Almost Time 4 Detox

Gray's first pigtail attempt. What....what, what?
Opening some stocking stuff from the Grands.

I made Ian be the Christmas Elf. He took it off after this picture.

My mom is hot. Showing off her magnification mirror.

This was my favorite. Evan wanted a tattoo gift certificate. My mom just told her she could have her next tattoo instead of getting the certificate. Evan fake pouted, so my mom ran and ripped off a piece of wrapping paper and scribbled:

"To: Evan, From: Santa, Good for one cool tattoo, Not to exceed......ehhh?"

Then balled it up, ran back in the room, and said:

"Look what I found, it's for Evan!"

Story Follow-Up: We went Friday and she got her second tattoo. I had my first touched up!

On to the blog:

No, I am not an alcoholic. I'm a foodoholic. I love it with every ounce of my being. I like to snack. I like to eat meals. I like to plan meals. I like to stay home for meals. I like to go out for meals. I like to go to the grocery store to buy food for meals. I'm telling you...IT- IS-BAD! In January, I'll start to put myself through detox. It's not fun. I get crabby. I get sad when I see someone else having what I can't. I tell my husband to help me but fuss at him when he follows through. It's horrible, but it's got to be done!

Enjoy some of my favorite pictures from this Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I bought my first Christmas present on Saturday, took Sunday off, went at it again today, and only have a couple presents left to get. I work well under pressure!!! Tomorrow, we are off to Charleston for Gray's surgery! We will be up at 4 am, leave at 5 am, check in at 7 am, operation starts at 8 am, possibly out of there by 11 am. Thank you for your sweet comments, prayers, emails, and texts. I'll be sure to blog and post some pictures of her last surgery!!!! Merry Christmas!

The Robertsons

I've gotten to meet and get to know the Robertsons through our mygroup. They are such a sweet and special family, and Adrian did not pay me to say that! :) We finally got together for some quick Christmas pics. The ducks were way more intersting than me!!!

Is this just not the cutest pic, and she posed herself, go figure!

The Stokes

I am a sucker for red shoes!

And....big blue eyes!



I got to go backstage with the Stokes family as they gathered to celebrate Christmas! They are a very sweet family, full of beautiful people!

The Worry Wart

When I get stressed, I'm talking about real stress, I become the world's hugest worrier. I'm talkin', like if you were to sneak in to my mind for one second during this time, you would take off, running, and screaming. There is NO escaping it! None! I pray, watch a movie, take a shower, take a nap. Nothing helps!

I usually get this way when I start to think about the future. It's not that I'm such a planner, because I do my best thinking and teaching on the fly, seriously! It's that I hate surprises. I want to be in the know. I had a few worry attacks in the past, but this year, especially lately, they are coming on me like... whoa!

One attack came during college. I'm sure everyone has been through the questions: Am I where I'm supposed to be? Majoring in the right thing? Playing the sport I'm supposed to be playing? Dating the guy I'm supposed to be dating? During this time, I prayed for a sign. Just a reminder from God that I am exactly where he wants me at this point in life. My sign would be a yellow flower. (Deep down, I knew I was guaranteed to see some in the landscaping around campus.)

Wouldn't you know that they had decided to change the landscaping the day before and plant new plants. I'm not kidding. I went to dinner that night in the cafeteria and for a good reason left by myself. I on my way back to the dorm, chewing on a straw......worrying. I stopped at an oddly placed trashcan on campus because I was tired of chewing. I opened up the lid to the trashcan and before me were all of the flowers that they had gotten rid of on campus. I kid you not. It felt amazing. I knew I was exactly where God wanted me.

That week is the week I found my life verse as well. Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." It's been my prayer since. Trust Him, know that you don't have to understand what He is doing, acknowledge Him in everything you do, and He will take care of the unknown.

This year, since deciding to quit teaching, starting new adventures, and having a one-year-old along for the ride has given me enough stress to age me by 50 years. This past month especially, because I've been "thinking about the future".

Wednesday, I walked out with Gray to get the mail, and in my bush bed (I don't have any flowers), something caught me eye. It was a single yellow flower, the same as I had seen years ago in my trashcan. It's the only time I had ever seen it there, and the next day it was gone. I used it as a subtle reminder that this year I've trusted God more than EVER, haven't been able to lean on anything but Him, I've given Him credit for everything that I've been able to accomplish, and I'm exactly where He wants me to be doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. The rest of the unknown....well, He is taking care of that too.


Check out this A-Mazing sky. I happened to have my camera while driving downtown Conway. I saw this sky and couldn't resist a picture!

Lovin' & Not Lovin'

What I'm workin' on....





What do you want first? The good or the bad? OK. The good.

