NEW BLOG!

After much research and thought, I have decided to get and design a new, more professional looking blog! I am so excited! I have been wanting a blog that allows (1) me to post BIGGER pictures, (2) people to leave comments without totally confusing them about whether or not they need to have some sort of an account, and (3) me to completely customize and make it my own! I have found the answer! My new blog is www.swparkerphotography.com/blog. Check it out! There you will find my newest post from an awesome shoot I did last week and all other posts from now on. I am still making some minor adjustments, but feel free to subscribe so you can be notified every time I post something new! Thanks for your interest!! :)

College DAZE!

Two of my good friends turned 25 this week. They had an awesome party last night. The theme was College Daze- you had to wear something you wore in college. Happy Birthday to Katherine & Alison!! Love you guys!

There is actually a story behind this picture which came from a previous birthday celebration (Karin & Ryan's) in January...CLICK HERE to read it :)

The cake:
An AWESOME shirt Karin got Katherine for her bday (courtesy of shirt.woot.com):
A close-up. Yes, it is so good, it deserves 2 pics! Karin promises to get me one this cool for my birthday...
Sweet Couple:)
We played some pretty fun, yet intense games: 'V' for VICTORY
Both birthday girls won their respective matches
One of the winning teams:
The Scoreboard!
Wes and Dylan were a team and they won as well! Here are some fun shots of them:

I love the Dylan's intense look top right...


Kati came in town with her boyfriend to hang out this weekend! We were all so excited to see them!
Ha...I thought about showing up to the party in a leotard because I spent most of my time dancing in college, but I am so glad I didn't...I would have looked like Elle Woods from Legally Blonde when she showed up to the party in a skimpy bunny suit. YIKES. Glad I stuck with the Tridelt shirt. 

Random Eye Candy :)

It was a good day. For once, I had time to be BORED, so I started taking random pictures of things in my house. I LOVE taking pictures of anything and everything; especially random stuff...I think it tells a lot about the person behind the camera. For once, I came home from work and found that I had NOTHING to do. Ha...there must be SOMETHING to do. Nope. Nothing. This is very new for me. I don't know what to do with myself. All I know is it's awesome because I get to do nothing with my best friend...my husband:) and maybe I'll even get to spend some extra, unplanned time with Jesus!

Here are the goods:

Some old windows I painted:

Yes, I am organized and yes, I am O.C.D. 
Shells we collected on our honeymoon in St. Lucia:
Giving presents is so much fun. One of my favorite parts is making them pretty :)
Work has been slow for Wes, but it has been good because, for once, he is able to work on the projects he has been wanting to finish for weeks or even months. I come home from work and find things like this around the house:
And this...and...drumroll please...
THIS. 

Holy Cow! He built us a park bench!! So cool. Several weeks ago, he found the iron parts for the bench in a dumpster at work (he works in construction...not like he goes digging through the trash on a regular basis) and brought them home. He was finally able to finish it today. On top of being Mr. Fix it, he is also very creative. I love it. Tomorrow he might build me some adirondack chairs! Sweet.

Take that, Economy

As we all know, the economy has been pretty awful. However, sometimes it's okay to use it to your advantage and get great deals like this dining room table! (Thanks to my mother-in-law, up to this point, we have been borrowing her wonderful table that was her parent's.) We got this table for next to NOTHING and it is brand new! We are so excited! It extends out to fit as many as 16 people. Now, I don't know when we will have 16 people over for a sit-down dinner (any time soon), but if we do, some people will literally be sitting in the living room... our poor little dining room isn't quite big enough to accommodate such a dining room table- part of it extends into the living room. It's actually pretty funny.

When we went to Savannah to proudly pick up our table, we scored this great bonus piece! My parents were going to sell it in a garage sale until they mentioned it to us. We quickly took it off their hands. :) Thanks Parents!
My dream of having a photography business has come true and I am so excited about it! 

My husband's dream is to flip houses...

And his dream has come true as well! This house was a foreclosure. Wes has kind of been looking at houses like this over the past several months, so we decided to go to the home auction JUST TO SEE HOW IT WORKS. Wes and I decided we would just throw in a bid on this house for the heck of it because, at that point, bids were super low and surely it wouldn't sell for that amount. Well..... we won the bid! We walked away with the house. Just like that. After hours of, "oh my gosh, we just bought a house...did we do the right thing?"... we felt pretty excited about it. 

Now, there is a little change in plans...we will be fixing the house up because, as you can see, it does need A LOT of work, BUT we will not be selling it. We are going to keep it all to ourselves!! I know, selfish, right? The great thing is that it has a dining room big enough to accommodate our fully expanded dining room table AND it's big enough to have a photography studio!!! The Lord has blessed us not only by providing us an affordable, roomy home, but by giving us the courage to actually go through with it. ;) Our issue now is when we will find the TIME to fix this baby up? 

