Here’s a few of my favorites from our session, enjoy!

One of Kai’s favorite past-times is chasing and playing with the Donkeys……

I am no longer a Miss, I am a Mrs. On May 20, 2011, Oscar and I tied le knot in Asheville, NC. We did all the work, so the month previous was very very busy. We then went on our honeymoon, and since being back, well, I’ve been playing catch-up and contemplating all those big life questions.

I promise a post with photos once we get them!

Our original honeymoon plans called for us driving from Asheville, NC after the wedding to Charleston, SC and after a few days there, heading to Savannah, GA for a long weekend before heading back home.

Ah, the best laid plans……

We had a great honeymoon, however, the plans changed. After 4 days in Charleston, we packed up and hit the road to Savannah. Ugh.

What. A. Let down.

Now, it’s my own fault. I’ve had this grandiose idea of what Savannah is since I could read, and my expectations were way too high. Couple that w/ the fact that he hadn’t yet really just chilled and rested, and within, oh, 5 hours of being there we decided to leave first thing in the morning. Hey, it’s our honeymoon!

So we did, and we headed back to the beautiful, amazing delicious city of Asheville.

But now I’m back and ready to rock and roll! Future posts w/ photos from the wedding and all will be coming, but I have some catch up to do w/ me furry clients, so be looking forward to posts in the near future.

And of course, if you’d like some great photos to capture this time in life of your 4 legged family members, contact me today!!

For this week, I thought I’d introduce you to a group I’ve just recently come to know of and love, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. I first heard them on Pandora (an online radio of sorts, if you don’t know, you should. Go. Now.).

They’re gritty, quirky, and I love it. There is one song in particular I’m in love with. In fact, I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate it into my wedding!!

Home:

Seeing as I’m new to their music, I don’t have a whole lot of suggestions. But that video above. Watch it. And fall in love.

I also really enjoy the songs Black Water, 40 Day Dream, Simplest Love and Brother.

Def watch the video, and def check them out!

His music is just beautiful, I adore his voice. One of my favorite songs of his is “Just one of those things” which I heard in the movie Young at Heart with Doris Day. Here’s that clip from the movie, love LOVE it:

Of all the albums of his I own, I’d say Classic Sinatra: His Greatest Performances 1953-1960 is my all around favorite. I love the flow of the album, the songs, just, everything about it. So if you’re new to the Sinatra experience, I would recommend starting with this album.

As for his movies, these are my faves:

A clip from The Tender Trap: (not the best visual quality, but oh’s well!)

Here’s a clip from the movie Young at Heart with Doris Day, my fave movie of his!

And some of my favorite songs, all videos are from YouTube:

Luck Be A Lady Tonight:

Fly Me To The Moon:

That’s Life:

I’ve Got You Under My Skin:

I could easily go on and on and on, but check him out for yourself, both his music, and his movies. Enjoy!

Earlier this year she launched a product called Circus Circus: Your Adventure Guide to Better Business Writing. I was interested in finding out more information, because as I said, I find her writing to be both entertaining as well as knowledgable. After downloading the first chapter for free(which at time of this writing you can still do in her shop) I was interested enough to purchase the full thang.

Holy Hell.

She put a LOT of work into this thing. I’ll be honest, I haven’t yet finished working on it. This isn’t something you purchase for a quick fix. She doesn’t spell out for you exactly what you should write. She leads you. So if you think you need help with your written word, and truly have the time, effort and energy into getting better and making a change, this is definitely the thing for you.

Besides the writing part, she also guides you to really think about yourself, your clients, your business and your products. Definitely worth every penny, IMO.

So if you’re interested in Kristen, Brand Camp and Circus Circus, head over to her site.

In high school I would go to the local Borders Books and Music and spend a few hours there, just listening to different music they had featured. When I saw a movie that had an amazing score/soundtrack, I’d head straight to the store to buy it. I ended up working at BBM in college, and I am now the proud owner of at LEAST 2000 cds. At least.

