Do you remember the show "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego"?

It was a kids game show in the 90's where the contestants had to determine the location of a crook based on clues they were given.  You can see a clip of it here.

This post is like that show.

But not.

I'm giving a shout out to Merna, B-dog and their grandparents via this blog post since they happen to be out of the country and unable to communicate with us by phone or text due to the cost.

I'll allow you to guess what country they may be in, but because we don't know what kind of freakazoids are out there reading my blog and I'm not aware of how a freakazoid could use information of someone's whereabouts to commit devilish shenanagins, I won't be telling you where they are.

And Merna and B-dog aren't crooks.

And there are no prizes.

So it's very unlike the t.v. show.

If you already know where they are, then good for you.  This means that you have passed the freakazoid test and they felt confident that you wouldn't be up to the aforementioned "devilish shenanagins" and could therefore be trusted with the knowledge of their whereabouts.

I make them sound like undercover agents.

They aren't.

The facts:

1.  They left last Saturday.

2.  They won't be home for one whole month.

3.  We miss them.

4.  They miss us.

5.  They are experiencing something that most teenagers don't get to experience (or most adults).

6.  We miss them.

7.  They're enjoying themselves.

8.  We miss them.  (Did I already mention that?)

You get the point.

If you want to give a shout out to Merna, B-dog and the grandparents, feel free to comment on this post.

Merna said she'd be reading it and they can comment from their location...she may even send me some pictures to share with you.

Though we can't talk or text, we can share the love via the blog.  I knew it would serve a purpose at some point.

On an unrelated issue...I have a statement to make:

Mr. Scary, I know who you are and have known from the beginning. 

 I have five words for you..."I'm not intimidated by you".

B

As promised...

more pictures of Baby J...

though I couldn't resist throwing in these two of him with his momma.

They were too cute. 

But now it's Baby J's solo performance.

Baby in a blanket hole.

Ethereal baby.

Fuzzy baby. 

Baby in the womb.  (not really, in case you were worried)

Baby in a bowl.

1970's baby.

And baby holding rings.

Isn't it much more fun when I have lots to say?

I thought you'd agree.

You can find the rest of the proofs from this session here under "Follis Family".  And don't forget that if they get 10 comments on this post they get a free 5x7.  So in this instance, don't hold your tongue.

Up next:  A shout out.

B

Baby J...

and his parents.

As new parents they will soon learn that from this point on they will no longer be referred to by their first names but only as "Baby J's parents"... if they're lucky enough to be referred to at all.

It's all about the baby from now on.

Particularly if we are discussing the grandparents.

A once loving mother will walk directly past the child that came from her own loins without so much as a grunt of recognition in order to get to her new grandchild.

I've seen it with my own two eyes, people.

It's a travesty.  What are we mothers?  Chopped liver?  We may feel like chopped liver after just having birthed your beautiful grandchild from OUR loins, but I assure you we are neither chopped liver nor a baby making machine.

So don't start getting any ideas.

Where was I?

Oh, yes...Baby J's spotlight sneak peek moment...

Okay, so you can't see him that well in these shots but don't get your knickers in a twist.  There are plenty more where these came from and you'll see a few more tomorrow. 

If I can move my left shoulder.  Baby photography is very strenuous.  For me.  Not the baby.

Though this little knick knack did exert a fair amount of energy in his efforts at soiling two blankets and my jeans.  Jeans I was wearing.  On my body.  At the time they were soiled.

Do I need to spell it out for you?  The doodlebug peed on me!

I forgive him.  Do you see that smile?

Seriously,  how could you not forgive something that has a poochy little belly full of milk and still looks adorable?

Not possible.

B

**Disclaimer**  The above post of insanity is what happens when I create posts at 11:53 PM.  I cannot be held accountable.  Thank you for your time.

Faster than a speeding bullet...more powerful than a locomotive...able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...

Look!

Up in the sky!  It's a bird!  It's a plane! 

No.

It's Superman!  Er, um.  Correction.  It's Super Brandi!

At least that's how I'm feeling today and I'm patting myself on the back for it, even though I am well aware that there are plenty of women who do these very things on a daily basis.

