Good Times & What To Do?

Don and I went out with Rick and Lisa on Saturday night!!  It was a much needed break!!  We hadn't been out with them in a while and we had dinner and went to Side Splitters... a local comedy club!!  We had too much fun!!!  So glad to have such good friends!!!I had so much fun photographing the horse show this weekend... even though I got scorched!  I got sunburned almost under my arms... how does that happen?  I have over 5000 photos to go through and narrow down to a few hundred.  But, I love it!

Now I have a dilemma.

I've been referred to shoot a dressage show on July 11th, which I am so excited about!!  But, Arthur told me this morning he wanted to enter Lakota and I into racking show on July 11th.

I guess I will shoot the dressage show.  Don has an "India"n wedding on July 11th that will have him tied up from 8am til midnight.  So, he would not be able to go and that would be my first show.

I guess that's my answer....?

Heading Back Out & Please Don't Bother

I'm heading back to Friendsville this morning to the beautiful farm Westwind Etc to shoot jumpers!  Hopefully today isn't going to be as hot as yesterday!!  It was BLAZIN hot yesterday but still so much fun!!  Don is heading out to do a wedding this afternoon.  It's just the ceremony so it wont be a long day for him.  Katie had an absolute blast at Lucy's 9th birthday party yesterday, which happened to a pool party!!

We had a great evening out last night with our best friends!!  We had some much needed laughter and such fun!!  We went out to dinner, then headed to a comedy club and then back to their house and played cards!!

Just a little note: to whoever is in Kingsport, TN with charter cable that doesn't enjoy reading my blog.... please don't bother and stop reading it!  It's simple... you don't have to try and post nasty comments!

Have a happy, hot Sunday!!

So excited - I have to share!!!

I have had so much fun with my photography lately!!!  I enjoyed every minute of shooting the Coytee Farm ETHJA show back on June 6th and I am so excited about the Westwind Farm ETHJA show this Saturday and Sunday.... not thrilled about the heat forecast but excited about the show, nevertheless!!  I also enjoyed shooting my good friend Mary's wedding this past Saturday, even though it made me realize that weddings are probably never going to be my thing.  I love Mary and shooting her wedding was fun, I loved hanging out with the girls that afternoon while she was getting ready but once the ceremony started, it was stressful and one person CAN NOT shoot a wedding successfully... you just can't cover it all!!  So I should have had a second shooter.  But, hopefully she will be happy with the photos I provide.  I was disappointed that I didn't get to do more artistic things but there again... it was just me and there just wasn't time.



I had done so much research the past few months on shooting horse shows and the common theme I was finding was that in order to get really good shots, you had to have a love of horses and a love of the sport.  Well, everyone knows how horse crazy I am so that definitely was/is in my favor.

But I've gotten some really nice feedback from the riders who ordered prints from the Coytee show earlier this month and tonight I got the sweetest email telling me how much she loved her prints and how much fun I was to have around that day shooting pictures.  She is recommending me for a whole new branch of horse shows and I am walking on air!!

Also, I've just been contacted to do my first Equine Portrait session!!  YAY!!

Today was a very stressfull day so it was nice for it to have such a nice ending.  Nothing really in particular other than encountering other people ALL DAY LONG that were having bad days and it was very difficult not to let it rub off on me.

I even got a brand new Canon 50D that shoots 6.3 frames per second and getting that camera was a fiasco at a local camera shop... wont name names but it's named after an animal!!  It was a nightmare trying to buy that camera from that store and I was dealing with the 40ish year old manager!!  So finally, I said FORGET IT and went to Best Buy, which I normally don't like going to... and I had the nicest 18-20 year old kid help me.  Go figure!  There were many other stressers, things beyond my control... but one thing that was odd...

Took Katie to STAR and maybe it was the heat but several encounters there with grumpy people and normally STAR is one of the happiest highlights of our week!!  So that was like the straw that broke the camels back... ALMOST!

But, instead, as a family, we tried to end the day on a happy note.  Even before I got my emails that got me so happy....

Katie and I stopped at Outback on the way home and got Katie's and Don's favorite dinner and came home and surprised him with a belated Father's Day dinner.  We were all so tired and I didn't feel good on Father's Day... we didn't really do anything special.  So, we ate dinner outside with the tiki torches lit and then jumped in the pool and swam and played and ended it all by chilling in the hot tub.

Katie was asleep before her head hit the pillow!!

Keep your fingers crossed for me that this weekend's show proves to go as well as the one earlier this month because I love, love, love doing it!!!

OH, OH, OH... and I almost forgot!!!  Such great, happy, wonderful news!!!  My cousin Kim and her daughter Sarah and son Jacob are HOME!!!  Home to stay!!  They've been in Kuwait City, Kuwait (well, right outside of the city) for almost THREE LONG years and Katie and I are ecstatic to see them next week!!  Katie and Sarah already have their multi-evening slumber party planned!!  So happy they are home!!!  I've missed them so much!!

