Friend Friday: Mack Damon

So I have decided that I have the best friends in the world. Looking back over this last year, with everything that has happened, I realized how many amazing people I have supporting me. I thought doing a little post every Friday about a different friend, would be the best way to show them how much I love each and every one of them. Considering my year started with a life-changing event that led to meeting this person, I thought it only right to start with him.

I introduce to you…

The Mack Damon

Mack is:

a wonderful husband, father, friend.

grammy nominated record producer

amazing photographer and mentor

THE most important person I met this year.

Mack and I met via the wonderful world of facebook. Shocked? Didn’t think so. He was a friend with my loveable friend Amber Rose and I requested his friendship.

He accepted (which now I understand what an honor that is)… and this was our first interaction…

That was the beginning and there have been a ton more fb messages, iChats, text messages, photos and now even a song to mark our friendship.

I met Mack after having my heart broken and I believe without a doubt, he saved my life.

He sent me songs to help heal the wounds I was carrying.

He convinced me to leave my house for coffee and studio sessions so that the scars of my hurt would be minimal.

He made me believe that no matter what I was going through, someone cared.

He cast light on a darkened heart so that I was able to open it once more and meet the love of my life. (I find it no coincidence that he came into my life before Jonathan reappeared)

He knows some of my deepest secrets and yet he treats me like I am golden.

He has the most beautiful wife and children and is not ashamed to say it.

He is an example, a rock, a light, a safe place to fall.

One of the honors of my life, was having him fill in for my father at my wedding. There was never a question in my mind who I would ask to do it. I was blessed he said yes and I will never be able to adequately explain how much that experience changed me.

Mack is that person who will tell you the truth about who you really are, but also tell you who you are not.

He once told me what my enneagram number was 4 (the individualist) I thought… no way he could read me that well… I read what it said that meant and he was DEAD on.

He is so engaged in the people and friends he surrounds himself with that often times, he thinks of them more than himself.

I find it funny that he is a producer because he is constantly introducing his friends to each other, helping with everyone’s life plans, playing psychologist to everyone and still acting as an amazing father and husband.

He has always accepted me  just as I am.

He has helped me see through the fog of relationships and discern those friends who are genuinely happy for me no matter what I do from the ones who sit in the background and judge and manipulate and cast negative energy into my life.

He is that guy who is happy for you, even if he’s having a bad day. Rare in a world where people want you to share in their misery.

I have said many times that I do not know what I have done to deserve such a friendship.

He gets me.

When we were shooting the video for Laura Marie’s music video… the first day we met in person… this was the sign he gave me… so fitting.

We have love. We have laughs. We have tacos at 3 am. We have talks. We have time. We have each other. We have an understanding of what it means to live a double life of being at home with the people you love and out with the people who pay you.

That is why Mack Damon is special in my life.

The song we danced to for the “daughter/father” dance at my wedding. It’s perfect for us.

I love you Mack.

In rememberance of two-oh-one-oh

2010 was:

1. new
2. lonely
3. colorful
4. scary
5. enlightening
6. photographic
7. humbling
8. humorous
9. exhausting
10. inspiring

and full of:

1. hipstamatics
2. mistakes and triumphs
3. endings and beginnings
4. love
5. learning
6. facebook
7. las palapas
8. tears
9. kim and jen
10. exclamation marks

This awesome app from Pummelvision.com takes all of your facebook photos and creates a video to emulate your life flashing before your eyes. I think it’s perfect for remembering how life has been the last few years.

My favorite photo of 2010 that I took:

The lovely Katherine Pierce. I will share Kate’s story soon with more photos from this shoot. My favorite one so far.

I am currently thinking about what I want my 2011 resolutions to be. I have a feeling some big changes are coming… as always, but it’s what I do… constantly reassess and reevaluate. It keeps things interesting.

-Kimberly

Christmas Unwrapped

Christmas 2010:

Favorite gift received: Studio equipment and Victorian Lace cuffs (there will be a photoshoot centered around them)

Favorite gift given: A cover of the song “Paperweight” which our wedding video is going to be set to.

When I asked my close friend Mack (who is a bad A record producer, grammy nominated) if he could give me advice on recording a song of me singing for Jonathan, I just assumed it would be minimal, but he did something much bigger. He offered to help me record it at his studios. So after a lot of moments where I thought we couldn’t pull it off, we did. He is the most amazing friend ever, he is also who walked me down the aisle at my wedding. I was so nervous to do ANYTHING musically after it had been 10 yrs since I had been in a recording studio. Taking that step to overcome the fear of doing it again taught me a lot and I am happy we did it. After nights of not sleeping and with the help of my friends Kacee Boswell and Wes Harlee… we made something beautiful. Jonathan actually cried when I played it for him.

Here is our version.

