Hello June

It is the beginning of yet another month! Angie will be 5 months old soon, she learns so much and is growing so fast. I can't believe how fast she's been growing. As far as her height goes, she is "off the charts", as her doctor says.

I've been able to have more and more spare time here and there. I'm starting to go stir crazy because I'm not working, therefor I've taken up some projects. I made a beautiful painting for my husbands niece for her bedroom. It was more so a gift to her for all the baby items she has given me over the past several months. 

I made this after I made a piece for our living room wall. I needed to hang photos of Angie, but didn't want to just put them flat on the wall.... 

It actually looks a bit different now, I added two candle lanterns on each side. Still searching for a few more embellishments to go on it. 
Soon I will be flipping furniture. Re-doing old pieces and selling them. I'm starting with Angie's crib, I'm in the process of sanding it down so I can repaint it. I already picked out my paint colors, and it's gonna look awesome!

Other than that, just enjoying life. I'm trying to orchestrate a long visit to Michigan to go visit my mother and other family/friends. Angie will be going with me, obviously. She has a lot of people she has yet to meet. I'm also trying to get some photo sessions going while I'm out there- so if you are in/around Michigan and are interested, get a hold of me! I can't tell you how many times people have said "oh Misty, I wish you lived closer or come to visit so I can have you do pics for me...." WELL PEOPLE, NOW is your chance! Let's make it happen! I will be out there, so no excuses!

As far as the house remodel/revamping/whateveryouwannacallit is going, well- it stopped. We got the master bedroom done and moved it. Still lots of areas that need attention, but it is summertime and now we are focused on the yard. 

Hopefully I will have more updates for shoots in the near future. I want to jam as many in as I can when I visit the Midwest.

That is all for now! Until next month. lol. 

Three months in...

We are here, in our new house. Beautiful location- away from people. The river is behind us, a cute trail that leads to the river's edge where we can fish, picnic or whatever. Secluded. Peaceful.

I used to be a fan of colder weather. Having an infant, that isn't the case anymore. I am dying for warm, sunny days. The few warm days we've had so far, I was able to walk her around in the Baby Bjorn, but it only took a matter of minutes for her to fall fast asleep.
Angie is now 12 weeks old, today. She is growing so fast. It is time for her 3 month photos already. I can't wait until she is old enough to walk so I can chase her around the yard.

We still have loads of boxes in the basement, waiting to be unpacked. First we've been doing some minor face lifting on the house, though. Painting here and there. I've been so inspired lately as to decorating ideas. I can't wait until we are able to do that.

The lady whom we bought the house from owns a horse stable next door. I've been tending to her 4 horses here and there while she's been away. In fact, I will be tending to them again this weekend.

The weather supposed to be warming up soon, which will allow me to do some much needed projects outside in the open air. 

That is my updates for now. I hear the baby waking in the other room, so it's time to put my mommy pants back on! 

Even though this photo is a month old, here is Angie at 2 months.

I need coffee- STAT

Angela Christine Valenta made her way into the world 3 weeks ago today. 7 lbs 7 oz and 19 inches long.
I ended up being induced at 9 am on January 10th, being that I was a bit over a week overdue.
She came into the world at 6:25 pm.

Life has been crazy since then. My whole schedule has been changed to accomodate her and now I devote my entire day to her care.
Exhausting, confusing, scary, overwhelming... you name it, it's been a roller coaster of a ride with the emotions.

My mother was here for the first week which was a huge help to allow me to try and get used to the idea of having a little person around to take care of. Unfortunately, I was strucken with the baby blues, so I spent a good chunk of the first week bawling my eyes out whenever possible.

Every day is a new day.


We are also very close to our closing dates, moving out of this house into another one. Most of our belongings are packed and moved into a storage unit closer to the new house- which is about 45 minutes further upstate. The past week we've been getting more things packed up and ready to ship out. It's going to be challenging trying to move with a newborn- especially with the roadblocks that have been thrown our way with both our buyer, and the seller of our new house. I guess it's never easy when it comes to purchasing a house, right?

That's pretty much the extent of any updates. My life the past 3 weeks have consisted of me camping out on the couch, waiting for the next feeding, burping and diaper changes. I've watched just about every crap show/movie on TV that there is. Every so often when she is in a deep sleep, I'm able to pick up the house and maybe get a load or two of laundry in.

I hope all is well out in the world.... seems I've lost touch with it for the time being....

Magic of Christmas

If you've been over to my facebook photography page, then you've seen the update.

If you are not aware, I am pregnant and due any day now with our first child. So exciting. I was hoping for a Christmas baby, but today is Christmas and there is no baby.
New Years baby, perhaps?

Anyways. So much going on around the household- not only are we expecting to expand our family in the very, very near future- but we are also in the process of moving. The house has been sold, contracts are signed and we have found our new home as well. Hopefully we'll be out of here by the end of next month.... We are overwhelmed, but excited. A whole new chapter in life for us. The new place is gorgeous, with the perfect location being right on the river.

