Changes

P1120754.JPG, originally uploaded by jermandjessvess.

The new job is going swimingly. I really enjoy it and am doing pretty well at it, if i do say so myself. My 3rd day of training I ended up making the highest sales percentage the company has ever seen. WOW! It was totally God. Anyway, they are very excited about me and I am excited about making money to pay off debts and build a savings.

The hardest part about the new job is that I have to travel quite a bit, pretty much five days a week. Sometimes within an hour or so, which allows me to go back and forth everyday, but sometimes farther so I might have to spend the night. That hasn't happened yet, but I heard that they may be sending me to Fayetteville next week, so that would be the first overnight week. It will be hard to be away from Jeremy for 5 days straight. I know we'll be fine, but I hope its not every week like that.

Another unfortunate aspect of the job is that the hours are 1pm-9pm, Tuesday-Saturday, which normally would be awesome -but I will have to miss youth group every week. It has become such a large part of my week and my life over the past two years, that not being there is going to be difficult.

And lastly, going back to work means that I must give up some of the freedom that I have been able to experience over the past two years. Like the freedom to travel. I am going to miss it so much. I love just going away for a few days - to the beach, or the mountains, or to see friends and family. It has truly been a blessing to be able to go whenever we want to. But, as I am joining the ranks of the working world again, this is just one more thing I must say goodbye to.

Change is hard sometimes. But I definitely see the good in this job and the opportunity we have to become debt free. So, we have decided that that is a priority. So, goodbye familiar and hello change!

(The shot above was taken underneath the Avon Pier in Avon, NC this past June. I don't recommend walking on it, though.)

I'm tired

backside of a building, originally uploaded by jermandjessvess.

So, I haven't updated in a few days. But its been a very busy week.

It started off on Monday with Andrew Bryant coming to Salisbury to take band shots for the guys. We had a lot of fun. Beforehand, me and the boys hit Marshalls and Old Navy, looking for some fun tshirts and good fitting jeans. Who knew I'd become a stylist? Then when Andrew got there, LOS played a couple songs for him and then we just jumped right in to picture taking. Andrew had some really great, creative poses in mind, and the guys came up with a few too. We pretty much tried everything we could think of. Inside, outside, standing, sitting, jumping, singing. It was so fun. If you want to see a few of the shots, visit Andrew's blog and look for the post called Lords of Salisbury. They are amazing!

The other big thing this week is that I have started working full time again. It's been two years since my last full time job. I took some time off when we moved to NC, simply because I could. Honestly, I thought I would get bored not working and then want to go back to work immediately. But that wasn't really how it ended up. I became a new person. My life stopped revolving around my career. I was able to volunteer in the youth ministry and grow in my walk with the Lord, because I gained a whole new focus and put my identity in the things it should be in. So, I feel now that I am ready to work again after all these changes. We could definitely use the financial boost. And I am looking forward to having more of a set schedule again. I'll be on the road a lot, mostly locally. But if I am ever in a city near you, I'll let you know!

I am so tired now. Time for bed. Gotta work tomorrow!

(The shot posted above was taken in downtown Salisbury, NC back in May '06. I love the look of old buildings, especially in alleys or at back entrances.)

LOS

P1140047.JPG, originally uploaded by jermandjessvess.

Today, our friend Andrew Bryant is coming to Salisbury to do us a huge favor. He offered to take pictures of Jeremy's band, Lords of Salisbury, for free! We feel so fortunate. The band is trying to get together a press kit so they can start to play more shows, so this is perfect timing.

Good luck to Andrew, taking pictures of these three goof balls won't be easy!

(The shot posted above was taken of the band in Savannah, GA right after the Outreach at Tybee Beach concert.)

Planes, trains, and automobiles

P1010747.JPG, originally uploaded by jermandjessvess.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I love to travel!

I was asked recently, which mode of transportation was my favorite between plane, boat, and car - and I chose car. Planes are great when you are going long distances, particularly over large mountains or bodies of water. (And of course, you get amazing views that you'd never otherwise have the chance to see.)

But flying is definitely not a feeling that I love. I usually take motion sickness meds to keep from getting too nauseated. I'm also afraid of heights. Ironically, I've been skydiving and I've also been on an aerial acrobat plane.



I've only been on one cruise, and I really enjoyed it.



It didn't make me sick, but it wasn't like it was so fun that I would exclusively travel by boat from now on. However, I did get sick on a smaller boat - Jeremy's uncle's sailboat. It was a 4 day trip off the Gulf Coast. I was okay until we had a storm roll up on us. All day long we were tossed about by the wind and waves. Definitely not my favorite day.

I guess I like the familiarity of driving and maybe that feeling of being in control, but something about getting behind the wheel of a vehicle just feels so right.

I love driving long distances too. Usually when Jeremy and I go anywhere, I drive almost the entire way. Partly the reason is that I have a tendency to get car sick if I'm not driving. So Jeremy kindly lets me drive.

It was pointed out to me recently that I am pretty much a jetsetter. In the past year, I have been to Hawaii, NYC, Florida, Mexico, Gatlinburg, Maryland, the Outer Banks, Nashville, Savannah, etc. (And not even to mention trips to the NC mountains, several visits to Charlotte, Chapel Hill, Greensboro, & Winston-Salem, and countless visits to Emerald Isle.) And of course, when I visit all these places, I love to take pictures!































