Blake, Lindsay, Braden and Gavin Hart

Mom-ography 101

2011-08-11T09:34:00.000-04:00

I'm excited for my new workshop series!! 2 spots left for this weekend...

Wedding's Galore {plus design for Shabby Apple}!!

2011-07-31T20:43:00.001-04:00

Who's ready for August!! We have a lot of exciting things coming up... I'm shooting another wedding next weekend, school start's August 15th, then we head out west August 17th to Utah/Idaho for 10 days for my Aunt Julie and Cliff's wedding and then my Brother and Annie's wedding the next weekend!! Eeeeek... I can't wait.

Speaking of weddings, I teamed up this month with Candace from Colour by Candace to shoot a Couture Bridal Session!! I am very excited with how everything turned out... for the whole story/post visit: www.harttohartdigitalblog.com. Here are a few of my faves....

Enough about wedding dresses... let's talk bridesmaids dresses!! My adorable sister-in-law to be has asked all the sisters to wear gray dresses for her wedding. There's going to be a lot of us, so I was hoping to find something really beautiful and different..... that has a little sleeve, hits at the knee and doesn't show enormous amounts of cleavage!!! Mission: Impossible, right!!! Actually, I think I did find something, BUT one of the first places I checked out was Shabby Apple Dresses. They have gorgeous, stylish, modest dresses and I just LOVE the photography all over their website. Well, I got to thinking... I wish I could just design my own dress. THEN, I noticed shabby apple hosts a "dare to design" contest...... my pencil hit the paper and I started sketching.

Dress designer I AM NOT!!! But, I thought it would be fun to try b/c I always have ideas floating around in my head and I really wish I could find something like this for my bridesmaid dress {I would choose paring #1 or #3}!! Here is my "Design for Shabby Apple"

And just for fun here's one more dress sketch... I want this one too!!

Anyway, hope everyone is having a great summer... looking forward to August!!

Next Stop: Florida (again!!)

2011-07-14T17:36:00.001-04:00

Last year I got a call from one of my Brother's best friends asking if I'd be interested in shooting his Orlando wedding in July of 2011. THAT WAS A NO BRAINER! You know me and my destination weddings! And of course, any chance I get to head down to Florida... so we decided to make a 10 day family vacation out of it!

Though our plans changed a tiny bit with my grandpa's passing, I ended up flying straight to Florida from CA with my family that Saturday and Blake (awesomely) made the drive down with the kiddies.

I know I say this every time, but this trip was AMAZING!!

For the fourth of July we did some damage at the outlets and spent the rest of the day on lake!!

Tuesday, Blake and I took the boys to our favorite spot on Cocoa Beach!! By the way, let me introduce you to my cousin Tristan! (far right) He came back with me from California and is living with us right now. He had a great time with us in Florida and we're really happy to have him with us.

AND the next day we took the kiddies to SeaWorld (I'm telling you, this was an awesome trip!) It was the first time for the boys... traditionally we've always done Disney. I have so many childhood memories from SeaWorld so I loved taking them!!

Tristan LOVES reptiles so we had to show him a good time at the St. Cloud serpentarium!!

Quite possibly one of the most exciting parts of the trip was meeting my Brother Taylor's beautifully amazing fiance Annie Clark (yes, they have the same last name... how convenient is that!!) After a really late arrival - I think by the time we made it home from the airport it was 4:30 am, we had a wedding shower planned for her for the next day! She was a trooper :)

How about a little tiny sneak peek into the bridal session I did with them the next day!! Could not have done it without the help of my Mom and our fabulous friend/neighbor Eva. She's such a creative talent... I say it every time... wish I had her with me in Charlotte for every shoot!!

And finally a tiny sneak peek into the reason behind the trip: PJ & Lauren's wedding. Shooting a wedding at 12 noon in 100 degree weather in humid FL is no easy task BUT, these two made shooting a breeze! We had a blast and I can't wait to share more from both shoots on the Hart to Hart Blog

San Diego Trip - Grandpa's Funeral

2011-07-14T13:27:00.000-04:00

This post is probably more for family/for me to remember and despite the reason for this last minute/unexpected trip out to CA, it truly was a memorable trip and I'm so thankful I was able to make it out.

Because a lot of my family still lives out in Southern CA, there were many who were able to attend/participate in making it a celebration of the life of my grandpa. It was a very beautiful, spiritual funeral filled with lots of memories. Ash, Cami, myself and my 3 other cousin's sang "How Great Thou Art" along side a video recording of Grandpa singing the first verse a month before his death... that is something I will always remember.

We also threw in blue carnations (his favorite color/flower) with tags filled with memories and letters. I loved the picture with my uncle and cousin in their military uniforms. All things considered it was a very nice day.

Growing up I have so many memories of going with Grandparents to Disneyland, Seaworld, Knottsberry Farm etc... so the day after we all decided to do something fun and enjoy our last day. We had a great time at raging waters.

I have to give a HUGE THANK YOU TO BLAKE and many friends who helped out with the boys and made it possible for me to leave on a moments notice. Thank you.

Just June!!

2011-07-14T12:51:00.000-04:00

is what I told myself all last month! We have the whole summer ahead of us... it's just June! And here it is right smack in the middle of July with school starting in exactly one month! Whew!! (so many mixed emotions about that)

But anyway, we really enjoyed our first month of summer! Gavin did awesome with swim lessons this year (learned to swim without floaties... he is such a little fish) and of course we enjoyed (are enjoying) almost daily trips to our neighborhood pool. We made a family trip to one evening of girl's camp this year - all the bishop's were asked to participate in a really neat little play the last night. Wish I had more pictures... the boys were in heaven.

June was another high volume {*read: insanely busy} month for photography. That last week I had 6 sessions in a row that had to be moved/postponed due to my Grandpa's death and a last minute trip out to California for his funeral. Bring on July!

Rest In Peace Grandpa Clark...

2011-07-05T12:53:00.000-04:00

Braden's FIRST Piano Recital

2011-06-13T13:43:00.000-04:00

I know 5 might seem a bit young to start piano lessons BUT... I started when I was 5 AND Braden had been begging for a while!! I thought I would give him a few months to see if he was genuinely interested... turns out this boy is obsessed with the piano. He learned this first song almost on his own and added left hand all on his own! It's only been a few months, so I'm excited to see his interested and lil' talent grow! BTW, he begs to practice daily... bets on when that ends!! {ps, he got to play this at church in primary a few weeks ago... as it stands he's in line to be the spanish branch primary accompanist...given that the current option is a CD player, lol!!}

Preschool Graduation

2011-06-12T16:44:00.023-04:00

It's been a few weeks, but I officially have a preschool-graduate-headed-to-kindergarten on my hands!! Braden absolutely LOVED preschool and his adorable teacher Ms. Pam (a retired kindergarten teacher of 30 years... she was AMAZING!!)

Had to post a few pictures of this "labor of love" gift we made for Ms. Pam. A few of us mom's got together and coordinated a classroom scrapbook. We had each of the kids submit digital pics as well as a piece of artwork. From there I put together a lay flat (professional grade ... no skimping here, hehe!!) album highlighting pics from throughout the year as well as individual kid's pages, with their artwork on the adjacent page! It was beautiful! Took waaaay to long, but so worth it. I knew Ms. Pam would appreciate every little detail. I am wishing I would have gotten some better pictures of the actual album b/c I don't know if I would ever have time to do something like that again for a teacher!! I am going to order a smaller version for Braden though, so it will be a great memory!!

Lastly, you've got to watch the video... if anything for the entertainment value of the little boy standing to the left of Braden.... seriously, it keeps getting funnier!!! Kindergarten here we come!!

I'm so excited about my new blog... I almost forgot to blog about it!!

2011-06-08T23:09:00.001-04:00

I was thinking to myself tonight about everything that has been going on in the past several weeks... preschool graduation, Bray's first piano recital, summer fun AND my largest volume photo session month to date... so much to blog about!! But, perhaps the most exciting has been getting my new and improved Hart to Hart Digital BLOG designed and up and running!!! Yay! I am so excited to finally have this project finished and ready to go!

I had an exciting giveaway last week and it was a great way to kick things off! Since then, I have started doing Magazine style blog posts and I have so many cool/new things in the cue!! In this industry it seems like there is always something new, beautiful, cutting edge etc... It's all I can do to keep up with my growing boys, family, home, church and run this business... BUT, I've been wanting to switch to a professional "dot com" blog for a while, so I'm glad I bit the bullet -- It was a tad bit on the time consuming side, but worth it!! And let me just say WORD PRESS ROCKS!! My friend and author of this fun blog inspired me make the jump... {and now I would highly recommend word press for your business... just sayin'}

Take a peek if you ever have a minute: www.harttohartdigitalblog.com

MUCH LOVE and HAPPY SUMMER!!

Crispy Fried Goat Cheese

2011-05-29T15:31:00.000-04:00

Made these today.... YUMMMMM!! If you are a goat cheese fanatic {like yours truly} you're going to love these tasty bites. Recipe and more photos here!!!

Changing it up...

2011-05-19T22:01:00.000-04:00

as in the living room!! Here's what colors I'm inspired by this month:

And this chair...

Then I got to thinking why not take all my inspirations and put together a story board (I know I'm a dork/wanna be interior designer!!)

I have a start: I got the all pillows for mother's day and the cute yellow chevron fabric... and I have plans from there!! I love the look of a clean, cream flokati rug as a base against our hard wood floors... how would that fair w/ busy boys and do I dare find out?!

I LOVE the thick horizontal stipe curtains but I know they are IMPOSSIBLE to find. LOVE the sunburst mirror (so trendy, I know... still LOVE it). Love the pink hydrangeas, forsythia and topiaries and the other fun accents.

It will be a work in progress and will probably change, but at least there's a mini vision!!

Just My Luck!!!

2011-05-08T22:06:00.001-04:00

It's been a BUSY week... to say the least! FIRST OFF... Blake and I celebrated 9 years on Wednesday!! Very exciting. We figured we'd go all out next year for the 10 year anniversary (think Mexico or Spain!!) So for this year, the fact that we coordinated a night out was good enough for me!! Our date conveniently fell on a Wednesday, which for Bonefish fans, this means $5 bang bang shrimp... I'm telling you, eating that was as thrilling for me as romping on the shores of CABO {well close}. We also saw Water For Elephants - I finished the book last month so I was looking forward to that! I loved the movie... thought the actors did phenomenal (though I'm not the world's toughest movie critic)... I just love a good movie on a night out.

Thursday night I had a huge bridal session that I have been coordinating and looking forward to for a LONG time! This bride booked me 2 years ago and I wanted to do something special!! I'm going to do a big blog post on my new Hart to Hart Digital Blog, but I did want to post a few here. My good friend and make-up artist Candace had the hook-up with the car and location... THANK YOU Candace, that was big!! I was really happy with how everything turned out... but that was NOT my only shoot for the week!!

I had a total of 4 sessions between Thursday and Saturday, plus two more this week! Always a blessing to have business... I just pray I can keep up!!

OKAY... let's end this with a fun story!! Whenever May rolls around and the weather turns nice, my good friend and neighbor Kelly and I start hitting the yard sales... it's a bit of a tradition, we'll say!! With Kelly's sharp eye and mad mini van maneuvering skills and my crazy luck, we do pretty well!! Anyway, this Saturday, bright and early we decided to hit a few before the mayhem of my day hit. I told her I wanted to find a cool crate {photography prop} and a bench among a few other things... we were on a mission.

Literally the first house we stopped at I picked up this white crate for $3... it was perfect for my session last night!! We were on a roll and it was only 7:35am!!

We hit one other big neighborhood sale and had some great finds!! I told Kelly as we pulled in I wanted to buy a skateboard for Bray and Voila.... found one at the next house!!

Here's the kicker: We had to take an alternate route home but decided to follow one more "Garage Sale" sign and ended up in this really nice neighborhood. By then it was 10:30 which means most of the good stuff is usually gone, but we drove around for a bit and I commented I still needed to find my bench. A few minutes later we pulled up to a house and saw THE PERFECT BENCH sitting outside. I literally ran from the car ready to purchase it. Can you imagine how BUMMED I was when the lady told me she had sold it earlier this morning for $20 and was just waiting for the new owners to come pick it up!!! What... I would've paid a lot more than that. DANG. Kelly and I drove off slowly with our heads hung low. Man... it was the PERFECT bench!!

Well, somehow, in trying to get out of that huge neighborhood, Kelly's van circled around and we found ourselves driving by that same house (with the perfect bench) in time to watch the new owners loading it up. They had a huge truck and trailer with lots of other furniture... they could spare this bench surely... and it was an older Asian dude... he would have no idea/nor appreciate the fact that he had scored a pottery barn-ish bench for $20... I had to act FAST. I jumped out of the car, ran over to his trailer and offered to buy the bench from him for double what he had just bought it for. "Plllleaaase... I have been looking for something like this for months - I'm a photographer and it will make the perfect bench". He laughed and told me to go ask his wife in the front seat. We rolled around the corner, out of sight from the original owners... she told me they staged "trailer homes" {noooo, this bench does not deserve to just be staged in a trailer!!!!} but could probably find something else. I offered her $40 and she took it happily "now we can go out to dinner tonight!!!". I was dying. You would have thought we won the lottery with how excited we were!! Seriously guys, it's the little things for me!! And can you blame me... is it not the perfect bench!!

Here's to another great week...

Easter in Cherokee - 2011

2011-05-08T22:06:00.000-04:00

Another beautiful Easter weekend in Cherokee!! We got into town Friday and headed over to my good friend Sussy's house for a little Easter party for the kiddies! Sussy and I go back to my Casino Hosting days at Harrahs so it was fun to see her again!!

Harrah's has changed SO MUCH since I worked there... the place has almost quadrupled in size and they have a really nice/big events center. Sussy hooked us up with 8th row tix to see Bret Michaels! Blake was pumped. I loved having a date night... Thanks Nana and Papa for watching the boys!

Saturday we colored eggs and had our traditional lunch and easter egg hunt at Island Park.

Nana got a little competitive on us all and tried to overtake me on the egg run. So wish I had the video of her fancy fall... it was definitely one of the highlights of the day!

matching pinks... we're dorks, we planned it!

Sunday morning we hunted for Easter baskets, had a nice morning at church (I always enjoy going in English and having Blake sitting with us)!!

Look at these two cheese balls... love those Easter Smiles!!

It wouldn't be a trip to Papa's without a little motorcycle action! Thanks for a great trip!!

Back to the Governor's Mansion 2011

2011-04-27T00:29:00.000-04:00

Hello poor, neglected blog!! My to do list is SOOO long these days, that journaling has taken a back seat... BUT, I do want to remember my trip back down to the Governor's Mansion, so even if it's just for me to read back one day, I gotta blog it!!

