Randall Family

These are our good friends Paige and Mark and their kids, Ashley and Connor. Had a great Sunday afternoon portrait session out in Georgetown. I know Amy's REALLY gonna find a way to move us to the water after seeing these!

Adopt-a-Pet!

ATTENTION! We have been fostering Lexi for a couple of weeks after she found her way to our house and never left. PLEASE someone take her off our hands! I have no idea what breed she is. Very sweet and loving, obedient and house-trained; we just don't have room for another animal!
ALSO, if anyone's interested in a black bunny, she needs to go, too! I feel like we've been running the Brittany Lane Animal Shelter.

Mary & Brendan

What an awesome couple! Mary and Brendan were married last weekend at the beautiful Morris Center. Mary, daughter of cake-maker extraordinaire Mollie Stone, was great to work with. The weather was beautiful, so the party spilled over to the adjacent tent and back patio. 

So many great Savannah vendors were on scene: John Davis did the gorgeous flowers, Trish McLeod made the delicious food and of course Mollie provided the cake! One of the highlights of the evening was when Betsy Kingston, channeling Janis Joplin herself, got onstage and wowed the guests with "Me and Bobby McGee."

Memorial Day 2009 in Tennessee

It has been years since I've not had a wedding over Memorial Day weekend. How nice to be off! Or... um... well I guess it probably maybe could've possibly been better if I'd had a wedding and brought in some money, but what the hey? I've spent my share of long weekends working, happy to have a change. Anyway...

We headed up to Tennessee in search of cool weather and relaxation. What we found was wet weather and $29 pitchers of margaritas, so I won't complain. Since we had no set agenda I was planning on hooking up with an old high school acquaintance that I found out via Facebook was going to be there also, but as so often happens I found that each day of the vaca was filled with frivolities from sun-up to sun-down and it just didn't happen. Oh, well, what's 20 more years between friends.

Little Brucester has been boarded since Friday so I can't wait to see him this afternoon!

Blue Angels

Over the weekend we went to the Beaufort Air Show to see the Blue Angels. Freakin' bad-a$$. I don't care who you are, seeing how fast these things go and how loud they are will put a smile on anyone's face!

Speaking of faces, mine was burned to a crisp in the hot sun. I've stated before that I have an aversion to sunscreen, and as a result I got one of the worst sunburns I've ever had. Probably 3rd degree. My face was purple. After a few days feeling like I had plaster covering my face, it's finally peeling away to reveal the nice pink, fresh, raw skin underneath. I skipped the beach on Sunday for fear that my face would literally burn off. We're going to Tennessee this weekend so now I'm in the market for a nice giant hat to hide under. Some of those hats from the Kentucky Derby looked pretty cool. Or maybe I can find a knock-off of Aretha's hat from the inauguration. I'm sure those would go over well in the hills of Tennessee!

Later That Day...

After the photo session we headed downtown for our weekly Sunday morning lazy brunch. J.Christopher's is our usual Sunday morning brunch haunt, but this week we wanted to change it up a bit. Right around the corner in the bottom of Drayton Towers is Harris Bakery, and hol-ee, is it good. I had the most delicious club panini on fresh crusty bread with this great garlic mayo. We took Brucester with us and sat outside on the sidewalk. I kept my back to the traffic on Drayton, figuring if somebody loses control of their car and takes us out, at least I won't see it coming. Abigail took the picture of Jarrod and Brucie; she was mad because she couldn't play with Jarrod's Gameboy and didn't want to be photographed.

After brunch we headed to the in-laws for a low-country boil. Of course I ate again. Today is really the day I start a diet.

Impromptu Mother's Day Portraits 2009

Kelly & Austin

I photographed these guys before the blog was around. Kelly's step-sister was married a few weeks ago and I got to catch up with them. It seems like a good time to post these.

Buddha: 2000-2009

Our sweet Buddha died last night. We are devastated. How do people cope with losing a human child?

Ashley & Micah

What a beautiful day for a wedding! Ashley and Micah were married at Bull Street Baptist Church and had their reception at the (still under renovation) Savannah Golf Club. The window light in the church is fantastic, and luckily we arrived at the reception in time to catch sunset.

Micah and his troop are home from Iraq, so everyone was very grateful for what these guys are doing, and they all seemed to have a great time! Micah's also been accepted to Harvard Business School, so that was cause for celebration as well.

I ran into a couple who I'm doing their wedding in October, so "Hey!" Carol and Andrew if you're reading this!

John Davis did the beautiful flowers, and Molly Stone did the as always delicious cake.

As an aside, I wish people would just let the Dixie Chicks "controversy" about W go away. It's been long enough, hasn't it? They just said what we all thought, right? A wedding reception is not the platform to air personal political views.

Told You...

she is the funniest person I know!

Look What You're Missing if You're Not on Facebook!

