2012

I can't believe its New Years Eve already! But man am  I excited for the new year! I feel like 2012 will just be an amazing year! I have so many goals for 2012! I hope I can accomplish them all!! 

Here they are

- Continually grow and develop in my relationship with Christ

- Grow an even stronger bond with my husband (I am so excited about this! It is hard to describe, but I love him so much, and he is forever my husband and I am excited to just get to know and learn and grow in our marriage as we go into our 3rd year of marriage) 

- Process and procedures and growing in my photography business! 

- work on gaining more self confidence

- eat healthier

- get more organized! 

I know those are kind of vague, but seriously I would be writing until tomorrow if I laid everything out! But you can expect future posts on more details of each of these! :) 

Happy New Year! Have a safe and fun night! 

The miracle of birth

Lets go back to Sunday, December 25th. After  my family's wonderful Christmas gathering the hubby and I headed home, and I texted a friend of mine seeing if she was around, she was. Did I mention she was about 39 weeks pregnant? I grabbed a bag of baby clothes from another awesome friend of mine that had wanted to give them to her. I dropped off the bag of clothes and we just hung out and we ended up talking about labor and everything else that goes along with the end of pregnancy, and the next day at about 11 am she calls me to say that her water broke, slowly, but she is almost positive thatswhat it is. I told her (you know... I am a professional... I have had 0 kids! LOL) for sure she did!! I told her to keep me posted and the husband and I went to lunch. I got home, she was still waiting to get checked at the hospital, so I swept, mopped and edited some pictures. She called saying they were admitting her and starting her on pitocin, and her water did in fact break. No one was their with her, so off I went! I was so excited!! I couldn't wait! We hung out,  played games, and the contractions started coming, at first she was able to laugh through them,  we were playing skip bo, dice, and telling funny stories..and then they got more intense, and laughing wasn't going to cut it. She focused on breathing. I was right by her side, I offered her my hand, but she just needed to focus and breath through them. She got on the ball for a little bit, which she really liked. Then she got contraction after contraction with NO break. It went on for 15 minutes! She got shaky after that so she returned to the bed where the contractions weren't any better, it was a pattern of non stop contractions, followed by like a 10-15 minute break. but those 10-15 minutes of contractions, was a killer! She really did so well! It was amazing to watch her breathe through those contractions and take them like a champ. Once she got back into the bed (off the ball) she got some nubain(drug through the IV, just takes the edge off) and that worked really well for her. Then about an hour into it, it wore off, these were REALLY intense, and so she asked for another nubain shot, that didn't work at all. So they called for the epidural. At this point she was dilated to a 4! They also discovered around this point that not all of her water broke and the doctor would have to come in and rupture the rest. Which happened after the epidural. We turned the lights out and tried to rest, but we ended up chit chatting quite a bit, with a few silent moments to rest. THEN THE DOCTOR CAME IN AND CHECKED HER AND SHE WAS A 10!!! Oh that moment was so exciting!! I may have whipped out some cheerleading moves at that point..After all those long hours that seemed like progress was never going to be made, it was fast, and  I thought wow that was quick! haha. The pushing was amazing! So neat! All I could say was oh wow!  a short time later (well felt short to me) a beautiful baby girl was born! It was so magical and so surreal!

The whole mood the whole time while she was in labor was so calm and peaceful. Pushing and everything was so relaxed. It really was beautiful! No stress, no worries. Simply amazing.

A better me..

 I ran across this article and I just couldn't NOT share.   what he says really just hit home to me! Especially committing to my goals, and taking care of my body and avoiding over thinking!

http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/08/30/12-things-happy-people-do-differently/

I want to honor and discuss each of these 12 points, because no matter what part of life’s path we’re currently traveling on, these ‘happiness habits’ will always be applicable.

