Ok, well, it's Christmas week and I'm sure I'm like the rest of you when I say that it's usually the busiest craziest week of the year for an infinite amount of reasons.  I would like to think that I'll blog again before I leave town on Wednesday telling you all Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and to have an awesome New Year, but I can't promise that.  Well, maybe the New Year part.  But for the rest of this week, I want to go ahead and wish the happiest of times to everyone.  I know it's been a crazy tough year for a lot of people, including myself, but it has been a great year at the same time.

 

Great things of the year:

Chelsea and I became engaged.

She graduated from Louisiana Tech and moved to Baton Rouge...sweet.

I found out I will be a big brother for the 4th time.  That's always cool.

I rediscovered a hobby from my childhood that brings me lots of joy.

We welcomed a new edition to our home, Mouse, the cat.

I started photographing sports, which has made me so unbelievably happy and fulfilled.  I hope it brings me lots of amazing memories and allows me to see tons of wonderful people, places and events.

I got a new job at Maxon Media, which has been such a blessing and my new coworkers are the best.

LSU won the national title...yes, that was this year.

And Louisiana Tech will play in the Indendence Bowl.

 

The Bad:

Hurricane Gustav and Ike.  Yikes, how bad was all of that.  I spent 5 days in my driveway with my family and fiance.  You really get a great (or not great depending on how you look at it) perspective of people.  It truly brings out the good, bad and downright stupid.

The recession...ouch.  No need to dwell on that.

LSU's football season.   BOOOOOOOO

That's all the bad I can think about right now, and all I really want to.

 

And with that said, there are at least 3 more posts I'd like to make this week before I leave town. I'll do my best to get them all in.  Those posts will be:

 

Ashley and Olivia's Senior highlights

New Orleans Bowl highlights

And a special post that's a surprise.

 

So check back, should be good stuff.  I'm hoping New Orleans Bowl will be done tonight.  On that note, did anyone see that guy break his leg in the game?  Happened right in front of me....OUCH!

 

Feel free to leave a comment sharing the ups and downs of your year if you want.  I'd love to hear people's stories.

 

Something came on the radio this morning, on my way to work, that got me thinking.  In my opinion, Porky Pig is the most insignificant Looney Tune of all the Looney Tunes.  I mean, yeah, they had Porkies the movie and Porky's BBQ and his face is on stuff all the time.  And of course he had the famous 'that's all folk's' at the end of each show.  But...what was his purpose? I can think of almost ALL of the Looney Tunes characters from my childhood and all but Porky made me laugh.  I can remember scenes of them and everything.  But nothing from Porky.  I just felt like posting that he offered nothing to my childhood.  Discuss if you want.  But I needed to get that off of my chest, hahahaa.

 

...a Canon 1D Mark II N.  I'm looking to get a used II N to help me out tremendously with shooting sports.  So if anyone has one of these, in good/great condition that they are looking to unload, shoot me an email through my site.  Title it 'camera for sale' or '1D' or something that it wont get mixed into the rest of the emails I get.  Thanks guys.

For a limited time, I will be accepting wedding inquiries.  I'll be updating the pricing on my site, but the price for weddings will be $1,500.  Comes with all of the things that they came with before.  So if you know anyone getting married, or if you're getting married, I'd love to hear from you!

I decided to go ahead and do a couple more Ebay auctions before Christmas.   I always think this is fun, whether it sells or not.  The two seperate auctions are for two photos that I have taken in Hillsboro, TX. The images online have gotten such a good response that I decided to get one of each printed up and throw them on the Bay.  They are up now and will only be there for 10 days.  So if youre interested...make your move.

Click the title below to access the auction:

Wooden Gate Print

Barn at Sunset Print

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

I don't really know what made me think of this video today, but I did.  This is a song by Mary J Blige that came out back in 2005.  I remember when this song came out, I told my girlfriend that it was 'our' song, and it still holds true.  Watching it again brings back GREAT memories.  Crazy to think that we have been to together for as long as we have, already, are engaged and getting married in April.  I've never been happier and April can't come soon enough.  With that said, here is the video.  So everyone, sit back, press play, think about the special someone in your life and enjoy the awesome sound that is Mary J Blige.  - Happy Friday.

 

Baton Rouge, LA

Photo:  Christi Martin www.christimartin.com

I shot this game Saturday night.  It's always cool to be able to do the professional games.  You get to be up close and personal with guys that people idolize.  I got a lot of good shots of my personal favorites, Chris Paul and David West.  However, I also got to get some great shots of one of the top drafts picks and highly tauted (spelling) rookies, O.J. Mayo.  I gotta tell ya, Memphis is in trouble.  If they didn't have Mayo, I don't think they would ever score.  I can't believe I do this as a 'job'.

 

Revealed today, the splash page graphic I did for Louisiana Tech University.  I'm very proud to say that after a great  year, with some really big wins for us, my alma mater, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, will be playing in the Independence Bowl on December 28th in Shreveport.  All you Tech faithful, go get your tickets and support the Dawgs.  It's exciting times.