Sunshiny Days Ahead

I am starting to wonder if Spring is ever going to get here........Doesn't it seem like winter has gone on forever this year?? I am so sick of looking out the window and seeing such lifeless things.....like brown grass and trees that have no color and no leaves. We are all feeling a tad couped up around here and are longing for the days of spring and summer so we can enjoy the outdoors.

It has been a really busy week and I feel like I have been juggling a lot. As far as the kids go, things have been uneventful, but my job on the otherhand has been VERY eventful and a little bit exciting!!

Even in this economically challenged time, the company I work for is continuing to grow. My job duties have changed slightly in the past 9 months and I have taken on some new projects and roles. Since I am only one person, something will eventually have to give....so on Monday my boss told me that he wanted me to find an assistant or a support person to handle some of my work load! I was thrilled with this news....and needless to say I want to try to find someone ASAP!! Next week will be my 6 year anniversary with this company and I could not have asked for a better gift!! I already put together the job description and had it put out to the proper channels. Yesterday it went live and within 24 hours, I have had 29 applicants send me their resumes. I plan to start the interview process next week so I can get someone up and running pretty quickly.

As if the "support person" was not enough, remember back in December when my boss surprised Pat and I with the gift of a vacation to the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas? Well, the time is almost here and we leave two weeks from Sunday!!!

So, Even though I look out the window and see things looking brown and dreary and I am feeling overwhelmed with all my responsibilities......it is looking like SUNSHINY DAYS ARE SRAIGHT AHEAD!!!





These photos really have nothing to do with my post, but I wanted to include them because she is my sunshine everyday!!

Hope you all have a great weekend.....be back on Sunday night....same time, same place:)

I Heart Faces- Week 7- Black and White

Last week when I posted the picture of Sarah with her reflection in the window, a couple of bloggers suggested I go over and enter it in the "I Heart Faces" photo contest.

To be quite honest, I had no idea what this contest was all about, nor had I ever visited the blog before, so I went over to check things out......

What a GREAT blog for photo enthusiasts of all levels, not to mention the wealth of photography knowledge that lies within one blog.....I am totally addicted!! As I skimmed through the blog, I could not believe the hundreds of people that were entering these weekly contests.....it looked like so much fun, so I figured, what the heck......

Each week they have a theme and break it down into two divisions... one for pictures of kids and one for pictures of adults. I quickly read through the guidelines and linked my post to their blog. Unfortunately, I did not follow the guidelines...rookie mistake:( This week I am playing by all the rules and even reread them to be sure that I do NOT mess up again!!

This week's theme is "Black and White".......I love all photos, but I really have a thing for black and whites. I know most of you have seen these pictures before, but they are two photos that top my list of favorites.......unbelievably they are not my own kids....Does that make me a bad Mom? At least you know I am not biased:)

{Kid's Entry}
This little angel graced us with her beautiful face last week as she made her first appearance on my blog:) Sophia is the niece of one of my good friends and is just one of the sweetest little girls I have ever met. It was my first photo shoot with a baby and I was thrilled with the results!! There were many cute photos from this series, but this one really stood out to me....I love her wild curls, sparkly eyes, and the fancy pearls!!




{Adult's Entry}
The weekend I spent in Atlanta at my first ever, photography workshop was a major "AH HA" turning point for me......everything started to click{pun intended} and make sense. I had always said that photography was a hobby I loved and enjoyed, but by the time I stepped foot on the plane to head back home, my hobby had quickly turned into a passion! This is Aglae, she was one of the models that was hired to be our subject for our workshop. She was the first person I got to work with that was not one of my children who I normailly have to chase around and basically bribe so I could attempt to get a good shot. Lucky me...right??? This girl is absolutely gorgeous.....isn't she? I have many pictures of her from that weekend, but this particular image is one of my favorites....especially for black and white. I love the angle as well as the skyline behind her and the slight shadow on her face.


I know there are so many of you out there that share my love of photography or just love taking pictures of your kids. I encourage you all to check out "I Heart Faces" by clicking the icon at the top of my post or by clicking HERE......you might want to join me in this weekly contest. It is not too late to get your black and white entered....contest closes Wednesday night at midnight.

