Her haircut

I have some more photos to share, but thought that I'd finally take some photos of Lilly with her new haircut! I might actually keep it short for awhile since it's so much easier to take care of with all of her curls.
It's snowing here today so we'll be staying inside all day. I'd take Lilly out to play in it, but it's really cold and windy so I think we'll stay warm inside instead! The kitchen floor has been removed and we're down to the hardwood. I'm glad that it's in good shape but at the same time I'm upset that it was covered up with so many layers of horrible crap! I'm glad that we decided to pull it up instead of add to the layers. Now we just need to sand it down, stain and poly it and it'll be as good as new......but with a little bit of character added in! We'll also be putting the drywall up and knocking down the wall between the kitchen and living room and turning it into a half wall. I think that the kitchen will consume my thoughts until it's done. So I'll be back with more pictures of the house, Lilly and Christmas!

Her Christmas Photos

I guess I can share them now since our Christmas cards went out already.....

Her first haircut....

I still need to take some photos of her after, but since the light wasn't that great outside today we'll wait a little bit. But here is a photo of her getting her hair cut with her big sad eyes and facial expressions.....

A new look.....

so I decided with my new found time on my hands earlier this week that I'm ready for a new look business wise. With that came a decision that I needed a logo. I was first thinking about hiring a graphic designer to do the work for me, but I thought that I'd try my hand at it first and get some opinions from some friends on what I created before I went that route. So here is the new look of Carrie Ann Photography.....
I love trees. They mean life to me and I think that they can be reflective of people the way that they change. I'll be working on updating my website and blog with the new look in the coming weeks. I may even get a whole new website sometime next year, but we'll see!

In other news, we're still in the middle of remodeling chaos! Part of the leaky pipe was replaced today only to find out that the other end of the pipe......the vent end that goes up to the roof has a leak. The leak is actually in the seal around the roof so since it was raining really hard today it was coming down the whole length of the pipe and right into my kitchen. The leak must have just happened since the pipe has been exposed a couple of times and it's rained just as hard and never leaked. Thankfully, it can be fixed and will be in the coming weeks. We'll also be replacing all of the plumbing in the bathroom since we have to replace the drywall in the kitchen ceiling anyways. It's best that everything is happening while everything is exposed anyways and in this case I'm really looking at this as a positive thing. We know then that everything has been updated and will be as it should be, with a little character thrown in!

Lillian had her first hair cut today and everything that I thought would happen did. I prepared myself by bringing along some candy, juice and the iPod with a Dora movie on it. Dora helped a little bit, but for the most part it was a cry fest with big crocodile tears running down her face the whole time. She was fine sitting on the booster seat, but as soon as the cape was put on her she freaked out. She kept saying "I stuck, I stuck!" I grabbed a few photos which I'll upload tomorrow.....not sure how good they came out since my glasses were on top of my head and I really couldn't see! She now has a cute little curly bob and we trimmed up her bangs since they were a little uneven. So I'll be back with some new photos!

This is what happens....

when little girls decide to not take their daily nap!


It was like 6:30 and she was watching Little Monsters (thank goodness for free movies and tv shows on demand!) and running around and loving it. From time to time she likes to sit on the edge of the coffee table and watch tv. So I'm at the computer doing some editing and all the sudden I hear some really loud snoring and there she is.....in her new dress shoes, a pink tutu and no shirt......totally picture worthy!

I'm pretty much done editing photos for 2008 which feels great! I'm working on some business stuff this week, but since there's no rush to get it over with I can take my time. I never imagined that I'd be as busy as I was the second half of the year! It seems like it's been non-stop since the end of August which I'm so thankful for because it makes me value my free time with my family even more.

So with more free time on my hands, I'll be doing some crafting, cleaning, painting and plain old relaxing and playing with Lilly and at the same time taking more photos of her. We both have a little bit of a cold at the moment, but hopefully the snow on the ground will stick around for a couple more days till her cold is gone so I can take her outside!

Oh....

and a couple pics of Marianna over on Betsy and Justin's blog....

www.betsyandjustin.blogspot.com

An out-take....

I won't share the rest of Lilly's Christmas photos, but I love this out take of her.....it shows her nice and long lashes....

She actually did pretty well while I was taking her photos, before hand is another story! I'm getting ready right now for my last session of the year and then I can just finish up my editing and stuff and get some much needed family time in. I'm hoping to be completely done with all of my editing and marketing for next year by this time next week, that way I can just enjoy the holidays ahead!

I have a wedding at the end of January in Bennington which is my next scheduled so I'm really looking forward to the break which I'll certainly need as the construction (or deconstruction) in the kitchen begins. We've decided to go down to the hardwood floors and sand them down, nail holes and all! It'll be messy kitchen for awhile (and messy house too) as we get things done, but it'll be worth it in the end. My first instinct is to just tear down the other wall in between the kitchen and dining room, but I know that we'd be biting off more than we can chew financially so that would be a stupid move on my part!

