Baby steps....

Well....I CAN WALK!!!! Yeah!! I'm so excited! I just went to the doctor today to get an xray and he let me know that my ankle is totally healed and looks great!! So now I can walk on it! Right when I got home I put another shoe on and started training for the 2007 Chicago Marathon....LOL...well not really...;)
It was the weirdest standing for the first time and taking a step after more than 2 months of not walking!! It's amazing what we take for granted! So I'm building up the strength in my foot again...I still had to walk with one crutch tonight like it was a cane but hey, it's a start!!! :)
So this has definitely been an amazing day and I booked my first destination wedding!! So I'm SUPER excited about that!! I have tons more to post about especially about Christmas and stuff..but my card reader just broke on me so I can't download any pictures yet...but I'll get my brother to fix it:)
Also, my sister Natalie's birthday was yesterday!!! YEAH!! She turned 15 years old!! Wow! I'm definitely getting old...lol! We went to see the movie We are Marshall for her birthday and it was sooo inspiring but very sad too! I defintely recommend it!!
Well...back to my two month old chores...! The main reason my family is happy that I can walk again is so that I can work now!! lol! Right when I got home my mom had me make dinner then do the dishes!!! No mercy here!!! HAHAH!!! Have an awesome night!! I love you all!!

It's a wonderful life!!!!

WELLL!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Officially here in Chicago!! Yeah!
We just got back from our yearly tradition of driving around town and looking at lights! It's always so much fun but every year our car get's more and more packed with people!! This year it was crazy but still so much fun! We sang Christmas carols that I video taped but....yeah...you WON'T want to see those!! hehe! On the way home we stopped to get KK which is also the tradition to get doughnuts...but they decided to be closed tonight!! Gosh! The nerve!! lol! The funniest part is that once we drove in the parking lot and went past the empty drive through about 5 other cars followed us through!! It was hilarious!! Here is a video of it! Sorry about all the talking...there were 9 people in the car! :)
I'm so excited about tomorrow(I guess it would be today now...)! We are waking up super early to open presents then having a bunch of family over for dinner from my dad's side!!
I love you all soooo much and I hope you have a seriously AMAZING Christmas!!
Love,
Sarah
PS....that really exciting thing that I posted about yesterday will hopefully be ready by the day after Christmas..it got just a little delayed:)

Andrew David or David Andrew??

Ok....now for the final spotlight of my family it goes to my brother Andrew! :)
Andrew I am so happy to call one of my best friends even though he is soooo much taller than me and can totally beat me up!!! lol! We are two years apart but everyone thinks he is for sure older than me and I can totally understand that! He has wisdom and maturity way beyond his years...it's really awesome when I can come to my younger brother for advice! Humbling but so awesome because I know that he is going to go so far with that! Andrew is AMAZING at almost everything, basketball, playing the guitar, anything to do with the computer(he makes me look smart with all this technology), and attracting the ladies. LOL....which I love to just link arms with him sometimes while we're out just to scare the girls off!! jk;) He is the best younger(who acts older)brother I could have!!
Sooo... *drum roll please*
Here is his **slideshow**
I'll hopefully be posting something REALLY special tomorrow so stay tuned!!!!:)
Ps..Also with the title...Andrew was actually David for the first couple hours he was born and then my parents switched it around a little...haha!

I LOVE this time of year!!!

The past couple days have been so much fun!! My friend Sarah Chellappa who used to work for me is in town from school! So the past couple days we've been hanging out and it been way to much fun because all we do is laugh the whole time!! lol! It's great! On Thursday we went downtown Chicago to meet up with her friend Chris! We just kinda wandered around, ate at Due's Pizza(Which is Uno's)and at Four Seasons for dessert! It was a blast! That night we headed back to Sarah's house and ate Filipino food for dinner....now Sarah's dad is from India so whenever people come over he teaches them to eat with their hands like they do in India!! It's awesome! I had never done it so I tried it and it was harder than I thought!! Especially with rice noodles!! Thankfully I don't have any pictures of that because it was kind of a mess!! LOL!
Then last night we went to Sarah's parents 25th anniversary party! It was so special!! And I think the most awesome part was that they did a dance where all the couples who had been married 25 years or more to come up and there were 8 couples!! I thought that was just so awesome when you hardly ever see that much commitment anymore these days!! So incredible!


