01.07.10

I have several things to catch up on this morning, but first and foremost, I wanted to send prayers and well-wishes to my cousin who, just last night, while my family was asleep, jumped on a plane headed for Iraq where he will be serving for at least 6 months. They only told him on Monday that he would be shipping off the following Saturday, so we didn’t really have a whole lot of time to prepare ourselves. He seems to be in great spirits, though, and was ready to set off for the middle East. We love you, cousin…come back safe, please.

The second thing I need to tell you is that Thad is officially bilingual. I said to him this morning, “Let’s go!” and he replied, “Vamos, mommy!” I was stunned. Normally I would wonder where in the world he picked up on that, but it’s not that hard to figure out. These days every talking child’s toy has both an English and a Spanish setting, and his favorite thing to watch on television these days is Dora the Explorer.

Let’s see…what else? Oh, yes! I finally caught up on the three photo shoots I had this week and each of the sneak peeks have been posted to my photography blog. I now have a couple weeks off without anything booked (hoping that changes soon!), and then I head to Chicago for a long overdue engagement session, and then Thad and I are taking off to Colorado for a couple weeks to shoot a wedding. While I am there, I have someone traveling up from New Mexico to have photos of her little girl taken – talk about flattering! I’m also hoping that while I’m there, several of my friends will want photos of their little ones taken as well (hint, hint…Erica…Amy…Stephanie…you all know who you are!). I can’t wait.

I kind of wish we had planned something fun to do for Superbowl Sunday, but alas, Tom has been extremely busy with school and will be working on homework while Peyton Manning dominates the Saints (I hope, at least). He will, however, be making his world-famous spicy chili dogs for dinner, so I suppose we aren’t completely lacking in any kind of plans.

My aunt Tracey went home from the hospital and has lots of love and support around her, while her family tends to her needs. I am so grateful that all has turned out well, and am now just praying for her speedy recovery. We love you, Tracey!

I think that’s it. The Jeter household is pretty boring these days. But, I think I kind of like it that way.

 

02.05.10(2)

I’m editing photos from the shoot I had earlier this morning, and I just had to share one. Not sure why, but I absolutely love it. It has officially become my favorite photo.

13/365.

 

02.05.10

Praise God.

My aunt Tracey is out of surgery. Despite being told that the tumor must have been inside the wall of her chest for about five years, the cancer had not spread into her lymph nodes. She is in recovery now, while the rest of the family celebrates the fact that this situation is not nearly as devastating as it could have been had we waited one more day…had there been one less prayer offered up on her behalf…had their been one more thing wrong.

She may need chemo, she may not.

But the good news is, she is going to be just. fine.

Seriously. Praise God.

 

02.04.10

I never realized how exhausting it would be to get a business going, but I am loving every minute of it. I wrapped up my second newborn session of the week this afternoon, and tomorrow will mark photo shoot numero tres with little miss Taylor (whom I love, love, love).

In the meantime, life around us has been busy, busy, busy. It turns out taking a leave of absence from school really, truly was a blessing in disguise.

Tom’s mom is still recovering from her stroke and has been moved into a therapy unit of the hospital to begin working on speech and physical activities. The right side of her body is paralyzed, and she still can’t speak, but she can manage to communicate which helps. We speak with her each morning when my sister-in-law goes to the hospital and calls our house, putting us on speakerphone (thanks, Donna!). So at least she knows we are always thinking of her, even when we can’t be there with her.

My aunt goes in tomorrow for her masectomy – thank you to everyone who has continued to offer up prayers for her. I spoke with her this evening to tell her that she was in my heart and on my mind, and she said that it felt like Christmas in February – she has been doted upon for a couple weeks now, and apparently has a house full of pink gifts. I am so grateful that she has such an amazing support system to be there with her. My mom flew in this morning to be by her side tomorrow, and will continue to help her out while she is in town. I wish I could go as well, but dammit – that money tree growing in our backyard caught fire last night. Sigh.

I am continuing to look forward to all that I have going on in the next few months. I never, ever want to go back to law school but, alas…I think I have to. Oh well. Until then, I will enjoy my me time.

 

01.04.10

Remember when I spent two years taking photos for next to nothing just so I could build my portfolio?

And remember when I would make money for a shoot, how I would spend it right away on props for the next shoot?

Oh, and then remember how I drooled over a brand new camera forever? And then remember how I finally got it and carried it with me everywhere?

Yeah, I remember.

Also, I remember how I really wanted to put something on my business cards besides a Flick’r site. I wanted to be more professional. I wanted to build my business.

So, remember when I finally built a web site?

What?

You don’t remember?

Well, let me refresh your memory.

Catherine Jeter Photography

 

02.02.10

So, since becoming a photographer, this is the typical conversation between myself and pregnant mothers:

“Dear friends and family,

Well, she’s here! Our precious angel arrived on such-and-such date, weighing so many ounces. We are delighted. Life is good!

Love,

Whoever”

Aaaaand…this is my typical response:

“Hey what’s your face,

Congrats on the baby and all that jazz, but I think the most important question is – when in the heck are you going to let me into your home to take photos? I don’t care if you’re tired. I need photos of that baby.