PAPERWEIGHT COVER

It may have seemed small compared to Mack’s regular recordings and Kacee and Wes’s stuff, but it was special to us.

Do you ever worry about something so much that it becomes something it isn’t? Well, this is what I did this Christmas. Being that it was the first Christmas since the divorce that the kids went to their dad’s house, I was so nervous that the day after (when they came to our house) would seem less special. That the excitement would be gone and they would just be “kinda” into it.

I was wrong…(take note, because I don’t say that often)

It was just as special, just as exciting, just as chaotic/dramatic/lovely/happy as it has always been. Shame on me for thinking that a date defines how special something can be. Shame on me for whining about the fact that I wouldn’t be the first to see their faces. Shame on me for not focusing on what I have been preaching all along… the togetherness of family.

Jonathan’s mother and Aunt Marilyn came down from Tyler and it was nice to have them a part of everything. The kids loved everything they got and Madi told me later that she would give baby Jesus a present if she could. I love that the kids are always good at reminding us of Baby Jesus when Christmas comes around…makes me feel proud of what they remember.

Jade got the train set he asked for and Madi got a lot of purses… I thought at some point she would get tired of collecting them. I guess she is a typical girl after all.

Jade made Jonathan an ornament at this school. He was so proud to give it to him and so proud when Jonathan liked it. I love that they enjoy giving and not just receiving. They were also so happy and excited to get Jonathan a bike. For the last month he has been using mine (a blue vintage one that’s a  tad too small for him) when he goes out with them. Now he has his own…. The kids just kept saying “WE REALLY WANTED YOU TO GO BIKE RIDING WITH US!” over and over. He loved it.

It’s amazing what 5 dollars can do for a kid. Jade got a Harry Potter wand and immediately thought he could start casting spells. I’ve watched him for the better part of a year practice his “wand” skills while watching Harry Potter and now he has one so it’s legit. ha His face was so serious.

This was also Jonathan’s first time to bake. I loveeee baking. I find it so enjoyable and exciting to see how things come out and how they taste (especially how they taste). Watching him read the ingredients and directions was cute.

White Chocolate Red Velvet… is was soooo good and even more special because we were able to do it togther:)

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and I can’t wait to start a new year with new experiences… this is my last video diary of this year.

Merry Merry…Happy

Tis the season… to make crazy christmas cards and eat wayyy too much and give wayyy too much (hopefully)… and really take note (and photos) of all the lovely things in my life. This was our family christmas card for this year. The original idea has been done a million times I am sure, but the idea for this card was Jade’s. As a mom, there is no way I would ever tell him that I didn’t want to do it because someone else had done it… so we did it and we love it:)

Christmas has always meant something different from year to year. When I was younger, it was about presents… when I was a teen… still about presents and being able to miss school. Now that I am a mother, it is about teaching Jade and Lulu the meaning of Christmas, reflecting on what’s truly important in my life, and evaluating how my last year has gone.

This was the kid’s first Christmas away from me and I am still not sure how I am going to adjust to having them every other year, but I guess it is what it is.

I have so much to be grateful for this year. I found peace within myself, a wonderful friend to spend my life with and a new appreciation for the time spent with the people I love.

I’ve learned that sometimes I have to let things go and not force things to happen… when I do, things just happen anyway. I have to trust that sometimes what I want is not necessarily the best for me. I have learned the true definition of faith.

Faith in others.

Faith in Heavenly Father.

Faith in myself.

Without it, this year would have gone much differently.

I have made a ton of mistakes, fallen, had to start over and had to move on…

Faith allowed me to keep moving. I always keep moving.

This year, I have been blessed to be surrounded by amazing people.

Jonathan: He makes days amazing and creative and real. He’s gentle and deep. We lead a simple, casual life filled with photoshoots and homework and netflix and the occasional trip to taco bell. He is my best friend in every sense of the word. I have never met a person like Jonathan and I know I never will again. He makes me think.

Jade: He is my baby boy. He is light in darkness. His laugh makes my heart happy. He is so protective of me and respectful of his sister. He looks up to Jonathan and accepts him like he has always been around. He changed my whole perspective of life and all Christmases after he was born meant something new, better, amazing.

Lulu: She is the most precious little child. Her desire to love everyone and everything keeps me going, teaches me the true meaning of acceptance. Her love of music and art makes me proud and her love of her brother runs so deep and loyal. Last week she told Jonathan and I “Jade is my heart, my soul, my sunshine, my happiness.” There is nothing more important in life than that lesson.

Friends: People I see and speak to on a weekly basis. Some I even consider my family. In real life friends who support me in everything I do even if they don’t “get” it, ones who yank me back to reality when my feet start to leave the ground and push me up when I don’t believe as much in myself. Friends who accept that I am an ever-changing Kimberly and don’t judge what they don’t understand. The friends who have been with me for years know who I have been and love me and know who I want to be and love her too. The friends who have recently moved into my life and space, know me now, listen to my past, share theirs and encourage me to follow my dreams and do what makes me happy no matter what others think or say. I know how rare that is.

