FromFLWithLove's Xanga

Happy New Year!

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:51:52 GMT

Happy New Year everyone! I will be slowly fading off the xanga scene as work gets a bit busier. But I rang in the new year this year by getting my photography website up and running! So here it is - it just went live on Monday:

http://www.deborahcull.com

I hope to be updating it often with new photos from recent shoots, and I will be updating my photography blog more often.

The Spice of the Night

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:22:00 GMT

I clean office buildings once a week (gotta pay the bills), and I had a surprising, yet humorous, experience last night. I went in to one office and was dusting when I moved the chair just a slight bit and heared a Pfft -- then I saw a bazillion pink sparkly sprinkles hit me, the chair, and everything around the office. At first I freaked out thinking that I might have done something wrong. Then I saw it. The monofilament fishing line tied perfectly to the chair. The camera strap and folded paper and coffe cup carefully placed to conceal it out of view. The cardboard box setup connected to the line, waiting in anticipation for the owner of the office to be caught unaware. Even the trash can and recycling bin had been placed carefully away from the desk so that the cleaning crew (us) could clean the office without wrecking the booby trap surprise. Oh well. At least someone was completely surprised by it (me). My brother-in-law had to write two really nice, long notes -- one to the office ownder and one to the office contact to explain the situation. Needless to say, I was very impressed with how much thought and engineering went into the careful design and placement of the trap. I'll have to reverse engineer it some time.

Economic Crisis?

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:40:39 GMT

It's not news to anyone that we are in an economic crisis of sorts. We could put the blame on all sorts of people, but I'm not here to talk about that. I'm wondering what everyone is doing in the midst of the crisis. Matt and I have been going through our own economic crisis for, um, at least 4 or 5 months at this point. Last year we were doing ok. We were newly married and saved all of the money we got from our wedding. By December, we both received really big bonuses, which we used to create an emergency fund and pay off one student loan. Things were going well. We decided we wanted to tithe on gross, not net, income. We decided from the outset that we wanted to live debt free. This was no walk in the park as we both had over $100,000 in student loans. But no other debt at all.

So in November of last year we set up a budget on google documents, and we'd write down everything we purchased. We still do this every month, adding extra sheets as we go. Our desire was to pay an extra $1000 a month on our loans. We had a 4 month emergency fund, extra $1000 cash emergency fund, and semi-regular spending habits. We started to cut out a lot of things - eating out, movies, etc. We tried to drive an extra 1000 miles on our cars before the next oil change. Haircuts less often. Less expensive gifts. No new clothing. Etc. But each month something would go wrong. In January it was Matt's tires -- that's an extra $700. In March it was a new clutch -- $1050. In April we found out that Matt was going to need extensive dental work -- which would cost more than $2000 out of pocket. In May Matt was in a wedding that cost us quite a bit in tux rental, gas, two nights at a hotel, and general travel expenses. Then at the end of May Matt tore his ACL. Surgery and physical theraphy and regular doctor's visits have cost us upwards of $3000 throughout June, July, and August. In August I totalled my car and we had to get a new (used) one. Then in September we found out the tires on the new car were more than worn through and we needed to replace them. Add another $650 for that. Pluse $200 for dental work (on me this time). Thankfully the new catalytic converter was still under warranty. We finally got to the point where we couldn't cover monthly expenses and we completely depleted our emergency fund (it's almost halfway back up right now). We both work at places that are laying people off right now. And I'm now the second-to-last person hired. We won't receive any bonuses or raises, but we might get pay cuts.

Anyway, it's been a tough year for us. I think we fell on some awful luck, and unfortunately depleted our emergency fund when it was needed most. So what have we done during these tough economic times? It's hard because we actually budget. And we really do limit our spending. But we aren't doing significantly worse than everyone else. We don't have a house that we might lose. We don't have cancer or another life-threatening disease. We aren't the ones who are dependent on others' contributions to charity.

Nope. We're not doing bad. But we aren't exactly staying afloat. We do, however, work two jobs. Actually, I work three. Matt works nights right now -- 7 PM to aboug 4 or 5 AM. During the day he is training to be a housing inspector. It doesn't pay, yet, but if he loses his job, he has an option to fall back on. And when he's trained, he'll be paid! I make some money with my photography business, and I clean offices at night. I've started to make up for Matt's shift, so on Wednesday, I cleaned from 6 to 12:30 -- not always a great schedule if you have to get up at 6 AM the next day. We're still waiting on our paychecks (they'll be coming once a month), but it's one of the ways we can help our budget out. It's amazing how just $100 or $200 can make a huge difference.

