Party of 3

Last night, Trey didn't get home until midnight. He was at a Rangers Game. When he was ready to crawl into bed for the night, he was surprised to see that we didn't leave him any room. Sorry!!! Usually, Trey and I don't let the girls sleep in bed with us (or at least we don't have them start their night in our bed) but I really wanted to be near them. PS. I still sleep with my Dallas cowboys snuggie and huddler, every night, even in the summer. 

Looking Forward to The 2015 InFocus Conference in Charleston

Next year, I'll be heading to Charleston for a work conference. This will be my first work conference representing my business.

UTA has sent me to the NABShow, but from what I can tell, InFocus is much different. IF will be smaller, more intimate, and focus on wedding cinematagraphy. I can't wait!!!

And in Charleston, SC…I mean, C'MON!

This Might Make You Smile. A Surprise Marriage Proposal.

Several months ago, Jon told me he was going to surprise Shayla and ask her to marry him. He asked me if I would hide-out and take photos of it. YES!!!
I told him, I would also record it! So, they have it on video too!

I set my gear up at the Ft. Worth Water Gardens.

Afterwards, I took a few photos of them around the gardens.

It was so cool to witness this special moment.

Seven Hours of Running is kind of Crazy

I hope you had a good weekend. Mine was excellent. I edited a wedding ceremony, spent time with the family and went for a LONG run. It was really long (the run).
Sunday, I set out for a 20 miler. 3.5 hours later, I was done! The last time my weekly mileage was this high, was back in February! That's over 7 hours of running for one week. Whew!

Other than running, I've been occupied.….
This evening, I tried to be discreet while I hid behind a tree to record, as well as photograph a surprise marriage proposal. Jon (Chris's younger brother), proposed to his girlfriend. She said, yes!!!

30 minutes before, Jon and Shayla arrived at the Ft. Worth Water Gardens, I sent this message and image to Trey ----  I'm ready!!! There were a lot of women around the water gardens, with their hair covered. I was hoping I'd blend in and Shayla wouldn't recognize me. I guess it worked. She didn't notice my 3 cameras! She was too focused on Jon. Good. After he proposed, I took a handful of photos of them around the gardens. I'm so happy for them!

Chey and Dakota want to say hi! Okay, have a great night!

The Ever Moving Treadmill

My treadmill has been in every single room in my house except for the girls room AND it's been moved, again! This time, it's in the same room, but it's been shifted to face the TV. I love this new view. I also like how I can, look to my right and see what's going on, outside.
I've ran, what feels like a million miles on this Treadmill. I'd be curious to know, exactly how many miles I've ran on it. I wonder how much longer it will last me….

The other day, I bought my first digital magazine subscription. Take a wild guess which one??? 6 miles flew by, when I was reading.

I'm in Love With Love

Here is the first wedding I've produced for Mulberry Lane Studio. This was a party! I don't think I've ever been to a wedding, where the couple was literally dancing to every song. They even danced during the ceremony.

I love my job. Enjoy!
Sammie & Rey's Wedding (Highlight Video) from Dominique Anderson on Vimeo.

Little Date & Lake View

These two love birds went on a date.
They went shopping at the Disney Store, had dinner at Chuy's Mexican Resturant and then watched a movie.



And this is how I spent 3 hours of my weekend. Another long run. I ran to the lake. I stopped a few times, and admired the view.

I would love to live near the water. How about you?

A Cool Opportunity For Me

So, I keep forgetting to blog the good news that I was going share with you (I think I briefly mentioned it a few weeks ago)….

I am now a freelance wedding cinematographer for Mulberry Lane Studio! I'll take wedding gigs from them as needed, if I'm not already booked. A few weeks ago we worked our first wedding together at YWCA, downtown Ft. Worth. We have another wedding coming up this fall at Ashton Gardens.
I'm pretty excited about teaming up with them. They are a photography business, but they are expanding their services to include wedding cinema….that's me! I'm so honored to be working with them. It's a wonderful opportunity for me.

Speaking of weddings, I guess word is getting out about my business. It's been a wonderful wedding year. Yesterday, I met with a bride (who was referred to me, by a previous client), a few hours later she booked me for her 2015 wedding near Tyler, Texas. Here's to the 2015 wedding season too!

I just wanted to share the good news with all of you! Thanks so much for your encouragement and supportive words. AND thanks for watching my videos! I put my heart into every wedding.

Here is the Mulberry Lane Studio site if you want to check it out.
http://www.mulberrylanestudio.com

Girly Stuff

The girls and I have a few things in common. One of those being window shopping. We love Neiman Marcus! Other than the kid area, Chey and I love to browse the purse section. She wants us to get matching purses. I'm on board with that idea.

We also walked around Build a Bear. We borrowed the store pets, while we were browsing. 

Amazing Patience & Growth Chart

I'm amazed at how much patience my 5 year old has with my 2 year old. They are suppose to be asleep, right now and I can hear Chey telling Dakota sweet words of comfort. 

Don't open that door. Don't cry. I don't like it when you cry. 

You will see mommy in the morning. 

Take a deep breathe…in and out…just like that.

Dakota listened to her!! Within a few minutes she was sound asleep.
It's nice to have a caring sister around.

Because sometimes this happens…

The other day, Dakota threw a fit because she didn't want to nap. The result was her sleeping by the door. That was her idea.

In case you were wondering, we are still keeping up with the closet growth chart.

