Woah.

Today was my first day as a marketing intern at SAS.

And who do I meet in the elevator?

None other than the CEO of SAS.

This stuff just doesn't happen.

Especially to a marketing intern on their first day.

I'm still in shock.

Here's how it all went down, I know you're dying to know...

So, I'm on the way to lunch with a few of my colleagues that I just met. We're all in the elevator and the doors are trying to close until this really tall, older looking man comes up and stops the elevator. He then gets into the elevator and says some remark like "these elevators must know me, they stay open for me!" Then the elevators attempt to close yet again but aren't able to because this time his elbow is in the way. And he says, "see, it even knows my elbow!" We all laugh at his silly jokes and I'm silently thinking to myself: Who is this guy? Why would the elevators know him? But then I decided that he's just some long time SAS employee and so I thought nothing more about it. There was a strange silence for all of 5 seconds and then my new boss turns to the tall, older looking man and says, "So I'd like you to meet our newest marketing intern, she just started today, and actually both of her parents work at SAS!" Yet another person for me to meet, another name to try and remember, I think to myself. So I politely shake his hand and say "Hi, I'm Brittany, nice to meet you!" and he says (something along these lines) "Oh, that's great... I'm Jim Goodnight, nice to meet you" ummm did he just say Jim Goodnight?! Aka the CEO of SAS, the NUMBER ONE company in the Fortune 500?!! Oh my gosh! I was speechless, and grinning from ear to ear. I don't think it really sunk in what had just happened. So then Dr. Goodnight said something like "ah, nepotism I see. You know, so-and-so (I don't remember who) always says that nepotism is a good thing as long as you keep it in the family!" haha! Not only is he just a normal (although super tall), nice guy...but he's got jokes too! I was definitely very impressed, and he successfully made my first day at SAS a very memorable (and exciting) one! :)

Ciao,

B.hines

Squirt.

Almost a year ago (July 10th, 2009 to be exact) I went down to Florida with 2 of my friends and while at Daytona beach for the day I fell in love with this little guy:

This is Squirt. My cute little yellow(?) eared slider. At about an inch long he is the most precious turtle I've ever laid eyes on. When I first got him I knew he was perfect for me!

Although he moved from an apartment sized home to a mansion sized home, he stayed the same size for all of his life. A life that was unfortunately way to short. :(

I recently went away to D.C. for 5 days and although he was in the good hands of my roommate Danella (http://danellamariesthoughts.blogspot.com/) he still passed away. Don't know how or why but it sadly happened, although it's still a little hard for me to believe. But he lived a wonderful life with tons of people that loved him, and that's all that matters!

He had a friend kitty to protect him from all the big bad guys while he was at my house.

He had people who loved to hold him and play with him.

Although most were scared of getting salmonella (hnscales).

And he had a mommy who loved him to pieces!!!!

So Rest In Peace Squirt! You were the most precious, well behaved, best turtle ever and by far my favorite...I will never forget you!

D.C. pictures soon, I promise!

Ciao,

Bhines

Alicia & Tom

I realize it has been over a week since I said that I would have these pictures up, but this past week has been busier than anticipated. I thought that over last weekend I would have had time to post a few pictures, but that wasn't the case. Then on Monday I left for Washington D.C. with a few friends of mine and didn't get back until Friday night. So, here I am over a week later finally posting pictures of my lovely friends Alicia and Tom!

They let me take "fake engagement" pictures of them to get some practice and it was so fun! We went to the park/lake in Alicia's neighborhood and it was so pretty and perfect :)

Here's just a few of my favorites:

The real Romeo and Juliet

This is one of the million reasons that I enjoyed taking pictures of them...they both act like they are 5 years old. :)

Their future home... :)

for more pictures check out my flickr! http://www.flickr.com/photos/brittanylynnphotography/sets/72157624369570782/

Yay Alicia and Tom! I can't wait for your real engagement ;)

So Friday I got back from D.C. - I took sooooo many pictures! I haven't even gone through them all yet, but cross your fingers that I took at least some good ones. Guess I'll get around to going through those/editing some this afternoon...

Wednesday I start my Marketing internship at SAS, oh gosh! I'm nervous times 1,000. And kind of sad in a way. My lazy, do-whatever-I-want-whenever-I-want summer is disappearing... :( but hey, I gotta get money somehow! And I know it will be fun, and SAS is an amazing company, so yay! Wish me luck! :)

Off to be productive...

B.hines

La Comida.

Disaster.

No, this really doesn't look all that bad (at least in my opinion it doesn't) and no, it didn't really taste too bad either (sort of). But geez was it a complete and total pain to make.

I have learned after tonight that I am not meant to be a cook. I will just marry someone who knows what he's doing in the kitchen and until then live off of instant meals or take out. I don't have the patience to spend that much time cooking a meal that I will devour in half the time it took to make, and that's not even including the clean up time.

Plus, I honestly don't trust myself as a cook to eat the food that I make. What I made tonight was ravioli with chicken and cheese in it, and then I heated up some already cooked chicken and some alfredo sauce to add to that, doesn't sound too hard right? Wrong. I can't tell if the chicken is done inside the ravioli when it's in boiling water! And even if it does seem done I always second guess myself and end up scared to eat it. As for that other already cooked chicken, well it didn't turn out so hot. How do I mess that up you're wondering? Beats me. And the alfredo sauce...not so bad. Minus the fact that it was probably bad to eat. As is half of my food. Stupid expiration dates, that's what makes cooking the hardest. I have an easy, yummy meal planned out in my head then bam, I go to get the food and it's expired. What is this?!

