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December 31, 2008
Welcome Home “T”God welcomed home one of my friends, and one of His children yesterday. This community will miss her and we mourn the loss with her daughters & husband. My prayers are with all of you who are friends and family. Take care of all of those heavenly horses for us “T”. ~M 2009…..I’m bringing silly back….Today is one of my favorite days of the year. I Loooooooooove New Years. I love the fresh-start feeling, I love looking ahead and making goals, I love knowing my busy season is over and my “slower” season is upon me. I love the time I get to spend at home with the kids, I love that I live in Texas and while much of the US is under snow and ice we’re being blessed with “outside” weather. I could go on and on, but you get the point. I love December 31st!!! I guarantee to bore you all with my 2009 New Years Resolutions in an upcoming post because putting them “out there” for cyber-space to read makes me more accountable somehow. But for now – here is one of my Resolutions….. B Silly. I used to be silly….like really silly. I did belly-flops off of the diving board, I drank from loopy-loop straws, I rode on my kids trikes, I slid on the slipperslides at the park and I danced…..everywhere, anywhere, to anything….I danced. And as for singing!?!? Don’t even get me started….. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a VERY happy and VERY blessed person. I’d even go so far as to say I’m a good mom, but I feel like in the past few years I’ve lost FUN mom. Fun mom still sets rules and boundaries, but fun mom dances in the livingroom. Fun mom still expects the kids to eat their green beans, but fun mom turns them into walrus tusks…THEN eats them. Fun mom laughs more & rolls her eyes less. Fun mom plays soccer more and visits less. Fun mom is silly more…..”appropriate” less. I miss her, I miss the belly-flop, living room-dancing, straw drinking-woman and I’m excited to find her again. I’m gonna get her back in 2009…..actually, I’m reintroducing myself to her tonight…..and I have the flashing 2009 glasses to prove it. Happy…Silly New Years BlogStalkers!!! ~M December 30, 2008
The First Three to Trust Me are FREEYep….. the First three to e-mail or call me and book a SEXY & TASTEFUL session get a FREE Photo Session!
Just consider it a New Years Resolution that you’ll keep!!! (it’s one of mine) I have a number of samples I’m happy to show anyone who is interested in these sessions. 100% of the women that have participated in this left my studio standing tall and excited. I have a professional and personal “line” that we don’t cross so I promise to honor your comfort level “line” as well. These sessions are FUN, they are empowering, they are tasteful and they are artistic. E-mail me….. ~M December 27, 2008
A Few Class Details….So… there are few of you that opened up a Gift Certificate from me concerning my “My Kids Are Cuter” class I’m teaching in January – you can expect an e-mail from me with details next week. I have 3 spots left for my January 30th class – so e-mail me if you’re interested!! I hope you all had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! As for my fam….we rocked Christmas this year. Spent less, gave more, planned less, laughed more. It was a wonderful day and it’s been a great break. The house looks like a tornado hit it with half-completed puzzles laying around, remote control cars waiting to be stepped on and don’t even get me started on the kitchen…..guess what…..don’t care. Ok – enough on that – here is in the class info – 3 spots left & if there is enough interest, because there seems to be, I’m considering doing this 1x/month, so keep me informed with what you all are thinking! PS – yes- I have men enrolled so don’t be shy dads!
December 24, 2008
Straight No ChaserI’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not a big fan of UTube. I get lost and let’s face it, I have an 8 year old who likes to play on the computer so UTube is just not allowed. Having said that – these guys were on the news this morning and I’m hooked. Gonna buy the album, gonna follow their rise. Yeah – Straight no Chaser is the name of their group, Hello?!?! COOLEST NAME EVER?!?! Read about them – it’s a cool story…..but first – click HERE to hear the best rendition of “The 12 Days of Christmas” I’ve heard in a long time. Merry Christmas from the Benoit Family!I’ve never sent Christmas letters/cards to local friends….kinda ironic because Christmas cards is a huge part of my business! Anyway -here is my way of being sure I don’t leave anybody out! Thanks babe for writing this years letter & thanks D for the photo!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!
