Family Portrait Session: Bammel

I think this was our third or fourth session together. The first one was a belly shoot for their oldest. Sometimes it's hard to believe how fast families grow.

I love the Americana feel of this one.

Michelle is also a fantastic veterinarian. If you're in San Antonio and ever need one, I would definitely recommend her.

Okay, Florida.

Are we ready for a meaningless stream of photos that say absolutely nothing about where I was last week? :) Okidoke. I don't know if it's the cobbler's shoes thing, but it's so hard for me to take photos of my own life sometimes. So, here is Pointless Shot In The Bathroom Mirror, number one.

And number two.

We met some great peeps. My favorites were Sam and Kyle from Maine. They were hilarious. Sam had us rolling with her unfiltered one liners. If you're ever in San Antonio, you guys better stop by!

Here they are on the bus, on our way to the party at the Aquarium.

At the party. Smack that, get on the floor! And yes, I do have every intention of being that old lady. Don't know what to tell ya, life is short.

Chillin' until 3am in the hotel lobby afterwards. WOOT!

And do I have a photo of the actual Expo? Of course not. I do, however have one of our feet sitting on the steps outside of it. Riveting, I know.

My favorite shot of the weekend.

Wow, looking at these photos makes me feel like it was a pretty crazy weekend. I promise I learned a lot too. There was a ton of great information, and so many inspiring people. There's just no way I could even begin to touch on everything. My favorite class was a tie between Laura Novak, who talked a lot about vision and business strategy, and Christa Hoffarth, who talked about design. They were both awesome.

So, I could stop here. But you know I have to include the drama. :)

On our way home...

I missed my connecting flight to get home from Dallas. It was the last flight of the day, which meant I'd have to spend another night in a hotel room. Sounds simple when I write it out now. Like no biggie, whatever. But I was at the END of my traveling rope. You know how that is, when you're so spent you feel like someone has taken a tap to your veins and drained out your life force? I'd had about 8 hours of sleep in 4 days. More information pounded into my brain than I could begin to process. And all I could think about was kissing my babies' cheeks and crawling into my bed. Instead, I found myself running around a vacant airport, with strap burns on my neck, crying hysterically. And begging someone to check me in. The security guy said I had time to make it. But the girl at the counter said she "was off." In that moment, I learned what it feels like to be homicidal. For real. At some point, a nice man appeared and helped me (off the clock) find a hotel and shuttle. I got over the yearnings for my pillow, and was fine. UNTIL I went outside and stood in the dark, murderer's tunnel for AN HOUR. Okay, I will admit that I am a total wimp who has watched way too much Dateline. BUT, I have never felt so unsafe for such an extended period. It was literally me and the Dallas DFW sprinklers. No cabs. No workers. Not one traveler. Just me on the street, and an occasional bus. And the killers in the bushes. And Buffalo Bill in his rape van across the street. I kept trying to remember all those self defense moves, wondering if I really could stick my thumb into someone's eye ball...(welcome to the dark recesses of my mind). Anyway, four phone calls later, my shuttle bus finally showed up and brought me here.

Welcome to the Ramada Inn of Irving, TX. Comes complete with curly, brown hair on the toilet seat (and I'm not kidding) and brown mysterious drips of something on the doors and walls. I set the alarm clock on the table, on my phone, AND had them give me a wake up call. There was NO WAY I would be missing my morning flight. Except for that I DID miss my morning flight. Yep, SWEAR. Apparently when people book your ticket off the clock, they go into the Hollogram file. Moral of the story...don't ever book a connecting flight on two separate airlines, especially when it's really late at night. 

Now, totally changing the subject...if you are one of the lucky girls who is signed up for the Haute Mama shoot this weekend, you are in for such a treat! It's going to rock! I promise I will be sending out all the final details/directions as soon as possible. Please feel free to contact me with any last minute questions. And if you emailed or called about getting in, and couldn't, I am so sorry! The response was crazy. And I wish I could fit everyone in, but it's going to be tight as it is. And I want to make sure everyone gets personalized attention. The good news is that I WILL be doing another one soon. So KEEP A LOOK OUT for dates and times for the next shoot. I have a feeling it's going to book up fast again. 

Okay, tonight is girls night out, and I need to get ready! 

See ya'll tomorrow! :)