Real Life

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The excitement began here. We were finally aboard the plane and heading towards the runway. Then, in what seemed like a matter of seconds, we went up, up and away! Adventure awaits!!

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At this point in time, nothing but the overwhelming beauty of the land filled my thoughts. I love being in the air! My very first flight, which I took out to AZ when I was about 10 years old, excited me to the point in which I vowed to one day earn my pilots licence.  That vow still stands.

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Okay. So enough sight seeing! Let's go!! At this point, my partner was strapped tight to the back of me. If he leaned right, so did I and if he leaned left, I did too.  In this case, all he had to do was lean forward and we would be falling out of the plane, because my legs were already dangling thousands of feet in the air. I couldn't bring myself to look down, so I looked at Chris until.....

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Goodbye cozy comfort box and hellooooo Adrenaline!

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I love this shot because the plane is right above us and the initial feeling of the jump is still fresh. Just wow. At this point, I was just observing how free falling felt.  It felt like pressure on the entirety on your body. Like the driest mouth you've ever had and the most quiet scream that's ever left your mouth. You see the whole world before you, yet you hear absolutely nothing. It was raw feeling and thought; the very first of a kind you've never experienced before. Breathtaking....literally....

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We were about done our fall in this photo so we were most likely plummeting towards the earth at about 120 mph.

P.S. If you plan on doing this, keep your mouth closed. lol It's a lot easier to breathe through your nose than your mouth while falling!!

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By now, my partner has released the parachute, but that didn't mean the excitement was over! We were the third group to exit the plane, but the first group to reach the ground because we spun our butts off!! Check out that angle!!

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Cruising...the ride's about over, but my Adrenaline is still flowing.

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Landing was the easiest part of the process. You simply lift your legs up and (oh, so gracefully) scoot your butt along the ground until you stop. Success! After what seemed like a lifetime in the air, you're finally back on the ground. As soon as I landed, I had to just sit there on the ground and let my brain digest what had happened over the past few minutes. I willingly got into a plane, attached myself to a complete stranger, and threw myself out of the aircraft thousands of feet above the ground.

And I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

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When Maximus turned two I was almost 8 months pregnant with Maverick, so getting him out of diapers was a MUST for me!  I was determined that I wasn't going to have two kiddos in diapers, and by the time Maverick arrived, Maximus was about 90% potty trained.  As silly as it sounds, it was such an accomplishment for not only him but me too.

Well, Maverick turned 2 in April and I got myself into "potty training" mode.  I thought, I've done this before, I'm a pro, I can for sure do this again.  Haha, well our journey the past couple months hasn't been easy...but thankfully there isn't a baby on the way for me to speed up the process, so I've just been taking it at his pace.

First, we started with reading our potty books every night and every time I went to the bathroom I would take him with me and say "look, mommy go potty"  "yay, mommy did it" etc., etc.  After a couple weeks of talking it up, we are ready to start.  Only at bath time while the water was running,  I would sit him on the potty (we don't use a little potty, I just find it confusing to go from a little potty to a big potty, and we bought one for Maximus but he never used it) so, while the bath water ran, he would sit...some nights he would go (not realizing it) and we as a family would cheer, scream and dance as he just looked at us like we were crazy.  Next, I started with every time I changed his diaper I would sit him on the potty.  After months of doing this routine he finally started realizing he was "making bubbles" like daddy.  Gross I know, but the joys of having little boys.  Just recently, I've been hitting it hard, because I know he can do it.  We now sit on the potty first thing in the morning, after breakfast, a couple times before lunch, right before nap, immediately after nap, anytime before we leave the house, as soon as we arrive someplace, before we leave, etc. etc.  It's exhausting!

I feel as if I have a little puppy running around ( I know, awful to relate my kid to a puppy) but every time I turn around I'm stepping in pee (gross) or having to clean up poo! lol I let him run around naked most of the day, this didn't work for Maximus but for Maverick I find he does better on days that he doesn't have underwear on.  Most days are good, but we do have bad ones.  I stay home the majority of the day so that we are close to a potty and at times it's a bit frustrating taking him to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so but I'm hoping that soon it will just click and we will be diaper free.  Any mommas out there going through the same thing?  What worked for you?  Any and all advice is welcome and hopefully this post will help anyone who is getting ready to start this wonderful chapter, I wish you the best of luck and just have patience.

