Roots

My Okie roots - McAlester, Oklahoma

I was looking at some images I took in '08 and this was one of my favorites. I shot this while I was visiting my family in McAlester, Oklahoma. I have always considered McAlester my home even though we moved to Overland Park when I was 14. Home is where your family is, right? I have good memories of Big Mac. I'm grateful now that Mom made the move to Kansas because my life would probably be so different if we had stayed. There are lots of bad influences in small towns, many of my friends ended up being young parents, some friends died way too young and I hear that there are one or two in the State Prison which just so happens to be on the other side of town. I would like to think that I would have ended up ok, but so much of my life now is happening because of choices I made while living in Kansas. After I graduated from high school in Overland Park, I was offered a scholarship to play flute in college. My tuition was completely paid for 4 years. If I had stayed in McAlester, I don't know that I would have had the same opportunities. I think about things like that and how forks in the road lead you down other paths that you would have never anticipated. I could probably name several points in my life that I feel were turning points. I think to myself, if I had done this instead of that, this would have never happened.... There are many people who feel like that you make your own destiny, there are others who think that fate or chance controls destiny. I think it's a mixture of both. There have been far to many odd coincidences in my life to feel that fate isn't a factor. I feel that everything happens for a reason. However, I have made several decisions that have altered the course of my life permanently and a few that I wish I could go back for a re-do. One day I will come to terms with some of these decisions and just chock them up to life lessons. Hopefully I won't have to make a trek out into the wilderness to obtain such clarity. :)

So - back to the photo. This particular water tower stands on a hill next to the highschool basketball auditorium. I saw this gnarly old tree standing next to it and thought it looked cool but didn't think anything else of it at the time. After I got home and started editing from the weekend. I was drawn to this image because I see it as not only an image of a fixture from my youth, but the tree seemed to give it more meaning. An old, sturdy tree with deep roots and that is what my family and McAlester means to me. ~Ash

On the Newstands.....

My photos are in a magazine!!

I should have posted this quite a while ago. I'm already lagging behind on my 2009 resolutions.

We received a call from the Kansas City version of The Knot last April after the editor saw the blog post for Amy & Erik. This was the first time that we were contacted because of a blog post so it caught us off guard. They let us know that they wanted to feature the wedding as a full spread instead of "Just Married". This was great news because it meant more exposure. When we received the list of photos I was thrilled because there were a few of mine on the list!!! My images include the purple bouquet, the b&w ceremony exit shot, and the little square with the invitation.

Here is the layout.

We were also published in the Columbia Tribune for Erika and Brent's wedding. The images were all taken by Adrienne except for the very last image in the slideshow. That was my only shot. Here is the link: http://www.columbiatribune.com/2009/Jan/20090111Puls007.asp

After Christmas Blahs

Christmas is officially over, we have to go back to work tomorrow. Even though New Year's Eve is coming up in a couple of days, I've already got the blah's that everything is over and there isn't a work holiday scheduled until May!

I heard several people this year say that they didn't feel like it was Christmas. I know what they mean. I didn't get my tree set up right away but once I started putting the ornaments on, it felt a little more like it. I didn't get out very many decorations this year, I just kept thinking come January 1st, am I really going to want to put ALL of this stuff away? I told myself "No Way" and only got out a select set.I mixed a set of antique ornaments from my Great Grandmother's home with more modern ornaments. We think the antique bulbs were purchased in the early 50's. They are so delicate and fragile that I have to be very careful when I hang them and also wrap them individually before storage. Despite all of this, I love using them each year as they remind me of my Great Grandmother Ethel and I think that she would be happy that I use them. What's the point of keeping them if no one will ever get to see them?
I got a little Martha Stewart-y with the gift wrapping this year. I also baked more candy, cookies and sweet potatoes than ever. Next year I need to remember to only bake things that I don't like.
I got a little package in the mail on Saturday from my mom. It was a gift for her granddog Jacques. It was a new sweater and he loves it!Hope everyone adjusts to going back to work after the long weekend. It's going to be so hard to get up tomorrow!! ~Ashlee