Check out my interview

on the Handmade Movement Blog. www.thehandmademovement.com My etsy.com shop http://anglily.etsy.com was sneak attacked a couple weeks ago and they have a post about my reaction up today. Head on over if you get a chance. The Handmade Movement is a great "cause". Their site has tons of info about participating if anyone is interested. Just thought I would share. :)

Ta Ta For Now!
Angela

Sneak Peak for Danae & random musical thoughts

Everyone let's say hello to Isaac. He is my nephew and man is he full of personality. Obviously he gets along well with my little family. This is one of my favorite photos from his 3rd birthday shoot a couple Saturdays ago. I work with kids all the time and it's these shots I get when they don't know I'm there that just melt my heart.

Danae, there are tons more cute shots. I will have everything done and online as soon as I can.

Let's take a little detour for a minute shall we? For those of you that know me, you know that I have really eclectic music taste. I am always listening to something different. To say that I am moved by music would be an understatement. I am often touched by lyrics and find myself thinking about a part of a certain song over and over. Recently I have been listening to Bon Jovi's newest release We Weren't Born To Follow. No surprise huh?! This particular song struck a chord with me and I can't stop thinking about it's message. Just the title alone makes you stop and think. As human beings and American citizens I personally feel that we are responsible, if not required to stand up for what we believe. Think back to our founding fathers. If they didn't feel moved to stand up for their desire for religious freedom we wouldn't be living in this great country. I am not even talking specifically about religion right now. That is a professional blogging no no after all. What I am talking about is standing up for what we believe is right for us and our families individually. Do we want our children to grow up thinking we just sat back and watched life happen without ever getting involved or taking a stand? Do we want them to learn that it is OK to judge someone based on their ethnic background or religious beliefs or even lack there of? What about economic or social status?

In the Bon Jovi song it states that:
"We weren't born to follow
Come on and get up off your knees
When life is a bitter pill to swallow
You gotta hold on to what you believe"

Each one of us has a different set of beliefs and that is OK! What I am saying is that we need to be prepared to stand up and say that something is not OK with us. I won't get into too many details but recently I was faced with a situation where I had make a choice. Do I follow the crowd or make a stink and say no, that's not what I believe is right? The situation involved my children and when push came to shove I took a stand. Do I regret my decision? Not at all. What I regret is that I didn't do it sooner.

To quote a different song Stand by Rascal Flatts;
"Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend til you break
Cause it's all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad, you get strong
Wipe your hands shake it off
Then you stand"

At the end of the day I want my children to know that we all make mistakes. It is part of being human. What separates us from the crowd is our decision to do what is right for us. Not for everyone else, for us. I want them to be proud that as their mother I went to bat for them and stood up for what we as their parents feel is right. Period end of story.

Bon Jovi says: "How will you raise your hand when they call your name?" That is our challenge. To be true to ourselves and our families. To stand up for what we personally believe is right. Not necessarily what is mainstream, what is right. It is different for you and and different for me and that is all right. We have a responsibility as parents and American citizens to take a stand. Let's follow the examples of the great men who paved the way to the freedoms we enjoy everyday. Do it-I dare you!

signing out,
Angela

How's my breath honey?

Click to enlarge!

Now that I have your attention let me introduce The Hubrichs. They are the most thoughtful and generous family I have ever known. There is a special seat in Heaven reserved for this amazing family. Let me back up several years so that I can get the story right. Jeff was Rob's VERY 1st and MOST favorite Flight Instructor. Rob has a had a deep love for flying since he was very little but Jeff brought out that love and created a great pilot and amazing instructor in him. They connected on a level that you rarely find in this world.

Fast forward to last December. By this point Rob is now instructing at the same airport that Jeff taught him and Jeff is flying for SkyWest airlines. The 2 guys have kept in touch over the years and have remained close friends. For some reason that I can't seem to remember I FINALLY suggested that we have The Hubrichs over for dinner. It was only a couple days before Christmas and we were knee deep in the very difficult life of flight instructing. Jeff, Heather and their 2 beautiful children came to our home for dinner and our lives were changed forever.

