The Importance of Being...Thankful

We have so much to be thankful for, don't we? I was sitting next to a table of seven of my nieces and nephews at our Wise Family Pre-Thanksgiving and listened to them all go around the table saying what they were thankful for. It made my heart all warm-and-fuzzy listening to them list off the things they cherished most... "my outfit," "The Veggie Tales DVD we watched earlier," "saying 'Good Night' to Grandma," etc.

Over the past two weeks, I've spent more time with young children than I have in a long time and it was a gentle reminder to get "back to the basics" of what we're thankful for. I feel like we dig so deep into our lives once a year to find the things we're truly thankful for, but really, we should be thankful every day for the provisions we have to get us through one day at a time. While God calls us to have "faith like a child," so shouldn't we also be "thankful like a child?"

I hope that wherever you spent your Thanksgiving Holiday this year, that you were thankful for all the things in your life - good and bad - for they make you who you are and who God is ever-creating you to be. In the words of the Veggie Tales movie the kids were watching, "A thankful heart is a happy heart."


Little Turkey!

Happy boy, N!

Baby Ben

Mama and her girls

Jido (pronounced "je-dough") and Ben

Pre-Game Thanksgiving {Southern Edition}

We're back! Bobby and I spent the past weekend with my family down in NC at my brother's house. It was one of the rare times out of the whole year that all 18 of us "Wise's" are all together. The weekend was complete with good company, seven cheerful and energetic kids, LOTS of pies and cookies, movies, Christmas music, and of course, a turkey.

I also had the pleasure of taking family photos of my brother's family (who hosted) and my oldest sister's family. You can find more on my Photo Blog later this week. But for now, here's a glimpse of our weekend!

All seven of my fun, sweet, goofy nieces and nephews! (Sorry for the flash drop-off)
A family favorite... gingerbread cookies!



My new favorite picture: Jen and her girl.

My brother's family~My oldest sister's family~

Oh, Hello

Perhaps you don't remember me. My name is Melissa Barrick... I used to blog occasionally on this site. You probably don't recognize me with my squinted eyes and scrunched up face from a week of grimacing a burying my head in textbooks all week long.

Oh, you remember? Ok, Good!

Nice to be back. Although I'll probably be gone again soon. Really, I'm just poking my head in to let you know we're still alive.

Back in my UMD days, I vaguely remember the students calling the last week or two of classes "Hell Week." You know, the weeks leading up to final exams? Well, it's arrived. In flying colors. At the same time as a major holiday which requires travel.

December 6th will mark the last day of my exams. I will personally be hosting a book burning featuring "Statistics for Business and Economics." It'll be a great show, not to be missed.

Just kidding about that one.

Bobby and I are road-tripping down to NC this weekend for a big family bash. I will be singing "Gone to Carolina in my Mind" all the way down. Bobby loves it when I sing songs relevant to what we're doing. Just like last weekend, I sang "She'll be comin' down the mountain when she comes..." while we were driving home from the mountains. I've never seen a man clench the steering wheel so hard.

Good Bye Forever! "...In my mind, I've gone to Carolina...can't you just feel the moon shine, baby, it's like a friend of mine who kicked me from behind..." Thanks James Taylor.

You're In The Hills, Now!

You know that pretty picture I showed you before we left of the nice mountains and view? Ok good. Now just erase it from your brain, because we see anything like that. We did, however, have a VERY relaxing weekend in the hills of Virginia at Lydia Mountain Cabins, which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone. Nicer than most hotels I've been in, it was so new and clean, it impressed the socks off me and Bobby!

Our only good view from our cabin. Of course, on the day that we left.
See anything? Nope? Ok, good... because we didn't either. The entire mountain was completely covered in fog. So much for Skyline Drive.
We went to visit Montpelier, the famous home of James Madison. Beautiful. The last time I did a house tour, I was probably in 3rd grade and I certainly didn't appreciate it then. The architecture, the history, everything was so fascinating. You can find some more pictures of the grounds on my Photo Blog.


We then headed to downtown Charlottesville (Home of Dave Matthews) for a nice steak dinner.

On Sunday we packed up our stuff and headed out towards one of Virginia's most acclaimed vineyards, Barbousville. There's actually a lot of history here which was really interesting. The home was built for Governer Barbour and his family by Thomas Jefferson (who were good friends) but burned down in 1884. The house had all rectangular-shaped rooms except one, which was octagonal. Because of this trademark (common to many of Jefferson's archetectural designs) the vineyard's signature wine is called "Octagon" and costs as much as your first born child. Just kidding... but seriously. Lots of good wine to be tasted... We came home with a few bottles to enjoy!

