Thank You.

Hey guys - I just wanted to take a moment and thank you all so much for your encouragement, thoughts and prayers. Stan and I are back in Austin and are doing okay. We've had, by far, the most trying week of our lives, but it's in times like this that recognize how deeply blessed we are to have the love and support of so many of our family and friends.

I am sure that in the future I will open up a bit more about what's been going on, but for now I'll just say that our family is going through a very tough experience right now and we have quite a road ahead of us. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. Life is not always easy or fun and difficult times do come, but we are committed to continuing to love and serve all of our clients, family, and friends with our whole hearts now and always.

Thank you for loving us.

Many hugs and much love,
Stacy and Stan

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a picture of Stan and I exchanging Valentine's gifts this morning:



Watching the hundreds of diamond and candy commercials leading up to Valentine's Day this year has had me thinking. I tried to imagine what my reaction would be if Stan just decided to go out and buy some diamonds behind my back and bring them home to surprise me. Every time I play through this scenario in my mind, it always turns out pretty bad. I know myself and I think that Stan knows me well enough to NOT do that. :) Diamonds mean nothing to me (except for my incredibly beautiful wedding rings, which hold tremendous sentimental value) and candy will only make me miserable!

As I was thinking about what Valentine's Day would be like this year, I was filled with a deep sense of gratitude and joy. Our kitchen will literally be finished TODAY after many months of construction and many dollars reluctantly spent. :) It really looks amazing and it's so exciting to see our dreams for our little kitchen come together (I'll share pictures soon!). This year, Stan and I have decided to stay home and cook (we have not been able to cook in our home in over 3 months) a delicious gourmet meal in our brand new kitchen! There is no other way in the world that I would rather spend this Valentine's Day!

No, we're not big on all the Valentine's hoopla, but we do think it's nice to do something special to recognize how truly blessed we've been in love. This year we will celebrate 5 years of marriage and it has been one crazy whirlwind of joy, laughter, growth, challenges, and learning. I would not go back and change one single thing. I love Stan so much and I am so thankful that every year, for the rest of my life, I get to have hunky Stan Cross as my Valentine. :) I am the luckiest girl in the world!

Why does it matter? (philosophical ramblings coming your way) :)

I always seem to have personal breakthroughs at the most unexpected times. :)

This morning I was getting some work done and decided I would check the gym schedule quickly to plan when I would get to the gym today. As I looked over the day's schedule, I noticed that a really fun step class was starting in 15 minutes.

I sat and thought for a moment: Can I make it? The gym is 10 minutes away, I'm in my PJs and I haven't even brushed my teeth yet. YES! I'm going!

With that, I was off, running around the house like a wind tunnel - scooping up my shoes, my sweats, my towel . . . running to fill a water bottle, throwing a toothbrush in my mouth, and (somewhat dangerously) tossing my contacts in. I ran out to my car, hopped in, and drove off! As I drove to the gym I congratulated myself for beating the clock and choosing to work out.

Then I suddenly had a thought: Why does it matter? Why does it matter to me that I go to the gym. It was the first time in my WHOLE life that the answer wasn't "I want to be skinny" or "I NEED to lose weight!" The answer was simple: I want to be better.

I want to be a better me. In EVERY area. I want to be healthy and strong physically, mentally, and spiritually. I want to be the BEST me I can be.

But why?

And then this unfamiliar thought came to me. I've NEVER thought about it this before, so it shocked me.

I want to be the best I can be so that I can stop worrying about ME. I want to take my own focus off of myself so that I can focus my attention on the needs of others.

Now, it's not like I've never thought of others before. But this was different. I feel that, as girls, we are taught at a very early age to spend a lot of time and energy on ourselves. We are taught that we need to look, act, feel, smell, and talk a certain way. As teenagers, we spend SO much energy in a fruitless attempt to perfect ourselves. As young adults, we get caught up in our careers and the desire to maintain the image of having it all together. We spend SO much time working on ourselves.

Well, I'm done with that. I'm tired of worrying about me all the time. I want to give myself - my time, my energy, my heart - to greater things. I think this must be what it's like to grow up.