Well....enough typing!! I have to head out to finish my Christmas shopping!! I've never done last minute shopping and I did some yesterday too...it took me 45 minutes JUST to get out of the parking lot!!! lol!! Definitely the most wonderful time of the year!!! haha!!
I love you all!!
PS...I have NO clue what I'm doing in that top picture....I think it was just taking to long to take the picture so I had to take my anger out on someone!!! LOL!! jk;)

Natalie Joy!!

Ok...now on to more pictures!! :)
We were pretty much running out of time for more photoshoots before Christmas so my sister just wanted me to put up her senior pictures! Which we took a little earlier this year and I guess we never posted!! lol!
Natalie is amazing! When she was first born I remember sitting and holding her for about 3 hours! I wouldn't give her to anyone else because she was MY sister! hehe!
She has now grown up into a beautiful young lady and I love her so much! She always loves to hang out with my friends and I which I don't always mind because she is definitely sometimes 14 going on 35!! lol! She is amazing at anything to do with office manager type stuff and has memorized basically every phone number in the phone book!! Craziness! When she gets older she wants to do wedding planning and be a wife and a mother! How great is that!! Especially the wedding planner deal!! Then we could work together!! Here is her slideshow **click here** to see her slideshow!
I love you all!! Have an amazing day!
PS. Also, she is the one that I started the "Dear Natalie" blog for! Check it out!

Creativity, entrepreneurship, and blogging.

Those are definitely some of my favorite words!
I just got an email from my uncle letting the whole family know that he was quoted in Business Week! **Click Here** for the article!
The article is all about creativity as an entrepreneur and being able "notice" the needs in the marketplace! I think that is one of the most important things to be able to do and when you have the time to sit down, think and brainstorm about different possibilities it is amazing what you can come up with! I remember doing brainstorming all the time when I was little with our family. We could never cut down an idea we just had to write it down. Because the negativity would block the creativity! The other night I had to come up with 4 concepts for a photoshoot that I have to do. I just sat down got quiet, started to think and pray and came up with about 8 really fresh new concepts for this photoshoot that I hadn't thought of before! Just from taking that time to think and not cutting down any idea but developing it! It's really alot of fun too...and I got so excited that I could hardly fall asleep! Well that same technique can be applied with coming up with new products for the marketplace that you have "noticed" a need for! So fun! I know! I'm definitely a geek in this area but I have always loved starting businesses and stuff so you'll have hang with me! LOL!
Also, I love blogging! It seriously has changed the way I run my business and it is always so much fun to hear the most randomest people come up to me and say "omg I read your blog everyday!! I know everything that is going on with you!!" lol! It's awesome! But the power of blogging is amazing too! This whole post wouldn't be up here if it wasn't for that, cause my uncle was just quoted in that article from a comment that he made on someone's blog!!!
The other day I was answering one of those questionnaire things and it asked if I could live in any time period when would it be?? Well my answer was definitely RIGHT NOW!! This is such an amazing time to live in!! :)

Some more of my favorite things!

I realized that I haven't done "My favorite things" post in awhile so I figured I'd do another one! :)As Christmas is getting closer and closer and I'm stuck in the house alot with most of my work finished I have been finding creative things to do...LOL! Like read, watch you tube, and hang out with my family.

1. The Long Tail!

My friend DJ recommended this book to me and I just started reading it a couple weeks ago and it's great!! It is basically talking about the possibilities of e-commerce and selling on the internet. Also, how so many people focus on the big "hits" when there is huge money to be made in even the "non hits" when they all add up! A VERY interesting read! :)

2. MST3K

Whenever I ask people if they have seen this they are always like "huh??" Which I never understand because I remember seeing it on tv all the time when I was little. Anyways it stands for "Mystery Science Theater 3000" It is one of the funniest and stupidest shows ever! Basically it is this guy and two robots sitting watching these old B rated movies that are so cheesy and making the funniest comments during the whole show! It's amazing!! LOL! I found hundreds of episodes on You Tube of it so now we're hooked! haha! (disclaimer: some of the comments might be a little crude so you have to watch out:)

3. My brother John!
I just love him so much and it was his 9th birthday yesterday which is crazy since I watched him being born!! He was actually born on the same day the Wright brothers flew their plane for the first time! And the funny thing is that he has wanted to be a pilot for as long as I can remember!! How funny is that! :) If you didn't get to check out his slideshow from a couple days ago **click here**

4. Pictage!!!
I seriously love them! I don't think I would be in the photography business anymore if it wasn't for them! I would be so over my head with orders and fulfillment and printing that I wouldn't have any time for shooting! One of the things that I have really enjoyed reading the past couple days is my friend DJ's blog where this HUGE debate is going on about whether or not Pictage is good or not...**click here** to read it! It's hilarious and gotten so huge but I have no question about it! I just got a huge check in today from them and am ready to SHOP rather than fulfill orders:)
I love you all!!!

