As my Mom put it, "it was a night to be remembered." There are no words to describe the excitement, the anticipation, the comeback, the win, the loss, the game in general. You would've just had to have been there - and many of you were. The announcers came over the speakers during the game and stated that the attendance that came through the stadium this weekend for those games topped an all time record high with over 56,000 people. Now that is saying something when you are just talking about high school football. WOWZERS!
The stadium was gorgeous - even more than I ever could have anticipated. I apologize in advance for the grainy pictures. As you can imagine, I am going nutso over them but I really worked "Razzi" and our glass last night to the core. My lenses, even my 70-300mm lens, was no match for this stadium. It was just too big - too massive. I did the best I could with what equipment I had but I really needed to be down on the floor with the "big boys" in order to capture the shots I wanted. However, that would have required a press pass which I didn't have. No fun! Ha ha! I did manage to capture a good roof shot though of our Indianapolis Colts winning banner from the Superbowl two years ago.
These shots were of both teams - Carmel above - and Center Grove below - running out onto the field at the start of the game.
Then you have the fans...
Carmel (our new school) in blue and yellow, CG (my Alma mater) in red and white...
I just couldn't get over the incredible crowd that turned out for this game. Even back when I was in high school 15 years ago, there was a HUGE rivalry amongst Carmel and CG. It's never changed and in fact it has probably gotten worse since the years that I've been gone and out of school. The coin toss shown below...love how these boys hold hands now days. Look closely...you'll see it.
The kick off. Carmel won the coin toss...
Center Grove fans dawning all of their red...
My camera almost acted as a pair of binoculars when I had my telephoto lens attached. It was cool to see people thru my camera from such a far distance away. I even found people I know in the pictures I captured whom I couldn't see when there in the stadium. Too funny.
Carmel pretty much came out and whooped CG for the entire game. As I watched in horror, but yet tried to be excited for Carmel, I silently prayed for a brutal CG comeback. I'm sorry new Carmel friends. They are my homies. My peeps. My life until 3 months ago. Some of my best friends were donned in red and I felt the pain when they were loosing. Each time they made a good play (CG), I'd clap and get excited. Beings that we were sitting in the end zone, we had a few people look at me from Carmel and give me this glare like..."What are you doing?" Problem was...Brent talked Brennen & I into wearing our Carmel gear to the game. So here I am sporting my Carmel sweatshirt but rooting for CG. Most were confused. I'm sure of it. Heck...I was even confused. Ha ha! Tamara said that the fans around us probably thought I had split personalities. :) Truth is...I did during that game. I wanted both teams to win.
Part of the Carmel Band...
Carmel running out onto the field after half time - still whooping CG at that point.
I was coveting the big guys and their glass (their lenses) down on the field. Man...that is just so not fair to own one of those big, bad, boys. And to have a press pass too? Come on now...share the love, will ya?
Brennen and Derek enjoying the view from the stairs...
Loved Brennen's body expression here. You could tell he was just as confused as I was on who he wanted to win. He was back and forth all night long.
The big win...
Center Grove came back to score three touchdowns in the last 6 minutes of the game. It was unbelievable. I was elated. The man upstairs answered my silent prayers for a Center Grove win last night. When it looked impossible for CG to come back, I think Carmel got complacent. They thought that they had it in the bag. Most people did. However, God does miraculous things when he feels the need. In the end, CG took home the title and made the biggest orchestrated comeback in state finals history rallying from a 19 point deficit to beat Carmel 36-33. You can read all about it HERE (our local newspaper). Watching Center Grove soak up that win made my heart happy. As I said, I'm a very loyal person. Brent calls it my "Mafia Mentality." It is what it is. I am who I am. Mafia mentality or not, CG is my school. My hometown, my world as I've always known it.
Look at the two players (above) in the top right hand corner of this image. The one player is overwhelmed with emotion as he hugs his teammate. I cry just looking at it. Really - I do! As the local paper put it, this championship was basically nine years in the making. Most of these senior boys had played since the 4th grade together. As you can imagine, one WOULD be filled with a ton of emotion after a comeback and a win like this...
