Busy, Busy, Busy......

My life lately has been very chaotic!!! I had three clients last weekend and all of them were a joy to do! It is a very new experience for me to be working from home. I have 4 little ones who need my attention all day long, then I have clients that I am responsible for to provide a good product! It's been about 8 years since I've worked away from home and then I just had 2 kids. It was hard, but I didn't feel as much guilt as I do working when the kids are crying for more milk, or whinning because someone took a toy away from them. But I know it's all worth it in the end because I feel personally fulfilled. I have gone to school to become a teacher but with being a Navy wife I have had to put those plans on the backburner. So now I am able to do something that I love and contribute financially to my family. It is nice to finally be able to say that...

Seniors

It's that season for graduations!! I did my first senior portraits on the beach the other day and this young lady did great! It was her first time having portraits taken of herself and you wouldn't be able to tell because she just seemed so natural. I want to congratulate her on her graduation and for her getting into William and Mary, which she will attending in the fall.

Natural Beauty

Lamont's oldest niece, Malisa, is in the Navy and she is now stationed here in Va. It's been a long time since we have had family around, so it's been nice to have her here. She moved here shortly after I started my photography business and for months we have been trying to schedule a photoshoot. Well we finally did last weekend. The pictures I recently posted of Bella were taken that day. Well it was a very succesful shoot and we got alot of great shots. These are some of my favorite. I feel very grateful to have such beautiful family and friends, not just outwardly beauty, but beauty that comes from within. As you can see, Malisa has natural beauty and it wasn't hard to capture.

My beach boy

I have a photoshoot scheduled for this weekend so I went out to scope new beaches. I found one that I loved and while we were there I took some test shots of Mayson. I loved how they came out and how much fun he had playing in the sand. It will be the perfect spot for my future beach shoots.

My Beach Babe

I did a photoshoot of my neice and since Lamont is gone, I had to bring the kids along. They all had fun playing on the beach, all but Bella. She wasn't digging the sand. I tried to make her happy by taking pictures of her, and at times it worked. So here are the good ones. The picture with her dress over her head was all her...lol! She is such a goof, a very cute goof. Enjoy!

My Red Roses

Before my honey left he bought me a dozen red roses. Just another reason why I love him so much. I was having a bad day and he took the kids to run errands, on his way home he stopped to buy me the roses. But it's what he did once he got home that stole my heart!! Our neice (who is 25 and in the Navy) stays with us on the weekends and he knew she was going to be home. So he took one of the roses before he gave me mine, and he gave it to her. As he handed it to her he said "You are as beautiful as this rose, and you should expect every man who wants to be with you to treat you so." All I saw from her was a big smile!! He's a great Uncle, wonderful father and even better husband. I miss you baby!!

My Hotness

Yes my honey is hotness to me!! He left on Friday for 3 weeks and although it's not as long as he's been gone before, it still breaks my heart that he's not here. I miss the simple things of having him here. I miss sitting here at the computer and looking over my shoulder to see him reading or watching t.v. I miss getting into bed next to him and laying my head on his chest. I miss the way he smells because the man smells good!!! Most of all I miss his company, he really is my best friend. You see any amount of time that he is away is hard to deal with, but you just have to deal with it. That is what they say is a Navy wife's job.....I just don't ever want to get good at it.

Back into time

What do you do when you find out that your favorite R&B groups of the '90s are performing on Mother's day for a reunion concert???? You run out and get your tickets asap!! Lamont and I were too excited to go see After 7, Blackstreet, Guy and Tony, Toni, Tone. We got there a little late (cause that's how we roll...lol) so I missed 3 songs from After 7. I wasn't too happy about that, but I did get to hear my favorite songs from them, Ready or Not. I had goosebumps. It may sound silly but I just love Kevon Edmonds' voice....it is very recognizable.
The rest of the concert was great. When TTT performed "Anniversary" Lamont and I stood up and danced in the little ailse of the stadium. We were about the only people standing, but the song means alot to us. So let me take you back about 9 years ago. It was our second anniversary and we had no money. We had just found out that we were expecting another baby and to me that was all the gift I needed. I didn't expect to get anything nor was I able to get Lamont anything. That morning I remember waking up hearing:
tommorow will come and girl i can't wait it's our anniversary, anniversary
the first thing i'll do is run straight to you it our anniversary, anniversary
It's our anniversary
Ahh....memories....
It was so nice to be there with Lamont and think about our beginnings...it was a perfect ending to a great Mother's day weekend!

