Our sleigh has been stolen but not our joy!!!!

The terrific red sleigh we have used to celebrate Christmas was stolen on Thanksgiving night.

We had most recently used the sleigh in our Christmas special this year. We attached a wreath and big red bow and put it out by our sign with a spot light on it. Sometime in the night, someone drug it down off the hill and made off with it.

I would love to say we will replace it but the truth is it was hand made for us by a gentleman who no longer can make them. But I am sure we will find something just as special for next year. For now, we have a sign out front that says what we want said.

Merry Christmas!

Susan Earns Two Blue Ribbons

The whole staff of A Moment In Time Studio went to the Fall Convention and Competition of the Professional Photographers of Ohio at the Easton Hilton in November.

The portfolio competition is held every year and is judged by a panel of Professional Photographer of America certified judges. Any photographer from the state of Ohio can enter.

Susan received blue ribbons on both her portfolios. In addition, Beth and Mickey each had a portfolio accepted into the Exhibition.

Competition was stiff and we were really excited with our awards. There was a good deal of yelling and cheering.

Competitions like these really keep us on our toes and help us stay current with new styles and products. It’s also a good time to meet up with photographer friends and compare notes. We get some of our best ideas that way.

If you are in the area, stop in and see our latest entries.

Wind Storm

We really hope you are all recovering from the wind storm of last weekend. I have never seen anything like it in my life! I was driving back from a cookout at Darby Metro park shortly after the wind storm started when I saw the wind take a huge section of a tree down. Seeing the tree come down was one thing but the unbelievable thing was that the tree section just peeled the front off a barn. One minute, I am looking at a barn, the next, I am looking at all the hay stacked inside. It just got stranger and stranger. (Is stranger a word, other than for someone you shouldn’t talk to?)

We lost power momentarily several times on Sunday but were fortunate enough to never lose it completely Almost all the homes around us were not so lucky. If you don’t live in the country, you are probably not aware that if you do not have city water, you must rely on a well. If the power goes out, so does you water. So must of the area was without electric or water. God love ya!

Mom’s nursing home did not get power until Thursday afternoon. The emergency generator system allowed them to keep vital equipment and lights in the halls and nurses stations on, but all those poor people were so bored. No way of getting out and doing anything and no TV or radio. I felt so bad for them. Thank God the weather was tolerable. I cannot imagine how much more difficult that would have been if it was extremely hot or cold.

The terrific thing that came out of all this is seeing how people coped with all the problems and still found it within themselves to help others. Stories of extension cords running across streets, people with water letting others shower and do laundry, food being transported across neighborhoods and across town to store in freezers that were working.

We all take so much for granted, especially the small things we tend to overlook. So maybe surviving the wind storm of 2008 will give us a bigger appreciation for all those little things and for the kindnesses of strangers, family, friends and neighbors.

Sometimes we shine brightest when the electricity is off.

Hope your lights are on, your roof is secure and all your debris is removed.

The Cows...

Brittany Ashcraft came with two cows, Fifi and Nicole. For cows, their posing abilities were remarkable. Fifi, especially, liked when we put the feed on the ground so she would stay in one spot for the picture. She stayed there till the feed ran out. Then Brittany’s dad, bless his heart, loaded them up in the trailer and took them back home while we finished her session.

Now that's a John Deere!

What a fun week!

I think Mitchell Riffle wins the largest prop award for this year so far! Look at this tractor! How great is that! Mitchell drove this for an hour and 10 minutes EACH WAY! Now that’s determination. A man with that much stick-to-it can accomplish anything he sets his mind to. I had so much fun with Mitchell’s session. Mitchell and his mom were a blast!

Susan has lost her mind!!

OK. I have officially lost my mind, not to mention, my cell phone.

It’s like this. My Mom had a stroke in September. After 2 months of hospital and 5 months of rehab, she has been able to go into assisted living. The staff there is just wonderful to her. I go daily to see her and every night we read together. Last night, the nurse told me she needed some over the counter medicine. So this morning, I went to the store and got it.

