My first photoshoot of the year was of an adorable "almost" 3 year old little girl. Of course it would be FREEZING cold the day of the shoot, ruining plans to go to a park. So what did we do? We did the photoshoot in the warmth and deliciousness that is Starbucks.

They turned out cuter than I could've imagined. Wanna see more from her photoshoot? Follow this LINK.

Welcome to the newest member of the team...

After my big photoshoot(s) in Austin, I noticed a decreased photo quality with the photos from the old XT. Of course it is 3 1/2 yrs old and has had almost 40,000 clicks with it's shutter. And as I'm getting a lot more photography work it only made sense to get a new camera.

But as with a lot of us these days, money is tight. So I couldn't shell out $1500-$1800 on a new & fancy camera body. It was suggested to me to buy refurbished and after doing some research I decided that the Canon EOS 40D was for me. I ordered it the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and it showed up a week later. I was excited. It's been a little bit of a learning curve and getting adjusted to the new design, but so far I'm really liking it.

I wrangled the kids and did some test shots with the 40d & my 50mm lens. These were straight off the camera (except the ones that are b/w) and I'm amazed by the quality. I always had to do some sort of exposure fix, color correction or balancing with photos from the XT. So here's to a new chapter in AMZ Photography....

new stuff!

well the biggest occupier of my time lately has been finishing up a few new "art/photo" pieces, photographing the finished product & listing things on etsy.  man that's all very time consuming.  but here's a sneak peak:

you can view any of the others at AMZ Studios!  i've gotta get my act together cuz i wanna do a contest to give away a free piece of art...i just haven't worked out all the details yet.  when i do you guys will be the first to know!

now that Ava is pretty much walking all the time, everywhere, that's keeping me busier than i'd have first imagined.  but that child is in to everything!  and she wants constant 24/7 attention.  she does not like to play by herself, and why should she if she's got her mom, and older bro & sis to do so?  it does get annoying every now & then.  but she's too cute to stay irritated for too long.


meg & i went shopping this past saturday for spring/summer clothes for herself & the other kiddos.  she has a very specific fashion sense.  we enjoyed ourselves and the bit of girl time that we had together.

the kid has too much energy.  if only i could bottle it up i'd make a fortune!

so we got our income tax return.  but apparently i made a boo-boo and we got $1000 less than i'd figured.  which is weird cuz i did it several times and had others go over it with me.  *sigh*  oh well.  it was kinda a bummer to get less but i can't complain too much as the $$$ came at a very crucial time when we needed it most. (but then again it always does). 

recent events have led us to believe that soon our living situation will change, whether out of necessity or by intentional design.  our landlord is becoming less ... friendly and more demanding.  apparently he hasn't heard that these are difficult financial times and wants to raise our rent.  HA!  he's crazy.  we can barely afford what we pay now.  so we're looking into options that will lower our monthly output in terms of housing & utilities.  this has been the most prevalant thing in my/our thoughts lately.  something's gotta change and i'm finally to a point where i'm willing to make some sacrifices to see that change happen.  unfortunately this is all coming up at a time when the housing market sucks & banks aren't very willing to give out loans.  we're always a day late & a dollar short when it comes to this kind of stuff.

up until today we've been enjoying some amazing spring weather.  temps in the high 70s, low 80s, nice breezes, sunny....today it's nasty...and COLD...again!  *sigh*  and it's suppose to be that way all the rest of the week and part of next.  boo! 

the time change has had a weird affect on me this year.  i love that it gets dark later.  but i hate that it throws off my sleeping pattern.  but now that Ava sleeps thru the night (last night it was for 13hrs straight) i guess it's not as big a deal as it once was. 

i'm looking forward to this saturday.  ben & i are gonna go to houston and go shopping at IKEA!  he's never been and i'm excited to go again.  woohoo!  i take pleasure in the small things!   

well it appears break-time's over as the little princess is demanding my attention!  happy wednesday!

Decluttered

i didn't realize it had been so long since i last blogged. lately blogging just doesn't seem like a priority. i have a limited amount of time that i have free to get on the net and sitting down & blogging just takes too much time. besides, i'm sure my life is pretty boring to most people anyway!  

but in case there are some of you curious, well here's a short recap...  

about a week & a half ago Ben caught whatever nasty stomach bug that's been going. he was so violently ill that it really scared me. in our 10 yrs of marriage he's only been that sick one other time and he had a terrible case of the flu then. so we (or i should say he) made it through the night (why do these things always happen in the dead of night?) and the next morning i promptly shipped him off to the doctor's office. we paid a much need $150 for them to say that it wasn't the flu & basically they couldn't do anything for him, he just had to let it "run it's course". AHHHHH!! it's so infuriating to have to shell out money we desperately need for others things on a wasted diagnosis. hell i could charge half that and tell people the same thing. easy money. but then i think the whole medical profession is a big steaming pile of BS!  

luckily within about 2 days Ben was feeling mostly back to normal just in time for Zander to take sick with it, promptly followed by Ava. *sigh* fortunately Meg & I dodged the bullet and as yet have not come down with any symptoms or illness. HALLELUJIAH!  

