Precious Baby Boy J!!

This weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Baby Boy J for his first portraits, including Christmas pics! We had such a fun time, he was perfect!!! Literally!!! Mommy fed him when they arrived then he was all smiles and cute faces till he fell asleep in his gift box at the very end :)!  Not a single fuss!!! (Oh, well, except he didn't like being on his belly at all! So as long as we stayed away from those poses he was good to go!!)  I LOVE photographing babies no matter how long it takes to get those precious shots, but I have to say, I have never had one be this easy!!! He may be destined to be a baby model ;)


Hope you enjoy your preview!!!

Change of plans... AGAIN...

YES! Portraits with Santa is STILL ON!!! HOWEVER... unfortunately, I will no longer be your photographer :(

I have contracted the flu or some other virus, and due to the danger this puts my baby in, as well as the danger it could put your babies in if I were to attend, I decided to send in a photographer friend of mine...  Rachael Thackston Photography will take over the event, and I know she will do a FABULOUS job!

I am so sorry I will miss you!!! But you will still get the most unique, priceless photos with Santa you can imagine!!! Hope you enjoy!!!

Modeling and Professional Headshots

This was an especially fun shoot! This is our good friend Brian, and was honored and thrilled when he decided to have me shoot his new headshots! I had studied children's portraiture, and I knew shooting headshots for professional use was greatly different. So this gave me the opportunity to learn/practice shooting a new technique on someone I was comfortable and familiar with. We had so much fun being goofy, and I think that resulted in truly personal shots! Let me know what you think!

This was my favorite outfit. Then again, I am partial to green :)

We ended with a series we called "the many faces of Brian Wesley Turner"... there were seriously like a hundred different shots in this series! He cracked me up!!! These four tell it all :)






Can you tell we had fun?  As much as I love shooting children's portraits, I think I found another type of sessions that is just as fun!  Thanks Brian!

It's Gorgeous Outside!!!!

I am LOOOOVING this weather and the beautiful views!!! And I am so excited that I am finally feeling better and able to start booking sessions again!!! What perfect timing!!   With the leaves changing and the weather so comfortable, this is the PERFECT TIME for a Family Portrait Session!!!

Let's go outside and play in the leaves while I capture your family enjoying the season together, and genuine expressions of fun and pure joy!

Remember, we still have our %50 Portfolio Building Discount available!!! So not only can you get gorgeous colorful family portraits right now, but you get custom portraits at half the price!!!

We are specifically looking for the following groups for our portfolio:

• Families
• Expectant Moms
• Children
• Tweens

Soon we will also be needing Newborns, Teens and Graduating Seniors.

If your family or one close to you fits our needs, please call or email us today!!  The %50 discount is for you! You will get a CD of all your images with limited copyright and half off prints too! As a valued member of our first client base, the foundation of our budding business, you will also receive future benefits of discounts and special offers and be the first to know about upcoming events with Dulce Light Photography!

Don't delay! Call or email us Today!!

Change of Plans

Well, Unfortunately, the Fun Fall Portrait Session for this Friday has been cancelled.  HOWEVER, we have other exciting news to share with you!!!....

The Holiday Event is still in full swing and just got even better!! In addition to one-on-one time with Santa himself and the exciting crafts and games Miss Lala has planned,  we just found out there will also be a Magician there putting on two shows!!! This is sure to be a fantastic fun-filled day, a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season right before Thanksgiving and get into the Spirit of Christmas!!!! Here are the details:

When: November 20, from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Where: The Arts @ West Cobb
What:  One-on-One Pictures with Santa scheduled every 15 minutes, free crafts, games, storytime, music, and playtime in Miss Lala's treehouse, as well as two magic shows with ticket prices tba.

The portraits will be $60 per session, and this includes a CD of ALL IMAGES captured with limited copyright, meaning you can print as you like* for personal use and post the images online to share with family and friends, however all online postings should bear our company watermark and/or and link to our website, dulcelightphotography.com. We will also have professional printing available, starting at $8 per sheet!!

