Updates, Updates, Updates!

I haven't blogged in awhile. I've been so fantastically busy that I don't have time to get on the blog....

I work for Janet Hudson-Schroeder photographing weddings. She had to hire an intern to keep her blog going because she's such a busy lady! She is now photographing rock concerts. I called her up and said "uh.....hello! you better take me along to the next rock concert!!!" She just photographed Metallica. Urgh! Take me next time Janet - gosh darn it. HA!!! So yeah, I'm a lucky girl. She's doing AC/DC next. Check out her blog:

http://www.jhsphotos.blogspot.com/

Looks like she's going to be really busy with rock concerts. I'm going to be busy with the weddings. And hey, that is fine by me but if she takes me along every now and then - I'm so there! Rock and Roll baby!

I'm already planning my next trip out of the state of Arkansas. I told Doug that I would rather travel than own a home. Owning a home is NOT my "American Dream" - it's not my priority. I'd rather travel and see things. I like renting. I like the fact that I can call my landlord and say "hey, this piece of crap thing broke, come fix it!" I see all the drama unfolding in the housing market and I thank my lucky stars that we didn't jump into some crazy mortgage. Being debt free is the most amazing feeling in the world. I highly recommend it. It allows us to save money for trips! We just went to Disney World and now we are discussing our next trip. We have tickets for a free cruise to the Caribbean and we are definitely using them. BUT....after a free cruise we are planning something else. We were talking about either Amsterdam, China (one of my BFF's is living there now) or Hawaii. Choices. Choices. Amelia is voting for Chicago. We talked about possibly taking the Amtrack up there and going to the museums. It sounds like an adventure. Travel is my addiction and MY American dream. Doug and Amelia love it, too.
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Now that the holidays are here - we all need to remember to donate to the bell ringers in front of the stores. I donate EVERY single time I go past one. If everyone did this, they could raise a ton of money. If every single person that went into the store gave 25 cents each time....imagine what that would add up to! Sometimes I throw $5 in and sometimes just a few quarters. It all depends on what is in my wallet. I wished everyone had that mentality vs. "OH gawd....the ringers are out".....donate a few quarters - you'll feel good about yourself. We are so blessed to be alive, warm, healthy and have food in our bellies. It's good to donate. Do it!



The studio is complete except for 2 floor tiles that I need to measure out and cut. I've already done 2 boudoir shoots in the studio. The space works out really nicely...especially the bedroom scene.






Went to Disney World for an entire week of fun in the sun! Got to go to all 4 theme parks. Got to ride those rides repeatedly as it is the slower season. My sis,bro and his son scored dream fast passes that an employee gave them - year of a million dreams! Doug and I rode the rock and roller coaster - the Aerosmith coaster at Hollywood studios so many times - I was ready to hurl but it was too much fun!!!



Photographed a really cool bridal session at the capitol yesterday. Holly's wedding was back in October so we just now got around to doing bridals. Lots of fun! She was so relaxed and had fun running around in her dress!





I photographed a big dance show at the University! It was fantastic to watch and to photograph!

Studio furniture

I just got this couch for the boudoir studio! I also got a really cool vintage couch that is mauve - very victorian sexy! I'll get photos of it up soon!

Fireworks!

Here's a photo from the wedding I shot in Hot Springs with Janet (JHS photography). Janet gave me the greatest lighting advice for fireworks and it worked like a charm - awesome! Thanks Janet!

CANCER FREE!!!!!!!

Today is a good day. Real good day. Doug had a check up today and he is still cancer free. No tumors. No cancer. No nothing. This is good. Really good. We are very happy!!!!!!!

2 years baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is the day....2 years ago....that Doug and I got married! Awwwww.......so I'm taking a quick moment to blog it ;-)

We spent today cuddling together..........and then we went out to eat at PF Chang's - LOVE that place. We also got Amelia a small "anniversary" gift....Hanna Montana stuff of course!

AND...........Doug got me a PEARL necklace!!!! It has diamonds in it, too. It's beautiful! I've wanted a pearl necklace forever and ever and I got one. It was so sweet. I'll post a photo when I have time.

Anyways....2 years and many many more to come! I can't wait! Each year gets sweeter!

The good news and the bad....

So I went to the corneal specialist.

