a very important letter...

Dear Bennett,

Today, you are two years old.

My life before you is a blur of insignificance. On that snowy, surreal day 2 years ago, you instantly became the sun around which my whole world revolves and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This little journey we are taking has not always been easy. In fact, at times, it has been a bit of a nightmare.  I have so much sadness over the days I will never get to do over with you. Those days when my mind was just not quite right and I wasn’t able to understand how blessed and perfect my life had become, all because of YOU. All because of you, my love. But, this journey is ours alone and we will grow together and learn from each other and I can’t understand how I am lucky enough to call you mine. I am speechless and humbled and head over heels in love with every thing about you.

Little boy, I love the way you dance. You stomp your feet to the music and then lay down on the floor and get back up, you spin in circles and wave your hands and when I watch you, I am overcome with your lack of inhibition and I know that you are dancing out everything you’re feeling and it is pure joy and I could want nothing more for you than pure, unjaded, simple joy. I love when you sing from the backseat, or along with me when I sing you Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Sometimes when I hear you sing, I think my heart might burst. I love more than anything when you are trying to fall asleep and you brush your fingers on my face, just to feel me and know I am there. Your touch is light and gentle like a whisper and sometimes it makes me cry because I know I can’t protect you forever and I know that these gentle moments will soon be replaced by rough housing and talking back and “Mom! Don’t kiss me in public!” and it’s not fair, because I am in love with you, baby, and you’re going to break your momma’s heart.

I am so proud of you. You are gentle and kind and smart and funny. Your sense of humor is dry and brilliant and your vocabulary is, although sometimes garbled, impressively expansive. You say “please” (“pweeeeez!”) and “Thank You!” (“kee kee!” or “tanks!”) and make your elders stop and look twice before they answer you “you’re welcome!” because what 2 year old boy has such delightful manners? And I beam with pride. Because you are mine. My one and only.

Sweetheart, you are my most precious gift. You will never know how all consuming my love is for you. Today is YOUR day, but it forever will also be mine because on your birthday, I became the person I was always meant to be, your momma. I will never be worthy of you, Love. I will always be humbled by your perfection. I will always be your cheerleader, your unyielding supporter. I will always love you more than you could ever believe, unconditionally.

On this day, and every day, I want to hear your unabashed giggles. I want to hear you sing from the depths of your heart and watch you dance with reckless abandon. I want to smother you in kisses and hugs and tickle you till you laugh so hard you get the hiccups. I want to surround you with a feeling of love and warmth and security so all encompassing that it will stay with you even after I am gone.

I love you, Bennett. I can’t say it enough. You are my everything.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby.

Love, Momma

the magic of Christmas...

Is sitting on the living room floor in your pajamas, watching the person you love most in this entire universe, rip wildly through paper and bows to get to the tiniest of things; squishy slimy bugs, Buzz Lightyear pez dispensers, hot wheels. It is watching his face light up with overwhelmed joy and disbelief that these incredible treasures are ALL HIS!!! It is, of course, having the resources to provide these little, silly, superficial things that bring my sweet boy so much joy and wonder and this year, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, I would remiss if I didn’t take note that there is magic in the fact that we have a roof over our heads to keep us dry and safe. But the most magical things for me are the memories of when I was little and would wake up at who knows what ungodly hour and sneak out to the living room to check and see if Santa had been there yet. When I would see my stocking stuffed full and overflowing with presents, my heart would race and I’d barely be able to contain myself….SANTA! WAS! HEREEEEEE!!!!!

That stocking. That lopsided, red velvet and green satin contraption that my mom made for me was always one of my most cherished possessions. Last year, while searching high and low for a stocking for Ben and coming up short everywhere I looked, it came to me out of nowhere…of course I wasn’t going to find the perfect stocking for Ben at the mall….at Target….at Pottery Barn. The only perfect stocking for Ben was already in my garage, sewn together with all the love his Grandma Hallie was saving up for the day she’d get to hold him. She never got to hold him, but every year at Christmas, when he sits on the floor with that stocking in his little lap overflowing with presents, I will know that they are together. And THAT is Christmas magic.

We have a winner for the Kohl’s gift card giveaway!!!!! Congratulations, Skye!!! Now go buy your new knife set!!! I can’t have you slicing and dicing with dull knives, woman.


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the most wonderful time...

Today, I'm just giving you a little quicky and linking up with beautiful Kristen to share our Tinyprints 2012 holiday card.
This weird little blogging world has brough so many amazing people into my life, given me so many fun opportunities and has taught me so much over the last year and a half. I am thankful for YOU. Yes, you.
I hope your holidays are filled with health, happiness, abundance, joy, yummy food, peace and most of all, love.

   

p.s. have you entered the Kohl's $50 gift card giveaway yet???

let's hang out with Beverly today, mkay??

