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So yesterday was family portrait day.
We had a 4:50pm appointment at Jacques Penney, and it was to be hub and I, and Brö and his significant other Tom. But Brö and Tom had unplanned guests, so Tom was designated to entertain them and Brö showed up alone. We signed in, and waited awhile. Brö entertained himself by recording subversive messages on the 'recordable message puppies'- stuffed dogs where you press a button and say something ("I wuv you gramma!") and it plays the message back when you press another button. There was a display with scores of them piled up and accessible. Messages included 'take off your clothes!', 'drugs are good', and 'vote Democratic'.
After we'd waited over a half-hour past our appointment date, we asked the nice lady at the desk how long it was going to be. Apparently in addition to booking themselves with back to back appointments, they were working in walk-ups too, and when children are involved it takes a lot longer. She said we probably had another half-hour to go, so we wandered into the mall and got snacks. Unlike whichever weekend night hub and I went to Lakeline, this was a much more crowded mall (Highland) and a much more crowded time of day. The place was packed, and we were all wilting pretty quickly.
Oh, what'd we all wear, you ax? Well, hub had on a dark greenish-grayish-brownish shirt made out of a silk-like material. Brö had on a shirt that had some sort of small grey and black zig-zaggy print on it. I had the big boobie bra and a wine-colored silk shirt. I brought a black blazer-thing but decided not to wear it. I had also started out with big chunky gold jewelry but ditched it for the small gold pentacle and tiny hoop earrings because the big pendant was hanging weird on the silk shirt. I put some Product (from a gen-yew-ine gay hairstylist) in my hair and a little eyeliner and mascara on. I think that's one of... maybe 5 times I've put on make-up in the past year or so.
So we were all pretty sick of people by the time we got back to the studio, and still had to stand around and wait another half-hour or so. Brö was getting antsy to get back to his guests and hub was starting to give the Ninja Death Look to the uncorralled children. But we finally got in, and the cheerful lady took seven pictures.
1. All 3 of us, me in front, hub standing behind with his hand on my shoulder, and Brö sitting next to me. The background she chose was 'mocha clouds', which were dark greyish brownish blobs. I thought we'd pick the background- shows how often I've done this. I don't think I would have picked mocha clouds, but it looked okay. Except I looked fat.
2. All three of us, Brö and hub sitting in front, me standing behind. The background was 'blue clouds' and I looked less fat, so we ordered a sheet of those.
3. Brö and I sitting next to each other, with my hand on Brö's shoulder. Looks sort of unnatural, but at least I didn't have to put my hand on my chin. I hate how they have you do that. More mocha clouds, but looked okay so we ordered a couple of sheets of that one.
After this, Brö bolted to go join his guests. Not that I blame him.
4. Hub and I; me sitting behind him and putting my elbow on his shoulder and leaning my head onto his. If it sounds unnatural, it sure felt it, but it doesn't look bad in the picture. Background- blue clouds, not bad, we ordered a bunch of that since his family probably doesn't want to see pictures of Brö.
5. Hub and I, sitting facing each other but looking out at the camera. I looked fat. I know I am fat, but some pictures were less flattering than others. The background was plain royal blue; hub said with his green shirt and my reddish one we got the whole RGB thing going.
6. Hub and I, same pose as 5 but the background was a hideous color called 'french vanilla'- a glowing washed-out yellow, sort of Post-It Note color. Ack! Eck!
7. Hub and I facing each other, looking at each other, and with me resting my hand on his neck. Even if it didn't look like I was trying to strangle him with one hand, the french vanilla background woulda killed it.
So, we got 5 8x10s and 2 sheets of smaller ones- all charges totaled just under $100. I'll get some mailers to send them out to his grandparents and my dad, we can probably give Mom and his parents theirs since I'm sure we'll be seeing them soon. I may even stick Mom's in a frame, since I haven't gotten her much of anything else. We're supposed to get them on 12/22, but they said we might get them sooner. Perhaps I'll inquire at the post office about how much it'd cost to mail them beforehand and then just stick a bunch of stamps on the mailers in advance. I don't otherwise want to go anywhere near a post office that close to Christmas. Hub said his parents and grandparents will not only be happy with the pics, but impressed that I was able to talk him into sitting for them. They don't know my secret- or rather, they couldn't use my secret because it's illegal for relatives to do that. This is also nice because his sister, who is very cute and photogenic, has given them glamour-shot-type pics of her. Then next to that on her desk his mom just had a candid shot of hub holding a big knife. I bet she'll dig this.