Back in March I received an invite from the AMI SC Chapter to come back to their yearly celebration luncheon as a guest of honor for winning 1st place in the national graphic arts contest last year {man, that is the award that won't stop!!!} They asked me to talk about my trip to NYC as well efforts in getting a young mother's group going here in this area. I also received an invite from Governor Nikki Haley (SC's first female Governor!!!) to the official Tea later that day to celebrate the SC Mother of the year and the organization on the whole.

It's always enjoyable every once in a while to be able to step outside my frantic mommy life and be in the midst of amazing women doing amazing things. It's a fun bubble to be in for a day, plus it's a huge confidence booster to be introduced to the governor as "an inspiring graphic artist and photographer" {who.. oh me... seriously, thank you?!!}

I feel like there are SO MANY INCREDIBLE women out there. Especially in my industry of photography and design... I am constantly in awe of the creativity and talent, so much so that often I doubt and/or compare myself. On days like these, though, I get the bounce back in my step and I feel like I can be me and I can do great things. When I have cool experiences like these it makes me want to be better at everything that I do. And not just professionally BUT most importantly for my family. What a treat... thanks for letting me share :)

OPI POLISH MUST HAVES...

2011-04-10T23:38:00.000-04:00

Must have "You Don't Know Jacques" for my fingers....

And "Cajun Shrimp" for my toes....

What colors are you wearing this summer?!!! {by the way, cajun shrimp looks a lot less electric/florescent in person -- it's perfect!!!}

IT'S APRIL

2011-04-03T21:53:00.000-04:00

Already! Which makes me happy b/c I love spring and warmer weather!! Here's a few pics from what we've been up to the past few weeks:

Bray's school field trip to the Children's Theatre in Charlotte. Horrible picture, but they did get to see a very cute little play!

Friday we met up with our good friends Jennifer, Ella & Caroline for a visit to the Discovery Place!! The kids had a blast "discovering" all sorts of cool things. BTW, props to the DP for having Gluten Free chicken tenders in their food court. Very cool!

And finally, the boys have been obsessed with hanging out at this local skate park!! They are such dare devils when it comes to riding their bikes on the ramps... It freaks me out sometimes, but it's fun to see them in action. Saturday we finally got our nice weather back so it was off to the skate park AGAIN!!

Dad has major skillz on the razor skooter!!

Hope everyone is having a beautiful S P R I N G!!!

Our Epic Spring-Time Florida Adventure

2011-03-23T12:01:00.001-04:00

This is a big one!! What started out as a 9 day trip, turned in to a 15 day adventure... and even after two weeks I still wasn't ready for the fun to end! Here's the re-cap:

After driving in late Wednesday night, the girls headed to Wicked on Thursday to celebrate Ashlee's B-day. To me, that show never gets old. I enjoy it a little more each time I see it!

Friday night, Braden braved the children's talent show at church showing off all his Tae Kwon Do moves!

Sunday was a really COOL day for me! I attended the Jerry Ghionis/ Sandy Puc National Wedding Photography Workshop Tour in Orlando. This was actually one of the main reasons for me timing my trip the way I did!! I can't say enough about how amazing and inspiring this workshop was... especially Mr. Jerry {below}. He is an amazing photographer and even more, an amazing person!! He focuses so much on drawing out emotion vs. poses. I could go on {and I probably will on my H2H blog sometime soon!} Anyway, I left there moved and motivated and it was a good thing b/c I had the chance to shoot 4 photo sessions and teach 6 classes while I was out there!

Tuesday the boys and I had a DISNEY DAY!! Can I just say how much fun we had just the three of us! It's always fun to go w/ a group, but we really did enjoy ourselves. They are at good ages to just jump in the stroller and go. I was planning on going from 9am-6 or 7pm depending on how long they lasted... BUT we ended up hitting 3 different parks and we stayed until midnight!!!! Seriously, they did so GREAT - we shut the parks down! Gav even fit in a nap here and there, so he got a good second win. The only hard thing about being by yourself is it's hard to get good pictures... but here are a few:

Sleeping in the bus line. We did Animal Kingdom first, then Hollywood Studios... here we are waiting in line to head over to Magic Kingdom, which ended up being the least crowded and our favorite park of the day!!

ALL the parks were quite busy, but surprisingly MK was the least crowded?! Don't get me wrong... spring break spells crowds, but you have to know how to work it! We go on all the low line volume rides when it's busy, grab fast passes for our favorites, then around dinner/parades/fireworks, we walk on all the other rides!!

We always have to have our picture w/ ZURG {love Bray's face, channeling his inner Zurg}

Alladin's magic carpet ride is just like Dumbo... but more fun AND NO LINE!!

Okay, so not a whole lot of pictures... BUT, had to have a picture of me n' my DOLE WHIP!! I waited all day for that treat. Finally around 10pm we made our way over to Swiss Family Robinson's Tree House (Blake's fav as a kid so he made me promise I would take the boys through it).

AND, the final picture of the night. At 10:30 I let the kids choose one last ride. We decided on the cars and had a great time (they did let the 3 of us in one car). By then it was 11pm and the second their heads hit the stroller they were out!! Since I parked at the Animal kingdom I had to wait in the LONG end-of-the-night monorail line while holding a sleeping 35lb Gavin and a sleep walking Braden. From there we landed at the transportation center and waiting 30 mins for a bus to the Animal Kingdom. The boys were out so you can only imagine how funny this all looked. By the time we made it to AK (poor Bray, sleep walking all the while) my car was the LAST one in the entire parking lot!! GOOD TIMES!! That will always be such a fun memory for us :)

Friday night, Ash, the parents and I hit up "Howl at the Moon" Dueling Piano Bar on I-Drive!! It was awesome. We were going to go to "Jelly Rollers" another Dueling Piano Bar on Disney Boardwalk (and a little less CRAZY) but it was fun to try something new. DANG, the performers are talented. They all play every instrument... drums, guitar, bass etc...

Saturday we had a beautiful day on the lake with just about the entire neighborhood!!

Taking the new jetski for a spin!!

And this takes us to SUNDAY... ANOTHER INCREDIBLE DAY!!! So, we did not come on our trip planning to take in a Yankees Spring Training Game, but during the week I happened to read a posting on FB by my good friend from high school, Eric Chavez (who was traded from the A's to the Yankees in January) mentioning that he was in Tampa in spring training. It also so happened that my great friend Marliss and I were trying to meet up in Tampa... so it all just came together. Eric hooked us up w/ Fabulous tickets for the whole crew. We got to go early and watch batting practice (crazy being 5 feet away from A-rod and Jeter) and then we got to Rondevouz in the "Press Area" while we caught up with Eric and introduced our kiddies! Eric was so amazing to hook the boys up w/ a signed bat, ball, gloves, shirt etc... Braden was in heaven and it was just great to get together again!!

Watching batting practice before the game...

A beautiful day in Tampa!!

Jeter swinging away

Eric and A-rod were the only two players to score runs during the Game. Go CHAVY!

The boys all excited about their Yankee Paraphernalia!!

The fun part: Of course it's no secret that some of the players are dating some high profile leading ladies!! And since we had such great seats {players tickets} we were in luck. We happened to be sitting in the same area right across from Cameron Diaz and Minka Kelly. Marliss even took Melia down to give Cameron a hug (of course two girls walked right on front of me while I was trying to get a picture) but it was cool :) btw, can I please have those arms and look like that from behind, haha!! A girl can dream!

What a memorable day!! THANKS ERIC, we loved it!

Lastly (and much more on this on my photography blog to come) but I had the opportunity to do a lot of work while in FL. I LOVE LOVE all of my FL friends (who also happen to be great clients as well). I didn't grow up in FL and my parents moved their while I was in college, but it has been fun over the years meeting so many new and fabulous friends out that way. A HUGE props to Eva, who styled almost every shoot... she is a creative, stylish genius and I only wish I had her here w/ me on every shoot in Charlotte. {her little angel Rita Pita}

I also did a "one-on-one" shooting session as part of my teaching... something I hope to continue to do!! I love seeing budding photographers learn and create. It's fun to teach, but even more fun to see it "click" and come together while in action.

Posting all this makes me miss FL all over again! I love that we're able to go down as much as we do and I appreciate having such a supportive (busy!!) husband who makes our little adventures a possibility!! XOXOXO

Spring Bridal Fair 2011

2011-03-21T22:59:00.000-04:00

Had a fabulous time at the Filmore yesterday participating in the Charlotte Wedding Connection Bridal Fair!! For the entire wrap up go here. I was so lucky to have a amazing assistant... it made all the difference. It was a great venue, great crowd... I just have try not to be intimidated by the 6 other photographers who rocked it as well! I love putting myself out there and working my biz, but at the end of the day, I get to come home to huge pillow mounds {see post below}. It's a win win and I'm a very lucky girl!

Braden's Idea of a Good Time

2011-03-21T22:21:00.000-04:00

When he's not running around Disney or getting VIP privileges at a Yankee Game {more on all that soon} is to round up EVERY pillow in the ENTIRE house and make a pillow mountain... as a fun surprise. And then of course he'll ask you to pose by his marvelous Mt. Vesuvius!! All a night's work.

Tamale Train!! {Insert Mary Murphy Sized Yell} Toot Toot!

2011-03-21T22:15:00.000-04:00

HOLA HOLA!! I had to post a few pictures from our Young Women's Camp Fundraiser last month!! We made and sold over 700 hundred Mexican Tamales!! Seriously... it was hard core.

Blake was perhaps, the most hard core of all. He spent a good chunk of his Friday night helping to make the "masa" or dough and then almost all day Saturday. I was working around teaching photography classes, so he really takes the cake for going all out!

It was fun getting all the chicas involved... after all it will be their way to get to camp! Don't you just love the hair nets... had to be extra hygienic!

And of course the boys had to get in on the action!! They spent just as much time there as we did and are now expert tamale makers... or at least "husk preppers". Can't wait to do it again next month....

In the Heights and In the Hospital

2011-02-19T10:47:00.001-05:00

The two highlights of our week!!

First though, I'll start w/ my little man Braden and what's been going on with him. I CAN NOT believe it's been almost exactly a year since his car accident. I can tell you that I am beyond grateful that to look at him, you would never know what he has gone through this year. He has healed wonderfully and things are good. After his two initial surgeries on the day of the accident he has since had one maxiofacial surgery to detach the right side of his lip from the frenulum. The majority of the trauma to his face has been the scar tissue build up from impact (again, stuff you can't really see on the outside, thankfully) and as the scar tissue was healing inside his upper lip, it was attaching itself to the gums.

Our other scar tissue issue, was the "caving in" of the nasal cavity causing a few other negative side effects. AND this is what nobody sees but has been the hardest part of the recovery. Since he fractured his nose in the accident and sustained so much pressure there has been the continual build up of scar tissue within his nose making it really hard for him to breathe and even harder to SLEEP!!!! This little guy has not had a full night of sleep in a year b/c he is constantly waking him self up gasping for breath. Insufficient airflow through the nose causes grinding, apnea and all sorts of other issues. So, this brought us to our last procedure... resolving things with an Ear Nose and Throat Dr./Plastic Surgeon.

Yesterday we made hopefully one of our last trips to the Hospital/Medical Center for one day surgery. The doc wanted to perform a nasal endoscopy, remove the adenoids, and then once he was all the way in he was going to make the final decision on what to do with the scar tissue build up. There were several options... the worst case being cutting through the nose and essentially scrapping/removing the tissue itself. The only problem with that would be re-scarring and re-build up :(

LUCKILY, after finishing the first two procedures, he found out the tissue was still soft enough so he ended up injecting 4 different areas with steroids hoping to "melt" (his word) the tissue down. Only downside to that is we will have to go back in 8 weeks for another round of steroid shots in the nose (it's outpatient/one day again... but still... it's ONE MORE THING and that means a lot to Braden).

Amazingly today, Braden is doing GREAT!! I mean, even yesterday as soon as we got home from the hospital, he was up and at it, doing every single craft project we could think of!! He was extra HIGH and extra LOW at points from being on Lore-tab, but really things are going to be fine!!! He hasn't complained of pain (Dr. said the steroid injection points would be sore) but NO COMPLAINTS... just lot's of ENERGY!! Yeah! I am so happy and grateful.

I'll finish this post on another happy note. Wednesday (after lot's of strep at our house) Blake and I finally got to go on our Valentine's Day Date!! We got 5th row seats to "In the Heights", one of my favorite Broadway shows that I had been dying to take Blake too. Last year, Ashlee and I won "lottery tickets" and front row seats to the show during our trip to NYC. It also happened to be on the same night of the "car bomber in Time Square"... ring a bell?!!! So, the show was delayed an hour and half and we were quarantined inside the theatre for the evening... but it was a FABULOUS show and a great memory (I know it sounds crazy, but it was a fun memory) and I couldn't wait to see it again.

I have to say, the tour show was just as talented and amazing!! Blake loved it too and leaned over half way through and said, "thanks so much for bringing me".

Okay, hope everyone has a great weekend!! We will be laying low, but happy that the recovery is going so well!! THANK YOU for all the thoughts and prayers sent our way this week. They are so appreciated!!

V-DAY OR BUST!!

2011-02-15T12:33:00.003-05:00

Hope everyone had a fabulous Valentines Day!! We are still a bit hunkered down... I'm getting over strep, G over an ear infection... Blake caught something yesterday... all on top of getting ready for Bray's big surgery on Friday!! Still we had a beautiful day (70 weather was gift enough!!)

I SURE LOVE MY BOYS and Valentines Day is a great way to celebrate that!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Oooopsss! That was meant for my work Blog...

2011-02-10T00:26:00.000-05:00

But it's too cute to erase!! I forgot to sign out of this blog first (it's late!!) Guess I'll go repeat the entire post on Hart to Hart!! Oh Well!

Oh BABY!! Graham Newborn Session Sneak Peek {Charlotte Area Newborn Photography}

2011-02-10T00:24:00.000-05:00

How adorable is this little Teddy Graham!! I had the pleasure of shooting lil' Graham last week and while Newborn sessions are one of my favorite genres (do I say that about every kind?!) they can definitely be a bit unpredictable!! This little guy was persistent... he DID NOT WANT to sleep, so we got some nice "wide-eyed" shots...

There are times however, when these little guys just don't want to be posed and folded and fiddled with. What do you do? I still go for the shot...

And then rely on a bit of photoshopping (still his face, just from a pose I didn't like as much)

FINAL "PRINT" shot. What a beautiful little bundle.

