GUEST blogger: EMMY MOM

One of the things I enjoy blogging about is photography.  It's amazing how pictures have the ability to transport us to different times and memories.  They are so important!  They are the reason I started my weekly INSTAGRAM wednesday posts.  It's also why I included photography as one of the topics someone could write about when I put out a call for guest posters.

Insert, EMMY MOM.  

Emily is a very talented photographer and I was thrilled when she offered to write about her experiences.  Thanks so much, Emily!

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I am so happy to be guest posting on Emily's blog.  Anyone with a name like Emily has to be awesome right? 

 I am a professional photographer, a very very part-time hardly-works-at-all photographer, but hey it's a start, and really it's perfect for me right now. When I graduated high school my parents said they would buy me any camera I wanted. I looked at all the cameras, the small ones that could almost slide in your pocket (it was film days still they could only be so small) or the big ones that looked like professional cameras. And that is what I wanted. Not really sure why.  I think I thought it would make me look cool.  So I picked the Canon Rebel G-- film camera. I loved the way the pictures looked but I think I mostly kept it safe staying in auto mode. Time passed, digital came around and it was awesome just being able to shoot, but my digital camera was slow and would take a few seconds before you could snap the next shot, which does not work when trying to photograph kids. So my husband and in-laws pooled together and got me a Canon Rebel G Xti- digital.

The first few days I had it I shot over 500 pictures. I was hooked.

(one of those 500 pictures I took that first day)

I went to the library and checked out books. I watched tutorials online.  And finally I started switching the dial over to the M on the camera. There were a lot of flops, a lot of times where I wondered what I was doing.

But the more I shot, the more it clicked and the more I loved it.

Then I offered to take a friends family picture. My heart raced and I shook the first ten minutes of the shoot.  I even "cheated" halfway through the shoot putting in the camera on automatic mode as my nerves won out.

But I kept at it and then I stopped shooting for free and started charging- which in itself felt like a huge leap, saying- yes my work is good enough that you should pay me for it.

But I love it.  When I get out there and engage with the clients, working with the different personalities, the different wants and wishes and when I come back and show them a product that they love and are so happy with, it feels good.

It is why I do it.

And now, with little ones and having recently moved to a new area I have put it on the back burner a bit.  And that is okay as I don't want it to become something I have to do, but always be something that I love to do.

You can find Emily on her blog

 

At her photography website Emily Kathryn Photo  

And on Twitter @Emmymom2

FRIENDSHIP written by ANONYMOUS

I was contacted by someone who wanted to more or less spill her guts, but wanted to remain anonymous.  And I was more than happy to host her thoughts on my blog.

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I've always wanted a sister.  I figure the closest thing to a sister would be a best friend. You know, a BFF. Everyone's got one, right?  Not me.

For some reason I've always struggled in the friend department.  I've always had friends.  Friends as in a group of girls that I got along with and we did things together all throughout high school.  Friends in college that I always hung out with. But never a true BFF that I couldn't go more than a few hours without talking to, told everything to, or went on trips with.  Stuff like that.  I have friends from high school that I still get together with and it's like time hasn't passed and it's as fun as ever.  I have friends that I've met in the last few years that I hang out with and it's fun, but I'm still waiting for that BFF. Someone that won't make fun of me for being stupid, or will make fun of me for being stupid but still love me for it.  Like a sister would.  Someone that never gets sick of me and will call just to say hi and that they miss me.

My husband has 4 sisters.  When we were engaged I kept thinking how I couldn't wait until we were married because I'd automatically have four sisters!  People who would be my friends, that I would always hang out with. That's what sisters-in-law are for, right?  Not so much.  For whatever reason they never really took a liking to me. Here we are almost 11 years later, not to mention a total of 15 kids between us all and you'd think we'd all be closer.  I couldn't wait for my kids to have cousins to play with or for me to have a babysitter that I could always count on.  I figured since I was in the family that's the way it would work.  That's how they are with each other!  Their kids are always playing together, and they're always watching each others kids.  In the meantime, I'm always searching for someone to watch mine. For some reason, we're always left out.  


