Ch-Ch-Changes!

So I've blogged about burnout before, but...I don't know to this extent. Since it's about time for a New Years Resolution, this seems fitting!

I said awhile back I took a few little breaks from shooting professionally - because after awhile, getting the camera out was a job, and I wasn't doing any shooting for me. I'm at a point right now where I don't feel like I'm not shooting for me (because I AM!) but, I'm burnt out because I take on too much. So many people think a photographer shows up and snaps a few photos and is done. But it's not the case - you're shooting, you're culling photos, you're spending hours and hours of editing photos, downloading images, making backups. To run a successful business, you've got to blog or post them elsewhere, etc - you've gotta show people recent work, etc.

 I decided it's time for some changes, to slow down. I am constantly working - and that's going to change. For starters, I've decided to stop photographing weddings. I worked with some seriously amazing brides this year, but I have to stop doing them. While I know I'm simply not charging enough for the stress of shooting a weddings, I also know I don't enjoy shooting them as much as I enjoy some of my other sessions. While I'll complete the ones I am contracted for in 2013, I will no longer take on anymore.  My focus will be on families and babies.

On top of this, I've decided to limit the number of sessions I take on --  majorly. I will no longer be doing multiple sessions in a day, nor will I be shooting multiple days in a row. I'm learning how to say "No". I'm in no way saying I'm giving up my business - but I am saying I will take a step back and draw a line. No more will I give a client my cell number to text me and have them ask about if they can see more photos at 11:30 at night or Christmas morning.

Instead,  I will cut back to an amount of sessions with families and newborn each month. I will enjoy every little one I get to the pleasure of doing a session for - and not feel rushed to get to the next session I've scheduled. All while planning my own time with my own family and friends, and planning all my fabulous trips so I can shoot for me! (My b&w film pictorial of East Kentucky Coal Mines is finally happening this summer!)

"We would do well to slow down a little. Focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter the most"

Quite frankly, 2013 is going to be a whole lot of this:

A little festive recap!

Hard to believe Christmas is over! It was a great Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day again this year. We spent much of Christmas Eve playing games, and then waiting for Kadin to fall asleep (and waiting on Santa, you know!) Little shit didn't fall asleep until almost midnight, so by that time, my sister and I were already curled up together in what we call the big butt chair watching "Elf", and we'd whipped out the candy cane vodka! 

A little pic spam and commentary of a few pics :) I hope everyone had a great one! 

Christmas Eve present! Of course, it was from Aunt Nicole! (It was Paranorman - seriously cute movie! We saw it in the theater not too long ago)

Family Jenga time! 

Johnny boy meant serious business. Actually, he and Paige did sooooo good. By the end of the game, the rest of us were too afraid to touch it! 

Cookies and Milk for Santa time! I love when we pick out the cookies we're going to leave. Kadin love love loves Granny's Gingerbread Men cookies, so he refused to part with too much of one for Santa!

Every Christmas morning, K-man passes out our gifts, and then builds walls around himself with some of his! 

Sasa and some of her stuff -- Kadin just kind of tossed everyone elses! 

Paige got a new electric guitar :) Any of you that know Paige know how much she loves her music, so this was perfect for her! She's been dying for one. I got her a great "Asking Alexandria" guitar strap to go with it.

I also got her some band hoodies -- teens can be SOOOO hard to shop for, so I felt ridiculously triumphant this Christmas hahaha. Thanks Hot Topic! Side note for the locals, HT ships out of LaVergne, so....everything arrived the day after I placed the order. Win! 

The boy sure loves his wrestling!  He has been asking for this for quite awhile, so you can imagine what he played with most of the day. He wants more wrestlers to go with it now -- Grandpa got him a Visa Gift Card, I have a feeling little man will be spending it on wrestlers pretty soon! (Side note, mom got him a movie gift card and he spent almost the entire thing on Christmas, lmao!)

I sure do love that Sasa wanted a Little Mermaid sweatshirt, hahah, because it was easier to find than I thought it would be. (Again, props to Hot Topic!)

I bought these Wreck It Ralph fists on Black Friday, and they had the bag so I had to buy it! But, we couldn't put it under the tree because we knew he'd know what it was.....so, we totally played a "Toy Story"....and after everything was opened, did the "Aunt Nicole is pulling out a surprise present!"

We made this book of Granny for my mom. Obviously, it turned into a pretty sweet moment. I also bought her one of the Origami Owl Living Locket necklaces and picked out all the charms to symbolize my Granny, and it turned out soooo fabulous. I've got to post the pics, since I didn't really take many of her opening it.

