Hissyfits Photography Blog

It RAINED yesterday! As in 1.3 inches rain!! WAHOOOOOO!!!! That is so, so rare for us out here in the desert and as you can tell, the kids were totally taking advantage of it! The skies were so gray and it was so late in the day that the quality of these is so not “photographer like,” but hey, they are my kids and I want to share!!

And another one of Huntler. {You’ll have to excuse the bad lighting…he was sitting at the table and the wall behind him is yellow and it NEVER does good things for pictures!! That is why these are both black and white!!}

It is no secret that I am a lot obsessed with photography…I LOVE IT! That being said, I prefer to be behind the camera. And although I will take hundreds of shots to get that “perfect one” and freeze little moments in time in the lives of my kids, I avoid being in photos at all costs!! But then I look through the albums and I can count on one hand how many I am in. Not that I love to look at myself by any means, but I know I’ll regret not being visible in so many moments one of these days…I already do.

So after a long and exhausting day {we were gone for hours!!} I stopped here on the way home. I saw this little piece of fabulousness on our way, but I was on a mission so I waited until we were on our way home to check it out!!

It may not look like much to the hundreds of people who drive by it each and every day, but let me just tell you that I fell in love with this place…it reminds me so much of Kansas! I keep calling it a “place” because I don’t really know what it is!! A bunch of rustic, weather, tattered wood with ancient fence posts and tall grasses {weeds} out in the middle of vast expanses of desert with mountains in the background!! Oh and there are cactus too {found some prickles in my pants cuff last night — OUCH!}. And probably home to rattle snakes, lizards and scorpions as well. And large rocks. I may or may not have ran over a rather large rock that made a horrible clunk underneath the mini van {startling the kids and me} while driving through the desert to get here. I’ll let you be the judge of that one!!

I absolutely can NOT wait to take the kids out here! But, I do have to wait until after Christmas! I got Gentry this dress at the outlet {for Christmas…but she was wearing it around after we got home yesterday…she is only two, she’ll forget how much she loved it!!} and it totally strikes me as a “Sassy Cowgirl” dress with the denim and her pink boots. Hello cuteness!! {Sorry it is so tiny…I took it off of a website and that is as big as it gets! But aren’t the buttons fun?!}

There will also be some polka dot leggings involved and a green shirt under the dress…and the boots of course!! I can hardly contain myself with all of the ideas I have!! And no worries…Huntler got a dapper little sweater that will look great too, but I can’t find it anywhere online!!

So the Christmas jammies from a couple of posts ago made it this week too! I got really lucky and it looks as if they will both fit! The shirts will be snug, but that is just the style. Funny thing…my kids only wear the really loose fitted pajamas…never the tight ones. Is that weird? What do your kids wear? After Gentry was somehow mistaken for a boy last year at the Polar Express I will most definitely be making her some fabulous hair accessories to match! She most certainly looks {and acts} 110% girl, but I have something really unique in mind I want to give a try!! It won’t be this week though…maybe over the long holiday weekend!!

I guess I should get back to work! Sis and I ran errands and were out for about 5 hours today and I got NOTHING done!! So, I need to make the most of this next hour I have before I crash myself!!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!!

Do you ever have those days when it is just 10:00 AM and you find yourself wishing your drink was spiked? Please tell me I am not the only one!! I most definitely had one of those days today!!

Since I haven’t blogged in several days, I thought I would do a “Ten on Tuesday” post and let you all in on the chaos that has been my life the last few days!!

And then there is Gentry. We had a WONDERFUL morning. No accidents, no meltdowns, just a great time. Huntler was at school and she played with some of my craft goodies and was just good. We even went outside for awhile. And then it happened. We were back inside getting lunch and as she was making her way toward the toy box she tripped over a trike and busted her lip. She was in instant hysterics and as soon as she calmed down enough for me to check her lip, it was already HUGE! Poor girl!!

I meant to post yesterday because I feel like I have so much to say, but the day just got away from me! The kids and I loaded up and headed to The Children’s Place first thing yesterday morning in search of some winter wear and then the rest of the day just flew by! The temperature has dropped out here in the desert and we are freezing!! I vividly remember some friends of my parents who lived out here for a few years and when they moved back to Kansas they were miserable! I specifically remember seeing them in Wal Mart one time right around Christmas and the wife was wearing ear warmers! We didn’t think it was all that cold, but she was freezing! I TOTALLY get that now!! Anyway…sorry for that little tangent!!

First of all {because I am extremely excited to finally be sharing this!!}…I am taking the plunge!! I am taking my love for photography to the next level and starting up my own little business! I know it will take time to build and maybe by the time my kids are both in school full time, it will have taken off!

Here is my fabulous new logo!! Whatcha think? I LOVE IT! The colors, the name, the concept…all of it!!

I wish I could say that I designed it, and although my Photoshop skills have improved dramatically, I am far from being able to create things at this level! I worked with the fabulous Tracy at Sugar Lime Designs. She was so patient with me throughout my numerous emails to her. I even totally changed my mind {and added the lollipop!} after she had already created a super cute design for me! But she didn’t bail! We kept working until we got the lolly how I wanted it! I will say that Chris and I did some of our own editing and changed the font and made some other minor adjustments to make it more “me”, but the lollipop is all her! There may be a few more tweaks before I start printing this, but nothing too major!!

