black carpet

black carpets.

seriously.

who in their right mind lays down BLACK carpets in the most walked through room of the house? [which in my house is the kitchen]

me :)

see, they look fantastic in my kitchen, which is white, yellow, and black.

[that is: when they are clean they look great]

but keeping them clean is a horrible, never-ending task.

and many times i've considered getting different carpets.

but after today - i think i'll keep those black carpets forever :)

i took our Abby to the groomers this morning to get a bath & have her nails clipped - she has those horrible black nails that are really hard for us to cut because we can't see how short not to cut them like you can on a dog's white nails.

and we assumed the groomer with her practiced skill would be able to clip them for us.

we were wrong.

i didn't realize it until i had gotten home and Abby was jumping all over Derrick.

see under those black carpets, is white linoleum, and suddenly there was blood all over the white floor.

after we tackled her and wrapped her foot up in some gauze we surveyed the damage.

bloody footprints all over the floor - with a trail all the way from the door - all the way up the steps onto the porch - in the driveway - and yes, in the backseat of my car.

all i can say is - i'm SO thankful for black carpets - that they aren't any other color - because they would have been ruined otherwise.

needless to say, it gave me a great excuse to cuddle on the couch all afternoon with my puppy & not do much of anything else :)

update: she's survived & and her foot did stop bleeding :) she seems to have happily forgotten the mishap.

I Heart Faces - Bust a Gut!

so i know that i used a photo from this session for the last i[heart]faces photo challenge - but i just couldn't help myself because this photo captured the theme perfectly! and that theme is "bust a gut!" - aka: laughter :)

i loove this shot of my nephew & brother-in-law simply because my nephew is laughing SO hard! he loved the idea of both him & his daddy swinging together and thought it was pretty funny :)

be sure to head over to i[heart]faces to see more "laughing" photos!

Abbey Family [Family Portraits, Waverly, NY]

i know, i know. 

you're jealous.

because i have the cutest nephew in the world :)

and i get to take his pictures :)

and take all the credit for how absolutely adorable he is :)

don't believe me? well allow me to melt your heart with his adorable-ness.

we had the most perfect fall afternoon that we seized for photos.

it was perfect.

warm, golden sunlight, crunchy leaves, smiling faces - perfect.

i totally love how all of their photos turned out [and maybe i'm just a little biased because mr. pj-man is my nephew] but i think these have to be the most awesome-est photos ever - simply because i love the people that are in them so much!

i think this has to be one of my all time favorite photos - of all time - of pj anyways :)

isn't he precious?

and don't you LOVE his shoes?!

hehe so, one of the things i love the most about fall is walking on crunchy leaves.

i love walking on crunchy leaves!

and, i introduced mr. pj-man to this love, and i think he loves it now too :)

okay, and one more - because i love his face in this photo :)

Santa Claus is coming to town

You better watch out,
You better not cry,
Better not pout,
I'm telling you why:

Santa Claus has come to town!

It was cold, and my toes definitely developed some sort of frost-bite on them, but it was all worth it to see the big man himself ride down the street on top of his slei.. I mean fire truck :)

Hey, my little town was doing the best it could, and the closest thing to a sleigh it could come up with apparently was the top of the fire truck :)

At least he still had his reindeer to lead him!

Let the holidays being :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope this evening finds you with your fridges full of leftovers, your tummies full of pumpkin pie, and your hearts full of gratitude.

Today I am reminded that Thanksgiving should not be just one day a year, but an attitude lived out each and every day.

There is a photo that has been passed around Facebook & Pinterest lately that says something along the lines of "What if you woke up today, and only had the things that you thanked God for yesterday?" And every time I see that photo, I say a quick little "thank you, God" prayer for my husband. I don't know what I would do without him. And I know a lot of people say that, but I really mean it. He is so fantastic and puts up with ME - haha - and does all sorts of little things for me that can so easily go unnoticed. I love him so much and I am so thankful for him.

I'm equally thankful for my family and friends and the way God has provided for us throughout this past year.

And I want to take the time to say thank you to everyone who has allowed me to take their photos this year and who faithfully read my ramblings :) Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

And now - that Thanksgiving Day has come to a close - it's officially time to begin celebrating Christmas! WOOHOO!

relaxing

it's been an evening of reading storybooks,

relaxing with family,

and being updated on what's going on with the Penguins game :)

i love my family <3 

Christmas Trees - Target - Unhealthy Dinners

tonight:

we took our annual family photo [all 20 of us, look for the results of that later]

we put up the Christmas tree, 

realized that all the lights from last year were burnt out, 

went to target to get new lights, 

came home & put up the new lights,

add garland & ornaments and ta-da!

operation Christmas tree = successful :)

oh and we had pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, cheez-its, and cheetos for dinner.

[we are SUCH a health-conscious family]

it's SO much fun being home & being with my family -

but i miss my D, and my abby too.