Some of you may wonder why it would be worth $60 to have pictures with Santa, when you can go to several stores around town and get a free picture with Santa or portraits done anywhere from $15 - $50 (and up of course!) The answer is simple: unrushed, personal time with Santa! This will inevitably result in some of the most candid, precious pictures of your kids with Santa and genuine expressions of emotion!  No cheesy poses!!! This ALSO means, that if your child is fearful of Jolly Old St. Nick, we have the time to work with that! And if they never get comfortable, we can still work with that! Santa can peek out from behind the chair or something similar so you still get the pictures with Santa you hoped for, without feeling like your child was traumatized! AND IF THAT'S NOT ENOUGH, the $60 is per session, NOT PER PERSON! Meaning you can bring the entire family!!! Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Long lost brothers!! Bring'em all!!  It's truly going to be a fun, memorable time for everyone!!!  

Space is limited, so Book Your Session TODAY! 

Also, the Contest for the Fall Session will be revamped for this event,  so stay tuned on how you could win a $25 gift certificate good towards your portrait session or for Christmas Shopping as well!!

For questions or more information, please call or email us! We'd love to talk to you!!



*Dulce Light Photography not responsible for photo quality of portraits not printed on professional printers.

Help Us Spread the Word!!!

It's CONTEST TIME!!!


In effort to more effectively advertise our upcoming Fall Portrait Session with Miss Lala and the Arts @ West Cobb, we are offering our friends and family a prize for helping us spread the word!

The Prize?   A $25 Visa Gift Card!

Of course, the card can be used anywhere, including at here for even more off our already half-priced sessions!  ;)

The contest?   1. Post a comment here about your favorite childhood memory for one entry!!

Then for additional entries:

2. Mention our contest on your blog and/or Facebook account! Just be sure to link back to DulceLightPhotgraphy.com or 

@Dulce Light Photography on Facebook, then comment on here with a link to your post so we can keep track! 

(Typing @ in front of a facebook profile's name will link to them, notifying them of your comment.)

3. Follow our Blog and Like our Facebook Page! All followers and facebook friends receive an additional entry!!

Each entry will be compiled into a numbered list and a winner will be chosen using Randomizer.org on 

OCTOBER 22 (Date of the Fall session;).  Every entry gives you another chance to win and helps us get the word out 

even more about our fun Fall Portrait Session! 

We will be honored and thrilled to thank you for your help with the Visa Gift Card! 

The winner will be mentioned in a future post and notified via email.

We can't wait to hear all about your favorite childhood memories! It will be so fun! Thank you for supporting and helping Dulce Light Photography!!!

A Unique & Fun Fall Portrait Session!!

It's official! Miss Lala of The Arts @ West Cobb has invited Dulce Light Photography to offer portrait sessions at her Fall Party on October 22nd! She will have crafts, games, music and more!  We will be taking Fall / Halloween Portraits at super-affordable prices!! There will be two options:

1- Email: We will email you the best one or two photos from your session, with with limited copyright, meaning you can print and post online as long as you link to our website.  $15

2- CD: A high-resolution CD of all images captured during your session, edited and with limited copyright, meaning you can print and post online as long as you link to our website.  $25


Of course, all images can be professionally printed using our a la carte offering. You can find our prices here.


Times Available, booked every 15minutes:

Morning Sessions  10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Afternoon Sessions 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Email or call us to book your session now! Times are sure to fill up fast! Your kids will LOVE the chance to wear their costumes an extra day! YOU will LOVE having a custom portrait of your son or daughter in costume during these fleeting magical years!!

Accepting Baby Steps

Whew!! What a crazy few months it's been!  In the past several months we have moved, had 2 birthday parties, started a new job (hubby), gone on a way-overdue vacation and survived morning sickness with baby #4! Its almost gone, I can feel it! Or maybe I'm just being optimistic because I am soooo ready to get back to shooting!

This is a shot I was so excited to capture! The Lego Statues at Downtown Disney
fascinated me! And apparently the squirrels too!

