We made it back and had a wonderful time in the Bahamas!! Amazing weather, fun and sun! I’m uper busy processing photos of sweet little Jake (see his sneak peek below!), getting a few photos up from the trip and travelling out of town for work during the next two weeks…so blog posts will be few and far between, but I WILL have something up soon!
Thanks for checking in! Can’t wait to share our trip in pictures!
I’m beyond excited to post this sneak peek of one of my cutest (and littlest!) clients, Jacob. I arrived at Jake’s home early on Saturday morning to find the happiest 7 week old baby ever! His family is gorgeous! And it’s quite obvious that his parents absolutely adore him. You could feel the love in this family bouncing off the walls! I promised his mother at least three photographs before I took off on vacation…and boy did I deliver!! We’ve got not only three, but FIVE to show off today! Once I started processing the photos of this sweet little guy, I just couldn’t stop. Enjoy your sneak peek!
I just love how his little face is squished on his daddy’s shoulder….so precious!
I love the baby feet. I want to be sure that you remember just how tiny they were. 
Lots more to come!
Now since, I’ve been playing on the computer all evening, I must jump off of here, get to packing and watch the Dateline Michael Jackson special!!! I’ll be absent from the blog for a while…I’ll be cruising, tanning, eating, tanning, reading books, eating, cruising…did I mention tanning? Have a wonderful 4th of July!
Drew and I have been comfortably settled in our new house for four months. The house is coming together and almost done with just a few finishing touches left to do. I went to Hobby Lobby (one of my FAVORITE places!) and spent almost two hours wondering around the store on Friday. I was looking for a few details to add to our bedroom. I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately and I decided it was because our room wasn’t giving off peaceful or serene energy. (I’m probably getting a few eye rolls for that last sentence, but that’s fine with me. ) When we moved in the room was already painted a dark gray. I had a hard time tying that into a color scheme that I liked. First, we painted all of Drew’s furniture from a beautiful chocolate brown to a bright high gloss white. That really helped to brighten the room. Then I found a duvet cover and pillows that were a mix of chocolate, platinum and white. Our room is huge and can really handle big dramatic furniture and accents. So I thought my Grandma Dee’s lamps would be perfect on either side of the bed. The hardest part for me to finish was finding something for over the bed. I’m really happy with how it turned out
Drew was not a huge fan of our initials on the headboard at first…but after I painted them (they were a hideous metallic gold when I purchased them!) and got them up there, he was able to see my vision and come to terms with it. He even said he liked it! I love the lamps on either side of the bed. Doesn’t this radiate “peaceful resting place”?!? I took a close up shot of Grandma Dee’s lamps. I’m getting ready to paint the gold parts the same platinum color as our letters. It has a hammered texture finish and will update the look a little bit more. I’m going to leave the glass and marble as is, to keep a bit of the original design. If my newest client is reading this post I’m sure she recognizes that little basket next to the lamp. She’s probably also wondering why I’m posting pictures of my bedroom and not her sweet baby son. (Your sneak peek is coming Robyn! I promise!)
I’m a little sad today because we packed up the pets and sent them to Grand Haven to spend a week (or two!) with their grandparents while Drew and I go on vacation. It was really hard to say goodbye to them!! But I know they will have a blast and probably gain a little weight at their grammy and grampy’s house. I’ve noticed that our house is sooooo quiet without them! I miss them already! But I’m staying distracted by packing up for the big vacation and processing the sweetest little photos of my latest and littlest client. Stay tuned for a great sneak peek!
These furry animals bring us so much happiness. I can’t imagine my life without Beauy and I can’t remember my life without Sauce. The weather has been hot and humid lately – much to the dismay of Beau because he runs out of juice after only a mile and a half or so on our nightly jogs. I thought these photographs were appropriate since both of them are sleeping in places they shouldn’t be….
I love how Saucy takes total possession of the dog bed. She is being the queen that she is. I can count the times I’ve seen Beay lay in his bed on one hand. It’s Saucy’s bed now. I have a photog shoot off tonight and I’m sooooo very excited to learn more and get some new shots. We’ve had very colorful skies the past couple of nights and I hope it continues! FIVE more days until vacation!!!
