Jessica R Strickland's Blog » Personal

CHARLI’S 1st BIRTHDAY BASH

Jessica — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:49:51 +0000

My sister is notorious for going over the top for everything! She can’t take the simple approach to anything, she has to go allllll out and over the top for everything she does! Birthdays, holidays, get together’s, parties, even simple family dinners! I’m the classic second child, I’d be perfectly happy making it simple and easy with no fuss, she’s the one who orchestrates a huge plan with tons of elements, details, even surprises along the way…and it’s all perfect! She’s amazing!! So, for Charli’s first birthday, I had a feeling she was going to go a bit crazy!! Well, she did…it was a HUGE party with at least 250 people….complete with a bounce house, water slides, pony rides, carnival games, cotton candy, gunnesac races, cornhole, water balloon tosses, watermelon and hot dog eating contests for adults and kids, hula hooping contests, face painting, tons and tons of food, pinata’s, fishing, paddle boating, swimming, tons of prizes and a prize station, cupcake decorating, ice cream, cake, etc, etc, etc….all for a 1st birthday!! Together, my mom and sister pulled this off and it was incredible!! Charli had an awesome 1st birthday that she will likely hear about for years to come!! I can only imagine what we’ll do when she turns 16!! Happy Birthday to my littlest baby bug!! I love you!!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY

Jessica — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:49:56 +0000

To my littlest baby bug….CHARLI!! Hard to believe it was a year ago today that I met her….and now I can’t imagine living without her!!

What a difference a year makes….

FEATURED

Jessica — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:20:29 +0000

I had the great opportunity to be the exclusive photographer for Time Factory’s “2010 To Do Before I Do” calendar and wedding planner! My wonderful friends at Eventfull Planning did the calendar with Time Factory, and I was lucky to be the photographer they chose for the images in the calendar! Thanks soo much, ladies…I appreciate it soo much! The calendar/planner is really awesome and soo stylish!! love it!

XAVIER and GRAHAM

Jessica — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:45:00 +0000

I figured it was time for a Xavier update…he’s getting SOO BIG!! And while we’re doing an update…I figured we do a full family update on pictures!

Xavier at 6 weeks…

And at 9 weeks….starting to smile

And our littlest guitar hero!

EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER

Jessica — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:49:47 +0000

As you might recall, I had the unique opportunity to be a part of the Extreme Home Makeover that took place in Indianapolis and the show finally aired this past weekend, which allows me to be able to share the pictures of the interior of the home and Library! If you saw the show, you heard the awesome story and what an incredible man Bernard McFarland is! He was soo blessed to not only receive this new home but also the new Library, the Pack House 2000, his mortgage was paid off, he got a new 2010 Ford Taurus, a new 20 passenger van for the Pack House 2000, full ride college tuition for all 3 of his boys to Butler University, a trip to Paris, food for a year from many different contributors, a neighborhood full of improvements, updates, roads, landscaping and soo soo much more!! It was just incredible and such a neat thing to be a part of!!

CHARLI

Jessica — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:38:27 +0000

Isn’t this little girl sooo delish???? uhhh….i just love her to BITS!!!

My niece, Charli at 11 months…

And a few black and whites because I think she looks soo cute in black and white…

ATTN PORTRAIT & ENGAGMENT CLIENTS

Jessica — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:13:34 +0000

Attention portrait & engagement clients:

I’m 100% full for summer portraits & engagements, with a wait list going!!

My first open sessions are in September and November. Those dates are filling FAST so please do contact me ASAP if you wish to arrange a shoot!!

October is also full!!

THANK YOU!! As always, I sincerely appreciate your business!!

ERIKA

Jessica — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:22:46 +0000

I am SOOO excited to finally introduce my new studio manager, Erika!!! She started earlier this winter and has been learning the ropes and joining me in this crazy thing I call JRS Photography!! She is AMAZING, an incredible person, super hard worker, terrific photographer and SOO much more….and I’m SOOO incredibly blessed to have her! She graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University with a degree in photography and is from Winona Lake, Indiana but made the transition to Indy to be a part of my team (and to be by a certain guy! hehe!)!! She is quickly learning how wild the wedding industry is and how crazy the work load is during wedding season…and yet, she is still smiling and excited about photography! YAY!! Did I mention that SHE ROCKS?!?!?! Meet and help me welcome the lovely and terrific Erika….

