Break-dancin' in a Winter Wonderland

Ok, anyone who lives here knows that this has been a craaaaaazzzaaaayyy winter. Don't you agree? I mean, we've seen snow, ice, a massive ice storm, temps in the 70s, and well, more snow and sleet today.

And all I can say is, somebody needs to bust out with some break-dancin' on these slick roads! Wouldn't that just be funny? I mean, there wouldn't be much effort since they could spin easily, and oh, watchin' the worm(or snake, whatever you want to call it, depends on what neighborhood you hail from), that would just put the "H" in funny, I mean, Hilarious.

I just thought it would bring a little humor to this unpredictable winter wonderland of a season we've had. You know, because seeing someone breakdance in the snow right now wouldn't be all that crazy.

Just thought I'd add a picture of the break-dancin' queen of the future...

The BIG "AWE"NNOUNCEMENT!!

UPDATE[3.11.09]: THERE ARE NOW 3 SESSIONS LEFT!!! Bust a move!


So, daddies, are you puzzled about what to give your lady, the mother of your precious angels, for Mother's Day?

And hot mommas, are you trying to figure out something better than a tie to present to the father of your little ankle-biters for Father's Day?

How about a sweet little custom photography package to remind them of the greatest thing they've ever accomplished! Sweeeeeet, now that's an "AWE"nnouncement!!

I'm having what is called a "mini-session" in April for families interested in having the images of their children forever engrained in photos. This session will be a 20-30 minute session at the specified location and the specified date(I'll let you know the deets[details] upon booking).

For this mini-session, there will be NO SESSION FEE!!! What?!? Yeah, you read me right! And you can choose from any of my custom collections and/or digital images and you will also receive an additional free 5x7 with the purchase of the Essential, Classic or Ultimate Collection!!

I know, you don't have tell me, I. Totally. R-O-C-K! Just put me on a stage with Def Leppard or Bon Jovi because I rock that much!

So, how can it get any sweeter, you ask? Well, let me tell ya--if you book for this session, you'll get 50% off your session fee when you book for an appointment at a later date(oh, and I just might throw in a freebie too!)

The Collections* as follows:

__________Basic Collection[one.pose]::$35
__________Essential Collection[two.poses]::$65
__________Classic Collection[three.poses]::$135
__________Ultimate Collection[three.poses]::$175

*Up to 3 people per session[$10 for each additional]. Only three(3) poses total for this session will be available. Check out my pricing list for more information and $35 will due on the day of the shoot. Payment will be due in full upon final purchase of package(s). FYI: You can purchase digital images of this session for $40 per image or $100 for all three. With a package, it will be $30 per image.

And, (there's more?), when you book your session, you will receive 10% off any storyboard collections[collages]! One last thing, I promise, one lucky person will win a free 2 image storyboard collage! Now, I'm triple rockin'! I'll throw in a little G'n'R with that one!

So, let's recap...

• A Custom Photography session with NO SESSION FEE
• A free 5x7 with the purchase of the Essential, Classic or Ultimate Collections([1] 5x7 per client session)
• 10% off any Storyboard Collection[Collages]
• One lucky thang will win a 2-image Storyboard
• 50% off your next session fee
• One personal jam session with Jon & Richie!
• Just kidding on that last one, but dang, you know you're gettin' a good deal without them!

So, you need to book early, because I'm only taking 10 appointments for this session, so call me [724.9202] or email me [stephaniegreenwell@sbcglobal.net] to schedule today! Don't just stand there, bust-a-move!



For now, I'll be livin' on a prayer...
[Look closely, you'll me see filling in for Richie!]

Another sneek peak...

I just wanted to post a collage I got done this morning. I tell ya, I've been feeling crappy the past few days, and I went to sleep at 7 p.m. last night, then went to bed at 8. Maybe it was just rest I needed because I feel so much better today!

I'll try to be entertaining in my next post!!

Update: I've added the collage of little "J"! As I was getting to know him, I learned that he loves to read--a man after my own heart!! So we checked out his extensive collection of Dr. Suess books, some of my faves! I heart Sam-I-Am...That Sam-I-Am, that Sam-I-am, I DO NOT LIKE THAT SAM-I-AM!.

Oh, hey, by the way, Dr. Suess' birthday is coming up in March. Make sure you read to your kiddos a fab book by him...they are so unique and a fun read for kids and adults alike!

Anyways, (you notice how easily distracted I am?), little "J" really enjoyed telling me about his books, so I thought what better idea than to photograph him doing the very thing he enjoys so much! He was a delight and a friendly little dude. I love kids like that...

