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!

My Silly Lilly

Starting to pick up....

So my photography business is starting to pick up which is fun and scary at the same time! If the whole wedding thing pans out, I'd be happy if I were able to book like 10 or so weddings a year, but I'd like to keep the focus on family and children for the time being. I just love the interactions between families. It's just so much fun and I think that I would miss that if I were to focus solely on weddings. Who knows what the future holds, but hopefully it only gets better from here on out. Here's a couple of shots from my family session this past week.....



In other news, I'm missing Lillian terribly!! She's been in Syracuse since Sunday and it's so strange with it being so quite around here. Mary offered to take her a few days before the wedding so I could prepare myself, which in the end has been a huge help. I've been working on getting the images from the family session edited so I can just focus on the wedding first thing Monday morning. It's going to be quite the experience editing and narrowing down a possible 3,000+ images for a wedding compared to my typical family sessions!! I'm sure I'll be a little overwhelmed at first, but like everything in life, practice makes perfect!!

We're coming along nicely with the house. We put in the new screens on the lower rear porch and Dan's going to work on putting the trim up this weekend. He's also going to start taking the paint off with the power washer. Who knows how long it will take for everything to get done, but it'd be nice if we could be done with the outside within a month. But somehow I highly doubt it with all that's going on!

My impatient, hard working....

husband decided that painting the house needed to be moved up. I understand the reasoning.....wanting the outside to look nice because everyone sees that first! My thing was getting the lower rear porch sanded because it was in really rough shape and it'd be nice for Lillian to play in there so I can unpack. Well Dan thought that we might as well start the scraping and painting process too while we're at it. Let me tell you........restoring this house is no easy task!! I say restoring because we'd like to keep the original charm that led us to it. How sad would it be to put up aluminum siding? With a lot of hard work, we can bring her back (yes it's a she) to her original beauty. So, we decided to go green!! It's Olivine Green from Behr just in case you're interested and I absolutely love it. The trim.....well....the first one we picked out totally stunk. So rather than risk another wasted gallon of paint, we decided to play it safe and go with a creamy off white. It's not like we're lacking in color or anything.....especially amongst all of the other white houses around us! We were thinking of painting the door black, but I don't think that will look good with the new floor paint which is going to be a dark brown color. So I'm still going to try and take the paint off and stain it.....otherwise I'll just paint it the off white color. I've been painting like a mad woman and sweating buckets to boot! I'm just really excited to see it all finished, though I'm sure it will be awhile considering we still have to get all of the old paint off. Anyways, here's a couple of pics.....

Been awhile....

I know.....it's been awhile since I posted a picture of Lillian. We went outside today since we finally had some relief from the humidity. I can deal with the heat, but it's the humidity that keeps me inside! Anyways, here she is looking all cute....


I cut her bangs again myself...probably too short once again. For some reason I'm afraid to bring her to the hairdresser! I think a part of it is me trying to deny the fact that she's growing up. She's starting to get so big that I'm probably going to have to make her start walking herself to bed. We'll probably also be removing the front rail from her bed sometime soon....most likely when she gets back from her stay in Syracuse with Grandma and Grandpa where she'll be in a big girl bed all by herself! She'll be there for a whole week so that she'll not only be able to visit but also to give me a break! I'll be shooting my first wedding on the 26th so that week will give me some time to prepare! Anyways, I need to go clean the floor and start preparing dinner.....have I mentioned how much easier it is to clean wood floors.....no more carpets for us!!!!

Oh Snap!!

So this is what I've been up to while it's been hot and humid outside (you can click on the image to make it larger)....

I just finished all of the details regarding the print packages and what not so I'm ready to start advertising. The packages.....let me tell you......are a steal of a deal!!! You'd totally be crazy NOT to book a party with me!!! If you're interested, be sure to contact me soon since my schedule is starting to fill up!!!

Be the first to book a session from this ad and mention the words "I'm first" and receive a free 11x14!!!

