Last weekend was great. I attended a photography conference that really helped me professionally as well as personally. The speakers were wonderfully energetic. I learned better ways to focus (no pun intended) on what I really want and how I plan get there. It also made me think more about how I can challenge myself creatively, and not necessarily behind a camera.
I've been to several events like this over the years and it's interesting how they've change drastically, even in just the last year or two. More emphasis is on creative business practices and embracing the influx of new technology. Blogging has become a very useful tool to many photographers for a variety of reasons. One speaker commented that surprisingly the most mundane of topics can often spark the greatest amount of interest. One particularly popular post in recent months happened to be simply the contents of his refrigerator, or more appropriately, the lack of contents.
Now I know you are asking yourself "What does this have to do with French Toast?"
Throughout the past week, I've been reminded of this blog post on a daily basis. For whatever reason, I've been putting off going to the grocery, and quite frankly the fridge has gotten sparse. The contents are as follows.
- 1 stick of butter
- a partial loaf of bread
- 2 eggs
- 1 zucchini
- 1 yellow squash
- 4 or 5 carrots
- 1 can of Pepsi One (left over from a visit from my parents)
- 2 cans of inexpensive beer (also left over from the parent's visit)
- 1 bottle of beer carefully set aside for when I've had "one of those days"
- 1 Starbucks Frappucinno
- 1/2 a jar of marinated artichoke hearts
- 3 partial packages of assorted cheeses
- 1 container of left-over homemade soup
- 1 box of baking soda
- an assortment of various condiments including, ketchup, sour cream, mustard, salad dressing, mayo, chocolate syrup, jam etc.
- 1 box of polaroid instant film (Most photographers keep some photo-related item in their fridge. This is now even more special given that polaroids will be no more, but that's a topic for another post.)
This is it, not including the freezer, but honestly it's not any better. I contemplated going to the dreaded grocery in evening, but all day the weather forecasters warned of a major winter storm destined to hit our area. I think I would rather starve than to have fight the people at the store stocking up their emergency supplies. A friend of mine said to me "Yeah, you know everyone will be there getting their French Toast." After giving her a confused look, she told me that's what her family always said. Whenever bad weather hits, people always rush out to stock up on bread, eggs and milk. "And what do you make from bread, eggs and milk?... French Toast."
So not being able to muster up the courage to go out and face the crazy people at the grocery, I opted to stay in. I have all the emergency supplies I need. The Frappucinno will satisfy the need for morning coffee if this freezing rain ends up causing a power outage, rendering the coffee maker useless. (See, I plan ahead.) I don't have milk so I guess I won't be able to have French toast for breakfast. That's okay I might have crepes instead. I found a mix in the cupboard and all I need is eggs.
Stay warm!
