2011 January

{Weigh-in Day #1}

January 31, 2011 By missprissiness 29 Comments

Does anyone else feel like the world is going to end?? With this snow storm everyone keeps talking about?? I don’t know about you, but I love snow :-) I prefer to keep it around Christmas and that’s it….but if I see snow falling anytime after Christmas, it still makes me happy. I do NOT like it on it’s 3rd day when it’s all slushie and dirty, but I like it when it’s still falling :-) Not so excited about the ice we’re supposed to get, but the snow doesn’t bother me as much.

Apparently it’s going to be so bad that my parents felt the need to call me this morning and tell me I need to come home…..HA! I plan on going back to Kirksville this weekend for Miss Molly’s last Courtwarming (awwwww) and to do a couple shoots…..but I have till Friday until I have to leave……….. but my parents still think I should head home today. They make me laugh :-) I know they were just sitting there at the kitchen island, drinking their coffee, talking about their agendas and the snow storm. Then I enter their minds because I’m the one who’s all by myself in St. Louis and they worry about me all. the. time. They’re so cute. They call me all the time to check in and it’s usually my dad that calls. He’s not a big talker on the phone, so it’s so funny to have a “checking in” conversation with him. “Mom and I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. What are your plans? How are your shoots going? What’s new in st. Louis?” Truth be told, he usually knows more about what’s going in St. Louis than I do. He’s a HUGE news guy. WHen he gets on his computer he usually checks all his news website, all his sports website, my blog, my siblings blogs and then he’s done. Does he check his email like a normal person?? no. oh dad- you’re so cute :-) So anyway- I just thought it was cute that they think I should head back a week early.

Hummmmmm…..what else???

OH YEAH- It’s my weigh-in day :-)

Go ahead and leave a comment ON THIS POST ONLY on (1) how many inches and (2) how many pounds you think I’ve lost in the past two weeks. All Comments MUST be left before midnight tonight (central time) . Make sure you put your first AND last name. Only one guess per a person and you have to be above 16 years. Why above 16 you ask? I can totally see some of you using your children’s names as additional entries :-) AND I also want future high school seniors to be eligible….so 16 it is! I will update this post either late tonight or early tomorrow morning with the winners name up at the top. I will then update that Give Away tab with the new information.

and because I don’t have any pictures again- you get to watch another one of my sweet little nephews. This one is Brady and we call him “big baby”. He’s HUGE (super tall), but he’s still such a sweet little baby at heart. He’s our snuggler :-) God he’s so cute! I just love him to pieces :-) You can’t help but smile when he smiles. This was while we were all home over Christmas. He makes me laugh when he starts talking. This one is un-edited as well. Someday I’ll figure out how to properly use the video feature on my camera :-)

READY SET GO!!!! Comment away :-)

[wpvideo 7kPiFYuS]

Filed Under: GIVE AWAY, Random

{Jack Fox}

January 30, 2011 By missprissiness 3 Comments

How cute is that name??? I love it :-)

This little guy came over yesterday for his 3-month pictures. Doing a photo shoot in my apartment is always interesting (it’s a super small apartment), but it usually works out when they’re this little. Jack did GREAT and even passed out a few smiles :-)

Thanks for coming over Jack Fox (I have to say his full name because I just love it, ha!) and enjoy your sneak peek!

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Next I want to share some HILARIOUS greeting cards I just found out about yesterday. I blog stalk THIS photography blog ALL THE TIME. She will make you want to move to Canada just to get pictures like hers. Anyway- she just posted these awesome cards from Speckle & Weeds. The cards are divided into categories like Couplehood, Childhood, Motherhood, etc. I want to order 100 of them right now. Here are some of my favorites from their site :-) Be warned…..I have a lot of favorites….and I didn’t even put some of them on here.

How fun are those?!?! Honestly- you could easily make your own with pictures you have around the house….I just love the idea and the sayings :-)

Make sure you come back tomorrow…………….. yayyyyyyyyy!

Filed Under: Babies, Random

{Updates, updates, updates!!!}

January 29, 2011 By missprissiness 3 Comments

Do you like the new banner?? I love that quote :-) I’m going to try and put a new quote up every time I change my banner.

Most of you just got a MASSIVE email from me explaining some new things and some updates. I hope you survived and are still awake :-) For those of you unknown “blog stalkers”….I don’t know who you are….so you didn’t get the email.

