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June 28, 2011 Posted in Children's Photography, Family Photography, Personal

where to start? when i look back at this blog i realize im a pretty bad blogger. i really always have great plans to update it and keep it interesting. i know how disappointing it can be to click on one of your favorite blogs (not that im one of your fave’s but ya know) and then….nope no updates. Same old thing you saw last week. bummer….

So i really have the best intentions to keep you all entertained and laughing and provide some beautiful yumminess for your eyes. but alas….i realize it just doesnt work out as i plan.

so just to catch up and let you all know whats going on.

personal…. i have received soo many emails, phone calls, texts sweet cards…everything from many of you. asking how im feeling and whats going on with my health. im so sorry i havnt updated you on that, i so appreciate the prayers, kind words and yummy thoughts. i soooo appreciate them! when i see you all in person my answer will always be…oh im fine, im great..how are you? I like to turn it around on you quickly to be honest i feel like im 86 years old and all i talk about is my body, my health or lack of, or blah blah. sooo to be truly honest… i have been pretty yuckly. my bladder/kidney issues are still here. they are under control as far as no recent stones (yeah) I have been trying some natural remedies for the bladder disease and they seem to be helping. i am trying to avoid the every 6 month surgery thing we have been doing. Surgery and my body are just kinda done with each other!! The most recent issue is some sort of nerve issues. I have tests on July 6th that will determine (hopefully) for sure what is going on there. Ill update you then So …… yes ill take your prayers…each and everyone of them, but im ok. im great :)

im thrilled to be blessed with an amazing hubby that daily tends to my needs and makes sure i have a smile on my face. two teenagers who ..well they are teenagers but they do love me and most days try to make things running smoothly. Phoenix started driving last month…yep…he is 16. How crazy is that. He has a car and is doing great so far but i will tell you..its the hardest parenting i have done so far. everytime he walks out that door i just gasp for air. its so hard to let him go out in this world all alone. i just start praying for God to protect him and bring him home safely! And when i hear him pull into the gravel driveway I smile and say thank you!! Molly is 12, all spunk and sass. she reminds me so much of myself…yes scary but i also love that i know she is tough and will take care of herself as well. she continues to play sports, get more muscle tone and i must say…prettier every day. :) mommy goggles, i know.

we went to the beach in Pawleys Island a few weeks ago, my bff from 5th grade, Aimee, her parents are blessed enough to live right on the beach and invited us all down for a short trip. of course the beach is great anyday but i was most excited to spend a few days with aimee and her babe, Hayden. we only live 15 mins apart but with our busy lives it could be hours. i hate that! i love them dearly and my goal is to spend alot more time with the little Bug. we had a great time, rested, kids played and bonded. Hayden loveesssssssss Molly. really loves her. im totally jealous..totally!! but what a great sight to see her and him play in the water and sand together. just to watch our kids love each other and grow together is pretty awesome. soo grateful!!

we head back to the beach in mid july with the whole crew. cant wait!!

work!!! lots of great things going on at MJP studios. im reminded daily of how grateful i am to do what i do. such a blessing. we have met alot of new clients this year and of course kissed alot of old ones! we are loving our space in downtown Franklin. walking to eat each day, get my daily crack addition of Starbucks and of course shopping galore. we have our own parking and entrance so its so easy to get in and out. clients seem to appreciate that if your downtown walking around come see me! you will see our sign in front of Hearts & Hands store…..we are right above them! Of course we have been there for about 6 months and im totally ready to redecorate already….horrible side effect i got from my mom!

We have photographed two weddings already this year. YEP..me i photographed two weddings. One of those being my sister, Kelley, she married the sweetest man and I got two new nephews out of it! score one for aunt mandy! it was a beautiful wedding and im so happy for them. two days later i photographed the wedding of Ashley Williams. she is the sister to kimberly williams paisley. she has been in alot of movies, most recently in Something Borrowed, google her…she is adorable. the wedding was on the farm of the kim and brad paisley and as a favor to them i agreed to shoot the wedding. NO I DONT DO WEDDINGS!! it was alot of fun and one of the most authentic weddings i have ever witnessed! i was honored to be there with them. You can see some of the images on People.com and one of them with kim & brad was in People Magazine. fun stuff.