Now I am getting ready to go on with the rest of my day. I'll be returning emails, editing pictures, designing albums, doing school work, and the other millions of things I have on my list. Life goes on - you can't stay in a breakthrough moment forever, but you can live it. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like to live this breakthrough. :)

Martin Luther King Day

MLK day has always been special to me . . . not because I claim to be deeply enlightened or righteous in any way, but because when I look at who Martin Luther King was and what it was that he stood for, it excites a place in my heart that yearns for justice, compassion, and truth. When I listen to his recorded speeches, my heart and my mind agree that the very words he spoke mirrored God's true heart for humanity. When I try to describe how deeply his words speak to me, I am at a loss.

Today, as we celebrate the life of this amazing man, my prayer is that you and I would fight for freedom and justice every day of our lives. I pray that we would never become numb to the needs of those around us or blind to the places where freedom does not yet reign. My hope is that we will speak on behalf of those without a voice and that we would each find the cause for which we are called to fight.

Photographer Appreciation Day

Yesterday must have been Photographer Appreciation Day and everyone forgot to tell me!

I was so humbled yesterday when I went to the mail and received a really sweet Thank-you note from Crystal and Kevin for the engagement guestbook I made them. No- thank YOU for choosing me as your photographer and hiring me to do fun things like make guestbooks! :)

THEN I got home from a meeting last night to find a HUGE package from 1-800-Flowers and it was from Starr and Eugenie!! I couldn't believe it! They are in ITALY on their honeymoon and they thought of ME! I was so blessed.

I cannot tell you how just simply working with such thoughtful and gracious people makes my job SO incredible. I mean, I LOVE my job! I am so lucky to get to hang out with the coolest people on the greatest days of their lives! What a gig, man!

Crystal, Kev, Eug, and Starr -

Thank you so much for thinking of me! I don't know if it really was Photographer Appreciation Day, but I felt very loved and appreciated!

Goodbye 2007, Welcome to 2008!

Wow. I practically want to lay flat on the floor, face to the ground, and cry my eyes out over what an over-the-top, blessings-filled 2007 we had. It's deeply humbling to think of where we were, both personally and professionally, just one year ago, but we are overwhelmingly thankful for where God has brought us this year.

Though there are not words to tell you how thankful we feel, we just wanted to extend our greatest appreciation to all of our family, friends, and clients for the relationships we have with you and the love that you've shown us in 2007. We are SO excited about 2008! Stan and I are both hoping to use this year to give, give, give - especially in light of all that we've been given this past year (and our whole lives, for that matter!) AND to work on ways to love and serve everyone in our lives more fully this year.

It is my commitment that this attitude of giving will overflow into every area of my personal and professional life. For this reason, I would like to announce that the BLOG is getting some fun new things in '08 - hooray! :)

To show our appreciation for all of our clients and photographer friends, we are planning on making the BLOG a blast this year - complete with contests, games, and REAL, FABULOUS prizes!!!

Look for our first contest of 2008 coming in the next couple of weeks! If you are or have ever been a client of ours (portraits, weddings, etc.) you won't want to miss this - the prize is AWESOME! :)

All of that to say, WE LOVE YOU. WE LOVE YOU. WE LOVE YOU.

And we thank you for a wonderful 2007 and look forward to spending 2008 with you! Many blessings to all of you this year and always.

Stacy & Stan

PS - Here's a video that our friend JoAnn shot of us at Brian & Kim's New Years Eve party. The video begins with Stan and I posing for what we thought was a picture, but then finding out that we were being video taped. There's no sound and it's really dark, but you know what a couple of goof balls Stan and I are already anyway, so this is just kind of fun! :)

Where you at, Cross???

My friend Tyler always calls me "Cross", which I think is funny and he says things like "Whatcha doin', Cross?" when he calls. :)

Just wanted to let you guys know I'm in Houston with my folks, hanging out for the holidays. Poor sweet little ole Stan had to work, so he's back in Austin, but he'll be joining us here tomorrow for Grandma's 95th Birthday!!!!!!! I am SO proud of my Grandma - she is so amazing and I cannot wait to celebrate her! :)

Today I'll be heading down to West U to shoot Michelle & Edward's engagement session and then over to my uncle's house for my grand-cousin's bithday party. I'm having so much fun here, but I also can't wait to get back to Austin because I'll get to return to a house that's FINISHED and looks awesome! :)

Last night I went out with some of my very best High School friends. I had not seen several of them since my wedding (4.5 years ago) and a few of them I hadn't seen since High School (8 years ago)! It was really fun!

