I snapped this quick shot of our tree last night when I was charging my camera battery. Not a spectacular one but one that will have to do for now. If you are a friend of mine on facebook, then you've probably already seen it. Today we are enjoying the first day of the kids Christmas break. They are out of school until January 5th and we plan to enjoy every single bit of their time off.
I've bought three Christmas gifts thus far. Yes, I said only three. I am sooooooo behind. I've got to spend the next couple of nights doing some late night shopping. No fun! I'm typically more organized than this. I guess the move really thru a wrench in my "day to day." LOL! That and spending two days a week at the beach probably didn't help my to do list much either.
For all of you who emailed me after watching the "Kendra's baby special" on the E! channel last night, yes...that is where we are from. The Carmel, Indiana area was featured on her show last night because her husband is now playing for the Colts. They moved to a neighborhood just down the street from our home (that we just moved from) and therefore Indy was featured all throughout the show last night. It was so neat to see "home" on TV beings that we are now so far away. I also loved how she said that Indiana people were "so nice." They are nice. Hoosiers are good people. Very down to earth and very friendly. Speaking of that, did ya'll here how Florida was rated in the top 3 (out of 10) happiest states in America last week? Guess what state was rated in the top 5 "unhappiest" states? Yup...you guessed it - Indiana. Imagine that. HA HA! Sunshine is key - I'm totally convinced. It is for me anyway.
Well, I'm off for now. So much to do and so little time. I hope all of you have a fabulous Christmas and that your new year is just as spectacular! Until tomorrow...Angie
I hope each of you are stuffing yourselves to the max right now. I know I will be soon. We've got two great cooks here for the day - Lou and my Mom. I plan to take full advantage of their mad skillz throughout the day today. Ha ha! Mom and I were too tired to even think about doing a full turkey style spread today. This move sucked every bit of energy out of us that we had. Therefore, we are doing a nice brunch this morning and then tonight Lou is going to whip up a grand Mexican fiesta for all of us. I'm not a fan of turkey and would much rather have chicken flautas and a heaping bowl of guacamole dip in front of me to devour. However, I am missing my Dad, Cathy, Grandma Dixie and Patti today though. This is the first year EVER that we are not there in Indiana to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. I am totally missing Cathy and Dixie's food today so it is best that I not dwell on it. We love you guys and miss you terribly. Then you have Brent's Moms cooking that ROCKS as well. I am craving some of her homemade noodles right about now. Gosh, I need to just quit with all the food. WHEW!
I hear that Indy is only going to be in the thirties today with rain. I told my aunt that I'd be thinking about her while I was sitting under a palm tree today in 80 degree weather. Ha ha! Honestly...I haven't even had much time to focus on the weather since arriving here. The move has captivated our attention as you can imagine. The furniture and boxes are in the house now - completely. The moving trucks have been returned and we are currently left with the aftermath. Mom and I managed to put a good dent in the boxes yesterday. I think there is only about 20 more boxes to unload and organize. I have major OCD issues so I'd rather get them all done and put away - one by one - and then rest. Mom was teasing me because she likes to open 10 boxes at once and then move amongst all ten when unpacking. I only open ONE box at a time...put the whole entire box away...then move to the next box. It's a process for me. If I get out of whack with it, I get overly stressed. I know...I know...I'm not right! Brent and Lou will be hanging all of our TV's today or tomorrow and Mom and I will be tackling the rest of the boxes at that point. From there, it is just a matter of hanging pictures, accessorizing, etc. We are just leasing the house we moved to - for a year or so - until we decide exactly what area of Naples we want to reside in permanently. The thought of moving again anytime soon makes me physically ill so gosh only knows when I'll be ready to attempt this in the future. I can't bare the thought.
Funny story...we were officially welcomed to the neighborhood last night with a citation on Brent's truck. He had it parked on the street past 7pm and apparently that is a no no. Never mind the fact that we were moving in and had a huge moving truck as well as my truck in the drive, etc. We couldn't believe it. My Mom goes..."Man, whatever happened to the days of people delivering brownies to your front door when you were new to the neighborhood?" Ha ha! We just couldn't get over it. The sticker across his windshield said that this was his only warning and that next time the vehicle would be towed. I guess they aren't messing around. We did manage to take our vehicles and get the labels placed on them for the laser at the entrance of the neighborhood yesterday. 75% of the neighborhoods here in Florida are gated. Therefore, you have to have bar codes placed on your windows in order to get in and out past the guard shacks. We found the time to get the cars bar coded and are now official. It's the little things that take all of the time to do. The little things that add up and cause your to do list to accumulate.
