Life in West Texas

My last post here

2008-05-16T13:12:00.002-05:00

Guess what? I've got a spiffy new blog on my professional website! My new blog will cover both my personal & professional life.

Please come check it out . . . it is really cool!

Here is the main page:
http://www.sarahgreenphotography.com (click on "blog")

or the direct link:
http://www.sarahgreenphotography.com/blog

The outcome

2008-05-14T11:31:00.003-05:00

We had a productive weekend but I did not finish up the projects I had intended to. I am still in the process of sanding & filling holes in Hannah's end table.

What I did accomplish is sorting through all of Hannah & Sam's toys and clothes so that we can get rid of all of the outgrown & unused stuff in their closets. That was a major task in itself!

I've also been giving my professional website an overhaul. It still has a long way to go but it's looking a bit more slick every day.

I'm also in the process of adding a blog to my professional site. It will be quite a bit more advanced than this freebie "blogger" blog so it is taking some time to set up. I'll post a link when it is ready to go.

Catching up on life

2008-05-09T11:52:00.003-05:00

My photo session for Saturday has been postponed. It was a bridal shoot but the bride's dress is being altered & isn't ready yet.

Although I love my work I'm also excited to have a weekend off! I feel like my business has been going 200 mph for the last month and I have gotten behind on the day-to-day life stuff.

This weekend my goal is to work on some furniture for Hannah's room. For her room we have some great heirloom-quality pieces of furniture that are extremely well-made but are scratched up & the wood tones do not match. To make the pieces go together better, I am painting them all white & attaching matching drawer pulls to them.

I'll post pictures as we make progress.

Our basset hound

2008-05-09T10:55:00.001-05:00

Hannah's smiles

2008-05-08T14:05:00.003-05:00

Glad to be home!

2008-04-15T08:31:00.002-05:00

This weekend we went to Dallas to see the Bruce Springstein concert & do a little shopping. We stayed with Zac & Abbey at their new house. It was a fun weekend but I'm glad to be home. Dallas has way too many people & far too much traffic for me.

2008-04-09T14:54:00.002-05:00

Mommy, can we blow bubbles?

2008-04-03T16:14:00.005-05:00

2008-04-03T13:39:00.002-05:00

Attempt at a family portrait.

2008-04-01T15:58:00.002-05:00

Taking your own family pics is difficult! You can't see what is going on if you are IN the shot.

Crazy temps

2008-04-01T11:42:00.001-05:00

Yesterday it was 86 degrees & Hannah was wearing her summer clothes. This morning when she went out to play it was 43 degrees. I'm ready for consistently warm temperatures.

What a great Daddy!

2008-04-01T10:10:00.003-05:00

Silly boy!

2008-03-31T13:45:00.000-05:00

Sam, you are not supposed to eat the dirt!

Marble Falls, TX

2008-03-22T12:12:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we went to Marble Falls, TX to visit Brian's grandparents. While we were there, Hannah was able to play with her second cousin Jackson.

They had a blast playing chase & driving Jackson's "car" around his ranch. I don't think that Jackson was too impressed with Hannah's driving though.

Spring Blooms!

2008-03-12T12:51:00.003-05:00

Our yard is beginning to show signs of spring!

Bradford pear in bloom (notice the tiny moth/butterfly):

Redbud tree is budding:

Family & basketball

2008-03-08T23:03:00.003-06:00

Brian, his dad, and his grandfather went to the Baylor/Texas Tech basketball game today (Baylor won)!

Afterward, we all met up at Marie's house before going to dinner. It is always so nice to catch up with family.

Tired of running errands

2008-02-25T22:56:00.000-06:00

Ellie Grace's arrival

2008-02-22T15:09:00.002-06:00

Brian's cousin delivered a healthy baby girl yesterday morning. Ellie Grace arrived three weeks early and is absolutely beautiful! I can't get over those little fingers!

Creating a wall gallery

2008-02-11T22:34:00.000-06:00

I have a huge bare wall in my dining room & I have been trying to figure out what to do with it ever since we moved in 20 months ago. I've finally decided to do a wall gallery full of family pictures. To unite the pictures, they will all be printed in an "espresso" conversion like this:

I like these conversions because they look like black & white but are slightly warmer than a standard black and white print. The high contrast espresso conversion has a wonderful graphical feel and does not have the overly warm brown/amber tones that sepia prints show. I love the timeless feel & neutral colors in these pictures--they blend well into many settings.

Picture Day!

2008-02-09T23:40:00.000-06:00

Today we went out to take some pictures of the kids. Here are a few of my personal favorites:

Sam & Da-Da

2008-02-08T10:48:00.000-06:00

Backyard Fun

2008-02-08T09:07:00.001-06:00

A rare pic: ME!