Hope you all have a good night.....it seems like it has already been a long and crazy week and it is only Tuesday. There are lots of exciting things going on around here....more on that to come in a day or two:) Right now I am off to get my fill of all things sugary and sweet as tomorrow I am giving them all up for lent.......

Quality Time

I feel like it has been forever since I have had some alone time with Nick.....it is difficult becuase of the back and forth to his Dad's and usually the weekends he is with us, we have lots of things already planned as a family. We try to plan the fun things when he is with us so that he does not feel left out, but I realize, in his eyes, even some of the little things are a big deal........

Last week when he returned home from his Dad's he saw the cupcakes that Sarah and I made......most kids would be thrilled to dig in and be happy just to consume them, but Nick was disappointed..........he was disappointed that he was not here to make them. When I saw the look on his face, I knew that this weekend he and I needed to spend some quality time together.

We ran some errands on Saturday and went for a little hike....just the two of us. Do you know that park where I always drag the kids for pictures? Well, the last time I was there I found a path you could follow and it took you through some really cool places, but I knew it was not the kind of path Sarah could walk, so I promised Nick we would come back when it was just the two of us to check it out......


Nick's favorite place was under this big old stone covered bridge.....It was gorgeous!! We could have stayed there all day. {we were in direct sunlight and there was major glare....not the best for picture taking, hence the Vintage look on the pictures.....they were a little too blown out looking, but I wanted you to see how cool this place was} There was a mini waterfall and a big huge tree that had fallen into the creek. Nick was quick to spot that and couldn't wait to go down and check it out. We spent about an hour under the bridge and it was so peaceful and relaxing. Nick did not want to leave, but we had to go as we had other things to do. I did promise him as soon as the weather breaks that we will go back and spend more time exploring....he is such a nature boy:)



After our little hike, Nick and I went home and headed straight to the kitchen for tag team baking. We made another batch of chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing.....this time we made the icing light green, in honor of St Patrick's Day:)

Nick loves to be in the kitchen almost as much as I do.....and he had so much fun piping the icing on all the cupcakes with our new handy dandy icing press!! We really had a great day together and at the same time Sarah got some one on one with Daddy!!

Since I already posted pictures and the recipe for the cupcakes last week, I didn't want to post them again, but I thought I would share some of the other food items that were on our menu this weekend......

Shrimp Scampi on Couscous

This was a spin on the classic Shrimp Scampi served over linguini.....it was really good and did not take long to make. Click HERE for the recipe.

Panzanella Salad

This was the perfect side for the Shrimp Scampi.....My Mom makes this during the summer months and it is always a winner. Who doesn't love bread in a salad....and the vinaigrette dressing is to die for........YUMMM. Click HERE for the recipe.

It seems I have been posting recipes almost weekly.....Am I boring you all with this?? I try to keep this blog as a mix of family, friends, fun, food, and photography. What started out as a scrapbook of the kids lives has turned into so much more.

I am approaching my 200th post followed by my one year blogiversay. I never imagined I would have so much to say, and often wonder how much longer I can keep going without running out of things to talk about.......

Not sure what I am going to do for the 200th post......If you have a topic suggestion or idea, leave me a comment.......for now, I will keep doing what I have been doing:)

Hope you all had a great weekend.....it is going to be a busy week for us!!

Items of Security

Way back when I first started this blog, I wrote a post about the little things that must be with us at all times......Sarah's items of security. For those of you that were not following back then or in case you don't remember, there are three things that we have to take with us each and every time we leave the house: Her NuNu{our name for a pacifier}, her favorite pink blankie, and Bun Bun......Bun Bun is one of those little silky blankets with an animal on the end. This one happens to be a rabbit....he was once white, but now is looking kind of dingy.......no matter how many times he has gone for a spin in the old washing machine!! Bun Bun and the pink blankie have been with her since she was about a week old and she is very attached to them.....and when she gets tired or a crisis hits, nothing will substitute!

Now, I say that these items must go with us everywhere, but they are not in use at all times.....they are usually left in the car for those emergency situations....especially the pacifier. That is only used at night, during naps.....and if I must be honest....in the car too!!

