#26-Jan. 26th

Today I finished rereading one of my favorite book series, The Work and the Glory.  It is one of those books that has such happy moments, hard trials, love, loss, but most of all-uplifting promise.  I truly love when I can read a book that makes me feel blessed, happy, or teaches me something.  This time this series reminded me that through the hardest times we can have some of the biggest blessings.  I am sure that as time goes by I will need to be reminded of this over and over, but for now it is making me appreciate life and all the little daily blessings a little more.

#25-Jan. 25th

Okay, weirdest looking thing ever, according to my son Cole, is this plant we saw while out walking. I think that they are some form of mushroom, but I am totally not sure.  If anyone knows, please let me know.  Thanks. :)

#24-Jan. 24th

I have been going back and forth in my mind of what my intentions for this blog are.  I mean I know that I want to use it to post a daily photo.  That by itself will drive me to be shooting more, but should it be more than just that?  Should I be trying to make sure I post something witty or some internal deep thoughts with each daily image?  Do I even take the time to do anything more than share an image?  I know this is an internal struggle.

I use to want to use a blog as a personal form of a daily diary, but is this the truly the right place for that?  Should I use this more to post about my family and daily life or as an opportunity to build my business?

Needless to say I don't have it figured out at all.  So at this point I will just be happy if I can do better about making sure to get my posts made daily rather than putting up four, five, or six posts all in one day...

#23-Jan. 23rd

Soccer has been a part of my life since my oldest was only four years old (so over 17 years now.)  I have gotten to attend high school soccer games every season for the last seven years until this one.  Truly I didn't realize how much I missed the fun of these late night games until I went to one for a good friend's son.  It is his senior year and he only has one high school game left.  Luckily he is going to school on a scholarship for soccer.  I made Tanya promise we will make it a girls trip to watch some of his games next year.  

It was a great game, Magnet vs. Byrd.  Magnet won 2-0, with my friend's son getting the second goal.    

#22-Jan. 22nd

Saturday night there was some horrible storms in the area.  Just less than 20 miles north of us and about an hour and a half south of us two different F2 tornados touched down.  Both left a bunch of damage in their wake.  We were quite lucky with only rain and a bunch of wind.  The storm did take down part of the tree in front of my new possible studio.  {more to come on that later}

#21-Jan. 21st

Looking around at Fillmore Cemetery again, and was so saddened by a bunch of apparent vandalism. It truly broke my heart to see headstones broken, dismantled, and in some instances smashed.  Cole was with me and had such respect for everywhere we walked.  He was also disturbed by the destruction.  I think after it hasn't rained for a few days I would like to make another trip to try to clean up some or any of the mess.

#20-Jan. 20th

So this might be a bit morbid to some, but I love old cemeteries!  To be able to have so many old ones near me makes me happy.  There is one just down the road from our house, Fillmore Cemetery.  It was established in about 1840.  I have gone there a few different times.  It is usually so peaceful as its in the middle of the woods.  Today Cole and I tried to see if we could find the oldest head stones in there.  We only found one that dated back to 1871, so we will have to go back to look around again.

#19-Jan. 19th

This was suppose to be much easier to get done, and eventually I will be able to find an app that can help me keep up with my blog posts.  Apparently yesterday wasn't the day I would get one to work.  I seriously tried about a half dozen times to post my blog images from my phone and the blogger app just kept shutting down.  After the last time when it managed to stay open long enough for me to type all I wanted to say and then it shut down and saved nothing, so I realized I will have to continue to post from my computer for now.  

Anyway, the photo for the day is another iPhone image.  It's Cole so proud at his school awards ceremony.  He was chosen for the Principal Award for the Quarter, straight A's, and won the two class competition for the Geography.  So proud of how hard he works at his school work.

#18-Jan. 18th

I was able to show off the background, now to highlight my willing model.  I am so thankful Kati is willing to put up with me when I am in the mood to try new things in the studio.

#17-Jan. 17th

The last two images were with my first background, now to show off the second one that I got.  It is a red tufted background.  I totally can't wait to shoot some high school prom or homecoming images in front of this one!

#16-Jan. 16th

Getting closer and closer to finally being caught up, which is kind of sad since its still only January.

