Darby, an American Sweetheart Returns

Darby has been getting pretty jealous with all the baby talk around here. But, at the same time, she was getting over her low self-esteem, so she hasn't minded laying low for a while. After her "incident", she had to get shaved completely down- hence her hiding. She was embarrassed. But, the haircut was completely necessary since she had briars, cuts, and hundreds of ticks all over her. Poor bear. Honestly, though, she was quite traumatize from her being lost and I truly think she had some post traumatic stress syndrome! I'm not even kidding! Then, add to that a jacked up haircut, and she has needed some time to herself. You know, to heal and reflect.

Thankfully, her hair is starting to grow back in and she is getting all cute and fluffy again. These photos were taken about a month ago, so she is getting back to normal now and ready for the camera. She is going to be her cute little bear self just in time for the annual Christmas photo(get excited)!

Last trip to the lake of the year. She didn't seem to remember that this is where "it all went down".

Family trip to the beach back in July. She loves running while we ride the bike. This was right after her shave down. Eek!

The most emotional July 4th weekend ever...

If you follow me on facebook or twitter, you might know that we had quite the dramatic weekend. Honestly, I am still reeling from the experience/may start crying just writing this. On Sunday, we had some friends down to the lake for a fun July 4th get together and day on the lake. So many fun times were had- tubing, skiing, and just hanging out with great friends. Darby, of course, had her place of honor on the front of the boat and rode around all day. She just loves the lake- swimming, playing with the other lake dogs, and drinking water from the lake to name a few.

We never worry about her down there, she is so obedient and never is far from Joe or I, even when the other lake dogs are running all around. Around 9 on Sunday night, it was almost totally dark and we were just picking up all of our stuff that was out on the dock and getting ready for the night. Suddenly, very close by(20 yards or so) folks started letting off fireworks unexpectedly. Darby became immediately spooked and took off back down the dock for land. Joe went directly after her calling her and trying to get her to calm down. She was running, and fast, and took off into the shadows. At this point it was totally dark and we couldn't see where she went.

Thus began the longest 16 hours of my life. Seriously. Those without dogs that they totally love might think this is ridiculous, but I cannot think of another time that I have been so distraught and upset. ever. I immediately had a sinking feeling and knew that she had to be scared out of her mind to run and to not listen to us when we were calling her. This started the night hunt that we did for her until 2 in the morning. Luckily, or unluckily, the lake property is not a busy area, in fact very rural. But the unlucky part being that the area is very rural, meaning thousands of acres. Joe started walking the woods at 9 with nothing but a flashlight, and I was looking for her up and down the roads yelling and calling her name. Others at the lake tried to help, but it was pitch dark and only very few flashlights and all of our friends had left. Plus, it was not as big of a deal to the masses as it was to Joe and I that our dog was missing. Lots of "aw, she'll come back"s by many local and friendly rednecks. Though this line of thought proved very unhelpful to me. More fireworks, I knew, were not going to help us find her- and they continued off and on until well after midnight. Still, we look and yelled for her and looked some more. Joe, I know, covered many miles back and forth in the woods with just a maglight. We were so upset and I was trying not to panic quite yet, but couldn't help but just cry at the thought of not being able to find her. I had the worst doom feeling because I knew she was not one to run off, much less just decide to come home if she was that scared. We prayed and prayed. I am definitely not one to waste prayers, but I know the Lord knows how much we love her, though I was resigned to the fact that I know He loves me wether we found her or not. I tried hard not to bargain with Him, but it was super hard not to. I just kept praying we would find her safely.

Eventually we decided to try and sleep and get up at first light to look some more. All night, or the 4 hours we laid down, we kept getting up every time we heard something thinking it could be her. Needless to say that it wasn't much rest, not to mention the fact that Joe got up half way through the night and became sick from all the water that had gotten up his nose from his couple of nasty falls skiing. (I won't go into detail here) At 6, we got up to a completely sinking feeling once we knew she had not returned overnight. And by sinking feeling, I mean a total and complete breakdown. All rationale was out the window and we both were just puddling messes over thinking about our missing bear and how scared she must be. Also, the fact that we know she is a city dog, not a country dog, and her days consist of laying on a padded bed in air conditioning, not being lost in the woods with no food or water. Drinking water out of the lake is as rustic as she gets. After all, she is a Hartsell dog, people! She has a very wonderful life!