Carmel fans cleared the stadium pretty quickly once the game was over. Again, I was out close to the field trying to snap shots of the CG win all while donning the blue Carmel spirit wear that Brent coerced me into wearing. Women - wives...always follow your gut. When your spouse tells you to wear one color, go with what your gut tells you to wear. Because Brennen and I listened to Brent...we got to all do the walk of shame out of the building while sporting our Carmel attire. Ha ha! At least Tamara and Derek had some CG gear on. We got to walk out with them. I was just praying that none of my other Center Grove friends saw me in my Carmel gear before I made it to the truck. I knew if they did, I'd be doomed. HA! Like my Mom told me to do, I was ready to run like H---!
No really though...as Brent said on the way to the game...the good thing for us is that no matter who won the game - our family won either way. He was right. Although I was really pulling for CG, I would have supported Carmel too. They are our new home and we are just as proud of our Greyhounds as we are our Trojans. They worked hard all season long to get to that game and played extremely well until those last 5 minutes of the game. When push comes to shove though, a win is never easy. Even when you are ahead by three touchdowns. Never get too comfortable. Life should NEVER be "comfortable." If it is, you've gotten too big for your britches and need to come down a level or two.
I snapped this shot of this gal above as she stood - looking on - in support of Carmel once the game was over. I don't know who she was but I thought she represented what a lot of people were probably feeling last night. Her body language said it all. I'm guessing she was the Mom of a Carmel player. I'm also guessing that because of the heartbreaking loss, their night was a long one last night. She seemed so little - so small - standing at the corner end of this huge stadium. Now she was helping to bare a big and painful loss as were many other Carmel parents. It broke my heart for her and the others. Again, even though CG is my stompin' ground and who I was technically rooting for, you can't help but feel bad and upset for the other team when their season ends with a loss. I ssooooo wish that both teams could have taken home the state championship title. We all know that those type endings are never an option though. Life just doesn't work that way.
So...CONGRATS to both teams. Both are awesome in my opinion. A big thanks to CG though for giving us a night to remember. It is just another moment to go down in my memory book when it comes to my Alma mater. Even though my graduation took place back in 1993 from Center Grove, last night propelled me right back to those days of elation when our school would win and win big. Seeing all of the young students there rooting on the school brought back so many memories for me. I felt like a kid again when CG ran out on that field after their big win. Funny how time really does fly by so fast. One minute you're a senior in high school soaking it all in yourself and the next minute you are propelled 15 years into the future, now called the present, standing there with your 9 year old son watching your hometown school do what they do best! This thing we call life...capturing it one image at a time...
I've dreaded this moment all school year long. The predictions have remained the same all season. Those predictions ended up being dead on. The North vs. the South. Our old school - vs - our new school. Our old side of town, my hometown, my stompin' ground vs. our new side of town, our new home. Brennen's old school and the school I graduated from vs. what we now call his and Kenidi's new school. Who on earth shall we root for? I've received 100's of emails in the weeks leading up to this moment. Both from friends of ours on the North as well as friends of ours from the South side. The main question they all asked...
"What side will you be sitting on?"
The last email I got was from my girlfriend Jenny. It read like this... "ANG...YOU BETTER BE CHEERING FOR CG. REMEMBER WHERE YOUR ROOTS ARE GIRL! ~JEN"
I'm in a rock and a hard place. Brennen and I want to root for CG. It was our life. Our home for so many years. It was basically my only home. Brent however thinks we need to support our new life. Our new school. Our new friends here on the North side. Our new team.
Now comes the question of what spirit gear we will we be dawning tonight at the state championship game. That color of the chosen spirit wear will decide where we place our rumps and on what side - what bleachers - we will be cheering from tonight. My stomach is in knots.
So silly but it really is. I'm an extremely loyal person and I want to be loyal to my alma mater. Whatever shall I do? Go red or go blue? No matter where we sit and cheer from, I'm excited to view the game from inside our new Indianapolis Colts Lucas Oil stadium for this HUGE event tonight. It's the brand new retractable roof stadium that just opened this season. It's the first time our family will be seeing it in person and I'm stoked about that.
