la vita e bella

Christmas Wrap up

2012-01-11T14:49:00.002-05:00

So here we are with the final blog post of our wonderful Christmas. I am not sure who looks at this blog if anyone but I feel I should just continue on putting photos up sharing my family. So all that leads me to our trip to Greenville for Boxing Day. I love doing this trip! This particular year I really missed my family on Christmas day but going to Kelly's extends Christmas one more day. One thing I really love about Kelly and Andrew's house is their backyard/courtyard. It is perfect for the kids and all their new toys, bikes, razors, and go carts. The girls really had a blast playing with their cousins.

Taylor

Christian

Stella with the boys

Kelly and Christian thought it would be hilarious to cover Hollings' head in bows since they know how much I am not a fan of them.

Family Life

Cameron

Beautiful Rose

Hollings loved riding the go cart with Taylor

Christmas continues Part 4!

2012-01-08T20:40:00.003-05:00

So here we are to the night before Christmas and Christmas day! I have one more post of Boxing Day photos from Greenville and then Christmas will be officially over! I always sad to see Christmas go but also ready to get back to life post holidays and to clean the house. The clutter will drive me batty for sure!

I woke up at 5 am Christmas morning and of course the girls did not wake until an hour and half later. I was waiting for Rosey when she got up.

Sleepy girl

Hollings loved the punch ball.

BellaRose showing Hollings her train set.=

Playing with the train set

Discovering the tic tacs from the stocking

Christmas dinner with Poppa, T-love, and Bill. The prime rib was awesome!

Christmas Craftacular Part 3

2012-01-05T15:15:00.003-05:00

Alright so we will continue on with Christmas so I am not blogging about it February! I did want to include the crafts I did. Something about Christmas gets me in the crafting mood. I wanted to have fun wrapping so this is what I did. You can thank all of these on Pinterest by the way! I just love that site. The wrapping was simple, just whole punch tissue paper, swipe some glue, and sprinkle away. Brought a little life to the brown craft paper. Let it be noted this is the same roll of craft paper I have been using for 6 years! That's right!

I also made the little wreath hanging in the window along with 2 others. That was actually a Martha thing and not pinterest, but I am sure I can find it on there! That is just an embroidery ring with clippings from the true hot glued around the ring. Pretty easy!

This was my favorite craft and most time consuming. Margaret introduced it to me on, wait for it...pinterest! I bought clear glass ornaments at the craft store, mod podge, and a book from the thrift store, A Perfect Storm as a matter of fact. Maybe I would not recommend that one again. Not the greatest book for a Christmas ornament. Of course Becky picked up on some of the words when I posted it on FB. I also flipped a tomato cage upside down, taped the top and wrapped white lights around it to make a tree for outside. I made three and sadly have no pictures of them. I loved that project too. 3 strands per tomato cage is the way to go but I got tired of buying lights so only one cage got 3 strands.

Interupt

2012-01-03T13:42:00.001-05:00

So allow me to interrupt my Christmas documentation with a little end of the year review. It is only natural for everyone to want to reflect this time of year. How did the last year, 2011, work out for you? What can you improve on? What did you do right? So many things to think about. My heart is racing a bit at the moment because I am putting myself out there, putting my business out there. I am terrified it is going to be a dud, that I will be rejected. I don't really like to rely on my friends and family to promote me. I feel like it puts them in an awkward situation but that is the very thing I am asking them to do right now on facebook. I have appreciated my photography business so much! My dreams are being realized with this business. I have always wanted to be a photographer. It wasn't something I did lightly. I put myself out there and was well received. Business continues to double every year. I was able to take it slow to really learn the business of photography. I feel most comfortable with the camera in my hand but a lot of this job is with the camera tucked neatly in its case and me staring at a computer. As I have mentioned before I have not done any traditional paid advertising. Mostly all of my business has been word of mouth (thank you) and that great thing called Facebook! I really do love facebook. So right now I am doing a "like" fan drive. I would love for you to recommend my page to your friends and they can recommend to their friends and the lovely circle goes on and on. Request that your friends write who sent them on my photography page, whoever sends the most people wins a complimentary mini session! You can use it personally or give as gift. It makes me so nervous to even write all of this. Who knows how this will be received, hopefully, if not then you live and learn. Thanks for loving us and supporting us. You all have meant the world to us!

