stephanie is: hungry...

Last car ride: Carpooling with Danny to work (the doggy daycare/spa)
Last kiss: Last night (human), just a little while ago (canine)
Last sex: Last night.
Last good cry: I cry just watching TV... "Good" cry? Dunno...
Last library book checked out: I don't currently have a card, but before we moved I checked out art books.
Last movie seen: 'Hotel Rwanda' (theater), 'The Terminal' (home).
Last book read: Sci-fi series book.
Last cuss word uttered: "Hell", probably.
Last beverage drank: "Iced Tea" from the soda machine.
Last food consumed: Apple cinnamon bread, veggie chips, grapes, and an apple. STILL HUNGRY!
Last TV show watched: "Today Show" (this morning), "CSI: NY" and "The Dog Whisperer" (last night).
Last time showered: 7:00 am
Last shoes worn: tan mule things
Last item bought: Certified mailing of my passport and Burt's Bees toiletries (yesterday).
Last annoyance: The contractor having to shut off power to my office. I went and blow-dried a couple dogs (standard poodle and bichon) to pass the time.
Last soda drank: Root beer about a month ago. I'm not a carbonation fan.
Last thing written: Site map to website I am redesigning.
Last phone call: Work called me last night after I got home.
Last key used: Mail box key (yeaterday).
Last word spoken: Uh... something about the site map when I handed it to my boss. I have no office-mate so Hours can pass without words.
Last sleep: 6.5 hours last night.
Last IM: This one.
Last ice cream eaten: Probably a soy ice cream sandwich.
Last time amused: My boyfriend, Charlie the Aussie, and his brother smothering me with hugs and kisses.
Last time in love: Currently.
Last time hugged: Last night (human), many times today (canine).
Last time scolded: Probably for not cleaning something right/soon enough at home.
Last time remorseful: Filling in for the dog daycare on Friday and causing someone to loose the best shift.
Last chair sat in: The office chair my butt is in now.
Last lipstick used: Burt's Bees lip balm.
Last underwear worn: *Checks*... Pink cotton VS thing.
Last bra worn: Light pink one.
Last webpage visited: The one I am working on redesigning.

Okay! It is safe to stop scrolling! I must finish packing up and be ready for my carpool (Danny) to arrive.

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: frosty...

Ah.... Simple pleasures! What is one of your simple pleasures?

(pick a photo)

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: sleepy...

good night!

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: cold...

Busy here today... I am working on some web site changes to match the new brochure I just designed. The new brochures should be here soon - I am excited to see them! From 3 - 7pm I am filling in up front for the doggy daycare, since the night shift is short-staffed. I've been carpooling with Danny this week, and Fridays he works until 7 pm. Carpooling has been nice. We've had to compromise on our hours though. He likes to go in early and leave early afternoon. I wouldn't mind that, but I usually have to stay till at least 4 pm because my boss usually meets with me a lot then. So we are doing 8 am - 4 pm. With the HOV lane on the toll road it isn't bad.

So I actually have a couple things planned for the weekend so far. Tonight we will be stopping by our neighbors' party. Tomorrow at 11 am, I'll be going to do some modeling for Michael Woodward and his wife. Saturday night and Sunday - no plans yet. Hopefully just enjoying spending time with my boy.

Oh! The brochures are here!

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: cranking the space heater...

1. jindigar
2. boris
3. briar

Thanks for all the help! I'll be emailing you soon about your choice of prize (a free week or a photo mailed to you.

I'll be keeping track again this month. Pictures with nothing in them will not be counted towards your total, so make sure you look at the image preview before you save your caption.

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: at work...

Well, my biggest news is - we've booked a second honeymoon! In March we are going back to Cancun. I can't wait! I've been needing a vacation. The only unfortunate thing is that I am supposed to get my period the day after we arrive. I am just going to have to mentally will my cycle to be early between now and then. I just don't want the first to days to be during the trip. They are painful and I'd need to stay near a bathroom. Sorry, TMI! But, vacation! Cancun! all-inclusive resort with ocean, pools, good food, and a jacuzzi in the room! Vacation! Can you tell I am excited? I am looking forward to doing tons of site seeing. I am going to try to be brave and go in the water more. I am afraid of being in the ocean. The fish will eat me, yes. I ordered a little bikini... I can never find swim suits for girls with no boobies - though I see them on models So I ordered one that I liked from a catalog and it fits well. I'll have to take a picture. Cancun! Vacation! The vacation kinda falls in a busy time work-wise, so I will be very busy right before and right after the trip, but oh well.

