Dara May Photography

Vegas - Day 2

2012-02-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome back for day two of Vegas!

The second day we walked around the other end of the strip that we missed the day before. That’s when we saw the lions at MGM Grand, New York New York, The Cosmopolitan and Planet Hollywood Hotel.

My shirt for the morning!

We had a forgettable lunch at the buffet in the Planet Hollywood Hotel/Casino, but it was good enough. We raced back to our hotel next door after lunch to get ready for our vow renewal.

Our clothes

Our vows were renewed by none other than Las Vegas legend Elvis Presley. I knew that Elvis had to hold our service because he has special importance in our relationship. Our first trip ever was to Memphis to see Gracelandwhen Matt and I started dating. There was a group of us that went on that trip and we stayed at the Heartbreak hotel campground one night, kind of fun huh? Our wedding song was also an Elvis hit, Can't help falling in love. So we have a small love for him and knew that he had to renew our vows. We went through "A Elvis Chapel", and were really happy with the company. Our Elvis was really sweet and fun. He was also genuine and didn’t try to rush us through. Our package included a photographer, photos on a cd, and a limo ride to and from our hotel, which ended up being a blessing. I only wish it was in a pink cadillac instead, but hey I'm just glad we didn't have to take an expensive taxi. We also paid to have the renewals live on the web and got a dvd of the service as well. So all of you lucky readers will get a chance to relive our 5 year anniversary vow renewals as if you were there with us. Some of you will even feel like you are flashing back to our original wedding day, either way, we are glad you can be here with us ; )

Us singing "viva las vegas"

Us in the limo on our way back to the hotel.

That night we walked around Cesar's Palace and the Forum Shops. I got to see a three story H&M (drool), and a Christian Louboutin shoe store (more drool).

But there wasn't much time or money in the budget to shop, so we forged on and decided to eat at P.J. Clarke's. It was a great ‘lil place to sit and people watch as we ate. Our next stop was the Bellagio to see "O". I bought tickets for the show 1-2 months before our trip and the tickets were practically sold out. I did find a discount ticket section on their website and was able to find tickets on row F, stage left on the aisle. It was either there or ALL the way on the back row at the top of the auditorium. I figured we might enjoy the show a little more if we could actually see and it would be neat to view everything so up close. We weren't disappointed. We did miss a few unimportant things that happened on the side, but for most part, we had great seats. The fact that everything was done in water, over water, and under water, was amazing. The costumes were unbelievable and had to withstand being wet and dry and still move like they needed them to. On your way in and out of the show you had to walk past an art gallery of sculptures done by an artist Richard MacDonald. He worked with the Cirque du Soleil performers to make these beautiful pieces of art. The reason I tell you this is because it will come up later in another post, so note to self, remember the Cirque du Soleil sculptures.

Tomorrow there will be the last installment of the Vegas pictures. It will cover our last 1.5 days there and tons of pictues to show.

Viva Las Vegas...We got hitched!

2012-02-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

I am finally posting on our Vegas trip! It has taken me a while to write it, then get Matt go over it and make sure I didnt forget anything. So after much anticipation, here's the trip! Enjoy!

For our 5 year anniversary this past year, we decided to take abig trip to renew our vows. Ever since day one of our marriage, I couldn't waitto get married to Matt again. I wanted to get married everywhere, on the beach,in the Mountains, anywhere really on God's beautiful green earth, even in Las Vegas. Earlier in thesummer our company held an auction to raise money for one of our coworkerswhose daughter was going through cancer treatments.(Check out more about Faye’sfight here. She is a wonderful and brave littlegirl). One of the auction items was a trip to Las Vegas, which included airfare and hotel.Matt and I had been making plans to go to Vegas the previous year, but plans hadfallen through, so this time we jumped at the chance and beat out others to winthis trip and all for a good cause. After we won the trip, I couldn't decidewhen we should go. There was a Photoshop conference in Sept that I had freetickets to attend, but I just couldn't make up my mind and ended up not going.Then a few people from work were going to a trade show and I thought aboutmeeting them there so we could all go out after the trade shows had ended andhang out. After I talked to Matt about it, he decided he wanted a trip thatjust the two of us could go on since we hadn't done that in a while. So afterthat decision, I thought it would be a great idea to just go for ouranniversary. This would mark our 5 year anniversary. Big milestone right? We're practically not Newlyweds anymore.

Us at the Dallas airport waiting on or flight out to Vegas.

I talked to everyone I knew that had gone to Vegas to get ideas onwhat all to do and not to do. Scarlett let me know about free stuff to do thatincluded the Lions at MGM Grand. Co-workers let me know about last minuteticket places and buffets. My mom told me about the zipline on Freemont St. and howshe wished she could have done it. And others gave me their opinions on whereto stay.

The view from our room.

In the end we stayed at the Paris Hotel. We had a little problem with our check in, but upgraded to a room with a view of the Eiffel Tower, and all was made better. The upgrade was totally worth it because our view was amazing. We had a view of the strip, the Eiffel tower and the Bellagio as well as most of the famous fountains.

Looking a lil rough but excited to be in a room! Especially this room.

Our outdated but spectaucular room. Our other window to the right of the room (not in the picture) was facing Bally's and the strip.

We got to see a lot of the fountain shows butdidn't get to hear the music that went along with it for most of them. Alongwith our upgrade we received free breakfast in the morning and free cocktailsand hor d’ourves in the evening. This really rocked our socks off since wewouldn't have to worry about getting breakfast every morning. We had planned ongetting our free drinks and snacks in the evening and then head out to sightsee then grab a dinner at a great place. However the snacks would always fillus up, so I think we only ate dinner out once which happened to be the night ofour anniversary.

From Paris with Love!

View from the club where we had free breakfast and hor d’ourves.

The first day/afternoon there we just walked around the strip going in and out of the casino/hotels to check them all out and see what all there was to do at each of them. We saw the awful show at TI, where the best part is the whole ship sinking thing. We rode the gondola at the Venetian where we were serenaded by our boat captain. It was a pretty slow night, so we got the whole boat to ourselves for the cheap rate, which was pretty awesome.

The Venetian where we had our gondola ride.

At the TI sirens show

The Volcano at the Mirage

The strip

Eiffel tower at Paris, I am a lil obsessed with the Eiffel for some of you that don't know me.

The balloon at Paris

I have three more days to write about, but it will be condinsed down to two posts. I hope you come back to see what we did. You won't want to miss Monday's post, it's when Matt and I renewed our vows! It will be so worth it because we even have a video.

Building "A" frame

2012-02-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

How did everyone's Valentines day go? Ours wasn't quite as planned. Bowling didn't work out which really upset me because I was really looking forward to it. So luckily there was a plan B in which we got a free rental from the Redbox, picked up some Micky D's, then headed home to hang out with the pup. Mac was pretty excited our date night didn't work out. Oh and last night when we got home from work I was sitting in our living room folding clothes when I realized that my bottom felt wet. I thought that maybe Mac had an accident. I wish Mac had an accident because come to find out something is leaking in our walls again and the laundry room was soaked and half of our living room carpet is soaked. We had to move our TV and cabinet along with all our stuff that was along two of our walls. So our house is in a disarray at the moment. We were supposed to have my Best Friend Lori and her family come this weekend to visit, but now I'm not to sure if that will happen. Hopefully this leak can be fixed ASAP, but considering how long it took last time we had a leak, it might take weeks. I'll keep everyone posted. Now on to the real post!