Since I did interrupt the documentation of my family life I will leave you with the sweetest photo of BellaRose setting out cookies for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. And one of my little Hollings who can't say Hollings and calls herself Honey. Precious!

Christmas 2011 Part 2

2011-12-30T09:24:00.000-05:00

So what would Christmas be like if we did not make sugar cookies with icing. My Mimi, my mom's mom, used to make a table full of cookies every year for each family. How I loved getting that tin of cookies in the mail. Some were crushed, not having fared well with the long journey from Pittsburgh, but they still tasted amazing. My favorites were the sugar cookies. I finally found a recipe that reminded me of Mimi's and my mom and sisters agree. BellaRose has also really enjoyed this tradition of helping me bake them as well as serve them to Santa.

Santa loves them too!

Of course you need to see some photos of the dogs. Rainy is 12 and looking so old but still the same old Rain dog. Atticus is eternal.

Christmas Part 1

2011-12-27T13:34:00.000-05:00

I finally started taking photos of my family again! Well more then I usually do as of late. I decided that I am going to have to post in segments since I did take so many. BellaRose and Hollings have taken to playing in Little's crib, A LOT. I don't really mind it until everything that was outside of the crib goes in it, then I mind. I am trying to let go of my neat freak ways but it is difficult. Hollings got a wooden mailbox for Christmas with cute little wooden postcards and that quickly became one of BellaRose's favorite toys. Rosey is a bit of a pack rat and likes to stuff things in things. It drives me mad. I kept asking her to only put the postcards in it. Worth thought that was a battle I should not choose. I mean what is the use of a fun wooden mailbox with three slots if you can't see what fits in it. I get it! I release it. Anyway that got a little off the subject. The subject is these girls in all their CRAZY cuteness. Enjoy!

2011-12-15T10:04:00.001-05:00

We went to Biltmore Estate to see Santa before one of my photo sessions there on Sunday. BellaRose dictated a letter to me that she wanted to write for Santa. She asked how his summer was, if he had a Grandma, and how in the world he does it all. Then she politely asked for a sleeping bag. It was so sweet. He answered all her questions; he had a great summer, he does have a Grandma, and when the star of Bethlehem goes over the North Pole Santa claps his hands and slows down time. Hollings opted out of this how discussion. She wasn't having anything to do with sitting on a strange man's lap, not that I blame her, and BellaRose chose to sit beside him, I am fine with that!Merry Christmas!

Christmas time

2011-12-08T13:02:00.001-05:00

Wow, already over a month since I have posted pictures of these sweet children! Hard to believe. Each day keeps slipping by faster then the day before. It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of life and especially this time of year. How do you embrace the season? What do you do to hold onto each and everyday, and most importantly enjoy your children? So these photos are taken after our recent adventure to the High Country to collect our tree. I love this family event so much and I think that BellaRose is starting to enjoy it as well. She picked out her own tree as well as helping me with the big one!

fall

2011-11-01T13:36:00.002-05:00

Life is full and busy and fun and tough and if you blink then Roctober is over and the trees are bare.

These are really the last photos I took of my family because any time since then that I have lifted a camera it has been to photograph other people's families. Which is awesome, but naturally the documentation of my family slips to the wayside. I came back to these pictures often because they are important for one, and they are just full of fall! Where my beach pictures feel like you are at the beach, these fall pictures make you feel like leaves are crunching beneath your fit and your not quite sure if you are hot in your fleece or not. That is fall. Warmth on your back, but the breeze picks up and you are reaching for more clothing. This Roctober was awesome, filled with fall festivals, birthday candles, pumpkins, candy, hayrides, bounce houses, Christmas tree farms, Beech Mountain, photography, friends, and family.

Met up with friends at their family's Christmas tree farm and had an amazing fall day with a little work mixed in there. You can see those pictures HERE.

We love going to the High Country, this picture is right after the viaduct on the parkway.

Yes I also realize now, after having it pointed out, that Rainy is relieving herself. I will leave the picture.

