It’s hard to believe that it is a new year again!  It’s time to start a new folder of images for 2012.  As I look back on my folders from previous years, I am amazed at just how many people I’ve met and photographed…how many people have allowed me into their lives to capture their memories, and in turn, have made their mark on my life as well.  It’s funny how looking at one photo, or holding one memento in your hand can bring back a flood of memories in vivid color.

Believe it or not, but I actually keep thank you notes that I have received.  I’m kind of sentimental that way.  I love stumbling upon them at a later time when I’m looking for something else…I take a moment to read them and remember that I did something really special for that person or couple or family…something that is going to last for generations.

One of my favorite clients, whom I now consider my friend, recently gave me this beautiful metal charm, handmade especially for me by an artist she found on Etsy.  “It’s just a little something,” she said lightly as we met for lunch at the Sugar Cafe.  As I opened the little box, I could actually feel my heart being touched.  Does that sound corny?  I don’t care; it’s the truth.  It was a little something to her, but it meant a lot to me.

What I love the most about the charm is that there are fingerprints ever so lightly embedded into the metal.  I suppose I could try to polish them out, but I don’t want to.  They are a reminder of the artist who made it…the uniqueness of the piece…the fingerprints that I leave on the lives of other people, and in turn, the indelible fingerprints they have left on mine.

Another year has passed, and my sweet little baby has turned 7.  She is growing up so fast right before my eyes.  Birthdays are always so bittersweet for me!

Earlier this year, on no particular day, I decided to take pictures Just Because.  The weather was good, the light was great, and I just so happened to have an adorable Matilda Jane dress and some props around the house.  I think they capture her 6 year old-almost 7 year old personality, which is full of whimsy and imagination.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!  XOXOXO

Remember that crazy day when it snowed two days before Halloween?  There were autumn leaves on the trees at the same time as there was snow on the ground.  The first snowfall of the season is like magic, and at this time of year, it was a fun surprise.

Our dog, Happy, likes catching snowballs.  He looks like Jaws with his mouth wide open like that.  At age 15, he is still pretty spry for an old man!

Sometimes, you just have to drop everything and frolic in the snow. :)

Confession time, dear Reader.  I have a love/hate relationship with my yard.  Love: It’s one of the biggest and flattest back yards in my neighborhood.  It’s perfect for kids to play in.  Hate:  It’s lumpy and full of crab grass.  You see, my husband and I are both one of those people – we live in a neighborhood where everyone has a perfectly manicured lawn, but we do not.  We are anti-chemical, and anti-pesticide.  It’s not that I don’t love the wonderful aesthetic effect that those chemicals produce; it’s just that I have a problem spraying harmful substances where I know my precious daughter is going to play.  (By the way, no judgment here if you spray your lawn–it’s just our personal choice.  We are trying to embrace a more organic lifestyle.)

There are times when I am tempted to break out the Round-Up, especially when a few thistles (a.k.a. jaggers) pop up and poke my bare feet.  But, crab grass and other weeds are not too hard to live with, if you keep up with the mowing.  It grows faster than the “good” grass, so things don’t  stay evenly cut as long as it normally would.  Last month we went to the Outer Banks for a vacation with my family, and unfortunately, the person we had called to mow our grass while we were gone never showed up.  From what I understand it also rained quite a bit here in the ‘burgh that week.  So you can imagine the jungle that awaited us when we got home!

As I looked out the window in despair that evening, dreading the thought of struggling through the sea of tall grass and dandelions with our lawnmower, I had a thought.  It just happened to be the “golden hour” of the evening, when the lighting is magical…and although we were not in some picturesque field in the countryside, I do love tall grasses and dandelions for photos.  And, I never take enough photos of my own family (ironically).  So, I tossed my daughter into a pretty dress and took her outside.  I let her just be herself and enjoy doing what she does, which is to explore and marvel at things that seem ordinary, while I snapped away in contentment.  It was a wonderful evening…and the grass got cut eventually.

When life hands you weeds, dear Reader – take pictures!