2008-02-06T13:57:00.001-06:00

I'm always the one behind the camera so there are very few pictures where I am actually in the shot. I needed a fresh headshot for my professional website so I got out my tripod this morning & snapped a few shots. This is the one I chose to use on my website.

Busy!

2008-02-06T08:32:00.001-06:00

Between activities at church and other obligations, we have had a busy two weeks. Thankfully, Sarah's mom stayed with us last week and was able to help watch Hannah & Sam.

Last Wednesday Brian was elected to the vestry at church. This is an exciting time for him to serve at our church--so much is going on at this time & some major decisions regarding future growth need to be made. Sarah is helping one of the staff members start up & lead some small groups at church. We currently have 14 small groups but our church has a vision to build the small group ministry to reach more members (and non-members).

I really wish that I could insert a link to our church here but I also like the anonymity of not telling the entire world what town we live in. If you know us, I'd be glad to share the website with you. Just email me I will gladly send you the link.

Hannah & Sam Playing

2008-01-25T10:59:00.001-06:00

Maternity shoot with Abbey

2008-01-23T11:20:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I did a maternity session for Abbey. She was such a trooper--she came to the shoot even though she had been laying in bed sick for most of the day. I'm doing her son's one-year portraits next week so I hope she's feeling better by then!
*note: this is not my sister Abbey.

Compressors

2008-01-20T17:31:00.000-06:00

On Friday I took some pictures for Brian's business website. Although he will most likely use the color version on his website, I really like how this gas compressor looks in a black & white edit.

(Here's a pic for all of you who have no idea what a gas compressor looks like):

HTML is kicking my rear end

2008-01-17T06:59:00.000-06:00

What a busy week! Not only am I buried in processing pictures but I'm trying to overhaul my professional website. Just when I think it is finished (at least the beta-1 version) I find more problems. Right now my biggest frustration is that I am not able to add a hyperlink from my galleries back to the main page.

If it is truly impossible to add a hyperlink to the gallery, I may have to scrap my current gallery system altogether and find a more suitable template. I am looking at a specific new flash template but it is $$$ and I don't like how the platform navigates. I realize that I need to spend the money on a better template but I have yet to find one that will do what I need it to do and is worth the cost.

UPDATE: I just talked to customer support. It is impossible to add a hyperlink to my current galleries. I found a new gallery style/template that I like and it is priced right. I just need to buy more bandwidth to accommodate it. :(

Mr. Serious

2008-01-15T23:37:00.000-06:00

Carter's photo shoot

2008-01-15T07:55:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to take Carter's one year portraits. There are tons of great images from this shoot but I have only had time to process a couple of them so far.

Washing the car

2008-01-13T11:06:00.000-06:00

I have always enjoyed washing my car. I think it irritates Brian a bit that I wash my own car ("you know, there are people who will do that for you") but I find washing my car a relaxing way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I get satisfaction from gently washing the car, making sure every bug is completely removed, and inspecting the paint for damage/dings.

Hannah's coat

2008-01-11T13:31:00.001-06:00

The weather was quite nice today but Hannah was certain that since we were going outside she needed to wear her coat.

Happy Samuel

2008-01-10T16:21:00.001-06:00

Blowing bubbles

2008-01-09T14:06:00.000-06:00

One year ago

2008-01-09T08:06:00.000-06:00

I was working on some photography lessons. I was going through some old photographs this morning and pulled up these pics from the assignment.

1980s cheesy style

2008-01-08T14:50:00.001-06:00

I was trying out a new backdrop & style on these. The results are a bit too 1980s style cheesy for me. Something about it does not look right but I can't put my finger on it. Photographically speaking, they are technically near-perfect. I guess they just don't fit *my* style (more natural, candid, journalistic). The first one is especially cheesy.

At Grandma's house

2008-01-04T13:35:00.001-06:00

Sam could not take his eyes off of Sadie (Grandma & Grandpa's dog).

Hannah could not resist the chocolate.

Psst Sam . . . look at the camera!

2008-01-03T17:18:00.000-06:00

Hannah getting ready for her bath

2008-01-03T12:13:00.000-06:00

Just a boy and his cheerios

2008-01-03T11:40:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T19:47:00.001-06:00

This afternoon I went over to Katie's house for a New Year's party. Brian stayed home with the kids so I was free to snap a few pictures of Will. Isn't he adorable? I can't get over those blue eyes!

Sam took his first step today!

2007-12-28T23:50:00.000-06:00

I'm so proud of my little man! We had "family night" with our small group and Sam decided that it would be a good time to show off so he took his first step in Angela's living room.

Since I did not have my camera with me, I cannot show you the moment but here is a totally unrelated photo from earlier today:

My baby is growing up too quickly!

