My Partner in Crime, my other half, the blonde to my black, the macaroni to my cheese, my soul mate and my most bestest best friend in the whole wide world.
She lives in Brooklyn, I live in Mesa. She's traveled the world far and wide; I've never left Arizona and had baby after baby after baby. She's a little bit hipster, I'm a little bit glam. Put us together and it's like we've never been apart. It's just like junior high when I'd walk from my house, she'd walk from hers and we'd meet in the middle to spend every day together, eating popsicles. We could be on a wild trip in Mexico or Paris, or just floating in her pool or laying on my bed talking. It's all the same to us.
When we're old and fabulous you can find us on a big plantation with a wrap-around porch in Savannah, Georgia swinging on our porch swing, painting each other's toenails and sipping on Arnold Palmers (she'll have champagne, thanks). Until then, we'll keep living our very different, but parallel lives that only meet together every so often, but when it does, it's always magic.
Braden's birthday was last Sunday. A month before his birthday, I thought about planning a surprise party for him. I looked around Pinterest for a good theme, I made a Pinboard filled with ideas. I bounced some ideas off my family, and I began to make lists. Then I got frustrated.
I became frustrated because all my ideas and all the things I pinned were more about me than my husband. I had a dessert table planned, a burger bar, a cool creative tablescape, adorable decor, fun games, and a darling photo booth planned. Unfortunately, while Braden would have been a good sport about the whole thing, the truth is he is rather low key. He's not really one to be the center of attention (clearly this is another case of opposites attracting) and he'd much rather our money go to different place than on a party for him. The more I tried to plan the perfect party for him, the less it was about him and became about me. I realized this in the nick of time and out of utter frustration I scrapped the whole thing and settled on making him his favorite breakfast of biscuits and gravy and having burgers with family. There was ice cream cake of course (another one if his favorites) but other than that, it was a pretty basic birthday. It made me kind of sad and a little disappointed in myself to have not made his day more special.
But, when I saw him laugh and laugh at the dinner table, and share his cake with the twins and about die laughing with my dad over a stupid Bud Light commercial I knew that in spite of the lack of grandeur, he had a pretty great day. And that's why my Braden is so wonderful. He is a simple man. He'll never cure cancer, or go to the moon. He'll probably never rescue anyone from a burning building, win a Nobel prize, or be on the Forbes richest list. But he is tied for the best father that's ever lived (tied with my father, obviously) and he has quickly and quietly become the most perfectly crafted companion for me. He fills in all my gaps, doesn't put up with my crap, and forces me to be the best person I can be (usually by teasing the crap out of me). And honestly, lets be real, he is absolutely crazy about me. I'm pretty nuts about him too, so that works out.
Since we're getting all gross around here, I'd like to spill a few of the best things about Braden:
1) He pretends to not like newborns but I always sneak in and catch him talking quietly to Clementine and smooching on her when he thinks no one is watching. That little girl will be the end of him.
2) He loves how spicy Georgia is and always calls her his firecracker. Then they squawk at each other.
3) When Evie couldn't go to sleep tonight he went in a snuggled her in the tiny daybed the twins share until she fell asleep.
4) He always talks to Penelope in her crazy Peepers language ("ah-AH-ah" for those of you that have heard this) and tries to do her crazy eye (for those of you that have seen this) with her
5) Landen is his best buddy. Hands down. And he ALWAYS buys him a new racecar when he goes to the grocery store. We have a thousand cars in this freaking house
6) When Olivia forgot her gymnastics clothes today, he drove all the way out to drop them off so she wouldn't be sad she forgot them. He does all kinds of special things for the kids so they won't feel sad for a minute.
7) He is seriously the funniest. His best talent is singing and changing the words to songs to really inappropriate hilarious new lyrics. I just told him today that its too bad that no one else will be able to hear his songs because they are so freaking hysterical but so so so naughty. He's a riot.
I'm super glad he made it to thirty- lets hope he can survive the next 21 years raising all these crazy kids (and being married to me)
Per usual, I overbooked my schedule for this month and am racing to finish both photography and design work for clients as well as celebrate the second fun holiday of the year. I'm falling behind with the celebratory stuff, but am pleased with the work I'm producing for others! I've set aside some time today after my Wedding Photography reSTART class I'm taking online today and meeting with a bride for a consultation this evening to get all my kid's valentines for their classes done.
I downloaded these so super fun Olliblocks from Caravan Shoppe and had the kids glue them on some bright colored cardstock so we can stick some suckers on the back and give out
However, whenever I need a minute to clear my head, I get to snuggle up to these sweet peas. We have a fun day planned out for tomorrow at Grandma's with our cousin-friends.
This girl. Easily my favorite photography subject. She can bring it like any other model, and when she smailes, you can just see the spark in her eyes.