The lighting on it was tricky though, because I was actually standing under an awning, and the
sun was on the other side of the statue. The first time I shot it, you couldn't see the squirrels at
all for the blow out of light around them. After adjusting for that using all that
I've learned so far ;) I shot this one. Seriously, if I can do it, SO CAN YOU!

In effort to shoot as many new pictures as I can (the more I shoot, the more I learn!) I have decided to create a new goal for myself: From now on, ALL the illustrations on my blog will be using MY OWN pictures! I hope to get creative and shoot some really artistic photos to use for this purpose :) I think my baby sister can help with this too, and it will be great fun working with her on it! Since I not only use this blog to showcase my portrait photography and blog about those stories as well as stories about my own life, I want to tie it all together with the one over-arching theme that seems to cross over into everything I do: Art. I love ALL Art: from paintings to photographs, music, dance, and theatre - it all fascinates me. It always has. This seems to be a common bond for many of us on a universal level. So this will be the common thread I hope you see throughout all the posts, both the professional and personal ones :)

On that note, I am getting really excited, and honestly humbled, by the direction my photography is taking. In December last year I wrote a post about desperately trying to hear God, and what He's calling me to do in life. I felt unfulfilled because I had not found that yet, and I was aching to be in the middle of His will. Some of you may relate to this, others may not. But I think all of us, regardless of beliefs, desire to feel a sense of accomplishment. When we do something we love, we feel it with our entire being, and we effect others in a positive way. When we don't, we dread every second of it and effect others in a negative way.

So I began searching for what my calling might be. I felt so lost because my passions lead in so many different directions. However, little did I realize that God was going to lead me there! It was just going to take a series of tiny little baby steps.  Now, as I look back at just the past 10 months, I can see God's fingerprints on everything that has happened! Which only makes me SOOOO excited about the steps to come. But let me back up and explain:

• The update on that post mentions about how in the short months between the original post and the updates, I met so many photographers willing and excited to help me and I had learned so much it was overwhelming (in a very good way!)
• One of those photographers took me on as a mentor and walked me through so much! She even invited me to help her on a newborn shoot.
• One of the other photographers, a great friend from high-school I was able to reconnect with, has been an endless source of information, patiently answering all my questions and offering all the advice she can think of. Then SHE invited me to a family portrait session with her! It was such a great learning experience!!
• Then I started practicing on family and friends, and their response was greater than I ever expected coming from my first few "professional" shoots. (I've been shooting since I was 13, but never under the intention of doing it professionally until now.)
• Suddenly I had people asking me to book session after session! All in a matter of 8 or so months!! I honestly never dreamed of it going so well. The only thing I can say is that God has been behind it all. There is no other explanation. 
• Then I had the idea (out of "nowhere" ... ahem... so like God) to join forces with my good friend Santa Claus for a special portrait event. I was unsure if he would be able to attend though, seeing as he gets incredibly busy this time of year! However, he loved the idea and was willing to make room in his schedule to come down and join us! All I had to do was find a location to host us...
• Then, tada! It the idea for the perfect place to host Santa for portraits falls into my lap: Miss LaLa's Treehouse, now called The Arts @ West Cobb! They are all about ALL THE ARTS!!! How fitting!!! 

When I called them, they loved the idea! And so now, I have a great opportunity to join forces with a company who is not only willing to host us for Christmas but would also like to host us for a Halloween/Fall portrait session and see why else our paths might have Purposely crossed! I meet with her tomorrow so I will be sure to let you know the details we work out. But all I can say is that I could never have imagined all these baby steps were even possible, let alone that I would be walking them.

Why am I sharing all this with you??

We all have dreams. Some of you dream about photography like me! (I hope to "pay it forward" and help you as others have helped me! Email me for more info!) The rest of you long after a myriad of other dreams. One of my goals with this blog is to inspire you to dream them, and do whatever it takes to follow them. Even if it takes itty bitty almost invisible baby steps. You never know where you will be a year from now if you do. But if you never try, you'll never reach it. God plants those dreams in our hearts! He wants SO MUCH MORE FOR US than we can ever imagine! 

