Thursday, September 25, 2008

Am I Mental, Or...

Seriously. Am I mental, or are things just a friggin' mess out there right now?

Don't get me wrong - I'm not a news junkie, I dont' keep up on every little thing that's happening. But even I hear things like "bail out" and "next recession" and wonder, what the hell is going on?

I see finance on a much smaller level. I work with clients and their household budgets. I help customers at the bank with their personal checking. That kind of money, I get it. It's what comes in, then what goes out. Not too complicated.

Where it gets fuzzy for me is on these higher, more complicated levels. How can these huge companies run deficits into the billions of dollars? Are they taking such huge risks with money or is that how they're supposed to operate?

Obviously, I need "Finance for Dummies" or something, because seriously...am I mental, or are these guys just idiots for making such a mess of things?

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Soooooo Big!

I have to laugh at my own title. It's the phrase my sister-in-law, Jessica, uses to help her daughter get dressed. Livia raises her arms up when Jess says, "Soooooo big!" and off (or on) goes the shirt. Livia is really a big girl now; she told me so herself this last weekend!

But I digress. For once, I'm not going to brag about my niece. Instead, I will pick on...my "baby" sister, Amy. Amy is now a senior in high school, which makes me very old. Oh, and I guess it makes her old, too. But I'm way older. And that's crazy. But again, I digress.


Over Labor Day weekend, I headed up north to shoot some pictures of Amy. She was looking for a head shot for the yearbook, so we took a bunch of those up and around our family cabin. I got some really great ones, but I think this is one of my favorites:

It just struck me while I was doing this that 12 years ago, I was getting my grad pics taken...with Amy and Katie, who were 6 and 3 at the time. Yikes. Again, I'm old.


But, how beautiful is this sister of mine? I see the intelligence in her eyes, the kindness in her heart, and the generous spirit she has, all shining through in this picture. I'm so proud of her; she works really hard in school and keeps busy with her band stuff. Mostly, I just feel so lucky that she came into my life. I always wanted a little sister; now, she's not so little anymore, but I guess that happens, huh?


No matter what, I'll always remember her as a gorgeous baby that I fell in love with from day one. I look forward to what she does next and who she becomes in the future. It's a fun ride to be along on.