Birthday Thoughts - and more!

My Birthday Portrait

I've never had a thought in my mind about being 25. My world kind of changed from here. At first I thought, "no big deal, 25 is just another number", but it isn't. When I really think about it, it brings me to think about the the things that I haven't done that I wanted to do by the time I was 25. That list is surprisingly long... It also makes me think of the things I have accomplished in these 25 years. I was pleased to see that the list for that is pretty long too. (phew)

One thing that I have learned over the past 7 years of working at my "other" job is that money isn't everything. I know that when youngsters think about what they want to be when they grow up they get dollar signs in their eyes. Sure, you may make a lot, but do you enjoy what you do? Will you spend more time at work making the money rather than being able to spend time with loved ones? (people don't live forever) Does the stress make Tums a new food group for you? I think it isn't worth it. I wanted to be "that" person. The power suit woman who other women hate and guys are intimidated by. Stress isn't worth it and money won't buy me happiness if I hate what I am doing to earn it. That is where photography came in. My passion. My love to make art.

So here is my wisdom passed on from me to all of the youngsters out there. Follow your dreams and don't let the green lead you the wrong way. It isn't worth it in the end.

Now! On to the good stuff - what did I do on my birthday that was fun!

My sweetheart gave me my birthday present early, yesterday, since we weren't going to get to see each other that much ON my birthday. He gave me something I have wanted for a long time, gorgeous diamond hoop earrings. So sparkly, I love them.

Adam, so kindly woke me up this morning asking if I wanted to go to breakfast. Of course I did especially since I wasn't going to see him for most of the day! =) I got up, took my shower and as I got out Adam says, "how creepy, there is a balloon in the window" I had remembered that my sister, Angie, had mentioned that she wanted to do something for my birthday so I figured that was her big "tada" NOPE! Adam looked around the rest of the house and insisted I come out and look. She and my nephew Skylar had decorated our front porch with a party. It was so funny.

Our front porch, all decorated

Once this was found and lots of pictures were taken, Adam & I decided to head out to breakfast. Where else in Midland to get a fantastic breakfast but Omelettes & More right by our studio! I took a picture of Adam in front, but he didn't realize I was taking the picture until it was too late.... for him.

Adam, victim of a photographic drive-by

Our breakfast was fantastic, I had the sunrise with two eggs, grilled red-skins (with a side of salsa) and a gigantic piece of grilled Texan toast. YUM-O

After breakfast, Adam & I headed to the mall. (Our usual hang-out) After some light shopping, Adam headed to work & I went home. Angie and her kids came over to hang out, (my mom & dad & Ray (my brother) & Sara (his girlfriend) also stopped by on the way to their motorcycle ride) It was nice, they sang Happy Birthday to me on the street. I had that same feeling you get when you are being sung to in Applebees or something.

Angie, her kids, my 4-legged kids and I all went to the dog park by the Tridge to hang out. I haven't taken the boys to the dog park in a while so I thought it would be fun to do. Afterward, we came back to our house and had pizza. All in all, a pretty good time. Here are a few pictures from there.

My nephew Justin & I

The treeclimbing nephews (Sawyer, Skylar & Justin in this one)

Justin looking creepy =)

I would have to say this was a pretty good Birthday.

It's Tuesday and it feels like Wednesday! (That makes for a long week...)

I woke up this morning and thought "oh crap, today's garbage day" (keep in mind that in the city of Midland for my area, garbage day is Wednesday) I got up and started to rush around so I would have time to drag out all of the garbage... Boy was I in for a surprise.

Once I sadly figured out it was Tuesday and not Wednesday, I pouted for a minute and thought "at least I didn't think it was Friday like that one time..." Yep, that has actually happened before. I woke up on a Tuesday and thought it was Friday. That was a super-long week.

Fun stuff though, let me tell ya.

My birthday is coming up on Sunday, September 21st. I am excited, although, there is no time to see have a family gathering in there. Friday is Adam's (my fiance) going away party; Saturday is the bachelor/bachelorette parties for Adam's cousin and Sunday Adam works all day. Sigh... maybe we can go out late one night, or for a breakfast. I am going to be 25! Can you believe it? I am the baby of all of my cousins. There is actually a 26 year age difference between me and my oldest cousin. Funny enough, I would say that she is the one that I really connect with the most too.

I am working on editing portraits and thought I would share one. Here is another adorable one of the newborn from last weekend, that little baby was just so precious!

