julialainephotography

Sundays...

Wish you were here....

Don't let these fool you, the water was COLD!  The girls would play in the surf, and eventually make a bee-line to the hot tub, which was the hot spot of the day.
 

Our digs... our room is up there somewhere...

A self portrait, I got a pedicure yesterday.    :-)

And lots and lots and lots of pretty smiles. 

The whole team is here, half came in last night like us, and the rest showed up at various times during the day.  We're headed out to find a restaurant that will accommodate us - wish us luck!
 

The road less traveled

A few of weeks ago I had to go to an EEOC Mediation with our corporate attorney, V.  She's a very attractive woman in her late 40's.  She's never been married, and has devoted her life to her career and being involved in philanthropic activities throughout our city and state.  She's chairperson on the state illiteracy council, she runs our annual United Way campaigns, she's slim and in shape, wears beautiful clothes, and drives a cute black convertible Mercedes.   Overall she's just a really neat person; I always enjoy spending time with her.

If you've ever been to a mediation, you know that they are nothing more than a negotiation to see how much money the plaintiff can get and how little money the defendant has to pay out.  There is no semblance of seeking who was right and who was wrong - it's just all about the money, and the plaintiff always hopes the company will pay out big bucks just to get rid of the case.  Soon into our mediation it was clear to see the two parties were not even close.  This gave us lots and lots of time to chat in between the negotiations, so I got to know V a little better during that time.  She already knew I had two daughters that were born in China, but she didn't realize until this time that I was a single mom.  I guess that's what spurred her on to confide in me that she had always wanted to adopt if she didn't get married.  She went on to say how much she loves children and had always dreamed of being a mother and knows that her family would have given their full support if she had decided to proceed with those plans.  Listening to her, she sounded so much like how I felt 11 years ago when I began the adoption paperchase.  Eventually I asked her why she never went forward with it, and she said it was just pure fear.  Fear that she would not be able to do it alone, fear that she was too selfish, fear that she would not be as good a parent as she wanted to be.  It was easy to see the pain in her eyes now from what those fears had cost her.  This woman I had looked up to for years because of her professional accomplishments was actually the person who was now envying me and my life, and I looked at her knowing she is what I would have become if I hadn't become a mother first.

Eleven years ago I had the same fears, but being a somewhat headstrong 30-something, it never occurred to me to let those fears hold me back from motherhood, and thank God for that!  Today marks the 10 year anniversary of my oldest daughters referral day.  Unlike the 3 to 5 year wait that people are facing now, I had a relatively short 8 month wait.  My dossier arrived in China on August 12, 1997, L was born two days later, and I received her referral on tax day, April 15, 1998. 

This was the one and only photo I was given of my daughter.  It was about half the size of a photo you would put in your wallet, but it didn't really matter, it was enough to know that she was mine, and that I was finally a mother.  It sounds so cliche' but I just can't imagine my life without my girls.  Our VP of Finance constantly tells me how much he admires me (which drives me nuts by the way) for becoming a single parent by choice.  It's really not that hard you know.  Sure there are tough times, but I'm just a mom, and they're just my kids, regardless of how we entered each others lives.  My life is full of school activities, and soccer games, and making good decisions and bad decisions, and hoping the prior outweigh the latter.  I don't drive a mercedes, I drive a family sedan.  I don't wear expensive, beautiful suits, I wear whatever I can get away with so I can still be comfortable at the game that I need to go straight to after work tonight.   The dog jumps up on my pants after spending time romping in the wet dewy grass, and I look at the fresh wet paw print on my khaki slacks and think... it's not too bad, maybe no one will notice.  My life is full and many times chaotic and there are more moments than I can count that I just want 20 minutes to myself without someone asking me if _______________ (fill in the blank), but it's the life I chose, and thanks to two very special little girls, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Referral Day baby girl!

What do rain and bubbles and an empty refridgerator have in common?

