Mmmmm--Indian food for dinner tonight. It was delicious! And that was on top of sushi for lunch. How lucky am I? I'm craving more of that cooked salmon-wrapped sushi I had today, too. Man, was it good! I just may need to grab some tomorrow. ::g::

Joey and I went shopping for a dress to wear to her baptism next month and for Christmas. We got it at Nordstrom. Call me a crass consumer but I love Nordstrom. The dress has a black velvet empire-waist bodice with a slightly scooped back and the skirt is cream-colored netting, several layers that are jaggedy at the bottom (in a pretty way, of course). It has a pretty rose at the waist with long strings of ribbon hanging down the skirt and on the ribbon, little silk rose petals have been attached randomly all the way down. It's very pretty.

I bought myself a kewl winter hat tonight, too. It's black faux fur and has a rolled brim (sorta) and an oversized crown. It looks great on my head. I also got a black very soft scarf and some lime green chenille gloves. I have some wonderful chenille leopard-print gloves that I usually wear but I like to have variety in my glovage and since I got 20% off the scarf and gloves and 25% off the hat, plus an additional 20% off everything, it was all very reasonable. The green gloves were only about $7. I like that. Joey got a pink fleece hat, too. She looks so cute in hats. She wore it all over the mall after I paid for it. I wore my hat, too. We're mother and daughter nerds alright.

Amy gave me 3 picture frames for my birthday today. She figured that with all the pictures I was taking that I would probably need some frames and she was right. I love them--they're all black or silver toned so they'll look good with B&W prints in them. She always puts so much thought into the gifts she buys.

I love the pictures I developed today. They're more of my studio session with Joey. She's got very dark hair cut into a darling chin-length bob and I dressed her in a black turtle neck and put her in front of a black velvet background. Then I darkened the whole studio except for one very dim ambient light and one brightish, diffuse light set to her right, down low. It made for great lighting. You'd think with all that black on black there would be no definition, but her hair is very shiny and reflected the light well and the light played with the folds of her loose shirt creating nice areas of light and shadow. And the right side of her face is nicely lit with the left side more grey, but not too grey. I love them--they really turned out nice. She's a very good model. She can do a nice, natural, close lipped small smile that looks perfect--not contrived like kids often do. She also has nice, pouty lips that will drive the boys absolutely wild in a few years (well, hopefully more than a few...) and they photograph very nicely, even when she has no smile on her face. She takes direction pretty well, too, when I say "turn this way, tilt your head that way, relax your shoulders." She loves being photographed, too, which helps, I'm sure.

That about sums up my day--class/printmaking, lunch at sushi place, mall, Indian food... oh yeah, therapy. I can see that we're almost done with that. We're at 3 week intervals now. I can't say enough about what therapy has done for our family. And I know she's always available if we need her again. She'll never be fearless. She'll always be cautious and careful. But she's not ruled by her fears anymore and for that I am eternal grateful.

And now it is time in Lobotomy Land when we eat leftover sushi. Ciao! (Or is that chow?)

--L