other exciting news and the averys

i only did a brief post last night about getting my licensure, and those of you who aren't facebook friends may not have understood the "good" day comment.

yesterday was rough. i had a super-long, tense, emotional meeting that was physically draining. i drove all around to help out another client, and it was just one of those crazy days that wears you out.

which was pretty ironic considering the first few days of this week were way easy. i mean, i've had client cancel on me, go out of town, have schedules end up so that i couldn't work with them. our team will be making up for it next week (our calendar looks CRAZY already!) but it had been a fairly low-key week.

and i had come home every day earlier this week, just hoping and wishing that that certificate would be in the mail. to no avail. i was getting impatient, but i would just continue on with my low-key day and figured it would come the next day.

so yesterday, the day where i worked my tail off and dealt with very high-stress, unplanned appointments--the day that i needed that validation and affirmation that i AM a LCSW and have earned this credential the most--that's the day it arrived.

and brought a big 'ol smile to my face and sense of completion, accomplishment and pride.

AND my brother got a new awesome high-school band director job (hunt high school in wilson, for those of you in the area) on the same day.

and as my dad said later that evening, "y'all did it. you each had a goal that you wanted to reach, and on the same day, you did. LCSW and a high school band director."

i have to admit, God has a pretty great sense of timing.

so, as i was reveling in my new-found sense of accomplishment, i went off to photograph the avery family :)

they have some great land just one county over, and i loved the scenery and backdrop it created. chris said in several cases, "it looks like one of those fake backdrops that you see in the studio!"

they were very easy going and we had fun getting the kids to smile and look at the camera (though not always successfully, as you'll see.)

lily... well, lily was having some diva moments. and i love this photo.

amanda had shared some pictures of the land beforehand, and i LOVED this log and it's potential for creating different layers for everyone.

well, first it had to be checked out for any "law-abiding" snakes that might be hiding there. and as we discussed the possible conversations to emergency room nurses about getting bit on the butt by a snake for the sake of a picture, they deemed the log safe and amazingly--everyone got on it.


it was worth it. i'm also a sucker for old sheds and broken down trucks. they happily obliged.
and bulldozers. (backhoes?--not up to date on my construction equipment.)
the light in the barn was pretty amazing. i think i might tweak this one some more...
we finished off the evening with some confiscated fireworks that the fire marshal said must be "gotten rid of."

lily's not a big fan of fireworks and watched from the safety of the truck.
then, while we had the blow torch out, we got rid of some pesky fire ant hills. those averys know how to show you a good time...
but at the end of the evening, we just enjoyed dusk and the falling mist over the land... (felt like pioneer woman with this shot--except she's just amazing and i couldn't get the horse to come closer)
and headed on home.

thanks, averys, for a wonderful evening and some awesome pictures. i hope you enjoy them :)

(and thanks to jessica for being my fabulous assistant! she did a great job, too)

there wasn't much that could make today a "good" day...

but this coming in the mail did the trick!



can i get a big "WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!"?

thanks :)

blog makeover!

just fyi if you want to try some of these changes yourself--

(and don't say "oh lauren, i couldn't do that." seriously, the tutorials are idiot-proof. they even tell you where you might make a mistake, just so you won't make them.)

the background and post dividers are from shabby blog--make sure you explore their site so you see the tutorials and web page elements they offer. and everything is FREE!

the font--oh, the font, the glorious font. it's from kevin and amanda's blog. their tutorials are fantastic and very thorough. if you can put together a bookshelf with instructions or follow a recipe, you can do this.

and they have a tutorial about how to add a signature to every post automatically. also super-easy (though i have photoshop and that made it easier--i think.)

and finally, the header is a picnik creation (their four-across collage with stickers added) and i went back and used photoshop to add the same font, though picnik's fonts work fine, too. picnik can also size the photo to fit the header (700 pixels, though i think 695 might work better. we had to tweak the border in order to make it fit. thank goodness for html literate husbands!) i think their "fancy collages" might work well, too, and shabby blogs have several header options for you to choose from (though they didn't fit my style.)

