Cassie the Fabulous

Cassie's mom contacted me about doing some senior pictures for her daughter. I hadn't done senior pictures before and I had visions of people leaning against massive numbers for the year they graduated or shots with their class ring strategically placed for maximum impact. I wasn't down with that but she assured me that's not what Cassie wanted either. She was after cool.
I thought we could probably pull that off. So we agreed to meet and shoot downtown.
What I didn't know was how pretty Cassie was or how much fun she would be to shoot. I had a great time, I think we spent close to four hours together getting awesome shots that will have other seniors hiding their pictures in shame!

Sometimes it's hard to do the right thing

I have a thing for old cars.
I own a '61 VW bus, a '65 VW bug and an '86 Honda WagoVan - I bet you haven't even heard of that one.
As cool as this roundup of cars is, they are 47, 43 and 22 years old respectively and they are each showing it.
The engine in my bus went home to meet Jesus last week. So I pulled out the bug which I hadn't driven in probably four months. The key was lost somewhere in our housing mess and the battery was dead so, I had to jump-start and hot-wire the car at the same time which proved to be interesting. I drove it for a few days and learned it had a broken transmission mount. My all original Honda recently passed 200,000 miles and runs like a champ, but I'm running out of back-up cars.

We passed Jim Barkley Toyota yesterday and, on a whim, decided to check out a Honda Element that we saw. With the Elements you either love 'em or hate 'em. I admit to being one of the former. So we drove the Element around and though it had an inherent coolness, it was a stripped down, basic model with one of those colors you can't put your finger on - and I just didn't love it. Lame.
So I'm checking out a Toyota minivan I can't afford while Jolene is putting the car seats back in our retro Honda and I mention to Tyler Mooney, our awesome salesman, that I'd be willing to swallow my pride at this point and go with a minivan. It really is everything you could want in a car unless your list includes "cool". I'm all about the Hondas but there's nothing on the lot to be found and he remembers that they just got an Odyssey trade in a few days before. It had just finished being detailed and hadn't even made it to the lot yet. Tyler pulls it up and Jolene, with a reluctant smile, moves the car seats and our little Men over to the Odyssey. We take it for a drive and it's sweet. It's got every option Honda offers which, at last count, was 638 more features than the Element. And it's $1,000 less! Sold.

Tyler was great to work with, even though he offered me very little for my ego as a trade in. I'd totally recommend him.
You can find him with the used cars at Jim Barkley Toyota off I-26.
Tyler Mooney: 828-210-3313

Who needs an ego? I've got my wife and my boys, a worthwhile trade any day.
Rockin' the minivan!

It's Gryphyn - I love him.

My blog posts have become scarce while we're living in a hotel and our house is still a wreck.
However, life goes on. So I thought I'd share a few shots of life in room 316.
This is Gryphyn taking full advantage of being two and a half years old and taking a bath.