Womble Family

 

I had such a good time photographing this fun family!  We had a perfect spring day (despite the rain the night before) and were able to get some photos in before it turned too hot.

It's really amazing when you can tell how close a family is and how much fun they have together.  I love their color coordinated family groups or "teams!"  I could call out, "Team blue! You're up!" And everyone knew exactly what I was talking about.  In hindsight though, we should have had some games to see which family team came out on top.

Thank you so much to the Womble Family for letting me capture such a wonderful time in your lives and such a fun day!  Check out more photos below in the gallery.

Four Generations

I absolutely love when I hear from a client that I have worked with several times before.  It's so much fun to see their lives change, families grow, and be part of some really big moments in their lives.  So I was thrilled when I heard from Tiffany, asking me if I would do a Four Generations shoot for the women in her family.

We met up at the greatest little coffee shop in Seymour, TN called Brewed Awakenings.  If you are ever out that way I highly recommend it.  Great coffee, friendly atmosphere, and cheese cake that is to die for.

I could tell right off the bat that I was dealing with some pretty tough customers here.  Didn't want to smile, hard to work with, no fun at all......NOT!  These ladies were amazing from the get go.  Our whole session was full of stories and laughter.  I honestly felt like I was having coffee with them at their house and chit chatting the day away.

Mrs. Lille Rose is a hoot.  Her quiet demeanor is just a cover up for a truly amazing, beautiful, and fun loving nature.

Her daughter, Donna, is just the same.  Fun loving, beautiful, and full of spirit. You can tell the traits of a good sense of humor have passed down the generations.

And of course, Tiffany and Avery have a very special place in my heart.  I have enjoyed getting to know Tiffany better as a friend and to watch Avery grow into a beautiful little girl.

A special thanks to everyone at Brewed Awakenings for letting us invade the space and for the delicious cheesecake and coffee.  Thanks to all these ladies for letting me be a part of your day and peep into your lives together.  Love really does last generations and that is something so lovely and so worth passing on.

Spring

It's the first day of spring and the flowers in my front beds are blooming.  This week they really just came up out of no where and opened up to the world.  I couldn't resist sharing them with you. As I mentioned in my post "I Spy Something..." my Mother helped me plant these flowers last fall.  It was really special to me to be able to spend that time with her.  Although I spent most of the time watching her plant these flowers since I was recovering from surgery, it was just nice to sit and catch up.  These days it's pretty rare that we get time together, just the two of us.  While we were together she told me a story about one of her fondest memories of me as a little girl.  She also told me how she told herself at that moment that she had better remember it.  While she said this I was thinking the same thing about watching her plant these flowers.  I thought to myself, you have to remember this, don't let this memory slip away.  And lucky for me, I have a beautiful reminder.  Each spring, when these flowers bloom, I'll think about that weekend with my Mom and how we planted these together.

Another memory that the flowers in our yard bring, is that of Speed Racer's Grandfather.  He planted most of these flowers, and since I've moved here I've tried very hard to maintain them.  But he must have used the front flower beds for annuals because they were empty before we planted bulbs in them.  Last night though, Speed Racer turned to me as we walked by them in twilight, and said "My Grandfather would have loved to see those flowers, they're really nice.  You did a wonderful job."  That meant the world to me.  When you move into a house that was owned by a family member it's hard to balance the "This is now your house" and the "This holds lots of memories."  So when I look out at my front yard and see the flowers, it just makes me smile.  I just look out and see Speed Racer's Grandfather, and his love for nature; my Mother and I, and the bond that we have; and our future...small little children picking flowers in the front yard.  These are the best parts of home ownership: dreaming, making memories, and keeping memories alive.

Sisters

Many of you know I'm a big fan of The Pioneeer Woman.  This week on Pioneer Woman Photography she is hosting a contest for photos of "Sisters."  Now as she mentions, and we all know, there are many women in your life that can qualify as sisters who may not actually be your blood sisters.  I grew up without sisters, although I love my brothers, I always missed out on having a sister.