New pics

So I thought it was time to finally update what we've been looking at for the past couple of days. It was a lot of work, but well worth every drop of sweat. I'm sure we saved a bunch of money doing it ourselves and I happen to think that it turned out okay considering that we've never done it before. There are some water stains that we weren't able to lift with the sander, but I think that it only add to the character of the house. So as you can tell from this pic, things are coming along nicely. I still need to get a couple more sets of curtains and some stuff up on the walls and then we'll be all done with this room.



I'll be stripping the paint off of the front door and staining it since the paint kinda looks icky. Just another one of the many summer projects at the Bombria house this summer......that sounds so strange to me still.....Bombria house......it's actually ours!!!



So our next project is the drywall in the kitchen. We're going to replace it because it's really damaged and I don't think that I can stand looking at the wallpaper much longer. The major kitchen remodel won't happen for a couple of years, mostly because we want to do it right. Tearing down a few walls, getting all new cabinets, appliances, floors, etc. isn't going to be cheap and obviously it isn't something that we're prepared to do right now......I guess now would be a good time to win the lottery! I'm just really proud of all of the work that we've been putting into the house so far......my only wish is that all of the boxes would unpack themselves because I really HATE unpacking....but at least this is the last time right?!

Anyways, not much else is going on. I'm turning the big 2-9 tomorrow.....for the first time too!!! Can't believe I'm that old.....it still feels like I just graduated from high school sometimes. Nothing planned because really....who wants to celebrate your 29th birthday?! Maybe I'll pick up a Carvel Ice Cream cake for myself since Dan will most certainly forget like always (I'm used to it).....he'll remember like a week later though so I guess that's all that matters!!!

The Outside....

So this is the outside of our house. It was built in 1927 and we have a slate roof. As you can see, the slate needs to be cleaned, but other than that it will probably outlast us as long as we take care of it. Since Dan used to do landscaping, he'll be working his magic with our yard. That big old bush/shrub/whatever it is next to the stairs is coming out. We're going to put raised beds around the house and put some flowers and what not. The beds won't happen until next year, but we'll probably just rip that bush and trim the rest in the meantime. We also plan on taking out the concrete paths out and replacing them with something else. We also need to pave the driveway at some point as well.
Here is the main reason that we're painting this year. The whole house looks like this and with a 2 year old running around it probably isn't the safest having little paint chips all over the place. In all likelihood there's some lead paint involved so we'll be taking extra special care with the scraping and disposal of everything. We're painting it some shade of green....like a moss or sage sorta color with tan accents.
And this......this is where it's at!! This is the Battenkill River from our backyard. The water is a little high at the moment because of all of the rain that we've been getting. It's such a beautiful river and Dan's told that there's a fishing hole right around the bend.....who thought we'd be able to put our waders on and fly fish from our backyard!! We're just going to make a little path to the river and leave the rest as it is because it's part of the habitat for the fish



So when I said that we have a lot of work ahead of us, I wasn't kidding!!! It'll be a complete transformation inside and out!

Whew!!!

I'm pooped!!! Actually we're both really pooped....or maybe more exhausted....and we haven't even moved in yet! We closed on Friday and started working on the house as soon as we got the keys. We came back and started painting the living room. Pat picked up Lillian after work (which we're so thankful for....no way we would have been able to finish with her running around!) While we were waiting for the paint in the living room to dry we started painting the dining room. It's a dark teal and it was a little shocking at first, but I really like it (need to take pics today of it) Yesterday we spent the day sanding the floor in the living room. We now know why the professionals charge so much to do it......it's A LOT of work. But we saved so much doing it ourselves. It looks like the last time it was done they cut some corners and were a little sloppy with their work. They used a circular sander around the edges of the wall and left some circular marks in the floors. I did my best to remove what I could, but I guess in the end it adds character to the house! So, how about some pics?!

