Snow Day

In Texas, we don't get to claim a "snow day" very often. Okay, sometime we get an "ice day" or two, but snow is kinda foreign for us. So much so, that you will often hear people refer to ice as "snow". I grew up for a bit in Oregon, so I certainly know the difference.

So you can imagine my joy and surprise when we got the actual white fluffy goodness that can be considered SNOW and be rolled up into balls that are thrown and mounds that make "snowmen". I admit it... I was a kid again and enjoyed every minute.

Of course, we had the BEST snowman on the block, because he was a REAL TEXAS COWBOY. (thanks to my mom's cowboy hat) --- the kids laughed and played til their lips were blue and teeth were chattering. Heck, not sure who had more fun... me, the kids or MY mom! Some people never really grow up... especially when you are making mouths out of raisins.

However, I must admit, I was a bit annoyed when the weather wreaked havoc on my Valentine's weekend plans... the airlines shut down for over 24 hours and after hours on the phone with airlines, and a couple re-bookings... we were able to salvage our romantic weekend, even if it was a delayed start for a day or so. The important thing was we were together and appreciated the time we had.

The weekend was exciting, with its fair share of tragedy (not just the delayed flights). It included a VERY fantastic Miranda Lambert concert (the kids first concert ever... and they did great. Even if Nate slept through part of it, ha), a couple movies, some yummy food, and unfortunately the goodbye of my precious Nikon D90 (along with my favorite red Coach purse, Chanel sunglasses and some other personal things) when my purse was taken... but we salvaged the weekend with some ice skating at the Galleria before it was time to say "goodbye" to Papa and send him back to our other home to spend some time with our other favorite guy.

All in all... it was a fun and memorable weekend. Snow, fun, laughs, love and best of all, FAMILY. I am truly blessed.

Find laughter in everything.

Nate: So, Mom, that one judge on American Idol... Pepper? She doesn't like Simon does she?

Me: You mean Posh Spice?

Nate: Oh yeah, Spice.

Me: (snicker...haha... Pepper) Yeah, she did seem annoyed with him didn't she?

Nate: I know!

Just another day full of chuckles with my Monkey. Had to share that little convo tonight, as it was just too cute not to.

I have a bunch of ideas for articles churning in my head, but life is a whirlwind and I haven't had two seconds to put pen to paper (or hands to keyboard, as the case may be). I promise to be better with blogging and writing this year, despite the fact my photography business is thriving. It has truly become my new passion and I am having so much fun with it. Be sure to go check out the newborn shots I did right after the new year on my photography blog (www.luckystardesigns.net). She was one adorable baby.

This weekend I am taking a break from the crazy pace of life and heading off to D.C. Looking forward to hitting up Georgetown for my favorite pizza place and maybe even a little 80's and 90's music at one of the little pubs. I will get some work in too, I am sure, but it will be nice to get away for the weekend too.

When I come back, I plan on putting together a workshop for learning Photoshop basics if anyone local is interested. Let me know. I'll post in more details about it on the photography blog later this month.

Hope everyone is having a great year! Be sure to reply with some articles you would like to see in the next couple of months. I'd like to merge some of my single-mom advice and some of my photography and design skills to put some articles together that teach you how to take better pictures of your kids, crafts you can do with kids, and even create your own holiday cards and scrapbook gifts. What else would you like to see?

Be Merry

I know... I know... I suck at blogging these past few months. I assure you I miss it and I feel like my creative brain is begging me to get some writing in.

Many of you know that I have been in a legal battle with my ex for a long time, so that has also hampered my writing, as anything "can and will be used against you" in a court of law (ha). Therefore, my creative energy feels extremely censored under that kind of negativity.

I write about my memories, my life... what I've learned and experienced. Much of that is being put on hold right now, so I apologize for feeling less than inspired these days.

But that all being said, life is good. Better than good. It's GRRRR-REAT! (Yes, I invoked some Tony the Tiger there... I hang out with the under 10 crowd entirely too much these days).

The kiddos are keeping me busy (and happy) with all the holiday madness. I think 7 and 5 are the perfect age for Christmas. Old enough to understand the true meaning of the holidays, but young enough to still believe in it's magic as well.

