As I’m sure you are all aware – yesterday was Mother’s Day. Like many other son’s and daughter’s, we scheduled our day around visiting with Ryan’s mom and my mom. I consider myself very blessed to have such a wonderful mother!

When I was growing up, I was a brainiac (always had my nose in my books), actively involved in many extra curricula’s and quite busy with 4-H. All of which my mom took a role in helping me with. Mom and Dad both always encouraged me to educate myself and to challenge myself to learn more. It’s why I loved school! Learning is fun to me and I’m really quite good at it…. I think I got those smarty pants genes from my parents.

In 4-H I always was working on art projects – sketching, photography, clay, etc. When I was younger I often would find myself frustrated because my mom was a very realistic critic. My projects always need some more refinement, some more work, there was always something more I should do to improve them. At the time it was hard because I felt like my projects were never good enough, but now I see that my mom was just pushing me to improve myself and preparing for the harsh world of criticism that often exists in the art world. Her constant encouragement and support has enabled me to make it where I am today. To be able to keep moving forward and trusting in myself to reach that next level of artistry and skill.

So even though I said this yesterday I’ll say it again… Happy Mother’s Day mom! I love you more than you know!

Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all the other mom’s out there too! And have a magnificent Monday!

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As I was driving home from the store last night, I had my car windows down and Ingrid Michaelson on my radio. The song “Die Alone” came on the radio and I began to feel the crisp chilly air whipping through the window. I caught myself breathing it in… big, deep inhales… letting the coolness fill up every corner of my body and slowly releasing it along with all my tension and stress. Had I not been driving I most likely would have closed my eyes and just sat quietly, reveling in the peace that filled me.

I love nights like this. It’s probably why I love fall so much. I love cool breezes. I love the sensation I get when a chilly breeze hits me… the way it seems to pass right through me and chill me to my core. It’s the type of feeling that makes you feel like bundling up in comfy sweaters or cuddling on the couch enveloped in a warm fuzzy blanket. I love feeling as though my oversized sweater and fuzzy blanket are hugging me with warmth. It’s such a friendly, happy feeling to me.

But the other reason I love the chill breeze it because of the things it reminds me. To be chilled so deeply to have it penetrate me clean through reminds me that I am only human, that I am fragile, and that there are far bigger and greater things at work in the world than me. It cleanses me of my worries (if only for a moment) because I’ve been reminded that there is someone watching out for me. Someone who has a plan for me. Someone who knows what’s best for me. And it helps me to be at peace with my current situation, whatever that may be. It helps me remember that I am loved by someone who knows me much better than I know myself… And that is a comforting thought.

I hope you all are having a Fine Friday and that you have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy yourself and spend some time with those you love!

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I am friends with many of my clients on Facebook. I love seeing their little updates and how their lives grow and evolve. The one thing I never want to see is when someone passes away. Loss is such a hard thing… especially the loss of someone we are very close to.

On Monday evening I saw a post from one of my upcoming brides. I read the post the first time and couldn’t believe it… I read the post probably five times before my brain managed to retain the words written there. For this sweet bride, Monday marked a changing point in her life… her fiancé passed away while at work.

He was young and it was sudden and unexpected. I can’t even begin to fathom the pain, the grief, the doubt and emptiness that she must be feeling to suddenly lose the man of her dreams. I know that I would be an absolute wreck without my Ryan. I’ve wracked my brain trying to figure out what I can do. If there is something I could do to help her get through this time.

Often in these situations, fundraisers are created to raise money for those who are left behind. At this point in time, I don’t know that money is actually a concern for this lovely lady. I know money would mean nothing to me. I wish I had photos of them. I wish I could make her a video or a book. Something to keep him close. But I don’t have any images of them to share.

