Merry Christmas to all of my fabulous blog readers!  Thank you to you and to all of my clients for making 2009 such an AWESOME year!  Seriously, I have the BEST  clients in the whole, wide world…and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I truly adore what I do, and feel so honored to be invited into your lives to capture a piece of it.  <3 <3

I hope your Christmas was very Merry.   We have had a very special Christmas…no particular reason, it was just spent with family and the people we love.  I get to see one of my besties Lori and baby Avery today (I cannot WAIT to get my hands on that baby!!!) and then tonight we’re off to see my favorite cousins!  Life is so sweet.

I have not had internet access up here in the boonies until today so now I FINALLY get to announce the winner of my recent “Giving is Awesome!” giveaway.  I had a few nominations, and they truly ALL pulled at my heartstrings.  It was a tough decision, but I have made it, and hope that my gift can help to brighten this family’s day a little.

I had two different people nominate this family….

Here is what Inga wrote:

These are some of my favorite people in the world.  Derrick is my cousin and is 2 years older than me.  We were pretty inseparable while growing up and we are still pretty close.  Our families of 4 spend a LOT of time together when we are back “home”.  He and his wife Cari are some of our very closest friends and I love them. <3 <3

Here is their gorgeous family:

Ava and Britton just adore these boys……and I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual

One of my fav’s….they are so good together

This is Chase…him and his mom are just alike and he is way too smart for his own good, LOL!

This is Tyler…he is very sweet and I swear has almost no teeth left in his head right now, I am truly amazed at how he even eats, LOL!  The tooth fairy has been super busy lately, LOL!

Cari is so beautiful <3 <3  (and Derrick isn’t too bad either but that’s weird since he’s my cousin)

The boys were some of my easiest subjects, they did whatever I asked and even posed themselves at times.

We don’t see them nearly enough but I’m very excited because we’re headed north in two more days, and I’m hoping we can make time to spend with them!!!  Love you guys so much!

WOW!  I am severely behind on my blogging, aren’t I?  I am so sorry, I am going to attempt to getting caught up on posting pictures.  I have been so busy that I wanted to make sure my clients needs were taken care of promptly and get those galleries up as soon as I could.  So now I am going to post those galleries.  :)  

This mini session was the SWEETEST set of  quadruplets I have ever met.  Okay so I have never met quads before but I can bet they are really the sweetest.  ;)  Such nice and polite kids and mom is a saint. I met them through another client-turned-friend….Sara, thank you!  I’m gong to keep each post short on words so that I can get to posting the important stuff.  Enjoy!

You know someone. You know someone who’s experienced a tragedy, is struggling to stay afloat, is raising kids while holding down more than one job, or is volunteering selflessly despite extenuating personal circumstances. You know someone who can’t afford custom photography, but who would cherish it this holiday season. You know someone who deserves a year-round reminder of their family’s spirit, love, and beauty.

You know someone. I guarantee it.

I want to know who they are, and I want to give them the chance to experience complimentary custom photography — Over $700 worth, to be exact. A ton of prints for them and to share and a gorgeous heirloom canvas gallery wrap, for them to cherish forever.

Oh, and the best part? The person who nominates the winner receives a $200 print credit. What better reason to show some love could there possibly be, people?

The rules:

* You cannot nominate yourself, and the person nominated must sincerely be incapable of purchasing my services. (Being unable to make mortgage payments for a two-million-dollar-vacation-home in Paris does not qualify as sincere financial need.)

* The nominee must reside in [MICHIGAN or OHIO]. Tell me who you know, what they’re experiencing, and why they deserve my artwork. Please include a way to contact both your nominee and yourself as well.

* You must e-mail me the full story : chixieandhoney@hotmail.com

 Deadline for nominations is December 20, 2009

The winner will be announced on Christmas Eve — get nominating! I can’t wait to read all of your entries!

Open your heart to someone this holiday season — and thanks for giving me the opportunity to open mine.

With love,

Tara

Hello to all my awesome readers!  Today is a good day.  Today is my birthday, and normally (well, since having children at least) it feels like “just another day”.  Today has not been, “just another day”.  

I have so much to be thankful for….beautiful children who insist on coming into our bed in the middle of the night, kicking me in the face, pushing me out of bed, and then insisting on getting up at the crack of dawn, wanting to watch Elmo.  

A handsome and generous husband who wrote “Happy 31st Birthday” on a stack of paperplates, along with some pretty darn good illustrations of presents and balloons. (By the way, seeing that 31 actually written down made me feel a little old).  

One of my best friends coming over at 9:00 this morning with Starbucks and Tim Hortons donuts….and a pretty bracelet letting me know how important our friendship is to her.  Having a chat on the couch while the kids screamed and played was also priceless.

