Thanksgiving and Tree Cutting Tradition

Can not believe today is already November 26th!  We had a very blessed Thanksgiving and I hope each of you did.  I love having all the family together, isn't that what life is all about?  A few of my fav photos from Thanksgiving.

Our family tradition since 2008 has been to cut down a real Christmas tree the Sat after Thanksgiving at Blake's.  We live in Michigan so normally we would have our heavy winter coats on, scarves, gloves, long johns and looking for the bonfire to stay warm.  This year the weather was 58 degrees!!!  We loved it AND no one was complaining that it was too cold.  So, we cut down our appx 7' Frasier Fir and decorated it!  Of course, I had to have the guys stop for my photo opportunity while they were cutting it down, LOL!

Had to have the guys stop and pose!!

Me the jokster!

There's Melanie, relaxing again!



My Family in Virginia

This week I had the opportunity to visit my family in Virginia due to a business trip.  Now, Linda is actually my Aunt but she is only three years younger than me.  We grew up together and are VERY close so we are more like sisters.  Bryan is her sweet huband who I just love dearly.  I cherish the times I get to spend with them which are not that often.  It's during the holidays that I really miss them :(

Modeling Session

As you can see I haven't posted in awhile, I have been very busy with traveling, upcoming holiday preparation, photography workshop and a little downtime from a sinus infection.  So now I am playing catch up and I have so many things to share.  I am traveling again on Monday so I probably won't have time to upload all the photos, but in the meantime this is what will be coming up soon.

1.  Purchased more props for my studio: barn door, twig bench, old suitcase and old hatbox.  I'll post photos later. (Thank you Claudette for calling me!)

2.  Since I've started traveling again I am thinking about creating a "My Travels" page to post photos of various locations that I have visited.  I'm always looking for something different in each area I visit so I'm thinking this will not only be an interesting read, but also a way for me to journal my travels.

3.  Yesterday, I attended a lighting workshop in Ann Arbor, MI and we had two wonderful models to photograph.  This was very helpful since just purchased strobe lights myself.  These were some of my favorites.

Strobe Lights Have Arrived!!

I am sooooo excited!!! My Britek strobe lights arrived today and were patiently waiting for me on the porch when I got home.  Another addition to my home studio along with my Promaster transmitter and receiver for the lights.  Now, let's hope I can figure out how to set them up and start putting them to use.  I have so many ideas I'm driving myself crazy.

More to come....