Let’s get to it…Photo Time

They both have such great smiles. I couldn’t of not smiled back if my life depended on it. I’m always smiling behind my camera. Unless I’m “in the zone”. You can tell by my facial expressions when I am thinking.

I’m always a fan of this perspective. “Seeing you through his eyes” I like to call it…What a cheesy title Lea. I know I know. I love it. I do have to get pretty close to my couples heads though. I get in peoples bubbles a little bit. Just a tad. Just enough that it’s not too uncomfortable. : )

 I’ve been wanting to use a newspaper stand for months. I like her expression..”what are you doing up there”?  I get these ideas…I appreciate their openness : ) 

 It might of been 40 degrees… however I was able to include a snowman in their photos^  I make things happen. ; )

   I will be shooting their wedding in August.  I’m so excited. Stoked even!  The 2010 wedding season is right around the corner…If you still haven’t booked your photographer, shoot me a message.Especially fall weddings…I have a thing with fall weddings…

“The hippies were right” ? lol

That 70’s show..hyde^ Like a long lost brother…

I know so many people that have told me that they have never been to Live on the Levee. I’m always so shocked by this. You’ve lived here for how long and you’ve never taken advantage of the free concerts? Well why not? lol So I invite all my readers to come this year. I’ll post the show list when it’s released to me : ) Also if that groundhog sees it’s shadow next month, I am going to cry. Try to stay warm out there. Brrrrrrr

 A little back story…Sarah and I used to go to the same church. I actually have known Ring(nickname) longer. He used to sit in front on me on the school bus in high school. Before we were old enough to get our licenses. My boyfriend at the time(husband now) used to wake up just to take me to school so I didn’t have to ride the bus most days. Ring was one of the few nice guys in a sea of jerks that rode our bus. He wasn’t one of the guys that I tried to avoid. Fast forward a few years..they met..then fell in love. Oh to be young and in love…

 Sarah & Ring planned their St Charles, Mo wedding while living in Charleston. They chose The Conservatory for their ceremony. Side note- What a great venue. The owner is such a nice man. I love nice vendors. If your planning on having an intimate wedding(up to 100 guests) you need to check out this location.It’s right on Main Street. The owner has no idea who I am either- so I don’t make any money on this deal. ; ) I just think it’s a great place. Their wedding colors were blue & purple. “Like a bruse” Sarah infomed me. I love that color combo. It’s one of my favorites ever!

 December 29^th -Wedding Day

Photo time…

Sarah’s mama made her dress!

Bride wearing chucks for the win!

 I’m awful at explaining how to dip brides… it makes for emotion filled images^

They were troopers…It was freezing outside!

This is one reason why you should consider a cathedral length veil ; )

I tried to take a photo of myself with Sarah. My camera weighs a lot & I have short arms…

 Sar & Ring- Caleb and I had a great time at your wedding. I do also have to add that your playlist was one of the best i’ve ever heard!

Oh Adam Sandler how you make me giggle…

This year for thanksgiving I didn’t have to cook anything! I have a slight baking problem so that’s what I focused on this year. I came across a photo of a turkey cupcake that a friend posted on facebook. I have an addiction to facebook as well,but that’s another issue all together. I fell in love with the photo and decided to try put my own spin on turkey cupcakes.

 I spent way too long in the scrapbook paper section. I’m not a scrapbooker so I don’t normally go in that aisle. I had no idea what I was missing! I spent hours cutting out tiny feathers out of pretty paper. My older sister then said to me “why didn’t you just put them on top of each other” “you know cut them out all at once”. My answer to that is “Well that would of been too easy to do it that way”… I wanted to spend forever using a template. I liked cutting them out one by one. Ok her idea was most likely a better one.

The turkey head is a cake ball. If you go down to my cake ball post you will see a link to the directions to those. The beak is just a candy corn(I think the flavor was candy apple). White icing and chocolate chips for the eyes. I have to take a second to talk about the icing I used. It’s a new product from Pillsbury and it’s called easy frost. It’s in an easy cheese type spray can. It really was very easy to use. It was perfect for the eyes. As I didn’t take the time to spray a large amount of it into my mouth, I am sure that will be the plan for next time. The cupcakes were brownies and just a basic white cake. I didn’t want to overdue it since the cake balls were so rich and yummy.

I thought my signs were clever. I was asked by many family members what did I mean with the signs..So here’s the deal.. the turkeys are pretending to be other animals so they won’t be eaten. Two points for anyone reading this that got that. I thought it was funny.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for!

Blessings.