i have been getting alot of questions about photographing celebrities…they are great. im honored to be trusted and let into their homes. best thing about all of them..they are just mommys and daddys like the rest of us. soo i have alot of fun capturing them and their babes for them. alot of you have asked about me sharing more images of them all…sorry cant. we have to protect their privacy and those lil babes of theirs. but trust me…the images and the babes are adorable :0)

really exciting news about MJP~~~~ the lovely assistant that so many of you have come to love as much as i do…miss jenny…yep she is getting fatter and fatter!! we will have a new member to the MJP family come December. She is very excited to welcome her lil one this year. Her son Jake…well we will see how excited he is. but if you see Jenny give her a big ole hug (if you can wrap your arms around her lovely yummy belly) HAHA. totally joking..she is still tiny as ever but she is growing a lil person. YEAH!!!! I CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

as far as sessions go….we are booked through the end of July and are already booking for all of the remainder of 2011. now if you were one of the 20 or so people we had to turn away last year due to booking up for fall….dont do it again!!! we highly recommend you booking your session now. here in the photography world…fall is crazy season! we book alot of family sessions, kids alone and then that turns into hundreds of beautiful christmas cards…lots and lots of beautiful prints wrapped up for family…lots of geooorgeouus albums laying around homes for people to ooh & awe over at holiday parties….SOOO

what does that all mean to you? BOOK NOW~

we also LLLLLOOOOOOVVVVEEEE those of you that go ahead and order your christmas cards now!! we have alot of new cards this year, super excited about them all. So if you want to use a image from your summer session go ahead and get those cards marked off your to do list…way before you even make that list! :)

we have had many calls asking about fall mini sessions…as of right now we are not planning one. now that could change but as of now we will just be offering full custom sessions. if we change our minds…which i do sometimes… we will update you on that!

are you our “FAN” on Facebook? we are much quicker on FB. so please go and LIKE us, you will see all of our newest images and promotions. sooo do that now….

click here…FACEBOOK

SOO if your still reading..wow your a trooper! thank you for still checking in our lonely blog. i will try to do better. thanks for your prayers and your love. i really love you all too!!!!!!!!!!!!

xoxoxo

mandy

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monthly family challenge |nashville childrens photographer

February 5, 2010 Posted in Personal

my world. a amazing photographer in cali Tara Whitney has challenged others to take a family picture once a month then write something about it. something about each person and what is going on right then with your family.then at the end of the year to put it all in a book together! such a fab idea!! soooo usually i just go yeah what a great idea and then never do it but im reallllly going to try and do this one! i do have one family pic taken in Jan, just not on this computer but i will post it here as well. SO for now here is my babes. When I took this image life was great. we had several days of playing in the beautiful snow, everyone home, no where to run off to, no sports practice, no work, just no obligations. one thing great about living where we do…get snow and everything shuts down. its kinda great! we have awesome neighbors that we get out and play with just enjoy time with each other.things we seem to take for granted! phoenix has his red bull hat on that he adores and wears all of the time, i dont love it. its very bright and i refuse to let him wear it turned the right way because i think he looks like a thug he is a freshman and doing conditioning every day for the high school soccer team. i am nervous about the season starting because he is really the only goalie and will be playing ALOT, as his mommy i feel like this is a lot of pressure for him! steve says its good for him, makes him tough! he has no girl friend right now so that is a nice lil break, im enjoying him not wanting to run off every minute of the day! he eats non stop. molly is finishing up basketball. they have one more game then tournys. she is soo good at ball. she becomes this lil beast out on the court, fierce and serious. a red head! in this picture and all of the pictures from the snow her hair is sooo vibrant red! i love it. its so beautiful and it makes me think about our heritage. her great great grandmother gave her that red hair. i love that. kinda jealous she takes art every week and paints beautiful images for everyone. she is growing and changing daily. she is obsessed with sonic slushies right now. the sad part of this picture is that the day after we took these her precious lil kitty was killed in a awful accident. she got her in october for her birthday and in those short months EllieMae was a huge part of our family! We all have cried and been sad for the loss. i was so worried about molly and how she would handle this. sad and angry, yes. but so strong and brave. all i could tell her was to “go to God” and being the strong Christian that she is i do believe He is helping her (all of us) get through it. so even though i dont wnat to see this time in a picture, im afraid that is what i see. but i know this too shall pass and its a part of our lives. Joel Osteen did a sermon and said…its not happening to me but FOR me. God is preparing me for bigger and better, preparing us for His work. amen! Now even though steve and i arent in this pic i will say a lil about us..for the challenge and all. steve, well he is working hard on the buisness end of my photography. the part i really dont enjoy! he is being the amazing engineer on the fire dept, he of course is taking care of me! that is what he does best, i love him more each and every day. he is growing a mohawk and going to get more tattooes soon! love him. together we are going to predators hockey games and hoping for a spot in the playoffs! now the hard part..me. well im in a place of needing great healing. after an amazing fall season of being overworked and so busy i dont even know how i got through. praising Him daily for the abundant work and blessings found in each and every client! it was over and Christmas was here. time to slow down a bit and just enjoy my family. another surgery and now weeks later finally ready to go back to work. i have to admit im lazy now. with the surgery and recovery, then all of this hum drum winter weather im just lazy. if i could stay home every day and wear my comfy sweat pants with the bottoms cut out and one of my many fav hoodies…i would. but i know its time to poke my head out and get back to work! get back to life outside of our lil bubble after burying steves sweet grandma this week im missing my grandparents that are in KY. gotta get there asap to visit and hug and soak in their smell and sweetness. so that is me. feeling hopeful for a healthier year and ready for some sunshine!

