last 2008 wedding

Last night we shot our last wedding for 2008. It was a very sweet wedding with some great details - the gal was an only child and I’m pretty sure her parents went all out for her. I am glad we are done with weddings for a bit…

I feel so lazy the day after we shoot a wedding because all I feel like doing is laying on the couch … under a blanket… watching movies. =)

I have a lot of photo editing leading up to Christmas and then I’ll probably have about a week off. I’ve got a lot of ideas and plans for next year and I’m eager to get started.

I’ll post some pictures of our Christmas tree in the next few days.

For now… back to my movie. =)

my adorable nephews

Last week I got to visit my family in Atlanta. Here are a few of the pictures I got of the adorable nephews!! Got to love them!

9:50 p.m.

I’m tired.

We just got home from a wonderful evening of live music - compliments of 11 very talented musicians from City Church (our church). This was a first “round” of what they hope to make a common occurance: an evening showcasing the various talents of members throughout our church. It was quite fun and the food was spectacular… all but one of my cookies got eaten as well. =)

Before this “concert”, Cade and I shot a 6 hour wedding… which went REALLY well. I have figured out that I love working with really laid back people - those that are just pleasant to be around. Go figure! =)

What I was beginning to allude to in my last post is that we are very seriously considering dropping weddings altogether in our photography business. Shocker!! I know. =)

We already have 3 weddings booked for 2009 (and only ONE more for 2008 - yipee!!) so we can’t stop 100% yet, but I am already seriously working on revamping our portrait business so that we don’t have to do weddings anymore. I would rather never shoot another wedding in my life.

Yah. I said it. =)

For many, many reasons I am SO excited at this possibility. At this point, we are SLIGHTLY open to booking one or two more weddings for 2009 but ONLY if they match our definition of a great couple - laid back. Since I haven’t worked on the portrait side of our business as much as the wedding side, I think it will be smart to balance them both out for this next year of transition.

Either way… my head has been SWIMMING with ideas about how I can make this work! I am so excited!!

Plus… this would mean that Cade actually gets Saturdays off and that we don’t have to miss other fun events that take place on the weekends…

I’ll let you all know as I continue to work through this…  In the meantime, I’m going to brush my teeth and watch an episode of the Cosby’s before my dreams begin. I need to stay off my tired feet. =)

absent (minded)

My head feels really cluttered right now. I have a lot on my mind and yet I can’t seem to focus on anything.

I don’t think this will be a long post because right now I have little to say.

As soon as some clarity comes… I’ll share about the “maze” I’m wandering through.

In the meantime, this afternoon I will practice being merciful and benevolent to those that have requested help from our Benevolence team at church. It is going to be a long day with 5 appointments and then a 2 hour church service. =)

Tomorrow morning I’m headed to Atlanta for 2 beautiful days with my lovely nephews (and the adults). I am really excited!!

our baby “Sohmer”

I am so excited at how fast this all happened. Only a few days ago I wrote about my dream of buying a real piano even though I’ve been thinking it for quite a while now.

After looking online for a few weeks, I found an upright piano on Craigslist and took Cade to look at it with me on Monday night. We played it, looked it over real well and then decided that the asking price was right in our budget for this “toy”. =)

The next day we had someone move it for us and we also got it tuned once it was nestled into it’s new home, our dining room. =) Interesting fact for any music geeks out there: this piano was originally tuned to A435 instead of A440. When he began to tune it he said that it has been tuned to A440 so we kept it that way. The strings and most of the “insides” are still in amazing condition! After what seemed like an eternity to Cade, he was done pounding on the keys and the tuned sound was fantastic. (Tuning a piano is a fascinating process.)

Here are some pictures of our baby… which actually could be our grandpa. It was “born” in 1905 - yah, we missed it’s 100th birthday by only 3 years. =)

We are in love with the character of this piano… even though it has lots of rough spots we are leaving it as is.

Real ivory keys.

Here she is, in all of her glory. =)

We still need to find a piano bench… since it didn’t come with one.

I am so excited. I’ve already played it a few times since last night. AND… Cade has even made some melodies on it - HIGH FIVE to me! =)

instruments (of the musical sort)

This might seem really random… but I have really missed playing the piano recently!

I have had a love of musical instruments since I was a little girl. When my family moved to Ecuador when I was 9, Duane and I picked up guitars and taught ourselves the basic chords. There is only so much you can do when you are learning a language and can’t make friends very easily… Our first song, “Alabaré”, consisted of D and A. Then we graduated to “Poderosisimo”, which had FIVE chords. =) Duane must have realized it was love at first sight… he’s still playing guitar to this day.

Me, on the other hand… I mixed it up. A lot.

At some point, before picking up the guitar, I got the impression that violins were the coolest thing ever! I BEGGED my parents to buy me one so I could learn. On my own I even wrote a report on violins thinking that they would be impressed by my dedication. =) They eventually gave in and I started lessons in Portoviejo. After about a year and a half I was ready to move on. I was frustrated that I couldn’t sing and play the violin at the same time. I guess my wise parents thought this was a fairly legit reason to quit so then I began playing the piano (well, it was actually a Yamaha keyboard).

