I’m short on words tonight because my three year old decided to climb and get her craft scissors and cut her own hair. Oh boy there were tears (from me! ). I’ll share photos of that tomorrow.

Here are a few photos from our session this morning…

P.S. For those of you who read the blog via Google reader or other blog reader services be sure and stop in and check out the cool new flash header!

So I’m supposed to list 8 facts that you might now know about me.

1.  I grew up in Nashville, TN

2.  My Grandmother & my Aunt raised me

3.  My first job was at Chick-Fil-A.  It’s not as big out here on the West Coast as it is in the South, but boy oh boy it sure is yummy.  They even have a scholarship program for high school kids and I was lucky enough to be awarded one of their scholarships for college.

4. I have a real live turtle named Herman.  He is a box turtle and I’ve had him since I was in the 5th grade, which was way back in 1985.    He lives at my Grandmother’s home in TN.

5.  I cannot have my feet covered up when I sleep, it smothers me.  I can’t wear socks while sleeping either.  I get that from my Great Grandpa, he used to sleep with his feet sticking out from the covers.

6. I’m big foot.  No really I am, I wear a size 10 shoe and I’m 5’11.  That’s pretty tall for a chick.

7.  It takes me 3-4 sittings to read a magazine.  The first time I flip through and skim, the second time I flip through and read the articles that are hyped on the cover and the third time I read the really long articles.

8.  I can speak German.  When I was in high school I didn’t want to attend the school that was local to me so I figured out that if I took German (which wasn’t offered at my local school) that I would be able to transfer to the school I wanted to.  Oddly enough German doesn’t really do me any good here in Los Angeles.

Phew that was painful and darn it now you all know how boring I am.  Now I’m supposed to tag 8 other cool people!  I’m so slow that I’m guessing some of them have already been tagged, oh well, once is never enough!

1. Theresa Stanton
2. Marci Ralph
3. Kimberly Hill
4. Heather Morrow
5. Jessica Grieves
6. Michelle Walker
7. Melissa DeMille
8. Traci Montarti

Oh and I have to tell you, I have found a new bed that I must buy.  The Marriott has one of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in.  Gone are those scary germy old school bed spreads, they now have awesome high thread count bedding and the mattress, well it’s to die for.  You can even buy it!  I told my husband I think we have found our next bed.  Check it out: http://www.shopmarriott.com/index.aspx

Here are a few shots from the weekend:

isnt this little one the sweetest thing ever, she told me she wanted to come and visit me in California!

So now I’m frantically trying to get everything together for our family vacation on Friday.  Everyone say prayers, cross your fingers, chant, whatever you do, that my children will cooperate and behave on the 5 1/2 hour flight to Maui.  This is our first “real” vacation in ages and the kids are so excited to go.  My daughter keeps asking each day if it’s “time to go to the airport”.  Too cute!

I’ll be blogging from Hawaii sharing some photos.  This is my first time to go there, even though I’ve traveled to so many other amazing places, this is my first time visiting Hawaii. 

I’ll go ahead and confess that she’s feisty and with that I’ll also tell you that it’s quite the understatement.  Yes she throws tantrums, yes she screams and cries and yes she has had a bout of the terrible twos.

But….. I started thinking about the phrase “terrible twos” and decided that it’s not really applicable.  Putting the tantrums and outbursts aside I suddenly had flashbacks of her past year.

Is it terrible for someone to come up and hug you and say “I wub you Mama”?

Is it terrible for someone to tell you that you are her best friend? (ok she got that line from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory – her favorite movie, but it’s still sweet)

Is it terrible for someone to laugh and giggle without a care in the world?

Is it terrible for someone to get so excited about learning new things and wanting you to share in that joy?

Is it terrible for someone to come running to you smiling with open arms when she sees you after only a few hours away from each other?

Is it terrible to hear a little voice behind you in the car singing the ABC’s?

Is it terrible to hear a sweet little story about the wonderful “shockolate” cupcake she had at a friend’s birthday party at school?

Is it terrible to have to dance around the room while holding her in your arms while she giggles and sings?

Is it terrible to see the love that she has for her brother and other friends and how she just wants to be with people?

When I add all of these things up it makes me realize that the “terrible twos” really don’t exist.  There is nothing terrible about this precious little gift of mine who makes my heart skip a beat when I see her smiling face, when she tells me that she loves me and shows me how independent she has become by dressing herself and constantly repeating “I do it Mama, watch me”.  She is a dream come true.  So you’ll have to excuse me as many of my posts over the next week will be about her and celebrating her last week of two.

This afternoon after preschool we came home and played outside for a while.  We were waiting for my husband and son to come home from karate so I snapped a couple of very quick shots of her.  She usually runs the other way when I have my camera out.

In case you are wondering, she’s eating dirt.  So much for a girly girl!

She was so excited because she saw Daddy driving up with her brother:

Here are a few photos from tonight.  My Mother in Law’s building has a helipad on top and we went up there to watch the fireworks and it was amazing being up that high and being able to see for miles and miles.

I thought these next fireworks looked like dandelions in the sky!

