2012

Starting 2012 with fun & new stuff! I have new paper backdrops and I'm very much into painting people. I'm excited about 2012 and seeing what this year brings!

2011 - it's almost gone!

I can't believe how quickly 2011 has flown by! Amelia turned 12 this year. I am having a hard time seeing her grow up so quickly. She'll be a teenager next year....and then she'll have a drivers permit!!!!!!!!!! Ok, talk about having a mini heart attack thinking about it.

I graduated college this year. I got to visit Chicago with my lil' family. I finally got to ride the Amtrak and a Megabus! I got to fly to Vegas for the big belly dance intensive.

All in all....a GREAT year.

Doug has been ill lately and that's been a bum deal. I hope that 2012 will be better for him. I hate seeing him in so much pain all the time.

Kettle Bell Momma!!!

Playing around in one of Yaz's latest creations. Have I told you all how cool it is to have a costumer living in your home for awhile? This pic is before kettle weights. I need to do an after pic!

So the last 8 weeks or so I have been doing kettle weights religiously. I got my kettle bell certification in Dallas. At first I was NOT a fan. I think I moaned & groaned about it way too much. Well I've been doing my kettle weights at UALR & at home --- holy crap batman!!! I have the dip in my hip (as Doug puts it) and my back fat is gone. I see muscles in my legs and my arms. I'm just working on getting rid of the last of the tire around my belly. Holy WOW! I am sold. sold. sold.

I bought a 10 lb. bell and a 15 lb. bell. Our room mate Samantha has now started kettle as well as our other temporary room mate, Yaz. He will be with us for awhile. So I invited Micki over this evening and I worked 3 people out! I LOVE IT!

Doug will be able to join soon. He just had MAJOR surgery and he is still healing. It was quite scary for awhile there but thankfully he is better and has a new start to having no pain.

So lately I have taken up cooking. Right now I am obsessed with Thai food. I went to our Asian grocery store and I have been making Pad Se Ew and I almost have it perfected. I'm soooo happy that I can start making my own Thai. We have been eating a lot of salads and vegan food! All of us are into losing weight, maintaining, and being healthier. It was been 1 year, 9 months and 12 days since I have had a soda pop and I feel so good. 40 is creeping up slowly and I gotta look good at 40!

So I'm still waiting on the movie. Everyone is waiting....almost kind of forget about it but we are all still hopeful.

And I'm still working on my business venture which may have taken another direction. I have an investor that may be interested. I hope things work out. Never know unless I try!

Pins & Needles

I am on pins & needles.

I am waiting to hear back from the audition I did today. It could be a few weeks before I hear anything!

I had a fantastic audition though! The movie has Reese Witherspoon & Matthew McConaughey in it. My favorite actors.

I hope I get this part. Fingers crossed. I would be in a big motion picture! eeeek!

If I don't get the part, I will still get a chance at doing work as an extra and that will still be very cool to be an extra!

Going in a new direction

I'm pretty flippin excited. I'm attending the Business class tomorrow on campus and a few other classes. I'm working on my business plan. I'm having prototypes made of a product and then I get to present it to a bank. I am scared, nervous and so super excited. I'm not going to mention what I am doing until it is set in stone and I get a business loan. Fingers crossed that it happens. I've been praying really hard about this.

I am a photographer. I have been since I married my ex in 1998. He accidentally overbooked a wedding and I had to shoot it. That is how I started photography. I did soooo many weddings with my ex. My life was consumed by weddings. I think I ate, lived and breathed weddings. After years of marriage we split and went our seperate ways. Anyways.....that's a whole different story and I honestly could care less about it. It's just a part of my past, I learned from the past marriage and gained a great skill. I mainly do boudoir nowadays. I enjoy it. I think it's such a wonderful genre and enjoy meeting all kinds of women. After MANY shoots with different ladies, I have been hearing the same "need" for something over and over repeatedly. It has my brain wheels turning and I'm ready to provide the need to so many women in this city. I want to make this need a reality.

If this comes into fruition I will be saying good bye to photography. Maybe not 100% but for the most part I will be letting go of it. It's time for me to move on to a new and exciting phase in my life. Although I adore creating photos for women I think I have found an even more exciting thing to offer the ladies.

Way excited over here! I can hardly sleep! Doug is so on board with this and has thrown some good ideas my way. I have done so much research I can hardly sit still here.

Chicago!

We finally got to take Amelia to Chicago! We took an Amtrak and then the Megabus to Chicago. It's actually a LOT of fun! I can't wait to take another Amtrak ride somewhere else. I really, really like it! And you can't beat the price of the tickets. Megabus was $30 bucks from St. Louis to Chicago for 3 people!! Holy camoly!! It was a great experience and I'd do it again!

We got to see my family and my friends in Chicago. It was a really great time catching up with them and seeing the city. I ate so much food, I'm gonna have to double up on the workouts in order to stay put with my weight! Geeez!

It was a great little vacation. Doug wants to go to a beach next year and I couldn't agree more. Even though the city was fun to visit, I'd like a nice relaxing time on a beach. Sounds good to me!

I'm going to Vegas in September. Going to meet up with Princess Farhana and take one of her classes in Vegas! Mr. Yaz is supposed to be making the trip from Egypt to the states and staying at our house for a month. If he does, I'm going to sew costumes with him and honestly - I couldn't be more giddier than a kid in a candy store! I SO want to learn to sew better and to learn from a master costume maker! This would be a dream! Approx. 30 days in crash course sewing. Sign me up. Oh please sign me up!!!!! I could eat, live, breathe costuming and creating. I want to be able to make costumes for the studio that are 1 size fits all with special velcro and ties. So I hope he makes the trip here. Plus it will be fun to hang out with Mr. Egypt himself. HA!

Amelia starts 6th grade soon. She visited my mom for 2 weeks. Now she's off to visit her grandjo for 2 weeks and then school begins. I'm really sad to see her growing so quickly but I can't stop it! She will be 12 this year and then a teenager next year. It's hard to believe ... time has flown by so quickly. She is such a cool kid. Brilliant, funny and well adjusted. I am a very proud momma!

Graduated!

And I finally graduated college! What an awesome feeling! I now have my bachelors in Liberal Arts. I am proud. I feel accomplished. Yes!! It's one thing that nobody can take away from me!
The party of all parties was after graduation! LOTS of Mexican food, great friends & family, photo booth and a jumpy house that we managed to somehow knock over at the end of the night. GREAT memories!

So I am looking to start my Masters in the spring. I decided I needed a bit of time off before I enter that madness.

2011 has been a super fabulous year so far! Amelia graduated 5th grade. She is now a middle schooler! Yikes!

I got to fly to California to see my dear friend Sharon.

Now I get to take a train to St.Louis and to Chicago to see friends and family. Then I get to go to Vegas to a big belly dance convention. I am one LUCKY and happy girl! Traveling is my thing! I love it!

I am happy!!!!!!!!