Before.

There will be After pictures shortly following.

the two best pairs of shoes.

nothing says comfort and ease like some high top converse and docksides. : ) My docksides are still rather uncomfortable. We are working diligently on that though.

The Winter Retreat

I went to a winter retreat in Greene, NY yesterday. It was quite fun. A few mishaps, but other than that...fun. Ben sprained his ankle as you can see in the picture, during a brutal and violent b-ball game, the same game in which I took a rather nasty fall on my head. A couple of people wiped out on their tubes. These pictures are the only pictures I took the entire weekend. I did not have my camera. I have no money to buy film.

I got the pom juice jon.. : )

Sumner Studios

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am that my dear friends, Les and Patti, finally have their website up and working! When I first purchased my canon over a year ago, Les and Patti showed up at the Landmark Inn. They have been the Inn's photographers for a long time, as well as the photographers for the Inn that I work at. Patti sat down with me and showed me pretty much everything there is to know about photoraphy. Lighting is everything. If the day isn't good, we don't shoot. So from that first meeting, they have sort of taken me under their wing, and I have become Les' assitant. Haha, but he lugs the heavy equipment while I chat with Patti about techniques. It's great fun. : ) They are extremely talented, and Patti has her own jewelry shop in NYC. She sent me a pair of the gorgeous note earrings that you can see on the site. Les is more into the marketing aspect of everything. Pattie is more for composition. But, enjoy the site.
Also, enjoy the snapshot of the camera card I made for them...
on the inside it says "I call it; 'Photography; as taught by Pattie and Les' ".

wwww.sumnerstudios.com

while we're on the subject of horses...

(just so you know, we'll probablly never get off this subject) while I was looking through some photos tonight, I found my all-time favorite horse related one. I really can't describe what draws me into this photo, but there is definetly something.

oh yeah...

A very good and true quote. Even though it is a little sappy. : ) You don't have to read it.

But we horse lovers know...this is the good stuff.

"Somewhere between the rider you've become, the hours of falling off and clinging to the saddle, somewhere between the "good boy's" and the tears of disapointment, somewhere between figuring out that canter serpentine and having your horse stay on the rail, somewhere between the endless tail washings and ear trimmings, somewhere between seeing the horse that won the world championship, and realizing that the horse you have now has just as much heart and grace, somewhere between oogling over saddle and bridle magazines and ordering new tack, somewhere between the rearing, the bucking, the spinning in circles, somewhere between the rides outside, down an old country road, and the rides in the show ring, somewhere between the hugs and kisses you've poured over your horse, somewhere between the rides where you've JUST stayed in the saddle, and the rides where you've been SO thankful for dirt, somewhere between the stall cleaning and the sawdust lugging, somewhere between the yelling from your intructor to 'get up there!' and the cheers from friday night atendees, somewhere between figuring out that you CAN grab a whip being handed to you while NOT stopping, somewhere between the nuzzles and whickers from your horse...
is a little girl who fell in love with Morgans and never looked back for a second."

debit cards, checks, what will be next?

My checks are set to arrive sometime next week.

An Addition

In effort not to cause a scene, I have agreed to post one more "quote". This is, of course in honor of my one year anniversary, though it has absolutely NOTHING to do with my one year anniversary. *sigh* Well, senority rules.

"Esther's room is messy."
-William Negron
Guitar and vocals for the infamous band: Chasing More Than Wind.

twoskateshoes: my mom said your room is messy in that pic
twoskateshoes: your mom said so and so did my mom and so did I.
twoskateshoes: that's more witnesses then are needed to put you in prison



raw.

I am also determined to get my room to the point where my mother, and the majority of the public thinks it is "clean". I am not saying my mother alone, because it will take a lot for it to get THAT clean. : ) I love you mother. : )
As Nate said last night; "Esther, can you please have your room so that it's not uncomfortable for the public to enter it?"

My First Anniversary!

