Katie Lee Photography » A natural light photographer, specializing in weddings and lifestyle sessions.

This week has been very exciting, crazy, and bittersweet for me!! Many of you who know me or have worked with me know about Ol’ Bessie (a.k.a. my 1998 Civic)!! All my friends and family even referred to ‘her’ as Ol’ Bessie & she has taught me many character building qualities, that’s for sure. For the past couple years my parents, siblings, and friends have asked me when I would be investing in a new vehicle, but it was just not the right time. When it comes to finances, I am very focused & do not like to spend money or purchase the latest thing just because, especially if it causes more debt… so for me, I had other priorities & why would  I invest in a new car when Bessie ran just ‘fine’ (well, at least she got me from point A to point B)?

I’ll be honest, I’ve had my share of ‘I feel embarrassed’ moments. I mean, I’m a professional wedding photographer & sometimes I roll into very nice and high-end venues in none other than Bessie herself. I wish I could  find the words to tell my clients not to judge me based off of my car. With that being said, do I think any less of those who drive older cars? ABSOLUTELY NOT – I did it for 8 years!! Yes, I had her in high school, college, and 3 years out of college & I was a little sad to see her go. If anything, it kept me focused, reminded me to work hard, and NEVER EVER take for granted the little things in the life of driving a car. Like, I never went to a Drive-thru (not that I would eat fast food either, more for starbucks) because my driver side window got off track every time I rolled the window down. I often had to put the car in park to drive & then back up to reverse because it was too stiff to move from park straight to reverse. I could go on and on about the quirks of Ol’ Bessie because trust me, there are many & I do NOT take for granted the patience & humility I had to learn from her.

Well, the time was approaching for wedding season 2015 & I knew deep down I needed to get a more reliable car to do all the traveling I am about to embark on. Before I knew it, April was upon us and quickly approaching. I began to freak out a little bit because I have a wedding at the end of April that is a little distance away in Ohio & Ol’ Bessie makes us all a little nervous when I make these trips… Not only was April upon us, but my parent’s bought a DQ  and live there & let’s be real, I just needed my dad to test drive vehicles since I have no idea if something is wrong with it. I thought to myself, when is this ever going to happen? The normal feeling of fear began to creep in, but not too long before I began resting of the written Truth & scripture that I have studied over the past year. I have read a lot of the Old Testament & come across numerous times when men in the Bible talked about inquiring upon the Lord for this or that. A part of me thought it might be silly to ‘inquire upon the Lord for a vehicle’, but I believe he is Lord of all & Christ wants to be in a constant relationship with us even in the day to day matters. Instead of fear and worry, I began praying for wisdom, discernment, and the possibility of a new vehicle. Not only did I pray about it, but I Believed in what I was praying about. God is so faithful & within a week, a co-worker of mine began talking about this CRV (I have ALWAYS had my eye on a CRV ) so I started asking her a ton of questions. This was on a Monday & by the end of the week I was test driving this CRV and contacted a few of the Honda ‘guru’s’ to ask their opinion on this & all of them thought it was a pretty amazing deal. Have I mentioned yet, it came with remote starters? My FAVORITE! Anyhow, I instantly felt at peace about it because it was not a coincidence. It all happened so fast & so unexpectedly. Within two & half weeks of praying about it, I purchased the CRV on Monday & sold Ol’ Bessie on Wednesday… just. like. that.  She is gone as of today & it feels a little weird. I also believe that by the time May rolled around I would have a newer CRV, but the journey to purchasing it may have looked totally different if I did not inquire upon the Lord. Maybe I would have spent WAY to much instead of getting this amazing deal or maybe the process would have been beyond stressful. I’m not 100% certain it would have been, but I do believe the Lord provided because I actually asked and believed instead of allowing fear to paralyze the power of His promise and belittle just how much He cares.

 

Some of you reading this are thinking this is not that big of a deal, but it is for me & super exciting. I was humbly thankful for Bessie for the transportation & the humility I learned along the way. I found that perseverance & remaining faithful goes a long way. Soooooo we are out with Bessie the Beast & in with Belle the Beauty & tonight, I’m simply thankful…

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  • leah - You are adorable. I need a friend like you. End of story.ReplyCancel

    • katieleephotography@me.com - awww, so sweet!! COME BACK to Delaware 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Eric Crawford - Nice, Katie. Now you just need your logo on the car and you will be set!ReplyCancel

    • katieleephotography@me.com - Absolutely 🙂ReplyCancel

Well, TOMORROW (Saturday, Aprill 11) we are celebrating the opening of Coonie’s Cone’s & Cookin’!!!! This has been quite an event to try and plan based on the weather & coordinating our family’s individual schedules, along with making sure we had enough workers & time to prepare a special a treat for ya’ll. So yes, the announcement is a little later than expected, but for those of you who will be around, we invite you to come celebrate with us tomorrow from 5-8! We will be open normal hours, but the official ‘deals’ and freebies will not take place until 5 p.m. on Saturday.