Is there anything wrong with a little self-approval?  I don't think so, but I'll let you be the judge.

Here's what I accomplished on this fine day:

Before 7:45 I had exercised, showered, dressed, eaten, checked email, and corralled three kids into a waiting van.

I delivered two children to the public school system by 8:05 and then participated in a volunteer work until 4:00 with my home schooler.

I then managed to do one load of laundry, sweep the kitchen floor, make fajitas with a homemade blend of spices (one of these spices happened to be "borrowed" from the nice neighbor lady), check my email, help my eldest complete a writing/speech assignment, help my middle child create an accurate, scale model of the solar system which involved cutting out 16 miniature stars (which I was forced into doing because she kept lopping off the points of the stars and was on the brink of a meltdown), and convincing my youngest that he was indeed, not going to die from eating fajitas for supper instead of a bowl of cereal. (For the record, his supper ended up consisting of a pile of shredded cheese and 7 olives).

We ate supper while playing a "guess the number I'm thinking" game which the kids think is hilarious. (particularly when Matt guessed my number (33) and I shrieked and told him to get out of my brain).  After supper the kids and I cleaned up the kitchen, put away the leftovers and I mopped the living room floor.

I assembled an order for a client, checked email (do you see a pattern forming here?), ordered teeth brushing and bedtime to the kids and finished editing this session...

Stop.  Observe.  Sigh.

Oh.  My.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Who needs relaxation techniques with babies like this?

All in all I think it's been a very successful, if not hectic day....and it's only just now nine o'clock.

I still have time to lay in bed and read a new book.

Up, up and away!

B

**The rest of this cutie patooties proofs are here under "Guinn Baby".** 

Also...if they get 10 comments on this post they get a free 5x7 print.  Comment away.

Natural Light...

How I love thee.

My new camera, because it has higher ISO capabilities,  has enabled me to shoot in my studio with only window light.  If you're not familiar with photography jargon or the benefits of shooting with natural light...just take my word for it.

Natural light is wonderful!

Especially when working with little sweet peas like this one.  If they happen to fall asleep during the shoot, the pop and flash of light from the flash will sometimes wake them up or make them wrinkle up their forehead and tighten their eyes.

 There is no "pop and flash of light" with the natural stuff.

Hence, the precious, relaxed, sweet-smelling babies stay precious, relaxed and sweet-smelling. 

Maybe they won't stay sweet-smelling, but you get the idea.

It's just soft and filtered and even and beautiful and, well...natural.

I think "natural" and babies just go well together.

Don't you?

Yawn.  I'm feeling tired for some reason.

B

I would like to state for the record...

that, yes, I have the same shirt that this beautiful, glowing-skinned pregnant woman is wearing...

and no, I'm not pregnant....

but I immediately ran home upon shooting this wedding and checked the tag.

 It's by "a.n.a" and  a size medium, thank you very much.  I haven't been wearing a maternity shirt.

Just a shirt that a pregnant woman can wear.

 Strangely, I'm comforted by that.

This man (on the left) married my husband and I almost fourteen years ago. 

That doesn't sound right.  He gave our wedding talk.  That sounds better.

 I have pictures of his daughter (on the left) with mine when they were babies almost twelve years ago.  I was also the wedding photographer for his step-daughter and her husband (on the right) a few years ago.

You could say we're like this (fingers twisted around each other)...

though we only see them a few times a year.

That's plenty of time to be "twisted".

Cute!  I mean, "Oooo La La!"

Despite what this shot may lead you to believe, I'm a very average 5'3" tall.

I love smiling faces.

What's wonderful about this picture is not necessarily the dancing bride and groom with their parents but the two little munchkins viewing with rapt attention from the sidelines.

I have finished the wedding and the slideshow.  As soon as the bride and groom have viewed it, I will put it up here for you all to inspect.

You'll like it.

Or else.

B

Fowl & Friends

We're headed out the door for a turkey dinner with friends.  The kids and I baked a blackberry cobbler, a lemon meringue pie and a chocolate pie for the occasion. 

What diet?

I decided I better post a few more shots from the wedding lest I get verbally accosted by my followers.

Yes, they are really called my blog "followers". 