She was the perfect person to launch my new Glamour Portrait Line with, and I cannot wait to get more and more ladies in on the action. Gorgeous Victoria's Secret Model hair, dramatic beautiful makeup, and lots of fun fun fun posing, directing, and shooting in my "pop- up studio".
Most families have a "baby of the family"; the youngest child that growing up, everyone looks after and is loved especially by the rest of the kids because they're always the littlest. They're a little more protected, a little more spoiled, and a little more sweet because you long to hold on to a baby when you know there will be no others after they've grown up.
My family is lucky enough to have two babies. My sister Eryn is six years younger than I, then six years later our family adopted my other baby sister Barrett into the family so we've always grown up with the two. The day after Thanksgiving the first of our babies got married, and the day was just a bit more special and bittersweet because she was all grown up and officially on her own.
My parents have thrown four weddings in five years and now since Barrett is 15, they luckily have a little break before the last of us are married off. I'm exhausted already thinking of the work to be done for the littlest baby's wedding. But, of course, when the time comes, I wouldn't rather be doing anything else.
They say that "opposites attract" and that particular saying has never been observed more than in Braden and I.
The thing about Braden is, he has a very left-brain, while I have a very right-brain. This usually creates a nice balance to our lives, and as whole keeps me "in-check" when I start to live in my dream world. He keeps me grounded, and focused on the present when I could spend all my time dreaming about all the things I want to do in the future. The problem with this is, it's very hard for him to appreciate the things that are important to me because they don't compute in his mind as important.
We do have 6 children to raise, which is no small financial feat, and as he is currently the main income producer of the family, he has a lot of stress and pressure to deal with on a daily basis. My main goal for my photography business is to alleviate most of, if not all of this stress and support our family of eight on a thriving business. Now, neither of us have business degrees so it is very hard to see eye to eye on how my business is being run, how it's being marketed, and how to gauge it's success. Where it is of my opinion that any successful business takes a few years to become profitable, Braden sees it as a more black and white, "you do a job and you're paid for it" issue and cannot understand why it should take me even a year to gain a profit from photography. He sees me putting in so much time and effort and passion into photography and to him, since it's not paying the bills yet it's not successful. I know he's not trying to be a dream crusher, and he just wants what's best for our family and he's worried about providing for all of us to have a comfortable life; but sometimes it is hard when the person you are sharing your life with doesn't believe that you are successful. So, when he told me yesterday I should "go back to school and get a degree in something and get a job when the kids are all in school because being self employed doesn't seem to be working out" it pretty much ruined my day. Again, I know he's coming from a place of concern for our family but nothing makes someone feel like an utter failure more than a lack of confidence from the person you love the most.
There are so many things I've tried to explain to Braden- like it takes most business a few years to turn a profit, photography is a unique business where there can be million different business models and you have to find the one that fits you best and that can be a process that takes time, that Groupon is not a marketing tool for all business and I don't feel like it is right for my brand, that I want to offer something different than other photographers in my area by becoming a full-service studio instead of the "shoot and burn" model I had used in years before... the list of things go on and on. Unfortunately these things are mostly lost on Braden and he sees things only in dollars and cents; and to him, since he is still the main income producer for the family and is burdened with the stress that ensues, I have not accomplished my goals as a photographer and a business owner.
I was so frustrated after yesterday's conversation that I began questioning everything I was doing. My marketing plan for 2013, my portfolio, my website, my pricing struture, the photographs themselves. Maybe Braden is right. Maybe I'm just not cut out for business ownership, and I should think about getting a job. Maybe it's not fair for me to think that I can be lucky enough to have six healthy children and support them with mere photography. Maybe that's the great trade-off. You get blessed with a wonderful family or a wonderful job- not both. Maybe everything I've worked for and dreamed about will always be just out of reach and our lives will just be filled with stress and worry. Maybe.
But then, as I was waiting to pick up Olivia from school, I watched this video from Sue Bryce. One of my chief inspirations, she is THE end all, be all in contemporary portraiture and glamour. I first discovered her on creativeLIVE and have ravenously devoured her marketing and photography education as fast as I could. This video brought me quite literally to tears seeing one woman achieve such incredible things with no more tools than I have. Hard hard work, dedication, perseverance, and probably a little bit of insanity have made her one of the front-runners of photography, and man I may not know everything about running a business but I know about those things. I know that talent will never get you as far as ambition, and that is something I have never been short of. So, I sat in the parking lot of Olivia's school with tears streaming down my face as I watched this video showing Sue Bryce do what she does best, and I saw with conviction what I want for my own life.