Sam & Jeana [family portraits, Sayre, PA]

photographers usually talk about how important it is for their clients to trust them. how important it is to build that relationship of trust, so when you ask them to do something that may seem silly - they'll do it because they trust you.

well i'm here to tell you that just as important as trust - is having your clients allow you to be completely in control :)

i met sam & jeana at their house, and that was the only location we had agreed on - where we would meet :) we had thrown around a few possibilities as far as where we wanted to take pictures, but nothing had been set in stone.

on my way over to their house, i noticed this path that went thru the woods, and presumably down to the edge of a river that ran under the bridge i was crossing. i instantly took note of that as a possible photo location.

when i got to sam & jeana's, they said that i could take them wherever i wanted [complete control]. so after i gave a little evil laugh - i took them back to that spot i had seen earlier - totally intending only to be there for a few minutes before moving on to somewhere else.

[and also because i was parked half-off-to-the-side-of-the-road and i was terrified i was going to get ticketed or something!]

well, we spent a whole hour wondering around in those woods. turns out - that path that i saw, branches off to several other paths - and we just walked and enjoyed ourselves, and every so often i'd go: OH stand right over there! haha

sam & jeana are the sweetest things - we just met them a few months ago when they started coming to our church. when i think about them as a couple, i have to describe them as "romantic" - or at least, sam is :) he's definitely a hopeless romantic. we had a couples dinner at church right after they started coming, and sam proudly told everyone story of how they met and their engagement and all about their wedding, all the while we ladies sat in apt attention and with lots of oooohhhs and aaaaawwwws :) 

so yeah, they are super-duper adorable and getting ready to welcome their new little baby to the world :) just a few more months to go!!

 

sam & jeana: you guys are awesome - and i'm so blessed to call ya'll my friends :)

I Heart Faces - Autumn

this week's theme over at i[heart]faces is autumn!
and unfortunately i don't have many autumn photos this year. normally it's my favorite time of year to take photos, but this year we seemed to skip the season of fall and jumped right into winter. thanks to a few early frosts and then snow at halloween - most of the leaves didn't get a chance to turn to their peak brilliance and simply fell off the trees. boo.

last weekend tho' i did get a few "autumn" photos - meet my nephew - mr. PJ.
you can't tell me that he's not the cutest thing ever :) check out that smile - and those SHOES! haha
[to see more sneak previews from the photos i took of his family last weekend, make sure you 'like' my facebook page!]

be sure to head over to i[heart]faces to see more "autumn" photos!

voting day

yesterday i went to vote.

i really had no clue who to vote for- other than the guy who comes into the bank just about every day, who i promised to vote for.

it wasn't a major election, but i had promised him, so i went to vote, totally intending to leave every other ballot blank.

hey- if i didn't know who to vote for, i wasn't just going to vote for whoever had the prettiest name.

on the way into the polling place, as usual there were several folks standing outside the doors, pushing for their favored candidates.

i've been there and done that- so instead of being rude & walking right past everyone, i stopped and smiled and they all [probably sensing that i had no clue who else to vote for other than that one guy] pounced on me like a stupid fish who just swam into shark infested waters.

okay, so maybe it wasn't that bad.

i took all their literature, shook their hands, smiled and chatted with them.

but one person in particular stood out to me.

there was a little girl, who was probably 9 or 10 years old there, with her mom - who was running for school board. she had a huge gigantic grin on her face, and was holding a big, hand-made sign asking people to vote for her mom.

and suddenly, i was that little girl- asking people to vote for my dad, when he was running for school board.

prior to my dad being elected to the school board [while he was campaigning] i went to his spaghetti dinners, his fundraisers, and proudly wore his advertising material. i remember one particular spaghetti dinner, standing up outside the firehall with my dad [and his running mate's] sign and yelling at the top of my longs "McKen-sie, O'Don-nell, Eich-el-ber-ger, for school-di-rector!" 

my dad was a star and i was SO proud that so many people knew my daddy.

once he was elected, i thought he must be as famous as tom cruise. of COURSE you knew who my dad was - he's on the school board! and i was SO proud to be his daughter.

needless to say: i voted for that little girl's mom. i hope she wins - so that little girl can have a piece of the pride i had in my daddy.

I Heart Faces - Black

this week's challenge at i[heart]faces is the color black :)
just a few weeks ago, they had the challenge of the color white, which of course just a few weeks after that challenge, i shot the perfect photo for that color! haha
oh well.

i'm pretty in love with my entry for the color black though :)
just sunday, i did family photos for sam & jeana and i loove how this shot of jeana turned out! she's so beautiful and gonna make such a great mama!
[ps - did you see my sneak peak of their images? i'm posting sneak peaks on my facebook page now - make sure you "like" my page to keep up-to-date!]

be sure to head over to i[heart]faces to see more "black" photos!