Here are a couple pictures of my big boy and him working hard for those M&Ms!

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Every year, the county fair is something I look forward to. If you put aside the flocks of screaming teenagers pushing past you, the deep, warm pile of cow dung you just stepped in, and the massively overpriced food that smells sooo good (but is sooo bad for your wallet and your health) then the fair is really fun!

I go at least three times during the week. My first trip is usually to watch my brother play in the school band.  This year, he's a freshman at Washington Highschool, so it was kinda cool to see how far they've come with the show music.  Every year I watch him perform at the fair, it brings back a whole flood of band memories from my own middle school/highschool years. *tear runs down my cheek*

The second time I go to the fair, it's usually for some event.  Sometimes I watch the Demolition Derby or the bull riding.  This year, I attended "Cow Chip Bingo"! I never even knew such a brilliant game existed until Tara mentioned it.  I bought my square for bingo Thursday evening and I was feeling really good about my F8 square, but Blanca the cow decided that E10 (only two spots away from mine) was the $1000 winner when she pooped on it (not even 10 seconds after entering the ring, btw). There's always next year F8...

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My third and last trip to the county fair is usually, you guessed it, food based. I have to have my last butterfly fry, funnel cake, and sweet tea meal for the year.  It's kind of my way of saying goodbye to summer.  Right after the fair, I usually begin school and the next 8 months of my life consists of nothing except biology and chemistry and research and sleeplessness and exams and you get the idea......

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Until next year Jefferson County Fair<3

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Busy, busy, busy... what a whirlwind of the past week. I have had tons of shoots, tons of editing, a baby Tre actual birthday, a visit to the zoo, Tiptoe meetings, yard sale, all the while preparing for the fair pageant and the first day of school! SHEWWWW! I am beat, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way! I love this LIFE and I love being able to be there for my babies everyday, all the while having a thriving business!! Here are some of my favorite images from my personal life, this week! LOL!

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Olivia and her BFF's at the pageant! Aren't they the cutest EVER??!

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_TTS5181I even love it when baby noonie baby gets to come to work with me while I am doing real estate pictures for Remax Realty- The Haymaker Team.  Not always the easiest thing to do, but its one of the BIGGEST perks of my job!

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I am so excited to share this seniors images... Not only was it by far the coolest day of August that we could've asked for.... It was also overcast!! Amazing! It made it so easy to say sure let's go out to the ball field for some shots. I didn't have to worry with any harsh shadows!! Gahh!

Chase's family is so incredibly special to me, they have been with Tiptoe for years, through family portraits, newborns, school shoots, to his sisters senior shoot a couple of years ago, basically we can just name a type of shoot and I am sure someone in his family has been there for it, as well as the Tiptoe Teaches classes.   We have formed such a great bond on so much more than just a business level!  I mean my daughter is swimming at their house right now as I am writing this post! LOL. They are definitely some of my favorite people EVER!  Just another reason I am so in love with being a Tiptoe girl.  I am lucky enough to meet these amazing people and make them my friends outside of business! God surely blessed me!

I could go on and on, but without further ado ... {Chase} Tiptoe Senior!

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As the "senior citizen" Tiptoe member, I tend to be the first to run into issues associated with getting older. I honestly can hardly believe that I am staring 36 right in the face! I remember turning 30 and thinking, "hey, no big deal!" Then 32 came along and I realized that 40 was fast approaching and I started to panic a bit. I also started to notice that everything I had heard about your metabolism slowing down was absolutely true. Add more panic to the mix...I had always lived a pretty much sedentary lifestyle (anyone remember my post about being a Netflix junkie? ....yep!) and I self admittedly always said I hated to exercise! I had formerly done T25 to get in shape for vacation but that always slacked off as soon as I returned from the beach and started to build my fall wardrobe. I then started working on my "sweater body"!

