Just a short and sweet little post this evening. I have been hard at work on so many things and have neglected this little blog the past couple of weeks. Forgive me. I should have posted earlier to announce I would be taking a bit of a break to wrap up all of winter’s orders and start working on my new client space, where I will be able to meet with my clients, hold my proofing sessions, and hold orders for pick up. The space is coming along wonderfully! I am almost done with it and will be posting images soon! The temptation to post some now is really hard to overcome sometimes! But I know you’ll appreciate it so much more if you can see it completed:)

So next week I start shooting again and have a couple of spots still open in late March. April, however, only has one spot available. I’m so excited about all the family sessions I have coming up. The break from outdoor sessions has been long enough…..I am ready to start shooting in the fresh air again!

I got just a little taste of shooting outdoors again recently and wanted to share an image I worked on this evening. There is a magnificent tulip tree in our neighbors back yard and it comes over the fence and right up on our second story deck. It is truly gorgeous and fills the air with an intoxicating aroma. It brought me such joy for the short time that it was in bloom but lost its leaves rather quickly. I begged my daughter to let me take some pictures of her among the flowers and petals. She was wonderful. Here is what we captured that day.

I’ll be back next week!

Just a very quick post this evening to let you know I will be appearing on WLTX channel 19′s Friends at 5 tomorrow (Wednesday, December 22 5:00pmEST). I will be a participant in their 12 days of Christmas promotion….so if you are a fan, you might want to follow along for an opportunity to win a little something:) Have a computer close by to participate! I’ll also be showing some of my images and sharing a few photography tips.

I am so excited to have been asked to contribute to the promotion! I believe you can visit www.wltx.com and click on the “Friends @ Five watch and chat box” at the top left of the screen. This box will appear just prior to the show airing at 5pmEST. If you want to actually enter the contest, you must sign up on the website in advance and use the chat feature during the show. Good luck!!

And just because no post feels adequate without images, here are just a few from a session I will be blogging soon!

I’m warning you now…..if you don’t want to read a blog post by a proud mommy declaring how amazing her beloved daughter is, just move along……this post isn’t for you:) But I have been told that some of my readers, blog stalkers, friends, and family members like the personal blogging, so here it goes!

Yes, my daughter is exceptional. She makes me proud and I love her like I never knew I could love anyone. I want so many wonderful things for her in life. And one of the things I have always wanted for her is to have a voice…..a strong and confident voice. I was painfully shy and often socially awkward growing up. Well, I joke that I still am socially awkward…only I’m not really joking. I still find it difficult to speak up in groups of new people, when I am out of my element. And I find it so difficult to open up and let my own light shine sometimes. Ok, wait! This is about her and not me!!! So, enough of the history. Just know that having my daughter feel confident enough to speak up, be herself, let her light shine, have a voice that not only speaks kindly and confidently to others, but to herself as well is really important to me.

Some days ago my daughter had a writing assignment in school. She is a 6th grader and new to middle school and the assignment was to write about middle school fears. She gave it to me to read over before turning it in. As I read this paper, my eyes welled up with tears and my heart swelled with pride. This paper was so clever and funny. She had this amazing tongue-in-cheek, dramatic flair to the paper that seemed so well developed for a child of her age. My daughter is quite dramatic at times – and who in the world knows where she got THAT from (snicker) – but this was more complex than the usual drama. I was so moved by reading it that I had my husband come in the office to read it too. Immediately my husband said, “You should blog this”. I was unsure my daughter would appreciate that.

Earlier this week when picking my daughter up from school she excitedly told me about her Language Arts teacher reading her paper to the class and giving her a 100 grade on it. She said, “She told me I had a great voice”! I was thinking, “Yeah! I knew that!” Oh man……proud moment.

So with my lovely daughter’s permission, I am putting her piece here on the blog:)

Middle School Fears

After spending a few weeks at middle school, you realize it’s not that bad at all. People don’t think you’re weird, at least not that you know of. Your locker is near and organized and the dog finally learned not to eat paper! And you haven’t been late to class once! None of your fears have come true, and you’re surviving middle school!

Just throwing a couple of snaps from our adventures in Texas this summer up here since it doesn’t seem like a real post with an image or two:)

So it’s been a little slow on the blog again because the family has been on vacation. We were so happy to travel to Texas to see family, friends, and have a few new adventures too! This is a super short post as I am preparing some new client sessions for their posts. The calendar is promising many more in the weeks ahead so check back for more professional work.

But tonight I just wanted to do a little personal post about one of our adventures on our recent vacation. We visited a great place called Fossil Rim Wildlife Center right outside of Glen Rose Tx. It is 1700 acres with 1100 animals that are allowed to roam free in near natural conditions. There are many different kinds of exotic deer, zebras, ostriches, giraffes, and so many others. You stop at a little store at the gate and pay your admission ( which is totally reasonable for this experience ) and can also purchase feed bags to feed to the animals you encounter as you drive through the park. We were instructed to drop the pellets out the window of the car and NOT feed the animals by hand…..EXCEPT the giraffes. We could feed the giraffes by hand!!! Oh my! I can’t tell you how this thrilled me. I LOVE giraffes and occasionally try to feed the ones on exhibit at our own Riverbanks Zoo, which usually leaves me feeling disapppointed as there are always such a large number of people clammering to feed them and the giraffes never linger in one spot for long. This was NOTHING like that experience!

Our vehicle approached the giraffes and we tried to lure them to us. As the giraffes layed about or hung back in the shade, it seemed like it was going to be another disappointing experience. We pulled forward again and I stood up in the front seat of the car hanging out the sunroof with my hands holding the pellets we had been given and calling sweetly to this giraffe, as if he were our beloved family pooch, and thinking to myself what a fool I must look like and how these gentle giants were probably getting a good chuckle. The largest giraffe started eyeing me and I suddenly got a little nervous as he slowly approached me. I called down to my husband through the sunroof – did he really think this was ok? He wouldn’t be aggressive, would he? I was nervous because this guy was HUGE! I have never seen such a giant giraffe before. But he was so gentle and trusting and I was so thrilled to be there at that moment, sharing this experience with my family, watching my daughter’s face as she also fed him from the car window. It was just incredible!

My husband – who wasn’t a giggling ball of goo like I was – was smart enough to hand me the iPhone and tell me to try and record it. So that’s what I am sharing tonight. I hope it makes you smile too;)