The coasters I made were a success :) 

No explanation needed, hahahahaha.

I am so excited! My mom and sister knew how much I've been wanting a quesadilla maker and a cake pop maker, so look what was waiting under the tree for me! I'm about to try out the quesadilla maker today, and the cake pop maker will get tested this weekend! Most of you know what a Moe's junkie I am, haha, so maybe the quesadilla maker will save me from going there 1092102190291 times a month.

I wanted to buy this for myself on Black Friday, but my sister said "no! Mom already bought it for you", hahaha. I am excited to put it up -- now I've got to figure out what pics I want to put in it! And where the heck I want to put it!

Keeping our tradition, Mom, Sam, the kids and I went to the movies before Christmas Dinner....Sam and I wanted to see Les Mes, but since we had Kadin, that was a no go. We let him pick it out, so we ended up seeing Parental Guidance-- which I highly recommend, it was super. We laughed, we cried -- it was worth seeing. 

Kinda sad it's over, but soooo ready to party for NYE!  And I guess we're technically not done celebrating Christmas, since we'll be heading to Opryland this week to see what they've done with the decorations this year. Usually we've done this already, but we wanted to wait on Sasa to fly in and come with us! 

It's almost here!

I can't believe Christmas is almost here! I love Christmas Eve almost as much as I love Christmas morning. This year is pretty awesome because my niece Salem will be coming home for Christmas! She wasn't with us last year, but this year she flies in at 10 am December 24th! It'll be awesome to have us all together -- not to mention, my nephew's face just BEAMS when Salem comes home. I'm ready for tomorrow!

I know as years pass, traditions change, but there's never been a time that I have not been with my sister on Christmas morning - or Christmas Eve for that matter! I moved away pretty briefly years back, but , I was sure not to miss birthdays or holidays. Being with my sister was always important, and since the kids have been born, I can't imagine not being with them Christmas Eve and morning. I love seeing their faces when they walk out to the tree--- or hearing Kadin whisper "Paige! Paige! Let's wake them up so we can open presents!" Anyway, as with most holidays, our Christmas Tradition is to stay at my sisters. My mom & I usually go eat together Christmas Eve and then head over to Samantha's for the night.

Me & Samantha! 

Today my sister, the kids & I went to see Monsters Inc in 3D! Can I seriously say how much I love Disney for re-releasing a bunch of their movies in 3D? (I cannot wait for the Little Mermaid, anticipation is killing me! The twin cousin & I will be seeing it in Florence, KY together - and I may or may not have gotten us Ariel shirts to wear :) ) I took Paige to see Monsters Inc when she was 4 in the theater, we've loved it ever since!

The kids waiting on their funnel fries -- K-Dog, our heavyweight champion, was sure to show off his belt.

We did a little shopping, and it's so cold and rainy that we had to stop at Starbucks. The split second I say "Aunt Nicole's got it..." Kadin starts going over to the snacks to see what else he can get. I swear, I am such a SUCKER for these kids (I mean the first thing I did this morning was go to Walmart to pick up a couple things for them. I cannot stop buying for them, it's ridiculous!)!  I wouldn't have it any other way, though.

And tomorrow, like every Christmas Eve, I'll be having a few drinks with my sister, watching movies and snuggling with my nephew while gossipping with my two favorite teenagers. And of course - waiting up to see all the great goodies that Santa brings! Somehow, my mom & brother in law always crash early, and my sister & I are the only ones awake by the end of the night.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

DIY Coasters!

Awhile back I spotted the ever popular “Coaster tutorial” on pinterest, and thought it was clever. At the time, I really had no idea who or what I’d make them for, so I just kept it in the back of my mind. Now I obviously have a reason to make them, so I made a few sets for a few family members, using photos. It’s a little time consuming, kind of – not all at once, it just requires a little patience because you really need to give these time to dry. Overall, it’s a really fabulous, personalized gift and it is not that expensive. Since I know the folks I made these for won't check the blog within the next few days, I can go ahead and post these :)

I made a few little changes to my coasters, so here’s what I did, and what I used. I also changed my process up a little bit.

-Modge Podge (I bought mine at Michael’s for $8 or so, I think)

-Acrylic Sealer  (Michaels, $5)

-Ceramic Tiles  (Home Depot, .16 cents a piece. I got the 4.5x4.5)

-Engine Enamel (Auto Zone, $6)

-White paint (Michaels, $1.99)

-Black Felt (I think they were .29 cents a piece, bought at Michaels, but you can find them at your local Walmart too.)