Reason number 23 why my job is cooler than yours: I get to go to doggie birthday parties, take pictures, then make a card to give to the dog's parents at the end of the day!

It snowed here this weekend. The weather forcasters were saying we'd get between 6" - 12", but we only got about 3". Enough that I didn't get to go out and do anything.

I have two photoshoots scheduled. One is coming up on Saturday the 29th with , and the other is on February 26th. I booked them both a while back cause time always goes by too fast and I don't get a chance to spend time with my photographer friends since we all get so busy. I really love the creative collaboration of modeling. I don't like that Danny doesn't care for it and it takes from my weekend time from him... Most days it seems like I get home, we eat dinner, then go up to bed. (Seems that way because thats the way it is.) But I will have Danny all to myself for just under a week in Cancun soon... The shoot this coming Saturday is with Michael Woodward. I will also pose for some slides taken by his wife for her photography class project. I don't get to see them nearly enough, so I am looking forward to it!

There was more I was going to say, but I'll just have to think of it and write again later.

P.S. - I am hungry. Send food.

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: frosty...

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stephanie is: okay...

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: cold...

~click~

I got it in my head that I just HAD to have metal initials to set on my desk - ones that spelled out the initials of where I work. After much searching online, I discovered that the Pottery Barn ones were no longer available (and probably too big). I found some listed in the UK but they were insanely priced. Then, during a trip to Target I found exactly what I wanted for $6 each! I had to go to another location to find the "D", but I am happy. I put the up on my hutch, angled so you see them when you walk into the room.

~click~

On Christmas, my dad gave me his old computer, so once I had that set up at home, I brought my slower one (another of his hand-me-downs - It helps to have a mac-loving, rocket scientist dad who is addicted to having the latest, fastest machines) in to work. My new division is a start-up and not looking to drop a large chunk of money on a graphics machine for me until it has to. At home I had been using 2 17" LCD displays. I brought the better one in to work, and gave the other to Danny for his servers. He'll save some desk space with it. At home I'll be using the huge Apple display my dad gave me. BIG. I am not really used to being on one screen though. I'll have to get used to hiding windows, as I don't like a cluttered work space. Before I kept the clutter off to the side on the second monitor. I'll have to take a picture of my home desk soon. I just cleaned it up so i is a good time to update the house tour on my site.

on the subject of
my site, I have one of the member cams set up on my desk, so "work cam" has returned. Our internet is a little slow and flakey (satellite) but I will run it when my connection is strong enough. We often have doggy guests back here in he office, so you might get to meet some of my "friends".

I never got my christmas cards addressed. I suck. December was so freaking busy for me. Seriously. And being hat it is a week into January, I guess I should just save he cards for next year. To those of you who sent me cards - I saved all your addressed from the envelopes and you will be the firs cards I address next time. Yes, I suck. You may come over and kick me.

I want to do a picture-a-day gallery this year. I need to write up the gallery before I can start adding the pictures in... It might be a good way to display "request photos" (like the photo ideas I asked for earlier).

So... How are YOU?

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: sleepy...

i just have a free account right now. they emailed me the other day that they were reducing free accounts down to only 5 pictures instead of 21. i'm fine with just rotating the pictures for now. i went in and deleted them all and put 5 new ones up. while their methods (or lack-there-of) of choosing picture for the showcases are pretty random, i was still excited.

the picture is a self-portrait. i've been working hard lately to do as little retouching as possible, and my last several sets have been the results of me really trying to get the lighting and angles just right so i don't have horrible under-eye circles and stuff. i have a lot more ideas to try, but there's the whole time/space/materials thing... i'll get to them. must obey the creative urges.