I’m just at a loss as to how to approach this situation. But my heart so desperately wants to do something to help in this difficult time. So for the time being my prayers will be for her and their families that they can find comfort and peace. And I’ll still be contemplating ways I might be able to help. But until then I’m reminding myself that I am blessed. I’m focusing even more on telling those I care about how much they mean to me on a regular basis. And I’m remembering that there is a much better place we go to when our time here is done.

Photo by Petar Paunchev

I hope you all are having a wonderful Wednesday. Tell your family and friends that you love them today. And I’ll see you back here on Friday

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As I sit here getting everything organized and ready for our anniversary get-away, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. You know, Ryan and I have been together for eight years. We started dating my senior year of high school (Ryan was in college), and we knew within that first year that we were meant to be together, that we couldn’t imagine life without the other person.

I know some people don’t quite understand us (even back then). We’re a little different, and quirky, and we’re comfortable and happy with who we are… We’re not trying to be anybody else. I think that in and of itself can be a hard thing for some people to grasp.

But there’s also the fact that we love to spend time together. I love my husband! I miss him when he’s not here… I miss him everyday when he’s gone for work. And I know he misses me too! We have a weird sense of humor and lots of inside jokes and we’re just happier to have each other around to laugh with, share with, and just simply be with.

I would much rather spend time at home with my husband than go off and do something on my own. And I know that this desire to be with him (even after eight years together) isn’t something everyone understands. In fact I know there are certain people who absolutely don’t understand why I don’t want to go to the bar or go out dancing or have a girls night out. And I’m sorry that I don’t really know how to explain it. I just know that I’m happiest when I’m with him. He makes everything better.

Ryan is my rock, and I am his. In a world that is constantly changing, in our life full of ups and downs and gains and losses – I know that no matter what I can count on him, and he can count on me. I trust him completely and utterly… with my heart and with my life.

On nights when I can’t sleep because the sound of the rain outside my window sounds scarily similar to the crackling of the fire as it made it’s way into my kitchen… I remember that morning. I remember the panic. I remember him being the first thing I thought about and frantically making sure he was awake. There’s a lot I don’t remember, but I remember after we got out with nothing more than our phones, dog and the clothes on our back – I wanted to try and go back inside for my camera, laptop, hard drive… just something. I remember climbing up to the front door to look inside, and as I peered into the dark interior I knew there was no hope of getting anything out. Ryan’s voice drifted up to me, pleading with me to come back out into the yard with him. I could hear the fear in his voice, how scared he was that I might go inside and not come out. I wouldn’t have risked it anyway, but the sound of his voice is something I’ll never forget. Because just in the tone of his voice I knew every thought and worry that was running through his head… fears that I had felt too. The chiefest among them “I need you! I don’t know what I would do without you!”

I know that I am lucky. I am lucky to be alive actually, but I’m especially lucky to have found someone who is undoubtedly my soulmate, my missing other half as Plato believed. And that is truly what Ryan is for me – my other half – he makes me feel whole. And I know that whatever this crazy life of ours throws at us, we’ll be able to handle it. Because we have each other. And together we can overcome anything.

So for the next two days (Thursday and Friday) I will be feeling blissfully complete as we celebrate our eight years together and four years married. I will not be available to answer the phone or emails, but please do leave me a message and I’ll get back to you first thing Monday morning. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week and a super fun weekend!

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I have a secret… I’m obsessed with light! I know, I know… that doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, but I sometimes drive Ryan nuts with my need for light. When I’m home, I NEED lights on. It may not have any effect on the actually brightness of the room, but I need to squeeze every bit of light I can into the space I’m in. If there’s windows – you can bet those curtains are thrown open and all that gorgeous natural light is gleefully encouraged to pour in!

One of the first things I told our contractor when we started discussing the plans for rebuilding our houses was that I needed light… lots of it! If it seems like more windows than the average person would want – you’re probably getting close to what I would love! Okay so maybe I exaggerate a bit. But honestly not by much.