The answer is that bubbles are what you bring out when the spring rains come and cancel your youngest daughters soccer game.  Man, she can stick out that bottom lip like no body's business when she puts her mind to it.  Unable to handle the inevitable pouting due to the cancellation, I decided a trip to Wal*art was in order to find a suitable low-cost distraction and opened the fridge to start making a shopping list.  I can't believe I'm showing a photo of this, but it just occurred to me that I'd never seen it this empty since we bought it over a year ago during our kitchen remodel.  I quickly determined that a list really didn't need to be made since we basically needed everything... with the exception of butter, apple juice and Worcestershire sauce...  I wonder if Pioneer Woman can do anything with that combo?!

So I came home an hour later - much poorer, but the fridge is now well stocked and I found a couple of bubble wands for a buck a piece, and they provided much needed entertainment on a cloudy and damp Saturday morning...

I'm in awe of...

Well, lots of people actually, but today I have to share another fav blog of mine that I've been reading for years.  Heather Ann is just so inspiring, not only in her scrapbooking, but in her daily life and the things she does for her family to make the ordinary really really FUN!

Take her latest post for example.  Every week they do a Fun Family Friday Movie Night.  Now, most of us do "movie nights" with our kids, sometimes it's weekly, sometimes monthly, but we do them, planned or not.  Heather Ann and her fam seriously "kick it up a notch"  They go all out and plan activities around the movie.  In last Fridays example, they had desert and party hats planned around the movie theme.  In other examples she prints out coloring or activity pages that are also movie theme based.  It just always sounds like so much FUN!  I'm determined to give this a go at my house too!

Busy Busy Busy...

The past 10 days have been truly exhausting, both mentally and physically.  Only a few people reading this know that last summer I was handed yet another full-time job.  I already have a full time job as the Director of Human Resources for my company, which is about 800 employees, but we have a sister company that has been through 4 HR Managers in the past 5 years, and since I've been somewhat successful in my position, they said "here, you take it".  Initially they gave me no increase for adding 500+ employees and a whole new company with new policies, benefits, procedures, etc., but after I brought this issue to their attention whined about it enough, they gave me a whopping 2%.  And that's all I have to say about that.

At first, I handled just the major initiatives for the sister company, but in the past 3 months I've been pulled deeper into the dregs of the business; there is a LOT of stuff that needs to be fixed.  On top of that there has just been one major employee issue after another, to the point that between handling both companies HR functions I'm just completely and utterly stressed out. 

If you are in the business world, and you have an HR Manager/Director, please be kind to them, for you know not what they do.

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OK... in other news, the good kind this time, we had family visit this weekend.  Both of my brothers live in other states, and even though we're only a half days car ride from each other, we really only visit about once a year.  The cousins, ranging in age from 7 to 20, but most averaging in the 11-13 age group, get along so beautifully.  My two especially absolutely ADORE their cousins, and the perfect world to them would be a street where we all live harmoniously together.  You should have seen the tears last night when my youngest realized she wouldn't see some of her cousins for several more months... it was pitiful.

But, while they were here we had a great time, and a very busy weekend because the visit, which was held about an hour away from our house, was mixed in with soccer games for each of my girls that were back in the city where we live.  So I was driving back and forth a couple times to get everyone to where they needed to be.

M lost her first soccer game of the season, but played SO great.  She really is a good little player, and enjoys it so much.  You'll be able to see her aptitude and enjoyment of the game quite a bit through the pictures I'll share later.

L won her first regular season soccer game with a score of 4 to 1.  The other team wouldn't have scored at all if it wasn't for the penalty shot in the last 10 minutes of the game.  L's whole team played so well.  They are really a very talented group of girls, and so much fun to watch!  I went through the pictures of this game last night and don't know what I was thinking when I edited them, because I saved them at a really low resolution, and they're grainy and pixelated.  But they're here if anyone wants to take a look.

Again - L was on the other side of the field the whole time, so I had very few decent shots of her, but here's one... and yes, her shoe is untied (again)

More pics of our weekend and M's soccer game coming soon.

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I've added a statement at the bottom of my main site page to state that I am not taking any new photography appointments right now.  Between work and our weekend games that will go through June, then a vacation planned, I just don't know when I would have time to do it.  So for now at least, I will keep the site up, and continue to blog about daily happenings.  Thanks.

Baseball Anyone?

