Brooke Tucker Photography Blog

WHEW ya’ll!  I’m soo thankful that it’s Monday!  Bet no one said that in the history of ever!

But I really am glad it’s Monday morning and I am able to sit down at MY desk in my very own home with my family and actually process everything that went into this brain of mine over the weekend!

My family is pretty amazing and after a whirlwind of planning and last minute details they just made it happen so that I could drive up to Lexington, Virginia and sit down with two extremely amazing and incredible individuals in the industry right now!  Not only was I able to sit down with Justin and Mary Marantz for a one on one mentoring session that just blew me away ( more to come on that later) but I was also able to attend their incredible Lighting Intensive later that afternoon/evening!

I’m not sure how we all made it happen, but it did and I am incredibly thankful and overwhelmed and appreciative!  Opportunities like these don’t just come along and the circumstances surrounding these, well it’s so hard to put into words to explain but it was more than just coincidence!

I can’t wait to share more with you about each of those two experiences and they both deserve a separate blog post, so be on the lookout for those very soon!

I made it back home on Friday afternoon and the entire drive home my mind was just buzzing!  I knew I needed to sit down with my family and process.  I needed to go over all of my notes and all of the great advice and support and action plans that were written down.  We all needed to come together and we needed to process… all of us together!  My family… the people who have been there with me and know the heart I have for my business and understand it the best!

FIRST… I needed to appreciate the weekend!

So we spent the weekend doing what we do best (as a family) just playing!  So here’s what we did….in no particular order!

• We have horrible storms here on Saturday afternoon and evening but we were able to get out and spend the morning celebrating one adorable little friend’s second birthday party!
• Linc decided it wasn’t enough just to run around the playground attempting new feats of acrobatics;  he also wanted to catch a frisbee with his face so we walked home with a nice right eye shiner as our take home prize!  WAHOO nothing like a proud parent moment when your kid has an awesome shiner!  I’m sure it won’t be his last!
• We found a new love as a FAMILY for chick-fil-A cookies and cream milkshakes!  Friday Linc had a school summer kick off picnic which was really fun!  We all played on the big kid playground which Linc has been DYING to do and so pulling him away from that was like pulling teeth.  Instead of eating dinner (which was provided) he played and we were OK with that.  Pick your battles momma’s… right?!!!  So we ran up to chick-fil-a and grabbed some quick dinner for him and a cookies and cream for dad!  What we didnt’ anticipate was that a quick sip of that for Linc on the drive home would turn INTO dinner!  Saturday night we ended up making a dessert run for the whole family… and if we could have last night, we would have done the same as well!  COOKIES AND CREAM FOR ALL PLEASE!!!
• That shiner came back to bite us in the rear when it swelled up and Linc decided… hey that kind of itches!  Sooo… being the good child life specialist I am… I tried to coax him into an ice pack and some motrin.  That worked well for all of two seconds and then we brought out the big guns!  That being “hey bud, if you stop rubbing your eye and let us hold up this awesome iron man ice pack to your face for a few minutes we will let you have this giant lolipop you’ve been eyeing in the pantry for almost 2 months now!”  YEP… we believe sometimes in bribery in the house!  Gotta do what you gotta do!  I’m proud to say that yes, that did work and YEP that shiner is no more than a slight bruise and you can’t even tell!

On a personal front… here are some things that I learned this weekend!

• When you pack your bags to go out of town.. DON’T pack the charger the only plugs into the wall and forget to pack the one that plugs into the car!  Especially when you haven’t charged your phone and your phone is also your GPS.  (My phone died 75 miles outside of my destination… that was interesting!)
• Pack gum… always!
• When you decide last minute to change your personal style… just don’t!  This morning, I attempted to step outside of my box and wear a dress that I love but that ties in the back!  Yep.. it ended in scissors, straps being cut and a chunk of my hair tangled in a mess and landing in the trash 🙁  wahn wahn!

As I said before, I am really excited to sit down today and start the process of going over all my notes from my time with Justin and Mary!  This weekend I reflected a lot with my family and with others that really know who I am and my heart for business!  There is so much I need to process and I am still feeling overwhelmed!  At the end of the day though, it is YOU who I want to make sure my focus is on and that I hold true to!

I want you to be a part of this process and so you can be sure that you will be included in all these processes and all this BIG things that are going to be on the horizon!

Check back for lots of updates and posts on all these good things!

In the meantime… thank you!  Happy Monday!

Our Lighting Intensive was hosted by Buddy and Jill Powers at their amazing venue Big Spring Farms!  It was gorgeous and we only saw a portion of it!