Camping Anyone??

At a birthday dinner last Friday night I had a few too many scoops of wine. No surprise there, right? When it comes to a yummy wine, Shinks has NO off-switch and trust me, I have spent many a night searching for said switch, thinking and truly believing that it lies somewhere at the bottom of my next glass, but it never is and yet again I walk away the loser. Off-switch nowhere to be found, Shinks intoxicated.

Friday night was no different. We were at a fabulous restaurant, with some fabulous friends having a fabulous time and the wine was flowing. And since it was a party, I went with the flow. Fast forward a couple of hours and Shinks is buzzing. Husband now has his hands full as I’m not the easiest to control once my brain becomes fermented. But luckily for him, I was pretty tired this night so it wasn’t long before the buzz wore off and all I was ready to do was sleep.

Once back in the house I made a big effort to sit and converse, but me thoughts were a mess and I could not get my brain and my mouth to sync up, as a result, very random statements and bits of useless information just spewed endlessly from my foggy brain. Eventually I just gave up. The fatigue got me and I knew it was time to retire myself to bed.

Once in my bedroom I looked down on the floor and had a thought. “Damn that floor looks comfortable. I think I’ll just grab my duvet and pillow and set it up right here by the bathroom door. Yes, that’s definitely the best spot in the whole room”. I ran the idea past my cat, Fintan and he agreed. So we put the plan into action. Duvet was pulled from the closet, spread out on the floor, a pillow was added for extra comfort and kitty and I were set. Life was good.

However, a while later I’m woken by Husband. I can hear his voice and eventually his face comes into vision, but I don’t know what he’s saying. I’m confused. I can’t even remember where I am. He keeps saying something but its no good, I don’t understand so I try to block him out and get back to my blissful sleep, but he’s relentless. He gives me another shake and begins to repeat himself. This time however, I understand. His words are making sense, “Shinks, what are you doing on the floor? Why aren’t you in the bed?” I brush off his question and once again, make an attempt to go back to sleep. For some reason I think he’s being difficult, cos in my mind, its obvious why I’m on the floor. But he won’t be silenced, “Shinks what are you doing on the floor?” Ok, now I’m irritated, he’s not giving up, he really wants an answer, so I give it to him, “I’m camping”, I tell him with a tone that’s screaming “Duh, can’t you tell”.

Honestly, to me, in the moment, it was perfectly logical. As far as I was concerned, he was the idiot, not me. Go figure the logic of a person with a few too many scoops on board.

Babies, Babies and Oh Yeah, Babies

I realize not everyone is a baby person, and for the most part, Husband and I are not either. We're still pretty attached to our independence, freedom and the general spontaneous disorder life throws our way, regularly. But for some reason, when it comes to our nephews, we morph into different animals completely. Blabbing, gushing and bragging, as well as gooing and gaaing and honestly, if I were on the outside looking in, I would be nauseous watching us too. But if all our silly faces, noises and expressions result in acknowledgement by way of a smile, kick or wave, then its absolutely worth it.

And right now, I am finally in Ireland to meet my newest nephew. It's been 2 long weeks, but I'm here and I can't get enough of him. I've basically set up camp at Edward and Sarah's (brother and sister-in-law) so I can absorb as much of the little guy as is humanly possible to do in the space of 3 and half days. And lucky for all of you out there, I brought along my trusted camera, so I can capture this tiny packet of pure cuteness.

The camera was put to a couple of hours work today and below is the link to tons of Evan photos.

http://kshinkins.smugmug.com/gallery/7670831_7Nb9W/1/495251603_BTgxC 

I promise all my blogs are not going to be baby centered, I'm just so pumped to finally get my hands on the little guy, so bare with me for the fews days I'm here. I promise I'll be back to my usual bitchy self after Sunday.

Welcome Baby Shinkins

Today at approximately 1.37pm Irish time. Weighing in at 7lbs 12oz, little Evan Thomas Shinkins made his début into the world.

His arrival has sent the whole family into a tailspin. He is the first everything, child, nephew and grandchild and I have been a complete ball of emotion and joy since my brother called to share the news of his arrival. I already knew I was going to like him, a lot, even though I had yet to see a picture of the wee thing. Now that I’ve seen some photos, forget it, I’m head over heels. I cannot wait to get over to Ireland and get my hands on the little fella. Unfortunately, I have to wait 2 weeks before I can make the trip to see him and let me tell you, never has 2 weeks felt like such a lifetime. I’m afraid he’ll be graduating college by the time I get there.

Anyway, “Congratulations Edward and Sarah”, he is PERFECT and ADORABLE and EDIBLE and CUTE and oh yeah, MINE.

See you all soon.

My brother and his new son.

Evan Thomas Shinkins

Dominic & Gianne Engagement

Recently a friend of mine, Dominic, who I’ve known for most of my track career cos he’s a kick-ass sprinter from Bahamas, with a very sizeable collection of medals and records to his credit, called me to share the news that he was now engaged. “Yeah, Congratulations”. But another reason he called was to ask if I would take his Engagement Photos. This request was totally unexpected. Apparently Dominic remembered that I had been taking some photography classes, so once he had popped the question to his then girlfriend, now fiancée, Gianne, they thought of ME.

I was so completely honored; yet terrified by the request. Up to this point the most experience I had photographing living things was harassing my poor kitty, Fintan, and a couple’s engagement memories, well they’re a little bit more important than chasing Fintan around the garden like some sort of crazed paparazzi. But I was excited and flattered by the fact that both Dominic and Gianne trusted me enough to take this risk and if they were willing, then I was willing.

Historical Marietta Square was chosen as the place we would shoot the photos. It’s a beautiful old railroad town with tons of character, perfect, and last Sunday we hit the Square to capture some loving memories.

I had never met Gianne before the day of the shoot, but as soon as she arrived, I was bowled over by how stunning she was. This girl belongs on the pages of a magazine. She couldn’t take a bad picture if her life depended on it. But more than that, she was just so sweet, warm and friendly, I could see instantly why Dominic had fallen for her. That and she showed up wearing some killer boots, a woman after my own heart.

We got into the shoot pretty much straight away and had a blast capturing plenty of romantic shots, serious shots and just some fun shots and even though it was cold and more windy than we would have liked, the sun managed to stay shining, so we were able to tough it out for a couple of hours.

I created a link to a slideshow, so you can check out the results of my first ever photo session. Just click below.

http://www.kshinkins.smugmug.com/gallery/7477627_CBVJf

And lastly, Congrats to Dominic for putting a ring on it and a BIG THANK YOU to you both for taking a risk and giving me the opportunity to flex my photographic muscles.