I’ve been searching for a new camera bag and it’s soooo frustrating! I need something affordable, functional, and safe! I want my gear protected, especially since I travel so much with it. I’ve been dying to get a Shootsac to take on shoots with me ever since I saw it mentioned by a guest blogger on the many forums and blogs that I read over every day. Isn’t it precious??
It’s so sleek, dainty, and gosh-darn-cute! Unfortunately it’s waaaaaaaay out of my price range right now. They are designed by Jessica Claire and are made for functionality and fashion. What a brilliant combination! I’ve had great comments from readers who have pointed out that this is primarily for shooting…not great for travel. And since I’m on a budget right now (and leave for a Bahama cruise in 6 days!!) I’m stuck with this guy…
Can you hear the “Wah-wah-wah” disappointing/sad sound that they use in cartoons? This is so BULKY compared to that sweet little Shootsac. Even though this dandy bag pictured above is no fashion statement…it was affordable, functional – it can hold 3-4 lenses PLUS my camera! – and very, very, durable. I needed something bigger to take on our cruise next week, so this is what I ended up with. Now Drew has a very public, obvious and helpful hint for my next birthday present. Shootsac honey, Shootsac.
My blog hasn’t had a post starring the pets in quite some time (much to the dismay of their grandparents.) So I thought this Monday would be the perfect kind of day to show you what kind of typical sibling interaction we have at our house. This was taken on Friday evening. I was perched up on the kitchen counter playing with my camera and planning our Friday night activities with Drew. I looked down and noticed that both Beau and Saucy were checking in to see if it was dinner time. They normally have some kind of playful interaction every day, but I’ve never caught it on camera. I was hoping they’d say hello to each other since the camera was in a prime location – my hands! This action sequence is what happened next. *Note, some of the action was too quick for my shutter speed, so you’ll see a bit of blurring.
I love how Saucy sits patiently waiting for the ginormous paw of Beau to come swinging down before she takes cover in the basement. Beau is never quick enough to make contact. He still tries every day.
I don’t want anyone to be concerned that either of these pets are in danger. Like I said, Beau isn’t quick enough nor does he posess the desire to hurt his big sister. And Saucy is too small to do any serious damage to the beast…although she maaaaaay have the desire (once in a while) to inflict minor pain on her little brother. Below is a photo of the peace that followed.
Beauy looks awful sleepy…that’s because on Saturday we both participated in the local 5K Fun Run for Pets Without Parents. It was fantastic!! We pulled up to the starting line and there must have been 100 dogs there. Beauy went NUTS! He had so much fun and was completely exhausted afterwards. I thought about taking my camera, but I was very glad that I didn’t. Trying to manage Beauy around packs of other dogs was stressful enough. We did not take take 1st place…and we did not finish strong. 
Beau ran so hard so fast in the beginning that I was literally dragging him to the finish line. At one point I was worried I’d have to carry him. We made it though and they had little kiddie pools set up for the dogs after the race. I wasn’t sure if Beau would like the pool, but I lead him to it anyway for a drink and to cool off. He stepped inside the kiddie pool and then layed down in it. It was adorable. And the great thing about dog-lovers is that when Beau rudely took up the enitre kiddie pool, every laughed and nodded in mutual understanding. It was a great start to our Saturday!
Congratulations to Christopher and Julie! You two had a beautiful wedding and I was glad that Drew and I could be there to share it with the family. I’m excited about the potential talks and planning of a family vacation next year. Sign me up!
They always say that you are your own worst critic…I’d have to say that is definitely true! Especially in the creative world! I’ve had an increase in my blog traffic lately (YAY! Thank you to all my new readers!) and I decided that I needed a portrait of myself that was more “me”. So I sat down with my partner in crime (my Canon 5d), put it on a tripod, activated the auto-timer and sat down on my stair case. Trust me, there were plenty of photos that were just awful…but then Beau walked behind the tripod and I started to panic that he’d knock it over. He stared at me, as I stared at him…then he simply sat down and started talking. (For those of you who own Huskies, or have met Beau…you know that by “talking” I mean howling.) I don’t know if he was trying to tell me that I looked like an idiot or what, but it did the trick…it got a genuine smile out of me. So here is my latest self-portrait. Thank you Beauy.
