Photography Website

i finally purchased a domain so thought i would post my photography website. www.mycreativeclicks.com i tried to buy the rights to creativeclicks.com but someone owns it til 2014 and has nothing on it,urgh!! i guess people buy domains to resell for more money?
anyway i wish my site was more flashy and all but my programming knowledge is fairly limited these days. would love to learn the new languages and create something better but i think i'll get divorced if i do, it took me long enough to do this one. thanks again amy for sparing me a few photos to fill up my galleries.
I also started a new blog to go along with my website. www.mycreativeclicks.blogspot.com
don't know how i will keep up with 2? see how that goes.

25 Random things

my friend megan a facebook addict apparently, said the latest facebook thing to be floating around is 25 random things. i signed up for facebook but never check it (in case you are waiting for me to respond to something : ) well after she posted it on her blog i felt obligated to do it.
wouldn't want to disappoint you meg! plus i love surveys : )
see if i surprise you, how well do you know me
they are in no particular order.

25 Random Things About Me

25.I am a Capricorn - hence they say I am practical, organized, serious, responsible, steadfast, wise and aloof, a.k.a boring!

24.I was raised with one brother, Christopher silly huh Christa, Christopher. He was pretty much forced to go by CJ

23.I don't like my name and wish people would just call me Chris but the only people that do are my brother,sister, mom and dad and friend Laura.

22.I grew up on a farm, well kind of. My dad and his family were big producers of onions and lettuce. We also had several strawberry patches and other vegetable fields. Every summer my brother and I were put to work. To this day I'm not a big fan of onions or strawberries : )

21.I love to travel. As a kid we went on family vacations everywhere, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Hawaii, Grand Cayman Islands. In college I went to Spain,France, and Italy with my mom and then to Spain for our honeymoon. In april John and I are going to Amsterdam, Paris and Belgium.

20.I miss having a baby! I have this thing for babies. There is nothing better than a chubby, sweet smelling, giggling little baby.

19.I hate shoe shopping. It doesn't make sense but I wear a size 10, I'm probably really a 10.5 but they don't seem to make that size much.

18.I love microbrews, in college I dated a brewmaster and he taught me a lot about beer. I love all kinds of beer, light, dark, hoppy, you name it I'll drink it.

17.I also have a thing for white wine. My favorite yearly trip was to the NY wineries in the Finger Lakes. Winery after winery, fun times

16.I am on my first diet. so no beer or wine lately. but i'm feeling good

15.My dream life would include a massage every day

14.I am a very liberal parent, sugar before bed, why not? I know some people must think I'm crazy but I think it works, not necessarily the sugar but just being liberal.

13.I tell my girls that I love them and that they are beautiful at least once a day

12.John and I read in bed every night. He is the most well read person I know

11.I am deathly scared of heights

10.I get carsick if I'm not driving

9.I want to drive a race car before I die. I love to drive fast and I miss my stick shift

8.My newest favorite food (well before the diet) was fried pickles with ranch, yum!

7.I have been told I have the best nose around. I can smell anything. Maybe I should work for the FBI

6.I switched my major 3 times in college, I still don't know what I want to be,good thing there's always motherhood

