…taken pictures for a wedding invitation I can’t wait to receive .

…had one of my wisdom teeth removed just because I felt like it one afternoon.

…enjoyed the bluebonnets.

…taken pictures of a beautiful girl who happens to be my sister.

…gone to the courthouse for jury duty, but didn’t get selected.

*Insert boring courtroom picture that Toni didn’t take*

…and a whole lot more.

]]> http://tonimaisano.com/blog/2010/04/22/a-glimpse-into-my-life-as-of-late/feed/ 1 http://tonimaisano.com/blog/2010/03/25/beautiful-people/ http://tonimaisano.com/blog/2010/03/25/beautiful-people/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:12:15 +0000 Toni http://tonimaisano.com/blog/?p=473 We’ve been having a great time with some sweet friends of ours who are here for a few days.  Meet Josie:

I’ve known Josie now for going on 6 years.  She is a beautiful young woman who loves the Lord and has been a huge inspiration to me of Christ-like joy.

This is her little sister Farah.

They love each other.

Farah and Patti appear to be best buddies themselves.

And I think they seem to have a pretty good time together.

That was a complete coincidence that I found rather amusing.  The store was filled with all of these guys buying discounted flowers and cardboard boxes filled with chocolate and teddy bears that said “I love you”.  And then there was Toni, searching for the right bouquet of flowers for her mom. 

Then yesterday, I was shopping for my mom at WalMart and saw all of the leftover flowers that were discounted even more since we all know that no one buys flowers unless it’s Valentine’s Day.  They looked so pretty and photogenic…and I really couldn’t help myself.  So I bought some more .

I had been wanting this lens for a loooooooong time.  And it felt good to finally get it.  It’s a 50mm, fixed focal lenth (read: no zoom) lens with an aperture beginning at f/1.4.  Can you say cool?

It’s great for pictures where you want a very small depth of field.  Like this…

Or this…

These were my Valentines Day roses from my parents.  They made me smile .  And the 50mm made them look pretty nice, don’t you think?

Three of Toni’s favorite things:

1. Tazo tea

2. My blue coffee cup

3. Black and white photography

One day the brother and sister were stuck inside the house because it was freezing cold and raining outside.  The sister noticed some beautiful window lighting coming in her front window.  So she took action.

The little brother was an exceptionally handsome young man.

He had a cute smile too.

They decided that self-timers are very nice tools to put on cameras.

Then the little brother decided to try his hand at the picture-taking himself.

The end.

That wasn’t so happy.  But I eventually unburied my room and felt much better after doing so.

We had a girls’ night out at the movies and went to see Sherlock Holmes.  If I were really good with words like my sister, I could write this amazing movie review.  But unfortunately I’m not all that great at writing…so I’ll just say that I liked the movie.  Anyways, I thought this chair looked like it had come out of the movie.   And that’s about where all the meaning behind this picture ends .

I’ve seen lots of pictures like this one before, but I had never really tried all that hard to take one.  But then I found this article and felt inspired to try some of the shots in it, and this one seemed like the easiest one to begin with.  I actually had to set it up in our bathroom since that was the only place in the house that I could get completely dark in the middle of the day .

And with that, I think I’ve adequately caught up with my blogging needs for a while.  Hopefully my next absense won’t be as long.

The drive was really nice, even if it was wet and sort of dreary looking outside.  Anyways, late in the morning we found ourselves at a gigantic church in Houston where both of us have spent considerable time in the past 4 years.

Friday was my first day to walk around with a nametage that said “community judge” at a tournament.  I liked it a lot.  I also liked walking into the judges’ room.  That was fun.

On Saturday we all watched lots of debate rounds.  Big surprise, I know.  I think this might have been my favorite picture from the day:

This was after David and Christina’s LD round.  I’m not sure why I like it so much, other than the fact that everyone in it could have their own caption or thought bubble stuck on it.  And it just makes me laugh .

On Sunday night I went to a night of prayer in a gigantic church with hundreds if not thousands of people all there because of the 2nd-largest abortion clinic in the world opening in Houston.  It was amazing to see how many people came.

On Monday, we all participated in a march around the abortion clinic and the surrounding neighborhoods.  There were an estimated 10,000 people who were there–again, amazing.  I was so grateful to be there.

Afterwards we all loaded up and headed home.  And that ends Part 2.

Don’t remember what day this was, but I do remember why I took it .  I’m shooting a wedding in March, so I decided to play around with ring shots.  As a side note, does anyone find the term “shooting” a little disturbing?  I mean, if I told you I was going to go shoot my sister, would you be alarmed?  Just wondering.

This is my new phone.  His name is Will.  I like him very much.  I don’t know if Gilbert is jealous yet.

“Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.”  Good verse.  I read it on a day I needed to hear it .  Don’t you love it when that happens?

And finally, the last picture of this post, my flow from the last TP debate I was ever in.  Round 6 at Nationals 2009, Bob Jones University.  I was feeling nostalgic the night before Lydia and I drove down to the Houston Warm Up. 

And that, my friends, brings Part 1 to a close.

So, I admit it.  I’ve become a big Ted Dekker fan.  Anyone else out there?  Thr3e has been my favorite by far, I also loved the Circle Trilogy, cared slightly less for the Project Showdown series, and am currently reading Adam.

One problem I’ve noticed though is that reading books like Dekker’s that are incredibly suspenseful and exciting might be spoiling me a bit.  Reading something like To Kill a Mockingbird has suddenly become a little less appealing.  Something to think about at least.

Anyone have a good book suggestion?  Leave a comment with your favorite book you’ve ever read.  I need some recommendations .