Heather and I went to High School together and didn't even know it. Our children are very close in age and get along better than family. Heather and I are true soul sisters and I am sad that it took over 6 years for us to get our butts in gear and get together. I have never met anyone who is more like me in every way. When we are with The Hubrichs we are completely at ease and comfortable. Since our initial "meeting" last December we have spent quite a bit of time together and our little family of 4 has grown to love their little family of 4 very deeply. They understand the trials and tribulations of the "flying" life and have helped us out more than you will ever know. Life is SO much easier when there is someone out there who understands what you are going through and can lend an ear when you need to talk. My heart will forever be grateful to this amazing family and the crazy lives that brought us together!

Enough of the mushy stuff right?! Let's move on to some more photos shall we...

I don't often suggest pole dancing for your photos but with close friends like this why not right?!

This photo was taken seconds after a spontaneous outburst of "Never Smile at a Crocodile". It was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. Usually I am the ONLY one who ever sings that song but Jeff, Heather and I all started singing it super loud at the EXACT same time. No kidding! Like I said before, our connection is amazing! They even get my craziness!

This beautiful girl is Miss Cessna. Isn't that the most beautiful name you have ever heard? She is just 1 year younger than my Savanna and they are the best playmates ever. She is sweetest little girl, with just a bit of spunk thrown in for good measure. The spunk must be why she gets along so well with my family right?!

And last but not least is little Lance. Those blue eyes are ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. Please, please click to enlarge the photo so you can get a better look. There is NO Photoshop work done to them, they're all natural baby! Every time Lance came around this wall to play peek-a-boo with me he would run over and give me a huge hug. After stopping for the perfect photo 1st of course.

I just wanted to share a few of my favorites and introduce this awesome family. As most of you know by now a little piece of me goes into every photo I take. I know of no better way to express my love for someone than to "work" with them and capture such special memories. Thank you again Jeff and Heather for such a special friendship and for the funnest photo session ever! Oh and yes there are plenty more "traditional" photos. Not off of them as crazy as these.

Stay tuned for more exciting stories from my life in the fast lane!

Angela

Finally...

yes I know I am slow but I finally updated my header to include my new logo. I am still over the top in love with it and can't wait to update all my promotional materials and website. I know you are all shocked that I am posting on a Monday but isn't a little surprise fun?!



Anyway...I had a super fun session with my sister-in-law on Saturday and she shared a really funny quote with me. I thought I would pass it onto you. Please keep in mind that I am in NO way making any sort of public comment about the swine flu or the vaccination. I just thought it was funny...



"This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed home. This little piggy had roast beef. This little piggy had none. This little piggy went "cough" and the whole world's media went mad over the imminent destruction of the human race... and journalists found out that they didn't have much work to do if they just replaced "bird" with "swine"on all their saved articles from a year a go, er, all the way home."



TEE HEE HEE! I promise to post some actual photography related info later in the week.



Ta Ta For Now!

Angela

Let me tell you a little story...

it's about a horrible day & a sweet surprise. Let's go back to Monday & I'll recap some of the days tragic events. I'll start with Logan spilling an entire 12oz glass of blueberry, banana & carrot smoothie all over my fridge. When I say all over I mean ALL OVER! Rob and I had to take parts of the fridge apart so I could clean the smoothie out of the seal around the door and off the coils underneath. Not to mention out from in between all the drawers and shelves. Needless to say I'll be signing that boy up for baseball in the spring. Apparently he has some pretty good pitching skills.

Let's move on shall we. After spending an hour and 45 minutes cleaning the fridge I run downstairs to check my email. I find out that Savanna had trouble with an assessment in math and now we have a TON of homework to make up for it. As if we can just add 2 hours to our day.