Speaking of blog stalkers, I just want you all to know that I can not see who you are and how many times you look at my blog :-) I’ve had a few of you express concern like, “oh my gosh I’m so sorry, I checked your blog like 50 times today for an update. I hope you don’t think I’m stalking you!” I have a final count of how many hits my blog got, but it’s not like it tells me whether Joe or Susie looked at my blog 12 times. So stop freaking out :-) I understand your minor obsession. I have blogs that I follow/stalk as well. Blogs are addicting and we’re all curious :-)

Sorry about that side note about blog stalkers.

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- I UPDATED MY WEBSITE!!! No joke- I really did! New splash page, updated pictures, added music, etc. I added one of my favorite songs. It’s not new or hip, it’s just one I’ve liked for a couple years now and I think all girls need to hear it :-) It’s called This One’s for the Girls by Martina McBride. Go check it out and look for your pictures. There are over 200 pictures in some galleries- so there is some potential to waste a good hour looking at pictures on my website :-)

- I UPDATED MY BLOG!!! I just updated some tabs, added some tabs, took some tabs away and started categorizing all my posts….you know, so you can actually use the “category” feature on my blog.

- I’m no longer selling stuff on Etsy. oh believe me- I’m still buying stuff off Etsy, just not selling :-) It just gets too busy and I never have time for it.

- I might possibly be creating a Facebook page for Miss Prissiness. I’m still deciding whether or not I want to add another thing to my list of things that I have to keep updated.

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Guess what’s on Monday?!?!?! My first “weigh in” day :-) I’m doing good so far, but hopefully I don’t screw it up this weekend. I met up with friends for mexican and margaritas this afternoon and I have a date tonight and apparently I’m being taken some place super yummy for dessert :-) My family members are probably diving for their phones as they read this. They are RIDICULOUS when I have date. So ridiculous that I don’t even tell them about my dates anymore….although I guess I just announced this one. oh well! I usually get texts from the brother-in-laws and actual phone calls from my sisters. Not to mention they usually do all this harassing DURING the date. My parents are the only normal ones and they actually just sit and wait for me to call them if I want to.

I dont’ have pictures for this post ( I have a sneak peek to share tomorrow) so I figured I would show you this TOTALLY UNEDITED movie of Colton & Carolina eating their “breakfast” the other morning when I was back in Kirksville. If I had time, I would go through and edit out parts because it’s kinda long…but I don’t have time….so you get to see the whole thing :-) I’ve decided these two are like the monkeys you see at the zoo. Not joking- Amanda puts them on the ground and then throws food on the floor :-) I love it! They just kinda sit around and stare at you with food on their face. They munch on the things here and there, they roll around in messy stuff, they pick stuff off themselves and eat it, they entertain each other and have some sort of secret language. SERIOUSLY- it’s exactly like watching all the monkeys at the outdoor area of the zoo.

Check ya later!

[wpvideo zEsE7FZ3]

Filed Under: Babies, My Family, Random

{Mr. Colin}

January 26, 2011 By missprissiness 4 Comments

This morning I got to meet up with this handsome little guy. He is actually Bella & Brady’s cousin :-)

Colin belongs to Ryan’s brother Scott & his wife Emily. I took pictures of him back this summer HERE and he was pretty darn cute. Luckily he was just as cute today, but this time he was giving me smiles right and left :-) He had so much fun at his shoot that he ended drenched in water by the end of it……..

We decided to do his shoot at the Jewel Box and it was perfect! It was warm, colorful, not crowded (we were the only ones there), had tons of light and………………water fountains. Colin got braver and braver as the shoot progressed and by the tail end of it he was weaving his way through the arches of water, splashing his hands in them and then he full on ran through one. h y s t e r i c a l!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for hanging out with me this morning and enjoy your sneak peek Colin!!

: I LOVE this little series :-)

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Blog and Website changes coming on Friday!!! Get excited :-)

Filed Under: Kids Tagged With: St. Louis Childrens Photographer

{Hour by Hour happenings in the life of Briley Mae}

January 25, 2011 By missprissiness 7 Comments

This is a letter Briley wrote to her mom & dad…..