My creative streak has been slowly returning the past month or so. I've gained *some* energy back from this pregnancy and my mind is racing with all sorts of ideas and new challenges. I just hope that I can squeeze in some creative time in the next couple months. I'm very anxious to get back into working with my visions. Today, I was overly inspired by an idea that I thought was original, but after googling it, found that it is not- though I do have some really insane things I want to bring to life... and I found a very inspirational artist that has really opened the doors for me today.

I guess that's the magic of Christmas, right?

So. With that, hopefully I can bring some new things to my pages soon.

I hope everyone had a very happy and healthy holiday, and an amazing New Year!

September 11, 2001.

It's hard to believe tomorrow is 11 years since that heartbreaking day that changed America and especially New York.
I'm trying to avoid all the 911 tv shows and recaps they've been having on tv for the past week or so. Myself, like so many others, don't need them to remember. So much has been forever etched into our heads and our hearts. 

I was working down in Ramsey, NJ when it happened. My boyfriend at the time worked around the corner from me. We always commuted together every day for work. I remember the first phone call from him, telling me that one of the Twin Towers was hit by a plane. I didn't even really know how that was possible, or what that would mean. You've seen the Twin Towers and wonder how and the hell an airplane could crash into it. Though it was a tragedy and my heart went out to those involved, it didn't really sink in until the second tower was hit. By that time, our phone lines and tv were down and suddenly the town got really quiet.
Ramsey is about 30 miles from Manhattan, and even from 30 miles away the after math of the attacks hit like a sledge hammer to the gut.

So many questions. Why? Who? What was happening to us? When I could finally get a line out of the bank, I called my mother back home. I knew she had to have heard what was going on and was probably freaking out. I can replay that entire phone call in my head still to this day. This was back when cell phones weren't as popular as they are now, so I had to call her business and speak to someone that would put me through. I calmly explained to them who I was, where I was and that I am ok, and I needed to tell my mother that.
When she got to the phone, she was visibly upset. Apparently everyone at her company was all in the lunch room crowded around the tiny tv, watching God knows what. Even I wasn't able to see anything on tv- anything but snow. The news broadcasting in Michigan said that the East coast was under attack. From what? I don't know.... were we really under attack? I didn't see anything outside the window. How were they going to attack us?

It wasn't long before State of Emergency was called and we were sent home. My boyfriend and I drove back upstate to our house. Still not too clear on what was going on. We heard the word terrorists, but didn't know from where or who they were. We went to his fathers house and got a gun to take home with us. Why? I don't really know. Suddenly the world was strange. We felt helpless and everything around us, chaotic.
It wasn't until returning home later that night when we were able to see what happened on tv. Even though if we would have driven a mile down the road from where we worked, we could have seen the smoke coming from the towers. It's just that we didn't want to. I guess we didn't want to believe it.

I remember the weather was perfect for weeks afterwards. I remember thanking God for that. Thanking him so the workers were able to dig through the rubble to hopefully find anyone that could have survived. Chances were slim, but there are always miracles.
People were so nice to each other, too. Quiet, but nice. It softened a lot of us. The pain, shock and disbelief was too overpowering for anything else to really matter. Flags started flying everywhere. Every street, every house, every car. Patrons on the side of the road waving them to all the cars that passed by. At night, people crowded the street corners with candles. Churches held vigils several times a day. Blood banks became overcrowded with generous people wanting to do anything to help. 
Everyone knew someone who was gone. Every day you saw the faces of the loved ones left behind, wondering if they were still alive. The posters went up everywhere, local news in newspapers was replaced with pictures of the missing faces, or those who they had found. Firefighters, police officers... you couldn't help but say a silent prayer for each one of them.
I think a lot of people lost their faith in God that day, just as an equal amount had also found him.

Planes were grounded, the only ones you'd see in the sky were from the military. Even those made you nervous because you wondered if they knew something that you didn't. When they started letting the planes fly again, I remember panicking every time I saw one in the air. Wondering where it was going... Who was flying it... 
It was another painful reminder.

September 11th changed so much for so many. I guess that's what their plans were all along. The city was never safe after that.... and again, that's what they wanted. We keep saying that they didn't win- but didn't they? Security is heightened, and I can't count how many times we've heard the words "terror alert" every year since then. There have been several bomb threat issues since.... and we can't forget the anthrax scare that happened immediately after. The post office around the corner from where I worked was shut down due to having found anthrax in a package. First we worry about terrorists bombing buildings with explosives, and now we worry about anything that is a powdery substance.
We actually had to take a security class at the bank about what to do in a terrorist situation- being that we heard that financial institutions could possibly be on the terrorist target list. What to do if someone came in strapped with explosives, or if we receive a package with powder on it. What to do if we get a threatening phone call or if someone wants to come in to apply for a large loan.
That's when we started screening people. More policies were put into place when it came to dealing with large sums of money.

Every day is a reminder. Every year on that day is a dagger to the heart.

I will never forget. My heart goes out to the families that have lost and to those that are no longer with us. Thank you all to the brave people that went in to help save lives. Thank you to our military for fighting this war- past, present and future. Thank you all, to each and every one of you, that donated yourself, your time, or a piece of you on that day and they days that followed.

"We move forward, but we never forget."