Oh and yes...we met with the new school this week. That went great. Brennen will start school Monday and Kenidi will be starting back on Tuesday or Wednesday. We loved all of the staff that were in the meeting and now we can't wait to meet Brennen and Kenidi's teachers next week. We here that Kenidi's teacher is awesome so we are very excited to get to know her. We have no idea who Brennen's teacher is yet but we'll find out Monday morning when we arrive. Aside from school appts., tours, etc., we've also had doctor appts. for prescriptions and physicals that the schools here needed in order to enroll them. Then, Mom has needed to go around and find a new bank, get a temporary p.o. box, and so on. Therefore, it's been quite busy - quite crazy - to say the least. Kenidi is doing a bit better as of yesterday. Once the boxes began to clear out and she saw some of her furniture from home, I believe she started to recognize things that she related to "home." The familiarity of simple things such as our great room couches just made her smile from ear to ear. We got her room put together as best we could last night and she loved hanging out in there while we were unpacking. On another funny note, she lost another tooth yesterday but we have no idea where. We are thinking she could have swallowed it without us knowing. Her dentist has assured me this happens all the time but I would have preferred her not. Unfortunately, she can't tell us when it is ready to come out - we just have to keep checking on it. At some point though, she must have bit into something and lost it on her own. She thought it was hysterical when we discovered it and made a big issue of it. :)
For now, we are off to enjoy Thanksgiving and all of its glory with our family. I'm sending huge hugs and big thanks to all of you out there who read this blog everyday, support my businesses, and who just treat our family as though it were your own. You guys mean more to us than we could ever possibly describe. I'm so blessed and thankful for each of your friendships. Much love and many blessings for 2010, Angie
We hit the beach for sunset while in Bonita this past weekend. Aside from some cloud cover that particular evening which ultimately took away from my sunset photos, it was a beautiful night. Of course neither of my children cooperated for any shots so I just shot things to be "shooting things." Story of my life with them these days. ;0)
Our Fall break get-a-way was gorgeous as always. It was in the high 80's and 90's while we were there. It's always funny to hear the Floridian locals complain about how hot it is when we've just come from thirty something degree temps. The locals say that they would love to have our rain, cool weather, and snow. The grass is always greener on the other side, isn't it? Let a true Floridian spend 2 weeks in our doom and gloom weather and I promise you that they will rethink Florida being "too hot." Ha ha! I mean how could you give up this...
for cooler weather and snow??? I don't think they could - when it came down to it - and push came to shove. I mean why would they want to. Really. Why???
The kids had a ball as always - on the beach. And like always, Kenidi caused a scene when it was time for us to leave. The entire crowd of onlookers, lined up like it was the 4th of July, were scared out of their beach chairs by her blood curdling screams. Yes, she again made it appear as though we were kidnapping her. Kidnapping her from the beach. From her sea of happiness. As I've said before, I can't say that I blame her. I'd throw a fit like that and have a melt down on the beach when having to leave as well if I could. If I did that though, I'm sure the onlookers would call the cops on me. No doubt! I'd be in a straight jacket the next day too. You all would be visiting me in an institution with 4 white walls. Somehow I'd manage to steal some paint and sketch a mural of the ocean on my white walled canvas though. I'm sure of that too. My Mom brought me a picture the other day that I had drawn back in middle school for art class. Guess what the drawing/picture was of? Yeap, a beach scene. We got to laughing and talked about how I've been obsessed with palm trees, sand, and the sea since a young girl - since way back - and how that scene is even more ingrained in me as an adult now. Clearly my kids are the same way...(playing with some photoshop actions below)
I read somewhere recently where the ocean is "intoxicating." When I read that, the only thing that came to mind was WOW! It is "intoxicating." So, so, true. I become drunk in the white wave caps every time that I'm there. And if there is ever such thing as an addict or someone truly addicted to the beach, it is definitely me. I walk around totally intoxicated by its beauty each time I'm there. The feeling never wears off - no matter how many times I have or haven't seen it. The sound of the crashing waves and the feeling of warm, sun drenched shoulders, is something that always leaves you wanting more. I have an addiction that cannot be cured. I will never be able to sober up and I'm OK with that. Totally OK with it.