Much like my friend Suzy I've gotten caught up with playing on Facebook and the blog has suffered. So as posted on Facebook, here's

25 Things About Me: 

1. I would much rather get up early than stay up late. I can count on about 2 fingers the number of New Years I have personally rung in. I get up at 5:00am M-F, and have had to give up many TV shows because I can't stay awake past 9:00pm.

2. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. M&Ms and coffee are one of my favorites, followed by bacon and cheese omelettes with grits or hashbrowns. I make the best cheese grits, but Waffle House does a good job on everything else. Sunrise on Wilmington Island is my favorite breakfast restaurant.

3. I do not eat vegetables, yet I was a vegetarian for a year when I first moved to Atlanta. I lived on pasta and PB and J. I fell off the vegetarian wagon when I got the munchies at a Depeche Mode concert and ate a foot long hotdog. 

4. I love Food Network but cannot cook. I love "30 Minute Meals," "Barefoot Contessa" and "Nigella Express".

5. I have married/dated/obsessed over 5 different girls named "Amy".

6. James Taylor is my all time favorite musician hands-down. I NEVER get tired of listening to "James Taylor: Greatest Hits". I've only seen him once in concert and Amy and I sat in the pouring rain to see him.

7. Having stated #6, the best concert I've ever seen was the Violent Femmes at a dive bar in some obscure NC town. It was a college road trip I took with Dale Smith, Kirk Hansen and Chris Steadman when we were in college at USC. Kirk: I know you remember "I looked--it's all clear."

8. I'm obsessed with cars. My dream job would be to work for Motor Trend magazine so I could take pictures of the cars and be able to drive them too. I don't care for muscle cars or driving fast (I drive a Volvo), I just like normal-people cars.

9. I am also a watch freak. I have more watches than I'll ever be able to wear in my lifetime. Just when I think I'm content with the watches I have, I find another one that I want. Amy is wearing the TAG I bought that I wanted since 11th grade because I'm never satisfied. Currently I'm obsessing over vintage watches with grosgrain straps.

10. I would rather stay at home than go out. No surprise in light of #1. My son is the same. We just prefer to stay at home. Amy and Abigail are polar opposites and are always off somewhere.

11. My favorite clothes are J Crew, though I'm almost too fat to fit in them anymore.

12. I am a better friend to some people than they are to me. Why do I keep setting myself up to get my feeling hurt?

13. I have very thin skin, therefore #12 sucks.

14. I hold grudges for a very long time, therefore #12 really sucks.

15. My favorite dessert is creme brulee.

16. I have undiagnosed OCD: I am constantly checking my pockets for my keys and wallet.

17. I have never had a serious illness. When I do get sick it will probably be the mack-daddy terminal kind. Refer to #s 2,3 and 11.

18. I have to change the oil in my cars at exactly the time it's due. When I moved out to the boonies I had to learn how to do it myself and it turned into an obsession. Now I've branched out to changing oil for friends and family. I read a web forum everyday that's dedicated to motor oil. Don't judge.

19. I love to eat out. For a long time we ate out so often that the special occassion was to stay at home and eat. I love to have someone wait on me. I waited on other people for years and now it's payback, just keep my tea filled and we'll have no problems.

20. I have a nautical distress flag license tag on my car with the initials RAD, which stands for Ryan, Amy and Dylan (our dog before we had kids). Jarrod's middle name is Dylan (yes, we named him after the dog) and of course there's Abigail, so I didn't have to get a new tag when they were born.

21. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

22. I was in love with Janet Jackson in high school and saw her in concert twice.

23. My daughter Abigail is the funniest person I know, and my son Jarrod is the most tender-hearted.

24. If I were stranded on a deserted island I would want a John Grisham book. And my James Taylor CD.

25. I will always regret that I could never seem to find the time to visit my friend Jim and then he died.

and if there was a 26, it would be that there is no spell-check on here.

Last of the Holidays 2008

So I'm a little behind in posting pictures from my time off over the holidays. As usual not much happened at the Smith house for New Year's Eve. I can count on about 2 fingers the number of times I've stayed awake until midnight to ring in the new year. It's just not for me. It's so anti-climactic, and I'd rather just sleep. Unless I'm at a really cool party, so I won't rule out the possibility. The kids shot off some fireworks in the backyard, and dumb ol' Brucester tried to eat them. I should've just let him -- that woulda learnt him.

I went to my friend Christine Hall's new studio/gallery opening last night. What a beautiful place! She's an amazing photographer and has made quite the reputation for herself.

On a different note, Jarrod got his first cell phone. I always said he could get a phone when he got a J.O.B. to pay for it, but he's at that age when he's starting to go places with friends and we have to be able to contact him. Of course Abigail wants one now.

She's a Poet and I Didn't Know It

I ordered a watch band from a company in NY last week. When it arrived I was so impressed by the packaging I just had to take a picture and share. It's a nice blue box about 12" long,embossed with the the store logo and held together by a silver elastic band. Inside was a plastic tube containing the watch band. It would've been just fine if the company had placed the watch band in an envelope and dropped it in the mail, but presented the way it was really made me feel like I was opening something special.