BellaRose took this picture of us.

Attempts at the family picture:

Worth pointed out this tree, looks like a little preggy tree.

Worth proved to be an awesome assistant during a photo shoot.

Our dogs

2011-10-13T06:54:00.001-05:00

I look forward to sharing the rest of the pictures from this past weekend spent in Banner Elk/Beech Mountain. We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend hanging out with friends and enjoying all the fall colors.

I adore the picture of BellaRose and Atticus. She calls him buddy and loves him so much. I am sure you can see that in the picture.

Poor ol' Rain Dog. You would think that at her age Worth would stop posing her, but no such luck! She will be 12 in November! Hard to believe.

I am so thankful our girls know our dogs. Even though they drive us crazy (the dogs, and well sometimes the girls) we are so thankful for Rainy and Atticus!

Photo competition

2011-10-10T10:55:00.000-05:00

I am entering this photo into Docica Magazines Photo Competition. The subject for this month is "rescue". When I look at this flag so many emotions are stirred in me, and one of those is of hope and rescue.
You should enter to!

OUter Banks 2011

2011-09-21T14:11:00.004-05:00

So the long anticipated Outer Banks trip is now here. Maybe it was not long awaited but it sat on my to do list for quite sometime. What can I say, life has been full. This trip needs to be documented because it is outstanding. We went with Landon and Renee and their sweet baby girl Luna. Renee and I met one summer while we were working at camp and then we became roommates in college. Landon and Worth are good buddies too and boat together. It all worked out beautifully. What also worked out beautifully is that we decided to stay in Nags Head this year instead of heading further south on the Outer Banks. Hurricane Irene had her way with Hatteras Island and it was closed off to all visitors because there was no road. Our house in Nags Head did not lose power, of course houses a mile down the road did not far as well. The Outer Banks is such a unique place. The best way I can describe it is somewhat desolate and crusty. I really do mean crusty in the best way! Worth and I can really see ourselves living there for a year. Worth says the winters are pretty brutal. It is windy and cold with a lot of places closing down. There is something very appealing and challenging about that description.
I am posting a ton of pictures but I figure since I have not given this blog the time it needs then a lot of pictures will hold you over until the next time.
I hope you enjoy!

These photos are on Jockey's Ridge in Nags Head. It is pretty spectacular.

This is the day the swell from Hurricane Katia was coming in. The next day was the day Worth describes as the best surfing day of his life.

Hollings was enamored with the foam. You want to know what else she was enamored with, the raging ocean that she kept trying to go in.

We really had perfect weather and this dark and stormy sky did not deliver an ounce of rain. Pretty impressive.

ALL DONE!

1st things 1st

2011-09-14T07:49:00.002-05:00

I am going to post photos from our amazing trip to the Outer Banks soon, but 1st I have to share pictures of BellaRose's 1st day of school. She is entering into her final year of preschool. I can't talk about it too much or I will cry. I have tried to get the doctor to tell me she is not ready for big kid school next year, he was not biting. Hopefully I won't spend my whole life holding my girls back just to keep them mine for a little bit longer. I also hope that is a natural instinct of most mothers and I am not some crazy lady. Well don't answer that!

Here is my sweet precious child who ask so many questions in one day my head spins.

We are working on a natural smile when she gets in front of the camera. I try to get her to think about her friends or things that make her happy so she gives me genuine, apparently it is a work in progress.

I think that Hollings feels a little lost without her during the mornings BellaRose is in school. She sort of wonders around. This time will be good for the 2 of us though. The 2nd child certainly does not get as much as the 1st did. Yes I know her hair is crazy and she needs a clip.

There's a good smile, probably because we had pulled up to school. She adores her school!

2011-08-11T17:42:00.002-05:00

We went to the Biltmore House on Sunday to see the sunflowers. They were spectacular!!! My favorites one is the one Worth is holding up. Crazy.

Look at this monster!

My own sunflower from our garden. The whole back row is sunflowers and they are beautiful!

