..Trail Mix..photography style..

There rarely seems to be a day where you don't find me looking like this:


. . . with a camera attached to me somewhere on my body. So here's what I've been doing on those days . . .

* Alexis and I had the best time ever Thursday night. Robbies, drinks, push-up bras and Matt Damon . . . not much can get better than that! (She should have a post on this soon - she took pictures - I didn't!)

* My mom and dad closed on their new house a few weeks ago. It's such a perfect home for them. I have more pictures of it but am not sure if mom wants me to let you see it yet? But here is a cute pic of mom and the kids the day they closed on the house, sitting on the steps of the breezeway . . .

Congratulations, mom and dad! We're so happy for you!

* This weekend we help mom and dad move their furniture in! I'm sure someone will document it . . . me?

* My wedding was wonderful. We had a such a great time. Mom, Heather and I stayed at a $60 hotel which was quite entertaining doing so. The bride, my cousin, was beautiful! Everything about the day was just perfect. I'm so happy I was able to be such a large part of it.

* I'm exhausted from the wedding. Driving 7 hours, going to bed late, getting up early, being on my feet all day long and running around non-stop is tiring! Yesterday was the best Mother's Day ever because I slept all day and did absolutely nothing. Neil fixed me a wonderful steak dinner and the kids were good to me. It was great! I actually didn't pick up my camera once!

* Right now I'm drinking some coffee and wishing it were stronger because I just can't wake up. I have an espresso machine but don't know how to use it. Go figure. Still haven't picked up my camera today. After I post this, I will be, though. Time to proof some pics . . .

* Tomorrow, Tuesday, I have an all-day date with MATT DAMON! ;-) Camera will be literally attached to my hand!!
Okay, fine, I'm obsessed!

* Last weekend my great friend, Jen, and her daughter, Addison, visited from Mississippi. Here's a couple favorite pictures from their stay. There are tons more at flickr. This is Addison's set. You probably have to be registered to view them? There are 100 or so!


I call this one "Baby Dolls":


A very funny spontaneous moment I happened to catch!:


"Just Like Mommy":


* Last week was a beautiful week with temps in the 70's. The kids and I had some really fun afternoons. Here are a couple faves from the past week. As I've said before, many more at flickr (this is the May 2008 set- you may need to be registered to view them all since 2/3's of them are "private") and will continue to be all week. I hope to proof my newborn session this week, the session I did with Addison and also my wedding. So much going on!



* Happy Mother's Day to my friends and family who are moms. Even those who are moms to furry friends. We know how they become a part of our family just as if they were our own children. Hope your day was fantastic. We all deserve it. :c)

Today I . . .

. . . said goodbye to Jen and Addison. We had such a great time together. Like always, it was so soooo hard to say goodbye. Who knows when we'll see each other again. Great friends are hard to find. I miss them already.

. . . have a terrible sinus headache.

. . . slept 2 hours after they left due to this terrible headache.

. . . finally became a Twitter-er. Check out my sidebar. Do you twitter?

Southern Belles & Prairieland Girls

It was my dear friend, Jen's, little girls 2nd birthday last week. And I missed being a part of that celebration. Addison Jayne is 6 months to the day younger than Maia. I so wish I could have been there with her as Jen threw Addy her 2nd birthday party. I miss them both so much and Maia misses the friend she's not really ever gotten to know (or wait, I guess it's mommy who is sad because she's never really gotten to know her). But being she was hundreds of miles away down yonder in Hattiesburg, MS, well, it was kinda hard to make that trek. I cried when I saw the pictures on Jen's blog of Addison's birthday. It is so hard to see your friends move away. It's so hard to see their children grow up so fast. So hard. I miss them direly. Jen is one of those true friends who no matter the time or distance, will always be that same amazing wonderful friend. And that is a blessing.

Wanna hear some spectacular news?! No more tears welled up in my eyes! FRIDAY I GET TO SING ADDISON HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN PERSON. Addy and Jen are coming HOME!!!!!!!!!! Friday Jen and Addy are making their way here and they're staying all night with us! You know why this is more than very exciting? Because I remember when I had to say goodbye to Jen and I asked when she'd be back and she said "I'll probably never be back here, Val."