Dear Mommy, Daddy & Little Fella (this is what she calls Baylor)-

Hello! Why am I in Kirksville?? What is Kirksville?? Why is it called Kirksville?? Where is in Kirksville?? Are you in Kirksville? Where are you?? Why are you at home?? What are you doing at home?? Why are you doing that?? Why did you say that?? What is that over there?? Why does Carson cry every time I tell him no?? Why did Aunt Lissy tell me eating a dinner roll isn’t considered an actual dinner?? Why did Aunt Caroline whack me in the head with the Wii controller?? What’s a Wii?? Why do they call it a Wii?? Why are Aunt Lissy & Aunt Caroline playing it?? Why is the snow white?? etc. etc. etc.

Please respond to my questions asap or I’ll just keep asking and asking and asking.

Love you! Hope this makes you miss me :-)

Love- Briley

Those of you that know Briley, know that the girl does NOT stop asking questions. For example: I was driving her to Kansas City this past summer and it got to the point where she asked me why I had doors on my car………………………………… she does not stop. She just keeps going. She asks questions about things you wouldn’t even think to ask questions about. She annoys the living daylights out of her mom and dad when she goes on one of her question rampages. So I figured this letter would really make them miss her right now :-)

Here are some answers to some of the random questions I threw in there. Yes- Briley tried to pull off a dinner roll as her supper last night. Sad part….we let her :-) She’s at grandma & papa’s!!!! Yes- Aunt Caroline whacked her in the head with a Wii Remote. Caroline & I were doing Just Dance 2 last night as a work out and Briley ran right through the middle of it. She was okay though- she just kept smiling :-)

Now there’s a work out for you. Go do Just Dance 2, but put it on “random shuffle”. It will just keep playing songs until you tell it to stop. It’s particularly exhausting when you have to do Jump by Studio All Stars TWICE and that stupid Russian Rasputin song. It involves a lot of that russian dance move where you squat and then kick your legs out from side to side.

We did 10 songs and called it quits :-)

Speaking of Wii Just Dance….this is a side note…..Amanda, Allison, Sara, Andy & Myself all got a present at Christmas that was just addressed to us. Yes- Kaitlin, Caroline and Molly were so annoyed :-) Anyway- it was Michael Jackson’s “Experience” for the Wii. It’s Just Dance, but with all his songs and dances. A W E S O M E!!!!!!!!! It’s the most fun :-) I highly recommend it.

OK- back to Briley! I know Andy & Autumn miss her, so I figured I would give an hour by hour update….here we go!

Yesterday-

4:30- Papa Mike (Autumn’s dad) drops Briley off at our house.

5:30- Briley and Carson run around the house approximately 157 times acting like dinosaurs and roaring as loud as they can

6:30-The Farwell’s arrive at the house to eat dinner. This is when the whole ”a dinner roll does count as supper” escapade started.

7:30- Run around the house with Ellie acting like a cat. weird.

8:30- Briley decides she wants to do Just Dance 2 with me & Caroline. This is the question she asked, “do you have to keep our clothes on??” We then called her parents because we decided they had some explaining to do about question :-)

9:30- Get whacked in the head by Caroline

10:30- Briley & Carson get EXTRA whiny while watching a movie on the couch. Their watching it on Carson’s travel DVD player and they just keeping fighting over who get’s to hold it. Papa starts singing some “whiner” song that he totally made up and it takes them both off guard. It was funny :-)

11:30- Briley is snoring on the couch and Carson is sitting next to her giggling and imitating her. Why is Carson up at 11:30?? Because the kid loves caffeine!

TODAY

6:30- Briley wakes up because there is some random baby in her room coughing. She wants to know why Colton is in her room and why he’s coughing….let the questions begin!

7:30- Briley & Carson run around, watch cartoons, eat breakfast and just be overall too loud for Aunt Lissy to sleep.

8:30- Amanda get’s them ready to go to the YMCA with Aunt Allison so they can run, play and burn off energy.

9:30- Aunt Allison shows up and takes the toddlers away.

I have not seen Briley since :-)

Look at those teeth!

Remember my post about Carson doing the "chug it" scene from Old School??

Mom & I put Carolina up on the laundry room shelf :-) Yes- it's cold out and we're that bored.

hahaha

Briley hides from my camera these days….this is the best I could get :-)

Next up are some pictures for Miss Heather. She’s the poor Senior that I made lay in the snow on Sunday. I thought they turned out super cute- so worth it!

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I’ll be back tomorrow night. I’m heading back to St. Louis this evening and I have a shoot tomorrow morning- so sneak peeks to come!

