a walk down memory lane...

A year ago this week, we were having the time of our lives somewhere in the Western Caribbean on our very first cruise...let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

[video done in Sony Vegas Movie Studio]

new tricks...

A couple weekends ago, I took a trip to Lexington with my friend, Elizabeth, our end result being to go to Charlotte and walk through the new IKEA store there. We did that and had a great time, as I knew we would.

But you didn't think I'd come all that way and not see my niece, did you? No, I didn't think so. She was just over 8 months old then and learning new tricks! Wanna see?

The last time I saw her was at 6 1/2 months (you saw those photos in my last post) and she has changed so much just in that short time! Much more hair, standing/leaning against the couch by herself, and this! I don't know how but she's gotten cuter! I could just eat her up...

I'll leave you with this photo -- my fave at the moment. I love it when I capture exactly what I was going for! Her eyes actually came out red in the photo but I learned a really cool, really easy trick to take out redeye in Photoshop. Observe...

happy (early) valentime's day...

Bless my husband's sweet heart, this is what he calls Valentine's -- Valentime's. And I just think it's the cutest thing...

We are apart this year on Valentine's (which is Saturday for those who've let it "slip up" on them!) but it's really not a big deal. We don't typically make a big fuss over that day in particular except to maybe give a card. However, this year we have some movie tickets that have slowly been burning a hole in my wallet for a while now. I've asked Jeff to take me to the movies some night to "celebrate Valentine's". If he takes me out to eat, bonus points for him! But I'd be fine if we just got into the movie free (which we will because of the tickets) and he bought me "movie food"! :) Do you not LOVE movie food? I didn't ask if you loved the price...only the food, the nature of it all. Junk. Love it. :)

I think he's attached strings somehow to this "date" by saying we have to see Mall Cop with Kevin James. That's fine with me. If he'll take me, we can watch whatever (within reason :). Besides, Kevin James reminds me an awful lot of my own husband so we're good.

I thought I would share this rather romantic video I put together last summer in honor of Valentine's day. We had these photos made in celebration of our 10 year wedding anniversary with Julie Mixon, photographer extraordinaire! She took them at our very own beach, Topsail Island/Surf City, and they turned out fantastically! This video showcases quite a few of them -- I used a program called Sony Vegas Movie Studio to put it together and had a lot of fun with it.

Enjoy!

special "birth"day...

My niece, Cora Beth, is 6 mos old today. I can't believe it. Time has flown by since she was born last summer. She's growing up so fast -- cutting teeth, eating sweet potatoes (which I hear she LOVES), making noises & "singing", pulling herself up on pieces of furniture. She's got so much personality now and I can only imagine how it's going to change as she grows into a precious little girl and then into a sweet young lady and then into...

I was fortunate enough to be at the hospital when she was born and it was something I'll never forget. I was so proud of Daniel & Brandi and in awe that they were beginning this journey of being parents to a sweet child.

Soon after she was born, I put together this video of photos/video taken right after she was born and in the few days following her birth. I thought this special day would be a good time to share this project with you...

[video done in Sony Vegas Movie Studio]