XOXO

Sandy

P.S. On an unrelated subject which happens to have the same name as my post title, if anyone knows when Showtime is going to start airing new episodes of “Weeds”, please do tell!  Last season ended with such a cliffhanger!

Grandma Tu…the grandmother I never had the chance to know.  Grandma Tu lived her life on the other side of the world – in Vietnam, where my mom is from.  I always hoped that one day I would be able to travel there to meet her…but life happens, and making a trip of that magnitude always seemed to be on my grand list of things to do “someday”.  Sadly, I received the news recently that she passed away, and “someday” has become “never”.

I feel a great sense of loss, even though I never knew her.  But my sadness is not just for me; the worst part is the sadness that I feel for my mom.  Thirty-some years ago, my Vietnamese mother and my American father, who was serving in the Army,  fell in love and married.  She then left her mother, all of her family, and the only home she ever knew, to start a new life with my dad in the United States.  I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for her.  She knew how to speak English, but I am sure that there were many times that she wished she could talk to someone from her country, just to hear the familiar sound of her native tongue.

Twenty years passed before my mom had the opportunity to fly back to Vietnam and see her family again.  Twenty years.  I feel bad when a whole month goes by and I don’t see my family.  I can’t imagine how hard it would be to go 20 years.  I was in college at the time, and I remember the big news that my mom was going to make the 8,000 mile trip with her brother, who was now living in Maine.  You read that right; the trip was a little more than eight thousand miles.  It was not an easy one.  Vaccines, passports, tickets, layovers, hours of flight time, hours of driving – not to mention the jetlag, heat and humidity, and the food she was no longer used to.  My poor mom got sick on the airplane, and remained sick the whole time she was visiting there.

I wish I could have been there to see what a fantastic reunion it must have been.  Tears of joy and sadness in abundance at the same time.  Later my mom told me that, remarkably, Grandma Tu looked exactly the same as she did on the day she left. My mom describes her as a sweet woman, who, like my husband’s grandmother, was widowed at a young age, and left to raise ten children on her own.  She had a hard life, but she had an unshakable faith in God.  Mom recounted how sweet it was to hear her mother trying to say our names, the names of her American grandchildren, as she looked at our pictures, and that she wanted my mom to “tell them that I love them”.

Sometimes my mom will tell stories from her childhood, which, in light of my grandmother’s passing, has really made me feel a sense of urgency to record these stories on video.  Once, she told me how her mother sent her out to weed the garden…unfortunately, my mom couldn’t tell the weeds from the vegetable plants, so by the time Momma Tu figured this out, there was quite a bit of damage to the crop!  Then there was the time when Momma Tu had plans to shave everyone’s heads, boys and girls alike, leaving only a patch of long hair at the top of the head; you could pull the hair up to keep cool and clean, and let it down to protect your scalp when you were in the sun.  “I ran away and hid from her,” recalled my mom with a smile.  When Momma Tu finally found her, my mom cried and begged her not to shave her head.  Momma Tu just laughed, and let her go, hair intact.

After a month-long reunion with her Vietnamese family, it was time for my mom to return to her American family.  And that was the last time she ever saw her mother’s face.  The last time she held her hand or hugged her.  The very. last. time.

That was more than 15 years ago.  If there was any silver lining, it was that at least she was able to talk to her on the phone once in a while.  But now that Grandma Tu is gone, mom will never hear her voice again.   She can’t even be there for the funeral.  It’s so heartbreaking.

Sometimes life gets so busy that we can only see the tasks that are right in front of us; there are some things that we always plan to do, “someday” or “as soon as I get a spare moment”.  This photo is one of the few images that our family has of Grandma Tu; up until my dad scanned it and sent it to me, my sister, and my brother, the only copy was at my parents’ house.  We actually only have a single tiny little photo of my Vietnamese grandfather; if something were to happen to this photo, it could never be replaced.   There are many family photos that are either at my parents’ house or mine (lent to me when I was going through my scrapbooking phase), and we only have one copy of each photo; they were taken, of course, before the age of digital cameras.  As a photographer, one of my cardinal rules is to back up photos in multiple locations in case of a terrible event like the house burning down.  I can’t believe that so much time has passed and none of us have made the attempt to scan all these photos.  It seems like such a monumental task when I think about it, especially since many of the photos can’t even be removed from their album pages now.  But I can’t make any more excuses, and I can’t wait for “someday”.  Grandma Tu taught me that.