Now I see why birds fly south for the winter!

Obviously they are smarter than us!!!

Who needs a studio??

The other night we went to a ladies tea that my sister and her friends put on for our church! It was alot of fun and my friend Rebecca and I mostly hung out in the family room and just played piano most of the time(you DO NOT want to hear that...lol!) and ate. At one point I totally just got in the mood to do a photoshoot(happens every once in a long while;) so Rebecca and I just did one right there in their front foyer!! Too fun!


My brother Andrew who was there to do "Valet" service found this freaky paddle!! Ugh...reminded me of the good old days!! LOL
I hope you all are doing great and enjoying all the holiday parties and shopping!! Speaking of shopping...I haven't even thought about that!!! ahh!!! :)
Have an amazing day!! I love you all!

1st photoshoot!!!

Well..not really..but it was my first real photoshoot that I did since I broke my ankle!! lol!
I got a call from Cristy a couple weeks ago saying that she would love for me to come and do a photoshoot of her and her sisters! I thought it would be a blast so on Thursday my brother Andrew, Jake, and I all headed out to St. Charles to do the shoot!
We had such a great time! We originally had planned to do the shoot outside but it was like 12 degrees so we decided to do it inside instead but I loved their house so that was no problem at all! This was such a beautiful family too! So that tied together with a great backdrop and having an awesome time with everyone made for some fun pictures! Here is the **slideshow**!!

John Emmanuel

NOW...it's John's turn!! :) He has been begging me for the past week for his photoshoot! He even helped me put the slideshow together and everything!
John is 8 now and it is crazy to think because he was always the baby of the family then 3 years ago Oli showed up then Jules! He has always been my buddy and he loves to just come and sit next to me and talk while I'm working:) I love it! He is definitely the more quiet one in the family(If that is possible! lol!) but he is definitely the most sensitive to peoples needs! It's so great! He loves playing with legos and wants to be a pilot when he grows up! I think he will be an AMAZING pilot because he is very attentive to details!
John I love you!
Here is his **slideshow** Enjoy! He picked out the music too;)

The many faces of Mark Barlow

So to continue with the photoshoots of my brothers and sisters we move onto my brother Mark. (My brother John has been begging for a photoshoot but he was gone yesterday so I did Mark first)
Now Mark has always been the "different" one in the family. LOL He is a huge ball of energy and is just like the energizer bunny that never runs out!
He loves to take things apart all the time. I think he could probably do anything he wants in life and be amazing at it.
When he was little he would say and do the funniest things that we would call "Mark Classics" some of the included putting a cassette tape in the toaster and turning the toaster on; sitting on the toilet seat backwards; carving his initials in the toilet seat THEN denying it!! Most of the funny things that he did did revolve around the toilet because that used to be his second home and would spend hours in there everyday just reading! HAHA!
Some of the funny thing he said when he was little is: "Why didn't Adam and Eve just eat the snake??" "If God is eternal than how old was Jesus when he was born?"
Yeah...definitely the different one..but we love him!! :)
Here is his **slideshow** Enjoy!

A very entertaining weekend!

So this past weekend I had a blast! On Saturday night I went to see the new movie "The Nativity Story" and it was really good! It is so cool to see these different Bible storys acted out in a NON cheesy way! So it was awesome to see that they pulled that off!
Last night I went to a Superchick, Santus Real, John Reuben, Last Tuesday, and Made Avail concert! It was seriously amazing! It was the last night of the tour so everything was crazy! The tradition is that the different artist totally play jokes on the other artists while they are performing!! It was hilarious(as you will see in the slideshow!)
I don't remember the last time I went to a concert that I had to pay for so this was a little weird to be on the "fan" side but it was such a blast! Check out the **slideshow**
Have awesome Monday!! :)