This is our lovely 1970's kitchen....wallpaper and all! We have a lot of longterm goals for this room which include ripping out the the wall of cabinets and moving in the wall on the right. The wall with the sink and fridge will turn into a half wall to open it up to the living room. Since it will be a couple of years until we're able to tackle this, we're going to work on some short term goals. First thing to go is the wallpaper and some of the drywall which is damaged. We're also going to put some of that peel and stick laminate flooring down that looks like tile since the flooring on it now is damaged. We're going to paint the fridge black to go with our new stove. I'm sure once we're done with the short term stuff it will look like a completely different room.....which is certainly a good thing!!

Need a 30 year old stove?

The lovely wallpaper with glitter on it.....seriously......how could this have ever been in style?!

Living Room Before

Living Room After Paint and sanding....Dan also put in new light fixtures and the base and top of the stairs.

Living Room Before.....the main reason we decided to sand the floors!

After sanding. We're staining today......a dark walnut color!

The nice and wide staircase!

Living Room Before

After

Anyways, it's going to be a long week and we're going to be really tired.....but in the end it'll so be worth it. Besides the kitchen stuff that we'll be doing a few weeks our only other major task this year is going to be repainting the outside of the house. We have to completely scrape the entire house. We'll be starting late August so we'll have a little time to relax.....but not too much time. We knew it was going to be a lot of work when we bought it, but it's ours and we can make it our own!!

The day before....

So it's finally here. Tomorrow is the day where I'll finally feel like a full fledged adult.....silly I know! Renting really sucks. You spend all of this money and in the end you have nothing to show for it. Up until this point, buying our own home was the last piece of the puzzle for me. My family will finally have some roots to plant. Tomorrow is going to be such a whirlwind of a day for us and I'm sure in the process I'll probably shed some tears because of shear joy......and then later on from shear exhaustion! Over the next week we have a long list of things to tackle before the final move which includes.....

Paint Living and Dining Room
Paint Bathroom
Sand, Stain and Seal Wood floors
Install Kitchen Sink Faucet
Install Shower Fixture
Clean Attic
Prep Kitchen and half bath for new floor
Clean up yard

The next few years will be devoted to remodeling the house. We'd like to do the upstairs bathroom later this year and I'm really excited. Next year we're probably going to replace the windows since they're the original ones that came with the house which of course means that they're single pane......not exactly energy efficient!! The biggest task will be the kitchen. We plan on knocking down a few walls and completely opening up the downstairs.

So.....when I get back here this weekend I'll be sure to take some before pictures.....including the beautiful wallpaper in the kitchen.....gotta love that 70's wallpaper that has glitter in it!!!

This....

Pretty much sums up how we're all feeling here in Bombria land! We're pooped and we're ready for this week to be over with! Lillian has a slight touch of a cold and I'm trying to stay on top of it because I don't want to make another trip to the hospital (knock on wood!) As of right now, our closing is scheduled for Friday at 11 am......it was pushed back a day. What does this mean for us.........a longgggggg Friday night filled with painting 2 rooms that need to be sanded the next day!!! We have to paint the dining room and the family room in one night. I know we'll be able to do, it's just going to be a long day/night!!! We're going to spend the night at the house and put Lillian on the twin bed and me and Dan will sleep on the blow up. Anyways, I just thought that I'd update the blog since it's been awhile!

Maine 2008

We're Back.....

and we're tired!!!! It was a long and great week and we certainly loved getting away from everything. The weather wasn't the greatest, but it could have been a lot worse. It rained almost every evening, but for the most part it stayed dry during the day. Lillian did okay.......just

okay.....not great, not horrible.......just okay! It was most certainly a learning experience and something we won't be doing when we have another 2 year old. It goes to show how important a daily routine is to a two year old. Change things up a bit and they just don't know what to do with themselves!!! Don't get me wrong, I loved our vacation. But I want her to love it as well and I'm not sure that she did. She did love the beach though......so much so that she didn't want to leave. She's back to the "normal" Lillian that I know and love now that we're home and I'm happy to report that she slept in her own bed last night. You would think that sleeping in a king size bed would be more than enough room......well not when you sleep with Lilly! Anyways, I'll be editing pics and putting all of them in a slideshow that I'll probably finish up on Monday or Tuesday so in the meantime here are a few from our week.....
First time in the ocean!

