April fools fun! | Tampa photographer

Yesterday I stumbled upon a food blog that had a cute idea for April fools.  It's called Our Best Bites.  The post that I am speaking of is called Silly cupcakes.   So, this morning I baked the cupcakes.  Then while my son napped I decorated them so that I could serve them their "vegetables" this evening as we won't be home to eat tomorrow night (I'm taking the kids to Busch Gardens).  And yes, I did this all during our "no named hurricane" that slowly blew through here ALL day.  OMG... I have never seen anything like it.  About a mile away a tornado touched down.  But we are all safe, no damage and no power outage for us thank goodness.  Oh, and the kids WERE NOT fooled by these!  Can you guess which one they both wanted???  Of course... peas & carrots... lots of candy on top!

Miss J is turning 1! | Tampa Children's photographer

YAY!  I finally got a client who wanted to shoot at the open air laundromat!  Check out the most adorable dresses Miss J was sporting!  Her mom made them!!!  With 3 kids, a website called  Baby News Bits-  a media site targeting mommy-hood through a vibrant website... trendy weekly email delivering the scoop on "what's hip & hot", editorials designed to inform & direct readers to local & national resources that cater to family needs & mommy time and her endless community volunteering... how does she do it???


Here are two quick sneak peeks from this afternoon!

PINKBERRY at Teddy's Country Fair

My daughter attends Roosevelt Elementary in South Tampa.  Last night was Teddy's Country Fair.  A fun evening of bouncy houses, DJ, magic tricks, balloons, games, etc.... AND PINKBERRY!!!  It looked like the crowd enjoyed the free samples.

Don't forget Pinkberry opens at Westshore Mall April 8!  Make sure you stop by!

4 weeks of pictures of the day for Project 365

I have been keeping up with my project 365 but have been BAD about blogging them.  I know a certain someone is waiting... patiently.... to see her b-day cake as I made it my POTD last week.  So here you go Jen!  :)

WEEK 8

50/365 Peanut Butter Cream Pie from Yoder's down in Sarasota!  

 

51/365 I bleached the front of the house with Clorox Clean-up!

 

52/365 Brooke standing with her bike!  She's getting pretty good!  Proud of her determination. 

 

53/365 Strawberries at Brandon Farms!

 

54/365 Brooke wearing her Daisy vest.

 

55/365 Payne found this drum at the bottom of the toy box... it's so noisy!

 

56/365 My Christmas present and favorite pair of shoes!

Week 9

 57/365 My number for the 5K race I run once a year.  My 16th time running.  Time: 29:50

 

58/365 Buy one get one free Smoothies at Xtreme!  LOVE them!!!

 

59/365 White Chocolate covered pretzels!  YUMMY!

 

60/365 Payne had discovered cheetos... He has cheetos fingers!

 

61/365 The kids as we walked to school one morning.  The walk is .7 of a mile each way.

 

62/365 Payne in the swing at the park.

 

63/365 Brooke's "clean" room.  Spent 2.5 hours cleaning it out while she was at school!

 

WEEK 10 

64/365 PINKBERRY is coming to town!  April 8th!

65/365 POLLEN!  YUCK!  I don't have allergies but this year, I seemed to feel it.

66/365 Brooke one morning before I woke her up for school.  She has hair all in her face and a pillow on top of her.

67/365 Happy 40th birthday Jen!!!!

68/365 Trying to read and learn more about understanding exposure!

69/365 Chick-fil-a #1 meal with a diet lemonade. A weekly meal b/c Payne LOVES this place! 

70/365  Just washed my car!  Love a CLEAN car!

 

WEEK 11

71/365 University of Tampa.  Was the Tampa Bay Hotel during the Spanish American War.

72/365 Brooke and made this Leprechaun trap to catch that sneaky little thing.

73/365 The Bachelor! A guilty pleasure.

74/365 Payne loves to look at toys when we are at Target.  Doesn't want any of them, just likes to look at them.

75/365 Brooke at field day at school (didn't realize I took this in B&W).

76/365 Some of the Leprechaun traps in Brooke's class.

77/365 My own invention of the salted chocolate.  Had the most amazing one Monday night brought back from The Ritz.  Trying to recreate with Dove dark chocolate and kosher salt.  Not quite the same but pretty good.

