My Warrior

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Cid aka Sidney McGee, Cidders, Sidney Dean, Big Man, Monster Head, Sweet Pea

I remember it so vividly, I can still smell his puppy breathe.  Dave was in a band and we all lived in a two family house.   We were young and we were wild.  We were not allowed to have pets at our house, but somehow took in a mutt named Evil that Dave's brother found wandering around the neighborhood.  One day while picking up provisions Dave and one of the guys stopped by a house next door and saw they had puppies for sale.  Remember how I said we were not allowed to have pets,  what do you think they did?  They bought another puppy.  Since I was the only girl in the house I always tried to be the "responsible"one,  I made sure the bills were paid, talked to the landlord, blah, blah, blah...  I will admit, I was pissed off.  How was I going o explain not one, but two dogs in a house where we were supposed to have none?  As soon as I saw him everything changed.  I didn't care what the landlord thought(they never came around anyway).  He was the cutest thing I had ever seen and there was no way we were getting rid of him.  He was smaller than my size nine shoe.  He had a fat belly and sharp puppy teeth.  He would chew on everything in sight.  He slept in a laundry basket and ate out of a tiny ashtray.

July 2000

Eventually we all moved out of the house we were living in and got places of our own.  I consider my friends my family. We have been in each other's lives for what seems like forever now.  Cid is part of that family.  Since we all love Cid, we decided the best thing to do was to allow him to split time between our house and our  friends Kevin and Lauren's house.  Yes, we have joint custody of a dog.  He has two houses, two yards, two beds, two dog bowls, two of everything.  We all pool together once a month for dog food and split the vet bills.   It works out great for us financially  and for Cid because he is spoiled rotten, there is always someone to take him for a walk or to play.

With Dave 2003

Cid turned 10 this year. Though his head is much bigger and he takes up more room on the bed, he is still just as sweet as he was the day they brought him home.  To me,  there is nothing in the world like him.   The love I have for this dog is overwhelming.  He fills my heart up with so much happiness.  We speak to each other without words.  He is always glad to see me and I cannot wait to see his tail wag every morning when I wake up.  We look out for each other, he is my buddy.  There is nothing that can turn a bad day or a bad mood around quicker than a sloppy wet kiss from my dog.  If you have a dog, I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about.  It is a special thing. :)

2006

Cid and the City 2008

Yesterday we took Cid to a specialist and found out the lump on his ankle we originally thought was arthritis is cancer.  I cant believe my Cidders has cancer.  Cancer is such a scary word.  It still doesn't feel real.  I have gone so long thinking Cid was invincible, nothing could hurt him, he is as tough as nails.  Well he still is, he just has a little obstacle he needs to get past... The cancer has not spread past his ankle and if we amputate his leg, the vet thinks Cid will be fine.  She said he is very healthy otherwise and that removing the leg will be the best thing to do to ensure him a few more years with us.  He is going in for surgery this week,  I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes well.  He is going to need lots of loving in the next few weeks and we will be there to give it to him every step of the way.  Hopefully before we know it I will be posting pictures of the cutest three legged dog you have ever seen. :)

2010 at his favorite park

Memories in the making

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If you went up to my sister Nina today and asked her to sing Queen Latifa's Fly Girl I can guarantee you I know exactly what would come to her mind.  It would be the parody song we made up one night about my mom's yellow Chevette, a car that throughout our teenage years we were utterly embarrassed of.

We are from  a very small town that has a "main street" we all called The Avenue.  Everyone who was anyone, in our eyes, could be found hanging out on the avenue.  We had to drive down the avenue everyday in my mom's yellow car.  I remember Nina and I would duck down so no one would see us.  My mom would tease us and honk the horn to draw even more attention to us.  Who were we kidding, really?  How many yellow cars do you see a day?  In a town of less than 5000 people,  everybody knew who was in that car!  Nina used to joke with me that she was glad I was the oldest because I would inherit the car first and she wouldn't have to drive it.  One night while laying in bed cracking up about how proud my mom was of her car we made up this crazy song about it.   As I am typing this post I am singing it in my head, "Fly car, come here, cause your yellow and your fine and I want you to be mine".  I love that 17 years later i can still remember the words. :)

The memories I have of my sister and I growing up are some of my fondest.  After all of the fights, the boys, the clothes, that ugly yellow car, and our lives going into two completely different directions, one thing that will never change is the fact that my sister will always be my best friend.