I think by the end, we finally wore him out! He collapsed into a milk coma on Mamma!! All in a days (or 2) work!

My "WRASTLERS"

2011-02-06T22:34:00.000-05:00

No... it's not a typo!! It's how Papa says it, so it's how we all say it... and wrastlin' is what they do best!!!

We went to our nephew Tanner's High School wrestling tournament this weekend in Marion. It was all we could do to keep these little bear cubs off the mats. Finally when they were down to the last match and the second mat was free, B&G ran down (with head gear and all) and started wrestling up a storm. All the attention from the stands and onlookers turned to my guys... it was sooo funny!! People were cheering, taking pictures and video. I didn't have my good camera, but today, someone emailed me these!!

I think we may be watching a little too much Nacho Libre around here!

Sunday's Bridal Fair

2011-02-03T00:18:00.000-05:00

If we're friends on facebook you may have read about my crazy SUNDAY!! Church at the crack of dawn, Bridal Fair all day up in Concord AND THEN hosting all the Young Women and their Parents (from church) for dinner and a youth discussion. It was a doozy!! Thank goodness for HELP. I had a fabulous assistant at the bridal fair (makes such a difference w/ 2 people) and of course Blake who made the entire dinner and desert and had the house clean and boys contained when I ran in the door 20 minutes before it was supposed to start. BTW, this is a night when LST (latin-standard-time - at least 30 minutes AFTER designated start time) came in handy.

It was actually a good day, BUT I've never been so excited to just flop myself down on the couch at the end of it.

Part of my excitement for the bridal fair was my NEW BACKDROP *squeal*. I have been trying to get my whole "booth" look together for 3 years now. I FINALLY decided to just splurge and buy the real deal... I mean, I loved the one Blake built me out of PVC pipe, but it was time. It came in the mail on Tuesday and Saturday around 11p we finally had the time to put it together.

It looks complex, but really it's 15 mins tops to pop up and put together!! SO AWESOME!

Of course, in my hurry I forgot to grab my camera. Here's a crappy "phone picture" that doesn't do the booth justice. You get the idea!! Let the weddings roll in...

KATE SPADE AMPERSAND & STATE HEARTS {DIY}

2011-01-25T16:51:00.000-05:00

I LOVE the Kate Spade store at the South Park Mall in Charlotte... and not necessarily for what they are selling inside! I JUST LOVE what they do with their wall space. So, for the past year every time I would walk by the store {and stare} there's one thing in particular that would always catches my eye: the bright pink stenciled ampersand!! I had to have it! I researched all over the internet trying to figure out where I could by one to brighten up my own home! To my dismay, nothing.

One day I was perusing a design blog by one of my sister's good friends in Dubia {caitlinwilsondesign.blogspot.com} She had the Kate Spade Ampersand canvas on one of her artwork walls in her home!! I begged to Tiff to ask her where she bought it.

Turns out she painted it and recommended a fantastic DIY tutorial by another fellow designer {http://high-heelfootinthedoor.blogspot.com/2010/10/diy-kate-spade-ampersand.html} who painted one as well. AND it turns out, several Kate Spade stores boast this beautifully designed ampersand canvas, but each one is hand painted as well... so in sum, the only way to get one is to PAINT IT YOURSELF!!

I love an artistic challenge so I went for it! I found out the actual ampersand design comes from famed typographist Herb Lubalin. Anyway, I downloaded a few versions from the internet, bought my canvas and paint supplies, printed and cutout the ampersand, traced it on the canvas, then painted away! It's a little darker that the store's version, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

On to the next design element: State Hearts. The idea is a print of your state with a small heart in it!! Brilliant, colorful... another must have. I saw these cute and clever prints on Etsy, but I wanted square ones, with different colors and closer stripes. I designed mine in photoshop (CA for me and NC for Blake). The frames, however are another story. I found the bright turquoise ones I wanted at Pottery Barn for $34.99 EACH!! A bit pricey for little square frames, don't you think!! Instead I found these square ones at ikea in the sales bin no less ($3 each). Next I bought a can of spray paint and went to work. I am telling you, they look exactly like Pottery Barn frames. Finished, I love the punch of color and touch of whimsy both projects add to the wall.

I think I went a little "Collage Happy" on my walls after I did this. Either way it's fun to experiment w/ color and space and go beyond the simple photograph in a black frame or wall print from Kirklands (for example).

My next {DIY}project, these adorable alphabet prints I saw online today. I'm going to make them for the shelves in the boy's rooms. Will let you know how they turn out :)

"How I Became a Pirate"

2011-01-23T21:20:00.001-05:00

Is literally one of our favorite books!! So of course we were super excited when we found out not only the play, but the author was coming to town (ImaginOn Library). Friday we spent the afternoon there doing all sorts of pirate projects! We got to listen to the Author, Melinda Long read the book - who was adorable, by the way and she even signed our copy and talked to the boys!

The most exciting part of the day was meeting the plundering pirates, Jeremy Jacob and old Braid Beard himself!! The boys were in pirate heaven (and only slightly scared of the their very real green teeth!!)

Aaaaaaaaaarrrrghhhhhh!!

New Blog Background...

2011-01-15T14:20:00.000-05:00

I threw a new layout together today... seems as though I needed a little more yellow in my life :) We'll see if it holds!!

Life is good and SLOW{er}!

A Year In Photographic Review!!

2011-01-07T15:01:00.001-05:00

So, it's no secret that this year has been my busiest {and best!} with regards to my lil' business!! I am blessed and thankful. I had 82 sessions/projects/events/weddings etc... It's hard to sum up an entire year of work in words so I wanted to do something visual... and I wanted to pull a picture from each session, but that was a project in and of its self!! I have almost everything organized alphabetically so I think I made it to the M's...

Anyway, here's to continuing to find the balance within the busy, and joy amidst the stress. To stretching and taking risks, to dreaming, creating, reaching and fulfilling and going FARTHER than you ever thought you could!! Here's to another GREAT YEAR!!

Happy New Year - 2011

2011-01-07T14:51:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a fabulous New Years! Blake and I got to go out... just the two of us!! We had a really nice dinner, then had a great time at a little get together with some friends. It's been a while since we've actually been out on New Years, so we could've been sitting in a parking lot and I would've been happy! We came home around 11:30 and our neighbors, who were watching the boys, were out in the street doing fireworks... suprise! I could not believe the boys were still awake and in full party mode. We rang in the New Year w/ our neighbors, watching the ball drop and drinking sparkling cider! Thankfully everyone slept in until 10am the next day! A great way to start another year. I'm looking forward to a fantastic 2011!! CHEERS!

Walking In a Winter Wonderland - Christmas 2010

2011-01-07T14:32:00.000-05:00

I think that title pretty much sums up our Christmas vacation!! What a trip... and we almost didn't even make it!

We were set to leave for Blake's Parent's house up in the mountains either Thursday evening or Friday (Christmas Eve Day). Well, Wed. the poor kiddies both came down w/ Major GI Bugs that had us held up for two days cleaning up after them with stuff coming out both ends!! Ohhh, I was so sad for them... and really hoping it wouldn't ruin their Christmas! Finally Christmas Eve afternoon, we decided to go for it (with towels and barf bags in tow) and made it to the Harts! We got there late, wrote a letter to Santa, left him some snacks and hit the hay!! We let the boys sleep together in their new Buzz Lightyear Snuggies from their cousins. So cute!!

The next morning we awoke to THIS!!! This is the Hart's backyard view. Wow, it was beautiful. A true white Christmas. For a girl who grew up in San Diego, this was pretty cool :)

We had a great time unwrapping all the gifts... Braden was even sent on a scavenger hunt throughout the whole house, leading him to each piece of his Tae Kwon Do "Sparing Gear" - definitely a favorite!

Then we hit the SNOW! It was cold, but fun. We even tried to to sled and build a little snowman.

Which got knocked down pretty quickly... b/c isn't that the fun part :)

Little did we know, the glorious snow was literally "snowing us in"... for the next 2 days. Around noon we lost power (thank goodness Nana and Papa have a generator). We still had to keep most of the lights off and got quick little luke warm showers... but it was all part of the memory! The cousins from Atlanta arrived that night. Just in time for Christmas Dinner. We had to get all of the vehicles off the mountain b/c Monday we were going to try and head to TN to the Smokies in the Wilderness Lodge.

On Sunday church was cancelled and they were calling for even more snow. We decided to stay in town that night at the Holiday Inn so we could get out Monday morning! Mon. morning we left once the snow had started to melt. Normally the trip over to Pigeon Forge is about and hour and half!! Seven hours later we had made. Icy roads and bumper to bumper traffic made for a crazy trip. BUT once we got there all was well. Isn't this place awesome!

The Wilderness at the Smokies is an indoor water park resort!! The kids had a blast. It was funny to go from snow gear and boots, to bathing suits and flip flops!! I loved it though and I was just glad we made it. My favorite was the indoor outdoor hot tub. It was HUGE and lead you from an indoor steam bath, to an outdoor hut tub. So amazing to be in a hot tub w/ snow all around in 20 degree weather.

Bray braved up and tried his hand at body boarding! Blake almost lost his trunks trying out as well! The bigger waterslides were even surprisingly very fun.

The wave pool was also a hit!

THANK YOU NANA & PAPA For a wonderful Christmas break. It was fun to improvise and come up with various back-up plans and versions of back-up plans!! I'll end with our family picture. This one almost didn't happen! It was soooo cold, kiddies were crying and the snow was higher than we thought. We pulled a trashcan into the middle of the street, I set the timer and we got it! Since it will likely be 2 years before we are ALL together again, I'd say it was worth!! Love you guys :)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!!

2011-01-07T13:35:00.000-05:00

Before I blog my big Christmas post, I thought I would post a few details/happenings leading up to Christmas break!

December continued to be an insanely busy month for me up until about the 18th (my LAST photo session). I know your chins will drop in horror, but I didn't even begin Christmas shopping until the 19th... but that's okay, b/c we went simple and easy this year and I wanted to be able to ENJOY it!!

Here's another shocking confession: I haven't been able to bring myself to take down the Christmas decor!! I know, I know... it's coming down this weekend... just enjoying it for one more day! We ALWAYS leave for Christmas, so we don't get to enjoy it the whole month... last year I left it up a lot longer, so I'm already doing better! I took a few pics to remember it! I don't decorate w/ the traditional red & green... it's all silver n gold, bronze, turquoise, orange and pink! Kind of fun. AND I LOVED ALL the cards we got this year! So many beautiful ones for the card holder!

A couple of shots from some Branch Youth Activities. It has been fun serving w/ the youth over the past few months (after serving in Primary almost 8 years!!)

TRI-STAKE Barn Dance

Our little Christmas Party for the girls

And finally, Braden's pre-school class presentation!!! I LOVE how much he ENJOYS school. He loves his teachers, friends, the creative projects, the singing, the learning etc... I will save the dramatic story of Gavin and I actually getting to his Christmas program, but we made it at the end to hear him sing, "Go tell it on the Mountain"! Too cute. After he asked if I would take a picture of him in front of the church pretending to hold baby Jesus! Loved it!

Merry Christmas from Braden & Gavin!!

2010-12-30T18:52:00.000-05:00

A few days before Christmas I had a session with a little baby. After he left, the props were still out... which gave Braden an idea (Mom are you smiling yet?!) Braden wanted his own Christmas shoot, with costumes and all. He planned the outfits, set all the poses and checked each shot to make sure it was right!!

Anyway, we hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very HAPPY New Year! With Love.

2010 Hart's Christmas Card

2010-12-30T18:43:00.001-05:00

Last year my good friend Brandi told me, in so many words, I needed to step up my Christmas Card Game (of course in the nicest way!!!) I mean... cards are a huge part of my job and for the past several years I have printed small{ish} cheap{ish} cards. The designs were cute, but she was right it was time send something out that really represented me!!

Anyway, you've probably already seen it, but for "journaling sake" here's our 2010 card. It's a miracle it all turned out, but I AM glad we went all out! Thanks B!

By the way... a HUGE shout out to all of you!! I got so many cute, fun, amazing cards this year... seems as though everyone was on top of the card game!! KUDOS!! I LOVE it!

And This is Why I LOVE Disney...

2010-12-24T13:18:00.001-05:00

If you follow my blog at all, chances are you've seen me in my favorite {knock off} burberry hat MANY TIMES!! I bought this in South Beach right after Blake and I got married and it has history!! I wear it all the time!! Anyway, I was sooo bummed when I realized I left my hat on the Mt. Everest roller coaster ride in The Animal Kingdom on the last ride of the day before the park closed!! I heard Disney's lost and found is phenominal but I thought it was gone forever (I know, dramatic, but I really like this hat!) On the off chance someone was going to turn it in, I called the L & F services the next day and reported it. I also left my name and address in case!!

Low and behold last week, I received a package in the mail with my HAT!! Yay!! And that is why I love Disney :)

Grove Park Inn Getaway...

2010-12-19T12:34:00.000-05:00

On the heals of our wonderfully, busy Thanksgiving "break", Blake and I had an amazing 4 day getaway to the Grove Park Inn... JUST the 2 of us! Blake is the VP of the North Carolina Local Government Budget Association and planned the entire conference... in turn we got hooked up with the Presidential Suite!! AND, Christmas came early for me! I got to spend an entire day at GPI Spa, which is world renown... I mean it is AMAZING!!!!! I did have to work/edit a good portion of the trip, but it was so NICE to relax in such peaceful, serene, surroundings. I would HIGHLY recommend a stay there... especially around Christmas!

My BIG-FAT-EPIC Thanksgiving Post!!

2010-12-19T12:20:00.000-05:00

I have put this post off for nearly 3 weeks now... just too many fun pictures and too little time to actually post about them! I am, however, finally getting my life back this week, since I have officially finished all my client photo sessions, print/card orders, disk hand-off's etc... Yay!! I can focus on my own family and enjoy the Holidays and start crossing things off on my own to-do list!

#1: Blog about Thanksgiving.

This was an amazing trip. And I'm blogging all the pics/details mainly for myself. I love to be able to looks back at my "online scrapbook" and remember the fun :)

This trip was a bit of a "working trip" you could say. I was hired on by "Wild Florida" to film and edit a 10 minute mini movie of their picturesque surroundings via an airboat ride?!! My new Canon 7d films in high quality HD video mode, so hey, why not! (of course now I am reminded why I got out of videography and into photography... but it was a great job nonetheless). I spent a lot of time on that project as well as time on several photo shoots (including my own family... finally!!!) and making Christmas cards for Mom, Tiff, Cami and my family! Lot's of computer time :)

BUT there was also a lot of fun time... here are the pics.

Miniature golfing with the crew! I love B&G's pirate scowl pic...

