Pro Photog Momma

I am just an average, everyday stay at home mom first and foremost but I am also a professional photographer. I have strong views as a parent and professional and this is my unofficial place to tell my story, share my opinions, and showcase my talents.

[annamichele3]

The NEED to be Natural

      Parents all choose to do things differently. We all have different opinions. But one thing I think we can all agree on is our desire to do what is best for our kids. 

      Before I became a mom, I was young and naive. I ate fast food and junk food all of the time. I used any kind of new product on the market, went tanning twice a week, and didn’t think anything of it. Becoming pregnant really started to open my eyes to the world around us. I developed a need to be healthy and a need to protect my children. 

      Everything we consume and purchase in the United States especially has been modified to allow each company maximum income from the products they’re selling, but they do not regard our health or safety. Look at all of these cleaning products with dangerous chemicals, shampoos and conditioners that kill our hair and put chemicals into our body, foods that have additives and preservatives that cause cancer and other bodily dangers. 

     We NEED to educate ourselves for our kids to all of the dangers that build up in our bodies over time. We NEED to make this Earth a healthier place. I am nowhere near being a “hippie” but I do know that I want natural products for my kids. Don’t they deserve the best that we can give them? 

[annamichele3]

Nighttime snuggle monkey <3

[annamichele3]

I know I grew up with toxic parents. I have watched my siblings suffer because of it and I have my own sufferings and if I can share this and make a difference in someone's life I would be forever grateful.

[annamichele3]

My kindergartener colors better than you :)

[annamichele3]

On a positive note, my 3 year old son learned how to write his name tonight! 

[annamichele3]

Exposure

   Living in a small town as a photographer really bites the big one. There are people everywhere advertising photography services for dirt cheap. Money is tight. I get that, believe me. So it’s hard to get yourself out there. My passion has never been portraiture either. My dream is to be a product photographer for a company or magazine. I just don’t get how to get myself out there and noticed. I also need much work with Photoshop and I learn better hands on, but know NO ONE around me who specializes in my genre that would be willing to help. I wish I could find someone that could teach me more. All of my schooling was done online and I watched so many YouTube tutorials, but that is just not the way I learn best. 

[annamichele3]

Photography is a passion! 

[annamichele3]

Dreary Day

Today was just one of those days where the weather was cold and dreary. Our whole family was home all day with nothing to do but to veg. Don’t get me wrong, I love to veg as much as anyone, but for some reason today I have this lingering “off” feeling.... I feel like I am missing something. It is a really weird feeling. I am not ready for the weather to change. I need to live somewhere warm year round. I feel almost stressed out or depressed when winter comes. I hate feeling trapped inside and I hate the sickness that comes with colder weather and people being forced indoors all the time. I hate that it gets dark before dinner. 

[annamichele3]

A girl after my own heart... My mini photographer girl <3

[annamichele3]

Do you remember being able to sleep in weird positions like this?

[annamichele3]

Deeper, Darker Rant

Why is our world so shitty? Over 5 years it has been since Isaac and I first said we wanted to move. I have known since I graduated in 2008 that I did not want to spend my whole life in Pennsylvania. But we have had bad time after bad time and no matter how hard we try we just can’t seem to get ahead.

First off, college. Isaac never went. I just graduated. Upon my graduation, my school decided to just casually drop on me that my aid didn’t cover my whole program and I would have a balance to pay in order to receive my paper degree in hand. A balance we cannot afford. My husband being the sole income provider with no college, we are limited to the number of livable job opportunities. But we still didn’t want to have to pay for him to go to college unsure of what exactly he is passionate about, when you have a buttload of debt that you have to pay back after and not even a guarantee of a job. I have had a terrible time trying to find a job in the market that I want to do for photography. Being a small town, there isn’t a whole lot of people willing to pay for product photography at a livable cost for me. 

So we look at other areas. We get excited. We find jobs and beautiful towns that we would love to move to that would definitely help our family flourish. But then the world runs on credit. Our credit was destroyed by a financial hardship. TWO years ago and we are still paying the price. One period of time that was a couple months of unemployment and we are ruined for 7 years until it falls off our credit report. Given, we are working on it and slowly bringing it up, but it still is far from Good. This limits any chances of buying a home. Rent prices are almost as much as we make a month. 

We struggle to pay just the bare minimum even with only paying utilities in our home right now. 