Please join me in celebrating my first anniversary as a blogger! Yes!
Today is the day. One year ago, I made the leap. "And became one of them. A blogger."
I just want to give a great big thank you to all who have made this possible.
To Micah, for his faith in me, and never giving up, even though I am positive I was annoying to work with.
To Nate for his continous provision of comic materials to base some of these stories on.
I'd like to thank my family for their support and their willingness to work with me, I love you all! When I have felt I could not write anything, you all have inspired me to write, and to keep on writing. Thank you.
Whether your comments and advice have been in a vindictive spirit, a loving spirit, or even if they have a bad motive, this is all forgiven. We're going to start a fresh year in blogging, a new year is ahead. With many new and exciting possibilites.
I have greatly enjoyed blogging, and I hope that you have enjoyed reading what I have blogged.
Here's what some people are saying about "My World".


"Esther, I love your blog!"
-Abigail Crosby
Director of the Playwriters Association


"Deliciously scandalous! A clever blend of whit, and too much family information."
-Nathan Ellis
Assistant Innkeeper, Landmark Inn
President and Founder of Un-named Caretaking Buisness


"Every post is a literary delight to read!"
J. Caleb Greene
President and Founder of Greenefilm Studios


"I check your blog a couple times a day during my random blog-checking time. Yup."
-Cory Godbey
President of Paper Handling Services
Portland Studios


"Your blog is like a treasure hunt; There is always something fabulous hidden in each post."
-Elizabeth Tissiere
President of The University of Leaps


"Your blog is very bloggy."
-Gabriella, That Person Over There



I owe it all to you guys, and so many more for the success of this blog. I thank you all for everything and hope to have many more happy years in blogging.

<3
E.G.E.

welcome to my corner of the world.

a.k.a. "The Cave"

The picture on the top left is Abby and I, the one underneath it is me and Joel Ransom, on a very cool plaid couch. When I was very little, my parents and their best friends, the Ransoms, lived very close to each other, so we always got together. I think Joel and I were born a day apart, but I have other pictures where we are little babies, and chewing on each others feet. Yup. That is not so embarassing a memory, but the REALLY embarassing thing, is when you meet up with them in later years, (I haven't seen that family for...8 years at least) So you meet up with them, and your parents begin to share memories...ehh. Ruth will remember...I think that she and Ben Ransom actually got married. LOL. Joel and I didn't go that far in our relationship.
The one on the very bottom left, is my sister Ruth. So adorable. This was shortly after her wedding... :-D

my corner. this is where most of my posts are published. right now the rain is drumming and providing a lovely soundtrack. : )

my sewing station.

Some books that I am working on reading.

is this what it's all about?

"For that which I do I allow not:
For what I would, that do I not;
But what I hate, that do I."
Romans 7:15

I have been reading "Why Revival Tarries" by Leonard Ravenhill.
I am starting chapter 4 now, and there have been a couple things that I don't think I agree with. But I have also been cringing from guilt and realization of how incredibly WEAK and VILE my prayer life is. I think I already knew that, but some of this just plunges in deeper. It is more directed at Preachers, but there is much to glean from it.

"The secret of praying is praying in secret. A sinning man will stop praying, and a praying man will stop sinning. We are beggard and bankrupt, but not broken, nor even bent.
Prayer is profoundly simple and simply profound. "Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try," and yet so sublime that it outranges all speech and exhausts man's vocabulary. A Niagra of burning words does not mean that God is either impressed or moved. One of the most profound of Old Testament intercessors ha no language-"Her lips moved, but her voice was not heard." "

"..somewhere he has had Jacob-like wrestlings with God and has come out stripped, but also "strengthened by the Holy Ghost!"

"To add to your burden and mine, there are fifteen million Jews; three hundred and fifteen million Muslims; one hundred and seventy million Buddhists; three hundred and fifty million Confucianists and Taoists; two hundred and fifty-five million Hindus; ninety million Shintoists; and millions of others...Even church-conscious America has twenty-seven million youth under twenty-one who recieve no Christian training, and ten thousand villages that do not have a church building. Almost a million persons in the world die each week without Christ. Is this nothing to you?"


And the exerpt that hit me the hardest:

"...few of us can remember the last time we missed our bed for a night of waiting upon God...