Yeah, Jesus sandals and Eastlands...That's what they're wearing now

Hey girl!

How are you? I'd thought I'd D
_________________________R
__________________________O
___________________________P you a few lines to tell you HAPPY BIRTHDAY! What you are going to do tonight? Me, I'm just sittin' here watchin' the Golden Girls. Call me later. I'll have my ringer off, but the lights on my see-through phone will light up and I'll answer! Talk to you later!

L.Y.L.A.S, V.B.F.F.&.A., I.S.G.W.A.S.F.A.A.T.Y.(Ok, I made up the last one!)

steph



Did anyone have a jr. high flashback? In case you've forgotten what those salutations mean, L.Y.L.A.S. = 'Love ya like a sister' and V.B.F.F.&.A = 'Very best friends forever and always'. Yeah, I'm sure glad they didn't leave it up to us to come up with the Morse code...

Anyways, today is one of my two very bestest friends birthdays. I know she's a loyal reader because I'll put her butt to the fire if she's not of my blog. I wanted to recognize her, her birthday, and to most of all, thank her and another BFF for putting garlic salt and hair mousse in my nether regions while I was asleep when we were kids. (You know, girls, I hope you both feel terrible, knowing that I couldn't help falling asleep first. Again, you will pay dearly sometime in this life. Maybe even in this blog...)

Alright, we started out not liking each other. She was from another school and was "ball-game" friends with my BFF. So we were "forced" to like each other. And I'm so thankful we did. Who would've thought 20, Oh! My! Gawd!, 20 years later we'd still be kicking it like old homies, er, mommies.

I mean, we've seen alot together--and this is by no means a summation of our friendship, but some of the funnier, more-tasteful-for-public-knowledge times:

-Fights (with each other and other people).
-Junior high cheerleading camp where she and our other BFF told me that that straw purse from Hawaii was soooooo cute[those wanches].
-Staying the night at her house every single Friday for 2,956 Fridays
-Those awkward teen years.
-Your picture pages. Oh, the many, many nights of laughter.
-Riding around C'ville with the interior lights on. The. whole. night.
-Gulf Shores and our butterfly tats and Bob Marley.
-Losing touch and becoming closer.
-Getting married. Having babies. Growing into ourselves.


And being proud of who we were, even if we weren't perfect.


You made me feel a sense of pride tonight when I called to wish you a happy birthday. You love reading my blog! This, coming from a super funny, super sarcastic, super witty mentality that I've always admired.

I. feel. honored.

And you've been a super fantastic friend over these two decades (ooh, did you just cringe to think two decades? That's just cccraaaaaazzyy!!) , even when our friendship took a detour. I wouldn't trade any moment of our friendship, even if I didn't know that we would still be friends.

Joan Lunden. Aussie hair products. Worcestshire burgers. Def Comedy Jam. Steven Segall. The scooter, baby! (Yeah, betcha forgot about those!)

Oh, Eastlands and Jesus sandals. Forgive me for the following:




I.S.G.W.A.S.F.A.A.T.Y. = I'm So Glad We Are Still Friends After All These Years

I love you. Happy Birthday, Liz.

[P.S. Congrats on the soon-to-be third addition]

Sneak Peek for the "F" Family

Today I had the pleasure of photographing an adorable family complete with a mommy, a daddy, a son and a 6 week old daughter. I'll post more details about the shoot and accompanying images.

If any of your are debating on having another child, maybe this image will push you over the on the side "Please-add-another-ankle-biter-to-my-order-with-adorableness-on-the-side." (I know, adorableness is not a word, but when I see a baby this adorable, I just starting making up words. Like, chub-a-lub and sweetified and perfectastic. It's my blog and I can say what I want.) *wink*

Anyway, my heart melted getting to hold her and undress her and listening to her coo and watching her little eyes and...well, you get the picture and are possibly feeling the urge too...

More to come! Enjoy!

Princesses, Pop-Tarts and Presidents

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Today is President's Day.

A time to honor all those that have led our country. I'm sincerely grateful to live in this country, governed by democracy, where we can make choices about how we want to live without fear. Where we can vote on our leaders, whether the candidate for whom you vote doesn't win. Where it is still the land of milk and honey, even with the economic woes.

Even with all that our country has seen recently, with the recession, the mortgage crisis, people losing jobs and homes, there's still no better place on this earth I'd rather live, to raise my family, to live freely. Even with the bailouts that aren't going to mean anything to working families.

I'd still rather live in America.