Anyway....so now I have THIRTEEN new backgrounds for my studio space, yes 13!!!  I am SO excited to get to try them each out.  Some of them are even original hand painted stunning canvases!!!  They are incredible works of art, seriously.

Needless to say it gives me another reason to get some more shoots in. :)

This image was shot with some gels on the lighting for a different look....

#15-Jan.15th

Dan and I got to take a drive over to West Monroe (about an hour and a half east) to pick up a new backdrop system and backdrops for my eventual studio space.  I couldn't resist dragging Kati and her friend to the studio to start trying out some different lighting on the different backdrops.  I have SO many shoot ideas I need to make plans for running through my head now....

#14-Jan. 14th

What are the things that others think are silly but that you absolutely love???

For me its trees!  I could totally have the nickname Tree Hugger!  I love the beauty in them, the strength, diversity, textures, colors.  I could go on and on.  My husband just shakes his head at me while we are  out driving places and I will just randomly exclaim out when I see a tree I find beautiful!

Since we have moved so much I have only rarely had trees that were my own (on our property) and it is something I always want.  I have probably about three different tree types picked out that I am expecting Dan to help me plant this spring.

Lately as we have looked at land for possibly building a new home and for a studio, looking at the trees could almost help be a deciding factor, especially when in the South there is such beautiful big oak trees.  I mean seriously who wouldn't want one or two of these beauties???

#13-Jan. 13th

While driving back from a shoot I saw a box of what looked like trash or something that fell from a vehicle and was left behind.  The box had multiple items- books, clothes, kitchen items, etc. spread across the side of the street and into the overgrown brush on the roadside.  As we drove past, I saw an item I knew and had to return to retrieve it.

This Book of Mormon was frozen, pages spread open, ice crystals throughout.  To some this is just another book, to me it is filled with amazing stories that have helped me in different times of my life. It was sad to me to see it just tossed aside.  I spent time shooting it with my iPhone as that was all I had with me for the day.  I plan to take the book into the studio and try to capture some other images of it, but once thawed I don't know that it will be the same.  I took some time to pry some of the pages apart as the book slowly thawed on my office window.  That is where it still sits.

#12-Jan. 12th

Quick iPhone macro image of one of my favorite items on my desk.
 

#11-Jan. 11th

Laughing at myself is basically what I spent my afternoon doing.  I had to try to work with some new wireless lighting tools.  It was a last minute plan so I had no model and so did the stand in work myself.  I learned that having ten seconds to try to run from the camera and get a decent pose is SO not my thing.  Besides tripping, making silly faces, and not even getting into the frame half the time,  I did manage to get some learning.  I mainly learned next time I will contact someone to model for me even for something as trivial as lighting practice.

#10-Jan. 10th

One of these days I won't have this crazy schedule and I swear I will get caught up on my blog and to do lists.  I say lists because I swear I have like 3-5 ongoing lists at all times of the things I need to get done.  Today I was at work at NJPhoto all day, so I didn't get through my personal or business lists of to dos, but I did manage to get a lot of work done, even in my crazy messy work space.  

This is just a quick photo of the organized chaos that is my desk at work.  My one at home is very similar.  I love this space.  I know exactly where everything is even if it looks like a disaster. :)

#9-Jan. 9th

This is a crazy grainy iPhone photo, but for me it is what the image represents...it is a dream for me to one day have my own photo studio.  I want to be able to create a beautiful place where I am open to be creative, to dream, to learn, to work and to have fun.  This room is one that I can see that potential possibility.  It has beautiful natural light from large front windows, but it is also large enough I could fit studio lighting into it.  It would need work, a lot of it, but this could be a new future for me.  I am starting to dare to dream....

#8-Jan. 8th

Today's photo is just a quick (badly done) iPhone image of some new stuff my hubby has gotten me for my studio space.  First is a camera Scentsy.  And since he knew how often I was taking his Bose speaker for while I was shooting now I have my own with Alexa (3 Echo Dots)~yeah.  :) Plus an antique "dry sink" for a side table and storage.  I just love it.

#7-Jan. 7th

There are those days you are so ready to just attack, live life, be in the moment.  Then one small thing can bring a tide of memories back-good and bad.  It helps you remember where you have been, what you have been through, and it can either make you sink into the past or use it to build a new future.  Today was one of those days for me.