To Write Love On Her Arms

Pedro the Lion is loud in the speakers, and the city waits just outside our open windows. She sits and sings, legs crossed in the passenger seat, her pretty voice hiding in the volume. Music is a safe place and Pedro is her favorite. It hits me that she won’t see this skyline for several weeks, and we will be without her. I lean forward, knowing this will be written, and I ask what she’d say if her story had an audience. She smiles. “Tell them to look up. Tell them to remember the stars.”

I would rather write her a song, because songs don’t wait to resolve, and because songs mean so much to her. Stories wait for endings, but songs are brave things bold enough to sing when all they know is darkness. These words, like most words, will be written next to midnight, between hurricane and harbor, as both claim to save her.

Renee is 19. When I meet her, cocaine is fresh in her system. She hasn’t slept in 36 hours and she won’t for another 24. It is a familiar blur of coke, pot, pills and alcohol. She has agreed to meet us, to listen and to let us pray. We ask Renee to come with us, to leave this broken night. She says she’ll go to rehab tomorrow, but she isn’t ready now. It is too great a change. We pray and say goodbye and it is hard to leave without her.

She has known such great pain; haunted dreams as a child, the near-constant presence of evil ever since. She has felt the touch of awful naked men, battled depression and addiction, and attempted suicide. Her arms remember razor blades, fifty scars that speak of self-inflicted wounds. Six hours after I meet her, she is feeling trapped, two groups of “friends” offering opposite ideas. Everyone is asleep. The sun is rising. She drinks long from a bottle of liquor, takes a razor blade from the table and locks herself in the bathroom. She cuts herself, using the blade to write “**** up” large across her left forearm.

The nurse at the treatment center finds the wound several hours later. The center has no detox, names her too great a risk, and does not accept her. For the next five days, she is ours to love. We become her hospital and the possibility of healing fills our living room with life.

I have to take a deep breath to keep myself from weeping every time I read it. TWOLHA is an organization that is dear to my heart. That short story was written by Jamie. The founder of the non profit organization called TWOLHA. They started because of Renee,but it didn’t stop with her. What an awesome impact they have made since they started.(info here)

I love statistics. Why? I have no idea. Even when I question the numbers. “where did you get those numbers”? : ) (I didn’t get these off wikipedia)

I remember the 1st time I ever heard of someone taking their own life. I was a freshman in highschool. Lets call him jay. He was 2 years older than I. I didn’t know jay, but I remember someone coming in to talk to us. “If you need someone to talk to” is the only thing I recall her saying. Like I said I didn’t know jay. I had no idea what color his eyes were,if he played sports,how tall he was… I do remember teachers whispering in the hallways and one girl crying outside of her locker. They said that he parked his car inside of his parents garage. That he shut the garage door and left his car on with the windows down. I don’t know if that’s what really happened. I knew of kids that took the free school day off for his funeral. They didn’t go and just took the day off. I remember thinking that was so disrespectful. When the obituaries came that week I went through the paper to find jay. He and I had the same birthday. I cut it out and put it on my bulletin board. His photo hung in my room for years. I still have it to this day. I never met Jay, but I’ll never forget him.

 Speaking of chocolate. The halloween candy that was in my sons bucket is all gone.We should of went with a pillow case. Now that’s trick or treating! That’s enough chocolate talk. Time for photos!

Expect to lay in leaves during a fall photoshoot if we decide on a park location. If it wasn’t for me you might not ever lay in a pile of leaves after age 9 ever again.

When I go through images to post for my blog I just can’t pass up shots like that^

Thanks Tim & Talia for entering my giveaway and reading my blog. New and old followers: I will be giving out other types of sessions in the near future. I appreciate all of my supporters. Thanks for reading.

 I said to her  “what are you looking for” ” Lemon juice” she said. We had a short conversation about how I thought that I recalled seeing lemon juice in the refrigerated section at a Walgreen’s once. I then walked away from her annoyed that they didn’t have my baking powder. I didn’t feel like driving the two minutes it would of taken me to get to a different store.

 I didn’t see her again and didn’t think about her again until I saw her try to cross four lanes of heavy traffic. I stopped traffic so she could cross the 3rd lane. The guy next to me stopped after I let her cross my lane. It took her a couple of minutes to cross. The market was only a quarter mile if that, but I knew it would take her a while to get there. It was chilly out and it was about to rain. I honestly almost kept driving. I only had a few dollars in my wallet(which would of been used for my baking powder) and I had to get home to finish my laundry. I turned the car at the last second. I ran in to get lemon juice,paid for it,ran back outside to my car and then sped out of the parking lot. I spotted her walking over a small hill. I parked my car and I walked down the sidewalk to meet her.

 I was going to run,but I would of looked like a complete nut running with a large bottle of lemon juice. I didn’t want to scare her. All I said was “hello ma’am Is this what you needed, lemon juice?” She looked at me…had a stunned look on her face, I handed it to her..she said “yes thank you”. I said God Bless.. she turned around then walked slowly toward the bus stop. Im pretty sure she made it there before it started raining.