So where am I going with this post......

I know almost all children need some sense of security and a lot of little ones carry stuffed animals and blankets for many years......but I am really starting to struggle with the pacifier. I realize that she is getting to the age, or is past the age that she should use one, but I have a really difficult time taking something away from her that gives her so much comfort.

Pacifiers seem to be one of those controversial subjects amongst Moms and Dads.........some people are totally against them, others love them. I always went with whatever made my babies happy.......and they both liked the pacifier and not their thumbs!!

So here I sit, trying to figure out how I take this item of security away from her and when is the right time to do it.

I know what you are all thinking.....if Nick used one, how did you get away from him??

Well.....let me tell you about Nick and his pacifier.........

I had a TERRIBLE time getting him to give it up. The scenario was much different because our lives were really turned upside down.....I had just recovered from a major illness and I was going through my divorce with his Dad. I had extreme guilt for all that this little guy had been through in his short little life, so I felt that if sucking a pacifier made him happy and secure, he should have it. As time went on, he used it less and less, but it was still there and I knew he needed to give it up....believe it or not......and please don't judge......he still had one at the age of.........5, yes you heard me, FIVE!! It was only at night and in our house and it did not go anywhere else......I had tried multiple times to take it away and it did not work. It was the start of Kindergarten for Nick and I told him that this was the year. No ifs, ands, or buts.......we had to FINALLY give it up!! We had it all planned out, we were going to give his pacifier to Santa Claus so he could give it to some other little baby who needed one.

It was quite a scene and extremely emotional........Til this day, I will never forget that Christmas Eve in our little apartment, standing in front of the Christmas tree. I can still see the tears running down his face and his little lips quivering.......He reached out and reluctantly set his very last pacifier on the plate of cookies we left for Santa. He let out the most gut wrenching sobs I had ever heard........it was devastating to watch, but I knew he needed to give it up. The weeks that followed Christmas were tough and Nick spent many nights crying for his beloved pacifier........but we eventually we made it through and we never looked back.

It looks as though we are ready to cross this bridge with Sarah.....At one time, we had a drawer full of pacifiers, but eventually they broke, got thrown out, or lost. We are down to our very last one and we told Sarah we were not buying anymore......when this one breaks or if she loses it, that is it.....they are gone.

I am hoping that she has an easier time with this than Nick. I am not good in these situations......and tend to get weak and give in...as in run to the store and buy more so my child stops sobbing. I know I come across as a strong person, but when it comes to my kids I am one big softy.

The pacifier was Nicks only security, Sarah has three, so I am praying that taking away just one of these items will not be as difficult for her. Do you think I am kidding myself......It is still going to be a rough, Isn't it?

Purple, Pearls, and Curls

I had the opportunity to photograph this little cutie at our house the other day!! She is the niece of one of my good friends and we were trying to surprise her Mommy with some pictures!!

You all might remember Alicia, the girl I photographed about two weeks ago?
This is her little cousin, Sophia......but according to Sarah, her name is "Baby Phia".....She couldn't say SOPHIA and that is how it came out......it sounded so cute, so it has kind of stuck and now we all call her "Baby Phia"

Is she not one of the most precious babies you have ever seen???

She is such a happy go lucky little girl, I really thought photographing her would be a snap....PUN INTEDED!! But I was wrong.....she was a little fussy, maybe because she was not in her own environment, and probably in need of a nap, or maybe it was because there was a crazy lady with a big camera right in her face trying to make her smile.

In the end, we ended up with a few really cute shots that I just had to share...........


Love this one....it might be my favorite!!


Phia is going to be a girly girl......she was not a happy camper until she saw the makeup come out.....after that she was all smiles:)


Before the makeup we tried pearls....she played with them for a second or two, but they did not do the trick....she must be a diamond kind of girl......me too honey, me too!!

I had a great time with "Baby Phia"......and can't wait for Spring to arrive so I can get her outside in the sunlight. Working indoors is always difficult.......it is either not enough light, or too much direct light.....it is hard to find a happy medium, but I have located three different areas in our house that will work until it warms up enough to go outside!!

