Office Overhaul

I can't believe I am going to post these pictures....I really can't.  If you have read my blog long enough, you know my life is certainly not perfect and I don't always have it together.  Most of us have a junk drawer, right?  Don't you have a junk drawer?  Anyone???? 

For the last few months, as I launched my photography business, put together all of my marketing materials, and dreamed big dreams for this new adventure with the Lord, I collected more than a junk drawer...um I hate to admit it... but I had a junk room. Yes, an entire room.  Granted my office is only 10 x 14 but still, it was junk-y!

My office became the catch all, end all, throw it in there and hope to be able to close the door room. Really, it did and I'm not proud of that fact.  My mother raised me better than that!  When it became difficult to navigate my way into the office in the wee, hours of night, (where I could work without feeling guilty that I might be neglecting my family) without fearing that I would hurt myself, I knew it was time to fix my junk room. But, I really didn't want to.  It was a mess!

I put on my big girl panties and got to work.  Wanna see the before photos?  They are straight out of the camera...I didn't even take the time to set my white balance so the photos are as bad as the room.  Ready?  Ok, here goes (deep breaths on my part...starting to break out into hives...not believing I am sharing this with the world):

See where it would be hard to navigate my way to my computer in the dark?  I was taking my life into my own hands, I tell you!  And see in the top right photo all of my beautiful marketing materials put away so carefully...on the floor!  I couldn't stand it.  They needed a better home.

I don't have an explanation for this photo above...or even my quirky decor on the right.  It was during my Mary Engelbreit phase, ok?  I actually sewed this little wall hanging and hung it on a twig I retrieved from our front yard.  It has hung in this same spot for the last 10 years and it was past time to go.

I carefully cleared out the room and realized what a great space it really is.  I am so thankful to have a home office and I hope to take much better care of it.  Here are a few pictures of the Office Overhaul...that was done for less than $100. 

I have room to walk around and everything.  Woo hoo!  My photography marketing materials have a new home and even the tissue paper for my packaging has a home too.  I used inexpensive curtain rods from Target (tar-jay) to hang my tissue paper from and I think it adds just the right amount of color over there and it's practical too. 

I bought sheets to make a sort of covering for my new shelving unit but I'm taking them back tomorrow.  I thought that I would like to have my "stuff" covered up but I know myself well,  it will just get messy again so I'm trying to embrace the open.  I cleaned out the tall shelving unit and now I have a place for photography props and I really like that. 

Not bad for a few hours and less than $100.  I like my re-organized space so much that I actually spent the afternoon designing Christmas cards for my clients.  Delight!

Okay, I exposed myself to the world...my office anyway (where is your mind?).  Now, it's your turn.  Do you have a junk drawer?  Or room?  Tell me, tell me.  I want to know...so I can feel a little better about myself.  Ha! 

Sensational St. John USVI

We have been home from our trip to St. John, USVI for 5 weeks now and I am so ready to go back! Really, there is no place on earth like St. John.  If you have the blessing of going one day, please go.  Your adventureous heart will thank you.  As I reflect on our vacation, I can't believe how quickly the summer has gone.  It seems like yesterday that we had the great privilege of seeing God's beautiful creations...places like this one, when the sun finally came out (we were in the tropical storm long before it hit Texas) and filled us with all kinds of delight.  This is Salomon Beach.

I have to giggle a little when I type the name because Salomon Beach had a long standing reputation as being a "clothing optional" beach.  I hope that you know me well enough to know that if I could wear a turtleneck underneath my bathing suit, I would.  I am very modest...but I wanted to see this beach.  Not, for the reputation, but because it is suppose to be one of the most beautiful beaches on St. John and the book I was reading told me that it was no longer that  kind of beach and that Park Rangers will ticket any streakers, so to speak. 

My parents, Mr. Incredible, Rachel, Hannah, and I made the 40 minute hike down to the beach...and no one was there.  DELIGHT!!!!  We were so excited!  I think we snorkeled and played in the ocean for about an hour before nine other people hiked down to our little corner of paradise. 

The palm trees grow along the sand before they gracefully arch to the sky. 

Crystal clear water, white sand, and my family.  God is good!

Mr. Incredible and I snorkeled a lot around the rocky cove.  I like to dive down to see the playful little fish and beautiful coral.  It wasn't long before I felt like something was watching me and I was right...a 5 to 6' barracuda didn't like me diving down to play with his dinner so he decided to scare me half to death.  What did I do?  I grabbed my man, spun him around and put him between me and the barracuda...and he teased me about it all day long!

Gibney Beach became another one of our favorites.  We were alone on the beach for a few hours before anyone found our little spot of paradise but even then it was pretty much just us.  Rachel and I snorkeled for a long time until we were surprised by a shark!  I am not kidding...a huge 5' shark nearly made me wet all over myself.  I grabbed her and we swam back to shore as quickly as possible.  It turns out that it was a harmless nurse shark...but still!  It was a shark!