Our front yard is big and flat and mostly grass with just woods along the very edge of it, so it's perfect for neighborhood pick-up games like soccer, hula-hoop, red-rover, frisbee, cartwheel practice, etc...

Typical to winter weather in the south, we've been having 30 degree temperature swings, where one day it's in the 40's with a brisk wind, and the next day it's nearing 70.  Luckily today it was the latter making it perfect for a front yard baseball game!

{click to see larger}

And love this photo of Little-bit...

8 Minutes 6 seconds

I'm pretty sure I've never run an 8 minute mile in my life, but that was L's time this morning when she finished the last mile of the kids marathon.  The time doesn't begin to tell the story though, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the photo-tale...

There were over 3400 kids registered in grades K - 6th.  The 5th and 6th graders would lead off, then every 15 minutes thereafter, the next age group would go.  Each group had a police escort and then right behind their motorcycle fumes was an adult pace runner, and behind them - several hundred kids.

And there were white barricades to help everyone find their way;  L leaned against one and waited... and waited.  Not her strong point, but I think she got in to the people watching for a few minutes.

And there was lots to see...  including the camera crew getting a segment for the evening news broadcast:

And, truly, what kids marathon is complete without a 12 year old Elvis on scaffolding?

And then they made the call for all 5th and 6th graders to enter the starting gate...

And the announcer said "5th and 6th graders, come on in!"

And then that was the last we saw of the announcer, because she got trampled by this...

And then I tried to jockey around thousands of other parents with cameras and camcorders, and I saw some of the sights, including kids with really weird running shoes doing this...

And this...

And then Elvis sang another song...

And the girls swooned...

And then I decided I'd had enough of Elvis, so I tried to find my daughter.  And I found her just once, for a moment, and then the crowd shifted and she was lost again...

And then the announcer (a man this time, because the woman still had never been seen again), gave the ground rules and said "Be Careful, Start Slow".

And as if the adrenalin wasn't pumping into overdrive already, he decided to whip them up in to a pre-teen frenzy and said something really stupid like "Are you ready?  That's not loud enough, I said ARE.   YOU.   READY?"  And there were yells and cheers from the crowd, and if that wasn't enough to make them completely forget about the part where he said "Be careful. Start slow", then he said...

"GET READY...GET SET... GO!"

And so they went...

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Okay, take a breather... but not too long, because it only took FIVE minutes for the leader, a girl #597, who was very very closely following the adult pace runner, to round the corner by the finish line.  She finished about 10 seconds ahead of the closest 2nd place finisher with a time of 5:22.  WOW!  Pretty darned impressive for a 12 year old!

And then I waited... and waited... and waited (but not too much longer, it just seems like a long time when you haven't seen your kid for 7 minutes and she's been running through the middle of downtown), but then I finally saw this...

And she was looking for me too, and she saw me and I saw this...

But only for a second, because then all I saw was this...

And then there was only this...

And she went on to the finish line in a time of 8:06.  How cool is that!  She's finished her first marathon, one mile at a time.

And afterwards, she hung out with one of her classmates before we left, and I hugged her and kissed her and told her how excited I was for her, and when I asked her how she felt when she crossed the finish line all she said was "I thought I was going to throw up".  But she didn't, and I was so proud.

Her First Marathon...

This Saturday morning, the eldest will run in her first marathon.  We discovered the Kids marathon existed about 4 years ago when I ran/walked with her, while pushing the little one in a jogging stroller during a 5K run.  Turns out that school agers had the opportunity to participate starting in November, when they sign up for the Kids Marathon.  They get a sheet where they record their mileage each week and turn it back into the school in early January, so between those two months, she recorded 25.2 miles, and then this Saturday she will run the last mile with all the other 5th graders in the city that signed up.  I think there's less than 20 kids in her school participating, but there will be several hundred at the start line.

So is she ready for that last mile?
A few weeks ago I realized she hadn't been training at all, specially since it was a break between soccer seasons.  So, I told her to go downstairs and run a mile on the treadmill, so she skips down there (the child never did learn to walk) and comes back up awhile later all out of breath and panting, and asks me how can she tell it's been a mile.  I told her to look on the mileage counter and went down to show her where it was.  I said when it reads 1.0, then that's a mile.  So she asks what it meant if it said 2.5, and a little shocked I said - well, are you sure it didn't say .25?  She said - no, it was 2.5. 