The town has gone crazy. Everybody and their brother will be at this game tonight. I'm excited to see old friends from my old stompin' ground as well as new friends from our new stompin' ground that we actually call "home" now. We'll be attending with good friends of ours who will be there to help support us in our confusion. They've already called asking what color they should "don" themselves. They are from the south side but their son doesn't attend either of the two schools going head to head with one another tonight. It's great to have the moral support from them. We are definitely gonna need it! :)
Fun times~fun times!
Pictures of the big night to come. Pray for us that we still have friends after the night is over. ;)
I'm alive. Yes, still here. Still breathing. Were you beginning to assume that I was in the county lock-up for trespassing again with "Razzi" in tow? HA! No, but close. I knew it would happen sooner or later. I guess it happened "sooner" rather than later though. I've heard horror stories about photographers who are run off properties because they are trespassing while trying to capture the perfect shot. And today...I - for a split second - maybe for like all of 3 minutes or so - thought that I was going to be shot - or arrested. One of the two. :)
Let me explain...
I pass this old abandoned house almost everyday out in the country. It's the gorgeous and oh so disheveled home you see in the picture above. Each time I pass it, I swear that I'm going to go back and visit the property with "Razzi." The house offers so much character and has so much to give to a photographer craving a backdrop. It's an old - vintage- worn out - memory infested -backdrop. Well today, we had pure sunshine and blue skies. The weather was stunning outdoors. So...after a meeting I had with a new friend interested in blogging, I headed out with Razzi in tow to the property I'd been dying to set foot on.
5 minutes into my shoot, a car comes barreling around the corner of this old home and scares the living daylights out of me. I never saw it coming - never heard it coming. The vehicle and its driver were a HUGE surprise to me. At that moment, I start preparing in my head what I'm about to say in regard to why I'm on this property - unauthorized. The driver pulls up and its an elderly lady. AND.SHE.AIN'T.HAPPY! She hauls butt around that corner and pulls right up to my feet - inches from my precious toes. Rolls down her window - looks square at me in the face and says - word for word - "What do you think you are doing?"
Immediately I think - "Oh crap Razzi - we are doomed. Dead. Goners. We goin' to jaaaiilll! It's been nice shootin' with ya but we are in deep doo doo now." I, with my voice shaking, explain to this older woman that I'm involved in a photography class where we are required to come up with assignments. I told her that I pass by the home each day but never realized it was occupied. I thought it was abandoned. Had I known someone lived there, I would have knocked on the door and gotten permission to shoot there first. She was initially very rough, abrasive, and ticked off at me for being there. Clearly! She told me that she didn't live in that home but that she still owns it. Apparently she bought the lot and now lives in a newer home next door to this property but I had no idea. I realized that I needed to "change her state." You know...just like I attempt to do when I'm on the side of the road being chewed out by police officers for speeding or not pulling over for a traffic stop fast enough??? Yeah, attempting to change their state.
I begin telling this woman that I love her property and that it is truly a photographer's dream. I compliment the "red" door on her beloved old home. She quickly corrects me and tells me that "it isn't RED, it's rust young child!" Loved that. Red or rust, it is the one beautiful flaw that has repeatedly drawn me to the property itself. You can see a closer shot of this gorgeous door over HERE on my Angie Seaman Photography blog.
By the time I was done, I had learned that this elderly ladies name was "Mary Lynn." She was a widow and her husband had passed away 11 years ago. She told me stories and memories about living in that old house. She divuldged how she went through 2 propane gas tanks in just one month during her first winter alone in that home while attempting to heat it. She talked about how she and her husband lived there together but once he passed, she built the home on the property next door and now lives there. She asked me my name - asked me about my sweatshirt I was wearing and what it said. It just so happened to be a sweatshirt from my kids elementary school. During our conversation, she became insistent that I get a photograph of the "gingerbread siding" on the homes upper half. She drove in a circle around the old home as I walked along side her moving car - all while being shown the vintage "gingerbread siding" that she said she was sure I wanted pictures of.