In a related story, Abigail presented Amy and me with a present. Since it's January she couldn't find any flowers that were alive so she picked some weeds (it's the thought that counts, right?). Not content just to hand us the weeds with the roots and dirt still attached, she placed them nicely in blue box along with a poem:

"This is for you.

Your eyes are blue.

Your skin is white in the 

sun light.

And in the morning

we will go out to eat

with a beat to go with it.

And when we are done

we will lay our heads down

in the light sun.

And if you like this sentence

circle

YES or NO

and then open 

the package.

Happy New Year family.

I will love you for

my whole life and again

family."

I think we'll hold onto that forever.

"God Bless the USA"

How apropos this entry is in light that we just witnessed an historic inauguration today! 

No matter if you think the song is hokey (and even if you do you probably shed a tear and caught yourself singing it at least once after 9/11), but when you hear your daughter and her best friend sing it, not to mention see them SIGN it, that'll get you everytime.

Christmas 2008

It's taking me a lot longer to get back in the swing of things after such a nice long vacation, and I've got a lot on my plate right now so unfortunately blogging has taken a backseat.

So Christmas came and went so fast this year. It came a lot faster than usual, and was over in a flash. Or did I just drink too much eggnog and lose a few days? I kid, I kid. 

Anyway, the kids only asked for one thing each, and since they were pretty big items one thing was all they got from Santa. Luckily they have grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins! Jarrod wanted an electric scooter and chose a really cool one that has a radio and iPod adapter. Since he doesn't have an iPod he was just going to use mine, but since I'm freaky about anybody using my stuff for fear of said "stuff" being damaged he has to use Amy's. My iPod is full of awesome songs, but since he can't use mine and because beggars can't be choosers he will just have to put up with Bebe & Cece Winans, Anita Baker and Hank Williams, Jr.

Abigail chose S'mores the robot pony, successor to Butterscotch the robot pony that we didn't give her last Christmas. She can brush S'mores with the plastic brush that was included and feed S'mores the plastic carrot and she can even sit on S'mores. It doesn't walk or anything like that, but it moves it's head and makes noise. Just what every little girl wants: a robot pony. Try as we did to convince her that she would want a scooter when she saw Jarrod's, she insisted on S'mores. "I couldn't get Butterscotch last year and I've waited a whole year!" And there it sits in the middle of her bedroom floor while she's off running the battery down in Jarrod's scooter. There's something to be said for persistence, I suppose.

Festival of Lights

I don't know how we stumbled on this a few years ago,  but we've tried to make it a family tradition since. Hundreds of cars drive bumper-to-bumper, mile-after-mile through James Island State Park to see all the holiday light displays. I know that can be done in many places, but the cool thing about this festival is that in the middle of the park you can get out and visit with Santa, and ride a train through the park, roast marshmallows, stroll through the woods and ride the carousel. There's so much to do! Usually it's so cold I can't feel any of my extremities and the train ride through the forest feels like a ride through frost bite hell, but this year was gloriously warm. 

Weekend in Charleston

I haven't blogged in almost a month so I figured I better snap to it or someone might think I've died or something.

Just before Christmas we headed to Charleston for the weekend. We usually go at least once a year around the holidays to see the Festival of Lights on James Island. I'll never forget when we first moved to Savannah from Atlanta I wanted to take a day-trip over to Charleston since it had been about 8 years since I had last been. We asked Amy's parents if they wanted to go with us. They said yes and offered to drive. It's only about a 2 hour drive from Savannah, if that, so it's not bad. So as soon as we get to Meeting Street Amy's dad says, "Did y'all wanna get out?" If we hadn't said yes, I'm positive we would have headed straight back to Savannah. That's my funny story for the day.

On the way over we stopped on Kiawah Island. I did a wedding there a couple of years ago and just loved the shops in Freshfields Village. It reminds me so much of the town of Celebration in Florida. Very quaint and laid back. One of the shops had a plywood Christmas tree standing on an easel. It was painted all pretty and green and had little ornaments painted on it, too. That's the route we're taking next Christmas. It was like $200, but I feel confident I can make one myself.

Savannah and Charleston are very similar cities, but I really believe Charleston is prettier. And there's way more money. Just walking around the Battery district looking at the Ivy League university decals on the fancy Volvos and Mercedes and BMWs parked outside the historic mansions made me sorry I hadn't decided to be rich. At least I have a Volvo.

We had lunch at California Dreaming. I've been eating there since I was a kid in high school and we would go to journalism conferences in Columbia and order Reese's Dream Shakes and virgin strawberry daiquiris -- I know the wait staff just LOVED us. The food's still good, but I don't know about the daiquiris (honestly). Anyway, I had the ribs. Amy guilted me into saving some for Brucester, who was waiting in the car. Reluctantly I did, but damn if he didn't push the ribs aside so he could eat the fettucini alfredo the kids saved for him. WTH?