New Blog

Come follow me on my new blog!  I will most likely only use that one more often.

http://humbledportraits.blogspot.com

My 100th Blog Post!

How Fitting to have my 100th blog post about my giveaways I have going on!

On my newest blogs, I am holding 2 different giveaway.  Check them out!

Humbled Portraits

Humbled To Travel

The World As I See It Day 12

The World As I See It Day 12

A Picture of Something I Love

Another hard one, there is so much I love!

Here is a photo I took of something I love:

BREAD

Sourdough in particular

It's an obsession, and could eat an entire loaf in a sitting.  I'm dangerous

The World As I See It Day 11

The World As I See It Day 11

A Picture Of Something You Hate

Seafood!

Ugh, so nasty.  It smells gross, its slimy, and just out right creepy looking.

The World As I See It Day 10

I am so horrible at doing this everyday.  But hey, least its close!  Its a start.

The World As I See It Day 10

A picture of the person you do the most ****** up things with

Hmmm.... another tricky one.  This changes all the time.

My teen years - definitely Nikole

My early 20s - definitely Julie

Then I went and had kids and got boring....

But then Kimmie came along and if you leave the two of us to our own, we will for sure do some crazy stuff

Homefront Round Up #3

This week's questions:

1. Are you an Urban, Suburban, or Rural living fan?
2. Do any of the above types of places inspire the creative side of you?
3. If you could live anywhere (jobs and money not a factor), where would you live?

1.  I think I am suburban living fan.  I like being close to shopping, but still have space and a yard.

2. Rural living is very raw and full of inspiration.  I like to visit rural areas just for that reason.

3. That's a tough one. I think if money was not an issue, I would choose Alexandria Old Town, Virgina.  The homes are fabulous and its super close to the city. And DC is my favorite US city. For overseas, it would be Paris.  I love Paris, though Prague would be another one I would choose.... I love way too many places to pick one LOL

The World As I See It Day 9

The World As I See It Day 9

 A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

My husband.  Not many would stand by a gal and tend to all her insane requests after a knee surgery, tooth extraction, and 2 major abdominal surgeries. He always picks me up when I am down and out.

The World As I See It Day 8

The World As I See It Day 8

A Photo That Makes You Laugh

My daughter constantly makes me laugh.  I hope she always has this carefree, fun, sense of humor.

The World As I See It Day 7

The World As I See It Day 7

A Picture of Your Most Treasured Item

I am taking this one as meaning an actual possession/material object.

My most treasured item is my laptop and camera

I just upgraded from the Macbook to the Macbook Pro 15" - and could not be happier

I am now shooting with a Canon 50D, upgraded a year ago from the Rebel xsi

The World As I See It Day 6

The World as I See It Day 6

A Picture of a Person you'd Love To Trade Places With For a Day

This is another hard one.  It's not a topic I think about often. There are so many variables and choices...

For today, for this moment as I am writing this, I would love to trade places with:

My husband. - only pic I could find of him in uniform, its from 2009.

He is in Afghanistan, and I would trade places with him for a day so he could spend that day with our kids.  He could meet his son, and see how excited our daughter is for our trip to Disney.

The World As I See It Day 5

I am SO behind!  Wow, these past few days got away from me - guess that is a good thing.

The World As I See It Day 5

I had a lot of trouble with this one..... 

A Picture Of Your Favorite Memory

I so have no clue what my favorite memory is... I have so many favorite memories. 

One of my fondest memories is the time I spent with my dad while he worked.  When I was 7 or 8, my father managed a place called The Palace Amusement Park.  It was an iconic structure here on the Jersey Shore for decades, sadly it was sold and demolished - even though many people attempted to save it. My dad was there for the dismantling and selling off of all the rides and equipment.  It was a big job getting that ferris wheel out of there!

Here is an image I found online of after it was closed

here is the history of the place: http://www.palaceamusements.com/

The World As I See It Day 4

The World As I See It Day 4

A Picture of Your Night

My nights are usually filled with bathing two kids, feeding two kids, putting 2 kids to bed. And sometimes I do a little photography.

