OUT!!!!!!!

We just learned about 15-30 minutes ago that Mom is already out of surgery and that everything went okay so far. She did not have to have valve replacement after all and only three bypasses were needed. It seems we may have misheard about the quadruple part. Spencer and Sara just went down to the hospital cafeteria and we are taking turns watching our stuff.

I cannot even begin to express how relieved we all are. The doctor said the next few hours are still critical as we have to wait to make sure that she wakes up ans starts breathing on her own, that she is not bleeding, and doesn't have a stroke. We should hopefully know all that in a few hours or so.

I will relate more later but I just wanted to express relief for the time being. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Slideshow Goodness

Okay so I downloaded a trial version of Showit Sites and played with it tonight while my two boys were out picking up my dear in-laws from the airport. This is an incredibly rough idea of what my website might eventually look like. I enjoyed playing with Show it Sites and if Sara's Dreamweaver is as user friendly as this program was I may be able to make it....with LOTS of Sara's help. :)

Mom's going into surgery on Wednesday and she was admitted into the hospital today. It's going to be a long day of sitting in the waiting room waiting anxiously. I am, of course, bringing my trusty laptop with me for some much needed editing time with the rest of Nicole's pictures from the wedding.

I also spend Saturday evening with two of my best friends who are expecting their first baby in October. We enjoyed about a 3 hour photoshoot and I am SUPER DUPER excited to work on those also. First things first though. :P

So, in case you couldn't tell, much yummy photo goodness coming your way soon. I will leave you with one SOOC (straight out of camera) shot of the maternity session. For those of you that do not know this, SOOC shots may not look the best. After I work a little magic on it however, we are in bizniss. :)

Okay, okay...so maybe I'll go ahead and post two... LOLA, the wonder terrier! She was too cute. Alright now off to dreamland. Enjoy!!

My Beatles Tribute

Everytime I look at these images I think of the Beatles song. I love that song. The following three images are ones that I took in Charleston on my anniversary visit. As cool as they looked by themselves, I think that adding the frame and textures bumped them up a notch.

Absolutely Gorgeous

So I mentioned the wedding that I second shot in the previous post...I have been up to all hours working on the pictures from it but have one that I cannot wait to share. It is by far one of my all time faves. I did have some fun playing with it.

1. I converted it to Black and White...obviously. 2. I created a new layer and smoothed out her skin using the tips from this [b]school lesson. Finally 3. I created a new layer and applied the gaussian blur texture to it and then erased the layer over her face and hair and necklace. The close crop was done in camera by me standing over her as she crouched down (she was so obliging) using my new Canon 50mm 1.8 lens.

I personally get giddy looking at it. :) Let me know what you think of it.

Renewed Purpose

So I have been reading Fast Track Photographer by Dane Sanders and loving it. I was priveleged to get it free when I attended DJs seminar. However, I decided to take the plunge and pay the $20 for the PDNA test that is offered with it. That is the photographer DNA. After taking it, I was a bit sad at my results. However, after "second shooting" a wedding on Saturday (more on that later) I have decided to take what the test told me (glaringly) were my weak points and improve those points accordingly. "Look out world here I come" basically is my outlook at this point.
At this point I want to share with you some of the images from our before school beach trip. It's funny as Spencer is getting more into photography with me I am starting to forget to post which pictures are his. Please know that my little son's life is documenting by both of his loving parents. Spencer actually snapped away quite a bit at the beach on our day two at the beach as I was not feeling too well.

This beach trip I was super organized. I had a duffel bag with everything you could possibly need...including bandaids and pepto bismol. I even made sure to bring beach toys this time. After we made our little sandcastle, Liam got busy working on burying himself.

Then Sara helped him out and buried his body completely for him. It was too cute watching him. He had the hardest time keeping still.

On the following two I added a little extra love from Michelle Black's actions and textures, which I highly reccomend.

Liam loved his turtle goggles but could not handle wearing the nose plug I had gotten him. He also chose not to wear the lifevest for too long as it hindered his playing ability.
While I was laying on (and under) the beach towel trying to avoid any more sun blisters that i had suffered from the previous day so Spencer commandeered the camera and took some great shots of Liam playing in the waves.

This is his absolute favorite shot. He loves to ask me to see this shot. I promised him I would blow this one up for his room.

As yucky as it is to get sand everywhere and to be sore for days afterward with sun burn and/or sandburn...I still love the beach for a vacation. There is something so stinking relaxing and just downright fun about it. :)

Hope you enjoyed the images.

A Few Favorites

Here are a few more shots of the cousins that I got some time ago. This first one really just grabs me. I love how she is just chilling being her....with the perfect pose.



As cute as this little guy is, you haven't even seen the cuteness his dimples unleash.

This little beauty is such a poser...but you can't mind when it comes out like this.

And a few more cute natural shots of this little beauty.

And a little whimsical shot to boot....VROOOM!

No more Atlanta traffic, no more...yeah yeah yeah

So....me....my life....is CHANGING.

As of September 29th, the day I turn 28, I will be returning to a previous job that I held...with mixed feelings. I didn't love my previous job at American Homecare where I was a collector of money from insurance companies, but I did like the people and the company. It is also closer to home. This is advantageous for several reasons 1) 12 minutes away from the house as opposed to 55 minutes, 2) This means I can sleep an hour later which is GREAT!! 3) I can come home over my lunch break, 4) I can take Liam to school in the morning, which he is so stoked about, and 5) I will be working with my mother-in-law again which I really liked actually.

And all that means no more traffic...as pictured below.

I took these on my phone one dayon the commute home to show exactly what I would NOT be missing anymore. As you can somewhat see from the top left photo, traffic is backed up BOTH directions.