I.obeyed.her.
So did Razzi.
We got pictures of the old vintage gingerbread siding on her stunning old home.
At one point, I felt myself wanting to ask for a picture of her too. Just like her old home, she offered so much character as well. However, I thought the request of a photograph of her might really be pushing it in her eyes. She proceeded to point out other directions I could drive to find older houses that she thought would be good portrait spots. I listened intently with every intention of finding those spots she turned me on to. She even went so far as to offer me into her old barn to photograph her horses in the back. She told me not to worry about the big yellow lab that was back there with the horses and that he wouldn't hurt me. However, I ultimately opted to sit that trip out. I've watched too many forensic file and FBI shows to get that comfortable with her. Just last week I watched one where an old lady had buried like 7 bodies in her back yard. No joke! Therefore, my visions of possibly being chopped up into a million little pieces by an old lady out in a really old barn who was ticked off at me for trespassing - kept me from meandering back to photograph the horses.
HA! Just kidding. Although she had me shakin' in my boots, I knew Razzi and I could take her if we needed too. Yellow lab and all. Hee hee! I'm being bad. Bad Angie. The best part to the story was when she eventually fessed up and told me she thought I was with the "Tax People." HA! I said - "Nope, not me. Not with the Tax People!" Mary Lynn then went into a rant about how we better be seeing some "hope and change" after all the hoop-la and promises she has heard with the new president-elect about change coming. Oh yeah...she was clearly a McCain/Palin fan/voter and I totally "heart that." I knew right then that Mary Lynn and I could be life long friends. ;) Wink Wink!
As I pulled away and began to catch my breath after shaking from horror and fear, I thanked God for not having the police show up during my lil' trespassing escapade and I also thanked him for my new friend. Mary Lynn. She was a great lady. Just protecting her property - her memories - just as any of us would and should do too. Once I got my nerves calmed down enough to laugh...I laughed.
While laughing, my cell phone rang. I looked down and saw that it was Brennen and Kenidi's school calling. I lost my breath again as I remembered that I was wearing the school sweatshirt when trespassing on Mary Lynn's property. Remember, she asked me what my sweatshirt said? I soooooo panicked. I asked God if this was his sick sense of humor kicking in as punishment for my trespassing. I then said to myself..."Oh snap Razzi...she's busted us. Totally through us under the bus. I bet she called the school and turned us in."
Nahhhhhh...she didn't! It was all good - it was just Kenidi's teacher calling to tell me something about Kenidi and a mishap she had in class today. I laughed out loud and told her teacher why I was worried when I saw the school phone number pop up on my cell. Razzi and I sooooooo thought we were going to be havin' to have a sit down with the principal for trespassing while sporting our school spirit wear. HA HA! Great day - one that kept me on my toes.
Here's to turkey's, blessings, gratitude, family, new friends, old homes, treasured memories, vintage gingerbread siding, trespassing and to being thankful that I wasn't with "the tax people" today.
Happy Thanksgiving eve everyone! I'm so thankful and extremely grateful for all of you.
Oh yeah...now it's in my AGD studio downstairs in the basement...hanging above all of my thread spools. Jennifer made this awesome custom banner for me. As you can tell, she "ROCKED IT!" I asked her to pull together for me a banner that read CREATE so that I could fill a certain spot in my sewing/bead studio at home. With a little planning, a few discussions back and forth regarding coloring, placement of rhinestones, chandelier crystals, and so forth...we eventually got it all together. And she nailed it!
It fits perfectly in that open space above my racks of thread spools which just so happened to be driving me bonkers. Every time I looked at that gap, it made me cringe. I knew I needed something clever to fill that small and lengthy space. The custom banner from Jennifer was just the trick I was looking for. And notice the wings she added at the last minute??? How me! She said she read my blog right as she was getting ready to finish the banner and realized that I liked "wings." So what did she do to add more flare? She added "wings" of course. And...I couldn't be happier. LOVIN' IT! I'm going to be painting my studio a light cotton candy pink or bubble gum pink here soon - when we paint Kenidi's room. Once the studio is painted that color, it will go perfect with the banner on that wall. Girlie as all get out! Love that! The detail Jennifer put into this banner was just amazing. Thanks girl.
