Sunday, January 31, 2010

Your Eyes Do Not Deceive You. I Have Actually Posted.

Two months.

That's how long it's been since I've posted. I know. Bad. Not conducive to good blogging conduct as well. Some of you have even been worried about me and for that I am VERY sorry. And just for the record I am fine, Monk is fine (maybe not mentally, but that is neither here nor there) and the kids are fine.

The gist of my absence largely rests upon my photography business. It got way out of control, way fast and I didn't know how to handle it, a large family and a blog. Things were way out of balance and I had to give up something.

And it was my blog.

Y'all. It was like giving up a child. Okay, maybe not quite that bad, but close. I mourned over not blogging and I cannot tell you just how many times I thought to myself, "I can't WAIT to blog this!". And then I couldn't. It was hard people. Very, very hard. And for a long time I didn't think I would ever find time to get back to it. So many things happened, including the demise of my Dell laptop.

Yes, THAT Dell. The Dell I just got last year. I killed it. In one year. What can I say, it's a gift.

I spent weeks crying because I thought I was going to lose clients pictures because my computer was malfunctioning so badly. I didn't have enough money saved in my business to be able to buy a new one and I didn't know what I was going to do. My computer was working so slowly that it was taking 3 times as long to edit pictures as it should. I was behind. Very, very behind.

I spent many evenings during the weeks leading up to Christmas at a local Border's Books just editing away. I would come home and stay up late into the night, going to bed at 1 am and getting back up at 7 am. It was a rough time, a learning time and a time I care to never revisit again.

Then my husband rescued me. He bought me a new computer. Not just any computer either. A 17 inch Macbook Pro with a 17 inch screen. It's a beauty, y'all. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love this computer. It has made my job a whole lot easier. And slowly but surely I am digging out from under the mountain of editing that had piled up.

And guess what else? I'm blogging again. But more on that later... First, I'm going to give you a brief list of the things that have happened since I last blogged. Just so you know I'm not kidding when I say I was busy!

- In October I second shot my first wedding. LOVED IT!
- In November I did MANY family photos, children's photos AND photographed an entire wedding ALL BY MYSELF!
- In December my sweet Charlie turned 1!! It killed me not to blog that! My Liv turned 7 and I shot ANOTHER wedding as the lead photographer and shot a birth! By this time my computer problems were in full swing and things were not good at all.
- In January I got my new computer 2 weeks ago and since then I've shot two births, booked to be a second shooter in 3 weddings AND My Boy was accepted the University of Arkansas!! He's a HOG, y'all!! This saddens me greatly due to my undying love of my beloved Texas Longhorns. However, because of my great affinity for bacon I do believe that I can deal with him being a Hog. Sooooiiiee!!

And here's the BIG news I've been saving for last. Some of you may like it and some of you may hate it. And that's why I'm throwing it out here because I really want your opinion. And if nobody comments then I can assume my decision is made for me. So here's your chance for your voice to be heard. So SPEAK, people!

I'm fairly certain that I'm going to stop posting at all on Monk's Wife. I'm going to try and find a service to back up my years of blogging on here and call it a wrap.

HOWEVER. (Now that y'all have sucked all of the oxygen out of the room and your children are gasping for breath!)

I have purchased a professional photography blog. And because it's my personality to be totally different (or weird if you may), I'm not only going to post my photography work there, but post my personal stuff as well. Yes, even the crazy, disgusting things that occur with 6 children. I want clients to know me. The real me. And I also want to keep up with all you fine people, but I want to do it all under one roof ... er.. um...blog.

Some have told me that it's photographical suicide. Others have said it's brilliant. I need to do what my gut tells me to do and my gut says this is right for me. So here's the deal.

Go visit the new blog all week this week. I'll be posting personal and professional stuff all through the week. Then come back and tell me what you think. And be honest. Keep in mind that I haven't finished tweaking my blog yet. I just haven't had time. I've got the basic stuff up that I needed to get going and I'm starting there. I'll get all technical-ish later. Tell me what you like, what you don't and if you like my hair.

And the new "professional" (oooohhhh!!) blog address is:

So go on. Get out of here. And if you're still reading here after a two months absence ... God bless you.