MANASA + AVINASH

Jessica — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:39:36 +0000

I brought on a TEAM of awesome photographers for Manasa & Avinash’s wedding…and so there is a bit more eye candy to see from their amazing wedding!!

A HUGE Thank you to Megan King of Megelaine Images and Shelly Valentine of Shelly Valentine Photography for their help and willingness to second shoot this wedding for me!

CLICK HERE TO SEE MEG’S IMAGES!!!

CLICK HERE TO SEE SHELLY’S IMAGES!!!

MANASA + AVINASH

Jessica — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:02:44 +0000

I had to break this amazing day out into two blog posts, one just didn’t do it justice! I will let the images speak for themselves and only say that this wedding day was absolutely amazing in more ways than words can adequately describe…..

M + A….i H you B sooo much and hope you are having a G T in H!! BTW….U still owe me a P of the 4 of us from the FW in C!!! Sorry I forgot to get it at the W! I L this game! ha!

XAVIER

Jessica — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:49:22 +0000

Here is the newest little love in our lives, Xavier! He is just the sweetest little guy and we completely adore him!!

EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER

Jessica — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:18:59 +0000

On Sunday, after the family was home and the big reveal happened, I went out to shoot the finished home and the press conference! The McFarland family was there and it was a great day! It poured rain but that didn’t dampen their spirits..they were just excited to finally get their new home! At the press conference, they were showered with tons more awesome gifts! Among them were 3 full ride scholarships to Butler, valued at $350K!! I wish I could show you the finished pictures of the house but I can’t until the episode airs on MAY 17th!! Be sure to watch and stay tuned for the finished home pictures!

EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER

Jessica — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:55:04 +0000

It was my second trip to the Extreme Home Makeover site! I was nearly shocked as I walked up…to see where the house was when I left on Wednesday and how far it had come in just 48 hours! It was truly incredible and I think I stood there for a few minutes to just absorb it all! The exterior was 100% finished, a new sidewalk, repaved roads, 100% landscaped, the energy windmill installed, basketball court installed and the house construction 100% finished with keys turned over to the design team for the furniture install! It was a fun night, the energy was high and I loved being a part of it! I wasn’t able to photograph the big reveal on Saturday, but I had the awesome opportunity to be the only photographer to photograph the finished home on Sunday! It’s absolutely gorgeous and the family couldn’t have been happier with it!

EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME EDITION

Jessica — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:49:31 +0000

I had the incredible opportunity to photograph the Extreme Home Makeover happening here in Indy! I joined the set in the wee hours of the morning and was just overwhelmed at the incredible work unfolding before my eyes! It was almost 6am and the site was packed with volunteers working as hard as their hands would allow and it was apparent that they had been working for hours. As the sun rose, more volunteers flooded the scene and just made me relish in the helpful spirit that encompassed the whole experience. The spirit went beyond the E.X.M home, it branched out into the neighborhood…the neighbors house was being repainted, the roads were being repaved, neighbors received new roofs in previous days and new landscaping. It’s a truly amazing experience to see a community come together with no other motive than to help their fellow man…the world could use a little more of an extreme makeover! The house itself is just awesome! The builder, Estridge, has just done an amazing job and has been the coordinator of the neighborhood wide improvements! I was soo blessed to get to be a part of this experience! Stay tuned for more images of the next stages of the house and be sure to watch the season finale on MAY 17th when this episode airs!

CLICK HERE to view Estridge’s EXTREME DREAM BLOG and track the progress of the house and see more images!!

NEW BABY!

Jessica — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:03:28 +0000

The newest member of our family arrived yesterday and we are OVERJOYED!!

The sweet baby boy arrived at 7:58 AM, weighing in at 8 LBS 9 OZ, 21 & 1/2 Inches. He is great, Mom is great and all is right in the world!!

I will announce the name as soon as i know it!

Meet my sweet nephew….

EDIT……

Meet my sweet nephew….

XAVIER MICHAEL ALEXANDER HUDDLESTON