Grape Kool-Aid anyone?

The groom getting groomed by the bridesmaids...in front of a steamboat.  Hey.  I don't choose the backgrounds, I just photograph the moments...and this moment happened to be taking place in front of a steamboat mural.

Think what you will of this. 

I'm proud that I saw it.  The speaker was holding his three stranded cord for demonstrational purposes across his notes and the shadow of the groom was being projected onto the wall.  I think it's artistic.

I'm so glad I caught this moment.  I love it!  It's so hard to catch the crying moments without the subject having a distorted face or snot running out their nose.  I somehow managed to catch this particular crying jag whilst maintaining the beauty.  Yeah me!

I would like to caution the bride about the woes of wedding ring removal upon weight gain.  Just remember what happened to me.

I'm off to gain 10 pounds!

No more wedding sneak peeks until the unveiling of the finished product.

Sorry.

B

Shhhhh....

Listen.

Do you hear it?

It's music.

If you aren't hearing it, you should.  Music is wonderful.

I took a short break from editing wedding pictures in order to bring a little update to the blog. 

A musical update.

Since I have such an adoration for music, I decided I would start posting some of my favorite songs to share with my fine blog readers.

Some will be songs or artists you already know.  Some will be songs or artists you have never heard of before.  Maybe you will like it.  Maybe you will hate it.  That's up to you.  If you hate it, you don't have to listen to it.  If you love it, all of the information is there for you to purchase the track if you wish or at least jot down the name of the artist for future reference.  That's what I do.  You should see my scribbled mess of notebook paper with songs, artists, phone numbers and grocery lists on it.  If someone that didn't know me caught a glimpse of this plethora of information they might get the idea that I'm some sort of savant.

Until they met me. 

I digress...You can see/hear the songs over in the right column → under "Audible Adventures".  I'll try to update it at least once a week, but I'm not making any promises.

I started out with three of my favorites off the top of my head.  I'll work on being more organized later.

Right.

I was hoping you would be able to hear the whole song but it looks as if you can only hear the full soundtrack to the "featured" song.  Pooh.  If you want to hear the whole song before you buy it, you could always do a quick search on YouTube.  That's how I usually find most of my music...that and commercials.

Yes, commercials.

Up next:
More wedding pictures.
B

Five Degrees

Brr,shiver, and brrr again.

This was not the ideal day for taking wedding shots in scenic Cape Girardeau.  But we did it and survived.

We jumped out of the car, posed, aimed and shot, then quickly jumped back in again in order to regain feeling in our fingers and toes at which point we jumped back out again.

This was taken on the banks of the "Mighty Mississippi" (I had to sing that in order to type it correctly).

Yes, that is the river behind them.  A river flowing with ice.  You could even hear it moving...it sounded somewhat like a blender set to low speed...churning.  Too bad it wasn't a river full of what I normally have in my blender when it's full of ice.  wink, wink

I must say that I got a little carried away with this one but you can't say it's not "different". 

I think I like it but the jury's still out.  I'm sure you'll give your testimony, just make sure it's backed up by facts and/or evidence.

Now this one?  I love.  Love, love, love it!  Oh my.  I can't stop looking at it.

I think it's called "passion".

There was a cute little man that walked by as we were shooting this one.  He yelled, "Do you have a permit for that?"  He chuckled to himself and then said, "The young man wants you to try that one about fifty more times."

I think he was right.

Oooo la-la. 

Here's a little color for those of you who have been asking for it.  I aim to please.  Most of the time.

Who knew that I would come to have such affection for an alleyway.

B

I promised less talk on this post...

which is good, because I'm tired and my brain hurts.

I'll sum up the following shots in less than five words each...

Happiness + black/white + empty space.

♥ Not looking at camera accidentally.

Oh my. ♥  Serious vintage.

Wrinkled nose = too cute!

"You might not be married".

You didn't think I could do it in five words or less, did you?

I'm actually surprised myself.

Oh... and no worries about that last shot...after much deliberation it has been determined that they are actually married.

To the best of our knowledge anyway.

B

At one time in my life...

I had no appreciation for rock musicians.