After all this major cuteness, I leave you with one last thing..........

Over the past few months, I have recieved comments and/or emails asking about things that range from what kind of camera do I use, what camera settings am I using to achieve some of these looks, are they edited and if so what kinds of programs am I using........so on and so forth. I honestly feel kind of strange writing a post topic about it, because I am a novice and just finding my way through trial and error and with a lot of guidance from some really TALENTED ladies.....ONE in particular, but I can invite you over to FLICKR. If you are not familiar with flickr, go check it out!! I upload all my photos there.....you can keep your own library of photos in one place and also look at other peoples pictures. You can click on pictures to enlarge them to full size, you can check out camera settings and properties for each photograph, you can see what programs were used for editing, you can leave comments, ask questions, and best of all, it is very blog friendly....it is quick and easy to copy and paste your pictures right into a blog post!!

So here is my answer to all of your questions........

Come join the FLICKR party!! If you are a Flickr user or a photography fanatic and you want to join in on the photo fun, leave me your email address in the comment section and I will add you to my list of contacts so you we can talk photography!!

Have a great night!!

I know I promised the Valentine Birthday party pictures....they are coming, next post I promise!!

Valentine's Day Would Not Be Complete....

UPDATE: As suggested by some fellow bloggers, I am entering the picture at the very bottom of my post in the "I heart faces" photo contest. This weeks theme is WONDER.........you can check them out by clicking HERE You may want to join in the fun!

..........Without Something SWEET!!!



No matter how down and out we were feeling, we were not going to let the sweetest day of the year go by without having something decadent to celebrate the occasion.....

Friday afternoon I made some Chocolate cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing.....I used THIS recipe for the the cake part and for the Icing, I used the good old fashioned B@tty Cr@cker recipe found in the big red book. To make them a little more Valentine-ish, I added a little red food coloring to some of the icing and then Sarah helped me decorate them with special sprinkles we had purchased at TARG@T. They were just as heavenly as you could imagine and were the perfect pick me up after such a yucky week!!

Thank you so much for all the well wishes....I am happy to report that Sarah and I are both feeling much better, and Pat is on the road to recovery....in a day or two he should be as good as new!! Even though Sarah and I have had a little more spring in our step these last two days, we continued to lay low.

Yesterday was my nephew Ashton's first birthday, so we did go to the party for a little over an hour so we could wish him a happy bday and give him his special gift. Right before my sister was about to bring out the cake, Sarah started coughing to the point that she had tears running down her face, so that was it for us....we were out the door within minutes!! Unfortunately, we missed Ashton dig into his smash cake, but I did get some really cute pictures of all the kids in the hour that we were there.....I will post them later this week.

Not much to report....We are really looking forward to the start of the new week and hoping for spring-like weather......I am so sick of being stuck indoors and I think Sarah is too.

This afternoon she was looking out the bedroom window as if to say.....when I can I go out and play? I think she is beginning to climb the walls as well. Of course I had the camera in close proximity and as I went to snap it, I noticed her reflection in the window........I was so excited with this capture.......


I definitely want this one framed and hung up somewhere in our house!!


Hope you all had a wonderful weekend......more pictures to come soon:)

No Smiles Today

It seems as though we have gone from bad to worse.........

What started out as the croup has now turned into the FLU. .....and it has turned little Sarah's smile upsidedown:(

Her cough was sounding better by Tuesday evening, but her fever was through the roof and she seemed to be in a lot pain..... her face was very red and her eyes looked really bad, she cried often and would not sleep. We were worried that she had something other than the Croup so we headed back to the doctors for visit number 2 on Wednesday.

Unfortunately we wasted a trip....The doc said it was just the flu and there was nothing he could prescribe....he said it just had to run its course and that we should continue to pump her up with liquids and motrin for the fever, aches, and pains.

This is the longest Sarah has ever been sick.....she usually bounces back very quickly, but this virus has really knocked her down. Right now she is still running a fever and not keeping food down.