2007-12-26T10:49:00.000-06:00

Sam is now able to stand on his own. He has been using furniture to pull to a stand for a while now. This week he has begun to let go of the furniture and stand + balance all on his own.

Sam also says two words--"bye bye" and "Ma Ma." At first I thought he was just making baby sounds but he is using the words correctly. Any time I walk into the room, pick him up, etc. he says "Ma Ma." Every time we are leaving or saying goodbye to company, Sam says "bye bye."

Christmas Morning

2007-12-25T12:34:00.001-06:00

We have not been able to distract Hannah from her new toys. She spent all morning preparing food in her new play kitchen & feeding it to her dolls at her new table & chairs.

Meanwhile, Sam is napping. He ate breakfast with us but got tired and went to sleep as we were opening gifts.

Family

2007-12-24T09:58:00.000-06:00

Last week we visited with Sarah's family in Oklahoma. We stayed with Sarah's parents and were joined by Zac and Abbey (Sarah's BIL & sister) as well as Sarah's grandmother.

Swinging

2007-12-17T05:27:00.000-06:00

We absolutely love our neighborhood. We have a great park/play area that Hannah and Sam enjoy as well as two neighborhood pools.

Hannah loves pushing Sam in the swing and watching him laugh hysterically.

Fur-babies

2007-12-16T12:04:00.000-06:00

Our "puppies" are now five years old. The basset hound is Jezebelle and the dachshund is Sherman.

And since I know you are not coming to my blog to see the dogs, here is a pic of Hannah from this afternoon:

Sam's first haircut

2007-12-13T11:00:00.000-06:00

Brian gave Sam his first haircut. Sam has with wet hair in this picture, but this is the general idea:

The tree is up

2007-12-05T13:07:00.001-06:00

Our tree has a red + gold theme with birds, fruit, & berries.

Hannah's 2007 ornament:

Sam's 2007 ornament:

"Night-Night Baby Jesus"

2007-12-04T09:49:00.001-06:00

Hannah has been playing with her toy nativity set for the last few days. She spent most of yesterday evening giving baby Jesus a bath & feeding him some dinner (a pretend ice cream cone, pie, and grapes). When I tucked her in to bed last night, she said "night night baby Jesus."

Ah the desert winds . . .

2007-12-02T16:32:00.000-06:00

I glanced out our front door this afternoon to see that a tumbleweed found shelter on our porch.

In case you are not familiar with tumbleweeds, they are nasty things. Tumbleweeds are full of thorns. To move one requires wearing thick gloves or using some type of aparatus to grab the thing.

Christmas Card

2007-11-28T22:37:00.000-06:00

Today I made our Christmas card for 2007. Here is the sneak preview:

Sam

2007-11-27T17:12:00.000-06:00

Today I took a few pics of Sam. In the first picture, I see a lot of Brian in Sam.

More snow

2007-11-25T20:13:00.000-06:00

The snow from Thanksgiving day melted quickly but much to Hannah's delight, we received a fresh snowfall today.

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-22T16:02:00.000-06:00

This is our first Thanksgiving to not travel or host dinner at our house. We enjoy living less than a mile from Brian's parents. It is nice to be able to run over there for the "big meal" but come back to our house so that the kids can get their naps & maintain their normal schedules. The meal was absolutely wonderful!

Today we also got our first snow of the year.

Fun with Crayons

2007-11-20T11:02:00.000-06:00

Hannah loves to color. This morning when we were coloring, I thought I'd take some pictures of Hannah enjoying her favorite pastime. Unfortunately, she refused to look at the camera. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

I did manage to snap a picture of Sam who was sitting next to Hannah, watching intently as she colored.

Photography

2007-11-17T22:53:00.000-06:00

For the past year I have been learning a little bit about photography. Today I did a practice shoot w/ one of Hannah & Sam's second-cousins. What a great little model--thank you Parker!

Long days

2007-11-15T11:03:00.000-06:00

Today is one of our "long" days. Brian is taking three classes this semester for his MBA. On his long days, Brian does not get home until 10 pm so I try to get the kids (and myself) out of the house so that we don't get too stir-crazy.

This morning we went to Target. Since our weather is finally cooling off a bit, Hannah was able to wear her track suit without breaking a sweat. She loves this outfit because it is red and there is a cat on it.

Blogging

2007-11-14T11:21:00.001-06:00

I'm finally starting a blog. This should be an easy way for friends & long-distance family members to check in and see what our family is doing.

First post: A few recent pictures of Hannah & Sam

11/3/2007: Sam in Marble Falls, TX

11/5/2007: Hannah in Marble Falls, TX

11/7/2007: Sam

11/8/2007: Sam & Hannah

11/9/2007: Hannah