I went to a baby shower for a wonderful woman from church with my daughter Kati.  While there one of the ladies in attendance brought out a gift for me.  Amy, who is a mutual friend of mine and the woman that bought my scrapbook store from me, had gotten this at the time the scrapbook store finally closed after the fire.  This one piece of plastic brought me to tears.  SO thankful that Amy had the thoughtfulness to know how much this basket would mean to me.  How it represented so many years of my life.

It reminded me of all the wonderful people I use to get to be with on a regular basis, the creativity that use to drive me, friends made, babies born, life's shared, late nights, lots of good food, and so much more.  Kati was even so happy she started to tell of the things she use to remember about M.O.M.S. of course for her it was that she use to fill the basket with all the "free stuff" she would get with her punch card.

This basket will now sit in my way underused craft room.  I plan to keep it filled with projects I am working on.  Once again, thank you Amy, truly a sweet gift.

#6-Jan. 6th

Once again a few days have gotten away from me and I haven't kept up with posting.  The weekends always prove to be chaotic.  The image for the day is one of some incredible textures I found while walking in downtown Shreveport.  Seriously I love the old architecture in this town!  It is incredible the ages and styles of the buildings and changes over time.

#5-Jan. 5th

I use to try to get out regularly and do photo walks in my area or areas nearby.  It truly would make me try to look at things from a different angle.  Sometimes I would follow a photo challenge list, other times I would bring one type of lens and try to just use it creatively.  I honestly haven't done this in almost over a year until a friend called me up and said lets get together and shoot.  That's exactly what we did.  We wandered around in downtown Shreveport for just about an hour.  I used only my lensbaby lens and my macro lens.

I love old buildings and architecture in general.  I love history.  I love being able to take time to try to look at things people walk past everyday and overlook.  There is beauty in these things. Today it was the rust on a pipe on the side of a building.  I mean seriously, the thought of my life without pipes, no indoor plumbing-heck no. I like being a spoiled American that can deal with #firstworldproblems.

{side note-HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mom!!!!}

#4-Jan 4th

I swear this week I had good intentions to do more elaborate images, but my days have gotten away from me before I had the chance...today I got into work for what should have been a quiet day in the office and instead got called in to help on a photo shoot.  I was able to spend the day doing something I love, food photography.  I was able to help with the food styling, lighting, and creating some incredible images for a wonderful restaurant in town.  Here is a quick iPhone image of one of the dishes before we started to get it ready to be shot.

#3-Jan. 3rd

Since today we were in Dallas, we decided to take the kids to Kati's favorite mall, the Galleria, before heading back home.  Both her and Cole were able to pick up some new goodies and we got to spend time watching the ice skaters and seeing all the beautiful holiday decor in the mall. (another quick iPhone pic)

#2-Jan 2nd

Early in the morning we heard some dear friends who live in New Mexico we only three hours away in Dallas for the weekend.  Within an hour we hopped in the car with the youngest two kids to head off to see them.  We hadn't got to see Hank and Erin in person in more than four years, but it was like no time had passed at all, truly the mark of a wonderful friendship.  Due to the craziness and short notice of leaving town, today's image is brought to you via a quick iPhone image out the hotel window as the sun was starting to set...

#1-Jan. 1, 2017

I know I am behind already for my photo of the day blog, but today's intention will be to post all of my first images for the year as I did take the time to shoot them, just haven't had the time to post....

I swear every year I have a list of New Year's Resolutions that I make, the usuals-work out more, eat healthier, lose weight.  Each year I also try to say I will travel more, spend less time on frivolous activities, more time with scripture study, and more time on my crafts or fun hobbies.

This year I truly want to do one thing-grow and learn better who I am and who I should be.  I know this might sound silly, but I think sometimes I just let days go by doing what seems to be expected of me-go to work, get kids off to school and activities, make meals, clean the house, etc.  Its in the everyday life that I seem to lose direction, focus.  And this year my goal isn't any type of perfection, just growth...

So I will be taking a photo of the day all year.  Honestly I usually do anyway.  I won't always post daily, but I will try.  But this year I will grow.  I will do things that make me happy, spend more quality time with loved ones, learn more, draw closer to the Lord, and learn to be happy in all things.