It just never gets old

Yesterday was a GREAT day! It started at 5:30 in the morning and ended right after midnight, but I got to do so much fun stuff. I already posted about going to Carrie's party. After a short rest, I went back to the Opry for the free plaza party. Kate and Kacey Coppola from "Can You Duet" (If you watched that show, they were the duet that Naomi Judd was so mean to), and songwriter Jeffery Steele performed. He has written songs for Rascal Flatts, Montgomery Gentry, Faith Hill, Craig Morgan, and many more. Kate and Kacey signed autographs and talked to fans for a while after their performance. I watched them interact with people while waiting in line to go into the Opry, and they seemed like very genuine people. I actually got a chance to chat with them between the Opry shows. We discussed how mean Naomi was to them...I was very impressed with their friendliness. I will definitely have to check more of their music out.

Jeffrey Steele


Kate and Kacey Coppola


I don't care how many times I get to go to the Opry or how many times I get to see Carrie perform live, it just never gets old. I love it! The Opry lineup was full of big acts tonight. Jimmy Dickens, Lorie Morgan, Trace Adkins, Charlie Daniels, Little Big Town, and Carrie were all there. I had a great time, of course...how could you not with a lineup like that! I finally figured out how to work my camera in manual mode in the darkness of a concert . My pictures turned out amazing...I'm in love with that camera! Here are a few of the many...See for yourself!

Trace Adkins




Charlie Daniels...yes he played "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"...that dude can play the fiddle!


Little Big Town - they are in my top list of favorite artists...I said it before when I reviewed the back in December, but they harmonize beautifully and can work and engage a crowd as good as it gets!


Little Jimmy Dickens came out to kiss Carrie. She is only 5'2"ish....look how far she had to stoop so he could kiss her!


ACM Entertainer of the Year...Carrie Underwood


Her famous nose scrunch







Today I am meeting an old college friend for lunch, the heading out to the Celebrity Softball Challenge. Stay tuned...

Carrie Underwood fan club party

I am in Nashville for the week to spend a lot of time with my country music "friends". Today I attended Carrie's annual fan club party. You may make fun of me if you wish, but I had a blast! Carrie did a 10 song set of songs that she rarely performs including Alone, How Great Thou Art, Sweet Child of Mine, Voices Carry, Stand By Your Man, and Home Sweet Home...just to name a few. She then did a question and answer session, and ended with a give away section for those who could finish her lyrics....in which she started a song or verse, a capella I might add, then had some of the audience finish. My friend, Danielle, won the grand prize! I love these parties because I feel like we get to see a little bit of who Carrie truly is and not just performance Carrie. She is truly very humble and appreciative of those who work hard for her along with being hilarious! Here are a few pictures from the party. For all of my photography friends...I had to take them in automatic because I couldn't get manual to work for me no matter what I did...don't judge the quality of my pictures on this post!! ;)



Hitting the high note in "Alone"


Question and answer session. You can see CMT's Lance Smith in the background. He was the host for the party.






My friend Danielle gets a hug from Carrie after she won the grand prize.


They had a display of some of Carrie's many awards. This is one of her Grammys.


There was also a display of some of the clothes she wore in some of the videos. This is the "Before He Cheats" outfit.


Lots more excitement to come...stay tuned!

Ellen interviews Kellie Pickler

Kellie Pickler always gives the funniest interviews! Watch this video from 6/5/09. She is hilarious!

Take 2

We went back to Botanical Gardens today. The light was perfect...the subject was cute....but he was EVERYWHERE!!! I am telling you today that I will NEVER be a professional children's photographer. I do NOT have it in me! However, I think that I got a couple of better shots today.

Look who we ran into today.

We saw Jyl and family. Those children of hers are SO cute!

Enjoy Mr. Cutie!






Mr. Mischievous....the dude ran EVERYWHERE!! Here he is taking off!




He enjoyed drinking the water on the fountain!

Botanical Gardens photo shoot

Ben was dressed really cute today so I talked Daphne into going with me to the Botanical Gardens so that I could practice my camera work. After today...I realize I need a lot of work! I will say that we didn't go at the right time. The light was uneven and the clouds came and went making it difficult to shoot in manual! And....if you have never shot in manual, I will tell you that is difficult to shoot non-caucasian skin....especially when dressed in white. Below are the "best" (if you can call them that) few of the day. I think we are going to go again around 6:00 on Tuesday in a non-white outfit to try again. I want to get good at taking pictures, and practice makes perfect, right?


















Do any of you photographers out there have tips to improve my pictures? I did find today that increasing the ISO helped his skin color look more true than anything else I did. I'm open for any ideas!

The NEW word of the day

BLESSED

Yesterday, I was stressed....today I realize how blessed I am. Yesterday was cured by a little exercise, some great encouragement from friends (did you see the awesome comments my friends left me??), and prayer. I feel much better today, and, like Holly said, will take it one day at a time!

In other news:
1. I did put a contingency contract on a lot to build a house last Friday. I'm pretty excited. I have prayed that it be the right thing, and if not, the Lord will put up a roadblock. So instead of being stressed....I need to trust and be blessed!

Here are a couple of pictures of my dirt for the time being.






2. I have been spending a fair amount of time at my parents lake house riding the jetski, pulling people on tubes, playing ping pong, eating, and just enjoying the serenity. It's so peaceful and fun at the same time.

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weekends.









Memorial Day fish fry





3. While at the lake for Memorial Day, Celia, Daphne, Ben and I went to check out Little River falls so that I could practice some of my camera skills....here are a few of the pictures.

Little River Falls





I didn't know that there would be a good place to take pictures of Ben or I would have made Daphne dress him cuter....but he's cute anyway huh?







So...as you can see from just the pictures above...I am very blessed, and need to quit complaining about being stressed! Thank you all for your kind words and prayers!

The word for the day

STRESS


I had a long post planned out to tell you all about what's been happening in my life and show you pictures. However, my work has just gone through an audit which has caused increased processes and added stress. We also learned yesterday that Obama, my favorite president ever, is trying to cut $38 billion out of home health care in the next few years, which will significantly affect my job and how much money I make. I put a contract to build a house last week...which I planned to tell you all about....but now I'm scared. If I cant keep my job and at the current level, then I wouldn't be able to afford it. The reality of being laid off hit home in my family today too.....sooooooo....I am THANKFUL I still have a great job.....but am nervous about the future...will I be laid off in a year or two? If so, how will that effect the decisions I make today? So... now I must go continue on the process of my couch to 5K program to try to de-stress!