Pat and I have not been getting much sleep and we are both starting to feel like we are coming down with it too.....Right now my glands feel like they are the size of golf balls and I am running a low grade fever.....

I think it is safe to say that we will continue to be housebound for the next couple of days until everyone is back in good health.

For once I am glad Nick is with his Dad.....hopefully he will remain virus free.

Not sure if I will post again before Saturday....Just in case, I wanted to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day.....try not to eat too much chocolate:)

Medicine Makes Me Smile

Does this look like the face of a two year old that just downed some nasty medicine?

For some odd reason, Sarah loves to take medicine....all kinds. Not only does she take it willingly, she asks for MORE. Of course, I don't give her more, but I think it is really strange that she loves it. As a child, I hated medicine of any sort and remember gagging when my parents tried to make me take it...The only thing I liked was baby asprin...remember those?

Unfortunately, Sarah's little cold turned into the Croup......Sunday evening she started to sound really bad and by Monday morning we were sitting in the pediatrician's office with about 15 other sick children.

Other than our trip to the doctor's, we have not left the confines of our home since Sunday. The doc didn't prescribe antibiotics, just a steroid to help her breath easier. If any of you have had kids with the croup, you know nighttime is the worst. She has really been out of sorts and in addition to not sleeping well at night, she is not taking any naps during the day. For the most part, she has been really cranky.....but I have to laugh, because when she sees me go for the medicine bottle.....you would think I am about to hand her some candy.....she gets so excited and says "YEAH MEDICINE"

I snapped this picture of her sitting on the kitchen counter just after she had her morning dose.

So....How do your kids react to medicine? Do they like it{or love it} and take it willingly or do they run the other direction when they see you coming with the bottle?

A Family Favorite & Beautiful Little Girl

This weekend Sarah started coming down with a bit of an upper respiratory cold, so I decided to cook a family favorite!! This recipe has been passed down on my Mom's side for at least three generations...maybe more. My grandmother swore that this would help any ailment.....and as soon as someone in the family was sick, she was ready with a container of her homemade chicken soup. Even as an adult, when I am sick, this is what I want to eat.....everytime I make it, it reminds me of her.


Chicken Soup


Ingrdients Needed:

1 Whole Chicken with Giblets
Bunch of Celery
1 Onion
1 Tomatoes
1 Bay Leaf
Parsley- just a hand full
2-3 Whole Carrots Peeled
1 Tablespoon of Whole Allspice
Salt
Pepper
1 Box Orzo or your favorite small shaped pasta
1 Box of Chicken Stock
Bag of baby carrots

Season your whole chicken and giblets with salt and pepper, put it into a large pot, add 1 onion, 1 tomato, a hanful of Parsley, 2-3 Whole Carrots, 1 Tablespoon of Allspice, and 1 or 2 bay leaves. Season again with salt and pepper and fill the pot with water, just enough to cover the bird.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and let it cook on low for an hour and half to two hours, or until the chicken starts to fall apart. Pull the chicken out and let rest on a cutting board. Strain the stock and put back on the stove. I toss everything that I strained from the stock. Now add your baby carrots to the stock to cook and while cooking I am constantly skimming fat off the top. At this time I usually add a box of store bought stock to make it go a little further and give it a little punch of flavor.

While the carrots are cooking in the stock, I start to pull and slice all the chicken meat. I reserve 1/4 to 1/2 of the chicken meat to make a salad, then throw the remainder of the chicken back into the stock with the carrots.

In a separate pot, boil water for the noodles. Cook as directed then combine the noodles with the stock and your soup is finished.

I always serve with a little grated parmesan for extra flavor....you know me...everything tastes better with some cheese:)



Chicken Salad

Using the chicken that I put aside, I make this delicious chicken salad....it is the perfect side for this soup. Add a piece of crusty bread and your meal is complete.

Ingredients:
Your Favorite Lettuce
1/2 of a Red Onion
Pulled Chicken
Feel free to add any other veggies of choice, we usually just do the chicken, lettuce, and red onion. Once in a while I use cucumbers too:)

Dressing:
1 TBSP Dijon Mustard
1 Clove of Garlic
1/2 tsp of Italian season
Juice of one lemon
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Hope you enjoy this meal as much as we do. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it really is not that bad and it makes a lot, so there will be plenty leftover!!