It's Beginning to Feel Like Christmas!!!

Can you believe some stores already have Christmas toys and decorations up? I sure can't! However, it got me thinking... Wow, this year sure is flying! Christmas will be here before we know it!  I have a good excuse though:  I been so sick I completely missed the month of August and the beginning of September. But a new baby is worth it ; )   Yep! We are expecting a new baby! We are very excited! Still, I apologize for my little absence. It has knocked me off my feet for the first trimester, but I am starting to feel better and will soon be back to work, camera in hand!


Now, back to the topic at hand, we were looking for a playground set for our kids, thinking we could get a good deal with end of summer clearances. We thought we were smart! Ha! Many of the stores we checked have already cleared out their summer inventory and made room for Christmas!!

I used to get upset when I saw this, since my birthday is in November, I felt like the retail industry was just skipping over the entire month of November, Thanksgiving and my birthday! Just to focus on their money-making "holiday" sales!!!  But I'm over it now =)

Actually, I'm kinda already in the Christmas spirit myself ; ) In fact, I have been busy planning a really fun, super special portrait event for Christmas! And I've sent a personal invitation to my good friend Santa Claus!!!! Stay tuned! The details are almost all complete! As soon as they are I will tell you all about it!!!!  Till then...


Merry Christmas!!! and Happy Birthday Jesus!!!!

Faith Like a Child

This is one of my favorite songs ever, by Jars of Clay. I have been dying to use it as a title :) When I started putting together a montage for my portfolio of children's portraits, I knew I could finally use it!

These kids are A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!!!! You might recognize them from the precious family shots of J & M's maternity portraits and newborn portraits. These are random shots I got during both of those sessions. They were perfect models, as you can see! They were not camera shy!! It made it sooo much fun!!! But more that how sweet and beautiful they are, they each already have a strong and precious faith. It shines in their eyes, you'll see. But that's what happens when we truly trust our lives to our Creator, an unexplainable peace and joy consume us, and it is evident to everyone. It's that "it" someone has that makes you realize they are different in such a good and enviable way. Enviable if you don't have it but they make you realize you want it. These kids got IT. Love'em!!

I loved how they enjoyed trying on all the hats at their mom's maternity portrait session! These were so fun!

Then they found ducks and were so excited!!!

They were just camera hams at baby sister's newborn portrait session. More to come :)

Beautiful Baby Girl A!

Goodness! I was so anxious and excited as I waited for this precious baby girl to be born! Her mother's maternity portraits were so fun, I knew the newborn portraits would be too! I don't know who was more ready for this precious baby to arrive... me or her mama.  LOL, Just kidding! Nothing compares to a mama's wait, but I sure felt it too!!!

Thank you J & M for sharing this precious time in your life with me and allowing me to capture the moments for you = ) Hope you love these as much as I loved shooting them!!!

"M" Family Maternity Portraits

I LOVE LOVE LOVE shooting maternity portraits! I adore the glow the mom-to-be has, and the anticipation on dad's face. I love the connection between the two and the inevitable kiss ;) I also love the interactions with the older sibling(s).

This shoot was no different! Both mom and dad were so excited, and big sis was bouncing off the walls! (Whether due to excitement or the fact that she is 2 is debatable, LOL!) But it was so very fun to shoot this sweet, adorable family! I was honored and thrilled when mom-to-be "J" called asking me to do the shoot- we go way back & recently reconnected on facebook! I've known J since high school and have so many fun memories of field trips, orchestra trips, and her great sense of humor; she would always crack me up! So it was no surprise to see that come through on camera! Hope you see some of it, too! 


I must announce this, too! The precious baby boy inside her belly was born yesterday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY B!

J, J & I, here is your preview! (a bit late now, *blush*) But I hope you like what you see so far! It was so fun shooting these with you three, thank you for allowing me to photograph you beautiful growing family!!

My Inspirations

There they are. My inspirations. R, K, and C. 

