December 29, 2007

On Saturday Alex and I celebrated our two year anniversary. 

We had a really fantastic day! We started the morning by exchanging gifts (I got a chocolate fountain!) and then heading downtown to do some wedding band shopping. We didn't find anything we liked, but we decided to walk around and just enjoy the day. Downtown Miami is an interesting place. Let's just say it's absolutely nothing like Kendall and I find it fascinating that two places that are so different exist within the same city. 

Anyway, we took a short stroll and then decided to head to Dolphin Mall to use our free movie passes (woo-hoo!). We watched 'Enchanted.' I have to admit, it's a cute movie. The magical Disney formula worked once again. It had just the right amount of cheese and you can't go wrong with McDreamy.

After the movie we did a bit of shopping (thank you Alex for my hat and scarf!) and wolfed down a yummy crepe. We headed home to get washed up and changed for our dinner reservation at Cielo in Coconut Grove. The restaurant is beautiful and the food was delicious! We were so stuffed after we finished our meal that we decided to just go home and relax for the rest of the night. 

Oh yes, and Alex had a bouquet of my favorite flowers waiting for me when we got to the restaurant. You know me so well. 

It was a really great day and night. 

Thank you, babe...for a wonderful anniversary and for these past two years. It's been amazing having you in my life and I'm excited for all the anniversaries to come. I love you!

Cristine and Patrick

A few weeks ago I did a photo shoot with Cristine and Patrick. 

Cristine is Kat's sister. She must have liked the way Kat and Lenny's engagement photos turned out because she and her boyfriend contracted me right away to do some portraits for them. 

We went down to Matheson-Hammock Park. The day was beautiful. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing. Patrick kept coming up with all these different ideas of photos he wanted to take. It was amusing because usually when I do photos for people they haven't a clue on how they should pose or what the background should be. They were a fun couple to shoot and they are definitely in LOVE. It's a beautiful thing.

So even though it took me a while, I have finally posted some of my favorite photos from the shoot up on Glowing Light in the 'Portraits' album. Take a gander and tell me your thoughts. I have also posted a few photos from our trip to Lake Placid last weekend in the 'Nature' album. Hoorah for new photos! I hope you enjoy them. 

P.S. Tomorrow Alex and I are celebrating two years of exclusivity! Two years ago today I was still a single lady with a crush on cute guitar player...now me and that cute guitar player are months away from marriage. Ain't love grand?

wedding site update...

For those of you who may be interested, I wanted to inform you that we have updated our wedding web site. 

I posted the date for the bridal shower in the details section (and though I didn't say on the web site...it will be a shower with a French twist...I'm very excited!) and I also posted a Christmas album in the 'Our Albums' section. 

So go check it out when you get a chance. 

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has enjoyed their Christmas thus far.

Mine has been really great with the exception that I'm sick. (bleh!) Last night my voice sounded like I had been smoking for 50 years and today I have the most disgusting runny nose and sinuses that are killing me...but nothing can ruin Christmas for me!

Last night I ran media for the candlelight services at church and after that Alex and I hurried up to Hollywood. We spent Christmas Eve at my sister's new house. There I received the BEST Christmas gift from Alex and my parents...an iPhone! Yay! I can join the club now. ;-) 

And I surprised Alex with three lumps of coal...and a Verbzilla (it's a guitar thing). The look on his face was priceless.

After finishing up at my sister's we headed over to spend time with Alex's mom and her boyfriend. This is where we got another great present, Guitar Hero III for the Wii! Granted, we don't have a Wii yet...but we're working on it. 

Lucky for us, my cousin has a Wii and he brought it over so we could play. All my cousins took a turn on Guitar Hero...even my dad had a go at it.

I hope everyone has been enjoying the company of family and friends. I really appreciated being around family this year. Usually I'm a bit on the antisocial side (surprise, surprise)...but seeing as I'll be moving away in about 6 months, I'm taking time to appreciate them and spend time with them. Family is a precious blessing from God. As cheesy as that may sound...

Lake Placid...here I come!

I'm getting ready to depart to Lake Placid (in Central Florida). 

Anne Marie invited a group of us to go spend the weekend up there and it couldn't have come at a better time! I have been so busy these last few weeks, I'm running on fumes. I actually got pulled over today by a cop for running a red light. The scary part is I didn't even notice! I was totally zoned out and not even paying attention to the road because I was so tired. 

So needless to say, I am ready for a weekend of relaxation and fun with friends. 

I hope everyone is ready for Christmas! I officially finished all my shopping today and couldn't be more excited! Also, today was the holiday breakfast at the school I work at. The kids sang some songs for the parents...it was adorable! I love those rotten kids.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great pre-Christmas weekend! See ya when I get back from Lake Placid!

wedding first dances

I thought these were hilarious...





Hmm...I think I'm getting ideas!... ;-)

Congratulations Tatty-Anna!

My beautiful and wonderful friend (and lovely bridesmaid), Tati, graduated today from FIU!
I wish I could have been there in person to see it happen, but at least I get to enjoy the photos!
I'm proud of her for working so hard and accomplishing this goal. 

You're a beautiful and intelligent girl, Tatty-Anna. Congrats on your graduation! 