The voice within: The girl inside who is sometimes scared, sometimes a rebel, sometimes scattered and always determined. My desire to take care of my family has lead to so much growth this year. At the beginning of the year I was blessed with some much needed changes in my life and I haven’t taken for granted that they were life saving. I have learned humility, confidence and self-acceptance. I am learning to listen to my heart, feed my soul and help anyone who asks or seems like they need it.

Today I celebrate everyone who has made this last year the best one yet.

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

~Norman Vincent Peale

I love decorating for Christmas. Now that I own two businesses, I don’t have a ton of time left for making things these days. This year I did though.

Jonathan and I had nothing in the sense of Christmas decorations… we were trying to stick to a budget and still do something we both loved and was special to us. We decided to make our Christmas decorations reflect our wedding and celebrate the start of our lives together. We handmade almost everything we used and bought the rest at the goodwill. We even facebooked what color tree we should get and although most comments said white, we went with purple:)

The photo ornaments, jars, peacocks and branches we all from our wedding.

The garland for the mantle was made up of the gray painted branches we used on our arbor for our wedding. It’s also no secret that I am a HUGE iPhone Hipstamatic fan and I take wayyyy too many photos with my camera. But after looking at all the photos I had taken over the last year, I decided it would be very special to display the photos that meant the most to us taken on my hipstamatic. Each crazy filtered photo marked some amazing event in our lives. I am thinking of keeping it all year because I love it so much.

Jonathan even got in on everything by wrapping my gifts in magazine paper from some of my favorite magazines. The one on the left is from my favorite Guess ad.

Our ornaments were all made from the leftover lids of our wedding jars. We just spray painted them, cut the photos to fit, glued them inside and nailed a hole for the hanger. It was such a lovely experience to have for our first Christmas together.

Today was my first Christmas with Jonathan’s family and I was so happy to have been a part of it. His parents are amazing and welcoming people and his lovely sister had us over for lunch today. What special people. His grandma Rose is one of my favorites and I am so lucky to have them as family.

As much as I would love to end this post on something deep and inspirational, I got nothing left. I will end by sharing my favorite stocking stuffer gifts I received from Jonathan today. This post has been much like our life… a little serious and a little funny.

The “run and tell that” button is from Antoine Dotson and the “Geeks need love too” represents Jonathan’s love for geeky girls.

Tomorrow we get to do it all again with Jade and Lulu and I can’t wait.

I truly hope you all have the best the holidays brings!

-Kimberly

Our hearts are kind and our hearts are strong.

It’s what we do…

Jonathan and I did a photoshoot for some family friends of his. They chose Mt. Bonnell in Austin as the location and I couldn’t have been more in love with a place. The lighting is amazing and something about the atmosphere of the whole place was wonderful and serene. Most of my days with Jonathan are just that… wonderful and serene. I hope it becomes one of our favorite places.

Here is this week’s video diary…

PS. To everyone who have sent awesome emails and FB messages about not having the kids this Christmas… you have brightened my world and I just have to say thank. Thank you X a million. Although we never want people to suffer as we do, there is some solice in knowing we are not alone. ❤

A Token Christmas

This is what happens when a British english teacher, a theatre photographer, a Canadian boy scrapper, a Soldier, a New York art student and a southern moma share what Christmas means to them.

Ps. Sasha’s video stopped working, so that is my voice reading her part:)

Link if the video doesn’t work: http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhum

Rhian Cooksey http://rhiancaroline.typepad.com

Joanna Tilley http://facebook.com/joannawillshootyou

Jeremy Kroes http://justme-jeremyk123.blogspot.com

Sasha Holloway http://sassysasha.typepad.com

Kara Haupt http://karahaupt.typepad.com

Kimberly Scott http://kimberlyscottblog.com

NATE DAVENPORT FEATURE: SAN ANTONIO SINGER/SONGWRITER

As part of my Inspiring People Feature, I am spotlighting the talented Nate Davenport.

I met Nate last year and have been blessed to do his photos, as well as, get to know him as a friend and find out more about him via his numerous social media outlets.

Nate performs locally and also does a weekly you tube show called Youtubesdays.

All photos featured were part of the photoshoot I did with Nate a few month’s back.

Check out Nate’s website WWW.NATEDAVENPORT.COM for more info.

Thanks Nate for sharing a little glimspe into your world!

