Welcome Spring!

It's beginning to look more like Springtime around the Buie house. This week I pulled out the Easter decorations from the attic. I love decorating for Spring and Easter, mainly because I love eggs and birds. Spring is a perfect time to display both!

Speaking of birds...B & I were working in our yard and he called me over to look at this! It was a perfectly put together bird's nest! I still get so fascinated by bird's nest... how they gather random things from the ground and put them together to form something so unique. It is definitely a God-given talent that these little birdies have. There weren't any eggs in this nest so I carefully took it down out of the bush to admire it up close.

I might even use it as decoration in our house this Spring. I found this picture here of a fun way to use a real bird's nest in your home.

I also decorate with lots of eggs. Most of my ceramic eggs were my great grandmothers who hand painted them for family members. I cherish these eggs as they are one of the main things I remember "NaNa" for.

My mom bought me this new little addition in Dallas last month. It is one of my favorite things too. This little bunny bootie just makes me smile when I look at him every morning. He sits in a pot of ivy on our breakfast table.
My egg wreath I picked up at Pier One a few years ago when I worked there sits on our dining room table...along with the best Spring decor, my kitty Hazel. She seems to find herself wherever I am taking pictures at the time. ;)
When we cleaned out my grandmother's home a few years ago, we found several cartons of unfinished ceramic eggs. These were painted a base color only, but to me, they are still just as pretty! I have several vases of these ceramic eggs around our home and love looking at them! Their fresh pastel colors are so Springy!My favorite thing about March and early April is definitely tulips!
I found these aerial shots of the Netherlands. Can you believe that those fields are all tulips? Wow! I would LOVE to go there one day during tulip season!

Found here

I hope you are enjoying these early days of Spring!

Vegas Baby!

This post is all about Vegas BABY! That's right, the Buie's took a little trip to Las Vegas this week. Some friends of ours invited us a few months ago and we've been looking forward to a little vacation time ever since. Their were six of us who went, three couples.

me and Buie

Jessica and Alan

Susan and Brad

We really didn't have much of an agenda these few days: we walked around the strip, saw the sights, ate yummy food and even tried our hand at a little gambling... I mean, we were in Vegas, why not, right?

My favorite spot I found in the city was the Bellagio Hotel Lobby. Besides their fountains, the hotel is also known for their tremendous flower display in the lobby. They change it out every season with fresh live flowers! Of course, this week had an enormous amount of Spring flowers, including a few of my favorite:

Tulips

Ranunculous

a huge portrait made entirely out of fresh flowers. So neat!

One of the best places we ate was Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. A.MAZ.ING. I highly recommend eating there if you go to the city.

Our last night there we saw Cirque Du Soleil, Mystere, and was so glad we did. The flexibility and strength of those people is unbelievable. Definitely a show worth going to! This is a pic I snapped of the big creepy snail with my iPhone. CREEPY!

Overall, we had a GREAT time! This was our first time in Vegas. I can't say that I just want to RUSH back there anytime soon. I prefer less people, less gambling, and less smoking everywhere, but it was a fun experience! :) I think our next trip should be to the beach on a deserted island.

March Madness!

It's March Madness and our brackets are filled out with not a minute to spare! I always join my brothers Yahoo group. It's fun to be in a group full of old friends talking "smack" to each other. ha! Year after year I usually choose Duke, unless of course I'm lucky and choose North Carolina the year they win.

So who did they Buie's choose this year? I chose, one again, Duke. What can I say? I'm loyal. :)

And B chose Ohio State. Random, I know, but watch him end up winning it all. He's lucky like that.
What about you? Did you fill out a bracket? Who did you pick to win it all?

Working from home

I have officially been working from home for one month now and Cara Beth Photography is in full effect! My day consists of checking emails, doing laundry, vacuuming, facebooking clients, burning CD's for clients, playing with my doggies, doing more laundry, hanging out with my husband, contract graphic design work, editing pictures, and the list goes on... It really has been a new, fun and exciting time in my life.

What I love about working from home:
1. I get to see my husband more often.
2. I get to spend time with my animals: Conner, Scooter, and Hazely Wazley (aka Hazel). :) I think they like having me around.
3. I use every last drop of the 57 dollars we pay for internet each month.
4. I get way more accomplished around the house because I can multi-task. I can be doing laundry while I'm editing pictures.

What I don't love about working from home:
1. Getting Distracted. It is so easy to get distracted from actually working on business things and start doing things like reorganizing my closet. Opps! :)
2. Sometimes I miss real people interaction. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my husband everyday and we are definitely spending more time together but sometimes I go for days at a time and the only other person I have seen is the guy at the post office.
3. Now that I'm actually home I realize all the things that I didn't do around the house when I was at the office all day.

Oh, and remember when I was trying to give up coffee? Well, that has gone straight out the window. It's time to go put another pot on right about now. :)

Happy Mardi Gras!