And when I get older, I hope and pray with every fiber of my being that I'm somewhere near a beach so that I can do this every night that I so choose...
God's presence cannot be denied when sitting next to the sea. It just can't. And it is in those moments, with God, me, and the sea...that I feel most empowered. Most healed. Most driven. Most strong. Most intelligent. Most motivated. Most comforted. Realigned and ready to conquer the world. It is via God and the sea that I've found my ability to recharge, clear my head, and press on. This trip was no different. This I know for sure...God has HUGE plans for our family of four. For me. I feel a tug again. A big tug. An emotional tug. One that will test my tear ducts to the core soon. Very soon. In the end, I know God is holding my hand and opening doors for me, for us - our family of four - that only he wants opened. I'm not in control. We aren't in control. Never have been really. And truthfully...I don't want to be. I've given up all control and laid it at "His" feet. I cried to a dear friend on the phone today when she referenced that she "doesn't know how I do it." My response...with God...and only God. I couldn't do it without him and don't know how others get thru life without him. It breaks my heart to think about how many are actually walking around without him. As Jasmine Star said today (one of my favorite photographers of all time), "Today I plan to make yesterday jealous. And tomorrow, I'll make today jealous." That my friends...is my new motto in life.
Looking forward to the months ahead and all of the exciting changes God is about to throw our way...Angie
Brennen informed me this morning that he would "NOT" be standing out at the bus stop getting his picture taken every morning from now thru eternity. He asked me when "enough was enough" and wanted to know how much longer I was going to continue to drag my camera out to the bus with him and Kenidi each morning. As you can tell by the look on his face in the picture above...he's done! If that wasn't a forced smile, I don't know what was. Ha ha! I've been lucky to get the ones I've got due to his normal unwillingness to get in front of a camera. Hummmm...wonder where he gets that from? Wink wink~! ;) Now Kenidi on the other hand, she looks like she is posing for some back to school ad or something in that shot above. She has no qualms with posing away and loves every second in front of the camera. Beings that she has been my model for all of my designs since the year after her birth, she is naturally accustomed to life in front of a lens. She knows no different. I honestly think she views it as part of our daily routine. God help me when she finally figures it all out and resigns on me. Until then, I'm soaking the smiles up...(even if this shot below is blurry and blown out somewhat)
You can see what is left of one of her battle wounds from the war with a classmate on Tuesday in this shot below. It's on the side of her chin. I'm praying that it doesn't scar and that it heals up and completely disappears. Just a little bump - a little war wound. She is a "Seaman" though. She can handle it!
For now, I'm off to go drudge up some energy. This 6am alarm buzzing in my ear the last three mornings is killing me. My body is definitely detesting the early morning fun we are having now that school is back in session. I'm sitting here editing images at my laptop and I feel as though I could just crash right here at the kitchen island. When I woke Kenidi up this morning, I asked her if she was ready to go to school again today. She looked at me, shook her head "no" and rolled back over. Those were my sentiments exactly. Ha ha!
I'll be posting the "foto find Friday" project here on the blog again tomorrow even though I'll be in my mentoring session. The theme this week is "water." If you have a photo that somehow pertains to water, post it. We'd love to see it. Thanks to each of you who participated in last week's "flower" theme. xoxo, Angie
Well, day two must have went a bit better for Kenidi. (other then the note from her teacher confirming that she was pretty defiant most of the day today) Yesterday she came home with two nurses incident reports in her backpack from where she had been injured in class by a fellow student. Therefore, the fact that she didn't have any incident reports in her book bag today made me a relieved Mama. She does have some war wounds from the apparent battle yesterday but she seemed fine when she got off the bus. We layered her up with more neosporin and more band aids today before she left and the areas of concern look to be a bit better this evening. What a first day, eh? I don't know what was worse, learning of the cat fight or finding out that she went swinging after an adult herself. Oh yeah...welcome to our world.