When I checked out the tutorials, I read through all the comments on every one to see what potential issue people were having so I could try to avoid those issues.

I used this kind, and I used the foam brushes -- I found the small foam brushes were PERFECT for this. 

One thing I noticed is a lot of people didn’t seem to give the coats enough time to DRY. So, I started by cutting my photos down into squares. (And, I cannot cut straight. If you have an exacto knife, this is about when that would be the best invention ever.) I used modge podge on the back of the pictures to adhere them to the tiles. Once I did that, I let them sit overnight. The next morning, I applied the first coat of modge podge. It shows the streaks, obviously, since it’s modge podge, and it applies white, but it dries clear. Now, I don’t know how long it actually takes the one coat to dry, but I left mine sitting for 6-12 hours before I would apply the next coat. I put 4 coats of modge podge on each. (See why I said it took a little time – I really let mine dry as best as I could)

Drying after a coat of Modge Podge - they really look cute!

I let the final coat of Modge Podge dry for a little bit longer before I applied the acrylic spray. You do NOT want to apply acrylic spray in the house --- take these outside, in the basement, in the garage – anywhere  but in your living area. I applied four coats of acrylic spray, and I let each coat take a full day to dry.

After they fully dried, I decided to take one and test it. I noticed online a lot of people mentioned hot beverages left a ring or would stick, and that you should wait 30 days before putting a hot beverage on it to let the Modge Podge clear. I wasn’t so convinced. The coaster tested perfect for the cold, but as soon as I put a hot cup of water on it – it started to stick and leaving a little ring. I did some googling and decided a trip to Auto Zone for clear engine enamel was the way to go. The enamel is built for withstanding the hot temperatures. I applied two coats of the clear enamel, and I let them sit for 3 days before touching them again – so that they would be 100% fully dry.

You could probably just do the engine enamel if you really wanted to, but I liked having both the sealer and the enamel.

I tested them again after that, and SUCCESS! Hot and Cold Beverages are perfect on them. No extra 30 days needed, and no telling my recipients that they couldn’t put a hot cup on it!

The edge of the ceramic tiles are kind of unfinished, and  you could leave them like that if you wish. But I wanted it to be white, and I hated the feel of the unfinished side – I don’t know what it was, but it felt weird and I didn’t like it.

Some sides look worse than others -- which is why I do suggest finishing them.

I know some folks painted the edges first and used spray paint, but since I waited late to do mine, I had to use different paint. I picked this paint up at Michaels, which was only $2, and it applied flawlessly with a small brush. I suppose it is just as easy do that first, but I didn’t have any issues waiting so late to add the side paint, although I did had to take my finger and make sure there was no excess paint on the finished parts.

This is the paint I wound up using. It works perfect, and if I make more, I'd do this again over using spray paint. I let the paint dry overnight.

I used a black felt square and applied it on the bottom with a hot glue gun. I put some of the glue on the bottom of the tile, and then put the felt on – and then I went around the edges and put a little bit of glue under any area that was coming up.

I couldn't cut the felt straight either, but whatever. This seemed a lot easier than cutting four circles for the corners. Plus, it covers all the unfinished look on the bottom.

And they’re done!  Instead of tying them together with ribbon I found these adorable boxes at Michaels  and they fit perfectly, and look adorable!

I LOVE them in the little boxes. I put a little tissue on the bottom and on the top to protect them a little bit, because I made different numbers of coasters for different people so some filled to the brim. I think the box ended up fitting 7 or 8 coasters total. That's my super duper cute Granny, isn't that the cutest picture ever?! I made these ones for my Mom :) We miss Granny so much, I thought these would be great for mom to have.

And since I'm posting Christmas....

I have officially finished Christmas shopping -- AND have everything wrapped! Success! I got a lot more for the kids than I planned, but that's my job, right?! It doesn't help that my nephew is so crazy easy to buy for -- between the WWE stuff, Legos, and Star Wars -- I just kept buying him more! 

I put my tree up in November, and I'm going to be so sad to take it down. Next year I might swap out the pink ornaments for blue. I really love having the coordinated looking tree and not random ornaments everywhere, this sister ornament is the only non coordinated ornament I put on it. And of course, I did that because it was A) a gift from my sister, and B) Silver, and it looked cute!

12.18.2012

There are just no words....

There are no words to describe the horrible news coming out of Connecticut today. My heart goes out to all the families affected.