So while we had our own economic crisis while the US and the world were having ecomonic crisis, we tried to make our own luck by working 2 jobs. What have you done since the economic crisis?

Anniversary!!

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:15:01 GMT

Yesterday was our anniversary. Yes, Matt and I have officially been married one year and one day, or 367 days (since this year was a leap year). We've had some tough times this week (and esp. this year). But I'm so happy that we got married. Work is crazy busy right now, but I wanted to get a short blog in. Cute story about this weekend:

Matt and I traveled to Boca Grande to scout out a chapel where I'm shooting a wedding. We drove up in our new 2006 Subaru Forester. Unfortunately the car didn't come with all of the keys, and the keyless entry remote was missing, so we ordered one online. We programmed it on our way up to the island. When we finally got to the lighthouse, I locked the car with the remote -- clicking the "lock" button twice to be sure the car was locked. But as I was standing there, the car made a few funny noises and then STARTED. Apparently our used car has a keyless start! How exciting! Definitely the highlight of my day. We had a wonderful trip, and we included our ridiculously cute puppy, Petey. Fun times!

So to celebrate our anniversary, we went to the YMCA pool, then on to post-Frisbee dinner with all our friends. Not too exciting or intimate, but we only have two dinners a month now, and we are going out to eat tonight. We wanted to save a little money, so it's Ruby Tuesday's tonight (where we went the night we got married), and then Disney World next week! We can't wait -- we're beside ourselves with anticipation. We go often, so this is going to be a different kind of trip -- more like flitting around the resorts, trying new foods, and watching the circle-vision movies. Yeah, we're getting old. But we're looking forward to having a vacation by ourselves, sleeping in together, and enjoying each other's company (away from medical, dental, and auto bills -- and away from reality). I'm excited!!!

What a year...

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:41:30 GMT

I haven't blogged in a while -- things are really stressful right now and I haven't found any time to sit and blog. This will be short since I'm still at work.

Matt and I have almost been married one full year! And what a year it has been. The year started out well - we have enjoyed married life, saved some money, and put quite a bit on our student loans. For the record, we started with over $100k in student loan debt, and now we have $84.5k. Over the past three months our interest rates have dropped -- the biggest student loan went from 6.25% to 5.25%. Two of Matt's student loans dropped from 7.22% and 7% to 4.22% and 4% respectively. But that's about it for the good news.

These past three months have also been very traumatic for us. We found out that Matt needed over $1500 in dental work a few months ago. But as he's been going to the dentist that number keeps increasing. Thankfully they think they can prevent him from needing a root canal, but I think it actually costs us more in the end not to have one. Aside from normal dental work, Matt bit into something hard at a wedding and crushed one tooth. He did the same to another tooth a few months later.

Then Matt tore his ACL. Little did we know that the surgery itself would put us over the "maximum $3000 out of pocket" fees, and has also cost us upwards of $400 a month in physical therapy. And now his health insurance won't cover physical therapy, so that number will double for the next month. We've learned that the term "maximum out of pocket" doesn't actually mean anything at all -- it's just there to make you feel better. If we switch health insurance (mine is much better), we're going with an HSA next time.

Then on August 21 I got rear-ended. But it wasn't just any kind of "rear-ended". I was at a full stop when I was hit by a car going 40 mph. Needless to say, my car is totaled. Apparently the government doesn't even bother putting Toyota Celicas through the 30-mph and 40-mph impact test. So if anyone in the government is reading this and would like to do a study on all the adverse health problems I may have from this, feel free to contact me, and be prepared to pay off our student loans this year. Just kidding. Sort of.

The accident wasn't THAT bad and I wasn't overly injured. In fact, I went home and cleaned the house that day. The major damage came from when my airbag deployed and my rear bumper somehow made it into my backseat. But that was just the beginning of the problems. The guy who hit me was driving his girlfriend's car (a brand new 2008 Honda Accord), which only had the minimum insurance Florida requires. That meant it only had $10,000 in PIP (personal injury protection) - for the driver of the vehicle - and $10,000 in property damage. Now I realize that a 1996 Toyota Celica isn't exactly going to take all that much cash to replace. But my car was slammed into a souped up 2006 Ford Mustang -- and the bumper damage on that could easily run 3 to 4 grand. So the guy cried and was sorry and all that. Until it came to actually contacting the insurance companies. It didn't take him all that long to realize that he is now going to be responsible for paying our damages and health bills out of pocket because he was completely irresponsible in not even owning a car or insurance, and not making sure the car he was driving was properly insured. So he hired an attorney and is trying to make me liable for the accident. Over a week after the accident, I finally faxed the police report to my insurance, proving that I was not at fault at all for the accident (and they saw my car, which proved I was not at fault for the accident), so I will not have to pay my gynormous deductible. But I'm not sure where this will be going. It's possible that he will take this to court (very, very bad idea).