Each year I run a Christmas & Hanukkah in July promotion for my clients.  I discount one of my popular items so that you can have a chance to buy it at a great price if you didn’t when you placed your order.  Last year I chose storyboards because they are a personal favorite of mine and this year I’ve selected another favorite.  This year’s CHJ (Christmas & Hanukkah in July) item is the DVD Slideshow.  Seriously if you didn’t get this the first time around now is the time to do it!  I’m telling you Grandparents love this, I’m even sending my Grandma one!  I call her my Gran, and she recently got a computer and she reads my blog so I hope she skips over this post so she won’t know it’s coming.

The DVD slideshow is the same show that is presented to you that includes all of your proofed images.  These images cannot be printed, but it’s a great way to still have them to look back on for years to come.

My usual price for DVD slideshows is $300 for the first one and $50 for each additional copy.  For CHJ I am offering them for only $175 for the first one and only $35 for each additional copy.  Here’s an example of one that I created for a client.  The outside cover has a 5×7 print on the front and a 5×7 print on the back.

This special offer ends at 11:59 pm on 7-7-07.  If you would like to take advantage of this please email me and I will give you directions on how to order.

But, I’ve also been on a underground, top secret mission. So secretive that you wouldn’t believe it if I told you. I truly thought that it was going to be Mission Impossible and that I was going to fail, but guess what. Mission Accomplished! What is this risky mission you ask?

Wait for it…..

Wait for it….

Wait for it….

I potty trained my two year old! Let the angels sing… hallelujah…..hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! With only one month to go until her 3rd birthday I am now the proud parent of a potty trained little girl. Although she’s beyond freaked out by public restroom toilets (can’t say that I blame her), so I gotta figure that one out, but other than that, woohoo no more diapers! If anyone has any suggestions on how to get her used to freaky public restrooms send me a email!

I honestly thought that she was going to be wearing a diaper on her wedding day. This is one feisty little girl, where in the world does she get all that sass (no comments from the peanut gallery on that one!) For those of you going through P.T. Hell (potty training hell) like I’ve been going through, I’ll share my last resort method.

Warning, if you are a parent who does not believe in bribes, go ahead and stop reading, cause it’s going to get ugly with the bribing!!!!!!! Ok proceed with caution, you’ve been warned!

We recently had to get a new cordless phone at home and one of the nifty little features on it is a musical alarm. There are 5-6 little songs to choose from and my daughter loves them. So while she was staying home from preschool so her eye could get better, I decided to take advantage of that time and go full speed ahead with the training. So, I started out setting the little musical alarm for every 15 minutes. Seriously, do you know how fast 15 minutes goes when you have to take a 2 year old to the potty every. single. 15. minutes. all. day. long. Oh boy. *If* she went on the potty her briber, err cough cough, reward would be two glorious M&Ms, her choice of color. By combining the bribe/reward and that little musical number, it was the magic answer. As soon as she heard that little song she would start dancing around singing about potty time and I would go with her to the restroom. So yesterday was day five and we had changed the timing to every 45 minutes and a couple of times she would tell us on her own before the alarm went off.

So for all of you out there in PT Hell, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, your child won’t be in a diaper on his/her wedding day. If my stubborn little one can do it then there’s hope for yours too! Oh and my big grand bribe if she did a good job all weekend was that I would paint her toe nails, oh boy you would have thought she won the lottery tonight when I painted them for her.

Her preschool teachers said she did a super job today as her first day back at school diaperless, no accidents.  Life is good!

We had a very fun Unbirthday Party for the girls… meaning they sang happy birthday, we had lunch and cake but it wasn’t anyone’s birthday, just a little celebration with friends. (translation – if you pay $10 more per person at American Girl they will throw a party for you but they always assume it’s a birthday so we went with it!).  I’ll confess that I didn’t really take a lot of photos because we were all so busy talking and chasing around our little ones.  It was so wonderful to spend a day with the girls.

For those of you who don’t know Jinky, well you absolutely have to check out her work.  I think it’s only a matter of time before she is a household name here in America.  She is already creating a sensation in Australia and I’m so excited for her.  She’s so inspiring, talented, funny and so humble.  Her work is truly innovative and one of a kind. Here is her website: http://www.jinkyart.com.au/ , I think you’ll fall in love with her work like I have.  I think the best part of it all is that she’s such a nice person in addition to being such a photography rockstar, she hasn’t let her success go to her head.

Here are just a couple of snapshots from our adventure…

My daughter picking out her very first American Girl Doll

Our Unbirthday Cake & Certificates

Jinky’s daughter Talia with her new doll

Jinky’s daughter Penny and her new doll enjoying lunch.   Penny looks just like her Mommy!

It was so cute how they had these little cameras and when they would take a picture of you they would put their fingers over one eye.  How cute is that!?

Beautiful Miss Gemma

Jinky shooting me shooting her!

My son made this in his Kindergarten class for my husband.  It’s a desk organizer, on the other side there is a pen holder and a place for post it notes.  Such a sweet gift from the heart!

This afternoon we came home and the kids were begging to go swimming, but it was too windy so we compromised and got out the foam machine.  It uses baby shampoo so it doesn’t burn their eyes and it is one of their favorite things to do.  We got it at the end of last summer at KB toys on clearance for super cheap.  If you have a chance to get one you won’t be sorry, your kids will love it!

Here are a few snaps from our foam party!

and my little one, loves wearing a towel on her head after we are done, I didn’t put her in the Mom Rocks shirt, my mother-in-law did when she was visiting earlier today.  I know I know, it should say Dad Rocks since it is father’s day afterall!