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Thursday, June 27, 2013

This Is The Life



Ain't it, though?

I loved the sentiment expressed on this tray so much
that I titled my blog post in its honor.

Life in the Texas Hill Country 
is pretty darn good these days.
The house is fabulous. We've started work
on enhancing the front porch area by adding
a flower garden, new shrubbery, and lots
of fun yard and garden art.
True, I did find a rattlesnake on the front porch
last week, but that's a Texas Summer for ya!

At this writing, I have two nifty editorial projects
I'm working on for the Romantic Homes 
family of magazines, and have been keeping
super busy doing commercial photo shoots for
my local retail clients.

A new client added recently is
eWay Furniture, located in the ever charming
downtown Fredericksburg, Texas.
I completed my first shoot there last week,
and I'm happy to be sharing a handful
of those images with you now...




LOVE this NY piece!






It's a great treasure chest of a store...
a little of this, a little of that.
It defies categorization, and I love
the fact that I never know what I'll find around
the next corner in the shop.

I'm gearing up to begin doing ad 
and editorial photography for a brand new magazine
published by the team that brings you
I have several ads in the current issue
for three different shops.
And the new magazine, 
set for a Spring 2014 launch,
will be almost exclusively mine, photographically speaking.
No pressure there!

In the meantime,
the business is growing...
Growth = change.
I've been thinking about changing this
to a comment-free blog. 
Given that I spend so much
of my limited internet time on my 
I sort of want to encourage those of you who
want to interact with me to do so there.
It's just quicker and easier, and feels more
like "home" to me. 

The art of writing an engaging blog post
isn't my strong suit these days. 
It feels like a droning monologue,
when what I'm craving is a dialogue, and Facebook
is just more conducive to that.

You are cordially invited to head on over
and "like" my business page,
And still look for me here,
as I'll be keeping up with all of you
and your respective blogs. You guys still
inspire and motivate me to be better,
try harder and keep growing.


Stay cool, stay safe,
and have a fantastic Summer of 2013!



This is a comment-free blog
but please come visit me here...





Saturday, June 15, 2013

A Fredericksburg Gem


Happy Thursday!
This is gonna be
short and sweet today.

Like what you see below?

{ double click to super size }

Me too!
It's my friend Jill's house here in Fredericksburg,
She owns a fabulous clothing boutique
called Haberdashery
and is just a wonderful gal
in every sense of the word.

Her home is going to be featured
in a National publication later this Fall,
and it was my honor to do the photo shoot.
Now I've found out that I'll be writing the story, too!
Love flexing those writing muscles.

Have a great weekend,
And pop on over to see what I've been
up to on Facebook....


I'd be honored it you "liked"
and shared my page with others
while you're there.

Leaving you with a teaser here....
be sure to check Facebook tomorrow
to see pics of my new tattoo......



This is a comment-free blog
but please come visit me here...



Sunday, June 9, 2013

Second Chances


Just yesterday, I started to think about a post
I had written awhile back.
I'm not sure why, but it just seemed as though
it was speaking to me at this particular
stage of my journey.
I went and looked it up on my blog list this morning,
and I had originally posted it
EXACTLY ONE YEAR AGO TODAY.
Whoa.
Sharing it again today, as maybe
it will speak to you, too.
Happy Sunday.

Remember when you were a kid,
and you'd either be playing a game, or just doing
some random thing, and you'd call a "do-over"?



And just like that, you would begin again.
Oblivious and impervious to what had happened before,
a giant cosmic eraser would swoop down
and wipe the slate clean.

Ahhh, that life were only that simple.




In antiquing circles, there is a healthy market
for do-overs.





We routinely recycle, re-use, repurpose...
it is our mantra, our avocation.




But as it applies to life. Real life?
Not that simple.




Which got me thinking,
is there any place or time in my life
where I'd like to call a "do-over"?

How about you?




Would you have married later?
Or perhaps not at all?




Would you have majored in business
rather than education?




 Or would you have swerved left
instead of right on a particular patch of road?




So many questions,
so many choices.





The easy answer is of course, with all the mistakes I have made,
a do-over would be a no-brainer.
A chance to re-write the past and save myself a whole lot
of grief and heartache.

But the truth is that no, I wouldn't choose the easy out, the do-over.
And you know why?




He Is Risen.
Yes He is.

This photo, as well as every other photo in this post
was taken at my friend Carol's shop,

The Bolton's live out the gospel of Christ in their lives
every single day, and clinging to that hope...the positive belief
that He is indeed risen, compels one to also believe
that nothing happens by accident.

That every so-called misdeed and misstep is all part
of His plan, and is somehow, someway, 
all part of the bigger picture.

As wretched, fallible humans, we will muck it all up undoubtedly,
but Someone else has our back, thank goodness.

He will deal with us.
He will teach us.
He will correct us.

A do-over?
No thanks, I'll take a pass.





This is a comment-free blog
but please come visit me here...


Monday, June 3, 2013

A Love Story


If we are really, truly lucky,
we are blessed with one, perhaps two
great loves in our lifetime.