1. Express gratitude. – When you appreciate what you have, what you have appreciates in value.  Kinda cool right?  So basically, being grateful for the goodness that is already evident in your life will bring you a deeper sense of happiness.  And that’s without having to go out and buy anything.  It makes sense.  We’re gonna have a hard time ever being happy if we aren’t thankful for what we already have.
2. Cultivate optimism. – Winners have the ability to manufacture their own optimism.  No matter what the situation, the successful diva is the chick who will always find a way to put an optimistic spin on it.  She knows failure only as an opportunity to grow and learn a new lesson from life.  People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times.
3. Avoid over-thinking and social comparison. – Comparing yourself to someone else can be poisonous.  If we’re somehow ‘better’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, it gives us an unhealthy sense of superiority.  Our ego inflates – KABOOM – our inner Kanye West comes out!  If we’re ‘worse’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, we usually discredit the hard work that we’ve done and dismiss all the progress that we’ve made.  What I’ve found is that the majority of the time this type of social comparison doesn’t stem from a healthy place.  If you feel called to compare yourself to something, compare yourself to an earlier version of yourself.
4. Practice acts of kindness. – Performing an act of kindness releases serotonin in your brain.  (Serotonin is a substance that has TREMENDOUS health benefits, including making us feel more blissful.)  Selflessly helping someone is a super powerful way to feel good inside.  What’s even cooler about this kindness kick is that not only will you feel better, but so will people watching the act of kindness.  How extraordinary is that?  Bystanders will be blessed with a release of serotonin just by watching what’s going on.  A side note is that the job of most anti-depressants is to release more serotonin.  Move over Pfizer, kindness is kicking ass and taking names.
5. Nurture social relationships. – The happiest people on the planet are the ones who have deep, meaningful relationships.  Did you know studies show that people’s mortality rates are DOUBLED when they’re lonely?  WHOA!  There’s a warm fuzzy feeling that comes from having an active circle of good friends who you can share your experiences with.  We feel connected and a part of something more meaningful than our lonesome existence.
6. Develop strategies for coping. – How you respond to the ‘craptastic’ moments is what shapes your character.  Sometimes crap happens – it’s inevitable.  Forrest Gump knows the deal.  It can be hard to come up with creative solutions in the moment when manure is making its way up toward the fan.  It helps to have healthy strategies for coping pre-rehearsed, on-call, and in your arsenal at your disposal.
7. Learn to forgive. – Harboring feelings of hatred is horrible for your well-being.  You see, your mind doesn’t know the difference between past and present emotion.  When you ‘hate’ someone, and you’re continuously thinking about it, those negative emotions are eating away at your immune system.  You put yourself in a state of suckerism (technical term) and it stays with you throughout your day.
8. Increase flow experiences. – Flow is a state in which it feels like time stands still.  It’s when you’re so focused on what you’re doing that you become one with the task.  Action and awareness are merged.  You’re not hungry, sleepy, or emotional.  You’re just completely engaged in the activity that you’re doing.  Nothing is distracting you or competing for your focus.
9. Savor life’s joys. – Deep happiness cannot exist without slowing down to enjoy the joy.  It’s easy in a world of wild stimuli and omnipresent movement to forget to embrace life’s enjoyable experiences.  When we neglect to appreciate, we rob the moment of its magic.  It’s the simple things in life that can be the most rewarding if we remember to fully experience them.
10. Commit to your goals. – Being wholeheartedly dedicated to doing something comes fully-equipped with an ineffable force.  Magical things start happening when we commit ourselves to doing whatever it takes to get somewhere.  When you’re fully committed to doing something, you have no choice but to do that thing.  Counter-intuitively, having no option – where you can’t change your mind – subconsciously makes humans happier because they know part of their purpose.
11. Practice spirituality. – When we practice spirituality or religion, we recognize that life is bigger than us.  We surrender the silly idea that we are the mightiest thing ever.  It enables us to connect to the source of all creation and embrace a connectedness with everything that exists.  Some of the most accomplished people I know feel that they’re here doing work they’re “called to do.”
12. Take care of your body. – Taking care of your body is crucial to being the happiest person you can be.  If you don’t have your physical energy in good shape, then your mental energy (your focus), your emotional energy (your feelings), and your spiritual energy (your purpose) will all be negatively affected.  Did you know that studies conducted on people who were clinically depressed showed that consistent exercise raises happiness levels just as much as Zoloft?  Not only that, but here’s the double whammy… Six months later, the people who participated in exercise were less likely to relapse because they had a higher sense of self-accomplishment and self-worth.

I heart these..

ALLS I CAN SAY...

AMEN!

2011

Uhhh only 15 days left of 2011!! Wow!! That went by too quick. Although I think I am ready to be done with this year.

2011 was filled with trials and some awesomeness. 2011 was when I was diagnosed as an infertile turtle (due to PCOS) that has been a roller coaster in itself. My husband struggled with his Crohns disease for half of the year. Those were the 2 biggest trials. But the awesomeness of 2011 was my TGB photography business! I really have enjoyed starting it, growing, and learning!

I seemed to let 2011 swim right on by me as I delt with my health issues and my husbands. It seems like the first half of the year was my health issues and me trying to cope with being infertile and then the second half of the year was focused on my husbands health issues. Even though they seemed to be health issues, I haven't managed to lose any weight. ugh. I am really sad about that, I know I want to lose weight and I have been the same weight since I got engaged (with up and down in between) i have become a more self confident woman since I got engaged and have learned to accept my body, and be proud of who I am. But that doesn't change the fact that I want to lose weight, and I SHOULD lose weight! It isn't just an apperance thing, it is mainly about how I feel about myself. But I also SHOULD lose weight and that is also a healthy factor. I know that the more weight I lose the more my changes of getting pregnant go up by a couple percentages.

In 2011 I also discovered the hallelujah diet. I really like it. I haven't fully implemented it (or even close) but I have started juicing and being more aware of the processed foods, and that is a huge step. My goal to finish out 2011 is to juice EVERY DAY!! :) I really want to finish this year out strong, since i have been not doing the greatest in that area lately. Another awesome of 2011 is since I started juicing I have had 2 regular woman cycles! I don't know if I am ovulating or not, but 2 natural cycles!!! That hasn't happened in a LONG LONG TIME!!