When we brought Mac to the vet when he was little puppy for all his checkups, they let us know that most small dogs are prone to a symptom called Luxating Patella. It is where their knees can slip and get stuck out of place. It usually goes back in place after a short while and when we lived in the top floor apartment, running up and down stairs was good for him. Now that we have moved, we no longer have stairs for him to climb. Back in the fall, Mac played a little too hard with his fur-uncle Zeke and when he got home he had a hard time using his back right leg. Like I said earlier it usually falls back in place after a little activity or us massaging it, but it had been a few days and he still looked pitiful. We brought him into the doctor and they gave him an anti inflammatory and that seemed to do the trick along with some rest. After that though, we felt we needed to give him some kind of exercise course that he could use to build up his muscles again and keep that knee moving. We had just finished our table and chair renovation and Matt and I we were in the "lets get things done" mode, so we decided to build an A frame. After we got the obstacle course for Matt's birthday we thought it would we could make a big competition course for him to play on. It will help him exercise and be fun at the same time.

Matt found plans online at this site. They had really good instructions and photos that were easy to follow.

Matt building the frames

The painting process.

The rungs for traction before we sanded and painted them.

Trial run:

It ended up being a little slippery for Mac and he would get nervous about going up and down.

After this we decided to add some sand to the paint so that he wouldn't slip anymore. It added a nice grip to it. We also added blue to the top. It was more official looking to be two toned and it helped us to know how far he needed to run down it before he could jump off.

Here are the pictures of it completed and Mac's official run on them.

(See his pool, he LOVED it this summer. When we would let him out to go to the bathroom, we would often find him just chilling in his pool because he was so hot.)

We hold his treat in front of him and he just follows it up and down.

He got a little side tracked here and heard our neighbors dogs. Now he can keep an eye on them.

Me testing it out with him.

The frame in all its glory.

A close up of the hinge.

We put a piece of foam across the middle so that Mac's paws don't get stuck in the hinge. We just used plumbing foam since pool noodles were out of season.

Here is picture of how the chain connects underneath so that the frame doesn't slip out when Mac (or an eager human) runs across the top.

King of the backyard!!!

Linking with the DIY showoff party:

Dining room set remodel

2012-02-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

This summer when we moved into our new rental house we nowhad space for a dining room table. We haven’thad that since we moved to Texas. We got rid of our old dining table and loanedmy brother all of the chairs for his lonely dining table. If I must admit, Ireally was happy to get rid of our old table, since it came with our house, andthe chairs just weren’t my style. They were very country and not verycomfortable. Now that we had a diningroom area Matt and I put our heads together to try and decide what kind oftable we wanted. I looked at tons of furniture shops, retail stores and thriftstores, but could not find what I was looking for. Let me rephrase that, Icouldn’t find what I wanted in the price range I wanted. ~~Matt is~~ we arecheap people, and are always looking for a deal, so we scouted the pages ofCraigslist. I must have searched for weeks, which felt like months. Since weare in a college town and it was almost summer, I knew a lot of students wouldbe selling off their furniture and maybe we could get a good deal. Honestly, Ieven thought it would be fun to refinish some chairs and a table anyway.

We eventually found a student selling a table and threechairs that had potential. I wish I had saved the posting, it really was ahoot. The poor guy let me know that this was their beer pong table and sincethere were so many of them moving in together, they had too many beer pongtables and this one was no longer needed. Hence the three chairs, all the restof them had gotten destroyed during their wild and crazy games. Matt and I inspected the table and made sureit was still sturdy and that it had good bones. It was a 6 person table andcame with a leaf, so make that 8 persons.

It took us a good two to three months to work on thesechairs and table. It sat in our dining room for a good month, until we had timeto pull it out and sand it down. It was just soo hot this summer, that findingmotivation was hard. With temperatures in the 110’s, we only had about a goodone to two hours of daylight and lower temperatures to work on the thing. Once we got started though we got prettymotivated because the table was heavy and was not fun to move in and out of thehouse every night.

We sanded, primed, sanded, painted 3 coats (with black spray paint), sanded and then put 3 coats of poly on. Whew, lots of work. I eventually did the poly work in our guest bathroom with a fan on high, so I didn’t get high!

I got my fabric from fabric.com, and it rocked.

It came out just how I wanted. I got myinspiration from a blog JandJhome! Our chairs weren’t as ornate, but they hadthe rattan weaving.

(picture of J&J home's chairs)

A problem we had was that only two of the chairs were really salvageable, since on the third one, the weaving had a big hole. I guess that was another battle scar from its beer pong days. So with a 6-8 person table, and only two chairs, we needed to get more chairs. Again, I searched thrift stores, retail stores, garage sales, online and finally got an email from Kirkland’s about a sale they were having on their parsons chairs. 2 parsons chairs for $99. Bingo. We decided to get four chairs total, so it was only going to be around $200 with tax, but then the cashier had a $25 off coupon, so he rang up the two sets separately and we got each set for around $80, equaling around $160 for all four. What a steal!!!!

(the two chairs we were deciding between at Kirkland's)

Once we got these bad boys home and got them assembled, it was a glorifying moment for us. We finally pickled the beast (can anyone name that movie?) We were soo proud. This was our first big project together and we actually finished it! We even had the table ready just in time for our family to come and visit. It was nice to have somewhere we could all sit and eat and hang out instead of all of us eating off of our laps on the couch. Which I must admit we still do, bad habits are hard to break.

chairs with the tags on them still! I was so excited I couldn't wait to take some pics.

Our little dining area now complete with a table and chairs. For some reason I don't have the fourth chair in the pics, I guess Matt was still putting it together when I took these. I will have to get an updated image and post it.

And now, for a before and after picture!!!

Linking with the DIY showoff party:

Valentines Day

2012-02-14T08:00:00.001-06:00

Happy Valentines Day from our neck of the woods to yours!

This was a picture I took last year for Valentines Day but never used.

When I took the above picture we were really trying to get some of Mac with this Valentines day card, but he was a little too excited to be at the park and didn't really want to sit for a treat at this time in his life. He was only 10 months old this time last year and still full of energy.

(look at that smile)

Doesn't he look like a baby in these pictures?

Matt and I have plans to do adult stuff tonight. We plan to go bowling without our parents, and eat all the junk food available at the bowling alley. I wanted to do something fun this year, and I hate eating in stuffy restaurants. The lights are always too dark, and they make me tired and depressed, therefore leading to depressing conversation. So this year it is all fun and games and full of friendly competition, of which Matt always wins. But I am okay with that, because I love to see Matt's face light up when he does win, and that makes me happy too.

Ok, these images were not part of the original post, but I felt I needed to add them this morning after I got to work. As some of you know Matt and I have the pleasure of working for the same company. So it is easy for Matt to surprise me with things. This morning when we came in I found this on my desk.

We had talked about how Matt didn't want to get m flowers, because they fade fast and don't last forever. In this discussion I told him to just buy me a pair of Toms, b/c they would last and I would wear them much longer than flowers would bloom. I was half joking half serious. I didn't know whether or not I would really get them. So I was surprised to find them on my desk when I walked in today. My coworkers were giving Matt kudos on such a great idea, giving pink sparkly shoes. I think some of the ladies are jealous (and some of the guys, lol)

I feel like Dorothy of Texas!

I will leave you with some images from last years Valentines day (again). Those are some of the balloons Matt gave me.

Here was how my desk was decorated last year when I came to work.