10 Things I'm Lovin':
1. Homemade, hot, apple cider! It is so yummy!
2. Christmas tree lights in the corner of my living room.
3. Gray walking around, rocking her baby, and giving me puckered up sugar on the lips.
4. TWILIGHT! I read it in one day. Unashamedly, I could not put it down!!!
5. My Christmas Cards!
6. Proverbs 3:5-6. It seems that this is always the verse I come back to when I get very overwhelmed with life, which is often these days. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths." I wanted to get this tattooed on me, but I chickened out and got the cross with the heart on it.
7. Fa-la-la-la Lifetime. They have some great Christmas movies! I said some not all!
8. Painted fingernails. I paint them, pick the paint, fix it, paint them, pick the paint, fix it......
9. Flats. I wore heels the other day for the first time and the last time for a while. I'm so happy that flats are so in.....
10. Being with my hubby.... :)

5 Things I'm not Lovin'; Two positives for every negative:
1. House Taxes in December. It should be outlawed.
2. Bugs. The flies have been replaced by ants and more earwigs.
3. My short list for Santa that will all go unanswered: A Mac Notebook, A Shootsac
4. Doctor bills. (P.S. Gray's surgery is next Tuesday.)
5. Worrying.

Meet the Rivens

I love taking pictures, but I've realized no matter what job you have, you still have to nudge yourself to get up, get out the door, and get going. However, when I get to my destination, meet my clients, and get into the creative groove, you couldn't pull me away with a giant crane. Thus was the case when I met the Rivens last Saturday. Tuletia had contacted me a while ago about doing their pictures, but I never got the email. (I learned a very important lesson: Check my spam often.) Despite the miscommunication, we got together just in time to freeze what life looks like for the Rivens this Christmas. Her family is absolutely precious and full of love. I am so happy we got together! :) To see more pics, click here!!!

Happy Holidays from the Bass,Batsons, & WIlliams

Rain + gray skies + a whole bunch a people on a back porch = Not Ideal for Pictures! But we pulled up our knickers and went to work. The Batson family had gathered to give thanks from 3 different states and this was our one and only chance to capture this moment in time. Enjoy.

To see more pics, click here.

Merry Christmas!

Just in case you are not on my mailing list, which is a lot of you, I wanted to share our Christmas card via the internet. The Christmas card will read:

What will be in your stocking this year??? Merry Christmas! Love: Kevin, Hannah, & Gray

Selena

I met Selena what seems like forever ago. She is fabulous hair dresser at Carolina Forest Spa & Salon, near Fitness Edge in Carolina Forest. She is my go to when I want to get my hair did. She is obviously awesome, because she puts up with me. I love to shoot people who I know well, so I jumped at the chance to capture her, Zoe & Zeek. After our shoot and editing her pictures, I'm pretty sure that in the winter, black tops, blue jeans, and pops of red are the way to go and my personal favorite. I just wish I could pull off red lipstick. :) If you'd like to see more pics, click here for their slide show.

Meet Raegan

A couple of Saturdays ago, I met Raegan (and some of her family) to capture "the middle school years". Raegan is a cheerleader for Conway Middle School! Shout Out!

Now, I'm not sure about you, but pictures of myself from those middle school years would definitely not be the pictures I'd be running to show off. I have a very small forehead, go ahead scroll up and look at it, I know you want to. I'll give you a second..........See? Well, I had a lot of ideas for how I could wear my hair, none of which agreed with my forehead or my mother, especially the bang phase and the parting my hair in the middle phase.

However, I think Raegan has such a timeless, natural beauty, that she'll be proud of these pictures for years and years to come. Raegan you're beautiful from the inside out! I hope you like your pictures. :)

Want to see more pictures of this session? Click Here!

Thought for the Day

If McDonalds really wanted to help America slim down. They would put the grilled chicken sandwich on the dollar menu and charge extra for the double cheeseburger.

Gray plays in an electrical outlet. I "tap" the top of Gray's hand and say "No!" Gray looks at me like I'm crazy and reaches for the outlet again. I "tap" the top of Gray's hand a little harder and say "No!" Gray looks at me and taps the top of my hand back. I laugh. Couldn't help it.

For those of you who have been keeping up with Gray and the strawberry: The doctor postponed our surgery, because he was attacked by Satan and hates me to the inner core. That's my personal take on the situation. It will now take place on Dec. 23rd, because....well read the sentence above!

The Dorman Bunch

Dear Internet,

Long time, no write. My deepest apologies. It's all the turkeys fault. It brings out the lazy in me, and it's a lazy that's oh so hard to repress. But I am back, rested, and better than ever. I've brought you a peace offering. The Dorman pictures. They are an awesome family with hearts of a servant, whether to our church or many of them to our country. David, the dad, is so talented and can do anything. I gave him the nickname Martha Villa a long time ago (That would be Martha Stewart and Bob Villa all wrapped up into one hands-on creative genius.). He has put many of his talents to work in his store, Palmetto Farms.

Andrew, the oldest guy, has been married for a couple of years and rocks out on the guitar in our band. His wife, Jenn, is beautiful! Adrianne, the only girl, is marrying Jake sometime..... (She will be deployed to Iraq in February, and there is a chance Jake will follow her there in November about the time she will be leaving.) Devin is SINGLE. That's all you need to know. If you'd like more info. (ladies only, per his request) send me a comment.

I hope you enjoy the pictures internet. Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

***Click the title for more pics.