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: a little disturbed...

but one scene really disturbed me. enough that i looked a way and said aloud: "those poor horses!" enough to make the lady two seats down say 'oh god!' and get up and leave (i saw her stirring at the same time i looked away from the screen, unable to watch, but i didn't know she left till danny told me as we left).

the scene is a fight on horseback, and the horses are repeatedly tripped into painful-looking summersaults and flung to the ground. please tell me they can do that without hurting them? i bet they can't... apparently in the uk they cut that part out.

it was a lovely movie, but that really saddened me and kinda tarnished it for me. i guess there aren't laws about how you can treat animals in movies in asia?

bleh...

take a poll

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: tired...

this post shall be about the poo dog's tail, work next week, and our christmas presents.

india has always had bad allergies. she has gotten so itchy in the past that she had bald spots for months from chewing the hair off. i got them to go away once she was put on benadryl. the week before our holiday party we tried out a liquid supplement that helps with skin allergies. so she was just on that foe a few days and not on her benadryl. she started to have a bald patch on her thigh and her tail tip so i put her back on it.

during the party i noticed the bald spot on her tail looked a little raw. she beats her tail hard into the walls when she wags it and without any fur padding the end, it was getting sore. the next day i went out to a morning movie with our out of town guest while danny was out dealing with car stuff. when we got back, i noticed blood streaks on my jeans and the wall. her tail was bleeding. so i called up the vet and they fit me in right away for a bandaging.

i didn't like the vet we saw. i'd been to most of the vets at the practice except for her. i just didn't get good vibes from her. but anyway... they took poo bear back and shaved her tail a few inches.they wrapped it in cotton and used a large syringe cover as a splint. (see photo here.) they started her on anti-inflamatories and antibiotics. her tail made super loud noises when she wagged it and it hurt if she caught your leg with it!

the next day, when we got home from work, we found that she had busted it open. (see photo here.) it probably happened when the delivery truck dropped off a package. so it was back to the vet for a re-bandaging. this time i got my normal vet. he put a smaller tube on it and covered it in vet wrap bandaging to protect it from shattering against the wall.

the next day i was working in the office of the doggy daycare. my boss kindly let me bring her in so i could keep her calm. she was very happy to be near me all day, though she was getting grumpy by the time we went home since her meds had worn off.(see photo here.)

that was tuesday. wednesday she made it through the day at home without bothering it, though i caught her chewing at the tape several times when i got home. thursday she had a 3 pm appointment to have it taken off. there was terrible traffic when i got off work and it was pouring really hard. i got a text message from danny that she had taken the bandage off herself sometime during the day. figures. i called the vet. i told them there was some fresh dried blood and asked if it needed to be looked at. they said as long as it didn't seem infected that it would be fine. so we left it alone.

fast forward to today. we were gone for a while as i am dog sitting for my boss and we went to see my family in maryland for the afternoon/evening. we had stuff to carry in from the car so they dogs were at the top of the stairs wagging their tails while they waited. danny went up in the dark and let them through the gate, and i let them out back to potty. when i came back upstairs the lights were on and i saw a fresh bloody massacre on the wall. (see photo here.) i looked at her tail and it was soaked in blood. she had blood on her side as well - from her tail spraying it. i dug up what i could from our first aide supplies. i wrapped it in gauze, then a nice layer of ace bandaging for padding, and plenty of tape. (see photo here.) it is thin tape that doesn't stick well to hair, but we are not going to an emergency vet on christmas just for bandaging.

so, now we are basically back to where we started a week ago with her tail all busted open. *sigh* poor poo dog. but she got lots of presents from mommy and daddy that she loves. she also got a great rope toy sent to her. she says thank you!

tomorrow i have to fill in at work for a while. there are many dogs getting picked up from their christmas boarding. before and after that i have to take care of my boss' dogs. (see photo here.). i really don't want to work, but oh well. i have tons i want to get done, but it will have to wait. i am filling in at the daycare on monday and thursday next week from 6am - 2pm. hopefully after everyone is back from vacation i can start my new position full-time in the office. they have ordered me a desk! in a month or so the supply room will be moved out of my space as well.