One of my goals as I study photography and grow in my new chosen career is to take beautiful portraits of my own kids. So this was one of my first attempts in April. As I learn more, I will try again and again and hopefully, each one will be better than the last. They are the reason I started this venture to begin with! 


My heart was broken over and over again when I would take them as infants to have their portraits made and the photographer would either limit how many "shots" I could keep or how many poses I could order, and they would not let me keep the rest of the pictures they took of MY KIDS! I could not comprehend why I couldn't just have a CD of all the images. Of course, I knew about copyright and their need to make money, after all, it is business and they need to feed their family. But why couldn't a compromise be made? Something that benefited everyone?


This is what got me started thinking about starting my own portrait business. However, I was going to do it differently. Somehow I would find a way to give parents the CD of their entire shoot, and still be compensated for my time and effort. 


Then I found out that my friend from high school became a photographer. Not only is she a successful wedding and family photographer, but included in her pricing is a CD she gives to her clients of all their images and her photography business is flourishing!!! 

That was the day I started this venture. With her help as well as several other photographers in my area (Marietta / Kennesaw / Acworth, Georgia) and online, I am on my way to having my own photography business! I have a ways to go, but one day I will take a portrait of my kids that makes their mom cry. That will be the day I know I've made it ;) Oh, I'll never stop learning! But that day will be a special one in this lifelong journey of learning photography.

Baby Portraits Through New Eyes

I am always so honored and thrilled when I get invited into a family's home to take pictures of their precious children! It has been such an exciting time learning, practicing and building my portfolio! This was no exception!

I met this precious family at McDonald's a few weeks ago, and then we realized we attend the same church! Small world! They were so patient and kind with me while I figured out how to capture the best light, and I am so grateful! I left their house a bit concerned that I did not get many good shots. But again, just like my last maternity portrait session, after reviewing them later at home it was like I was seeing them with new eyes. Not perfect and much room for improvement, but better then I thought with my critical mind's eye. So I think the key for me is going to be allowing myself to see them with new eyes a little after the shoot.

New Eyes. It seems that's what I have now. I hate to interject this painful personal insight into such a happy photography experience, but it was so healing that I feel the need to share... It started with a comment my Aunt Renee said to me last week, that through all I've learned since my miscarriage, it's like God has given me New Eyes with which to photograph babies now. Now I see it's so true! Every little detail stands out to me so much more now, and this passion inside me burns deeply to try to capture their innocence, joy and love.

I hope I did that with this adorable baby. Baby B was wide awake and quite content! I love his cheeks and his bright eyes and.... well all of him!! I'm sure you will too!

S an K - hope you enjoy your preview, I loved every minute of shooting and editing these portraits for you! Thank you again for the opportunity to do these!  :D

A Sad Birthday

Today is my due date. Or, it would have been my due date if I had carried to term. And it is hitting me harder than I thought it would.


This is an unexpected turn of events for me. I thought I had dealt with the pain, and received a beautiful gift of peace and assurance.  
Coping with miscarriage is never easy, but I believe I grew closer to my God and family through it. Then I thought I was done. Finished with the grief, at peace with the loss and ready to move on.

But the date June 19, 2010 loomed ahead, yet I was sure I would remain un-phased.


Now, here it is and I am feeling surprisingly shaky. I still know my baby Camryn is with God, waiting to be joined by the rest of us when our time comes. I know we will meet one day. I know it is not my fault. And I know there is nothing I could have done to prevent it. My head knows all of this. Still, my heart yearns for my baby.


I don't know why  I am writing about this. It is awful and painful and yucky. Still, I felt the need to share it with you. Maybe one day a hurting mother-to-have-been will stumble across it and find hope in the grief. It is a process, I am learning. One that we have to go through or we will never heal. It is OK to grieve.  Actually, it is healthier to grieve. But do so with hope.


Also, I really needed to acknowledge to the world that I have a baby in heaven, and that baby hasn't been forgotten. Though we miss having her here with us physically, the rest of the world has forgotten we had a 4th because they can't see her amongst our other children. But I always will. Especially on June 19th. So, today we will celebrate the brief time we got to share with her, and focus on the hope we have that we will meet her one day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Baby Camryn!!! We Love You 

and can't wait to meet you.