The World As I See It Day 3

I'm a day late on this, but here I am.

The World As I See It Day 3

A picture of the cast of your favorite show

This is hard, and am doing two because they are both right up there next to one another.

These are my ultimate favorites.  Love me some hot vampires.  And yes, I love Twilight too but I was a fan of Buffy and Angel when Vampires wasn't so cool  :)

Homefront Round Up #2

I am a day late on writing up this week's Homefront Round Up.  It was an insane day yesterday in this house.

This week's questions:

1. Do you like to celebrate Valentine's Day or do you cringe at the thought of Cupid?

         I'm sort of indifferent to the holiday.  My husband and I may exchange a card and something small, but that is usually it.  I have never been that into this holiday, it almost feels like a competition of who got the best gift and shown the most love.  I don't enjoy competitiveness.  And my husband shows me tremendous love on a daily basis. But yes, it is nice to get those flowers - but I LOVE flowers and don't get them often so an excuse to spend a little money outside of our norm expenses is nice.

2. Are you a flowers or candy kind of person? Or do you prefer something handmade?

       I'm a flowers girl.  I buy my own candy, and am more picky on what I like depending on my mood that day.  Flowers are my favorite thing to have in a house, and usually never have them due to the budget.  

3. What's your most memorable Valentine's Day story?

       I don't think I really have one.  But yesterday was pretty special.  My husband is deployed, and he sent a bouquet of red roses with 2 while lilies (my fave) and he sent a beautiful, bright, colorful bouquet with a teddy bear for our daughter.  She misses him a lot, and took that bear to bed after yelling out "Thank you Daddy!"  Shoot, she even woke up from a dead sleep at 3am because that bear fell on the floor.

Building a Studio

I am currently working on building a portable studio.  Something I thought I would never do, but in order to capture the type of images I want, I need one.  And surprisingly enough I am enjoying it.

I find the hunt for backdrops exciting, my new shopping addiction since I loathe clothes shopping.  I had always thought backdrops were those super cheesy, obviously fake ones in school pictures.  But they are so not just that.  They are abstract, fun, and intriguing. If you find the right vendors that is.

My first purchase was the backdrop stand.  The next was the lights.  I got a nice set that I am experimenting  with to learn the ins and outs. Its actually a lot of fun, and I am learning right on the spot.  And I have 5 backdrops on the way! 3 of which are my birthday present :)

Here are some photos from my first real experimentation

I really can't wait for the backdrops to arrive!  I have a shoot scheduled in March that I know they will be perfect for.

The dogs were getting upset they weren't included, once I let them in, they posed perfectly for me.  This is something the one never does!

The World As I See It Day 2

The World As I See It Day 2 :

A Picture of Myself with Someone I have been Closest with Longest

This is an easy one.

Here is Nikole and I on my wedding day.

It has been about 25 years that we have been best friends.  When I hear about soul mates, she is definitely my other half. Nothing comes between us, and even when we go months not speaking we always pick up where we left off like we were never apart.

The World As I See It Day 1

I was inspired/motivated by a friend for this blog project.  I am vowing this year to crack my shell of sticking in my comfort zone and let me finally be myself again.  She has been hiding out in lazy land.

Day 1 - -  A Picture of Myself and 15 Facts

1 - I loathe getting in front of the camera, and it was really hard to find a picture of myself.  In fact, this photo is from 2004.  I constantly contemplate doing a self portrait project just to break past this.

2 - I will never be able to follow a food diet that tells me I can't have bread. Sourdough bread is a huge weakness for me.

3 - I have an obsession for Bath & Body Works Anti-bacterial foaming hand soap.  I stock up when I get down to 4 or less bottles in the house.

4 - I gave up a highly prestigious career and job with the federal government to be with my husband and have him continue his military career.  And I have never been happier.

5 - I have been gutted like a fish twice.  And my two beautiful kids are true miracles as they beat tremendous odds to even be conceived/born.  In those battles, I lost 1.25 of my ovaries and an appendix.

