Happy New Year and a (belated) Merry Christmas!

One of the highlights of 2011 and one of my favorite Christmas presents for Christmas was meeting Ashley, one of my favorite bloggers. The minute we decided we were heading to Phoenix to visit my Grandma, I knew I would be emailing her to see if she was in town. Turns out she was for two of the days I would be there. We ended up driving to her town, just twenty minutes away from my Grandma's town, to see the Glendale Glitters Christmas Lights. We met her at her house where she greeted us with her sweet barking puppies and "puppy chow" (link to another blogger I've met and love in real life who happens to share a fondness for puppy chow with Shawners and Ashley ;)!) - a yummy chex mix Trav made that I brought home to Shawners who gobbled it up and has been begging for it ever since.

Ashley and I had both already admitted via email that we are shy people until you really get to know us. But I already felt like I knew her via our blogs. She's just one of those people that is easy to know. She also knows me a little more intimately than some bloggers might because she's seen a few more of my personal struggles. So I was crossing fingers we would hit it off as I have with a few of the other bloggers I've met and become lifelong friends with. I had nothing to worry about, because it instantly felt we had known each other for ages. We hugged the instant we met and chatted incessantly from the moment we saw each other. Had our limited schedules not been around, we would have chatted half the night away.

She was so excited about asking Brando about some of his photography tips for her new camera, and Trav was easy to talk to while they talked camera. Actually, Trav was also interested in the camera tips. I had to keep myself from getting distracted, because for some reason when Brando goes to a certain point with talking about camera stuff my head gets all in a muddle and I can't quite follow him anymore. It's almost like I need a notepad so I can take notes to keep up. Regardless, in between photog talks, we snuck some cute, fun pictures and chatted about similar things we are dealing with such as not feeling pretty or cute in photos lately and feeling like we used to be and not knowing what happened! What is with that?! Of course, she is gorgeous in all her photos and so I am crossing my fingers the same is the case with me, but I am so glad to know there is someone out there that feels the same way.

She was off to Indiana to plan her wedding with her family the next day, and I back to my Grandma's where I had an... interesting weekend that I'm not even close to being prepared to write about. I am so excited for her, and am so, SO glad I took the opportunity to meet her! As I told her, I've learned from past experiences, if you pass up the opportunity to meet bloggers when you can that perfect opportunity may not ever come again. Something I didn't say, but have noticed, is that the blog friendship may dwindle, because if that person was an in real life friend you definitely would NOT pass up the opportunity to see them. This hasn't held true for in-town blog friends, but for out of town friends, it seems to have. And I just realized I have not kept up out-of-town blog friendships with a few people who I go nearby and visit sometimes. Little do they know I have SO many people to see, I rarely see everybody. I haven't seen Justinbustin's godmother in five years!! And she lives in my hometown. I need to remedy that!

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year

from both of us to all of you and your loved ones!

Here's to an aMAzing 2012!

Abandoned Buildings

One of Brando's and my favorite past times is going on photo shoot adventures. I get to play model, and he gets to play with his camera in new places. This particular time, it was at an abandoned building here in Austin that's about to be turned into an art gallery. I love the spookiness of an abandoned place and all the different textures to play around with. I was a little antsy playing model while he was trying to make art, until I got to pick the shoot locations about halfway through. I love picking the locations while he makes it pretty.

 If I look a little pissed in this first batch, it's because I was. We got Justinbustin a haircut, and, oh, what an adventure that is trying to get a preteen's hair cut who does not want to. Fortunately, at the end of the day, I had to thank Brando and tell him how proud I am of him for his maturity and wisdom in dealing with my crankiness because he stayed continually levelheaded. And, fortunately, after about here the crankiness started to subside. Especially when we got back to pick up the boys and Justinbustin gave me a hug. Whew.

 And, finally, my turn to pick the spots. I love depth, texture, a rustic feel, and nature, as you can see...

Earrings ~ Forever 21, Necklace ~ Gift from my MIL,

Bracelet ~ First anniversary gift from Brando from Dell Williams in Santa Cruz, 

Plaid Shirt ~ Macy's, Tank ~ American Eagle,

Skirt ~ Hot Topic, Tights ~ Claire's, Socks ~ Brando's, Boots ~ Mia from DSW

Renewing our Vows

Found the place where we'll be renewing our vows! Our friends conveniently reserved the place for their own wedding last year and had to use the place in order to get their refund back. Saved us the photography fee, as they were an hour late, and we had the place all to ourselves for a personal photo shoot at sunset (these are mine, Brando's will make their way into another post).

Playing in Puddles

It's been awhile since Brando picked up his camera. Things have been busy around here. Since it's been raining so much I've been dying for him to pick up the camera and go play in the rain. It wasn't raining when we did this, but puddles are still fun!This has to be my favorite shot from the day - at Gap, buying the boys pants before we went and played. Speaking of buying pants at Gap - did you know you can get them for the same price as Old Navy and Wal-mart but they last a hell of a lot longer and fit a lot better.

This is another favorite. I love how it turned out in black and white.

Puddles!

So stole this pose from the September issue. Now where's my cameraman?