lots to catch up on…will hopefully post about it tonight after work, after a nap.

I definitely need a nap. I wish I could take one right now, but I can’t.

busy busy busy….

21 years ago, my best friend, Brenda, gave birth to her oldest daughter, Ashley….July 22, 1987

I’d been 15 for 22 days.

I love Ashley as my own and am so proud of her.

I have a few classic photos up on my flickr:

here she is on skates with Brenda, I’m guessing she’s about a year old here, so 1988. I took this with a Kodak disc camera:

here she is in my sister’s wedding, with my nephew Andrew…I’m actually at the back of the church since I was Maid of Honor:

here we are at her high school graduation, Both Brenda and I were crying as soon as the ceremony started…..June 20, 2005

I have some more from her younger years that I’ll have to scan in…but I need to get myself to sleep. first night back in my own bed, since I was pet sitting since last Thursday. I took a 4 hour nap this afternoon and it was absolutely amazing!!

oh and here’s a picture of Me and Brenda at our 8th grade graduation, June 1986:

oh and one more:

here she is, not quite yet 13, July 1, 2000 when I had her selling merch for my friends, The John Faye Power Trip at the Ocean City Music Pier in NJ. I taught her so well that without my being by her side, she sold them over $200 in merch, kept record of each sale and had all the money in order and facing the same way!! I was so proud!

I’ve been listening quite a bit to Robin Tymm’s album “Whole Lies & Half Truths” lately. I’ve got a few of his albums on a “to buy” list.

I was tuned in to Robin’s music via the Three from Leith podcast that I listen to weekly. You should check it out, as Grant puts together a great podcast on a weekly basis.

back to Robin Tymm….
there’s various places to listen to his music. He’s just released his 5th album, “Fatal Flaw”

look for him on:
Myspace
Last.fm
garageband
facebook

I’ve only been able to purchase “Whole Lies & Half Truths” so far, and this song is getting repeat spins from me.

I hope to have all his music soon. Which shouldn’t be too long, now that I’ve completed my Dropkick collection!

I’ve been in a whirlwind of being on the go the last week or two….I’m exhausted and haven’t really caught up on anything, but all the fury that is my life at the moment is very good, except the fact that I’m in pain every single waking moment. My health is still a struggle, but I’m working on it.

We had the Alliance for Community Media conference here in DC last week. It’s a great annual conference that helps renew our passion and purpose for the work we do in community access centers around the country and ultimately around the world. It’s great to see familiar faces I’ve become friends with over the years, and meet new people too. Having the conference in my “hometown” provides some challenges as you don’t quite get to participate in the after parties that go well into the night.

We’ve got a lot of great things happening at Arlington Independent Media as well and as a result, I will continue to be busy throughout the rest of the summer well into September.

will try to get back to regular posting…

in the meantime, I also managed a last minute visit home to NJ to visit my family since we were ALL going to be there (with the exception of my niece, Chelsey) at my brother’s house.

I took a video of Daisy, my brother’s English retriever swimming in the pool:

Daisy at the Pool from bluflower on Vimeo.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!!