Fast forward to later that evening. A couple weeks ago at Parent Teacher Conference I mistakenly volunteered to take some work home for Savanna's home room teacher. I had kind of forgotten about it until yesterday so I figured I'd better get it done that night. Let's just say it took Rob and I 6 hours together to cut out and glue about 10 million little tiny math flash cards. I guess the good part is I get to count 12 hours towards my volunteering goal for the year. :)

I forgot to mention a quick trip to Wal-mart mixed in there somewhere. Someone please tell me how to get my kids to behave at the store. We ran into one of Rob's flying students and my children proceeded to act like monkey's and completely embarrass us. Argh!

Now let's get to the sweet surprise. Rob needed a little break from all the cutting and gluing so he went downstairs to the computer. He called me down a few minutes later to "show me something". I know that I have shamelessly mentioned my etsy.com site where I sell custom hair flowers on here before. Well somehow my store was chosen to participate in a "sneak attack" late Monday night through Tuesday afternoon. A sneak attack is where a group of fellow crafters surprise a new store with an "attack" of surprise orders. My attack couldn't have come at a better time. It had been such a horrible day and Tuesday was my birthday so it was perfect timing. I just want to give a shout out to the ladies at http://www.handmademovement.com/ they made my day and gave me a perfect birthday gift. The attack carried over into Tuesday and I even got some more fabulous news about it today. ALL That Boutique (my flower site http://anglily.etsy.com) was featured on Sandi's T's blog today. You can access the page at www.sandists.com/Wordpress/2009/10/a-new-feature-sneak-attack-shops-and-what-i-bought/

Super long link I know. Anyway if you get a minute pop over there or to the handmade movement. The ladies at these sites are amazing. You will never find a more genuine group of gals. They set up the sneak attacks out of the goodness of their hearts. And I'll tell you what they sure made me feel like a million bucks!

Now I suppose I should post some photos since this is supposed to be a photography blog after all.

Meet Baby Grace. She is our newest niece and a total doll.

She was one of the easiest babies I've worked with in quite a while. No I'm not just saying that since we're related. :)

And just to prove that she didn't sleep the whole time...

One more...

You should also say Hello to big brother Jack

Well if any of you made it to the end of the longest blog post in history then you deserve an enormous gold star!! ****** There's 6 of them just for good measure. I suppose it's time to get back to the grindstone.

Happy Fall Y'all!

xoxoxoxo

Angela

Just a quick note...

I don't have much time to post this week so I thought I would share my "senior incentive" program.

If you are a high school senior, or know someone who is now is the time to think about your senior portraits. I have a great referral program that gives seniors a chance to earn a beautiful custom designed album with photos from their own session. In the coming weeks I will post some photos of the albums and talk a bit more about them. For now just know that they are absolutely beautiful. I have several here if you are interested in taking a look. For those of you who are not seniors I promise to post something more relevant next week. I have to cover all my bases you know. :) I don't know about y'all but I am just not ready for this cold weather. I guess I'll have to be dragged away from summer kicking and screaming. On another note...only a couple more months until Christmas!!

until next time,

Angela

More of Miss Abbie...

Well hello again everyone. I thought I would post a couple more fun shots of my little friend Abbie. She is seriously the cutest little 4 year old ever and I totally love her! Don't forget to click on the photo to see it larger.

I mean just look at her. I put her on this fun little saddle and then she gave me this great look! Completely random and totally her.

This is the bridge at Wheeler Farm and again just look at her. Those dimples just melt my heart every stinkin' time!

Again with the dimples! I think someone should model one of those Cabbage Patch dolls after her. Abbie is 10 times cuter than any doll I've ever seen.

In case you are wondering, yes I called ahead and made sure the farmers planted corn to match Abbie's sweater EXACTLY! I'm not afraid to pull strings to get want I want! :) I wish I could show you this entire session. Every single photo was so great and I loved them all. Not that I'm bragging or anything, it's just Abbie not me!

Now that winter is apparently on us I better go & get all my sweaters and soup recipes out.

Going crazy with 2 kids out of school,

Angela