Merry Christmas To Me!!!!!

OH!!! I have the best husband!!!!

Honestly I do!!!!

Tonight I got my gifts early... mainly cause he didn't want to wait tomorrow, and Christmas Day is ALWAYS busy for me getting around to all the family n stuff... Anyway, here is what I got...

I got a BTCup, LOL funny I know. It allows me to listen to my iPod in the car (which is something I've been wanting the ability to do) AND it syncs to the bluetooth in my phone so I can have hands free converstaions over my car speakers!!!! so super cool I can't wait to install it Friday!!!!

Oh, first I got two books I've been dying to read. I got those for the trip though so I'd have something to keep me busy and to keep me from looking over the cliffs in the mountains and freaking out! :D

Then, I got some extra large bath towels... which I love cause they wrap ALL the way around... always a plus!

Ok, next I got a really sweet desktop charger for my blackberry... it plugs into the wall and sits on the desk and cradels the blackberry so it's super cool!!!

And lastly! My final and bestest gift!!!! the ENTIRE set of FRIENDS!!!!!!!!! I can't tell you all how obsessed with this show I am and how much I love it... Every time we go to walmart or Target, or anywhere that has the set I stand there and long for it!!! And FINALLY I've got it!!!! I'm soooo super stoked!!!!! I think I screamed when I opened it up!!!!!

I had to share... I just opened everything like 20mins ago and I couldn't wait to tell everyone!!!!

I hope everyone's holiday is AWESOME and you all get what you want for Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Jenny, Carlos & Charlie

I love this family! They are all so cute!!!!!































Click HERE to see their slideshow

Rebekah Sneak Peak

First, YES it's ok to hate her! Secondly, this the only photo that will go on the blog with out her permission... I wanted to post one because she's so stinkin beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Her hubby is going to LOOOOOVE his anniversary gift!


Even if it is a touch late :)

Carlos and Jenny Sneak Peak

Last week Tara and I drove down to Daytona for a cute split session with Jenny and her hubby Carlos... she wanted some family shots but some hot sexy shots of them two together as well... so we started things off with a really cute and fun family session and ended with a steamy couples session! It was a ton of fun... here are two sneak peaks from our session together...

Orlando in November

is rather pleasant....

I'm in catch up mode since my trip out of town and all the things I had on my pate before I left.... I'll be launching BT's website and everything in 16 days and there is SO much to catch up on and blog about...

Since I haven't had a lot of time to do much of anything I made a little slideshow (to a generic song) of the photos I snapped while in Orlando... (Suzie our model from Orlando, her photos are up on the BT myspace page)

Also, as promised it's my 151st blog post and as the milestone marker of the 150th post on my blog I'm giving the person who answers this 3 part question correctly 25% off their next shoot with me in 2009 :D

Who was my very first blog about? What is that persons first name? and how many blogs have I mentioned this person in?

Ready to be home!

So, I didn't update my blog about what's been going on the last couple of weeks... I simply forgot and have been so busy getting ready for my trip, and on my trip that I've forgotten to blog...

On December 2nd Wes and I left the warm sunny beautiful state of FL for PA... no we aren't crazy... 6 yrs ago my mom, sister and stepfather moved there for work and I've been up there once since they moved... Obviously my Florida blood can't stand beeing in such cold! but other than that reason it's been financially impossible to get up there more than that one time. Until last week, a woman that my mother used to work with is on my myspace friends list and asked me if I'd photograph her daughters wedding... of course this wedding is in DECEMBER in one of the COLDEST states in the union! but I offered her an exchange, wedding photography for the cost of my trip and she agreed, so we packed up the Jeep and headed north.

My darling little sister and most amazing employee ever Eden and Tara have been watching my house and my babies for the past 8 days now and they have about 4 more left until we come home but boy oh boy am I ready to be home!

Wes and I have been sleeping all cuddled up like a newlywed couple again but we are ready to be in our own bed with the sea of pooches between us like usual, lol!

Yesterday I left a state 6 states away from Florida and it was 17 degrees outside, we packed our Jeep in the snow and ice wore sweatshirts and fuzzy socks in the Jeep and battled slippery mountains all going down hill. Lastnight we arrvied in South Carolina 1 state away from home. I actually winced when I saw the 95 south sign cause I knew it would be a few more days still before we could get there.