Fast forward to last December when I started picking up my T25 routine again. I started seeing this Fitbit thing everywhere. I did a bit of research and thought it was a pretty nifty gadget. Count my steps, count my calories, make me accountable for my own fitness regime! I wanted one. However, I was pretty slow to pull the trigger. Just the idea of spending $100 minimum on myself for absolutely no reason was pretty daunting. Also, I am someone who is pretty into clothes and accessories and I thought the Fitbit band looked a lot like something you would tag an animal with in the wild. Not the cutest thing in the world by any means!

Fast forward once again to July...I finally bit the bullet and bought the thing! I had just returned from vacation, already hit that exercise slump and did not want my "sweater body" back! So, my husband and I did a quick run to Dick's and I became the proud owner of what has become my slave master!

Reading over the info, I noticed that the daily step goal was 10,000 steps. I thought, "I got this! I totally take 10,000 steps in one day!" Well guess what? I surely do not! It is more like 7,000 steps per day for my normal count. Refusing to "fail", I found myself walking/jogging around my house at 10pm every night, desperate to get my 10,000 steps in. My husband thought I was crazy. At meetings at the studio, I would be walking in place, thinking nothing of it...until I noticed the looks I was getting from my co-workers. Finally, Lisa summed it up in one statement, "you know that makes people uncomfortable, right?" At that moment, I realized I had become a slave to my Fitbit.

It has been 5 weeks now and I have to say that this thing has definitely helped me to keep up with my workouts! I have yet to hit 20,000 steps in a day but am super proud that I average about 11,000 a day now, easy! There has only been 1 day where I didn't hit my goal and it isn't likely I will let that happen again!

Soooo, let me know guys! Is anyone else out there a slave to their Fitbit? Let me know I am not the only one...

~T

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Many of the residents of Jefferson County are familiar with the All Good Festival which took place this year at a privately owned farm along the dinky backroads of Summit Point.  I live on those very same backroads.  In fact, I could see the festivities from my backyard!

I've heard a lot of negativity regarding All Good, but I've also heard a lot of positive outlooks on it as well.  I can't say that it was one or the other, because there are pros and cons to every situation, but I can share my individual experience as an up close and personal resident of the Rippon/Summit Point area.

I began to see changes about a week before the festival started.  "EXPECT DELAYS" signs were aligning Rt. 340.  An absurd amount of "POSTED", "NO TRESPASSING", and "PRIVATE PROPERTY" signs were popping up in nearly all of my neighbor's yards. (By the way guys, All Good is over sooo you can take your signs down now...we are beginning to look like the least friendly neighborhood in all of West Virginia lol). And the seemingly endless, serene field that I admired nearly every day slowly became enclosed by fences, uprooted by trucks, and disbanded by people.

The first day, I left my house in the midst of action.  (This girl's got places to be and things to do!! I will not be deterred!)  With my neon yellow "LOCAL TRAFFIC" sign in hand, I braced myself for the worst.  My backroads were fine, but a friend informed me Route 340 was impossible to maneuver that day.  I, however, had no difficulty getting to where I needed to be all week long via backroads.  (And a huuuge thanks to the PoPo for keeping the local routes clear for locals only. You guys did awesome!)

The second day, I decided to grab my #rideordie girlfriend and dive into the action.  I mean, I had free week-long passes because I lived so close, so was I gonna hit that up?? Uhm, YEAHHH! And honestly, I'm glad we did.  The music was fabulous, the food (or at least the hushpuppies there) were great, and ohhh my gosh, don't even get me started on how magnificent the people watching was...  As day turned into night, more people came out in the yard area to grab a bite, listen to great tunes, and nurse a beer (or five).  My friend and I ended our night by watching a talented group of fire dancers perform before starting on our quiet walk back home.

For the remainder of the festival, I was stuck at work, but I do plan on attending next summer. And as for the field, well, it's working it's way back to looking like the rolling green hills I know so well.