(don't mind the creeper behind the door)

I have a real keeper huh? Sorry, I'm gonna be mushy now. God has truly blessed me with the best man to match me. I am so thankful for him everyday and can't believe how lucky I am to have him. Happy Valentine's day Matt!

Mac - picture of the week

2012-02-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

How was everyone's weekend? I hope it was very restful and you are bright eyed and bushy tailed for this Monday morning. I know it is always so hard to get up early after the weekend. So I wanted to start you off this week with a picture of happiness.

I thought I would start something new on my blog. Every week I would post a picture of Mac doing something wacky and/or crazy. Which happens quite often.

This week, it is of him laying butt up, head down into the sofa. There is no way this could be comfortable. I am not sure how he got into this position or what he was thinking, but he seemed to like it. Maybe it was just a cry of attention, which is quite possible since he is very needy. Some how we always give in to him. It must be because he is so irresistible. What do you think? Does your pet do crazy things to get your attention?

I also plan on posting our long awaited VEGAS pictures this week, so be on the look out!!!

You will not want to miss them!!!

The king will make an appearance, and we all thought he was dead.

We were wrong.

Andrew - Newborn portraits

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Here are a few images from another coworker of mine who entrusted me with his 2nd son's Newborn portraits. Meet little Andrew. I took his big brother, Henry, newborn pictures when he was born a few years ago too. I was so excited to see how big Henry had gotten and how he reacted to his new little brother.

How cute is he in this little frog knit cap.

A sweet family portrait

Big Brother Henry, not sure what to think of his brother

Here is a shot of Andrew in his daddy's arms.

Here is Henry (big brother) a few years ago, in the same pose as Andrew as a comparison.

Black Eyed Pea's

2012-02-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

No, I'm not talking about my favorite group to work out to, I am talking about the black eyed peas you eat on New Year's to bring you Prosperity. This year since it was gonna be just Matt and I for New Year's I decided I wanted to make a New Year's dinner for us with all the traditional fixings, but that actually tasted good. One of those things of course is black eyed peas. I don't know about anyone else, but I really don't like just plain black eyed peas, they are almost like a baked bean, but just not quite as good. So, I searched my recipe sites and found a wonderful recipe on allrecipes.com. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

2 (15.5 ounce) cans black-eyed peas
1 large tomato, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a medium bowl, toss together black-eyed peas, tomato, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, red onion, celery, and parsley.
In a small bowl, mix balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Toss into the vegetables. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator 8 hours, or overnight.

(I didn't chill overnight, just a few hours in the fridge)

It was super simple and I could not believe my taste buds when I tried this. I couldn't believe that black eyed peas could taste soo good. Now if you put bell peppers, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar on anything, then you really can't go wrong, but the black eyed peas really completed the taste. I plan on making this recipe through out the year, especially in the summer. We had some friends over for New Years dinner and I think the black eyed pea salad was a big hit, because everyone had multiple servings of it!

I beg you to try this recipe and tell me how you like it. I forget that I am a huge vegetable person and love all kinds of salads, so let me know if you enjoy it as much as I did.

Texas Reds 5k

2012-02-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

Since Matt and I are getting ready for the Crescent City Classic 10K in New Orleans, I thought I would make a little post about the race we did back in the fall. Matt, my mother in law and I ran/walked a 5K in downtown Bryan. It was part of the Texas Reds Steak & Grape Festival. Matt and I have gone every year to the festival to try out the steaks and sample the local Texas wineries. They close down Main street and a few others surrounding and have bands, games, vendors, and all kinds of goodies. We invited Matt's parents and his nieces and nephew to come on up and enjoy the festival this year with us. This past year I was really intent on getting into shape and being healthy, so when I saw that one of my best friends Lori @ Our Little Angel, had ran an entire 5K, I knew that I wanted to try to do it too. Not to mention our good friends Scarlett and Damon are always doing races with their kiddos. So Matt and I started running a month or so before the festival with the hopes of being able to run the entire race. We tried really hard to be disciplined and reach our goals, but the most we could ever run was 2 miles. We were just hoping on race day that we would get the extra adrenaline pump needed that would take us to the end. Matt had a lil more of that pump than I did and finished before me. We ran a good 2 miles together before I finally told him to leave me behind and go for it. I felt like I was reenacting the scene from the Titanic or something. After a couple of "are you sure's?", he finally left me in the dust, and I continued run/walking the rest of the way. We unfortunately left my mother in law behind at the beginning of the race, but little did we know she was right behind us the entire time, what a rock star. My time was 34.55, which is OK. I know that I pushed myself as much as I could at the time. Matt finished in 31:52 and my rocking MIL finished in 35:06, see I told you she was right behind me. When I crossed the finish line, Matt was waiting for me, cheering me on. It was awesome. We turned back around to wait for Mrs. Pat, and next thing we knew she was calling us from behind, she had already crossed. I have to boast and tell you that she won first place in her age division. I won't tell you what that was, because she would kill me, but I think that is an Excellent accomplishment (and no she was not the only person in her age group!).

(Post race picture. Man, my face is swollen and red from running.)

Here are a few pictures of the streets when we picked up our t shirts and bib numbers. They were getting ready for the festival to start that night.

Matt and I picking up our stuff!

One of the most important things about the race was that it was to raise money for the local Cancer research center. They asked for you to put names of people you knew who had beaten cancer or had fallen to it, so at one of my Business Women's meetings, I was able to put a few names of people I knew on there. It was neat that they framed it and gave it to the research center.

Later that night we all went back and had a great time at the festival, I will have to post more pictures from that soon!

What goals are you trying to reach this year? Are you planning on running a race? Let me know some things you hope to achieve this year.

Leave it to Mac

2012-02-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

Here is a video of my insane, albeit cute puppy. When we went to my parents for the holidays, we let Mac out in the backyard. It was covered with beautiful giant leaves. The leaves are literally about the size of a human head sometimes (sorry I am not sure what type of tree it is). Mac had the time of his life rolling around and crawling in them. I think we might just purchase a bag of leaves and use that as a toy for him. The downside to this cute little show he put on, is that he smelled like moldy leaves after. Luckily we had some waterless shampoo, and he was good to go. Not completely 100% better, but better than nasty mold.

(sorry about my cackling laugh)

Can you count how many times he rolls over? He likes to put on a good show for anyone watching.

Here are some more pictures of him that day playing in the leaves.

Mac trying to figure out how to get to the other side.

rolling around in the leaves.

Callen - Newborn portraits

2012-02-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

This summer my cousin Tyler, and his fiance' Alyssa, had their baby Callen. I was soo excited for them because they are the sweetest couple and who wouldn't love more babies in the family! I traveled up to Tyler to visit my sweet lil 2nd cousin and take some newborn pics of him. Callen was also an excellent baby to photograph. I really think it was because he was only a few days old and still in that sleepy, curled in a ball phase. That is the best time to photography newborns, fresh all the way up to 14 days old.

Such a sweet face of contempt. It's tough being a baby.

I loved this picture of Alyssa feeding Callen, it was just too sweet.

Alyssa and Tyler will be getting married in October, so I can not wait to see little Callen at the wedding. That will probably be the next time I get to see him and he will be over one year old. Wow, how time flies.

