Heaven on earth

What I will be doing tomorrow as dave is busy learning at his radiology conference. Than he will take me out to dinner at my favorite restaurant in the whole world. It is an authentic Italian restaurant by south beach in Miami. Everything is homemade that day. The pasta, the breads, the sauces, the desserts. It truly is incredible. We first went here a few years ago, when we came for a different radiology conference. Dave and I haven't been able to stop thinking about the food there ever since. So when Dave asked me where he should find a conference ( since it's a free vacation for us), I knew just where I wanted to go. Dave was happy to oblige.

We convinced (it wasn't hard) my sister and her husband to meet us there. I plan to lay on the beach all day, and go to Spiga every night. Well, maybe not every night, but close. Be back next week. CI VEDIAMO!

So cozy and romantic, and everyone there speaks Italian. Love it!

LOve you REneers

My poor sister in law. She has been waiting so long for her pictures. For Christmas, my gift to their family was a photo shoot, that I did over Thanksgiving. I was so backed up with holiday photo sessions that I am just now getting to editing all of their pictures.

Jules,I think you should make this one above huge, and hang it in a thick wood frame. I love it. Do you want me to just bring the pictures when I come up for spring break in a week? Or mail them now.

Simerville family

my latest photo shoot is always my favorite photo shoot. smile. This is no exception.

I finally got to use one of my fun umbrellas. I have lots more colors. My thought was to do my girls in a field with each holding a different color. Have I done it yet? of course not. I'll put it on the to do list.

love this one above.

these ones sitting by the wall may seem repetitive, but i love their different expressions in all of them. So not just the look at the camera and smile your practiced smile.

Mom told me that her son was really shy, and she wasn't sure how he would do, and if we could get good pictures of him. What do you think Mom? His sweet face just melts my heart. Do you ever say no to him?

or to him? smile.

i want this exact picture of Dave and I, and I will blow it up huge!

You were asking what this picture looked like before being edited. Here it is. It isn't a texture, the wall really is this cool.


Here it is edited. I just accentuated the textures and colors. When I shot it with the family in front of it, I metered for their faces, and than just had to darken up the wall more in photoshop.

Do you like it?

I thought this was different and interesting. What do you think?

teenage boys

My nephew Brady came and visited for a few days last weekend. He got to our house at 10:30 at night and the first thing he did (after hugs and hellos of course) was get out his perfect push-up apparatus. We have a set too, so he brought his. He told Jacob to bring his down and they got to work. The other thing that teenage boys like to do is walk around with their shirts off. Strutting around like peacocks, and pausing by mirrors. They are very proud of their new found muscles. My brother Kenny was the worst growing up. Always flexing and kissing his muscles. Telling us that we can pay money to touch them. I guess he still hasn't grown up because he still does it to this day (and yes he is almost 37). He has great lines like, "I got pulled over by the cops today for carrying concealed weapons." ha ha. While we like Jacob to flex his muscles for us, and we humor him by feeling them. The walking around with out a shirt is prohibited. But every time another teenage boy comes around he will try to get away with it.

My favorite story on this subject was told to me by my friend LaDawn. She had lots of brothers, and they would always come to the dinner table with out their shirts on. Her mother had repeatedly told them they were not allowed to do this. So, on a particular occasion when the boys all came to dinner, yet again without shirts on. Her mom left the room and came back with only her bra on, and sat down for dinner. She acted like nothing was out of the ordinary and proceeded with dinner. So, should I try that when Jacob has his friends here? ha ha. I think the threat of it will be enough.

Brady was showing us how many he could do. This picture above is Jacob and Dave's impression of Brady's last ones. Neck ups. I couldn't even do one. So sad. Maybe if I had my shirt off, I could do them better. ha.

Happy Valentine's day Dave.

So, while I am at the ballet I get a message on my phone. This picture is attached with the words "I miss you."

Yes my friends, Dave turned 40, and you know what that means. It means that someone is needing to feel young and like he can take on the world. Of course it didn't help that he also had two heart attacks, and his military assignment officer refuses to send him to Europe because of it (which is the main reason we stayed in the military). It's been hard for him to make the mind switch. Isn't that just how life is. You just have to enjoy the ride, wherever it takes you. At least now that ride will be in his new jeep. Watch out Moab, here he comes. I will be calmly reading a book at home, thank you.