Our trip has consisted of 4 days with my mom and one wedding, and now 4 days with Wes' mom since she's on the way home... I'm looking forward to getting some photos of downtown Charleston, it's beautiful like Savannah so that'll be nice I have both my meduim format film cameras and like 7 rolls of film so that'll be nice... I feel like this is our actual vacation part of the trip. Not that being with my mom is a chore! Lord that might sound bad! I loved spending time with my family, playing cards and watching movies on a lazy sunday afternoon there isn't much better than that! But it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cold there we didn't want to get out and do anything... it's 40 degerees warmer here, in a beautiful southern city so I know Wes and I will get out more and see some sights and it'll be like a little honeymoon which is nice...

OK enough rambling I suppose sorry for boring y0u... I'll have some photos to post later... I did post a few photos to my personal myspace if you are friends with me there check it out if not then add me and then check it out! LOL

See you all soon back in FL!!! Sneak Peaks of the PA wedding on the photography myspace...

**Also this post is my 150th post and if you're a loyal follower you'll know I promised to something super cool as a contest for it... I haven't decided what it is yet... but be on the look out for the 151st post and I'll announce what it is!!!! Got to get to thinkin! :D

November.... what a month...

I've mostly been working on getting things ready for breaking tradition's launch in January... I'm leaving Dec 1st for PA for a wedding on the 6th and to visit with my family up there a little...

If you want to see sneak peaks of what we've been up to lately head on over to the breaking tradition blog...

breakingtraditionstudio.blogspot.com (become a follower while you are there!)

This is post 149 I believe and the 150th post will contain a contest or prize of some sort in there so you'll want to be sure and say tuned to the blog for details on that!

I've got a couple of JCP things to post here soon, I just figured I'd update you on what's been going on...

Last weekend the 14th-16th I went to Miami to do a trash/glam session with Liz... (sneak peaks of that on the BT blog) This weekend I jetted down to Orlando for a night and a super quick session!!! (details soon on that, Tara posted a sneak peak of that session on the BT blog, see what you miss when you aren't subscribed!) Now I've GOT to catch up on editing and head back to Orlando on the 29th for a seminar then off to PA Dec 1st to be gone for two weeks for work/vacation/visiting family....

I really hope to get some rest soon!!!

Love It!

Liz JUST posted this on myspace and it's so true... and funny... I wanted to share it with everyone!



Dear Money,

I don't like this game of hide and seek we keep playing... First you're in my wallet, then you're in my coin purse... then you're in the cup holder in my car and now you've completely disappeared. I understand all the moving around bothers you and you'd rather stay in a cold dark vault in the bank, but it cant always be this way.


Oh, and will you and Mrs. Money please start having kids because if you don't soon, you will become extinct.


Thank you.


Me

Teaser from Miami!!

I'm still catching up on things from my trip, but I wanted to post a teaser from my trip to Miami...

This is my fav shot from the Liz' bridal session in Miami...


More to come.... someday... when and if I catch up before we leave for Pennsylvania....

P.S. the sessions from Miami will be going up on the breaking tradition blog when they are complete so to see more be sure to follow the BT blog!

Leah & Daren Sneak Peak

Sunday, the day after the longest day Tara and I have ever put in together, we drove down to Merritt Island, FL for Leah and Daren's E-Session.

Honestly this is the most fun couple I've shot in a while... Daren made faces at the camera and the two of them were playful and cute! It was worth the drive, not to mention Cocoa Village was super cute and great to shoot in for a change of pace from J-ville! :D

The shop where Daren got her ring! :D


Leah emailed me and asked if I could make one of her sneak peak shots one her Mom could put in the news paper :D


This one was actually THEIR IDEA!!!! well it was a joke at first, but we loved it!!! and said YEAH lets do it!!!! So fun!!!! I love it!!!!


More to come!!!

Jax Artwalk Nov08

OK So, I've been slackin... I've been to artwalk once in the past year... until last night. I'm not sure why but I don't really think about it. I mean it's once a month and ALL my friends like to go and most of them do go every month. So why have I not done this on a regular basis? You answer is likely just as good as mine.

Lastnight I met up with Tara, Liz and Emily at artwalk... of course I got there like an hour before everyone else, and got drizzled on... but those aren't the highlights of my night...