The beach is gorgeous at Gibney!  Mom and I floated on pool rafts for a long time.  It was fun basking in the majesty and glory of God's beautiful Gibney Beach.  I wanted to remember what the shore looked like from the ocean so I bravely grabbed my "big girl" camera (bgc) and braved the water to take a picture and I am so glad that I did:

On the next to last day, Mr. Incredible and I jumped in our jeep and drove the beach shore road so that I could snap some pictures of our favorite beaches.  This is Cruz Bay (it's not our fave but it is where the ferry brings you over from St. Thomas):

I love this view.  This is world famous Trunk Bay and on around is Cinnamon Bay (which we adore).  Trunk Bay is where most tourists spend their days. We have been there once but we like to hike to the more private beaches. 

Our family enjoys hiking to Waterlemon Key and Leinster.  It was a cloudy day but the snorkeling around the key was beautiful:

My dad wanted to see Brown Bay so our family hiked the nearly 100 miles up hill, in the snow, just kidding, we hiked the 1.4 mile trail that goes up 200 feet above sea level and then takes you down to the beach.  The night before Mr. Incredible surprised me with a couple's massage at a spa in St. John.  It was a sweet thought but the masseuse ladies must have had their training from nurse Ratchet because they were rough!  We thought we were sore the next day until we climbed 200 feet on a narrow, rocky trail.  We both decided to spit every time someone mentioned massage!  LOL.  

We made the hike down to the beach where once again we were othe only ones there.  Brown Bay is different than the other beaches in that it has a grassy area with little spiky urchins and you have to watch your step.  My dad, Rachel, and I had to see what was swimming in the ocean so we donned our snorkel gear and headed out while Mr. Incredible, Hannah, and my mom stayed knee deep in the water.

There were tons of conch shells on the ocean floor.  It was fun to dive down and see them.  Dad, Rachel and I swam with a sting ray for quite some time and then Rachel and I swam with a sea turtle.  The water was kind of murky here unlike the crystal clear waters of Cinnamon Bay.  

After a while I noticed my dad quickly swimming towards my mom and Hannah.  Later I learned that a 5-6' shark was heading right for them.  It was a huge reef shark!  Thankfully it turned and swam away before it reached them.  All of the books tell you that it is very rare to see a shark in the virgin islands.  This was our 4th trip and the first time we have ever encountered a shark.  Scary!

One of the conch shells we retrieved from the ocean came with a surprise; a little octopus was hanging on for dear life.  Can you see it? 

I was so glad that I grabbed my camera.  Look at the octopus in the water:

Rachel looks pretty calm for having just gone snorkeling with a shark.  Doesn't she?

You never know what you are going to see on your drives in St. John.  This little donkey was eyeing us for food as we drove by.  Hannah took this picture and it makes me smile every time:

On our hikes we had the fun of getting to see some of the beautiful ruins on St. John:

And enjoying Key Lime pie...yum!

This little guy hung out at the house.  The girls called him Zeke:

We hiked the road that was just down from the house too (Rachel, Hannah, Mom, and Dad):

And Mr. Incredible got caught up on some much needed rest:

A treasure I retrieved from the bottom of the sea:

Most days looked like this...but we didn't mind too much because we were together in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

The beautiful sights and sounds of St. John fill my heart to overflowing with joy and memories to treasure for a lifetime...but it also makes me wonder what Heaven will be like.  Can't you just imagine the delight there?!

Fabulous Frisco!

This past weekend Mr. Incredible's mom and dad (Nonnie & Poppie), Sister (Aunt Sissie), Brother-in-law (Uncle G), and their boys~our nephews, and our family had a fun, end-of-summer trip to Fabulous Frisco, Texas.  We ate way too much and shopped until we all dropped....note to self, we need one more day if we are blessed to do this again. We stayed at the wonderful Westin Stonebrier where we slept in heavenly beds and drank starbucks coffee...okay, I drank Starbucks coffee, it was delightful!

Yesterday (I can't believe I missed a Monday blog post) I worked on the "D" family photos from last week's photo shoot.  I have to tell you that I adore this family.  They are beautiful inside and out!  It was such a fun photo shoot.  I could have spent way longer than the 2 1/2 hour photo shoot.  I was determined to get the pictures narrowed down from over 500 to less than 50.  I tried really hard, but I could only narrow them down to 60 something.  Their children have the most incredible eyes...and smiles...and giggles...and everything...just like their momma (sorry Shane, I've known Jaclyn longer...but you are great too).  It was fun and yesterday was fun editing their photos too. 