Times a changing

2012-02-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

Times a changing.....or just my hair, either way, I wanted to share with you my Mid life crisis moment. I have been talking about putting pink in my hair recently. I am not sure where I got this idea, maybe from Pinterest? (Who would have thought Pinterest would be a bad influence). While I was in New Orleans the other week, I saw a girl there who was a photographer and she had blond hair with pink tips. That got me thinking, you know what, I am in a industry where being different is a good thing and I shouldn't be afraid to try new things. This is the year of change anyway. So after I told Matt about it, he was all for it and encouraged me to do it. I guess because he knows how much I am struggling personally right now and thought it would be a good outlet/ fun thing for me to do. What a great supporter he is. So after much searching through pinterest and google images, I came up with these images

source

So here is my hair that day before I left for the salon:

Nice and brown throughout with a touch of grey if you look close.lol. I guess Texas has not been well to me.

Here is a photo I took with my phone while in the chair. It was a little scary to see all the bright pink. I let my stylist have complete control. I showed her the pics above and told her to do what she thought best. We decided to go darker on top and then do blond and pink streaks underneath.

I was there for about two hours, but I think it was all totally worth it to have the pink put in my hair.

(Does my forehead look big or is it just me?, lol.)

You really can't see the pink a whole lot, it is very subtle. It really shows on the tips and the cowlick I have on my left side which exposes a huge chunk of pink which keeps it interesting.

On Monday morning everyone asked me if I partied a little too hard over the weekend. I have to explain to them that I am old and don't do that anymore, but when you are talking to a bunch of 50 year olds, my age doesn't mean a thing.

Have you ever done something wild and crazy with your hair when you just needed a change? Tell me all about it, I would love to hear what all y'all have done.

Connor Lee - Newborn portrait

2012-02-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

I got the chance to take pictures for one of my workers when she had her little boy Connor back on September 18th. He is her first child, and was a sweet as can be. He was the perfect little baby and slept the entire time. Here are a few of my favorites from his session.

This bear was Brandi's husbands from when he was a baby.

I think it was so sweet to have it in Connor's pictures.

Do you have something from when you were little that you had your baby take pictures with or will have them take pictures with. Let me know what that item is!

The Guillory's - Family Portraits

2012-02-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

Last year I finally got the time to take my sister's family portraits. Back when I lived in Louisiana, I would take pictures of her girls all the time and sometimes there was just an overload of pictures that I would give her. Now that we are far, far away, when we do see each other, I usually try not to get behind the camera and just try to enjoy our time together. However, we realized that they never had family portraits done since the youngest, Talia, was born, three years ago. So we all (parents and all) headed down to the nearest plantation by their house and borrowed some of the trees for their pictures. Since we are fortunate to live by lots of plantations, we didn't have to travel far and ended up at Destrehan Plantation. We didn't go inside to take any pictures because their grounds are phenomenal.

Aren't they the cutest family!!

My sister was so upset that my nephew wore black jeans for the pictures even though she laid out blue ones for him. We are just happy though that he even was there, you know teenagers.

Here is one of my favorites. I bent down to take a foot picture, and Talia bent down with me. It was so funny. She is so goofy and I think this picture really shows it.

Here is my sister and my bro in law!

The Kids, loving on their big brother

Monkey T with her monkey!

John and the girls

The whole gang leaving the session!

Merry Christmas to all ....

2012-01-31T08:00:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas to all ....and to all a late Christmas card. What? Christmas card? Yes, since I shared with you yesterday our gift tags and I am months behind on my posting, I thought I should at least post our Christmas card from this year. Now that we have a furbaby as a part of our family, I love getting our family portraits made for Christmas. This year I grabbed our good friend Kevin, and we all headed over to downtown Bryan to take pictures for our card. In our area, downtown Bryan is the place to take any pictures really, at any given saturday, you will find no less than five photographers down there. In fact, while taking our pictures, I believe I saw at least three, not counting us. We went around 4:30, since it is winter and things get dark early. Luckily, while we were out there, the hotel and theater's lights came on, so they are nice and bright for our picture. Mac did very well, considering how much there was going on. Cars were passing, people were walking by and his little attention span was really being tested. We had his leash clipped to his collar on the back, which was covered by his scarf, and then we ran the leash down his back, with our foot at the end, so that he couldn't run away, or get very far. We had quite a few takes, adjusting our posing, posture and smiles :) so we really appreciated Kevin being patient with us. Here are a few photos from the session.

I got our cards printed at MPIX.com and here are a few options I was looking at:

And here is the one we ended up using:

(sorry the scan copy is really bad, I'll have to redo it tonight)

Do you like it?

Tag you're it!

2012-01-30T09:00:00.000-06:00

I know it is like a month after Christmas, but I have a quick post about a project I put together for Christmas. Better late than never, right? This year for our gift tags I wanted to do something fun and not use the same old boring stickers with Santa or frosty or whoever. I wanted to make them personal and obvious who they were from. On the blog Young House Love (of which I am obsessed), I saw that they made gift tags last year out of business cards. On the business cards was a picture of their little fur baby Burger.

A light bulb went off in my head, and I thought, my puppy is pretty cute, so why not do that for us. Everyone would definitely know who it was from if Mac's face was on the tag staring at you. So I made Mac sit for a couple of treats while he had a mini-photo session. He really doesn't mind taking pictures, especially if they involve treats. Here are two photos of him from the photo shoot. We like to play with him and see what words/noises/sounds we can use to make him turn his head. It is pretty funny. Does anyone else do that to your pets?

I photographed him and then selected the background out. Then I dragged his cute lil face on top of a red background added in Photoshop. Easy peasy. They were a big hit with our family and friends. I ordered about 200 I believe, which is a whole lot I know, but for less than $20, it was well worth it. I was originally going to try and use them year round, so we will see, I might have to cut off the Christmas part.

On the front of the card it said "Have a dog-gone good Christmas". And on the back it just says, To: Love, the Neyland's.

Here are a few photos of the tags on actual gifts under our tree.

So how do you like them? Would you love to receive a gift with your friends/family's pet or child on the tag? I think its a great way to personalize any gift.

Linking up with the DIY Showoff project parade.

Door decor

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I made a cute little door wreath with some left over fabric scraps I had from another project. I used a wreath I had planned on using for another project that failed. I was trying to make something like this (below) at one point for a coworker of mine, but wrapping the yarn was a lot more time consuming than I thought. I threw it aside and forgot about it for a few months.

source

So I decided to reuse the wreath and try wrapping it in my fabulous new fabric. I got my fabric from fabric.com, where they have unbelievable prices and great patterns. Here are three of the styles that I got below. I haven't decided what to do with the yellow and blue patterns yet, but I loved them and had to have them. I will post something as soon as I decide. The black and white chevron print was actually used on our dining room table and chair redo. I will make a separate post on that soon.

So here is the final piece completed. I ended up just cutting strips of fabric and then wrapped them around the wreath. I pinned it all together with sewing pins in case I ever wanted to change it. I got the ribbon for the bow from Michael's around Halloween and I just absolutely loved it. I wish I could have stocked up on it since it was seasonal.

Here is a little wider picture of the wreath on the door. The wreath is a little small, but I can always put it somewhere in the house as decoration and move it when I am tired of it. Since I made this wreath in late September, I ended up finding a little skull at the store and added it to the center of the wreath to make it a lil more seasonal for Halloween. I however, forgot to take a picture of it and can only help you to imagine it.

So that's the end to my little project that only took me about 5 minutes to complete. I am so happy with the way it turned out and feel that anyone can honestly do this.