In light of President's Day, my children normally are out of school. However, missing 10 days of school due to the ice storm will land a few planned school holidays back on the schedule of attendance. My two older kids went to school, but my sugar bear stayed home with me today. I cooked her not one, not two, but three scrambled eggs with cheese this morning, we played with "grandpa's" suitcase, and then I decided to have an impromptu photo session with her.

She loves Pop-Tarts, I mean, she-loves-them-like-she'll-never-eat-them-again, so I shot some pictures of her in a knit hat and a Pop-Tart in hand. You'll notice the ever-present crumbs around her mouth.

And yes, I'm fully aware that Pop-Tarts are not the most nutritionally sound snack, but we prepare many nutritious meals featuring most of the food groups at each meal. And fried chicken fingers(meat group) and fries(starches/vegetable) don't qualify as nutrionally sound, but they sure are good!

So, without further ado, my little Pop-Tart Princess on President's Day...

Love is in the Air

A cute little Cherub named Cupid with his arrow. Large packaged hearts. Red and pink and pink and red and all the shades of red and pink.

Valentine's Day.

Ah, it's the ultimate representation of love...and sugar and chocolate and gorging on lots of, well, love. I'm a sucker for all things Valentine's Day, except that I am not a chocolate fanatic! (Yeah, crazy huh?)

But I love that there is a day set aside especially for lovers of all kinds. Husbands, wives, children, parents, grandparents, friends, pets, strangers passing by. My goodness, my children even think that it's a holiday where they get out of school, but, sadly(*wink, wink*), I had to bust their bubble and let them know that although it's a special day, love and valentine's cards are not reasons for getting out of school. (Shooting one with an arrow might land them a week-long break! Thank God, they are not trying to be Cupid!) And besides, Valentine's Day is on a Saturday this year, so no dice.

Since love is no holiday from school or work, it is a holiday of celebrating the ones we love. I'm thankful for my family and the love that I receive from them on every day of the year, but especially on Valentine's Day. And to quote a very famous, fab four-some of British rockers:

"All we need is love... "


Have a very sweet-as-cotton-candy filled day of love! Happy Valentine's Day!
Stay tuned for the upcoming announcement!!

No, your eyes are not fooling you

I've been slacking on uploading more images from the ice storm...SHOOT ME!! ;) Well, I'm only attaching a few today and hopefully can catch up with it this weekend. As I've said in previous posts, clean up has been underway and the evidence shows with chopped trees, limbs, sticks, you name it, making their new home on the side of roads. Trust me, that are a lot of them!! But, it's somewhat sad to see. The skyline in our neighborhood looks bare and ragged, with the trees that are still left standing.

And we did get our yard cleaned up last Friday and we had to have seven, count 'em, SEVEN, trees cut down!! For some reason, it broke my heart and I have to admit, I shed a few tears. But, we will get to plant new ones this spring.

Again, I personally want to thank all the hard workers for their continued efforts to restore power to those who are into their 3rd week without it. I'm continually updating the recognition of companies who have been working here, so if you know of any company I missed, just let me know. I'll gladly add them to the list!

Now, on to more images. Have a great week and come back soon!


More from my yard [Thurs., Jan. 29]







Debris in our yard and power line workers in the background [Fri., Jan. 30]









Another look up Corrine on the 3rd day--not as pretty! [Fri., Jan. 30]



No working lights on the I-55 overpass

Three days after the storm and poles are back up on Hwy. 84 [Fri., Jan. 30]

Power trucks in the distance on Hwy. J, south of Hwy. 84 [Fri., Jan. 30]

More images to come soon

I'm, like, soooo popular...like...Totally

I am the Homecoming Queen. And the Prom Queen. And the High School Cheerleading Captain. Not the co-captian. The Captain, baby. Oh, and the Valedictorian.

Well only one of those is true and it's the "geeky" title...you can figure it out. Oh, I forgot, I was a prom queen candidate, but that year, it was decided that each couple would raise money to win the title, and well, we didn't raise enough. Who cares. That's so high school.

Point is, I'M POPULAR!!! Yay, people are looking, reading, checking it out. What is it, you ask?

My blog, baby! This month alone[meaning the last 9 days], I've had over 1,000 hits to my site, and though those numbers can't compete with some totally serious photoblogs, this is my personal, grass roots accomplishment! I'm gonna give a shout-out to myself--You. Go. Girl.

Sure, I know a lot of it is you all wanting to see the beautiful disaster that was Ice Storm '09, but hey, advertising works in mysterious ways. I hope you visitors, unique and repeat, will still continue to come back to keep up with me, my photography, my wackiness.

