Lucky Charm

I often tell people that Duc has blessed my life. But isn’t just that he blessed my life simply by being in it, he has become a sort of “lucky charm”. We keep falling into good things and while I realize that some of this is of my own making and is certainly built on my available skill set, it never happened to me before him. Some of it is because his presence in my life has brought me considerable joy and I am more relaxed in more areas of my life. But I suspect much of my fortunate is actually Duc.

Late last year the local newspaper began a photography contest for amateurs and professionals alike. Since it was in the environmental section of the newspaper (I live in a very “green” town) and they wanted to highlight the environment and it had to be photographed in 2009 and in the state of Indiana. As you know, I take zillions of photos of Duc, but NONE of my photos really fit the criteria. So I submitted this photo:

I received an email yesterday notifying me that I had won. You can’t even imagine how surprised I was that I had won. As I expressed surprise to one of the judges today he said “cute certainly doesn’t hurt”. Yeah, Duc is cute. We won a few small gifts and his photo will be blown up and prominently displayed in Friday’s paper. Pretty darn cool. They asked for some bio info on both of us and I included some cute things about Duc and about what I do for a living. In addition, and on a whim, I shared the new photography project I am undertaking. I’m not yet ready to talk specifics, but it is huge. Like really huge. Like, I am looking for funding to support the the project. It will take the entire year and will likely spill over into next year. It is not a “typical” photo job and is completely self-directed. If this actually works it will involve the three biggest passions I have had ever had in my adult life. Huge. Say a prayer, cross fingers, send vibes or whatever else you do but definitely keep this in your thoughts. I’m really excited! When I mentioned my project idea to the newspaper judge she was really excited by the idea (evidently no one has ever heard of anyone pursuing a similar project so yay!) and is going to bounce my project over to a reporter to write a story up on it to draw attention. Hopefully this will bring the necessary participants needed and *hopefully* some funding. Only time will tell.

If any of you have any experiencing for finding grants please contact me!

Oh, and if anyone thinks he is sitting on the potty in the above photo let me assure you he is not! He was sitting on the couch with his feet on the floor. It’s just an odd angle, which I kinda like:)