I just finished cleaning up dinner and am off to sign into my next online photography class. We are discussing "curves" in photoshop tonight. Fun stuff! I'm learning tonight - not teaching. Speaking of teaching though, thank you to all of you who have signed up for the next round of my photography workshop today. I know we are going to have another great class on our hands. Also, if you have questions regarding what topics we will be learning, don't hesitate to contact me. I hope to post a blog update again tomorrow and then from Friday on, I might be a little MIA for three days. I'm totally stoked to be participating in a mentorship program with a local photographer here in Indy. I'm spending three straight days with her (from 10am in the morning until 9pm at night each day) as she teaches me the ropes and instills in me the knowledge she possesses regarding photography. She is an award winning creative portrait photographer and I'm so humbled and honored to be working under her and to just be in her presence - soaking up all of her talent that she is so willing to share. She has traveled the world to areas such as Australia, England, Hawaii, etc. fulfilling requests for her mentoring amongst colleagues in the industry. There are no words for the excitement I have regarding this mentoring that she is doing for me. I've literally been busting at the seams for Friday morning to roll around. I can barely contain myself. I'll definitely be sharing more about who she is and all that she taught me come Monday. The woman does brilliant work in the photography realm and I'm sure I'll be awe-struck while in person with her. She is one of my top favorite two photographers in the United States. Therefore, to be able to work one on one with her for three solid days is such a blessing. She has special shoots planned - even night ones - where she'll be instructing me on changing lighting conditions, shooting in RAW, commercial driven photography rather then "posed" photography, location scouting, urban and rural shoots, advanced photoshop techniques, etc. Have I told you how stoked I am about this opportunity? Until then, please ignore the pinging sounds you might hear. It's just me bouncing off the walls and counting down the minutes until the mentoring begins on Friday morning. Stay tuned...I'm sure I'll have lots of photos to share from the 3 day experience. Thankfully, we are supposed to have sunny and 90 degree weather the entire three days here in Indiana. I'm eager to have her teach me the tricks of using my available light while on a shoot. Good times~good times!
For now, it's off to learn "curves" in photoshop. Wish me luck. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this photo (above) of Brennen and Kenidi this morning while waiting on their bus. Have a great night! xoxo, Angie
First day of 5th grade (big man on campus) and first day of 1st grade. My babies are growing up.
Brennen did great. He has a new bus driver this year which he is thankful for. So is Mama! Wink wink! ;) He climbed up the steps to the bus and waved to me once in his seat like "This is how I roll - no big deal Mom!" I teared up as I walked away. To think just last night he was still holding my hand and leaning on my shoulder as we walked thru the mall together only to know that in one more year, he'll be off to the middle school and probably "embarrassed" of good ol' Mom by that point. Breaks my heart that he is getting so big. He has yet to seem "too big" to love on his sister though. Love that!
He is always looking out for her and leading the way...
Although Kenidi didn't do so swell and wasn't as "hey this is how I roll" when entering her class this morning, they were both all smiles and cheesy grins at the bus stop for that moment.
Kenidi even got some "hey check me out" moves in before her day started.
I'm praying for them both and their teachers today. Brent was watching Kenidi as she slept last night and he said out loud..."Oh Kenidi, they have know idea what they are in for, do they?" (meaning the school and her teachers) He was all..."They have no idea whose coming to town and it ain't Santa Claus." Ha ha! I was cracking up. He is so right. I just hope these new teachers can handle her. Wink wink! ;) Here is to a new day - a new chapter. Hope all of you are off to a great start this morning. xoxo, Angie
We spent the evening in the yard last night. Kenidi was a hot mess! She was sweating and had her hair sticking to every last inch of her. She had a ball rolling around in the textures of the grass of just soaking up one of her last summer sunsets before starting first grade tomorrow morning. The light last night was nothing short of golden honey so I grabbed my camera and started shooting.
