2011

As I sit here waiting for Pablo to get ready I am literally reflecting on the past year. 2011 had it's good and bad moments as any year does. It was mine & Pablo first year of marriage, our first married vacation/delayed honeymoon, broken friendships & re-built friendships, our sweet little Nephew's situation turn a turn south, our family was blessed with a new little lady, Chloe, I began my journey of photography.
I feel like most of these events have brought Pablo & I closer to each other. Which is crazy to me because we have been together for almost 10 Years, you would think we would know everything about each other by now! I'm glad we are still learning new things about each other and growing closer. He is my best friend and my soul mate! I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him!
I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Merry Christmas

These are a few of my favorite things... from this week

I participated in Secret Santa at work, which is always fun as long as people can keep a secret and not blab about who their person is! My Secret Santa knows me well, she is one of my best friends so she should, BUT she got me nail polish along with other items! But I loved this polish and had to paint my nails that night! I bought an Advent calendar for me and Pablo! My mom always had one of these for me and my brother, and even though the chocolate in them is not very tasty it is still fun to get a treat every day until Christmas! When I was in Kindergarten we learned about Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. I came home from school and told my mom I wanted to BE Hanukkah... not celebrate it, be it! Because I thought it was SUPER cool that you got a present every day, maybe that is why I love this little Holiday treat!

This is our Christmas Tree! Most of the ornaments on it are mine. My mom started a tradition where she would purchase me and my brother a new ornament every year. Some years it was an ornament to represent something important that happened that year, for example I have a martini glass for the year I turned 21, and a bride and groom the year we got married. It is so fun to decorate the tree and get to re-live the memories that are in each ornament. And the angel on top was my great grandmother's angel. This was her most favorite time of year so it is nice to turn my tree on and see the angel blinking at the top!

This is my baby love! I really and truly can not get enough of this sweet, squishy face! I know one day I will have a child and some how love it even more than I love my Lucy-Goosey... but at this point in my life... I'm not sure how I can love anything more than this one.

December!!! Where did you come from?!

I am shocked it is already December! Where did 2011 go?! It's crazy how quickly years, months, weeks and days go by as an adult! When I was a kid I feel like days went on forever, the only time that went by too fast was summer! I really need to decorate our apartment for Christmas, so far I have only been able to hang out stockings and get the tote of lights and ornaments out. No tree yet, it will eventually be put up... maybe this weekend! I have a lot going on right now and as blessed as I am by everything that is happening, it can get a little overwhelming at times. Lacey's is... well Lacey's. It always will be the same, stressful and chaotic but home and a great job. BUT this photography business is coming along well if I do say so! I am impressed with myself after each shoot. Never did I think a birthday present would turn into such a blessing and a potential carreer for me. Don't get me wrong I have always loved photography and have always been crafty and creative and of course LOVED having my own photo taken!! :) But to be behind the camera, as a PROFESSIONAL!? Never did I think this would happen and boy has it been fun! I can't wait to see what the future holds for me and my Nikon! I know it will be GREAT!

Celebration

Tonight we celebrated my brother's birthday! His actual birthday is Christmas Day, which seems like a cool idea until you really think about it and no one will be available to go out and celebrate YOU on that day... it's all about Christmas! So he gets to have birthday parties at other times during the year. He will be FIFTEEN years old this year, woah when did that happen?!

Happy Birthday Jake (in Germany)

My littlest cousin loves my brother and really enjoyed helping him open presents tonight! He would open all the cards first then tell my brother how much he got when there was money in the card! So cute!

Cole and Jake smiling for the camera! Cole is a camera hog like me! I love it!

Every year the day after Thanksgiving, known by many as BLACK FRIDAY!, the ladies of my family go out and shop, shop, shop! It is a great tradition that I LOVE! I make sure to request off months in advance so I am available to enjoy this day! Usually we go to my grandmother's around 3:30 or 4:00, depending on when the first store opens, to meet everyone and my awesome grandfather makes breakfast for us! He really is the best! But this year these stores are all opening at midnight.. really messing up our breakfast plans!! :) I guess we will just go shop right after dinner this year and go for as long as we can! It should be interesting!

