Not once but TWICE

Tonight I had a once in a life time experience. But before I tell you what happened, I have to tell you where it started.

This story starts on April 15 of this year. It was a Friday. I had the day off. I was headed to Asheville, NC to meet my sister-in-law Lisa for a little girls weekend in the mountains. At 10am tickets were to go on sale for the Brad Paisley concert that would be on September 25. I had to leave the house at 8am that morning which meant that I couldn't buy tickets. So I asked my sweet husband to get online and buy tickets the second they were available (a.k.a. 10:01am). He agreed and I trusted that he would do it (after I reminded him about 15 times that morning before I left). So when he calls me at 5:30 that night after he was done with work, I of course asked about the Brad Paisley tickets. He had forgotten. So we ended up with crappy seats. I was upset but decided to just get over it because there wasn't anything I could do about it.

Flash forward 5 months to September 25- TONIGHT! We go to the Brad concert with our friends Kevin & Victoria and Kasey & Lindsey. You may remember Kasey & Lindsey as Foxy Butt- the team that beat us at cornhole for the 4th of July Brew-A-Que. If you forgot, you can always check it out here . They were the couple who won the Golden Hole. Well, they're die hard Brad fans like we are so we thought we would hang out with them WITHOUT the cornhole. We did a little tailgate party with Spurger burgers, beer and Brad music before the concert. Kasey bought Lindsey REALLY good/close-up seats in April as her 30th birthday present. So not only did they beat us a cornhole but now they had better Brad tickets than we did. Was I coveting?  You know it! But again, tried to not let it get to me. (p.s. we absolutely LOVE Kasey & Lindsey and really enjoy hanging out with them).

So anyhoo we get into the concert and the 6 of us go our separate ways. Kevin & Victoria go to the lawn seats (those really suck- sorry guys). Todd & I go to the crappy covered seats and Kasey & Lindsey go up front in the VIP section.

Here's where things get interesting.

The 1st song Brad sings you can only hear him but you can't see him. Then you see lights and the lights just happen to be at the front of our section. We are row N which means we are 14 rows back. I somehow RUN to the front of the section in about half of a second. Todd says I literally disappeared into air before he knew what was going on. I don't remember pushing people out of the way but I had to to be able to get to the front like I did. It was a haze but all I can remember is I'm literally 5 feet from BRAD PAISLEY. Brad Paisley, my music hero. Brad Paisley, my FAVORITE artist. Brad Paisley, the person I want to name my 1st born child after. I'm literally 5 feet from him.

Side note: Because I had crappy seats and there was a chance of rain, I opted to not bring my camera. Instead I assumed that I could get what I wanted on my Iphone. Assumption WRONG. Here are the only images that are proof that I was so close to him.

From Brad Paisley
From Brad Paisley

I mean how bad do these suck? If I was thinking rationally I might have just switched it to video and taped what was about to happen next. But who is rational when you are less than 5 feet from Brad Paisley.

So Brad is there singing MUD ON THE TIRES when he starts to walk my direction. I don't know how but it was like go-go-gadget arms flew out and I literally reached out for him and he touched my left hand. I was in complete shock. He walked down that row and then he came back a second time and touched my right hand. I think that was the point where I sh*t my pants. The woman behind me turned me around and screamed, HE TOUCHED YOU TWICE.  I literally freaked out. My heart was beating so fast that my entire body was shaking and I thought I would die of a heart attack right there.

I don't know if Todd would have believed me had he not seen my face when I walked back to our seats. I sat down and it was a scene from Rain Man- I rocked back & forth in my seat slightly mumbling under my breath "Not once but twice", Not once but twice". I think I sat there for a good 5 minutes and then I began screaming it!!!

From Brad Paisley

I told Todd I was done. Stick a fork in my I'm done. I've done everything I've ever wanted to do in life. He could have buried me tonight a happy lady. I'll go to my grave mumbling "not once but twice".

To say that this year's concert was the BEST EVER would be a huge understatement but there are some things I will always regret.

1. I should have worn Depends diapers (even though I'm SO thankful I didn't wear those white shorts I was thinking about. Thank goodness I'm a ruler follower and didn't want to wear white past Labor day)

2. I should have brought my flippin camera!

This was one of the best nights of my life. I seriously cannot believe I was that close to Brad Paisley. I will forever be CRAZY FOR PAISLEY!

I think there's a great moral to this story and its this.

NO matter how crappy life (or your concert seats) may be, life may throw you an unexpected twist. Don't be angry with the people who put you where you are (God or in this case Todd). You may not see why you need to be where you're at but there is always a reason and things could just turn around in a second. Also don't covet other people cause those people didn't touch Brad Paisley's hand!!!! And another HUGE life lesson: don't forget your freakin camera like an idiot!

I have to close with  a big THANK YOU to my sweet husband who forgot to buy the tickets when i told him to. Looks like it worked out in our favor this time!!!!!!!!!!
From Brad Paisley

It's 1 am right now and I'm just praying I can go to sleep on this Sunday night.

Good Night,
Brad Paisley's #1 fan

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Meet Mr. Benton

I'm SO excited to share the next few images with you. I have to put a disclaimer out there first: I am NOT a professional photographer nor do I claim to be. These are NOT professional photos. This is just a proud Aunt who hopefully captured a moment in time. I also have to say that I had help editing some of these pictures. Johnny Johnson at Southeastern Camera actually sat down with me showed me how to edit in Photoshop. He showed me a ton about Photoshop (which I do not have but need desperately) and he took these pictures from okay to beautiful. If you EVER need anything "camera", I highly recommend dealing with Southeastern and with Johnny!