I had three missions this morning. 1. Take her the medicine. Mom’s facility is in Obetz, the southeast of Columbus. 2. While there, pay for her (today’s) hair salon appointment so she could get her hair done. You pay at the same facility, but in another building. 3. Pick up some supplies at Fed Ex, way out on West Broad St. No problem. I got in the car, loaded her clean laundry, her medicine and her check book. Over to the facility I go. Into her room, hang up her clothes, put her linens away, visit a while and stop to talk to her nurses and aides (who I just love). Mission accomplished. Off to Fed Ex I go, covering about half the outer belt of Columbus. While standing at the counter, I pull out my checkbook. And Mom’s. With her check still in it.Back on the freeway, back to the assisted living. Into the office I go and pay for her appointment, with everyone laughing because I had just been there. Back to the studio and my next session. After the session, I needed to return a call so I went to my purse for my cell phone. Not there. Go to the car. Not there. Looked everywhere. Not there. You know what you do when you can’t find your cell phone, right? You call it. One ring. Two rings. Three rings and an answer. “Hello. Can you tell me who I am talking to?” IT WAS THE ASSISTED LIVING! I had left it on the counter. Heavy sigh, drooped shoulders. “I’ll be there right after I finish my last session.” Back I go, again. Gloria was laughing so hard when I went back in, she could hardly look at me. So Mom got an extra long 3rd visit for the day and my gas tank needs refilling.

The really sad thing is, I actually tell people the dumb stuff I do. But if you can’t laugh at yourself, what else is there? Right?

Hope you all have an organized day. I don’t know. Maybe not. An awful lot of people laughed at me today and if laughter is the best medicine, we should all feel much better.

Congrats Graduates!

WOW! Time has gone by so fast. I can’t believe the Class of 2008 is almost ready to graduate and take off! Except that we are going like mad to get all the invitations printed for ‘08 parties, I’m not sure I would realize that graduation is here.

It has been our absolute pleasure to meet and photograph all the great seniors we had this year. I have always said that we get all the best seniors. The chance to get to know you all has been such a blessing for us. We’ve laughed together, done some fun stuff and even cried together. You guys have been awesome.

Enjoy these last few days you have before you take off for the real world. Whether you will be going off to college or jobs, we wish you every good thing. There are absolutely no limits to all you can accomplish. Your life is a journey, you can choose any number of paths. Choose wisely, they will determine your eventual
destination.

Your parents are gonna be pretty emotional through all this. Just let them hug you when they need to. Letting go and realizing you are graduating will be difficult and when they do hug, you will notice they will hold on just a little longer. You will hear at least a million times that it seems like you were a baby, just yesterday. And it does.

Be safe, have fun and God bless you! Susan, Jim and Beth

Scholarship Winner!!!

Hey! What fun is this! I get to present Dustin Williamson with a $5,000.00 scholarship! What can be better than this?! Dustin was one of the 2008 Seniors we photographed this year who took advantage of the scholarship opportunity we offer in cooperation with Senior Photographers International. As an organization, we work all year to raise funds that we can then award in scholarships. Thousands of seniors, internationally, vie for the scholarships and to have it awarded to someone from A Moment In Time Studio is just fantastic! We were soooooooo excited!!!

Senior Photographers International

Chelsea Dillon of Grove City High School, and Jordan Bivens of Madison Plains High School were the subjects of Senior portfolios that were awarded Honorable Mentions at the annual Senior Photographers International convention and competition. Each photographer is permitted to enter one portfolio each of a senior boy and a senior girl in the international competition. Susan photographed Chelsea and Jordan last summer for their Class of 2008 senior portraits. They were great subjects! Obviously!

Susan and Jim joined photographers from all over the country who specialize in high school senior portraits. As a group, the members photograph approximately 280,000 seniors a year.

The fact that the competition was held in St. Petersburg, Florida the end of January sure didn’t make us sad either!

Ambassadors help behind the scenes....

What a great group!!!! We are getting our mailing pieces ready to go out and our Ambassadors (and some of their Moms) came to help out! There were mailing pieces flying! Music and lots of chatter made the time go fast. These guys got things done two entire days faster than we anticipated. Thanx to all!!

Flood of 2008

Well, it looks like we can release the animals from the ark. The flood waters are going down very slowly but down none the less. For those of you who do not routinely pass the studio, you missed our flood! As you know, we have a pond on the north side of the driveway and another on the south side of the property. Last week, when the rains came, our ponds almost rose to meet each other. The water was 5 inches deep over the driveway and became part of the pond. For 2 days, we had to cancel appointment sessions because we were not comfortable with people trying to drive through water that high when one false move could put them in the pond. It is still way too cold to swim!

Attached are some pictures of Jim driving Easter orders and other orders out to clients for pick up. Only his truck sat up high enough to get through. It was quite the interesting couple of days.

I always wanted beach front property but never expected the beach to come to me.