It's my blog....

and I can talk about anything I want too!!! Dan always says "why'd you put that on your blog?" Because it's MYYYYYY blog and I can do and say whatever I want.......THAT'S WHY!!!! Anyways, Dan went to bed early so I was actually able to watch the convention. One word.....AMAZING!!! I am so ready for a change and when I cast my vote in November, I hope that millions of other voters will be ready for the same change!

Anyways, I was just looking at this blog and thought to myself.......I really need to change my blog header!!! Lillian was only a year old in that shot and wasn't even walking.........ahhhhhh.......the good old days!!! That's back when I didn't have to chase behind her cleaning up her mess (I give up on some days and just let her do her thing!)......or when I didn't have to worry about her getting up during her nap time and throwing things out of her crib and taking off her poopy diaper and throwing it on the floor while jumping and screaming "I pooh'd, I pooh'd." (I seriously almost died laughing when I opened up the door and saw her all naked jumping up and down!) I seriously need to go to bed now.......my thoughts are very random and I'm not making much sense!!!

Aggravated

I won't get into the details because that would just be wrong of me, but let me just tell you this......ALWAYS READ THE FINE PRINT!!!!!!! I wrote the fine print and expect it to be read........enough said!

Anyways, today me and Lillian drove up to Rutland to go to Jo-Ann fabrics so I could pick up a few more colors for backdrops for this weekend. We're going back to Syracuse for my dad's annual clam bake that he holds every Labor Day.....clams.....yuck!!! I'll just take a coney and corn on the cob please! I have 3 mini shoots on Saturday and then the bake is on Sunday. We'll be coming home later that night so that Dan can spend all day Monday painting the house. And would you believe that he took Tuesday off.......the man that never takes time off is actually using his vacation days........SHOCKING I KNOW!!! Actually Dan has been doing a really good job at coming home at 5 since we bought the house. And although he gets right to painting when he gets home, I'm glad that he's letting go of the fact that the stuff at work will always be there tomorrow. Anyways, I'm going to be working on Matthew's photos later tonight and tomorrow along with some other stuff. Nothing to exciting and no new pictures of Lillian.....sorry! But remember to check out my photography blog here from time to time......I post all of my sessions over there and the pictures are always nice and big!!

A long day (and week for that matter!)

Today was a really long day and I'm really sleepy, but it was well worth it. Today I drove 3 hours each way to visit a little boy named Matthew. Matthew has Mito disease complex l and lll and CIPO(chronic intestinal pseudo obstruction.) At 3 1/2 years old, he's about the same size as Lillian. As soon as I walked through the door and I saw him I could tell that he was just about the sweetest little boy ever! You may be wondering why I drove 3 hours to meet him and his family. If you haven't looked at the wording on the lower part of my home page for my website, I'm a volunteer photographer for the Littlest Heroes Project. As a photographer, I donate my time and some prints to the family of a child who is ill. Matthew was my first session for this project and I'm so glad that I joined. I don't know how my photographs turned out, but I do know that while I was there, Matthew's mom Lisa told me that he was the most active he's been all summer long and I'm happy that I was able to capture that for them. I offered to photograph their family once a year with the same stipulations that I'll offer all of my clients through this program......mostly because he was my first and because I'd like to see him again. The ride was a nice one and I think that the money I spent on gas and will spend on the prints out of my own pocket is well worth the memories I'm hopefully creating for them. Anyways, you can learn more about the Littlest Heroes Project here and you can check out Matthew's website here!

In other news, I had two other sessions this past week.....one is proofed and I'm starting the other one tomorrow. I'm trying to have everything done by the time I leave for Syracuse which shouldn't be a problem. I streamlined my proofing while I was doing the wedding so I'm a lot faster and efficient!! Oh and another little tidbit, I'm reading again. My friends kept talking about the Twilight series and how they couldn't put it down. I totally love it! I bought Twilight last week and have been reading a chapter a night. May not seem like much, but I fall asleep easily when I read. I always want to keep on reading, but I know I'll forget if I continue. I guess that's about it. Dan finished stripping the paint of one side of the house and he's going to be priming it tomorrow. And then later in the day we're going to go to the Washington County Fair.....maybe we'll win a fish for Lilly!

The house....

is coming along nicely! Dan has been working his butt off and it's starting to pay off. We finished the inside of the back porch awhile ago and I thought that I'd finally post some of the pictures. I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not, but Dan ended up using a floor sander because the paint on the floors was in such shape that even painting over it would still be rather dangerous for Lillian (lead paint!) We still have to paint the floor in the upper rear porch, but at least now I can leave the back door open and lock the outside door so that Lillian can play out there. At the moment we can't go out there because Dan is sanding the house and the dust is all over the porch, but it should be cleaned by this weekend since he'll be painting (hopefully!) I really need to take a picture of the side of the house. It going to be such a huge transformation when we're all done. We still have to figure out when and who we're going to hire to paint above the front porch, or if we're going to rent a piece of equipment to do it ourselves......I guess we'll see!! Anyways, here's the pics of the back porch all done....I sanded and put poly on the picnic table that Tobias left us....

