Kim Schmidt Photography LLC | Northern Virgina Family Photographer

This is a very raw and emotional blog post for me. I write this because I owe it to the man I love. Who unconditionally loves me.

Haven’t we, as women, dreamed about the day of meeting our “tall, dark, and handsome”? Over 7 years ago I met mine on a crazy football-induced weekend in Dallas, Texas. Most days I cannot believe Anthony chose me to be his partner for life. I was such a b-i-t-c-h to him when we first met, but I sure did make fun of the boot that I had to wear since I broke my foot several weeks beforehand. Who knew that my sense of humor (which I never thought I had) would be a key role in the beginning of our relationship.

He was there when I went crazy from studying organic chemistry, making sure to get me out of the sorority house for my sanity. He attended many sorority date parties, even though that wasn’t his thing. He went along with all my decisions for our wedding (the bride always makes the decisions, right?). He endured the long-arse drive from Sonoma/Napa Valley to Washington state on our honeymoon. He stood by my side for the many months of frustration, tears, and depression when we first moved to Nashville. He stood by my side when I took a leap and started a young adult group at our church. He encouraged me to start a photography business and has been my biggest supporter. He held me close when I was uncertain about moving to New Jersey. And now that times are tough again, he holds me even closer telling me it will all be okay.

There are many times when I just want to yell “you just don’t understand!” But deep down I know he does. He understands where my anger comes from and he accepts it. He knows exactly where the love is and how to draw that out of me when I try to shut down. Recently he came into the living room as it was nearing bed time to tell me that it was hard for him to be in the back (where his office/room is) reading while I was in the living room sad and bored and all the other emotions I’ve been feeling lately. My heart melted right then and there. THIS is why we are together – he totally gets me.

The past 6 months have been trying and difficult for me. If you follow me on twitter or a friend on facebook you may have seen updates recently about my nephews. For the time being my parents have temporary custody of their two grandsons. This isn’t what life is suppose to be for my parents. These are their golden years. I had no idea the effect the situation would have on me.

Anthony is the one who brings me back to reality when I wake from a nightmare. He is there to rub my back, wipe away the tears, hug me until I pull away when I break down almost every single day.

This is an ode to the man who brings me joy every.single.day. Thank you Anthony for loving me when I’m happy and giggly, when I have the ugly cry going on, when I wind up the windmill. You are my rock!

Here are the last bunch of photos from our time in Las Vegas for the WPPI 2010 Convention. It seriously has taken me three days to catch up on sleep – it didn’t help that we lost an hour last night! I had a blast hanging out with Ashley, Jen, Bernadette, Becky, Stephanie, Jess, Laura, and April (we also met up with Susan throughout the week). These girls seriously rock my world – I don’t think my experience would have been what it was without them!

Monday afternoon I waited in line for over 2 hours to see Jasmine Star speak one of the evenings. Her room filled up quickly and it had over 900 seats available. I am glad I was in line because I got to be on the FRONT row. The rest of the girls were in the 2nd row (as you can see them all lined up!)

Back in January I went up to NYC to see Justin & Mary’s one-day workshop on Spread the Love. I was very inspired that day and have implemented many ideas I learned. They gave a condensed version of their workshop on Tuesday afternoon and I am so glad I got to hear them again (once again the room filled up quickly, many of the girls didn’t get to hear them that day but the next day when they gave an encore presentation). Yes Justin is wearing 3-D glasses – there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, right?

Tuesday evening Laura, Ashley, Becky and I took the monorail down to the Paris/Bellagio/Planet Hollywood area for dinner and photo taking. Here are the girls waiting for the monorail to arrive.

We had dinner at Cabo Wabo where the girls get on the bar to dance and then give tequila shots to anyone who wants to come up (must be 21 – Becky got carded before she could go up there!). This was definitely a highlight to our evening!

Walking back through Paris to get to the monorail, we stopped in the lobby to get these photos. I have always stayed at Paris and have been enamored with the decor every.single.time. I go. This was the first time I have been to Vegas since I started really getting into photography and I’m glad we explored the area to get these!

Group photo from Tuesday evening (L-R; Stephanie, Laura, Becky, Jen, I’m in front & Bernadette is behind me, Ashley, Jess, and April). Please note that we never made it down to the famous sign, but we did have a canvas of the sign, so Bern is holding it up for prosperity purposes!

Wednesday night (our last night in Vegas) we went back down towards Paris/Bellagio/etc. so the rest of the girls could see the fountains and enjoy dinner at Paris.

These photos seriously crack me up. From L-R, Becky, Stephanie, Jen, Bernadette, and April.

Ceiling decor at the Bellagio

Inside the non-complete Bellagio botanical gardens.

We spent our last evening in style, having dinner at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris Casino. Here is my entree of pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes. Seriously this is the best food I’ve ever had!

iphone photos edited with shakeitphoto. The sunset from our last night there was edited with Cross Process. The first photo was how I started my trip to Philly, stuck in traffic for 25 minutes. Apparently there was a spill.

This is the third time I have put this post together and the internet has ate it. But its worth it right? Here are a few photos from the past two days of our time in Vegas. These girls rock my world!

This is the group of ladies staying in our part of the suite, out of 9 photographers.

There are 9 photographers in our suite at the Signature Towers of MGM Grand. Here is our part of the suite which is SO incredible.