Birthday Dinner

Prepared by yours truly! I keep saying, "I'm going to make this again, tonight!"...I haven't yet, but I will!! It was soooo good! You can find the recipe here, and if you check out that site, I'm also going to make the BBQ sauce. If you are a friend of mine, you might just get some (it will go well with my new grill...THANKS MOM & DAD!)

Those flowers are from my bestie in tejas...soooo pretty and sunny and fresh :)

10 on Tuesday: Another Year Older

Yup...the BIG 3-0 is headed my way! Tomorrow, I will wake up ready to start a new decade of my life. Am I nervous you ask? Anxious? Worried??

No, not nervous...anxious, not really...worried, a bit. I mean not worried, WORRIED, but worried, that my body is going to change. Sure that's silly you think, but I don't want wrinkles and I already have to photoshop my crow's feet out of my pictures and I've been feeling so unhealthy lately! I need to incorporate some excercise into my daily routine, I just can't seem to find the time to do it. Ok, enough complaining about feeling, BLAH!! Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm going to relish in my last few hours of my 20's.

Let's review the last year of T. Flo's 20's :)

1. I work for the Downtown Business Council of Chambersburg and LOVE it! I love working with the folks that I work with, making the connections I make and putting myself out there for the better of the community. Work is good...really busy at times, not so much at other times, but great!
2. This past year, my dad opened his winery and in the beginning I didn't want any parts of it. I didn't think we could work well together (my dad and I), and I didn't want to put any stresses on him or me. Well, that went the total opposite. I actually don't mind working with my dad at all. I think I had to prove to him (in the beginning) that I do actually know what I'm talking about, I do know a lot of people that can point him in the right direction, and that as long as he could deal with my sometimes crazy time-schedule we would be ok. And we are! I do all of his PR work for him, set up parties and events, and do all of the graphic design work for the labels and advertising. I love public speaking and don't mind putting myself out there for the wine shop. I think he appreciates that. I also think I probably drive him crazy with my time-schedule, but he understands that I am only one person wearing a lot of different hats (at times).
3. My girls have changed so much this past year! Big wee one is so silly and caring, and I've really seen her blossom this year. She makes me smile all the time and she's such a great big sister! Little wee one, has always been the sweet and silly one, but the later half of the year she busted out a new 3.5 year old sassy attitude. It can get a little ridiculous at times, and her "wanting" me all the time is outrageous, but I do remember Big wee one going through the same.exact.thing. I'm sure she'll grow out of it soon. Right?? :-/
4. I took a road trip to TX with just the girls and survived! They were actually so good in the car, especially since I couldn't get the DVD player to work (most of the time). Remember those days traveling back in the day without a DVD player?! I do...I survived and so did they :) It was the ULTIMATE girl bonding trip! For rizzle!
5. This year, my marriage went through some trials and tribulations and I'm happy to report to the haters that they can hate on. We will conquer! Marriage is hard and communication is KEY. So, to Paul...sorry dude, you have to deal with my Tina-isms for the REST.OF.YO.LIFE.
6. This year I've discovered who my true friends are and how supportive family can and cannot be. I've weeded out those that I don't want in my life and tried to keep the negativity at bay. I can't deal with negativity, really I can't. I need to be happy and when I'm having a hard day, I need to be alone.
7. I took my love of photography and BLEW it UP! As in, I took it to the next level and couldn't be more excited about the road it's driving on. I was thrilled to go to an amazing workshop recently and am hoping to attend another one this summer. I've learned so much and have been so blessed to have wonderful clients that are not only amazing, but BEAUTIFUL.
8. I've gone from blonde to brown and I like it!
9. My love for cooking is still going strong. I would like to start a recipe club and have said it a couple of times, I just need to actually do it. I planted a garden last summer and plan on doing it again this summer. I loved having the fresh veggies right outside my door for the picking :)
10. This year, and the rest of the 30's I plan on following my dreams and letting my heart lead the way. I'm going to work on my "filter" more, but not let it limit me as a person. I'm going to keep surrounding myself with great family and friends and my crazy husband and keep laughing.

See you on the flip-side 3-0...hit me with your best shot...FIRE AWAY!

She KICKED...

the ball and LIKED it!! This past week, Big wee one had her first soccer game and practice. We were lucky to even get the game in, since there were storms before the game, while we waited in the car and then it started back up again right after the game. I was praying that the weather would clear out for the 20 minutes of game time that we needed, especially since the game had already been cancelled once for bad weather.
Big wee one was definitely timid for the first 5 minutes or so. She's not one of those kids that can just walk up and be fine, she needs to be guided a bit. I walked her up to her coaches (she was crying) and introduced her and said she needed a few minutes to adjust and then...she was fine! (phewwww!!)
In the picture below, she was excitedly telling her coaches what she wanted to name the team. They all got to help pick the team name, and we had talked about it at dinner earlier in the week. Being as girly as she is, and knowing that she is the only girl on the team (of 5 players total), I started throwing boyish team names at her and she really liked the name, "T-Rex's"...so they are the Purple T-Rex's.

They play 6 minute quarters, 3 players at a time for each team and she got to be one of the first to play. *Insert nervous, anxious, excited Mommy here* Praying that she doesn't run off crying, or that she just stands there (which she did until we yelled RUN and then she did), or that she gets hurt and ruins her idea of a good time.

Luckily, after the initial stand there with a "What's everyone doing?" look on her face she went for it! *Instert beaming "that's my girl" Mommy here* I couldn't believe how well she did! She's never played an organize sport before, and had never practiced with her team, but she did awesome! She actually kicked the ball and blocked and ran after it and put herself out there!