I thought I’d start a little feature here on music, since it is so close to my heart.

I’ll start first with my longest held consistent musician love: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

I first heard of Tom Petty when I was in 6th grade I believe. There was a particular boy I had a crush on, and one day he and another friend brought up Tom Petty. This was back in the days of those mailers from Columbia where you can get a certain number of free cds but you have to commit to buy more later, or whatev the deal was. The next time got one of those in the mail, I got as many Tom Petty cd’s as I could and they had. From there, a love affair was born.

My all time favorite is Mary Janes Last Dance:

Another fave, this will get you in a fantabulous mood any time of day. Just try listening and not rocking out. Runnin’ Down a Dream:

I have been to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers more times than I can count. I have, however, keep track of how many states I’ve seen them in: 5.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Summerfest. This is where I’ve seen them the most, having grown up an hour south. This also, is by FAR, the best show I’ve seen them put on. There’s something about the atmosphere that just makes their shows here unbelievable. Every. Time.

San Antonio, Texas. As my graduation gift from high school from my parents, my mom, sister, cousin, then boyfriend and myself took a trip down to Texas to see them on tour.

Saratoga Springs, New York. A few years back my step-sister Mac and I took a road trip planned around seeing them in SS, NY. We flew into Boston a few days before the concert, road tripped up, went to Montreal, then back down through Vermont and Maine. This was an…interesting show. I feel like they had the craziest fans up there. Bonus, Stevie Nicks joined them on-stage to perform and it was awesome.

Atlanta, Georgia. My fiance and I drove up from Orlando when we were living there, it was his first time seeing them, and I’d say it won him over.

Tampa, Florida. I flew down to FL after having moved back up north to go see them with Mac again. This was probably, ok, not probably, this was my worst concert experience with them. 1st, it was indoors. No Bueno. 2nd, we were easily the youngest fans in our section by 30 years, and if I remember correctly, many of them didn’t feel like standing up.

If you’re new to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and want to get a taste, I’d say check out their Greatest Hits Album and Wildflowers.

There’s some music to get you through the week. Enjoy!!!

So, I thought my love for Adele and her music was pretty well solidified. BUT. Then she appeared on Chelsea Lately(a hilarious show, if I may say so myself!) and holy crap, she NEEDS to do more interviews. I loved it!

So, I’ve yet to figure out how to embed video into a post on here, so for now, click HERE to view her interview.

Enjoy, and I hope you love her music as much as I do!

And while that’s all good and true, it’s not the whole truth.

Here on the interwebs, there are a few different type of people I’ve noticed, most specifically the “Everything is perfect in my life and business” type and the “Here’s the real deal on whats going down, my highs and lows and in betweens” type.

I’ve thought that I was fairly sharing on here(although, I’m naturally very reserved, so it hasn’t been easy) but I’ve realized I’ve been putting up the “Everything is perfect in my life and business” facade.

So here’s why I haven’t been so great at keeping up my blog:

Reason numero Uno: Who the hell am I that anyone would really give a crap to read what I have to say, there are SO many more interesting people out there!

Reason numero Dos: Do I even have any readers? Really? Is anyone actually out there?

Those are the internal thoughts that go through my head and keep me from regularly posting. So that’s that. There’s a little deeper part of moi, and now that I’ve finally got that out there, I really do mean this time I’m going to try to keep up with posting. Because whether or not anyone really cares or follows along, there may be that one person who is interested, so, yeah. No more letting my own issues get in the way of keeping me from sharing what I enjoy and like.

La-ti-da

In the meantime, however, you may, or may not, have heard about the awesome blizzard we got in these here parts last week. Now, I’m entirely over this whole winter thing, I want warm weather, sun up until 8 or 9pm and windows open, but I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this snow storm we got.

It takes a lot for things to shut down up here, as we’re used to the snow and frigid temps, but this storm was finally something that shut the area down! I knew before it hit that it was going to actually happen, so I made sure I had enough food for the 2 days we’d be inside and got ready.

