Maternity Pictures

  I recently posted a picture from my sister in laws Maternity session we did last week, but I wanted share one more.

She is to that point (36 wks) where she is completely done with being pregnant. Besides being uncomfortable, hot, and swollen I'm pretty sure I am part of the reason she is over it. My need to use her as my maternity model every time I get a new idea for a picture has to be getting on her nerves.

The other day I went over to her house to "give her a preggy shirt I never wore."

 When I got there, this is how it went down..

" whhaaat, how did this get in here??"

As I pull my camera out of my bag...

"Weird, how did these blocks get in here ?"

As I also pull out some of Ava's blocks, that just so happen to spell out my Nephew's name...

" Now go get dressed and pose"

The Worst Shopping Trip EVER!!

It's pretty obvious I have been low on inspiration for my blog lately. I have kind of shoved it aside and have been focusing on other things, and hoping I would get struck with some inspiration sooner than later, because only posting Wordless Wednesday day posts (and not even every week) kind of defeats the purpose of writing a blog.

I think I have made it pretty clear that I'm probably the worst shopper known to women. If I'm not forgetting my money at home, I'm forgetting things that I went to buy, and if I'm not doing that I'm busy getting my Maxi dress stuck in the wheel of a shopping cart in the middle of the Target parking lot....

Wait what?

Oh yes, you read that correct. The other day I was leaving a successful shopping trip from Target, I bought only the items I went for (unheard of!) and I didn't forget anything on my list , AND Ava was so good the whole trip.

So there I am feeling good about myself, walking out to my car when all the sudden the whole shopping cart comes to a halt and won't move. I look down and the bottom of my maxi dress has conveniently wrapped itself up and around one of the wheels and jammed up the whole thing! Of course this happens in the section of the parking lot where there is on coming traffic. People were waving at me to let me to cross, so I (slighly) picked up the the cart so it was on the 2 wheels furthest from me and rolled it to my car as fast as I possibly could without looking suspect  probably looking completely crazy.

I make to it to my car to find my poor dress ripped and twisted. I was actually so happy it had ripped because I was able to rip it more. I was down on the ground for what felt like 30 min. But it was probably 5.

At this point I am quietly panicking in my head because I couldn't get my dress out of the wheel, and I kept seeing my 2 year old's little leg flying over the edge of the cart in attempts to climb out.

Now allow me to fill you in on my thought process while all of this was happening.

Try to keep up...

"Maybe if I move quick enough I can shove the shopping cart in my car and drive away!"

(illegal)

"Yesss blog material, better take some pictures!"

( glad I have my priorities straight)

"Whhyyyy is this happening!!!"

(starting to loose my cool, oh wait my cool was lost when a person in their car waved me down to cross the parking lot,and I was stuck to a shopping cart and couldn't move!)

"Maybe I could take my dress off and jump in the car before anyone sees me!"

(yes, I would rather strip down in a parking lot then have just gone back inside the store and ask for scissors.)

Thankfully I got it untangled, and my brilliant "plan B" to publicly undress was never taken into effect. Just in time because Ava was over it by this point, she had new "strawberry shoes" in that bag and she wanted to wear them. OK I lied about not getting anything extra, but the shoes were only $1.00, you can't pass up $1.00 shoes.

Oh wait there is more to this story...

When I finally got home I realize that I only grabbed one bag, and apparently I had two. SO what started off as a successful shopping trip turned into the worst shopping trip known to man kind. Not only did I pay for items that I didn't take home with me, I ruined a dress, and had to suffer through extreme embarrassment! Awesome! 2 days later and this is still cracking me up.

To anyone wearing a maxi dress to target, beware of the shopping carts!

Quote Crazy

I took a few maternity pictures for someone the other day. Then I found this quote, and I added it to one of the pictures, it seriously made me tear up.

Last time I checked I wasn't the emotional pregnant one, and these weren't my maternity pictures...