So many times I wake up in the middle of the night, or so many times I find myself not being able to go to sleep, and it greives me on how much time I have wasted TRYING to fall asleep, and not falling on my knees before the Holy God of heaven and earth, and pleading with Him to save lost loved ones! Begging Him to awaken my spirit and send burnings that will set my heart on fire!

As Paul Washer says "People ask me what they can do to pray without ceasing...so I tell them 'Thats not the battle you have to fight, the battle you have to fight is with independence...once that is done, thats all you'll do...'"

Happy Tuesday

Here is another partial family picture. The difference between this one and the ones I posted a long time ago, is that this one was taken with MY camera. Not my parents digital.

I Thank You

This is a poem I wrote a couple years ago. I sent it to Micah with a picture of us kids dressed up in biblical costumes. I, of course, was dressed up as Esther, Ruth was dressed up as....Ruth, Jon was in some plastic armor, Nate was Joseph the Carpenter, and Micah....hmmm. Well, Micah was a Pirate. So Micah framed and matted it, and did some nice things to it. As well as giving it a title. Then we wrapped it up and gave to Dad and Mother for Christmas. It's hanging in our living room now.



I wasn't the perfect child
I had the tendency to be a bit wild
To the one's who raised me,
I commend your bravery
And I thank you with all of my heart.

To the whines; "That isn't fair!"
I'm sure you both pulled a few hairs
For that I regret, But please don't fret
I've come a long ways since then.

With the Bible as your base
You have shown me nothing but Grace
You have taught me how to live,
To love, learn, give.

The trials that are now mem'ries in my head
Have shaped me for the ones up ahead
Your faithfulness to God
The One who gives and takes
Is something I can only hope to imitate.
From the bottom of my heart,

I thank you.


-E.G.E.

Jon Boy

This is a picture of Jon and me. Jon has recently started a blog, or I should say, his sister started it for him. : ) Check it out.
I know that once he gets going his blog will become extremely popular. The link I added for his blog doesn't work. I am going to fix it later.

one completely awesome family.

They basically got creamed. : )

We Rock at Rook. Jon or Nate may protest to this, but yeah. The girls won. We came back from a humbleing loss the night before, and a not too good start in this episode. It was our last family game before everyone left. Looks like the only thing the guys are good for is chopping snowman's heads off. Have fun with that... *gives a very very satisfied and evil grin*

a red mitten, awesome shoes, flowers.

A random Christmas morning picture, and Micah's hairy feet.

Do you recognize that smell?

OK, I asked Ruth for a good title for my post, and she said the above. As well as; "You're all losers except for me. I'm a winner."

Well I got home from work today, and I geuss mom requested Nate and Jon to take down our Christmas tree. So we were pulling up our driveway and mom says; "I really hope that Nate and Jon took down our Christmas tree."
Lo and behold there in the middle of the lawn, supported by heaps of snow, was our Christmas tree. Well mom, your hope came true.
They also beheaded our snowman. Took a funny video of it too. I was disappointed though. They placed his head on a wooden pole in front of the Christmas tree. You say; "How old are they again?" Well, it's not how old they are, but how old they are at heart. There is a significant gap in how old they are and how old they are at heart. I will not speak further on this subject.

Figgy found a mouse last night. We have no idea if it is dead or not. It's been in the process for a few weeks. A while ago, we came home and she was staring steadily under the oven, so right then and there we knew she had found a mouse. Then last night, Nate was laying on the floor in the living room, and we were watching movie, and Figgy was either playing violently with a rubber band or twist tie, or it was a mouse. And then Jon said he thought it went under the couch, and I could sense some nervousness in Nate. I helped by mentioning the time that one mouse who had been hiding under the piano, ran to the middle of the carpet and hid under the vacuum cleaner. And Nate does resemble a vacuum cleaner in some ways.
So Jon thumped his fingers across the floor and said; "WHOAAAAA DID YOU SEE THE SIZE OF THAT THING?"
Nate jumped 10 feet in the air and spun 'round and said anxiously; "WHAT? What? You saw it? Where is it?"
Jon thought this was pretty funny and laughed hysterically. Once again, all else remained silent.
They had a pretty brutal snowball, or should I say, snowchunk fight today, whilst Heather and I watched from the kitchen window. They were taking gargantuous chunks of snow and aiming them directly at each others heads. I try not to get involved in these incidents, because I would rather not cause embarassment to both my brothers, by beating them up.