Passion

Things have been good... Kind of a whirl-wind going on around me as I try to keep both feet on the ground. As stressful as it is, I do enjoy the busy life I lead. I am loving the photography and realizing more and more that I wish that was my full time job and maybe one day it will be! I just have to continue to put as much into it as I can so I can fullfill that dream! It's nice to know that I can make people happy with photos of themself. I have ALWAYS loved my picture to be taken, it's sickening really, but it is the truth. So my goal for my photography is to make others love for their picture to be taken. Many people dread having their picture taken, dread family photos and never get these special moments and memories captured. Which honestly makes me sad. I want people to have the same love for it as I do, and I know that I am not going to be able to "convert" the world to all love photos of themselves.. BUT I want to make my clients enjoy their time with me while I am capturing special, precious moments in their lives. Even if I don't change their minds forever, maybe I can get them to enjoy it just that once!

aiyaya....

So last night about 9:00pm I suddenly had an overwhelmed, freakout, OMG I can't do any of this moment! I guess I have a lot on my plate, and it's flimsy plate, like one of those cheap paper plates that you have to have like 4 to keep it from falling apart! So I made a list, because I'm crazy & OCD and for some reason instead of attacking the task at hand I must take a moment and organize it all FIRST, then attack! So I made my self a list, separated different task by day to complete and took a deep breath. Feeling a little better, I began working on the list. Beginning with a Psychology test, I made an 88! YAY! I have finished 1/2 of today's task but still feel very overwhelmed... maybe it's just the weather that's making me feel blah!
I blame part of this anxiety I have on my car.
My dear little "Hot Tamale"..... You see I got that little thing my Senior Year, I paid her off and she is alllllll mine! Which is fabulous. She only had like 53 miles on her when we got her! About a week after the purchase, she just cut off on me one day on the way home from NCHS. Her timing belt broke. She was repaired and has been a wonderful little ride ever since. UNTIL last Wednesday.. It was October 5th, my Father.in.law's birthday! We went to dinner at the new BBQ place in Acworth, JD's, after eating and being COMPLETELY stuffed. We left to go home.. about 50 feet from the road JD's is on a loud noise comes from my car then it sounds like we are driving on an old grave road, with LOTS of grave. She cuts herself off and Pablo pulls her in a nearby street. We get out and there is tons of oil coming from under her. A nice fellow JD's goer comes walking up with a piece of metal that he found in the middle of the road. Wonderful, a piece of my car was in the road, yippie! So Pablo's parents come back to assist, then a family friend, who is also a mechanic, comes to help. Pablo, my FIL & the family friend, attach my car to his truck in a not-so-traditional way & tow it to my in-law's house. That was an enjoyable ride, as I watched my car race through the streets of Acworth attached to a truck by a rope. Waiting for that special moment when the engine, which is attached to the rope, flies out and my car zooms the other way! This my friends is what my Mother.in.law & I like to call a "Sierra Family Moment" were going to write a book so stay tuned! We later find out that my little lady "threw a rod", aka something broke & put a hole in my engine. How wonderful! So now I am car-less & feel like a 14 year old having my wonderful family and friend tote me around. Hopefully we will fix H.T. soon or purchase THIS lady a new car! :)
Now I am off to finish the rest of my list and possibly move on to task that are listed under Tuesday. Where has productive Lura gone? I must find her soon!!!

recent discovery

As you all know I got a fancy new camera for my birthday! I wanted to have it to take nice pictures when we went to cool places. Well I took some photos of Lucy that turned out pretty good. Then my good friend wanted me to take some photos of her and her two boys. So I did and it turns out that I'm pretty good at being a photographer. Since my first "photo shoot" I have done a couple of more. Here are some from the shoot I did with my brother and sister in law and their children. They turned out really good. Gabriel is probably the cutest little boy I have ever seen! :) So since I am pretty good at this photography thing, my supportive husband and I are in the works of making this a business for me. I'm very excited and I can't wait to really get it going! Wish me luck!

devastating news...

