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Bonne Annee et Bonne Sante a tous!!!
My last post for this year, to wish everyone a very happy New Year. Time flies, it doesn’t seem that long ago when I went to school and all the kids were excited about 1980! I didn’t quite understand why all the fuss, then there was the new millennium, that really feels like yesterday, and now we are already about to start 2009!!! Wow, it’s going by too fast. I see my children grow, too quick. No matter how determined I am to enjoy every minute with them, I end up caught up in everyday life, wrapped up in my to do list of the day. Sweating the little things, forgetting to appreciate the blessing of my beautiful healthy happy family. Somehow, on the verge of a New Year, I can’t help but think of a fresh start, with a mind full of good resolutions. Mainly I want to be aware, to be thankful for my life, my husband, my children, family and friends, everyday… I always wish for more time, I run out of it so often. As a result whatever was on my list of things to do for the day, just ends up being an other thing to do, almost a chore: decorate the Christmas tree, do laundry, bake cookies with the kids for Santa, pay bills, prepare dinner, give baths, read story, go to bed… So this year, I will try even harder to BALANCE, I’m convinced it’s all a matter of balancing my schedule and priorities, and keeping my ambitions for the day a little more reasonable. Making sure I save enough time to enjoy my family. I also plan on getting a video camera, pictures are wonderful, but I would love to have movies of my kids…
Magalie, among many talents, is an “artist en herbe” and loves to draw. She has always been drawing pictures of our family. It may have started when Olivia came along, and for a while Meg would have us all there except for her young sister. I was much relieved when she finally started to acknowledge Olivia, and had her part of our family’s picture. I still haven’t got my Christmas cards together, New Year’s card will do just fine. In the mean time, I have Magalie’s latest drawing to portray our family, she lists everyone, always with our ages. I love that, even though Indies isn’t alive (this happened just a couple of weeks before Christmas), she has her as an angel with us still.
Michelle & Andre
Long awaited preview of the sweetest most in love couple ever! Thank you so much for being patient with me. Michelle and her bridesmaid decided to leave the house for the boys, and they chose to get ready in the residence Inn. The make up ladies were fabulous.
Andre, modern man, send a happy little text to his bride.
The guys, very laid back…
The Groom’s party,
Michelle with her mother, and some of the bridesmaids,
Michelle just radiates, she’s so happy and in love. She carried all day this beautiful glow, and I suspect she’s always like that around Andre.
The ceremony was held in the First Baptist Church of Warrington,
Our handsome groom, just a few minutes before the wedding,
The very efficient wedding planner, Angela Mc Millan, was also in charge of the flowers and all the decorations,
This was such a fun group to photograph,
On their way to the reception, married…
THe reception was held in the Mustin Beach Officer’s Club.
There was lots of dancing and partying!
Michelle belongs to the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and all her sisters sang a traditional song around her. It was very moving.
Michelle and Andre I wish you the best life, many babies. You make a beautiful loving couple and I’m sure will be wonderful parents. Thank you so much for having me be part of your special day.
On their way to a fun honey moon to Disney World,
The most awesome couple was in charge of the Videography from Diva Productions (Panama city). They are so talented and easy to work with. As usual, with me, my very extraordinaire friend, Dorene Nash.
Walker & Avery
My friend, Barclay and her family are totally committed to their horses. She recently asked me to take pictures of her children at the barn. It was so much fun, it reminded me of when I was a kid and had my one year fling of riding. Only good memories, I was so close to getting my own horse, just like Avery and Walker.
Avery on her pony, Oliver Twist. Isn’t that the coolest name?
And Walker with his horse, Custom Taylored.
I had to put this one in,
This little girl has the most amazing eyes, like her mama
Thank you Barclay, I had a great time and the kids were so patient with me.
Anne & Jimmy
A little sneak peak at what’s to come… Just a few pictures that tell the story of this beautiful day, how Jimmy and Anne are now husband and wife. They are so much in love and have a bright future ahead of them, both physicians about to start their carriers.
There had been rumors of possible storms, but the skies cleared up and it was a perfect day.
The ceremony was held in the sanctuary of Christ Church, and the reception was on the grounds of Bay Moorrings, property of DeeDee Reilly, a dear friend of the family’s.
The talented Debbie Turner from Celebrations, dressed up the majestic oaks, lights were strategically placed on the trees to create a feerique (sorry I had to use the french word, the english translation is magical, but it doesn’t describe it as well) ambiance.
Scattered on the lawn were the buffet tables adorned with magnificent bouquets, and the most delicious food, a fusion of low country and Southern cuisine, from Nancy Silivos
And I had with me Dorene Nash, a super creative Mobile based photographer, without whom I wouldn’t even consider covering a wedding.
On with the images, first some details in the parish hall, getting ready.
Anne was so elegant and classy. Look at the delicate earrings, they designed them.
Anne,
Jimmy,
They opted to meet before the ceremony,
Anne has many friends and wouldn’t leave anyone out, so there were 7 bridesmaids in the pretty grey dresses and 9 honorary bridesmaids in the cute black dresses.
Jimmy, too has many friends…
A few minutes before walking down the aisle, the girls are just chatting and having a good time, they would make a nice spread inside a bridal magazine.
