Schtuff.....

Well my wacom pen came today so I was able to edit this pic that I took of Dan and Lilly the other day. So like I mentioned before, I settled on Carrie Ann Photography, but I was trying to think of a catch phrase to go along with it so here's what I have...Today was a busy one with an early morning trip to the grocery store to pick up some stuff for turkey day.....lets just say that it was nuts in there! It wouldn't have been so bad if I had been able to find the french's onions sooner!!! I made some fudge for our Thanksgiving at home and did the laundry.......again!!! Tomorrow I'm going to cook one of the turkey's (I got an extra one so Dan would have left overs while I'm gone) and the yams. I guess it will kinda be a practice one for Thursday! I was able to do some scrapping last week and here are some of my layouts that I used some of Lauren's fab new stuff at Sweet Shoppe......

Just some pics!

And just in case you're wondering Dan.....I need to edit that pic of you and Lilly!!

Long week ahead....

and I've got A LOT to do!!! Tomorrow I've got to work on the laundry and start sorting things out and getting things ready for the trip back home this weekend. I've also have to make a test run for Betsy's shower centerpieces so hopefully they'll turn out okay.....otherwise it's gonna cost me some money!!! Then on Tuesday we're going to go get everything that we need for Thanksgiving dinner which should be fun!! I think that for the most part, it just going to be all of the small details tied into Betsy's shower that are going to keep me busy the rest of the week. My new Wacom pen should be coming on Tuesday, but I won't get much use out of it until I return from Syracuse (my poor CT!!!) In other news.....I just ordered this from Overstock.com.....


100% leather for an absolute steal and for $1 to ship how can you go wrong!!!! And just in case you're wondering, this is for the photography portraits......I so can't wait! Can't you just picture a little newborn all curled up on it with a fuzzy blanket underneath them, or a family, or a young couple.....basically whatever needs to be photographed!!! I think that I've pretty much settled on Carrie Ann Photography. Still using my name, but not dealing with the issues of mispronouncing my last name!! I've got lots to do once I get back from Syracuse and I mean LOTS!!! Anyways, I'll try and post a couple of pics of Lilly tomorrow......she's way too cute!!!

So I have my new flash and my Lightsphere and I've been playing with them this past week. Still have tons to learn, but so far so good! I'm going to be ordering my backdrops and stand this week so I'll have that. And then for Christmas I'm going to ask for a softbox and other goodies for the lighting side of things and I should be all set to go. I've still been doing lots of research for the business side of things and I'll probably head out to the county clerk either later this week or next week to get some more info and assistance. And at night I've been reading some books that I ordered from Amazon. And since they have lots of pictures in them it certainly goes by a lot faster!!!

Just a couple....

Of pics from this weekend. We really didn't do too much, which I guess is okay.....I just always feel the need to do something! Saturday I worked on some of the stuff for Betsy's shower and today, me and Lilly headed over to the park near Grandma's house for some shots. I would have liked to have gotten next to the water, but it was too high so there was no place to walk. Nothing major planned this week. Lilly ate my pen for my Wacom, so all designing has been put on hold until the new one comes. Not much else to talk about plus I'm tired from a loooooooong week!! Hope that everyone's week is a wonderful one!

In training....

I always ask Lilly if she'll stay as small as she is for the rest of her life.......as long as she starts using the potty......she always shakes her head no! She had the no thing down pat, still need to work on saying yes. She's been sitting on her potty for the past few months so at least she's got that part down. And just in case you're wondering, yes that is an old potty trainer! It was my dad's and then me and Betsy used it. Now that I'm looking at this pic, I think I'm going to get a bowl to go under it and start putting her on it......it's worth a try at least!

