Family Update

Lillian

The youngest member of our little family is now 13 months old! You know what that means... WALKING! She's all over the place. Step, step, step, fall. Get up. Step, step, step, fall... hit head. Pick up, kiss, calm her, put her back down. Step, step, step, fall. You get the idea! She really likes exploring the world on her own two feet and has become Addison's shadow following her everywhere! She's also learning new words and can finally say Mama! It really melts my heart to hear her say my name. Up until now, all I've heard is Dada... and he hasn't been home since she was 3 1/2 months old so don't even get me started on that! 

Addison

The BIG girl in the family continues to make me laugh more and more everyday. She's extremely imaginative and comes up with the craziest stuff. If only I could be in her head for 1 minute! She misses her Daddy so much and talks about him all the time. She has mastered all of her letters and is currently working on her writing skills. She is so.. excited to go to pre-school in the fall and asks me to buy her homework every time we're at the store. :)

Me

I have officially lost 18 pounds (20 if you count from this time last year) since Mark left for deployment! Wooo hooo! Bye bye baby weight and hello 125 pounds! I would shout this from a roof top if I could find one to stand on. I have worked SO hard! I started a running program and ran a half-marathon. I won't be continuing on to the full marathon just yet. My left foot needs some recovery time but as soon as it's 100% better I'm back to putting serious milage on my Saucony shoes. I've been attending dance/cardio classes as much as possible. My favorite is Hip Hop Booty Camp! LOVE it! Overall, I'm just excited to fit back into clothes that I haven't worn in 2 years. I finally feel like myself again! 

Mark 

It's been a while since I've given you an update on my hubby. He's now been gone 260 days. I would say that's long enough to put any marriage to a real test. The good news is.. we are passing with flying colors. If you ever need any tips on how to keep your marriage alive half a world away.. e-mail me. :) He has done such an outstanding job on this deployment and I couldn't be more proud of my Seabee. In the last update I told you about his SCWS Pin and his CAP. He's since added two big accomplishments to the list! 1) He ran a full marathon on base.. all 26.2 miles in 4 hours and 47 minutes with NO training! 2) He was awarded a NAM Navy Achievement Medal. We're very excited about this new eye candy and I'd say it was well deserved! I can't wait until we're no longer separated by oceans and war. 

Moving

If you're my friend on facebook then you probably saw my post about us moving. We will be relocating to Gulfport, Mississippi due to Military orders sooner than later. I can't give any specific details right now but I can tell you that I have a million and one things to do in a very short time period before this happens. It's very bittersweet. I will miss my hometown, my family, my friends, and life as I know it now but I'm very excited about a new adventure with my husband and kids. I'm praying that we get on base Military housing and that the move is a smooth transition! Stay tuned..... If my posts are few and far between for a little while.. that's why!  

And the winner is...

And the winner is..... Ashley! Congrats! I'm so excited to photograph your family and meet your little guy Carson! 

You have won the following: 

* Session with me for up to 5 people

*My time at the location of your choice in the Dallas, TX area

*Post processing and editing of your best images

*Online password protected viewing gallery within 2-3 weeks of session.. can be e-mailed to family/friends

*CD - All of your best, fully edited, high resolution images mailed to you on a CD with print release within 2-3 weeks of session

*2 free 8 x 10 photos printed by a professional print lab with your choice of finish

Value: Up to $340.00... yours for free!

Just send me an e-mail and we'll start planning your session!

P.S. I tried to insert a screen shot of the random.org page but blogger is telling me that I've exceeded the number of photos that I can have on my blog. You've got to be kidding me!!!!!!! Even my profile picture is gone and it won't let me upload a new one. Has anyone else experienced this same problem? I will be looking into it! I can't have a blog that I can't post pictures on. 

* GIVEAWAY * Free Photography Session with ME *

Calling all Families, Children, Seniors, Couples and those of you who don't have any recent photos of yourself (you know who you are). :) I would like to celebrate starting my *new* photography business {Live Laugh Photograph, LLC} by giving away a free session and (2) free 8 x 10 professional prints of your choice! 