You'd be so proud (I know I am)

Alright... so we left off last time with me painting. The painting is completed, the wood floor is down, baseboards are done, equipment is moved in... (phew) All I need to really do now is paint the baseboards now. When that is completed and we move all of the "working" stuff out and put waiting room furniture in there I will post another video tour.

(I would like to thank My Mom & Dad, Adam's Mom & Dad and my nephew, Justin for all of their help with this, you all have been really, really helpful. I would have said "screw it" before the first row of the floor went on if you all weren't there.)

I was so whipped from working on the floor and all of that jazz that my allergies started acting up. (probably from making all of the dust with the saw) Needless to say, I am still trying to recover. I tell you what though, if you haven't seen them yet Puffs has a tissue with lotion and vicks! It is a breath of heaven sniffing those things.

BUT - On to the good stuff. We had our first two appointments on 9/13. How exciting! Our first appointment was a little newborn named Jocelyn. She was the sweetest little thing ever. Her parents even had this tiny little pink bracelet on her wrist with an itsy bitsy heart on it. (Soo cute) And she had quite the head of dark brown hair.

Our afternoon appointment was a 6 month old sweetheart named Kole. He had the biggest blue eyes ever and boy did they ever sparkle. This little rolly polie sweetheart had a blast playing with the leaves and giggling away.

It's Tuesday, but feels like Monday

I am going to copy Adam's idea.... Here are my top ten songs right now:

1. "Summertime" New Kids on the Block
2. "In the ayer" Flo-rida
3. "Tears and Rain" James Blunt
4. "Paralyzer" Finger 11
5. "American Boy" Estelle & Kanye West
6. "Take a bow" Rihanna
7. "When I grow up" Pussycat Dolls
8. "One step at a time" Jordin Sparks
9. "Bat Country" Avenged Sevenfold
10. "10,000 fists" Disturbed

That was a lot harder to choose than I thought it would be... Maybe next time I should do "top 100!"

Painting the studio.

Woohoo! It is labor day and I am doing hard-ish labor. Neat. Last night we went to my parents house to visit and ended up playing hide-and-seek in the dark. Phew! Creepy at night time I tell ya. I have learned one thing though is that I stink at hiding. I was always one of the first people to be found.

Well, Adam and I need to get back to painting. I will try to remember my camera again, as Adam has been doing some work! I just need to prove it...

Stay tuned for more.

Tour of Larkin Photography - Pre-opening

Well, lucky for everyone, I finally decided to charge my camera and videotaped a little sneak peak tour of our studio before it is actually finished. Excuse my nastiness, it was really warm in there, since I had the windows open to air out the paint fumes. I hope you enjoy!

Some more catch up!

Wow, July and August were crazy months. Adam and I got engaged. My sweetie finally asked me to officially spend the rest of our lives together. It wasn't anything special really. On July 2nd we played "hot, warm, cold" around the house until I finally found the ring. I had an idea since I assisted in picking out the ring. It consists of several princess cut diamonds. The center, of course the largest, with two supporting diamond sidekicks. Next to those are about 5 or 6 smaller diamonds finished off on the front and back of the ring two diamond chips. See below for a visual. Not sure if this is the ring, but it is the basic layout.

Hrmm. we also decided to venture off on our own and rent our own studio instead of renting someone elses. Our studio is located in downtown Midland on the Larkin Block, right above Oscars on Main Street.

We are currently renovating the place to fit the business's personality but should be open for appointments only mid-September. No pictures of this yet, but I wish we could have gotten pictures of the demo. Adam, Terry (Adam's friend) and I went all gangster on a counter that was in there and we did a major beat down. I finally got to kick a hole in a wall, but I got my shoe stuck. It was a great time.

I got a new piece of equipment for the studio. A Nikon D300. It is a very smooth camera and I enjoyed it thoroughly when I did senior pictures for a gal from my old stomping ground, Western High School. See below for the some of my favorites from the final cuts:

Playing Catch Up

Wow! It has been a long time since I have updated you all on what I have been up to. I have some explaining to do! I will catch you all up starting from after Logan’s Birthday. The readers digest version!

Week of May 11th:
My nephew had his birthday May 11th also; he turned 13 years old!! I am so proud of that kiddo, he is has turned out to be quite the strapping young lad. I just hope that he keeps safe, from what I understand, these are the “tough” years. Middle school to high school really shapes a kids life and tends to drive them in the direction they are headed for in life. Good luck to him and “just say no to drugs and alcohol” they have age limits on those sorts of things for a reason.