A field of Lupine's on the street that our cabin was on

This was the view from our cabin

And this was the view from a rock that I was sitting on while I waited for Dan and Lillian to return from their little adventure on the carriage roads.

Well, we've got a busy week ahead here in Vermont since we're closing on the 20th.....time is just flying by!!

The Countdown Begins

2 Year Check-up

My little girl isn't so little anymore! She's still in the 90th percentile for height at 35 1/2 inches tall and she's average weight at 27.5 lbs. She didn't receive any immunizations today but did have some blood drawn which she was not happy about and screamed bloody murder!!! We stopped at the grocery store to get her a donut for being such a good girl. Dr. Orton is happy with her progress and even said that we can get her a tricycle which I'm excited about and we'll probably get her that for her birthday!

Today we're packing for our vacation. So, so, so happy to get away from here and the stress of everything going on. We're leaving at 2 am Saturday morning in hopes that Lillian will sleep for a good portion of the trip. It takes around 8 hours to get there so we'll probably stop for breakfast along the way and then pick up our groceries for the cabin before our check-in time at 1. After we get there we're planning on getting our weekly car pass for Acadia National Park and do the loop around the whole park. We'll be making our own breakfast and lunch for each day and eating out for dinner and ice cream each night! With gas at the current prices, we're pretty much planning on staying on the island......not that we ever really need to go off of the island! We're going to go biking a couple of days, hike a mountain ( a small mountain.....I'm REALLY out of shape.....and I have asthma!!!) I'm not too sure what the plan is with Lillian and her naps. She'll probably only sleep in the car so we'll see what happens. She slept in bed with us the other night so I'm sure everything will be fine in the king size. Anyways, we'll come back from our trip refreshed and hopefully with some great photos to share!!!

Couple more days.....

until we head off for Maine. I'm so excited to get away from everything, especially our next door neighbors! They are so loud and so rude that it's really stressing me out. They've woken up Lillian a couple of times in the middle of the night this past week because they're playing their surround sound way too loud. A whole week of peace and quite.....CAN'T WAIT!!!! And then when we get back we'll be closing in 12 days!!!! It's still hard to believe that it's finally happening, probably because we're so ready for it to happen.

Anyways, I've been knitting again. I always start a project and never finish. I went to Greenwich this past weekend to buy some good yarn but then when I nearly finished the hat I realized that I had misplaced some of my double point needles to finish it off. So yesterday we went to Manchester and they had such an amazing selection of yarns. She said that they have knitting groups each month so I'm thinking that once things settle down after the move that I'll start going. So here's a pic of Lilly in the finished product....
And then just a sweet one of her with her sweet little smile!!

A photo tells a story....

and for me, it opened my eyes. Last night, I sat down at my desk and put a memory card in my camera and uploaded the photos from my niece Marianna's baptism in which me and Dan were the godparents. I started going through the images and there it was, in plain sight, a picture of me. I wanted to cry, but I didn't. Actually now thinking about it is bringing tears to my eyes! Basically, I look like crap and that's putting it nicely!!! How did I let myself get to this point?! I'm sure being a SAHM has played some role in it, but it certainly isn't an excuse. I was active in high school and stayed relatively thin......too think that I thought a size 6 meant that I was fat makes me cringe now!! I stayed pretty thin until I got an office job and then it all went down hill from then. And then I got pregnant. I lost 38 pounds throughout most of the pregnancy but gained 10 of it back the week before Lillian was born because of my blood pressure. And now here I am. I hate the way I look and I just can't do this anymore. I want to be proud of what I see in the mirror. And most importantly I want to be around to watch my daughter grow up, and if I stay the way I am I may not have that opportunity. Plus I want to have another child, and it certainly isn't a safe decision to make at this weight. So, you may be asking, what are you going to do to change your current situation.

