I know it's Halloween, so let's talk about Christmas!

Last night, Tanner had a band party. I think personally, it's the parents that should have gotten together and partied, after all, we no longer have to get up at the buttcrack of dawn to get our little green marching band headed down the road.

Maybe they were celebrating that they didn't have to see me any more, with dreary eyes, a floppy pony tail and pajamas.

Did I ever mention I'm not a morning person?
Yeah that.

So anyway, we dropped Tanner off at his party, and like most good parents, we seized that opportunity to eat out. Yeah, we're cool like that.

On the way there, I spot a sign "Antique Festival, Sat 9-5".
Uh.. yeah, we're so there.

So this morning, we got up, headed out to see what interesting goodies we'd find and it was actually pretty good considering it wasn't huge. Of the dozen or so booths, I really spent a lot of time in about 3-4 of them.

I wanted to share my goodtacular finds!

2 dozen tart pans, in the orignal box for $3.00 I have an overwhelming urge to invite the bridge club over and serve lots of little tart goodness. Anyone know a bridge club? I don't have enough friends to have one. Or know how to play bridge.

Love!
This phone just makes me so happy. No idea why. I had a plastic one like this when I was a kid, played with it every time we played house. I love that it's red, and old, and would look awesome not only in my scrapbook room (it's my direct line to the president you know) or under my vintage tree full of shiny brites and other antique toys. Yeah I was in. I won't tell you how much I paid. :p OK, I won't tell my husband how much I paid.

It wasn't bad.

Not sure he'd agree. lol

Now if you know my man, you know he likes a fine whiskey. I couldn't resist this tiny lil' jug o whiskey. No idea if it's real or some touristy junk thing, but it was cute, and now it's in my kitchen ... with some real whiskey... but not in it.

yes. I bought little ppl.
Something compelled me.

Maybe it was because they looked so lonely in their lil' ziploc bag.

Or possibly it was because it brought a flood of happy childhood memories, building towns with my BFF TJ on the floor of her bedroom with our Little People sets.

Or maybe it was because they are hard to find and I can totally sell them on ebay.

Yeah. One of those.


Now, I have to preface the following pics with this statement:
I have a vintage christmas obsession.

an "illness", may more aptly describe it.

It started with some shiny brite ornaments, because they made me think of my childhood. Now, I have around 300 of them, and a tree devoted to nothing but shiny brites.

It went down hill from there. Soon I had bought a set of vintage elves at a garage sale for a quarter, and then realized they went with nothing I owned, so I bough some vintage looking trees, and a sled, and blah blah blah.. before you knew it, anything "new" was sold or donated, and everything vintage moved in.

It's like Christmas in 1942 in my house.

Only with ipods and flat screens.

OK, no flat screens, but Gene can dream can't he?

If I buy it, it has to look like it came from 1940-1975 Somewhere in there.

And I have a huge crush on deer... and celluloid. But mostly white celluloid deer. It's a sickness really.

See?

Oh and what started it all! A box of shiny brites.

Aren't they just... shiny.... and uh.. brite?
I admired a box, and he came down on his price 25%. Just cuz I looked. Yeah I'm feeling it.

And 2 other pretties. Technically, these are from a couple weekends ago, but I felt it necessary to share.

I really love the unusual ones, and this one qualified for sure. I'm sure Stacy, Jim and Gene all three would vote "creepy as hell", however, that just sells it harder for me.

I'm weird like that.

Shut up.
no really.

Poor lost and lonely Puddy

Poor Mack. He's been insane lately. Well, more insane than his USUAL insanity. "Normally" his a pretty odd bird anyway, but this summer, he caught some fleas and he's not been the same! It was so wet, that fleas got bad, and we finally got them kicked out of the house, but Mack was left in the wake of flea meds, a trip to the vet, and 3 baths. Two of which, we did ourselves.

Giving a cat a bath, is about as fun as holding a cat while vacuuming. It's right up there in my top 300,352 things to do.

He, however, has succumbed to the event and no longer fights.
Kinda like the gym...
and taxes.

Poor Puddy.

He's been randomly rolling around on his back, chewing at his leg like he does whenever you touch his back. His back is very sensitive. He seems most happy when he's chewing on himself, *right next to me*

Groan.