Sue is coming back to creativeLIVE tomorrow to teach a video marketing class with the video's creator, Hailey Bartholomew and I can honestly say I will be MIA for the next three days and glues to my computer soaking in every bit of knowledge I can fit into this brain of mine. Because although it may take a little more doubt from the people I love, I'm gonna run right up this hill.
Listen to Mindy Gledhill's song "Whole Wide World" whenever you need a swift kick in the butt and little more courage to follow your dreams.
My one year old sessions are always cray-zay. I end up rolling around on the ground, singing any and all Disney songs I can remember, high-pitched laughing like a lunatic, pulling out my old tap-dancing skills and doing wings and buffalos (for all you dancers out there); anything to get those elusive one-year old expressions. By the end I'm sweating bullets and my voice is hoarse, but man is it worth it.
This little darlin' is my favorite and only niece, Lola. She is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and my heart aches for her when she's home in Texas. I can't wait for my brother to get out of the Coast Guard and move home so she can see her cousins and auntie and uncle more. Until then, I'll have to be sure to take as many sweet and special photos of her as I can.
It's been two and a half weeks since Clementine arrived and because we apparently lost our marbles, we decided to potty train Evelyn & Georgia since Teeny Tiny was such a piece of cake. It's been a week and a half now and I'm just now barely able to come up for air. I'll tell you right now, potty training is hell and I hate it; but now that they've gotten the hang of it I can tell it will definitely make our lives easier.
We were all a hot mess all last week, so obviously I was less present in my "online life" to be more present in my "real life". But I have so much to share with everyone! It's been stockpiling, so be prepared for some blog awesomeness- woot woot! I have my maternity album to share, Clementine's Newborn portraits, our birth story video coming up, lots of Halloween fun, and more so get excited.
New to the blog today is my first "Workout Wednesday" post which features what I've been doing lately workin' on my fitness. People always ask others what they do to try and get in shape, especially after having a baby so I thought I'd share what I'm doing in case others don't know where to start.
I don't really have the time to get a gym membership (although once most of my bitties are in school, I'd LOVE to get one), so I have to do as much as I can from home. I found this awesome website, bodyrock.tv, awhile ago- they have a TON of great, fast workout that make a big impact in a short amount of time, which I like. This morning I did the Diamonds Workout, but modified since I'm so stinkin out of shape.
Also, I've been trying to do yoga every morning. You can find free podcasts on Itunes- I use 20 minute Yoga Sessions and switch it up every time so I don't get bored. This morning I did the 20 minute Power Yoga before the kids woke up at 5:00 am, and I already feel like today is going to be a good day. So, I spent less than 45 minutes to get a decent workout in. If I can do it, you can too!
In case you missed the big announcement on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram- Clementine arrived last week! She is the most lovely thing around town, and we are head over heels smitten with her.
Last week was spent getting into the groove of life with 6 kids, but I think we've gotten acclimated and I even snuck in her first photo session- more of those photos to come!
Last week, my sister told us all some big news- that she's engaged! I offered to take some photos of her and her fiance so she could announce it to the world in style, and I wanted to incorporate a little Rhonna Designs goodness into it!
I made up this cute little banner for them to hold using the InstaIcons kit for the heart & arrow
Isn't it darling? I love whipping up quick little banners for photo props- so easy to make one for yourself!
I used the Insta Icons Kit and the Insta Banners Kit to create this fun little banner. I just love these kits because they have a MILLION uses! I have a feeling there are more Insta kits coming our way!
The season officially started Wednesday, and our team is playing Sunday night. You better believe the Watson house is going to be rockin with Peyton Manning at the helm.
Follow me on Instagram to bear witness to all the cray cray that will ensue over the weekend. Braden will probably start "home-gating" tomorrow morning during College Football. Who will you be rooting for this weekend?
Yesterday was my first Senior Portrait Session for my 2013 Senior Rep Campaign. I have four gorgeous, and unique girls representing me & my photography; and I have an awesome team of creative people to collaborate with for my shoots. Along with Lindsey (my Fashion Stylist) and Leah (my hair & makeup artist), I have this guy assisting me on my shoots.
His responsibilities currently entail lugging around gear, making sure I stay hydrated, towing props, chauffeuring, making sure I don't slip and fall while trudging through the desert, and also being there in case I go into labor while on a shoot. At larger events, such as weddings he will be doing more "photography" type things; but for now he's basically my babysitter. And although it was hot as the dickens in Queen Creek yesterday, this guy made it a lot more bearable my cracking me up the whole time.
Today is a big day for him- he's going back to school! It's really exciting (and probably a little crazy) for us to be starting a new photography business while he is starting school and we are having a new baby (AND there's those other 5 kids that have things like school, preschool, soccer, ballet, and maybe girl scouts) but we'll just strap in and hold on for the ride; just like we've done for the last seven years we've known each other.
