San Diego Photographers Workshop

I just had the most amazing experience this weekend at a photography workshop done by Me Ra Koh and Carey Schumaker, two women whose photography businesses I have admired and blog stalked for the last few months, it was incredible!! I was in a group of inspiring women, many of whom are in the same boat as I am, trying to get a photography business off of the ground while still being the mommy of the year to very young children. I was pleasantly suprised to hear their stories and discover that they were all a lot like me; new, insecure in their abilities, unsure of who to ask for help, etc. The workshop was such a breath of fresh air for me and a such a safe zone to ask questions that I have been too ashamed to ask in the past. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the first day of the workshop as I was at the memorial service for my grandmother who passed away this last week, but in the short time that I was able to attend, I was filled up with information and left feeling like I was part of a community.

I have since decided to go out on a limb and really seriously pursue my passion as a photographer and to start the ball rolling, I need a name for my business. Anyone have any opinions? I would like to use my actual name, but I feel like Carrie Butler is so dull that it won't really stand out in anyones mind. So I am thinking about maybe using another family name like possibly Carrie Ashworth? Any input would be great!

Barb Bailey

My grandmother passed away last week, May 20th. She was a wonderful example to me of kindness and love and truly will be missed. When I was a really young girl, I remember confusing her with Lucille Ball from I Love Lucy. I always felt as though I was the greatest thing in the world to her. I never heard an angry word from her, and voice was always full of warmth. I was able to meet many people who loved her at her memorial service. She was one of five friends that were all close and had been since grade school. They called themselves the "golden girls" and got together once a year. They seemed like a blast and all of them even at eighty years old were knockouts, just like my grandma. I learned a great lesson of forgiveness from my grandmother that I cannot forget. I loved her and am so proud and honored to be her granddaughter.

Chips And Salsa

Well, there have been many moments in my short career as a mother that I have felt the pride well up in my chest at something my child has done or said, but never have I felt such a pouring of emotion as this...

On the way home from Roosevelt on Mothers Day we stopped to grab dinner and over her apple dippers and nuggets I heard my little princess sing the following: (I hope the few of you who read this blog ie Laura, Lisa and Lindsay will appreciate this...) "Chips and salsa, chips and salsa, you take a chip and you dip it in the dip, hey!" There are no words to describe the joy at hearing her sing the song composed and sung many many times during my days at the Ivy House. Oh and here is a picture of her taking a nap. Yes a nap. I had to document it because they are so incredibly rare.

Strong words..

Paige had been using some words lately that I thought may be a little too harsh for her little three year old mouth so we have been working on replacing them with more appropriate words, such as "toot", "bottom" and "gosh". I have also been trying to explain to her that some words we use are very strong words and should only be used when we really really mean something. The main word we have been talking about is "hate". Tonight at dinner I told her we don't say we hate something unless we really sincerely dislike it, since she had been telling us she hates peaches, which she doesn't. She looked thoughtful for a moment and then looked at me and said, "ok, I hate timeout!" It was pretty funny. And accurate. She really really hates timeout.

Here are some pictures from dress up day, she went to a tea party at grandmas house. I hear she had a great time until she lost her light up snow white ring, and then she had a nervous breakdown.