Blue-Eyed Bride

Saturday, August 17, 2013

We've Moved!

Remember in my initial post I said that I wanted to find my passion?! Well, I did! Click here to start following my new and improved blog :)

CLICK HERE

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Today is a great day! It's the perfect time to get back into my blogging because today marks the 1 year anniversary in our new home. Time flies! One year ago today we were unloading a HUGE moving van and getting settled into our new life as soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs.. It has been an incredible year (as newlyweds!) - so very blessed!! I remember being SO excited to move into a cul-de-sac! Our house finally feels like our home. As you know, we love to entertain! We've had some great celebrations thus far (from hosting Thanksgiving dinner, to New Year's Eve, to birthdays, to wedding showers, baby showers, Easter dinner, Mother's Day, etc., etc.!)... and we've gotten to know our neighbors, we love them! Naturally I've taken over as social chair by creating an exclusive Facebook group and a phone directory for our neighborhood :)

I absolutely love our home! My favorite spot is our back porch! Ryan and I sit out there almost every morning and night. We have hundreds of birds that flock around (seriously!) and the occasional hawks and owls that pay us a visit. It's so very peaceful! It's too much space and fairly quiet under our roof right now... but I can only imagine the loud craziness that will happen under our roof whenever we have children running around... so I certainly don't take it for granted! It puts a smile on my face to look over at the basketball hoop in our driveway (that has yet to get used), the woods behind our house, our butterfly bushes, our hammock, and the red picnic table in our backyard... these "things" will make for such incredible memories down the road :)

Cheers to many, many, many incredible years to be spent in our home with my amazing hubby!!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Missing in action...

Well, hello there! Yes... I know... I haven't posted since April... I think I was still recovering from the family birthday season!! I've been meaning to catch you up with things as life has been crazy, but oh so wonderful!!

SO to bring you up to speed... life is good! Work is going extremely well. I'm 1 year into my new role in sales and I'm loving it. Lots and lots of driving = lots and lots of ME time. I've enjoyed my work weeks on the road and interacting with my agents.

I've taken the next step with my passion for photography!! I said farewell to my Sony a200 DSLR a few months ago and finally bought my first Nikon (D5200). I'm in LOVE!!! It's amazing! I'm addicted. I've been practicing and learning in Manual mode so I have full control on adjusting my aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. It's really helped me advance my skills. I've started reading blogs, following photographers work, and it's jumpstarted me to take the leap in re-launching my photography business. Formally known as Denton Digitals, now has a makeover to Allison Shumate Photography... this time last year I put this on the back-burner with selling/buying a house, wedding my planning, a new career role... you get the idea. This has certainly kept me busy during the weeknights and weekends with the beginning stages of starting a business... licenses, contracts, pricing, websites, portfolio, logos, advertising, timelines, questionnaires, business cards, etc., etc., etc. I'm starting to get some sessions scheduled and it's all very exciting!

I've been cooking a lot lately!! For months I've been pinning delicious recipes and never going back to them to actually cook! Ryan is very happy with this new hobby ;) From onion dip, to shrimp and basil orzo salad, to chicken bruschetta, and more! I finally got us setup with getting the Sunday paper... you know you're getting old when you're excited for your 1st Sunday paper to arrive in the mail... I've started collecting coupons!!

Sorry again for the delay... I told ya I was still getting used to this whole blogging thing. Promise to keep you in the loop. Until next time :)

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Road Trip!!

This past weekend Ryan and I took a road trip to Gate City, Virginia. I had to head that way for some client meetings and we figured we'd make a weekend out of it and visit Harry and June -- Our Great Aunt & Uncle.

We stopped in Roanoke on our way up to stay in Hotel Roanoke and visit with Cathy! It's always great to see and catch up with her!

The next day I finally got to meet Harry and June!! They are such sweet and kind-hearted people!! We spent the next two days telling stories, looking through photo albums, touring Kingsport, TN -- where Ryan was born, and eating lots of delicious food!! We took them out for dinner to Cheddar's -- their favorite place. Harry and June were excited to get a night out on the town. We went by Hob-Nob for lunch the next day -- best oreo milkshake I've ever had!!

June showed me her sister Edna's jewelry box -- Edna passed away a few years back and she had beautiful taste. She told me to look through the jewelry and pick out anything I wanted... I was so excited -- it was all so gorgeous!! June and I spent the next hour trying on all the jewelry and I picked out my favorites. It is so very special to now have a piece of her along with me. I never got to meet her but from what I hear she was an amazing woman. While we were in town, we stopped by to meet Francis -- Harry's sister -- she's was too sweet. She said it made her month that we stopped by! Such a fun trip -- we'll definitely be back soon :)

Long Time, No Post!

Well, I guess it has been about 3 months since my last post... but I have valid reasons... I swear! This year I have been swamped, by it has been oh so wonderful! Work has kept Ryan and I busy with traveling with lots of fun family events galore. I have however been taking photos along the way and I plan to still share those with you.

So to catch you up...

Ryan and I took a trip to Punta Cana ~ A President's Club trip with his work that he earned! Amazing hotel, views, food... so relaxing!! We rode horses on the beach for the first time -- so cool!!

As Social Chair, we've had several Mingle with Maymont socials. SO excited that we have a larger following at these socials this year. Each social we've had has had close to 20 or so folks attend and the # grows each time!