Some time in May – I can’t remember the dates exactly:
Adam and I invested in a scooter!!! It is blue and white, pictures are available below. I would love to see someone tell me that 117 miles to the gallon is geeky while they are paying $4.00 a gallon at the gas station. Not geeky to me… Unfortunately though, it has rained pretty much every day since we bought it. (That sucks) It is still fun to buzz around the town with though.

Week of June 10th… ish:
I took a road trip to the Three Oaks/New Buffalo, MI area. Below are some pictures of the beach by Lake Michigan. Google took me through the country so I also have a picture of a lazy cow and an abandoned home that I saw along the way.

Week of June 15/16th:
I had the opportunity to visit Florida for a few days on a business trip. I didn’t get to do much shopping, but I did get pictures of the clouds while I was in the plane.

June 20th:
Adam’s and my photography teacher got married and allowed us to capture her wedding day. It was a very unique wedding. It fit her personality perfectly. I will post a couple pictures next time.

Happy Birthday Logan!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my darling Logan!!!

Every year I make sure to have their birthday be special for them. Just because they aren't human, doesn't mean they don't know that it is their birthday.

The end to an interesting week

Saturday, Adam and I went to the Pet Expo. It was interesting. Not as good as I really thought though. They didn't have as much cool free stuff as I thought they would. Usually we get a bunch of pens, paper and other stuff but no.. I think the only free pen I got was from the pet cemetery place. There was one really cute booth though. It included Sugar gliders. Little flying squirrel type things. (See below) They are super soft and kind of remind me of a hamster... I would of gotten one but they cost only a meer $400. I will stick with my dogs and maybe a hamster.

Sunday was fun too. We shot an engagement session for one of my co-workers, Megan, and her fiance Dan. They were very fun to work with. An adventurous couple, I must say. They were troopers, getting on the ground without a second thought. We started their session at a popular spot in Midland, MI, Dow Gardens. From there, we made our way to downtown Midland and wondered around taking pictures in various places. A couple of their photos can be seen below.

On, Monday, Adam and I got new lenses!!!! Thank you stimulous money!! We purchased some spiffy 50mm fixed lenses. It will take some getting used to zooming in with this one. (The zoom consists of my legs) But it takes great photos, you can see a couple I took below. Nice depth of field if I do say so myself.

Above is Logan, standard with bowl in mouth. (BTW, he just ate in that picture)

Above is Artie, silly as can be. He is such a character.

Last, but not least, this is my boyfriend Adam. I hope he doesn't come to the blog... If the picture doesn't exist anymore. He had me take it down. Did I mention that my photographer boyfriend doesn't like his picture taken? =)

Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to a user group meeting in GR for Bankway. (Enough about my "other" job. Ick.)

Thursday... nothing spectacular..

Friday, well I fell asleep at 8PM if that tells you anything....

And here we are, back at Saturday!! May 10th! My big boy Logan is turning 2 tomorrow!! It seems like yesterday we just brought him home. It is kind of rushed really, having Logan's birthday, Mother's Day and my nephew, Justin's birthday all on the same day. Just a little cramped throughout the day.

I will post Logan's birthday picture once it has been taken.

Have a great weekend!

Anne

It's a beautiful morning!

I am so excited! The pet expo is today at the Dow Event Center. I admit I am a pet LOVER! Nothing brings me more joy than the look on my dogs faces when I wake up and when I walk in the door. So full of love. With Logan, we may as well put velcro attaching him to my hip. He is going to be two next week and follows me everywhere. We have a baby gate blocking them from getting out of the living room and he stands there, waiting for me to come back.

Artie, on the other hand, we decided to make him a little more independant. We didn't baby him quite as much, but he still needs some TLC. While we bought Logan from a breeder, we adopted Artie from SAFE, and organization in Clare, MI, that saves dogs and cats from being put down and adopts them out for a fee. (pretty much the same price as Logan) We were told that Artie and his siblings were found roaming the streets of Saginaw, Dixie Hwy to be specific. He still has some issues riding in the car, whining until he realizes we are not dropping him off.

Here is a picture of my little guys. (Artie is black, Logan is yellow)

The adventure begins...

Here I am. A woman with a camera. Well, I should say, a photographer with a vision.

Adam and I reside here in Midland, Michigan along with our two dogs, Artie and Logan. I was born in Bay City, Michigan and am the youngest of 4 children. I developed a love for photography when my mom got her first Cannon Rebel film camera. She let me take photos with it often making me really want to own my own. Several years later, here I am. My dream come true with my Nikon dangling from my neck. I don't know how many adults can honestly say they wanted to be in their job since they were little, or even have a passion for what they do. Not a lot.