Sumaira McCloud

The first step before buying a gift for someone is considering who you are shopping for. My biggest pet peeve when it comes to gifts are thought-less presents that are given "just because" a gift had to/wanted to be given. Like, what? No. Don't be that person. Shopping for parents? This is always a great gesture because parents usually give so much to us, their kids. When it comes to Mom , I suggest thinking of things that she is into. If perhaps your Mom enjoys cleaning, like me, then its not a bad idea to give her a crazy-cool vacuum or steam mop (I recommend Shark products) that you know she would enjoy using. However, if your Mom is like the majority who HATES getting house hold items for gifts--then think of something more for her . Perfume Pajamas Movies that interest her (if she is into movies) An Album or CD or iTunes gift card Personalized calender or mug or shirt (Easily done at stores such as Walgreens ) Picture frame with photo inside (very swee

Lately I've been trying really hard to get back into photography! I used to spend hours on images, before I had a job as a teenager, and I miss it so much. I have a few friends who are interested in modeling for me, and today I wanted to share my two favorite shots. I'm open to feedback because I'm going into this pretty blindly.  I use a Nikon D3100, totally for beginners, and I haven't studied (yet) all the different aspects of photography. I simply have ideas and I want to capture them. Hope you like :) This one I call "Such a big world" My friend and model, Adina, is very petite and it worked in my favor for this shot. I love trees and any kind of natural landscape that involves color and light. I had her look up as if she was amazed by what was above. The Spanish Moss is so beautiful and I love the fact I could capture the whole scene. It makes me so happy inside! The favorite of both Adina and I was this below, however: I was n

She walks into the house, eyes puffy from crying. Gerald’s busy doing his routine crossword puzzle while blasting Pink Floyd. Lisa asks how his day was, as she does every night. Gerald unnoticingly answers his cliche response, fine, yeah, sales were good. A minute goes by before he remembers to ask about her day. Upon finally asking, Lisa nods and says it was a great day. Lisa is a liar. She lies to her ten year boyfriend, Gerald, she lies to her family, she lies to the world. She lies because she thinks if she tells the truth she will suddenly be judged, questioned, labeled. Lisa is depressed and contemplating resting eternally. No one knows how Lisa feels, because Lisa doesn't allow anyone to know. She hides away her troubles, thinking this is best for everyone. She doesn't want to burden anyone, who would? There are troubles in life and she isn't naive enough to think she’s the only one suffering. So, she continues to suffer, alone. Finally,

I went to the big kids school today! My teacher was so nice and funny. She is kind of squishy and has curly hair. I like her a lot. We had snack time and recess and even lunch. I saw so many other kids too. They were all kind of different.  I never knew some kids  couldn't  eat pork. The girl at lunch said her family  doesn't  eat pork. Why mom? Why can’t that girl eat pork? She was eating chicken.  Isn't  that the same thing? A big teacher named the principle came in to say hello and we were all really excited he brought stickers. I got the dinosaur one. It is red and grey. The principle was talking about no running in the hallway because kids fall down and get hurt.  When he said that, my new friend Brett said he didn’t care because he saw people get shot before. I thought he meant in the video games, like my big brother plays, but he said it was real life. I didn’t know if he was serious because I never seen a shooting before and I don’t want to because it’s