we opened our presents last night (since we needed to go take care of doggies first thing christmas morning).

danny spoiled me. i got: a new sewing machine, a spa day (massage, manicure, and pedicure - i've never had a massage or pedicure before and i am a little scared because a stranger will be touching me. but i'm sure it will be so nice...), a comfy sweater, silly christmas lingerie, a dog book (from china), a dog calendar (from india), bath salts, perfume, and some little lotions.

i got danny: a nice krupps coffee grinder, cargo pants, pajama pants (from china), 4 shirts, socks, a rotti "the dog" calendar (from india), a nice double-sided silver dog photo frame with a pull out album (from the girls - with pictures of them, of course), see's lollipops, and a nerf gun/pen. woo!

okay. i am going to make some popcorn, watch "white christmas" in bed, and then sleep so i can go to dog-sitting and work tomorrow.

merry christmas!

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: groggy...

so i had my end-of-year review at work today. i was officially offered a full-time position as web/graphic designer with a decent salary. it has been a long time since i've been on salary! and in another couple months when i no longer have my "office" in the store room, things will be even better!

chirstmas cards... i am sending them to anyone who sends me one, pretty much. it is easy that way - just copy the return address onto the envelope. if you need my address, it is: Stephanie Segall, 11654 Plaza America DR #239, Reston, VA 20190

so, i have a proposal to all you members of stvlive (or potential members)... i have a problem. working full time (and often more that full time after all my projects are added together) it is extremely difficult to go through all the archived cam images to choose pictures for the gallery. i haven't gotten ANY galleries up for this year because i am STILL going through about 500,000 images. i've made it to august on most of the machines and november on one of them... but it takes a really long time to look through each folder of about 75,000 cam pics to find the "interesting" ones.

how can you help? i'd like to have the members start capturing more of the images. in return i will get a free month of access to the 3 members that capture the most images per month. i may increase that number after the test period if needed. at the moment you'd need to enter your username in when you capture a picture, but tomorrow i will change the script to record it automatically. capturing a bunch of pictures of an empty chair won't count. i know i'm often not on camera right now, but i will be checking that the pictures were worth saving (and yes, cute puppy pictures are worth saving!).

this site is a big scrapbook of my life to me. until i started saving pictures from my cams, i had a horrible memory. now i can look at a picture and remember what happened that day. it makes me sad to think of not having that simply because life has become so crazy. i want to be able to spend a lot of time on all the hi res photos without the daily life galleries being forgotten.

any comments on this idea are welcome. basically you'd be "earning your keep" at my site. you could potentially pay for one month and then never have to pay again...

oh, well. to bed i go!

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: hungry...

here are photos of it in progress and all finished. india told me she will not be wearing a hat. she isn't too fond of them...

so, if there are local friend-type people who'd like to come to our party on the 17th but didn't get an invitation, please let me know your email address so i can send you one. thanks!

dang, why am i always hungry before bedtime?

The Santa Poo Poll!

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stephanie is: sleepy...

the christmas gallery is up, as some of you members may have noticed. this is one of my favorites (not work appropriate). please leave comments if you have any (there is a link on each image page in the gallery).

i have had several people ask me if they can still join my site via p@yp@l if they just don't say why they are sending me money. sorry! they cancelled my account. and i'd boycott them even if they gave it back. really, the easiest way to join at the moment is by doing one of those amazon email gift cards in whatever amount corresponds with the membership length you want. it is not ideal since it doesn't directly pay for the site (as cash does), but amazon and just about freaking everything so i can use the gift cards and put the money i save towards the site. confused yet? i am...

okay okay i must go to bed!

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: sleepy...

today i took some holiday cheeseball pin up photos before i got ready to meet a friend. i am all about the holidays this year.i'd wanted to do a themed shoot. garlands and a santa hat, woo! i've sorted through all the pictures, but i won't have time to make the gallery until tomorrow night. here is a tiny view of three of them... nothing important shows in any of the shots, but i am not going to link to bigger ones since they are not work safe regardless. sorry if you think the pics are lame or smutty... i had fun taking them, and as long as no one can see anything i'm uncomfortable showing, i enjoy sharing. *hums 'jingle bells'...*

good night, sleep tight. ima go read myself to sleep.