I love you, Grandma Tu.

Well, I did it, dear Reader.  I made it through the whole day without breaking into tears.  Another year has passed so quickly, and my little one is growing up.  I sometimes find myself looking wistfully at little babies, wishing I could go back and hold her like that again, just for a day…and at the same time, I find myself looking forward to what adventures the future will bring.  She only gets more fun as she grows, and I love experiencing the world anew through her eyes, sharing in her boundless enthusiasm.  I think I’m just going to enjoy living in the present, savoring every moment.

Happy birthday, baby girl.  Every time I look at your sweet face, I feel like I won the lottery!

I wish many things for you this time of year and always, dear Reader…May you know the joy of loving family and friends all around you, and the kindness of strangers when you need it the most.  May you appreciate life for the wonderful gift that it is; may you live your life to the fullest, and live so that you have no regrets.  May you have a wonderful New Year, full of success and prosperity.  May you have more peace, love, and happiness than your heart can hold.   All these things and more I wish for you at Christmas and always.  Happy Holidays to you, dear Reader!

Just a short post today, dear Reader.  Sadness has filled the Yetter household; my husband’s dear Grandmother passed away this weekend.  Grandma Lillian, “Great Grandma” to my daughter, was the matriarch of my husband’s family and the glue that held everyone firmly together.  Widowed at a young age, Lillian was a strong woman who single-handedly raised five small children on her own through sheer will power and hard work.

I never found out exactly how old she was – that was a forbidden topic!  I loved how she would respond every time my husband asked her how she was feeling. “Terrible, just terrible!” she would say with a scowl…but she always had a twinkle in her eye.  When I first met Eric’s family, I was amazed how at every family function, if she wanted a drink, aunt Theresa would pull out a special bottle of water from her purse.  “Grandma has to have her holy water,” everyone would say to each other.  I could not understand why anyone would need to drink holy water!  I chalked it up to another one of those mysterious family superstitions they had, like “Don’t hand a knife to someone to cut the cake or you will end up having an argument later.  Lay it on the table for them to pick up.”  Finally I asked my husband why Grandma had to drink holy water.  Turns out, it was just another family joke; Grandma’s water was just boiled water that she drank to aid her frequently upset stomach!

I loved the special relationship my husband had with his grandma.  Of all the family members, he was the one who razzed her the most…and she loved it.  For every one of her birthdays, Eric would give her some crazy gift or card, just to see the reaction on her face when she opened it.  She fell for it every time!  One time, he gave her a gift bag which included various useless items: a can of baked beans, some pogs (remember those?), some loose rubber bands, and a few random things from around the house.  As this venerable old woman finished opening all of her other respectable gifts from the rest of the family, the look on her face was priceless when she opened Eric’s gift.  “What the hell is this?” she said, first with an incredulous look on her face…then breaking into laughter.  That was the way things were between Eric and his grandma.  He pushed the envelope with her beyond what everyone thought was appropriate, and she wouldn’t have him any other way.

She was a great lady who had a wonderful sense of humor and a real zest for life.  She will be sorely missed.

Happy Monday, dear Reader!  As I sit at my computer editing photos like a fiend, I thought I would do a quick post and share a bit of what is going on in my world.  I’m taking a cue from my good friend Amanda Wilson and doing a Weekend Update post!  (C’mon, Amanda, you knew I was going to steal that one! :D)

Last week was a busy one; my brother was home from Maine, so we drove up to Butler a few times to see him.  It was so nice to see him again; he only comes home once a year now.  We also went to a family reunion, where got to see some relatives that I have lost touch with and meet others I didn’t even know I was related to!

It was great seeing so much of my family in one week; my daughter and her two cousins had a jolly old time romping through the woods, picking flowers from my mom’s garden and splashing around with the garden hose.  There is something about walking through my parents’ woods that is so rejuvenating to my spirits.  I had many adventures in these woods with my dog when I was growing up.  These three pics were taken with my little PowerShot point and shoot camera.