Well.....at this point, I have a lot of stress, although there's really nothing to be stressed about. But for me, buying our first home and not knowing what to expect is very stressful on me. I go to bed with Dan now around 10 p.m. and get up with Lillian around 7:30, which is certainly more than enough sleep, but I still don't feel rested even though I'm not waking up throughout the night. So, I've decided that the first night that we spend in the house, is the day that I start changing my life. For me I know the biggest thing missing is the activity factor. We'll be living across the street from a great park and I plan on taking full advantage of it. And I also plan on getting Dan in on the action too because we both need a good kick in the butt. I'm just ready to look in the mirror again and be happy with my reflection. Anyways, I knew that if I spoke outloud, that I'd have to hold myself accountable.......so we'll see how this summer goes!!!!

Scrapping....

isn't something that I have a lot of time for anymore! I'm only on one creative team thankfully and it's been hard enough just meeting my minimums, so I've been trying to do a little better....even with all that's going on this month!


Dan brought down the large boxes from the attic last night and I'm going to start going through them today. I know that I need to get rid of a lot of clothing, stuff that I simply don't fit into anymore. Even if I did lose enough weight to fit back into them I'd still want to get new stuff. I'm hoping to lose a lot of weight when we move into the house. I can't wait till we can enjoy being in our own lawn and having a great park right across the street. Me and Lilly are going to wait to start going to the playgroups at the library until we move.....too much going on right now! Anyways, we'll be spending this beautiful day indoors throwing stuff out and putting stuff together for our first yard sale!!!!

She makes me laugh....

and she really makes my day!! Lillian has been walking up and down the stairs by herself for the past couple of months. Everything upstairs is just as safe downstairs so she's able to roam freely and play where she likes. So this morning we came downstairs as usual and she got her morning milk and watched a little Noggin. I decided to start the laundry a little earlier than normal (yes I am the worst when it comes to laundry as Dan likes to point out!) and Lilly decided she wanted to go upstairs. Typically she'll turn on her radio and dance or turn on the water in the bathroom sink and brush her teeth. Welllllll.......she was being REALLY quite and that can only mean one thing......she got into something. So I walk upstairs and she's in our bedroom......and her head is COMPLETELY COVERED with Dan's hair gel!!!! I just started laughing hysterically and couldn't help but grab the camera........

answered prayers

Well, the big man up above was listening to our prayers!! We finally got word back from the bank today and they took a closer look at the flood zone and verified that the house isn't in the flood zone! To say that this has been weighing heavily on our minds the last couple of days would be an understatement. The thought of having to pay that much a year in insurance was doable, but certainly not something that we were looking forward too. I'm really glad that I didn't cancel our vacation......and that we questioned where the flood zone actually was....could you imagine if we didn't! So now the countdown begins....34 days until we close.....WOOHOO!!!!

Life wouldn't be the same....

without a little bit of drama!! On Tuesday I received an email from the bank.....about something that we didn't want to hear. The appraisal said that the house was in a flood zone. Keep in mind that we were told that the current owner doesn't have flood insurance and that there was paperwork stating that the house wasn't. To make matters worse, we were extremely nervous about the septic inspection. I didn't really sleep Tuesday night and I was a wreck all the way to the inspection. Luck was on our side though. The septic is in great condition and it's been pumped so at least we don't have to worry about it for 4-5 years! We also had the opportunity to meet the seller. You can tell that he really loves the house and is sad to see it go. He lives out on Cape Cod and his daughter just finished her first year of college so he needs the money for that reason. So last night I received a call from our attorney. He received paperwork from 2005 from a private survey that was done on the house that it isn't in a flood zone. The paperwork that the bank uses to determine in the flood zone isn't done on each individual property and it hasn't been updated in quite some time. The backyard is in the flood zone, but the house isn't. We were told by the homeowner that the people that had lived in the house previously were in the house from 1940-2005 and that the house had water in the basement once when the old bridge that spanned the river caused the ice to jam and the water flowed down the street. Since then, the bridge was raised and replaced and the house has never flooded. These are the type's of things that we want to hear. Obviously, with it being on the river, it's always a possibility. But we're hopeful that the bank will accept this paperwork and we won't need the flood insurance. Either way we still want the house, no matter what.