Getting ready for the main event. Doing the "bawk bawk" dance with the Turkey... a Clark fam tradition

The day after Thanksgiving we headed to airport to pick up Tiff, Benton and Zoe from the Airport. They traveled 18 hours from Dubai... GO TIFF!! This was the first time meeting little for almost all of us!

The THREE amigos... actually got along pretty well!

Saturday night we hit "Old Town Kissimmee" a precursor to our Disney day! Mom and Camille even did the Human Swing... the highest in the world I think! I did that once and still have nightmares about it... but they had a great time! The pictures aren't that good, but the boys had a blast!

MONDAY we had a fabulous day at Disney!! We were there 15 hours and the kids did awesome!! I LOVE the bottom right pic in this collage... look at the kids (get us out of these strollers and on to a ride!!)

Buzz light year... the crowd favorite! (what up w/ my pose?!!!)

Naps, melt downs and cotton candy... just part of the whole experience!!

The lighting of the castle had to be a highlight! We were racing to get back from the Animal Kingdom and just made it! It was SO FUN to be at Disney with all the Christmas Decorations up. I would highly recommend it. Our good friends the Copes (from NC) were are the Magic Kingdom that same day, but we never did manage to meet up! We also saw some good friends from our San Diego days -- Brian Perkes cute family! "It's a small world after all"!!

Had to include this funny set of pics! Gavin is obsessed with cousin Zoe... he LOVED her. He wanted to be sitting beside her any time we were in the car, and wanted to hold her any time he could get his hands on her!! She was such a good sport!! THIS IS THE BEST LITTLE BABY!!! She goes with the flow, never fusses... even when G has his hands all over her!

To end the trip WE ALL took a road trip back to Charlotte. Tiff and her kids, myself and the boys, Mom & Ash. All 8 of us packed in the suburban and drove back (Blake had come back 4 days earlier to get back to work!!). The trip went pretty smooth... not gonna sugar coat it though... there were some brutal parts!! After being spoiled at Ahmas for 10 days it's always a little hard to get back into the routine of things. Plus I think all the kids were at their limit w/ cousin time... BUT, it was a great memory and I'm so glad we made it. We tried to visit Santa at the South Park Mall and then hit up the Branch Christmas Party... always a memorable evening!

I LOVE MY FAMILY and I'm so glad we were able to spend this precious time together!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

2010-11-25T12:39:00.001-05:00

HOPE EVERYONE IS HAVING A FABULOUS THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!! We are here in Sunny Florida... 82 degrees and GORGEOUS today! I am so grateful to be surrounded by those I love most! Time to jump off the computer and go EAT EAT EAT!! Enjoy your traditions whatever they may be... sending lots of love and a cyber oreo turkey... gobble gobble!

.

2010-11-20T01:35:00.000-05:00

I just can't think of a good title for this post so I guess it will remain unnamed for tonight!! That is the downside of blogging at 1am, nothing witty comes quickly!! On the upside though, the house is quiet so I'll take it when I can get it!

WOW, what an incredible 6 weeks it has been. I once heard that nobody cares or wants to here about how tired, busy and stressed you are (b/c they probably are too!!) but thankfully, my blog can't talk back! THINGS HAVE BEEN CRAZY BUSY!! I must first say, I am grateful for it... the work part. It is so nice to be booked solid. Whether I am managing it well, is still up for question! I think the hardest part of the past few weeks (actually the past 7 months) has been juggling Blake's car issues. Since the accident in March we have been up and down getting a new car for him. Anyway, over the past 6 weeks while his car was getting a new engine put it in, we had to juggle one car, only to find out THE VERY DAY we got his back, that my thermostat was shot?! It was tough getting up, getting the kids in the car every morning, taking him to the train station or all the way uptown and then juggling how to work out my photo sessions and the kids each evening, but at least I could always count on MY CAR!! When it rains, it pours right!! Thankfully, I think we are getting past our car problems... never take 2 cars for granted again!!

This past week was also a rough week for my little guy Braden. We are still dealing w/ the repercussions of the accident monthly! This month, he was referred to an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) practice to see what we can do about his nasal passage that was fractured and is full of scar tissue and obstructions. It is something you would never notice by simply looking at him, but it makes it hard for him to breathe at night, causes snoring and basic obstructed airways... NOT FUN! We had his initial appt. Then a CT scan..... SO TRAUMATIC (though after much screaming and crying he decided it was cool, b/c he felt like an Avatar... leave it to Braden and his imagination!!) Then we were referred to an ENT Plastic Surgeon specialist that will have to perform yet another surgery to repair/scrape out scar tissue from the nostril. I feel so bad for Bray. He hates Doctors (even though they are truly great doctors and it will help him in the long run) and it feels never ending.

In the midst of all this, I was ON CALL this week to photograph ANOTHER live birth!! Yes, things were hopin' here at the Hart House. I had 10 photo sessions in 13 days and a pending birth that made me jump every time the phone rang!! Here's how it all went down yesterday:

Wed. my "birth client" texted me to let me know her water had broken!! This meant it was close. I crossed my fingers it wouldn't coincide w/ my photo session and a few other things and we made it through the day and night. Thurs. the contractions were sporadic... I had a neighbor on call in case it happen... BUT NOTHING! Later that afternoon I had a 45 minute photo shoot at BCP (minutes away from her house). Contractions were still sporadic around 4pm when I left for my shoot! I shot for about 45 minutes and then noticed her text: you should probably come soon... contractions intense! I raced over right after my shoot around 5:15 and MISSED the birth by 10 minutes!! DANG... I was so bummed. It was a home birth, after all, so it would have been amazing. It still was, however, incredible to be a part of documenting the first few hours of this little babies life. Definitely a different feel then shooting at the hospital!

I AM BLESSED WITH AMAZING EXPERIENCES AND OPPORTUNITIES. As I said, despite the STRESS, LACK OF SLEEP, crazy balancing of schedule and priorities, I know I will make it through these last few sessions/days and I am SO GRATEFUL to be able to do what I love. {click there for H2H session sneak peeks}. Okay, I really better get some sleep! 2 more sessions tomorrow and then I am taking all the youth from our church to a barn dance at night. GOOD NIGHT!

10 Minute, $10 DIY Photoshop Silhouettes

2010-11-17T01:33:00.001-05:00

I was feeling a bit crafty today! After hanging out in the Doctor's office with the boys all morning, I decided we needed a fun project. Plus I have been wanting to hang silhouettes of my cutie pies for a while. Now when I get crafty, I know I have to be quick, but a bunch of the DIY Silhouette blog explanations involved too many steps with cutting and paint and other things I didn't have time for!! So I came up with this quick and easy way to get a silhouette in photoshop.

Here's the tutorial...

Start with a photo that shows a great silhouette. I purposely set my camera setting to be dark so I could trace the outline easier. Open your image in PS

Grab the quick selection tool and select the "head" portion you want to silhouette

There are many ways to do this next step. I simply went into Hue/Saturation (control U) and scrolled the "lightness slider" all the way to the left to -100

This completely darkens the area within the quick selection

From there I created a copy of JUST the selection

I then opened a new 5x7 layout. This was the size of my frame opening... you can customize your settings depending upon your need

I pasted my "selected" area and WAHLAH my silhouette is DONE and READY TO PRINT. That was easy. I printed my finaly silhouettes on bright white cardstock and framed them in black oval frames I bought for $5 each.

And I love how they turned out!!

It makes the perfect addition to this wall collage. Now that was 10 minutes and 10 dollars well spent!!

Our Best Halloween Yet!!

2010-11-15T11:03:00.000-05:00

It really was! The boys were totally into it this year and even though we waited until the last minute to find costumes, everything turned out great!! I was BOMBARDED with photo sessions in October (in a good way, of course) so I'm glad we were able to pull everything off... decorations and all!! *** Must give an honorable mention to our "Halloween Cats". My Dad was so pumped to make these with the boys. He found the idea in a good housekeeping magazine, tore it out, brought it and thus the creation began!! I honestly had not had a FREE SECOND in Oct. so it was fun to have them here to help out with carving pumpkins and getting into the spirit of things!! THANKS GUYS :)

Earlier in the week, the festivities started w/ Braden dressing up for preschool. He FINALLY narrowed it down to one costume (other possibilities included an avatar, batman, other super heros etc...) The preschool program was awesome!!

Thursday Ahma, Ahmpa, Ash and Camille came into town. We had a blast the entire weekend! We hit the pumpkin patch...

The trunk or treat at church.... Are we just lovin' that walrus!! Seriously such a random costume, but I LOVE HIM IN IT!!

And had a great time doing a little trick or treating in our neighborhood on Halloween. We have the BEST neighborhood for trick or treating! You don't have to go to far or to too many houses to have a great time. Of course we didn't get home from church until 6pm (Blake until 7p) but it was still a FUN night!!

October or BUST!!

2010-11-14T22:38:00.001-05:00

October is a happenin' month here at the Hart house!! All my boys have October B-days, so it seems we are celebrating something weekly!! It starts with Blake on the 7th, G on the 10th and Bray on the 20th. These are our family party pics.

After rescheduling Gavin's party due to a stomach virus, we finally had a fun little party at the house one morning for a few of his neighbor friends. We decorated cupcakes, ate mini pizzas and enjoyed an impromptu visit from Papa. Perfect for a 3 year old!!

This year we decided to do Braden's party at his Tae Kwon Do studio. It fell on the same day that he tested for his orange belt... can you feel the excitement!!

This is him testing...

Now, let the party begin!! I got SOOOO many hilarious pictures of the kiddies. Posting all 137 was not an option, so here are a few fun ones!

This is my "Gavin Montage". The age of THREE is proving to be a bit of a rollercoaster for him. I mean, the 2's were a breeeeze compared to this!?! He is up and down and back up and down... moody toody. So, at the party he was no different. He started out hiding in the waiting room... would not even enter the studio. BUT, little by little he warmed up (never mind the fact that we are there 3 days a week?!) Anyway, you can see the progression... my Mom helping to ease him onto the mat and into the exercises and FINALLY him participating!! Tooo funny. All I can do is laugh and cross my fingers he grows out of it soon!!

What a great party and a great month of celebrating!!

A Vampire & A Walrus

2010-11-07T01:34:00.000-05:00

Gave the kiddies 100% say over their costumes this year!! I LOVE what they came up with... especially my Walrus... I mean who dreams of being a Walrus for Halloween?! Guess my little Gavy does AND I LOVE HIM for it :) More pics to come when I can blog at a decent hour....

An Interview With A Five-Year Old...

2010-11-07T01:26:00.000-05:00

Braden turned 5 two weeks ago {ooops... a bit behind in posting!!} . To commemorate I asked him for an interview. He politely obliged - mostly b/c he was bored. So, w/out further adieu here is my BIG BOY of 5 years in all his glory!!

BRADEN RUSSELL HART - a.k.a, Bray Bray, Bro, Muscle Russell etc...
October 20, 2005

FAVORTIES...

Food: pizza, chinese dumplings, carrots, broccoli, popsicles, frosting and of course biscuits and gravy (and I promise I did not prompt on those veggies!!)

Colors: blue & purple

Friends: Sean, Asa, Ethan & Edwin

Movies: Avatar, Karate Kid, Marry Poppins, Robots, Scooby Doo, Living Scriptures

Things to Do: shoot bow & arrow, play on the monkey bars (w/ gloves on of course), play with toys, tell knock knock jokes, go to tae kwon do

Toys: power ranger car, batman, bakuguns

TV Shows: Disney Playhouse, Sonic, Curious George

Things at School: doing the monkey bars, his teacher Ms. Pam 'cause she reads lots of books!

Place to go: Monkey Joes, school, toy store, Ahma's House

What is Daddy's job: "to make money"
What is momey's job: "take pictures"
What to you want to do when you grow up: (in this order) "be a missionary, go to high school, go to BYU
What job do you want to have: "costume seller or pumpkin patch owner (Can you tell we were days away from Halloween!!!!!)

I love my Braden and can't believe he is FIVE YEARS OLD?!! He is such a creative, charismatic, smart little boy. He LOVES to read. He and Blake have recently finished Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea, and the Long Cold Winter to name a few. He just tested for his orange belt and loves being active through Tae Kwon Do. He is also such a great older brother to Gavin. Wherever we go he puts himself in charge of making sure G stays in line and is right there with us (i.e., no wandering off in the grocery store... Bray would be all over that!!) I'm sure we will look back on this some day and get a kick out of it. Happy B-day to my own Karate Kid!

Hart to Hart Digital is Sponsoring a GIVEAWAY!!

2010-11-02T22:33:00.000-04:00

You know I love me a giveaway... so when the charmingly witty Ms Tara, of the "Do these kids make me look crazy" blog (formerly known as the Daily Nusz) approached me about giving away a little somethin' somethin' this month I WAS IN!! To get the low down on what you could WIN and to see a SPREAD of gorgeous photo's from their family session last week, click here

Here's a sneak peek and a hint at the giveaway....

Photography with Hart Session Post

2010-10-27T00:11:00.000-04:00

Just posted the whole story about my session with this cute little guy here. Thought I would share/post the link on this blog too...

FIX YO FACE

2010-10-18T20:25:00.002-04:00

I L.O.V.E. reading beauty/product reviews by "real" unbiased people {which are hard to come by} So, when I find a product I am happy with, I feel it my duty to give a shout out!!

For my birthday last month, I decided to splurge a bit on some really great skin care. It seems my face wash never matches my drugstore moisturizer and after a sun-filled summer, my freckled face was dying for a little TLC.

ENTER ORGINS. Used the product a bit in college, but hadn't ever bought a full line. SERIOUSLY ladies, after my first wash with "Modern Friction" {an exfoliate} I could literally see the dead/dull skin coming off my face. The frothy face wash alone, is enough to make you a believer. You need only a pea size amount to get some major foam... that bottle is going to last me a year!! It took a few days to get things in motion, but I must reiterate: I AM IN LOVE WITH THE PRODUCT. I know we all have different opinions/product lines/beauty rituals we swear by... just thought I share my new {an improved} facial regimen!! In fact, here's the detailed list I whipped up in photoshop (on an editing break... a girl's got to have some fun).

I would love to hear what works for you... don't be shy, leave a comment!!

Charlotte Wedding Connection Bridal Fair - 2010

2010-10-16T15:34:00.000-04:00

{FYI: Semi-Double Posting from H2H Website}

Last Sunday afternoon, Charlotte Wedding Magazine hosted the Charlotte Wedding Connection Bridal Fair at the Levine Museum of the New South. It was a gorgeous venue and there was a great crowd!!