Saturday we're spending our day uptown here. Maia gets to play with Addy (Addy was just a couple months old when they moved) and Jen and I get to play catch up. It's going to be the best 24 hours in a long long time. But, only 24 hours. Wahh. I have to make the most of it.

So much to do, so little time. So why am I online? Because writing about it helps me get my bearings straight. It's like talking out loud to a friend. I need to clean clean clean and make some food . . . a cake maybe for Addy? I thought I'd have some fresh fruit and muffins for them . . . but I don't know if we're doing dinner out or not, so I'm not sure whether to plan for any big meals. Hmmmm . . . I went and bought some new pillows for the girls sleep on. They'll be staying in Noah's room in his bed. (We'll move Noah downstairs.) There won't be any big room transformations like what my amazing fabulous designer friend did for her guest, but at least I have a real bed for them and not a couch or mattress on the floor (*wink, Erin*). Oh, I just remembered, I do need to go out and get some tequila. Margaritas are Jen's fave. I'm sure we'll need one or two of those. ;c)

Anyway, obviously I need to get my derriere in gear. I have a brand new newborn shoot tonight which I am so excited about, so I need to concentrate on preparing for that the rest of the morning. So then I will only have about a day to prepare for my dear friend's arrival. Wish me luck. I want to give them a great impression of Illinois again so maybe they'll . . . move back??? Hopefully I can come up with something better than fresh crawfish and the ocean breeze. :c)

Wah wah wah . . . wee wee wee!

I cannot believe it's been over a week since I posted. I'm not going to sugar coat it, I've not been feeling too dandy.

Long story short, I've been experiencing some upper back pain located between two vertebrae up near my shoulder blades. After a week I went to the doctor a month ago back when Neil was in China. They gave me motrin and told me to come back if it didn't get better. I wasn't happy with that answer so I talked to my friend who works for a chiropractor, something I had never sought out before. She thought I needed to come in. I did and had x-rays taken. It turns out my spine is not only curved, my neck is extremely curved. You know how a banana curves? Well, that is how a person's neck is suppose to be in it's natural state, at a 45 degree angle. Mine is at a -2. Can you imagine trying to pull back that banana backwards? Yeeks. And that's my neck.

Another long story short, I've suffered unexplained headaches for over 10 years now. I've had CT scans, MRI's, seen 3 neurologists, etc., and no one ever found the cause. It appears the chiropractor did. With my neck beginning to curve the opposite way, my spinal column is also being pushed the opposite way putting lots and lots of pressure in that area probably attributing to my headaches. It was a HUGE blessing in disguise. When he told me this I started to cry because for the first time I had an answer and it was at a time when I wasn't even looking for one. I had totally given up on finding a cure for my headaches. Bad news was, he didn't find anything around those vertebrae causing the pain. I've now started seeing the doctor 3 times a week and I definitely notice change in my neck area. Unfortunately not my back. So last week I went back to my general doctor and he seemed a bit worried this time. He lined me up with a CT scan of my back. I had that done on Thursday. I still haven't gotten those results back yet. I was incredibly worried - so much so that I haven't been myself, I've been on the verge of panic attacks and experienced a really bad migrane (wah wah wah). But I think I've realized this is out my hands. Hopefully today or tomorrow I will find what is wrong. Heck, maybe it's nothing?! But hopefully if it is something, it's treatable. That is why I haven't been around. I haven't had the energy emotionally or mentally to think about my blog. So that's my "wah wah wah" part of this post. I'm done with the "Wah-ing" and ready to move on for the time being. (yay me.)

This is the "wee wee wee" part.

I got two super neat-o packages in the mail last week!!! One from a very dear friend who moved away to MS. Jen sent me the yummiest package of cookies, which she beautifully made herself, as a super sweet surprise.

I think I am the only person she knows other than her mom who looooooves anise cookies. What's anise? You know . . . black licorice?? Mmmmmmmm . . . I can smell it just talking about it. Those yummy-to-my-tummy treats were gone in just 3 days all by myself. Oh my goodness are they the best. Jen and I are two black licorice peas-in-a-pod. We also crave and adore Good-N-Plenty's. Anyone else?!

Then a couple days later I received another box. This time when I picked it up, I really questioned it. "What is this?!" Well, as soon as I opened it up and saw a card inside with the logo of the product on it, I knew just what it was and who it was from. It made my day sparkle. Can you guess?!?!
I then
took out
the paper
and
inside the box
were
these 6
very pretty . . . .