UPDATE: I found a picture of the wreath with the skull on it. However, it is really bad quality with a flash, so please forgive me.

linking to DIY showoff

Attention lover

2012-01-26T17:01:00.002-06:00

This will be just a quick one picture post of my little sweet fur baby child, who acts like no one ever loves him. As I was sitting on the couch trying to type up the never ending post of our Vegas Vacation, poor little puppy decides that he is not getting enough attention and must become a part of whatever I was doing. He is so pitiful looking in this picture.

This is the same reason why when I get home and try to workout with Zumba, or anything really, I can't finish. I have to remind myself that he is home all day by himself and just needs the love of his momma when I get home. I actually enjoy every second of it though. When he was a little puppy, he was non stop energy and would never snuggle, so I try and take every ounce that I can.

**Oh and yes, that is a sticker on my loving husbands laptop. He refuses to take the sticker off and it doesn't just go for his computer. Anything that has a sticker on it, he leaves it, like the camera. I am trying to break him of that habit, because it crawls under my skin. Maybe he is trying to break me of removing stickers. haha.

New Orleans Lady

2012-01-26T10:55:00.002-06:00

Hi there long lost blog buddies. I am back and I hope to keep this little thing of beauty up and running this year at any cost. I am going to try my darnedest to keep this blog of love updated. To keep you posted on the most recent events, I thought I would start with the most recent of activities. A few weeks ago the Hubs and I made the drive back home to Louisiana, namely New Orleans, to attend a Photo Conference, Imaging USA. In actuality, I attended and Matt came with me to the Expo and the other events. Matt stayed in the hotel and worked (it was literally right across the street, so convenient) while I was busy attending classes of some of the best photographers in the World. Yes, World!! I had an AMAZING time and came back with so much inspiration and motivation, It was a great way to start off the year. Especially after the drive down, where it got me thinking if I really wanted to do this anymore. This past year wasn't really what all we wanted it be, and it really showed in my photography business. But I'm back and this year will be better than ever, Right? Right!

I don't have too many images from our trip, even though it was a photography conference (I know, I know..its a photo conference, you are supposed to carry your camera everywhere right?). So I thought I would show you a few images taken on my phone.

View of the ships from the Riverwalk

Picture from our hotel's floor.

One thing I didn't get pictures of that I really wished I had was of Saturday night when the Saints played the 49ers. My family had come down to New Orleans (since it was only 20 mins way) to eat dinner with us and we ended up eating at Gordon Biersch and watched the game. It was a great game and it was even better watching it in the city with all of the fans. The cooks and wait staff all came out to celebrate when something good happened. There were a lot of high fives going on between the workers and customers, and we all became one. Now I know the game didn't go in our favor, but it was such an amazing experience to be a part of. I really wish we could have gone to the Superbowl again, but hey I am just proud that Saints fans are no longer wearing bags on their heads.

One night we ate at Palace Cafe on Canal Street. We only had to walk a few blocks from our hotel across from the convention center to get there. I had the Cafe' Spinach Salad and I think Matt had the Shrimp and Alligator Etouffee. My salad was really good, but pretty small, which was ok, because we got cheesecake for dessert. After dinner we just headed back to the hotel, and didn't worry about partying on Bourbon, that is for amateurs, lol. We've been there, done that. I am from the area, so it doesn't excite me like it used to and we like to use the excuse that we are getting old.

Matt's dinner.

My delicious salad

Our cheesecake. yummy.

The next day, we tried a restaurant right down the street that my mom had recommended. It is called Butcher. Its a trendy little restaurant that only has a few tables, so you have to be fast to grab a seat around lunch time. Matt and I both got BLT's, I know boring, but it was the best BLT I've ever had. Well, maybe not the BEST, but ONE of the best. The "L" (lettuce) they put on it was marinated in a vinaigrette dressing before and just made it so different. It was served with kettle chips, which I love, because they remind me of Zapp's Potato chips, a Louisiana favorite. We did also pick up a Randazzo's king cake while we were down there and it is quickly disappearing. I got the baby the other night, so maybe that will bring me good luck!

Our BLT's.

The handsome Hubs

Me, getting some grub on.

Here is the front of the restaurant.

I hope I haven't bored you too much with my lo-qual images and uneventful New Orleans story. I know you were expecting a lil more from the crescent city known for partying. We will be going back in a few weeks for a wedding, so maybe there will be a lil more excitement to come. Don't get your hopes up though. Have you visited New Orleans recently? Do you have a favorite restaurant down there?

4th of July

2011-08-09T20:00:00.003-05:00

Here are a few pictures from the Fourth of July weekend. Our good friend from college, Quang, came in from Little Rock, AR to spend a day with us. Since its a big occasion for him to come we decided to have a BBQ for him and some friends/coworkers.

Quang was the grill master. I'm not sure how he got appointed. Maybe its all those years tailgating at the Tech games

Quang being sneaky!

John teasing Mac with the water guns.

Hence Mac started to attack said water guns.

A banner I put up and a few more decorations.

The pool we had out for the dogs and occasional hot feet.

The set up in the back of our 'plex.

Matt and Quang on the slip and slide. They were the bravest of us all. I tried but was doing it wrong, of course. How can you mess that up? John tried it as well and fell, he thinks he cracked a rib, always ruining the party. Just joking, but he really thinks he did bruise it.

The Grill Masters.

Quang and I!

Twizzlers all fancied up. I found this idea on Pinterest here. Along with a bottle of Moscato that John brought.

The handsome hubbs!

My Fourth of July sprinkled cupcakes. Fancy huh? I need a lot of work on my decorating but hey, I'm no MaryLou.

Momma's got a new pair of shoes

2011-08-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Momma's got a new pair of shoes....well, not yet, but they are on their way. I am super excited to finally get my first pair of TOMS shoes. I ordered these babies below and CANT wait to receive them. I first heard of them many years ago and thought they were so cute. The creator Blake Mycoskie, (who was on "The Amazing Race") started a company that gives a pair of shoes to children in need whenever you buy a pair. One for One. How great is that!!! After years of debating on what color and where to get them, I finally decided on these. They are called Academy Plaid. Don't they remind you of a teachers jacket or skirt. So I have rightfully named them my professor shoes. I am soo in love with them.

I got my shoes in last night!! I ran down the hall when Matt told me that I had a packaged. How could I have forgotten to stalk the front door for them to come in. I tore open the box and couldn't wait to see these beauties. I tried them on and .........they are too big!!! Oh no, that can't be. I went to a local store to try on some TOMS to find my size. I knew beforehand that you are supposed to get a half size smaller but when I tried them on at the store, I could barely fit into an 8, so I thought I was gonna be fine. So then comes the pouting and sulking. I called all of the local stores that would have TOMS to see if they had any in stock, no such luck. They were just released so none of the stores have them. So I guess I will have to send them back and get a half size smaller. That means 1-2 more weeks with out these. Patience is not my virtue and it will be pure torture till I get these back.

Aren't they the cutest things ever. They are perfect for fall with the orange and blue accent colors. They are also super soft and pretty thin which should let some air flow and not get too stuffy. I will keep you posted and let you know when I get my professor shoes back in my arms. Oh professor how I will miss you. If I have waited 2 years so far, I guess I can wait another few weeks.