Filed Under: My Family, Random, Seniors

{My jeans were frozen SOLID today….}

January 24, 2011 By missprissiness 8 Comments

Yes, that’s correct. I shoveled the driveway today and by the time I was done, my jeans were frozen solid from the knee’s down. Like wouldn’t even bend.

Oh…you all might be confused….because I don’t have a driveway in St. Louis….I’m back in Kirksville :-)

So anyway- I was the only one home all weekend because everyone else was in Bentonville visiting Sara & Ryan. Not going to lie, it was totally weird walking into an empty house. But no worries- I went over to the Farwells for dinner :-) Once I made it back to my parents after dinner, I put on some comfy clothes, turned on a movie, sat in the big comfy chair by the fireplace with a nice fuzzy blanket and my computer…. h.e.a.v.e.n!!!! By that point- I could have cared less if I was the only one home :-) I helped host a Baby Shower for Miss Violet on Saturday at my parents house, so that’s why I was back this weekend. The shower was great and then I jumped straight into doing a couple shoots as soon as the shower was over. By the time I made it back to the house, got the house cleaned up from the shower, got my computer, got snuggled into my chair and started working…..Ali walked in the door and was ready to head over to her house for dinner. I had promised Jackson & Ellie and sleepover so I bundled up and headed on over :-)

Ummmmm….Ellie convinced me I should sleep with her……BIG MISTAKE! It was like that girl took shots of pure caffeine or something before she went to bed. I, on the other hand, had taken Tylenol PM and felt like I was hallucinating the whole night. I would randomly wake up and see Ellie staring at me or I would wake up and see Ellie climbing her dresser or I would wake up and see Ellie playing with my cell phone or I would wake up to her talking on to Briley her fake cell phone or I would wake up and see her playing with her dolls or I would wake up while she was trying to put chapstick on me. Seriously- it was a weird night. At one point (after she had finally freaking fallen asleep) I woke up and looked over at her and she WAS SMILING IN HER SLEEP!!! Not joking! Then, bright & early at 6:30 AM- I feel something stabing me in the face….it’s a book and Ellie is telling me to wake up and read her a book.

E x h a u s t e d!!!!

Turns out Ali & Andrew had a long night as well because Lincoln decided he wanted to wake up at 3:30. Awesomeness.

Ali made some pancakes and hot chocolate (yummy!!!), they went to church and I ran back to comfy chair and fireplace at my parents :-) Then I did a photo shoot out in the snow….I made this poor senior LAY IN THE SNOW….TWICE!!! Once was with a skirt on. I’m mean like that :-)

After all that is when the dreadful driveway shoveling commenced. Have any of you ever shoveled a cobblestone driveway????? Anyone??? Let me tell you…..pain in the rear!!! It’s like shovel, abrupt halt, shovel, shovel, abrupt halt, abrupt halt, abrupt halt, curse word, shovel, shovel, abrupt halt, repeat, repeat, repeat!!! I decided to go ahead and do it because I knew my dad would try and do it when they got home from Bentonville this evening and he doesn’t need to be doing that. I needed to get my workout in for the day anyway – so shoveling the driveway it was! Then my pants froze.

Anyway- that was my fun story for the day :-)

Anyone want to see some sneak peeks??? I’ve got two for you! First up is Addelyn’s 1 year shoot. No joke- Tasha had to make three trips to and from the car to get all her outfits and props for her shoot! Tasha comes prepared!!! Addelyn competes in lots and lots of pagents, so she always has her fun outfits to use for her shoots :-)

NOTE: All these pictures are super compressed because it’s the only way I can get pictures to upload quickly at my parents house. Just keep that in mind :-)

Next up was Mr. Lucas and his 2 year shoot. He’s having a Cookie Monster party and his shoot was TOO CUTE!!!! I loved his Cookie Monster shirts :-) Thanks for being so good Lucas- you’re always too sweet! Have fun at your party!

So cute, right?

Love it :-)

Ok- I’ll be back either tomorrow or Tuesday with a sneak peek from my snow shoot today. I’m also going to be adding a Printing Source/product tab to the blog. It will be very similar to my previous post, so I’ll let you know when I get that up and going. I’ve decided to stay in Kirksville for a couple days because the Bobzien’s are back this week :-) Oh….and Briley somehow made it back to Kirksville with my parents. She’ll be spending the week here along with the Bobziens, so I’m sure I’ll have a few fun blog posts to share :-)

I’m exhausted- good night!