And, I hope I'm interesting. Well, at least funny. OK, I hope there's something, anything, that makes you come back for more. Like, the million dollar lottery I'm offering. That always works. Well, it would work if I had a million dollars. Bare Naked Ladies? [The band, people, not real, bare naked ladies.] Gosh, I loved that song, back when they weren't so pop. Oh, nevermind.

To prove my pat-on-the-back bragging, I thought I'd display my stats for February so far. I promise I didn't make this up. It is fo' real, fo' sho, peeps.

Have a rockin' week. Stat, Stats. [Gosh, a play on words. I'm so funny. And I'm popular. Even if for only two weeks.]

BIG AWE-nnouncement! (No, I'm not pregnant!)

Brennan opened the back door where I was sitting in the garage, sorting through a box of pictures. He said to me, "Does summer begin in April?" How I wished I could say yes, but I responded, "No, spring is in April, summer begins in June."

"NO! IT! ISN'T!!"
"Yes it is. Actually spring begins in March..." (He cuts me off.)
"Ooh, that's my birthday, Mama."
"Yes, it is. So, like I was saying, spring begins in March and summer begins in April."
Door shuts. Case Closed.

He wasn't that interested in arguing since he got excited that his birthday is coming up. So my point is, I. AM. SO. READY. FOR. SPRING!!!

I sooo am. This has seemed like the looooooongest winter, and though I always look forward to the next season, I am really ready for warmer weather. Mother nature flirted with the idea this weekend, what with her temps in the 60s, beautiful sunshine, and a light breeze she blew on us. Harmless flirting, no less, but it made me want more. More sunny days, more breezes, more short-sleeve-and-shorts-let's-get-out-and-play days.

So, then ideas started running, no racing, through my head, but I'm not quite ready to announce what I'm comtemplating. But I will hint, er, flirt, with you by just saying that it is about photography and Mother Nature.

Stay tuned for updates. I promise I'll make good on flirting, I'll even set a date!

Until then, I just wanted to post some images of Mother Nature's biggest fans! Also, more Ice Storm '09 images will be posted soon.

Have a great week and keep checking back! UPDATE: Go check out the annoucement!

And around town we go...

Hey y'all! (That's Bootheel slang for, "Hi! How are you doing?")

Man, I have had so many hits on my blog this week! I've been emailed, called, stopped at stores, and even a message arrived in a bottle on the banks of the Mississippi River(no, really, because Internet and phone lines were down!) about the images I've posted of the Bootheel Blizzard. I'm glad that so many of you have had a glimpse of what we went through here, if you didn't get to witness it first-hand. The last ice storm to hit here was in 1978(or 1979, I'm not sure because I heard 1978 and 1979). I was told by a man that lived through that one that this storm was worse. So if you lived here then but don't now, maybe that could give you something by which to gauge this ice storm.

As I mentioned in my last post, clean up has been underway and great progress is being made. Except for my yard, but that's another story. We Bootheel-ians are quite resilient. The businesses are up and running again and the power trucks are dwindling by the day. Last Wednesday(January 28), we drove around town and I documented various locations and businesses. It really was like a ghost-town, except people were scurrying around everywhere, so I guess it really doesn't make it a ghost town. Oh nevermind. It just looked strange that no businesses were opened, except one convenience store. There was no power, no gas, but there was a line of people waiting to get inside to buy whatever they could off the shelves. Now, that's business as usual!

Okay, I'm attaching images from around town during the day and a few from night, which aren't very clear because I couldn't expose for such darkness. But you'll get the idea that it was dark. By the way, none of the images that I'm posting are edited, with the exception of the frozen, freaky tree. They are just straight out of the camera(SOOC, or SOTC, or SOOTC, whatever you choose. Who cares.)

Oh, by the way, I didn't really get a message in a bottle. Actually, the message was packed in a floating cardboard box, but since cardboard is not waterproof, I never received it.


Going south on N. 6th St.



Traveling west on Hwy. 84



Look at the line of people, cars filled the parking lot!






Pizza Hut took a beating--that pole ended up breaking!






Going east on Hwy. 84, heading up the overpass



Looking south at I-55 from the overpass



A view of some of the power trucks at Pilot's



Going east to Caruthersville--Check out all the downed poles! I think a lot of these ending up breaking.



Heading west back to Hayti
















The line of people waiting on gas, yes they were in the right lane on the highway waiting!






This is the hospital emergency entrance. Notice the cones where power lines snapped and damaged vehicles and even an ambulance!






Another east view of our house--not very pretty, but thank God, that big tree never split!



West view of Hwy. 84 west of railroad tracks









Pitch black in Hayti--curfew imposed from dusk to dawn










More images to come soon