It totally R-A-W-K-S!
While I was in the studio snapping shots of the new banner, I thought I'd also show you some of my other favorite decor pieces in my space. The heart with the wings shown above as well as the one shown below are some of my "fav's" in there too. Carissa (BrownEyedFox) made these for me quite a while ago. Love that girl! Love her to pieces! These two hearts with wings really add character to my studio space.
And shown below...how about these cute little blocks that I found on ETSY??? Love them! LOVE ETSY! ETSY is my BFF! Seriously. :) I had this gal make me the word "DESIGN" so that it would fit this one little spot on my organizer shelf. And they did! The blocks also spell out things like "Trendy, funky, style, etc." So, So fun!
The painting shown above is another one of my favorites. For the life of me though, I can't remember who painted it for me. It was something I ordered off of eBay back in 2004 when I first began my AGD endeavor. This designer also painted and so she painted this adorable little picture of a boutique storefront for me. It was back when my AGD logo was an Eiffel tower. Remember that? All of you faithful and loyal AGD people should remember that. Those of you who have been with me from the start and 4E-V-A-H! Love you!
The aqua and zebra cross right below that painting are from my AGD boutique. I sell them on my website. Those also come in a pink leopard if you are interested in one. Love those! Big sellers for ol' AGD! And for all of you who commented on the blog post below this one in regard to wanting to know where I got those polka dot stockings from, well there are in my AGD boutique as well. You can buy the pink and green ones HERE and the blue and green ones HERE. I also have some zebra and leopard stockingson the AGD website too. They are my fav's. I had a hard time deciding which ones to actually put up on our mantle this year. In the end, I thought the polka dot ones looked better with our beach themed decor.
And lastly, right by my cutting table are some custom painted AGD letters and my faux shears that hang on the wall. Love those. The pink and brown AGD letters were painted by the same gal who painted the boutique store front picture. I'm so sick over not being able to remember who did those for me. Either way, these are just a few of my favorite things within my studio space. Like Kenidi's room, I'll show you the entire studio once it is all painted and totally done. Until then, you'll have to be happy with these sneak peeks. The walls will look so much better once they are light pink up against that brown crown molding/trim. I'd love to paint that trim but Brent refuses to let me. He likes it. He claims it is nice and manly for the basement area itself and for the "the gentleman's room" we have down there. (cigar style room with fireplace, TV, poker table, etc. even though he doesn't smoke or play poker) HA! The studio room was modeled and staged as a yoga/exercise room when we first bought the house. I had to go in and make it mine and do the best I could with the colors and window treatments until I can paint and change the shades. I am in the process of having Sherri paint me up a huge painting of just a pair of WINGS for one wall in the studio. It will hang right above my cutting table. Thankfully, her schedule can handle it and she hopes to ship it out to me next Monday. It will be the final piece that I need to make the studio complete before I decide on an exact paint color in there. Sherri is a fellow designer that I worked with inside an eBay design group that I was a part of when I first started selling & designing on eBay 4 years ago. I love her! Her work is to die for and her "mad skillz" are a true force to be reckoned with. She's created jeans/clothes for Kenidi and everything. Awesome girl! Just awesome! Once I get her custom piece on my wall in there, I'll be set. Nothing like adding a big ol' pair of huge wings to the wall in that studio area. Just my style! I'll post a picture of it here on the blog once I get it from Sherri. Then...I'll paint those walls a pink shade so that they can seam up against the baby poop brown trim a bit better. Hee hee! Pinks and browns...I can handle that. Not a problem. Anyone want to have a painting party with me? ;)
Although these shots need LOTS of work, I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am that I was able to take these images last night in the dark while in our great room. The only lights in the house that were on were the lights above our fireplace as well as the tree lights themselves. I ran a quick test with "Razzi" on "Auto mode" (remember the "stupid friend" my photo instructor described? Yeah, that's auto mode.) Well, when I did the run thru on "auto mode," the whole room lit up like daylight and you couldn't even tell I had lights on the tree. So then, the "new student" in me ran for my tripod. I set it up, hooked Razzi to it, turned the lights back off and went to town. These two images shown above and below were the end result...
