me

i feel bad because i have been neglecting my blog lately. but now that i am on my second round of steroid dose pack in the past 2 weeks and also had a shot of cortisone today too, i feel kinda wired. this poison ivy is kicking my butt.

sorry for the all lower case but it is easier for me and hey, it's my blog so i can do what i want. and this blog post is about me and why and how i am going to do what i want.

i am proud to be 35. 35 is great. i normally would have thought this kinda on the old side but i am proud because with mid-30s comes a great sense of freedom to be who you are - i have always been one who walks to the beat of my own drum but i think in my 20s and even early 30s i was a bit self contained to a certain extent. i think i struggled with what is kinda "in" and what i actually like myself - i say this in reference to things like fashion and home decorating. well, dangit i am tired of trying to keep up with the joneses - whoever they are. the jones' are boring. the jones' need to get some style. i want to challenge any and everyone who reads this blog full of typos and mis-spelled words to be who you are! if you like Britney Spears then TURN IT UP! if you like tight rolled jeans like you wore in the early 90s then flaunt it! don't go buy some high dollar jeans that you are going to feel guilty for buying - because when you think about how much you just spent on them you realize that same amount could have fed a whole family in Ethiopa for 3 months. don't suffer paying that stinkin' car payment every month just cause you are embarrassed to roll up in your paid for clunker. clunkers ROCK! ROCK that clunker and give it a name for crying out loud! think about all the money you will save on that car payment while driving Bessie. Bessie is cool and she has character. she has been with you thru thick and thin and you dont want to toss her to the side just because she has some chipped paint and a couple hundred thousand miles. Bessie has loyalty to you some new sassy car is not going to have! don't say to yourself, "oh my kids are going to be embarrassed for me to take them to school in Bessie." NO they aren't! Kids don't know the difference in Bessie and new sassy cars. all they know is Bessie is who they are used to. Kids don't like change any more than the next guy does. You know how kids learn to be embarassed and make fun of things like that? they learn it from their PARENTS. yes, guys. me and you. we teach kids these things and then they go to school and make a comment about Bessie to a friend and it spreads like wild fire - kinda like how bad news travels fast. Good news never travels very fast. did you ever notice that? like how people love to stop and look at wrecks - people thrive off that.

anyway, wear your jordache(sure i didnt spell that right but you know you know what i am talking about) jeans with pride. drive Bessie like she is the best looking car in the Delta. oh and home decorations....here is where i teeter back and forth and back and forth. i tend to like COLOR - lots of it. SURPRISE, SURPRISE. i teeter b/c lots of color is not necessarily IN - the Jones' probably only have mustard colored walls and they think they are really going all out with the mustard. but if you really love purple, then paint a room purple. you will be surprised how much that color brings life to your home and makes you happy. same thing with furniture. i love finding old things and giving them new life. you will be surprised how much cool stuff you can find for SUPER cheap. and my house - anyone who has ever been to my 100 year old house probably thought to themselves -"i can't believe she bought that dump." but hey, here again, it is old and i wanted to bring it new life and have always wanted an old house. now that i have it i realize i may have bitten off a wee bit more than i can chew. but i am biting off just little tiny bits at a time - as much as we can pay for as we go. so anyway, if i have to suffer with the OLD, OLDNESS of my house for a while to get it the way i want then so be it. i want to be proud of my house. it is me or me in progress and i should not be ashamed. don't be ashamed.

the one thing i have learned MOST (and i think i said it before) from taking pics the past few months is we ALL have way more in common than we think. no matter who you are or where you are you worry what others think to a certain extent. i realize some of us worry more than others but bottom line - we all worry some. SO let's just let it all hang loose for the world to see. BE PROUD, STAND TALL cause YOU ROCK!!!

Benz's New Big Boy Room

Mary Gregory is an awesome mom - super patient with her super busy little boy, Benz. She wanted some pics of Benz for his new "big boy room." Benz loves musical instruments so this will be his new theme. We took the oppurtunity to break out my new guitar prop. he was SO excited when he saw it and was pretty ticked when he had to leave it behind. we got some awesome shots of him with the guitar at www.Tallahatchie Flats.com outside of Greenwood. He reminds me of a blues man in this photo - headin' to the crossroads.