I had the pleasure of meeting many fabulous future brides. I also hosted a GIVEAWAY for a complimentary Engagement or Bridal. All in all I was glad I participated... it was a little stressful setting up/tearing down by myself. It was also Gavin's B-day, so I was a bit sad to be away from him almost the entire day (which was the case last year as I was shooting a wedding in Tahoe... poor little guy!!). Another unforeseen setback: THE PANTHER'S GAME!! It was MAYHEM uptown. Both upon arrival and as I was trying to leave. I was hoping to make it back to church to teach my Young Women's lesson... didn't happen. A huge thank you to my hubby for stepping in and teaching an off-the-cuff lesson on patriotism to the girls!

Anyway, here's a little snippet of my booth and some of my newer marketing materials. I also loved the chance to network w/ other area professionals and vendors, and that to me is always worth the investment in the end.

So You Think You Can Dance 2010

2010-10-12T00:06:00.000-04:00

My SYTYCD tour show posts are starting to sound like a broken record... (see years 2007, 2008 & 2009!!) this makes 4 years in a row!! Let's call it a tradition instead... one of my absolute favorites. From when it was a small tour show w/ Benji and his crew, to the year I went a mere 8 days after giving birth, to this year where the stage mom's were worse than the kids!! And of course, it wouldn't be a show w/out my fearless sidekick/sis' Ashlee. We loved it - all in all, it was a FABULOUS SHOW... I think my favorite year so far.

For anyone who cares, read on!!

I was worried about what dances would be done since many that were in a lot of my favorite numbers (twitch, neil, anya etc...) were not actually going to be on tour. All my worries were set aside when they started the show off w/ a BANG... literally! My chick bang (eeek, the song title I know... and I hate to admit it, but this was one of my FAVORITE dances of the year!!) with Lauren and Russell the Krumper. It was AWESOME and set the tone for an amazing show.

There were some really cool new dances... LOVED the group Bollywood number and the hip hop boys trio. Lot's of good contemporaries and of course all the NappyTab Faves (Fallin' had Lauren w/ Adecheke and it was great).

Skip to the end: the "prom dance" w/ Lauren and Kent. Such a cute dance, but the best part was the segway into "my first kiss". What a SMOKIN' way to end the show. They killed it. Both were amazing live... must give a shout out to Robert who was one of my favorites and was amazing live as well. (borrowed pic from Katie's site - thanks K! fun to have a different view)

Call us crazy, but it is TRADITION, so we stayed a whopping three hours after the show to say hi and take pics w/ our favorite dancers. Of course we met up w/ our buddies Katie and Audra so we could swap cameras, but this year it was P A N D E M O N I U M. And I have to say there were some pretty crazy stage Mom's. We're talking Mom's coaching their daughters on how to kiss the dancers in pictures and Mom's yelling at their kids to cut through to get pics. TOO crazy.

The dancers were gracious and nice... Robert was my favorite. Kent was extremely ambushed and overwhelmed. Ash and I decided we might be over it... It was fun though

Can't wait for next year! Until then, keep dancin'!!

MY LITTLE MAN TURNED THREEEE!!

2010-10-11T20:51:00.000-04:00

Gavy’s b-day came and went… it was such a busy day! With a bridal fair for me and SEVERAL church responsibilities for Blake, I felt a little bad and worried my little guy wouldn’t have a great day, being shuffled around somewhat. But that’s the beauty of a three-year: they’re cool with that!! Or at least Gavin was. He was all smiles and the happiest boy w/ his new buzz light year toy and pack of “spicy carrots” (hot tamales).

So, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAVIN. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! Here are a few things I hope I never forget about you and this fun stage of life you are in:

Gavin is such a good little brother. He got some money from Grandma for his birthday and when I asked him what he wanted to buy with it, he said, “a matching buzz light year toy for bro, so he has one to play with too.” Awwwww, I wanted to cry, he is so sweet and caring and truly loves his older brother.

His sweetness extends to Mommy and Daddy as well and at any given moment during the day he will randomly find me and say, “I love you Mommy.” An even higher compliment from Gavin is being called a good guy. I love when we’re driving in the car and it’s quiet, then all of the sudden I hear “you a good guy Mommy”… that means G is happy!

Gavy loves all things Toy Story, reading books, the color lellow AND CANDY!! I know, I have to be careful, b/c this little guy can smell sugar from a mile away. Seriously, he can sniff out the candy in any room. He loves spicy things like hot tamales and salsa (he must be a Clark!!). His favorite movie is “Robots” (don’t ask me why or how we even got that movie!!) he loves knock knock jokes, motorcycles (papa dirt bike) and he’s a really good dancer… though you would NEVER know, b/c he FREEZES in the limelight. We love him anyway :)

I can’t believe my little guys is 3. I hope it is another wonderful year!!

*photo taken yesterday (on his b-day... wanted to be sure I got a little photo session in on the actual day) right after church. He's usually SO tired after church from 2:30-5:30 but he was hammin' it up... must've known it was a special day :)

Words Can't Describe...

2010-10-03T23:24:00.000-04:00

How beautiful it was to photograph a live birth. So, I'll let the pictures do the talking for now. I'll explain the whole miraculous story next time...

Where Has September Gone!!

2010-09-24T11:16:00.000-04:00

I can NOT believe September has come and gone this quickly!! My favorite month went by way too fast this year. I kept meaning to do a "hello fall" post (do it each year) but it just didn't happen!

Anyway, I wanted to sneak a quick post in before we head out to Florida. Update: still no live birth!! We thought for sure it would happen Thursday. I am still on pins and needles, so we'll see how it turns out. I will postpone FL for one more day.

This past week I celebrated my birthday w/ Salsa dancing - our yearly tradition!! This year a few fabulous friends joined us. It's hard to believe I am 32!

And finally, one of my favorite things about fall are the bits of flair I put up around the house! I say flair instead of decor b/c it really is scant... but it is just enough to bring the flavor of fall into our home and get us excited for the Holidays! BTW, I have been in search of the PERFECT lamp for my living room for YEARS!! Found this one while doing some "birthday shopping". Happy B-day to me :)

I AM ON CALL

2010-09-22T20:03:00.000-04:00

To photograph a live birth!! The baby was due Sept. 17th so I have been on pins and needles for 5 days (can you even imagine how the Mom is feeling). I periodically get choked up during the day thinking about it... I am going to be a sentimental mess, but I am so excited to be a part of it.

In other exciting news, the boys and I are heading down to Florida on Friday for a week. We'll call it a "working" trip. I will be shooting a few families (sessions still available if you are interested!!)

Until then....

Photography with Hart Joins "A Purpose For Life Foundation Golf Tournament"

2010-09-22T14:31:00.000-04:00

This is a double posting from my H2H Blog but I thought it was important to spread the word so here it is again!!

As you may know, last year I started Photography with Hart (a charitable slice of my photography business). I look for a few opportunities per year to give back and this seemed like a wonderful chance.

I have known the Martinsen Family for about 5 years now and re-connected with Miss Elizabeth through our son's Karate classes! When she asked if I would be interested in helping out with the photography for the event it was a no brainer! I also wanted to help spread the word. Please see below for all the information about the Golf Tournament and help us to spread the word if you know of any golfers, friends or family that would be interested!! THANK YOU... lots of LOVE!!

_____________________________________________________________________________

A Purpose For Life Foundation

Please join us for the A Purpose For Life Foundation to benefit local kids with cancer and their families on October 8, 2010.

We will have a great day of golf at the beautiful Golf Club at Ballantyne in Charlotte, NC (www.ballantyneresort.com). The event will include a 4-person scramble, a putting contest with a guaranteed winner of a trip for two to Cancun or the Caribbean, and a chance to make a $1,000,000 shot! Registration also includes a box lunch and awards receptions following the golf.

Non golfers can participate in the family BBQ starting at 4:30. Enjoy festival games, raffle prizes, a visit from the Chick-fil-A cow, a Fire Truck tour, and dinner for the whole family. A great deal for $30 per family. There will also be a silent auction and the "Purpose for Life" Store for some cool shopping.

The American Red Cross will be joining us and hosting a blood drive from 12:00-4:30. You can show your support by giving the gift of life.

Special Offer: Included with your online registration is a 1-year subscription to Golf Digest. Click here for offer and refund details.

Register now and remember to invite your friends to play or come out and enjoy a fun time with the family at the BBQ. Just click on "Tell a Friend" and you can send them a link to this site automatically.

Thank you for your support of the A Purpose For Life Foundation.

Date:	October 8, 2010
Times:	1:30 pm
Facility:	Ballantyne Resort Click here for more information
Fees:	Individual Golfer: $200.00 Late Registration - after October 8, 2010: $0.00 Foursomes: $800.00 VISIT: aPurposeForLifeGolfEvent.org

A Few Fun Final Fotos...

2010-09-07T15:56:00.055-04:00

Hey blog-o-shpere!! We've been busy the last few weeks as summer has been winding down and real schedules are about to set it. This is my all inclusive catch up session:

One of the most excited things we did these past few weeks is hit the opening night of Mary Poppins!! Blake called a few nights before to let us know he had gotten tickets!! This was Braden's official first musical... AND IT WAS AWESOME! We rented the movie right before so the songs and story line were fresh. He was literally dancing in the isles and loved when Burt tap danced on the ceiling. We are still singing all the songs and I think the best part of it all for me was watching him watch it. There was so much wonder and excitement... I loved it.

Two days later, Blake had a free day, so we used our Libraries free Discovery Place passes and made our first visit to this amazing place! We've lived here in Charlotte for a while now and I've been wanting to do this forever... I think the kids were at fairly good ages. They loved the 3D movies and the kids zone downstairs. Even Blake and I were amazed at the exhibits and I secretly wanted to go back myself so I could explore so more... maybe next time!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL... well, preschool anyway! Braden missed the kindergarten cutoff by a few months {which I was more than happy about}. Just can't imagine him gone all day... not yet any way! So... we've been excited about preschool ALL summer and this week the big day finally came. I got to hang w/ him the first day. It was really fun to see him in that environment. Braden is a pretty independent little fellow and had no qualms or reservations about starting a new experience. After day one he marched right in and even said, "Mom, you don't have to walk me to the door"... "Oh yes I do!!" Love you big boy!!

On a side note here, last, last Friday Gavin announced that he no longer wears diapers. Keep in mind this little guy has had NO interest in the potty and I wasn't pushing. G turns three in Oct. so I thought I'd wait until it got closer to really focus. BUT, when Gavin makes a decision, this little man sticks with it. He has been dry every night since his announcement!! #2 is still a major issue, but I can't believe I haven't had to do anything to get this guy almost potty trained!! We have also been re-doing his room into an official big boy room. Eventually B&G will be in the bunk beds in Bray's room, so I am "designing on a dime" to at least give him a cool space for now.

Anyway, we bought some fun things for his room, including this little night stand that I let him choose what color he wanted to paint. He picked out the color and we all had a blast painting it. Someday we'll get the whole room done and I'll do the big reveal!!

Below, I love the picture of Bray with his "Buzz Lightyear" wings... he has the BEST imagination!!

And finally, I wanted to post a few pics of our Branch Primary Temple Trip... the boys first official visit. Our temple is down in Columbia, SC and it was a SWELTERING day. But it was really sweet and I'm glad we made the effort to be a part of it.

ALOHA!!!

2010-08-28T10:01:00.120-04:00

Blake accidentally posted this post a little earlier without all the pictures, SO... here it is in all it's ENTIRETY with all the juicy details!!

In college I had the opportunity to go on dance tour to both Islands of New Zealand AND Fiji (which gave me a huge love/appreciation for Polynesian Culture) but this was officially my first trip to Hawaii and did it ever seal the deal!! It was AMAZING. Huge shout out to Damon and Lahela for booking my Wedding Photography services and making it happen! And of course to Marliss for the fabulous referral!! I actually got to fly down w/ Marliss and little Mr. Banner and spend lots of time with the Manning family. What better way to make the most of your visit, then to spend it w/ seasoned Hawaiians!!

It was a lot of work, but a LOT of fun and so worth the trip!! Here's the recap:

We flew in to Honolulu... 9pm local time - 3AM our time!!! Ahhhh... we are looking a little shabby, but SO HAPPY to be there

Day one we started with the most delicious island breakfast buffet - my official introduction to Coconut Syrup (after that, each morning I spent inducing myself into Coconut Syrup coma... that stuff is so good! Anyway, we drove up to North Shore, hung out at Waimea Bay, got snow cones at Matsumotos etc...

We drove around BYU-Hawaii and ended the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Their new show "HA, Breath of Life" is INCREDIBLE!! If you are in Hawaii, it is a MUST SEE! I was choked up the entire time.

Um, Hi... can we get a picture with you?

Friday we hiked Diamond head... gorgeous views and not a bad hike at all. We fit in some pool/beach time and some shopping before we did a little Island hoping. We flew to the big Island since the wedding was the next day in Kona. We stayed w/ Marliss' older bro's adorable family! It was a blast, but it was also time for me to buckle down and get in wedding/photog mode

Saturday - the BIG day - was spectacular (I am running out of superlatives here!!). The weather was great and we got some really pretty shots before the ceremony. Durning the ceremony in the temple (they do not allow cameras) I stayed out side and took an hour to edit the pictures from the morning. I pulled about 100 of my faves and made a slide show to be played later that day at the reception! I was feeling super high tech with my makeshift editing bay.

Immediately following the ceremony and a few more pics, we hoped another flight back to Oahu for the reception that evening. I'm going to give a huge thumbs down to "GO, Airlines" for their awful service, major delays and super HOT airplanes (yep, no air!). The good news is, we made it in time for the reception and it was a gorgeous evening. Can I just have this weather, lighting and location for every photo shoot? Here are a few faves (Damon's Bro caught a few shots of me shooting hehehe). For a few more collages, visit my H2H blog here

So, that was a pretty intense wedding day. Between the early start time, the flying, huge families to photograph and a very active reception, it was definitely one for the record books!! And of course one of my all time favorites as well :) THANK YOU AGAIN, for choosing Hart to Hart!!

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday went way tooooo fast!! But I was/am so grateful and happy I had that time to relax and enjoy the Island. Monday, I met up with Brandi - a great friend from high school in San Diego. I hadn't seen her in 15 years, so that was a lot of fun! Also, I would highly recommend staying at the Hilton Hawaiian!! WOW, what an amazing place. The pools, restaurants, beaches, lagoons... everything surrounding that place was heavenly in my opinion. I had the best time floating back and forth from the pool, to the beach, to the lagoon and so on.

Can I just tell you how much I love the Ban Man. This little chuberooni was so fun to have around. This is Marliss' little guy and he is a doll. Miss him to pieces even if he does eat sand!