With everyone in my family at the beach, I felt even more helpless, but called Leah, the best friend a girl could ask for, to come get me to take me back to Concord so that we could make flyers and so that Joe wouldn't have to be without his car. She came and we were back on the road to Concord by 7:30(it's about a 35 minute drive). We left Joe hunting, while we came to make the flyers. Poor Leah, I cried the whole way home, but she was so supportive and tried to stay calm. It was not a good scene. When we got to the house and I saw Darby's bowls, and then her crate, and then her toys, the breakdown continued. I checked in on her micro chip and even the sweet man at the 24 hr pet watch made me cry even more by telling me to hang in there. Looking through her pictures trying to find just the right ones that showed her shape and size was also heartbreaking.....ones like this of her with her dad made me want to crawl in a hole.

Leah and I made the flyers and headed back down to the lake armed with staple guns, tape, and 400 Lost Darby flyers. This search was no joke people! I had to find my sweet Darby!

By the time we got back, Katie and Haskell had come, Joe's dad had met up with Joe, and Leah's husband Daniel had come as well, so we all split up with the flyers. We put those bad boys up high and low and talked to every person who would listen, was standing outside their house, or looked remotely like someone who would care. So many sweet people gave us words of encouragement, but honestly this just made me cry worse. Every sweet lady in every gas station would say something so nice that I would just cry as I taped up the flyers.

Come 1 in the afternoon, we had put up the majority of the flyers and talked to everyone we could. I was starting to make my plan for the rest of the week....move down to the lake, go get my computer so I could try and work and figure out a way to have someone down there at all times in case she came back. Joe at this point was the walking dead since he hadn't slept and had now been hiking the woods for some 6-8 hours. My mom, who I had called at 6:30am at the beach in a total state of ridiculousness had also just arrived- they left the beach as soon as she could get the car loaded to come help. So she set off with Leah to hang up more flyers. Joe and Daniel had run out of the flyers and had stopped in at the house to get water. I was making Joe sit down for a second, when no more then a few minutes had passed and the house phone rang. We jumped up to get it and it was a man who Joe's dad had spoken with at the nearby Boy Scout Camp earlier that morning, which by the way, is located on 1000 acres. Katie and Haskell had also taken some flyers by there. He called to say that he had our dog! Let me tell you what relief we felt!!!! We couldn't stop smiling, though I really wanted to lay eyes on her before I truly believed it.

The man at the camp had been keeping a lookout when he said he found her in one of the campsites that wasn't being used that week. I could've kissed this man!!! He had no clue how much of a panic we had been in and what it meant to have her back. Darby was slapped dab worn out. Weak on her feet, covered in briars(did I mention poodle fur not the best for woodsy activities) and limping because her poor paws were basically rubbed raw. She had NO energy and I am so glad we found her when we did. I am not sure how much longer she would have made it on her own in the state she was found. Completely dehydrated, her nose was covered in mud from where she was trying to find water in a mud puddle(silly dog, come home and there is a whole lake you can drink out of). I have never felt such dread followed by such elation in such a short amount of time. So, the ordeal was finally over! From 9pm until almost 2pm the next day we searched high and low for her. So many friends offered support and help and I am so thankful to all of them. I know that if we didn't do ALL we could, I would have never forgiven myself if it did not have a happy outcome. And super thankful to our friends who gave up basically their holiday to help us. Joe and I truly truly owe each of you, BIG TIME!

After we had all calmed down, and our adrenaline finally gave out, my mom said to me "Now you know what it will be like when you have a child, how much you will worry....". I said to her, "Oh, now I definitely know!!!!! That nearly killed me!" Which, in hindsight was a good lesson to learn considering we will get to test that theory come December.

