big news brewing over here

Really big for me anyways! I'm really really nervous about it but I'm just going to throw myself out there. You all are my best of friends so I can't be judged too harshly!

I'm starting my own photography business!

I can't beleive it! Lots of you have said I have an "eye" for it but I've never been quite confident in myself. But you know what? I LOVE TAKING PICTURES!!!! So why not do what I love?

I have met a wonderful woman, Sheila Lackey. She has been a photographer here in Sarasota for years and years and has opened herself to helping me get off my feet. She has a beautiful studio and has offered for me to use it as my own. Of course I have never wokred in a studio before and know nothing about lighting, equiptment, yadda yadda, but Sheila has offered to help teach me EVERYTHING. I can tag along on shoots with her to get tips, ideas, and to see how she works her magic. She is also helping me out with an awesome digital SLR camera. I have a non-digital SLR but in this day and age its just not as convenient.

Sheila has been such a blessing in getting this whole thing off the ground. She was so excited for me that she wanted to take some photos of me for my business cards. I belong on the OTHER side of the camera! HAHAHA. But I love how they turned out.

I'm going to be aiming for kids, families, couples, and possibly weddings. I've found some awesome locations and backgrounds around Sarasota but I'm also up for traveling to other cities arounds Florida. I'm going to ask some of you to be guinea pigs in the studio since I'm not sure what I'm doing in there :) . I'm also working on a portfolio to show potential clients.

So I guess the reason I'm posting this is to ask for your support in getting this off the ground. I have no clients yet but the only way to get them is to get my name out there. So I ask you, my friends and family, to let people know about what I'm doing.

It feels a little scary to put something so personal out there because it could get rejected! yikes. But if you never take any risks in life you probably never go anywhere either.

As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was going to happen.

-Winnie the Pooh



And what a wonderful adventure it has been!

Georgia

We have dissappeared off the blogging radar for some time now huh? We're still alive over here!!! Just took a little blogging break.

Randy and Kaiden took a 2 week trip up to Georgia to visit the newest member of the family, Brandon Eis. There was lots and lots of baby love! Check out these awesome pictures Randy took:

Those eyes... nose... lips... cheeks... chin... absolutely perfect.

Melissa, a natural beauty. Randy captured her perfectly.

Mideival Times of course.

I think his expression says it all! What kid doesn't love Chuck E. Cheese?

Precious.

Check out flickr for more pictures of their adventures.

making friends

We have had some awesome days of play around here! Two kids, just Kaiden's age, moved in across the street. There is Joshua, 4, and Sienna, 6, and of course their mama, Amy, who I am so happy to have around. The kids get along beautifully and can play for hours and hours. They've taken over the street with their bikes (all three kids have learned to ride at the same time which is kind of neat), toy trucks, balls, skateboards, sticks and swords. The neighbors now drive so slowly down the street(we live on a short dead end road) watching and laughing at what our little rascals have come up with this time.

Amy and I park ourselves in the yard chatting, eating, laughing, yelling...we have our chairs set up like two old women keeping watch over the neighborhood gossiping. I'm so glad this family has moved in. It makes our days a little more fun and exciting wondering what kind of adventures the kids will come up with next.

We also have 3 other children on our street - Big Seth, 8, Little Seth, 3, and Baby Rose, 1. Sometimes we have all 7 of them in our yard - talk about insane - each child being a different age!

free you say?

We are proud Freecyclers! We joined this organization (you may have seen it sitting there in our sidebar) a few weeks ago created to "build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saved precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community."

We get an email EVERYDAY from our local Freecycling community offering things like - toys, home decor, bicycles, sofas, children's clothes, craft supplies, washers/driers, sewing machines.....the list keeps on going! Do you know how much all this stuff costs?

Not one penny.
Its all FREE.

No one can sell or offer to buy anything. You are expected to gobble up all the free stuff on the list, and quick!!! You're also expected to offer some of your own free stuff instead of trashing it or dumping it at your local Goodwill. And if your are in search of something particular go ahead and ask! I was looking for some vinyl records as a gift for a friend and within a day of posting my request I received 5 offers for stacks old records!

Don’t throw it out if its still good.
FREECYCLE IT!
One man’s junk….you know the rest.

Find out more about freecycling here and find a group in your community. Go ahead give it a try...

yes, we let our child do ALL of these things.

5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do.

This is a great video clip from Ted.com. It's a talk given by Gever Tulley, founder of The Tinkering School.

Basically, Mr. Tulley says we should let our kids play with fire, own a pocketknife, get behind the wheel of a car (uh, before they can see over the dashboard), and a couple other things. His point is that kids feel empowered when they get the opportunity to explore these often forbidden experiences. They learn things they could never learn just by watching a demonstration or hearing a lecture from a well-meaning parent. See, we do have logical reasons for letting Kaiden do the crazy things he does!!!

setsy time

Kaiden in very odd accent:

"Hi, my name is Borat...I want some setsy time. hahahahahahahah, muuuhahahahaha!!!!!"

hmmmm.....wonder who he learned that one from.

don't want to get up....

...because its freeeeeezing!
I did not want to leave this cozy cozy spot. We have no central heat, only space heaters. We walked out of our toasty bedrooms this morning into a 27 degree living room! (it was so cold you could see your breath) We put on our winter hats, slippers, and sweaters, and cozied up with some hot chocolate and a big comfy blanket in front of the heater till it started to warm up a bit.

"I shouldn't have wished for it to be winter. This is not the arctic Mom!! It's Florida...toasty warm Florida."

Now Kaiden is in the backyard in full snow gear wishing for rain so that it would snow.