So it got me thinking about all the ladies in my life who have meant so much to me.  I've always gotten along with boys a little bit better because I'm a bit of a Tom Boy, but there are some woman that I just couldn't live without.

The more I researched on my computer though, the more I realized I don't have pictures of myself with these women, or even pictures of them at all!  Many of these pictures are buried somewhere in our house and not digital.  Many of them I'm the one holding the camera, or, embarrassingly enough, I just didn't take a picture!!  While researching this I realized that I don't even have pictures of just me with my sister in laws.  Now maybe this is a sneaky conspiracy on their part to avoid my camera (I'm catching on Pockets and Olie).  But this is just sad folks.  Why did I not take the time at a photoshoot, wedding, or get together to turn the camera around and document a time with these ladies I love?  Things are gonna start to change, and I'm warning all you ladies out there...be prepared.

SO here are a few of the ones I could find on my laptop.  NOTE: If you are not in this selection it does NOT mean I don't love you or consider you my sister.  It means I either didn't take a picture with you recently, or it's buried in my basement.  Perhaps I will do a little digging and scanning and find a few of these blasts from the past.  There may be an update to this post comin' your way shortly.  Until then, enjoy these.

If you have a lovely lady that has meant a lot to you in your life, feel free do a shout out in the comments.  I'd love to hear your stories and adventures.

Thankfulness

As the holiday season rushes at me with hurricane wind force, I find myself a little dazed.  I woke up the other morning completely stunned that it was November.  Wasn't it just May?  Wasn't it just sunny?  Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays.  I love getting together with family, decorations, food, and of course we have discussed my addiction to presents.  But right now when all the planning lies ahead, it's a bit overwhelming. I started this tradition about two years ago and I really find it a joy.  I keep a white board in my kitchen, so I can list, plan, put up recipes, figure out menus, etc to my hearts content.  But from now until Thanksgiving, and possibly until Christmas, I work on filling it with things I am thankful for.  A lot of times Speed Racer and I fill this out together, just adding something here and there as it strikes us.  It helps me refocus on what is important and how blessed we are for every little thing in our lives.  I challenge you to create your own thankful list, whether it's on a white board, pieces of scrap paper, or even toilet paper...just as long as you're keeping track.  Try to put up one thing everyday, even on the bad days.  You'll be amazed how it changes your mood when you look at the board at the end.

P.S. Please excuse the plaid wallpaper.  I am thankful that we are about 90% wallpaper free at this point in our house...I'm going to get you kitchen and bathroom wallpaper, just you wait.

Shelbi's Senior Portrait Session

A couple weekends ago I had the privileged to take some senior portraits for one of Speed Racer's cousins, Shelbi.  She's an ambitious high school senior with a great laugh and a gorgeous smile.  I really had a wonderful time working with her.  We spent most of the shoot at the gorgeous UT gardens, and then headed off to the Worlds Fair Park with a couple props that Shelbi had brought.  It was a blast, and the pictures turned out great.  Usually I like to add a little more artistic flair to my photographs, but the colors in the pictures were so vibrant already that I barely touched them.  Thanks Shelbi for letting me document this time in your life, I hope you have a fantastic senior year.

Joy and Thanks

First my apologies for being away from the blog some this week.  It was quite the week, I started a different part time job, had a lot of meetings for photography, and it was my birthday...whew.  So it was quite busy.  But I warned you it was going to be that way for awhile, so hang in there, I promise I'm here and I'm not going anywhere.Now that apologies are out front and center, I want to say thank you to everyone for making my birthday such a wonderful day.  Thank you for all the facebook well wishes, for my husband for spoiling me like always, and all my friends and family that took the time to call.  It was a wonderful day and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So, speaking of spoiling, two of my presents that I got COMPLETELY spoiled with are shown in the above picture.  My parents got a 10 piece cooking set, which I was totally surprised by.  We never got one for our wedding and had been using a set from Speed Racer's bachelor days, and although that set was very nice too, it's nice to have a complete set.

