1 Year & Counting...

It hasnt seemed like a year. I have to admit, I was a little nervous when everyone told me "The first year is the hardest." But this year, this year has been amazing. This weekend Andrew and I have been celebrating our 1 year anniversary together. A year ago today we were beginning our wedding photos with Cook Images. The July air was hot but I had the chills the whole day. "Will he think I'm pretty? Will he smile? Will he cry? Will he run to me? What if he doesnt think I look any different than any other day?" I couldnt stop thinking the entire day up until our wedding. But I wasnt nervous. One of my bridesmaids asked me "Are you nervous?" "No, should I be?" was my response. My maid of honor quickly jumped in: "NO! If you're not nervous, DONT be!"

This weekend Andrew and I have spent every moment together. We started the weekend by moving our mattress out into the living room. We made our bed in front of the TV and laughed histerically. We woke up the next morning and made cinnamon rolls as we sat in our bed on the floor and watched Disney channel. Then we spent the day in Pensacola with the mall, sushi, Transformers 2 and coffee. Today, we slept until noon - almost. After a really late lunch, we returned to our bed on the floor, snuggling the day away as we look back on the past year. Later tonight, we'll look through our engagement photos from the fabulous Cook Images from February 2008 followed by our wedding day slideshows, wedding video, and wedding pictures. We'll flirt in the kitchen as we make the food from our wedding reception and eat the entire chocolate top of our amazing cake from Cakes by Jan. And yes, it still tastes amazing! So, for now, here's a peak at some of our engagement and wedding photos.

And Andrew, thank you for sticking by me this year. For being my perfect other half...and thank you for seeing past all my imperfections and loving every part of me. I love you.

Dwell in Possibility...

Cassie

How we Rolo!

Sometimes I wonder why in the world I live in Florida . I mean, sure…we have the most beautiful beaches in the world. BUT IT IS SO DANG HOT! Alright, so I’m a cry baby. I whine. And right now, I’m whining because that lovely Florida sun is sending the temperature to 100 degrees! And 100 degrees plus humidity is stinkin HOT! I’m an odd Floridian. I hate the heat, and I dislike tourists. I’m sure that’s not the nicest thing to say on a blog but they clog traffic and while they vacation and eat drink and be merry, I go to work, darting in and out of the crazy make-me-have-road-rage traffic that they cause. Sure, there’s probably some jealousy in there, but when it takes nearly an hour to get home on my usual 20 minute route. Why do I live here you ask? If I hate the heat so much and would love to crawl into a hole and hibernate through the entire summer…why am I here? I love Florida falls, winters, and springs. They’re my reason for sweating through these unbearable summers. They’re why I cling to the palm trees as they sway from hurricane forced winds screaming “I love it here” [a Jeff Dunham reference if you picked up on that]!

Last weekend, my mother and I braved the heat and spent the day running through Destin and Ft. Walton shopping. The mission: purchase my mom some clothes she’d feel AMAZING in. So, amidst the day of hangers, cotton fabrics, dressing rooms, and cooling off watching The Proposal I feel we were fairly successful. On the way home, we stopped off at the Wally World for a few groceries. As usual, I’m running my mouth a million miles a minute…my mom listening intently with that silly grin of “my, you can talk”. Suddenly I screech to a halt – no literally, I screeched, I squealed and slipped a bit all in one screeching motion. Apparently Wal-Mart had just moped and I failed to notice that bright yellow caution cone specifically designed for stupid people like me. But back to the reason I stopped. We don’t usually go to the Wal-Mart in Ft. Walton . I’m more of a Destin shopper – I don’t venture to Ft. Walton much. So when we walked past the aisle with all the brightly colored fish, swimming about in their individually labeled aquariums, I squealed and slipped my way into the aisle. “I’m buying a pet gosh darn it!” I declared as my mom starts to laugh at me. Do I want a fish as a pet? Not really. Do I need a fish as a pet? No. So why did I buy a fish? Andrew and I are not allowed to have pets in our apartment, except for fish…and only then if it’s in a fish bowl and not some massive aquarium holding piranhas and tropical fish. So yeah, Andrew and I would LOVE to have a dog...a Shiba Inu to be exact. A female Shiba Inu named Sushi to be exactly precise. However, until we buy a house, or rent somewhere else that allows pets, a fish it is.

So, introducing the first pet of the Olimbs! Rollback, the Beta. Okay, so we call him Rolo because despite me explaining to Andrew that I named him Rollback because I bought him at Wal-Mart and he just didnt look like a Wally, Andrew hated the name. So Rolo! And, in honor of Rolo, we ate a pack of Rolos as we watched him swim around in his little fish bowl.

Cheers to Rolo!




Dwell in Possibility...

Cassie

Just words...