Filed Under: Kids, My Family, Random Tagged With: Kirksville Childrens Photographer, St. Louis Childrens Photographer

{Fun Products!}

January 20, 2011 By missprissiness 5 Comments

First and foremost….thank you for all the sweet comments on my previous post. I just want to clear up my thoughts behind the whole give away idea. I’m NOT doing this because I feel ugly or I feel like I need to change who I am. I love who I am and I have no problem with my looks. It has nothing to do with any of that. I think Ann from Smith Stories said it best in her comment….I should start calling it more of a “comfort journey” that anything. I know (and have known for a long time) that I’m bigger than I was meant to be. So- I’m just getting back to a more healthy and comfortable weight. That’s it- nothing huge. I just thought it would be fun to turn it into a contest :-)

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Ok- so as you all know, I let my clients have their pictures so that they are able to print them wherever and whenever they want. I want them to put them all over their house. I want them show them to their friends, I want them to put them on Facebook, I want them to make photo books and give them to relatives as gifts. I want them to be able to re-print them years down the road. I just want them to have them. Yeah- I took the picture and it’s my work and it belongs to me….but I take pictures to make people happy and to give them something that they keep and admire for the rest of their lives.

Non-print release Photographers always knock print-release photographers…it’s so annoying. Get. over. it!

Not saying I don’t hit problems here and there by giving people their pictures, but for the most part it works out fantastically. I’ll discuss that in another post, because I’ve got some new “rules” to talk about :-) Nothing big- just a couple things that happened in 2010 that I would like to change for 2011

Ok- so the point of this post is to show you some of my favorite products. Not the typical Canvas Gallery Wraps, photo books, wallets, framed prints, etc. I’m going to show you some of things you might not know about.

When you get pictures done with me, I give you a list of sources I recommend for professional prints. I would say that the sources I use the most are Nations Photo Lab and Mpix. I like the services/options they offer, I like the products they offer, I like their print quality, I love their prices and plus they’re just pretty darn nice to work with. I do have to say that I probably use Nations Photo Lab a little bit more than I use Mpix, but they’re both awesome. Ordering with Nations Photo Lab the first time can be kinda confusing (you have to download their ROES software), but after you do it once and get familiar with it…you’re good to go! Mpix lets you uploaded directly from their website.

So off we go to my favorite products! (btw- These are not in any sort of order) Click on blue words to go to the link

1.) Standout- I showed these to you right after Christmas. Both Nations Photolab & Mpix offer this product. They are a great way to get a sleek, crisp, professional ready-to-hang product. You can even use the Command Picture Hanging Strips to hang them because they’re so light weight. They come in 2 different thicknesses and 2 different border colors. Awesomeness!!!

2.) Print Mounted on Gatorboard- This next one isn’t really a designated product (hence why you can’t click on the name and go to the product), but it’s something we’ve (my family) come up with and we’ve found we really like. When you have a photographer in the family, you find yourself wanting to print like 500 pictures a day. This get’s expensive. We wanted something that wasn’t as expensive, but we also wanted something that we could easily toss up on the wall and have it look nice. We wanted something that we wouldn’t feel bad about switching out and moving around as new pictures came along. What we came up with is VERY similar to the Standout product, just a smidge different and cheaper. What we do first is order a print. Typically it’s a normal Luster (non-color corrected) print, but they also offer Metallic paper. The metallic is more expensive, but the prints turn pretty cool. The Metallic has a different, more saturated look- so you have to decide for yourself whether or not it’s for you. Another “print type” that Nations offer is a Textured Print. I LOVE the textured print!!! It gives you the look of canvas, but for a fraction of the cost. A textured print is typically just a few cents more than a normal print.

So to continue- we first pick a print type. Whether it be Luster, Metallic or Textured. Next we select to have it mounted on Gatorboard. Mounting options are typically Foamcore, Matboard or Gatorboard. Standout’s are mounted on Gatorboard, but the only difference between the actual Standout product and what I’m describing to you right now is the edging. Standout’s have a plastic like edging whereas the idea I’m explaining right now is just a print mounted on Gaterboard….with no edging. It’s much more inexpensive and it’s a GREAT option for getting a quick, easy and no guilt product. It to can be hung with the Command 3M Picture Hanging Strips. Another great thing is that you can choose the thickness of the Gatorboard. We typically go with the thicker option just because we feel like it makes for a more finished look, but you can go with the thinner option and get the same outcome. Either way you get a inexpensive & light weight product. One last thing I want to say about this type of product is that they can easily be popped into frames at any point in time. Awesome, huh?

