Goodbye 2008!

I have no resolutions to make, other than to continue to be the best person I can be.

I hope you all have a great end to your year and be safe!

Domestic Quasi-Goddess

For a few weeks now, both Brian and I have been battling this kind of light cold. Yesterday I was feeling rather sickly, and today I started out feeling better, but now I feel like getting into the bed and pulling the cover over my head.

However, while I was still feeling a-okay I busied myself with some domestic duties, including baking some cookies. Yum!



The chips in these are a mix of chocolate and peanut butter, oooh tasty.


The unfortunate thing is the peanut butter chips kind of blend in with the cookie. But it tastes pretty good! That's the important thing. :P


Peanut butter cookies.. about the easiest cookie you can ever whip up!


Also quite tasty.


Hope you all have a wonderful last day of the year tomorrow!

Free DIY Wedding Templates!

The ladies over at Wedding Chicks are offering up some gorgeous day-of wedding templates for items like menus, gift labels and escort cards. They are completely free, and they even tell you which labels to buy so that you do it yourself!

From Wedding Chicks:


CLICK HERE to go to their awesome blog! The templates also come in a tiffany blue and brown combo.

Carol and Josephyne

Today I met up with Carol and Josephyne for their winning photo session. Josephyne is as cute as a button and it is obvious how much love her Mommy has for her!











Thanks for hanging out with me today you two :)

Baby Love - Dallas Baby and Child Photography

Today Brian and I went out to visit with one of his long time and best friends, and see their adorable little munchkin. Seriously, this kid is so stinking cute, it ought to be illegal.

I actually snapped a few pictures of him last year when they were in town then! He sure has grown.

12.30.2007



12.27.2008
















Don't you love his baby rockstar hair? Awesome! I tried to sneak out with him, unsuccessfully, but maybe next time ;)

Christmas Wrap Up!

Well, I hope everybody had a great Christmas day! We had a great day ourselves. We got to spend time with family all day, doing fun stuff. I actually didn't take too many pictures yesterday, just snapshots of the boys opening their gifts, but here are a couple of snaps of our adorable Nephew Alex enjoying one of his new Christmas presents.







This weekend is Carol and Josephyne's winning session, so stay tuned!

Merry Christmas to All!

Well, Brian and I went out tonight to drive around and look at some lights. We saw some pretty nice stuff but nothing that was spectacular. All the really nice stuff is a good 30+ minute drive away, and we didn't feel like straying too far from home.











Brian said "Ooooh a Cowboys inflatable!" So I had a snap a picture for him. :P


After we got home, we opened our gifts to each other. I got things involving a few of my favorite things: shoes, karaoke, Egypt and jewelry ;). One of the things I got for Brian is a telescope, and he was super excited, which always makes me happy! In the morning we are getting up super early to go over and watch his adorable nephews open their gifts.

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Christmas with your loved ones tomorrow!

Share Books this Christmas!

Through another photographer, I have found a wonderful cause that you can help give to with NO money and only two seconds of your time!

Disney has teamed with the Firstbook blog to donate children's books to up to 250,000 children, BUT they need people to comment. Disney will donate one book per every comment on the blog.

So what are you waiting for? Go tell your story and SHARE this link with someone else. Reading is so important, and I have so many memories of wonderful books.

CLICK ME TO SHARE BOOKS WITH CHILDREN

These are a few of my favorite things....

My dear blog friends, you'll have to forgive me, because I'm in a poetic mood. I feel like life's good fortune has been smiling on me. I feel so... happy. I have a man who loves me (and whom I love more than I can say), I have the best job on the planet, and I have a warm happy animal in my lap. I have good health, I have a roof over my head, food in my belly and a fire in the fireplace. I am a lucky woman.

You could say it's Christmas spirit, but it's more than that. It's just a joy inspired by life, and the fact I can slow down enough to enjoy it during this season.

Brian and I had a fun night tonight. We broke open some wine, lit a fire, watched some Christmas classics, and...played Lord of the Rings Risk. Well, what can I say? We're geeks at heart. :)

A few of my favorite things...


Presents for people I love, and pretty Christmas decorations.


The original, and best, Miracle on 34th Street. I love that it looks like a pencil drawing!


Pretty flocked candle holders I got in Canton the day after Thanksgiving, shopping with my wonderful mother-in-law and sister-in-law.


Toasty fires and pink rockstar socks to keep my toes warm.


Sweet, spoiled, sleeping animals. (Why, yes, that is our couch he's sleeping on.)I am constantly cold, so blankets are a-plenty in the Thompson household.


Unashamed geekdom. I am not too proud to admit that Brian was owning me in a bad way.


Brian is off work all week, so we get to spend lots of time together, which is fantastic. We've got lots of great Christmas light displays in our neighborhood, which I want to drive around and look at. So, check back for some neat photos of that later this week! I'm excited for Christmas, and I hope you are all as well. Peace and love, my friends.