In other news, we decided to go on our vacation. When we received word from the bank about the flood insurance, my first instinct was to cancel. But.....we both need a break. We haven't been on a vacation since our honeymoon and we really want to take Lillian to Maine. We weren't planning on spending a lot of money when we first booked anyways, so we'll just stick to that plan. We don't need to bring back a bunch of crap with us, just a lot of great memories, and those tend to be free! We're going to make our own breakfast and lunch each day and eat out for dinner.....probably pizza a couple of nights at our favorite pizza place on the whole entire earth....Rosalie's......yum!

Anyways, I'm going to think positive about this whole flood insurance deal......what will be, will be!!!

Don't be like mommy....

when it comes to what she eats! I'm the worst, really I am! I hardly eat any green veggies and I tend to stick to what I know and don't venture off very often. Heck, I only started eating mashed potatoes in the past few years. Corn on the cob is one of my favorites and I could eat it all day long. Lilly's never had it on the cob before so we thought we'd give it a try.....
She really seemed to enjoy it and kept making silly faces as Dan wiped her face. Today we're going to spend time packing the upstairs. Then when Dan gets home I'm going to have him take some of the boxes out of the attic that still have stuff in them downstairs so I can start going through those this week. We could use some positive vibes for tomorrow.....Dan's a bit nervous. We're having the septic inspected and pumped. We're hoping that all is well and that nothing has to be replaced. After that we'll be all set to go!!!

Step back in time!

It's hard to believe that Lillian is going to be 2 in a few weeks!! Time has flown by way too quickly and it still seems like it was just yesterday when we were taking her home from the NICU. She really is such an amazing little girl. Since I haven't taken any pics of her this week (bad mommy!) I thought I'd post this old video......I still crack up everytime I see it.....she's just so darn cute....

It's

official now.....he signed the papers!!!

Well....

unofficially, we're soon to be homeowners! I'm so excited I can't talk.....literally!!! I lost my voice early this morning because of a cold that I have and it's slowly starting to come back. Anyways....long story short we started looking at houses earlier this week. And when I say houses, I mean we only actually walked through two and peeked through the windows of one! So we went to the one that we're buying first. I've been looking at this house for awhile and thought that it was cute and what not. So we walk in and it has this beautiful staircase, wide wood floors and a lot of charm. It has a great backyard that has river frontage on the Battenkill and it's just outside of town, but basically still in town at the same time! So then we go look at the other house. Although it's cheaper and it's been updated, it didn't have the charm that I was looking for. For me, I like it when you walk into a house and you know that the house has so many stories to tell. Basically, I like really old homes!

So fast forward to yesterday, a lot of phone calls and further straining on my voice ends with a call from our realtor that the seller approved our bid. I dropped off the contract today and we're just waiting for the official signing of the papers on his side so we can go ahead and get the inspection done.

I'm not going to sugar-coat the house......it needs work! The kitchen needs to be completely gutted and walls torn down to open it up to the backyard. Both bathrooms need to be done as well. We're also going to sand and re-stain all of the hardwood throughout the house. But, I like the thought of making it our own which is why I probably didn't like the second house. The kitchen and bathrooms are totally liveable now, just not very appealing to the eye. I kind of like the thought that we're restoring the house........kinda like that tv show This Old House!!! Anyways, if you can't tell, I'm happy........we found a great house with lots of potential in a great village with a great school......and a great park right across the street......and outlet shopping 10 miles away.......and a great fly-fishing river in our backyard...........what more could a girl ask for?!!! So here's a couple of pics (not mine!).....