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: busy...

Well, today I was trying to sift photos from a big folder into categories for my gallery when I came across the other 4 parts of the summer shoot. It was a nice surprise! I had forgotten how many wonderful pictures he took.

I've just posted part two. I'll try to get to the other 3 sections with less of a delay. I just need to photoshop out zits and under-eye circles, then crop/resize/thumbnail them. Here are two samples:

I hope to do some modeling/photography this month. I have plans for some self-shoots once I get well into my hair rebraiding (I just can't get into it when my hair feels like a rat's nest.) And, hopefully Kollin and I can pick a date for a shoot.

Oh, hey! Capitalization! Sometimes I get tired of remembering to type all lowercase here (simply for the sake of consistency.) So there!

So in the physical-woes-and-complaints department, I have a wretched back ache. Fess up, who has the voodoo doll.

My party invite is done with the exception of some missing email addresses.

I will be making Holiday cards to mail out in the near future. If you would like one, please send me your mailing address. I would very much like cards from others - I know I've missed filling my address into others' address-request posts, so here it is (though real-life friends may email me for my home address if you want that instead):

Stephanie Segall, 11654 Plaza America DR #239, Reston, Virginia, 20190

Enjoy your long weekends. If you don't hear from me, then boredom drove me to attempt shopping and the mall ate me alive...

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: sleepy...

i had set my alarm for 8 am but we woke up before then. i stayed in bed until 8:30 watching some of the today show, though. our goal was to clean and cook for our thanksgiving feast early evening.

i got all our donation items moved into the living room downstairs (a lot were in the foyer and there was a huge dresser we had to carry down the stairs. once the foyer was clear i swept and mopped it. danny vacuumed and steam cleaned the bottom two levels, and i cleaned banisters and the powder room, then got boxes i had packed for storage put away. the girls got their baths around 11 am. they were stinky and china was in need of a "butt cut". i showered after i was done since i get all covered in clipped dog hair. we stopped for sandwiches with danny's old friend lgdizko. afterwards, danny worked on prepping a lot of his dishes (like delicious sweet potatoes and green bean casserole). i swept and mopped the kitchen and got the table set for dinner. i used my first ever table cloth! how adult! i was ahead of schedule on my cleaning by that point, so i did some more holiday decorating. i got the rest of the banister decorated with pine garland, put up my little xmas window paintings, and decorated the french doors (the outside part).

right around 4 pm, our other guests, magnetic99 and his lovely wife, arrived. they brought us beautiful flowers and several dishes for our feast.

hopefully, everyone had a good time, especially since magnetic99 and his wife had not met anyone there but me yet. i think they are great people and they make conversations fun and interesting. so nice to actually get to *talk* to friends instead of shouting and nodding in a loud club!

magnetic99 took a lot of pictures that i am looking forward to stealing. i only took these 4...

danny and lgdizko are busy playing video games together now. i am thinking it might be a nice night to pop some popcorn and watch a netflix in bed. i am too scared to go to any of the holiday sales tomorrow. i think i'll stay in to braid my hair and do computer work. i might venture out for my first present shopping of the season on saturday. four-day weekend! woo!

i hope everyone had as nice a thanksgiving as i did!

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: at work...

i hope that that will work out for people. anyone who is trying to come visit - please come anyway! even if your dates don't match up with the party... we miss all our dear out-of-state friends. i am finishing the evite within a week. please email me your address to me so i can invite you (stephanie at stvlive dot com).

i am looking forward to thanksgiving! old friends, new friends, way too much food! i need to get a bunch of different candies to test on my practice gingerbread house. we are going to perfect our techniques and figure out what candy works.

i shall have a wonderful holiday season, even if it is just danny, me and the dogs sitting around the christmas tree... i am sure the girls would be willing to help with any extra gingerbread.

(add your thoughts)

stephanie is: in pain...

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