 These pictures were taken sometime in 2011, they aren't my best of or anything, just a quick random selection (I didn't even look to see which ones they were)

Business planning for 2012!

Business planning for 2012! Wahoo! Call me craz-ay but I love creating and setting goals! Especially if I can make a list! Yes.. I AM a list maker! 

2011 just kind of happened, I flew by the seat of my pants in regards to my business (who am I kidding, my life too).

My goal was to take great pictures and hope people would want their pictures taken by me! I would set goals for the next coming month, only when I was motivated too. I didn't have much of a direction besides to learn a lot, improve and have people LOVE my pictures. As far as the HOW to do that... who knew?? Certainly not me!

2012... I am ready for you! Well almost. My husband can do amazing things to an excel document and has made me invoices and spreadsheets galore! I type in simple numbers and he has it doing the math for me already!  (He knows how to tug at my heart strings).

 I also am on a waiting list for some free legal advice! They will be looking over all my documents I have and contracts (yep, husband making those too, although we will probably be going through a lawyer before we actually use these)

 I am tracking mileage now! So I will know how much more on location shoots cost me!

I am tracking how many hours of editing I am doing per photo shoot! So I can know how much I am making hourly!

But my biggest goal for 2012?

capturing the connections between people. Capturing the love they feel for one another. I want your heart to burst with love when you see my photographs from a wedding I shot. I want you to cry with love when I shoot a birth photo session because of the beauty.

And skin tones and angles! I have so many other things that I of course want to better at and gain a deeper knowledge of. But those 3 things, those are my" FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS "things.



My true love

 Reasons Why he is my true love:

10. No matter what time it is, he is always down with taking a nap

9. When I hurt myself he is always their to lick my face.

8. When you take a shower  it is guaranteed he will come in, slide open the shower curtain and start drinking the water that splashes his way.

7. He insists on sleeping with his butt tightly pressed against my stomach.

6. Every time he relaxes and falls asleep he farts.

5. He gives amazing high fives

4. He is afraid of cardboard

3. He looks at himself in the mirror and wonders why that dog won't play with him

2. he eats our furniture when we aren't looking

1. he is the most love-a-bull, -kiss-a-bull, squeeze-a-bull, hub-a-bull, friend-a-bull  bulldog ever!  

click here tocheck out more awesome submissions!

texture before & after

I love this texture look that I added! This is the first time I have applied texture to photos that involve people! And I really like it!

Before:

Copyright of TGB photography

After:

Copyright of TGB photography





This is my photo do not steal or copy this image. Much appreciation! :)


Which one do you prefer?

My best friend/sister

My sister and I are extremely close. We always have been. My sister was 22 months when I was born, and my mom says that she would never let go of me. We were always playing house together, barbies together, playing olympics, skip it, you name it, we were most likely doing it together. We hit a little rough patch during our teenage years where things like "you will never be my maid of honor" and "we will never be best of friends" and of course "your such a bitch" were said to each other. But then after high school and college came, and we still weren't that close, until i decided to move in with her and her boyfriend (now husband). Ever since then, we have been the best of friends. She is someone I go to when I need a laugh, cry, vent, talk about diet and whatever. She is the sweetest girl with the biggest heart, and the biggest alligator tears.

My sister and I even share the same infertility struggles and that has even bonded us more (didn't even know that was possible)

Why am I sharing this with you?

 My sister has started a blog! :) I am so excited for her! She really loves reading all the blogs out their, and she is just starting to dive into the whole blog world! I love it! You should totally check out her new blog!!

Letters to my baby

PS- I took all of these awesome pictures! :)

Today

Today I did a big fat face plant as I was walking into church. Literally a face plant, my glasses and forehead broke the fall.  5 people may have ran over and asked if I was ok. I may have been on the verge of tears, but decided to put my head in my hand and laugh instead.  My husband ran home and got my tennis shoes, so it wouldn't happen again.

Today I asked my husband "what is this pepper?" he says " a red pepper" and I said "well than what is this pepper?" (holding up a different one) He says "what color is it?" I say "well red, but they are different shades, I thought maybe this was a cayenne pepper I asked you to get?" and then he shoved his mouth full of food, so he wouldn't bust out laughing.

I heart faces- on your feet

How could I not take a photograph of baby E's adorable tiny little feet and her moms stunning engagement ring!  

check out more entries at I heart faces

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Drinking wonderful tasting eggnog, placing the last Christmas ornament on the Christmas tree, laughing and listening to wonderful Christmas music I.E Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is you" OR "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas (may have taken 5 minutes to get that spelling right) while it is snowing outside. Yes, that is my vision for setting up Christmas decorations. The reality? I do not like eggnog. I am awful at placing the ornaments on the tree, and my husband slept through our setting up Christmas decorations date, and so did Porkchop and their is no snow on the ground! But I still got the decorations up!  And enjoyed my own company while doing it. That is what counts right?