Christmas is here!!

It's official. Christmas is here at photoEdge! There's Christmas music playing in the office, a Christmas tree in the living room, a wreath on the door and candy canes along the sidewalk. To kick off the Christmas season Santa came a little early for a special visit to our studio. Here's some highlights...

Neely & Daniel

Neely Schmidt and Daniel Rose were married on Saturday, November 22nd. They had a beautiful ceremony at Belk Chapel with an awesome reception at Bentley's on 27th.

Congrats to Mr and Mrs Rose!!

Christmas is coming early this year

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. Followed closely by Thanksgiving and then Fourth of July. I love everything about Christmas. The smells. The songs. The sounds. The cookies & candy my parents get because they're both elementary school teachers. Shopping for a Christmas tree. Decorating the tree. Hanging up Christmas lights. Everything. It doesn't get much better :o)

And for your enjoyment, we're bringing Christmas out a little early this year at photoEdge too! This Saturday, Santa is making a special visit to our studio just for you! Call soon because spots are limited and you don't want to miss out on this opportunity!

This year we are also offering custom designed holiday cards. Follow this link to see some examples.
Holiday Cards

Santa Claus is coming to town....

That's right - Santa will be personally visiting our studio on Nov 21st and 22nd. If you're tired of waiting in lines at the mall, or if you're just tired of getting a single "snapshot" with Santa, sign up for a session here and you can get 15 minutes with Santa all to yourself! We will take the time to create precious pictures of your child with Santa that you will love.

Due to Santa's busy schedule, spots are limited so sign up today to secure yours. Sessions are $35 and we'll have special packages available for purchase following your session. This season we are also offering custom holiday cards. You will be able to schedule an appointment to review pictures at our studio or view them online. 

Remember - spots are limited and there's only a week left, so call today and book your session!!

Friendly competition...

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity once again to photograph fire fighters in action. Although this time there were no burning buildings involved, but there were a LOT more fire fighters! Union County had it's annual Fire Fighter Competition held at the fire training grounds in Monroe. It was quite an enjoyable day - freezing cold, but enjoyable none the less! Departments from all around the county got teams together and competed in 3 different events:

The Draft Attack - Teams had to put on their gear, charge the lines and then proceed to knock down 4 cones out of 4 windows.



Rescue Me - Teams had to simulate the rescue of a fallen fire fighter. 1 man was trapped, 2 guys with blindfolds had to follow the hose line and replace his air pack, and 2 other guys had to follow the same line and carry him back to the finish line.



The Bucket Brigade - This one's pretty self explanatory - fill the buckets to fill an even bigger bucket.



There was also and individual triathalon event that in my opinion was really a decathalon! Competitors had to put on all their gear, carry and air tank up 2 flights of stairs, hoist a hose attached to a rope up 2 stories, run back down the stairs (hitting every step), pull a charged hose 100 ft (approx) to a window, knock over the cone, go pick up Rescue Randy and drag him 25 feet back to the finish line.



At the end of the day they did a "surprise" event which just so happened to be my favorite :o) I don't know what it's called but basically there are 2 teams with hoses and whoever gets the barrel on the other teams side when the time is up is the winner. I remember watching this when I was a little kid. (It was my favorite then too!)


You can see ALL of the pictures from that day if you go here:Union County Fire and Rescue Competition

Election Day 2008

We voted.... did you?!?!?

Traveling is fun?

Some of you may be aware of my past traveling issues... most of which involve the Charlotte Douglas Airport and my disdain for the place. And Delta airlines. For those that don't know, here's a little background info.

Last summer I barely found parking, barely made it through the crowd - or as they called it... line - barely made it to the gate, only to find that someone had run into the plane last night and there was now a hole in the side of the plane! A 7 hour travel day turned into a 15 hour travel day with missed flights and more. Then on my way home to Charlotte, flights all went smoothly, but getting to my car did not. The shuttle driver did not believe me when I said I was parked in the other lot because she said that lot was not open on the day arrived. She was wrong. But she insisted I MUST be in this lot and therefore I exited the shuttle, accidentally leaving my computer behind. I wandered through the parking lot for about 30 seconds when it was confirmed that I really am NOT in this lot. So then I had to sit outside on the curb by the little kiosk and wait for the nice lady in the pick up truck to come get me and take me to my car. Oh yeah... the whole time is was POURING rain and I was completely soaked to the bone.



Luckily this traveling trip was no where near as bad, but still not perfect. My best friend is getting married in Santa Barbara on January 3rd. This weekend we planned to do not 1, but 2 bridal showers for her. And seeing that she is my best friend and I am the Maid of Honor, I took a whirlwind trip out there. I left Charlotte at 9:30am on Friday. Amazingly enough, it was a breeze! I printed my boarding pass the night before, did curbside check in, and sat and enjoyed the free wireless internet :o) I spent the entire weekend either in a car driving, setting up for a shower, hosting a shower, cleaning up for a shower, or pretending to sleep. It was totally worth the exhaustion and hours of travel because I got to see a lot of familiar faces that I haven't seen since last Christmas. And I went to Downtown Disney for dinner which is as close as I can get to the Happiest Place on Earth without actually going.

But now comes the "fun" part of the trip. My flight back to Charlotte was an overnight flight. I was supposed to arrive at 10:30am. That was not the case because the pilot called in sick and the flight that was supposed to leave LAX at 12:15am, didn't leave until 2:45am! So I spent 4 hours in the airport watching The Office and trying to sleep. Luckily I think I slept the entire 3 hour and 54 minute flight to the Atlanta airport. But now I'm just sitting here waiting for my new connecting flight which leaves in about 2 hours and I feel about as disheveled as can be after being in an almost constant state of travel since Friday morning.

Hopefully, there won't be any issues when I get to Charlotte!!