Yep... she had just run 2.5 miles.  I think she's ready.

Snow Day!

I was corrected by the weatherman, it hasn't been 6 years since we've seen snow, it's been 8!  So for the 7 year olds on the street, it was their first time, and they didn't care how cold it got, they were going to enjoy every minute of it!  After all, if we have to wait another 8 years, they could have their drivers licenses before we see it again, YIKES!

By the way - you know you're in the south, when you don't have any proper snow play equipment, so you use beach boogie boards for sleds  :-)

The puppy was not quite as impressed with the snow as everyone else, she really wanted to go inside, but had a fit if we were outside without her.

Swing your partner, dosey-do, now clap your hands...

The cute red head is her partner.  I've always had a thing for red heads...

May I have this dance?

Today is the annual second grade square dance party, and parents are invited!  Yee Haw!!  The fact that the boys have to dance with the girls, can set this one off in an endless fit of giggles, but getting ready is serious business!

Her sister graciously let her wear her cowgirl hat after giving it much consideration and getting a dirty look from mom that clearly said "you better let your sister borrow your hat or else!".  It's amazing what mom's can convey with just a look.

Of course this meant we had to redo the do, since pig-tails and cowboy hats don't really fit well together.

By the way - she was very excited to wear the hat, but is not smiling because her mouth was full of a waffle (hence the food remnants on the lips), and I had to get the pic before the bus came.  I was very rushed here...

post~script:  Been there, done that and it was just the most adorable thing I've ever seen.  Pictures to follow tomorrow.  Lots of giggles, and if anyone personally knows my daughter, then you know she mouthed the words to every song throughout the entire 20 minutes of square dancing.  Man, I wish I had a memory like hers!

Brag Alert

I can't help it - I shouldn't do this, because I hate when other people do this - you know the "Suzy is so smart, she can do this and this and this", thereby making the other parent feel like their kid is not quite as bright as they once thought.  So if you hate stuff like that too - just skip the rest of this post and join us again tomorrow.

Anyone still here?  It seems yesterday was a very good day in our household...

I received a letter in the mail notifying me that the little one had been invited into the Gifted Resource Program at school.  Yes, we all knew she was smart, but it seems she exhibits lots of the characteristics of kids in the gifted program, and for others to recognize that too is very exciting!

Then when I got home last night, the eldest had something to share too - it appears her DARE essay that all the 5th graders had to write last December won 1st prize, and she will be recognized in the 5th grade assembly this Friday!  Parents of students who are receiving awards get to attend, so you just know I'll be sitting front and center!

Okay, brag alert over... but I'm still smiling.  :-)

And then we went ice skating...

I use the term "we" loosely.  The bigger "we's", you know, the ones that if they fall could end up in traction for a week, sat on the bleachers watching the little "we's", the ones that begged and pleaded and didn't mind waiting 45 minutes in the lobby of the rink till it was their turn, skated in circles.  Regardless of which "we" category we were in though, "we" each had lots of fun!

Proof:

 

New Years Day

What did you do on New Years Day?  Other than eat too much and watch lots of football!

The weather decided to take a 25 degree dip but that didn't keep us inside too long ~ we headed out to our local state park and spent a beautiful, albeit cold, couple of hours.  Let's just say everyone should sleep good tonight!

Somewhere around midnight...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

We hope 2008 is good to all of you!

Tis Better to Give Than to Receive - I don't think so!

Not if you're getting a Wii !!!  that thing is so much fun, the kids have played on it almost continuously, in fact, when they're not on it, it's because I've kicked them off so I can play!

Oh - and the tv it's playing on was our family Santa gift.  :-)

Tis Better to Give Than to Receive - part deux

At times there is so much stress (self-inflicted) that leads up to this day; did I get the right presents, is it what they want, did I spend too much (probably), did both girls get the same amount?  But then Christmas morning comes and everything ALWAYS turns out perfectly - the girls, all three of them - could not have been more excited about their gifts.  I will tell you that in this way, as a parent - it is way way way better to give than to receive.  Christmas mornings always have been, and continue to be the best!

