I’ve always been interested in arts and crafts. Some of my favorite Christmas gifts were art sets. I think that I have always felt the need to create. Sometimes that need has produced beautiful things, other times I fail dismally (don’t even ask to see my ‘oil paintings’). I could easily fill a Pinterest fail blog with things, if I had the guts to photograph and post my fails. But when I succeed it’s a glorious thing and keeps me motivated to keep trying and learning new things.

As for photography, I got my first camera when I was 6. It was a little hot pink Kodak. I loved it. Since then every few years I got a new camera for Christmas. In 2003 I got my first digital camera. Then in 2008 I finally got a DSLR. I’ve been fairly obsessed with taking pictures since. In 2009 I did a photo-a-day project while my husband was deployed. I don’t take daily photos so much anymore, but I do try to continually improve and grow as an artist.

 

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Top 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Need to Know About Me (in no particular order)

1. I hate ants. They freak me out. Not just red ants, or those huge carpenter ants, but any and all ants.
2. I love music. Not just in an ‘I like to listen to music’ kind of way, but in an ‘I planned on going to graduate school to study ethnomusicology’ kind of way. I have a list of about a hundred instruments I want to learn to play, and have gotten to about 10 of them (6 of which I currently own)
3. I like PEZ candy. I have a collection of all the PEZ dispensers I’ve gotten since I was 12. Pez was the only nickname I allowed in high school. Which brings me to my next thing >
4. I dislike nicknames for my name. I am Desiree, not Desi, or Des, or even Ray. My parents get away with the occasional use of Des, only because they gave me life. And my best friend still calls me Pez, because 18 year old habits are hard to break.
5. I love watching British comedies. I could probably quote Monty Python sketches for you. Not many American sitcoms make me laugh out loud, but lots of British shows do. I have an odd sense of humor.
6. I want to be a cartoon when I grow up. At least, I want to do voices for a cartoon. I currently have a couple cousins who work at Disney, maybe someday they can get me some connections.
7.  I like using big/fancy/fun/old-fashioned words. I have been known to say things like “Gadzooks!” when surprised, and describe pretty things as pulchritudinous. I loved when my oldest was 2 and used the word ‘perhaps’ instead of ‘maybe’. I think it’s fun to change up the words we use in everyday speech.
8. I love to travel with my kids. Not every traveler enjoys doing so with small children, but I do. We took all 4 kids ‘backpacking’ in Europe for 3 weeks when they were 2-10 years old. I love road trips, and know lots of car games to play with the kids. I think travel with kids is awesome.
9. I firmly believe that while you have to grow older, you don’t have to grow up. I think I connect well with kids because I am still childish/childlike in many ways. And yes, I still laugh at fart jokes like an 8 year old.
10. And last, I am a list-maker. I love writing out lists on paper much better than typing them (yes, even this list was done on paper first). I like planning things and organizing things in lists. And I do it almost every day.