Two weekends ago I met with Susan & Jeff for their Engagement photo session at Spring Lake Beach  here in New Jersey.  I work with Susan's wonderful mother and I'm so excited that she was intertested in me doing their engagement portraits for them.

It was my first egagement session so I was thrilled at the opportunity - especially on the beach!  What a beautiful beach they chose!  Jo Ann and I went about an hour early and found the perfect spot with a beautiful Jetty.  We decided what photos I would take and we prepared my list of "must have" shots.

We met up with Susan and Jeff and got right into it. 

 When we got there I spotted this cute little beach hut where they sell the beach badges and I knew I had to have some shots there.  I love the teal color...

At this point in the day Susan & Jeff had an audience of Susan's sister and Susan's brother in law sitting on the bench right across from the hut as well as every single passer-by being super curious about what we were doing.  

We heard lots of funny jokes and congratulations for the couple from those that made their way through our photoshoot.

If can imagine the little gal with the big camera either laying on the board walk in a contored pose, laying in the sand or standing up on a railing or a bench... and then you had Jo Ann holding a huge silver reflector... we're quite the duo!

Susan's ring was gorgeous. Little pink diamonds surrounding the large diamond.  Nice job Jeff!! 

I love moments like this.... Big Sigh

We decided to live dangerously!  There's a big fat fine if you go on the dunes... so run, pose, snap, get off!

Yes, I certainly did lay down on the boardwalk to take this.  I'll do almost anything to get a cool shot.

It took a little convicing to get Susan to do this shot.  Her brother in law did the jump shot with Jeff first and then Susan agreed to do it.  I think it's so cute!

Another big sigh moment:

I stood up on the bench and loomed over them for this moment... 

 We were all packed up and ready to go when Susan's brother in law pointed out the full moon over the ocean.  Of course I had to take the camera out and make them take one more shot with the moon in the distance.

I had a good time getting a workout running around in the sand with Susan & Jeff and Susan's sister Heidi and brother in law Jim. 

Susan & Jeff were great to work with and patient with me and all of my poses and ideas.  Thanks to Jo Ann for being a great assistant...your arms get really tired when you have to hold that reflector up forever as I snap, snap, snap!  And thanks to Beth for asking me to do this session for your lovely daughter and future son in law!! 

Best Wishes Susan & Jeff! 

Kids love it, Adults love it. All Americans love the 4th of July! I like it even more because my birthday is in that month!
All Americans love to grill out during the 4th of July! We cook our favorite foods and invite our neighbors, friends, co-workers over and everyone shoots off fire works! Kids have a blast with sparklers, and uncle Joe is over there burning the steaks and getting BBQ sauce all over his brand new American Pride Apron!
So, what are you doing this 4th of July? If you need some pretty cool cooking aprons, you have found the right page! I have a ton of aprons for you to check out! If you do not see something you like on this page, just click any of the products and check out my whole store! every design I have is available on the BBQ Apron!

4th of July- Aprons for your cookout

And just for fun, a few other images from that day.

I mean really.  I remember when I was a teenager and the Summer's Eve or Kotex commercials would come on and I would be so embarrassed that I wanted to crawl under the couch.  Those seem so tame now.  There are so many feminine hygiene products now not to mention yeast infections or dryness.

Then we have all the "Viva Viagra" songs where grown men are singing with their band in the garage.  Who does this??  Is this supposed to be real life?  Seriously, I don't know one man that would sing with his friends out in the garage about taking Viagra and then going home to the little woman.

Sally Field is on advertising the once a month osteoporosis pill and she's "so relieved to only have to take one a month."  Her life is just to busy to take a pill a day!  Please.  I agree with the pills for those that need them but do we really need to see these all the time?  Do we really need to explain to our 8 year old grandchildren what "if you have an erection for more than 4 hours get help immediately" means?