SHE IS LOVE/SAN ANTONIO PHOTOGRAPHER

She is love. Because…

1. I can never get her to focus but she’s a brilliant child.

2. She likes to make headbands and cards with things lying around the house.

3. She got the award for being most polite in her class.

4. Although she’s younger, she plays moma bear to Jade.

5. She wants to be a “AMINAL doctor” (spelled like that) when she grows up.

6. She writes songs and sings them for strangers with a moment’s notice.

7. She would rather a paintbrush and paper than barbies.

8. She’s obsessed with the Littlest Pet Shop.

9. She is a little ray of light everywhere she goes.

10. She…

loves: everyone and Jesus

likes: Cheetos, popsicles, cartoons, pizza (no pepperoni), painting, singing, playing guitar, karate, and tickling her brother

dislikes: meat, having her hair brushed, homework, cleaning up messes, and her brother tickling her back

says things like: “what tha” “heavenly father help us be nice” “thanks sucka” and “well that’s weirrrd”

I was sick for the last couple days after returning to the US and she was so concerned about me, she stayed awake until I pretended to be asleep. She is constantly asking if I need anything, constantly hugging Jade and Jonathan, constantly dreaming of bigger things than I believe her mind understands. She is the most beautiful daughter I could have dreamed for and yet most of the time she has random things stuck in her hair and her hands are always dirty. She makes me think and love and laugh.. alot. And although I should be looking down to her… I find myself oftentimes looking up to her. That inspires me.

Below is a little slideshow of a few of our images from our shoot with Kassia Meinholt. I love her work and so happy to have met her. She captured my lulu perfectly and as a photographer, that means the world to me.

MY UK TRIP (PART ONE)

“You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.”-Mary Manin Morrissey

In my case, my fear was an entire ocean…or crossing over it. Back in May when I turned 29, I started making a list of things I wanted to do before I turn 30. This week I was able to cross one of them off the list. I wanted to do a photoshoot or even just visit another country. Other than a brief, underwhelming visit to Tijiuana once, I had never been out of the US. When I booked a wedding in the UK (thanks to my lovely friend Rhi), I was so excited my dream of taking photos internationally could come to fruition. Immediately I thought about the flight though. I have never been afraid of flying much, but something about traveling over an entire ocean frightened me. Everytime I fly, leaving my family behind enters my mind. I know it’s safer than driving and I know it’s wasteful to worry, but I was truly nervous about this trip.

After months of waiting and anticipation, I started out on my journey to another country. I have always been someone who looks at life like a real-life movie. I can be described as dramatic at times for this very reason, but it’s the only way I know to live. Everything I do and everything that happens has a purpose or reason in my world. I take every experience as it comes as if it’s a lesson or has some deeper meaning.

This experience has been big for me. I work a lot, stress the LOT and I do it because I have to. To ensure the survival of my family. I don’t like to complain because I know I am blessed to be able to work. However, most days are so busy, I don’t get to think for myself. Things go so fast that I am always adapting and adjusting and catching up.

For the last week, I have reflected. I have pondered. I have taken a life and self evaluation…again. I have been excited, proud and honest…taking this experience as proof that not being afraid is the most important principle when striving to obtain a dream.

When life happens, we react as quickly as we can. Sometimes we make good decisions, other times we make the best decisions we can with what we are given and sometimes we just make decisions that end up being the wrong ones. But we learn. I feel like I will be returning home with more of advantage in making those choices. Once again I have learned things about myself. Once again I have turned the page to a new chapter.

To some, this trip would be just another trip. To some it would be just another job. To me it has been enlightening, refreshing and necessary. I understand why we work, but now I understand more why we need the break. This has been my first real vacation in years and I am so blessed to have had it.

I shot a wedding, tried British fish and chips, British chocolate, British reality TV, succeeded in getting Zoe to let me scratch her tummy, got to talk to Rhi without having to figure out the time difference and hang up and answer again after an hour, sampled Dan’s home cooking, braved the cold London air for a wonderful day with Rhys and had some of the best long-distance calls with Jonathan.

All of these experiences inspired me and opened my eyes to a lovely perspective. I know every day is not a movie and that everything in life is not photoshopped to perfection but this trip was just that for me, like out of a movie.

I have so many photos and experiences to share, but for now I’m just showing some self portraits, my first photos with Rhi in over 3 years of friendship, some peaks of Ellie and Nat’s wedding and some video clips of my first few days here.

Tomorrow I’ll be leaving to return home. I will not only be taking with  me the gifts for the kids and photos to remember it all by, but I will also be taking a greater appreciation for my life and those who share it with me.

I owe a lot to this country across the ocean.

I came across this leaf while on my walk with Rhi and Zoe… I immediately thought of Jonathan and remembered we have been married a month now. This trip was our first time apart since our wedding.

After shooting a wedding all day, this is all we could pull up the energy to do a self portrait.

Ellie and Nat: a lovely couple.

More fun with my flipcam…not the best quality, but it’s great for documenting things in ways photos can’t.

I’ll be back this weekend from the comfort of my own home…

I took this today in Rhi’s awesome entryway mirror. I wonder if she’d miss it;)