Andy ordered a bunch of these for Autumn for Christmas. She wanted to use all my pictures throughout the years and do a collage going up their stairs. She figured it would be an on going project because of the cost….a stairway full of professional pictures??? expensive!!! Well….Andy & I schemed and he surprised her :-) It worked out perfect because Andy was able to get ALL of the prints/mounts pictured below for about $200. Truth be told my mom actually got 4 of the smaller square ones for autumn to add on to Andy’s christmas gift, but the total was still right at $200. We did all different sizes. The biggest is 24″x24″ and we went down to as small as 8″x8″. I LOVE how it turned out :-) Please note- everything (including the plaque) was hung with the Command 3M strips.

Kinda hard to take a picture of staircase wall :-)

Zane did the same thing for Kaitlin last Christmas. He did a collage of their wedding pictures.

: Zane had me add the Irish Blessing that my dad used in his toast at their wedding. how cute is that??? You can kinda see it. It’s on the big black & white picture.

3.) Gallery Blocks- Nations Photo Lab started offering these AWESOME blocks this past fall. I HEART THEM!!! Their awesome. Your picture is laminated onto solid wood. It looks similar to a Canvas Gallery Wrap, but it’s just a wooden box (with an open back, exactly like a canvas wrap) with your picture printed on it and wrapped around the corners. They also offer Floating Gallery Blocks!!!!! You just need to click on the link above and go read up on them. They are light weight, affordable, durable (scratch-proof) and a fun new product. Their pricing falls right in between Standouts & Canvas Gallery Wraps. Affordable!!

4.) Wall Clings- Several places offer this product. HERE is Nations Photo Lab, HERE is Mpix and HERE is a source my sister used called Wall Hogs. Here is a picture of what she did up in Jackson’s room.

I know it’s a small picture (I stole it off her blog), but you get the idea. That MASSIVE reusable vinyl print is from Wall Hogs for $70!!!! SEVENTY DOLLARS!!! Isn’t that crazy??? A picture that big for only $70 is nuts to me. It’s a picture she actually took with her point and shoot camera at Busch Stadium. Awesome, huh? Anyway- She had that done and then she took my Take Me Out To The Ballgame pictures I took a couple summers ago and she did what I talked about earlier. She just had them printed and then mounted on Gatorboard. Then we hung those up right on top of the Wall Cling of Busch Stadium so that they were kinda “floating” above the wall cling. Then she had me take different “sports” pictures of Jackson and she had those framed and hung them around his room. Perfect for a boy!

6.) Canvas Clusters- These are just an easy way to create a collage of your pictures. A lot of people want to do collages, but get overwhelmed trying to come up with a layout that fits what they need. Nations created Canvas Clusters to solve that problem. Now all you have to do is pick your pictures, they give you the layout and the picture sizes.

7.) Image Splits These are another awesome Canvas product. Click on the link and go check them out. They are way too cool!!!

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So there you have it! Those are just SOME of my favorite products. I know there are TONS of other options, I just thought I would introduce you to some you might not know about :-)

This is the awesome part about getting your print release….you get to use all these product options and not just what your photographer has decided to offer AND you get pricing direct from the printing source, not from your photographer. When your photographer doesn’t give you the print release, it’s because they make their money off of your prints. Yeah- I’ll talk about that in a different post as well. It will involve a comparison chart and all sorts of good stuff :-)

Now go order some pictures!!!! Have fun :-)

Filed Under: Random Tagged With: Photo Products, St. Louis Area Photographer

{Give away!!!!}

January 17, 2011 By missprissiness 14 Comments

So…..my wireless went out last night….awesome. This then led to the dreaded phone call with Charter this morning, ugh!

Surprisingly it went well. It’s something that couldn’t be fixed over the phone, so they are sending a technician sometime between 8 and 10 tomorrow morning. Normally they can’t get an open appointment for a couple days and they usually give you a time fram between 8 & 5….so tomorrow morning sometime before 10 was sounded pretty darn good to me :-)

I’m totally posting this while I’m connected to a unsecure network- so keep your fingers crossed for me. Hopefully I can get this posted and disconnect before anything happens to my computer. We shall see!