I was up last night way past my bed time (which shamefully is 9:00 these days) at our "holiday party" and uh...I'm a little fuzzy in the head this morning....nothing that stuffing my face with coffee and carbs won't cure by lunch time, but fuzzy nonetheless....so I am especially excited to turn things over to the lovely Beverly today, cuz I'm sure she does not go out and do irrisponsible things like stay up too late on a wednesday doing The Macarena with her co-workers and drinking eight three glasses of wine....


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My name is Beverly, I'm a twenty something photographer from “The Bootheel of Missouri”. I am the owner & photographer of Photography by Beverly. I've been snapping pictures as far back as I can remember. I think I got my first camera when I was 6-7 years old. It was a very small Kodak film camera, and I would take pictures of EVERYTHING. Now when I say everything, I literally mean EVERYTHING. I think I even got a few pictures of our toilet. LOL! Yes, I'm serious.

My love then was just for the photos themselves, I didn't really understand the whole concept of actually taking a photograph. As I got older, I started taking photography classes, and kept upgrading cameras. At this point, I just loved the idea of changing a few settings on a camera, and moving some stuff around, and coming out with a great photo. (Taking a good picture, is MUCH more than just that, but you get the basic idea!)

My son, Brayden, was born in August of '09. This is when I REALLY got into photography, still no plans to make it a business though. I mean, who can resist taking pictures of a sweet innocent newborn? Especially your own newborn bundle of sweetness? You just can't!

I had no intentions of turning this into a business, what-so-ever. I would just post the pictures I took on Facebook showing off my new bouncing baby boy! After about two weeks, I started getting messages on Facebook like crazy. “Your pictures are soo good. Will you take some pictures for me?” or “You should really look into starting a business out of this! You're really good.” I put lots of thought, and research into it.
I started taking pictures for people, just as a hobby, but I soon realized that this could turn into a career for me. After a number of long nights of no sleep, being on the internet, and reading books until 2 or 3 AM, I decided to figure out what I needed to do to make myself legal, and have a business. OH MY! Was I in over my head. There is soo much paperwork involved, but I won't go into too much detail about that! After about two weeks, I finished up everything I needed and on October 19, 2012, I officially launched my business -Photography by Beverly.

This is just a short glimpse of my story, but I would love to hear yours. Send me an e-mail to beverly@photobybeverly.com, and be sure to check out my blog and follow at www.photobybeverly.com. I can't wait to hear from you and thanks for reading!


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Isn't she the sweetest?? And can you even handle how adorable Brayden is? That hair! That face! I die. SO, while I am snoring under my desk today and fantasizing about bacon, egg & cheese sandwiches, you should go show my girl Beverly some love. Cuz I said so...since you guys always do what I say. Duh. And since I don't have the energy to fight you on this today, clearly.

You should also not forget to enter my $50 Kohl's gift card giveaway!!!! you can do that here.

leavin' on a jet plane...

Well, technically, we’re not leaving….we already left…and came back! And we kind of snuck away without much of a warning which is where I disappeared to all last week.

We went on a quick little jaunt down to Hilton Head to see my best friend in all the world. It was Ben’s very first trip on an airplane and I’d like to say he knew exactly what was going on and was totally stoked about it, but alas, he had no clue. Also, he was still pretty sick so the flight down was slightly apocolyptic….to put it mildly. The other passengers might have wanted to toss us out the emergency exit doors with no parachutes, but the flight attendant took pity on us and offered my demonic screamer his first pair of wings anyway. And I cried. And snapped a million pictures. Cuz I’m a sap like that.

Once back on the ground in Savannah and settled into a good snooze in the back seat, things slowly started to return to normal…whatever that is...and my heart just filled up with love and overflowed for being right next to my best friend again….my home base.

It was a great, long, not entirely relaxing but thoroughly delightful weekend and I’ve got lots more to share including why I am obsessed with World Market, how my kid loves dogs SO hard and the tragedy that is why he will never have one and also, how I am moving to Hilton head come hell or high water.

In the mean time, have you guys entered my $50 Kohl’s gift card giveaway yet???? It’s a good one! Get on that!

expect great things...for yourself!! Kohl's gift card giveaway!

The Holidays are a hectic time for lots of us. Lots of running around, lots of maxing out the credit cards, cold winter air, hot, stuffy department stores, hordes of people knocking into you with their shopping bags stacked all up their arms, pressing obligations, zero time to get it all done and in the end, you might wind up with a pretty ugly pair of slippers and, like, a sparkly reindeer sweater or something when what you really wanted were some pretty earrings….a new purse….some running shoes….a fancy shmancy new crockpot.

I know, especially lately when our hearts are so heavy with the unthinkable violence in our own backyard, that this Christmukkah will be about soaking in as much magical time as possible with those of us that we hold most dear in our hearts. Those cherished memories we make baking cookies with our babies for their classroom parties, opening our gifts in our jammies, hanging lights, stuffing our faces with latkes or sipping hot chocolate (spiked or not…your preference…I think we all know what I would choose thank you very much…ahem…) under a blanket on the couch with our Loves mean so much more than material things ever could ….ever.