That's right, in case you missed it, Baby Hartsell due this December:) We were planning to "go public" this week and this seemed like the right time to announce it after all we have been through this weekend and after all the love and support we were given by so many. If this baby is loved near as much as Darby, he/she will be in pretty good shape....and I can only image how much MORE it will be loved, as it already is so much even right this second. I guess now would be a good time to post the infamous ultra sound photo, but we don't have a digital copy so far and I have another ultra sound next week that will be much more up to date...so I will post one then. In fact, next week we will find out what we are having! I know! I am sure life will be super different this time next year, but we are so excited for the journey and can't wait to see what is in store for us as parents. We have had some time for the news to soak in personally for us, and we are just too excited and can't wait to be a mom and dad and grow our family together. Besides just being super exhausted(oh yea, and this was right around the time LeAnn got married, a nice combination), I have been very lucky so far...no morning sickness, which is how I have been able to keep on keeping on without skipping too many beats. May was a little rough with my fatigue, but that was the worst of it so far. In fact, we have already shot 7 weddings since finding out! If I was a little slow on my turnaround in May and early June, consider this my official apology:) Nobody knew we were preggers and the fatigue had me sleeping sometimes more than I was able to work. All in all, though, it has been a great process for us so far.

As far as weddings this year go, we were pretty lucky in how the whole thing worked out, so we will not miss anything that we already have booked:) So thankful to get to work with all of the brides we have scheduled this year! One thing that may be a little different towards the end of the year would be Christmas photos and Christmas mini-sessions, but I plan on working all of that out soon and posting it on my facebook fan page and then on the blog.

I know this was a super long post with lots of different news, so thank you for taking the time to read it!! We will resume regular photo goodness tomorrow:)

Thailand Travels- Chiang Mai

So before our trip to Thailand becomes a year ago, I am determined to blog more of our personal photos. Here are my favorites from our trip to Chiang Mai, which is in the northern part of the country.

Seeing the elephants was one of our "must do" activities. We spent the better part of the day going to an Elephant Camp and riding the elephants. Now, riding the elephants, this sounds really fun. Joe and I were really excited. We talked about it for weeks. Really. Riding Elephants. It will be a blast! Sounds great! That is, until the elephant you are riding totally doesn't care that you are on his back, insists on climbing down a mountain while you are sitting on his hump to devour rain forest, leaving you at a 90 degree downward angle, 12 ft off the ground, and your new-years-eve-hung-over elephant guide cannot control your elephant and at one point jumps off your elephant and leaves you going down the mountain on your elephant with your fancy camera equipment. All the while, drunk elephant driver beats your elephant with a little pointed stick trying to get it to listen...to no avail. The elephant does what it wants. I'm just saying. Joe and I were both mcguivering ways to "loft" off the cameras and jump down, except that we were on the side of a mountain. It was a pretty intense 2 hours ( I think it was suppose to be 45 minutes). And on top of that both of us super super white people got burnt. So, all that to say: Elephants= Amazing. Riding Elephants= Scary.

Enjoy these photos!

Oh- one more thing! I had a lot of people ask about my Italy photos and if they were for sale. They are, and so are these. Email if there is one you are interested in.

Pre-elephant ride. Still super stoked about elephants.

LOVE this eye shot below that Joe took.

The long-necks of Chiang Mai.

Photos of the King and Queen of Thialand. These are everywhere you go in the country. On billboards, on highways, bridges, even in the smallest of towns there are photos of the K and Q.

Elephant painting a painting! This was truly amazing. Some of the elephants painted ACTUAL photos. Seriously, one painted a bunny. That was not by accident!

One of my favorite shots of the day. Taken by Joe. He is pretty great.

Introducing Lancaster & St. Louis

Many, many weeks ago I stopped by my sister's new office to take some promotional shots for their new business, Lancaster & St. Louis, PLLC. I love hanging out with LeAnn and Hilary now that they are officially in town and open for business. If you are in need of legal services from two incredibly talented ladies who offer a fresh approach to law, then definitely check them out. I am so proud of them!!! For more info on their services, you can check out their website here.