Wordless Wednesday...Except it's Tuesday and There are Words

I have been going on and on about how happy I am that my new house has a fenced in backyard.. a.k.a kiddie jail. This is why though! I can go out there, Ava can play and I don't have to chase after her like a crazy women. Also I can go do impromptu photo sessions without having to get dressed, or even wear a bra ( kidding, I wear a bra...)

 Not to toot my own horn, but I have pretty awesome house decorations, these are all items I gathered from around my house.

I love those little curls, she will hate them when she is older, I know because I hate mine most days.

Home Sweet Home

Life has been a little busy these last few weeks, and unfortunately my little blog has suffered from it. I'm easing my way back in to it though.

We finally did moved back to Florida! I'm so happy to be back home. I really missed having family and friends around. It was getting to be a little lonely up in Georgia. Ava is loving being back to, although she will not remember all of this one day, I can tell she loves being around her uncles, and cousins again.

 I never thought that at the age of 26 I would own two houses, but I do! While we were still living in Georgia, my husband said gfthat if we moved back to Florida he's living near the ocean. He loves fishing. Our other house is about 1 hour away from the beach, more in the country, our new house is 3 miles from the beach.

 We bought this 1925 Mediterranean style bungalow. I know A bungalow, and a Mediterranean style home don't seem like they go together, but it describes my house exactly. It is cute, charming, and needs a little help, but I can't wait to blog all of our DIY projects, and renovations. When we are done it's going to be amazing, just wait and see!

 Clearwater Beach, Fl.



I'm Nothing But a Big Ol' Baby

I had a baby, I can do anything right? Wrong! Tomorrow I have to get my top to wisdom teeth pulled, ahhhhh I'm freaking out.

Is it completely ridiculous this is more scary then having a baby? At least at the end of labor you get to meet your sweet little baby. At the end of wisdom teeth extractions you get a mouth full of gauze, and a swollen face. Sounds pretty amazing.

I think the one thing I'm most scared of is being put under anesthesia. That really freaks me out. I have never had to have that done, the whole thought of getting injected with magic sleep potion weirds me out, and gives me anxiety. Unfortunately there isn't one way of doing it that sounds better then the other. So let's just do this and get it over with!

I have already given multiple threats about video taping me afterwards on the way home. I also seem to worry about the dumbest things, like how the place is on the 3rd floor and how weird it's going to be for whoever has to ride down in the elevator with me. I obviously won't have any clue what's going on, but i'm apologizing now to the person who in there watching me drool on myself. Talk about awkward elevator rides.

feel free to share your *good* experiences with me, or I should say non-horrible experience, i'm sure no one has had an amazing wisdom tooth extraction experience. If you have a bad story keep that ish to yourself.

In the mean time here's me and my girl instagram style...

I Have a New Obsession With Space Saving

 This time has finally come.

We are moving back to Florida at the end of the month! I couldn't be happier to get back to my home.

I could however, go without having to move again. I hate moving. If I were rich I would totally hire people to do this for me.

One good thing about moving is that it's the perfect opportunity to go through all your crap you have been unknowingly hoarding in your house. I have cleaned out my closets, and got rid of baby things we don't need anymore. Even sold some furniture that we didn't want anymore.

One thing that has been taking up a lot of space are all the baby clothes I have kept for my " maybe someday future baby girl.." I usually keep my favorites, and give the rest away. Apparently I have a lot of favorites, and the amount of clothes would be taking up some valuable space in our moving truck.

My solution?

I bought these space savers bags at Bed Bath and Beyond, you put you stuff into, then vacuum all the air out of, until the bag is flat, and compact.

I had seen these on TV a while ago and it was one of those " why didn't I think of that" moments.

So even though I appreciate every single one of my readers, ( like seriously thank you!) I was not about to count every piece of clothing I put into these bags, but this picture just doesn't do justice to exactly how much clothing this is. So I decided to take a picture of what I use to store them in. That's two plastic bins, and a pretty black garbage bag... Don't be jealous of my awesome camera phone pictures.

this is two plastic storage bins, and a pretty black garbage bag...

