New blog!!

That's right kids... This blog is waaaaay over due for a new look. So, take ahold of your mouse, click HERE, and take a gander at my new fabulous blog! Be sure to bookmark it so you won't loose it. :)

[ new address is: www.sugarshotsphotographysite.com/blog ]

I scream for icecream.

Whew. Today was rough... I had to be the "bad guy" today and take my two youngest in to the doctor's office to get their shots. My 1 year old only got two, but my 4 year old had to get a whopping FIVE shots! I have been nervous about this day for about 3 months now, so I had been talking up how easy it is to get shots and how they keep all the bad diseases away. At first glance this morning, both my girls seemed ready and willing to go.... Until we got there. My 4 year old tried her hardest to be brave... And in my opinion, she did rather well. She even told me that she'd let her baby sister go first this time... Wow, how kind of her. :)

However, when the nurse kindly asked me to lay my body over Little A's and hold her arms down, the brave little lady that once sat there vanished and she was replaced with a tearful little girl in panic! My heart was nearly torn from my chest when she stopped the tears long enough to whimper, "Mommy, no... Stop it! Don't let her do it!"

After all the horror was over with, we headed over the local soda fountain for an old fashioned milk shake, fudge sundae, and bowl of cherries (about 10 cherries, to be exact). Things got much better from there on out... for me too. I no longer felt like such a monster and I was suddenly the hero again. Hooray for icecream!

Anyhow, moving along to the real reason behind this post... This past Monday I had the pleasure of hanging out with a real sweetie again. She's been on this blog several times now... here and here. This session was to celebrate her 1 year birthday... Only thing, illness struck when we least expected it! The poor little dear had a slight fever and wasn't too excited about having me follow her around.... I later found out from her momma that her fever nearly reached 104 later that night! Anyhow, because she obviously wasn't feeling up to parr, we opted to cut her session a bit short and I'll be visiting with her again this coming weekend... BUT, I think we got a few great shots that are definitely noteworthy.

Hope you feel better soon, Little Miss E!

Design: Touch of Peace.

Just finished up a little custom business card design for Scott with Touch of Peace Massage + Energy Work.... Which, might I add, turned out in my opinion super awesome! But to take the awesomeness to another level, I gotta throw this little bit of info at you: Scott is a really amazing massage therapist in the SW Houston area who knows how to get your muscles feeling loose as a goose!

Seriously - when your back and body is all tide up in knots like mine is all. of. the. time. and your husband's poor little hands are so tired from rubbing your muscles every night then you just have to treat yourself to this kinda thing every so often. It's necessary for survial! [Really, sometimes I get worried that my little body is slowly starting to fall apart on me... I'm not old enough to be aching like this everyday... Or am I?]

Anyhow, back to Scott: This boy is great at what he does and not to mention he is just as sweet as can be. For real. And, I'm not just saying that because he happens to be my brother! :)

Wet paint.

I am surrounded by wet paint... and it smells.

Since the big move down the road to our new house (did I ever mention that we only moved about 4 to 5 minutes away from our last house? Yeah well... it's true), we have been fortunate enough to have my mother-in-law hire us painters to come paint the entire interior of our home. [I guess she realizes that it would take us *foreeeeever* to get around to doing it with three kids at foot.] Anyhow - WOW! It's looking fantastic! It's so nice to not have to do-it-yourself....

BUT, we are going on Day 5 tomorrow and I think the smell of paint is starting to get to me. I've never had so many headaches in my life.... and if I have drive around town one more day looking for things to go do in order to get the kids out of the house and away from the painters, I think I might cry! We made three trips to Target in less than 24 hours this week alone... just to *look* around!?! I mean, don't get me wrong... I'm all (and I mean alllll) for a trip to Target, it is my favorite store and all, but man! Tomorrow should be the last day of painting... And then I can just enjoy. :)

Here is a logo I completed over the Christmas holiday for the custom embroidery business, Initial Memories. I think this logo turned out fabulous... which means it perfectly fits the two owners (sisters!) of the business. Love it, Ladies!

Catching up.

Well, since my last post when I excitedly announced how I had re-gained internet access again... I once again lost it! Seriously... What the heck? I had internet service for about 2 or 3 hours and then nada. Nothing was working.... And I was more than frustrated.

But, it wasn't anything that a two hour phone call to my internet provider and another visit from a technician 2 days later couldn't solve! I now have the internet again [fingers crossed]...

woo hoo!

Anyhow, since I've been MIA for such a long time I have a ton of stuff to post... I thought I'd start with my adorable little nieces from Austin, Texas. These three little sweeties had fun walking around with their mom and aunt taking "modeling" pictures... all until about the last 10 minutes.... You'll see what I mean in a minute. Unfortunately for my sister (their mom), I got a ton of photos of her oldest daughter and not as many of her younger two. I couldn't help it.... Her oldest was throwing all sorts of serious poses my way....

I just *had* to snap away!

For Instance:


And this one:

And this is my favorite of her:

But, I DID get some of the other two.... :)
I love the photo on the right... the sun was in her eyes a tad so she kinda winked at me.

I love these too... Especially the one on the right... I love the look on their faces!

And of course, we took some time out to play... like always:

Okay, here is one of the last ones I took... when their spirits were starting to fade.

And, the last one of the day... I couldn't make them go on any longer after this.... I love this one though... so expressive!


Okay, well, assuming I still have internet access tomorrow, I will try to post some more. I've got a birthday party to get ready to go to.... Later!

I'm back....