They had a nice, big fire in that fireplace behind me... very Italian feeling.
We took a tour through the winery, which was so cool... learned a lot about wine!
Anyway, we're back home now... needless to say, it was a much needed get-away before the whole Holiday Season starts!

Looking for the Barrick's?

You'll be able to find us here. For a whole weekend. With no internet. No cell phone. No Homework. No WORK (except for the whole hiking thing). Best part is... I can take a hot shower with no spiders looming over my head AND I can visit the ladies room by taking only 4 lazy steps, past our lovely fireplace, the satellite TV, and the refrigerator, which will be chilling a nice bottle of champagne.

My Eagle Scout Husband spent years of intense, outdoor training for this very weekend. "Camping" in the rough, I say.

Just Because

Just 4 short years ago was the first time Bobby and I met... you can read our "abridged" story here on the night we met. Thanks to my sister, I never would have found my hunk-y engineer. The picture above was taken a few months before we got married. He was practicing for this (the face of our pastor's face is priceless):


Just thought I'd let ya'll know! Hope you're having a nice week! Thank goodness for 4-day weeks...

Sister, Sister

About a month ago, I was talking with a girl at work about taking pictures. After begging and pleading profusely, she finally agreed to let me take pictures of her kids! Since children's photography is kind of the route of photography I'd like to focus on for a business, I was thrilled to finally get some practice. The girls were awesome - so patient and so photogenic! So, here's a little glimpse of what the afternoon was like. The lighting was so cool, the sun was out, but it was cloudy at the same time, making the "mood" very cool and fall-like.

You can find more pictures of these cute sisters over at my NEWLY LAUNCHED Photography blog!!! Since you all voted "chocolate and lime" as my colors, I tweaked it a little (only because Blogspot doesn't offer the colors I thought would look good) to be black and kelly (green). Anyways, thanks Melissa and girls, for letting me photograph you this afternoon!

Accomplishment

This will be me (well, this really is me) in one month. Finished. Reached my goal. Kaput. And I guess you could say, hypothetically speaking, I will have reached the "summit." For those of you scratching your heads and wondering "Melissa Barrick has really climbed a mountain?!" Yes, my dear blog stalkers, I have.

Regardless, one month from today I will be driving home from my LAST final exam of my undergraduate studies. And only 12 weeks after that, I will have received that flimsy little 8.5x11 piece of ecru cardstock with a pretty little stamp on it that only cost my loving Dad (and my company) over $50 G's. The four-and-a-half most painful years of my existence will cease on that day. I'm just kidding... it hasn't been THAT bad. I've just got "senioritis." I've got it bad.

Maybe on that day will I actually climb a mountain to embrace the symbolism of this blog post and the picture referenced herein. Oh, the symbolism... take my back to my freshman year in college when I was walking to my FIRST college literature class when to my horror, my book bag broke and my 3905 books spewed all over kingdom come... why did I have to take myself back to that place?

Accomplishment, people, is what I stand for. Procrastination? Never.

Now go have a chuckle because we all know that's not true.

Two Words

I only have two words for you people... MID TERMS.

Enough said. I want to crawl in a hole of pity, coddle my big, fat Caramel Macchiato, and make a really long, long, long blog post instead. Or it makes me want to stick my head through a fence, like my poor kitty here, Killian. However, I can't because all of my professors ganged up on me and are requiring about 2495395 different things to be due this week.

Do you feel sorry for me? Ok, good.

But just in case I get lost in the bottomless abyss that is my academic career right now and can't make any useless posts, I have started my new "preliminary" photo blog!!! You can access it on the side bar right under my profile. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Go and be thankful that you are not me this week. Amen.

Engaged! Josh and Kelly

I have no patience.

This evening, I had the pleasure of taking my first official photography session with my friend Kelly from work and her fiancee, Josh! Let me just tell you... it was SO fun. I got home and just couldn't wait to take a look at the pictures! Here is a snapshot of how the evening went, which, by the way, was GORGEOUS. I don't think we've had a prettier day all season! Josh and Kelly, you guys are a beautiful couple and very photogenic! Congrats on the engagement and thanks for your patience with me today while I figured everything out!