Let me start with this….  I can’t believe the weather this week!  After months and months of wishing I could move to a cooler state (or have a personal AC Unit adhered to my body) and sweating out countless days as the temp rose way above 100, we are finally experiencing weather in the 80s!  Thank you, sweet Jesus!

And because of the much cooler weather, me and the youngest two of my brood decided to step outdoors for more than the 60 seconds it takes to load into the car… We actually went to the park, went on a walk, rode tricycles, and picked flowers!  It’s been quite a week!  However, engaging in all this unexpected activity outdoors has made us need some pampering back inside the coziness of our home all the more.   So, being the thoughtfull sweetheart that she is, my nearly 5 year old decided to give me a “medicare”.  Well, she thinks she gave me a medicare…. but what she keeps forgetting is that it’s actually called a pedicure.  She rubbed my little tootsies for nearly 20 minutes the other night as she explained to me, in a very soothing, somewhat belittling voice, what all her “medicare” moves are and how she does them.  Anyhow, she rubbed and rubbed….  tried at least 10 different lotions on me, did her special moves, and never even asked for a single dime or even a return “treatment”.  Oh yeah, sometimes when she forgets to call it a “medicare”, she just calls it a “treatment”.  But, whatever you wanna call it… it was awesome and I had softer, happier feet afterwards, not to mention a heart full of smiles.

In honor of my little “medicare treatment” giver… Here are some photos of her showing off her glittery pink belt.  She tucked her shirt in just to make sure the glitter and heart were visible in every single photo.

She even tucked it in at the back…. gotta get ALL that glitter showing!

Enjoy your weekend – Happy Friday!

xox, reata

so excited…. I just can’t hide it!  (Yes, reach way back to 1982 for that one… The Pointer Sisters!)

Why am I so excited, you ask?  Well, I’ve got a ticket…

To my fave artist of all time…

Yes, internet friends… I’m going to see Paul McCartney!  And, if you’ve ever looked at the “About Me” page on this blog, you’ll know that he is my absolute fave.  Like, really.  I love him.  A lot.  No, more than a lot.  A ton.  And, as if it couldn’t get any better, this time I’m bringing 2 of my 3 little girls with me!  My oldest daughter came with me + my husband to see Paul when she was about 5… but this will be my middle daughter’s first time!  She is super excited…  She knows almost every Beatles song… plenty of Wings songs… and every new Paul song.

 Now.  If only I could get my hands on a backstage pass….  (sigh)

Oh!  On a completely unrelated subject…  We’ve had a major accomplishment in our household having to do with my 18 month old!  And actually, it happened without us even teaching her any of this…   She poses.  On command!  Ever single time I tell her to pose, she puts her hands on her little waste, pushes out one hip, and tilts her head!   Check her out:

As the above photo shows, she poses no matter what kind of clothes she may or may not be wearing!  And after her pose, she exclaims – “CUTE!”

Um, what else can I share with you today….  Oh, I know!  I have new artwork in my office today… They are all original, given to me straight from the artist.

Well, that’s all for now!  If anyone knows where or how I can get my hands on a backstage pass for the Paul concert in Dallas… Let me know!   I’d be your best friend forever if you can hook me up!  :)

xox, reata

Sometimes you can just tell you are itching for a change…  I had that feeling today when I went in to visit my wonderful hairdresser Lynn.  I’d been thinking of doing the whole bangs thing since February and just now got the nerve to go for it… I’m sure glad I did!  It’s just what I needed…  And, the best part is my daughter thinks I look like a mod 60′s go-go dancer!  Score!!

Anyhow… Not only did I get the fresh new look I was yearning for, but I also was able to give my husband and daughter a good excuse to shoot me (with my camera!).  I’ve been giving them lessons in composition, etc and they are coming along wonderfully!  Pretty soon, Sugar Shots will have a 2nd and 3rd shooter!  :)  My oldest daughter took the above photo… pretty swell, huh?