There's good news and bad. So I ask for the bad news 1st. The bad news is that my insurance probably won't cover the surgery. I said "how is that bad news?" It's stupid money and I can pay for surgery if need be! If I need something medically, I will do it! Then I say "what's the good news?" He said well you can have the surgery and it may or may not work. HOW in the world is that good news? I told him - that's still bad news. What's the good news? He said "it will probably work." Probably? eh.....that's still bad in my opinion. So he told me that if it didn't work, I'd have to do a corneal transplant. Hmmmmm......he's only done 1 surgery on another person with my same eye disease. Apparently there aren't many of us walking around. In fact I'm #2 case for him to see. And he almost fell out his chair when he looked at my eyes after the dialation. That bad huh???

Here's the problem. My stroma (I think that's how it's spelled) is the layer under my cornea. It has canyons and holes in it. Well the holes and canyons get deeper and bigger as the years progress. I have 100's of them all over the eye. As I get older the holes and canyons will eventually just be one big hole which will then lead to blindness. Nice!

SO....I think I'm going to wait to have surgery. He said to come to him when I'm really bothered. Well I'm not 100% bothered yet. It's getting there but not quite. I'll wait another 5 years or so. Right now I'm just sunlight sensitive and I can deal with that by putting on a pair of shades. Maybe in 5 years he'll have seen another case or 2 and have done another surgery on someone with this eye disease. Nice.

The economic crap!

I never really took interest in politics or in the economy until recently. I've been reading so much that it's overwhelming.

Today's story on CNN about the 90 year old lady shooting herself because the bank wants to take her home back is horrible!!

I've been reading about how banks work. How the government works. How the economy works. And I've been reading about how an economy collapses and what is involved. I think we are right on the edge of falling off the cliff into something bad economically.

History does repeat itself right?

I hope everyone I know is studying up on the economy and getting educated on how all of this works and why.

An interesting webpage is here: http://survivingthecrash.feedba.cc/live/banks.html

It shows a map of the USA and which banks have closed down.

Quite interesting for sure.

No more eyeglasses!!!!

I can't imagine myslef without glasses!!!!

I was born with a corneal dystrophy in my eyes. As the years have progressed, my eyes have changed. In the last few years there have been some changes in my eyesight. I have been putting off going to a specialist because my dad has had 2 corneal transplants in one eye and I was so afraid I would have to get the same thing done. I really don't want a transplant. I've been told for years that I would need one by the time I was in my 40's which is less than 10 years away.

Lately I have HATED - LOATHED the sun. I hate the sun. I would rather it be cloudy and rainy every day because my eyes are always in pain from sunlight and always watery. I have sunglasses but even on the sunniest days - it still irritates me. I stay indoors because going outside is awful. I'd rather sit in the dark.

Well my husband is a licensed optician and he started talking to Dr. Jaros about my eyes and Dr. Jaros asked me to come by so he could look at my eyes. Well we got to talking & he said he'd do some more research into my particular corneal dystrophy which is in the stroma of the eye. Well Dr. Jaros found a cornea specialist here in LR that has done some new surgeries for those with my eye disease. I have an appointment this Friday to see if I can have this surgery. Dr. Jaros is very sure I will be able to get the procedure done. So I get to go in and be looked at and hopefully schedule the surgery!

From what I understand I will have great vision after this. I won't need a transplant - thank goodness for advancements in medicine!!! I won't have to wear eye glasses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! I can't re-call what it's like not to wear them. AND.....while they are doing this surgery for me, they are going to do lasik at the same time.

I cannot imagine life without glasses. I can't imagine knowing I won't need a transplant in my 40's. I just can't imagine the cool advancements in eye surgeries.....

Wedding on the air force base

I photographed Lorie and Justin's wedding at the AFB in Jacksonville. I worked this wedding through Janet-Hudson Shcroeder Photography. I do quite a few weddings thru her company each year. I really enjoy working for her. She's so sweet!

Lorie and Justin were an awesome couple. Lorie's mom, Debbie rocks out! Best mom of bride ever! I could have taken her home and called her mom. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE my mom but Debbie could be a 2nd mom! HA! I can't re-call laughing this much at a wedding and having such an awesome time. Thank you Debbie for the flowers and cake. I'm still eating it over here....I told ya I'd probably gain 10 lbs from it - but that's ok - it's GOOD cake!!!

Estate sales are addictive

This fairy dress came from an estate sale! Too cool!