So today, I picked him up, inspected him to see if something was rooting around in there, and saw nothing. Then noted that he had a huge chunk of fur off his leg from the chewing. Off he went to the sink.

It's not his happy place.

In the end, he got all clean, at the moment he's not chewing his own leg off. (I know that feeling, I saw "Magnolia" with Tom Cruise, and man, I really wanted to chew my leg off too).

Before you know it, Mack will be nudging the shampoo up next to my feet and looking up with longing eyes, begging for his bi-weekly bath. But I'm not holding my breath.

In other news, it's been 4 hours, and Mack is almost dry, and so is my clothes.
Awesome.

I'm a Pi-ran-ha!

{name that movie!}

This was my kid. Yep. He's not my kid anymore. (trust me there are days....)


Then on Monday, something tramatic happened. Now, not everything tramatic is bad. He just happened to get a bunch of metal ripped out of his mouth!

You see, 3.25 years ago, this poor kid has some serious teeth issues. Let's just say, there was a "kicking incident" and I'm still kinda mad at his big brother. However, it made for cute no front teeth pics for like 2 years.

So his dad and I made the investment equal to a decent used car and instead, put it into his mouth.

It was so worth it!

He did so well, not once did he eat popcorn, sugared gum, taffy, caramel apples (or a regular apple for that matter), corn on the cob and lots more. So I made it my mission to get him all those things on our trip to Branson. Ironically, before I gave him the taffy, he mentioned I should have bought a pound of taffy!

Wish granted.

Then we had popcorn, and corn on the cob for supper, and a big fat caramel apple.

Oh, then I threatened his life. Get in a bar fight and bust a tooth? I'm gonna want a DAMN NICE used car!

What I did on my "summer" (har) vacation

I promise to give you a few posts on all the fun had in Branson. I'm a bad blogger. Forgive me! I've had so much stuff to catch up on, blogging has been put on a back burner. No worries, I have about 27 ideas for posts planned.

On our way to Branson, Amber and I talked about getting sister tattoos. What those would be, we didn't know. Somewhere about an hour later, we announced we ALL needed to get tattoos.

Everyone but Amber and me moaned.
Wth?

Only 24 hours, some prodding, a grandma that will babysit while her kids go out scanning the streets for tattoo parlors.... and we were set.

A couple stops, and we ended up at Missouri Tattoo Company with a couple of talented guys working. At first, we were all just going to get our own things... then for some reason, I said "we should get the Harley Davidson 1 logo!" No idea why, divine intervention? Who knows. But Dad had a Harley, with a custom painted tank and with the 1.

Chris then said, "I want a Daisy on mine" and then we realized that we should all personalize what we wanted.

Chris went first... with some chanting. Chris!Chris!Chris! Heh.
This was Chris' first tattoo and even if everyone else chickened out, Chris would have hers! She didn't like that theory, but she still went first.

This is Jim, more on him in a bit.

This is Chris' completed tattoo. He loves me, he loves me not. I could make lots of psychoanalytical statements about that, but I'll just say, it's cute, it rocks, and it's totally Chris.


Amber went next.

She seemed to have the hardest time with it. In this spot, it barely bothered me, but on Amber, she was shaking like she was cold and said it hurt like hell. But dude, it was awesome!

A pair of hair shears cutting the 1.


Aw crap. it's my turn!

Being the photographer, I have the least amount of photos of ME. lol.

I've been wanting a swallow ever since we were married. Swallows mate for life and there just happened to be swallows in the rafters above us as we got married!

Apologies for the iffy pic, and dry skin. Mine was taking today, in the bathroom, backwards, in a tiny mirror.

Yes, you're right, I do rock.


Next up, Torrie....

This is Mikey. He's patient. Kinda.
He had to be....

poor guy got Torrie.

Love you Torrie, you're awesome cute, but damn girl, you gotta drink more beer and lighten up.



7 changes later, and one popped artery in sweet Mikey's forehead, Torrie got a tattoo updated that she already had. She had the one, 2 banners, some flowers, Tayen and Dad and 1 for 1 added. (Dad died not long after Tayen was born).

It turned out very pretty!


We made it back to the hotel around 2 a.m. They really hated us I'm sure. We warned them we were coming back, and I'm sure they had to flip a coin for mom. *we warned them*


The next day, we went to Silver Dollar City, and didn't go back to the room, we went straight back to the tattoo place for mom's tattoo.

