So it always seems like I’m a weekend behind. It’s just been go, go, go. I’m not complaining because being on the go is a good thing. But I do need to remember to breathe. It’s kind of like on those workout videos where the instructor reminds you to breathe. (You know that someone at one time forgot to, so they have to remind everyone.)

So last weekend was filled with the union of two of my wonderful friends. Ray and Mandy joined each other on life’s road.  I had the privilege of capturing those moments for them. The wedding was casual and they were surrounded by family with an immense amount of love. It was a small ceremony, but beautiful and unique, just like the bride and groom. The wedding was UT themed (and I would like to take a few second to apologize to the happy couple on behalf of the Texas Longhorns, who provided a losing game as a wedding present. Coulda been better, guys.)

The bride and I started our adventure at Selma’s International for a stunning hairstyle by Kerem Ozen and even Selma herself. We also learned the secret to a fabu hairstyle…ready ladies…get your pens and paper out….bobby pins! Lots and lots of bobby pins. But Mandy’s hair was gorgeous.

The officiant was a dear friend who donned a dapper top hat and UT gear, even though he’s an A&M Alum. You conducted a wonderful ceremony, Jim. You added your own flair, making that much more special.

The bride and groom prepared their own heartfelt vows, and read them off a Kindle.Very appropriate!

Even though the ceremony was short, it was beautiful and fun. It was definitely a reflection of the bride and groom, which is what any wedding should be. It is a day to be remembered. A day for a man to look at a woman with love in his eyes, and for that woman to look F-I-E-R-C-E. (OK – for those that know me I’m an America’s Next Top Model junkie so fierce had to be in this post. And doesn’t Mandy look fierce. And you can tell that Ray just adores the new Mrs. Lopez.)

I hope that I captured all the moments you wanted and more. I did have a great time, at the reception, hanging out with friends, and enjoyed meeting your families and friends. You guys are loved by so many. Here’s to you on your journey to this point and from here forward. May love always be in your hearts and your lives.

Well, we spent the last week at the ranch. I must say that it was a much needed rest, and I was sad to come home, but glad in the same breath because we came home to our other two babies. I did miss them, even though Ms. Grace has been nothing but a ball of gassiness. We’re planning another trip out there in December, but will probably hopefully make another weekend trip out there before then. We left Munchkin out there for the next 5 weeks. I’m not missing her completely, yet, but I’m sure I will in the coming weeks. I’m sure she’ll come home about 3-6 inches taller and tanner (not that she can get much more tan with her olive, Italian skin). I set her email up on her phone so she can send quickly without logging onto her computer. I’ve already had one email with the subject line “Houdy”. LOL.

We were supposed to go out for the 4th of July Rodeo. Unfortunately, due to the weather, the rodeo was canceled. They did have the parade, but not without sporadic showers. The kids scored tons of candy and the adults got t-shirts and koozies. We headed down to the craft fair downtown after the parade. Dad had a custom cutting board made for Hubster and surprised him with it at the vendor’s booth. I’m sure that day we probably saw most of the 387 population of the small town while we were there that afternoon. That night the girls lit sparklers. Munchkin held her ears as the sparkler dwindled down because she thought it was going to explode or pop in some way. I couldn’t help but laugh.

When we go out, I love taking pictures of the animals and various flowers and other plants out there.

Sometimes I see what I can find in the barn.

If I am lucky enough, I get to snap a quick picture or two of Munchkin.

We were going to head back on Thursday so Hubster could do payroll for work, but he did it remotely, so we ended up staying until Saturday morning. We wanted a day to recoup. Hubster tackled the lawn while I worked on the dryer (he stuck his shoes in there and they scuffed the inside all to heck) and the shower door (gotta love hard water). I also worked on the business a bit. I updated the background image to the blogsite because Hubster wasn’t too fond of the watermelon colored polka dots. To be honest, I wasn’t either. I wanted something a little edgier, but wasn’t sure what to do at the time. I think I’m happy for now.

I also set up a Newsletter Signup. I hope to be able to send out newsletters regularly. If you want to sign up for our newsletter, go here and enter your email.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Yesterday my Weather Channel app said 50% chance of thunderstorm. Now it says 0% precipitation. Granted, I was inside all day so I can’t say I actually witnessed no rain. But I did see no evidence of rain when I exited work. So I am assuming that it did not rain as the meteorologists predicted. Sooooo….since there was no rain, I took Munchkin and her new light-up Twinkletoes out for a little nature walk. We saw several flowers:

And more flowers:

And on our way back in, we found a new little friend:

Then she came inside, finished up her Easter eggs, and headed on over to a friends house with her Mo for more egg dyeing fun. I encourage everyone to take a walk around the neighborhood. You might be surprised what you find.