Our kids all go to the same school and my kids are always asking why so and so got to play at so and so's house and they didn't.  I hear about trips they've taken together, skiing weekends, or night out at the movies that they've done together that we're never invited to.  Then there's the field trips during the summer, days at the pool and picnics at the park.  I'm not asking to be invited to EVERYTHING but don't talk about it in front of me like it's not going to bother me.  

I could be to blame.  I'm not the most social person.  I might even come off as being unfriendly at times. But it's only because I'm so self-conscious that I don't dare say anything to anyone.  Ever.  I'm always wondering what someone is thinking of me while I'm standing there talking to them. What do they think of my hair?  My clothes?  My shoes?  My face?!  Heaven forbid I actually say something because then I'll have to worry about what they think of what I said!  But, despite those feelings, it's nice to be invited to things.  If not because they want to include me, but because they want to include my kids. Their neices and nephews, right?  It's one thing for the sisters to talk about things they're doing without me, but for them to sit and talk about things that their kids have done together when my kids haven't been involved really gets to me. 

     

So, my question is, what is it about me that has made it so I can't really seem to ever find a close friend? Am I too self-conscious?  Trying too hard?  What is it about someone that makes them BFF material?  I'm really starting to wonder what exactly I'm missing, or what I'm doing wrong.  I'm so over-anxious to have a true friend that I'm over analyzing my every word! 

     When you're married with kids, it's hard to find friends.  Or at least it is for me.  I'm always wondering if my husband will get along with her husband, will my kids get along with her kids, etc. I want to make sure that my friends don't take too much time away from my family, but a girl needs friends, doesn't she?  I know I should just be myself and not worry about what everyone thinks, but it's easier said than done.

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Thoughts?

GUEST blogger: SUZE'S CORNER

I'm happy to be posting my very first GUEST BLOGGER.  Suzanne was nice enough to volunteer and talk about my January guest blogger topic:  RELATIONSHIPS.  But, it's with a twist and also focusing on another hot topic for many, many women out there.

Thank you SO MUCH Suzanne for sharing your thoughts on my blog.  I look forward to continue reading your blog and getting to know you.

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Hi there! I'm Suzanne over at Suze's Corner, happy to be guest blogging for my fellow blogger, Emily. I have been married for almost 5 years to my wonderful husband, Boss. He is currently in school at Arizona State Univ full time.

A year after we got married, we were blessed to welcome our first little baby into this world. She was born May 2008 and goes by the name Petey on my blog.

16 months after her birth, we welcome our second baby into this world. He was born October 2009 and goes by the name Spidey on my blog.

This is what our cute family looks like now.  Two parents, a 3 year old, and a 2 year old.  Last April, we decided we wanted to try for our next baby.  We secretly tried for 4 months before changes were happening in my body that I just knew in my mind meant pregnancy.  But I was wrong.  I took 4 pregnancy tests, all negative, so we made an appointment with my doctor. 

The next thing I knew, I was being scheduled for blood work and ultrasounds to help diagnose the problem. I was given the diagnosis of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome in August of 2011 and we started fertility treatments shortly after that. 

Many times in those next few months, I blogged about my heartache. You can go back and read it if you'd like but today, I'd like to focus on what this did to my relationship with my husband. 

I believe trials in our lives can either bring us closer or move us further apart, depending on how we decide to look at it. I've searched for peace ever since my diagnosis and my husband and I have had many deep conversations about this change in our lives. 

You see, my PCOS doesn't just affect me. I now deal with hormonal imbalance every day of my life (mostly due to my fertility drugs but also somewhat from my PCOS) and can go from happy to sad in a split second. 

My poor husband, right? 

But he has grown up just as much as I have and has continued to support me throughout all of this. 

Yes, we fight.  But we fought before. :)  If anything, we fight less now because we both feel supported by the other person. We listen more, remember more, and care more.  This is something we should've been doing from the beginning of our relationship but it's never too late to fix something that is important to you. 

My husband is my best friend and I feel lucky that I am going through this trial with him and not just on my own.