I've been working on my business plan for the photography business. Right now I'm brainstorming on a name since I don't like hearing my last name butchered! I thought for certain that once I got married, I wouldn't have to hear my last name mispronounced anymore......I mean, Bombria......bomb-rhea!!! I hear Boombria, Bombriard (where the d comes from I'll never know) and several others. So for me, coming up with a name for my business will help me from correcting everyone everytime they say my name!! Once I come up with the name, I need to buy the domain. There are sooooo many things I need to do, the least of which is buy a new computer! I was looking at the MacBook, but with only 13 inches, that's smaller than the Dell I have now and I'd rather go bigger for photo editing. I don't know what to do, but I'll figure it out....I've got some time to think about it anyways since I'm in no rush!!

Anyways, not really sure what's going on this weekend or if we have any plans. It's supposed to be nice but cold out so I'd at least like to get outside for a bit! I'll have a freebie coming up soon.....some more stuff from the collab kits at MDM.....sometime next week.

Well.....

it's been a busy week so far!!! This past weekend started with going through and finishing loads and loads and loads of laundry. It got a little backed up with the whole flea fiasco and there were some clothes that were clean in the baskets that weren't folded so I freshened those all up and am finally done with everything. Sunday we went for a drive to the Vermont Country Store.....I just love that place!! Monday I finished up my cleaning and then yesterday we ran a few errands around. We picked up a couple of re-usable grocery bags yesterday. I brought them home first to see how well I liked them since I've been shopping all over the internet for some the past week and I think that we'll go with these......and at only $1 each they're a real bargain. I just hate coming home with all of those bags and how much of a waste it is. So now we're a somewhat eco-friendly house with the cloth diapers and grocery bags!!!

My new flash is coming today and I'm so excited about it! I've been doing some research on studio lighting and found that the SB-800 gives out just about as much as the Alien Bee B800 light. So at this point, I figured I'm best off using my flash and getting a softbox. I'm going to get my backdrops and stand from ebay this week so hopefully within the next couple of weeks I'll be able to practice with Lilly using natural light. Can you tell how much I want this?!!! From what I've seen of the local photographers around here that do portraits, they're either using cheesy backdrops or the standard shots. I guess that's just not me. I want to be able to capture real moments in life. I want to be able to capture a baby when they're happy and when they're sad. I want to be able to capture a family with the little ones running around and bringing joy and laughter to their parents faces. If I'm able to do this professionally, I think that I'll have finally found the one thing that I was meant to do career wise. It'll allow me to not only make money, but also have a creative outlet which is something that I'm always craving.

Anyways, me and Lilly are going to go pick up some more grocery bags and maybe head over to Aldi's for a couple of things. Maybe we'll take a couple of shots if the grass isn't too wet!!!

Well....

It's 8 am and we've been up since about 6:30 this morning. Lilly got up last night at midnight so she came downstairs with me to sleep. It was a long night, for me at least......she is such a bed hog!! So today I'm going to be getting my stuff in the store at Divine Digital and doing my least favorite chore, the laundry. I really, really, really hate the laundry. I always say that I'm going to do it more than once a week, but that never ends up happening. Last night, as I laid awake looking at the ceiling, I decided that I need to make some sort of chore schedule.

In other news, My Digital Muse is officially closed. I was in denial last night before I brought Lilly down as I was looking at the website. I deleted it from my favorites this morning, sad......but time to move on! I'll be having a grand opening sale at Divine once everything gets in the store.....including a couple new items. I'm going to start working on a new item today, and hopefully it won't stink!

Oh and today I'll be making a big purchase camera wise......


It's the Nikon SB-800 Speedlight!!! I was thinking of getting the SB-600, but I thought that I would rather grow into a flash than out of one. It's a bit more than I was planning on spending, but I had a good final week at MDM so that's where everything will be going!! I'm also going to get a Lightspere and an extra rechargeable battery......I noticed that my 50mm eats up a ton of energy!! The next thing I hope to get is some studio lighting so if anyone has any recommendations let me know!!!

Anyways, I thought that I would share some of the pieces that I made for some of the collab kits at MDM! This week I'll share my stuff from the Think Pink Breast Cancer Charity Kit....

You can download it here.....and be sure to let me know what you think below!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday!!!