My courageous & wonderful girls.

By having the courage to be yourself, you put something

wonderful in the

world that was not there before.
-Edwin Elliot

LOve this quote. Love these girls. What a gift to be raising these strong and beautiful little women. These are girls that will make a difference in the world with their caring, compassion, intelligence, and virtue. They have already made a big difference in mine.

P.S. This picture was taken on Valentine's day last Saturday in downtown phoenix. That morning I gave each of my girls a rose with a poem attached. In the poem (that Dave wrote for me real quick that morning, since I do everything last second) it explained how I wanted to spend this day of love watching a love story with them. Of course it was written more poetically. smile. I have been wanting to take the girls to see a professional ballet for awhile. I just happened to check it out lately online and found that the ballet "Romeo and Juliet" was being performed on Valentine's day. How perfect is that. The girls were enthralled, and loved it. I struggled a little with the men's tights, kinda gross. Not quite as masculine as I would want. Where is Edward when you need him. ha ha. Twilight the ballet.....that would be interesting. ha. Anyway, it was an enriching experience, the ballet, and the downtown scene when we got out of the ballet. I didn't even know that it was the NBA all star weekend. It was pretty obvious, pretty quick. I have never seen so many tricked out cars cruising around with a their heavy base going. The girls favorite was a bubble gum pink Cadillac. It would have been fun to stay and people watch and take pictures, but I had hungry and tired girls. That's when it becomes not fun, real fast. When I get hungry, I get grumpy real quick. Guess what? I passed that gene on. 5 bratty girls on Valentines day needing Dave to take care of us. And where was he???????? Stay tuned for my next post and you'll find out! I know, you can hardly wait. ha ha.

Need inspiration? check flickr

OK, so I have been asked to be the "Craft Queen" up at girls camp for my church this summer. It is a 4 day event for the 12-18 year old girls. I am so excited! I loved girls camp. I must admit, I was somewhat of a prankster. I was the girl that giggled all night and snuck out to stick large kotex pads with wings on all the cabin doors. You get the picture. But, it was all good clean fun. I get nervous to go to youth events like this now, because I am supposed to be the adult, and I tend to get caught up easily in my old naughty ways, and act like a crazy teenager. The girls at the last youth dance that I went to actually convinced me to do the worm! These are the types of things that I am really embarassed about later. (but isn't it cool that I can still do the worm? I'm pretty good if I say so myself. ha ha).
I am hoping to be able to control myself this time since I will be in an all adult cabin with all the other leaders. I promise I won't put saran wrap on the toilet! So, I think I have the cushiest assignment. Plan a few fun crafts and hang out with the girls. There is a craft cabin that I can decorate all cute with the theme. Of course, I can't reveal the theme, since some of my readers are the girls going to camp, and I am sworn to secrecy. smile. But here are some things that have been inspiring me. I already have two crafts planned, and the third I want to be more trendy and fun, and do some stitching on something. Have you ever gone on flickr. Talk about eye candy. Seriously, you could be on there for hours. I only spent a few minutes and found these ideas. I really like this idea and so easy and cheap. embroidery floss over felt. They would be cutting out words that went with the theme. I like adding the fun embellishments also like buttons and flowers etc. Some of these are from Elsie Flannigan's blog and craft class.

love this.

I like the idea of embroidery over a patterned fabric. Endless possibilities.

this is a little coin purse. very cute.

Making a journal would be fun but, and I saw a lot of cool ideas for this.

I like the top right felt book, and the bottom apron is to die for. Not that we could make an apron, not enough time or money, but it is so scrumptious and inspiring.

I don't like this exactly, but I like the idea.

I just think this bag is awesome. Not something for camp, but I just wanted to share. You can buy them at Elsie's red velvet art store. I would just make it myself I think. Rachel would love this.

If you have seen fun ideas on another blog or flickr, please share

more wall collage ideas

Don't you just love these?

This one below is what not to do. ha. It gives me anxiety just looking at it. yikes.

In the mail.

I am really excited about my new packaging and business card. Wouldn't you love to get this in the mail? I found these bags at target and they match my business logo perfect. My business card is attached. They are plastic and on the back are three pictures and my information.

This particular package is in the mail for Brooke. I included a couple of fun surprises along with your images. Enjoy.

Look what I found on my desk today. I think I have a husband that loves me. smile.