Non-stop fun in the sun!! I even tried a paddle board, which is a lot easier than it looks!!

Of course I have to end with a picture of my beloved CSP... Coconut Syrup Pancakes. Yes, I think I had them everyday... mind you they were ALL YOU CAN EAT!! Ahhhhh, can we say rolls. But that's okay. The last three mornings I took my laptop across the street the the Wailana cafe and sat and ate and edited for as long as the waitress would let me. Then it was back to the beach... it's a rough life!

Marliss' sister Elaine and I flew out on Wed. We got to fly 1st class (A-MAZING) and it just so happened we were on the same plane that a bunch of pirates from "The Pirates of the Caribbean Part 4" were on.

I had actually heard that "Pirates" was filming that whole week we were in HI, but never thought anything of it. Then, when we first got on the plane, I kind of felt bad for Elaine b/c she had to sit next to this guy that was at least 6'4", black hair down to his waist, long straggly beard and a bit of a scary face. Well, as we joked by the end of the flight: never judge a book (or a Pirate) by it's cover! This guys was seriously SO cool. He gave us the inside scoop on Johnny Depp & Penelope Cruz and showed us some really cool pix. We were surrounded by pirates, hahaha! Now, I can't wait to see the movie and find him - he said he's the tallest pirate and you can't miss him. They were headed back to LA to for some more filming.

Speaking of LA, we had a day/night in LA before my plane left the next morning. Elaine and I decided to venture out and hit some favorite hotspots. We drove down rodeo, sunset, hit Beverly Hills etc... We were bound and determined to have a celeb sighting so when we saw a cluster of paparzzi outside of BOA restaurant, we had to stop! Just so happened to be Enrique Iglesias. Yes, I was too star struck to get my camera out in time. Oooopss... is he even really that big of a star? What is my problem!?! LOL, here's one of the paparazzi pics from that night!! All in all a great way to end the trip!

Well, if you made it to the bottom, thanks for letting me share!! I mostly wanted to journal all the details so I can pull them out on an off day and remember how lucky/blessed I am. It's been a rough week getting back. That 6 hour time change is a doozy... that and the Coconut Syrup withdrawals I was experiencing had me in a haze... BUT, the month of September (my favorite month) is almost here and I'm ready to be back to the grindstone! I missed my hubby and kids like crazy.... next time we're all going... WHO'S WITH ME!!

Leah's Baptism Day

2010-08-26T20:49:00.000-04:00

In between Utah/Ca and Hawaii, we made a quick trip down to Atlanta for our nieces baptism! We had a lot of fun... never enough time. Braden loves his cousin Evan!! It's so fun that they get along so well.

UTAH/CALIFORNIA TRIP - July 2010

2010-08-23T19:57:00.001-04:00

have been meaning to post these pics for weeks now. Here they are finally... are you ready for a photographic overload?!?! I HAD to do collages b/c there were just soooo many pictures. And really, this post will probably only be meaningful to family, b/c the second part of this trip was ALL about family!

First, the fact that I even made this trip happen was such and amazing coincidence... I had a client contact me (after initially meeting him back in April) about shooting their July family reunion in Park City AND the dates happened to coincide w/ Tanner entering the MTC as well as my G-pa's 90th B-day celebration in San Diego!! Wow... it would be a lot of work, but definitely worth it.

I wasn't sure my bid would be accepted b/c it included airfare & hotel while in Park City, plus all my photographic fees... and let's face it, there are a lot of photographers out in Utah. Long story short they ended up flying me out there and thus the trip began!! By the way, I have to give a huge shout out to Ashlee!! I couldn't have done it without her. She flew in the same day as I did and helped w/ Gavin for 4 days straight. She was amazing.

After finishing up my work in Park City, Ashlee and I headed down to Provo/Orem waiting for my parents and Tanner to get there on Wed. We hit the old stomping grounds at BYU, had a marvelous stay w/ Aunt Julie and ate our way through the entire Utah Valley (can you say Cafe Rio, In n' out, Magelby's Fresh, cupcakes and milkshakes etc...)

We brought In N' Out to Grandpa and Mamo one evening! G-man had such a fun time w/ Grandpa Mackay and his talking/moving animal collection.

I met up with one of my favorite buddies from my mission in Bolivia. Mao is from Columbia but has been in UT for the past few years! Seriously, never thought I would see him again, so that was fun!

Thursday, Mom, Dad, Ashlee, Tanner, Gavin and I drove down to San Diego. It was actually a BLAST!! G did so well in the car. Friday I got to see my beautiful high school friend Chelsea ... we met up on the old stompin' grounds in DelMar. We saw other friends from PQ... good times!!

Of course, we had to do a drive by to see how our "old house" was doing!!!

This is my Grandpa Clark. He turned ninety and he is still alive and kickin'!!! I love him. He had no idea we were in town for his surprise party the next day. Luckily when your 90 putting two and two together takes time!!

Above: We met up w/ the rest of my Dad's fam Friday night! It was a lot of fun seeing everyone... of course we had to Mexican... is there really any other type of restaurant?

Saturday was his Surprise party AND SURPRISED he was!! It was so much fun... a lovely tribute to his life and legacy :) All the sibs shared memories and I had even made a DVD with photos and music from the past 90 years!!

Of course, the guitar cat was there to entertain us all. Uncle "Guitar Cat" Brian is my Dad's older brother... he has rocked the mullet for the past 3 decades and it's looking better than ever. I love the progression of these pics as he ends up playing the guitar w/ his teeth!!

More group shoots... look at G's face... aw yeah!

Again, this part is probably only enjoyable if you are family!!!

Getting crazy Sunday evening! We come from a family of musicians so you know we were rockin' out to rock band!!

We drove home Monday and had a fun Mackay family party (wish I had a picture from that...) then I flew out Tues. morning. Gavy was such a great little guy the whole trip! I think this is the most "Gavin and Mommy" time that we've had since his birth. Braden has a great time w/ Nana, Papa & cousins, a few days with Dad and a few other friends. It was such an amazing trip... all in the name of Photography, b/c without that gig there was no way I was making it out :) I'm still amazed and so grateful it all turned out!!

Wrightsville Beach Getaway - July 2010

2010-08-06T12:22:00.001-04:00

On the heels of our FL trip, I got to travel with Blake to a beach conference that he had planned for the NCLBGA. JUST US TWO!! We headed to Wrightsville Beach Tues, while my fabulous Mother in law watched the kiddies until Friday!!

I did bring my computer b/c I had a LOT of catching up to do, but working with a view like this made life a lot easier!!

We got hooked up with a beautiful jacuzzi suite complete w/ double balconies and more. Ohhh... it was heaven.

It did rain a bit here and there, but it was still a fantastic little trip. We ate WAAAAY too much. Every night! And I didn't take enough pictures. Oh well... I can't wait until next year's conference. Thanks Honey :)

Tanner's Mission Farewell - FL July 2010

2010-08-03T01:06:00.000-04:00

Though this was one of our quickest trips to Florida, we packed in a ton of fun and enjoyed some final time with Uncle Tanner, before he heads off the the Provo, UT Spanish Speaking mission. The trip was a last minute decision, but we we got fly there AND Blake was with us, so it was a double whammy!!

Traines & Planes!!

Friday we headed down to Cocoa Beach... the day was PERFECT!

Of course we had to hit our favorite Resort Pirate Pool (I think I have pictures of this place on my blog at least 4 times...)

Saturday we went to the temple... almost ALL the sibs were there... we missed you Tiff... tear tear ;( Tanner is the 6th out of 6 siblings to serve a mission and the 4th speaking spanish. It was an amazing morning... so glad we were able to be there for that. (btw, do you love Cami and my matching outfits?!!!)

Later that day we enjoyed some outdoor dock/fishing time. Again, GORGEOUS weather. Gavin ended up catching 4 fish... and no one else caught anything!! That last one was a doozy!! GO G!!

Rescuing a turtle

Sunday was Tanner's farewell talk. He gave a really great talk in church and of course the whole fam sang!! Guess what... we got through it with minimal tears. We were reminded of Taylor's farewell, where Ashlee ended up singing a solo b/c Tiff and I couldn't pull ourselves together! This time around (minus mom) we stayed strong!!

We flew out Sunday evening. What a memorable trip. I'm so glad we were able to share the weekend with the fam. BTW, Can't believe Mom and Dad are going to be EMPTY NESTERS!!

Was really hoping to post this week!

2010-07-31T00:18:00.000-04:00

Oh well... what can I say, it's been BUSY getting back. Gavy and I arrived Tues. from our amazing 10 day UT/CA trip and it has been rough tearing myself out of bed each morning w/ that 3 hour time change adjustment. I have a TON of stuff to blog... does anyone else ever feel blog guilt when you're not caught up? WHY?!! I've still got our FL trip, plus this one... though the only person that is worried about it is me :) hehehe!!

For a tiny peek at the trip and from my sessions today, hop on over here. Enough for to tonight... I'm off the computer and opting for SYTYCD catch up :)

More Family Fun in the Sun - July 2010

2010-07-16T00:07:00.001-04:00

And that just about sums it up! The boys took swim lessons at our neighborhood pool and had a blast! Their cute teacher was adorable with them... they loved her! Go figure.

For the fourth of July weekend, Blake enjoyed a few days with the boys at his Parents house. I met up with them on Sunday at his sister's house after shooting an event in South Park Saturday night. We had some fun fireworks and then spent Monday on Lake James.

It was a GORGEOUS day! Seriously, the weather and water could not have been better. Gavin thought he was captain of the boat AND the party barge!! Though after 5 hours on the water he zonked out with his favorite pal, Uncle Darin *dawin*.

A little more action on the water! It was beautiful. I tubed w/ my niece Leah for almost an hour and even wakeboarded a bit too. All in all a great Holiday Weekend!!

Tuesday we brought the party to Charlotte!!

Look at all those handsome big boys!!

Ended the night with some serious Carne Asada and a surprise visit by our favorite Latin Elvis!! Que cantante tan guapo. A little surprise for Nana, the B-day girl. We had such a blast spending all that time w/ Blake's family. It's nice that everyone live relatively close so we can do it often.

The next day we flew to Florida for my lil' bro's farewell... If only those pictures would post themselves....

Wet N' Wild!!!

2010-07-15T17:04:00.000-04:00

It seems like the entire month of June (and now July) has centered around swim & sun!! The boys love our neighborhood pool and we've had lots of opportunities to get our feet wet. I was a bit worried when summer hit, b/c both Braden and Gavin were a bit timid when it came to swim time... but a week later we were back on track. My favorite pictures series: Braden braving the "jump"

We had a great time with Blake's side of the Family at a Chapman Family Reunion on Lake Lure!! Which of course included, more fun in the sun!

No shortage on Branch activities this summer either!! Have to give a shout out :)

I LOVE WHEN

2010-07-02T23:35:00.001-04:00

I come home from a session completely energized and inspired!! Had one of those nights last night... everything seemed to click (ha, no pun intended!!) PLUS I can't help but be overly enthusiastic about my beautiful new BFF, the spectacular Canon 7D - Oh how I love thee (now I'm rhyming). Add shooting with the uber fabulous 24-70mm 2.8 lens into the mix, plus perfect lighting... it doesn't get much better. Jump on over here for the sneak peek!!

Sunday FUNDAY...

2010-06-30T01:37:00.000-04:00

I am officially confessing that Sundays are probably one of the hardest days of the week for me. Okay... there, I said it!!

#1 church is at 2:30.... YES 2:30 in the afternoon!! #2 For the past 4 1/2 years I have been doing Sundays by myself. Blake is gone early for meetings and gets home late (some Sundays after 8pm). I have had to sit by myself w/ the kiddies for a LONG time now... and these ages are rough, which is fine... but sitting still for one hour (with 1, 2 or 3 parents) is a joke! #3 Church happens to coincide with nap time so you can only imagine how #2 plays out each week w/ NO nap. Sometimes we just go sit in the car. In the end, we make the best of it. We love the Branch and wouldn't have things any other way

This past Sunday I had to give a talk (in Spanish of course) as well as my usual Sunday school class. I really needed to review/practice/study and we had about 45 mins. until we needed to leave. I pulled out my secret weapon (the movie robots) and let the boys watch it on my bed... a very special privilege. When I came in the room, ready to pack everyone up to head to church this is what I found (I thought they were being awfully quiet)!!! Can I tell you how bad I wanted to crawl in bed with them... sigh!!!

We did make it to church and I know this time in our life won't last forever. This is why despite the craziness, I want to remember the details and smile back on our Sunday Fundays.

Tae Kwon Dooooooo

2010-06-30T01:19:00.000-04:00

Braden is officially back in business with all things Tae Kwon Do! In fact, Friday he tested for his purple belt... an extremely exciting occasion here at the Hart house! There were so many funny pictures, it was hard to choose just a few. I just love his expressions. He was the youngest one (at 4 1/2 to test) and his focus is not razor sharp :) But he gave it his all and I love that he has something he can be dedicated to.

Gotta give a shout out to G-man who patiently sits through hours of classes each week! During testing though, he was done... he walked himself to the waiting room, grabbed a bag of chips and a soda (Blake had left them in the waiting area) and sat happily enjoying his snack!

"Focus" says Master Russell

Love this the most... Gavin is attempting to break his own board!!

Kiddie Camp Wrap Up!!

2010-06-29T15:10:00.000-04:00

We had a blast with Kiddie Camp in our home this past week! It was the perfect sized crew and we enjoyed a jam-packed week full of activities and fun! Here area few pics... these first ones are from the mini photo shoot we did. The rest range from painting & zingo to our last day of kiddie yoga and movement! Thanks to all the kiddies who participated... I may be doing one more the 1st week in August... I enjoyed it that much!

Kiddie Camp in Full Effect!

2010-06-22T00:51:00.001-04:00

Today started our first day of Camp... at the Hart's House!! After researching tons of different camp options and adding up the $$, driving, time etc... I decided I would combine everything I wanted my kiddos to experience and come up with my own AND then open it up to friends in the neighborhood!!

So far so good... actually better than good. We had a fantastic time today and I'm really looking forward to Wed. and Friday!

Here's our itinerary:

Monday: {SAFARI DAY} Reading and Theatre Arts, Mini Photo Shoot

Wednesday: {Aloha, Island Fever} Creative Arts and Crafts, Language Activities (Spanish), Baking

Friday: Movement and Music with Kiddie Yoga and More - Take Home Photo

I'll be blogging and sharing more at the end of the week!!

ALOHA!!!

2010-06-15T01:24:00.000-04:00

GUESS WHAT!?!?!