have fun!

curly-head meg :)

this girl loves her pictures.
which is why we HAD to do two--count 'em--two sessions to accurately show the wide range of hair styles possible. straight and curly (which any girl can tell you is not easy to do in one sitting. especially with these curls--check those out!)
so i forced myself to take pictures of this girl AGAIN. i mean, who would want to spend two evenings taking pictures of this "class of 2009" senior?
(meg, you know i'm kidding, right? seriously. you make this look so easy and effortless and you are just so gosh darn cute.)
can we share something here? meg's mom made her cut off the bracelets for the first shoot. i actually really like them. (don't hurt me, robin, but i do!) and i'm impressed that she managed to build up her collection again just over the past week. so i had to make sure they were included in this shoot. (love love love this shot. can i say it again? love.)
so, meg, thanks for kicking off my senior portrait porfolio. you've already sent another referral my way, and i have a feeling there may be many more to follow...
(a few more up on flickr, if you want to check 'em out.)

i heart faces: crazy silly funny face!

it's time for another week of photos over at i heart faces and i had fun picking out my entries for the two categories this week.

this is one of my "out takes" from david and lynn's photo shoot a couple of months ago with newborn joshua. at this point, we were going on about 2 hours of shooting and david was getting a little silly. and i just kept shooting. my favorite part of this picture is lynn's reaction to david's crazy face, and then josh just watching the whole thing from their arms!




this is a non-judged category, but i liked the different perspective on this picture. nothing makes pepper-dog happier than riding in the car with the window down...


head on over to i heart faces to check out the rest of this week's photos!

the rest of the weekend :)

so after such a great evening on friday, we got up saturday and took it easy. breakfast at the condo, a couple of hours on the beach, and then time to get cleaned up and head out for lunch. after checking out recommendations online, we ended up at the duffy street seafood shack. my grandma couldn't get over the "ambiance" of this self-proclaimed shack :)

the crabcake sandwiches and shrimp po'boys were delicious, though. we loved the messages painted on the bathroom doors. wonder how many times they had to clean the bathrooms before they started painting those on...

afterwards, we headed down to barefoot landing. justin and i had to check out all of the "photo op" boards in front of the various stores:
my favorite was the "bad pirate" stock and chains. i did my best pirate face and hook for my alma mater. not that i've ever been called a bad pirate. in fact, i think i make a pretty good pirate. but all for the picture, right?

i do love walking around barefoot landing. it's a little more laidback than broadway at the beach and still has a lot of natural surroundings with the boardwalks and wildlife scattered around the ponds. we stopped in lots of the little shops and cafes to check things out---lots of stops with all six of us, but we had a good time.
(we contemplated buying a cute message tee for pepper at one of the shops. adorable, right?)

later that evening, after a dinner at the condo, justin and i ventured back out to find a restaurant we spotted earlier in the day... guess what caught his eye?
yes, steelers logo on the front. after checking out all of the steelers memorabilia, we headed down to the pavillion for some ice cream and people-watching. we briefly contemplated riding the ferris wheel, but it would be $4 each to ride and that's just ridiculous. so instead, we took in the free entertainment and watched the couples on the dance floor, shagging. tucked back in the pavillion arcade area was an open-air dance room. we stood in the back, and i loved watching the couples (most nearly twice our age) dancing and showing off their skills. the shag is such a fluid dance--lots of subtle turns and shuffling the feet, but when it's done right--it is so much fun to watch! (and i imagine even more fun to dance :) )

so the next morning, we made it out early to the golden griddle pancake house. the more time i spent in myrtle beach, the more i felt like we were up north. we had the steelers-themed restaurant the night before, and this morning--marshall paraphenalia all over the walls and buckwheat cakes on the menu. (that's what justin had--he said they were good, but not as good as back home. of course.)
and then we spent our last few hours on the beach, in the ocean, catching waves and soaking up some sun. i couldn't get over how crowded it was on the beach and how different it was from our beaches back at home. with huge high-rises every few yards, there were just so many people infront of the hotels and condos. a little after noon, we called it a day and went back in to shower, pack and clean up the condo.