My precious little nephew has been fighting a hard battle against AT/RT for almost a year now. For the most part things have went well for him during his treatment. Obviously it has been very trying on his little body, he has lost his hair, his beautiful long eye lashes, and has to be poked on a weekly basis. A couple of months back he had an MRI & Lumbar Puncture to check for any tumors or tumor cells in his body. They found some small spots in his brain, but were not sure if it was actually tumors or if it was just inflammation, and no tumor cells from the LP. So he had another MRI and everything was still the same, they were there but they had not grown, so in a way this was good news because we assumed they were not tumors since they were not growing, but it was still a possibility. Well this past Friday he went in for another MRI and a Lumbar Puncture. The results this time were not at all what we had all been hoping and praying for. The spots on his brain have grown, there is a spot on his kidney and tumor cells showed up in his lumbar puncture. The doctor said they should stop the current treatment plan and they will discuss a new plan Tuesday to keep Gabriel comfortable for the remainder of his time with us. This was completely devastating news for all of us. I still do not even know how to handle it. I break down when I think about it, my heart is just crushed! I don't think it is fair that horrible things happen to little children like this. I know that this is God's plan for Gabriel but it's just so hard to accept that. He's just 19 months old (on the 26th of this month)! So I need all of you to just pray for him and for us.

sickness...

I don't have long to post, I'm on my lunch break! But I wanted to get an update in!! This past week was pretty hellacious for me, I started off with what I thought was a cold due to allergies but that turned into sinus infection the PNEUMONIA!!! So I have been doing NOTHING for about a week and a half! Which if you know me has made me completely insane! I am not the kind of person to sit and do nothing! But my wonderful husband bought me a Kindle, a get well present, I think it was so I would sit still! I LOVE it! I immediately downloaded The Help because I have been dying to read it and I couldn't put it down! I Loved every minute of that book! Kathryn Stockett needs to write more books! I was so intrigued the WHOLE time! So now I am on to Water for Elephants, I hope it's good as well! Luckily I am now feeling better, still tired and have that nagging cough but I'm getting there!
I am also still head over heels for my Nikon! Pablo and I went to Kennesaw Mountain yesterday to get some shots of the field of flags for 9-11. It was great and I got some nice photos! Then we went to my cousin's 5th birthday party where Mr. Nikon was present again! :) I love capturing moments! Anyways.. I gotta get back to work! (yuck!) everyone have a great day!!

addicted...

So since I got my amazing Nikon I have not put it down! I love to take pictures of everything! I went on my day off and drove around downtown Acworth stopping when I saw a photo-op and would get out and snap away! I really enjoy taking photos and this camera is so awesome it makes it even better!! My wonderful friend Kristen saw my photos and asked me to take some of her and her two boys. So of course I said YES! So here are some of the photos I took of them this past weekend! It was so fun to capture these memories of her "babies"! I love all 3 of them!!

Happy Birthday to ME! (early)

I love to take pictures and honestly I love for my own picture to be taken about 100x more! I can't help it, I have always been a camera hog!! :) So for a while I have had my eye on a precious little item.. the Nikon D3000! I am sure that for a while I will not use it to it's full potential but after having it for 3 hours I'm already in love! I wish the sun was still up so I could go run around outside and snap away! Here is my new love...

I got the bundle package so I also got a bag to carry it around in, a UV lense screen and an extra lense (55-200mm). The extra lense is huge and pretty intimidating I'm not going to lie!! But I started off slow and made Lucy my first victim! She is not a fan of getting her picture taken so I had to shower her with lots of treats! Here are a few shot I got tonight, I'm pretty happy with them!

This was after I had been shooting for a while.. She was definitely annoyed with me! But the picture is adorable!

Blessed

I have been a fortunate person to have known all of my GREAT grandparents! Most of my family before me had their children at a young age, including my parents. So my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were all "young". Growing up I never really knew how much of a blessing this was but looking back I am so happy I had this opportunity! I could not imagine my life without their influence. Some people never have the chance to even know their grandparents and I had great ones!! Even though I have 3 great-grandmother's still alive, my Granny Champion is the most special to me.
I really started thinking about this blessing today when I went to visit my great-grandmother, Granny. ;) She retired from Lacey's last Friday! She would drive me crazy when she was there wanting me to drop everything to stop and chat, but boy do I miss those interruptions! It was great to see her today, getting to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted to. I was the first great grandchild/grandchild so I was a little really spoiled! ;) As a child I would make her play school and grocery store with me. She would do anything I wanted, just like the rest of my great grandparents! I can see her getting more feeble and her memory is slowly slipping away.. It breaks my heart but I know it's inevitable.. But that doesn't make it any easier. She's my granny and I love her. I couldn't imagine her not being around! I hope I can bless her with a great-great grandchild before she leaves this world! She's the best granny ever!!
RIP: Papa Cox
Maw-Maw
Paw-Paw
I love all of you and miss you so much! Thank you for being the best great grandparents a spoiled little girl could ask for!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Momma

I really love my momma! I like when we spend time together, we always have so much fun. I really don't know what I would do without her, I talk to her on a daily basis and if I don't it feels weird. It makes me so sad when I see people that hate their mom's and can't get along. Here's to you mom! You are the BEST mom a girl could ask for!!