Anyways, time to get ready, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and that you're staying warm!

Lillian

So Lillian had her 2 1/2 year appointment yesterday and she was rather traumatized by the whole thing! She hates being held down, so the moment Dr. Orton put her on the table to start checking her out she started to flip out! She wanted nothing to do with the appointment from that point on. She only had a flu shot which was a good thing. Her growth has finally started to slow down and she's only in the 50th percentile for height and weight. She's doing really well overall which is good to hear. I always get worried because as a kid that stays home and doesn't have day to day interaction with other kids and the fact that she was a preemie I tend to over worry that she'll fall behind. Dr. Orton assured me that she's doing great though which is always good to hear! So here's a new photo of her......
My camera comes tomorrow AND I'm getting a makeover at the Clinique counter in Saratoga which I totally need. I'm pretty sure that I suck at putting my makeup on and need to know what colors are best for me!

I'm about to....

head to bed but had to share my exciting news!!!! I just added a new tool to my camera bag......the Nikon D700! She doesn't arrive until Thursday, but I'm so excited about the growth I've achieved in less than a year. I tend to doubt myself a lot because I know my previous track record. I got so bored so quickly that I could never stick to anything. Photography has changed all of that for me. Each time I take my camera out of the bag, I know that something new is going to happen and that brings me pure joy. I get to stay home with my daughter, capture memories for my clients and help provide for my family......it's one kick ass occupation if you ask me!!!!

New Website

So one of the new things that I've been busy doing is transferring everything from my old website over to my new website. I'm still using the same template so it'll be the same for the most part. The new site has a shopping cart though so my clients can order and pay directly through the site. I've already been using it while I got things up and going and giving my clients the temporary website so that I didn't need to worry about transferring the proofing galleries as well. So the new website is up and running and I have A LOT of updating to do on the blog....I think I have like 6 or 7 sessions I still need to post. I'm staying busy till the end of the year and then things will start to dwindle down so I can start focusing on marketing for next year and getting my new camera gear.

My session for tomorrow had to be rescheduled till next weekend because there's a 100% chance of rain so we'll probably work on the kitchen. I picked up some paint samples at Home Depot today and looked at flooring. I'm excited to have a normal looking kitchen and something that I'm comfortable spending time in.

I think that I might take Lillian's Christmas photos tomorrow.....only problem is that she probably won't want to take her dress off once we're done! Anyways, got some things to do so hopefully I'll be back with some Christmas sneak peaks!

You'd think.....

that as a photographer that I'd be snapping photos of Lillian left and right, but I must admit that I've been very bad lately! I'm going to try and keep up with updating our family blog as things start to slow down this winter. Things have just been so nuts that I often forget to do the little things from time to time like capturing my own child growing up!

And let me tell you.......this kid has a personality and a half!! She cracks me up all day long, even when she does something that she isn't supposed too! I bought her Christmas outfit a couple of weeks ago so I need to take a photo this week so that I can make our Christmas cards as soon as possible. My life is consumed by work at the moment and while it sucks from time to time (I know.....sucks isn't a very lady like word!) I figure that it's just a part of building my business and my name.

In other news the daylight savings time totally kicked my butt this past week and messed with my schedule! I don't want waking up at 7 every morning to be the new daily ritual! I think that's about it for now.....need to get back to work but thought that I would mention that new pics of Lillian will be coming soon!

Busy, busy, busy.....

that's my life as of right now, which is a good thing most of the time. Busy means I'm making money, and making money is always a good thing.....especially being a stay at home mom! I know I need to share some new photos of Lillian which I plan on doing sometime this week. I also need to take some new photos of the house. Dan is done with the outside for this year. We're saving the front for next year since we have to rent a lift....better to do it right the first time around!

We'll be starting work on the bathroom first. We have to completely gut it other than the tub. New vanity, new toilet, new light fixtures, new tile floor.....basically new everything! We even decided to put in some new windows since the ones in there are probably in the worst shape out of all of the ones in the house! It'll stink once the whole process starts since it's our only bathroom other than the toilet downstairs, but we'll get through it! I'm just ready for there to be some light fixtures in there.....and an exhaust fan!!!

Anyways, the whole reason for this post is that I thought that I would share some of the holiday cards that I'll be offering my clients this year. All orders need to be in by November 20th to ensure that they'll be printed and delivered in time to be sent out. You can check them out better on the photography blog here.

This isn't the path I imagined.....

