My friend Sara of BeeTour Photography found this unbelieveable and inspiring blog post from Zack Arias, a awesome photographer based in Atlanta. If you are a photographer who makes a living with your camera or is someone who wants to, this might speak to you. Otherwise it gives you a little insight into what makes a photographer tick. (here’s a little secret, we are weird!)

I am constantly struggling to improve, wow, and succeed with each gig that I shoot. And coming from a photography background where I have no formal training, no degree, so I am extra hard on myself to not suck. And who says you need a degree in life to be successful?? I am always comparing myself to other “successful” photographers and wishing I was making tons of money and putting on workshops and being asked to speak at photography conventions, like they do. When in all reality, I have it pretty damn good. I make my own hours (in theory), I spend tons of time with my boys, and I get to perform a job where I am the boss, get to be creative, and make the world prettier with unique and cool photos.

Its about 10 minutes long, but it is good. Thanks Zack!

It has been a little bit since I have blogged, I know. I have been busy with consultations, redesigning my website, and chasing a 1 year old around. I have also been reading this note being passed around on Facebook, maybe you have seen it, 25 Random Things? I really like seeing what random things my friends have to say about themselves, its kind of like a sneak peek into their private lives. I thought that I would take a break from working and do a little “Random Things about Me” list.

1. I love Coke. Really love it. I try to only have one Coke a day, but sometimes I need 2. YUM.

2. EyeSpy is named after my dog. Spyder is the queen of the house and I love her little furry face so much that I wanted to name my business after her. And since Spyder Photography sounded kinda creepy, I went with EyeSpy instead.

3. Eating is one of my hobbies. I love good food and lots of it. Indian, Italian, Japanese, whatever, I will eat it. But only if its good. And ice cream is my ultimate weakness. I sometimes eat it for breakfast if Matt is not home to stop me.

4. My favorite color is yellow. But I hate yellow cars, coats, phones, it looks tacky as a tangible item. But that iPod Nano in yellow looks good, I will take one of those! Oh, and I have yellow Converse that I love, so yellow shoes are ok too.

5. I make my own spaghetti sauce. It’s delish! The recipe came over from Italy with my great-grandma. And no, can not have the recipe–it’s a secret!! It is so good, that I have considered canning it and selling it to the masses.

6. I have had basically every hair color imaginable. Every shade of blonde, brunette, red, pink, purple and blue. But not black. I hear its a bitch to get out.

7. I love tattoos. Pain is good! And colorful. I am hoping to get a half sleeve for my birthday.

8. I really enjoy traveling and seeing new places BUT, I am not a fan of airplanes. I hate them. I actually considered driving to Cabo San Lucas until I mapquested it and found out it would take something like a week to get there. So I flew.

9. I pretty much have the coolest job anyone could ever have. I spend my weekends at fabulous parties, take pictures of gorgeous couples and get to have cake once a week. And my boss is pretty nice too.

10. I never really planned on liking my life as much as I do. I have a hot hubby who loves me, a spunky little kid who makes me laugh, and 2 adorable dogs. Everything has just fallen into place. I am a lucky girl.

***************************
Also, the Boudoir Marathon is one month away. There are 2 spots left! Call or email the studio if you want in on a wonderful experience!

The cutest nephew and niece came over for their yearly Christmas card photos. They are so damn cute! Their theme this year was Santa and Rudolph, per my sister. And I totally made them go outside for their photos because Santa and Rudolph need real snow.

One thing I learned is 2 year olds HATE having their picture taken and the only thing that mildly gets their attention is “ice cream”. And they won’t even give you a real smile, what a stinker! Lily, on the other hand, was a professional reindeer.

Please Tyler, I will give you all the ice cream I have!!

Sweetest deer ever!

I love how it looks like an old Christmas photo

I just had an anniversary. Well, Matt and I had an anniversary. Usually, we don’t really do anything that spectacular, maybe go up north, maybe go a little further north. Just something easy. Since this year was number 5, I was telling Matty, I wanted spectacular this time. Paris? Too much time commitment. New York? Maybe. Chicago? Possible.

There was one main factor that was keeping us from all of these places. Our little Luca. I hadn’t left him overnite yet, and didn’t see the rush to do it. We thought about bringing him, but that seemed way too idealistic. A baby in a big city who had to be in bed by 9? Suck.

So I brushed it off as the 5 was going to be no big whoopie. We had planned to go out to dinner and have Gramma watch him for a few hours. I got to pick the restaurant, Azia. We had a bottle of champagne and some cranberry puffs to start. I had some sushi and some shrimp noodle dinner. Matt had pork tenderloins with sweet potatoes and asparagus. Really, really yummy.