It has been a happy and blessed year for the Benoit family. Madie is in third grade, is never at a loss for energy, and she keeps us on our toes (i.e., no more spelling out Christmas gift ideas to Micki). She has transitioned from soccer & basketball to gymnastics & cheerleading. While I still hope to one day live vicariously through her successful athletic career, I figured gymnastics & cheerleading would be a fun distraction…you know…so she doesn’t get burnt out on sports too early. So here’s to quietly hoping that basketball is back in ‘09. Madie is a natural when it comes to kids, she is an aide in the preschool Sunday School class at church and is bombarded by kids everywhere we go. It’s amazing, scary, fun and humbling to watch her grow up. Garrett is a boy’s boy. He loves everyone but will wrestle anyone. He like all sorts of sports, and is generally game for…whatever! He started Kindergarten this year, and Micki and I love hearing about his “best friend” (even though he can’t usually remember his name). There’s a lesson in there! G-Man played soccer and is playing basketball, which makes Daddy’s heart happy and Mommy’s camera work overtime! He scored quite a few goals in soccer, but was not a big fan of defense (who cares if a 5-year old parks himself in front of the goal…for the entire game?). Basketball is going well too, G plays defense like feathers on a bird…especially when he’s guarding a “gurl.” That’s my boy. Micki’s photography business continues to be a great thing. In January, she moved into a new studio. Many thanks to all who helped paint, lay floor and move. Sometimes, after the kids were in bed, Micki and her friends went to the studio with a bucket of margaritas…I never really saw the evidence of work done on those nights, but thanks for that “help” as well. I’m a guy, so often don’t “see” the things I should, but I’m continually amazed by Mick’s ability to capture personalities with a camera. We need look no further than her business, the flexibility it provides our family and the friends we make to realize just how blessed we are with her choice of profession. In her “free-time” this year Micki trained for and ran a 1/2 marathon. I’ll be honest, I have no idea why she wanted to do this, but she wants to do it again next year..maybe there was a shoe sale at the end I don’t know about…. O.K. for me..a quick disclaimer…one of my goals for 2009 is to find myself at a party and have someone ask me about my work and NOT see the eyes glossed over/“why did I ask?”/ “where’s the beer?” look on their faces before I finish explaining what I do. So here goes: Built a golf course (not as much fun as you might think). Building a firing range for Police Department. Did things other people didn’t want to do, and cleaned up an occasional pille of %&$#. How’d I do? Didn’t sound that boring did it? In all seriousness, my job is awesome! Wichita Falls has been good to us personally and professionally. My job allows us to do cool things like weekend trips to the lake and trips to see the one’s we love…maybe that’s what I need to tell people! If you’re reading this letter, I want you to know that we miss you and we wish you were here with us. I know 2009 will bring both challenges and wonderful things for all of us. Whatever comes your way, please know the Benoits love you and miss you. God Bless, December 22, 2008
It’s Beginning to look a lot like Christmas…..
Thanks to all of you blog-stalkers who keep up with me and my little blog here throught the year. It’ll be slowing down now throughout the Holidays as I’m keeping the ole’ lap-top closed a bit more than usual this week. I’m sure I’ll be posting random comments and bombarding you with photos of the more personal nature, but as a general rule – thanks for understanding if you get on and Thursdays Post is the same as Mondays. M.Benoit Photography is taking a break. We have put aside the phone in exchange for the tv remote. Left the laptop closed and opened up a cookbook (gasp!), and instead of making lists of people to call, shoots to edit and cards to create….I’m listing people to buy for, gifts to wrap and gingerbread houses to decorate! God Bless and Merry Christmas Cyber-Space!
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December 21, 2008
Carousel, Colony & Cotillion Clubs 2008 Holiday Debutante PresentationOtherwise known around the Benoit household as the Last job of 2008!
Thanks guys & gals for a great night!
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They Say a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words….Turns Out They’re Right. Arlington National Cemetery
D sent me this via e-mail & I found myself staring at this photo. It’s beautiful. Just as an FYI – these wreaths ~5,000 of them, are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington,Maine. The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He’s done this since 1992. God Bless
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December 17, 2008
The Merry Christmas Spirit…..Cowboy StyleSo today I took some time to do some Christmas shopping with my BFF Holly. We went into Cavenders to buy her boys some cowboy boot slippers and hit the jackpot – bull-riding-vests. Her boys are VERY into bulls and bull-riding right now so we were talking about how awesome our find was…..then we looked at the pricetag. $25 per vest. They’re cute, don’t get me wrong, but now we’re talking $50 of cuteness and Holly did her shopping all on the day after Thanksgiving. We were talking about it (meaning I was being bad friend and good “MiMi” and trying to talk her into them) and there was a cowboy in the same area- he overheard our conversation and began talking with us – telling Holly how he remembers his first pair of boots, his first rope, and how his parents allowed him to be who he was growing up. Holly begins trying to think if the boys can share the vests and the cowboy and I both insert our opinions – “Noooooooooo!!!” The cowboy then says “ya know what – I’m gonna buy your boy that vest”, we all laugh and continue to walk to the checkout counter, talking about boots, bulls, horses, and kids. The cowboy finally gets into the checkout line, he is buying 2 pairs of Wranglers for his wife, the woman behind the counter says “is that it for you today” and he smiles, says “nope” and grabs one of the vests from Holly. To make an already long story a bit shorter Holly and I both insisted on buying the vests – saying that it was not necessary – and this is what the cowboy said. “Ya know what, time are rough right now and I’ve been blessed. I don’t have a lot of money right now, but I’ve been blessed. I don’t want the credit, I don’t deserve the credit” then he pointed up to heaven “He gets the credit and He deserves the credit, so ladies…..Merry Christmas.” After Holly and I picked our jaws up off of the floor we watched the cowboy in the fishing hat get into his white and dirty pick-up truck and drive off. We both swore that next opportunity that arose to do something like that arose we would do it…..but never-the-less, 6 hours later as I write this from my home, I am still amazed, humbled and moved. Not because $25 was soooo much money, or because what he said was sooooooooo deep. I guess I’m amazed at what a simple act of random kindness can do to a persons day. I know, it’s an overused-bumper-sticker-phrase, but it’s true. A random act of kindness. God Bless you Cowboy…I know……he has. Merry Christmas Spirit.
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