(My birthday 2 years ago)

62+a roof= bad combo

My grandfather, who is 62 years old, decided it would be a brilliant idea to climb on a roof (that was 11 ft off the ground) to measure it at work Friday morning. He also thought it would be brilliant to remove his shoes so he would "have a better grip". Well this idea turned into a horrible idea as he slipped and fell down and off the roof. I got a call from my mom around 10:30am that he had fallen & all she knew was he broke his arm and was headed to the hospital. Pablo & I jumped up from our Sonic the Hedgehog video game and rushed to Kennestone, beating my mom & grandmother AND the ambulance there. Poppie, my grandfather, arrived not long after us and we got to go back to see him. He was in a lot of pain. They gave him some good meds to relieve the pain and took him back for x-rays and CT. The results came back and he had broken his humerus in 2 places and would have to have surgery. They got him in a room and set him up for surgery today, Saturday. He went in for surgery around 2:45pm today. He was doing well but surgery is still not over yet. Please keep him in your prayers that he will heal and recover quickly! And don't follow in his foot steps and climb on a roof..

2 month update...

I'm horrible at this (as all my post start)! Since my last post I have started back to school! I am currently taking 2 online classes which I am actually enjoying! I have A's in both of them (YAY me!!) I am still up in the air as to what I want to do when I grow up! I have time tho.. ;)

We took our beach trip and it was fabulous! I fell in love with Destin, FL! It was so relaxing and beautiful, I don't care if I ever go to another beach ever! It was great!! Our 1st day there we walked down to the beach and saw dolphins jumping and playing in the water! It was pretty awesome! I can't wait until we go back!

Pablo & I arrived Sunday and his parents went on their vacation Thursday so we had a couple of days of overlap to get to hangout at the beach! Which was great for Pablo & I to get a picture together! :)

Me & my husband on the gorgeous beach!!

My BFF Isabel!!

The view from our condo! So beautiful!!

Our family was blessed with a new baby! Our sister-in-law had her baby!! Chloe was born July 6th! Here is a picture of her about 4 days old. She's so chunky, I love it!

The big brother!! :) He's such a sweetheart! I can't get enough of his little man!!

Cloudland Canyon

Pablo & I got up at 7:00 and headed out to Rising Fawn, GA to hike Cloudland Canyon State Park. It was a 2 hour car ride up through Lafayette, Dade, Villanow, Jackson.. (many other towns I have never heard of) then finally we arrived at Cloudland Canyon. We checked out the Visitor's Center & got our park map & headed to the parking area for the trail we picked. We were so excited to get out and start our excursion! We met a nice man that gave us some tips on which trail to take and other hiking pointers then we were off to our hike!
This is a view from one of the 1,200 stairs we had to use :) it took my breath away as I saw it through the trees.. Just beautiful!


We went to 2 waterfalls which we were there. Neither had tons of water flowing down but it will still beautiful and peaceful.
This first waterfall.


The lagoon at the bottom of the falls. There were some small fish swimming around in here.


After this we went down the 600 stairs to the 2nd falls.
Once again not a lot of water flowing but still gorgeous!


The reflection of the water was sparkling on the trees and rocks around. It was very peaceful to just sit and listen. We continued on a connected trail for about a mile then decided to turn around since we had 600 stairs to go back up to get to the car & to complete out 1,200 stairs of the day! :) once we finally made it back up all 600 stairs we saw another path to a beautiful overlook of the canyon. Once again it was beautiful!!
I can't wait to plan our next hike! I'm sure my legs will think differently in the morning! :)
but for now we are focusing on our beach trip/honeymoon!!
*** 7 days!! ***
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My computer has been attacked by a horrible virus!! It has even tricked my virus/security "protection" because it doesn't find a problem! So I have been computer-less for about 2 weeks now. I hope my sister-in-law can find a way to fix it nothin has worked so far!
But in better news!! Were going to the beach in 8 days! I am so excited and so is Pablo! I think it's going to be great for both of us to get away for a little while and relax!!
Something else exciting we are going to begin is hiking! After finding some places to go and spending a good chunk of money on the "equipment" we are ready!! Can't wait to visit Cloudland Canyon tomorrow with my wonderful husband!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wedding bells ring again