We’re off to Wheeling for the weekend! Can’t wait to see you, family! Congrats to Christopher and Julie…I can’t wait to experience your beautiful day with you guys!
As you can see, in our immediate family there are no little boys (yet!). That means that Kevin and Josh are surrounded by dress up clothes, Barbies, jewelry, doll babies and princess crowns. As soon as the girls got to the house they were immediately going through my jewelry and shoe selection (they are definitely related to me.) Kevin and Josh are very tolerant and I’m sure they love every minute of our girliness! Josh couldn’t be with us for our mini-family photo shoot…next time Josh! Here are the rest of the photos from our back yard session. Enjoy!
The girls were thoroughly grossed out by the kissing photo.
Randa and Brandy, you both have beautiful families!! Thanks for letting me take a few photographs for you! If you girls want prints, digital copies for Facebook or (my personal favorite) canvas prints shoot me an email! Love you!
Chloe, Haleigh and Jordan are cousins and best friends. They remind me of their mothers and myself growing up together. Brandy, Miranda and I ran a muck through the town of Sistersville when I would come to visit. They taught me the latest dance moves (to the soundtrack of Dirty Dancing) how to ding-dong-ditch (we got in big trouble for that one) and how to copy our faces on Grandaddy Tom’s copy machine (I think we got into trouble for that one too.) I was the youngest and could be talked into doing anything. I have a special place in my heart for little Jordy…I feel her pain!
I love the one of Haleigh and her mama. The girls give that tire swing a workout every time they come to visit A Mary Jane. I have more family pictures and parade pictures to post next. Stay tuned!
I took a few photographs of my favorite little cousins over Memorial Day weekend (yes, I know that was ages ago…but I’m slowly getting caught up!) As I sit here processing them, I can’t get over how grown up they are! Those cute little baby faces are turning into the faces of young girls! YIKES! I have lots to show, but for now here are two of my favorites.
Such cuties!!
I also took another photograph of one of my cuties…Saucey had an unexpected visitor when she showed up at her great grammy’s house. My uncle’s bird was down for a visit. We put Comet out on the deck so that he was safely seperated from The Sauce. Sasha stalked that bird for an hour straight.
Comet did have the last laugh since he was safely inside his cage and out on the deck. I think he enjoyed tormenting Sasha.
This is the last photo I took of the High School. The detail in the design of the school is so authentic…I wanted to capture a piece of it while we still can. And not to mention the brilliantly blue sky!
More to come!
In other news, I spent the weekend with Drew in North Carolina!! He had to work on Thursday and Friday and for once…I got to do nothing!! We had such a great time! I stayed with U Tom and A Lori in their beautiful home in Fort Mill, SC. I’m in love with Baxter Village! It’s the cutest neighborhood with an amazing pool! (I lounged around it for two days straight…rockin’ a very nice tan line now.) I also got to spend some time with my cousin Trooper.
Isn’t he the cutest doggie?!?
After my stay in Fort Mill, we went north of Charlotte to spend a couple nights with Drew’s sister. We had a great time! We ate at this little seafood restaurant called Vinnie’s Raw Bar on Lake Norman…amazing food!! I’m in-love with oysters and was happy to find out that Amy’s husband likes oysters too. I love heading south for fresh seafood. There are plenty of great restaurants in Columbus that boast fresh seafood….buuuuut there’s nothing like having seafood when the ocean is close by (at least closer than Ohio is!) So thanks to everyone for their hospitality and company. We both had a great time. On the way home our good luck just kept going when we were both bumped up to First Class. I think we were both so tired that the extra space and endless peanut supply was a blessing. I tried to take a couple pictures of my cutie pie, but he wasn’t in the mood.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend and I’m looking forward to even more family time this coming weekend in Wheeling!