Part of me is a little sad that I didn't get to have a graduation ceremony. I suppose it must be exciting to put on that silly cardboard hat and unflattering long robe. And maybe I should have just walked in December even if it was months after my "real" graduation. But oh well, what's done is done. I'll be sure not to skip out on the ceremony of my master's graduation. 

Don't forget to give Tati a ring or shoot her an e-mail congratulating her!

my addiction...

74%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Looking for payday loan?

I bet Anne Marie is even MORE addicted. ;-)

long week

It's been a long week. And it's not over yet. Not even close! 

But despite being a bit tired, I'm content. I have another photo shoot today. This time with Kat's sister and her boyfriend. Glowing Light Studios is growing! It's very exciting...and humbling! Sometimes I can't believe people actually want to pay me to take their photos! 

This past week I finally had the chance to do a shoot with Tati and Raul. We just went to the lake by their house and had a good time. They're using the photos for their Christmas cards. So watch out for that! I posted some of my favorites on Glowing Light. But I'll post a few for you on here as well.

Tonight is the Christmas Gala at Miami Baptist Church. I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna take a lot to pull this one off. But I know a lot of people have put in a lot of work into this Christmas program. (Thanks to everyone who has been practicing and rehearsing and dedicating their time and talents to this event) So I'm thinking it'll be okay. We just have to do our best and trust in the Lord for the rest. 

Aggravated!

I came home from work today ready to do some things I've been wanting to get done. I wanted to wrap Christmas presents, burn a couple photo CD's for Kat and Lenny (from their BEAUTIFUL engagement party), download photos I took of Tati and Raul yesterday and work on them a little...

I have done nothing! I have spent the last few hours just trying to get Tati and Raul's photos from my camera to my iPhoto library. Why? Because I have NO space on my computer. I managed to get most of the photos on there, but still have a few to go. 

I decided to give up on that for a while and concentrate on burning the CD's for Kat and Lenny. No can do! There isn't enough space on my hard drive to do that! This was my moment to begin freaking out. 

Lucky for me, Alex called me at that exact moment and he helped me create some space on my computer. So I am now finally burning the CD's. 

But STILL! I feel like I've wasted a whole afternoon on something that shouldn't have taken me more than a few minutes to accomplish. Needless to say, I'm a bit aggravated right now. More so because I know the problem is only temporarily fixed. I need some more space on my hard drive! Or maybe a new computer??? Maybe I should write a letter to Santa...

Heroes

Before you get excited, this is NOT a post about NBC's Heroes. Although I do love that show and the finale this past Monday was out of this world!

Having said that, last night I caught a piece of this awards ceremony on CNN. The whole point of the show was to honor ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. You'd be amazed to know the incredible things people are doing out there. 

There was this young girl who invented a teaching tool for people with autism. She used music (mainly a piano) to help her autistic cousin learn to communicate. Since then her teaching methods have been used with many different autistic people. And this is a girl under the age of 18. 

There was another man who went on a mission in Kenya with his wife (after his son died). After going on that mission they decided to stay in Kenya. The man figured many children in Kenya were not attending school on a regular basis because of a lack of food. He set up feeding and computer centers all over Kenya as an incentive for children to attend school. 

These are just two of the many stories that really touched me. It makes me look at my own life and wonder, what can I do with it? I know God has me (and everyone else) here for a purpose. I want to make sure I fulfill that purpose. I also want to make sure I don't run away from anything God might have for me out of fear of failure. Or fear that I just can't do it. It sounds cheesy and corny, but seeing how all these "ordinary" people have done some pretty amazing things was an encouragement. I haven't yet figured out what I will do to serve this world and make it better, but I will try to be sensitive to anything God is telling me. 

Even if it's going to Kenya...

(for more info on the CNN Heroes Honorees click here)

update...

I am so tired this week. It's not that I'm doing so much more, I think I just haven't been sleeping well. In any case, I'm counting down the days to Christmas vacation!

Sorry I haven't been updating...just don't have much to say right now. But I did want to inform you all that I finally posted some photos on Glowing Light from Kat and Lenny's engagement shoot. So go check 'em out and let me know what you think. We're doing another shoot soon, so I can't wait for that. 

I hope everyone is having a great December so far. I know many of you are working on finals and all that jazz. When you're all done we should hang out. :-)

Kat & Lenny Engaged!

Yesterday I had the privilege of shooting one of the most dynamic couples I know.

Kat and Lenny got engaged in October and I've been dying to shoot engagement pictures for them. Lucky for me, they entrusted me with this task. (hoorah!)

We made plans to shoot yesterday at 4 in the afternoon...however due to some unforeseen circumstances we didn't really get to start shooting until a bit after 5. And we all know the days are shorter in the winter time. So by 6 o'clock the light was gone!

It was a bit frustrating (especially because my camera was acting up a bit), however we managed to get some good shots. We went to shoot at a lake and it was pretty with the sun going down. The one thing that bummed me out were the buoys. I wish they weren't there! Oh well. It was really the best we could do with the limited amount of time we had. 

Anyway, the shoot was still fun! They actually jumped in the lake with all their clothes on, which made for some great shots. And well, I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

We're going to be doing another shoot in the near future with more time (and more light). So you'll have to come back for those.

In the meanwhile I just wanted to share this hilarious unplanned shot:

Check Glowing Light Studios for more in the next few days. I'll try to post their photos by tomorrow (Monday).