2008 in review..

I had been meaning to do something like this, and saw something similar in another photographer's blog, and I was like hey, I need to get to it!

So here you go.. the biggest image you'll ever see in this blog!

Music Video Friday - Ho Ho Ho Holidays...

It's our last Friday before Christmas! I hope you are all done with your Christmas shopping.. I am!

Well, there is no good video out there for one of my utmost favorite Christmas songs, "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". If you are not familiar with it, please look it up, you'll love it!

I also love the Trans Siberian Orchestra! We saw them in concert a couple of years ago and they put on a really cool show.

Here's actually a video of a crazy Christmas lights display put to music by TSO. I have seen a few of these, we went to one last year near our house (not this one, although this isn't far from us)



Here is a song, although a little sappy, that I've liked since I was younger. It's Grown Up Christmas List.. I think it is very relevant in the turbulent times that this world is going through.

The right way to end a semester!

Just checked my final grades for the semester..



Woohoo! I am ready for a good break! :)

Now, off to watch some Top Chef on the Tivo with my hubby. I promise, a post with more substance tomorrow!

Wrapping around the Christmas Tree...

Brrr... we are still deep in the grasps of an arctic blast here in the Dallas metro area. It sleeted last night and it's still on the ground in many places. I had an appointment earlier today, so I had to brave the ice in my little car, and figured since I was out anyhow, I might as well wrap up Christmas shopping for my husband. Then I sat on the living room floor and wrapped gifts while watching Christmas classics and eating a candy cane.

That's the life, my friends!

Since we have lived together, Brian and I have acquired a a new Christmas ornament every year. I thought I'd share our collection so far. :)



Christmas 2004 and Christmas 2005 ornaments.


The reindeer ornament was Christmas 2006, and we actually got two ornaments for Christmas 2007. We got engaged in Venice, Italy and then we got married in the same year, so we got ornaments representing both events!


Here is this year's Christmas 2008 ornament!


Hope you are all staying warm out there.

Christmas Past...

Well yesterday was a balmy 76 degrees, while today, it's currently about 28 degrees. That's Texas weather for you!

However, the cold weather certainly envokes Christmasy feelings. I drank some hot cocoa, and snuggled in a comforter in my chair with a purring kitty cat in my lap. Ahh, that's the good life.

What I love about Christmas is that it brings to mind so many memories. One of my most loved Christmas presents was one of those 'life size' dolls that had a hollow plastic body and movable arms and legs. I had nothing but brothers growing up, and this was my Mother's ingenious solution to my desire for a sister. :) I loved this doll. I used to even take in her the bathtub, and she'd have to drain for the next two days to get all the water out.



Do you love my sweet 80's style?

Sister Session - Hayley and Allison - Dallas, Plano Family Photography

Today I ran all over with Hayley and Allison who wanted some last minute pictures as a Christmas gift for their parents. We trekked through the woods, got dive bombed by stinging insects, stopped by the park and finished up with some tasty gelato!

Here are some preview pictures!



Hayley.. Angelina eat your heart out, right?


Allison, just as pretty as her big sister.


Deep, deep in the wild woods of... Richardson. :)


Flare-o-rama! (BTW, it was something like 76 degrees in DFW today... )


Yummy ice cream!

Amanda + Jeff = Married!

Today Brian and I were honored to shoot Amanda and Jeff's wedding. The ceremony was held at the mega-awesome Marty Leonard Chapel in Fort Worth.

Congrats you two, and I hope you have a fabulous honeymoon! Here are a few teasers.



Told ya, mega-awesome!


Amanda was a gorgeous bride!


Sexy nighttime shot.


Love is sweet.


Departure bubbles! Fantastic shot by my sweetie-pie Brian!


More to come soon. Whew, I think it's about my bedtime. :)

Music Video Friday - Double Duty

Well, friends, there are only TWO Friday's before Christmas, counting this one (whoa!) so I thought I'd double up. Twice the music, afterall, it is the season of giving, right? :)

All I Want for Christmas - The Love Actually version.. I love this movie SO MUCH! If you haven't seen it, run and get it right now! It's awesome.



Look what I found on YouTube: The original TV spot for the Chipmunks Christmas Song!! Oh my goodness, doesn't it just make you smile?

Contest Update - We have a winner!

Okay, I'm a bad contest-runner. It was probably a terrible time of the semester for me to attempt to DO A contest, BUT it has all worked out. I did have one entry, and it was a great one, so by default they are my totally awesome and deserving winner!

Here's the entry:



Why Carol Loves Josephyne Lila

My daughter’s name is Josephyne Lila, and I am Carol, and here is our story of love.