Winner will receive... 

* Session with me for up to 5 people

*My time at the location of your choice in the Dallas, TX area

*Post processing and editing of your best images

*Online password protected viewing gallery within 2-3 weeks of session.. can be e-mailed to family/friends

*CD - All of your best, fully edited, high resolution images mailed to you on a CD with print release within 2-3 weeks of session

*2 free 8 x 10 photos printed by a professional print lab with your choice of finish

Value: Up to $340.00... yours for free (if you win, of course)!

For more information on my photography please visit my website or e-mail me with questions. 

Restriction: Session must take place within ONE month of winning. 

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ENTER TO WIN

** Please leave individual comments for each of the following for entries. **

1. Post my website link {www.livelaughphotograph-llc.com} on your blog sidebar or in your blog list. 

2. Visit my website Live. Laugh. Photograph. then comeback and leave a comment telling me which photo is your favorite.

3. Become a fan of my Live. Laugh. Photograph. facebook page.

4. Follow me on my new Live. Laugh. Photograph. Twitter account.  

5. Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post, leave your twitter link in a comment. 

6. Publish a post on your blog about this giveaway linking back to this post, leave a comment with post link. 

7. Leave a comment explaining what style of photography session you would like to win.

8. Become a follower of this (The Navy Wife) blog or leave a comment telling me that you're already a follower.

9. Add my current (The Navy Wife) button to your blog sidebar.  

10. Complete all of the above and receive 5 extra entires! 

Thats up to 14 entries per person! Have fun and good luck! I can't wait to meet the lucky winner. 

Giveaway will be open through Friday, March 12, 2010, at 10:00 p.m. Winner will be chosen through True Random Number Generator via random.org. Winner will be posted Saturday, March 13, 2010. 

I ♥ Faces - Jump for Joy

 I guess, I'll eventually move my i heart faces entries over to my new photo blog... to be honest, it's hard to get used to having two blogs. When I saw that it was "Jump for JOY" week at I heart faces, this photo came to mind. It's from one of my very first sessions.... I can tell because of the flash. :) I now do NOT use my flash. I went back and added a new texture and my watermark just for fun. When I asked her if she wanted to jump, I had no idea she was going to jump that high!

Go check out other entries in this week's just for fun photo challenge!

And the winner is...

The winner of a free United States flag or your choice of any Military branch flag is...

 barbafamily said...

I'm a follower of your blog :-)

March 1, 2010 2:51 PM

Congrats Angela! 

Please contact me with your choice of flag and address at thenavywife (at) gmail (dot) com so we can get your flag mailed to you! 

Thank you CVS Flags! 

P.S. If you live in the Dallas area, keep your eyes on my blog for FREE Photography session giveaway! I can't wait!! 

Last chance...

... to show your patriotism. We all have our own reasons for flying our country's flag. Mine would be that I'm proud to be an American and we're proud of the sacrifice we're making as a family while my husband serves in the United States Navy. For others, it might be that your Grandpa served, it reminds you of our freedom or maybe it's "United we Stand" and NEVER FORGETTING 9/11. Whatever your reason may be, click here and enter for a chance to win a United States Flag OR any Military Branch Flag of your choice. Giveaway ends tonight at 10:00 p.m. *GOOD LUCK* 

{photo by me}

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives.  I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.  ~Abraham Lincoln 

Photography Progress

I announced my BIG plans to get  my photography business set up just a couple weeks ago and today I have finally made enough progress on my new Photography BLOG and Website to share it with you! I can't even begin to tell you how much time and thought I've put into this. To some people it might not look like anything special but to me it's a HUGE deal.