As we are eating Matt gets all serious and and totally freaks me out. (He is such a little sneak!) He said he knows it would have been great to go somewhere out of state, but instead we aren’t going home, we are staying in Minneapolis at the Ivy. I was totally surprised, which is very hard to do because I am a nosy person. I was also a little sad because I didn’t get to smooch Luca and I wouldn’t see him until the morning. But it was just one night and we were going to go out downtown and have a few drinks like the old, pre-baby Matt and Steph. Yay!!! I missed them!

So we went out, had a lot of fun and went home in the morning to see Gramma and Luca sitting outside waiting for us. Now I know it wasn’t anything fancy like Paris, but it was real. I can’t believe that we have been hitched for 5 years. It feels like I have known Matty forever but those 5 years have gone by so fast. I am probably the luckiest girl ever to have found such a perfect boy like him. He is super hot, super nerdy, and my perfect match.

(And yes, I also hate blog postings with no pictures, but I had no idea that anything but dinner would be happening, so I left my camera home!!)

ADDED…Since I don’t have any pictures from the 5 to share, I figured I could show you a picture from my wedding. Now it is a snapshot, and one of the only photos that I actually liked from my wedding. (I wasn’t shooting weddings myself yet…) We had a not-so-fantastic wedding photographer, so note to soon to be brides, you definitely get what you pay for when it comes to photography!

Just a little FYI to all you people out there with inquiring minds. Sure they may look cute, but those little choppers can cause quite some drama.

The Minnesota State Fair!

I can’t wait for:
Pronto Pups (not corn dogs, those suck)
French Fries
Sweet Martha’s Cookies with All you can drink Milk
Mini Doughnuts
and another Pronto Pup

and maybe some Dippin Dots or a Malt from the Dairy Building?? Or maybe a Sno Cone?
Am I the only pig here? Or are there other people out there who save up meals so their diets can “start over” after the fair?

You know what would be so fun? To do engagement shots at the fair, we could eat and shoot. How awesome would that be?

If you are a super fun couple and are up for the challenge of State Fair engagement shots, you better let me know, because I really want to do it!!! Send me an email and it will be a date!

So it has been kind of phlegmy over at the EyeSpy house. All of the humans have contracted a lovely cold and the dogs have been getting way too many ticks. Ickyness.

To pass the time between coughs, we have been reading Luca his new book that he got from his Auntie Sarah. She bought it off of this website which has a bunch of funky and random things. He really is getting into learning the difference between martinis and champagne cocktails.

Here he is pointing out his favorite libation, with a side of pretzels, of course!

This book is pretty funny, it really is for adults more than babies, but it has pretty colors, what baby could resist?

*******

And just a quick little EyeSpy update,
My new custom proofing gallery should be ready any second (so I have been told)….As soon as I get the go ahead from the designers, I will notify all of you wonderful clients who have been patiently waiting for your images.

Last night I became an auntie again! My sister and her hubby Mike welcomed Lily Susan to the family at around 8 in the evening. And she is no little flower, she is a big girl at almost 9 pounds. She is giving Luca a run for his money in the big baby department. And the head of hair on this girl, damn! We have no idea where the dark hair is coming from….mom and dad are both blondes!

She is such a little sweetie pie and I almost kidnapped her because she is soooo cute! We already have been to the hospital twice because she is so adorable.

Tyler hasn’t met is little sister yet…and we are all waiting to see what kind of reaction he has…he may not be too pleased when he finds out that Lily isn’t going anywhere. Luca thought she was pretty cool, he kept trying to grab her. I think he may have wanted to put her hand in his mouth. Real classy, Luca.

Isn’t Lily such a great name? Her room is painted orange and decorated with flowers. Go figure!

Since I know alot of Christyn’s work friends are checking the blog so they can get a sneak peek, on to the photos!!!

Luca!

This kid is an absolute rockstar. He loves his dogs, eating, outside, and of course his mommy and daddy. I can’t believe he is 1/4 of a year old. He is gonna be swearing and sneaking out of the house in no time!

Leave Luca some 3 month love in the comment box and maybe he will write you back!

My birthday was last week. And with as busy as I have been with work and Little Luca I forgot to mention it. No, I am not looking for belated birthday presents , but I found an old picture of me taken at the same age that Luca is now. It made me feel all sentimental and sappy (and old!) being that I am a mom now.

But I did have a nice and relaxed day. Matty got me a massage at my favorite salon, some cookie sheets and baking supplies to which he and Luca have requested more cookie making, and I got a new tattoo! My family came over to partake in some pizza and cake devouring. Then we played a little Guitar Hero ( I rule!). It wasn’t a late night or anything crazy due to the fact that poor little Luca had pink eye and was quite crabby.

I didn’t take any pictures of the evening because I refuse to work on my birthday, but here is that photo of baby Stephany, who was pretty damn cute back in the day.