Decisions, decisions

2011-08-05T08:00:00.005-05:00

Since we live in a college town, there is a constant wave of people moving. With that comes a large trash day when semesters end and people start cleaning out their places and getting rid of things they no longer need or want. In high school my girlfriends and I used to go and pick up all sorts of things like chairs, wrapping paper, ladders (yes ladders) and then stash them in another friends yard usually making a large display of the items. Nowadays, Hubby and I just look for stuff we might want, need, can sell, or things we can rehab. Honestly, we don't do this very often, although we should, because it is pretty fun to find something great. At our old apartment we used to see bikes by the dumpster constantly. One of our friends from work likes to repair bikes and then sell them, so we would always pick those up for him. So, this past weekend, our neighbors in our duplex moved out. We not only got one great deal from their left over goods, but two!! We found a great solid wood side table that just needed a few things tweaked (sorry forgot to take pictures of it). I promise I will take some pics of that and post on it. Our second item, is a biggie! Matt saw it and money signs flashed in his eyes. I however and thinking of DIY'ing it!! Take a look and tell me what you think of our new truck bed tool chest!!

(Mac wanted to make an appearance)

Matt would like to clean it up a lil and then sell it on Craigslist. He informed me that when new, these things go for $100+. So we could possibly sell if it for around $50. I however am thinking it would make a great storage bench in the backyard. Specifically in mind, we could put our hammock in there. The hammock is 5 feet wide (wood strips) and this tool chest is 6 feet wide and the middle is 5 feet wide. PERFECT. I could add some casters on the bottom, so it is easy to move around and then get a few cushions for the top (that could be stored in there as well). I would still need to clean it up and probably spray some Rustoleum paint inside. A huge plus to that is it would get the hammock out of the kitchen and would free up more space and be less cluttered. I have looked up outdoor storage benches and I know they cost around $100 and up. Hubs does not want to spend that kind of money, so I am hoping that he will cave and let me keep it instead of selling it. What do you think? Sell it or keep it and fix it up?

Dog days of summer

2011-08-04T11:52:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to share a few snapshots that were taken by Matt and myself of Mackie. ( I apologize in advance for the waaay too many pictures of my pup, but we have no kids at this time, so he is our only child) One day while Matt was in our office I walked in to find my sweet lil puppy sitting here, on top of my camera bag!

I have no idea how or why he got up there. As I tried to take more pictures he got down and wanted to start playing. I guess he just wanted some attention and figured he could get it if he was by my camera. Smart dog. He knows when it is camera time.

So just a few weeks ago I get out of the shower and could hear Matt calling for me. Mac had climbed up on my camera bag again and was just sitting there smiling. I guess he was pretty proud of himself. He now knew how to get our attention. I know its probably not a good idea to have your dog sitting on your camera case, but its pretty cushy and they way things are set up in there, I knew it would be just fine. So take a look at this smiling face below.

He eventually got down once he had the attention he needed. Then proceeded to make sad puppy faces.

Here are a few more of his sad, but intrigued thoughtful looks.

He is such a ham and knows exactly how to get us to do what he wants. And we thought we had him trained, but really its the other way around. Also, don't judge me by my messy office/ junk room, we are in transition. Haha. Eventually this will be my studio room w/ my backdrops and light set up, along w/ our desks. It will be a lil cozy, but hopefully we can come up with some storage ideas. Since we are renting its hard to move things from one place to another and make it all fit like it did before. Someday I will get organized. Thanks for reading.

ETSY seller spotlight

2011-08-01T14:25:00.000-05:00

Recently I have been totally obsessed with Pinterest and although I could go on and on about all the things I "repin" and "pin" on there, I thought I would just talk about one today. I am totally loving the items from seller Sugarbsupplies. I am specifically loving this clear tape that is decorated like lace and the masking tape that has cameras on it.

Victorian Lace

Japanese masking tape w/ camera

I think these would be great on any gift wrappings, making it fancy! I am planning on getting some brown craft paper and using that to wrap gifts this holiday season and then using the fancy lace tape to seal it. I am sure that most people are scrap bookers and that these were meant for them, but I am completely loving this. Let me know what you think. What other uses could you make of these?

Here is one more that is just super precious. Who doesn't love rain gear stuff?

Be sure to go an check out her ETSY shop and let me know what else you love there!

Baby Eli

2011-06-28T15:40:00.000-05:00

This weekend we went on our usual tour of Louisiana, stopping at family and friends houses to visit while on our way to our parents. We got to stop and see Shannon, Matt's sister in Lake Charles. We stayed the night at her house and had an amazing breakfast at Pitt Grill, then had to say our goodbyes. Next up was Lafayette to visit the Bornes'. The Bornes are great College friends of ours. Ryan is Matt's best friend from College, and I used to play against Karen in basketball when I was younger (funny thing). We have never seen their new house or their new baby, Eli. He is about a month old now and this was our first time meeting him in person. In an older post I talked about how we go to Skype with them. We were super excited to see them all. We got a house tour and got to snack on some delicious brownies they had made for their neighbor. (long story) Karen asked me to take a few pics of Eli while we were there because they were unable to get newborns pics and needed to send out announcements. Of course I was happy to oblige. I love newborns and needed to get some more sessions under my belt. Eli was a perfect baby and stayed asleep for almost the entire shoot. We were able to move and mold him into different positions, without waking him. However, we think he was just soo comfortable on the soft fabrics that he didn't really care. The theme of his room is all about traveling which was perfect since Ryan has his degree in aviation and has his pilot license, hence the props were travel related. I hope you enjoy the pics below. I will make an update w/ a few more pictures sometime today.

TV stand

2011-06-17T08:00:00.001-05:00

When Matt and I moved in our house back in 2006, we acquired/ bought a lot of stuff form the previous owner. He, Ray, was so generous and a great guy to deal with. It was our first house to buy and it was also for sale by owner. There were a lot of things we didn't know and could have gotten cheated but we were truly blessed by that experience and had no issues. One of the things we bought from Ray was his TV and stand. This thing was huge. I believe it was a 36" screen, but the shell was sooo much bigger. This beast was also super heavy. When we moved to Texas, Matt, Mr. Denny and my dad all had to carry it and it was still too heavy. We swore when we moved again that we would leave the TV there and just get a new one. Fast forward to present day. Well, we moved, and we didn't take the TV. We actually sold it, but Matt and my dad did have to help move it. Here is a side view of the TV below.

Once we moved we had to use one of our older tv's. Our best option was one that was given to me when I was an RA back in the dorms. It was 20"'s and was a lil hard to see from the couch in the living room. It worked for us while Matt looked for a good deal on a nicer tv.

This is what we had the TV sitting on. Matt's old record player stand. It was pretty proportional to the TV.

I looked and looked forever on Craigslist, overstock.com, and soo many other places. I really wanted a piece of furniture to hold the TV instead of a regular TV stand, so that we could reuse the piece if we ever needed to in the future. We finally came down to the point were we HAD to find one because our new TV had been ordered. We checked EVERY place in town that had furniture, including all thrift shops. I was really wanting to refinish an older wood piece, but we were running out of luck. I had mentioned going to Big Lots because I knew they had some pieces there, but was not hopeful, because they don't always have the best quality.

I did end up falling in love with this piece above from Big Lots. Matt actually liked this piece as well. I just had to convince him that we weren't going to find something else cheaper. (which I have to do often :)

(Mac trying to help us put it together by laying on the pieces)

We had to put this bad boy together, but it was soo worth it for me. I still love this thing. We were able to hide all of our electronics, video games and VHS tapes. Our DVDs are in a stand to the left of it and probably wouldn't fit.