I know there has been a lot of personal posts here, but lots of personal stuff going on! :) But, have no fear, I am finishing up some wedding pictures and I have several shoots coming up next week!

17

Well, I have been blessed with MANY family and friends who's birthdays are in January (as you can see from the last couple of posts). My sister-in-law, Kait, had her birthday on Friday. Happy Birthday, Kait! This is going to be a big year for her as she is getting married on May 30 (and I am a proud bridesmaid!). Love you Kait!

This weekend we are in Savannah and today, it is my baby sister's 17th birthday (see, I told you...lots of bdays. I will have to make a separate savings account for all of these presents!). She wanted to have a party with her friends at my parent's beach house. Here are some fun Pictures from the night:

(click to enlarge)

Mom made a good move by getting relighting candles. Katie quickly realized and started putting them out with her fingers.

A bow from one of Katie's gifts... mom thought it was the best thing since sliced bread...

Mom's birthday (yep, another one!) is monday, so it was kind of a celebration for her as well.
Katie and her friends:
We played Apples to Apples after dinner...
Happy Birthday Katie & Mom! Love you!

Baby Feet...

RIGHT NOW, one of my best friends, Courtney, is giving birth to precious baby girl Cayden. I am so excited that I had to post a shout-out. AND because I am her "Aunt Sara," I had to give her some baby ballerina socks and I have to say that they are the cutest things I have EVER seen. I am considering asking her to give them back to me if and when I have a baby girl...ha. I am also hoping it isn't too forward to just assume her baby will be a ballerina like I was. I just realized I am a creepy 'aunt'. oh well. Babies are so much fun! Hopefully in a few months you will see some actual pictures of the beautiful baby! Congratulations Kirk & Courtney!!

Twins, but not really

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to two of my best friends, Karin & Ryan!! They share the same birthday, January 18th, but Ryan is a year younger than Karin. I must say, however; that Karin looks GREAT for 25! ;)

We celebrated by going out to dinner and then hanging out at Dylan and Karin's house. Here are some favorites from the night:

We were fully loaded with lots of yummy sweets! We know how to do birthdays. Be very jealous.
Now, I am not a wine drinker, but I do try... really hard. I guess for now I can just stick to wine photography.
This is my wine... it is also my water... therefore, it deserves a charm. I was worried that I would drink someone else's "wine." The charm was very effective. Also, I deserve a lot of money for this advertisement of Coke Zero.
All of us at dinner (minus me):
Candle-blow-out #2 (after dinner):
Candle-blow-out #1 (at the restaurant):

Dylan, it doesn't work without the camo...
We love Dylan!
The Couples + birthday kiss for Ryan!
Ok, so Ryan went bird hunting for his birthday. He sported the hat afterwards. While we were hanging out, I noticed that every time I looked at him, he was wearing it a different way. I think he was trying to keep us on our toes, if you will. That's what bird hunters do.
Alison: this picture is so perfect for her because she has the best laugh in the world!

Mary O, you are precious.
Hope you guys had an awesome birthday! Love you!

New & Improved!

Hi everybody! To bring in the New Year, I am excited to announce the lauch of my new website! The web address is the same, just a new look :). Check it out: http://www.swparkerphotography.com/.

Christmas 2008

I hope all of you had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!! This year we spent Christmas with my family in Savannah, GA. Our tradition consists of waking up early, opening stockings, eating breakfast while reading about the birth of Jesus, and opening presents. After that, we usually play with all our fun gifts and watch movies. My mom had the house beautifully decorated, as always, so I had fun with some detail shots :). Here are some fun snapshots of all of our traditions...Enjoy!

My mom makes awesome Christmas cookies!
These were my grandmother's Christmas angels:
Check out this wine thingy...we actually have a couple and, if I recall correctly, we tortured my parent's dog (Buster) with them last year by putting them on his feet and ears and such and taking pictures of him. He was not happy with us. We decided to leave him alone this year.
The cook.
My sister and my mom

Our Christmas Eve dinner!
SANTA GOT STUCK!
Stocking time!
Our loot. Wes got some games for his PS3, I got some photography stuff :), and Katie got a Wii fit
Meanwhile, Buster opens his own presents. 
Wes and I made my parents a picture book of our wedding (mom's request)
Katie also got rock band for the Wii. We definitely had fun with that today!
Mom gave Katie the wrong sunglasses. I just cannot believe how HUGE these suckers are. What was mom thinking? Somehow she got Costa del Mar and cheap, HUGE sunglasses confused
Mom gave me and Wes a nice bag :)
Wow. Why didn't anyone tell me how rough I looked??
Go Gamecocks!
My mom is an oil painter---she painted this for my dad for Christmas. 


Fun times with the Wii.
I would like to point out that Wes is playing Hannah Montana with Katie.

Our cousins and second cousins came over for a while. This is my second cousin Charlie.