My other best friend’s husband, who drove in (I had no idea who he was when he drove in), knocked on my door, came in and handed me a dozen pink roses.  You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face, it was such an awesome and welcome surprise.  Even when he said “They’re kinda dead, but…hey”  He and his wife (my other best friend) live almost  2 hours away but he “was in the area” and thought enough of me to do that for me.  

*Yes I had to call my husband and let him know that my boyfriend delivered me flowers….and I loved to hear the shock in the silence, trying to figure out if *he* was the one that the flowers were supposed to be from…ha!*  He informed me that Chad is now making him look bad, hehehehe*

The TONS of Facebook “Happy Birthday’s”, and the phone calls from loved ones….it’s all so awesome and makes me feel so special.  Yes, I really do have a lot to be thankful for.  

I’m also thankful for the opportunity I recently had with the clothing company “Matilda Jane”.  A select group of photographers were chosen to photograph an unreleased little girls’ dress and then a contest would ensue.  

I need YOUR help by voting for me!

Please go to My Entry and simply click “add to bag”  It will then take through a voting process.  You can vote as many times as you’d like..but it must be from different computers (IP addresses)  So help a birthday girl out, will ya?  Get your mom, your sister, your grandma, your dog, your dog’s grandma  hehehe to vote for me.  I would SO appreciate it!

Please leave me a comment and let me know if you voted, I’d love to hear from you!!!

The photo entry of my beautiful, precious girl….

I recently had the absolutely awesome PLEASURE of meeting up with Nikki and her two girly girls.  She had them dressed so stinkin cute, and we ran around the orchard stomping on rotten apples, slipping and sliding, and taking a moment or two here or there to snap a photo.  By the time we were done, those girls smelled very strongly of fermented apples, LOL!  I think they had a lot of fun though.  Not sure if Mom was worried that we got any good ones…but I think we got our share

Nikki, thank you SO much for bringing your incredibly sweet and beautiful girls to me.  I seriously had SUCH a hard time narrowing them all down…I hope you love them as much as I do.  <3

Mini session part one went AWESOME!  The weather was cold, but the sun was shining and the kids and families that came were awesome as always.  I am finishing up but wanted to get a quick sneak peek of each of my families and kids that came.  I can’t WAIT for everyone to see their entire collections!!!!  Just another day or so and be looking for an email…I promise your wait will be completely worth it.

Enjoy your sneak peek!

Helllooooo!  Remember me?  The chick that hasn’t updated her blog in EONS!?  **ducking head**

Yes, I have been a total blog slacker lately, but I promise I have still been working hard, just not as hard as I was this past summer.   I’m enjoying my family time and watching my babies grow up.

I did promise you newborn pics, yes?  I am absolutely INFATUATED with this baby girl.  And when I say infatuated, I mean in LOVE.  <3  This baby girl is my bestest and oldest friend’s first child.  Lori and I went to school together, and really didn’t like each other—at ALL.  Then one day, we were just together.  And we never seperated.  Just like that.  She knows everything about me, my deepest secrets, hopes and fears.  We have survived her moving to Seattle for 5 years and me being in the Navy on the East Coast.  We even survived living together—but barely.   We survived us both getting married, me having children, and her living in South Carolina.  But now she is back in Michigan, with her husband and her new baby, and I selfishly couldn’t be more happy.  Lori, I’m so glad you are back in my life.  I love you and your new little family.

The new family….Chad, Lori and Baby Avery….

Just a reminder…mini sessions are filling up, I only have a few more slots open!  Please contact me asap if you would like to schedule a time!

Coming soon….this beautiful mama and her precious baby girl.

Miss Amelia came allll the way from Boston to see me!  Yep that’s right…JUST me.  Well okay, maybe she had a LOT of family that was waiting to see her too, but I feel so honored to be a part of this families lives.  I LOVE this family!    Anyway…Baby Amelia was over 2 weeks old when I first met her, and boy oh boy, she was WIDE AWAKE.  Nope, she wasn’t going to sleep for anything!  We did what we could but then her mama brought her back to me when she was 4 weeks old (I know, right?!?!) and she was sooooo good, she slept most of the time!  Yippee!!  I can’t wait to see her again. <3  You might remember the Mama…she is the super hot mom holding the little boy with the balloons….remember?  That’s her.  Doesn’t she look awesome?  She does, believe me.  Ladies and Gentlemen….meet Amelia Piper.

Just a reminder**  Mini sessions are booking up FAST so please contact me ASAP if you would like to book a session!  They will be sold out soon!