But love takes many forms, 
and it doesn't always arrive 
in the idealized form of
hearts and flowers, Harlequin-style love.

No, sometimes, in His infinite wisdom,
God sends us the unconditional love of
kindred spirits.

The love of girlfriends, best friends,
a love which wraps you up tightly in acceptance
and warms you with the knowing that
you are understood, valued and that you
have been gifted sisters for life.

I found this sort of love last Summer,
but the roots of it stretch back to 2009.

When I started my blog that year,
I discovered a woman who spoke to my heart
with her grace, her talent 
and her spirited outlook on life.

Her name was Elizabeth Maxson,
she lived in St. Louis, Missouri,
and she was everything I never dared dream
that I could be....an accomplished and gifted
writer, photographer and stylist. 
A beautiful, engaging sprite of a woman
who inspired me, through her work and her words 
to be the best ME I could possibly be.

 { Elizabeth in her home }

Around the same time, as I was just getting
my little blog off the ground, 
I discovered and instantly felt a connection
with a tiny little dynamo of a blogger named
Debra Oliver, who lived in Springfield, Missouri.
Debra and I became instant besties, burning up
the phone lines several times a week.

Although Debra lives in the Midwest,
she has a heart as big as Texas,
and I can't imagine my life without her in it.

{ Debra, left and Jan of Leola's, a great shop! }

We plotted and planned, Debra and I,
how we would eventually meet.
We couldn't conceive of NOT meeting.

And somewhere along the way,
in the midst of all this planning,
something amazing happened....my idol,
my girl crush and my muse,
THE Elizabeth Maxson and I became
good friends via e-mails and phone calls.
And so it was settled.

In the Summer of 2012,
I would, with the Mister in tow,
make the trek up to Missouri to meet
and love on and thoroughly enjoy the company
of these two precious souls....
these sisters chosen for me, 
hand picked by God.

{ Elizabeth, Deb and Me. photo courtesy Elizabeth Maxson }

It was a beautiful trip.
We spent part of the time in Springfield,
part of the time in St. Louis,
and ALL of the time surrounded by these
two dear women that I truly love.

We made the trip up to St. Louis
to meet Elizabeth on her own turf.
Ever the gracious hostess, we found THIS
greeting us in Elizabeth's famous office.
I loved it!


Why is her office famous, you ask?


She's sort of a big whoop, ya know.
This creative space of hers was featured
as the cover story of Where Women Create.
And now I was standing right here,
in this very room!


She gave us a wonderful tour
of all of her creative nooks and crannies.


An extra special glimpse into that
inimitable, Elizabeth House style.


And we got to see her divine wedding ensemble,
proudly worn to her wedding 
to her charming Barber Husband.


Classic Elizabeth...her oil can collection.


The ethereal mixed media piece above?
Elizabeth brought it with her to Texas 4 months later,
and gifted me with it when she made the drive
all the way down here to surprise me
for my birthday!


And speaking of E's Barber Husband...
he gave my husband a complimentary buzz!
The two fellas developed a little bromance of their own.


I. Love. These. Two. Women. So. Much.


Elizabeth snapping me.

{ photo courtesy Elizabeth Maxson }

And me snapping Elizabeth!

After a few days in St. Louis,
we returned back to our home base
in Springfield, and I roamed around
Debra's completely inspiring home
and snapped a few of her trademark vignettes...




For some reason or the other,
I've been sitting on these photos for almost a year.
I had always intended to edit these and blog about this memorable,
life-changing trip, but busy-ness or self-absorption
always got in the way.

But in light of the events of recent weeks....
all the horrible weather which has bedeviled my two
beautiful friends in their neck of the woods,
I realized just how much these gals mean to me,
how much I love them, and how shattered I would be
if anything were to happen to my girls....my sisters.

{ photo courtesy Debra Oliver }

Debra Oliver, Elizabeth Maxson...
I love y'all.
You inspire me to not only be a better artist,
but a better person and a better Christian.
And another day could not pass by 
without letting both of you and 
everyone else know just that.

XO



Visit Elizabeth here...

And visit Debra here...


This is a comment-free blog
but please come visit me here...




Saturday, June 1, 2013

Around The Farmhouse


Just sitting here, editing some photos
for the new Facebook
and I thought I'd make the short
hop, skip and a jump over to the blog to share.

These are from the Facebook album,
which would, in fact,
be our farmhouse.

It's only a handful, but there's
lots more to share in the days ahead.
Welcome to our home!


I love enamelware.


Like, I really love it
a whole, whole lot.




One of my girls,
all blinged out.


Did I happen to mention
that I'm fond of enamelware?
Just checking.




She wanted it.
And if she's really patient
and saves her pennies,
and/or throws a fit, she usually gets it.




The hallway, pretty much room-size
and filled with some of my fondest finds.




'Tis all for now.
Sharing not only my photography
but our home is a privilege for me,
so thank you!

I'd be thrilled if you'd head on over
to Facebook and give my new
business page a "like" and a "share".


I appreciate it!



linking with


This is a comment-free blog
but please come visit me here...



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