6 - 80s music. Teased to no end about how much I love 80s music, but each to their own.

7 - I met my husband in Jordan, we named our daughter in that honor.  We got engaged in West Africa, and married in New Jersey.  One child was born in California, the other in New Jersey.

8 - My favorite city in the States is Washington DC. My favorite place to date overseas is a tough one.... Paris, Prague, and Amman (Jordan) are closely tied and the top choice changes with my mood.

9 - I get bored easily. Something I inherited from my father.  Something my amazing husband tolerates with a calm, easy shrug of the shoulders.

10 - The military life fits me perfectly, I hate staying in one place long.  Being able to move all the time is a breath of fresh air and welcomed with open arms - even when I am not so thrilled with the location we are headed to.  I will always follow that man, even when I tell him I would never go somewhere.

11 - I really enjoy cooking.  Baking more so, but cooking a yummy meal is relaxing as well.  

12 - I hate seafood, and refuse to go in the ocean.  I prefer not to go near toilet water and things that live in toilet water.  My million dollar question since high school:  Can you imagine how big whale shit is?! - I hear its liquid but still! 

13 - I am a Twilight and True Blood fanatic.  Course I was a Buffy and Angel fan before vampires were cool  :)  And yes, I would become one if I could and of course if they were real.

14 - I am quiet, shy, and slow to let new people into my life.

15 - My best friend of 25 years is cousins with my best friend of 13 years, unknown to us at first. 

Homefront Roundup #1

I am a military spouse and part of the Homefront Team on Etsy - a group dedicated to those connected to the military and Etsy Artisans.

A new feature on our team blog is a Community Monday Meet Up.  A fun way of getting to know the person behind the art.

Today's Questions:

1 -     Are you a night owl or early bird?

2 -  Share one thing on your bucket list.

3 -  What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

I am a night owl all the way.  Think I have always been one.  I loathe mornings and especially getting up early.  I left the corporate world in 2005, and have been a stay at home wife/mom since.  Each time I think of going back to work, I remember those 5am mornings and how much I hated it.  I am not looking forward to the school years with my children just due to those early mornings.  I even made my daughter into a night owl since I could not function with her waking up at 6-7am, especially when she no longer napped.  

One thing on my bucket list....  visit Scotland.   I wouldn't mind living there for a little while.  I miss living overseas, and hope that we will be making our way back over there somewhere in the next 5 years.  Secretly, I am hoping my husband opts to apply for the Marine Security Guard program as a Det. Cmdr. this summer so we can spend the last 2 active duty years in the Marines overseas. 

Favorite thing about myself....  That is a hard one.  I guess my inner strength.  At least most times.  At 17, I moved 4 hours away from the only home I ever knew to attend college.  When I had to leave school 2 years later for financial reasons, I took a full time job and got my first own apartment.  I was very successful in that job and 3 years later I obtained a job that is very difficult to even get an interview let alone hired.  I toured foreign countries on my own without any fear.  I faced difficult surgeries with minimal fear and hesitation.  And I dealt with my latest pregnancy without my husband around, I delivered our son, dealt with his 8 day nicu stay, his feeding/weight issues on my own with little breakdowns or complaining.  Though the days of not complaining are coming to an end.  6 months without my husband has worn my patience thin, and we still have 8 months left on this tour....

You can learn more about the wonderful members of the Homefront Team here:  http://homefrontartistryteam.blogspot.com

Changes

A lot has been changing behind the scenes here at Jrzy Girl Photography.

Our website has changed.  Due to a domain host complication, we lost our jrzygirlphotography domain name.  You can find our portrait website at  JerzyGirlPhotography

The biggest change is the addition to our family.  A few days before Christmas, our son arrived.  He was 6 pounds 5 ounces and spent 8 long days in the NICU.  He is now 5 weeks old and doing good.

Adjusting to this new life with 2 kids and a deployed husband has been a challenge.  But we are half way through this deployment and will settle into a new routine soon.

Introducing Mister Reily