 

So, what are we doing? Glad you asked! We will be serving small $1 small  cones, $1 small slushies & $1 hot dogs (while supplies last). So come get your dog, slush & cone for a dollar each and then enjoy a couple freebies. One freebie will be of family’s beloved favorite, Ice Cream Peanut Butter Balls! Oh my, how we love these. Some of you may remember them from my high school graduation party or just having them from the pool days at our house. We were gifted an amish cook book years ago and decided to try this recipe from it & our taste buds have loved us ever since. What exactly are these you might be wondering? Well, they are vanilla ice cream scooped in balls, rolled in a mixture of Reese’s Peanut Butter & Cinnamon Graham Crackers. My family & I are kind of peanut butter snobs. Right now the dairy bar does not have Reese’s peanut butter, but it is the plan to finish what we are using now & get the Reese’s in there. My brother actually told my mom he would not talk to her until she got Reese’s peanut butter in there!! What can I say? We fell in love with Reese’s peanut butter in college at the world famous ice cream shop near our college in Indiana – good ol’ Ivanhoes! Anyone traveling near Upland, Indiana must go. They have 100 different shakes & sundaes! Now, where was I? Around here we typically drizzle chocolate syrup or more Reese’s Peanut Butter over top of them. They are a hit & a family favorite. We will see how they go over and who knows, they may be added to the Coonie’s menu!!!

The second freebie is of course, my homemade Kettle Corn. I know it is not your typical Dairy Bar treat, but it’s my treat and everyone asks me if I will be selling it there so we will see how this goes. Not to mention, I am so excited to set up my popcorn stand my sister surprised me with… I know, it is so corny (and so was this pun), but we all have our nerdy traits, right? I love Kettle Corn & I love the process of making it so I have no idea how many batches I will be popping, but have no fear, it’s coming to YOU at Coonie’s !!!

First Come First Served (:

Again:

your deals are : $1 small Cones/$1 Dogs/$1 small Slush  (while supplies last)

your freebies are: Ice Cream Peanut Butter Balls & KatieLee’s homemade Kettle Corn!!!

Oh, there might be some entries for a chance to win some yummy prizes (:

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Meet Morgan!!! You may know her aunt & Cousins well. Remember the Bugg family with Quinn & Tucker? Morgan is their cousin & boy, do they carry the blue eyed gene. They have some gorgeous eyes in that family & I could keep Morgan in front of the camera all day. She has the easiest temperament, especially for a 1 year old. I usually end up sweating during a 1 year old session, but she was an angel. Although, her mother & aunt Shannon may have been sweating trying to get her to smile, but she did so well. I told her mother, she must be the easiest child. She seems like the child who is told it’s nap time & she does just that… Her mother did confirm that is basically how she is, too!! What a blessed mother, right!?

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How sweet is Mackenzie?!! Newborn outfits keep getting more and more cute by the session. It is so fun to see what each family brings for their kids to wear & not just because they are adorable, but they also tell you a little bit about their lives. These crochet outfits invite you into a story and even a career choice here! Kaitlin pulled that FD outfit out of her bag, and I completely fell in love and could not wait to get her in it. She rocks it, for sure.

 

Kaitlin & Casey attended a wedding I photographed back in December. Little did I know I would be working with them in March & meeting their sweet little girl. It’s funny sometimes how small a world it can be. After spending time with them, we realized we have all those small & crazy connections to mutual friends or acquaintances. I enjoyed getting to know them & I look forward to working with them again in the near future. Enjoy their spring color inspired session (:

I do need to give a shout out to the Houston House in Marysville for allowing us to use their space!! Be sure to check them out & the different & MANY events they host, especially with spring and summer coming!!

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Little miss Katie, goes by Kate & of course, I am slightly biased to her name. As I left the session, I looked at Kate & told her she would some day know she was named after me since I was her parent’s wedding photographer. ha! One of the things I love about meeting couples for the first time for their engagement sessions & capturing their beautiful wedding day is the relationship we continue after their big day. Not only have I photographed those two events, we booked a maternity session (view here), Christmas-mini session & now Kate’s 6 months! I LOVE feeling a part of their journey because not only do I enjoy Kate’s contagious joy, but I know her parent’s story. Not only do I know it, but I have captured it.

So let’s talk about Kate for a second because she deserves all of our attention with how cute she is. I’m not sure I have been around such a happy child before. From the moment I walked in, she was all smiles (may be that we are kindred spirits or something?). I was able to whip through all her outfits in no time because she did her thing and within a short time, we  moved right on to the next outfit. I loved her first outfit especially with all those neutral colors & of course, her dog Molly. I could not believe Molly just sat in that bucket, with a treat waved above her, of course. Oh, love those sperry shoes she is rocking too. I think she will have the style thing down.

May Kate’s sweet smile remind you to smile today.

 

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  • Lisa Arnold - Katie, we could be happier to have you capture all the special moments in our life!
    Your pictures always turn out perfectly! Thank you so much for giving us the perfect photos to remember this stage! They’re absolutely adorable!ReplyCancel