Jack Daniel

What a fun day spent in Lynchburg, TN at the 17th Annual Jack Daniel's Invitational BBQ! It took us about two hours to drive from where we live, and when we arrived just a mile or so outside the city limits it was bumper to bumper... even tour buses were there...
Lynchburg is a quaint little town where the Jack Daniels distillery is located. Many years ago when I first moved to Tennessee, I went to the distillery for a tour, it was so interesting. About I year after that, a deed arrived in the mail. I had been gifted a square inch of land located on the grounds of the distillery. I was officially a Tennessee Squire. Every year they have the barbeque they host a private party for the squires too, that is just one of the benefits. I also get a calendar every year, and sometimes a goody bag! We went to the party, and got a collector bottle of Jack signed by the master distiller, Jimmy Bedford, and also one of the tasters, Lynn Tolley signed our bottle (she also owns Miss Mary Bobo's - a restaurant in Lynchburg). The bottle of Jack was not free... they did however, give us a commemorative shot glass, a small shot bottle of Jack, and a squire pin. Very cool!

Anyway, we also entered our little girl Lucy in the Jack Daniels Country Dog Talent Contest... and guess what? She won second place! Her talent was that she sings Happy Birthday with me... and she sang the whole song and got more applause than any of the other dogs... we were real surprised she didn't win first place... oh well! So this is a picture of Lucy with Kelsie Hardin - Junior Miss Dogwood Queen. Aren't they precious?!
Oh yes, and when we were getting ready to leave there was LOTS of traffic, so Tim and I decided to drink our Jack Sours before we left (waiting for traffic to die down). We happened upon the grave yard in Lynchburg… we found Lem Motlows grave, and then Jack Daniels grave, and low and behold… two seats right on top of Jacks grave, so Tim took my picture right there on Jack’s grave enjoying a delicious Jack Sour… yummy!

Brothers

There are some days when I really love my job. Today is one of those days.

I had the good sense to accept a photo assignment of two brothers, Isaac & Ford. They are seven and eight years old, not normally the age group I choose to photograph. But the call came in as a referral, and my inner guidance told me not to turn this one down... I am sooooo glad I didn't pass this experience by.

These two boys were so awesome to play with, and when I say play, I mean photograph. It was almost like they were professional child models or something. They were so up for showing me who they are... and most importantly, their mother (who is 8 months pregnant with a girl) told me she wanted me to capture the essence of their age... to capture this candid time in their lives. So, here's one of the shot's that the boys did for me.

Also, I want to point out, that I spent a good bit of time laughing with these boys... I had them laughing, and they had me laughing... I almost think I had a better time than they did...

Halloween Oreos.......

Nothing is safe from my camera... Here is what I'm bringing to a dinner on Friday that is of the Halloween theme. I don't usually have the time to fuss these days as I am soooooooooo busy with work on my business... but I thought I should take the time to do something fun, AND, it was... in fact, I did this while I was on the phone (at about 1 AM) with a dear friend in Dallas...

White Chocolate (purple colored), hand-dipped, with a candy corn. Very halloweeny!

Talk about multi-tasking... Yum yum yum....

NEVER BORING (My Life)!

I can't even remember the last time I have had a Clint the Black Cat show. I put it on the top shelf about 4 years ago to pursue my photography/web design business full-time. But here I am again, my first show in years... and I am nervous. There will be K-5th grade students there who have written their own books. I will read Clint the Black Cat to them, then some of them will read their books to me. It should be fun fun fun...

I judged an art contest yesterday at this school... it was so cute and always such a joy to see a child's artistic expression. The theme was reading and books... most of the children had a hard time following the theme, but as usual, there were a select few that were inspired.

Dear Young Entrepreneur!

I was asked to write a letter to the consortium of "young" entrepreneur education - speaking to young people (and maybe some young older people)!

Here is what I was guided to write:

The best advice I can give anyone about embarking into the business of CREATIVITY is dive in, get it all over yourself, and don't look back! If your heart and your head won’t shut up because they are so excited about seeing a creative thought become reality, than hang on and ride the ride ahead.

Start with the following if you need some guidance:

a) Don’t ignore your idea or thought (you might even have an excited sensation in your chest; feels much like a rush of adrenalin during a bungi jump or skydive). You want to scream inside (and out), and I suggest that you should… scream for goodness sake… there’s nothing like a good scream when you’re riding an exciting new ride. If you ignore these thoughts and ideas, you will regret it every day of your life. This is your higher power guiding you to be who you already are!

b) See the idea in your visual mind. See yourself creating the thing that you envision. Close your eyes and perhaps mime the action of the creation with your hands. Keep a separate journal of ideas. I have many of them.

c) Take a step each day in the direction of this dream that you have created. This might mean picking up the phone to find someone in the business that you want to be in and ask him or her to be your mentor. Most people are honored to be a mentor; it is validation that they too are heading in the right direction of their dreams. And remember dreams never end - they continue to EXPAND.

d) Live and breath your dream. Speak it into being! The words you speak are the power and belief of your dream. If this isn’t already happening, then you MUST seek a way to make it happen. BUT, don’t fall into the STARVING Artist TRAP – been there done that… it was NOT pleasant! I CANNOT eat tuna fish anymore…

e) **This is the biggest one!** DO NOT ask for approval from other people – I don’t care who they are! Your dream is YOUR dream! It belongs to you and NO ONE ELSE! Dream thieves live among us in the millions, and many times they are the people we trust most in our lives. Just do your dreams, and YOU will inspire someone else to do theirs.

If someone told me that I would have completed 3 murals in Los Angeles, received 20+ awards for photography, co-starred in a movie-of-the-week with a screen legend, authored a children’s book series, have a patent pending, and was going to continue producing creative ideas that were endless; AND, I was going to love every minute of every creative day of my life… I would have jumped on that train when I was 16. Don’t wait till your forty-two like I did to live your dreams, do it NOW! Although, if you are 20 to 100 and still haven’t decided to live your creative passion, I’m proof that it can still happen and is continuing to happen every minute of everyday!

Either way, follow your heart and your dreams; your passion will never fail you. And never forget: Only the ones who believe ever see what they dream come true!

Creative blessings forever and ever,

Carla

Peoples Choice Award

I truly believe that this entire experience of taking this photograph was a gift from God. I was at the right place, at the right time, with the right equipment in my hands.

Lucy (my Scottish Terrier) had never been taken off her leash before, she's a typical Scottish terrier, and she wants to rule the world and all its creatures. Since this day, every time we go to the Dog Beach in Huntington Beach, CA, we gladly unleash her. I have never seen such joy on this sweet little dogs face as when she runs around the beach sniffing and chasing other dogs.

I entered this photo into the Tennessee State Fair professional category. All my photos placed except this one... I'll admit I was very puzzled as I thought this to be the best of my submissions. I call this UNLEASHED! Well, my puzzlement was answered, as total strangers in attendance of the fair voted it the BEST professional photo in the exhibit! We won the "Peoples Choice Award", a large purple fancy ribbon - I am very proud for both Lucy and myself!