My husband and I started to try for babies back in 2006. We got pregnant very quickly, my first positive pregnancy test was on Mother’s Day in May of 2008. In July, I had some spotting so I went to the Dr. and found out there were twins in there! How exciting, first pregnancy, and twins straight out of the gate. We had bought a trip to Aruba before we got pregnant, and we decided to make this trip a “babymoon.”

Aruba was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. Every breathtaking picture I had seen of a white beach and crystalline waters did not even rate with how amazing Aruba looks in person. We were there for two days. On the third day I woke up, planning on a shopping trip in town, when my waters broke. We rushed to the hospital and they confirmed that one of our babies was in trouble.

While my husband went back to get our things from the hotel, I lied on the gurney in labor and delivery, listening to the sounds of another baby being born in the room next to mine, wondering if I would ever get to hear my own babies being born. It was such a lonely feeling, being so far away from my family, my friends, and my home while such an awful thing was happening in my life. I thought of my grandmother, Lila, and how she would stroke my hair and tell me the sun will come up tomorrow no matter what and that everything will be fine. But the tears had to come and I lay there waiting for what would happen next, and I cried and cried. After a while, I looked up, and there was the nurse who had seen to me when I first came in. She walked silently over to the bed, took my hand in hers, and said to me “Now, now child, don’t cry. You are not alone, dear, He is with you right now and always.” Her name was Josephine and she was from Surinam. Her husband was still in Surinam waiting to immigrate to Aruba to be with her and she had been waiting for him for a year. All of her family was in Surinam. And she was there in Aruba alone. With me, and my babies. I felt calm after she told me this and hung on, waiting for the air ambulance to pass Hurricane Eduardo and come rescue me and my husband and my babies.

The plane came almost 48 hours later. Nurse Josephine and the other wonderful people at the hospital hugged me and wished us the best as we left the hospital. We boarded and took off, landing at 1 am in Cancun for fuel. As we took off to head for Dallas, and strange sensation started to wrack the plane, a whining sound began to grow louder, and I lay there in that plane listening. And then I heard it, a loud bang, and another loud bang. The plane spun out of control, full of fuel, at the end of the runway on the edge of Mexico’s rainforests, as the landing gear tires blew out on takeoff. We skidded to a stop, the only sound was me crying out for my God and the frogs croaking in the rainforest. We should have died there, sitting on all of that fuel. But we did not. We made it.

Hours later, in another plane, we landed at Dallas Love Field. I was never so glad to smell our Dallas smog or feel the potholes of Mockingbird Lane through the floor of the ambulance as I was that day. I was delivered with my babies to Baylor University Medical Center around 4 o’clock on Sunday, August 27, 2006. And that evening, I gave birth to my little son at 18 weeks. That little amazing guy who hung on that whole time so we could make it home before he came. He lived for an hour and passed away shortly before I awoke from anesthesia. He was buried next to my Grandmother Lila at the Old Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Iuka, MS.

I fought long and hard for almost 4 more months to keep my other baby where she needed to be. I cried, I prayed, I thought, I read. I lived at the hospital. My co-workers brought food for my husband to eat and he cleaned the house and did laundry and went to work and drove 2 hours round trip every day to see me. My parents, sister, and mother in law, and my best friend all kept me from being lonely and brought me whatever I was craving to eat. And they took me for wheel chair rides outside on good days. The nurses brought me cocoa and Sudoku puzzles and my doctor came by every day to make sure I was doing okay. I was famous, all of the OB residents and student nurses at the hospital knew me as “The Aruba Lady”.

On December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day of 2006, my little Josephyne Lila was born to me, her daddy, and a bunch of grandparents and friends who had spent months on the edge of their seats hoping and waiting to meet her. She was tiny but perfect. She spent 10 days in the NICU and was home by Christmas. I love this little person so much, so fiercely, even more-so than I ever could have imagined. Every day, as much as I miss her brother, my heart sings out with happiness when she says “I LOVE YOU Mommy!” And we have an AMAZING story to tell her boyfriends when she starts dating.

This little child represents everything I know about love.


- Stay tuned for their session!!

More from Jeff, Jeanette and JJ's rockin' family session.. - Dallas, Plano Family Photography

Dear blog readers.. I have been very quiet this week! That's because it has been finals week. Tomorrow is my LAST final of the semester, and boy am I ready! I am one tired photographer/student/wife/animal mom! :)

I wanted to share more from Jeff, Jeanette and JJ's totally fun-and-awesome family session!







Loooooove it.


Total rockstars!










JJ requested shots on the trailer, he's a smart kid!


:)




Jeanette has an adorable smile!


Yay! If YOU want some fun, crazy family photos.. send me an email and let's set something up!

This weekend is Amanda and Jeff's wedding on Saturday and a family session on Sunday. After this week I will be available for weekday sessions until mid-January.