The other really cool present I got was from my friend T-shirt.  She ordered these spices from Penzeys Spices, with a cute note that said "Hope this inspires a Dish-o-the-Week!"  I can't wait to try them out, and I'll have to think of a new dish and call it the T-shirt :)

So there you go, I've officially been spoiled.  There's no going back.  I love birthdays, not just because of gifts, but when I get down to the heart of the matter it's because I love any excuse to celebrate whether it's for me or someone else.  Thanks again to everyone for such a wonderful day, and keep your eye on the blog for some new cooking recipes now that I am armed and ready to go!

The DESK

This is my DESK...for now.  Soon it will be Speed Racer's desk, and by soon I mean whenever we finish his office.  So that's pretty relative.  But until then I get to use it, and that is awesome.

It has really cool drawers and secret compartments.  This desk was a give away from one of my Mom's coworkers, and they couldn't fit it in their house.  I'm sure one of my brothers would love to have it but one lives in Illinois (long way away) and the other one has two flights of stairs to his office.  So booya suckers!  Ahem.  I mean, it's so awful that you didn't get this beautiful desk.

All kidding aside, we were very lucky to get it, even if it doesn't fit in our living room.  And even though it was VERY heavy to move.  But we're still super stoked.

And now I finally have somewhere to put all my papers, and hide that I have lots of papers.

Mr. Elephant who lives on my desk says, "Hooray!" I second that Mr. Elephant, I second that.

Momma K

Last Friday evening we celebrated my Mother-in-Law, Momma K's birthday.  It was such a great time, and I really enjoyed just being able to relax and goof off with these ladies.

Even though it may not look like it right at this moment, we were having a great time.  People just got shy around my awesome lens.

We even corrupted some youth with scary tales of our early childhood.

There were more incriminating photos later, but I was too busy wrestling my sister-in-law...she had it coming.Have I mentioned that I love red hair on this blog? Once? Twice? Too many times?  But I do.

I love September

It's hard to believe that today is the first day of September.  Fall is upon us and I don't feel quite ready.  I love September.  It's my favorite month...also because it's my birthday month, and well, quite frankly I LOVE birthdays.  Especially mine.  But this year it has snuck up on me, and I'm not quite sure what to do with September. I woke up Saturday morning at my parents house, to a foggy field view.  (Thus all the pictures.)  To me, it's a magical time when the seasons begin to transition.  Everything changes, and seems full of mystery...and there is fog.  I love fog, it reminds me of fairy tale books for some reason.

But I woke up, eyes still blood shot and exhausted from the day before to this beautiful view.  I stumbled out of bed...found my shoes...mumbled something about photos as I passed my Mom and went out the back door.  While I shot, I began to wake up.  The cool crisp air made me realize that summer is gone...and somehow I feel like I missed it.

I am determined not to do the same with September.  Don't get me wrong, it's going to be a busy month.  I have two, possibly three, weddings to do with Rebecca Claire Photography.  I have to get my tonsils removed.  And I have several senior portraits lined up.  Not to mention just the day to day working.  Speed Racer also has a ton of travel ahead of him this month, so that just makes us busy.  So I already feel like I'm letting it slip by.

Usually by now I already have my birthday list sent out (at times I have sent it out in July...yeah, I'm that kid).  But I haven't done it yet, and each time I try to I just seem to get discouraged.  Speed Racer wistfully asked what I wanted for my birthday this year, and for once I said, "I just don't know."

Unlike most people who say that who are modest and not greedy people, I did not say it because I don't want presents, I think I said it out of exhaustion.  There are MANY things that I want, but none of them seem to come in gift form...or affordable gifts at that.  I want time away.  Just for me and Speed Racer.  I want to buy practical things that make dumb presents.  I want to figure out things.  I want to be surprised.  Stuff like that.

But the great thing about fall is that it always seems full of new prospects to me.  Unlike Spring, fall to me is a time to hunker down with a good book outside, and spend some quality time.  Even if this fall is busy, I know it's going to be a good one.  I'm taking fall back.