We had a very nice time, seeing all of our old friends from the Auburn Cong. and enjoyed alot of Encouraging information.

It was Kasidy's turn to spend the night with Glama...so I treated her to curls and portraits too. My Glama Girls are leaving for Texas tomorrow...they will be gone for 10 days. My glama baby is so cute in these pics. It is hard to pose a child this age cause they don't really know how to take direction, so you just have to be ready to shoot anything and everything and somewhere in all of that you will end up with adorable shots.

We just got back a few hours ago from Leavenworth, WA. My spiritual Parents Russ and Roselie Poggensee were having their 64th Wedding Anniversary...So My Husband and Daughter and I drove them to this Bovarian Town Called Leavenworth and celebrated their anniversary with them. We left on Saturday the 14th Which was their wedding Date (June 14, 1944) first we stopped at The Summit and had a very nice breakfast, then we continued on our journey, and got into Leavenworth a little to early to check into our room at The Enzian Inn, so we continued driving to some Huge Antique Shops that the Poggensee's were excited to visit. I was worried that Finesse (my 16 year old daughter) would be bored there, but I was pleasantly surprised...She absolutely loved it! She kept saying "Mom, Look at this"! and "Mom, Look at that!" We all had a blast, I can't wait to edit all the 400+pics that I took on our trip, so that I can post a few on here to share with all of you. Anyway...We had already put alot of thought into gifts for the Poggensee's, and had them in the van all wrapped up and hiding in a gift bag, but when we got to the Antique shop, Brother Poggensee fell in love with a floral decorative hanging vintage plate...so I kept a mental note of that, and listened attentively to see if Roselie mentioned anything she would absolutely love to have...and finally towards the end she fell in love with an old vintage birdhouse on a 4x4 decorative post that had been white-washed. The reason she wanted that so badly is because they just recently had a little bird family move in on their porch and they sing "Chicka dee dee dee" ( atleast that is how Russ describes it) every morning while they are out there having their coffee...so she felt it would be a perfect home for their new little family of birds. So I went and found Adam and told him of my plans to get them these things; the Plate for Russ and the birdhouse for Roselie, and he loved the idea, so we went and paid for it and surprised them with it, and they were very touched. By the time we got out of the Antique place "Annies" it was close to time to go and check into the Inn. So we headed over there. We checked in and "Oh the lobby of this place was fabulous" and we loved our cozy Bovarian Decorated room. We freshened up and walked into town to check out all the cool shops. and then we found a place to have dinner, went back to the Inn to freshen up again and went to dinner Some had Steak and some had Shrimp fettuccini...yum! After dinner we presented the Poggensee's with their real gifts We got Russ a really nice engraved pocket watch, on the top of the watch it had his name "Russell Taze Poggensee" and on the back of it said "For Dad on your 64th Anniversary, 6/14/08, Love Adam and Leticia" and on the inside we put a black and white picture of them on their wedding day. He absolutely loved it! And what was so great is that he said " Wow...Roselie just told me last week, "what you need Russell is a pocket watch"!" So that was fantastic to hear that they really needed and love the gift..we were worried that he may not have a use for it, because he usually wears wrist watches. And for Roselie I couldn't find the Necklace watch that I wanted for her, but I got her the next thing on my list which was a sterling silver and pearl/diamond lipstick case holder, with a little mirror in it, so that when she puts her lipstick on at a restaurant or just out and about, she will have the case and a mirror, and we also got her a matching "compact mirror" and on the lipstick case we had her name engraved "Roselie Poggensee" and on the back of the "compact" it said " For Mom on your 64th wedding anniversay, 6/14/08, Love Adam and Leticia" She loved it. We love them very much and wanted them to know it...We had a blast all three days We went to lake Wenachee, we did alot of shopping, listening to live music, alot of EATING, and storytelling and just enjoyed our time together, oh yeah and we loved the jaccuzzi...I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Russ and Roselie on their Wedding Day June 14, 1944 at exactly 12:00 noon

Russ and Roselie on June 14, 2008 at exactly 12:00 noon (64 years later)

I used to have a Mickey Mouse hat like this when I was a little pig-tailed girl, it had my name sewn in the back

Marilyn Monroe was born the same year as Roselie!

On their way up to the rooms. 

Finesse, in the upstairs lobby overlooking the pool area.

Our room it was room # 236 and the Poggensee's were right next door in 238

The Flower Shaped jacuuzi...it was so relaxing!

At a wine tasting.

Doing some shopping, look at the beautiful details...all the artwork on the buildings, and the beautiful flowers.

Adam and I...more art details and lovely flowers, oh and my new Pink genuine leather bag for only $19.00

Russ reading the inscription on his pocket watch

I think they like it!