We experienced a little warm up this weekend and got to spend some time outdoors. On Saturday, I took the kids to our favorite park and let them run around while I worked with a beautiful little girl!

A good friend of mine has a daughter who is 11 years old and was very excited to work with me. It made me so happy to capture this little girl's beauty and share the finished product with her Mom today......She was very excited to see the pictures and I think she was thrilled with the results.


I spent about 2 hours in the park with her, and then took a couple hours last night on the finishing touches......I couldn't choose which ones to post, so I made a slide show of my favorites.

Hint: Once you click play, look for the arrows in the lower righthand corner. If you click them, it will allow you to view the pictures in the full screen mode!


Can you believe she is only 11 years old? I think her Mom and Dad will be fighting the boys off with a stick!!

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend:)

Go Red For Women

Since today was National Wear Red Day, an event sponsored by the American Heart Association to help raise awareness about the impact of heart disease in women, we decided to show our support by dressing Sarah in red polka dots. I can't think of a more perfect accessory than a red, heart shaped lollipop....a girl needs accessories doesn't she?

Ummm...can you say OBSESSED? I am having a difficult time putting the camera away....I just can't STOP!!

I Promise....no more pictures or posts until Sunday or Monday:)

A special thanks to Jodee and family for the GIANT lollipop.....it kept Sarah entertained for a long time and there is still plenty left for another day!

Part 2.....Putting My Skills To The Test

Some more favorites from Saturday



Ready to pick up where I left off the other night?

As I mentioned, Saturday we spent most of the day and night outside taking pictures. By 10pm we were loading up our gear and heading home. We were all anxious to download a days worth of pictures and see what we captured.

The next day of the workshop was dedicated to learning what you do with the images once they are downloaded onto your computer or post processing. It was a crash course in Lightroom and Ph@toshop for me, some of the other girls were much more experienced in this area, but I took some great notes and tried to learn as much as I could in one afternoon.

Debbie introduced us all to some new programs and ways to enhance our photos. It was incredible to watch our images come to life as we tweaked them here and there. Which brings me to an interesting topic......

A couple of you emailed and asked how much different did the edited picture look compared to the picture straight out of the camera.....so I thought I would show you an example.


Here is the image just as I downloaded it to my computer.....the only thing I did was change the size so it would fit here on my blog.


The same image with a little enhancement and changed it to Black and White.

As we learned this weekend.....even though Ph@toshop is capable of doing a lot to a picture, you still want to capture the best picture possible!

Sunday afternoon flew by and before we knew it, it was 3 o'clock and the workshop had come to an end. My Aunt and Uncle happen to live about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta, so I went to their house for the night....enjoyed a wonderful dinner of swordfish that my Uncle Tony prepared, watched the superbowl and just enjoyed their company....it was so nice to spend some quality time with them and unwind from the busy weekend. By Monday afternoon, I was heading back home.

It was a great couple of days and I really was able to make the most of my time there. I handled some business, met some amazing new friends, got to visit with my family, and have just enough information about photography to be armed and dangerous.

Now the real fun begins.....as I will be putting my new skills to the test.

It was such a treat having models that you could pose or that at least stood still for more than 10 seconds......so that being said....I ventured out with Sarah to give it a try. It was a little difficult because Sarah could not or should I say, would not hold a reflector, but I made do with the light and just tried to position her the best that I could.

Here are my first non model pictures using what Debbie taught me......





Although they are not perfect....I see a big difference when comparing these to my preworkshop pictures of Sarah. It is exciting to say the least!!

Okay...thanks for letting me go on and on about all the photography stuff.....I will be back to business as usual by my next post, but I will still be sneaking pictures in from this weekend and from my future photography workshop assignments.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend....I will be back on Sunday night....I have some more recipes up my sleeve:)

Friends, Family, and Photography.....Part 1

I am finally catching up after a nice long weekend filled with friends, family, and photography!! I have so much to share, and wasn't quite sure how I was going to go about this, but I think chronologically is the easiest!!