.

.

.

.

Portfolio Building - AT LAST!!!..... Maternity Portraits

After studying for what feels like forever, I finally feel ready to begin my portfolio building! I have asked several friends to allow me to practice on them and was honored and thrilled to have some takers! In the first week I had two sessions already! One was for maternity portraits and the other for baby portraits. I'm so excited!

Here is the first session, my first maternity shoot. I learned so much just by actually shooting these pictures. Reading books and blogs can only do so much. I realized actually getting out there and shooting really is the best way to learn! In a previous post I wrote about conquering my fear; I was so nervous it almost kept me from doing this shoot. But I think the key was doing it despite the fear. My friend who is a photographer in Nashville told me that the more I shoot the more tricks I'll learn - and I see now why! Thank you  for your tips and encouragements Joy! When I looked through them after I got home I immediately noticed things I could have done and said differently to get better results, so I am so glad I went through with the shoot. On one hand I feel bad for my friend M that they aren't perfect like I wanted them to be, but I am grateful for the experience.

Thank you so much J & M for this opportunity! M, you are always beautiful and especially so when expecting! It was a joy to shoot these portraits, hope you enjoy them as much I enjoyed shooting them!

Cutting Grass and Conquering Fears

My youngest son, KT, loves to help. His favorite thing to help with is cutting the grass. One of the first phrases he said when he started talking was "Pawpaw cut grass?" He would say it as soon as he saw Pawpaw put on his straw hat... his grass-cutting hat! Then he would run and get his little lawn mower to help. He has continued this fascination now for almost 2 years!

So I was really excited when he sat still enough for me to shoot this picture! It truly captures a memorable moment. This is a shot I got one day when he was "taking a break" from helping Pawpaw. I loved how he was just looking out at the overgrown grass in the backyard. What was running through his little mind? He got quiet & pensive and just stared!  (Which if you know KT you know is RARE! The boy is hardly ever still!) But we attribute that to his passion. The boy is incredibly passionate, and he has no fear! He actually inspires me to act more on my passions.

For example, photography has long been a passion of mine, but fear has kept me from pursuing it. Fear also kept me from trying out for my high school musical and the school of music in college, but yay! Here I am years later finally pursuing a passion. Better late then never, huh?!  Yet, even now fear threatens to stop me: I had my first maternity portraits shoot this past Tuesday and boy was I ever nervous. My friend who was modeling was so patient and encouraging though so I was able to make it through the shoot. However, when I got home and viewed the pictures, I was disappointed in myself and the results I got.  They just didn't look how I pictured them in my head. I found myself thinking that maybe I should just stick to photographing my own kids and ditch this whole becoming-a-photographer thing.

But something has changed inside me... I want to keep going! A large part of that is the incredible amount of encouragement I am receiving from my sweet hubby and several great friends (one of whom IS a photographer!!). Another reason is that I see the whole world before my kids and I truly believe they can do anything God calls them to do, and would be heartbroken if they let fear stand in their way.  But how can I encourage them to conquer their fears & pursue their God-given passions if I don't do the same? So here I go... pushing through the fear. Soon you will see some of those maternity shots. I promise ; )

Time in a Bottle

When I was a little girl, my mom and I had two songs we called "our songs."  One of them was "You've Got A Friend" by James Taylor and the other was "Time In A Bottle" by Jim Croce. To this day when I hear those songs I get swept away to those moments in time. 

There are two vivid memories that stand out to me regarding these songs; these are the ones that especially come flooding back upon the first few notes of either song:

The first was right after we moved and I started a new school for 1st grade. I felt so alone and scared; I was painfully shy. It was recess and I remember sitting on top of the monkey bars alone, crying and singing the words to "You've Got A Friend" to myself, willing my mami to hear them and come rescue me:

"When your down and troubled
And you need a helping hand
And nothing, whoa nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest nights.
You just call out my name,
And you know wherever I am
I'll come running, oh yeah baby
To see you again...."