But….and there is ALWAYS a “but”……

Isn’t it fun to go shopping??? And isn’t especially fun, in a season where everything you do is for others, to go shopping for yourself for once??? And isn’t it super duper majorly even the MOST fun when you get to go shopping for yourself and get an outrageous bargain?? And lets all take a second here, take a few deep breaths into a paper bag, have  sip of wine and imagine going shopping, for yourself, scoring an unreal bargain and getting it for FREEEEEEE cuz you won yourself a gift card from your favorite blog!!!!!! That’s me, by the way. This is your favorite blog. Duh.

Moving on…I know that’s a lot to take in, but I am here to grant you one of your Christmas wishes…cuz I KNOW one of your wishes was a little shopping spree at Kohl’s…and if it wasn’t, why are we friends?

I scored THIS cutie cutie Lauren Conrad top on my last bargain shopping bonanza and ladies, lemme tell you, it is fabulous. You can dress it up or dress it down and it is super comfy and flattering. Everything you could ever ask for in a top if you want my opinion on the matter. Good old LC comes through again...

As I am sure you already know, Kohl’s is pretty much my happy place. I go in there, and, like magic, I come out with $300 worth of fantastic things and wind up spending like 1/3 of that. it really is magic. And it makes me happy. And it’s going to make you happy too cuz the fabulous people at Kohl’s sent me a $50 gift card to give away to one of you gorgeous little things…so git ta gittin’ why don’t ya??

Merry Christmukkah, my little shopping fools!

p.s. this giveaway will run through midnight on Christmas. The winner will be posted the day after Christmas. Good luck!!!!!

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one more time, with feeling...

So...I am super torn right now re: diet and exercise. On the one hand, as I’ve mentioned many a time, I feel gross. I am sluggish, I eat nothing but crap, I drink too much wine (and sometimes vodka if the wine is out. there, I said it.) and I haven’t seen the inside of my gym in 2 months. An object at rest stays at rest and blah blah blah (Shout Out! What’s up Sheldon Cooper?? Ba-Zing-Ga!)…

I want to feel better, I do, with all my heart and soul…..but then two little voices inside my head are all “but it’s the holidays. Are you insane? Just unbutton your pants, let your gut breathe and drink till you’re jolly you lazy little thing. Exercise and Self Restraint are what January is for!” and then voice #2 chimes in “But the Mayans say the world is ending in 2 weeks anyway. Do you really want to spend your last days on earth eating sprouts and exercising?? Eff that noise. Just eff it in the A!”

Obviously, I do not really believe The Mayan thing, but one never really knows, does she?  And as you can probably tell, I’ll basically cash in on any excuse, no matter how absurd, to eat a steady diet of french fries with ranch and boxed wine. I’m klassy that way.

What I’m saying is, there is basically zero chance of me clombering my fat ass back on the wagon before Mr. Claus arrives. I have thought about it…..lots. This morning, I even looked up what time my gym opens and made an imaginary itinerary of my day so that I could squeeze in a workout before work….of course, I’d have to get up at FOUR THIRTY IN THE MORNING to make that happen and if I’m being honest, there’s a better chance that The Mayans are right about Decmeber 21^st so….there’s that.

BUT, after Christmas? I’m afraid it’s back on. I am both hating the thought and weirdly excited. I need this.  I don’t know how I am going to stay upright all day when I have to get up at 4:30 in the GD morning, I don’t know how I am going to refrain from chewing off my own arm before 10am when I am forcing myself to eat nothing but egg whites & twigs and most of all, I don’t know how I am going to function without my nightly binge on cheap pinot but, guys? I’m on the cusp of a very, very nasty birthday ( I am not naming numbers, but if you feel you must make guesses, don’t say them out loud. Or I will not hesitate to full on ugly cry. and cut you.) And if I approach this birthday looking like a beluga whale…

(you’re welcome)

well, I’m afraid it might just send me over the edge. I already decided all I want for gifts is another round of Botox and a fat syringe of Radiesse in my marionette lines….I’m not handling this aging thing gracefully.

So….I don’t know the point of this post. Mostly I think it’s to whine about how I really hate dieting and exercising but I have to do it and I don’t want to and wah wah wah…but maybe it’s also a little bit so I have a sense of accountability? Like here I am, telling the world (population: 145) that I feel gross and want to feel better, that I am getting older than I ever thought I would be and I want to change my attitude about that and prove to myself that I really can do this once and for all and maybe slide gracefully into this next decade of my life (Gulp. Vomit. Gulp.) instead of dragging in, all lethargic, out of breath and pissy. It’s no small project. Which is precisely why I think I need to spend the next couple of weeks gearing up by eating as many onion rings as possible….

And wine…pass that box of vino, would ya?

p.s. I am kidding about the onion rings, but I am not kidding about the New Years Resolution. 

p.p.s. sort of

p.p.s.s. what's the hold up ont hat wine, huh?