I’ve discovered this obsession with light has poured over into my job. While many photographers love their flash and strobes and other external light sources, I crave my natural light! I thrive with it! It’s what feels most natural and real and genuine to me. I love the soft tones, the warm hues, the sometimes ethereal feel you can get from late afternoon sunlight. There’s just something about it that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, that conveys they feelings, idea, and story I’m trying to convey about the person or persons I’m shooting.

And yet… I admire the work of a lot of photographers who use flash and other light sources. I love the color pop and dramatic lighting they can achieve with the extra light. I have gone to school for photography so I do know how to do it… and every once in a while I decide I’m going to play around with lights while I’m shooting a session. I usually take maybe two pictures with it before I find my self switching back to my natural lighting ways.

It’s funny but I feel like a poser, like I’m trying to be someone else when I try to shoot with another light source. I’m not even trying to recreate someone else’s work or mimic anyone’s technique. I just feel like I’m not being true to myself…. Probably the way a vegetarian would feel if they decided to have a bite or two of a burger because their friend’s meal looked so yummy.  It seems like a fun and good idea at first, but it doesn’t take you too long to realize it’s just not your thing.

And because every post is better with a picture… here’s a handsome duck I caught preening himself a while ago.

Well I hope you’re all having a wonderful Monday! I’ll see you back here on Wednesday with more bloggy goodness

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I’ve been staring at my computer screen for a good 15 minutes now trying to decide what to write about today. I feel like I’ve shown several product posts, business updates, and personal posts lately and I want to share something different with you – I’m just not sure what that should be… So after much thought I’ve decided to write a little about my thoughts on negativity.

Have you ever noticed how much people complain? It’s something that becomes more apparent to me and something I hear more frequent with every passing day. People enjoy complaining. If I’m talking about going to a restaurant and my friend Peggy Sue had a bad experience there – you can bet your boots she’s going to jump into that conversation quicker than a cat pouncing on a field mouse. She’s going to let you know every little problem she had with her waitress, why her food wasn’t satisfactory and why she is never going to go there again.

What people complain about can range from the absurd to the very legitimate as far as reasons to complain go. Sometimes people have every right to be upset, angry or frustrated with the business in question, and sometimes it seems as though they just want something to complain about. For instance, a person who goes to a restaurant and asks for water with lemon and just gets water with no lemon but never once says anything to the waitress and then complains to all her friends that they got her order all wrong…. I personally think that’s a little silly. Now if you go to a restaurant and you ordered grilled chicken salad and they bring you out country fried steak, and you inform them that there’s a mix up that this wasn’t what you ordered and they look at you like you’re dumb and tell you that the country fried steak is in fact what you ordered – that seems like a pretty good reason to complain. Or if you wait 30 minutes just for your waitress to take your order and another 45 to get your food – I would find that a little frustrating.

I’m not saying it’s bad to warn your friends of about a place that they might not get their money’s worth, but as a business owner I know how bad these kinds of complaints can hurt a business too! All it takes is one person spreading the word about how dissatisfied they were with you, and you can be out of business before you know it. I do my best to take care of my clients, but I’ll be honest – I’ve  had a couple of dissatisfied clients that never once let me know they were upset. I thought I took very good care of them. Answered all their questions promptly. Got their orders to the lab and to them as quickly as possible. I even really enjoyed working with them. Only to find out later that they were upset with me and when I hear why – all the facts have been misrepresented and I even have documentation to prove it.

I just don’t understand this kind of negativity, this need to undercut others and manipulate the truth. Part of me honestly believes that it’s people who just want free things. Who want quality but don’t want to pay for it. Who don’t care to understand what it takes to run a business and who just want something to complain about. And I truly find this very sad!