Roselie looking at her compact mirror.

Roselie reading the inscription on her lipstick case holder.

All of us...except Finesse is taking the picture.

After dinner we went to listen to some bovarian live music. It was alot of fun!

The next morning at breakfast the horns man came out and stood on the 5 or 6" rail of the deck and blew his horn, and it is said that it can be heard throughout the whole town, people can set their clocks by it...he blows it at 8:15am, 9:15am, and other times as well, I believe this may be his last year to do this, he is close to retireing he is training others to follow in his footsteps.

I believe these are family members that he is training to take over the horn blowing.

The Poggensee's enjoying their coffee after breakfast.

After Sunday breakfast we headed to Lake Wenatchee...Here we all are!

Now we are back in Leavenworth...everyone wanted to go and have some lunch!

Finesse...kept saying she wanted a picture with him yesterday, so we were finally on that side of the street, he was a friendly Bear!

After lunch we went back to the Inn to freshen up and relax for a bit...

After we were done resting up a bit, we went back to the Antique shops, there was one other big one that we hadn't gone to yesterday. And it is a good thing we went back because Adam is the biggest Star Wars Fan/Geek and there was a whole little room dedicated to it. He was in Heaven.

I surprised Finesse with a Mother/Daughter gift that I fell in Love with and just really wanted her to have from me. It was a pink musical egg, that says "My daughter My Joy" and you open the egg up and it has a pink rose in it, and it plays the tune of "You Are So Beautiful" so when we got out of the Shop I sat her down and gave it to her.

Well this was the end of our trip in Leavenworth, I will write more and post pics of our Journey home yesterday. 'Til then Goodnight yall

...This morning I have been focusing on submitting more of my stock photography to Fotolia.  I started submitting images to Fotolia in August of 2006 about a year and three months ago.  My husband Adam bought me my first "Popular Photography" magazine and in it was an article on Stock Photography, the story was written by a woman that had nickel and dimed her way to purchasing her own photography studio, by selling images on Fotolia and other different stock sites.  I had never heard of "Stock Photography", but I love any photography...so I read on and was very impressed to learn what it is, they are the pictures that you see on billboards or brochures in business offices or magazines,I had always thought that those businesses or companies did their own photo shoot and hired models for their billboards or brochures, but basically people buy your images at Stock Photography sites to use as advertising for whatever product or concept they are trying to sell.  That same evening I joined Fotolia (it is free to become a member and submit photos, you just have to go through a little tutorial,which is very interesting, it lets you know the type of photographs they are looking for and the type of quality and sizes they accept and what sells most) and I was amazed and proud that they accepted my photographs. You start of with the rank of "white" and work your way up to "bronze","silver","gold",and all the way up to the eighth level ranking of "Diamond"...So I dove right on in and began shooting with stock photography and advertising in mind, it was challenging to think outside the box of the type of photogaphy that I was used to, at first I just photographed objects and then I realized that "People Shots" are what sell,that and "People Business Shots" and "body part shots" So I became my own model (because I couldn't explain the concept I had in mind that I was trying to achieve) so I just posed myself ( I do however, apologize in advance for some of the body shots that are in my portfolio, they are a little sexier than I intended them to be, but once you submit a photo you can not delete it  or believe me I would), Well anyway then I started involving my family and getting them to model for me. My husband became my biggest selling model...and within 6 month I became bronze ( which I found out later that most members dont reach that ranking for atleast a year) so of course I was ecstatic . My goal was to be like Andres Rodriguez and reach "gold" in 9 months, but I haven't gotten gold as of yet, I slowed down in my submissions due to things going on in life: trying to get my portrait studio going, family life, My Meetings at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses , etc.! But in the last few days I have been going strong at it again.  I only have 18 more photos to sell to get to "Silver" ranking  (WooHoo!)

I will attach a sample of my "best selling" photograph on Fotolia it is of my husband Adam dressed as a Blue Collar Worker...Hey Monster Template bought this photograph and are making web templates using this photo!

Well, Anyway go and check out http://www.fotolia.com/partner/119628 and see what they are all about and also check out my personal Portfolio on Fotolia as well http://www.fotolia.com/p/119628/partner/119628, And the reason I slowed down in Fotolia in the last few months is that I have been working on my own website trying to get it going and stuff at http://www.leticiawilsonphotography.com ...I will write more about that at a later date. Well, please feel free to leave me any feedback on either my pictures or what I have had to say in todays blog and any future blog entries...I look forward to hearing from you ALL!

Love to all,

Leticia

"A Mother who radiates Self-Love and Self-Acceptance, actually Vaccinates her
children against Low Self-Esteem!"