I played with photoshop a little bit and had a delightful time applying black and white actions to photos like these 2 cuties:

I often work with color but there is something about black and white that I am loving right now.  So, they inspired me and that's why all of our weekend pics are in black and white...well, most all, there are a few exceptions, but you'll understand why. 

And I cannot believe that I don't have more pictures from our weekend.  I lugged my big girl camera around all day Friday (we stopped to tour Hardin Simmons University for Rachel...be still my heart!) and Saturday....my sore shoulder is proof.  I think I'm walking with my right shoulder 2 inches below my left...my bgc (big girl camera) is heavy stuff...but I LOVE her anyway! 

We planned to have a mini family photo shoot all together in Frisco but we all got so in to our back to school shopping that we forgot.  So this is all I've got~shocking, I know!

Here is my baby girl at the Westin:

And Andrew who has just been told that we are going shopping...all day long! 

But we were nice to everyone and stopped for an amazing breakfast at La Madeleine first:

So many choices...it's all so yummy:

This is my FAVORITE thing to have at La Madeliene. I order it every time without fail.  It's called Strawberries Romanoff (or Strawberries Smirnoff as Poppie likes to call it).  It is scrumptious!  I try not to embarrass myself by licking the bowl but it is just too good to leave any little bit behind.  I didn't know it until this trip but the divine romanoff sauce is made with brandy....hmmm!  I don't drink.  I am a good preacher's daughter, but this sauce....let me just say, I could bathe in it....oh my it is that good!  It is just not as pretty in black and white so here it is in color (my mouth is drooling just looking at the picture):

After breakfast we headed to Allen's Premium Outlet Mall where we found all kinds of delightful back to school things and I even purchased a few Christmas gifts!

We then drove a few miles to Watters Creek to shop at their beautiful outdoor mall.  We don't have these kind of malls in our part of Texas.  It was fun!  One of Mr. Incredible's cousins heard us talk about Sam Moon (awesome place to buy purses and jewelry on the cheap) and she asked us if we had ever been to Charmin Charlie?  Charming What? So we made a mental note to try it on our trip to Frisco and it did not disappoint.  We girls could have spent a whole day there and at Vera Bradley's too.  Rachel found the cutest memo bag for school there.

I think we spent 2 hours in Charming Charlie's and yes it was charming!  Uncle G and Mr. Incredible met us outside with bottled water...shopping can wear a girl out!  I think we shopped on one of the hottest days on record in the metroplex.  It was 102 degrees before lunch time.  But we managed to find a way.  Ha!

My girls with their Charming Charlie purchases:

It turned out to be the year of the Converse.  Hannah bought 3 pair, Andrew bought a pair, Aaron bought a pair, Rachel bought a pair with bling (black glitter) and I bought 2 pair.  Who says 40 year old momma's can't wear converse.  They are soooooooo cute! One pair is red and the other pair is red and black plaid (for game day Fridays at the high school).  Hannah has always worn them and Rachel adores Tom's shoes (great company~for every pair that you purchase they give a pair away to someone who needs them) but Hannah prevailed and talked us into trying them.  They are comfortable....Converse converts...and we're never looking back!

After we rehydrated it was off to the Stonebrier Mall (yes, it's still the same day.  Remember?  Shop till you drop) for more back to school shopping.  The girls and I hit Forever 21, Aunt Sissie, Nonnie and our nephews hit the Lego store, while Mr. Incredible, Uncle G, and Poppie disappeared to another store.

My girls found some cute things at Forever 21 and then we texted their daddy to see where they were.  They were in the Apple store....a place that melt's my techie heart into a million pieces.  We decided to meet them there because I was dying to see my new photography site on an Ipad and they let you play on Ipads for free.  We met they guys inside where Mr. Incredible, with a grin from ear to ear and eyes as blue as the ocean,  hands me a sack.  And the Apple sales guy and Poppie and Uncle G stop what they are doing and smile.

This is what I unwrapped:

I couldn't believe it...an Ipad!  I squealed for joy, jumped up and down, did a happy dance (sorry girls~this white girl can't dance), cried a little, hugged my man and kissed him in front of the entire store who was now watching my reaction!  It was awesome!!!! 

I still can't believe I have one.  I was maybe...if I would allow myself to...hoping that I might possibly get one for Christmas...if I was very good but now?  Really?  He flashed his baby blue eyes and said, "Happy back to school, sweetheart!"  And I melted right there all over again!  He so gets me! 

I cradled my Ipad in one arm and my man's arm in the other the rest of the shopping trip. And then I stopped at Macys for a little something, something to surprise my man. 

I am still in shock over this extravagant gift!  Isabella (yes, I named my Ipad) and I are having so much fun getting to know one another! 

Whew!  It was a whirlwind trip to Frisco but so worth it!