5.I question the belief in God, and will not talk about religion or politics

4.I hardly ever watch TV! I have a hard time sitting for so long

3.I love to play tennis but haven't in a long time

2.I am not materialistic and could live off of very little money

1. I tell my parents everything and love that we are close

11 days ago

once again i am slacking on my blogging. my mom just took the girls to the movies, i debated spend free time vacuuming or blogging? screw the cleaning.
so 11 days ago we had a big snowstorm here (well big for NC) i heard we got 7 inches but I'm not so sure. its definitely the most snow i've seen in 3 years. i think we may have gotten an inch the last couple years.
the girls were all excited about the snow. they woke up at 6am and insisted on going out to play before it was light out. i made a bet with john that the excitement would quickly fade once they got cold and i was right. the first time we went out they lasted a couple mins. but i guess in hindsight i can't fault them completely as they don't own winter boots or "real" gloves, knit gloves only last so long.
later that day we went out again. this time i spent more time layering them and figuring out how to keep them warm with what we had. we blew up a tube we had for the pool and used it to sled down a hill in our neighborhood. believe it or not sophia had a good time but logann was not at all into it! i think it took longer to get them ready and outside then they lasted.
the whole thing was frustrating! they can be so wimpy sometimes it kills me! the next two days they had no school but we never went back out to play. they were over it and frankly so was i. the snow sure was pretty and a nice change but i am counting my blessings that it was gone in 3 days and the sun is back out and its going to be 60 tomorrow.

the dogs were the only ones wanting to play, they loved it but they are true snow dogs having been raised in NY

sometimes they crack me up

Just when you're ready to pull your hair out they always seem to say something funny don't they?
Yesterday in the car Logann and I were talking about a neighbors baby. Logann thought the baby was a boy but its a girl. So after fighting with me about the baby she says to me
"well mom when I was a baby, I was a girl!"
"yes you were Logann!"
"and sophia was a girl baby too, and she had pigtails when she was a baby"
"sure logann, whatever you say logann"
you all know this is funny because i don't think sophia had enough hair for pigtails until she was 4!

then sophia comes home from school....."hey mom monday is a special day did you know that.", "no I didn't sophia why is monday special?" "because its king luber's birthday"
so i have to admit i'm a little slow but it took me until she followed up with "he was a doctor too" that i realized what she was trying to say. oh yeah i guess it is Dr. martin luther king day monday. another day off of school : (
for a good cause at least.

Valentine Day cards

they had the cutest V day lollipops at Target. i couldn't resist shooting some early V day photos. the girls finally agreed on taking the photos when i told them it was my birthday and it would be my favorite present. They hate having their pictures taken. The lollipop helped though.
I created some cards for the girls to hand out this year instead of the typical princess ones.
I'm thinking about using these for marketing V day specials. Which photo is your favorite? Need some opinions.

more Asheville photos

Lots of neat buildings, walls, and alleys. Seems like everyone is an artist there.


this was somebody's house! crazy! it definitely smelled like patchoullie when i got in close for the shot, go figure


there were some scary looking dogs living in this alley

the side of a beer store

artwork on another building, this one was my favorite

the south has some big churches thats for sure

this bus was converted into a coffee shop. there was seating up top, very cool

remember the old five and dime stores,this one was attached to a funky art gallery

hoping sophia will be able to copy these someday

Self-Portrait.....

there were lots of cool urban settings for photos. i had to twist john's arm but he let me shoot a few

Asheville,NC

For my birthday John planned a trip for us(minus girls) to Asheville,NC. For all you non-geography types I've included a map. Hope you can see it

We live where the star is and Asheville is way over on to the west, close to the TN boder. It took us about 4 hours from Raleigh. Before moving here I never realized how wide NC is. But how many states have mountains and an ocean on either side?

Asheville was such a cool place! Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the views are breathtaking. It has been called the East Coast's Seattle, minus the water! Amazing downtown, rolling hills and funky architecture. Asheville was by far the greenest city I've ever been too. The downtown was neat, I couldn't get over how well the area was thriving. Small businesses galore, it was great! Not too many places exist like that in the US anymore. There's a coffee/chocolate lounge on every corner, organic restaurants, Yoga centers, art galleries and the most diverse range of restaurants imaginable.

It had a sort of had a European-esque quality to it. Seemed like a great place to live, and definitely a fun place to visit if you are ever in Western NC.

Day One

We started out the afternoon at a taproom getting acquainted with the city and drinking micro brews and eating pizza

too many choices, dangerous!

then it was off for a walking tour of the city and a stop at this very cool building, home to a swank wine and cheese bar and many other neat shops.

once again too many choices! we forgot wine and beer don't mix, oops.

the night gets a little foggy from here on out but i was told we stopped at a couple other bars and ate dinner too : ) no i'm kidding i do recall this just not as clearly as i wish. lots of fun though! Luckily John was smart enough to book us a room at a Sheraton right downtown. We played it safe and did lots of walking.