I hopefully will one day have a job or the kind of life that involves a lot of travel. I may have an interview this week, in fact, to travel around to various churches and take photos for church directories. It may not sound like glamorous work, but the fact that it combines traveling with photography is quite exciting to me. Now I just have to convince Jeremy that he can live without me for a few days a week!

(The shot posted above was taken in February 2006 on 1-40 West in the mountains of TN on the way to Gatlinburg for a youth conference. Don't forget to hold your breath and of course honk your horn until we're all the way through the tunnel!)

Georgia on my mind

P1140065.JPG, originally uploaded by jermandjessvess.

This weekend I went to Savannah, GA with Jeremy, Justin, Mikey, and Katie. The trip was great. Lords of Salisbury played an outreach at the beach on Saturday with another band called The Vow from Florida. While the bands played, a local church gave out free hot dogs and drinks, while also witnessing to and praying for people.

Saturday was also my 29th birthday! :) Didn't technically get to celebrate it then, but that's okay. It was a fun day regardless.

On Sunday, we led worship at church. My friend Katie Koontz performed a few of her songs as well. I sang back up for her. We used to sing together a few years back. We called ourselves Sketch. Anyway, it was fun to sing together again.



After church and lunch, we headed to the beach. It was so incredibly hot and humid the entire weekend. I can't remember a moment when we weren't covered in sweat. So, swimming was a nice relief from the heat. After that, we headed downtown and saw the classic spanish moss covered trees and gardens.



Then we went to the river to sightsee and eat dinner. We walked down the old cobblestone streets and visited waterfront historic storefronts.





Sunday was Justin's birthday, and he really wanted to eat crabs. So, we found a great place on River Street called Fiddlers Crab House. The tables had buckets in the middle for your trash. It was awesome. Ha. Actually, it was very good.



Then they brought out some chocolate cake for Justin and I. And it was probably the second best chocolate cake I've had in my life (the first being from Sunset Grill in Nashville, TN called the Chocolate Bombe). Then we all went to see Bourne Ultimatum. (Probably the best of the three movies!)

All in all, a great weekend. But it's good to be home.



For more pics from the trip, visit my flickr page.

(The first shot posted above was taken off Bay Street in Savannah. The trees were gorgeous and covered in Spanish Moss.)

Hooray for lighthouses

lighthouses rock, originally uploaded by jermandjessvess.

I don't know why, but I really like lighthouses. Now, that doesn't mean that I want a collection of five dozen cheesy lighthouse figurines in my house or anything. But I have always wanted to visit the lighthouses up and down the eastern coast of the US, just to say that I've seen them all.

I guess part of my like for lighthouses comes from my enjoyment of the beach. The first lighthouse that I remember seeing was on Cape Hatteras Island on the Outer Banks of NC, where Jeremy spent his high school years. Most likely, the first one I saw was the Bodie Island Lighthouse as you travel south on NC 12. It's kind of small, with a few horizontal white and black stripes.

But as you continue to go further south to the village of Buxton, you see the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. I think its so beautiful. I like the diagonal stripes and the fact that its so tall. You can still climb up to the top, which is fun, and see a great view of the island.

All of my memories of visiting this location involve hanging out with Jeremy. I have pictures of us at this lighthouse even before we started officially dating in college. So, perhaps my "like" of lighthouses really comes from my love for my husband. Somehow they are linked in my mind.

At any rate, I love to travel. And tomorrow we are leaving for Savannah, GA. Jeremy's band, Lords of Salisbury, will be playing a show on Tybee Island. And I just discovered today that there is a lighthouse there. So, what better birthday present for me this Saturday than to see a new lighthouse? Hooray!

(The shot posted above was taken at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton, NC in 2006. We try to go back every year.)

Jilian (aka Monkey)

P1130815.JPG, originally uploaded by jermandjessvess.

Monday I had my first "photo shoot." For two hours, I ran after a four year old girl and took pictures of her. I ended up taking almost 500 shots. It was so fun, but also so tiring - for everyone involved.

Jilian was full of energy. And with that comes short attention spans. She would play one way for only a few minutes, before she would run somewhere else and do something totally different. She was adorable. It made me wish I had a better camera to keep up with every move and facial expression. But I did what I could with what I had.

She also took on so many different faces throughout the day. First she was just a child innocently playing.

Then she became a supermodel, flashing her pearly white teeth and a new pose for every shot.



But by the next frame, her fierce eyes and pouty lips would thrust her into adulthood all too soon.



And suddenly a silly streak took over and she couldn't keep from sticking out her tongue or sporting a pig nose.



Shortly there after, I could see the weariness in her face.



She had given it her all. And she was done for the day.

Her mom helped me weed through the shots, and we got the number down to about 200. They aren't all winners, but they each had something she liked enough not to be willing to toss it in the recycling bin.

(Choosing one shot to post on the blog here was very difficult. But my favorite is the first one. It's definitely not perfect, but something about the peaceful look on her face makes me love it. You can see the rest of the shots on my flickr page. Let me know which ones are your favorites. Now I must learn photoshop.)