All I can say is I am sure thankful for these three beautiful kids and am glad I tell them how much I love them every moment I can:

You Serious, Clark?

I've said it before: I love Christmas season! I've been working on some Christmas gifts (which I can't wait to post about!), and wrapping gifts each night when I get home typically while listening to Christmas music or watching movies.

And, as many of you, "Christmas Vacation" is one of my favorite movies of all time. I watch it year round, because quite frankly, I think it's just too damn funny to only watch in December! We watch it together as a family on Thanksgiving every year, and again on Christmas Day, with my sister and I obnoxiously quoting it. This year Kadin made the comment, "Aren't you guys tired of watching that movie yet!??". And since our entire family sported Griswold Family Christmas shirts last year --- the answer to that question is NEVER!

I watched it again tonight, so naturally I had to come blog my very favorite parts:

This scene is so under-rated... "That was fun...I love riding in cars!" is one of my favorite lines in the movie. And who doesn't love "Hello Everybody? I should say it? Hello Everybody!"

Nobody's walking on this fun old fashioned family Christmas! 

And of course, the absolute BEST SCENE in the movie. Is it sad we can quote this word for word? Hahaha. It's the gift that keeps on giving -- the whole year.

The Angel Tree....

A few months ago when we were walking around Vandy, Paige noticed the Children's Hospital and said she'd love to volunteer there. The words "volunteer" don't often come out of a 14 year olds mouth, so I looked into it as soon as I got home, and quickly discovered Paige wasn't old enough, she had to be 16 to do any kind of volunteering there. Bummer.

I volunteered often during the Flood cleanup a couple years and remembered I registered through Hands on Nashville, and thought it might be worth checking out again. As luck would have it, they let me search for volunteer opportunities by age - and I discovered the Salvation Army of Nashville  needed volunteers for the Angel Tree, and ages 13-18 were welcome!  So, I signed us up!

Tonight, Paige and I went down and they explained what they needed us to do: Take a big bag, and take an Angel -- the Angels that had not been picked off the trees you see in the mall. Write the number of the Angel on the bag, and go in the two big rooms that contained brand new donations --- boxes and boxes of toys, clothing, bedding, diapers, home good - you name it. We needed to fill the bags with stuff for each angel; basically, "shop" in the rooms according to the angels needs/wants, and them go match the number with the family bag. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.

Each of these dark bags were huge bags and the sheet contained each angel in the family - so if a family had four children, there were four kids listed on the sheet (each a different number). The big bags are lined up by number, and as you finish the angels, you put them in the family bag.

I don't know if Paige really realized before we got there that often, some of these kids truly need the basics --- as she walked around digging around for stuff for her first angel, she came over and said "It says his biggest needs is socks. Socks, Aunt Nicole!" At the bottom of each angel, their biggest want was listed - and Paige was so bound and determined to grant every wish she could. She dug through every single box she could find to find the toy that each child wanted. One 12 year old wanted a bedding set for her bed....one little girl wanted puppies (okay, so we couldn't hook her up with the puppies, but we did find her some great stuffed puppies and some barbies that came with puppies!)....one little boy wanted a truck --- Paige was sure to find them all. 

When we were leaving (I think we were able to get 14 angels done between the two of us in the two hours we were there. There was about 30 volunteers, to that's awesome!), one of the employees there mentioned that if I wanted to email the Volunteer Director, she could see if they had some spots open to help deliver the gifts to the families -- giving us the warning "You will cry!". Paige's face lit up at the mention of it and immediately said "I want to do that!!!"

I emailed the director as soon as I got  home, and hopefully she's got some spots open - I am so proud of Paige. I remember being 14, and it's easy to take everything for granted. (We all do, all ages....but it's a little easier to do when you're a kid that doesn't have to work or pay for your own things, and have a family that spoils you! :P) It was so heartwarming to see her so eager and happy to help other kids have a great Christmas, and want to deliver them.

If you want to check out the opportunities in your area, I know that Salvation Army also puts up their listings on Volunteer Match - so please check them out! (And I know personally, the company I work for does company matches -- if employees volunteer x amount of time, they will donate x amount to a charity, etc - so if you use VM, be sure to see if your company does this too!) 

Weekend Recap!

My best friend Rita's birthday is Tuesday - the big 4-0! So we did what we always do to celebrate - head to our favorite place, (Kentucky!) and party at Dolphie's Lounge. What a night...