I feel like at this point in my life… there are a lot of things I could complain about. I could complain that it’s been almost six months since I’ve had a home. I could complain about that fact that I have to replace everything I owned. I could complain about the amount of time it’s taking to rebuild my house or to get things from insurance or the bank. I could complain about all the things that I lost in the fire that can never be replaced…. But that’s not who I am. I try to look for the good in every situation and in every person, and I try to see things from other people’s perspectives. Sometimes this is really hard to do and sometimes it doesn’t matter how hard I try – I can’t feel good about a situation or a person or a business. And that’s okay – but I don’t like being a Negativity Nelly. I only voice my dissatisfaction when I’ve really been ripped off by someone, and there’s nothing I can do to remedy it. Otherwise – I keep my opinions to myself.

Even more important – when I have a really great experience with a business – I tell EVERYONE I know about them! I would much rather share my knowledge about a really awesome business than share my negative thoughts on one. And the more people I tell about this great business I love shopping at – the more business they get and the better their odds of staying in  business. This is just something that really matters to me: Being Positive and Supporting Other Business People! And I hope it’s something that you start taking an active interest in too!

I hope you all are having a wonderful Monday! I’ll see you back here on Wednesday!

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It’s been a little while since I’ve given an update on our home progress, and I started working on compiling photos yesterday so I thought today would be a great day to kind of recap what happened and where we are.

For those of you who are new to the Green Tree Media family or who are just visiting my blog, you might not know that October 10 last year, we lost our home and nearly all of our belongings to a house fire. The fire inspector informed us that the fire was started by a an electrical socket on our back porch. The socket arced and lit our old wood porch on fire like kindling. It quickly spread through our house. Ryan, myself and the dog got out of the house with nothing more than the clothes on our backs and our phones to call the fire department.

On a lighter note... we made the front page of our local paper

I realized as I was going through all of the photos yesterday that I was tearing up a bit on some of the photos. At the time this was all happening, I was still in shock and numb to it. I saw my things charred, melted, or just completely nonexistent but I didn’t feel anything. I don’t think I could process it… There was too much that needed to be done. I had to replace all my equipment, get the bare essentials we needed to get by, deal with insurance agents, start compiling a list of our belongings, try to recreate my tax paperwork and other work documentation, etc..

So yesterday looking through these pictures was the first time I actually looked at them and saw them for what they were… images of the remains of my HOME and the sentimental things that I CAN’T replace. Like the blue bird of happiness in my bridal bouquet that was my mom’s. Or our wedding video that my good friend Lee made for us. Or the love letters Ryan wrote me while we were dating and engaged. Or my stuffed dog, Curly, that my Grandpa Karl gave me when I was little… I can’t replace those things because they were moments in my life… they were real things that can’t be recreated. And I’ll be honest – it makes me sad. I cried while looking through these pictures, recalling what I lost. It felt good to let it out – silly as it may seem.

It’s been a slow process but progress is finally starting to be made and I feel like we’re getting closer and closer to having our own home once again! We were blessed with a non-snowy winter (although the rain and damp weather didn’t help us move forward much either). But at this point in the game – Demolition is complete… Concrete was poured for the basement last week… And according to our contractor – the building will begin on Friday! (Woot! Woot!) I cannot even begin to express how excited I am at the prospect of actually having the framework of our home in place!

This is where we're at today. Foundation poured. Dirt filled back in and we even have the base for the front porch.

I’ll admit, I’m a little sad that the new house will look nothing like the old one, but the interior layout is going to be so much nicer – I’m sure I’ll get used to it We do have our official blue print… which I actually have hung up on a wall here and I find myself going to look at it almost everyday. It’s a wonderful tangible reminder of what I have to look forward to.

The past few days however, I’ve been obsessing over siding and shingle colors. I’m not sure what I want to do with that yet. And my original idea has been shifted by feedback from both Ryan and the contractor. So we’ll see what I decide on tonight – since I promised our contractor I’d get him a selection by tomorrow.

Well thanks for putting up with my rambling. I hope you’re all having a wonderful Wednesday and that you’re finding some time to enjoy this awesome weather! See you on Friday!!!

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