I have come to realize that Little Rock has one thing that Fayetteville doesn't really have....estate sales!!! OH MY! I'm addicted. I usually hit up 2-4 estate sales on Fridays & Saturdays around my neighborhood. Today I stopped at one and it was kind of sad :-( It was this huge HUGE house full of everything you could imagine. All the kids stuff, everything. The owner must have loved Nikon cameras because he had TONS of them and tons of lenses. They might have been shop-a-holics because they had a lot of stuff. A lot of items still had new tags on them. The lady of the house must have been very concerned with appearances - most of her clothes were Armani. I can only imagine these folks were trying to keep up appearances and bit off more than they could chew. I've gone to several of these kinds of estate sales lately. Lots of younger folks having to sell off the house and everything inside. I've been to a few of the "folks croaked over and everything for sale" kind of estate sale but it's mostly big fancy houses with modern items.
Today I scored a crazy feather hat, a crocheted tablecloth that I will use for vintage photos and a really cool mosquito netting -- all name brand of course! I can't wait until next week's estate sales!

Cool Video

http://vimeo.com/1569305

I thought this was pretty cool.

Camera on a kite!!

Wedding with Kimberlea Bass

Kimberlea Bass in Fayetteville, AR hires me to 2nd shoot at a lot of weddings. I love to be the 2nd shooter because I'm always looking for something the main shooter is not getting. They main shooter is usually busy with the "must have" shots. Here's some images from August 31st. Wedding was at Cooper Chapel in Bella Vista. Flowers by Shirley's Flowers in Rogers.

Little Rock

I haven't posted a blog since August 1st! I have moved to Little Rock, AR and it has been quite the change. It has put me behind on quite a few things. I'm just now catching up. We finally got the internet up & running. Life can get kind of strange without the internet and phone. It was kind of a nice break, though! Little Rock is pretty danged cool. I already have tickets to see Les Miserables. I am also going to Treasure Island and Junie B. Jones at the children's theater. I'm also going to Lear's daughters at UALR as well as some other cool theatrical performances. There's some really neat productions coming to Memphis that I really would love to see. And Sweeney Todd at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville - OMG! I will have to look into that! I can't wait to take Amelia to the museum, river market and the diamond fields in Murfreesboro.
I've already made some belly dance friends. I am going to this huge hafla in Hot Springs in October. Little Rock has so much more to offer as far as things to do and see!

Amelia is in school. She loves it. I really like the school. Amelia is testing for the Alpha program (gifted/talented). She wants to be in it bad. I think she's kind of bored with her grade level.

I am in school for 9 hours. I didn't have enough classes to choose from since we moved so I took what I could get. This time around I am in theater classes (my minor which could be my 2nd major) and I'm also in anthropology which is way interesting!

So much to do.....but just wanted to let my friends know that I'm here in Little Rock!

Salon ENVE

Amanda hired me to do some photos for her brand new salon called ENVE. It's located at 2009 N. Green Acres Road in Fayetteville. She is having a new site built - www.salonenve.com.....Here are a few photos I did for their site. There were a bunch but I thought I'd post up a few previews!

Feel the burn.

I'm working thru pictures and albums - almost complete everyone! YAY!

I worked out today with Sara. We felt the burn today. This is our 3rd week of working out. I have a personal trainer helping me tomorrow. I'm really excited. So far I've lost 5 lbs. which I didn't really want to lose. But I can already tell a difference in my arms! I have little "mini" muscle beans. HA! Working out is the best. This is my newest addiction! Feel the burn!!!

My Family!

These were taken by Joe Klingaman. Thanks Joe! They are so cute. This is my family!

Chicago.

I have a lot of catching up to do! I'm about to create Josie & Jeff's wedding pages on my site. I've been working on an album for another gal as well. Double photoshop duties! Whew! lol! I have neglected the blog for awhile but I swear I will catch up with posting images!

Here's just a few from Chicago....

So much going on!

I haven't blogged in awhile! Life has happened and just gets to be so hectic! When I have time, I will post photos but in the meantime...things going on....and I'll elaborate more in a few weeks.

Published in a book! yay!
Virginia with Sara. Washington DC and the sculpture garden! WOW!
Chicago. Pizza. Do I need to say more? he he
15 year high school reunion. OMG. that was an experience!
Doug's momma coming for a visit!
New kitten! Meow!
Che hanging out over the weekend.
Seeing my lost Christina Angel...I just love her!
Working out at the HPER and hiring a personal trainer. Buffmother here I come!
Catching up on albums, weddings, boudoir photos.
Child care photos - big order. Yay!
Little Rock. Visiting.
Future Helena trip with Janet.
Possible road trip to Chicago. Need more pizza. Uh yes, I'm for reals. I would drive there for a pizza.
Shimmyfest coming up in 2 weeks.
Spending time with my boo. I am the luckiest girl to have Doug. He's all mine ladies....but he does have an identical twin brother. he he he
August 4th can't get here soon enough.
Money for school has arrived....now I wait for the nice fat check.

Ya know......I'm really content. And happy. I will blog more this week.