Isle of Palms

2011-08-07T11:44:00.003-05:00

We just got back from an amazing trip to the Isle of Palms with Worth's family. It was such a wonderful time. Worth and I had date night one evening in Charleston and went to one of my favorite restaurants and got one of my favorite meals! It was perfect. Here are a slew of photos to show you what a wonderful time we had. Thank you so much Harriet and Wesley!

We watched as a "Turtle Team" inventoried a sea turtle nest. They thought that there might have been some sea turtles in there that they were going to help to the ocean. Thankfully none needed helping and they made all on their own the night before. It was still fun to see the hatched eggs and sadly some eggs that did not hatch.

Garden Variety

2011-07-18T06:56:00.006-05:00

We are moments away from a full on garden explosion. I am not even sure what we are going to do when our 17 tomato plants all start producing at the same time. This year everything is so healthy and the plants are enormous. This might be the best our soil has ever been. We use compost and horse manure. Can't beat that combination.
We have really been enjoying making omelets from our produce, they are especially wonderful when we have some of the eggs from Wesley and Harriet's chickens! Farm to table, or rather backyard to table. Maybe that will be our new movement...... hhhmm. I am telling you what, if any of you buy tomatoes once ours start producing I am going to be so mad at you. You better just come on over here and pick them yourself. We are going to have so many they will be coming out our ears.

I think it was good.

Worth working the fields.

I believe that BellaRose is a bit anxious for her carrots and ready to start eating them even though they are far from ready.

Hollings just eats anything she can get her hands on from outside the fence. She crushed Worth's dreams of being a cherry tomato farmer.

If you ever need recipes for ways to use up lots of produce don't hesitate to ask. We are happy to share.

Fleeting

2011-07-08T07:12:00.003-05:00

I am pretty sure no one is reading this anymore but I still need to post pictures for posterity sake. Hopefully one day I will make this into a book. Hollings is becoming quite the handful, climbing on anything and everything and going in the opposite direction that we all are going, loving to play in the sink and in the bathroom. That drives me batty, the bathroom, out of all places why the bathroom! I feel like summer is a bit of whirlwind, always going and going. Of course I think that is just having multiply kids too. We never sit down. I guess that is why I do blog to remember these days of craziness. I know these times are fleeting. BellaRose is sweet and very talkative. Everything is a question and she wants to know why. She just asked me how to spell bandaid and after I spelled she asked me why. I was stumped. Just because it is spelled that way. Usually I just say because God said. That usually answers the question for everyone.

Creek fun

2011-06-27T14:04:00.015-05:00

We had such a fun water filled weekend. We visited 3 creeks and rivers
and the pool. That is what summer is for though.

Preparing for the 4th!

Father's Day

2011-06-20T06:09:00.003-05:00

"A picture is worth a thousand words", agreed!

Happy Father's Day to my awesome Dad, Worth's awesome Dad, and BellaRose and Hollings' awesome Dad. I love you all!

Featured

2011-06-18T06:25:00.005-05:00

I am so excited to announce that the wedding I photographed a few weekends ago is featured in DOCICA magazine this week!!! What a huge huge honor! Be sure to check it out and if you want, share the love!!! Thanks friends!

Celebrate

2011-06-13T12:34:00.019-05:00

So apparently I have not taken pictures of my kids since we went on our beach trip. Some photographer I am! This time of year is just so busy with weddings, and the adventures of summer. We went to the river on Saturday and I was trying so hard to remember my camera but in the process of packing towels, snacks, sunscreen, bathing suits, water, buckets, etc etc, I forgot my camera. It would have been really nice too since we borrowed a sit on top kayak from a friend and Worth took Rosey out. She loved it! She always wants to kayak like Worth does and here was her chance. Thanks goodness for the trusty iPhone!
Sunday we went to the park to help celebrate our dear friend, Ben's birthday. It was such a fun relaxing time. I adore our friends here. We are surrounded by amazing people. What a blessing this life is! Ben and Jennifer have a new baby Drew who is precious and a head full of red hair just like Ben's sister.

Blowing bubbles.

Worth loves this crooked smile of Hollings'

My boy Davis, Ben and Jennifer's older son.

Jennifer made this sweet little desserts. They were the perfect serving amount and just perfect for a picnic. The blueberry cheesecake was heavenly!