::deep breath::

This is going to be a difficult post for me to write. Bare with me, y’all.

During this summer break, I’ve done a lot of thinking. A lot of thinking. Thinking about what I want out of life. Thinking about dreams that I have. Thinking about my life in general.

I asked myself some hard questions. Some uncomfortable questions.

After reading 168 Hours awhile back, I knew I could do anything I set my mind to; however, I didn’t know if I wanted to.

Let me explain.

My problem wasn’t if I could handle homeschooling, running a handmade shop, starting up a photography business, taking care of my house, or being there for my husband . . . I knew I could fit it all in, but I decided I didn’t want to live my life burning the candle at both ends. I want to enjoy life! I don’t want to see life passing me by while I’m checking things off my to-do list. I want to focus on a few things and give each of those things my heart and energy. I want to do those things well.

When the time finally came down where I needed to make a decision about what to do, I knew right away. The answer had been lying in my heart and mind for awhile.

I needed to pass the torch to someone else. Someone who I respected. Someone I knew would treat and value customers the same way I do. Someone who would provide a quality product.

That someone was Maggie Whitley ~ better known as Gussy.

I gave her a call several weeks ago and poured my heart out to her. I wanted her to take over my product line. After quietly listening, she agreed. ::happily skips around the room::

I’m in a good place. I’m happy and content with my decision. It’s the right fit for me and for my family.

This is a new chapter for me. A new chapter for Gussy.

And guess what? . . . . She’s calling the line “Eclectic Whatnot by Gussy Sews” . . . I feel my eyeballs starting to get a lil’ sweaty here, y’all.

I’m excited for myself and the dream I’m pursuing. I’m excited for Maggie and the expansion of her business. I’m just plain excited!

Before I go any further, I just have to say . . .

Thank you to all my customers. A girl could not have asked for better customers. I’m completely serious. I love y’all. You made running my shop a joy.

Thank you to all my cheerleaders and encouragers.

Thank you to all the friends I made in the homemade community. Each of you are so dear to me. You’re an inspiration to me. xo

Thank you to my family. For ya know . . . putting up with me. ::snort::

::deep breath::

Where was I?

Oh, yes . . .

I would love for all of you to stop by and check out the new product line Eclectic Whatnot by Gussy Sews. Maybe give my girl, Maggie, a sweet word of encouragement as she starts a new chapter.

Did anyone else groan when the alarm went off this morning?

Oh, good. That wasn’t just me.

Last night, I met up with Melissa in the city to shoot some blue hour shots and hopefully some fireworks shots.

Apparently, I’m not very good at taking pictures with my phone. Hello, fuzzy-blurry-out-of-focus pictures!

Blue hour is so fun to capture.

There’s something magical about it.

Melissa had never taken any blue hour shots before. She was so giddy she said she might cry. Hello, drama.

::snort::

Takes one to know one, right?

As far as fireworks shots, this is the only one out of thirty that I really liked . . . . but, that’s one more than I liked last year. I’d call that improvement.

Don’t you just love seeing the tender affection of new love? The excitement and anticipation?

Hannah and Luke are so in love. Especially Luke. That dude is nothing if not smitten.

Totally doting on her.

Ok. Hannah’s pretty smitten, too.

Basically, they’re young, in love and adorable.

How many times can I say “in love” and “smitten” in one post?

Can’t believe how many times I’m saying it. {cc: Graham . . . . er, Jude Law in The Holiday}

I’ll stop and let the pictures speak for themselves.

Congratulations, Hannah and Luke! You’re a beautiful couple.

Sooooo.

I have a lil’ funny story to tell y’all. It involves me, my awesome brain power, some pretty amazing photographic skills and um . . . . . ok. The awesome brain power and amazing photographic skills descriptions were just an exaggeration.

It would be more accurate to say it involves me, my camera and wide-angle zoom lens, some frustration, a revelation and lots of laughing and snorting.

It’s like this.

Whenever I would put my 24-70 mm lens onto my camera body, I would always see a vignetting when I had the lens at 24 mm.

You see the black shadows at the angles? That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

I’ve been zooming in until I couldn’t see the vignetting anymore, which was really frustrating me because the whole point of using my wide-angle lens is to shoot . . . . er, wide angle. ::snort::

Now, I never noticed this back when I was shooting with my d60 camera body. I’m pretty sure it’s because the d60 does not have a full-frame sensor like the d700, which means when I had the lens at 24 mm the d60 wasn’t truly seeing 24 mm. It was cropped.