This is our old TV sitting on it.(above)

This is the new. This picture was used in the last post, forgive me. I will have to get a more updated picture once I finish decorating. The side table is kind of in the way of the cabinet, but you get the idea. Let me know what you think!

UPDATE! Here is a picture of the cabinet for Christmas this year!

(sorry about the pic quality, it was taken on my phone.)

What have I been up to?

2011-06-16T15:46:00.002-05:00

Hi All, I know many of you have been wondering where I have been and the answer is a lil bit of everything. So my goal is to get up all up to speed with in the next few days. I have been working hard, took some vacation, ran a 10k, took another vacation, moved, played a lil and had a birthday. I don't know if I should start from the end or the beginning. Well here goes:

Last weekend Matt's parents came in to see our new place (I'll get to that later). They helped us hang some frames (for my family portrait wall), look for curtains for the house and do some more odds and ends around the house, specifically with the outside. As some of you might know, Matt and I used to own our own house back in Louisiana. When Matt(we) decided he wanted to go back to grad school, here in Texas, we packed up all of our belongings, and sold our house. Now that Matt is through with school, we are still renting until we find a final place to settle in at. We have now moved to a new place that is much bigger than our last ~~closet~~, I mean apartment. We even have a yard for lil Mac. My in-laws brought up our outdoor furniture we had at our house previously. We set up our old bird bath, our hammock, our grill, fire pit, and other patio chairs. It was soo wonderful to see all of my old things. It's like they are brand new again. We have three trees in our new backyard and they needed some HEAVY trimming. There are two beautiful crepe myrtles and one oak and their were branches all the way to the ground. That had to go because it was Mac's hiding place when he didn't want to come in. He knew it was hard for us to come and get him in all of that mess. NOW, the trees have new life and make our yard look soo much bigger.

Here is our yard below after all of the trimming and with my old birdbath. Looks pretty good huh? I forgot to take a before picture and am really kicking myself for that.

Here is a really bad picture of my family photo wall. I need to add a few more pictures into the frames as well as add a few more frames, probably on the right. What do you think?

We also got to Skype with Matt's buddy from college, Ryan, and his wife Karen. They just had a baby and we weren't able to meet him yet, so this was the next best thing. There is lil Eli on the TV.

Saturday night our friends Kevin and Brandi came over and we all went to the starlight music series concert the city was putting on. Let me tell you how awesome this city is (for the most part). Since we live in a college town, we are never short on things to do. There is always something going on at the University or the local parks or with the county. We love living here. Ok, back to the concert, it was held at the amphitheater in town. We packed a blanket, chairs and a cooler full and headed out. The sun was only out for another hour or so while we were out there, thank goodness, because it was sooo hot.

The guys!

Brandi, Mrs. Pat and me.

The Rock-a-fellas. They were really good.

The view once the sun went down.

We had a great time with them here and dare I forget to mention their new puppy Zeke. Mac and Zeke had a wonderful time playing ALL weekend long. Here are a few shots of them playing together.

I don't think they would ever stop playing if it were up to them.

After Matt's parents left, we tried out Matt's birthday present from Mac. An obstacle course. We set it up in our backyard and Matt has been training Mac on how to do it. He is getting pretty good. Here are a few pictures from the first day.

Mac chillin by the weave poles. He has no idea what is about to happen.

The jump thing. I'm sure there is a real term for this.

The tunnel. This is Mac's best event. He really likes the tunnel and doesn't need much instruction on this.

Especially since he knows there is a treat at the end. However the first time he did the tunnel, he stopped halfway through, where the shade was. Haha, he didn't want to come back into the sun. Just like him momma.

Here is Matt trying to get him to do another lap of the course. But as you can see below, he opted to stay in the shade.

Hiding behind my chair.

Now lounging in the shade.

Ok, I have soo many more pictures to post, but I will just have to post them later, because I don't want to slow your computer down with this super long post. I hope I have not overloaded you with unimportant chatter and images. But its my blog and since no one reads it, I can do whatever. Thanks for taking a look!

Memorial Day Cutie

2011-06-16T15:03:00.001-05:00

Hi All,
It's me Dara, remember, the one that neglects her blog all the time, yep thats me. I am pretty sure no one bothers to check this thing anymore, so this post will probably wither away somewhere in blog land. It's a shame because this post is about a super cutie.

Over Memorial day weekend we met up with my girlfriends from college and their families in Dallas. It was soo awesome to have three days of family time with them. We usually only see each other around homecoming at Louisiana Tech. This year we decided that it wasn't often enough and that we all needed a vacation. We went shopping, went to a Rangers game, walked around the zoo and oohed and ahhed through the aquarium. But more on that later. This post is about my friends Lori's lil boy, Dawson. Lori asked if I would take his 6mos pictures, and my reply was "of course"! He is one of the happiest babies I have ever known. We took his pictures Monday morning right before we all left to go home, so we just took a few at the hotel we were staying at. Take a look at this cuteness below:

Doesn't he just make you smile. I am so honored that I was able to take his pictures. Thanks again Lori, I am soo glad that you love them.

Zach - Senior from AR

2011-04-07T10:52:00.002-05:00

Howdy folks, or should I say Hey y'all! A few weekends ago I got to go home and spend a short time with my family and friends. (A weekend is Never enough time) We got in to my parents house around 2am. It takes about 7 hours from where we are in Texas to get there. So since we got in late, we had a late start to the day on Saturday where I was starting with my Sister and her family portraits. More to come on that later though. In the afternoon I got to photograph Zach. One of our great friends, The Pourciau's, used to babysit Zack when he was little. Now that he is all grown up and about to graduate they wanted to give him the best present in the whole wide world, a photo session with me. (am I right or am I right?) So we went on down to the best City park that I know, New Orleans. This park has the most amazing oak trees, that would make a southern girl swoon. We also took Zach's older sister Tabitha's pictures here a few years ago, so this place was a no brainer. This was one of the first great weekends in a long time so that park was packed with picnicking families, weddings, photographers, and jungle gym happy kids. We also had to try and dodge parades and pro games that might be going on. Nonetheless, we still found some great locations that were people free. Here are a few pictures of our handsome senior Zach, doesn't he look like a model in this picture right below? He was such a great sport!

dog gone crazy

2011-03-29T16:34:00.000-05:00

While I am getting my images together for a blog post from my sessions I had last weekend, I thought I would post some fun and design inspirational things. While everyone knows how much I love my lil puppy Mac, I don't believe in having everything in my house revolve around his cute lil face. Well, almost everything. I refuse to be one of those people who have figurines and blankets and tons of pillows and anything you can think of with dog breed on it. However, in moderation, I think somethings could pass and could be even cute, if done in a tasteful way. Here are a few things that I have found online that I absolutely love and think would pass the test as not too cheesy.

I think this pillow is so hilarious, I mean who wouldn't laugh at this. Its just so darn cute and out of control. If thrown in with a bunch of other cute pillows, I don't think it would be too bad. If it weren't for the price tag, I would have ordered it hours ago, so you might not see it on my couch too soon. Still, someday I would love to have it!

found here!

This poster is on ETSY, here. I definitely want to get this poster and put it in my living room or kitchen or bedroom. Not sure yet, so I can't pick a color until I decide where it will be. I wasn't on the craze of the original poster because it is EVERYWHERE. Although I think it was a great poster and ahead of its time, I was just over it once I was it all over everything. However once I saw that someone created one with a Westie theme, it threw me for a curve and I kinda liked it. I think if thrown in with a cluster of other frames and not sitting front in center, that it would create some variety.

