My Little Life

Used to be that I'd share a picture now and then when I did a photo shoot. While my shoots are few and far between these days, I do have some to show you! But first up...how do y'all store your photos? I've discovered my picture taking has WAY slacked off since my laptop ran out of memory. And, I'm not a fan of my external hard drive because it just DUMPS the pictures in there and, for example, leaves me with 5+ photos with the same title (DSC_0043 or something like that). Can I move them into folders? Will it take me 87 years? Is there some online storage solution that I can pull my photos back from (not Shutterfly, for example)? I've tried uploading to Google, but it never works. (What am I doing wrong?) Help!! Anyway, here's a few of my faves from my most recent shoots... Happy Monday!

We had Dr. J and her awesome family over this weekend, and as we were getting ready for them, I decided to decorate my mantle for fall. Dubya hauled up my Rubbermaid tote full of fall decor for me and we began to set things out, feeling content and happy as I sprinkled my house with hues of orange, red, and yellow. Prior to our remodel project, our fireplace was something I tolerated. Put up with. The Mr. and I had spoken, now and then, about refacing it with stone or some other kind of brick but it was my dad that spoke these wise words, "Just wait until you're done with your project...you might change your mind about it.". Never. I NEVER thought I'd change my mind about our fireplace being something other than an object that I just put up with. I never thought that I could actually APPRECIATE our fireplace...but then? Something magical happened. As things came together with the remodel project, I began to realize that our fireplace was starting to shine. I w...

Perfect timing for a spooky story, since it IS October and all, right? Imagine this: you lose your way to contact loved ones, then right before your very eyes every appointment and party and get together vanishes into thin air. DUH DUH DUH DUHNNNNNNN. It happened to me Sunday morning. I slept peacefully through the night only to wake up and discover that all of my contacts had gone missing from my phone during the night. I thought maybe they all ran off together on some grand adventure, but I discovered them, hanging out together, right there in the cloud. So WHY weren't they on my phone? Of course, I wanted a quick fix. A button to push. Something fast and easy. But everything I tried was unsuccessful. They remained, stubbornly, up there in the dang cloud. Then I discovered my Calendar had been wiped clean. To some, this might sound like something from their wildest dreams, but to me? TERROR. That calendar is my LIFELINE, PEOPLE!! I panicked a little, wondering what impo...

Kids, particularly your own, are the most amazing creatures on earth, no? The love and adoration a mama feels is absolutely spectacular, no? You hurt when they hurt and you share their excitement when they're excited, no? So...lemme tell you a little story. Remember when this sweet pumpkin was born?  And I took her newborn pictures?  And she didn't cooperate one little iota but GOOD GOLLY is she ever cute and I can't say that I minded getting to hold her and feed her and cuddle her to get her to TRY to cooperate? Yeah, her. Anyway, when I was finished snapping photos of the little munchkin, my brother and sister-in-law were talking to me as I was (confession: half) listening as I looked through the photos on my camera. This is sort of what I was (half) hearing, "You know...and you...but we're thinking...for baby...that we were going to ask Belle to be her Godmother." SAY WHA????? My head snapped up and I got a little teary because I kn...

My Gram wanted to see updated pictures of our house, so she turned to my blog and GUESS WHAT???? No recent pictures...see, I'm struggling. We've reached the point where I could show you pictures of the almost  finished project...BUT, the little things that are left are things that make me want to wait until it is ALL done. You know, "Look! Here's my beautiful kitchen without trim and backsplash and doors!"...and then, when those things are done, while they'll definitely make it "finished" there won't be a whole lot of "WOW!!" factor involved, it'd be more like "Here's our project BEFORE trim and LOOK! Here it is after." and y'all'd be like, "Huh?" cuz I'm not sure it'll make THAT MUCH of a difference in pictures.  Yikes. I'm totally rambling. All this to say...hang tight. "After" photos are coming!! We're finishing up my pantry shelving (yay!!!!!) and then we'll be ...

Let's talk for a second. You and me. I found something a few days ago that made me weak in the knees. Made my heart pound with excitement and my cheeks flush with the idea of the gloriousness that I just discovered. Guys? I found the most AMAZING website. :) I dunno, maybe I'm just late to the game...maybe everyone else on the entire planet has already discovered these guys...maybe...but I still hafta share. (Ain't no paid advertisement...) Rustica Hardware. OH. EM. GEE. Ohmigosh. I can't even. (That was for you, Julie.) As I've mentioned before, we're planning on doing a "barn door" for the door to our mudroom. Enter in my idea of door opening widths, bullheadedness, and lack of proper research, however...and now we're looking at a custom door. UGH. See...I INSISTED on having a 36" opening for the mudroom/diningroom entrance. IN. SISTED. Only thing is, standard doors don't come any larger than 36" and having a door that...

Whoa nelly. Week one of school down and OH. EM. GEE. The children. They are at each other's throats!! For kids that usually  get along pretty well, we have had way more than our normal amount of tears, raised voices, disagreements, hurt feelings...the list goes on and on! This first week of school business is tough stuff.  Speaking of first week (day) of school...I'm a terrible mother. How could I NOT post the obligatory first day of school photos??? Let me remedy that quick: Cracks me up that it looks like she's wearing shoulder pads!! Please forgive Belle's "one of these things is not like the other" photo...she started the day after the other kiddos and I was already out of practice by then and forgot to have her pose inside. Oh well, at least I got a photo, right?! Anyway, I'm super thankful for the reprieve of the weekend. A chance to regroup. To sleep in. To have mornings that are not ruled by pressure of the clock.  ...