Quick ranks 4th out of 22

After having my girly day with Aly I had to find something equally as fun to do with my boys. I searched online until I found something that I knew both my boys would enjoy.....shooting at mom! Yes it is a game that all of us would benefit from, we all get to take our aggressions out on eachother without harming one another....what fun...lol! Once we signed in we had to come up with code names for ourselves. Anthonne choose "Ace", I helped Mayson with "stealth" but when it got to myself I was stumped. Then I thought about the many times my kids have tried to pull the wool over my eyes and how many times I have caught on "quickly" so I came up with the name "Quick". Yea it got a few chuckles from the kids, but I proved my name to be fitting. We all packed on our vests and were armed with our laser guns. We had 30 seconds before we had to run into a 8,000 square ft. warehouse full of fog, mirrors and blacklights. Let me tell you, it didn't take long for me to get into it. I started shooting at everyone I could. Ducking, jumping, running to get away from the lasers of other people. After our game was done we went out to get our score sheet. I was too excited to see that I had scored 4th out of 22 people....yes some being other adults!! All I can say is that i'm hooked and I can't wait to go back for more!

Mommy's Day with my girl

So what did I do for Mother's day????? I spent it with my favorite people in the whole wide world!!!!!!! My weekend was packed full of things to do. On Saturday, Aly and I got all dressed up to have a girly day. We went to the nail salon to try and get our nails did.....but there was alot of people waiting so they told us to come back....bummer #1. Then we drove into downtown Norfolk to a cute little tea house to have us a tea party....well they were booked solid all day. I guess someone forgot to call and make reservations ): bummer #2. So what would a real mom do.....go to plan B. We looked for another place to have lunch. We happend upon an Indian restaraunt called Rajput that smelled sooo good from the outside! We were very happy to see a little buffet when we walked in. We had never been to an Indian restaraunt before so it was nice to sample the cuisine. We both really liked the food, although it was a little spicy. After lunch we were able to go and finally get our nails done. I had fun being girly with my little lady.

Friends and Family

You know what they say, you can't pick your family but you can pick your friends. I've said this before, if you are lucky to find good friends you hold on to them!! This past weekend I was inspired to take some pictures for our friends, The Alvelos'. Pete left today for 5 1/2 months and I wanted to give him something that he could hold on to for that time. I wanted to give him a piece of his family to take along, so we set up a photoshoot. The love in their family shines through their pictures. I was in tears with every click of the shutter. Being a Navy family you deal with separation all the time. Some women just move on as soon as their husbands are gone, but in their case it's hard to just move on. Pete is not just a husband, but a great father and a great friend to Isabel and to us. We will miss you while you are gone, but celebrate when you get back.

A night out with my honey

This past weekend Lamont and I went to a biker's party hosted by the Cut and Burn biker group. We went with a group of our friends and arrived to the Hilton ready to party. Now when we first heard it was a biker's party, we didn't know what to expect. Okay so do you remember that movie "Biker Boyz", well it was like a scene out of that. There were different biker groups representing with leather vests that donned there nicknames on it. It was a sold out event so the place was packed! There was alot of female bikers, that came wearing matching outfits. The most interesting one, was a group of girls that had on tuxedo jackets with the tails, white boustieres , white shorts. and tall white boots. Interesting is the only word I can say about that..... All in all it was a fun party. We danced, we laughed...we laughed at other people dancing.....j/k. Till next time.......

Happy Easter......a little late i know!

Well what can I say, that's how our family rolls. I've been meaning to come and post pictures of our Easter and talk about how much fun we had....but life happens. So here is the run down.

On Saturday we took the kids to our church's Easter Egg hunt. It was Ysabella's first time hunting for eggs, and it was so funny to watch her do so. After a couple of eggs she decided the ones in her basket were more interesting then the ones on the ground.

On Easter day we all put our Sunday best on and went to church. It was a great service, despite the fact that I was in the nursery the whole time. We came home and relaxed for a bit, before we headed off to a friend's house for dinner. The kids had another egg hunt, where the older children dominated. I had to help Bella and Mayson out or they would have ended up with nothing. We had a great time, and even better we were all together as a family. You can't ask for more then that!

A Surprise Worth the Drive

About a month ago my best friend's husband called telling me that he had won a trip to South Carolina with his company. I have been friends with them since '98 when we met in Puerto Rico while both our hubby's were in the Navy. We were both working at the Navy Relief Society and our love for talking turned into a great friendship. She had two girls that were the same ages as Anthonne and Aly and they all became instant friends too. We went everywhere together, the beach, the mall, the clubs. Our families were inseperable. So when it was time to leave PR we decided that Washington would be the best place to go, being that Sherry and Marty are from there. The next 3 1/2 years were wonderful. We felt like we had family there. Unfortunately the good times had to come to an end and we had to move across the country in 2003. It's been 2 years since we've seen them and when Marty made that call there was nothing that was going to stop me from seeing them! Thankfully Lamont was ablt to take leave and I drove 6 1/2 hours to South Carolina and surprised her.