Nina has given me the greatest gift a girl could get,  four sweet boys who love to call me Aunt Kita.  It warms my heart when I think about all of the memories they will make together, all of the silly songs they will make up when they are supposed to be sleeping, all of the times I know my sister will embarrass them.  No matter where life takes them they will always have a friend in each other.

I found these band shirts at Target and knew right away we had to do a photo shoot in them.  Nina rocked the boys out with the fohawks and baby chucks.  Too cute!!!!

My brother-in -law, Kevin, who wins father of the year in my book every year.  His kids adore him and he loves being their Dad.

Since I bought the boys a tshirt, they wanted to get me one too.  I love it.  It has a camera on it and says " And that's when I snapped".

My Treasures

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I have been a thrift store junkie since high school.  When most girls were at the mall  buying cute dresses my friends and I were at the local thrift store looking for cool "old man" sweaters and flannels.  I take thrifting very serious.  It is more than a hobby, to me, it is a passion. It isn't really the thrill of the deal that gets me.  It is the nostalgia, being able to peak into the past.  It's like taking a ride in a time machine.  Who knows what artifacts you will collect on your journey.

This past weekend the world's longest yard sale went straight through my back yard.  I swear it was like the biggest flea market I have ever seen.  I was in heaven.  I got so much cool stuff including this album for $5. ( I also got a Cheech and Chong album for $3,  but it didn't go with my outfit)

I can officially say I have purchased Pink Floyd's Darkside of the Moon on tape, on CD, on iTunes, and the album (twice). :)

IPhone Thursday

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This week iPhone Thursday is all about my favorite creature in the world, my beautiful dog, Cid.  He is the sweetest American Pit bull Terrier you will ever meet.  He has a giant head and an even bigger heart.  He is my protector, my companion, and my best friend.  I love this dog more than I can even put into words.  The past couple of months have been very hard.  Cid just turned 10 (or 11 we cant keep up) and he has a severe case of arthritis in his ankle.  He has a wobble when he walks and has a hard time getting around.  I get a giant lump in my throat just typing that.  He's tough, he is gonna make it through this. :)

These are some of my favorite iPhone pictures of Cid.

A look at what is coming up...

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From playing in puddles, to playing golf, I have been photographing a little bit of everything over the past month.  Here is a little peak at what is coming up on my blog next week.

I photographed this little girl as well as her brother pictured below around my neighborhood.  The session ended with all of us getting soaking wet in a puddle. I am so happy I have such cool clients. :)   I chased this little girl around her grandparents farm in one of my favorite places in Kentucky. A friend of mine asked me to take pictures at a golf outing his family hosts every year.  It ended with largest bonfire I have ever seen.  Yes I know I have said that before, but this one topped the last one by about 30 feet,  it was HUGE!!

I love this picture, classic.

I shared a few of my iPhone pictures from the Warped Tour yesterday, but they are nothing compared to these.  The Warped Tour is one of my favorite things to photograph.  I love all the craziness!!!  The rain just added to the fun!

Amsterdam

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Today is my favorite day of the year, it's my birthday!

Since I am talking about my favorite's today I am going to share some pictures of one of my favorite cities, Amsterdam.  We visited there a couple of times a few years ago.  It is a beautiful little city full of character and charm as well as characters and charmers.  Very few people drive, almost everyone rides a bike.  The women are tall and beautiful and they all have great style.  The Dutch are known to be very liberal with a do unto others kind of attitude.  I like it.  Things seemed pretty orderly to me.  It was so great that almost everyone spoke English, but it was also cool to walk down the street and hear five different languages.  We had a blast.  Leisure time is not taken lightly and we took advantage of that.  I cannot wait to go back! :) This is our view from our bedroom.  We stayed in the same apartment both times we went.   It was strange to see one of these... amongst all of these. Yes,  sex is everywhere.      Amsterdam is full of surprises around every corner. How about a pirate  pealing an orange in front of the gay cinema, okay, I'll take it. :)   This part of the city was destroyed during WWII so the architecture is more modern.

Their version of a our mini van. Unfortunately all I saw were wooden tulips.  We were a few weeks away from tulip season. :(