Marathon Training and I'm not Even Running a Marathon

This morning I met my neighbor, Amy for a run. The great thing about having a running partner live a block away, is that you can wait until 5:16 am to get dressed for a 5:30 am run date. We ran 4 miles together and then I ran 1 mile solo. We ran at about a 9:30 pace.

LONG RUN 

Lately, I've been having some great runs. Jeri is training for a marathon. She had 16 miles for her weekend long run. I figured I'd join her (in spirit, she lives in South Dakota). So, Saturday I headed out for a 16 mile run. I ran a 4 mile loop around my neighborhood, once the sun rose, I headed to the trail and ended up running the rest of my miles and then I ended up on a busy city street. Luckily, the city street was runner friendly.
I didn't kill myself, trying to hit 9 minute miles, (although I did run a few at that pace). Overall, I ran a 10:31 pace.

I can't tell you how rewarding it felt to run 16 miles! I miss training for long races. I don't have much on my race calendar. I think I'm just going to continue to run long. Here are a few races that are on my radar.

CONSIDERING THE FOLLOWING RACES
1. Cedar Ridge 18KM
This race is this month and it's sold out. I'm on the waiting list.
I ran the 36 KM, last year and loved it! It was so challenging, but so worth it.

2. Fort Worth Marathon
I kind of have my eyes on the 20 miler.
3. Dallas Marathon (the half marathon)
BIG MAYBE

4. Cowtown 50K
Duh, I love this race! This is on my must run list!

2 Year Old Wellness Check-Up

Monday, I took Dakota to the doctors office for her 2 year old wellness check-up. She weighs 30 lbs.

There were two things I wanted to talk to the doctor about.
1. Several people have asked me, "Have you talked to her doctor about the way she walks?" I'll admit it, Dakota is bowlegged, but it's never been a concern to me. I went ahead and mentioned it to the doctor because like I said people have asked me about her walking like I should be concerned…. and I didn't want to feel like I was being dismissive, even though I felt like her walking/legs are totally fine. The doctor examined her and said, she should grow out it as she gets older, but no nothing is wrong with her legs/bones.
2. The second thing I mentioned to the doctor was about her eczema. When she has a bad breakout, she becomes so irritable and I can tell she's in pain and I can see she's in pain! The doctor prescribe some medicine and also recommended Cetaphil as an everyday moisturizer.

Dakota, my 2 year old.
TV Favorites:  My Little Pony and Dora
Favorite Movie: Frozen
Favorite Snack: Fruit Snacks (gummies)
Favorite thing to wear : Frozen PJs

Hey so this is random, but if you pulse cauliflower in a food processor, you get a rice like texture. I love this so much!!! You should try it. Sprinkle some seasoning, lime juice and cilantro --- mmmm, so good!

Wedding at Classic Oaks Ranch

Hey! I finished this wedding highlight a few days ago. Enjoy!

Julianne & Matt's Wedding (Highlight Video) from Dominique Anderson on Vimeo.

Happy 4th of July!

Today, I woke up around 6 am and went for a 6 mile run. The neighborhood where I live, is kind of hilly, so I was moving slower than usually. I guess, it felt harder because here lately, the majority of my runs have been on a track or treadmill. However, I have to say - running slower is kind of nice.

Trey had the day off, today and we wanted to do something fun, as a family, so we decided to go to Splash Kingdom Waterpark in Hudson Oaks. The park is relatively small, it's not like a Hurricane Harbor or anything. This was my first time to go and it was really family friendly. It was also really clean! There wasn't a ton of people either, if we wanted to go down the slides, we only had to wait maybe a minute - if that! We had a great time playing in the sun. We were thankful we didn't have to pay for admission, thanks to Trey's friend/customer.

Now, it's 8 pm and we are all exhausted. We weren't planning on going out to watch fireworks, but if we had planned on doing that, I doubt we'd be able to. I'm about to call it a night. Happy Fourth! I hope you had a nice relaxing day with your family too!

Here's a screenshot pic from Splash Kindgom's site.

P.S. The other day, when I was out in the garden, minding my own business, picking tomatoes. I remember being so happy because this is the first season that I have ever successfully grown tomatoes. Next thing I know, I realize that I just got stung by a wasp. I remember I read that lavender oil helps diminish the pain insect bites. Sure enough, I applied it to my neck and it immediately help reduce the stinging sensation.

Half a Day at the Studio

Yesterday, the girls and I went to Mulberry Lane Studio.
A few months ago, Trey introduced me to the owner of MLS, her name is Amanda. Trey knows her husband and Trey does service work at a resturant he manages. Amanda is a local photographer, she specializes in wedding and newborn photography. We have some news to share and she asked me to go to her studio to have some head shots taken. She had hair and make up people there. Pretty exciting for this mommy! As far as the news, I'll talk more about that later, in another post. Or if you follow me on Facebook, I'll share more about it there too.

I asked the hair stylist to give me Lana Del Rey hair (since I'm obsessed with her look). I didn't want my hair bump to be too big, so I told her to make it subtle.

The photographer, stylist and other girls (there were other photographers having their head shots taken) were not in a hurry, so I ended up spending 6 hours at the studio. It was a ton of fun, but I had my girls with me. They were beyond good, considering how long it took - but they were exhausted. After we left the studio, we went home, I cooked dinner,  video chatted with Trey (he was working out of town), put the girls to bed and edited for 2 hours. Whew! Now, I don't want to wash my hair….