Anything that gives me an excuse to celebrate my heritage makes me happy! Being from Louisiana, I am excited about Mardi Gras because it's not only a good reason to break out the purple, gold and green beads, but it also begins the Easter season and the beginning of Spring!Today is Fat Tuesday so I hope you are enjoying today and eating whatever you want, including plenty of King Cake! I ordered a gluten free king cake several weeks ago from Truly Free Bakery Online and I have been enjoying it now for several days, eating it for breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks and for dessert. There are exactly two pieces left for tonight, one for me and one for B. For church Sunday, I made a big pot of red beans and rice and we have some left over, so tonight we will be having some andouille sausage, red beans and rice and king cake!

Les se le bon temps roule! (Let the good times roll, for those of you not from Louisiana!) ;)

A Tale of 2 Cities

Last week I went on a little celebratory trip. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to end one career and start another one. And what better way to kick off my photography career than by going to one of my favorite states, TEXAS! Now don't get confused, I am from Louisiana and yes, LA will always be my #1 but Texas is a close second and yes, Arkansas is not far behind, since it is my current home. I spent every summer for years in Texas soaking up the sun, making new friends and having what are some of the best times of my life. I also have many friends and family members that live in Texas, so I go as much as I can.

This trip I went to three cities: Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas. But today I will just blog about Austin & San Antonio. We'll save Dallas for another day. :)

Austin.

My college roommate lives in Austin. Becca. We lived together for 4 years. That is rare to say and I'm quite proud to say it actually. We have so many good times, along with a few rough times as well. But today we are stronger friends than ever. This trip we celebrated this friendship.

I spent a few days with her - we saw a movie at Alamo Draft House Cinema. This was a really sweet theater where they serve dinner & drinks during the movie. This was a first for me! Definitely an experience I would recommend to everyone who visits there! I shopped on S. Congress Street which is probably most famous for its vintage shops... which is right up my alley! :) One of my favorite stores is Uncommon Objects. The. Best. Store. Ever.

While I was in Austin, I met up with an old camp friend. Remember how I said I spent every summer here in Texas? Well, I made many close friends at camp and one of those friends was Josh. The last time I spoke with Josh was his last year at camp, when he was 17 and I was 16. That was literally 10 years ago. But thanks to technology these days we reconnected online and met for lunch in real life. :)

This is me and my friend, Josh and his baby boy, Maddox. My friend, Robyn told me this looked like a family picture so let me just preface this by saying this is NOT a family pic and I am happily married to B still and he was perfectly okay with me meeting an old friend for lunch. :)

After I returned home from my Texas trip, I did some digging and came across an old camp scrapbook in which I found *this* picture. This picture is special to me for so many reasons but mainly because it sums up just how special my time at Pine Cove was. Josh and I had been attending the same week of camp for years. We were like brother and sister. When it wasn't "camp time" our families took vacation to visit the other one. Josh came to Minden one time and road four wheelers with me and my cousin (pictured in the LSU hat). One year, my family went to the University of Texas and we met up with Josh for dinner. We wrote letters back and forth during the year...but we couldn't wait until week 10 at Pine Cove. After this picture was taken, I didn't see him again in person until this past week. Ten years had gone by. He had a kid. I had gotten married and from the pictures it looks like I had put on a few pounds. ha! Geez! Anyway, meeting up with Josh this week made me feel blessed for the camp experience that I had growing up, for the friendships I have made throughout the years...even those friends I don't talk to as much... because I believe even those people who pass through your life briefly can still have a profound effect on your life.

San Antonio.

After a few days of roomie time, Becca drove me the short distance from Austin to San Antonio where another college best friend lives. Robyn lived with Becca and I for a semester, then again through a summer one year. Robyn and I also survived an Orlando trip together. I say survived because we DROVE the whole way and I would not recommend doing that a

gain. That's why airplanes were invented, people.

Anyway, back to San Antonio. The three of us ate an AMAZING meal at Alamo Cafe... and yes, I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone. I had the puffy tacos and they were so good I want to get in my car and drive there right now to eat them.

Well, before the amaziness that were the puffy tacos... we had a mini baby shower for Robyn at the restaurant. I found the *perfect* gift for little Marley Jean. Robyn is slightly obsessed with alligators (I think it goes back to our Florida trip we took together or maybe when she visited Louisiana... who really knows) Anyway, Robyn loves alligators so needless to say, Marley will too. :) So I found the cutest little onesie with a gator one it. PERFECT gift if I do say so myself. Quite proud!

We did a bit of shopping but couldn't walk around too much because we didn't want Robyn to go into labor. After all, I hadn't taken her maternity pictures yet! Sunday was the day for that! A week for her due date, Robyn got dolled up for her maternity shoot and looked gorgeous! I think she was a little disappointed she was a little lower than normal maternity pictures. I was originally planning to come a month earlier but my flight was canceled due to the snow we got here in Arkansas. Boo! So, little Marley had already dropped and was preparing for her big arrival day! Never the less, we made it through maternity pictures without going into labor! :)

Check out more of my photography here.

For Sale: Head Board

Update! Headboard has been sold!

• Pier One Headboard: $100
• Suede in a beige color
• Fits a full size bed or queen
• Excellent condition
• Pick up in Benton, AR