Today was one of my good friends weddings! She is the final X-Lacey's lady to get hitched!! :) I am so happy for her and her husband! They are so adorable together! Weddings have always been so exciting and fun to me but they are so different now that I am married! It seems like they have so much more meaning to me and make me more emotional! I guess because I remember how I felt on my wedding day!? Not really sure... What a extremely special time for a couple! You get to spend a day with all your friends, family and of course your new husband... AND You get extra bling on your finger! :) and my most favorite part.. I get to see "bling" on my husband's finger! Weddings are wonderful! I'm pretty pumped to get to experience another couple take the plunge next weekend!! ;) Happy wedding day Stayce & David!!! I'm so happy for you both, best wishes to many years of happiness!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Oh Baby...shower

Today I hosted a baby shower for my Sister-in-law! This is her second baby and it's a girl! Which is super exciting! I love decorating in PINK! I love hosting events and parties like this. Here are some photos from the shower. These include some of the decorations I made! :)

My Sister-in-Law

The Sierra Ladies


Paper Wreath I made! :) Cute huh!?

The Hostesses with the Mommy to be

More of my decorations..

The best part (FOOD!!)

More decoration...


My little friend Isabel!

Recap of the past month

Well I haven't posted in a while but there has been a lot of fun happening! I went to Zoo Atlanta with my in-laws which was tons of fun! I love this picture because Isabel looks terrified even though she really was happy. It just cracks me up!
We sat and watched the gorillas for a while.. it had A/C! :) But they are so awesome to watch. The one animal we HAD to see while I was at the Zoo was the Panda Bears!!! And I'm so glad we stood in line and waited because they are adorable! Unfortunately the little baby panda was hiding behind his mommy playing so I didn't get a picture of him! I did get some cute ones of this lady though!! Isn't she just beautiful!
We went out for a night of fun a couple of weekends ago! I love spending time with great friends!

I love Kristen! We always have such a great time together when we hangout!! Doesn't she look awesome?! She had a baby 2 months ago!!
Great friends!!Landon got tickets to the Braves game against the Phillies on Sunday of Opening Weekend! It was so fun to be at the Braves game! I love going to sporting events! And it's even better when I can get a little sun while watching! I liked our seats because we could see the whole field and they were in a section all to itself, so we had lots of room! Thanks Landon!

Pablo & me at the game! LET'S GO BRAVOS!!! My mom got free tickets to the World of Coca-Cola! So my parents, my brother and I went to visit! It was fun, I love learning about history of things like that. Especially since Coca-Cola is an Atlanta based company! Here are just a few pictures from that trip!
Mom & me ready for the 4D Theater!

The decorated bottles are so cool. This was my favorite!

Lastly a picture of my crazy brother and me. I can't believe he is taller than me! Woah.. where does time go?! He will be in HIGH SCHOOL next year!!

The next event this month was my friend Jessica's Bachelorette Party. Which was a blast! We started out the night at her future sister-in-law's house for a lingerie party and some pre-gaming! Then headed to La Parilla for dinner and drinks, then next stop... Cledus T's in Cartersville. I was a little skeptical about going there but it turned out to be a great time! Corbette Jackson was there playing , he is really good!

Jessica and me at Emily's house before the night began!Shots at La Parilla!!
Jessica was all decked out for her Bach party & for Cledus T's

Jessica and Corbette Jackson

Most of the girls with the Bachelorette! And the LAST event of this month.. EASTER SUNDAY!!! What a great Easter it was! My family and Pablo's family all went to my grandparent's house for lunch! It was awesome and I think we are going start that as a tradition! Can't wait for next year!! We took some family pictures which was great! Also Gabriel is getting SO big! I can't believe how tall he is now!

My Brother, me and our grandparents! I LOVE them!
My family! :) The husband & me on our 1st Easter as a married couple!
The Sierra's (minus Alexis & Kristen)

How adorable is he?! I love his sweet bald head!

Gabriel is SOOOO big! :)
My little friend!