The guys are just as relaxed,
I can’t believe I forgot to mention this funny little detail: while photographing the cutting of the cake scene, Dorene’s pants caught on fire! The steps leading to the covered porch, where the beautiful and out-of-this-world delicious cakes throned, were lit by many little candles. Dorene, eyes glued to her view finder, busy recording the moment, didn’t notice how close she was to the edge and the flame… and next thing her pants are on fire… that is dedication to your job!
The day was extra special as it was also Anne’s parents’ anniversary, and this happy group was their wedding party,
The band, Power House (in Mobile, AL) had everyone on the dance floor, and then on stage,
Leaving under a rain of flower petals,
family pictures
Cici and Davinder’s family was so much fun to photograph. I did bring my secret weapon: my puppy Coco, who kept the children very entertained. Meet: Miles, Maya and Ani.
Everyone,
This little boy is not camera shy, he gave me the brightest smiles
An other family I love to photograph. Alan, Lori and their beautiful girls, Caroline, sweet Charlotte and Miller the dog.
Miller was a trouper.
Caroline had a good time, she was running around staying busy, and looks very happy in all her pictures.
Thank you so much for letting me photograph your families.
Walker
A quick teaser of a session at the barn. My friend, Barclay asked me to photograph her children in their favorite environment. I started tonight looking through some of the pictures I took that day and found many keepers. I couldn’t resist posting one before heading to bed. I hope everyone had a marvelous thanksgiving and a good dose of family gatherings. I went to our family dinner determined not to eat too much and I’m not sure how it happened but I stuffed myself. I think I take dieting a bit like a cartoon of Garfield I saw a few years back: when he’s not hungry he’s on a diet, but when it’s time to eat he’s off diet…
I have so much to post, lots of beautiful families, and 2 weddings.
Great news: spam mail is history on this blog, I was getting a ridiculous amount of it everyday. I even had a hard time selecting the unwanted comments from the few precious good ones, and am afraid I trashed some from my friends in the process… I apologize if anyone notices the absence of their comment, I so much appreciate them. I love getting feedbacks and reading your notes, so don’t hesitate to leave a message if you feel compelled to.
Shiny Brand New Apple
YOOWOO!!!
I’ve got a new computer: a beautiful huge screen apple, latest technology, clean lines…
I spend the last week working on switching from my old computer to this little beauty. I’ve had some stressful moments, lots of pacing aimlessly around the house and lots of intense stares at the computer willing the little progress bar to speed up some (totally useless). It was mainly all the transfer of data accumulated over the past year from one drive to an other that had me edgy. Hitting the erase button gives me instant white hair. All this waiting around for the computer to do its magic, gave me a chance to catch up on laundry, pay bills, even a little grocery shopping (must feed growing kids), I even went all out and took the time to paint my nails. So, I’ve been prancing around with a rich shade of brown, and feeling like a “women”.
That’s me doing my little happy dance every time I glance at my new desktop.
The transfer itself was painless, and easy thanks to Apple. I can’t imagine going through this with a PC, let’s not talk about the”V” word… That commercial is hilarious.
Happy thanksgiving everyone.
I love this holiday, the family gathering, the reminder to be thankful for all of our blessings. It also feels like the official start of the Christmas season. Mind you, the stores have been in full decoration mode before halloween, but now it’s happening everywhere, and the excitement is contagious. I actually want to go buy a tree and help Will, Meg and O decorate it, with Christmas music blasting through the house, hot cocoa brewing, and a nice fire in the chimney… Coco, our new puppy will probably go bunkos when she sees the ornaments dangling from the branches. We might have to come up with some device to protect the tree.
Estelle
Estelle is now 6 months, time flies! I took pictures of her in-the-belly, then just a few days old, and now she’s so big, sitting up, and full of wonderful expressions.
Oh my God, those chubby cheeks!
Didn’t I say she had the cutest expressions?
Alec & Colbie
Web friends, you must all know by now that I LOVE photographing babies, mostly because I just love them. But never until now, have I had the chance to photograph twins. When stephanie contacted me, I was thrilled. I did, however, wonder if it would be a huge time commitment to get 2 babies to go through all the ritual of my poses. But it turned out to be one of the easiest shoot ever, they were both angels, and slept pretty much through it all. There were plenty of loving arms to hold them. It could also be that they had a sleepless night before, and when I came to their house, maybe it was finally time for them to rest. (Note to self: maybe I should suggest to parents in the future to keep their little ones up all night?) Either way, it was a delight to photograph them and meet this beautiful, blessed family. Be prepared they’re just the cutest and sweetest babies!
Meet Colbie on the left and Alec on the right.
It’s so cute, it looks like Alec is wispering something to Colbie.
Venice Slideshow
Finally, I committed to putting together a slideshow from my trip to Venice, under Yervant’s mentoring.
I will keep some fond memories from the romantic city, the new friends and the lessons from world wide renown photographer.
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- can see a little bit of the ‘V’ influences coming out and it looks good, the great thing is you put into practice what you have learned - well done 
January 1st, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Gotta LOVE that adorable Magalie!! I am finally back in town and we should try to get the girls together soon. Hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas and thanks for sharing the drawing. She is a wonderful ARTISTE!!!!
Your children are just gorgeous…..and I’m so glad Olivia has finally made the drawing. Heehee. And of course, she is in a skirt. Love it.
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