The storm certainly did not disappoint! The wind was crazy, and the amount of snow was just insane. It was fun tracking it’s build up through the night into the morning. Here’s a photo from the night of the blizzard:

I had thought the snow was high that night, but when I woke up in the morning, it had really outdone itself! Due to the location of our place, we were the lucky recipients of an awesome snow drift.

What we saw when we opened our front door:

The blizzard as it raged on that morning:

Our front porch, looking out our window:

Our front door, from outside:

Here’s a few other photos from the snowstorm aftermath:

As we all know, the 1 year anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti is this week. After the earthquake I wanted to do what I could to help, but beyond donating to the Red Cross, I had no clue where to even look. Throughout the year I’ve seen other photographers who have gone to Haiti to document, I’ve seen some turn this into charitable work, which was inspiring. Again though, I merely followed along and watched their journeys. This past fall I started becoming more and more aware of something I had felt tugging at me. Over time, I learned it was this feeling that I wanted to do something to make a difference in the world, to get out of my own skin, life and problems, and help others.

Then 2 weeks ago, I came upon an amazing photographer, Richelle Dante. She was going to be heading to Haiti in one month to work with two organizations in Haiti. I instantly needed to find out more, I felt in my gut that I needed to do this. We emailed back and forth, and as I learned more about her trip and the organizations she was going to be working with, the more I was inspired to go and help out.

You can read all about Richelle’s path to Haiti on her blog here. In a nutshell, she had visited the Dominican Republic after the earthquake to volunteer at an orphanage that was helping Haitian refugees, and she also was able to go to Port-au-Prince for a day.

Here is an image from her time in the DR, they had taken photos of the kids, and printed them out. A few days later this boy came up to her holding his picture that had been taken a few days previously:

The universe has decided that this point in time is not the time for me to go with to Haiti, unfortunately, but I was so moved by the organizations she has paired up with, that I want to tell you a bit about them, and what I would like to do to help them.

The first is Heartline Ministries. John and Beth McHoul are the founders of Heartline, and have been in Haiti for 20 years. They have created some amazing programs to help the women and children of Haiti learn many life skills, such as reading and writing, parenting skills and sewing skills to in turn be able to sell their products. They have a Student Sponsorship Program where they have committed to sponsoring 51 students for the 2010-2011 school year providing their tuition, books and other material, backpack, 2 meals a day at school, 2 uniforms as well as group activities and home visits. You can find out more information by visiting their website. What resonated for me with Heartline, is that they aren’t just focused on the immediate relief, but long-term, helping the women who come through their programs learn skills they can use to be more successful themselves, as well as skills that they will pass on to their children. You can tell how much John, Beth and their volunteers care about what they’re doing, the people they’re helping, and the pride and hope they have for the Haitian people.

The other organization is Child Hope International. Bill and Susette Manassero founded Child Hope International in 2001. They provide many services through various programs, and what reached out to me the most was the children in the orphanage(Maison de Lumiere). Their stories are heartbreaking, however I feel a sense of hope in the fact that Child Hope is there for them, giving them a loving home.

Haiti has many, many needs, far beyond what I could ever comprehend. All it takes though is one person, helping another, to make a difference. It may be small in comparison to the world, but for the one person it helps, it can be a life changer.

So today I am asking for your help. Richelle will be heading down February 1-9. Both organizations have many needs, and if you’re interested in donating items, please head to her blog for a list of high priority items, and to contact Richelle.

I am also raising money for both Heartline Ministries as well as Child Hope International. During the month of January, I am holding a print sale. The proceeds from all the sales of these prints will be divided in two and donated to each organization. Click here to view the images for sale, and place your order. Photographs are available in either 8X12 or 11X14, and the square images are available in either 8X8 or 12X12. If you have any questions, please email me at barknutimages @ hotmail [dot] com.

Here are a few of the prints for sale:

Thank You Thank You Thank You for taking the time to read this far. Please pass this on to friends and family that may be interested, if only to spread the word of wonderful organizations helping a people in need.