I have to be honest and tell you that this is the FIRST year EVAH that I've been knowledgeable enough to change my shutter speeds and shoot at night - let alone shoot a Christmas tree - and actually make the image look like a night time image with the tree lights melting or draping off the tree. Amazing what a few one on one classes will do with a photography instructor. Learning these manual modes have made all the difference in the approach of my images. I started to be lazy and just shoot them all on "auto." Then, after reviewing the images, I knew I had to put my brain to work and drag out the tripod as well as the numbers and all that I've learned in my classes. For those of you who aren't real familiar with night photography or photography in general, you must use a tripod in order to get decent images in darkness. As the shutter opens to capture a shot, the camera has to be perfectly still or it will blur the image. Even if we lean up against something and THINK we are being completely steady/still, our body still moves enought to cause motion blur in a night time image. In the photography realm, they commonly call it "camera shake." Thus, where and why the tripod comes into play. To give you a before and after example, these images show below were the BEFORE's that were shot on "Auto" - yeah...my stupid friend.
Now granted, the room is pitch black with the exception of the tree lights and the accent lights above the fireplace that are on. This is what the great room looks like at night in total darkness. However, look at the drab and gloom in the images above compared to when I changed up the shutter speed and went manual (1st two photos on this page). Hard to believe the top two images were taken in total darkness too, eh? It was the same room. The exact same lights were on in both the before and the after examples. Nothing changed except the fact that I booted my stupid friend out on the street and used my peanut brain for the numbers regarding my shutter speed. Because I detest math, camera numbers make my stomach churn. It's a tough process for me. One that I used to avoid at all costs. Now, that has changed. The before and after images are like night and day. LITERALLY! In the after shots shown at the top of this page, the lights are basically "dripping" off of the Christmas tree and the lights above our fireplace mantle are like star bursts. The whole room is warm and alive. It just screams Christmas. However, the before shots are dull and boring. Bare and bland. Changing the shutter speed and using my tripod gave me a totally different experience when viewing the final shots.
Gosh I can't wait for my next photography class again this Tuesday. I'm so thrilled with all of the learning that has come from this adventure. I'm like a sponge these past few weeks. Just soaking it all in as much as I possibly can. The other fun part to my week next week will be the arrival of the new photoshop program in my mailbox that I ordered. My dear sweet, awesome, and oh so rockin' husband bought me the new photoshop program this past Thursday and I can't wait to get it. I've wanted this particular program for ummmm....like two years. It was quite an investment though and something I couldn't fathom spending the money on just so I could "play" with it. However, now that I've officially begun Angie Seaman Photography, Brent bought me the program to learn and use throughout my new journey. Thanks babe! I love you bunches! Hopefully the program will arrive by the end of this next week. I'll pretty much attack the UPS man when I see him coming up the walk with it. HA!
Along with the new program, I located a person at one of our local photography stores that teaches one on one classes for learning Photoshop. Again, A GOD SEND! Photoshop makes my brain spin and hurt real bad. It's a program that needs teaching because without someone to help you, you are pretty much lost. (unless you've worked with these type programs before) Although I use photography software everyday, mine is all user friendly. In my opinion, photoshop is far from user friendly. It isn't one that you can just plop down and learn in the first hour of owning it. Therefore, I've set up times where this individual will come to my home and teach me in 1-2 hour sessions how to use photoshop as well as all the fun techniques and tricks to manipulate photos. YAY FUN! Can you see me jumpin' on my bed right now? That is how crazy excited I am at this point. Again, this whole process (the photography business, the software, the classes that are one on one rather than in a class setting, etc.) has been a couple of years in the making. To have it in my hands right now and officially attained, makes my heart skip many beats.