You know the kind I'm talking about...flailing guitar arms, lots of drum activity and very loud vocals (you could even call it screaming, perhaps).

I liked a lot of it and listened to it often, but I had the opinion that they had no "real" talent because all they could do was scream.  That's not singing.  It's screaming. 

Anyone can scream. 

I felt this way when most kids my age (late teens, early twenties) were all about hard rock.  It was cool.

It's needless to say that I was NOT cool.  Come to think of it, I'm still not cool.

Several years after having expressed this opinion that rock musicians had no talent, I had to make a long distance trip on my own.

It was on the return trip home that, while listening to the radio, I discovered that they do indeed have talent.

One of my favorite songs came on and since I was alone, and thus feeling uninhibited,  I belted it out.  I mean really belted it out.  I was imagining that I was on stage, flailing my guitar arm, rockin' out.

No holding back.  My vocal chords were pushed to the limit,

and they failed. 

They failed miserably.  I'm just glad that I didn't subject anyone else to that torture.

What do rock musicians have to do with this beautiful bride and groom and their wedding sneak peeks?

Let me just tell you...

  I was on the hour drive home from this wedding on a curvy, winding road. I was tired, exhausted and achy from holding my 500 pound camera all day.  I was cozily warm because I had the heaters blasting since it was  only five degrees outside.  I had the radio on.  Rock music came on and...

I was alone.

I didn't want to die in a fiery crash due to falling asleep at the wheel.  So I sang.  I mean really sang.

I would like you to note my findings:

1.  Vocal chords (like most everything else) do NOT improve with age.

2.  Rock music is very beneficial for keeping oneself awake and safe while driving (unless one starts headbanging...do NOT start headbanging).

3.  Despite how easy it may sound, not everyone can successfully scream to music.

 Just take my word for it.

4.  If you can sing/scream a rock song without sounding like a stuck pig, a dying cow, or a variation of the two, then you have talent in my book.

Up next:

More pictures, less talk.

B

What do you do when your photographer gives you a bubble wand....

and you promptly shove it into your mouth?

You make this face.

You then remain motionless and hold this expression for a full 60 seconds while your mother, father and photographer laugh hysterically and take pictures of you with bubbles in your mouth.

*Disclaimer--I do not make a habit of letting my clients eat bubbles but they are non-toxic just in case.

Big sister--This was one of those instances where I was thinking my client was cute during the session but upon editing her pictures I realized that she's beautiful.  Simply beautiful.

Big brother--This is one of the most cooperative boys I've worked with, and check out those perfect lips!  Why is it that the boys always get great lips and great eyelashes?  Not fair. 

*sigh*  This is Gabby.

She's this many.

She makes these faces.

Her photographer loves that she makes these faces.

Thank you Gabby.

This is Livee before the incident mentioned above. 

Oh my. 

I am so in love with her teeth.  It's actually not necessarily the teeth but the faces she makes while biting her lip with her teeth.  It's too much cuteness!

A girl and her truck. 

This shot is an absolute miracle.  Here's why:  I was laying halfway on my side and halfway on my stomach holding my 500 pound camera in one hand while rolling this truck back and forth to the little peanut with the other hand.  At some point during this amazing test of my nearly nonexistent abdominal muscles, she caught the truck, threw her leg up, looked at me and smiled.

Jackpot!

I just adore this shot.  It's another one of those I'm-in-love-with-it-but-I-don't-know-why shots.  I like to keep you guessing.

 I had already decided that if I ever have another child (which I won't) that her name would be "Maybe" (which won't happen because I'm not having any more children)  However, upon hearing "Livee", the name of my ever non-existent fourth child (who will never exist, hence the word "non-existent") now has a challenger.  In theory.

Did I just confuse you?

It's okay.  I'm confused too.

Think what you will of this storyboard but it was a labor of love.  I don't know why it says "by Livee" but it just came out and I just thought it made sense. 

This is now my favorite storyboard to date.  It's so modern and funky. 

I like modern and funky.

I also like chocolate.

And I don't like abdominal workouts.

You can find the rest of the proofs from this session here under "McFadden Family".

Don't forget to comment so they can get a free 5x7 (if they get 10 comments).

Chip Chip Cheerio!

B