Mr. B turns 1 | Tampa Children's Photographer

What a GORGEOUS day it was yesterday... gorgeous for a 1 yo shoot!
Here are three from yesterday!  Still editing....
Check out the awesome banner his Mom made for his party!  So crafty!
When we started, Mr. B wasn't too sure about me with the camera in his face!  He just wouldn't smile no matter what we did.  It wasn't until the end that he gave me the best smile ever!  He's so sweet.  If you could have heard his laugh with this big smile.... melt your heart!

Is there really a perfect time?

I was just sitting here thinking about my life as a mom, wife, daughter, friend... how blessed I am to have such special people in my life... AND how blessed I am to be able to follow my passion of photography.  I so love this "job" and still have a lot to learn and accomplish.

I follow a lot of photographers around the country for words of wisdom and inspiration.  One being Deb Schwedhelm.  A friendship started after an email I sent her when I read her blog back in Dec. 2009 when she posted that they were moving to Tampa.  I had the extreme pleasure to get to meet her in person in July 2010.  She lives about a mile from me and our kids go to the same school.  Cool, I know.  Back in May 2010 she posted a very inspiring blog entry titled Is there a perfect time? However it was her April 2010 post titled Family photos with the PS at the end of the post that got me thinking.... I want my own family photos.

Enter another photographer, my dear friend Lori Boynton.  Lori and I met in 2009 when I took her family photos.  I remember our session well.  How beautiful I thought she was and what an adorable family she had.  I loved how she brought cute little hats for little Presley.  I took the pictures, she ordered and on went our lives.  It wasn't until our mutual friend told me that she started her own photography business.  I watched from afar and I can't remember exactly when it was, but we just started talking and our friendship blossomed from there.  We agreed to trade family sessions.  She took our first family session down in Ybor and rocked it!  I LOVED and still do love our pictures from this session.  I in turn did her maternity session. I also got to spend one afternoon photographing baby A.   Then it was time for the Christmas card pictures and AGAIN, she rocked it!  I did their Christmas shots and then recently did some shots when we met up one afternoon. 

Both photographers gave me so much.  Deb gave me the "Aha moment" and Lori executed it for me!  I couldn't thank either one of them enough.  I so love our family photos that they are all over my house.  My husband wondered if people would think that we were "into ourselves" since that was all we had on our walls?  I think not!  They are so frickin special to me.  I am ALWAYS behind the camera for every moment.... Easter, birthdays, beach, Thanksgiving, Christmas.... you get the picture.  So to have these pictures.... they mean the world!  My FAMILY is it!  They are so special to me and I will show them off as much as I want!

So back to the original post that started it all..... Is there really a perfect time?  NO!  There isn't!  PLEASE, go get those family photos done!  They are worth the investment... every penny!  Everyday is different.... you are different, your kids are different and will never be the same.  CAPTURE the moment NOW!!!!!   You won't regret it!!!!  PROMISE!

I always like to have a picture with a post...some shots from yesterday with my kids.  Oh, how I love that they humor me!







 

The Fight Factory, Crossfit 813 and Pinkberry!!!!!

Yesterday was the grand reopening of The Fight Factory here in Tampa.  Their moto, where athletes come to train.

 
Inside The Fight Factory you can find Crossfit 813.  I have yet to do a class, but have heard so much about it!  I have to mentally prepare myself for it and I will do one soon.

So are you wondering how PINKBERRY fits with all of this?  Well, my girlfriend Jackie is bringing PINKBERRY to Tampa.

Can I get a woot woot???  

She has raved about it.  I tried it last year over in Orlando and thought it was good.  Fast forward to yesterday.  Jackie called me and told me to come over to the Fight Factory where PINKBERRY would be set up for the grand reopening.  Her son, Jon, is a  co-owner of Crossfit 813.  They are housed at The Fight Factory so that is how PINKBERRY was there.

Back to PINKBERRY and its yumminess (is that a word?)....  Friday night we took the kids out for a treat to celebrate potty training my 2 yo son.  We went to a local yogurt place... I won't name it.... and it was good.  Then yesterday I try PINKBERRY again and boy do I taste a huge difference.  So I change my good to a GREAT!!  OMG... I couldn't get enough.  I had two cups and wanted more but had lots of willpower as to not look greedy.  My kids... not so much!  They were all over it!  So now I have to wait.... until April 7 for the VIP party... dreaming of the yummy PINKBERRY!

This is the side of the catering truck.

 The outside of The Fight Factory.

 My kids spinning the wheel!