So let's start with Thursday....

Thursday I flew into Atlanta and was able to meet with my client. It was a great meeting quick and to the point....I headed back to my hotel for a little R&R before I met this special little lady and her Mommy......





Lisa and Briana came to pick me up at the hotel and we enjoyed a meal together.....about 2 hours into dinner, I realized how long we had been sitting there and Briana was still content in her little booster seat!! What an angel she was to let us gab away!! Lisa, it was so great to finally meet you in person, I had so much fun, I could have talked all night and was a little sad to have to say goodbye so soon!! Look forward to seeing you in the near future......and Miss Bri...what can I say....she is cuter than cute. Sarah would have had a ball running through the hotel lobby with you:)



On Friday morning, Kam came up to the hotel to meet with Jen and I before we headed to start our workshop weekend!! The three of us had a wonderful Mexican lunch....the time just flew by chatting with these ladies. They both are exactly as they appear to be on their blogs and a true pleasure to meet!! Kam, it was so much fun and I look forward to seeing you again too. One never knows when I will be back in the GA area:) Jen....I had such a blast hanging out with you all weekend. I miss that little southern accent already....I hope we get another opportunity to see each other soon!!

So now on to the official workshop segment of my weekend.......


Words cannot describe how INCREDIBLE this workshop was. It blew me away and was so much more than I had ever expected to learn in two short days!!

Most of you have seen Debbie's work and know that she is very talented. Not only is she a wonderful person and fabulous artist....but she is an AMAZING teacher, and I mean that!! She had 10 girls with cameras strapped around their necks all asking for help and she was right there instructing each and every one of us until we mastered each skill....let me tell you, that was not an easy job!

We were out and about for over 12 hours on Saturday at a couple different locations.....we stopped to eat lunch and dinner, and other than that, it was all about capturing images!!

Here are some of my favorite shots of the day.....I put them in the order in which they were taken......


Princess In Training, as Debbie refers to her!! She is so sweet and just melts my heart. I was amazed how she handled the camera or should I say 10 of us with cameras!! She got right down on the ground and began to pose for us, so we could get some practice using reflectors to diffuse the sun. I think maybe she has done this once or twice with Mommy....what do you think?


Next on the list to photograph was Prince Charming......He was a fantastic model....and very handsome too:) In addition to being a great model, he is one heck of a photographer! He totally impressed me with his knowledge....surely a chip off the old block!


This is Renee.....Renee is a good friend of one of the girls that participated in the workshop with us. She is not a model, but she most certainly could be!! The camera loved her and she was so easy to work with. At one point in the afternoon....we were broken up into small groups and all given a different model to pose and place in the location of our choice. It was so much fun letting your imagination run wild....these photos(top and bottom) were taken in a cemetery. It was a really cool place with endless possiblities.




There are so many photos that I am really happy with, but these two were taken close to the end of the day and are at the tippy top of my favorite list!! As I said yesterday....she was very easy to photograph...and so so beautiful!! Agle is a semi professional model that Debbie just happened to be lucky enough to get for the afternoon!!


Since this is already a marathon post, I am going to stop here for now. I will pick up where I left off in a day or so.......I have tons of pictures, so I will share them over the next few days!!

I do want to take this moment to tell you all, if you have any interest in photography, this is the workshop to take......Check into some of the upcoming workshops Debbie is holding.....it will be worth every penny and then some!!

Needless to say....after two days with her, I am looking through the lens in a whole new way and never going back to the old way of doing things.

Almost Home

After an incredible couple of days......I am finally on my way home!!

It feels like I have been gone for so long. I have so much catching up to do and LOTS to post. I cannot wait to show you some of the cool places we went....and some of the wonderful people I got to meet!!

It seems like forever since I have posted so as I sit here in an airport restaurant, I feel the urge to share the first of my weekend photos!! As you can see, this model was just STUNNING and was very easy to capture.......she was absolutely gorgeous and a joy to work with.

A special thank you to Debbie for such a wonderful weekend......it was truly amazing!!

Happy Monday.....catch up with you all soon.....this is the first I have been online since Thursday:)