The bottom left photo shows the source of all evil on my ride home. The Wesley Chapel exit. One of the most poorly planned exits for an interstate. It comes less than a mile after I-285 merges onto I-20 so it causes great congestion from the people on I-20 trying to switch lanes before they miss their exit and the people coming off of I-285 who are trying NOT to get off on that exit. General yuckiness ensues. The bottom right is my usual look as I am sitting in the mess that results.

One more not so great photo for your perusing pleasure but with a much happier story.
This is David Jay (aka DJ by all of his friends, which I hope to be someday...geez I sound like a stalker) and I after the conclusion of the Free to Succeed tour in Atlanta on Monday night. I think this seminar may have been a turning point in my life as a photographer.

Let me explain for those of you who don't know who DJ is. He is an incredibly successful wedding photographer who never had any formal training in the field. Learned as he went...kind of like me. He has been touring with a very informative seminar Free to Succeed. Since it is now over, you won't be able to attend yourself but if you go here you can get the DVD which I highly reccomend if you are thinking about starting a photography business.

So investing the money to go to this seminar was totally worth it. I am glad I followed [b]ecker's advice and went. I am now armed with the information and confidence that I need to really start pushing my photography...finally. Considering I started shooting weddings when I was 18 (1998) and then just slipped out of it in the past 3 years or so (having a kid and getting married kind of does that to you) it's about flippin' time.

So I have a friend of mine working on a logo for me so that I can start branding myself and I have some friends lined up as guinea pigs so that I can refresh my portfolio and I am going to start arming my friends with information needed to start selling me. ;) I also started a facebook so I can start networking my photography a bit more. And I am getting in contact with some old photography friends so that I can start networking through them.

YAY! {{deep breath}} Here's hoping that this time next year I will be able to quit my day job and pioneer.

Too Tired

I had planned on a long post tonight about how excited I was coming home from the Free to Succeed tour stop in Atlanta, GA...and about how much I loved listening to David Jay...and about how he really inspired me to take off with my photography...but I am TOO tired from browsing like a fool instead of being useful, so I will have to update you guys tomorrow. Thank goodness I am staying home with Liam tomorrow and don't have to drag myself out of bed to go to work. YAY!!

A Plethora of Images & Updates on My Labor Day Week

So much has been going on in the past week. For one thing, Liam turned FIVE!! The very same day I got my new portrait lens. So guess who was my little model for shots while we were out to dinner? I love my new 50mm 1.8.

The last shot is one that Liam directed and took. I was told to smile and wink my eye. ;)

Labor day weekend was a very welcome break although not much got done. I didn’t really get to play with my lens to much because I was busy gathering pearls of photographic wisdom from [b]ecker while watching the first season of 24 on DVD with my husband.

Sunday was the FUN day for our little family. We headed to the Georgia Aquarium where Spencer commandeered my camera which means there are actually some pictures of Liam and I together having fun. A rare happening…actually having it photographed that is. Meanwhile Spencer had fun taking images such as this one...
...and this one. Liam and I touching the anemones.

This one just makes me laugh for some reason.
This is one of those domes that they have in the penguin exhibit so that you can "look" like you are in there with the penguins.So, as you can see here, the aquarium on labor day may not have been the best idea. A bit more crowded than we were used to but we had fun anyway.


It's not very often Spencer (or anyone for that matter) gets a shot of me that I like.
After the aquarium, we went across the street to Centennial Olympic Park where much fun ensued on two (that’s right TWO) playgrounds.

At the second playground Liam mainly experimented on how to go down this slide in many different ways. And I remember not that long ago when he wouldn't go down a slide by himself.



GrandNettie

Grandpa

And then off to…

…the “exploding water” as Liam called it. Liam had much fun in here.



While Spencer and my father in law went to get the car, my dear mother in law tried to get a picture of me in the water too. Liam wanted to know why I wouldn’t take my shirt off and get wet with him.

Waiting for the car. He looks like such a big boy here. After dinner at Harry and Sons we ended the night with a mandatory late night trip to Krispy Kreme where Liam got a sprinkle donut. I don’t think the day could have gotten any better for him. On the ride home, he was asleep on GrandNettie’s arm holding on to my arm within 5 minutes.

Then the crappy week began. On Wednesday, my mom went in for heart catheterization on Wednesday to try and get to the root of why she is always so tired and short of breath. That morning my sister calls me and asks me if I am sitting down…that never bodes well…Mom was being admitted into the hospital. Turns out she has MAJOR blockage and is going to need quadruple, yeah that’s right, QUADRUPLE bypass surgery and valve replacement. My poor dear mommy. She is going home today and is scheduled to have the surgery sometime in the next few weeks. She is actually very calm about it and is hoping that afterwards she will finally feel better.

Meanwhile my dear husband left yesterday with his father for a road trip up to New York with a side stop in DC. He is going to be gone for a week, which is the longest we have been apart since getting married almost 2 ½ years ago. (You can go ahead and gag now) While they are on the road, his mom calls them to let them know that she was having chest pains and that her doctor told her to go to the emergency room.

WILL THE MADNESS PLEASE STOP!! Enough already! Fortunately she is okay, just low in potassium...but what a scare anyway.

Needless to say it has been an eventful week. Hopefully all will calm down soon.

As far as updates go: Spencer has still not found a job, thus his ability to leave me travel for a week. Milo is doing better but now is even more pitiful since we have had to put a cone around her head so she doesn’t bite off her wrappings. The vet says she should be healed in 3 weeks.

This is what I have to deal with while my husband is away. There are TWO of them and I am NOT touching them.And this is my bed tonight. We normally don't let Milo in the bed with us but I am making an exception tonight.
Isn't she just pitiful? I feel so bad for her.