We went to see Santa the other day at the Bass Pro Shop in Grapevine. They do such an awesome presentation of Santa and other fun things for kids. I am really impressed each year when we go, especially when you consider it's ALL FREE! The Santa pictures, playing with the lazer rifle game, the electric racecars, even the horse drawn carriage outside. And as a photographer, I loved it because the photo ops there were ENDLESS.

I strapped on my trusty Nikon D90, geared the kids up in hats, scarves and gloves and off we went. Three hours later I had about 100 pictures and two very happy but tired kiddos. I also had a little boy that went from wanting a Nintendo DS from Santa to wanting a Red Rover B-B gun (oi vey!) and a little GIRL who instead of wanting anything girly, wants a fishing pole and a crossbow in pink camo. Well, atleast that will make their soon-to-be stepdad happy, since he's an avid outdoorsman. But mama bear is LESS than pleased. I think I am outnumbered though.

This time of year always reminds me of our Christmases growing up. We never had much, but I still remember it being magical, no matter what we found under the tree that morning. I was never disappointed, as whatever Santa brough seemed to be JUST right. I hope my own kids will have the same memory about Christmas when they grow up.

This year, instead of digging out all the ornaments and doing the "fancy" tree, we plan on getting a REAL tree and making all of our decorations. I am really looking forward to this. We are going to string cranberries and popcorn and make construction paper and ribbon ornaments. Hang candy canes and paper chain garland. I am excited about our "Charlie Brown" tree. Of course I will be there taking pictures to make sure we have the memories captured forever. But I hope the feeling of family togetherness will burn in the kid's memory as well. This will be our first Christmas in our blended family and we are all looking forward to it so much.

Okay, enough holiday rambling... I thought it would be fun to share some of your favorite/memorable childhood "Santa Gifts". Here are a few of mine. Be sure to comment and post yours as well!

1. Age 7 - royal blue blowdryer (I was BIG time with my own blowdryer for my curly hair! Ha)
2. Age 12 - A cassette tape (NOT dubbed from the radio) of Poisen "Look what the Cat drug in"
3. Age 15 - A CD player and black knee high boots (I was cool I tell ya)


Have a merry Christmas and Happy (but SAFE) New Year all my friends. I promise to be more faithful to my blog in 2010. (I won't even put it on my resolutions list, so that way I REALLY WILL do it) LOL.

xoxo

Say Cheese

We grew up in front of the camera, so it's no wonder we now choose to stand behind it. Me and my sisters are obsessed with taking pictures. I think we have literally documented every major, and not so major, moment of our lives, since the point our parents bought us our first very own 35mm camera (actually I think mine was a 110, do they even make those anymore? What about Advantix... whatever happened to those? Ha).

But I digress.

Picture-taking, documentation, photo albums and finally scrapbooks have encompassed so much of our memory-making, that they have not only chronicled the memories of our lives, they have become a PART of the memory-making.

Somewhere along the line it went from being a hobby to being something I could actually make some money doing (in order to pay for the outrageously expensive equipment I drool at while browsing photog sites online).

And unlike those fiercely loyal photographers, I have no loyalty to brand. I've tried Canon and Nikon, Olympus and Kodak. I have probably tried a version of every camera-making brand in the U.S. at some point. As long as it takes a crisp photo quickly... well I am happy.

So I am excited to break in my early christmas gift from my boyfriend, my Sony Alpha A-200. Already I am impressed with the quality of photos... and what better excuse to harrass my children like celebrity paparazzi, than making them help me break in the new cam.

Jenna was less than thrilled. All the rest of my photographs of her were of the back of her head or her hands in front of her face "Brittany"-style. Sigh. Better luck next time.

Nate on the other hand was a more willing participant. I will spare you the extreme closeups of the taco meat from dinner hanging out of his mouth while he cheesed it up for me... and instead give you the most gorgeous blue eyes I've ever seen (apologies to my blue-eyed boyfriend, but he is a close second).

And then I will leave you with a shot of my boy showing off his battle wounds. He got into an altercation with the swing at school. He swears the swing looks worse, but I am not so sure.