There's no pictures today...just words. And lots of words. You see, I'm in a mood. My moods come from various calamities in life, joys, oddities, and the wind. If it moves, breathes, makes nose, or contributes to my environment, it will effect my mood. Lately, my mood has been irritatingly bothered by the continual presents of gnats. Watching TV - a gnat will slide its humming self across the screen; Editing photos - a gnat will buzz by my ear and into my hair, causing me to launch into a freak out that can only be described as a Napoleon Dynamite imitation. Andrew and I have ignored these little boogers, hoping that they would fly themselves away. But yeah, like that happened. Yesterday, we'd had enough, we'd cleaned every square inch of the house, emptied every trashcan, renewed every air freshener, washed laundry, cleaned dishes, emptied the coffee pot, scrubbed the counters, Swiffered the floor, vacuumed....and finally, we sat down to watch Aladdin.

Enter the bug that is now plastered against my living room wall. Andrew and I both looked at each other, stood up, and marched across the street to the store and purchased two bottles of a certain red fruity gnat killing death trap. We came out, both with determined looks furrowed across our brows. We poured little glasses of the red fruity death trap and placed them in every room of our house. And then we waited.

While we waited, we heard an odd sound coming out of our laundry room. We opened the door to discover that our dryer sounded like it was either about to explode, drift into a coma, or that a small animal might crawl out from under it. Andrew quickly turned off the dryer and I reached for the lint-disposal-thingie. OHHHHHHH the joy. You know how growing up and you watch your mom do laundry and you're learning how to do the laundry, when to clean out the lint trap...I must have been staring at the ceiling during that particular lesson. Because DANG the amount of lint we pulled off of that thing...lets just say the house should have caught on fire by now. I could have made a Pomeranian out of the amount of lint that came out. Andrew looked at me with this look that screamed: You've got to be joking me. The last time I remember cleaning out the lint trap was...oh....I'm going to go with once since we've been married. Yes, that's right folks, I am a failure as a domestic wife...I nearly burnt the house down. But I'd like to go on record to say that if my husbands clothing werent always so stinkin dirty, there wouldnt be a need for that much laundry during the first year of marriage. This is my flimsy excuse for blaming anyone but myself. Eventually I sulked into the shower muttering about how horrible I was. Andrew tried to restart the dryer and it wouldnt turn on without making a horrible sound of "I'm going to sputter and die if you keep touching me." So as of this moment in time, we dont have a functioning dryer. And it's my fault. Yippee.

Andrew sat by me on the couch before bed and let my head fall against his chest as I mumbled unrecognizable words into his shirt. Somewhere in between making out the words "failure" and "I suck" he pried my head from his chest and gave me numerous reasons why I'm not a failure. Then he simply said "It's just a dryer." I love him.

So, this morning, when we both trudged from our slumber into our various routines for the morning, we both noticed something. Our gnats are smart. Out of the five glasses of the gnat killing juice, how many gnats do you think were drowning in their own drunken stupor. If you guessed ZERO you'd be right on the money. So, the tally today: Gnats 1 Olimbs 0. It's on.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Crispy Fried

I woke up this morning quite miserable to be honest. You see, usually on Sunday mornings, getting up for Sunday School is one of the hardest tasks of the day. But this Sunday, my orange bamboo sheets felt like glass scraping across my skin...getting out of bed was a welcome relief. Yesterday, Andrew and I spent the day at the beach. We both needed a relaxing day to do nothing but lay in the sun, enjoy the cool water, get a nice lunch, read a book...do nothing. Now normally, I dont burn. I inherited my dad's bronze tanning Hispanic skin so sunscreen is always an afterthought when I got out into the sun. So why was my morning miserable with sheets that might as well have been a bed of thorns? The day before I went to the tanning bed (cause let's face it...I hate tan lines and try to avoid them at all costs) I also bought tanning "oil" to try to get a nicer more even color this year. Long story shorts. I didnt read the directions on how to use the "oil". So, instead of waiting until after I tanned, took a shower and THEN put on the tanning "oil", I put on the tanning "oil" and then tanned and took a shower. Let's just say that right now, I'm a really, really nice dark bronze color, but I feel like a piece of burnt leather being stretched across a table. Andrew's been extremely doting...even though my misery is my fault. "How many times have I told you to wear sun screen?" asked my mother. I felt like I was in highschool again, coming home with way too much sun, trying to sneak past my mother's all seeing eye.

So, today I'm miserable. Yup, that's me...the girl wearing strapless and trying to flinch away from anyone's touch on my back. Sadly, I'm not red in the slightest, so no one can tell I'm burnt. At church this morning, a woman I dont even know said something to me and laughed patted my back. It might as well have been a porcupine being thrown at my back. Ah yes, oh so fun.