Along with the clothes, I also have Ava's crib bedding, I really love her bedding, and MAYBE just maybe, I'll end up using it again, so I wanted to keep that to.

SO in this picture you will see: 4 crib bumpers,a baby comforter, crib skirt, a sheet, and 2 curtains.

Once I started space saving I just couldn't stop. Watch out Ava momma is getting organized!

  Since we are moving to Florida, where it's cold for a total of 2 months of the year... We really don't need all of our sweaters,jackets taking up valuable closet space, so I did those to! Sorry but this vacuum sealing items gets tiring and I don't have a before and after picture :( but what once took up so much space in our closet is now flat, and can be slid underneath our bed until we need them!

I didn't just stop there, I also did my wedding dress! That seriously took up a lot of closet space. Click here so see pictures of my wedding dress before I sucked the life out it! This is after, now it's small, and flat enough to fit in a drawer with other clothes in it.

I highly recommend these bags for anyone who is low on storage space, or who is moving...or even

traveling imagine how many more outfits you could fit in your suitcase! 

(this was not a paid, or sponsored post, just me sharing the love)

DIY: Painted Twin Bed

A few months ago my neighborhood held a community yard sale. It was the first yard sale we ever had, and we ends up making over $100! I couldn't believe it.

In the down time I would take Ava around the neighborhood in her stroller to check out every one's junk. I spotted this great Sleigh twin bed for only $20!

It's nice solid wood, and only had a little crack on the side. Since we would be painting it, I figured that crack would be an easy fix.

We already have a twin bed in our guest room, that I plan to make it Ava's new bed, and I had been looking for a head and foot board, this was perfect, and for only $20 how could I resist?

With a little bit of white paint, it looks good as new. We filled in that crack and sanded it down a little and you can't even see it anymore.

I'm so happy with how the bed turned out. It looks brand new! We are starting the moving process again. Once we get settled into our new house I will show you more pictures of this bed in action in Ava's new room. For now it will have to stay in the garage until moving day.

For this project all you need is some White semi gloss paint, a paint brush, and a small paint roller!

Fun at Meema's House

Over Memorial Day weekend we went up to North Carolina to visit my mom. They just added on this new fancy schmancy patio area so that plus the fact the Ava loves being outside meant we needed to get something for her to do. My bought this little pool that has a slide attached, you hook the hose up to it and it also squirts water onto the slide. Anything involving a slide and water is sure to be a hit with Ava.

After a few rounds on the slide, she discovered the that the hose is way cooler than the just the slide. She spent hours just sitting there filling up the little pool, and watering the patio.

Like I said Ava LOVES slides, and playing with water. So when she saw this outside she immediately wanted to put on her  "baby-ashu." ( bathing suit)

She was so excited, that by the time I got back downstairs with the baby-ashu, she had already stripped herself down. This is also a new thing... one minute she is fully clothed, the next minute she is wearing nothing except for her plastic barbie high heels.

Baby gone wild..

It's always a good time going to eeba's (Meema's) house. There's always plenty of food, and tons of fun. Ava also got her first bike... have I mentioned Ava is spoiled rotten?

(sorry for the cell phone pic..)

 She is one blessed little girl to have so many people in her life that love her so much!

A Ballerina Party Fit For a Princess

 Last week I went and photographed a little girl's ballerina birthday party? Well let me just say it was so cute! This birthday mom knew exactly what she was doing that's for sure.



I arrive. Nervous of coarse. This part is off the topic of me arriving but it is necessary for the story... I have this really cute camera strap courtesy of August Blossoms. Anyways the birthday mom compliments it, I reply "thanks I got it on Etsy" me being awkward then followed that up with "have you heard of that before?" like who doesn't know what Etsy is. So she says yes and we move on.

This is my strap in case you were dying from the curiosity

When I say this party was adorable I mean perfect. Everything I was hoping for when I was asked to do this. It was everything a little girl could hope for. She even had the ballet instructor come and do a ballet class for all the girls at the party.