Hart to Hart Digital is headed to Hawaii to shoot a wedding the weekend of August 14th!!! AHHHHHHHHH {scream with me now} I am beyond thrilled and grateful for this incredible opportunity (I mean I cannot fill my sentences with enough superlatives at the moment).

Yes, it's my first time... No, Blake can't come with {tear drop... he has a few major commitments and other things going and it is just not going to work out this time} BUT, I will continue working my bootie off so someday we can go back together!

SO... if you've been to Hawaii and/or are a Hawaiian aficionado I'd LOVE to hear any of your favorite spots, activities "must do's" etc....

Alaho.... I can almost hear the waves crashing.....

Florida Trip - June 2010

2010-06-15T00:00:00.000-04:00

Hello Hello! It’s officially been a week since we’ve been home from yet another fantastic Florida adventure. (Starting to feel like a broken record… what can I say though, we have so much fun there!!). Anyway, I had hoped to get this blog post done this past weekend (in my attempt to stay on top of things), but Friday night I got carried away in the blogosphere and DANG, some people have amazing lives – more on that later. Suffice to say I am back to living my own life and happy to share a few pics from our trip.

Our main reason for heading down south was for my little bro’s high school graduation. The first few days were filled with his party and graduation ceremony.

That weekend Braden got to travel down to Tampa w/ Ahma, Tanner and his great friend Robert who was adding a stripe to his black belt via the annual testing this year held in Tampa, FL. Apparently it is a VERY cutthroat endeavor and Braden was amazed by it all! He absolutely LOVE tae kwon do… could it be b/c he loves all things weapons and fighting?

Anyway, moving in to the second week, we had a great time shopping (the outlets in FL are the BEST), playing w/ neighborhood friends, fishing off the dock, swimming in our neighbors beautiful pool and so forth.

Ahma pulled some oldies but goodies out of her FHE box!!

Peekaboooo!!

The second weekend of our trip, Ashlee and I took Braden down to Sanibel Island… GORGEOUS!! We met Marliss and her 3 little cutie pies and stayed at a beautiful little hotel right on the beach.

YUM!! The best hamburger EVER.

I love the picture of her little boy Banner asleep on my shoulder in the pool. He is delicious!!!

Friday Ash, Braden and I did something that has officially made it to my “Favorite Things” list (which doesn’t really exist, but if it did, this is so on it!). We rented bikes… but not just any bike, B and I shared a tandem adult kiddie bike and it rocked. We peddled all the way down to the end of the Island – down to the lighthouse. It was about 5 miles roundtrip and my little guy peddled furiously the entire time. Sun burnt and sweaty he cried when we had to turn the bikes in, “MOOOOM, I don’t want to stooooop”. It was SO much fun (and a great workout for me). I WANT ONE! *side note, I just found out this week you can purchase the "child tandem add-on at Target"!! Definitely getting that soon :)

Sat. night, we celebrated my Moms, ____ B-day with dinner and a show!! We hit up the hilarious “Sak’s Improve Comedy Club”… it was seriously funny and high note to end the trip on. The boys and I left Monday and the drive back was PERFECTION!! It was our best yet. They slept several of the 9 hours and were so well behaved!!

I feel so blessed to be able to visit/see my family as often as I do. I’m always jealous of people who live SO CLOSE to family… but for now I will settle for our Florida trips here and there and just be thankful we are able to make them!!!

LASTLY… we are on pins and needles waiting for Tanner’s mission call!! We thought it would come while we were out there…. IT HAS TO COME THIS WEEK! Stay tuned.

SPICE UP YOUR WALLS!

2010-06-07T10:58:00.003-04:00

For anyone looking to spice up your walls with photographs and/or art, I just did an inspirational post on my photography blog with a few fun ideas I am trying to gather for my own clients.

The things is, is there are so many MORE amazing ideas out there!!! It's exciting and overwhelming all in one. If you have any favorite sites (photography design and the likes) I'd love to add them to my collection!

Start Spreadin' The News!!!

2010-05-11T21:29:00.003-04:00

I can't believe it's already been a whole week since the big trip!! I wanted to sit down and blog the details before they slipped away! I had 5 photo shoots this week and Braden had surgery today (more on that later) so it was definitely a break from reality... though "break" is hardly the word I would use to sum up 4 jam-packed, fun-filled, inspiring days in the Big Apple!!

First and foremost, I have to give a little shout out to my wonderful hubby for supporting me in going and making it all work out on the home front. It's never easy to walk away from your family, esp. with little ones, but Blake really pulled through w/ the help of many... so THANK YOU!!

Another fun tidbit: I was able to spend the entire weekend with my Sis. Ash, who coincidentally flew in from Dubai the same day... within the same hour. SO, we met at the airport Friday afternoon and AWAY WE WENT!!

Friday night was the big awards ceremony portion of the AMI convention at the Waldorf Astoria. Just being in such a historical place was awesome. What a way to start the weekend. I saw many women who I had the pleasure of meeting during this past month at the Governor's Mansion event and so forth. The entire evening was fantastic. There was a DVD presentation of the Cultural Art award winners and we were called up on stage as well. The whole evening focused on "excellence" for women/mothers. It was really neat and I was honored to be there.

From there, we met up with my good friend Amber and hit Iguanas near Times Square. It is a restaurant/club with a live Salsa band and dancing!! Very fun. We ended up walking around Times Square until early morn.... had to get some "NY Cheesecake". Only in NYC is that possible at 2am! It was delish! I must add that this trip was all about the food and broadway. Two of my favorite things!!

So, after a solid 4 hours of sleep, Amber and I set out for Times Square again, this time to wait a few hours for $30 Rush tickets for the new broadway show "Promises, Promises" with Sean Hayes and Kristen Chenowith. We were FIRST in the rush line and scored tickets for the matinee! It's crazy how long the line got by 10am! Luckily Amber is a profesh at this, so we came prepared w/ lawn chairs.

Meanwhile, a few blocks down, Revlon was kicking off a huge run/walk for breast cancer and Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba and Dr. Oz were there to support it. It was SO COOL to see so many people there running for the cause. And of course, I love a great celeb sighting. I snuck around to the side of the stage as they were walking off and got close enough to snap a few good pics!

Okay... on to Promises, Promises!! I thoroughly enjoyed the show!! I LOVED Sean Hayes' character, which had us laughing out loud. Kristen Cheno's character was a bit more serious at times, but the music was great (previewed on Glee the week prior). THE BEST part, of course, was waiting with the crowds at the stage door. We snuck out of the show 2 minutes early (learned that last time around) and were at the front of the "pack" to say hi to the actors. Sean Hayes was so nice... even though I HATE that picture of my triple chin with him. Oh well... he was awesome.

Little pint-sized Kristen was adorable!! She has so much personality and I enjoyed seeing her so close as well!!

After the show we met up with my cousin Amber (2 Ambers!!) and grabbed a bite to eat at Le Parker Meridian Hotel (can't remember the name of the restaurant). Ash and I were bound and determined to see the show "In the Heights" so we ran a few blocks down and threw our names in the lottery (10 names are picked nightly for $26.50 front row seats). Well, guess who's name got called: ASHLEE'S!! WE were pumped. More on that in a minute.

First we snapped a quick pic of the group before we had to go into our show. You may notice the police man, the barricades and the cop cars in the background. This was taken MINUTES before the whole "car bomb debacle". YES, WE WERE LITERALLY ON 42nd street... right where it all went down, right WHEN it all went down. Of course we didn't know exactly what was going on, but let me tell you it was MAYHEM!!! The cops were yelling, the were barricading every which way, and the people were so confused and freaked out, it was crazy!!

Ash and I ran to make it to our Show (snuck in a few cupcakes from CRUMBS!!! YUM!!). FRONT ROW WAS AWESOME!! The show ended up starting 45 minutes late due to police activity and once in, we couldn't leave the building, BUT we did get to see the whole show AND it was AMAZING!!! Seriously, one of my favorite new shows. PLUS, will from season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance is in the show (and Corbin Blue did a FANTASTIC job as well!!!). We saw Will after the show and grabbed a quick picture with him before the Police continued to wrangle the crowds out of Times Square.

What a night! Sunday morning we met up with our good friends the Smocks who recently moved to the city. They live in a beautiful apartment and took us to the best Bagel shop for breakfast. We walked to Central Park and enjoyed a gorgeous morning. Thanks Smocks... it was so fun to see you and the girlies!!

We hit a few more spots -- Grand Central Station, H&M, Mexicana Mama (one of favorites from last time) AND for all you Food Network junkies, Ash and I have had our eye on this 24 layer chocolate cake, every since it previewed on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate". When we found out we were going to be close to the Strip House, we had to pop in for a bite... or two. THIS CAKE WAS INCREDIBLE!! AND HUGE!! It was ohhh, so good.

That night, we ended up getting a hotel in SOHO and strolled through Little Italy to round out the day.

Monday... the final day!! Just to back up a bit, the night before I left for New York, I got a call from the Regis and Kelly show, letting us know they had tickets for us for Monday (I had written a few weeks earlier, but thought it was too last minute). So we were pumped for the show and although our Taxi driver went all kinds of crazy in getting us lost, we made it in time and even scored FRONT AND CENTER seats.

Anyway, we were semi excited b/c it was Betty White and a NCIS dude... but after they filmed Monday's live show, they surprised us by filming Friday's show as well. Which included.... drum roll...... RUSSELL CROWE!!! Ahhh... he was so fun to see in person. They also filmed Sofia Vergara (Blake's favorita) and Chris Noth.

Since Russell Crowe is promoting Robin Hood, he brought his trusty bow and arrow!!

It was really cool being so close. Reg and Kelly would come right up to our area during every commercial break and interact with the audience. I told Kelly I loved her shoes... she was rockin' the 5 inch heel! BTW, she is SO TINY, it's unbelievable. It makes me never want to eat again!! Call us crazy, but we love a good "celeb experience" and this one topped them all!!

We stopped by the temple on our way out... it is so beautiful, just right there on 65th street (I think?!!)

AND LASTLY, for the big finale, we did a little shopping on canal street and then crossed the Brooklyn Bridge to the infamous "Grimaldis". Yep, I have to admit it... some of the BEST pizza I've ever had. The last time we were in town, the line was an hour long. We lucked out Monday and waited 5 minutes max. It was a GREAT way to end one of the MOST AMAZING weekends ever.

Wow, what else can I say! The trip exceeded all my expectations. I would have been happy with just Friday night. It was a great experience to be apart of and recognized within the AMI conference. From there it just kept getting better!! Thank you to Amber for letting us crash with you and for your intricate knowledge of subways and streets!! If you made it this far in my "Journal" thanks for stopping by and letting me share!!

NYC Bound

2010-04-24T00:50:00.007-04:00

Since I last posted/shared about my graphic arts award a few more exciting things have surfaced! First and foremost I am headed to NYC a week from today and I am BEYOND excited. On Friday night the National AMI convention - held at none other than the Waldorf Astoria - will kick off and I get to attend the ceremony to receive the award!!

My sister Ashlee coincidentally happens to be flying home from her month long adventure in Dubai and has a layover in NYC. She'll drop the last leg and stay the weekend w/ me in New York... the timing could not have worked out better!!!! We arrive to JFK within 15 mins of each other.

Anyway, it should be a fun weekend. It will be fun to catch up with friends AND of course we will be making a little time for broadway. Top on the list: (you know we'll be doing some theatre door stalking!!)

Lastly, if you're not already tired of hearing about all this, A little article came out in out in our local paper this week covering the whole story. I was excited... if anything it will be great advertising for my business.

A fun week with Uncle T!!

2010-04-24T00:30:00.002-04:00

We got a very special visit this week from my brother Taylor -- driving cross country from college (BYUi) to home (Orlando) for the summer. The boys were in heaven... especially since it was a busy week for Blake and we did not get to see much of him!! Let the good times roll...

We had nightly wrestling matches, hulk hands and all

We went strawberry picking and made awesome salads, juices and smoothies with all the delicious berries!!

AND the highlight for Bray was building a model airplane FROM SCRATCH. Seriously, I don't know how Taylor came up with this. He literally had a few dowels, foam core and duct tape... I mean what else would you need. They did get a little hobby shop propeller plane too but nothing can compare to this turbo glider!!

Thanks for stopping through Uncle T-Sizzle! It was a blast. Oh... and we have to mention Taylor's "Cardio Funk" debut. I talked him into trying my cardio hip hop class - I am addicted and love bringing new blood to the dance floor (plus if Blake can do it... you can too!) Anyway, he did great and even got up in front during "All the Single Ladies". hahaha... now that's a picture I wish I had!

A GREAT HONOR!!

2010-04-09T22:22:00.004-04:00

Many of you know what a rocky month this has been for our family, to say the least!! About a week and a half ago amidst the throws of it all, I have to admit I was feeling a bit down. I hadn't really left the house in 3 weeks and Braden's personality had yet to make a full come back.

To preface this all, a few months earlier I had entered a cultural arts design contest through the American Mother Inc Association at the suggestion of my dear friend Carrie. I entered on the National level in the categories of Photography and then Graphic Design not really thinking anything of it. Fast forward to my "down in the dumps" week, I received a letter in the mail with the news that I had won first place on the national level for my graphic design entry. WHAAAAT! The news could not have come at a better time. I was thrilled!

Then, two days later, the President of the South Carolina chapter emailed me and invited me to SC Mother of the Year celebration down in Columbian, SC which took place yesterday. I won't bore with too many details but it was a FABULOUS DAY!! First a luncheon honoring various outstanding women in South Carolina at the Palmetto Club. I was seated at the head center table and felt like a faux celeb!! I made so many great connections and was even asked to help participate in design work w/ the association as well as illustrate a children's book through photographs?!!

Next stop, the Governor's Mansion. Another luncheon/tea with fabulous food and more honoring. This portion was mainly for the SC Mother of the Year, but again, I met many great people and had a wonderful time. I felt so dotted on and was handing out business cards like crazy.

Sigh... back to reality!! It was a great honor though and I am hoping to make it out to NYC April 30th - May 2nd for the national convention where they will hand out the national awards!!

Thanks for letting me share. The good news could not have come at a better time. I will add that Braden is doing well. He will have oral surgery within the next few weeks so we are just waiting to hear how that will all play out!!

I'm posting a picture of me from yesterday. I was talking too much to get any other really great ones (at least with my camera)

While I was busy on one side of town, Blake was on the other with the kiddies at the Columbia Zoo!! Lot's of funny pictures, had to post a few :)

Just monkey-in' around!!

Easter in Cherokee 2010

2010-04-09T14:17:00.001-04:00

We had a great time celebrating Easter with Blake's family this year!! Even though I couldn't get Gavin to smile for any pics... don't let it fool you, we had a blast!! The weather was fantastic and the cousins had a lot of fun together.