She got it in one of the suckiest (painful) spots ever. Center back. yeow.

Yeah I'll pass.

This is Mikey.
He is awesome talented. And patient. Did I mention patient?
We love you Mikey
donthurtmeplease

This is Jim Peters. He's a riot.

I admit, he's a little rough around the edges. However, he reveled us with stories about Sailor Jerry (i'm a huge fan!), Ed Hardy (which I'm not a huge fan), famous ppl he knows, hung with, tattooed... etc. He also shared some "interesting former jobs" and relationship stories. Soon he's going back to Hawaii. Trying to figure out why his wife WANTS to stay in Missouri.

Hawaii?
Missouri?

I really need to get in touch with Mrs Peters and smack her upside the head.

We ended up really loving everything we got, made it our own, honored our Dad, and bonded all at the same time.

All we have left to do, is to hold down our brother and then we're an official tribe.

Rusty nail anyone?

Hello?

Bridal Fair Report

I haven't had a chance yet, to update you on how the bridal fair went. This was the second time I did the show, and I was really impressed by how many people showed up this year. Last year, there was a fair amount of brides, and this year, it seemed like there were many more. I gave out a lot more brochures than last year, I almost ran out!!

It was pretty busy, and at points you couldn't even get in my booth!

Gene came along to help, and so did Tanner:

It's a where's waldo kinda photo.

Each year, they put on a fashion runway show of latest dresses. These dresses are supplied by the lovely Shannon Renee's in Maryville. I have shot a couple weddings with dresses from Shannon's and they are really beautiful! Please be sure to check them out if you are looking for formal wear.

This dress was one of my favorites, maybe it's because I wore a great big red, white and blue dress. LOL. Just a guess!

Look at all those beautiful buttons up the back!!


And now for the best/most unusual fall color combination ever!

Aubergine and orange! Oh so pretty. If I were getting married in the fall, I'd SO DO THIS!


And here's something you almost never see at bridal fashion runway shows!.....

A cowboy!!
(for the lovely readers that don't know, and that have just joined us, that's my hubs)

That's not something you see every day.

There were a ton of other great booths. I did want to send a shout out to some cool vendors whose info I gathered up to share.

Marriott Party Decorations and Catering.
They had a beautiful and TASTY chocolate cake there. Highly impressed!
3201 Oak Ave
Braddyville, IA

712-370-2651

***********************

Mobile DJ
Tony Haist
660-652-3477
I've shot several weddings where one of Tony's DJ systems was there (he has 5!), and they do such an awesome job!

***********************

If you are looking for an unusual venue to hold your wedding AND/OR reception, you have to see Paradise Park in Oregon. It's so pretty! You don't have to have a wedding there either, what an awesome spot for a family reunion or a christmas party. They are not that far from Kansas City!

In the center of the park, is a 100 year old barn, and it's surrounded by beautiful landscaping, artwork and even an indoor pond.

OK, I'm thinking paradise park, with purple and orange in the fall. yep. Think I can talk my husband into another wedding?

Paradise Park
Roderick Dryden owner
Oregon, MO
660-446-2407


***********************

Of course, Spectacular Settings was there again. She does awesome decorating, and I swear, she has half the weddings I shoot! cool arches, greenery, tablescapes. You need Teresa!

Spectacular Settings
Teresa Hayes
660-582-0791

Of course there were many others there that deserve recognition, I just didn't get everyone's cards as I was so busy!!

Wish you were here

Well, we made it!! We only tried to kill each other 9 times! woot! Mom rented a mini van, and we are filled to capacity. Can you imagine the luggage for 5 women and a baby? Yeah, like that, only with moon pies and a case of diet pepsi.


Amber and I called the back seat. Mainly cuz when Tayen had a fit, I didn't want her screaming at the back of my head. I'm selfish like that. In the end, she was good as gold. It's cute how she says "oewwww" with her binky in her mouth. Sometimes with her hands raised and a tilted head like "what?"

She's not nearly the brat her mom was. I can confirm this since I was changing her mom's diaper when she was her age.

We did what we could to entertain ourselves, and Tayen. She was most interested in this "ladybug" (ie: stinky japanese beetle) that hitched a ride all the way from KC.

