Updates to tessa rice photography!

Please come visit me over at my "full-time" blog and photography website..... 

www.tessarice.blogspot.com

www.tessarice.com

xoxo!

Tessa

Photo blog!!

So.... in case yall have been wondering what I have been up to, where the heck I have been lately... yes!  I am alive!  I have been focusing on growing my photography business, and it has proved to be a fruitful attempt!  Please add my photography blog to your readers!  I may not be around here so much anymore....  

http://www.tessarice.blogspot.com

 

My poor, neglected blog

So I have been BAD about updating the blog lately, obviously....

With the holidays, and work, and trying to get my business off the ground, I just have had so so much going on, it is hard to keep up.

But I am FINALLY caught up, feeling good, and here to update!

• I have my photography blog up and running! It was a total PITA to get it formatted correctly, so that my photos appear in the beautiful, large format that they do. Thank you, Liz, as always, for helping me out with my logo. http://www.tessarice.blogspot.com/
• B is growing like a week, and just about eating us out of house and home! Last night he had a full serving of baked ziti, a chocolate pudding cup, a gogurt, and a pack of mini muffins. Good grief! I'm just glad that he is back to eating again!
• This weekend I am photographing our local symphony orchestra's family concert. It is an all day gig for me. There are two concerts, and there will be two "instrument petting zoo" sessions where children can go up on the stage and hold different instruments, talk with the musicians, etc. This is where my focus will be, and it will hopefully be a GREAT marketing opportunity. I will have an online gallery set up on my website under "proofs" following the concert for people to view and (hopefully) purchase pictures.
• I have been smoke and alcohol free for almost 8 WEEKS!!!!!! Seriously, this is a huge accomplishment for me, and I am so so proud of myself. I have lost 15 lbs just by cutting out the alcohol alone. No lie. I have also been working out a bit, and am fitting in my pre-baby jeans and loving it! I did all of this cold turkey with willpower that I did not know that I possessed. If I can do it, you can too!

All in all, I'd say that 2009 is shaping up to be a GREAT year so far! I am on new medication for my anxiety (cymbalta) and it has helped tremendously. Add my photography blog to your reader!!!

Happy new year! It's great to be back!

Christmas Eve

Well tonight B met Santa.  And let's just say.... he wasn't a fan, at all.  We have always gone over to my dad and stepmom's neighbor's house on Christmas eve (ever since my brother and sister were B's age, and they are now 11 and 13....) and Santa makes a surprise appearance and everyone mingles and eats and drinks and it is a great time.  

Now he is fast asleep, and Santa has been cussing at the car garage that we got him.  It has taken him around 2 hours to put the thing together, it is a bear.... 

And, I think I am about to brave a trip to Wal Mart.  Craziness, I know.  But we need milk!

Merry Christmas, everyone!  

An experiment in depth of field....

I'd like to thank my assistants, the nutcrackers and christmas tree lights, for making this experiment possible.  I am now officially in the holiday spirit.  (see, I do photograph other objects besides my child and other children)  ;)

Well, I'm alive....

Sorry I haven't been around much.  It has been an insane couple of weeks.  To sum it up in two sentences:  I had to prepare my family to go to the beach.  I went to the beach for five days with my in laws and two toddlers, and then I fractured my foot the day after we got home.  

Any questions?

Good!

I have just been completely overwhelmed with work, holidays, family stuff, unpacking, laundry, and my injury.  I am in a walking cast (a/k/a the "moon boot") for a month, minimum (through new years!  great!!).  Plus I had some major drama with some great friends of mine over the last few weeks.  So, needless to say, I have not been up for blogging.  

But I'll be better.  I promise.  Just let me get over my grinch-dom and get through the holidays.  Here is a picture to get you through.  

okay okay..... one more.....

So I am taking a break from booking sessions because of my gimp foot.... but that gives me more time to update my website and start a photography blog.  I have SO MUCH great stuff to share.... but I gotta figure out the kinks first.  I can't put clients' photos on this blog because of the copyright sensitivity and all, so I gotta get that figured out.  

Anyone have a place for me to display some of my AWESOME business cards (thanks Liz!)??  I'll even put them in a pretty holder.  Let me know.

Ok, that is all for today.  ;)

thanksgiving trip, day 1

so what should have taken us about 5.5 hours took about 7.5....it was absolutely brutal. but we made it in one picce!

we had some fun on the beach, the darrell and i went to dinner and had some oysters.. mmmmmm

here are some pics from the first day. (please note that they are not edited, as my laptop does not have my fancy editing software on it...... :) )

yours truly (taken by my dear husband)....

a baby bird of some sort, that my crazy nephew dove into the freezing water to catch....


mah' boys.....


My beautiful niece...





My cutie





covered in sand... after ROLLING in it....



me and my baby boy....



as the heavens told me tonight.... goodnight and happy thanksgiving to you and your family!!!

The bank drama continues.....

So today I am home with my sick sick toddler... and mommy isn't feeling so great either.

I log online late this morning to check email, bank accounts, etc., and the A**holes that stole my wallet had a HAYDAY this weekend writing checks out of my account... My checking account is so withdrawn right now that I just cannot even bear to tell yall the number. And I have no access to any of my other funds until cards come. It has just been a nightmare.

I'm having to close the account, and open new one, so that no more checks/debits or anything can go through, because these people have a whole freaking book of checks.....