I had a good time... but all in all... you could say it was near disaster...

Like I said I got there early, walked around a bit on my own then grabbed a seat and waited for Tara to arrive, Liz was running late too... but it was hard for me to know any of this because as I was getting ready to leave... (you know brushing my teeth and hair) My youngest baby decided she wanted to use my phone as a chew toy (we don't have human children just dogs :D) so as I'm searching for a clippie on my dresser something glowing catches my eye and it's Dot with something lit up in her mouth! It's my CELL PHONE!!!!!!!!!!! Ugh I almost lost it... this is the SECOND time they have chewed on this particular phone, like I've already replaced my Duo once!

Amazingly it still "worked" but the screen is a bit busted so I couldn't see who was calling or read half of the text messages that came through... all I could see was the first few words and that was it... Lucky for me I never got rid of my krazor so I have a back up till I can get another smart phone... maybe I should get that blackberry I've been eyeing... ugh...

Then I get to artwalk... Try to call Liz and her phone goes straight to voicemail so I walked around to see if maybe she was there and didn't get signal... nope... no luck and Tara already told me she'd be late so I decided to walk around and it started drizzling pretty good... a lot of people closed up shop in the light rain, and I was tempted to go home but knew that everyone was on their way and if it did start to pour down rain we could just hang out in the old library...

Liz and I decided to walk to the landing and get some food while Tara went to go pick up a friend from work. I was reminded why I dislike hooters! The service is slow, wings are tiny and not as good as others... I so prefer Gators but if they were out of the question I like Dicks much more than Hooters! LOL (sorry I had to)

After wings we walked back to Tara and Emily and that's where I met this guy...

super nice guy... is a friend of Tara's from high school... Tara really does know just about everyone in this town... LOL

He was funny too I tried to take a photo of the crowd outside and he popped into it!


And here's this is for Tara... she always looks like a sex kitten! lol


And the night ended with this on my car...


Really???


I don't think so!!!! I sooo paid... and have my receipt...


one more thing to add to my loooooong to do list before Planetfest...

2008 Election

I'm glad the election is over... if I'm honest. And while I'm being honest, I stood in my little booth yesterday staring at the president category for over five minuets... I think it was a tough choice and a tight race (as far as the popular vote goes, and last time I checked) I watched the concession and acceptance speeches on youtube this morning, and WOW that was a powerful speech! Obama sure has a way with words and carisma. He says some very inspiring things and I hope that for the sake of our country that what he says is truly his heart and will be the direction he takes the country in his term as president.

Yesterday as I stood in the booth running my pen above all the bubbles I knew that the outcome had been decided long before I walked into the building to cast my vote, I've paid attention to the polls afterall... I prayed in my booth held up my finger and asked God to guide it... You know like you do in school before you christmas tree your exams... Figured it was worth a shot, lol. I really did do it but that admission was thrown in for humor sake... I made an informed decision, I believe I voted for a good man, win or lose...

I don't discuss politics and who I voted for or didn't vote for, I'm not here to debate...

I really really hope that Obama is the man the country thinks he is. Either way... I really hope that this works out well... I hope that the country does change and grow in a good way. I've seen posts this morning about people crying their eyes out in Joy lastnight, and people basically bowing down to the oh powerful Obama... and well frankly folks, that scares me a bit, I don't think that it's alltogether healthy for there to be a cult like following after the man. Singing songs of his praise, and things of that nature... He's just a man for goodness sake, and no man is perfect in the least!!

I suppose that now only time will tell how things will unfold. I'm excited to be part of history. I read in a blog today "isn't it weird to think we are alive in a time that children of the future will read about in their history books" or something of that nature. And it is exciting, I happen to really like change and I think this country needs one big time! (and no matter who was elected, we need to heal what has been broken)

However, there were record amounts of people out there voting! Which is good, that means people are being proactive about their futures!

Get out there and vote!

I voted this AM... did you??

I hope everyone exercises their right to vote today... I could care less if you vote Red, Blue, Purple, Green or wrote in Miss Piggie for President as long as you got out and voted!

So It's Halloween

I have no plans for tonight, I don't enjoy Halloween parties, and dressing up... I may hit up a fall festival. I live down the road from my childhood church so maybe I'll talk Wes into going there so I can snap some photos...