I am sort of new to "promotional shots", but I think we did pretty good. Lots of 'fix your hair' s later, this is what we came up with. It is so them! Professional yet approachable- that's basically who they are as people!

Oh yea, amazing logo design by yours truly. Between LeAnn's wedding and business opening, she has called in every favor for the next five years:) Let's all hope I don't have to call in any law favors!

Darby takes a swim

We took Darby to little Badin for the first time on Labor Day. She loved the water and had her very first swim. Lucky for her her mother was there to capture the moment...this is going in her baby book for sure...

Florence

Two more stops on our Italy adventure...Florence was delightful: lots of shopping for leather goods, long walks, amazing amazing food, and pretty weather. One of our most favorite things of the whole trip was seeing The David in Florence. Many tour books told us to be prepared for very long waits to see some of the famous art that is in Florence, so we were shocked when we passed the door to see The David because there was no one in line. It was really awe-inspiring. In the Uffizzi Gallery, where so many great works of art live, they have been protecting art in the gallery for over 500 years. And we think something that is a hundred years old is old! Wow. Joe and I were pretty excited about getting a street artist to draw our picture. It was really fun to watch, but we do think we look a little young:) We like to think of it as a picture of us if we met when we were 15.

Here are some of my favorite shots from this magical town.

More adventures- The Cinque Terre

When Joe and I set off to Italy, there was no great plan in place. We found some rooms online, knew roughly what day we wanted to be where, and that was about it. In my great effort to get freed up to get out of town, I did nothing to prepare. Anything that was a plan didn't get planned by me!! We basically got on a plane armed with a Rick Steve's Italy book. It was our guiding source to everything we did. If we would have lost that book, we would have been in some deep trouble! So, needless to say, we really had no clue what to expect because we didn't prepare for anything! For those of you who know me, this is so against everything I stand for with my type A personality it's not even funny.

Joe and I get along famously. We aren't one of those fussy couples, but there was one moment that I was SO mad I could hardly stand it. Joe didn't do anything wrong, necessarily...there was quite simply a train strike, which, obviously, was his fault. Clearly. It was his fault there was no where to sit in the train station, it was his fault it was raining, it was his fault that it was freezing cold, it was his fault my bag was heavy, and basically it was his fault that there was a train strike. Rational, I know! Ladies who read my blog- I know you can understand this.

Anywho, after the train strike decided to end and we finally left the train station after being there for about 5 hours, we arrived in the sleepy little region on the Italian Riviera called the Cinque Terre:)

This region consists of five little towns that have a population of around 500 each. We ate, we walked, we took pictures, we watched the sunset. It is a magical little place. This is where Joe had his favorite meal: Pesto Pasta. Sounds simple, but the pesto is made local just up the way, so it was absolutely delicious. This area was much more colorful, so I was in photo heaven! Take moment and look at these pictures and dream of summer;)

We're back!

Whew! 2 weeks and one cancelled flight later we are back in the land of cowboy boots and southern drawls. At the airport, when I saw camo in Charlotte, I was actually excited because it solidified that we were indeed back in the south! 40 hours trying to get home will do that to you!

I really have no words to explain how amazing our time was together on our trip. No phones, just each other and some amazing places. I will be sharing more in detail and showing lots of pictures here on the blog- but for now, here are just some snapshots of what is to come!

First there was Rome (so much to see, so little time)...

Then Venice (my personal favorite)...

On to the Cinque Terra (a sleepy little region)...

Florence (where The David lives)...

and finally Sienna (under the Tuscan sun)

Can't wait to share more after all I crawl out from under the laundry and the email.

Happy Tuesday!

I was looking yesterday at Caroline Bride's website to see when the new edition comes out ( I still don't know, I think the end of this month) and BAM- there were wedding galleries up featuring Kelly and Eric's Wedding and Katie and Jeff's Wedding! Wahoo! I had no idea these were up. Little gifts like this make me happy. Merry Tuesday!

Published in Carolina Bride!