It all seems a bit surreal to me. I was thinking about my business cards and such and on them it will say, “On Location Natural Light Photographer.” I have been simply “Mommy” for so long that having another “title” so to speak is just so foreign to me!! I guess when I got my degree in Sociology and entered the work force {for all of 11 months!}, it felt natural to be called a “Family Support Worker.” I mean, I had studied for four years and had a degree in it after all! With photography, there is no degree. No formal education. No pass or fail. But there is passion, a desire to learn more and improve with each shoot. Not to mention I LOVE it!! 

As for the business name, I have to give credit to one of the moms in our playgroup! She had been shopping at a store called “Hissyfits” and casually mentioned it. It was like a lightbulb went off in my mind and I KNEW that was perfect for me! Since my love is photographing kids and I never foresee myself shooting weddings or taking a different path, I went with it! It is such a fun and playful name! 

So…there is that!! Wish me luck over the next few months as I see where this goes!! And if you happen live around here and want to book a session, let me know! I am building my portfolio and would love to add some new faces to it!! My website is in the works and once it is up and running I’ll post a link to it as well!! {One major issue is that the web colors are not nearly as bright and cheery as I want them and the whole design is not so catchy because of that! AHHH!! Why can’t anything be easy?!!}

Now…back to the shopping!! We only hit one store…I purposefully avoided the mall since I didn’t want to deal with the temptation of Pumpkin Patch and Gymboree! {Although, as soon as Gymbo comes out with their new candy line, I have a feeling I’ll be online ordering!!} The Children’s Place actually had some super cute things and great deals!! The poor kids only had jeans…no windpants or velour or anything comfortable, so I needed to get them some long sleeved stuff and some comfy stuff! And since I love to share, here are a few of the things I picked up! 

First of all, how stinkin’ cute is this going to be for pictures? EVERYTHING I buy I think in terms of photos! Is that bad?

They had a matching sweater, scarf and gloves but I exerted some rare self control! Plus, I found this sweater that I liked better anyway!!

 

And this one! They are both sparkly and shimmery and oh so fun!!

And then for my dapper little fella…this SUPER snuggly sweater!!

And if sissy gets a hat, well, Huntler must have one too! Here is the boy version…and he got the scarf too! Last year he became OBSESSED with scarves somehow and looked SO darn cute in them!! Of course, he was wearing Chris’ and it was WAY too big, so now he has one of his own!

Huntler also scored two pair of windpants, two shirts to go with the said windpants and a pair of jeans!! Since we all know that most boy clothes aren’t qui
te as cute and fun as girl clothes, I’ll spare ya! Plus, I couldn’t find either of the shirts on their site anyway!!

I SO LOVE this time of year!! I love the fact that it is no longer 90+ degrees and it is getting dark early! Now, we are having major trouble getting up in the morning because it is staying dark longer AND it is so darn cold in our  house {it is getting down to about 73 inside overnight…we have yet to turn our heat on}, but I am loving every second of it! Not loving the sickness though. Poor Gentry girl is still battling a nasty nose and cough.

Okay…moving along since I am so full of it this morning! As far as those hair lollies go that I posted Monday. I am by far no expert, but if I created a little tutorial and posted it, would anyone be interested? I am not saying my way is the right way or the only way {or anything like that}, but if someone desperately wants to create some of these gems, I am happy to share my method! Or, let me know and I can make a set for you!!

On another random note…Christmas cards!! YAY!! Have you ordered yours yet?!! I have!! Well, I am actually going to have two different ones this year, but the first set has been ordered and received and the second set has been designed (thanks Lacey!!) and is waiting in a file folder on my desktop for me to get everything else I want organized and my print order sent off!!

Anyway, the first set came from Peapod Announcements. I absolutely adore this little shop! This was my third order from them and just as the case with the other two, the cards are amazing and the service was phenomenal!

Here is just a sample of one of my faves…but this is not the one I ordered {I don’t want to ruin the surprise for those that will actually be getting a card!!}! If you are wanting a different color scheme or something different on it, just let Heather know…she can work with you to get the design tailored to fit your style!! She offers a wide variety of other cards too…be sure to check her out!!

And I can’t mention cards without also mentioning my good friend Laura! She quit her job over the summer to stay home with her new little guy {Barrett} and has since been working to build her stationary business as well! She is a super sweet friend and I know you will not be disappointed if you work with her either!

And one more thing I keep forgetting to mention! If you have been following along for awhile now, you know my obsession with The Bachelor. LOVE that show! So, I was online a couple of weeks ago (on People) and saw that Jesse and Deanna had broken up! HOLY COW!!! I can’t say I was too shocked, but I guess I was? I can’t find the original story I saw, but here is another one!

Whew!! I guess I better get off the computer and on to cleaning up this wreck!! Knock on wood that it is noon and Gentry has not had an accident yet today! YAY! And Huntler slept in until 9:30 and then ate TWO breakfasts…I think he must be growing!! He generally eats like a bird and is up at the crack of dawn!!