This precious scarf is also on ETSY here. I think I would use this as a banner to hang in our place for Mac's bday that is right around the corner or around Christmas time. We almost got a Scottie dog, but decided to get a Westie for many reasons. However, we still love and adore the Scottie, so I don't mind that they are on the scarf as well.

Here is a sweet picture of a little girl and her westie. This is just precious, if /when I have a lil one, we will have to get some images like this for their rooms. That way they will have their big brother Mac with them, always looking after them.

found here on ETSY

Lastly is a vase that I saw on another bloggers page. A planter/vase that is a westie. I was so excited when I saw it. Again in this instance, this is not something that I could afford. The price for these things are starting at $2000.00. Yeah, you read that right, I did not make a mistake and put too many zero's. But aren't they super cute? This would be a great umbrella stand by the doorway or on a side table mixed in with pictures. Or simply used as a vase. What do you think?

Senior session -Marissa

2011-03-07T12:30:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday I got to photograph my first Senior for the year. This is Marissa and isn't she a cutie. We went out to her families property pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and I absolutely LOVED it. I think that I am a country girl at heart! I had such a great time getting to know Marissa and talking with her mom, Teresa, with whom I am in ABWA with. They are just the sweetest people. Good luck in college Marissa!

Happy Valentines day

2011-02-17T11:31:00.000-06:00

I know I am a few days late but I hope everyone had a great day no matter what their status is. I was always single on Vday until I met my hubby, so I know that sometimes it can stink, but that's what you have great friends for, to make it all better. My hubby surpised me with a 1/2 dozen ballons, flowers and candy at work waiting for me when I came in. It was so sweet. All the guys at the office were giving Matt the eye and telling him that he was making all them look bad. Did you all have a great day? Here is a picture to leave you with from our Christmas card this year. I figured it could work for Valentines day also. hehe. Have a great weekend!

The light of my life

2011-02-11T10:59:00.001-06:00

I know it has been a super long time since I have last posted. I am trying to go back and post all of the things that I have missed over the last couple of months. (That might be the impossible) I want to start off with the little boy of my dreams, Little Mac.I wanted to post a few pictures of how much he has grown and sweet he is. (which might be hard to show in pictures, but believe me, he is a sweetheart) Understand that we do not have kids yet, so he is our heart and soul right now. Before you see all of the pictures, can I just tell you how great my kid (puppy) is compared to yours. lol, j/k. but, no, for real. We have taught him tons a tricks, I plan on making a video of him doing them and posting it. But here are the tricks he can do: sit (of course), stay, lay down, bow, howdy (shake), high five, beg, dance, crawl, roll over, come here, and fetch (however don't expect him to bring the ball back all of the time. He thinks he is just supposed to and find it sometimes, haha). We have tried to get him to play dead, but he is not taking to it. We also play hide and go seek with him, by telling him to sit, and stay. Then we go hide and then tell him "ok", he then runs and tries to find us. It is hours of entertainment. Well maybe not hours but maybe and hr.

Back in December we went to Santa's Wonderland in College Station. We got to visit with my friend Heather who was working there for the season. They are pet friendly and often have pet adoptions on the wknd, so we were told to bring little Mackie. As much as I like to think that he enjoyed the lights (above) I am sure that he could have cared less about them and was more interested in the all the props and toys we were passing.

Here is his picture in Santa's town at Santa's Wonderland. He doesn't look too happy.

Here is another picture of Mac when we went back to Santa's wonderland for the second time that month, he is a little happier in this picture. He has his little festive Scarf on, but you can't really see it.

This is what your white dog looks like after he tries something like below. We have a couple of dog parks in College Station, and they have ponds for the dogs to play in. However, my dog likes to think that he is participating in a never ending obstacle course and tries to take the hardest route possible for him. "Over the bridge and through the woods to grandmothers house we go." I think that is what he sings, or maybe it's the mission impossible song or just maybe he is going on a bear hunt. Any of these is a possibility. Needless to say he is not always successful and sometimes falls in muddy water....and daddy has to save him. He would never admit to that though.

Mac doesn't believe in segregation and that humans and animals should have to play in separate areas, therefore he got to enjoy playing with his cousins Emma, Sadie and Talia when we went to visit Uncle Cam and the nearby play areas.

Posing with Emma and Talia. He just makes the picture perfect.

Back at the dog park you can now see one of the ponds that Mac really enjoys. He usually likes to go in deep enough to where he can lay down in it and just barely get his belly wet. Nevertheless, we have to make sure to always bring a towel for him. It's inevitable that he will get wet and dirty.

He likes to play chase around the pond, which doesn't seem very safe, but most of the time it is with other dogs and not Matt, so I guess safety isn't really an issue. Dogs don't really fall and bust their heads by the pool, thank goodness.

Here is Mac watching the puppy bowl on our bed this past Sunday before the Super bowl. He was really intrigued and I believe he is considering that for his future. I mean, he does believe in obstacle courses, so wouldn't he be great at it?

Lastly his favorite game is called "being lazy". Now that he is almost a year he has calmed down a lot since we first got him when he was a baby. He now likes to lay on the couch and just watch us do whatever. I think he considered this a challenge by laying on the towels while trying to get comfy.

Well, thanks for amusing me and looking at all of the pictures of my sweet sweet puppy. lol. I have finally become one of those people who talk about their pets all day. Sickening, I know. But I now understand how much they can mean to people. Growing up I had pets, but I never got to really watch them grow up and see them take a personality. He truly has been the light of my life since last June.

One last family picture to leave you with.

Katy's Bridals

2010-11-10T09:35:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I took pictures of my good friend and Tau Beta Sigma lil sis, Katy. Hubby and I drove up to Shreveport for the weekend and were able to shoot Katy's bridals and engagements. I have been sooo excited about her bridals and now that she is finally wed, I can post them. I am so in love with how these came out. I hope that you enjoy them too.

my new petti's

2010-09-14T22:16:00.000-05:00

I finally received my much anticipated petti skirts! Give me a call to schedule an appointment to have your daughters pictures taken in them! How can you resist!

Katy & Keith -sneak peek

2010-08-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

More to come!!!

Newborn- Baby Cille

2010-07-07T15:59:00.000-05:00

For the holiday weekend Matt and I packed up our car along with our new puppy and made the long and tiring journey across south Louisiana. Luckily Matt's wonderful sister lives in Lake Charles, so we were able to stop at her house in the midnight hours on Friday. Mac got to meet his new pup-cousins, Cosmo and Hank. He had a great time. Saturday Mac got to run like never before at Matt's parents house in Baton Rouge. They have a lot of property and Mac had never experienced that before. He had the run of the place. Although he tried many times to dive into their fish pond, He had a GREAT time at their house and didn't want to leave. Unbeknownst to him, he was about to meet a whole bunch more people at my family's house in New Orleans. He had plenty of miniature people to play with as well as us adults, a rabbit and an alligator. Needless to say, I don't think he wanted to come back, and neither did we. While we were home I was able to take pictures of baby Cille. You might remember her family here. Well she finally arrived and here is a sneak peek of her newborn pics.

I promise more to come. Cille tried really hard to be awake for her pictures so that gave us some extra time with big sister Stella. Stella serenaded us with her best impression of Giselle from Enchanted, and we applauded her performance. I think Stella had so much fun that she wanted to come with us. We were flattered, but Matt guaranteed her that we aren't that fun once we get home.