Leading up to this Newborn shoot, I did a lot of preparing. I read two books on how to photography babies. I stalked newborn photographer blogs and came up with a collection of images that I wanted to capture. I also purchased a few props and with the help of my friend Mel, we created baskets and signs. So a lot of time and preparation went into these images.

Then it came time to take them. I was nervous. I prayed for weeks about that day. Prayed that Benton would be born on or before the 21st of of August so that I could get pictures of him before he turned 2 weeks old, I prayed that he would sleep the entire time and prayed for NO baby acne. I think God had something else in mind because nothing that I prayed for happened.  Benton was born on the afternoon of August 25 which meant that I wouldn't be able to get to Atlanta until the weekend after Labor Day. That put him at 17 days old. Baby acne was up and running by then (but with the help of Photoshop, you can't see it. Amazing!). Also, Benton didn't think that getting booty naked and hanging out in baskets was fun. He would cry about 60 seconds later which meant I got 60 seconds to get the shoot. Can't say that I blame him but he didn't want anything to do with all my props. God bless his parents for putting up with me and all my stuff because they were exhausted. He didn't sleep much the night before and his tummy wasn't feeling good so to say they were sleep deprived is an understatement. So it really didn't go the way I planned and prayed but thats ok. That is life. And I've got to learn to go with the flow especially if I want to continue in children photography.

My hope is that these images capture this "season" of life. Benton will grow up so fast and his parents will look back on these images one day and say "I don't remember him ever being so little". I also hope that this is a reminder to Marcus & Lisa that this stage won't last forever. I pray God is their strength during these first few weeks of sleepless nights. I also pray God's blessing on my newest nephew. Aunt Kiss loves you!!!

So without further adieu, I've made you wait long enough. I introduce you to the newest member of the Craig family!

Marcus Benton Craig II
August 25, 2011
6 lbs 13 ounces

From Benton Craig
From Benton Craig
From Benton Craig
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From Collages
From Benton Craig
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From Benton Craig

I hope everyone has a good weekend!
Love,
Candice (a.k.a. Aunt Kiss)

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GA visit

We were in GA last weekend to meet the newest Craig! But before I show you those pictures (which are still being worked on), I'm gonna show you the other 3 kiddos that we saw.

The last time we were in Georgia was to visit our new niece, Calista, that was born in April. Last time you saw her- she looked like this.

From Calista

4 and a half months later, she looks like this.....
From Benton

Gotten big hasn't she??? Her mama sure doesn't look like she had a baby a few months ago.
From Benton
From Benton
From Benton

We went over there on Saturday and Calista was all decked out in her Alabama outfit while she was watching the game. Football fan at a young age!
From Benton
From Benton

Her big brother Houston sat still for about 5 minutes to show her a little lovin.
From Benton

She also got some lovin from her Uncle Todd (who has a soft spot for little girls)
From Benton

I think this was the first picture were I was in front of the camera the entire weekend.
From Benton

Her big brother Houston is ALL boy. At 3 years old, he loves super heroes and loves to be on the move.
From Benton

We showed up with a Captain America toy for Houston but he already had it. Todd is pretty good at picking out gifts for Houston. He just goes down the toy aisle and picks what he would want (Are you convinced now that the dude is really a 5 year old boy at heart). You should have seen these two when we took Houston to Target so he could return his Captain America for something else. I thought we'd never get out of that toy aisle! These two are a good pair!
From Benton

He showed us his mad soccer skills.
From Benton
From Benton

Houston has gotten to be such a big boy. Love him!!!
From Benton

The other Craig to visit and love on was Miss Kinley. When I was doing the newborn shoot for Benton, she wanted in on the action. So we did a little modeling session.
From Collages
From Collages

Could this kid get any cuter??????????
From Benton

She really didn't know what to think of us when we got there but it didn't take long for her to warm up to Uncle Todd & Aunt Kiss (thats what she calls me because she can't say Candice). I love that nickname!

I leave you with a slight preview of Mr. Benton.
From Benton

Can't wait to show you the pictures of Benton next week. Stay tuned!
Candice

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Kaleena & Robbie's Wedding

This weekend we were in Oswego, New York for the wedding of our friends Kaleena Marie King & Robert Wallace Fleming. Oswego is in upstate NY and it sits on Lake Ontario which separates NY from Canada. Oswego is known for how much snow it gets in the winter because of the lake effect. The forecast for Saturday was predicted to be overcast with a 40% chance of rain but God held the rain and it was a bright, sunny, beautiful, WARM day. The perfect day to say "I do".

I was in the bridal party so it was a bit difficult to get all the pictures that I wanted but my sweet husband was a lovely assitant. And because 'A picture is worth a 1,000 words' I'm going to skip the commentary and let the images do the talking. Enjoy!

From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
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From KaRobbie Wedding
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From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding
From KaRobbie Wedding

Congrats KaRobbie! We love you and wish you a lifetime of God's true JOY together!
Love,
Todd & Candice

P.S. Next up- the rest of our weekend in NY in Skaneateles with our friends Geraldean, Greg & the girls.

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