we want to say thank you to john and mary for letting our family use the condo this week! it was a wonderful getaway and we had an awesome time. thanks, again :)

so now it's back to the real world, with work and a busy busy week coming up. miss pepper dog is exhausted after playing all weekend with saydee and sophee--she crashed around 9 and is tucked in already. thanks to amber and steve for welcoming one more dog into their home for the weekend.

i think i hear the bed calling me (and a bottle of aloe for justin)... g'night1

at the beach...

just a few pictures before we head to bed. hard to believe that last night we were looking at a full moon over the coldplay concert, and tonight we're watching it rise over myrtle beach...
family going for a walk on the beach at dusk
(justin's quote for this one--where's hootie?)
looking down the beach after sunset....

long shutter with traffic lights

thank goodness for tripods :)
mom and grandma told me that the moon has just been perfect over the last few nights. they were right!
goodnight, moon. goodnight, air. goodnight noises everywhere.




p.s. i am humbled by patrice's words tonight. but so grateful to be connected to them through love of friends and family, faith in our amazing Lord, and the joy of photography.

viva!

we bought coldplay tickets in february, the morning they became available. it's been a long six months, but we made it--and man, was it worth it!

we headed towards raleigh in the early evening and stopped in knightdale to get some dinner. the two bands opening weren't ones we were familiar with, and since we had seat tickets and didn't have to save space on the lawn, we figured we could take some time.

to be honest, i haven't been through knightdale in a long time, since they opened up the bypass around it a few years ago. i was shocked to see that it continued growing--by leaps and bounds, in fact. the shopping centers that have built up there are HUGE and have tons of stores and restaurants. we chose to stop in at five guys and enjoy some of their delicious cheeseburgers. after our rookie mistake of ordering two orders of fries last time we visited, we have since learned our lesson and only ordered one regular serving of fries (which was still ridiculously large and we barely put a dent in them.)
then it was off to the concert. as much as i have enjoyed the numerous concerts at walnut creek over the past 10 or 15 years, i hate getting there. and i hate leaving. this venue is tucked away behind neighborhoods and in the suburbs of raleigh, so that traffic is horrendous coming and going. luckily, since we arrived fairly late, we were able to get a parking spot at the back of the lot, close to the exit.

oh, but before we get there, let's share this fun little story.

we have three technological devices that can give us directions. a GPS, justin's palm pre, my blackberry. with three devices in the car, you'd think we couldn't possibly get lost, could we?

oh, yes we could.

justin was driving at this point and searched for "alltel pavillion walnut creek." i didn't think to correct him that it was time warner now, but figured it had found the same place. as we got closer and closer to downtown raleigh, i realized that was not the case.

so i go to turn on the gps. he doesn't use his as frequently as i do, so it doesn't stay charged. instead, it was dead and wouldn't even turn on when it was plugged in. so that was no help.

and as much as i love my blackberry, us cellular doesn't have good data coverage in major metro areas (i know, makes perfect sense, right?) so i couldn't pull up google maps.

so we went off of our basic raleigh knowledge and managed to find 440 and eventually get there. moral of the story is--even having three devices that give directions can get you lost.

back to the concert:

after getting in, we got some drinks and made our way to our seats. center of the covered pavillion area, right behind the VIP boxes.
even though it had rained earlier in the day, it was a gorgeous evening and was actually pretty comfortable. they had a "viva" balloon anchored at the top of the lawn, and i stopped at the top to get a picture of the nearly sold-out crowd.
when coldplay actually came out, they had "blue danube" playing, with a spotlight on someone down front leading the crowd in waving and clapping along with the song. then the lights went down and a huge banner fell with the band siloutted behind it. the crowd was going crazy! the laser show added some awesome effects along with the light show.

