Day 124: New Light

New Light

1/24
Besides celebrating my brothers birthday over the weekend, it was also time for me to move into my new place. Obviously, there was a lot of activity going on and another life change for me. This is the outside light for my new home along with the house number. And yet, another chapter and another beginning for me.

Day 123: Joey's Friends

Joey's Friends

1/23
For Joey's birthday weekend be wanted to take a few of his friends to go play paintball. I brought my camera with me and took a few photos of them while they were playing, but I liked this one of them after playing paintball the most. At the time he was closest to the boy in the red shirt, but I am not sure if they even talk anymore. The boy with the red hair has been his longest friend and they are still friends today. Back then I use to always refer to Joey and his red haired friend as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Joey has since changed so he doesn't look so much like Harry anymore, but his friend will always be Ron Weasley to me (Joey continues to hate that I refer to him that way).

Day 122: Birthday Party

Birthday Party

1/22
My baby brother turned 14 years old the day before and in her usual fashion, but mom decorated the house for his birthday and party. My mom as always been the kind to make birthdays a big deal and this is one of my favorite things she always did for us. We would always be woken up in birthday by the family singing "Happy Birthday to You" with a pancake, muffin, or cupcake with a one candle it. After making a wish and blowing out the candle, I would usually go back to bed until it was time to actually start the day. She would also usually surprise us and decorate the house or kitchen. In this case she had decorated for Joey and he was having a birthday party with friends over the weekend.  

Day 121: The Gautreaux's

The Gautreaux's

1/21
At the time, this sign had been hanging in front of my grandparent's trailer for as long as I can remember. Though I don't know the story behind it or when it was hung up there, it has always been a symbol of them to me. Like previous posts, I am so glad I snapped this picture when I did, the chain on the sign has since broken and the sign is no longer hanging there. I will be forever grateful to have images of things that are now gone.

Day 120: Ending

Ending

1/20
I wish I could remember what happened to me this day. I can only assume I had another uneventful day at work or if I was off, I spent the day with my grandparents. Either way, I do know the days with my grandparents were coming to a close. I would be leaving and moving into a house close by in the next few days. So I would like to think I took this sunset picture of the neigh hood as representation of another season in my life. Another ending to one chapter of life and the beginning of a new one.

Day 119: Bedroom

Bedroom

1/19
This is another look at my bed and the bedroom I lived in while staying with my grandparents (I have posted several images from this space previously). Over the years so many of my family have used this room too. My mom and her siblings lived in this space growing up and whenever anyone would visit my grandparents, they would sleep here. This room is very small, so small in fact, I had to get a storage until after college to keep all my belongs in since they would not fit here. I definitely crammed as much of "me" as I could into this space to make myself more comfortable. At the time living in such a small space was a huge transition and I know felt like I was living "without", but what made this bearable was that I knew it would not last forever and where I was going to live would eventually change. Now, I found it funny that I still have almost everything seen here. I still use the same bed spread, have the same lamp, butterfly mobile, name sign, and yes, I still have Nemo. My style seems to not have changed too much as I have grown older. Though the pictures on the wall certainly have, as my photography has grown, so have the images I frame in my home.

Day 118: Nature Panel

Nature Panel

1/18
Now that I am writing and posting these images after so much time has past since I originally took the photos (six years now), I cherish the fact that I took so many pictures of my grandparents house. At the time, I was simply documenting the life around me, and now I can look back at these images and actually see my life as well as my grandparents. Though some on these specific details of my grandparents house may not be important to anyone, maybe not even members of my family, I am so glad that I will be able to forever remember them. I'm sure most of these things would have been lost in my mind over time, but thanks to these images, they will not be forgotten. Let me always take the time to say that this is why I love photography. Photos will always remember what we forget.
This "nature" panel lines part of the walls in my grandparents living room and I will always remember looking at the scenes of birds, deer, and ducks as I was growing up. Every once in a great while, I have come across this same paneling in other houses or other people's family photographs and I always think "Hey, that's just like grandma and grandpa's house". I'm sure this was a common theme used in houses for decoration in the the 70's (or whenever), but to me, it will always be the paneling at grandma & grandpa's.