Foto Friday (and a set back)

Bad news first . . . the set back.

We were supposed to close on our new house today. I stress the word "supposed". And please don't think I'm not grateful and feeling blessed that we even sold our house and even get to close on a new house, because I very much am. But it stinks because it majorly screws up a lot of things.

The relo company who sold us the house (they had bought it from the former owners since he was a transfer with his job) decided today that they could not close because they do not have the paperwork ready to do so. That's not our fault. So why do we have to feel the effects of it?

So we asked to get possession early. Simple thing, right? We just sign some papers for liabilty causes and be done, then close on Monday. Nope, not simple. They won't budge.

Closing is at 11 Monday morning now. Which is fine. Again, I'm so thankful that we are even at this step in the process and so very close to owning a new home. But, that means one less entire weekend to paint (which had only given us one weekend anyhow - we move in next weekend).

Why do we have to suffer from these people's mistake, which could have very easily been preventable if they had just done what they were suppose to do by the date they were suppose to do it? I mean, they had 4 weeks. Grrrrrrrrrr . . . Stupid relocation companies.

Now we have Monday evening through the rest of the week to paint. I mean, I have Monday through Friday afternoon to paint. Neil works all week. My mom has to work all week (every other week she works 1/2 days). I don't have a I-can-call-anytime sitter for the kids. All this means is I will try my very best to work during the day alone, but I'll have my kids, in a new house with nothing in it for them to do, and I'll feel like I need to watch/entertain/play with them and not paint. It's gonna be very hard to paint 2400 sq foot of house in 4-1/2 days by myself. Lord help me now.

I need to tell myself, this is just a small dent. A teeny tiny little bump in the road. I am a wonder woman and I can do it. I need some encouragment. How about a cheering squad? Better yet, are you sure none of you want to come help me?

On a happier note, my sis-in-law sent me pictures from our Sea Island trip and I picked out my faves and made a collage. Happy Foto Friday.

Click on me and I will become much bigger!

Georgia Pictures, set 2!

Savannah pictures and tons more from the heavenly beach. I would give anything to be back there right now . . . Thanks again, Bill and Martha! Thank you so much.

Yay! Pictures from Sea Island!

I put (some of) my pictures up online at flickr and had started with them posted as "public" but I kept having a bad feeling about that (always follow your instincts!), so I have now made them "private" for friends and family. I think you can still access the pictures by clicking this link here. They just won't be public to all who look at random people's pictures on flickr, like mine.

How it works: Click on the link above. Then once at the page of my Sea Island pictures, you can either click on each picture individually, or your can click on "view as slideshow" in the righthand corner. I recommend the slide show because you can either scroll through them one-by-one or play it like a movie. But do note that with the slideshow you cannot view my captions and descriptions. Clicking on each individually on the main page may be the way to go if you want to know the details of the photos.

I have only looked through 2 memory cards of pictures out of 4 cards. And this is just 150 of about 800+ pictures! Hope you enjoy and please comment away, whether it be at flickr itself or here at my blog. Enjoy, enjoy! (And more will be posted as I take time to download 'em!)

P.S. Happy Birthday to Natalie! She is 31 today. I will post more tomorrow. It's been another looooong day. Happy B-day, Nat! :c)

Random thoughts and . . . wine.

I hope the wine part of my title pulled you in to read this. And really, I will eventually talk wine, but first you have to hear me "whine" a tiny bit . . . sorta. Yes, fine, it's whining.

It's always a huge feeling of accomplishment for me as a mommy when I make it through an entire day without Neil without any discouragement in myself as a mother. Neil just does so much for me as a husband and father to my children. And it takes a lot, most days, for me to not get discouraged as a mommy. But today was a pretty non-discourageful day - yay!

When Neil comes home from work, many a times he will make dinner so I can start right away on my photography work, then he'll bathe the kids and get them ready for bed. I'm not totally settled on this routine but we do it when I am in desperate need of time to work, and lately that's 4 out of 5 nights because I'm so backlogged with orders (good thing, yes). But (bad thing is) this is what we have to do for now until I can work at home during the day, which will most likely be when the kiddos are in school. (*gulp* I know this will be sooner than later and the thought of them being school is just . . . not something I want to think about.)