when they played "yellow," the huge yellow balloons came out again. four years ago, we were on the lawn and they didn't come anywhere close to us. this year, we were definitely closer but still didn't hit any of them. after yellow, they lowered five "video orbs" where they were able to project images and streaming video onto the screens. coldplay brings their own video system with them, and the quality is amazing. so much better than any of the concerts we've ever seen.
last time when they were touring, they had the video wall from the "speed of sound" video. this time, they had a smaller version of it, but still used it for some cool visual effects.

then they started coming out into the audience! i had seen them doing sound check on a couple of guitars on a spot in the lawn earlier and figured they would head out that way. they also set up a small stage with a keyboard on the right side of the pavillion. as always, lots of audience interaction, getting us to sing and be involved in the show.
then they headed out to the lawn for an acoustic set, including "billie jean" and some of their own made-up riffs for the night. they made it back up on stage for the last full set, which ended up being my favorite part....

confetti! i had seen the machines set-up around the outside of the stage and the lawn and wondered what they were for, figuring it was some sort of pyrotechnic thing. during their last song, they had several blasts of confetti all around the stage and seating area. then, during a black light section, they had neon confetti that was just amazing.(i was frustrated by a girl 3 rows up who was easily my height, but insisted on standing on the seat so that her head was in my way for about half of the concert. you can see her head in several of the pictures. argh.)

of course, they came back out for a two-song encore, and when all was said and done, it was 11 and the concert was over. rather than fighting the cattleherd-like crowds, we sat in our seats for a while, and then cut up across the lawn to see the viva balloon up close. from there, we could see the surge of people at the gates, trying to get out.

it was also pretty crazy down there because we were informed by chris martin during the concert that they had a cd for each of us as we left the concert, complete with 9 tracks--some new stuff, and some live recordings from concerts. umm, wow? how many groups do that?we snagged some of the confetti on the way out, too. neon butterflies, fitting with the design of the cd.

and then it was time to leave the concert. and this is my least favorite part, folks. i've had such crazy experiences in these parking lots that sometimes, it almost ruins the concert experience. since we had waited for a while and were towards the back of the lot, we didn't have to go far to get to the exit. but then it's five or six "lanes" of traffic trying to merge at one little one-lane outlet that cuts THROUGH THE WOODS to actually get back to anything that resembles a main road. and yes, we may have fifteen people directing us in as we arrive when any idiot can park in straight line yet it takes three staff members to guide us to our parking spot, but when it's time to leave THERE'S NO ONE DIRECTING TRAFFIC and instead it's every man, woman and child for themselves and people are still buzzed or hungover or frustrated and it's late and it NEVER goes smoothly. i've written so many "suggestions" to the concert people about having staff members out there in the parking lots directing traffic, as we've watched people take out traffic cones or knock over posts and ropes to get traffic moving after a concert. and wouldn't that just make sense?

and that's my soapbox for the day, people. thanks for listening :)

so we got out eventually (i did--justin does NOT do well in those situations. same reason i drive us through the congested areas on i-95) and made it home by 1:15. and today i'm running on caffiene as we wrap up the work week and get ready to head down to myrtle beach this evening to spend the weekend with my family. i'm excited to get away, to have a pepper-free weekend (she'll be having a slumber party with saydee and sophee over at amber's house--many thanks, amber and steve :) ) and to explore a different beach area than our regular stomping grounds. check back after the weekend for our fun in myrtle beach!

lost in translation

(conversation between me and justin as i'm wearing a light-weight blue scarf, courtesy of tar-jay and a clearance sale.)

justin: are you cold?

me: no...

justin: then why are you wearing a scarf?

me: it's an accessory. to add some color to what i'm wearing. not to keep me warm.

justin: but it's 95 degrees outside.

me: i know, but it's a style. it's not making me hot. it's just part of my outfit (i start flipping through some of the newspaper ads, hoping to find a picture to show him that this is, indeed, a style.)

justin: okay, but i don't know why you'd wear a scarf in july...

