Mister Mister
Today is Joey’s birthday! He is turning eight years old today! Which is just crazy for me to comprehend.
I can’t believe how fast time flies. I can remember him just like it was yesterday and he was a teeny tiny puppy! When we brought him home he barely weighed a whopping two pounds. Now he’s solid as a rock…all muscle…and tops the scales around nine pounds!
Happy Birthday, Joey! (or his few nicknames…Mister, Mister Mister, JoeJoe, Joseph Majerle (when he’s in trouble) or just Joe)
Princess Izzy
It always takes a little extra work to make Izzy feel comfortable and to break out of her shell. Once she has, it’s totally worth it, hearing her adorable giggle and seeing her big cheesy grin! At one point, she really got going with her twirls, making her big skirt swoosh around her. But she’s very cautious about completely letting go, and she’ll quickly reign herself back in. Sometimes, she almost seems older and wiser than her four years! But when that carefree kid pops out, it is priceless!
I got to hear all about her fourth birthday party. She had a Princess party, complete with an appearance by Cinderella! Not to mention, the pink princess castle cake!
Doggie Blog
Macromutt.com is a blog that features dog photographers from around the country. Their goal is to help connect dog lovers with professional dog photographers in their area. Today, we are the featured photographer!
Website Survey
Last year, we gave the blog a face lift…now it’s time to focus our energies on our website! It has been a couple of years since our last website project. I definitely think it is time to create a new, fresh look!
Your thoughts and opinions are really important to me. I always have tons of thoughts and ideas floating around in my head, but I would love your help in determining exactly what changes we should be making!
Click here to take the web survey! Thank you!
Vote for My Blog!
Professional Photographer magazine is holding a FreshBlog contest. Please help my blog stand out amongst the other 450 entries…vote for me!
You can only vote until this Sunday, February 15th, so vote today! My blog can be found on either page 2 or page 3, depending on your computer setup. Or you can search for entry #0441.
Thanks for all your votes!!
Clingy
I was completely prepared to have a crazy morning with Xander. When I had last seen him, in the fall for family portraits, he was all over the place. Running away, climbing off the bench and not wanting to sit still at all! That was what I expecting the morning of his 18 month session. That is not what happened at all!
Xander was completely reserved and shy, clinging to mommy’s leg. Throughout the entire session, he would give me the sweetest, most angelic looks and smiles. The crazy, running away Xander, was nowhere to be found. It made for a much easier session, but I’m sure this just means we are in for it at his two year session!
Brandi 1.0 Answers
Thank you all for your great questions! You definitely challenged me and made me think!
Here are some of my fun answers! Just a little bit of insight into me…enjoy!!
How did you get started in photography? Photography has always been a hobby. I took my first photography class when I was in high school. (Pete can tell you stories about me taking him out to the park in high school and college and doing little mini photo sessions with him. That’s probably why he’s such a natural in front of the camera.) In college, I studied business and advertising which led to a position with Sprint in marketing. It was a good job, but it didn’t get me excited to wake up in the morning. After working for Sprint for a little over two years, I sat down and made a list of all the things I enjoy doing and/or want to do. Photography and owning my own business were on that list. So, I thought, why not? I spent a couple of months researching, meeting people in the industry, reading books and looking for equipment. So, after after two and a half years in corporate America, I gave my notice, and jumped in to my business with both feet…never looking back! (To this day I will tell you…I had a very supportive husband, who let me leave a secure job, with absolutely nothing but a dream and a goal, to start what is now my purpose in life.)
What is your best lesson learned in life? A couple of lessons come to mind, though I would say they go hand in hand. I have learned to let things go, not to get hung up on the little things, and to live life for the moment.
What is something you would rather pay to have done than do yourself? That’s an easy one, cleaning the house! I’m very good at picking up and staying organized, but the actual cleaning with a vacuum and dust rag, etc…yuck!
What do you think is your best quality? I’m a really good listener. I don’t usually have perfect advice, but I can definitely listen.
What makes you smile? My puppy dogs! They have such quirky personalities and always do the craziest things. Even when they’re sleeping, I can’t help but smile at them…they’re just so darn cute!
What life experience has strengthened you the most? Getting married. I think you learn a lot about yourself, and others, when you take the step to get married, committing yourself, your happiness and your future to someone else. Learning how to compromise, work together, give and take. Having Pete in my life has made me the person I am today.
What would you try if you had no fear? Scuba diving. I would love to see what was under the ocean. But I can’t even snorkel, let alone scuba dive. I get extremely anxious and can’t breathe through the mouthpiece when trying to snorkel. I just can’t make my mind wrap around the idea of breathing under water.
Other than photography, what business would you like to start? If money was no object…an animal rescue organization. I would love to be a home for abused and abandoned animals. I often dream of turning our land and home into a rescue facility.
Which temptation do you try the hardest to resist? Sugar and sugary foods. I’m pretty good, but not perfect.
When you are feeling down, what do you do to feel better? Cuddle time with my puppies. If I am having a hard time starting my day, I lay on the ground and let them attack me. They lick me, sit on me, stick their noses in my face. It’s a great way to start the day off with a smile and a laugh.
Simba 4.0
Joey’s favorite toy of all time is not even a dog toy. It’s a stuffed Simba Lion Cub that I had received many years before Joey came along. One day, he adopted Simba as his own and it’s been his favorite ever since! It goes everywhere with him. I can say “Where’s Simba?” or “Go Get Simba” and he’s on top of it. He’ll come prancing back, so proud that he has his Simba.
Of course, when Pebbles joined the family, she automatically developed an interest in Simba, because it was always around. This was during her destructive phase, where, if I took my eyes off of her, something was certainly going to be destroyed. Unfortunately, Simba took a lot of the destruction! After multiple surgeries with my one spool of black thread and very little sewing talent, Simba was becoming a lost cause.
A friend of Joey’s brought him a new Simba. Instead of a sitting Simba it was a pouncing Simba. We call him Simba 2. Joey likes Simba 2, but still preferred the original Simba. So, through the miracles of eBay, I found a new Simba (3.0). The exact same one! I ordered it, and did a switch-a-roo! The switch never even phased Joey, he had his Simba!
I think the cold weather has taken it’s toll on all of us. Pebbles is bored and really needs to get back to her training and agility practice! So, in her frustration, she took it out on Simba 3.0. She started chewing on his eye. Once the eye goes it’s a lost cause! You just can not sew a plastic eyeball back into it’s socket.
So again, I went to eBay. Again, we did the switch-a-roo. I just rubbed Simba all over my clothes, so it smelled like home, and Joey never even knew the difference. We’re now on Simba 4.0, but we won’t tell Joey that! If I can just keep Pebbles from destroying another Simba!
Baby Pebbles
Over Christmas I got a new computer. (Yes, I have three monitors and two computers at my work space…not to mention Pete’s computers and the other business computers, each one has a purpose!) In the process of cleaning off my old computer I came across these adorable pics of Baby Pebbles! They were just too cute not to share.
We adopted and brought Pebbles home when she was about eight weeks old. She was just so tiny, completely unable to do the stairs. Which of course resulted in her being pampered and spoiled! I love these puppy photos of her and her crazy hair that just stuck out every which way!
Actually, not much has changed. She still has crazy hair and she’s still spoiled rotten and pampered. But now, she’s big enough to get into tons of trouble!
The studio portraits are great, but I had to also share some of my snapshots, because they completely show her size. I can’t believe she was ever that small!