Day Two

8am

how is it I forgot to pack the Advil? have never been to a city that didn't have a drugstore on every corner. we never did find the Advil = headache for the better part of the day! We got up and moving early. went to breakfast in Biltmore Village. An old Victorian house converted into a breakfast place. Cute idea, and yummy food. it was even romantic with a fireplace right by our table and views of the street. I almost forgot about my headache.
After breakfast we made our way to the Biltmore. History lesson. The biggest house in America. Built by the Vanderbilts. Ring a bell. 175,000 sq ft house built in 1897(I think?). 63 bedrooms, 45 baths. it was unreal! John and I opted to do the audio tour and being that I'm not much of a historian I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

the clouds reminded me of Central NY, yuck!

of course they have an estate winery at the biltmore. so we had to stop. john told me it would cure my hangover. i believed him! supposedly it is the most visited winery in the US. not sure why the wine was not that good(maybe it was the hangover?) and not very cheap!

the shops were neat though, this place had it all.

the wine cellar so cool!

DAY 3

there's lots of hiking and outdoor activities to do in Asheville and the surrounding areas. we had high hopes for ourselves, but the weather didn't cooperate so much. it was freezing sunday morning. freezing is all relative though. 39 is now cold to me! and with the wind whipping, brrr..

anyway we layered up and drove what seemed like forever up and up winding narrow roads to hike Chimney Rock State Park.

We aren't really the outdoorsy type and I think this is the first time I've gone hiking (or climbing I should say). It was fun but a tad scary, i'm not big on heights or tight spaces. It wasn't as much of a workout as I had hoped but the thin air does do a number on your lungs.

another gloomy day. the pictures don't show it but you could see for miles and miles.

views from the top

breaking the law

we followed some germans(I think?) and busted through the gate to get a closeup. luckily no ice yet

we left late afternooon for home. stopped at a ruby tuesday for our last alone meal and make it back home about 7pm. as always it was nice to get away but just as nice to return. we had such a good time, and are so thankful my mom is sweet enough to watch the monsters.

Not a fun night

my mom came back from NY last night. her flight was scheduled to arrive at 4:25pm but got delayed an hour. I left my house to get her at 5pm as the airport is about 25mins away. I parked and waited and waited for her figuring she must have been further delayed. About 6pm she called to say she was in Wilmington, NC (2 hours south)! I thought she had gotten on the wrong flight. It happens right?
Apparently though her plane had problems with the de-icers so they had to travel south to land? Not sure why as it was 47 degrees at 6pm.
It had rained all day yesterday and it was foggy and now rush hour but with nothing to do and no purse I decided to head back home to have dinner. My mom ended up waiting about an hour at the Wilmington airport and was finally sent to Raleigh on a charter bus. I waited for her bus to get in and returned to the airport about 10pm. We were back home about 10:30pm when she realized getting out of the car in the garage, she had left her laptop bag on the bench at the airport! She was freaking out of course so I just said get back in the car and I headed to airport for the 3rd time that night!
Thankfully the security guard having spotted an unattended bag, a potential bomb threat, returned the bag to the USAirways baggage dept before anyone stole it.
I hope I don't have to see the airport for awhile. And I'm thankful the price of gas has gone down because it took me about a half a tank of gas to get her home, bags and all.

