxation technique. I’m not certain what it’s going to be yet, but I skimmed through some of my options and the one that I’m most interested in is mental imagery. I’m looking forward to trying that out or another one, if it should peak my curiosity. :)
Flooded.
After about 30 minutes, the skies had cleared and the sun was beaming down. Craig and I watched as all that water disappeared into the storm drains – which was pretty neat because the water made a little tornado-esque vortex as it drained. Neat-oh!
Later tonight, when I got home, I decided to tackle my first relaxation technique for this week – meditation! It was a little weird at first, and took me a while to get settled in, but once I did it felt really good. I have to write a small lab report about it, so I’m not going to repeat information. But, it felt good – not only to cross it off my list of things to do, but physically, it was rejuvenating. :)
I think after photographing an engagement session or taking wedding photos, I might implement a little meditation time afterward to refresh and rejuvenate my mind! The next time I’m hired as a wedding photographer, I’m going to try and work in some meditation time. Shooting weddings is very much a non-stop job – I concentrate on delivering the best and most creative wedding photos possible, that it’s simply difficult for me to slow down. :)
Lots of Wedding Photography!
Ooooooo, Friday the 13th!
I decided to spend some time at Starbucks just down the road to work on some school things and to just change my scenery for a few hours. I spent about 2 hours there transcribing journal entries and just clearing my mind of the chatter from the past week.
I’m not sure what the meditation process is, though I’m excited to learn about it in forth coming chapters from my stress class. I wonder if writing can be a form of meditation, specifically free-form writing where one just writes his or her thoughts down as they flow from his or her mind through the veins, reaching the fingertips as they strike the keys on a keyboard.
I do find that leading up to writing, if it’s something that’s been assigned to me, I am hesitant, I feel pressured much I am at work to produce creative works. I’m much more relaxed writing at my own pace, when I am not congested with racing thoughts or consumed by deadlines. I’m also much more productive as well.
This weekend, I need to work on a wedding photography proposal for a high school friend of mine who sent me an inquiry about shooting her wedding photos in 2010! I also talked to the ex-husband of an old acquaintance of mine; he is getting married in August and is looking for a wedding photographer. I offered him my card and drafted a few different wedding photography package options. I’m also getting ready to sign a contract to do some family portraits in July 5 – it’s gearing up to be a busy but productive summer! :)
I’ve also recently implemented my strategy for accepting credit cards and I’m excited to start offering that service to customers! :)