I'm hooked

Once I got the hang of this thing, I couldn't stop myself. I probably converted about 20 pictures yesterday. Here are a few of my favorites. They all involve Seth, Ella, Clayton and Jack. All four of these kids have so much personality and life. It was so much fun doing these pictures. Thank you Fred, Jennifer, Joey and Joanna for letting me steal your photographs. Hopefully I will start learning more techniques soon. And I promise, I will have some of my own photographs on here soon.

My last day at WMC was exactly 1 month and 23 days ago, and I've been enjoying every ounce of my life ever since. In fact, I feel like I am actually living. After spending 3 years working overnights, I finally get to cook dinner and sleep next to my husband. I get to enjoy the holidays with my family and don't have to work weekends. My new job still has the deadlines and pressures that I need to drive me, but so far, it hasn't worn me down. I didn't realize it was possible to enjoy life this much.

But one thing I do miss about producing is the creativity required for the job. For the past four years, I've spent 50 hours a week writing and designing, but now my creative juices have been shut down. So, I'm ready to start some projects! The only problem is.. I'm not really sure where to start. So, I've decided to pour more energy into my lost love... photography. I just bought a new digital camera and have downloaded a REALLY good photo-shopping program. I'm going to take it one step at a time. Right now, I'm working on conquering combining black and white photos with color. I didn't take this picture, but when I came across it on myspace, I knew it would be perfect for what I was trying to do. This is my cousin Liesl, acting crazy as usual. I think she's having a little too much fun with the giant candy cane. :) Liesl is so much fun and so full of energy. We live here in the same city together, but don't get together nearly as often as we should. But everytime I see her, she brings a lot of joy into my day.

Anyway, despite the silliness of the photo- I thought Liesl's red shirt and the candy cane would make for a fun photo. Here are the before and after picts.

6 days left...

...until we get Bear! We've never met Bear, so we have no clue what his personality will be like or what he will look like when we get him. The only picture we've seen of him is the picture on the blog (taken at 2 weeks old). So, he'll be significantly bigger when we get him. Zach and I like to talk about what we think he will be like. We met two brother labs this weekend (both 6 weeks old). One was extremely laid-back and the other was real hyper. We anticipate Bear will be the latter of the two. If he's not, we are prepared that our cat, Precious, will bring out his wild side before he reaches 7 weeks old. We're just ready to get him here. We keep googling pictures of 6-week-old chocolate labs to get an idea of what Bear will look like when we get him. Here are a couple. We'll compare them to Bear when we go pick him up on December 24!

Sydney's Christmas

Wow! What a weekend. Every weekend with Sydney is something magical, but at the same time painful. Sydney lives in Jackson, MO with her mom. Zach and I travel there every weekend we're all available. We stay there as long as we can... but the entire weekend is filled with the knowledge that at some point we'll have to leave. Watching Syd and Zach together is one of my favorite things to do. She's definitely daddy's little girl. Their faces light up every time the other one walks into the room. They spend the whole weekend hugging, kissing, laughing, playing and trying to make up for lost time. I can't remember a time I've left Missouri without crying. There's never an experience in our home where we wish Sydney wasn't there. Right now, we're patiently waiting and praying for the day Sydney can come visit Memphis and Alabama-- so the people in our lives can be introduced to this wonderful little girl.

Sydney will be busy the next couple of weekends in Missouri, so Zach and I went up there to do Christmas with her on Saturday. We stayed the night in a hotel there.. so Sydney could have a warm place to open her presents. We spent the rest of the night playing with toys. Sydney and I even got to throw a fashion show for Zach with her new Cheetah dress up kit! Here are a few of the dozens of pictures taken that night.

Zach and I have been married for almost 9 months now, and are having the best time celebrating our first Christmas together. These are pictures we took while decorating the tree. Unfortunately (as you can see), we're still working on our ornament collection.

Zach and I are expecting our first baby together! This is Bear! Right now, Bear is only 4 1/2 weeks old. He will be 6 weeks old Christmas Day. We are going to pick him up on Christmas Eve. If you can't tell, he's a chocolate lab. We are new to the whole "dog experience" so any advice is welcome.

Party Animals...

Meg and I both recently quit our jobs as producers at Channel 5, but thanks to Dawn and Krista, we were still invited to the Christmas party. This year's party was at the Memphis Zoo. It was so much fun hanging out with the old gang and catching up. These are Krista's photographs-- so thanks Krista, for letting me steal your pictures.. again. Here are a few of my favorites.

In honor of..

I'm new to this whole blog thing, but my brother, Dan and sister-in-law, Tami have inspired me. They have been blogging for a while now and even have my one-year-old nephew blogging! Dan and Tami are two of the most loving, unselfish people I've ever met. They are so willing and eager to help others and inspire people along their journey through life. This picture seemed appropriate for my first posting. I love you guys and miss you!