Are you ready for this??? I’m so excited :-)

So those of you that know me and have known me for a while….you know I’ve gained some weight since my younger days, ha! It’s so weird- I used to think I was so fat in high school, but when I look back on those pictures now, I was the same freaking size as everyone else. I don’t know what my deal was- I guess I had that typical high school thought process of never being skinny enough. Since I was like 12- I’ve always thought I was big. When I hit that junior high growth spurt- I was pretty much average sized from then until I hit about my early 20′s.

Then things got semi-stressful (just different things coming up here and there), school was super busy, I was never a super healthy eater, I always put other things first blah blah blah, etc etc etc. Now I’m here….bigger than I would prefer to be. I’m not saying I’m this huge obese person, I just want to lose a little weight- that’s all.

I’ve attempted to lose weight here and there, but I’ve never stuck with it. Something always comes up, things get busier and I fall off track. I don’t want to be one of those crazy dieters that no one wants to be around because they suck the fun out of EVERYTHING. Like for example, when my sister made all the delicious treats when I went to Bentonville. I wasn’t going to not eat any of it. She made it for me and she was excited. I just ate it and have been working out double since I got home. Believe it or not- I didn’t gain back anything back while I was there. I would have felt AWFUL showing up at her house and being like, “no- I can’t eat any of that….but thanks for being thoughtful.” Can we say stuck up??? That’s the girl I do not want to be. Besides- people shouldn’t have to adjust what they do to fit my weight loss venture- I just have to use self-control.

SO I’m working on getting a good balance and not being a snobby dieter :-) There’s nothing more annoying than that psycho energized, everything is butterflies and rainbows, I only eat flax seed- skinny person. It’s like that episode in Friends where Monica is trying to get Chandler to lose weight. She’s SOOOOOO annoying and drives everyone nuts! That’s who I DO NOT want to be :-)

SO HERE’S THE DEAL…….my weight loss venture is going to turn into a give away. It’s a win/win for all of us…let me explain :-)

Every two weeks- I’m going to post 1-) how many pounds I’ve lost since my last ‘weigh-in’ and 2-) how many inches I’ve lost since the last weigh-in. That part is my win- it gives me something to be accountable towards. I will announce that it’s a weigh-in day on my blog and you guys will leave a comment guessing how many pounds and inches you think I’ve lost for that 2 weeks. This is where you win. I will take all the people that guess the correct amount of weight lost and the people that guessed the correct inches lost during that two weeks. I’m assuming some people will guess the same number- so I’ll take all those people and use Random.org to select the winner.

Get it??? So there will be 2 winners every week. One will win for how many pounds lost and one will win for how many inches lost.

Here’s what you win……………$10/pound lost or $10/inch lost, to go towards a shoot. Obviously you have to win in order to get the $10/pound. For example; if I lose 4 lbs during one 2-week round and you guessed 4lbs and were selected by random.org as the winner….you would get $40 to put towards a shoot. Same goes for inches.

AND (I know you’re not supposed to start a sentence with ‘and’, but when has this blog ever been grammatically correct??? NEVER!) I’m going to round -up when I announce the numbers :-) Obviously I will keep track of the exact amount for personal reasons, but for you guys, I will round up :-) That means that if I lose 4.5 pounds in a 2 week period- I will say it was a flat 5lbs….that way you get $50 instead of $40!!! You can really rack up some credit towards a shoot :-) You can chose when you want to cash out and put the money towards your shoot.

I’m not setting a goal weight (because I don’t want to put a limit on the winnings for you all), but I am setting a end date to the competition. The give away will end on July 4th. I thought it was a fun date :-) So that means you guys have 12 chances (really 24 because it’s pounds and inches) to win!!! Who knows- I could decided to pick multiple winners every now and then!!! That will increase your earnings even more :-) P.S.- I think added that correctly, but someone please tell me if it’s not 12 weigh in’s between January 17th and July 4th….with two week increments??

Obviously this isn’t a science and you’re just going to have to wing your answers and it will be mostly luck if you win….but hey- it’s still fun, right?? Why not do it?? If you plan on doing a shoot with me within the next year or so- this could be your chance to get some credit to go towards it. Like I said- you can “cash out” at anytime and put the credit towards your shoot. You don’t have to wait until July 4th. Do keep in mind that once you decide to “cash out” and put your earnings towards a shoot before July 4th- you’re done with the competition. You can’t start up again.