I'm not going to lie...when I found out Leah and Daniel's engagement pictures were published in Carolina Bride, I was as giddy as a school girl! My heart was beating fast and I couldn't string thoughts together I was so excited! I tried calling Joe, who apparently didn't realize I was in desperate need to share this news with him because he didn't answer his phone, twice. Ok, next step, Mom. I know mom will answer. Nope, she didn't care either. Ok, sister, my sister, she will be there, I just know it. SHE ANSWERED! LeAnn! LeAnn! Leah and Daniel are in Carolina Bride.......giggles, cheer, excitement. Wahoo! Go grab your copy to see the spread on Leah and Daniel's engagement under the section "Rules of Engagement" or go to the Carolina Bride website where it is a feature!

Better late than never! Happy 4th!

Being at the beach so much, I have gotten really behind here in the office!  So, I will take a slap on the hand for not posting this sooner!  Here is a little collage from my 4th at Oak Island.  I was too far away from any amazing fireworks (although we could see them) to get any good pictures, so here are some from off the pier.  Looking down the whole shore and being able to see fireworks all the way down the island was pretty cool though.  

I would now like to take this opportunity to thank the nice man from Concord who we met at the gas station in the middle of somewhere on the way home from the beach.  You see what had happened was I managed to lock the keys in the car (in my defense, I thought Joe had them) while parked at the pump at the small gas station that was swamped from all of the beach traffic.  So, don't mind us while we sit here and take up this pump for the next hour waiting on AAA while a line of traffic waits on a pump out onto the highway.  Sorry!  Joe was going to tell the poor guy behind us, who was now kind of trapped with their big truck and trailer that they were pulling that he would help to guide them around us .  Next thing we know, the nice man and his son jumps out of the car (I didn't know what they were going to do?  Push us out of their way?  Why were they getting out of the car?)  Well in about two seconds it became clear that he had a lock out thingymabob in his truck toolkit and had our car unlocked in less than 5 minutes!  YAY!  Thanks you so much mystery man!  You saved the day and us a lot of money calling a lockout service on a Sunday!  

No, really, it's a quarter....

This past weekend was wedding-free, so my family directly took advantage of my free-ness to put me in charge of a yard sale to help clean out my Great-Grandmaw's house- as she know lives with my grandparents. Many of my close friends have come to know and love my great-grandmaw, Helen. I don't know if it was delirium from going to bed at 2 and waking up at 5, but Joe, my sister and I had quite the time at the sale.

I decided to make a list of my favorite things about the yard sale:

1. Finding out that my great-grandmother had an affinity for "sketchy things". Seriously, if it was a joke about something sketchy, she had it hung up, written down, owned a picture about it, etc. She is 92 years old, people.

2. Meeting Kim and Mitchell. We met Kim and Mitchell at the yard sale. We became fast friends and spent an hour selling them things at our yard sale. We immediately learned their taste and would even call them over to show them things we thought they might like...and then convince them of all the reasons they needed and loved this item.  At lunch, my aunt asked how we knew them. We didn't, we met them at the yard sale. "Well, from the way you were talking to them, we thought you knew them from before". Here at our yard sale, we really get to know our customers....that's called service.

3. Finding out that Joe is really good at 'Sales'.

4. Not understanding why people were having a hard time figuring out who to pay when the signs CLEARLY said, "Pay the 2 cute blonde girls in aprons".  Was it that confusing!?

5. Eventually trying to sell the whole lot of the yard sale for a dollar.

Enjoy these favorites.  I am laughing out loud looking at them!

The theme of the day was: Hats. One dollar Bob.

This ceramic cat was only a dollar, who could turn that down?

This couch weighed approx. 1593182 lbs.

Example of sketchy grandmaw.

DD decided to take the hat once the sun came out.

Don't worry, Joe found another hat. 

Joe being really good at 'Sales'.

LeAnn being really good at playing the violin.

Erma decided to make an appearance. We love her.

Helen found a hat too.

LeAnn couldn't find a hat, but she found a wig.

More goodies to come this week!