My husband took these fabulous ones:

Thanks A + C  for my photos…

xox, reata

 It’s the last call for the Destination Dallas Sessions – Registration ends tomorrow, April 23rd at midnight… A couple of spots are still available!  So, shoot me an email and let me know if you’d like to get in on the fun!  You can find more info about Destination Dallas HERE.

In other unrelated, unimportant news….  The other day I ordered a cute little necklace from an Etsy vendor I found called Oh Hello Friend.  I practically lept with joy when it arrived.  Oh Hello Friend has such cute, dainty jewlery pieces – LOVE it!  But the reason I almost did a dance of joy when it arrived was because of the packaging.  [I am *such* a sucker for packaging. ]  The necklace was enclosed in a vintage style envelope with twine, stamps, handwritten notes, a button, etc…  I mean, come on?!  So awesome!  So anyhow, the envelope was way cute, the tags were adorable…  And, of course, the necklace was so simple and sweet.  I immediately fell in love….

Until later, Reata

I love days like today… Beautiful, crisp, only slightly-chilly-weather.  Yum – How perfect.  It felt like spring (again) and the flowers were in full bloom.  I had a few spare moments while chasing the kids on the driveway, so I snapped up the following photos of the flowers that have sprung up in my front flower bed.  I only took a couple and I’m quite thrilled that they turned out pretty nice!  : ]

Also, this past weekend I *finally* got to connect with The G Family again so I could take photos of the Handsome Mr. A (he has just turned 1, you see).  The first time we got together for our session, we had to call it off because the weather wasn’t so wonderful for a little guy who was just getting over being sick… And then, after several more failed attempts at rescheduling [bad weather, shoulder surgery, and more], we finally got the stars to align and Mother Nature to calm down so we could try again.  Here’s a quick (and I do mean quick) little look into our time together:

Good golly – I just looove his smile! 

Check back soon, for there’s more to come of Handsome Mr. A!
Reata

I don’t exactly remember when it started, or even why it started… But somewhere along the journey I’ve been on with my husband, we started refering to eachother as ‘my truest’ or ‘my true’.  Sometimes we even shorten it down to just the word ‘truest’ or ‘true’. 

For Example:

Hello, My True!    
Me and My Truest are going on our daily run to Target, need us to get you something?  (we love target, btw.)
Truuuuuest, can you please let me sleep in?!?   I’m soooooo tired! 

{ That last one is me usually… and it’s always said in my whiniest, cutest sounding 5 year old voice.  This little charade usually wins me a nice little late morning nap…. which makes me feel so lucky.  :]  }

Anyway, we have our own silly little love-lingo and most people probably think we’re cheesy or and annoying, but it’s so us and I so love it.   Sometimes we like to mix it up a little, by throwing in a ‘My Love’ or ‘My Homie’… But again, that’s so us.  We like to live on the edge like that.

Over spring break (in between the time that my computer almost made me throw it out the window and the time that my computer made me cry), we managed to break free to go on a long afternoon date.  We had fun just hanging out together walking around Houston with no kids, no hassles, and no computer to harrass me.  I brought my camera, of course, but only took a few… Here are some of my favorites.

For some reason, this pictures reminds me of Oz… I think it’s the slick buildings.

And then he took some of me.  I felt all awkard when the camera turned on me…. what’s up with that?

Thanks for the date, My Truest… I had fun!

To the mommies of Baby J and Baby C… Your sneak peeks are coming soon……  As in tomorrow.  Check back then!

Later, reata

This was one of those weeks where I wanted to throw my computer out the window of a moving car into a burning building full of highly explosive cans of hairspray. 

It was beautiful weather outside and my kids/husband were on spring break.  I longed to be in the sunshine and have not a single care in the world.  I had oodles and oodles of editing to do though.  And of course, I had a stack of paper a mile high to input into the computer for my taxes too.  Being true to myself, I made a plan of action.  If I wanted to get through all my work and still have time to play, it was going to take precise planning.  Once my To Do List was in order, I thought to myself, “Self, this isn’t going to be so bad.  I can get these 2 sessions and all my paperwork done on Monday…  Then if I have to spill over, I can fill the extra spots of time here, here, and here with editing, etc.  I’ll have the rest of my time to boogie down with the family! Ooooh yeah!“  (I was quite proud of my planning, you see.)