Front of house.....we plan on re-painting the whole house and garage eventually.

Love the staircase and built-in bookcase......charming I tell ya!!

This is the view of the back of the house from the river. The back of the house has upper and lower screened in porch.....and the upper one off of the master bedroom has a vaulted ceiling.....love it!!

Still yucky....

here and yet another not so nice day to go look at houses! We're going to another house today and back to the one that we liked from yesterday. If we don't like the new house today, it's likely that we "might" be putting in an offer on the one on the river. Even though it's a hard thing to do, I've detached myself from the house. I don't want to get my heart set on it and then lose it. It's a really cute house and although it needs some work, I really think that it has a lot of potential and I know that we could make it ours with a little elbow grease. This area certainly isn't cheap, but it's worth it! Anyways, send positive vibes for the whole house thing.....whichever route we go!

Check out...

my photography blog here for some new photos! I also have a new section up on my photography site with some more photos! It's a rainy and yucky day here today.....not the greatest day to go look at houses!!! Hopefully the rain will taper off later and we won't need to bring our umbrella's. I'm just really excited to get the process started......and hopefully finished!!

Making good of the bad.....

I hate today's date, really I do! Sixteen years ago today my mom passed away. It's hard to fathom that she's been gone for more than half my life! I try to make it just like any other day and not focus on the fact that she's not here, but the fact that she was here, even if just for a short while. Me and Lillian went to the bookstore today and to the park. I wanted to pick up a book on potty training and Lillian got a Cookie Monster hand puppet (although I rather enjoy it myself as well!) We then went to our favorite lunch spot, Zoey's, and got a turkey on rye to take with us to the park. We always have a good time at the park and I'm looking forward to finally owning our own home because I won't feel the need to take her to the park each time we go outside!! I think that my mom would have been a great grandma and I do get sad that the fact that she's not here to see Lilly and Marianna......after all, they are two of the cutest little girls around!! Anyways, I think I'm going to finally put Lillian down for her nap and do a little reading......and maybe a little crying.....and then a little nap for myself!!!

I despise....

disrespectful people! I despise selfish people. I despise people who think that it's okay to play their music at levels which makes the place you're living in shake! I'm the type of person that thinks about other people before myself. Sometimes I know that I really need to think about myself more, but it's just who I am. So say, for instance, I wanted to listen to some music. Is it fun to have your music turned up a little louder.....sure! Is it fun to sing along with your music and not be able to hear your own voice.....sure! Is it respectful to play your music or your surround sound at levels which is disrespectful to your neighbors......HELL NO!!! This my friends, is one of the main reason's we're getting the heck out of here! We knew this was going to be short term....we just wanted to make sure that Dan was happy with his job before buying a home. Would we be in as much of a rush to get out if we didn't have this noise problem.....probably not but we know nothing is going to change. We're not going to rush it as in make a bad decision and just buy a house to get out of here. We'll make sure that it's the right home for us and that we're happy. I just wish that people could have a little more respect.....and seriously......is it too much to ask! I feel like an old person (turning 29 this year.....for the first time!) but I'm seriously over renting!! Anyways, that's my rant for the day.....we're all allowed one every now and then aren't we?!

Think Positive!

So I'm a firm believer in positive thinking! I know that when I think positive, good things tend to happen and when I think negative....well you get the picture!! So keeping that in mind, I'm going to start the packing process! I have to go through Lillian's clothes and get all of the stuff that she doesn't fit into anymore into boxes. So while I'm at it, I figured I might as well get a head start! I HATE PACKING!!!! So I think that packing a little each week, even though we don't even have a house yet is a good thing. It lets me know that WE WILL have our own home soon. I'm hoping that getting a head start now will help me out in the end. The attic is full o' crap and it really needs to be organized and some stuff thrown out. We'll hopefully be checking out some houses this week so we shall see. Anyways, here's a pic of Lillian at the park on Friday. Lilly has been really good for the most part when I ask her to stop something, the funny part is her reaction. When Lilly misbehaves I always slightly raise my voice and say "Lillian Grace stop".........this is her reaction......