My Eric Whitacre cd came today, and I love it. Ruth says that she feels like she is in a graveyard and Jon says its beautiful. I agree with Jon.

I am going to go to bed now. Good Night.


-E.G.E.

Recover post

Please do not ask about the title, I could not think of a good one...other bloggers will know where I got it from. : )

Today, I went to the barn. YESSSSSSSS! Since I have given you sufficient warning about what the following post is about, you are not allowed to complain about it. Since it will contain mostly horse stuff, a little more horse stuff, and then more horse stuff after that.
I woke up around 9 and then left for the barn at 10:30, so I was worried that all the stalls would be done by then, but fortunately for me, they weren't. Joce had four left. So I helped. Yesssssssss. : D
So then I watched Erin ride, and then Steph...they both worked on shoulders in, and haunches in, so that was neat to watch...but I sort of felt bad for them. It's pretty tiring to work on that stuff your entire lesson. Erin and Steph went home early, so Joce and I rode together in the afternoon. It was pretty crazy, especially for Fem. That is her new nickname. Given to her by Meg and Joce. It was a day of firsts. Well, Joce rode Riley, and Riley thinks he is Mr. Macho Man or something, he just thinks he's all that. And he is 6 years old, but acts like a 2 year old. So he hasn't ridden with another horse and neither has Fem. So when Jackie told us we were riding together, we sort of looked at each other and said; "Yeah Man! We live on the edge...this should be fun.." And Lynn was standing there and says; "Girls, wear your helmets!" So I got ForgetMeNot all ready and she was pretty hyper so that was interesting, because then I realized that the ride should be even MORE interesting.
So in prances Riley. Head up in the air, pretty excited that he was riding with a pretty lady, (meaning Fem) thinking that they could have some fun, and soon learned from Joce that they would not be having fun, but they'd be working. I got up on Fem and her first reaction to Riley was a couple of bucks and a rear. Hmm. As well as breaking into a canter. THEN, I kept petting her and telling her she was ok, and everything was fine. She started to believe me, and then Jackie's like, "Why don't you try a canter?" So I'm thinking...ummmm..OK! If I want a crazy ride, lets just go all the way and have a crazy ride. So we tried a canter. She did absolutely awesome. With Riley and everything. Pretty sweet action. Ok, there were orange cones in the ring, all around the inside. The were standing BEFORE Joce and I rode, and after, there wasn't one standing. You see, Joce and I don't believe in going around them, we just plow over them. Or jump over them, whatever we feel like. LOL. Ok, so I cantered. THEN Jackie brings in all the jumps and poles! AHHHH! So on top of everything, Fem gets to do some jumping. They were only little poles, but she was jumping over them like they were 3 foot jumps. Lol, pretty crazy, and I haven't jumped in a loooooonggggg time. It was hard to get up into my two-point. But
all-in-all, it was a fun ride, it got a little crazy at times, but it was still quite a lot of fun.
But, Riley called Fem a dirty name. Yes. It is true. Well, Fem gets tired pretty easy. She was abused you know, so she's not quite up to strength yet. So we were walking around in the middle while Riley was still working. And he was walking past us, and he turned his back end to us, and gave a lovely little buck. So Joce nailed him and told him to cut it out, but I wouldn't let her forget that her horse called my horse a dirty name. Such a shame.

I am going to be sore tomorrow. I haven't ridden in a while. Tomorrow, I am working at 9 and I only have 3 refreshes, and I am allowed to leave after I'm done. BECAUSE....We are going to Barnes and Noble. Which is in Binghamton. An hour or so away. I am not taking any money with me. Pretty smart. If you ask me. It'll still be fun though, because I will be with my WHOLE family. : )

Good Night


E.G.E.