So….sound like fun??? I’m excited :-)

I will make a spreadsheet that will be posted every time the winners are announced. It will keep track of everyone’s winnings. This all starts today, so my first weigh-in will be on January 31st. Get ready!!!

Filed Under: Random

{Sneak Peeks!}

January 16, 2011 By missprissiness 6 Comments

Look at me- getting 2 shoots and 2 sneak peeks done on the same day :-)

I’ll dream of days like this when June comes around, ha!

Today I got to meet up with some new clients. Brandon & Julie contacted me about doing some pictures for their 5-month old baby Jack and I decided that since they were in St. Louis, I would go ahead and book them even though I was supposed to be on my “break” through January. They seemed nice enough :-) Jack is ADORABLE and he was so much fun to photograph. Such a happy baby!! Julie has also requested that we do a Mini Shoot every month for Jack’s 1st year…..sooooooooo excited that I will get to see this little cutie every month :-) Enjoy your sneak peek Jack!!

Then I got to go meet up with one of my favorites, Miss Olivia :-) She’s been on the blog a number times, so she’s a pro when it comes to photo shoots with me. She brought along her mom and her grandma so that they could get some surprise (shhhh- it’s a secret) pictures done for her dad as a Valentine’s Day present. I thought it was cute idea :-) We decided to meet up at Union Station downtown. Not the ugly shopping part of Union Station, but the Hotel/Grand Hall area. It has lots of light and it’s generally not crowded. We didn’t necessarily focus on the architecture of the space because all we needed for these pictures was an open space and lots of light, but it has some really pretty features that would be awesome in the background. It would be great for senior pictures or maybe even wedding pictures. Just keep it in mind :-)

Enjoy your sneak peek Miss Olivia!

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Ok- the give away is going to be announced……………TOMORROW!!!!!!

I’m so excited about it!! It’s going to be fun and has the potential for you all to earn something awesome :-) Want some clues??

1.) The give away will actually be on going for a few months…..

2.) There will be lots of winners

3.) My butt will be smaller at the end

ha ha :-)

Filed Under: Babies, Kids

{Maybe…..maybe….maybe…..Bella with her mom!}

January 13, 2011 By missprissiness 2 Comments

I asked Bella what I should title this post and that’s what she came up with :-) She say’s “maybe” A LOT!

Sara decided to make some Chunky Monkey Muffins for us to eat while I'm here. It's working out realllll nice for my whole weight loss thing. THEY ARE SO GOOD!!! Sara claims they're not that bad for you, but I think that's a big fat lie. Oh- I guess that just means extra time on the elliptical when I get back :-)

Does this remind you of Monday's With Bella?? WHen she would climb all over me while I trie to take pictures of her :-)

While I've been here, we've been pretty lazy. It's FREEZING outside, so we like to do fun things inside. For example- we like to sit in the kitchen in complete silence listenting to the strange noise that randomly comes from the fridge. We still have yet to figure out what the noise is....such failures :-)

Playing any sort of game with Bella right now is pretty funny. She changes the rules, makes things up, always wins, etc. I stopped playing games with her on a day one.....poor Sara :-) On another note- look who still wears her Frog Boots!!! Remember those from Monday's With Bella?? She looked pretty hot at Target last night. Her blue leggins, her purple coat, her static hair with her winter hat, her mittens on the wrong hands with the thumbs sticking out......and the frog boots....classic :-)

Bella cooks like her mama

How cute is he??? He loves his bubbles :-) This is why it's hard for Sara to get anything done. Bellas always wants to be with/on her mom. P.S.- Sara is not on the potty, she is giving Brady a bath :-)

Brady likes the frog boots too! We did this while Bella was napping....otherwise she would have f l i p p e d out because Brady was touching her stuff :-)

Yesterday was super lazy and Brady decided he was bored with me and Sara. While we sat on the couch watching HGTV and on our computers, he decided to tour the hosue since he's crawling these days. After a while it got quite- so Sara went to find him :-)

OK- that’s all I’ve got! We’re off to go do some shopping and lunch :-) Bella is currently sitting next to me while I type this and she is “doing” my hair. I think I have a whole bottle of Suave Kids Detangling Spary (scent Double Dutch Apple….yum!) in my hair. I’m lookin good :-)

Bella say’s “BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”

Filed Under: Babies, Kids, Monday's With Bella, My Family, Random