Thunderstorms and Garden Progress

Wow, so tonight we were watching a movie when the craziest storm of the year arrived!  We had been having lightening throughout the night, but then the heavens opened up.  I quickly became worried about my two hanging flowers pots on our porch because they are both housing bird nests.  One has baby birds, and the other has 3 eggs.  The planters were swinging so much with the wind and all I could imagine was waking up in the morning to something not so pretty. :-(  So, we took each planter down and placed a crate over the top of it.  Then we made sure everything else around our yard was ok.  The sunflowers were still secured to our deck from the other night when we had a storm.  The rain was coming from every directions, there was quarter sized hail, and winds that were so strong.  Zoe, does not like loud storms either and does not hide the fact that she doesn't. ha!  It has now calmed down and our flowers are hanging back up so that the momma and papa birds can protect their nests again.

I thought I would also share some of our most recent garden photos.  Everything is coming along great and the sunflowers are doubling by the week.  Enjoy!

 They should be blooming any day now!

Corn!

 Cucumbers are taking over!

Roma Tomatoes

 1st of the season!

 Our farm dog!

Our herb garden.

Charlotte Photography

Most of you probably know that my husband and I are photographers.  Our business is Charlotte Photography and we are located in Charlotte, NC (you probably knew that already based on our name, right? ha).  Most of our fan base has always followed CP on Facebook and it has been amazing.  We have now decided to dive deeper into the blogging world with our business.  I have been much better about blogging on The Yellow Pepper than I have been for Charlotte Photography (mainly because I keep up with the fan page more).  I would LOVE it if you would start following Charlotte Photography's blog and share it with your friends. TJ & I are both going to be writing articles as well as posting our most up to date photo shoots.  We will also do some fun posts where we will interview each other.  It should be really exciting.

Because blog posts are most entertaining when they have photos included, I thought I would share some photos of TJ & I that we snapped while doing a photo shoot at Mattie's Diner the other day.  Some photographers never get in front of the camera.  We don't have that problem. lol

Giveaway at Sew Bea!

So, there is a great little giveaway at Sew Bea's blog!  You should check it out!   Some adorable button earrings from Blissful Whimsy.  Winner will be announced tomorrow. :-)

Sweet Thursday

Today was a fun day.  Yes, we worked, but it was fun too. :-)  Charlotte Photography had a few photo shoots scheduled today at the NC Music Factory in Charlotte.  They were restaurant shoots, which almost always results in us getting to eat the yummy food that we photograph.  So, needless to say, we did not have to buy lunch!  

After our first shoot at The Saloon, we left with full bellies and began doing photos of the entire NC Music area.  Our next shoot was not until 2pm, so we wandered over to Mattie's Diner (which was our 2nd shoot) and decided to chill for a while with some milkshakes.  Upon walking into the diner, we were brought back in time by the 1948 built Jersey diner.  How cool!  The booths, the bar with the spinning bar stools, the coat rack on every booth, the jute boxes at every table, and customers interacting with the waitresses made this place very legit!  The story of the diner is printed on every menu, and it's a good one.  With my husband being a Jersey boy, he could definitely testify to the feel of a Jersey diner!  And the milkshakes, SOOOOO YUMMY!  I ordered a chocolate shake that made me so full and sleepy. ha!  When 2pm rolled around, we began our photo shoot and got to meet the owner and find out some more about the process of it being transported down here.  They made quite a few food dishes for us to photograph too.  Although I was full, I had to try the fried jalapenos and the fried Oreos.  Let's just say, I know what I will be ordering next time I go there.  So tasty but sinful at the same time.

Our final shoot led us to Bask.  This was a beautiful restaurant with some very yummy looking dishes and a great staff.  I look forward to going there sometime.  By the end of this shoot, we were exhausted.  Walking around in this heat today just knocked the energy out of us (probably that and the loads of food we ate).  I love spending the days with my husband.  It's always fun and he makes me laugh so much.  Glad we have this opportunity to work together and experience adventures!

Here are so of the my phone photos from the day.  Enjoy!

 At The Saloon

 At The Saloon

 This pesto pasta was AMAZING!

 Map of the area

 At Mattie's Diner!

 See the father and son in the background.  They were so cute!

 Cutie!

 Me spinning at the bar! :-) Don't watch if you get motion sickness.

 Classic!

 My new favorite, Friend Jalapenos!

 Oh my, a Fried Oreo!

If you live in Charlotte, NC, you should definitely visit Mattie's Diner.  It is definitely a fun experience for the whole family.  The Saloon and Bask are also amazing restaurants that you should remember as well.  They are all in the same area of town at the NC Music Factory.