Love,

Katie”

Yup. And thank God my friend, Stephanie, took kindly to my typical response, because today was — by far — my favorite newborn photo session to date. Holy crap, her children are beautiful, and little Baby M was like a dream, handed over to me on a silver platter.

No crying, no fussing, and just enough awake-ness to capture her beautiful blue eyes. Otherwise, she slept her way through our entire session…

I’m still kind of up in the air about this next one. I knit (knitted?) the sling she is hanging from, and I was so, so excited to use it. But, now that I see the final product, I’m not sure I’m all that crazy about it. What do you think?

Now, I command you to go home to your significant others and make babies. Call me in about 10 months.

 

02.01.10(2)

9/365

Sometimes I forget that my child is like a sponge.

Like today, when he and I were baking cookies when Tom came downstairs. Not even thinking, I made an inappropriate joke in front of Thad.

For the remainder of the evening, he ran around the house yelling, “Daddy’s balls! Daddy’s balls!”

Oops.

 

02.01.10

Holy crap, it’s February. What in the heck happened to January!?!?

Anyways, my dear friend, Courtney, whose photography I absolutely envy (she’s just so damn artistic) tagged me in her own blog the other day with a request that I post 7 things that I love, or 7 random facts about me. So, I figure I’ll post 7 random facts about things that I love. See how I did that?

1. I love this photo. Somewhere between getting my first camera, the Rebel xTi, and buying my new camera, the 50D, I took close to 45,000 photos. And of each of those photos, this photo is the one that stands out to me the most … it is my all-time favorite.

2. I absolutely love homemade chili. Mine, my mom’s, some random stranger’s off the street – it doesn’t matter. I will gorge myself on it until  I am damn near ready to throw up … like I did last night.

3. I love things that carry a deeper meaning, or a bit of sentimentality. When designing the logo for my business, I went with a tree – those with even a basic understanding of me know that oxygen and the simple ability to breathe is crazy important to me and my life. Coming from an Irish background, the gaelic symbol for ‘breathe’ and ‘oxygen’ is an old, bushy tree. Other than that, what in the heck does a tree have to do with taking photos? Absolutely nothing.

4. With every fiber of my being, I love this boy:

5. I love Disneyland. As a little girl, we would go there several times a year. When we moved to Colorado, I still managed to get there at least once every summer. Now that I am older, I might love Disneyland even more, but maybe it’s because I get to go there far less often than I used to. I dream of the day when I take Thaddeus to Disneyland, and have the chance to watch his own eyes light up at the magic that surrounds him when he is there. I can’t wait to instill my own traditions in him – get there when they open, don’t leave until they close, and always, always, always buy three things while you’re there: a frozen lemonade, a pickle on a stick, and a Mickey Mouse-shaped balloon.

6. When the weather is nice, I love to sit out on my parent’s patio in the mountains and listen to the near-silence that fills the air.

7. And finally, I love this woman. She has given me a whole new lease on life, and a brand new trust in doctors that I had definitely lost somewhere along the way. She is a wonderful woman, and I am grateful for her knowledge, her dedication, and her pure concern over my everyday well-being.

And now, without further ado (adieu? adoo?), if I tag you, go ahead and take the time to create your own list of 7 fantastic things you love. Or hate. Whatever. I’m not picky.

Miss Kristin.

Miss Amy.

Miss Amanda.

Miss Erica.

and, Miss Natalie.

 

01.29.10

I could get the hang of this whole ‘don’t go to school, don’t really work’ thing. I mean, I work – but teaching two classes at ITT is far from a 40 hour/week job. I am finding that without the stress of school hanging over my head — in addition to all the other stress — I am actually taking time to do things the right way, even though it takes me longer to get them done.

For instance, like today, when I cleaned my house, I also cleaned the base boards. And the inside of the toaster oven. And the actual oven itself.

I scrubbed the inside of the microwave, and cleaned the fire place.

I took the time to organize the master bedroom (that sounds so formal, doesn’t it?) and found a home for the same surfboard in the corner of our room that has been waiting for a home for almost 3 years.

I read Thaddeus three different books before bedtime, and chased him around for longer than usual. I even let him help me vacuum since I wasn’t in a rush to get it done.

It’s like, for the first time in way too long, I am really enjoying life and all the things that come along with it — even if they are things that you most typically don’t enjoy. I am even starting to wonder how I will ever be able to go back to school.

6/365

…and then I remember the six figure loan amount hanging over my head.

Yep.

I’m definitely going back to school.

 

01.28.10

I pulled out my studio set-up today for the first time in a loooong time. Maybe a month-and-a-half?

Anyways, I was anxious to use my white seamless because I hadn’t in awhile. I am starting to feel this total irritation with real colorful photos and have a new obsession with black & white…I’m sure that can’t be good for business, lol! I just don’t think that anything even remotely compares to a beautiful black and white photo when you have the right subject and lighting.

So, we threw on the [now infamous] pink ribbon shirt that I bought for Thad, and started snapping away.

Oh, and let me preface these photos by telling you that I got 6 or 7 that I was truly satisfied with…but took over 800. This kid can be a bear to take photos of sometimes…even when I am bribing him with jelly beans!

5/365