*Name*

I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I spent about a month brainstorming ideas for my official business name. It's pretty much all that I talked about. I think everyone around me was starting to think I was a little crazy.. or maybe I was thought I was going crazy. It's very difficult naming an LLC in Texas because there are SO many photography LLCs already and it has to be unique. It can't even sound like anyone else's name. I did a great deal of research on names and decided that I didn't want my photography business to be "Ashley Swallow Photography" or something generic like "Photos by Ashley". I wanted something that was a little different and was a reflection of my personality. I finally decided on a number one and number two. My first pick was, Peace Love Photography and my second pick was, Live Laugh Photograph. It turns out my first option was already legally filed (or a name similar) with the state so I went with my second option. Then, I got an e-mail from my lawyer stating that he had completed filing my name as Live Laugh Photography... with a "y" on the end instead of just Photograph. It was a misunderstanding on his part when looking over my paperwork and he said that he thought I had inadvertently left off the "y". I was a little bummed out to say the least because I think that Live Laugh Photograph has more of a "ring" to it. :) He e-mailed back and saved the day! He covered the cost associated with his mistake and filed a name change with the state. The whole name thing has taken a little longer then I would have liked but in the end I'm really excited about my new photography business name, Live Laugh Photograph, LLC!

*NEW Website and Blog*

I am really HAPPY with my website and blog choices. My website is super user friendly and I love that the company offers over 70 different templates. If I get sick of the one I have and want to spice things up I can change it with one click. Which won't be for a while because I spent hours changing all of the color codes on both my blog and website so that they would match perfectly. I don't really want to do that again anytime soon. The Blog set up I chose is actually a WordPress platform. I'm so used to using Blogger for this blog so I'm thinking it's going to take me a little while to really learn the ins and outs of a completely different set up. It's going to be worth it though because the design is created specifically for photographers that want to show off LARGE images in different formats. I'll be able to create light box galleries or slide shows with about two clicks! I'm so excited about all the new features I get to play with! I still have little tweaks to make though, I had another photographer from {i heart faces} tell me that my logo was cut off on the top of her computer screen. On my screen it looks like this... 

I have a 24 inch iMac, I guess that's a larger screen then what most people might have so if she had not told me that, I now would not have the opportunity to correct it. If you have any feedback of suggestions for me please let me know! Any input you have would be greatly appreciated!

Website: www.livelaughphotograph-llc.com

Blog: www.livelaughphotograph-blog.com 

P.S. In case you're wondering I will still be blogging here at The Navy Wife about both photography and everyday things. In addition to this blog home, I have just added a new special home for my photography work. :)

  *Facebook*

I set up a new fb account for Live. Laugh. Photograph. so if you're interested you can become a fan here.     

That's it for now! Please let me know what you think and feel free to contact me if you're interested in booking a session and we'll start talking about details and ideas!


Also, don't forget to enter my first giveaway here! 

*GIVEAWAY*GIVEAWAY*GIVEAWAY*GIVEAWAY*GIVEAWAY*

I'm hosting my very *first* giveaway ever!

Enter to win a United States flag or your choice of a Military branch flag courtesy of CVS Flags. CVS Flags is a wholesale flag distributor that has been around for over 30 years. In addition to great customer service, all of the flags are made right here in the USA. Every household should at least have a flag, especially if you're apart of a military family! Wouldn't you agree? Why not enter to win one for FREE! 

**********************************************************************

ENTER TO WIN

Please leave an individual comment per entry! 

1. Visit CVS Flags then comeback and tell me which flag you would like to win from either the US Flag (outdoor) or Military Flag section.

2. Become a follower of my blog or leave a comment telling me that you're already a follower. 

3. Publish a post on your blog about this giveaway linking back to this post, leave a comment with post link. 

4. Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post, leave your twitter link in a comment. You may tweet about giveaway once per day for up to 5 entries but must come back and leave me a comment for each tweet. 

5. Leave a comment explaining why you want this flag! 

6. Leave a comment explaining why you think it's important to support our troops! 

That's 10 entries per person! Have fun and good luck! 

Giveaway will be open through Friday, March 5, 2010, at 10:00 p.m. CST. Winner will be chosen through True Random Number Generator via random.org. Winner will be posted Saturday, March 6, 2010. Your flag will be shipped directly from CVS Flags to you! :)