Tara posted on her myspace page a while back a photo of her dressed up for Halloween and I think she was like 5 or 6... I unfortunately have a similar photo, mine made it all the way into the school yearbook, which is where I had to scan it from cause I couldn't find the hard copy... So forgive the distortion of the photo...


Got to love childhood memories... I'm not sure why Lisa (then stepmother) put me in this... I do know that even my beloved babydoll was dressed like and indian as well...

Revamps...

*sigh* thankfully most of my revamping is almost done... I've recently revamped the pricing on my large prints on my online hosting account... they are HUGELY discounted!

It includes merchandise too, just in time for the holidays....

It's exhausting revamping everything it really is... Along with the price cuts I've finally developed a referral program.... w/the help of Tara we got an ad designed for it... it's pretty cool...



I hadn't blogged in a while, and I figured I'd update on what I've been up to...

I'm going to the airshow today, then to get a pedicure, and then to see if the girls still want to go smoke a little hookah...

Keri & Kenny are Married

A little over a year ago I did some photos of a lovely family from Tennessee, they were a military family spending some time at NS Mayport and wanted some family photos taken on the beach. We headed out to Hannah park, snapped some photos, they placed an order and I never heard from them again.

Two weeks ago I received a message on my website from Keri, who said she was referred to me by this family! I was so excited that they remembered me and were passing my name along to another military family.

Keri informed me that Kenny was down here at NS Mayport going to school and she was coming to visit him and get MARRIED!!!! They did the justice of the peace thing in Jax on Oct 9th and had a photoshoot with me a few days later.... it was so very sweet because they are SO in love and SO cute.

They both kept saying that they were "bad" at this, HA! yeah right!!!!!

This one might simply be my fav!























See what I mean about them being very much in love...








Keri told me when we started this that she doesn't take very good photos... hmmmmmm, I personally think she might be crazy, or blind!

















Here is the email I got from Keri right after she looked at the photos online :D

"Hey Jess....omg the pics are great!! wow!! I am very very happy with all of them!! Thank you so much!! They are soo cool!!! Kenny is really happy about them too..he keeps going on about how hot he looks.. lol!! Thank you again so much (and Wes too)..it was awesome working with you , and we will def be using you again.

**Thank you again!! They are beautiful!!!

Keri"

:D :D :D

I've made a discovery...

I love photography.... shocker huh...

There are some things that I however, do not love.... such as the politics of "networking" and getting ahead and other business owner jargon that I have NO interest in. I left corporate America to get away from all this, lately I've been working on a lot of projects and as my close buddies know I'm kinda pulling away from anything and everything main stream....

This Sunday morning I brought Shelly (UNF, BFA, Photography major and close pal) to my grandmother's house. (Same place I shot Jenny's trash the dress) and I followed her around as she used her medium format DLR to do some shots for one of her film classes.

Since I started taking photos I've wanted to learn more about film I have very very limited experience in film photography, I had a little film camera way back in the day when my interest in photography was peeked, but it was just a little Kodak 35mm.

Shortly after I met Shelly and Tara they made me want to learn more, Wes got me a Holga for my birthday and until lastnight it has been in it's box! Well after Sunday with Shelly I decided it was time to get some film for the Holga and start shooting.

More interesting (at least to me) last November my friend (who's also an art teacher) Rachel gave me an old Minolta Autocord in exhance for snapping a few shots at her wedding. Shelly gave me a roll of black and white film and for almost a year now I've thought the camera was broken... well yesterday I whipped out the maual I had printed from the internet, did a little reading and figured out that I'm just an idget and nothing is wrong with the camera... SO today I went in the back yard and shot my first 12 images onto some 120 film... I can't wait to get them developed... I want to either have Shelly do it or watch her do it if she can sneak me into the lab!

I'm really excited!!! I should get my film in the mail next week or so and I've already told Shelly that we'll have to make a day of making art... I have 10 rolls on the way 5 color 5 black and white... I also customized my Holga today!!! LOL

Dragonfly stuff to match my computer!!!!

And my Autocord.... PS (will work for old cameras and cake!)

sorry for the horrible quality of the photos... this was a very spur of the moment blog... :D