This song reminded me that she wanted to rescue me, even when I knew she couldn't. Just remembering that would make me feel better.

The other memory is when I was trying on her clothes and modeling them around the house, she got tears in her eyes and said
"if only I could save time in a bottle," and started singing that song to me:

"If I could save time in a bottle       
The first thing that Id like to do       
Is to save every day       
Till eternity passes away       
Just to spend them with you..."       

       Of course, when you're little you take everything literally, so I asked her what she meant by "saving time in a bottle" and how can someone possibly do that? If she could tell me how, I'd do it for her since she wanted it so bad!

Oh if I only knew how quickly time would pass, and what she meant by that. Now I find myself saying the same thing to my three little ones, and wishing I could find a way to keep time in a bottle. Maybe that's why I love photography so much, it is a way to freeze time and keep it forever. I try to take mental "snapshots" every day of those fleeting moments, but am always so thrilled when I capture them on film. This is what drives me, and why has become one of my biggest passions. But I know I owe it to my mom for making so very aware that nothing lasts forever. I think most kids (& grown-ups!) don't understand that until it is too late.

So Mami, thank you for teaching me to savor the little moments, even when I didn't understand.
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

And to all my mommy friends... remember everything your child does is a phase- the good ones and the not-so-good ones too- and they will (all too soon) pass, so try not to rush any of them. Focus on moments: just get through the tough ones and look forward to that inevitable yet fleeting next good one, and when it arrives, freeze it.
Then, save that moment in time in a bottle. ♥

(or a frame, LOL!)

Citywide Computer, Electronics and Metal Recycling Day!

I received an email about this today and wanted to help spread the word:

"The City of Acworth Parks and Recreation Department invites the community to participate in our Citywide Recycling Day at the Library in Downtown Acworth, Saturday, May 15, from 8:00 a.m., to 5:00 p.m.

Most all materials made primarily of metal will be accepted, from aluminum cans to electronic items, even something as large as a washing machine will be recycled. The city along with Federal Recyclers wants you to Think Green! Look around your house for any unwanted items that you can bring to recycle so they do not end up in a landfill.

Federal Recyclers is a Muskogee and Cherokee Native American owned and operated company. All recycling is free, except for a $20 fee for televisions and computer monitors.

For a complete list of items accepted and for more information please visit www.acworth.org/aprd, or call the Parks and Recreation office at (770) 917-1234."

You can also click here to see the entire list of what they will accept for recycling. We all have piles of this stuff lying around; let's de-clutter our homes for Spring Cleaning & do our part for the environment at the same time!!

Photography Goodies

After studying Real Estate photography and realizing my passion for all things photography, I started researching and soaking up anything and everything I could related to that passion. I have found several blogs that are truly inspiring, tons of gear I "must have" and a workshop I know I just have to find a way to attend! But guess what I found out today?  They are raffling off a **FREE** spot at that VERY workshop! All I have to do to enter is tell you to 

Check out the LOVE AFFAIR BLOG and enter to win a Kelly Moore Bag & a seat to their upcoming workshop in Dallas!! www.loveaffairworkshop.com!!

Yay! I can do that! Oh wait, I just did! Ooh, two birds with one stone, as I could also win that must-have  Kelly Moore Bag too by posting that, awesooome!!

Here's prayin' I win!!     ; )

It Matters to This One...

 So I practiced taking some natural light pictures today, and this one turned out to be my favorite of the day. It reminded me of one of my favorite stories is the one about the little and the starfish. Have you ever heard it? If not, it goes like this:

"A little boy was walking along the shore picking up starfish and throwing them back into the sea. A man walks up to him and asks him why he is even bothering, he can never save them all, so it doesn't really matter. And the little boy replies 'It matters to this one' and tosses one more back into the ocean."

There are so many reasons I love that story. I love that the little boy's spirit was undaunted by the older gentleman's doubt. I love the boy's perspective that all that hard work was worth it, even if only to save just one.

Makes me think...   how about you?