I am finally putting to use one of the golden gems of advice I received from Justin & Mary Marantz from their Spread the Love Tour.  They mentioned they send their brides & grooms little notes, packages, gifts, etc., throughout the year as their wedding approaches.  Well, I decided to try the “movie night” gift since I thought I could pull it off.  I grabbed two lovey dovey movies from Target, some Crunch ‘n Munch, and a little handwritten note & put them in these boxes.  They are just a little gift to remind my couples who will be married soon to relax, take a break from planning, and enjoy a movie night with their love.  That’s all.  Hope they enjoy them.

PS – I haven’t mailed them yet, so hopefully this doesn’t spoil the surprise.  No one reads this thing anyways, right?

And here’s the last of my late weekend posts….

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I hope you had a great day with your honey.  Josh & I were given the wonderful opportunity for our girls to have an overnight trip with Aunt Emily & Uncle Matt while Josh & I pretended to be childless!  We love our girls, but we are rarely (if ever) without them.  And I don’t know about you, but firmly believe a happy, healthy marriage is essential to have a happy, healthy family.  So, thank you Matt & Emily for caring for our darlings while we took a leisurely dinner & a late movie.  We feel so relaxed!

The cookie in this photo was the last of four that our neighbors brought to us.  Aren’t the sweet?  They brought one for each of us – which is good for my portion control issues – and this last one left was mine.  Don’t worry, it’s gone now.

How did you celebrate Valentine’s day?

Today was dubbed “Mommy/Brooke” day because big sister, Emma, got to have a sleepover with her cousin.  So, to make Brooke feel equally special & loved, I took her out for a date, just her & me.  We went where every girl goes when she needs something to do – the Mall!  We had a little dinner at Chick-Fil-A & went off to throw coins in the fountain.  After that we ventured through the entire mall down to Build-a-Bear.  There,  Brooke was overwhelmed with a mountain of furry friends looking for homes!  After picking up about 5 friends & then saying, “I changed my mind,” she finally settled on Frosty the Snowman.  What an economical shopper – he was reduced to $15 instead of the normal $23.  Even his accessories were on sale!

She took Frosty to the stuffing station, put his heart in, watched him get puffed up to life, bathed him, & then got his birth certificate.  We later took him out to a quiet corner in the mall & played with him.  Brooke decided he was too tired to walk so she strapped him in her stroller & took him all the way back down where we began.  Sorry to all you shoppers who had to jump out of our way – rookie driver!

Now we’re home & she’s busy coloring his “house” box & letting him watch himself on the Frosty movie.  The perfect end to a perfect day.  (Now if the Ravens can pull off a win against the Colts, my husband will think it’s the perfect day, too!)

Photos I’ve been looking at:  Arce Photography & Fernanda Arce Design.  Fer is a friend – a Facebook Friend – that I “met” through an organization we’re both members of:  Cherubs.  Both of our children (Brooke & Juan Pablo) were born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) & Cherubs is a support group for parents living with children who both survived & didn’t survive this birth defect.  Fer & I share a passion for photography & she also is a wonderful graphic designer.  She made my logo!  I love looking at her work – it’s just so natural, so organic, so “life unscripted.” (sorry, TLC)

This has to be a quick post because….drum roll…Josh & I get a date tonight!  AHHHH!  So exciting!  And I have to get the girls ready and out the door in 30 minutes.

Anyways…this photo is from our lunch trip to McDonald’s in Arnold today.  They apparently give out kiddie cones for free which I think is pretty nice of them.  I’m glad they had them too because it was what I used as leverage to get Brooke to stop talking & eat!  As you can see, my girls LOVE ice cream!  (I think they get that from me)  Thanks McDonald’s!

(PS – we are going to see AVATAR in a 3D XD theater at Arundel Mills – Josh says its the BEST one to see it in, besides IMAX.  I’ll let you know what we think)

Images I looked at:  Honestly, I’ve only looked at my own!  I’m editing about 200+ little kids head shots for a special surprise project that I can’t talk about & I’m awful at keeping secrets & I really just need to blab to someone, but I can’t!  So, hopefully once the project is unveiled, I can share with y’all!  (shhh…but maybe if you ask me personally I can tell you, or not)  Anyway, looking at my own images (sounds conceited,right?) makes me realize that I love shooting children & I think I have almost cemented in my mind that a “Portrait” photographer is what I want to be right now.  Weddings are great, & lovely, & wonderful…but maybe just not for me currently.  Doesn’t mean I won’t shoot them, but I am not going to label myself as that.  I can’t be an everything photographer.  I want to be a one thing photographer, and be really good at it.  There, I said it, so now it’s final!

See y’all later!

When I type the word “date” I have to clarify – it wasn’t a date with my dear husband….he had to work today.  This long luxurious lunch that I had was with Meaghan Elliott – my Facebook friend!  How weird is that?  I “met” Meaghan through Facebook because, as some of you know, I’ve really been trying to network with other photographers in my immediate area.  So I found Meaghan on Facebook, looked at her work, friended her & the rest just fell in to place.  It’s so cool to find someone in your area who shares your beliefs, who has some of the same passions about photography, & is super easy to talk with!  We had a great lunch talking about photography, my kiddos, the fact that both our husbands are named Josh, & life in general.  What a blessing for some girl time.  And many thanks to my mother-in-law (Gigi) for watching the girls while I had a 2-hour lunch!!!!  And I think my friend (and trainer) Lauren would be pleased at my menu.

*Bonus points if you can guess where I was dining????  (although I don’t know what the bonus points will accumulate towards, but you just get them, okay!)