I promise I have a point to this.

Last night, I was taking some shots of these canvases in our entry way. I noticed the vignetting again and I believe I stomped my foot.

Yes, I most definitely stomped my foot.

Then, I had a revelation.

“What if . . . . ”

“No.”

“But . . . ”

“Nu-uh.”

“Maybe?”

“That’s too easy.”

“Couldn’t be.”

“Could it?”

After about a minute of internal arguing, I decided to try taking off . . . . . {drum roll, please} the lens hood.

And voila!

All this time, I thought the lens itself was vignetting, but it was actually the lens seeing the edges of the lens hood.

It was Miss Scarlet. In the entry way. With the lens hood.

BAM!

P. S. Snorting is allowed.

Lauren is one of the sweetest, most soft-spoken people I know.

No.

She is definitely the sweetest, most soft-spoken person I know.

She helps me out in the shop. In fact, the only time my iron ever gets used is when Lauren is over. Have I ever mentioned how much I detest ironing? Isn’t that what a dryer is for? ::snort::

Obviously, in order to work with me, she also has to be patient, able to look beyond messes and ignore the chaos. Poor girl. ::snort again::

Thanks for all you do, Lauren!

{bonjour} blue hour in the city

{bonjour} crazy fun canvas print

{bonjour} goofy picture

{bonjour} aisle to aloha painting

{bonjour} ma belle fille ~ my beautiful daughter

{au revoir} sugar . . . . for the next 47 days.

{bonjour} my favorite item in the shop . . . . {bonjour} 20% discount code NESTER20

Have a fabulous Monday, y’all! xoxo

I had so much fun Saturday afternoon. It was the perfect day for a photo shoot. Sunny and temperatures in the mid 70s.

Also, it doesn’t hurt when your subjects are darling. And Kim and Carl are darling.

No. No, darling isn’t right.

Gorgeous.

Yes, gorgeous is a much better fit for these two.

They met at one of our local community theaters, so as you can imagine they can really ham it up when they want to. They also have some chemistry goin’ on. Oh, and killer smiles.

I’ve suddenly been taken over by a green-eyed monster.

P. S. The winner of Kent’s Night Photography e-Class has been announced on the bottom of this post.

P. P. S. All ruffled, dSLR camera strap covers are marked down $14 in honor of my 14th wedding anniversary. Don’t hesitate ‘cuz they’re marked down for today and tomorrow only!

I know. I know.

It’s a picture of the moon. How many pictures of the moon have you seen in your life?

I’m sorry.

It’s just that this is the first picture I’ve taken of the moon, so I have to post it. It would go against my photo freakish nature if I didn’t share it.

I was really wishing I had a nice zoom lens Saturday night. I used my wide angle zoom lens, the 24-70 mm, and set it at 70 mm. The moon was so. far. away.

I cropped it as much as I possibly could before the moon started looking noisy and distorted.

Sooooo, have you shot the moon?

Howled at the moon?

Chased the moon?

P. S. Have you seen my um . . um . . . um . . . um . . . vlogs . . . um . . . yet? They’re up. ::gulp::

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Visions of the everyday.

Sustained by caffeine.

Savored with chocolate and a good book.

Topped off with laughter.

I am. Are you? {Thank you, Kyrstina, for the picture!}

P. S. Check out what’s coming to the shop soon!

P. P. S. Pleated scarves will be making their debut in the shop next week in a handful of different colors.

Y’all can indulge a sweet, Southern girl a snow post, right?

Notice I added a sweet in front of Southern. *snort*

A girl can pretend.

Yesterday’s activities:

full school load in the morning {mean, mean momma}
attempted snowman building
persuasion of the toy box lid to slide down the hill
walk through the snowy forest
snowball fights
clothes in the dryer
hot cocoa
naps by the fire

Ok. Actually, I was the only one who napped by the fire.

And it was so lovely, too.

I received an e-mail request yesterday to sometimes post my camera settings for shots. {Hello, Martha!}

So here we go ~ these were my camera settings for the above shot:

ISO 400
44 mm
f/2.8
1/3200 sec

Be honest. Do y’all get a kick out of how the South reacts to snow?

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Be sure to check out all the other sweet shots!