Karma

To the mother F**cker who stole my wallet out of my car tonight, while I was picking up my child from daycare, I pray that Karma finds you soon, and has no mercy on your soul.

almost $1,000 in fraudulent charges (ranging from target, home depot, MARTA, and even the dear old Chevron for 7.99, so you could get your beer) later. 2 hours of my time spent this evening on the phone dealing with all of this. A very expensive wallet that was a present and very dear to me, that I will never be able to replace..... a trip to the DMV to get a new driver's license. Not being able to access this stolen money for God knows how long......

I lift a prayer up tonight that you spared me my precious camera equipment. And that you have motivated me to get off my lazy butt and insure it all, from low-lifes like yourself that steal things from a daycare parking lot.

Did I have to work late and rush to school in time to pick my child up? Yes

Did I not press the button on my car's remote hard enough to lock the doors? Sadly, no.

Did I give you enough time to drain money from my accounts? Obviously so.


So tonight, I have an immesurable amount of hatred in my heart for you. But alas, I will say a prayer for you tonight. And tomorrow is another day.

Lesson learned: don't ever leave your car unlocked, even for a moment.

Announcement

So I have been working for the past 3 months at starting a photography business, and my website is finally live and ready for viewing! www.tessarice.com

I'm really excited about this new life venture, and would appreciate any referrals!!

xoxo

Why I Love Publix

So I have mostly been a Kroger shopper for a long long time..... but about 3 months ago I got super annoyed by the attitudes of the store employees, how unhelpful most of them are, and the fact that I have to wait FOREVER to check out every time I go. No one ever offers to help you out with your groceries, and if you do happen to ask for help, WATCH OUT.

So I started patronizing Publix. And fell in love almost immediately. There are friendly associates all over the store, and will offer their assistance if you look even the slightest bit confused. They have free cookies, they give a balloon to my balloon loving son every time we go, and there are several associates that remember my son and I by name, every single time. It is just nice.

So yesterday I went in (without B) to get a load of stuff. I love the stoneyfield farm fat free organic yogurt, and I only like it in French Vanilla. I don't like any other flavor in my yogurt. I have never had a problem finding it, but this week it was on sale, so all of the fat free kind was gone, but they had low fat french vanilla, and that is what I got. Well, as I was in the line I realized I had forgotten B's organic milk, which is in the organic section where the yogurt i like is located.

There was a young guy re-stocking the yogurt, and I asked him if he happened to have any fat free french vanilla on his cart. He looked, didn't have it, and I said "oh no big deal, I'll just get it next time." He asks if I'm sure, that he has some in the back and will be happy to go get it for me, and I tell him not to go to the trouble, it really isn't that important.

So I go on my merry way, get almost through check out, and here comes the sweet guy with a whole case of my favorite yogurt, he went and got it anyway, and came and found me in checkout.

How is THAT for customer care? I will not be patronizing Kroger ever again.

Monkeyin' around.....

Chicken handler

So at B's fall fair at his school, they had a petting zoo.  And I just had to take a picture of this quirky teenage chicken holder guy.  He reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite.  

Jack

Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing baby Jack and his family. I had a great time, and got some great shots!!  Here is a sampling of just Jack.... I'm still editing the family shots.

My post-Obama elect posting

So I have really restrained from posting about politics on my blog.... except for the one video I posted a week or so ago.... I just try to keep friendships separate from politics/religion, etc, and most of my friends read my blog... (you know all the categories I'm talkin' about).

So I am a Republican. And I voted for John McCain. Simple as that. No debate, nothin' from me. You support who you support, for whatever reasons. I'm a lover, not a hater. I have my reasons, but this is not a proper forum for political debate, in my opinion....

However, I am severely disappointed by the results of the election. I mean how can I not be?

So I have a little analogy for those of you out there in blog-reader-land......

Tonight I made some Nachos.... and I got my chips all laid out nicely, in a pan lined with aluminum foil..... then I put the shredded cheese on top, in preparation for their trip to my convection toaster oven..... (mmmm, cheese.....)

(I was preparing these awesome nachos after the concession had been announced by Senator McCain)

So I was thinking to myself, while I was sprinkling the cheese on top of the chips... " you know, it sure is hard to get all the cheese on top of a chip, some of it gets wasted" (to the pleasure of the foil, I guess.....). Well.... I only had a limited amount of cheese, you see, to feed both my husband and I a nice little nacho dish..... (about 1/3 a bag, to be exact). So I had to carefully allocate my cheese to each nacho, trying to ensure that the cheese didn't get wasted, or distributed to the eager aluminum foil. But it is impossible to make sure that none gets wasted... inevitably some ends up on the foil.....

I related this nacho-cheesing experience to how our country may be in the future...... You may buy a whole bag of shredded cheese at the store, but really only get to use about half of it..... and you budget for your hard-working, middle class family, to be able to take a sensible vacation (or two) every year. You pay for your health insurance, and your car insurance, and your rent/mortgage, and your utilities, and your property taxes, and you donate to the charity of your choice, and you support your family members, and you volunteer your time to benefit your community....... but in the end you just barely achieve your goal, your satisfaction in being a contributory citizen to society, who has worked hard to get to this point in their lives.....

This is my educated, yet relatively-simplified mind processing this defeat....

You vote for "change," but in the end, all your pockets (and wallets) are going to be filled with is....... "change."

O.K. (for all you Obama supporters, really....) I'm done.. No more political posts from yours truly... I just had to say my peace, and you know I love cheese.... so......

nite nite