But despite my misery. I love the sun. I hate the heat but I love the sun. And the sun was absolutely wonderful for our recent family shoot at Henderson Beach State Park. We shot the Campbell family once before when our business first gained momentum. They won a complimentary session from an auction our Sunday School class held at Rocky Bayou. Jeff is an insurance agent with Statefarm that decide to move to Ohio. Before they left, they wanted to get one last set of family portraits at the beach. I mean, common, who doesnt want to take a piece of our beaches home.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Now these two photos I just couldnt resist. After our beach portion of the shoot, we headed over to Marble Slab for some good old fashioned mess of photos with icecream. Claire, the youngest had never experienced the joys of icecream from a cone before. And let's just say she has to master the art of eating the icecream out of the cone, not her hand!

It's all about the Belly!

As I teased earlier, I recently shot a maternity session with my best friend. It took her nearly 5 months to show any sort of baby bump - yes everyone, she's the one we all wish we'd look like pregnant! I cant wait to meet her precious little baby!

So, without any further ado (as I'm having a bit of writers block) here is Megan and her belly!

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

"Maybe You're Going Dingie."

I'm not even going to attempt to fudge right now and say it's been a great week. Cause no, it hasnt. But then again, it hasnt been a bad week either. My emotions are frazzled...I probabbly looked like on overworn scratching post some demonic cat used to sharpen it's nasty little claws to defend itself against the worlds evils. Sometimes I look up at the sky and ask God, why in the world would You not put up a sign that says"take a deep breath, I'm about to rock your world" That nice little sign would have been nice. But then again, I'm not going to mock the way God chose to rock my world. A friend of mine put it: "It's like a rocket was strapped to your butt and takes you to the moon". So, from two horribly gone wrong cooking incidents, to a tearfilled evening spent before the throne of my glorious Father this week has worn me out...to the moon and back.

My before mentioned cooking incidents? Well, let's just say one involved a horrifically undercooked chicken in a crockpot that pretty much looked like Taz from LooneyToons tore through it, leaving it's sad little carcass of a chicken to collect his Tazmanian dust - it was a very sad state of affairs. I took a picture but there is pretty much zero chance that I'm going to post it. You almost cant tell its a chicken...and I dont want to make anyone queezy! And the second incident...that one still lingers on my tastebuds. I pride myself in this AMAZING berry pie. It has blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and lavendar. My creative little self that I am decided to add some lemon and orange extract since, duh - it's summer and the pie should taste of summer. I'm going to go ahead and say it right now that if you EVER use those two extracts together. YOU DO NOT NEED MUCH! I put in, oooooh about a teaspoon or two of both. My astounding berry filled pie tasted like I'd shoved a bar of soap in it. Now, I'd made this pie for my granddad since my grandparents are in town for my brothers graduation. My granddad is a pie fiend. Pie is to him what water is to the rest of the human species. I dont see my grandparents much because they live in Maryland (a state I swear to Andrew that we're going to live in someday). But every time I see him I'm greated by "Did you bring me a pie?" I love my granddad. So, back to the object of shame: the pie. No one could eat the pie! Oh we tried; I ate maybe two forkfulls and just could not get past that lovely Irish Springs flavor. (Yeah, yeah - I have licked Irish Spring soap once upon a time. Dont judge, it was a dare and I was 13.) My Granddad on the other hand, he sat there with his humming hearing aid and completely downed that pie. We all stared at him like "how in the world are you eating that!" I asked him and his response? "I've had worse, I've had better. Pie is pie." So, last night, to prove to those irritating little kitchen gremlins that are destroying my recipes, I made the pie again, this time, WITHOUT the Irish Springs bar of soap.

And, since this is a photography blog afterall. I want to give you a sneak peak of a maternity session I had with my bestest friend in the whole wide world (excuse me while I divert back to 5 year old playground termanolgy). You may recall her "We're pregnant" sesh awhile back. :0) She's grown just a little. I'm so excited for little Miss Hope to come into this world, call me Auntie Cassie and become fully accustomed to my camera in her face. I will be the crazy cool aunt!

Dwell in Possibility...

Cassie

Little Miss Leigha

Introducing!! Okay so not "officially" introducing. But introducing to the blog! When Andrew and I were first starting out our photography business we took some photos of Jeremy and Melissa. It was my first maternity session and I was SO nervous. Not only was it my first maternity session, it was my first indoor session. I wasnt 100% happy with the photos that came from that but Jeremy and Melissa encouraged me and put the *wink wink* on the fact that we could take pictures of them whenever we wanted more practice. Two session later, we met up with their new little baby girl at the park and finished the shoot up at her nursery.

Jeremy and Melissa have a special place in our hearts as a couple who allowed us to share in a special part of their lives and help them build memories for their little one. I mean, who doesnt absolutely love looking back over their baby books. :0)

Thanks Jeremy and Melissa...and you too Leigha. You were such a smiley little trouper!

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie









Okay so I just HAD to post this one. It makes me laugh so hard!! This is the look of Leigha's great little laugh being stopped dead when she saw Andrew's face. Haha! :0) Aaahh that makes me smile!