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

 You can take that in so many ways. No matter if your a Christian, religious, or spiritual. I think everyone knows that  you should be kind to others, even if they are strangers. When I arrived at the laundry room at my apartment complex there were two dryers left for me to dry my clothes. (which is what I needed and the six others were being used) Then as soon as I picked up my laundry basket a stranger came from nowhere and opened the door for me. He held it open until I walked outside. A small act of kindness,but it made me smile.

So today’s post is just about paying it forward : ) It makes the world we live in a little kinder…

I couldn’t find my good winner picker hat(say that 10 times fast) so I decided to use my motorcycle helmet. My cool number on the coolness scale had to of just went up two points.

I wanted my son to pick the winner,but he said he would only help if I didn’t take his photo. : (

The winner is….

Tim Christopher…..

Congrats to Tim. I will be in contact with you shortly. Thank you to everyone else that entered. I will be giving out another package in the near future so be sure to check back often.

Every time I bake a cake I have to sketch it out and take notes before I start it.

You didn’t know that I could draw as well did you? I’m a Pictionary legend.

After I draw out my ideas I then make my own fondant. Pay attention ladies and gents who love the look of fondant,but hate the taste of that plastic… also known as Wilton fondant. Open your mind to other types of fondant. I use marshmallows to make my fondant. Its easy peasy lemon squeezy to make and it’s affordable.

There is a great tutorial that can be found here

I first learned about MMF about 2 years ago. This cake was my 5th time using fondant. I started practicing with play-dough at age 3. It’s about the same consistency. I also took a pottery class back in high school. I spent a semester sculpting elephant projects… An elephant bowl that blew up in the kiln.(My teachers actually glued it back together for me) As well as a blue elephant teapot. That one didn’t blow up and turned out pretty great. It’s still one of my favorites things I’ve ever made. I really loved that class. I someday hope to take more pottery classes in the future.

As I enjoyed working with clay there is something to be said about being able to eat your sculpting material. You can eat playdough,but the salt can’t be good for you. I mean straight sugar has to be better for you right?

So here is the final project.

Trying to sculpt a possum was much harder than I thought it would be. Basically it looks like a cross between a zebra and a rat. Maybe a zebra and a bamboo rat. My 3 year old son looked at everything I made and would name them. “apple,bunny,raccoon,carrot,corn,squirrel,flower…..mommy what is that thing”? It’s a possum Zach. You just have to squint a little.   ”no it’s not”   fine than It’s a Zrat..the zebra rat.  Have some imagination kid…

I also made starburst roses.  All you do is pop a starburst in the microwave for 7 seconds and mold the petals.It takes me about one minute to make a rose.

As well as my Critter Cake I also made a few batches of Cake Pops. If you have not been exposed to the ”cake pop” you are missing out.For those who have no idea what a cake ball is.

Cake Ball=Icing covered cake rolled into balls, dipped in chocolate,then rolled in sprinkles.

Cake Pop=cake ball on a stick.

So try making your own fondant or cake balls this weekend. Connect with your inner Duff Goldman.

On another note, I finally got to meet Clary Pfeiffer(shout out ) who happened to be their wedding photographer. I have had photo booths at other weddings where she was the primary,but never got the chance to chat. So I’m glad I had a few minutes to introduce myself. I follow a lot of people on twitter,but you never know when your going to see them in the real world.

Scott and Sarah’s photobooth was a huge hit. I don’t book as many booth’s as I’d like. I think that has to do with the fact that people just don’t know much about them. When they think photobooth they instantly think of the traditional booth. The type with the red velvet curtain. I get excited when wedding guests ask questions. I love to see peoples faces light up when I pull out my props. Ok so my face lights up more than theirs,but I know they are excited on the inside. I always bring my vintage teal suitcase full of clown noses,alligator hats,glasses,large scissors,boas,hula skirts etc. How often do we have the chance to wear costumes and make funny faces. Watching other peoples relatives use large neon green scissors to gesture “cut the cheese” = something that even as I type, makes me laugh. Yes this happened at their reception. I don’t know your name, but you are one funny guy.

I had a great time with their booth. After I arrived home I went though their images. I then started processing them. After going through all of them, I felt the need to go retro with the editing. Which then gave me the conclusion that I am going to offer retro photo booths. As well as different backdrops. I have my eye on black brocade. Many new choices to come in 2010.

So without further ado…

I’m the one with the large nose,not the beautiful bride. Notice the tag on the boa. I forgot to take it off. Tacky Lea.

I can still hear Ice Ice Baby as I scroll through the photos. Scott and Sarah I wish you all the best!