I picked up a dozen Gigi's Cupcakes to decorate and take with us! Rita's never had a gourmet cupcake and I keep saying we'll go when she's here next, and we never remember to go! While I know I can't cook, I actually CAN bake, but I have so much crap to make for Christmas, I really wasn't feeling like baking right now --- what solves that dilemma better than Gigi's!?

Round 1 of our songs at Dolphie's! Man I freaking love this place. I love that we go through the song book and randomly burst into songs at the table.....I got the "Oh my god I cant't believe my little sister knows these old songs I don't even know" look from my sister multiple times. I'm pretty sure we table-sang every song of Alabama's in the list, and every George and Tammy duet that Scotty had listed! 

The bestie & me! About to start getting the party started  - I don't even think we'd had a drink yet! 

Presents! Note that I got a BLUE gift bag, and instead of a bow, I tied a UK scarf to the bag. I know how to represent our team, damn it! GO BIG BLUE!

So over the summer I was thinking "What the hell can I get Rita for her birthday aside from the UK stuff?" and my answer was a photo book! So I compiled some of my favorite photos from all our fun road trips, fun memories, and inside jokes, and made a photo for her. It was a massive hit --- she literally screamed when she opened it and started going through it. Success! 

Even my sister has gotten into the "sharing Kentucky gifts" - I am so freaking proud. She even bought one for herself too! 

My sister found this pack of fake mustaches at Target in the dollar bins and brought it with her thinking it would be fun. A few drinks in, we pulled them out and put them on -- it was hilarious. We had people all night asking about them, and multiple people run over and ask if we had anymore that they could have! 

Rita got Chris to wear one! He kept saying "No way!" and then popped it on and gave us this look - classic!

And my multi-talented sister rocked her mustache while singing! 

We mustache you a question.

The cupcakes with the toppers I made! 

So this elderly lady was the best ever -  everytime we go to Dolphie's, the older folks in the crowd usually comment on the old songs we sing and how much they love them....but she not only loved them, she got up and danced like she was 16 year old, after a while even kicking her shoes off! And when we'd do something she really loved like "Coal Miner's Daughter" or "D-I-V-O-R-C-E", she would come stand up at the side and watch us sing. Love, Love, LOVE HER. We had so much fun with her!

The sis & I at Denny's before heading over to Dolphie's. I love this picture of us!!!! 

I'm so bummed the weekend is over already. And I'm bummed to be back home, LOL. Our new friend at Dolphie's (is it horrible that we loved this elderly lady so much but forgot to get her name?!?!) kept asking why we don't just move to Kentucky, haha. Thank goodness I'm so freaking close! 

Friday Ramblings...

Happy Friday! I took a day for me today....to sleep in, to be lazy - er sorta.  I woke up at 8:00. What kind of sleep in is that? Compared to my normal 5:30 during the week, sure, but....why is it when I PLAN to sleep in, I still am up too early for my liking?! I literally forced myself to lay back down to sleep another hour & a half...before getting my lazy butt up and running around town trying to get every errand run before the bestie gets in town tomorrow for her birthday! I came home and thought "Hey, this might be a great time to clean!" which I did -- the entire house. Top to bottom, scrubbing floors - I'm pretty sure this is the cleanest this house has ever been.

In cleaning, I decided it was finally time to take an AC unit out of the window. When I went to to do this, the window wouldn't budge. We discovered it's stuck because of the end of last winter, when my landlord randomly had the windows painted.  Of course, we didn't discover this until one of the window panels shattered in my hand. 

WTF am I supposed to do with this!? Sigh. I cleaned up my hand and thought about figuring out how to get the glass out from that broken panel and the panel behind it that's still intact, but in the end the southern girl in me came out, and I decided plastic and tape was the way to go and the landlord could fix it. (And thanks to my constant online shopping, I actually had plastic that would fit it! See, I knew all my orders from NY&CO would come in handy one day!)

So I know Christmas isn't here yet, and I AM looking forward to it, but I'm kind of already trying to plan what to do for New Years Eve! I HAVE to work this year, which is a bummer. Fortunately, I only work until 4pm, which gives me time to go home and get ready. We just don't know WHAT to do. I'm not doing the lame Nashville guitar drop (who the hell thought of this?  And has anyone watched how they portray Nashville on CNN on NYE at the guitar drop? It looks like it's straight out of a Jeff Foxworthy video), so that's out. My fellow Nashville or Kentucky folks, email me some great suggestions! (Because as everyone knows, I am always up for a good trip to Kentucky!)