After one attempted meal I'm already ready to throw in the towel and go back to my hot pockets/ham sandwiches/grilled cheese/easy-to-make chicken. Is this crazy? Maybe it was just discouraging because today has been a blah pity party type of day. We'll go with that, so maybe I'll get up the courage to try again in another few days... Wish me luck!

In other (better) news, I'm about done editing the pictures of Alicia and Tom! I'll have some posted tomorrow, hopefully. :)

Adios bloggies,

B.hines

Goals.

I need to create some goals for myself this summer, or else I'll get nothing done that I need/want to get done. So...here we go!

My overall summer goals:

-Get in shape!

-Learn to TRULY cook a real dinner for myself - aka no more hot pockets/fast food when I get lazy, which is most of the time.

-Play tennis more and become better at it.

-Cure myself of Entomophobia (fear of insects)

-Spend time with my family, especially my brother, who leaves for ECU in the fall :(

-Continue to constantly learn more about all the capabilities my camera has.

-Do my absolute best as a Marketing Intern for SAS (eek!)

-Look for any opportunities to help me with photography.

-Attend the photography classes that were given to me when I bought my camera. (I have 18 passes so if you'd like to go with me, please let me know!)

-Make a dentist appointment ASAP! (after reading Lauren's blog (http://lauren-lajoiedevivre.blogspot.com/) where she mentioned going to the dentist, I realized I needed my teeth cleaned too)

-Blog regularly.

-Take Donny & Kristen's engagement pictures!

-Finish the books on my Summer Reading list.

-Book more sessions so that I can have more practice. (any friends want pictures done for fun?)

-Edit the pictures within 2 days of the session, no more procrastination.

-Finish watching Glee before the next season starts.

-Make a trip to Pittsburgh.

-Start planning a mostly free trip out of the country with Dad and Casey, so pumped for this to hopefully work out!

-Buy a tripod.

-Find furniture for next year.

-Clean out my computer/room!

-Paint something.

-Finish my Italy Scrapbook that I've been working on for almost a year!

-Eat healthier.

June goals:

-Take some amazing pictures in D.C. using either shutter or aperture modes- no auto!

-And on that note, continue to master shooting on either of those modes.

-Plan an amazing birthday celebration for my 21st in July (one month from today)!

-EDIT PICTURES! And learn to not procrastinate when it comes to that.

-Put more/all of my edited pictures on my flickr -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/brittanylynnphotography check it out!

-Fill out all the necessary paperwork for my new job.

-Find some curtains/something to stop the sun from streaming into my room and onto my face every morning at 8:00.

-Blog more.

-See Toy Story 3 with Casey!! We/I have been talking about going for forever, and he decided to be super cute and sweet and he bought tickets for us in advance for Tuesday, but unfortunately he bought them before I had the chance to tell him I was going to D.C. next week. Womp...we fail.

-Read scripture more.

-Plan a fun double date/trip with Alicia and Tom :)

Well, those are my goals for so far, I'm sure I could go on and on with more. From now on I'm going to try and update on the 1st of every month with a list of overall goals, and monthly goals. I read the blog for Nancy Ray photography (http://nancyrayblog.com/) and saw this and thought it was a great idea!

And now...on to editing pictures!!

Ciao,

B.hines

Love.

Gosh I'm a blog failure. I'll get better, I promise.

Last month my mom and step dad let me use them as my guinea pigs for some practice engagement shots. Although it was sort of hard shooting family, it was still fun and I love downtown Raleigh! We only had one hour parking though and not a lot of time, so unfortunately I didn't get to shoot in as many places as I wanted to. But it was still fun!

I love this wall!

After some time in downtown Raleigh we headed over to the Rose Gardens and got some cutesy pictures there too! :)

Welp, that's my mom and Roger. 6 years together and they're still so happy!

And to continue on with this theme of love (as the title says), I was lucky enough to take my first real engagement pictures! I met Becca and Levi through my friend Kristen (http://www.kristenabigailphotography.blogspot.com/), although it turned out that Levi went to middle school with me, small world! Kristen decided to give them free engagement pictures and wedding pictures as a wedding present, and asked for some help shooting the wedding! In preparation for shooting their wedding they also allowed me to tag along during the engagement session and take a few pictures! We ventured out about a weekish ago in the middle of the afternoon (not the smartest idea, but the only time available for everyone) in the scorching hot sun to Duke Gardens for pictures. Levi and Becca we're such troopers! Here's just a few of my favorites...

Her ring is so gorgeous, I'm in love! To my future husband: take note.

Thanks guys for letting me tag along and take some pictures, I look forward to your wedding!

Well thats all I have for pictures, for now. The other day I went out with my friend Alicia and her boyfriend Tom to take some fake engagement pictures, it was so much fun! They are by far my favorite couple and they both are so awesome, we had a blast! I'm working on editing those pictures now so hopefully they'll be up soon!

I'm still unemployed, so far. Womp. However it is looking VERY good that I might have an internship at SAS in Marketing! Cross your fingers! But til then I'll just be continuing to enjoy my summer, and taking plenty of pictures. I'm headed off to Washington D.C. with a few friends on Monday and I'm very excited! I haven't been to D.C. in forever. There's so much to see, and so many picture opportunities...I can't wait!

But until then...

Ciao bloggies! :)

B.hines