Anyway, just wanted to give you the 411 on what's up with me. :) Hope you are having a fabulous week! I will have many pictures to share very soon so hang tight! :)

Much love,
Stacy

No more figgy pudding!!!

Okay, so I don't really know what figgy pudding is, but I know I don't want to eat it - and I don't want to eat about 90% of the stuff I've been putting in my mouth over the last month, but I can't stop myself!!! :)

It's usually about this time of the year when I go, "Gheeze, Stacy. You are so unfit and so sloppy!" And then I get all bummed out about how I could have been in awesome shape if I had worked out more or if I had just learned to control my eating, etc., etc. - I trust you all know the drill.

Anyway, I am officially announcing to you all on the World Wide Web that I am serious about "feeling great in '08!" (ugh, that is so cheesy!) Honestly, I HATE making New Year's resolutions, but this year I'm going to do it because January 1st also happens to coincide with a really convenient time in my life to make some discipline changes.

Here's my plan:

1) I'm not into crash-diets, so my goal will be to eat less and eat better. I want to be HEALTHY - I want to have a strong, healthy heart and I want to be able to run away if somebody were to chase me. :) Therefore, I am planning on limiting my intake of sweets/unhealthy fats and replacing those things with MORE VEGGIES!! I love vegetables - I really do! So why shouldn't I eat them instead of cake? ; )

2) I am joining a gym. I was a member of Gold's up until last January and I didn't renew because I was so busy with school. I'm thinking of joining 24 Hour Fitness so that I can work out with my buddies Tasha and Darcy. Accountability is KEY to getting me to work out consistently!

3) I am going to continue in my new healthy sleeping habbits. As of late, I am proud to report that I've been getting about 8 hours of sleep per night and not taking naps during the day. I have felt energized and awake all day until about 8pm when my body realizes that bedtime is around the corner. I am hoping that by adding exercise, I will be energized even more - all the way up until when my head hits the pillow!

4) More water! My sister-in-law Beth is a water champ! She has recently inspired me to get back to drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day. I drink coffee in the morning with soy milk and I often have a glass of red wine in the evening with dinner, so my plan is to fill the rest of the day with water only. I am one of those people who loves to get a soda when eating at restaurants, so this is going to be a challenge for me when I'm out, but I will make it work. :)

They say that setting goals is a really imporant key to success so, while I don't want to reveal the amount of weight I'm hoping to lose, let's just say I'd like to go down two-three clothing sizes. I am hoping that by June, when we're in San Diego shooting Jeff and Rebecca's wedding, that I will have reached my goals. Jeff & Erin Youngren are going to take some pictures of Stan and I for our 5 year anniversary, so I am hoping to be in tip-top shape by then!

Why, might you ask, am I sharing all of this with you? The answer is simple: now you know what I'm doing, so I HAVE to do it! :) Seriously - accountability is such a big deal for me in every area of life! If I've told somebody I'm going to do something, it is so much more likely to be done.

So, starting January 1st, I am on a quest for true physical health and well-being. Will you join me? During my 5 month quest, I plan on telling you about my progress on the blog and also sharing tips for what's working and what's not working for me so that hopefully what I learn will help you out too! :)



My first tip: Get thyself to a Barnes and Noble ASAP and purchase "You: The Owner's Manual" by Dr. Oz. I bought this book for my dad for Christmas (don't tell!) and read over half of it in one night - I couldn't put it down! It has all kinds of great tips on things you can start doing now to increase your life-span. The book is really funny and it's full of really awesome pointers on getting healthy. I am about to graduate from Nursing school and I was surprised by how much this book taught me!

One of my favorite quotes in the book about flossing your teeth:

"If you find that you're in a hurry, remember: only floss the teeth that you want to keep."

Merry Christmas Eve!

Love
Stacy

Photographer friends!

Man, it is such a blessing to have these guys! I love getting together with my Photographer friends for the same reason that scrap bookers like getting together. They can be like "Ugh, it makes me so mad when my tape-runner doesn't secure the die cuts to the page, which causes the page protector to not slip on properly!" And everyone else can be like "Yeah, I hate that, too." Same thing with us photographers. And it's both therapeutic and hilarious when we all get together.