That leads me to wonder how many of us are self medicating and don't even bother to go to the doctor when we feel something is wrong.  Providing we can buy over the counter.  I often wonder how many women are treating yeast infections and they might not even have one let alone they might have something more serious.  Then if they do develop one are they immune to the medicine because they've been taking it to long?  I'm not a doctor but I'm just wondering. 

Are we alone here?  How many of you find these commercials to not only be embarrassing and personal but down right irritating?  I wonder if there's a cream or pill to get rid of that???

The entire night, everyone kept asking where my mum was. I explained the situation about my grandmother to my uncles, aunts and other cousins but when the younger ones asked, I decided to change the topic.  I didn't really want to hang out with Kim last night. She would be a complete loner with another one of our cousins or friends and just talk. Not a very nice way to spend my evening. She would be completely be anti-social. My dad even asked me where she was because she hadn't seen her since she came. She told me that Greg ( a family friend) was anti social but every one knew where he was. Half way through, Nicole's boyfriend went to serve food to my dad and uncles and everyone was wondering who he was. I told them Nicole's boyfriend.

Basically, whatever I have stated above is about being noticed and known, making known to everyone your presence. For example, my mum wasn't ther last night, yet everyone was talking about her. People notice that others are missing if they are of great importance to the person company. If you have the executive of a major company missing in action, you will notice the person isn't there because they are of great importance.

You also have to try and stand out to make yourself and your company known. By hiding in a corner or keeping with a small community, people won't know who you are, just like Kim and Nicole's boyfriend. Let evryone know who you are. Step out of your comfort zone. The only way to move foward and grow in business or relationships is to make yourself known to the others in a bigger commuity.

Good luck.

I thought it would be fun to throw some everyday questions out to everyone and see what we prefer.  The idea for this came from my kids the other night when we went for a boat ride and afterwards went into the bait shop to get an ice cream snack.  Of course the freezer is full of options but to make it easy it was a Push-up or Popsicle.  Christopher chose the Push-up and Trinity chose the Popsicle!  So, out of the above questions, which one would you choose?  Do you have a reason?  If so let us hear ya and I'll bet you'll find you're not alone!

Friday, August 29 | 5:30-9:00 pm (bring a bag supper)
Saturday, August 30 9:00 am -12:30 pm (bring a bag lunch).  The Saturday session will be followed by a pool party (location to be announced).  One piece suits for girls, please.

Cost: $12 per student ($10 each for multiple children in same family)

Registration: Send an email Suzanne Brown at trexbro@charter.net or Tish Pitman at pitman@bellsouth.net by Sunday, August 24 with name and upcoming grade

Facilitator: Dr. Paul J. Dean, Jr. has been a pastor for over fifteen years and has served as the pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Greer, SC, since February, 2000.  He spends much time training individuals in the areas of pastoral ministry, biblical counseling, and discipleship through various means.  He hosts a live call-in radio program, Calling for Truth, broadcast on Christian Talk 660 each Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1-2 pm.

Dr. Dean is also a Regional Mentor and Board Member for the International Association of Biblical Counselors. He has various outreach writing venues including a weblog on Crosswalk.com, the largest Christian website in the world.  He served seven years as the Director for Applied Ministry at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's extension program here in Greenville.  Dr. Dean has a B.A. in philosophy from the College of Charleston, a M.Div. in pastoral ministry with languages and a Th.M. in evangelism, church growth, and discipleship with a minor in preaching from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as a D.Min. in biblical counseling from Erskine Theological Seminary.  He is married and has three children. You can reach him at pauldean@providenceministries.us.

This quote came from Barry Lopez in "ARTIC DREAMS" . Here it is:

"How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one's culture, but within one's self. If there is a stage at which an individual life truly becomes adult, it must be when one grasps the irony of its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox".

Then he goes on talking about the idea of "making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light".

This is good stuff. It helps me by offering new perspective about the maturing process. Something I'm quite interested in. I write more about this subject in my post called Chasing Thoughts.