did you hear about this

while i was cleaning up the kitchen today i had the tv going and i caught this story on the news. It's just so crazy i have to share it. i don't recall any names so i'm making them up but this is a true story I swear. I'm pretty sure it happened in CT.
Bob and Sue were married a long time, I saw a photo of Sue, she's probably 70ish. Anyhow Bob loved to play the lotto daily. One day in Nov.he bought a lotto ticket in the morning and then had a heart attack that killed him in the afternoon. Sue soon found out that the lotto ticket he bought right before his death won him/well her I guess, $10 million dollars!
Apparently after the appropriate mourning period she turned in the winning ticket a few days ago for the $6 million one time payout. How sad is that for poor Bob! ? ! And how sad is it that I find the story funny. Is that sick? But come on what are the odds?

a fun little test

try this typing test, supposedly the words are the most commonly used English words. how fast can you type? i scored 67 words/min. what's your score? watch out its addicting as you improve each time.
http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/

Two thousand 09

do you remember being a kid and writing stories about life in the future? When I was in grade school we were always writing about the year 2010. I just realized how fast life is going, we are almost there...I wish I could dig up my old stories. How interesting they would be. I'm curious to know if I'm doing all the things now I thought I should be. I doubt it! I really can only remember one thing I wrote in my 3rd grade 2010 story. I would be driving a space mobile like the Jetsons. Too bad, my minivan didn't come with that feature, that would be fun!
So no one has blogged about their resolutions yet. I must admit I normally don't participate in that game. This year however I'm feeling very lazy and very boring. So like the rest of America I will be making an effort to get back in shape. Its scary when your jeans don't button. My hiatus from running has really given me a little buddha belly, too bad its not cute like it is on Logann. That needs to go!
My next resolution is to figure myself out. Ha, ha, that should be a challenge. Seriously though with the kids getting older I'm feeling in need of something that defines me. I've really enjoyed starting up my photography business. So my resolution is to get active with marketing and hopefully stay busy with new clients. The holiday season kept me busy and happy but already I am bored with having no work. I've got lots of learning to do and some more purchases to make (sorry John!) and tweaking of my website but I'm hoping and praying it takes off this year
like Amy's business did.
My last resolution is to do something charitable. I've always wanted to work at a food bank or with meals on wheels. But other than donating money I haven't ever followed through. I think this is the year to do it. We should all be counting our blessings that our families are employed and that we have a roof over our heads and food in our fridge. Its a scary world and I feel like I should be helping out in some way.
Comment or post your resolutions

A Dell of a Deal

got my new laptop. its candy apple red too girly says john, he's right it is pretty. love it, its got a 17 inch monitor and super fast. waited a day to buy it and it strangely went on sale from $849 to $649 overnight. i don't get that but i won't complain. best thing about it.... it doesn't smell like puke!

my new computer camera

just discovered that my computer has a built in camera/web cam. I could really care less as i already have both but it came in handy this morning. logann is obsessed with styling Jackson. today she put a new collar on him(one of her headbands). he looks so girly i had to take a photo. too lazy to go downstairs and get my real camera so i tried out the the computer cam. not bad! i'm impressed.

Here you go Amy

alright I'm always up for a survey. My friend Amy wanted to find out who everyone's top 5 guys are. This was tough Amy I've been working on it for 2 days. Here goes.

Tom Brady and Ashton Kutcher my 1 and 2 always, funny thing is they are both my age : )

Brady Quinn NFL player. just plain hot and the best

body on the list but his face is beautiful too. he's a baby though at 24

pretty boy Paul Walker check out those eyes. i love the scruff and his body not so shabby either : )

Josh Harnett was always on my list in the past. I think he was hotter younger. And I'm not crazy about him with facial hair. I prefer the baby face below.

Why don't Wii like Wii?

So Daddy Santa made a last minute purchase this year, the Wii. John sure had fun with it Christmas Day. The girls aren't all that excited about it however even though the initial reaction was good. We actually bought it in hopes that Logann would play it 24/7 and quit buggin so much. Yeah right, hasn't worked so far. Why are all these other kids so in love with Wii? What games do your kids play? We are waiting for Dance Dance Revolution to come what other ones are good?


Jackson does not like us playing Wii! Sophia and John were boxing and he was going crazy, its hysterical.