So I not only no longer have a car, I don't even have a replacement check yet, and lawyers are sending me letters asking me for liability information. Thankfully USAA is taking care of it. But we still need to buy a car -- which is quite frustrating because we've taken really good care of my car and just replaced the clutch and we were hoping to make it to $200k miles on it before we finally retired it. I'm pretty sure I won't be getting all that much for my car, so we'll be hemorrhaging money by this weekend or the next when we finally decide on a car.

Moral of the story: don't buy a really expensive new car and then have shoddy insurance on it. But a fairly nice used car and use all you saved to pay for good coverage. That's the responsible thing to do. Remember -- if you live in Naples, you may find yourself plowed into a Maseratti or Lamborghini. You'll want good coverage in that situation.

Every time we think things are finally getting better, another disaster strikes. I know Dave Ramsey is all about only having a $1000 emergency fund while you pay off loans. But if that was the case for us, we'd be absolutely dead in the water right now. Matt and I both have fairly respectable jobs and we are still working second jobs to keep up with the bills.

Thankfully our relationship is rock-solid and we've had a great year in terms of our marriage. We both have the same spending habits and we're going through all of this together. So I'd take a terrible year like this any time with a great relationship with my husband, than a few great years and a terrible relationship. Hands down.

So that is our life right now. That and a few other issues. But we are coming up on our anniversary and we keep saying that 2009 can't possibly be worse than 2008. I mean, in reality it could. But Matt's forever the optimist and I'm taking his side on this. And we're going to Disney for our anniversary, so that means at least a long weekend where we can escape reality. Yay!

Professional Engineering Exam

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:12:02 GMT

Yep, I'm sitting here looking at the unofficial Professional Engineering Exam Bible -- the Civil Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam. I decided to get started a bit early. I can't take the exam until at least April, 2010, if not October 2010. But I like to take my time studying. And it's difficult to work two jobs and study 300 hours at the same time, so I need all the help I can get. I'm going to try to find out if our company pays for one of the preparation classes. I don't see any reason to spend $1000 of my own money on it (especially with finances they way they are right now), but if I can get into one for free, I can't see why I wouldn't do that. Otherwise, it's the 4-inch book for now. Time to get going!

Surgery

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:41:12 GMT

Many of you know that Matt tore his ACL a few weeks ago playing Ultimate. This Friday he is undergoing reconstructive surgery. I'm not scared, but it will be a first for me -- I've only seen my dad come out of surgery, but Mom was the one in charge of helping my dad. Now I'm in charge of taking care of Matt and the house. I also have to continue going to work since I don't have any vacation time left. So I'm juggling a lot at once. I'm looking forward to a laid back week, but a lot of surprises are in store for me this weekend. He won't be crutch-free for two to four weeks, then no active activities for a few months (running, cycling, etc.). No Ultimate for a year. Should be an interesting year for us.

Baxter welcomes home a baby brother!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:07:18 GMT

Matt and I did it -- we adopted a puppy! Since we adopted Baxter, our 3-1/2 year old border collie/blue heeler mix, we've been discussing getting a second dog. I kind of wanted a different pet, but Baxter has a very high prey drive, and I'm pretty sure that the other animal will either be scarred for life (in the event of a bunny or ferret or other such prey animal), or will scar Baxter for life (cats can hold their own). So we've been discussing our next dog for while. I've read conflicting opinions on this, but second dogs often help balance a first dog. If you are lucky, your two dogs bond well and become friends. They can keep each other company when you are away, and it adds to the pack.

So we've been discussing it for a while. Matt originally wanted an Australian Shepherd before we got Baxter. But Baxter was too cute and too free and too well-behaved (mostly) to pass up. But I kind of wanted a slightly smaller dog. And we both wanted an even-tempered, calm dog that we could possibly train as a therapy dog. We've discussed anything from Shetland Sheep Dogs (Matt's first dog) to Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. We narrowed it down to a few: Miniature Australian Shepherd (yes, they do come a bit smaller!) and Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. There are great things about both of these breeds. Mini Aussies are real aussies that have been bread smaller. They have the same personality, but just in a smaller size. Aussies have decidedly one of the best personalities for a dog. They are well behaved, easy to train, energetic, and wonderful with kids. Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers are similar in that they are almost like miniature Golden Retrievers. If you've lived with a Golden you know that they are laid-back, very eager to please, wonderful with children, and simply wonderful family dogs. Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers are nearly the same dog in a smaller frame! So it came down to both of these dogs. We would have loved to have either.

