I didn’t want to write today, because I was afraid if I did it would be fueled with anger and expletives and I don’t like to be angry in public nor do I like to cuss if I can help it, most of the time I can, I’m a lady after all. We called the movers to check the E.T.A. and found out they did not leave Friday as promised but supposedly left today.  Today?!  We are supposed to see our haul in 3-5 days,  I am irate.  I am having trouble seeing straight. I need my things, my entire studio is on that truck and I desperately need to get back to work. We have no furniture and nothing to do, but drive each other crazy.  I noticed some beautiful light tonight streaming from a window in our empty living room. I have been wanting to practice shooting with black & white conversions in mind and knew this was good light for that.  So I asked my husband to model, “Hon, can you help me take some practice shots? Just sit on the floor there.” His answer?  “How do you want me to pose? Like this?” See image above.  WTH? Who poses with their thumb like that? “No, no, don’t pose, I don’t want you to pose, just be natural.” How does he respond to that? “I don’t know how to be natural.” That’s obvious. I suggest, “Just have a conversation with me.”  “So, what would you like to talk about?,” he asks. You know a conversation is going to be absolutely titillating when it starts with, ‘What would you like to talk about’.

I opted to have him not talk at all and just tried to adjust him accordingly. Moving a very stiff, nearly 200lb. man into a position that would be desirable for flattering catchlights was about as easy as climbing Everest in high heels–impossible. I was about to give up and started to stand in resignation when he looked up and asked if the shoot was over, “Yes it was”, I hissed. He knew I was upset so he smiled in that way that implies he is going to try to be serious now (he never is), right there in that moment I had the light I wanted and the perfect look without the stupid thumb on the chin pose. I think I may stick to still life if this is going to be the only model in town.

We moved into our country house on Thursday afternoon, I could not have been more relieved to be able to call anyplace home. We both have been so tired, angst ridden and have had a general case of the overwhlems. For many months now I have been wanting to photograph a star filled night and have lugged my tripod with us on many an adventure to no avail, there has just been too much light pollution to see the stars.  I had basically given up when on Thursday night after my well water shower (sans water pressure) I heard my husband futzing around on the deck, I came outside to see the tripod set up, camera ready and a request to look up. I did as told and saw so many stars, it was hard to focus because big, fat, salty tears obstructed my vision. My husband, terminally pragmatic never forgets anything, it wasn’t so much him being a romantic as it was him ceasing an opportunity, but in his own quirky way it was terribly thoughtful. I loved the sentiment and reveled in the blanket of lights outside our back door. I haven’t seen stars like this since I went away to camp in the 4th grade. I never saw them in Los Angeles and truth be told, I didn’t expect them here either. I just thought we would need to go some place like a National forest or the desert to be able to see them. I love surprises like this, don’t you? My other surprise was not so happy, the movers left Los Angeles Friday, this last Friday. We have been here a week, which means they won’t be here for another week. We have nothing but what we brought in our suitcases. You never realize what you need that is on the moving truck until you really need it. We had to go out and buy a couple of dishes, can opener, a knife, some utensils, towels, a bed (we didn’t have to do this but I thought I might die if we didn’t), a table and chairs, Tupperware, etc. This move has gotten more expensive each day. I am not allowing myself to freak out, because Lord knows that’s not going to make the moving truck arrive any sooner, if freaking out helped then they would have been here, moved everything in and I’d be set-up already. Sigh. I am going to concentrate on the stars and that I saw two baby bunnies on my front lawn this evening. Two bunnies folks!

P.S. For those that are wondering these were extra long exposures (that’s why the tripod was needed), it was pitch black outside, we don’t even have street lights on our road (yes, road).

I am no moving expert and since this is only my first ‘official’ move cross country (I moved one summer to Boston, but that was more of an extended vacation), I just wanted to throw out some tips I did and some I learned along the way on this cross country move/trek.  I thought I was pretty clever on some of them and some that I forgot to do I had to mentally flog myself, ‘What were you thinking you IDIOT!?!’  I will share those in a different post.  One of the things I did, my husband was adamant that I didn’t do, he thought it was silly and would take up too much space in the car.  I am so glad I didn’t listen to him, because it made a world of difference.  

We found a place!  We are moving to the country this Thursday, yup, that’s right this city girl is going to be living in a house with a septic tank and well water. There’s an authentic turn of the century (late 1800’s) town a few miles away and it’s darling. It’s a nice balance, we are only 21 miles from downtown Raleigh which is the ‘big city’. When I start to hyperventilate because I will be living in the middle of nowhere I remind myself that NYC & Miami are only an hour away via an airplane and that this is what we (okay, what I ) wanted. My wonderful husband is willing to do pretty much anything to make me happy, even if that means moving 2500 miles from our home to a remote town in the South (granted he will complain about it ad naseum), he must be crazier than I am. Since we signed the lease today I have been mentally decorating our country house. I can’t wait to get the Besotted studio set up, I am dying to get back to work and I am feeling mighty inspired about now. This weekend I will shoot around the property and give you a glimpse into my new (very rural) world!

We were lucky enough to be able to stay at a sweet home in the little town of Carborro, North Carolina.  The town has an awesome co-op with locally grown produce and meats (sorry to my vegetarian friends) and is just really cute.  The other day when we were out house hunting we saw roosters (which I mistook for chickens) on a front lawn.  A front lawn?  We are so not in L.A. anymore. We looked in the area but we couldn’t find anything available before July, which is obviously a little too late for us. We came back to the house early evening last night and it started to rain, it’s been unusually warm and even though it was raining it didn’t seem to get cooler. We left the porch door open so we could hear the rain and let in a cool breeze.  I love how we are surrounded by nature everywhere, even the highways are pretty.  We did see a dead wild TURKEY in the middle of the road the other day, I wasn’t sure, it kind of looked like a vulture, it was not the best looking bird I’ve ever seen. Everything is so new and I’m trying to take it all in.  I keep telling myself, ‘the journey is the reward’, but I would really like to find a place and start our new life.  We applied for a little house in the country, a mile walk to the lake.  It’s six miles to ‘civilization’, but feels a 100 miles away. We aren’t sure if we will get it, but the crazy thing is it’s a huge house, with 4 acres of land behind it and  the rent is less than what we were paying for a tiny, cramped, one bedroom (off a very noisy street) in Los Angeles. The couple’s house we are staying at this week pay the same amount of rent for a house (and a darling one at that) as they did a studio apartment in Brooklyn.  It’s all so surreal.  I promise to keep talking your eyeballs off about this little adventure!