It’s so depressing to see the potential in people and places that are untapped because we are trapped by our so called Free Country. Sorry but we are NOT free. We are just pawns to politics and corporations. I wish more than anything that enough people could stand up and fight back or at least find a way around it all. But I don’t foresee that happening any time soon. Sooo that is my rant. 

[annamichele3]

Just taking the journey of life one step at a time.

[annamichele3]

Someone lost a shoe! 

[aspennic]

Check out my blog: www.behappywithme.com

Together we can change the world,one positive thought at a time.

[annamichele3]

Very good list of things to go by.

[annamichele3]

A link to some of my photography... Still adding more but you will get the picture... Pun intended. :)

[annamichele3]

To Santa or Not To Santa

   I sit here this morning having a chat with a relative about Christmas shopping and I think about my plans for Christmas this year and it got my mind spinning and I just have to write about it. Last year, my daughter who was 4 at the time asked me if Santa was real. This is something I struggled to answer. Do I keep the magic alive and say yes? Do I tell her the truth and say no? 

   I believed and was told about Santa when I was little. I put cookies out for his reindeer and eagerly waited up Christmas Eve night thinking every little sound I heard might be Santa on my roof. One year, I went into my parent’s closet for some reason and stumbled upon the motherload of presents that “Santa” would bring to me. They were even labelled From Santa on them. I was old enough to just roll my eyes and think wow there really is no Santa. 

   Since growing up and having my own kids and seeing the way the world is now, I am really thinking I do not want my kids to believe in Santa. Here is my reasoning.... Christmas is a time for spending time with family and making new traditions. My most treasured memories from Christmas as a child was making Christmas cookies, hanging and decorating stockings and the tree, making popcorn balls that were red and green to hand out to family on Christmas Day, and seeing all of my family the day of Christmas. 

   We have turned it into a holiday of greed, where we have to immediately start planning and saving money right after the New Year to buy presents for the following year. We obsess over the newest and most expensive gadgets. Black Friday has turned into a week long excursion starting Thanksgiving night and going into Cyber Monday and Tuesday. 

   I dread the thought of Christmas anymore because we are by no means well off with money and we struggle to buy our kids extra presents by that time of year. I see all of the posts on Christmas from other families and feel the jealousy well up inside of me that I cannot provide living rooms full of presents for my children and I realized something.

  I want my children to know that it is Mommy and Daddy who provide the presents on Christmas. I want them to know and understand how hard we work to give them extra things. I don’t want them to believe that these gifts have just magically appeared by some being they will never see. I want them to understand that spending time together and having traditions is the ultimate joy. I want them to see any present they receive as a true gift and treasure it always. So to me, I have chose Not to Santa. 

[annamichele3]

Socialization and Schooling

I have a very hard time with the word “socialization” in reference to schooling. Ever since I even began thinking of my eldest daughter going into school, I dreaded making the announcement that we did not plan on sending her to public school. I was raised in a family in which public school was the ONLY school. Homeschooling was bad and cyber school wasn’t even a thing back then. I knew I would be in for the time of my life when I broke the news that my daughter, Delia, was going to be cyber schooled. 

We have heard the condescending judgement and disapproval at our decision since even despite trying to stay as excited and proud as we feel inside. The biggest argument that we have heard so far is the one about socialization... What about her and other children? She’s not going to make friends. She will be socially awkward. She will miss out on SO much. 

So let me tell you this.... We are into our third week of cyber school with Commonwealth Connections Academy (CCA). My daughter has a teacher and is in a class with many other children. She gets to participate in electives, work ahead if she knows the materials, do school at whatever time of day she wants, take breaks whenever she needs to, or even do her work in bed or outside. There are TONS of field trips available to her every month. She does soccer and will be joining gymnastics. 

Now yes, kids in school get to be around other kids. They can be distracted from their work by the other kids. They can be bullied by other kids. They cannot “socialize” throughout the day because they’re in class and cannot talk for the most part. The socializing they do get involves peer pressure, cliques, and bullying. 

Do I regret my public school education? Not at all. Do I think cyber school and home school is for everyone? Absolutely NOT. I love seeing pictures of all my friends’ kids who are going to school just as much as I love seeing the pictures of all the cyber school kids with their home classrooms. Education is important no matter what format it is in. 

But as I sat at the playground the other day watching my daughter walk up to every other little girl even remotely around her age, striking up conversations with them and coming back to me all excited that she made a new friend, I shake my head and think and here is my daughter who has no socialization. Making friends like it’s a piece of cake.