BUT we were walking through PetCo on Friday night and ran into two breeders walking their pack of 7 mini aussies. I told them we were interested in eventually getting a mini aussie, and they showed us the last one they were selling -- a 4-month old named Petey. And while he wasn't the girl that we wanted, he had the perfect personality to balance Baxter's neuroticism. He was very calm and submissive. While the other 6 were jumping around and playing and releasing a ton of energy, Petey was laying on the floor taking it all in. It was a bit too perfect. He even looked almost just like Baxter. The breeders have already potty trained and obedience trained them for some commands and they don't let the dogs walk in front of them (still having a tough time with this, but Petey will have to learn). Petey's sister also won an international obedience competition at just 3 months of age. So we talked to the powers that be, and we discussed it for a while. We realized this is really the only 6-month time span we have to pour into having a puppy (I think we'll go for adult dogs if we can -- but since Baxter isn't balanced, we needed to raise a balanced dog). So we decided to test run...

We brought Baxter to the breeder's house and we walked him around. They walked Petey out and we started walking beside the breeder -- both dogs on the outside divided by two people. We slowly moved the dogs together after a while and let them sniff each other. They got along wonderfully, which blew our minds. Baxter is fearful, but the puppy and he did really well. The breeders felt really good about it, and we went home with a puppy.

I won't say it's been all roses since then, but it is looking like things will be good in the future. Baxter and the puppy had a little tift (Baxter rightly corrected Petey) the first night when we forgot to remove the food from the kitchen. And the puppy growled at Baxter that night, which was enough to make Baxter scared to death of him. I mean, really. But slowly they are really warming up to each other. Petey really, REALLY wants to play with Baxter. And we're hoping that Baxter may be ok with that. Our only fear is that Baxter may be a little too rough with the little guy, but once they are used to each other, we'll let them play together.

One thing I will say -- I am very glad that Matt and I trained Baxter before we did this. Baxter is even MORE well-behaved, but I can't imagine training two dogs at once. There are things we still need to work on with Baxter, but he has all the commands down, and he recognizes us as his pack leaders. Now we'll begin training Petey next week, and we're not being soft with him. We're loving and gentle, but he has to do everything Baxter does. Fun!

I'll post pictures once we have enough time to get some!

More updates

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:38:13 GMT

Matt and I got a business license for Deborah Cull Photography today. So it seems that after $111.00, I officially own my own business. I'm not sure how I feel about it. But things are going well -- I know I have at least one senior session coming up. If that goes well, I will probably have quite a few more. The senior is from St. John Newman. I would also like to get a few seniors from Bishop Verot (Matt's alma mater). I don't have time for tons of portrait sessions, but I need to do as many as possible to get better. So that's what's going on! Two engagement sessions coming up, one senior portrait session, one or two maternity session, one newborn session, two weddings, one workshop. All by June 20. I just hope that I get better with each and every photoshoot. It's frustrating because I now see the myriad of things that I didn't do well. But I hope I can learn to improve! I designed a business card on a whim. Here it is:

More Wedding Photography

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:42:34 GMT

I am absolutely THRILLED that I have the opportunity to tag along with Susan Stripling (www.susanstripling.com) at least once or twice this year. I can't even describe what an awesome opportunity this is. The funniest part is that I asked her for an opportunity to tag along before Shari Bare (www.sharibare.com) and I talked about the wedding today. Apparently Susan is one of Shari's favorite wedding photographers, and Susan just shot a wedding at La Playa -- where we are shooting a wedding today. I am getting more and more excited about the awesome opportunities that have arisen this year.

I would like to think that I am doing God's will (for my future), but I don't know what the future will bring. I do know, however, that everything is falling into place right now and I have a lot of time before I need to quit my job to do photography full time. I am shooting a wedding today, an event on Monday, an engagement session on Wednesday, a rehearsal dinner on Friday, a wedding on Saturday (as a guest -- I will definitely not be walking around and/or getting in the way of the photographer), a solo wedding June 7, a tagalong with Susan on June 14, a workshop with one of the masters from June 17-19, and who knows from there? As soon as I feel comfortable with my skill level, Shari will send clients who can't pay her prices my way. That gives me an excellent starting point. I am developing a business plan on how to go from here. Wow, such incredible opportunities!

I have also started a separate blog for my photography: www.deborahcull.wordpress.com. If you want to keep up with my photography, look no further than that site. I will eventually get an official website, but I need some more images that I can post. I won't be able to use images from my wedding with Shari online (but I can use them in print), so all images must come from my own shoots. So that's the news!