This is the stance that Little wee one took while watching her big sister!

She had two assists and only one bump in the nose that she fought off the tears for. I did my best to avoid eye contact at that time, if she saw me she'd cry (you mom's know how that goes!)...her coach asked her if she was ok, and she just rubbed her nose and said yes. (another phewwww!!)

Super star Big wee one ended up with 2 assists and some great plays! Paul and I were sooooo proud of her and just beamed. We took the girls for pizza at a yummy local joint after the game to celebrate! She's excited to play again, and I'm excited that she loves it so much!

Life {in general}

As been insanely crazy lately. Paul is gone every evening till about 7 pm with practice and later when he has games (which is 2-3 times a week). I don't mind, it gives me a little extra time to work on this or edit these, but those sessions end up going until midnight.

I was thrilled last Saturday to hit the local college with a friend and do some playing with our cameras...I love this image that I got:

After we talked photoshop for awhile, I picked up the wee ones and we hit the road to visit some of our favorite friends! The girls had a blast and the boys drove Little wee one crazy...felt like old times (hehe!)The moms even got to go have mexican by ourselves!! It was a great visit, but a scary ride home...dark mountain roads SCARE me, and for some reason Big wee one would fall asleep and then wake up crying, and then go to sleep, I think she was uncomfortable.

Soon, some of our weeknights will also be filled with this Big wee one being a soccer SUPA STAR! She is SO excited!!

She's been practicing and telling us how fast she is and how "awesome" she's going to be. I don't know if I'll be able to stand how stinking cute she is in that uniform that is tooooo big, her shorts can't even stay up. When she saw the uniform she said, "OOOOOooooo, PURPLE IS MY 2nd FAVORITE COLOR!!" *melting* She's also the only girl on the team!

It's great that the weather is so beautiful, but it makes my allergy sufferers, really suffer! Little wee one has had days where she can barely open her severly swollen eyes, her whole body is itchy (she says), and she can't stop sneezing. I took her to the dr. yesterday and we are now mixing a nice cocktail of meds to help soothe her miserable allergies...poor thing. I just about cried (and I'm tearing up now), when I had to wake her up yesterday and her eyes couldn't open! She was telling me (while pointing to her eye), "this eye doesn't want to open Mommy"...I know you can't understand how sweet and pathetic that sounded, but believe me it was so sweeeeet and soooo pathetic, I just curled her up and my lap and rubbed her back! Poor, sweet thing.

To sum things up, life is good. My big 3-0 is coming up and I am excited for what the 30s will bring me...I've gotta feelin' (ooooohhhhoooooo, sing with me!!) that 30 will be a good year.

xo-T.flo

Flashback Friday

Tomorrow afternoon, the girls and I are heading to visit our friends :) One of Big wee one's favorite friends and Little wee one loves them as well. I'm excited to catch up with the mom and just let the kids go crazy for a bit...see you soon friends!

Itchy, sneezy, sniffly, watery, red eyes.

This girl is struggling :( Poor thing...born with allergies that attack her big giant blue eyes.

She gets the worst sneezes and coughing from the drainage, and there isn't much we can do besides keep her filled with claritin. In a couple of weeks, it will pass and she'll be so much happier! But just so you know, this is what our house has been like the last week or so :( BOOOOO!

Here she is in May of '08...very unhappy toddler, boy oh boy is she cute though! WOW...she was a freaking adorable little munchkin (and yes I am biased) :)

Hope your allergies are making you suffer!
Till the sniffles and sneezes stop!
~T. Flo

Simple

I am trying...desperately, to stay a little more up to date with blogging :) I took this picture while I was away at the Savvy Workshop and just love it. Still lifes like this one, remind me of college, which reminds me of painting, which reminds me of my denim calvin klein denim overalls (yea, so what...I rocked some denim overalls! hehe), which reminds me of my favorite painters shirt, which then turned into my favorite pottery shirt, which also reminds me of how expensive it is to buy paint supplies, but also reminds me how much I LOVE art.
Whenever we get more space, I'm going to take up painting again :)
Happy Hump Day!

Busy Bunch

Yup. It's that time of year again...when our visions of Daddy are just like the one below. Him down on the field, us on the bleachers. So far, the season has been great and we have had ridiculously beautiful weather!
Look...the gazelle has spotted us in the jungle of the bleachers!

During lax season we get reunited with long lost friends!

Besides lacrosse, we have been a very busy family! I was gone for 4 days at a photography workshop and I loved every.single.second; and I hope to blog about that experience and some pictures from the event soon.

I'm just so happy with where my photography business is going. Very happy.

But I still can't get this little stinker to smile for me. Or heck, even LOOK at me!
The girl's had off for Easter, and I decided that by golly, I was going to get a picture of Little wee one to hang on the wall if it was the last thing I did that day and sure enough...I have some of the most beautiful images from the girls that day (also in my blog header) and am thrilled that I can order my big giant 16x20 print I won while I was away :)

This is another picture I love. I'm going to have it printed and framed to put in their play room.

Life is busy, as usual. Spring is in the air and we've been spending a ton of time outside (until today when Little wee ones eyes swelled up!). Big wee one starts soccer soon and is very excited about that and Paul will continue to have lax games every week until the end of May.

I have photo sessions booked until the middle of May and can't even begin to express what an amazing time I had and how much information was absorbed into my nugget!

On top of lacrosse, the girls and life the wine shop is flourishing beautifully and I'll be finishing up (I think this will be the 25th label) for a new release coming up. I'm also gathering up materials for T. Flo Photography and getting everything in order. Eeeeeekkkk!! Life is so very good right now :)