So, if you can't tell, kids are in bed (early - yay!) and I am in need of some adult conversation. I hate the phone (really seriously hate), so this blog will have to do. Hooray for blogging for stay at home moms (like me) whose husbands travel (like mine) and who feel the need to say more than what a conversation entails with a 3 year and 18 month old (like with mine). I just need to talk! So, feel free to leave me a comment (actually, I'm begging you to - you know how they make my day, right?!) . . . even if it's just to tell me what kind of wine you you prefer.

See, I told you wine.


I love wine and just over the weekend I discovered a new one that I wanted to share with all of my wine-loving friends. It's called Polkadot, a Reisling from Germany and it's nice . . . quite tasty . . . I really liked it and it's officially my new favorite of the moment! Please do try it. Sweet, but not overly sweet, and just hits the taste buds perfectly. It's more than worth it at just $8.99 a bottle! And just look at that bottle . . . it's blue and gorgeous! I'm keeping mine to use as a vase for a flower! :c) (Hey, any reason to keep something pretty!)

If you've made it this far . . . woo-hoo! You rock! And here are two pics from Mother's Day when we had a picnic at the park. One favorite and then a self-portrait of Neil and I. I think it's kinda cute. As hubby stated "we're hot" in his silly Neil way. :c)



Here's to another good day tomorrow!

Snapshot Sunday

My girls on my big day 8 years ago! (wowzers!) All still great friends - thanks for loving me, guys :) Let's see . . . everyone has at least one baby except for Kalina & Sara and we're (im)patiently waiting on them to become mommies!
This was when we went to Hawaii in 2004. My sis, Michelle, caught me doing what I love to do most - photograph (who knew?!).
Family picture: me, Natalie and my brother, Chris, with our monstrous collection of Cabbage Patch Kids! We serioulsy thought we were mommies (and daddies) to all of our "kids" :)
Noah and his bestest girlfriend, Sami (Alexis's daughter), a couple summers ago - notice her band-aids which were as a result of a couple falls - ouchie! We miss Sam! She now lives in North Carolina, but we are hoping to go visit very very soon.
Little Me! Or wait. . . is that Maia?
Me and my other sis, Ashley (Neil's little sister), in Brazil in 2001. This was before Neil and I were taken back to the airport. We had the most wonderful time ever and we'd love to go back one day . . .
At our first home in 2000. I was so impressed with my sunflowers. Aren't they splendid?
Noah with his grandpa at the Farm Progress Show in 2005. I'm a farm girl and Noah is a farm boy at heart.
Woa, Nelly! I swear that is not a basketball in that shirt. Yes, that's me, 38 weeks pregnant and about to burst with my chunky monkey little (big!) Maia.
Me and my girlfriends in college in 1997 on spring break in Tampa, FL. Julie (2nd from left) got us reservations at a hotel with the Yankee's spring training boys and my oh my did we have the most amazing time. Her boyfriend, now hubby with 4 kids (!), played for the Yankees (he has now given up his baseball career to become a family man working as an engineer for Ford in MI . . . what a guy!). College. . . those were the days . . . so often I wish I could go back . . .

This is Beth and Rodrigo - one of the very first weddings I ever shot! I was blessed with this couple because they took a chance with me, and with that, I got two extraordinary friends for life! (I met my friends, Tracy and Corie through Beth - both who were in her wedding. I later went on to shoot Corie's wedding and next month I'm shooting Tracy's daughter's birthday!)
And one of my favorite pictures in the entire world. . . me and my grandpa looking at family photos. He was always so interested in pictures . . . It's he and my grandmother that I write about in Grandma's Diary.
THE END of today's show-and-tell . . . thanks for allowing me to share.

Missy-Poo

That's what her brother calls her. So, you knew I couldn't go without posting a picture of my little girl, too, didn't you? So the silly photographer mommy that I am crawled in her crib with her on this day and just started shooting. This is one of the dozens that I shot.

Simple shots? Never.

It is never ever simple for me to get a picture of my own family. This is usually how it goes:


Believe me, I have no "secret" to get kids to sit still. Especially my own.


And then I think for the first time ever, my children actually sat still and at the same time. And who is the photographer you ask? My hubby. He is quite skilled behind the lens believe it or not. It takes skill to stop a moment like this one. In our book it goes down as "priceless".