We had to stop a few times, mainly cuz mom has a bladder the size of a kidney bean (yes, that pun was indeed intended).

We stopped at Osceola cheese. Yep, no trip down south can happen without a stop to tank up on cheese.

This is what we can only refer to as the "unfortunate cheese incident of 2009"

Identities have been concealed to protect the guilty.
Trust me, you're glad you missed it.

Amber and I hit a scrapbook store here in Branson. It was full of awesome. Everyone else bellyached about the wait. That part was awesome too!

We hit apple tree mall, which is a craft mall that has been her FOREVER. Huge. Yeah, I wanna die, and my foot is aching. I have a feeling I'm gonna be the gimp on the scooter at silver dollar city. I might have to hit a shoe store and find the BEST SHOES EVER before we go.

Or walmart.

Which is really my speed.

More tomorrow I'm sure. I wanted to post a couple times today, but Amber missed Greys anatomy tonight and wanted to watch on my computer (it wasn't on!) I didn't wanna cross her. She's mean when she misses GA!

Dude. Srsly.

PS. Amber, please don't beat me. I'm your favorite sister remember!? Hello? Helloooooo!?

Catching up!

It's been crazy. I knew it would be.... months ago, I knew October would be the craziest month of the year, and so far that has held true for me.

So, I'm going to give you the super quickie update with some info at the bottom.

1. The bridal show was a success. Did I tell you I was doing the bridal show again? I think I did. See how swiss cheese my head has been lately? Anyway, I was printing stuff the night before, still working on it that morning, but I got it done! I booked one bride, and have a feeling I may have a good lead on a couple more.
2. I've had so many shoots the past couple weeks, I can't even remember who all I shot. I also had to reschedule one couple FOUR TIMES due to craptacular weather.
3. We're unofficially car shopping. It's just *time* Not that my car isn't running great, I just don't want to depend on it. Tanner keeps eyeballing my neon. I'm so attached to it, I don't know if I could let him have it or not. I gave up on the idea of a Chrysler 300 after my friend Jim said they had front end problems. *sad face* Then we had a *heated discussion* over the Dodge Challenger. I won.
4. Taxes are done! Yes, I know what the calendar says. Hello!? Extension
5. When I'm not working on photos, or shooting pics, I've been making apple butter. No seriously! I made 48 pints, 13 half pints, and 3 quarts!! (cuz I ran out of pints lol). Uh... want some apple butter. OMG it's awesome good!
6. We've haven't given up on antiquing, although I've not had time to add anything to my etsy, I'm thinking ahead to the winter when I'm twiddling my thumbs.
7. I will have a couple giveaways soon!
8. Tanner is selling wreaths and garland (they smell so yummy!) for band again this year. This will help fund his future trips including (hopefully) his trip to Washington DC next year! If you are wanting to decorate your house for the holidays, and would like to support the band (what tanner sells goes into his band account specifically) please email me! He will be selling them until November 4, and they will be delivered the week of Nov 22.
9. This weekend, I'm going on a trip with mom, and my 3 sisters and my niece. I'm wondering who's gonna come out alive.... I predict this order: Mom, Me, Amber, Chris, Tayen, Torrie. Sorry Torrie, I think we can take ya.

We're all going to Branson for the weekend and I'm not quite sure WHAT to think. Mom is really excited, and wants to go on a trip with her girls. We went many times as a child, and NEVER have all of us kids went together (usually it was us older kids, or the younger ones). We always went in the fall to the craft festival at Silver Dollar City and I have a lot of fond memories there! I am sure I'll have more.

I'll be taking my camera... duh.. and my laptop (rock the heck on!) and so I'm planning on catching up on some blogging. You know what's funny, I'd be so happy sitting in the hotel for 4 days just blogging and working on pics.

I'm so screwed up. :)

shut up in the cheap seats.

Michelle + Joe = Getting Married!

Meet Michelle and Joe...

They were married at a beautiful local church with many of their closest friends and family at hand.

You can't take prewedding photos, without at least one cell phone shot. Usually it's the bride!

Go Bittersweet Florals and Gifts in Maryville! They rocked the flowers!!

Defjam DJ was awesome, totally had everyone rocking out and dancing!

Thank you Joe and Michelle for letting me be part of your special day!!