i hope each of you will take on this challenge. take a moment each month to photograph your family, nothing fancy just a quick snapshot. grab everyone before dinner ask the neighbor to snap a pic, document 2010 as your family really is every day!

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blessings | nashville childrens photographer

June 17, 2009 Posted in Personal

If your a photographer you know how hard it is to get pictures of your own family. (and I guess even if you arent one too) Much less get ones you truly love. I always look at my clients images and dream of having them of my own. My kids are pretty well photographed but as a family, not so much and Steve and I together, forget it! Well for a week now I knew I wanted to TRY to get some before my upcoming surgery, it was really important to me. Knowing this my sweet husband told our kids to behave and cooperate and pretend your having fun, do it for mom. SOOO im calling these “pity mom surgery pics” but HEy you have to take what you can get. We actually did have a pretty good time out together and the kids (and steve) and even Vegas (our wonder dog) were the best they have ever been for family pictures. I wasnt convinced we got anything amazing but I am so beyond thrilled with these. Just us. Just fun. Just jeans and a field. God has blessed me so.

This will be my last post for a while. Surgery is Thursday. I will be off of work for several weeks. Please email me with any questions or to book your Fall session. This is the time to start thinking about Christmas cards and gift portraits. Book early!

LOve you all. Thank you for all of your prayers, I will keep you updated as much as I can!

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borrowing Gods eyes and using His heart.

February 22, 2009 Posted in Personal

My prayer this morning was that the youth group and adults would see people the way that the Lord sees them, that they could love only the way He can. That all of us could help others and help ourselves at the same time, the way He wants us to. I know this isnt my typical post. Im afraid these portraits are not of cute adorable lil babes but rather a small group of homeless people in Nashville. This is a ministry I have wanted to start for quite a while and after our first trip today I hope and pray we will be able to continue to do this more and more often! Meet Miss Betty who has the biggest blue eyes and smile. SHe is quite hysterical and keeps all of these men together! Then you have Anthony, a big guy of stature but the shyest of the group, he was a little unsure of having me photographing him, but who can say no to my sweet lil face..right? After that you have Robert, a very intelligent man, he had lots to talk about and was open with us and the kids about his hurt hand. He had gotten sick and tried to end his own life, he is better now and asked for some warm slip on shoes as he has trouble putting shoes on. Last you have Kayce, defiantly the most outgoing and happy to give us a tour of their homes. Homes that consist of tents made out of tarps and plastic, inside you will find a wide array of items. One might look at their home and feel sorry for them, or wonder how they survive in those conditions. I know I have. but if you take a little bit of time and talk to them, they are proud of what they have, they were very secretive about where they are located. They do not want any of the “rift raft” bothering them. They love their home on the river, no complaints of how cold it is, as we all stood around freezing. We delivered several boxes of food, tarps, blankets, clothes and misc items to them, Just a little something to try and make their days a lil brighter and better. Walking away from them was one of the hardest things I ever done. I wanted to know more,help more and pray more. As we got in our nice heated cars its hard not to rethink some things, rethink life and the people in it. Those are Gods people just as I am. We just have different stories and different paths. I know our paths will cross again as we have already started planning our next trip to see them, we have a new list of items that they need. So please pray for them, for all of the homeless people.