Being so crazy busy and having so many kids sometimes takes a toll on my sanity- so I have to conciously make an effort to slow down sometimes and give my kids the extra attention they crave and stop "working". My mind is constantly moving and creating and planning for all my projects I am juggling right now so it is really hard for me to completely stop and disconnect from the world and web and just be present in my life.
I decided to make an effort for one of those "disconnect days" on Friday, because my little Miss Peepers got to have a whole special day just to herself. Grandma & I took her to get her very first hair cut and we chopped it into a sweet little bob that fits her charming personality just perfectly. Landen came along for moral support for his best buddy and he was so sweet when she got it cut "Oh Peepers, you look BEAUTIFUL!" (after he realized who she was- he didn't recognize her at first ;)
After her haircut, we took her to get her ears pierced, which I figured would go terribly because she is SUCH a drama queen. She of course freaked when her first ear got pierced and cried immediately, but after we oohed and ahhed over how pretty her earrings were she sucked it up and got brave for the second ear. She didn't even cry after the second one.
Then we went on a lunch date at Chick-Fil-A (which has the most delicious peach milkshakes on the planet) so it was a super fun day for my Peeper Girls. She looks like such a big girl, I can't wait to get her all fancied up with her new hair do and earrings and snap some fab photos of her to hang in our house!
Being out and about with them forced me to put down the iphone, stop planning photo shoots in my head, and just focus on not losing one of my kids as they wander around the mall. I'm thinking I may need to take one of those days at least every other week so I don't turn completely into a robot ;)
Using the triangle arrow from Rhonna Designs Insta Icons (the same kit I used for the printable card yesterday), I came up with these School Lunch Notecards and labels to stick in your child's lunch to make them extra special.
I used some kraft bags lined with wax paper to put in her chocolate chip cookies in, then closed with a treat label printed on label paper; and I made little washi tape flags to add some oomph to her peach for snacktime.
Of course, you know all about Stephanie Nielson and what an Ah-Maze-Ing Lady she is, but have you ever noticed how much someone who has a complete passion for life and motherhood can effect a total stranger hundreds of miles away?
There have been many times her musings about life has brought me to tears, but it's really her relish of the simple grind that we all live day to day that strikes a chord with me. She finds little things to celebrate and always seems to make sure her children know just how special each and every one of them are. I look at her (blog) and think to myself, "I want my children to feel the same way her children must feel. Just utterly loved and that they are something to be excited about". I think it's easy to want to be more like someone, it's another thing to actually put their influence into action and 'walk the walk' ya'know?
One of my favorite traditions she shares with her family is their annual "Back To School Feast"before she sends her little chickadees out to learn and grow in their new grades. I felt that there is no better way to kick off the school year like celebrating your kids and setting goals and mottos to carry them though, so I've decided we will be holding our Watson Back To School Soiree next Tuesday before Olivia heads off to 1st grade. In true Nie Nie spirit, there will be a motto, some paper crowns, a fancy decorated table, and a delicious menu- just the thing to start the year off with a bang! Bask in Stephanie's Feast from last year and click on over to her past Feasts to get some ideas for your own Back to School celebration for you & your family.
Here's a little taste of our wonderful week in the pines. I'm planning on ordering these 8 x 10 pages from Persnickety and creating a sweet little album with them, or maybe hanging them up on my metal board in my living room.
Have you ever been to Pinetop? Its a pretty awesome place to take a bunch of kids. We've been doing all kinds of fun things up here in the coolness of the mountains. From playing in the playgrounds lined with pine trees, to miniature golf at the resort we're staying at, to walking along the nature trails- it's all been slow paced, laid back, and rainy. Today my mom & I went to a bunch of antique shops and walked around a Garden Nursery and I was in heaven. I'm seriously going to try and talk Braden into moving up here for the summer next year, I'm so scared to go home to the heat.
Isn't it just wonderful? I gotta tell you, it took some serious HTML & CSS tweaking and now I fear my brain has turned to mush. My father is a software engineer, and I now have a new found respect for his profession- staring at code all day is pretty brain-scrambling. That's probably why when I ask, "How was work Poppa?" He always replies saltily, "Oh it was the best day ever. I hated to leave." Luckily, if I'm at his house, so are my kids; so he gets cheered up rather quickly with the twinners screaming "POPPA POPPA!" at the top of their lungs and refusing to let him put them down.
Anywhoo, I digress- THE BLOG. I've been a disorganized mess for far too long, and I finally decided I needed to revamp and get my crap together. I've created a central identity that I love (for at least a little while) and can adjust to fit further projects & seasons. Take a look around, shoot me any questions, and get ready to get your socks knocked off, because I have some big plans coming up!
