to every mom, grandmom and mom-to-be out there!  (furbaby moms too!)

In honor of Mother’s Day and my own very special mom, I thought today would be perfect to share with you a few photos from a wonderful day last fall, when my mom and step-dad finally got married!  They’ve been together FOREVER (okay, maybe it’s only been 15 or 20 years) but they just never sealed the deal.  Better late than never, right?    It was a small family affair but it was special and of course, I made sure to have a camera on hand.  Enjoy a few photos from their day.

My mom's favorite color is black, so it was inevitable that she would find a beautiful black dress to get married in. haha!

My mom’s bamboo plant aided in creating one of my all time favorite ring shots and as it turns out, ended up being published in Delaware Bride!

FYI – Bings Bakery ROCKS.  We pretty much shop there for all of our family cake needs cuz their cakes are sooooooo good.  Mmm-mmmm.  Now I want cake! 

Today I am feelin’ the luv, as I just learned from Rebecca, over at Tastefully Entertaining, that she has honored MDP with a Blog Luv Award!  Isn’t she just the sweetest?!  Thank you so much for such an awesome gift from such an amazing blogger.    (Many thanks also for getting a catchy Beatles tune stuck in my head.    This is a good thing.)

I completely believe in paying it forward, so now I’d like to share the LUV with some of my own fav blogs (in no particular order).

1. I’m an Organizing Junkie

2. Jasmine Star Photography

3. Proud to Plan

4. Zen Habits

5. Humbled Eyes Photography

6. Majesta’s Olympic Dream

7. Cake Wrecks

8. Litrato Photojournalism

9. Wedding Chicks

10. Photo Lovecat

Honorees please follow these instructions and share the LUV!

1. Put the logo on your blog or post. (You can highlight the photo and text of this post and copy/paste wherever you need to…start your highlight from the bottom up to get the photo)

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received the award.

I am working on posting up some wedding photos from Andrea & John’s fabulous wedding but until then, I’ll leave you with a photo of each of the presidential and vp candidates. (YES – I am proud to say I actually had the opportunity to take photos of each of them!!)

HIGHS:

• I finished the Professional Photography Program at Cecil College in the spring. I wanted to go back to school so bad for many years and I finally did! It was an amazing experience and one that will be with me for many years to come. Each and every instructor there influenced me but I have to give special shout-outs to Kristi Eisenberg, the VCP director there, who still checks up on me from time to time, Kay Muldoon, who’s PJ class still holds dear to my heart and to Floyd Dean, who made me work 3 semesters to finally get my A, sent me out on a freelance assignment and who still sends me emails about wedding photography contests to continue to push me forward.
• Two baby boys were born into our circle of friends this year. One to my best friend, April, in January and one to our friends, Craig & Mel, in September.




• I surprised Marc with an HDTV, as an early birthday present on Labor Day weekend (just in time for football!). His brothers and a couple of our friends helped me tear down the old setup and put up the new entertainment center, all before Marc got home from work! He was so surprised!
• In September, my Grandparents (who have an amazing Martial Arts Studio!) came and visited us from Texas.



• Marc, myself and our friend, Christy went apple picking in October – something I haven’t done since I was a child!



• MDP’s website had a face lift in October! So did the blog!
• I had my hair highlighted (two-tone highlights) in October….the first time I’ve had color in my hair in several years!



• Our friends, Jason & Christine, were engaged on Christmas Eve!! Congrats, guys! We are very much looking forward to their wedding in 2008.



• I’ve had the opportunity and ultimate pleasure of shooting with 7 (!) different photographers this year! I’ve learned so much and I was even able to teach some of them some things as well. So, THANKS go to Jo, Heather, Joy, Sofia, Beth, Joe and Aaron for enriching my photography career and for becoming good friends.

LOWS:

• We lost one of our furry babies, our ferret, Eli, back in May. It was terribly sad for us as he was such a sweet animal and we loved him dearly. This was the first time Marc or I have ever experienced the death of a pet. Our other ferret, Tiki, took it very hard as well.
• I was in a car accident in October, that sent me to Physical Therapy for my back.

I’m not one for “resolutions” per-say, but I do believe in setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals for myself. There are so many things I want to do in life, but rather than list them ALL, here’s a short list of things I want to accomplish – both personal and business/photography related – in 2008.

In no particular order….