Family Easter egg hunt in the park!! I loved Millie's oh-so-fashionable "hand bag basket". Also, Braden was hamming it up for the camera big time! Other than that, between the hunt on Sat. and a visit from the Easter bunny on Sunday, it's safe to say the kiddies got plenty of easter-time fun in AND plenty of CANDY.

Yay! The EB found us all the way in Cherokee :)

And of course the crowning moment for the boys... a ride on Papa's motorcycle (G says "papdirtbike" (one word, referring to ANY and ALL motorcycles). I think they would have driven home just like this given the chance!!

How Cute is THAT!

2010-04-01T14:47:00.002-04:00

Ash was helping me update my headshot on Tues. and these two were hamming it up the entire time!! Gavy's face is his personality to a T right now... you can also see how well Mr. B is healing.

The Last 3 Weeks... or so!!

2010-04-01T13:52:00.004-04:00

Thought I would post another update on how life has been the past few weeks. First things first... each week is getting progressively better and I even feel like we are getting our "old Braden" back personality wise, so that is good!

We made a trip to the plastic surgeon who was very happy with the healing of his face. There is still a lot of scar tissue resolving, but I am amazed and happy with his bottom lip up to this point.

We did have a little trip up this week. After visit #2 with Braden's Ped. Dentist, we did find out that there is still some extensive oral surgery ahead. Because his mouth was so swollen for a while (and let's face it, we weren't really trying to get in there and look around b/c for a while touching Bray anywhere was drama) we weren't able to see what was going on. But last week we discovered that the gums above his left "I tooth" are completely disintegrated and the tooth is exposed from root to tip. A few surrounding teeth are gray (dead) and his lip on the right side is healing and attaching itself (through scar tissue) straight to the gum surface. Okay!!! So, we are not out of the clear yet.

We are distraught about having to put this little guy through more surgery, but we can't leave things put with the way his mouth is healing. We visit the oral surgeon next week to check out more options.

Anyway, we have still been so appreciative of help with meals in the neighborhood (still going strong and has been such an amazing thing) as well as help with Gavin!!

Aunt Ashlee came for a visit for the past few days and that was awesome!!! Both boys LOVED that and we were sad to see her go!! She's headed to Dubai to help Tiffani w/ her new, sweet little baby Zoey!!

So, it seems like by last week I hadn't left the house at all!!! I was getting a bit stir crazy as was Braden. I had cancelled all camera classes and work related projects (though I did manage to get the new website up and running - another story!!) and was determined to make this week a little more normal. Here's what else we've been up to!!

Tuesday I had the amazing opportunity to take a contemporary dance workshop from the Parson's Dance Company (based out of NYC). They were in town for 4 days with their show and they offered an advanced modern masterclass through NC Dance Theatre. Yes, I have danced my whole life and was on the modern dance company in college, BUT that was a LONG time ago!! Let me just say that this was one of the BEST classes I have ever taken and it of course made me miss moving/dancing like that, like CRAZY!! There are just not enough hours in the day and/or days in the week for the things I wish I could do!!

BTW, I'm still sore, but it was so worth it!

Friday night Blake and I went on a date (it had been a while!!). We hit up the Robin Thicke concert at the Fillmore here in Charlotte! We went with some good friends and had a GREAT time. I am a bit obsessed with RT (you now when you just find THAT song?!?!) So for the past 5 years I have loved him. This show was awesome b/c it was up close and personal.

Not too big, not too crazy.

You rocked it Robin!!! Love the voice, love the moves, love it all :)

And last but not least, is anyone else in love with Forsythia as much as I am!! Seriously, just seeing these wild yellow bushes growing all over makes me so happy!! I bought one and planted it on the side of my house this weekend, just because!

I must say that Spring makes me so happy!!! At least I've got that going for me :)

An Update of Sorts!

2010-03-19T00:28:00.004-04:00

I have been hiding from my blog.

I could also say that I have been unbelievably busy and distracted with the events that have sort of turned our life upside down over the past few weeks… but really I’ve just been in hiding in general. Actually, maybe more like holing up or hunkering down… Mainly just trying to help my little guy get better and amazingly enough, HE IS GETTING BETTER!!

So, tonight I thought I would write down a few of the details from the accident, if anything to have them for our little family journal, that is this blog.

It’s not something that you really want to remember, but it’s also something you don’t want to forget. Meaning: It’s hard and sad that it almost takes something traumatic to really slap you in face and remind you of the single most important thing in life, but it’s also amazing and humbling to see the overflow of love, support, concern, prayers, calls, thoughts, messages, acts of kindness etc… I am truly overwhelmed and beyond grateful for it all and don’t ever want to forget it.

Saturday, March 6^th however is a different story. In short, Blake and Braden were headed to a Saturday morning basketball game. The were in Ballantyne heading north on Johnston road when a teenager failed to yield coming out of a median in the Ballantyne Country club. They hit hard. Blake's car is totaled. Poor Braden's lips/lower face were torn up. Although he was in his car seat and buckled in, the force of the hit threw him pretty hard into the front passenger seat causing lacerations by his teeth.

I got a call a few minutes after it happened. Blake told me an accident had happened and then threw his phone to a bystander to explain a bit more. I was already on my way into Ballantyne for a baby shower, so I booked it as quickly as I could to get down there, I however, was not prepared arriving to the scene. I freaked out when I saw a fire truck and ambulance… and the car. There was glass and blood everywhere… it was just crazy.

I saw Braden for the first time in the ambulance. His face was all bloody and he was in shock… seriously it was a mother's worse nightmare. I was crying and wanted to scream but the EMT said I would have to pull it together. We tried to keep him stable all the way to hospital uptown. He went from the ER, to radiology (catscans etc..) Then immediately had plastic surgery to sew up his lip as well as laparoscopic surgery in the abdomen due to major abdominal bruising and bleeding. He had a fractured nose, and his poor little face was swollen and black and blue.

Thankfully Blake was okay, just bruised and sore and his knee got banged up a bit. He was released from the ER after a few hours and we stayed with Braden for 3 days until they let him come home.

My Mom and Sister Camille, drove all day Sunday to get here. Blake’s parents were on their way home from a cruise and drove to be there Saturday night. We had help w/ Gavin from fantastic church friends and really had so many prayers and thoughts with us, that we could feel it.

Of course the best news was that everything is going to be okay. What has been amazing to me is how quickly the physical wounds are healing. Braden was/and has been such a trouper. The hospital was again, a bit of a nightmare, but who can blame a 4 year-old… I can only imagine what was going on in his head!

Anyway, we made it home from the hospital last Monday and though it's been up and down... it could've been worse so we are grateful for that. His face is looking so good, the pain has been minimized. We go back to the plastic surgeon next week to finalize things with that. His swelling and bruising is almost gone!!! Emotionally we're still on a roller coaster but that is definitely expected!! I have had such great help with Gavin (thank you thank you friends) and the BEST neighbors helping with meals. We’ve had packages and goodie baskets, crafts and deliveries all throughout the week and you can only imagine how much that has helped lift Braden’s spirits. Again, he has been such a trouper!!

I cannot express my gratitude enough. You never expect or hope to be on this end, but it does give you a humbling view of how wonderful it is to be loved and supported by so many.

I hope this post didn’t scare anyone! Just wanted to write out the story. Also, I’m posting a few pictures from day 5 on out. Definitely not going to post the ones from the first few days. Thank you again to anyone who has prayed, helped and supported in any way!

On a final happy note... we had a surprise visit from Darth Vader himself! You can't even imagine how excited/happy Braden was. Star Wars is what has been literally getting him through each day, so this was the icing on the cake! (A huge thanks to our fabulous neighbor who makes being a fan look good)!!

The Illustrious Yellow Belt Test... Finally Conquered!!

2010-03-18T23:28:00.002-04:00

Braden tested for his yellow belt (finally!!!) on Friday, March 6th. He's been in Karate since he was 3 and half, but for some reason we never quite made it to testing!! Anyway, he rocked the test and was happy and all smiles all day Friday. Then Saturday happened...

No worries though. We know he'll be back mastering his Tae Kwon Do Ninja skills in no time! He's such a champ and even though he's not cleared to go back for a while... he'll get there!

EVERYBODY LOVES A GIVEAWAY!!

2010-02-24T23:12:00.008-05:00

I just did this same post on my Photography blog... and since it's a giveaway, I thought I would do a little cross-promotion!!!!

Earlier this week I posted some tidbits on exciting promotions taking place over the next few months. Today Introduced a few more new elements to the blog.

In addition to the monthly promos I am also going to start posting photography & photoshop tips as well as highlight preferred vendors/blogs. I think this will be a fun interactive way to stay connected with YOU ALL!!

So, to kick things off I am highlighting a blog AND GIVING SOMETHING A WAY!!! This weekend I will be presenting a photography class at a mini women's retreat for my church. In my research I came across this fantastic site:

ellapublishing.com

Ella Publishing Co. is an innovator in the creation and delivery of digital books (eBooks) to the scrapbook industry. Founded in 2009 by Lain Ehmann and Angie Lucas, Ella Publishing Co. aims to inspire, educate, and entertain memory keepers around the world with top-quality emedia products

Since my goal this year is to become more educated (and of course share this education the best I can with YOU - hence the offering of photography/photoshop classes, workshops etc...) I am giving away a mini

"On-the-Go Photo Tips Photography Guide"

All you have to do is leave your name & email in the comment section on my Hart to Hart Digital Blog. This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere, interested in learning a bit more about taking better pictures!!! Become a follower and you will be entered twice!! Stay tuned for tips and more giveaways. Good luck and happy snapping!!

A NEW LOOK!!

2010-02-23T23:36:00.004-05:00

Lots more trip pictures to come... but while I'm here posting, I thought I would FINALLY FINALLY update my blog aesthetically speaking. Wow, that was long over due. I am so over the green and black and all our feet at the top of the page!! I needed something more colorful and fun. And don't worry, I only wasted the whole night on the header. I hate how obsessive I can be. Yay!! Spring and warmth and brightness is just around the corner :)

Wickedly Good Times in Florida!!

2010-02-23T23:27:00.002-05:00

What a fabulous week this has shaped out to be!! The boys and I drove down to Florida last Wednesday... we were going through "grandparent withdraws" (mutually... right Mom!!!) And we also had occasion to celebrate: Aunt Ashlee turned the BIG Three Oh. Since she and I saw the musical Wicked on Broadway for mine in '08, we decided it would be fun to see it again for hers (I'm liking this tradition!).

Anyway, we had a great evening/night down in Tampa. The show was A-MAZING once again, and we left in a giddy, Glinda induced coma, that caused us to all swap shoes (oh, the blisters) and order every desert on the menu at midnight!! HAPPY B-DAY ASH!! Thanks for letting us celebrate with you :)

SNOW DRIFTING...

2010-02-13T14:32:00.003-05:00

Yesterday boasted a little more action than we planned for!! It started snowing around 5pm right as the boys and I were leaving karate. We had to run home, get ready, make a quick dish and then turn around and head back to the church for the Branch V-day Party. Long story short, the difference between the 5pm snow and the 7pm was phenomenal! Before we knew it we were driving 15 mph in a bit of a snowstorm. Now, I do have an SUV, but it is neither all wheel, nor front wheel drive… the thing is a nightmare to drive in the snow. Had I realized when we left how bad/dangerous the roads were, I wouldn’t have gone, but just 2 hours before they were fine, so we decided to head out anyway.

So there we were trekking along as slow as possible, trying not to freak out. It didn’t help that my windshield wipers are apparently on it’s their last legs and I was having trouble seeing out the window. Anyway, about half way there, I hit a patch of something and started sliding. I was in the right line… we slid left, then back right (It’s all slow motion, but I think I remember lighting trying to turn the wheel and NOT slam on the breaks). From there we did a full 360 and then started another one as we spun into the median/ditch in the middle of the road. We ended up stuck in the ditch facing on coming traffic. I couldn’t move the car and I was trying to stay CALM!! No one was hurt; the boys were fine (though Braden was worried that we were going to get a ticket).

What happened from here on out, I consider an absolute miracle and godsend!! I called Blake (at the church) and he left immediately, but was still a good 20 mins. away. He told me to stay put… I couldn’t really move so that was fine. A few minutes later, my neighbor Kelly called and asked if I was home… I told her I was actually stuck in a ditch on the 521. She said, she was afraid I would say that!! They had just passed me on the road and saw the white ENVOY. Here’s the kicker: she was driving by but wasn’t sure if it was me stuck in the snow. At the moment she turned her head back I turned my interior light on and she saw my hair. I had a feeling to turn on my interior light at that moment and I’m so glad I listened. She called and sent her husband back to help us AND here’s why having Jason help us was such a godsend. I would’ve stayed put, but Jason decided to start backing us up (parallel to the road) to see if we could get a little more traction somewhere else. After we backed up a bit, he got out to survey the area. Literally moments after we had moved, a mustang came flying off the road and spun/landed in the exact spot where were before we moved. Ahhhhhh… can you even imagine. I am beyond grateful that again, no one was hurt. We left the car there last night, but managed to get it out this morning once the snow melted a bit. Everything’s fine, but it’s got me thinking.

I know we were blessed, watched over and protected and I don’t ever want to take that for granted. There were so many little ways the Lord watched out for us last night… It was not a big accident or anything over traumatic, but something happens when your car starts spinning and things start happening in slow motion! I am beyond grateful for all my blessings – little and big. I feel foolish for having expectations of the shape and form of blessings; when in fact little tenders mercies and being safe and protect exceed all else. By sharing this, I don’t want to make it more dramatic than it was… I just want to be able to have the reminder that the Lord truly is mindful of us and loves us all.

Happy Valentines Day… I am definitely feeling the love.

I happened to have my camera in my pocket... grabbed it right as we walked out the door for the party. I took a few pics of the car after we backed up! CRAZY!

We first landed right were the mustang was...

Enough of the scary stuff!! This morning we played in the snow!! Major snow ball fight :)

SOME PRE-VALENTINES PARTYING!!

2010-02-13T14:20:00.004-05:00

Last weekend Blake and I had 2 dates in one day... that's a rarity that definitely deserved a post. We had a babysitter come around 4p so that we could see an early 3D showing of AVATAR!! Wow, it rocked our world! Visually, it was amazing :) I'm am usually not into big budget, sci-fi etc... but this defied anything I've seen.

On to the Copes annual Valentines bash!! It was a blast and as you can see by Blake's and my face, we were all to excited to be there! We actually did pretty good on this year's "Rate My Mate" game... I mean we're not up to the Wahers status yet, but a girl can dream!!