My computer had other plans for me.  It didn’t want to cooperate and every thing I clicked on quite literally took 10 – 15 seconds to start working/opening.  About 1/2 the time it would freeze up and tell me that the program was ‘not responding’ and the other 1/2 it completely shut itself down.  What gives?!?!

I have never been so frustrated with a machine in my life!  Every time I sat down at the computer, I left it about 6 hours later feeling completely angry and like my time had been wasted! 

Anyhow, spring break is over now, school has started again, and my computer seems to be acting like it’s normal self again.  Of course.

Today, A1 represented her modeling agency for their client, Academy Sports + Outdoors.  She was a swim suit model and she had a lot of  fun.  This was only her 3rd time modeling, but I think she did really well…  Just like a pro!

I gotta figure out how to get some abs like her… I mean, daaaang!

Later, reata

Look.  I know you’re out there… I can see that I’m having hits on my blog everyday.

So, go ahead, don’t be shy!  Say hello every now and then.  You have no idea how excited I get when I have a comment…   It’s a rush like no other!! 

To those who blogstalk me and comment:  Thank you! 
To those who blogstalk without commenting:  Thank you! 

With or without commenting, I am very glad you check in on me!   My business wouldn’t be quite the same without you. 

Oh!  And, while we’re on the topic of shout outs… I’d like to say Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law Lauren!  Love you & I can’t wait to come to your fun filled slumber party tonight!!! 

This is Mr. Toothbrush.  He says Hello!

Question:  In Texas, what season are we in? 
Answer:  No one, including the weatherman, knows.

As soon as I think it’s starting to feel like spring (in Texas, spring feels like summer), the weather freaks out on me and we revert back to winter (which feels more like fall)!  For the past two days, it’s been about 80 degrees and I wore sleeveless (SLEEVELESS!) shirts and I felt perfect… And now today, it’s 47?! 

Come on Weather, cooperate!

This next photo was taken of my little girl only two days ago – Notice the spring-like outfit?

Oh well…  I’m pretty positive it will warm up again within the next 48 to 72 hours and we’ll be back in sleeveless shirts and flip flops again. 

Oh, here’s something fun I can share….  a little peek into a session I did a couple of days ago.  Have any ideas of what this session might have been about?!?

Until later….. reata

Valentine’s weekend… What wonderful weekend for love!  Even though a lot of people feel like Valentine’s is just a fake, commercialized holiday (which it somewhat is, I guess), I still believe it’s a good time to thank your sweetie for being so sweet and for reminding them just how much you love them.  This past weekend, I did just that.   And although my sweetie and I didn’t get to go out on the town for the fabulous Valentine’s date we had hoped for, we did enjoy ourselves a nice little Valentine’s lunch date at PF Changs right before heading over to a VIP birthday party for my nephew’s 5th birthday  (where we simaltaniously celebrated my niece’s 6th birthday).  And honestly, we couldn’t have asked for a better time!  We had eachother, our loving family, some friends, tons of cotton candy, cake, and a truck load of Super Mario Bros birthday party gear!  Seriously… I’ve never seen so much Mario in one location.  My nephew, who goes by the names Mario, Luigi, Yoshi (but never, ever Bowser!) depending on what mood he’s in, loves  Super Mario Bros and was having such intense fun opening all of his Mario presents that the rain and cold didn’t even seem to bother him one single bit.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures at the party because I [ gasp! ] forgot my camera at home… but I would like to take some space out of this post to showcase a  little photo of me and my Valentine….  I love him so much!  He is mine and I am his. 

Next up on my list of things to blog about… Another design I created.  This time for my fabulous hairstylist Lynn, whom I’ve mentioned a million times before on this blog.  She had me design a marketing card for her…  I had fun working with her and I think the end results turned out great.  The card design was custom designed by yours truly, but the photo was courtesy of Lynn (via Framesi Professional Haircare Products).

Press Printed on Semi-Gloss with UV Coating:

Love the cards, Lynn… Hope they bring you lots of new business! 

reata