________________________________________________________________________________________
justin: i bought 90 mp3 files of bach music on amazon this morning for $2.99!

me: why would you buy 90 bach pieces?

justin: because it was $2.99. that's less than 3 cents per file!

me: but it's bach. do you like bach?

justin: i knew a few of the pieces. like the one from the looney tunes cartoon where they're in the dracula castle. (he starts humming beethoven's 5th)

me: that's beethoven, not bach.

justin: well, i knew some other ones from weddings and stuff.

me: are you talking about the tocatta in D minor? (i hum the "dracula" song)

justin: yeah! that's it. and i recognized some others from our wedding and other stuff. besides, you never know when you might need some classical music.

(it took every smart-mouthed fiber in me not to say, "hon, that's baroque." but i didn't.)
________________________________________________________________________________________

when do you get lost in translation?




(p.s.:
may we have a moment of silence for pink loofa dog? she wins for being the longest lasting stuffed animal to survive, but got replaced by purple loofa dog the next time i went to the store.)

i should so be in bed...

but i had to throw a few of these on here. cause they're just that awesome.
kudos to meg for suggesting the best spot ever. i will be returning for sunsets like we had here!
and do you like my thrift store chair? turned out pretty well, wouldn't you say?
but i just love it when i'm happy, the teen is happy, the teen's mom is happy...
it's just a good place to be.

weekend update

so as mentioned in the previous random post, i was craving sushi for dinner last night.

and sushi we got. new found favorite was the spicy scallop roll, though we also tried the hawaiian roll (on the right) and got eel again (though it wasn't as we remembered it and was somewhat difficult to get down.) our "salad" was the vegetable roll, pictured left. justin's chopstick skills are much improved, and overall, it was a delicious meal.
this morning, we got up and headed out to rocky mount. i've been trying to get by the AAA office in fayetteville when we've been visiting my family, but they have short hours on saturday and we rarely get there in time. so we found the closest travel office to us and were able to meet with one of the agents there and discuss our ideas for our disney trip this fall. we'd been looking at both the budget and moderate resorts, and after running the numbers, i think we'll probably go with the moderate level, which means we'll be staying at the coronado springs resort.
oh yeah.

the appeal here is the disney dining plan that's included in the package, which should take care of the majority of our meals. we're going to get a 5 day park-hopper pass, which should give us plenty of time to see all of the parks (from wednesday to sunday morning) and also allow us the option of attending one of the dinner shows in the parks, too.

so we're mulling over the details for the week and will make the call towards the end of the week to finalize our reservations.

while we were in rocky mount, i wanted to stop by the imperial centre, one of the renovated tobacco warehouses that now houses an art museum, children's science museum and theater. my friend renee had tipped me off to this place a few weeks ago, and i had to see it for myself. i know where i'll recommend my next "urban" photo shoot!
the exposed brick, metal doors and textures, great lighting inside and out--wow! i loved it and can't wait to try it out for a photo shoot sometime soon. anyone want to venture to rocky mount for it?

another spot that i found recently and want to try in a photo shoot is this antique store outside of wilson.
lots of vintage signs and a fully renovated filling station. great retro feel :) any takers for this one?

and finally, another idea that i shared with some of my friends last night that they seemed to think was pretty cool. this is another one of my dollar tree finds--just your basic "weekly" pill container. however, i use the different days to separate out purse-sized amounts of ibuprofen, aspirin, multi-vitamins and allergy pills. that way, instead of having four different pill bottles to clutter up my purse, i just have one container taking up space.

my friends seemed to think that was pretty cool and even commented "how organized" it was. to which katie (my wonderful co-worker) laughed and said, "have you seen her desk?"

okay, so maybe my desk... and anywhere designated "my area" at home... aren't that organized. but i like to say, it's not dirty, just cluttered. and that's a big difference.

and to be honest, i've been like that for as long as i can remember, so i don't see it changing anytime soon. it's all about priorities, right? :)

okay, time to figure out what's for dinner.