{make sure you click on the picture to see what it says because it's been custom-designed and it's just way too cool!}

. . . SHARPIES from my friend, Amanda, my BBBF who sent me these as my winning prize at her (amazingly fabulously awesome) blog for .. . drumroll . . . this is kinda embarrassing . . . being her most commenting commenter! (I'm going into hiding now.) Really, though, it's SUCH an honor!!! I've had such fun at her blog over the past year and all the while I've grown to really known her and we've became the greatest friends, hence the "BBBF" which means Best Blogging Buddies Forever. We have so much alike all the way down to our love for VW's and Converse. Thanks, a, I really love you, friend! (Here is her prize-giving post!)

Lastly, two exciting bits. One is, I signed up Noah for summer t-ball last week! He wasn't so excited at first, but now that's all he talks about. I played softball for 8 years in school and then 2 more years once out of college. I looooove baseball and hope he acquires a love of it just like his mommy. His grandparents absolutely cannot wait to come see him play. It's going to be such a fun summer. I can't wait.

And lastly, I spent a lot of time during my not-myself days last week in back pain putting up pictures on my VWC blog. So check 'em out if you have time . . . there are a lot. And also, I wasn't going to say anything yet, but I might as well. At the end of May I am going to Chicago for a weekend to do shoots with some of my Chicago clients and if there is anyone else interested, let me know! The appointments are filling up quickly. I'm just in awe of the response and feeling really really really excited about it. It's going to be so so much fun shooting in downtown Chicago. It'll be a dream come true for me.

Okay, enough of my notorious rambling. I've missed you all and I hope next time I'm here, it's to give a (positive) back update.

I can only imagine . . .

I love that song. And it makes me think of Emma. I can only imagine what the reunion is like up in Heaven when she got to meet Jesus for the first time.
Emma with her brother, Ian.

One of my bestest friends, Jen, lost her dear sweet niece, Emma. As her obituary stated, she was born perfect, but at the age of 3 months, she experienced an event that led her life from that moment on a very very hard struggle for she and her parents. She was left neurologically damaged, never to eat by herself, never to run like normal kids. She did, however, experience more love than probably a lot of human beings experience in their entire life, in just 8 short years.

Emma was so loved. So loved. I never knew of a more amazing grandmother than Emma's. Grandma Ross was an angel to Emma, and her mommy, Julie, wow, so much stronger than I think I ever could be. While I know Emma's family will miss her immensely, I know that she is sitting with her Heavenly Father right now and is finally running around, laughing and talking like she was meant to do. She is experiencing perfection at this very moment and I know cannot wait for the rest of her family to one day be reunited with her to see her (and their God) in Heaven's perfection and beauty.

I never met Emma, but I sure do feel like I did. Jen talked so much about her, Grandma Ross talked so much about her. She was definitely an angel in their lives and I know will continue to be . . . for always.

To my dear friend, Jen, I love you, girly. Stay strong for your mamma, Julie, Ian & Addy. And when you need to just cry and cry and cry, call me.

We will miss you, Emma.

Emma with her favorite Aunt, Jen, just a few weeks ago.

My weekend . . . in pictures.

So I know we are already to Hump Day, so also almost to the next weekend. But let's just pretend for a minute that I'm on top of things and that this is Monday, k? Just humor me :c) I'm not even doing WW today. But wait, it's not Wednesday, it's Monday! (wink) So that means I am on top of things. Way to go, Val!

Last weekend . . . a great weekend . . . and one of my less stressed and hurried weekends in a long time, and I know in a long time to come as well! So I thought I'd post pictures since I kinda photo-journalized my days anyhow.

Erin had asked what books I bought while at B&N last week. Here they are. One is country, which if you know me, I don't scream "country", however I have a strong love of vintage style, and this book had quite a bit of it, hence, why I bought it! The other one is totally me. In-style, but in a less expensive type of way!

Saturday morning my mom and I did Race for the Cure. We walked in honor of my Grandma Libby, mom's mother. I had done the Race before, mom had not. She was so glad she had that opportunity. We had over 4100 in our race here in town. It was empowering, yet so very emotional. Here we are in pictures after the race. I forgot my camera, so these were taken when we got back to my house. And the one picture on the top right is our bag of yummies. I love freebies!

