Thankful For New Friendship

When we moved to Phoenix over 5 years ago (yikes!) I left every friend and family member I ever had.  A lifetime of relationships put on pause.  I spent the first year mentally and physically sitting in a corner with my arms crossed.  I was bored and friendless.  Slowly over time my business grew tiny little legs and started to take off.  You know, tiny legs like the ones that seem to dangle pointlessly from the drawings of the T-Rex?  Maybe like little salamander legs, but not quite as large and proportionate as a camota dragon.  I was pretty slow going.  Now that I think back, I'm pretty sure I should call and apologize to some people.  Any who, I did get a phone call from one client that would stick around. 

Lonni was almost as sweet and those little girls.  I was called out to do baby pictures of baby Miriam.  She was laid back and relaxed.  Not Miriam, Lonni.  I know I should probably just go back and rewrite that sentence, but that would stop the flow. This was baby girl #3 for her, she was a pro.  She let me do anything I wanted with those kids.  Once I was done, I went back to her house for her proofing session.  I think I stayed for a couple hours.  I sat and talked to hear like I'd known her since grade school.  I felt like I could be myself and say all the dumb things I wanted.  She would sit and listen to me talk and ramble about absolutely nothing. In fact, she probably even reads my blog when I ramble on about nothing too.  I went home thinking and remembering how nice it was to sit around with friends and talk about nothing.  To make a long story even longer, I was surprised the next morning to see an email from Lonni.  She sent the sweetest note about how much fun she had hanging out with me and suggested that maybe we should hang out.  I could not be more happy.

Over the last several years, I've watched this woman go through some of the hardest things I could ever imagine.  Pretty nightmarish stuff.  Yes, nightmarish is a real word.  This program took my first attempt at spelling nightmarish, noticted it as wrong, and suggested the spelling "nightmarish".  Any way, she made it through, met a man who treats her and her girls like royalty AND started her own business.  Pretty amazing to watch. 

All that to say, we had the pleasure of spending Thanksgiving with them this year.  Since we are Texas refugees here in Phoenix, we almost always spend Thanksgiving as a party of 4.  We were excited to crash Lonni's place.  I was almost as excited when my mashed potatoes got to sit in her crystal Tiffany's bowl.  I was less excited when I had to return the bowl to it's original pretty blue box.  For a surprise, she made my favorite flavor cheesecake.  White chocolate raspberry.  Typing it makes my mouth water.  While I run off to take care of my urge for dessert at this very moment, enjoy his handful of photos that I took that day.  I like to entitle this next photo series, 2 Frutkins, 1 Weems and a Cheesecake.  Enjoy.

I ate these until I was physically ill.

Sweet Caroline



This is Mimi, she's the baby in the basked above.



This is the Weems.