  I started complimenting her decor, asking her if she made some of the stuff. She says "yeah I actually have a shop on etsy..." ummm cool! Stupid me me asking this lady is she had ever heard of it, and she has a shop on there. If you ever want any poms for a party she does a great job, Go check out her shop DecoPOMS and tell her Amanda from Lillys & Lollipops sent you!



I finished the party, and I became more nervous than I was to photograph the party.  I emailed her a couple days ago just updating her, letting her know I was done editing and I should have to pictures to her very soon. She asked if she could have a little preview. I was nervous but I sent 5 pictures. She emailed me back "I'm not even kidding when I say I'm in tears, the pictures are beautiful."



 This email made my week! I made some one cry and I'm happy about. This just reassured me I want to continue on with photography. This is why I am doing this. I'm creating memories for people. I spent 5 years working in a salon making people feel pretty, and that was a great feeling, but not like this, this is different because I created a keepsake, I preserved memories that will last forever. It's a great feeling and I can't wait to create more memories!



Wordless wednesday: Tutu cute

Over the weekend I went and took some pictures for a ballerina themed birthday party. It was one of the best looking and well put together kids parties I have ever seen. There were tutus, princess crowns, and ballet dancing happening all under the same roof. So much cuteness!

I Take Grey's Very Seriously, and a chance to win $400.00

WARNING: This post contains major Grey's Anatomy spoilers...

Any other Grey's Anatomy fans out there? How disappointed are you with the season finale? I knew there was going to be a death, but I am so not happy about it being Lexi! I was wanting Lexi and Mark to end up together, I loved that whole story in the show.

Not only did they show the death within the first 20 minutes of the show, as if that wasn't enough, they leave you hanging big time with Mark barely clinging to life, and Arizona not doing well either. I wish that they would have at least been found and taken back to the hospital. I would have felt better about the ending.

Obviously I take my Greys very seriously... I know I need to get a life. Don't be jealous over my exciting life of tv watching, and blog ranting. As I'm writing this I'm in shock/ a little embarrassed/ making fun of myself about how this last show of the season totally ruined my night, and that I'm still thinking about it the next day. Can someone please remind me this is just a show, and I don't know these people personally?

Did you watch the finale, What did you think?

 Also head over and check out the Blogaholic Social Network for your chance to win $400.00 paypal cash!


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You call it impatient, I'll call it drive



 Something was going through my head, something motivating, something that lead me to type these words " Hi ladies, I'm am portfolio building, would anyone be interested in getting some pictures done. Family, kids, maternity, newborn... Email me!" and then Something went through my head that forced me to post that on the mommy and me playgroup Facebook page... What am I doing! Surely No one is going to lend me their children and let me take pictures of them, but at least I tried. That's what I told myself. At least I can say I tried. 5 emails later I have sessions booked for the next 4 Saturdays! Oh no, here come my nerves and me talking myself out of it. Making myself feel guilty for wanting to do something besides being a stay at home mom. I love staying at home with my daughter, and I feel blessed we have the opportunity to live that way. I just want something for myself. That's not a bad thing, or selfish thing right? Like its such a big deal I will be gone for a couple hours on a Saturday when my husband is home and completely available to watch the kiddo. My husband who is also so encouraging while I take the plunge and stop talking and start doing.

 I have been taking pictures as a hobby for 2 years. I always shove those thoughts I have of one doing it professionally aside, But those thoughts always come back. Which makes me believe it's for a reason. So why not at least try, just to say I did. I offered to do some free sessions for some of the moms in my playgroup because I need more experience. All my mommy guinea pigs are all aware that I am not a professional and that I am just starting out.

 I need more proof to myself that despite my awkward shyness, I can do great things. That's right awkward shyness, it's so bad yet I keep pushing myself to get over it. I'm terrified that I will go out there to take these pictures and make a complete fool of myself. I don't know any of these people. I have only been to one meet up with the play group.. I'm the worst playdater. The plan was to wait until we moved back to Florida in a few months, I know tons of people in Florida that would gladly hand over their kids to me, and who I wouldn't feel so nervous around. But I'm sick of talking about it. It's how I am, I can't stand talking about something over and over and not ever doing it. You could call it being impatient...I'll call it drive.