Then I drove to Springfield to meet up with Jen. Jen use to live on my block. We became the best of friends. I know God put her on my street for such a short amount of time so that we would meet and be friends forever. She and her family now live in Hattiesburg, MS. I haven't seen her in almost 1 year. And I've missed her. A lot. This is me on my way to visit Jen. I had NO KIDS IN THE CAR (Amen to that!) and I got to listen to my music (Regina Spektor) and I got to think quietly in peace. It was heavenly.

Here is Jenny-Jen and myself! We had to get coffee (why of course!) and we also hit the stores (um, hello, duh!). Jen had to get a dress for a wedding she was going to that evening. This picture here is of one she bought. She bought two and she called me later saying this was the one she wore (it was my fave!). And, as you can see, I had such fun with the 3-way mirrors! It was so great seeing her. Time was way way way too short, though. We're planning on getting together again late summer or early fall.

Then I hurried home to freshen up for dinner with Mandy & Heather. When I walked into my house, I saw this. I guess this pile of newspapers kept the kids occupied while Neil packed some boxes. Whatever it takes, I guess? I was just glad I could turn around and leave again!

Dinner was great. I know both Mandy and Heather from grade school . . . kindergarten through our senior year of high school, actually! Wow, that is a lot of years. Mandy is now in Cincinnati, and she came "home" for the weekend. So we all got together for Mexican food and 'ritas and had an absolutely wonderful girly-girl time! So up above are some fun pics of my girl, Heather. And the one on the bottom right is a picture I took of a picture on her camera of her at her zoo taking care of her Cheetahs. Yep, those are hers!

Halfway through our 4-1/2 hours at the restaurant, we called my best boy friends, Jeff and Brian, to see if they'd join us. Of course they did! We had such a great time, too. Jeff and Mandy got into some heated - yet friendly - arguments over evolution and Christianity. Jeff, a Christian, tried his best to give his argument and she tried her best to give hers on evolution. Mandy is going for her doctrine and her study is in evolution. It's really really hard to get her to understand how we believe that God is the creator of all things and that once we die, we will forever live again. But, then I understand that it's hard for her to believe it when she has had such in-depth study of evolution, and have been taught by professors who are not Christians. I cannot judge her or what she believes, and I won't. Jeff didn't either. He just tried to help her believe. (That's what we are suppose to do.) I love Mandy so much. I just pray she will one day change from Agnostic/Atheist to becoming a Christian. I pray very hard for this, actually. My heart aches that she feels she is going to hell and laughs about it. I so badly want to change that. But I know it's out of my hands.

On a lighter note, we had lots of margaritas. Lots. We had a wonderful time and I look forward to more to come. We're trying to talk Mandy to moving back home! (Hint, hint if you read this, Mandeline!)

Then Sunday we got to get back into our very-soon-to-be house to try and decide on colors for the house. In the kitchen we were trying to match up light yellows to paint over the mustard-y color. And then I found some master bathroom decor which I just stumbled upon (the best kind of buys!) which were way on clearance at Bergner's and are the perfect match to the color we are painting the master bedroom! I love good buys and pretty things!

Happy 4th of July to my readers! Friday we close on the new house! I am so so so excited! Offer still stands for the weekend painting fun! My mom is making Italian Beef and I'm bringing other food and of course, drinks! We may even be without kids thanks to O'ma! Let's kick some wall-painting booty! :c)

Oh, and I got my computer back with a new hard drive. I have yet to turn the darn thing on. The thought stresses me out.

Weekend Comings

Come visit me as I start uploading some pics over at Visions from Sea Island! There's some neat-o ones! I just did a few. More to come this weekend I hope.

This morning mom and I did Race for the Cure in lieu of Grandma Libby. We had a great time and I'll post a couple pics later. (We love you, grandma!)

I'm off in a bit to see Jenny-Jen and I absolutely cannot wait! It's been almost a year . . . wow. We're going to shop shop shop without kids kids kids! Barnes & Noble, World Market, Macy's here we come! (Yay!)

Tonight I meet up with two friends, Heather and Mandy. Mandy is visiting from Cincinati. We are looking forward to chips, 'ritas and catching up. We all need the 'ritas pretty darn badly. It'll be so fun!