For years I flirted back and forth between the guitar and piano but since I was the main “piano player” at our church, it was the more consistent of the two. I took some lessons but mostly liked messing around, doing my own thing. I also learned the basics on the bass and drums - just for fun.

In Mexico I had to take both guitar and piano lessons. At JBU I took piano and voice.

At JBU I loved finding the cathedral empty because that meant I could play and sing as long as I wanted to with no one around to disturb me.

Now, in Nashville, Cade and I both still have our guitars but recently I have been craving a piano again. I can’t think of a single time I’ve played a piano since we got married… and that’s hard to believe.

Today I’ve been looking at pianos on Craigslist. Maybe we’ll find a cheap one that needs a home. =)

a first for Cade

Yup… Cade voted for the first time yesterday. This election was my second.

Last night when I came home from our prayer meeting at church, before I had looked at any news what-so-ever, I told Cade, “Obama is going to win. I’m calling it.” I just had a feeling.
And I was right. This is one time I am not too excited about being right.

It will be interesting to see what happens with a democratic house, congress and President.

bright orange

That’s right. Fall is in full swing here at the Truitt house and we have our very own tree to prove it.

P.S. I didn’t add any color at all to these photos. They are straight out of the camera BUT at the same time, I know for sure that it’s actually prettier in real life. =)

Someday I would like to pick out 5 of the trees that have the most beautiful colors in the fall and plant them all in our yard. Then when fall comes around we’ll have a rainbow colored curb view. =)

long weekend

On Friday Cade and I drove out to Missouri to photograph Cade’s roomate from college’s wedding. It was going to be an 8 and a half hour trip so Cade took the day off. Now he probably doesn’t even have a full vacation day left. Stupid system. AND to top that off, the best way to get to Branson, Missouri from Nashville is through tiny, windy, back roads. Cade had a blast driving through the sharp curves and steep hills. I hung on for dear life and just smiled at him. =) I will say, the scenery was beautiful and the time went by really fast. I guess those kinds of roads keep your mind more engaged than boring high ways. =)

We arrived in time for the groom’s dinner which had amazing food: the best brisket I’ve had yet and tasty pulled pork. We did some shooting at this dinner too and then headed to where we were going to sleep for the night. Cade had been having some strong stomach cramps all day and we were tired. Thankfully the cramps/aches were completely gone by the next day.

Saturday we did all of the usual things we do at a wedding and then left to come back to Nashville at 2 p.m.

When I was changing back into comfy clothes for the trip home, I dropped my cell phone in the church toilet. COME ON MARC!!! After letting it dry for several hours and then cleaning it VERY WELL…. it seems to be working just fine. Good ol’ RAZR. =)

Yesterday we did a few chores around the house but then sat on our bums the rest of the day. We were both exhausted. After church we watched a few episodes of House and went to sleep (actually I did those backwards… I can’t seem to stay awake during a T.V. show or movies after about 9 p.m. =)

We are on the final stretch to Christmas and the end of the year. We only have 2 more weddings to shoot for 2008 and then a bunch of portrait sessions. I am excited to get to the end of the year and finalize all of the book keeping details to see how we did overall. Then I will spend some time during January to map out some marketing goals for 2009.

It’s exciting.

Oh… and I’m getting in the mood to put up our Christmas tree since it will be a first for us! Yipee!!! It might just come out early! =)

is this pride?

I’ve been debating about sharing this personal info on my blog simply because I don’t want it to come across as being proud and snooty but instead as me saying a huge “praise God!” for all of his gifts and blessings. I guess I am also reading my “selfish” tendency into this: it is easier to cry with those that cry than rejoice with those that rejoice.

Sorry for forcing you in the position to rejoice with us. GRIN! =)

Oh, and if you don’t want to know anything about our financial status, feel free to skip this entry altogether. =)

Last night Cade and I met with our financial counselor. Together, all 3 of us, took a look a what we’ve been up to these last two years and I am overwhelmed at God’s goodness to us:

• We were able to completely pay off both of our student loans in our first year of marriage and travel to Ecuador for my sister’s wedding.
• In our second year of marriage we purchased around 20K worth of photography equipment, bought me a “newer” car when the old “toy” threatened to roll over and die, and saved up a down payment for our home.
• 3 days before our 2nd anniversary, I became self employed through our photography business. Amazing!
• Now, 5 months into our 3rd year together, we have a fully funded, 6 month, emergency fund and last night we wrote a check to max out my Roth IRA for this year.

We are so blessed!! God has given us so much and I love being able to share that with others!

Needless to say we are pretty big fans of Dave Ramsey. We don’t worship at his feet or obey every single thing he says, but for the most part we have followed his advice and I think it has paid off (pun intended!)

In his words “we have been living like no one else… so later we can live like no one else.”

The next thing we are saving up for is a trip to Italy and then we’ll begin to pay off this house as fast as we can. =)

P.S. Can I also say a HUGE “thank you, God” for giving me a husband who is like minded when it comes to finances?!?!?! Wow!

P.P.S. Kudos to our parents for helping to mold this part of us.