The ice cream socials at their schools went well yesterday. We didn't get much time with Brennen's teacher but she seemed great. It was good to catch up with new friends whom we hadn't seen all summer after having been gone for 10 weeks. Brent and I enjoyed chatting with the Moms and Dads that we've come to know over the past year since moving up here. Great families! After Brennen's school, we went to Kenidi's new school. Oddly enough, the layout and look of the school is the exact same as Brennen's. Therefore, finding our way around was easy because we already knew the inside. Instead of being 60 seconds from the house like Brennen's school is, Kenidi's is about 3-5 minutes away. Not to bad. We spent some time with her special education teacher first then we introduced ourselves to her 1st grade general education teacher. (She spends part of her days in a special ed class and part of her days in her regular 1st grade class) Her 1st grade teacher was a doll. Very cute-very trendy-an adorable Mom. Right off the bat she got down to Kenidi's eye level and complimented her on her outfit that she was wearing (it was an AGD design). She said to her..."I'd wear that outfit if I could." Kenidi just hid her little eyes and smiled. :)
We met the principal (very nice), spoke in depth with her new school nurse who was extremely kind with a great personality (regarding her seizure control and such) and then headed back home. Brent and I both felt better after touring the school. We'll see how it all goes but for now we are at peace. It was definitely a pleasant experience. I'm big on bubbly personalities and we met several of those yesterday while visiting her new school. I'm sure Kenidi will adjust nicely there.
Brennen enjoyed learning that he knows 8 kids in his new classroom. It's going to be a great year for him. I'm sure of it!
For the rest of the day today, I'm off to go and try and find school clothes, some art boxes, and also a cute backpack for Kenidi. Each one I tried to order for her thus far was on back order. Just our luck. Do any of you have any good store suggestions that might still be carrying cute backpacks this late in the game? We are at a loss. In my opinion, a girls backpack is like a woman's handbag so I'm a picky buyer when it comes to those. I'm a weirdo - I know. :) Seriously though, if any of you have seen any funky and trendy girls backpacks, shoot them my way. In the meantime, wish us luck on our last minute shopping excursions. We are out the door...
PS...I became a TWILIGHT fan over the weekend. I know, I know...where have I been, eh? Better late then never! I hadn't ever read the books and just watched the movie for the first time a couple of days ago. I could watch it 500 times over again. I have since went out and bought the first twilight book after falling in love with the movie. I plan to read it starting tomorrow in my spare time. (Yeah right! What is spare time? I guess I could make time for "Edward" though.) Initially I couldn't understand what all of the craze was regarding those books and the movie. To be honest, I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. Now that I saw the movie though, I totally GET IT! WOWZERS! Anyone want to take me along to see "New Moon" (the sequel) with them when it comes out in November? We could make some rockin' custom tee's, pull at our hair & scream like school girls, and turn it into a party. Ha ha! I'm so serious!
xoxo, Angie (a.k.a. Edward's newest & most devoted fan)
This is so crazy. Yesterday, as we were about to depart the Ft. Myers airport, we witnessed this whole event play out. We saw the above plane land right beside us as we were about to take off. We were leaving Bonita Springs and our plane was stopped/stahled on the runway waiting for a bit but we had no idea why. It was clear that the airport had grounded all incoming and outgoing flights all of a sudden as there were many jets sitting around us waiting to fly out. This particular plane landed to our left and we watched in wonder as ambulances, emergency crew, and literally about 10 fire trucks pulled up and circled around it. I thought for sure that someone was sick on the plane but we had no idea what was REALLY going on at the time until now. This story was just released on the front page of the yahoo homepage. Brennen was totally intrigued by the event and kept asking me what I thought was wrong. Very scary and very sad! What a praise for the passenger and the air traffic controller. Amazing!
Click HERE to read the full story and HERE for a more detailed story via CNN's report of the incident.
This is so crazy. Yesterday, as we were about to depart the Ft. Myers airport, we witnessed this whole event play out. We saw the above plane land right beside us as we were about to take off. We were leaving Bonita Springs and our plane was stopped/stahled on the runway waiting for a bit but we had no idea why. It was clear that the airport had grounded all incoming and outgoing flights all of a sudden as there were many jets sitting around us waiting to fly out. This particular plane landed to our left and we watched in wonder as ambulances, emergency crew, and literally about 10 fire trucks pulled up and circled around it. I thought for sure that someone was sick on the plane but we had no idea what was REALLY going on at the time until now. This story was just released on the front page of the yahoo homepage. Brennen was totally intrigued by the event and kept asking me what I thought was wrong. Very scary and very sad! What a praise for the passenger and the air traffic controller. Amazing! 