Anyways, if you could send some positive vibes to my sister and niece tomorrow I'd appreciate it. Betsy has to go back to work and while I don't know how it feels, I imagine that tomorrow won't be an easy day for either of them.

YAY!!!!

We're on the path.......the path to home ownership!! I can't even begin to tell everyone how excited I am!!! I think that the rest of the sentences in this paragraph is just going to be a bunch of exclamation points! Anyways, we got our pre-approval rate today and lets just say that I'm happy. We've gone through this process once before when we were in Buffalo. We had the perfect house, put a bid in and it was accepted. Then we found out it had a contingency bid. Let me tell you, I was crushed!!! But, everything happens for a reason. I LOVE where we are now. It's such a beautiful area and I wouldn't trade it for the world. We've decided to focus on homes within the Arlington School District. Arlington was recently ranked in the top 8% of schools in the country which I happen to think is pretty good, particularly because it's such a small school. I like the thought of my children knowing everyone in their grade, compared to me who didn't even know half the people that walked across the stage at my graduation! So although we haven't even walked through a single house yet, I have this huge smile on my face because it feels like we'll FINALLY be real adults!!!

In other news, me and Lillian went to the park in Arlington yesterday so here's a storyboard of our day.....

For Dan....

Dan always asks me "why didn't you post that photo of me and Lilly together?" So tonight I thought I'd actually post some!

We actually need to take some family portraits, but I'd like to wait until things start to get a little warmer. Plus I'm hoping we'll be able to take some on our vacation to Maine. I'm so looking forward to our time together. I've been going back and forth on whether or not to get one of those things that they have for kids that look like a back pack with basically a leash coming out of the back. I'm just really worried about her falling off a cliff or something! We'll probably carry her in the backpack thing most of the time, but I do want her to be able to run around and what not and actually enjoy herself. One moment I'm about to buy it and the next moment I change my mind. I don't know what to do! Anyways, wish me luck tomorrow. I have to call the NY department of taxes tomorrow and I'm hoping they won't be rude.......I hate rude people! Here's another photo of Lilly on the tracks.....I used a texture on this one to give it a vintage feel!

Spring is here....

We found these flowers underneath some leaves that we raked away yesterday. I just love spring don't you?!

So, lots going on here this week. I have lots of things to cross of my never ending to-do list. One thing that I wanted to mention is that if you're from my area and know of a junior in Southern Vermont (not doing NY just yet.....will be soon!) who needs some senior portraits, be sure to shoot me an email at carrie@carrieannphotography.com! I have a senior representative program that I'll be starting shortly and I'll be sending notices to the local schools. Each representative will receive special perks which may include cash incentives for every 3 referrels sent my way as well as print discounts. It's a pretty cool gig if you ask me!!! And if you're ready for a fresh new perspective on senior portraits, I'm the chick you need to call!!! Anyways, time to get back to my list!!

Day at the park

This weekend was a pretty lazy weekend which was nice!  Today we went to the park and broke in Lillian's wagon which she thoroughly enjoyed!  We took the loop around and then finished off at the playground.  She was having a lot of fun laughing at the other kids and running around....

Fresh Air

Me and Lilly decided that we needed to get outside today so we did!!! We did a little bit of yard work and moved the rest of the leaves and we also went to the park. There is a large pond/lake down the street from us where they held the Penguin Plunge so I thought that we'd go there and maybe get some shots along the pond. Well the land along the pond wasn't as flat as I remembered it to be so we really didn't hang out there too long. We did manage to get some shots along the train tracks.....and then when I went back towards the lake to try and get some more shots I tried to take the keys away from Lillian and she began to cry.....
We'll probably do some more yardwork tomorrow if the weather is okay. Then on Saturday I'm getting all of my hair chopped off.......yeah (hopefully!)