This one got a new puppy pad from Santa, and look, it's got her name on it too!   

This one is EAGER to start opening presents and gave me this look when I told her she'd have to wait for Grammie and Grampie to show up.  Lucky for me they did, just a few minutes later.

Don't you just love the matching Santa hats!

It's now 3 days post-Christmas and she hasn't taken it off yet!  Without a doubt I can tell you this was her favorite present.  Yes, at a mere 10 years old, they are very into clothes and labels.  I'm really in for it with this one...

Spoiled Rotten Dog!  These two have each other wrapped around their little finger/paw.

This one got laughs all around - yes, she IS a 5th grader - and smarter than one too!

Is it wrong that the girls were more excited to pick out the dogs gifts (according to my mom) than mine?

And the little ones favorite gift is this MP3 player.  She wanted an i-pod, but I think she's quite happy with the less expensive knock-off - at least for now. It's been connected to her head blaring the latest in Disney HSM2, Hannah Montana, Hairspray soundtrack, etc - AND if that's not enough - it's PINK - her signature color.

Tis Better to Give Than to Receive

Yes, this is true, but for some reason we've always been on the recipient end of our neighbors good cooking skills.  So this year I decided we needed to return the favor and we spent a good part of Christmas Eve baking cookies and brownies and other yummy treats, including of course niblits for the reindeer that would come that night.  After we wrapped our packages in green cellophane and gold ribbon we walked around delivering our goodies. 

I have to admit, I had been in a sour mood most of the day - the girls were bickering and I considered the baking to be more of a pay back for past years than anything else.  But when we were walking around knocking on doors and handing over our plates of goodies, we were met with cheerful greetings (and not just a little bit of surprise) from our neighbors.  Everyone ended our short visits with a merry "Merry Christmas", and it didn't take long to really get in the spirit of the season.  By the time we'd made our deliveries, the girls and I were singing Christmas carols on the way back home.

Happy Friday!!

Fa la la la la la la la la...

The spirit of the season has hit me big time this week.  Or perhaps it's just the "spirits" I've been enjoying at the three different holiday parties I've been to in the last 4 days!  ;-)  Either way, I'm ready for Christmas - BRING IT ON!  By the way, I've decided that we need to be in color for the rest of the year.  Hey, I'm all about adding to the cheer.

I've been a shopping fool lately, but you'd never know that my looking under our tree.  Lack of time due to work, holiday parties, and a paper-eating dog have slowed me down a bit, but that is big on the to-do list this weekend!  I was going to try and get a pretty Norman Rockwellesque photo of the tree, but it looks naked with out presents under it, so that will have to wait.  Speaking of Christmas photos though, I have not done ANY of my family.  So, this weekend the girls and I will dress up in our winter garb and step out into the 70+ degree temperatures that are expected this weekend and try and look like we're enjoying the chill of the season while wiping away the sweat on our brow.

I was pretty bummed last weekend because I had a late cancellation, but this Sunday I have a photo shoot (yeah!), and it's with good friends, so that will be nice because I can tell them to do anything and they won't look at me like I'm nuts.... Well, they might, but they'll do it anyway.  :-) So stay tuned for sneak peaks next weekend.

Oh, and as for sneak peaks, the girls and I have been big time movie-goers lately.  I have to recommend Enchanted if you have not already seen it.  It's completely a chick-flick for the 3 to 93 year age group, and since we fall in there somewhere we thoroughly enjoyed it.  Then there was Bee Movie (um.. just okay), and Fred Claus (so stupid you have to laugh).  I really want to see August Rush this weekend but the girls want to go see Golden Compass, it's rated PG-13 though so that's a big "no" right now.  I do love that Hollywood has figured out a way to make kid movies that adults enjoy just as much.  The one movie that all three of us can't wait to come out is National Treasure: Book of Secrets.  We'll be there on opening night.

Just thought I'd throw in a pic of the paper-eating dog, I mean who can get mad at a face like this?!

 

Hope y'all have a fun filled and safe weekend!