Normally we get together for no special reason, but this time we had some very special guests with us, who graciously hosted a lovely dinner for us at the ever fabulous Guerro's on South Congress. Mr. Jason Groupp and Mr. Fred Egan came to town on a model search for their upcoming Revolution (or is it "redemption"? ;)) Workshop that will take place here in Austin next February.

Here's a pic of all of us at Guerro's and I have a couple of questions for you . . .



1) Does anyone know the scientific reason why *I* ALWAYS have insanely more red-eye than everyone else in pictures??? (I have very blue eyes and I've been told before that it might have to do with the lightness?!) If you know the answer, please leave it in the comments!

2) What do you think of my new haircut? Please be honest! Do I look like a boy or just a really really hip girl? :) haha.

3) How darn good lookin' is this group?!

Oh, I almost forgot the free plugs for my girls . . .

In order of appearance: back row - Amy DeYoung (and then Fred and Jason)and Sarah Quiara; front row - me,Courtney Sprague, Kellie Finch, and Jennifer Nichols

Now go hire them to shoot your wedding! :) Haha!

Love
Stacy

Merry Christmas from the Cross Fam!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Ah, holiday party time is back! Don't you love this time of year - where you're hoping from party to party all weekend long and regretting everything you ate come Monday? It's just wonderful! :)

The other night Stan and I went to a gingerbread house-building party at our friends Dennis & Amy's house and it was so much fun! Stan was very instrumental in building the gingerbread land that the group put together. I really didn't have anything to do with building it, but I did come up with the plan of how to destroy it! :) I decided that we should all eat the house as fast as we could and time ourselves. Somehow in my mind it played out a lot differently than this! Luckily it was captured on video! If you watch this video, notice how people seem somewhat enthusiastic at the beginning, but be sure to watch it till the end. ; )

Of course, if you don't know what I look like, I've the gal who's bossing everyone around about eating the house. I have on a black shirt and jeans. I'm standing next to Mrs. Claus (Amy). Also, Stan is the one who begs me to let him stop eating because he's hurting. :) He's on the far right as you're watching the video and he has a brown shirt and glasses.


* Click here to see the video *

Oh, and by the way, I still think we could have done it! The problem was that about 75% of the people ate one piece of candy and then quit - they should be ashamed! :)

Beach Pictures - Charleston, SC

On our first day in South Carolina for Thanksgiving, my fabulous sis-in-law Elizabeth and I went down to the beach at sunset for a bit of a photography field trip. We just walked around and captured what we saw, completely for the fun of it. I always tell people that I really love shooting weddings and portraits because I'm a "people photographer", but this trip stirred something up in me that I didn't know was there: a desire to shoot "things" - and to shoot just for me. I had so much fun just walking around with Beth and capturing the beauty of the beach in the fall. Here are a few of my shots. Oh, and I left my watermark off of them so that you could use them as your screensaver if any of them catch your eye. :)

The Bachelor Review (finally)

With all the busyness of the end of the year, I have not had a chance to sit down and address the issues regarding the ending of ABC's "The Bachelor". You all know that I shamefully love watching "The Bachelor", so I hope that you thought of me during the shocking season-ending episode. :)

Several folks have asked me how I felt about the way it ended and I decided it was about time I address that question right here on the blog!

Before I give my opinion, for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, let me give a quick re-cap:

- This season's Bachelor was from Austin, Texas and he seemed like a really nice guy.
- When he narrowed the ladies down to the final two, we had NO idea which one he would pick since he was clearly deeply in love with both of them, based on his own words during the show.
- In the last episode, he was supposed to pick one of the girls and instead he chose neither girl. Not only did he not chose one of them, he also decided that he did not want to continue either relationship (as in, continue dating), leaving both girls confused and broken-hearted.

Okay, now that we have the summary out of the way, here are my thoughts . . .

If Brad had just simply decided that he was not in love with either of these girls, and thus could not chose either of them at the end, I would have respected that.

HOWEVER, he COMPLETELY led BOTH of these ladies to believe that he was ready to marry them! WHY did he lead them on like that?! Stan says is is because the producers told him to do that. If so, he's an even bigger dog than I give him credit for!