• Launch my FineArt Website
• Lose 50 lbs (I know, I know – how cliche!)
• Shoot for FUN, for ME at least once per month (but hopefully more!) which includes…
  • Buy a Nikon film camera and shoot more 35mm B&W film (Old School! lol)
  • Get more use out of my Holga plastic toy camera
  • Lego Pinhole Camera – here I come!
• Create a list of 101 things I want to do in the next 1001 days
• Get back to doing Yoga on a regular basis, like I used to
• Attend at least one Photography Seminar
• Blog More!
  • Blog every single session and wedding this year (I missed a bunch in ’07)
  • Blog more fun stuff that’s goin on

Ok….that’s all I can come up with for now. But stay-tuned for my Best of 2007 Slideshow, (coming soon!) featuring my fav pics from this year. For now, you can check out my Best of 2006 Slideshow…..later you can tell me how far you think I’ve come in one year.

We’re also celebrating National Apple Month at work this week. With all this talk about apples, I picked up some cool apple facts that I thought I would share:

- If you place an apple in with your potatoes it will help keep them from
sprouting.
- If you can’t brush your teeth after a meal, than eat an apple. Eating
an apple gets rid of 95% of the harmful bacteria in your mouth. (WHOA!)
- 25 percent of an apple’s volume is air. That is why they float.
- Apples are a member of the rose family. (didn’t know that!)

Well, of course, you know I brought my camera along to go apple picking. I know, I know…I’m such a dork. What can I say? Here’s some pics from our trip:

Marc ate one of the Golden Delicious apples right off the tree! LOL

Lots of colors of fall!

Lots of strange looking gourds LOL…

I love this pic of Oreo!

Some of Marc’s notorious funny faces…

Even the ferrets like the fisheye!

Look for more images coming soon!

We started off with a kid shoot at the Franklin Institute, with Sophia and her absolutely adorable daughter!

After the Franklin Institute we met for lunch, where we met even more people. Then we headed over to the Ballroom at the Ben for some more shooting!

That was day one. I missed out on the night shoot but check out everyone else’s blogs for great stuff from that! Day two, we started off at the hard Rock Cafe on 12th & Market. Jerry Tomko held a great workshop for us, showing us how to shoot in the streets of Philly! He was lots of fun to watch and so informative. Amazing Photographer!

Jerry in action (YES, he’s standing in the middle of Market Street LOL):

Quite a spectical we were LOL :

Off to lunch again! and then we went on to shoot Jamie (one of our models from the Ballroom at the Ben) in her truer form (with her scooter), in an editorial style shoot, led by Jason Messer.

Major THANKS go to Sofia for organizing this! It was great to be surrounded by so many creative minds…everyone got lots of great shots and were so open to sharing ideas. It was a great time!

2006 was a great year of learning for me. As most of you know, I decided to go back to school to pursue my passion in 2004. But school isn’t the only place you can learn! I hooked up with a really awesome local wedding photographer and shooting with her has opened my eyes to some things I’ve never seen before. Working with other creative minds is a fantastic thing! After all, its said that “You are the company you keep!” I also was directed to a wonderful online community of photographers, which I now hold very dear. I’ve learned a lot on this wonderful forum and will hopefully be meeting some of you very soon, in Philly in April!!

2006 has taught me that I can do anything that I put my mind to. My decision to pursue my passion for the camera, has led me to great things and I know it will only get better from here! While there were some rough times (working full time, going to school full time and trying to grow a photography business ALL at the same time!), I made it through! My drive and passion for this industry and to make a life built around what I love is enough to maintain the strength to weather the hard times until the good times get only better.

So for anyone out there who has a dream like mine….GO FOR IT! For the rest of you……here’s the slideshow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I think 2007 is going to be a fantastic year!

xoxo, Misty

So Marc and I took a bus trip to NYC on Friday (with the college) to the PhotoPlus Expo. This is the second time we’ve been and this year was even better than last! I had the opportunity to witness some amazing photographers speak on topics such as wedding photography, posing and the industry and business in general. I was especially priveleged to actually meet one of the very photographers that I admire, David Jay. DJ (as he’s known on the OSP forum) is an amazing photographer who has accomplished so much in so little time and he dedicates a lot of his time to helping other photographers find their niche and succeed in the industry. I have to say that upon first impression, he’s not only an amazing photographer but also an amazing human being. I felt like such a groupie when I asked to have a picture taken with him but he insisted that we were all friends. So here’s the pic (please ignore the fact that I woke up late and almost missed the bus so I look like a complete wreck!)….I hope you enjoy! I’ll be updating the blog soon with my fav pics from this year and also the website! I’ll let you know when I do!