...And boy does it feel *GOOD*!! I've been with out the internet for nearly 3 (THREE!!!) weeks.... but as of this afternoon, I'm back! I never realized how much I'd miss it, till it was gone. It's pretty amazing how much of my life (not to mention my photography business) is wrapped up in this amazing, little illuminated screen that sits so nicely on my big, black desk. I can't even tell you how many times I wanted to blog, work on a picture, shop online, look up the number to Pizza Hut (who needs an actual phone book anymore when you got the web?), etc and all I had was the tiny screen on my iPhone to do it on. Well, actually, I can't work on my photography on my iPhone... all I can really do on there is check out a website or two... Or look up a phone number. And even those internet privileges starts to seem annoying when all you've got for nearly 3 weeks is an iPhone's tiny screen to look at!

Anyhow, needless to say, the point of this totally boring post was just to let you all out there in The Land of the Internet know that I am still alive and well...

My move is complete.

We are *almost* all settled in.

Christmas was hectic, crazy, and a blur... but it went well.

And, now I am back up on the world wide web.

So, expect to see more of me soon and expect more timely email replies.

And, since no post is complete with out a photo... here is a random photo of a little pig. I saw this little guy in my daughter's room when we were moving and thought he needed his photo taken. He looks so lonely.

Later, reata

Hang in there.

I'm still here, I promise.... I know I've been a little MIA over the last week or so, but it's with good reason. Not only is it the holiday season and I've been finishing up all the editing from holiday sessions and doing my Christmas shopping, BUT I've also been packing. Yes, packing. I'm moving... in 2 days! I'm super excited about the new house, but goodness... this is the. worst. time. of the year for me to be trying to move!

So, if I reply to emails slower than normal or return phone calls slower than normal... Just be aware that I'm literally up to my ears in boxes and packing paper at the moment... Be patient and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

However, if you are wanting to book a session for 2009, please don't hesitate to contact me regardless of my moving situation. January is already starting to fill up and I assume February will book quickly as well. So, let me know if you want to get in for a session!

And, since I can't post on this blog without including something fun... Here is a youtube video that my cousin sent to me that I find super duper amazing. I am a very, very intermediate guitar player and so when I see a really amazing guitarist... I am always stunned. This particular guitarist is extrememly stunning... he's only a child. He leaves me speachless... If I could only be 1/4 as good as him, I'd become a rock star. ;)

Snow!

Can you even believe this stroke of Christmas season luck? It's snowing! In TEXAS!

Of course, it's not really sticking to the ground or anything.... and there's only like 5 or 6 snowflakes visible at any given moment.... and by Saturday the high here is 70... But whatever. All that really matters right now to me and my little girls in this very moment is that we have actual snowflakes falling slowly to the ground!

Oh... One more thing: Only minutes before I started to write this post, my oldest little girl came up to me and asked me if I was SANTA? What was I to say? I couldn't believe it.... I mean, she's in 4th grade now, so I *knew* this would happen soon... But, still. I couldn't believe it. So, eventually after questioning her for about 10 minutes about where she got such a ridiculous idea, I finally confessed. She had me cornered... I had no other choice. Of course, she then asked... So, does this mean your the toothfairy too? And, what about the Easter Bunny??

little.angel.

This little bit was so sweet... When I first got there to take her photos she wasn't sure about me... but by the end of our time together she was posing like a little supermodel! It was so funny... She stopped all the tears and literally started posing... putting her little tiny arm up by her head while laying on her side.... and such wide open eyes... it was great!

Probably my favorite:

so sleepy:

I love how you can still see the skin peeling on these new little baby toes:

xoxo, reata

28 Years Ago Today.

*Photo by Bob Gruen.

On December 8th, 1980, John Lennon was gunned down in front of his NYC apartment building, The Dakota, by a delusional fan named Mark David Chapman, a man obsessed with the book The Catcher In the Rye. Lennon was shot 5 times by Chapman, after returning home from the recording studio. John's wife Yoko Ono watched in disbelief. Earlier that evening, Chapman had Lennon sign his Double Fantasy album and photographer Paul Goresh happened to be there and got a picture of the event.

I'm one of the many, many fans of John's. It's so horrible that he was murdered.... for no good reason. The contributions he made to the music world (during and after The Beatles) are huge and I don't think any one would argue with that. Let's remember John's music today and be glad of the wonderful songs he left us to listen to.

My new do.

Well, it's not really "new" because I've been cutting & coloring it like this for quite sometime, but yesterday when I went in for my hair cut appt... I left feeling absolutely delicious and quite like a rock star! My fabulous stylist, Lynn, *gets* it. She *knows* hair. She *understands* it. And, she is completely passionate about creating sensational hair everytime she works.

And that's why I love her!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Lynn! I love my hair.... and, thanks for sending me the photo that you took of me too! ;)

To make an appointment with the Fabulous Lynn from Hair By Lynn, call 832.264.6053 and tell her that Reata sent you! :)

The C Family.

Aren't they all adorable? This sweet, little family is close family friends with my husband's family... they've known 'em for years. First meeting them when they lived overseas in England for a couple of years (when my husband was in middle school)... My in-laws became close friends with R and P, and all the kids became good friends too. Then, my husband's family moved back to Texas.... and as fate had it, the C Family moved back to the US too. More specifically, to Texas. And even more specifally (and unknowingly and coincidentally), to the next street over. Crazy, huh? Needless, to say, they've remained really good friends for years and years and years.

Anyhow, I've loved getting to know this family over past few years and I was so happy to be the lucky photographer to take their photos! They are all so adorable... and believe me, their personalities are even more adorable. ;)

it's not easy to get 13 people ready for photos:

but somehow they managed:

the cool thing about R & P is that you can literally see love all around them when they interact. it's so cool!

this one is so zen... love it!

these handsome little angels are gonna be heartbreakers one day.

i admit it.... i'm not sure which one of the twins this is. oops!

i had to convince this little lady that i was going to take her on a leaf hunting adventure inorder to get some shots of her... she was so sweet!

xoxo, reata