Coming soon - PRINTING!!

To date I have only offered the CD of print-ready photos.  It kept things simple and many clients appreciated the fact that they didn't have to make an immediate decision on what they wanted to buy, but could take their time and then order what they wanted at a time that suited their needs.

But, I've had other clients that prefer the no-hassle approach of ordering exactly what they wanted in the sizes they wanted and not having to deal with a printing company.  Yep, I can understand that reasoning too. 

So, in an effort to suit both needs I've been researching printers and I am SO EXCITED about the one I've found.  I sent in some samples on Friday and they arrived today - they are GORGEOUS!!!  The quality is simply outstanding and their selection of sizes, coatings, and "extras" can not be beat.  I have a few more things to order so I can do a "show and tell portfolio" to future clients, but once I have those in, I'll be resetting my price list and offering printing options as well so stay tuned!

Oh - and you may have noticed I added a "where are you from" wizard on the left sidebar.  Me thinks I should move to Canada!  LOL!  Feel free to say hi!

I took this photo on Saturday.  My youngest has recovered from her flu, but she and "her" dog fell asleep in the chair and I caught them as she just woke up.  Why do I call D "her" dog?  Because the two are inseparable.  I'm the Alpha-Dog according to D, but M is the one who always gives her lots of lovin' - they pretty much have a mutual admiration society all to themselves.

So what's with the hair on teenage boys these days?

LOVE this kid!  He's the second oldest in the cousin clan and at almost 18, I do believe he can make the girls swoon - if not with his obvious good looks, then certainly with his ever present sense of humor - and I believe that comes through on these photos just as much as those blue eyes do.

Sick Day

Bummer.

Little bit woke me up about 3am and said she got sick and man she wasn't kidding!  Blech.  It's now 13 hours later and she's had the sum total of  1 slice of white bread and a tbsp of peanut butter.  Oh, and also as much sprite as she can keep down, which according to her is reason enough to get the flu - she loves that man-made fizzyness.  The other benefit of being sick and staying home with mom is the ability to watch High School Musical ad-nauseum...wait - bad analogy. 

All kidding aside though, she really isn't feeling well still and it could put a damper in some weekend plans that she's really been looking forward to.  We've been watching neighbors put up Christmas decorations all week and I can deny my children no longer - it's time to pull out the garland and spruce this place up in ribbons of red and green.  I do believe my favorite part of decorating each year is seeing the ornaments that the kids made in school, looking at the pictures on the photo ornaments, and watching the tree come alive with lights and glitter.  Should be interesting this year too with an 11 month old puppy who will no doubt be very excited that we brought a tree inside for her convenience.

Well... as I sit here on the computer I occasionally hear quiet moans coming from the other room.  Not sure if they're serious moans or just provided for effect.  Given that they get louder when I don't comment on them, I gather they're more to get my attention directed back to where it should be.  But before I go I leave proof of the pitiful state she's in.  Still terribly cute, but pitiful just the same.

Thanksgiving

I apologize in advance, because this may be like being invited over to someone's home only to have to watch their home movies of the latest family vacation...

Apology aside though, we really did have a great Thanksgiving weekend!  We went to Arkansas to visit my brother (aka Nature Boy) and his family.  One day was spent visiting just one of the beautiful state parks called Petit Jean.  The adults, kids and the dog all had a fun - yet cold - day.

7 weeks away?

And the jolly big man in red comes again... I can't believe the Christmas season has come around so quickly this year!  I'm getting each of my girls the croc mammoth's.  Do you know how much I had to look online to find these things in their sizes!  I want to be the inventor of something like crocs one day - someone decided that rubber shoes with holes in them would be a great idea and now they're millionaires.  Yeah... one day.

Okay, back to work - I'm getting emails about Christmas photo shoots and it's a little close to the wire, but we can still fit them in.  November unfortunately (or is it fortunately) is booked, but Sunday, December 2nd in the afternoon is still doable and I can have photos to you within a week, so if that works for anyone, let me know!

And - can't post a note without a photo... or at least I'll try not to.  This is just a candid shot taken last weekend of one of my daughters friends but I loved the bokeh on it.