Crappy phone pics for your viewing pleasure...

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Every year since Maximus was 6 months old we have done a week long vacation to North Carolina, but with trying to sell our house (which is still on the market if you know anyone looking for a house...lol) we just weren't sure of our plans...so we backed out of the usual group vacation and had no plans of doing a beach trip this summer....BUMMER!  BUT...when my parents expressed wanting to get away for a few days we decided a quick trip to Ocean City for a few days is just what our family needed.

The boys were super excited because we have never gone on vacation with Grandma and Papa and I was excited to use my new camera that my partners got me for my birthday, which was last week.  (Thanks TT and Hoss!!!)  I still can't believe I only have one more year until I'm 30, ugh!!! Sucks getting old.  But anyways that's another blog topic.  As usual a few days leading up to it, I'm running around like a crazy person trying to make sure I have all I need, doing some last minute shopping, wondering who is going to look after our cats, washing clothes, cleaning the house, etc. etc.

We finally get to the beach and AHHH...  It's crazy how just being there makes me feel so peaceful.  Maximus kept asking if we would live here.  They both were a big crazy mess... staying up late, getting up early, eating anything and everything, but hey what's vacation if you can't do all those things, right?  It was a great time and I do love the beach, but boy am glad to be home.

Here are a few photos of the boys and for once I managed to get in a photo with Maximus.  Enjoy!

 

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Oh.. I wait all year for this!! Vacation time in Oak Island, NC!! =) We had a rough start to our week with baby Tre getting double ear infections for the first time ever! And we may have spent our first evening in the urgent care, and he may have broken out into a bad itchy rash 4 days into taking his antibiotics.... But..... It was still an amazing vacation!! We went to the HUGE 4th of July parade in Southport, NC (if any of you have seen or read Safe Haven, you know what a huge festival this is), we spent most days on the beach just relaxing and watching all the kids. This year we took a day trip down to Myrtle Beach to do Broadway at the Beach's aquarium and Wonder Works.  We did some shopping, ice cream eating, exploring the island, and our annual photo shoot in our evenings and it was AMAZING (I included pics below)! It was so nice to take some time off and spend it with my family, not worrying about all the things that come with life! Cheers to vacations!! OINC-739 OINC-730 OINC-723 OINC-718 OINC-694 OINC-679 OINC-675 OINC-665 OINC-663

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Howdy, everyone! I am fresh back from a week long vacation to the Outer banks of North Carolina and while it was truly nice to sit back and unwind, I am very glad to be home!

Our trip just happened to fall during a period of heightened shark activity that had me in an anxious frenzy prior to leaving WV. Those who really know me, know that I am terrified of big bodies of water. (Like, big puddles scare me. No joke....and I know it sounds crazy!) I watch shark week; I know that I supposedly have a better chance of being struck by lightening than by being bitten by a shark. However, this year I am not too terribly sure about those odds! But, I pulled on my big girl panties and ventured into the ocean...up to my knees. And I let the kids play in the ocean as much as they wanted...up to their knees. My absolutely fearless, half-fish husband had a blast body surfing and splashing with the kids...in knee-deep water.  But seriously, we had a blast anyway!

Normally we stay in the Nags Head area of OBX but this year we ended up staying a bit out of the way in Corolla. I was super surprised to find that I actually like this area a bit better! It was much less crowded, less commercial but still had all of the perks you look for when vacationing such as shops, restaurants, miniature golf, go-karts, etc. I mean just take a look at our "deserted" beach (it doesn't get much better than this!):

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We even got our annual Showen Family portrait done...super fancy, guys...

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Haha, we totally take this shot every year and I get a kick out of seeing how those little piggies have grown! And since it is just feet, there is no arguing over location, wardrobe, etc. Easy-peasy and everyone is happy!

A few more from various activities:

Surf fishing...

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Ghost crabbing...

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Anyway, it is great to be home and I look forward to getting back into the swing of things! Be on the look out for a teaser of a special session I did for one of my family members, coming up this week!

T