We had a 4:50pm appointment at Jacques Penney, and it was to be hub and I, and Brö and his significant other Tom. But Brö and Tom had unplanned guests, so Tom was designated to entertain them and Brö showed up alone. We signed in, and waited awhile. Brö entertained himself by recording subversive messages on the 'recordable message puppies'- stuffed dogs where you press a button and say something ("I wuv you gramma!") and it plays the message back when you press another button. There was a display with scores of them piled up and accessible. Messages included 'take off your clothes!', 'drugs are good', and 'vote Democratic'.
After we'd waited over a half-hour past our appointment date, we asked the nice lady at the desk how long it was going to be. Apparently in addition to booking themselves with back to back appointments, they were working in walk-ups too, and when children are involved it takes a lot longer. She said we probably had another half-hour to go, so we wandered into the mall and got snacks. Unlike whichever weekend night hub and I went to Lakeline, this was a much more crowded mall (Highland) and a much more crowded time of day. The place was packed, and we were all wilting pretty quickly.
Oh, what'd we all wear, you ax? Well, hub had on a dark greenish-grayish-brownish shirt made out of a silk-like material. Brö had on a shirt that had some sort of small grey and black zig-zaggy print on it. I had the big boobie bra and a wine-colored silk shirt. I brought a black blazer-thing but decided not to wear it. I had also started out with big chunky gold jewelry but ditched it for the small gold pentacle and tiny hoop earrings because the big pendant was hanging weird on the silk shirt. I put some Product (from a gen-yew-ine gay hairstylist) in my hair and a little eyeliner and mascara on. I think that's one of... maybe 5 times I've put on make-up in the past year or so.
So we were all pretty sick of people by the time we got back to the studio, and still had to stand around and wait another half-hour or so. Brö was getting antsy to get back to his guests and hub was starting to give the Ninja Death Look to the uncorralled children. But we finally got in, and the cheerful lady took seven pictures.
1. All 3 of us, me in front, hub standing behind with his hand on my shoulder, and Brö sitting next to me. The background she chose was 'mocha clouds', which were dark greyish brownish blobs. I thought we'd pick the background- shows how often I've done this. I don't think I would have picked mocha clouds, but it looked okay. Except I looked fat.
2. All three of us, Brö and hub sitting in front, me standing behind. The background was 'blue clouds' and I looked less fat, so we ordered a sheet of those.
3. Brö and I sitting next to each other, with my hand on Brö's shoulder. Looks sort of unnatural, but at least I didn't have to put my hand on my chin. I hate how they have you do that. More mocha clouds, but looked okay so we ordered a couple of sheets of that one.
After this, Brö bolted to go join his guests. Not that I blame him.
4. Hub and I; me sitting behind him and putting my elbow on his shoulder and leaning my head onto his. If it sounds unnatural, it sure felt it, but it doesn't look bad in the picture. Background- blue clouds, not bad, we ordered a bunch of that since his family probably doesn't want to see pictures of Brö.
5. Hub and I, sitting facing each other but looking out at the camera. I looked fat. I know I am fat, but some pictures were less flattering than others. The background was plain royal blue; hub said with his green shirt and my reddish one we got the whole RGB thing going.
6. Hub and I, same pose as 5 but the background was a hideous color called 'french vanilla'- a glowing washed-out yellow, sort of Post-It Note color. Ack! Eck!
7. Hub and I facing each other, looking at each other, and with me resting my hand on his neck. Even if it didn't look like I was trying to strangle him with one hand, the french vanilla background woulda killed it.
So, we got 5 8x10s and 2 sheets of smaller ones- all charges totaled just under $100. I'll get some mailers to send them out to his grandparents and my dad, we can probably give Mom and his parents theirs since I'm sure we'll be seeing them soon. I may even stick Mom's in a frame, since I haven't gotten her much of anything else. We're supposed to get them on 12/22, but they said we might get them sooner. Perhaps I'll inquire at the post office about how much it'd cost to mail them beforehand and then just stick a bunch of stamps on the mailers in advance. I don't otherwise want to go anywhere near a post office that close to Christmas. Hub said his parents and grandparents will not only be happy with the pics, but impressed that I was able to talk him into sitting for them. They don't know my secret- or rather, they couldn't use my secret because it's illegal for relatives to do that. This is also nice because his sister, who is very cute and photogenic, has given them glamour-shot-type pics of her. Then next to that on her desk his mom just had a candid shot of hub holding a big knife. I bet she'll dig this.