I drove into downtown Charleston where Marty and Sherry were walking around. I parked my car in front of the visitor's center and Marty convinced Sherry to walk over there saying they were meeting some friends for a drink. As I was walking away from my car, Sherry spotted me. She said to Marty, "Hey that girl over there looks just like Lissa," Marty said, "Yea a little, but not really." So they continued to walk away, but I panicked! I hid behind someone elses car until I didn't see them anymore. Marty called my cell phone pretending to call his friends and asked where I was. I told him, "Hiding behind a car!" So he told me to go ahead and meet them in front of the visitor's center. As I approached them, Sherry points and tells Marty, "Look there's that girl I was telling you about that looks just like Lissa." All I heard was my name so I started nodding my head. It took her a few more minutes and then she realized that it was me. She came running towards me and we both hugged and cried! It was a wonderful moment. It didn't even feel like 2 years had gone by.

So for the next two days we just relaxed and enjoyed eachothers company. We lounged by the pool and drank all day on Wednesday and then on Thursday we had to say our goodbyes! I took them to the airport and with sadness said one last goodbye. I know it may sound dramatic, but it was really sad. It had been 2 years since we last saw eachother and now after 2 days we were going our separate ways again. When you have a friend that you can feel completely comfortable with, it's hard to see them walk away. We both live such busy lives that we often don't get the time to reconnect with one another. You have to hold on to those friendships that really mean something to you. Being a military family we see friends come and go, but it's the special ones that you don't let go.

*Kisses*

Not a Failure With Me

(Picture source)
Ok, so I went to go see Failure to Launch with my friend April last night and as you can tell by the second picture.....it was a joy to watch....*blushing* I was never a fan of Matthew, but after seeing him in this light, i'm reformed! The movie was very cute and MM and SJP worked really well as a couple. This would kind of fall into a chick flick, but I can see guys going to see it and having a few laughs. There is one scene that is a little disturbing and it involes Terry Bradshaw....those who have seen it are probably rolling around laughing at this point! So all in all I would say this is probably a 3.5 star movie. Not bad for a girl's night out movie, but also would be a good rental.

A Time to Replenish

Okay, so we finally got a night to go out and let our hair down, so to say. We don't get to go out that often as a couple, so when we do we appreciate the break. The club we went to is called Peabody's on the Oceanfront in Va Beach. It's a pretty decent place with a good variety of music and people. I don't think i've danced more in my life then I did last night! The club was having a MILF and DILF contest, for those few who may not know what that is....it's a Mother or Dad I Would Like to F... i'm sure you can fill in the blank on that one. Well Lamont and I played with the idea of it, because the prize was 250$ per person! But in the end we didn't get enough liquid courage to get us up there and the prize went to a mother of 7 and a 40 year old who happend to be a father of the 2 school-girl dressed dancers on stage! Yea, not sure if that had anything to do with it! It's an annual contest, so I told Lamont that hopefully next year I will be down to my goal weight and I will gain enough courage to get up on that stage and fight for that MILF prize! *nervous smile*

All in all I had a blast! Last night taught me alot. Not only do you need to take a break for yourself sometimes, but you need to take the time to find out what made you fall in love with your signifigant other in the first place. I was able to find that out last night. Lamont is fun loving with an infectious smile. We love to dance with eachother and most of all we know how to have fun together. It's nice to fall back in love with him after 11 years of marriage. We both needed to feel that again, and thankfully we did.

Welcome To My World!!

Welcome to my new site where I've decided to bring you all into my appropriately titled...Crazy Beautiful Life. Let me introduce myself for those who don't know me. My name is Mariaelissa but my friends call me Lissa. I am a 28 year old mom of four amazing, wonderful children. My husband felt that he hit the jackpot when he "gave" me 2 boys and 2 girls! Yes he stills brags about this to anyone who will listen. I'm not complaining because I ended up with 4 beautiful babies. Our babies are Anthonne who is 10, Alyxandrea is 8, Mayson is 4 and Ysabella is 13 mos. They attribute to the crazy and beautiful part of my life. My husband Lamont and I have been married for 11 years, we have one wild story about how we got together and the trials that we have been through, but I will have to save that story for another time. He is in the Navy and that has been very difficult. I once told my parents that I was never going to marry a military man. My dad was in the Army and I saw what my mom went through and I never wanted that. Yet I marry a man in the Navy, where they are gone for at least 6 months up to a year at times! Then I go and make 4 babies with him!!! And now I've decided to start my own photography business. I have always loved photography and never thought I could make it into a business until last year. I'm enjoying having something that is all mine!

Well that is just a small glimpse into my life. There is never a dull moment in my house, and I will share every gory detail with you!! *Smooches*