I have no problem with the fact that he did not end up choosing either girl. I think that, considering that he now says he couldn't see a future with either one, it was the right decision. Of course, I would not want him moving forward with a woman he wasn't interested in. But to very seriously convey to both women that he COULD see a future with them, and then to break both of their hearts, that was just so wrong!

So, that is my opinion. I would love to know what you other Bachelor fans thought. I am over it now, but I felt completely cheated at the end of the show. How did you feel?

(Shallow ramblings over.) :)

I never knew

that Buddy snores at night like a big old lady. :) I couldn't get to sleep last night because I drank a cup of caffeinated coffee at 8pm, so I laid in bed, listening to the many noises of the night, which included Buddy's awful snoring problem. He also apparently has vivid dreams because he moves his paws and barks in his sleep. It was really amazing to witness! :)

Little Baby Caroline

I'm in love! :) The moment I met little Caroline, my heart melted! The other day I went over to Resha's house to take some long-overdue newborn portraits of her first baby. Caroline is beautiful, sweet, gentle, alert, aware, and as cuddly as could be! I had so much fun taking her picture! By the time the session was over, however, Caroline had had enough of me and let me know it - haha! I'm sure she'll be glad she let me stick around a while one day when she can understand how darn cute these pics are! :)

Wow. I don't know what to say.

Apparently my blog's written content is on par with a Junior High reading level. Niiice.

Honestly, I do keep it pretty simple around here because when I'm blogging, I'm usually in a huge hurry and do not have time to sit and think about something flavorful or profound to say. :) I actually really love to write and would like to incorporate more writing into my blog entries, but I just haven't had time!

So, in the spirit of making my blog "smarter", here's a few vocab words that I am studying in school that I want you to memorize:

1) Agranulocytosis - decreased production of white blood cells
2) Confabulation - making stuff up (for real)
3) Corpus Callosum (oldie but a goodie) - the large bundle of nerves running between the right and left hemispheres of the brain

How could I forget?!

I just realized that I left my FAVORITE picture from Sarah and Michael's wedding off the blog on accident- woops! :)

Here it is:

Now that's some hard work!

45 minutes ago I laid down to take a nap. When I went to sleep, there were two young men beginning to pull the cabinets out of my kitchen, with plans to rip the walls out of my living room next. When I woke up, there were no more cabinets, no more walls, and no more young men. Dang. They're good!

Jordan's Senior Portraits!

I had such an awesome time with Jordan yesterday! She is not only incredibly gorgeous (as you will see here!), but she is so compassionate, intelligent, and joyful. I have known Jordan for several years now and I am so amazed to see what an incredible woman she has turned into! Next year she will be off to college at Wheaton, A&M, or wherever else she decides to wander, but for now, we get to keep her just a bit longer! I was thrilled when she asked me to shoot her senior pictures and, as you can see, this girl makes a photographer's job very easy! :) Love you, Jordan!





















PS - I was really hoping that Jordan would accidentally leave her boots in my car, but she didn't :(

Happy Birthday Blog!

Well, this is a little belated, but on November 3rd, my blog turned 1 year old! :)

Why, you may ask, do you care about how old your blog is??

I cannot tell you guys how fun it has been to do this blogging thing over the past year. I remember when I first stared blogging I thought it was so dorky and lame. :) Now, a year later, I LOVE blogging - I love sharing lots of fun business and life stuff with you guys! My friend Andy told me yesterday that he thinks I do a great job of using my blog as a marketing tool, which is a huge compliment and was a big mission of this whole thing, but blogging has become even more than that to me. It has become therapeutic for me - and has helped me to reflect on this past year and think about how I'm progressing towards the things I want to see happen in my life and in my career.

There's something really awesome about being able to read back to what I was doing 3, 6, 12 months ago - the kinds of things that were significant to me, the type of photography work I was producing - and to see how much I've grown in my business and my life! A lot happens in a year, guys!

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you guys SO much for taking an interest in my little world and coming by the blog to see what's going on with me. It means so much to have friends, family, and of course brides and grooms, who care about what's happening in my life. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: THANK YOU! Thank you thank you thank you!

And for nostalgia's sake, here's the link to my *First Post* ever on the blog. Look how tiny the pictures are! We've come a long way! ; )