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My little nephew is growing like a weed and is cute as a button.  I’m no expert at compressing video for upload, so bear with the quality of this video clip.  I was playing peekaboo with him through his toy mailbox, and just had to record this with my PowerShot, which also does video, and share it with you.  Hope it makes you smile!

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We must have done that a hundred times before he got tired of it. My voice was hoarse!

I shot a fabulous wedding this weekend in Cabot, PA, followed by a reception at the LongueVue Golf Club; we couldn’t have asked for better weather or a nicer couple.  I’ll try to get some pics posted soon.

And finally in other news, Oscar is growing up.  Allow me to explain…

My daughter has a stuffed octopus named Oscar, who has endured many a dress-up session, most famously the diaper-wearing phase.  Yes, that’s right; my daughter dressed her toy octopus in a diaper and pretended that it was her baby.  She has never taken a liking to baby dolls like other little girls do; all of her babies are of the aquatic kind.  Last night Little Miss decided that it was time that Oscar started wearing big-girl panties to bed.  Isn’t he a vision?

And that’s it for the first installment of my Weekend Update.  Have a great week, dear Reader!

As I sat at my desk today immersed in photo editing, my daughter asked me to take her outside; she loves watching the bumblebees buzzing around the garden we planted this spring.  Tempted to respond with my usual, “Ok, sweetheart, let me finish this work first and then we’ll go outside…” I stopped myself.  I’ve been taking a good hard look at how I’ve been spending my time lately, and I’ve come to the realization that I am not spending enough of it with my family.  Isn’t one of the perks of being a business owner supposed to be the flexibility to make your own hours?  To be able to work from home so you can be around your family more?  But I think spending so much time around my family while working has made me complacent when it comes to carving out quality time with them.  What did I do before when I worked a full time job while starting up my business?  Where did I find the time to get it all done?  Ok, I know where I found some of the time to get it done; I went without A LOT of sleep.  I’d go to work all day, meet with a client after work, then come home and spend as much quality time as I could with my husband and daughter until bedtime.  Then, to the sound of soft snoring and the glow of my monitor as a night light, I would edit photos into the wee hours of the morning.  One can only carry on such a schedule for so long before the body starts showing some wear and tear.  That’s no way to live, and I am so grateful that I was able to quit my full time job.  Now that I have those 8 hours to edit photos instead of going to work, I’ve been getting the sleep I need, thank goodness.

When I first quit my job, a went through this amazing sense of elation at the new freedom I had–it was a fantastic feeling!  All those things I dreamed about finally came true.  Sleeping in!  Making my own hours!  Going places during the day!  Not having  to request vacation days off a month in advance!  Being a stay at home mom!  (This was the big one.)  I was positively giddy.  I expected to have more time to edit photos.  I expected to finally get the sleep I needed, and I knew I would have more time to be with my daughter.  But something unexpected also happened.  Without the defined boundaries of “This is when I work” and “This is when I spend time with my family” that came with having a job, I found that being a work-at-home mom blurred those boundaries.  I found myself mixing together work time and family life, with no real set time when I began and finished work.  I didn’t have to get up early for a job anymore, and as a result, I never turned off my night-owl mode.  I don’t know when exactly family time is, and neither does my daughter.  Not good.

Time waits for no one, my dear friends.  No one ever says, “Gee, I wish I had worked more hours instead of spending time with my family.”  I don’t want to wake up one day and realize that my precious daughter is all grown up and I missed half of her childhood.  I’m changing the way I do things, starting today.  I won’t be able to change everything overnight, but I can start with this: no matter what I have going on, I want to carve out time for my family every day.  Will I still have to work a lot of hours to get all my work done?  Of course.  Will I have to set  boundaries for my family so they know when work time is?  Definitely.  But when my daughter asks me for attention, I’m going to try not to put her request off until ‘later’; when I give my attention, it’s going to be undivided, even if it’s just to go outside and watch the bumblebees.  Here’s to having no regrets.