on monday of this past week Ben & I decided that a much needed spring cleaning was in order. and not just to disinfect from sickness but to seriously purge the house of all the crap that we've accumulated that's just sitting in closets or on shelves that's taking up space and creating a dust magnet. so i gave the kids a week off school & i systematically went room by room over the last week and clean and threw away and put stuff in boxes for a garage sale. when all was said and told we threw away about 6-7 bags of garbage and our entire front porch is covered with stuff i'm getting rid of. i couldn't be happier. i can't even begin to tell you what a relief it is and it's like a weight has been lifted. it's funny how we buy & accumulate stuff to make us happy and in the end it ends up making us feel ... bad. i'm a minimalist at heart. the less clutter the better i feel. so we've instituted a new rule. for every new thing we bring into the house, 1 old thing must go. i'd like to keep my house this clutter-free and organized.  

in the middle of all that chaos i finished up those 4 custom sports mosiacs that the guy ordered like 3 wks ago. OMG! was that the longest project ever!!! i'm so glad to be done. next time i get a custom order of that magnitude i'm charging a heck of a lot more. but now i can move on to other projects, more creative projects and get some new items up in the store. i'm hoping to do some smaller pieces that are cheaper and maybe entice buyers who don't wanna pay as much for the bigger pieces. you can check out my store at AMZ Studios! in other random news i'm sure you'll find it hilarious that me, the perpetual reader, the woman who'd rather read than do anything else has read...wait for it...3 books since Jan 1st. LOL! that is so pathetic by my standards. this time last year i'd already read like 10. but i am a lot busier these days and i've put it on the back burner. i've been going to bed so early and then when i get up in the mornings i hit the ground running with household/kid/chore stuff that i just haven't made the time. in actuality i've given myself the year off from reading and will only read what i want, which means i'm probably gonna go back and leisurely re-read books i really enjoyed.  

let's see what else? Ava's completely weaned. she nursed longer than either of my other two and i have to say i'm quite happy to be finished with all of that. she's also starting to reject eating baby food and almost demands "grown up" food. she's also standing up by herself more and more and today she took her 2nd step. and then promptly fell down. LOL! Meg was walking by 9 months...i'm sure Ava's not that far behind. she's also cut 2 more teeth on the top. i can't believe that she's 8 1/2 months old! where does the time go?  

so i've joined the Angelina Photography Club. i decided to meet with real life people (and not just talk to Flickr pals online). they meet once a month and there are projects you work on and you get critiqued and critque others and twice a year they have a photography exhibit at the museum where a photo or two of my work will be exhibited. i'm the youngest person in the group. mostly it's 60+ y/os but they were all super friendly at my first meeting which was on thursday. i think it'll be fun and something to do and will keep me on my toes photographically...well that's the idea anyway.  

well i think that's about it...i'll close with a few pieces of eye candy!

some recent scrapbook pages of the kids.  you can see enlarged versions here!

some of my 365 photos!  you can see the series HERE!

not sure what Z was doing here but it resembled the "Peter Pan" pose! =)

so much to do, where to start?

so earlier this week i got 3 custom orders totaling 7 pieces to work on.  i'm stunned and excited and overwhelmed!  LOL!  i'm really happy with how this whole etsy store thing has taken off and with so very little promotion.  and i'm doing something i enjoy while making money & keeping busy.  that's always good.  

finished up this piece Wednesday.  it's like Lemons & Limes.  or a sunrise over a green meadow...or whatever you want to see it as i suppose.  i guess that's the whole point of abstract art.  LOL!  i will be listing this as well as a few other small pieces hopefully later this weekend.

my most recent 365 photo.  there's something so photogenic about Converse shoes don't you agree?

the weather was amazing here yesterday.  and for someone (me & my family) who's wishing for spring to hurry up and get here, we got a taste yesterday.  and today is suppose to be just as amazing with highs in the mid 70s and pure sunshine all day.  yesterday we took advantage of the weather and got outside.  the kids enjoyed scribbling with sidewalk chalk and the littlest munchkin enjoyed taking a stroll in her stroller!

well housework & motherhood is calling my name.  hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

In the works

Working my fingers to the nub.  Ok not really.  But they've been furiously working to make more adult beanie hats.  

I was so surprised that almost all the hats i had and listed sold within 24 hrs.  I expected the kid & baby hats to sell cuz they look so cute, but so far there's been little interest.  It's funny what you think will sell and what actually does.  

I've also listed the wall art photo collage as 4 smaller collage pieces of three.  For those on a tighter budget the groupings of 3 are more affordable and you don't have to have as much wall space to hang them.  

I hope to start on some more wall art pieces soon...maybe try to do a mosaic in a monochrome color scheme.  And i've thought about mixing the stripes and the mosaic on a canvas  and seeing how that will turn out.  So I have lots to experiment with.   

It's COLD here...like 35 degrees for the high, which is cold for Texas.   Thankfully it turned out sunny today which almost makes the cold bearable....almost!  :)  I can't wait for spring. 

Anyone else out there doing a Project 365?  I'm on day 26 and I'm starting to run out of ideas.  oops!  I've gotta get the creative gears a-turning.  If you're interested in my 365 photos click here!  One from today that just made me laugh: 

She is so fond of making faces.  :)

And on that note I think I'll go make me a cup of hot chocolate to warm up on this cold day....brrrrrr!  

Happy Wednesday to you!