I know I've said it a hundred times before, but I am so very thankful that I'm able to do what I do! I always wanted to be a stay at home mom, but it's just such a blessing to not only be able to stay at home with my daughter, but also contribute to my household income. The wedding bookings are starting to come in and I had to make a decision as to how many I'd be willing to shoot......after all.....it does take up an entire "free" day from my family. At the same time, this is part of the price I have to pay to stay at home AND make money. I'm happy that I walked down this path, even with the mistakes along the way because it's made me want even more success in this industry even more. Keeping that in mind, I've decided to add a new little venture to my agenda. I just opened up a little etsy shop which you can check out here. I called it "On Batten's Edge" which I absolutely love! I have a few hand knit photographer accessories up for sale so we'll see how they do! I'm going to try and set myself apart from the others by using hand spun and overall great quality yarns! Anyways, I'll share a photo of Lillian when I wake up tomorrow (well today actually!)......in the meantime here's my add for the store......

See it bigger on my photo blog here!

Happy Sunday!

Just a quick post and hoping that the weather wherever you are is as beautiful as it is here in Southern Vermont! We're at peak foliage this weekend and you can certainly tell with all of the tourist driving around (driving 30 miles below the speed limit to look at the oh so pretty leaves.) Me and Dan spent our 5th wedding anniversary yesterday by going out to eat while Lillian spent the night at Nana's house. We were going to go to Saratoga, but Dan didn't feel like driving so we just went to Manchester instead. After dinner we continued a 3 year tradition......Carvel Ice Cream cake for dessert. I opted for the big $25 cake so we'd have lots of left overs......when did ice cream cake become so expensive?!! Lilly should be coming home soon which I'm happy about...it was a nice break, but I do miss her whenever she's gone! One thing I don't miss though is her little messes.......this child can make a clean house dirty in under 5 minutes flat! It's a good thing I love her!

Anyways, I'm going to get back outside and finish cleaning when Lillian gets back for her nap.

Happy Anniversary Dan.....it's been a great ride for the past 5 years and I look forward to the next 50!

A time to reflect.....

A time to remember.....a time to be thankful.....and a time to find beauty. Words cannot express how much I love Vermont. The people truly are the friendliest there are! I can't even begin to count the number of people that have stopped, either walking or driving their car's along the road to tell us how much they love what we've been doing with the house. I mean seriously, where else would you have complete strangers driving down the road pull into your driveway to tell you how much they love the color of your house?! It's this beauty, this sense of peace that I wanted to try and capture during my couple hour break I had yesterday. A break from what you may ask?! A break from my computer, a break from cleaning (which I admit I've been struggling with lately!) and a break from being a mom and wife. Two hours where all I thought about was whether or not to travel down a road that I've yet to drive down. A time to be thankful for what I have and a time to reflect on what on want for my future. This past weekend, the church in town had it's local Harvest Festival. I loved that I was able to load Lillian up in her red wagon and walk into town! I've been contemplating on possibly putting together some blank greeting cards with some of my photographs on them for some time now and it's when I heard about the festival that a light went off in my head that it's worth a try next year. So I decided to use my me time to take some images of the landscapes around me. I still have a lot more places to go and lots more to capture, but here's a small sampling.....

my bug

isn't she the sweetest little girl ever?!!!!! I thought I better take some photos of her in her Halloween costume while it's still nice out, so we went out in the backyard yesterday to grab a few shots! She was dancing and singing all over the place and it was really too cute!!!

I know, I know.....

I haven't been doing a good job taking new pictures of Lillian! You'd think that this blog would be full of them now, but I'm so busy that I forget to just take the camera out and capture her. She's really doing well if I say so myself! She started putting multiple words together and yesterday she told me "I won't do that!" which is more exciting that no for sure!! Her hair is still crazy as can be as you can see from the picture below. I decided that I'm going to let her bangs grow out and since the rest of her hair is starting to fill in I thought we'd wait a little bit longer until she gets it cut......or maybe I'm still just putting it off for some unexplained reason!

Business is booming which is fun, but a lot of work for sure. I take breaks throughout the day when I'm editing to play and read with Lillian, but I really need to make sure that I get out with her more often. I'm taking her to storytime at the library this week to see how she does with other kids. They have a playgroup that meets twice a week as well, but I thought that we'd start off small and go from there! I always said that we'd go, but I really need to make sure that I do it this time because she really needs the interaction with other kids.....especially since she'll be headed to pre-school next year (where does the time go!)

This week I have lots of things to do which include getting prepared for this weekend. I'm headed to Syracuse for 2 days of mini-shoots......eight sessions in two days! Lillian is going with Dan to CT so I don't have to worry about her and can just focus on the job at hand! Each time I've been home lately I've been so busy that I barely have time to visit with my family, much less my extended family! Anyways, I'm going to to do a better job of taking photos of Lillian from now on......promise!!

Wanna see new....

pictures of the house?! Head on over here to my photography blog where the photos are nice and big!!