Well, enough about my photography passion right now - how bout' these cute kids? We had a blast putting up the tree last night and adorning it with our new beach themed ornaments as well as the old and sentimental ornaments that have been with us for years already.
Check out Kenidi's "I'm gonna get ya" face in this shot above. Cracks me up. It's so her!
The Christmas cookies were a HUGE hit amongst all of us. I think we ate more of the raw cookie dough than we did the actual baked ones though.
I know Mom (my Mom)...you are cringing right now at the thought. Can you believe they always tried to tell me that I'd get "Sugar worms" for eating raw cookie dough when I was a kid? What's up with that, eh? Talk about givin' a kid nightmares. Now look, every Dairy Queen in town promotes "sugar worms" with the aid of raw cookie dough in their ice cream. HA! Our parents and their old wise tales. Sugar worms, salmonella, it's all good. ;)
Now, I don't have any defibrillators around so please don't go into cardiac arrest on me. I know, I know. It's shocking. Angie's cooking! Rare occasions only come along like this ever so often. Basically. like. Never. Or maybe when I'm craving something I can't get my hands on in the immediate future. Ha ha! I must still be sick. Either way, the house smells of chili this morning. I've been craving chili for weeks - ever since it began getting cold here in Indy. However, I've been unable to get any that would suffice my craving. Wendy's drive thru chili just doesn't cut it. ;) So...tonight we are having a delectable family evening together. We are pulling out the Christmas decorations, putting up the Christmas tree, flipping the fireplaces on, crankin' some Mariah Carey Christmas music throughout the house thanks to Apple, and enjoying a hot bowl of chili with a HUGE dollop of sour cream on top and a heaping mound of shredded cheddar cheese. Yeap, it's going to be a nice, warm, toasty, and festive evening here in the Seaman household tonight.
When I passed these in the grocery store last night, I grabbed them for our after dinner treat - mainly for Kenidi and Brennen. Well, mostly for Kenidi. See...she is obsessed with Christmas tree's, snowmen, and anything Santa this year. Therefore, I had to grab these when I saw them because I knew she'd be in heaven tonight once she got her grubby little paws on them. I normally am not big into the Christmas season. I find it highly "commercialized" as my sweet friend Brenda described it on her blog this morning. It disappoints me to see just how much we always miss the point - the mark - or the real reason behind the season. No matter how many Happy Birthday Jesus cakes we bake or stories from the bible we read at Christmas...the retail stores, the gifts, the wasted money spent, etc...it all supersedes and shadows the true spirit of Christmas. However this year, with the way Kenidi is into all things Christmas, she has us beaming with excitement. We are putting the decor out early. Getting nostalgic. We are soaking in the season and all it will allow us to take from it. In the meantime, I'm looking for every way possible to keep Christ prevalent and the priority in each moment.
And before I sign off today, I just had to write and thank all of you for your overwhelming emails, blog posts, for signing THE WALL, etc. in regard to my new photography business. Your response and support was just out of this world. Brent and I couldn't get over it. And a HUGE thank you to those who've already emailed me or called about getting on my 2009 schedule. You guys RAWK! I never imagined I'd get the response and take off like I did already. Although I won't be doing this journey to make an actual "living" off of or as a full time job, it'll sure be a fun hobby with all of you guys as well as with the brand new families I get to shoot along the way. And for those of you who contacted me about traveling out of state to shoot your families and several others in a one day gathering, I'd love to. You know the drill. Just holla' when the plans are finalized. I'm there.
For now, speaking of photography, I'm off to go snap some more shots today for my photography class next Tuesday. The homework assignment is coming due so I'd better get on it. The good news is that after I come inside from this fridgid 30 degree Indiana weather, I can come in and home to some nice hot chili, cookies, egg nog, sour cream, (you get my point) etc. later tonight with the fam. I pray all of you have a spectacular weekend lined up and that you're able to hunker down and soak up your family too.
It's the brand new retractable roof stadium that just opened this season. It's the first time our family will be seeing it in person and I'm stoked about that.