 I think this will be good for me. This is real on the job training, except no one is there to train me. This Saturday is my first session, some one asked if I could come out and photograph her daughters 4th birthday party. I absolutely couldn't resist because it's a ballerina party! I really think this is a good icebreaker... Wish me luck!

I think I can... I think I can... I think I can...

I'm a Dreamer

I'm a dreamer, I always have been.I have big dreams for my family, my blog, my photography, my singing career... Ok so I'm never going to have a career in the music industry, or performing of any kind, for a couple reasons...number one I can't sing,or play an instrument. Even though I did teach myself Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on my husband guitar, which seems promising if you ask me. Anyways, the other reason would be because I'm way to shy, and way to critical over myself. I would never be able to see myself on TV, or hear myself on the radio. I can't even bear to hear myself on video, or on voicemail. It's one of my biggest flaws,being hard on myself.

One thing I strive for as parent is to instill in my daughter to always be yourself, and love yourself. I want her to know who she is, and be proud, and to not care so much. Be a leader. Be an individual. Honestly I think even the most confident people in world have insecurities. They are just better at masking them. I envy people like that.

Growing up I have always some what tried to be like other people, dress a certain way because I was trying to fit in. Probably definitely got myself in to trouble because I was tying to fit in. I have always just wanted to be liked. As I get older those needs to be liked and to fit in, start to fade away, but my insecurities are still there. Except Now I can look back and say to myself "none of that was a big deal." I wish I knew then what my life would be like now. I think it would have made me care less. Maybe be more of an individual, more of the artist that lives in me today...because I am an artist. I create, whether it being through hair, pictures, writing, or even a craft, I am and artist.

Once you have kids you live life through their eyes. You suddenly appreciate e

very second of everyday. I find myself being taken back by beauty in things like trees. When I was younger I didn't give a crap about trees, and not that I am some sort of tree enthusiast, but simple details in your daily life become more beautiful. You love like you have never loved, and you are loved more then you have ever been loved.

Life is what you make of it... and I am a dreamer.

Recipe: Picadillo

 Picadillo is one of my favorite meals. Not only is it delicious comfort food, but my husband loves it, and always raves over it, which makes me feel good, and my daughter likes it to. It has been awhile since I have made this, we use to eat it probably once a week. It's great because there is always left overs, which you could use to makes some empanadas, I usually just pick up the pastry disk my Goya in the frozen food section, and follow instructions on there. I would love this baked empanada recipe one of these days.

What you will need:

1.5 lbs. lean ground beef

1- 15.ounce can of diced tomatoes

1- 8 ounce can of tomato sauce

1/2 of a white onion

1 small green pepper

1 Beef Bouillon cube

1 tbsp. of brown sugar

1/4 cup of  white vinegar

1.5 tsp. of capers

about 15-20 green pimento olives 

1 tbsp of garlic powder

olive oil

Directions:

Finely chop onion and green pepper, add to a pot with a drizzle of olive oil, and cook over medium heat, until onions become translucent. Next add the can of diced tomatoes, and let cook for about 3-5 minutes.



Add your meat, garlic powder, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Continuously stirring until the meat starts to break up into small bits. Let that cook for a few minutes until mostly browned. Reduce heat to medium/low

The remaining ingredients need to be added slowly one by one, letting each flavor have time to sink in.

For me this process takes about 25- 30 minutes. They can be put in any order you wish but this is the order I usually do... and it's just because this is how I do it, no particular reason. I usually add one, stir, let it cook for about 5-6 minutes, then add the next.. and repeat..

Olives ( I like to chop my olives up so I don't see them in there, they are a MUST HAVE in this dish, but I don't care for olives by themselves. So I hide them)

Brown sugar

Vinegar

Bouillon

Tomato sauce

capers

After all the ingredients have been used, I let it simmer for about 10-15 min.

I serve it over white rice.

ENJOY!!