So my kid loves to take a shower. Has since she was about 3. But recently she’s gotten on a bath kick because of her fairy color tablet bath wand. Baths are privileges now because the the fun that goes into them. She’s so wiggly in the tub that it’s difficult to get a good picture. This is one of the very few times that she stopped moving.

On a side note, I have a few inquiries for the coming months for photos. Hopefully the weather will be on our side and we’ll get awesome shots. Those who participated in our Fresh Faces contest have only a few more weeks to schedule their sessions! Also, remember we have our Spring Special running now, so book your session and tell your friends.

Due to the fun I had this weekend with Munchkin and the rest of the crew at the pumpkin patch, I’ve decided to have an October/Fall special. This is only for 3 weekends, so book your session now. Looks like this weekend will be lovely for pictures.

October weekends only. At your location or desired pumpkin patch. Costume or not – your choice.

$50 session fee for 1 person and $10 per additional person.

Session includes:

• 30 minutes at the location of your choice within 30 miles of Georgetown (for further locations additional travel costs will apply)
• Free 8×10 or 2-8×7 prints
• Client will be responsible for any fees a location may charge for photography sessions
• Additional prints sold separately

Contact us today to book your session!

And because posts are always more fun with pictures…

We do offer photo altering as one of our services. I thought I would give you a taste of the potential of your snapshots under my care. I took this one this past weekend. This little one is a mover, so I had to snap quick.

With some cropping, a few tweaks here and there, and a nice black and white conversion, this is the result.

ADSR4 has started. I teamed up again with Debbie!!! She’s such a great teammate.

The first challenge was an individual challenge where we had to scrap a picture, but tear it. I had a really hard time with this one. I couldn’t find a picture to tear. It just felt weird looking at pictures of DH & DD and thinking “How can I tear this?” I guess tearing a picture to me just has a negative feeling. So I decided to face my biggest fear and put myself in front of the camera. OK…I know this probably doesn’t count because it’s my eye only, but who wants to be skeered by the pudgy woman? Plus, do you know how difficult it is to get a good self portrait? OMG. Thenk goodness for the lovely invention of the DSLR otherwise I would have wasted 20 rolls of film. I would think that I had a good shot, and when I checked the camera I would be missing my head, or half my face (ok those were the early shots, but they were taken). So here’s what I ended up with.

Our second challenge was a collaboration. We had several requirements like 3 pictures, 4 papers, 2 fonts, 8 elements, a title and journaling. Debbie provided the pictures and journaling! Such a cutie!!! She scrambled through her bin of elements, and I trudged through my ream of papers (LOL) and here is our result.

I haven’t done much else with working on these LO’s. I was looking through pictures from Christmas and realized that part of our pictures didn’t download and I’ve formatted the memory card

OK. Here we are over a week later with no reply from Shutterfly. And of course, that means no prize. What type of customer service is that? Geez people. I thought about using them for some printing stuff, but if they’re not going to have good customer service, why would I want to do so? Does anyone have stories about Shutterfly to change my mind?

Last night I knocked out a Christmas card for a friend. She was very happy with it. I would say not bad for a spur of the moment…

I did a Christmas card for a friend last year, but I’m not sure where it is. Now I need to get on making those other Christmas gifts that I want to give to people. Luckily, for my FIL’s present I have a little bit longer because we aren’t seeing them until the end of December. But then again, I do have to consider the Christmas rush on all picture products. I’m hoping that print time won’t be too long.

It’s finally here. Vacation time from work. My goal is to do things related to my business. I don’t have very many days, but I think I have lofty goals. First, I want to scan in pics that I have. I borrowed sis’s scanner because for some reason, in the move, I can’t find the adapter for my scanner. Ultimately, I’d like to get a new scanner, but that’s something for the future. Second, I want to try to take some more pictures and update the photography section of my website. Third, I’d like to create some more layouts and possibly get some examples of products. I’m trying to get more creative in my LO’s. I’m looking at different scrap sites and I feel kind of disappointed about my LO’s compared to others. I know we all have different scrapping styles, but I feel as if my LO’s lack something. My LO’s aren’t the ones that capture people and make them stop to check out my gallery.

Went to a b-day party today. Took some pretty good pictures. I think I’m more into trying to get the candid shot instead of the posed “look at me” picture. There’s something about capturing the moment as it is.

I need to work on some books to print up to have as examples for potential clients. People don’t want to purchase something when they have no clue about the quality. I know I can do good work, other people just need to be aware.