Just realized....

that I haven't had a rant in awhile!! When we were renting I think that my stress level was through the roof. I hated dealing with inconsiderate people. Now though, things are as they should be. We're the youngest couple in the neighborhood so they probably think we're the ones making all the noise. We don't make any noise to speak of anyways, although Dan pressure washing the house to get the paint off can get a bit loud! Dan finished painting most of the back side of the house and now he's onto the side. I pulled up some of the shrubs in the front yard cause they looked like pooh and I couldn't deal with looking at them anymore. That's kind of how I feel about the kitchen and the bathrooms at the moment as well! I don't spend much time in either of those rooms.....particularly the kitchen......that creepy wallpaper gives me the heeby jeebies! I'm ready for that part of the remodel to be over with!

In other news, when I said that my photography business is picking up......I WASN'T KIDDING!!! I have 3 sessions this week and 4 next week. I have 8 sessions next month and hopefully some more will be added. I've gotten 3 inquiries this week about shooting weddings.....one on New Years Eve which could be fun if I get booked! So fingers crossed, next year will be a good year for me and my little business. I'd be happy if I could pay the utility bills and be the one who buys the new windows for the house next year. Oh......and lets not forget buying a new camera.....time to upgrade baby!!!! I'm going with the D300 because I'm weak and don't think I can handle all that the D3 has to offer......maybe someday though! Anyways, I've got some proofing to do tomorrow and some more housework which seems to be never ending.......think we need to have a BIG yard sale at the end of the summer to empty out the garage.....wanna come help?!

A little funny.....

well not too funny! Last night we had some unexpected visitors in our house.......BATS!!!! Bats are something that we knew were around, mostly because of the river. Bats killing the bugs is a good thing.....bats in your house......not so good!! We know that they're in the attic and we'll be shooing them out once they're done roosting since we don't want the babies to die when the parents leave and never come back. They're not causing any harm at the moment, so we knew it was best to wait until they're ready to leave in a couple of months. So last night I'm sitting at the computer and Dan is watching TV.....all of the sudden he yells "Holy Shit." I look up and there's a bat in the living room!! He was able to make it go into the upper back porch and then get it outside. A couple hours later......another bat!!! This time Dan had had enough and he wasn't going to let this one escape. Long story short, he killed it. I don't think that you're supposed to kill them, but this one wouldn't go out to the porch so it's what he had to do. Where were they coming in you may ask? On the side of the air conditioner where there was a big old space for them to get through! So the air conditioner in the spare bedroom came out and we started trying to figure out what to do to make sure that they don't come back next year. Part of the repairs on the house is making sure that they won't be able to get back into the attic. But we also need to make sure that they don't try to get back in so we're going to be getting some of those ultrasonic devices that drive them batty to make sure they don't come back. So that's my story for the day!!

A little tip from a photographer....

Next time you're at a wedding, don't do this.....

Really......was it worth the quality of the cell phone picture to get in back of the wedding party? Are you going to blow it up and put it up on your wall.......highly unlikely! You wouldn't get behind the priest in a church ceremony so why do it outdoors! Can I fix this picture? Yes! But it's going to require some work on my part which I'm okay with........seriously though.......don't do this next time you're at an outdoor wedding!!!

Anyways, here's another one of my cutie....

A storyboard

We went to the park today and I took some photos of Lillian in her new dress.....


Check out the new blog to see it bigger!

A new blog

So I finally upgraded my photography blog and in time, I may completely transfer our family blog over there as well but I guess we'll see. The new blog is a lot more professional looking and it allows me to place full sized photos as well which is a huge plus in this business!

So you can check it out here (www.carrieannphotography.com/blog/)

Anyways, today is Dan's birthday........the big 3-0!!!!! We're getting old aren't we?! He's outside painting at the moment.....it was supposed to rain all day yesterday so he never painted.....we only ended up getting a few drops. I have some new pictures of the back porch all done and I'll download those later today.

A wedding in the park.....

Is such a beautiful place for a ceremony....and the Georgi Museum in Shushan, NY is the perfect setting!! Every first in your life can be such a rush of emotions. The first time you see your future wife/husband, your first kiss, your first walk as husband and wife......and last but not least, your first time photographing a wedding! Strangely enough, not a single bone in my body was nervous. My sister Betsy, also known as the assistant sent from heaven above was there to assist me and help me capture Tiffany and Leon's Day. And what a beautiful day it was! The sun was shining and love was in the air......corny I know! At any rate, I had a great time and I thought I'd give them just a little sneak peak of their day.....lots more to come. Thanks again for letting me capture your day!