What stressful day?  What grumpy people!!?  Too many things to be happy about!!!

So Very Thankful

My dad got his PET scan results a few days ago and things have just been crazy busy and I haven't posted... but it came back clear.  His wonderfully thorough and aggressive surgical oncologist even removed a few new places and one lymph node he was concerned about and biopsied them and they came back negative.  So, big sigh of relief and my dad gets a 3 month reprieve.  He's still not okay, he still has cancer and according to his doctor, it's not a matter of "if" but a matter of "when" another tumor will appear and treatments options will again be up for discussion.

But, when you are 67 (almost) and have Stage IV Metatstatic Melanoma and have already beat the odds of surviving more than a year and you are given the all clear for three more months... that's truly a gift and a blessing!!

I think Dad and Marilyn are doing their best to enjoy every day to the fullest!!

Thanks for your prayers and love!

Family, Fun & Photography

The past several days have been hectic but wonderful!!  On Saturday, I shot my first horse show in Greenback, TN at a beautiful farm and I loved every minute of it!!  It was hot and my scalp got scorched but other than that - it was great!!  Considering that it was my first show, I think I got some pretty good shots.  I've done a low resolution you tube video but if you want to see higher resolution better quality photos, you can at my website... Dragonfly Photography.



Don had a crazy busy weekend too.  He had a wedding rehearsal on Thursday night in Greenback, a wedding Friday in Greenback, a recital on Saturday in Lafollette, a rehearsal Saturday night and then another wedding Sunday in Maryville.

My dad got here Saturday night and it was so good to see him.  He had his PET scan last Friday and gets his results tomorrow.  Prayers please!!  He is in good spirits and his attitude is wonderful!!  Sunday, Dad, Katie and I headed to Rockwood and Kingston and we spent with Gran and Jack & Sue.  Minus a heated political discussion with my second cousin - it was a great day!!

Politics, religion and family just don't mix!!  :)

Monday my dad just needed to take it easy and I had 3,800 photos to weed through to get that number down to >600.  So my dad hung out with me while I worked on photos.

Yesterday, I packed up my laptop so I could still work and went to Chattanooga with him because he had eight business calls to make.  We had such a great day together... but several times, we'd be laughing and having a great time and it'd get quiet and I'd get a lump in my throat and my stomach would flip and I'd think "Gosh, I'm so blessed he's still here but each day is a gift... he's already exceeded the odds".

I'm always aware that there are many things that I take for granted in this life.  I try not to... but I get so wrapped up in things that I know I do.  Yesterday was just another reminder to slow down and enjoy the things that really matter in life!!

Please pray for my dad that his PET scan comes back clear tomorrow!!

I hope that I can really build on the horse show photography!!  Don has truly found his passion and loves every minute of what he does - whether it's wedding, commercials or corporate training videos.  He LOVES editing!

What's that old saying...."find something you love doing and figure out a way to earn a living doing it..."

Well, I haven't figured out a way to get paid riding horses or scrapbooking... so photographing horses and people who love horses is pretty darn fun for me!!

My next schedule show is June 27th & 28th in Friendsville.  I can't wait!!

I also have Mary's wedding on June 20th.  That will be fun too... I hope!  My first wedding with more than 25 guests...

Humor Truly Is The Best Medicine

My Uncle Ronnie had to have his prostrate removed on Monday due to trace cancer findings. He wasn't looking forward to it at all BUT he has a high pain tolerance and therefore... I don't think the hospital staff still understands what happened...

He had EVERYONE who even came close to him laughing.

I've always loved Uncle Ronnie but growing up, I always remembered him being so serious. I'm sure he's always had a sense of humor but now... LOOKOUT!!

When they were wheeling him up from recovery, my mom heard the elevator bing and thought "Oh, maybe this is Ron".... then she heard all the laughter and sure enough... it was!!

When he called MomMom that night from the hospital... he had her laughing!!

I said "That's IT! No more anesthesthia for Uncle Ronnie... I'm cutting him off"!!

I'm glad I made the trip over. I stayed with MomMom while he was having the surgery. She's 86 and was so worried. I kept her busy all day talking about stories from back when her and Grandad were first married!! There was a lot of laughter and happiness so I'm sure she enjoyed it too!!

I had some nice time with Mom in the evenings when everyone was sleeping!! We caught up on stuff and laughed and it was just very nice!! Who would have ever thought mom and I would both love The Gilmore Girls? It's fun to share simple stuff in common.

But, it's nice to be home!! And it's wonderful he came through the surgery so well.

Future blog post will cover Ronnie's (my cousin) very scary encounter with the bull he USE to own.

Happy Thursday!!