Tomorrow we get to get into our new house to see it empty and figure out how much paint we'll need when we start buying paint for it this week. I love painting! I cannot wait to start. Oh, and the offer to come help me is still up. I swear you won't regret it. I always offer coffee, treats and wine! :c)

Tomorrow night I decided to go ahead and start packing up my office. The work I still have to do I can do with most everything packed up. I might as well put a dent in it. It's going to be a lot of work!

Neil is spending the day with the kids. Actually, I think a nap for all is in the very near hours. Both kids were up at 5 this morning. No idea why?! So, he's hoping to take a nap when they do. I hope he can, too, because he didn't get to have a Father's Day like I had wanted him to (we were flying 2 hours and driving in a car for 5 hours). I think just a nap would make him quite happy!

Going to paint my nails, put on makeup and then head out the door. I'm not thinking about my computer at all today. Nope I'm not (except for now, ha!). I'm bound and determined to make this a stress free, wonderfully fantastic day. Hoping it is for you, too!

Oh! And I guess I'm Rockin?! Jen from New Zealand nominated me for another award. You guys are all way too sweet and rewarding to me. Thank you, Jen. Thank you everyone for loving my blogs . . . and me!

Toodles!

Thoughts residing in my head right now.

* I have to pick out a new comforter set for both Noah and Maia. Noah says he wants dinosaurs. I'm thinking plain ol' white or pink for Maia. We'll be switching Noah to his full-size bed and Maia to a twin. I can't (well, I don't want to) pick out paint for their walls until I have exact matches to their bedding. I know, I'm anal in that way. (So, I really think this is cute. It's Pirates, though. But I think I can add some dinosaurs in there. He already saw this and really liked it. I think matching wall color would be fun and he'd like this theme for years to come. But I also found this which is similar but way cheaper, and just about as cute. I am having troubles finding dinosaurs that I like in a full size. Your thoughts?)

* I really really really want my computer back. Or, at this point, any computer. If it has to be new, so be it. I'll just be even more in debt. Sigh. Since I have to have a mac (all my software is for a mac) and since I have to have a computer that is fast but has a lot of storage capacity (it seriously is a must with what I do), and *if* I have to buy a new one, I will probably get this one. I just pray I can do a lot of biz this year to pay for it. *deep breath* (Fellow mac-ies, what do you use?)

* I need to return a cable to a photography place (Tallyn's) in Peoria because it didn't fit in my lighting system and I'm waiting to hear back from the place first to see if they even have what I am needing. (Please respond to me! Please. You are usually so quick. Don't let me down now!)

* I need to make a list of all the places that I need to do change of address for. The ones that I know there will be dozens (probably hundreds) of, are my work-related contacts, businesses, catalogs, vendors, etc. Ugh. I almost forgot about doing this.

* We begin painting on the new house the 6th. I will be doing most of it myself. Any ideas on how to keep my kids entertained (in a house that has absolutely nothing in it yet) and not be in my way? (You and I both know they'll want to "help" and then would make a huge mess doing so. They're kids. It happens. What can I do to distract them for long periods of time?)

* I get to see Jenny-Jen on Saturday!! She is coming "home" from Hattiesburg, MS. I cannot wait to see her. It's almost been an entire year. We're having lunch and shopping. Girls day out, no kids! I have missed her so much.

* Packing up my office, especially packing up all my client files, old negatives, etc., is going to be a tremendous job. I'm already in denial that it has gotta be done. I can just pick up the office and move it like it is, right? The file cabinets. Man, that will be a huge job. How do you recommend I do that? (I've never had to move my business before!)

* I want to be back on vacation.

* I need to go through all the magazines that I have not read in months and months and throw them out because I am not moving them to the new house. I guess I will get off of here and do that next. Anyone in need of Parents, Child or Family Fun? I want to read them, but I never ever have time to. I'd honestly rather read a book. I'm discontinuing my subscriptions to save some trees and piles of waste collecting in my house :c) (Btw, did you know that Child is discontinuing it's magazine? I love that 'zine, too. Parents is taking over it's subscriptions. Shoot, that stinks. But they will still have their great website packing with parenting info.)

* My list of to-do's and thoughts going through my head is just way way too long.

Happy 1st Birthday, Addison!!!

And happy 1/2-Birthday, Maia!! (she is 18 months today!)