More of Benz

Most of the time when i take his pics it consists of me just chasing him around with my camera. he doesnt seem to mind too much - here he is running. so cute.

BENZ

Benz. what can i say? Benz is ALL boy. i am getting more familiar with boys these days and Benz has me on the fast track. somehow every time i take pics of Benz he manages to get really dirty. i think he is attracted to dirt. he has fun - thats for sure. and the dirtier the better. on this day, he found a huge mud puddle and had a blast with the mud and a stick. after he fell down in the mud though, he pretty much lost interest and was not so cool with wet pants. i can't say i blame him on that. and he is super cute - look at that smile!!! how awesome is his smile? I love taking pics of Benz and i hope he does too! just looking at the pics shows how much fun he has - it is written all over his cute little face.

G!

OK. i forgot to thank one of the MOST important people. Stephanie Gillespie. Stephanie is a great friend and mother of Charlie Rogan (most photographed baby in Carroll County - including my own.) stephanie has been a constant source of encouragement for me and my photo career. she boosts me up when i most need boosting. we recently began "crafting" in all of our "spare" time so stay tuned for posts of our latest creations. we so creatively have named our line of artwork mcgi's. we will be appearing first this weekend in carrollton at the pilgrimage with a booth all our own, so come on out and support mcgi's! and once miki mccurdy photography gets so big i dont know what to do with myself G will become my ever so loyal personal assistant and life coach. YEA G!!!!

blog

blog. what a funny little word. it is one of those words i don't like the sound of. it kinda reminds me of the word blah. who comes up with these things? blah, blog, ho, hum.... so this is my blog. this is where i will unwind and share my ideas, my latest creations and whatever else feels appropriate. you will see me here being me - being real. i am a full time mother and wife who works 8-5 as a nurse and has an awesome #1 passion of art which currently is being expressed predominatly thru photography. being the best wife and mother is what i hold most dear to my heart. pardon me if i misspell words. i won the bankston spelling bee but that was a heck of a long time ago. my brain is much closer to senility at this point in time.

Anyway, life has been crazy lately and i am hoping this blaaahhhhg is going to help me recharge myself. i got my first dslr in april of this year and it has been non stop since. i feel that for the first time in my life my love of art has found its perfect medium or maybe the medium found me. whichever way it goes i am so lucky. seeing the word thru the lens of my nikon d60 has been a profound experience for me. i have met more people in the past few months than i probably have in the past 5 years. it is thru this lens i have realized how much we all have in common. maybe i am a slow learner but it has taken me a long time to figure this out - better late than never i suppose. i do not profess to be a professional photographer. i still have a whole heck of a lot to learn - about photography, about my camera and about life. But boy am i enjoying the ride.

Major thanks goes to special people who have helped me along my short photog journey. of course my family..... Shawn Dubard for designing my most awesome logo. if i knew how to work my blog i could post a link here to her. please comment to this if you know how. she has roosters crow graphics in gulf shores. also, oen of the most awesome photogs i have ever seen AK Vogel. http://www.akvogel.com/ . a friend of mine sent me a link to her site. i remember it very well (the first time i viewed her site) - it was an almost spiritual experience for me. she has been there to answer every question i have about photography and i appreciate it very much. her website itself is a work of art. check it out and if you are in the knoxville area look her up to book a shoot. she rocks. Oh! almost forgot my tiger dancer secret sis - Suzy Zimmerman of Tupelo. Suzy sent me a fb message long, long ago (well really it was like in April) asking if i would come there to take pics of her kids. i said, "sure if you get some more people together, i'll come." so, in a couple of weeks i am making my third trip to tupelo and suzy plans the whole thing to a T. awesome organizer and great friend. So many people have made a profound impact on me and my career and i would not be where i am today without them.

AHHHH.........so there is my first blog post. hopefully i will get better at this but dont expect too much too soon. in the next couple of days i hope to post images i have been taking lately on my recent excursions. :) but for now.....i am about to hit the sack. i am beat.