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It felt so great being able to shoot something just to shoot and not because I was paid to. I had a blast photographing everything at the hotel. So this post will be dedicated to details and my next post will feature my friends.

You can also check out our community tumblr page that we all posted images to throughout the trip!

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Whenever we see a lion, it reminds us of our little lion, Murray. Our room key had a lion!

I know this next one is not focused on our faces but it’s hard taking self portraits! And I still like it.

Vegan donuts YUM!

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Until today. Today, Mike and I along with my friend BreAnne headed 30 minutes away from the Las Vegas strip to jump out of airplanes. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. So I wasn’t even nervous. I didn’t have a single butterfly in my stomach. I just thought it would be fun like a really big roller coaster. So we all head up in a tiny plane. The first person that goes looks like they pretty much just fell out of the plane, which is not what my tandem jumper told me would happen. Then Mike went next. Then it was me. I kinda screamed a little as I watched my only husband fall out of a plane, but still it was all happening so fast that I didn’t have any butterflies or feelings of regret. But the second I stepped out the plane, I think my stomach STAYED in the plane because I was instantly nauseous. We did a little somersault out of the plane, and it was all down hill from there. I had spoken to my friend Aundrea the day before and she was like are you going to be able to breath with all the air rushing toward you? And I was all I’ll be fine I’m sure. Well that’s where I was wrong. I could not breath! I kept gasping for air! And then I felt panicky because the wind was so strong and it was so hard to breath. Oh, and my ears needed to pop so bad it almost hurt. Then he launched the parachute, and everything just stopped. It was like we were just sitting there in the middle of the sky. Which was the coolest part. But, mind you, my stomach is still in the plane so I’m really not feeling so good. The guy gets kind of fancy with moving us all around with the parachute. And all I’m thinking is dude I’m about to throw up on you/I want this to just be over.

So the landing was good. But I thought I was going to throw up right then and there. But I didn’t! So I was like cool, I’m totally good. Then we all climbed in a van to head back and the driver gave me his water and a plastic barf bag and I was thinking thanks but no thanks I won’t be needing this…and then I lost it. We get back to the place and we’re waiting for our videos and I’m feeling a little better after getting that out, but not great. So finally we head out to the car which thankfully Mike had already turned on to cool it off before I got in it. And for some reason, the second I closed my car door I knew it wasn’t over. I opened the car door and left a nice little present for the nice skydiving folks. So, I’m like ok NOW I’m done. I’m really good. So, of course we didn’t grab an extra barf bag or anything. So we’re heading back to the strip and I’m just really not feeling good but I have nothing left in my stomach to get out. But it’s coming again. And I can’t see anything reasonable to throw up in to. So I grab my brand new souvenir skydiving t-shirt and proceed with the vomiting. Then BreAnne finds a bag in the back seat so I place the t-shirt in the bag and I think alright finally everything is okay. Meanwhile, I’m holding a plastic water bottle in between my legs, and I start thinking that doesn’t just feel cold that feels wet. So I lift up the water bottle and vomit got on the my seat, and upon further exploration it’s all over my pants. All over. I don’t even know how it got there. I was so careful when throwing up in my shirt. So we park and get out of the car and it’s just everywhere. There’s no way I can walk from the parking garage, through the casino, and up the elevators with vomit pants. So I found a rather large scarf in the car and wrapped it around my waist. Just in case you are wondering…there is no worse feeling in the world then walking through a huge Las Vegas hotel with VOMIT PANTS, no matter if people can see it or not…the wearer, aka me, can FEEL it every step of the way.

Ok, so there’s a video of the dive, not the vomiting, but I’m having the hardest time doing anything with it. It’s an unrecognizable file and nothing I’m doing will make it recognizable. I’ll add it to this post later if I can, although it’s the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen of myself…the only reason I’m considering uploading it is because it made Mike and BreAnne laugh harder than I’ve ever heard them laugh before so if my misery brings joy then it surely must be shared with the world! Until that time, enjoy these iPhone pics.

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First off, my baby boy. He’s not so much a baby anymore! I cannot believe how big Murray is. Mike and I always say we wish he would get REAL big, like the size of the ottoman. Well, when I looked over at the ottoman the other day I realized we are getting pretty close to having that dream come true.

Next up, Dathan’s birthday! We celebrated D’s birthday on Easter Sunday. As soon as we got to my mom’s house, Mike and Dathan got right to work…or playing…that face is the “chooooo choooo” face.

More playing.

My sister asked me if I knew anyone that could make a football cake, since D is obsessed with football, and I told her she had to use my friend Jana of Jana’s Creative Cakes and she did not disappoint! We all couldn’t stop looking at all the detail.

So, we showed Dathan his cake, and he was fascinated. He was staring at it…and very very slowly started getting closer and closer…

and the next thing we know he’s licking the cake! We really did not see this coming. We thought he was just inspecting it. So after we told him not to lick the cake, he was like “throw it?” He was so confused, he was like ok if I can’t lick it, then that means we have to throw it!

The picture on the left below is him “hugging” his new frog towel!

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There are people who still don’t know what Toms Shoes are?! It’s pretty much one of my favorite companies out there. If YOU still don’t know what Toms Shoes are you’re about to.

Their motto is “One for One.” For every pair of Toms Shoes purchased, they donate a NEW pair of shoes to a child in need. This I pulled straight from their website:

“Why shoes?

Many children in developing countries grow up barefoot. Whether at play, doing chores or going to school, these children are at risk:

•A leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted diseases, which can penetrate the skin through bare feet. Wearing shoes can help prevent these diseases, and the long-term physical and cognitive harm they cause.
•Wearing shoes also prevents feet from getting cuts and sores. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected.
•Many times children can’t attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don’t have shoes, they don’t go to school. If they don’t receive an education, they don’t have the opportunity to realize their potential.”

Here’s me in my Toms waiting for our clients to arrive. We always take pics of each other while we wait for our clients to arrive (oh, and we’re always the first to arrive…we have to scope the area!). Toms gives a banner with each pair of shoes purchased which I think is adorable. I want to give all my clients banner’s that say “Amanda Rae.” I’m not sure how practical it would be, but I’m pretty gung-ho about it.

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Rings are my accessory of choice. But what excites me most about my ring collection is the average price of all my rings is about $5.00. Overall, I don’t think I have any (besides my wedding ring) that are worth more than maybe $20 or $30. But I just love this little gem. If I wasn’t completely emotionally attached to my wedding ring, I would ask Mike if I could trade it in and use this as my wedding ring. It would be unique and original.

Colbyjune

Besides rings, I’m not much of a collector of things. But every once in a while I think about collecting vintage tea cups. My mom gave me one that belonged to her mom. And I think this tea cup would go along with the one I already have rather well.

RageoftheAge

I just think these are awesome, and would make the cutest accessory sitting on my desk. But I’m way too cheap to pay that price! Maybe I can find something like this at a flea market.

RageoftheAge

This says it’s a capelet for a weding. But it’s lace, so I think I can wear it every single day.

belledujour0

I’m a huge Alice and Wonderland fan and with the release of the newest cinematic production I figured this adorable print was fitting.

Suziechaney

I just came across this shop today. I love what this guy does with paper cutouts.

mrYen

I love this print. That’s all.

MaiAutumn

This whole store is amazing. She uses vintage fabric to embellish these handmade books. Love!

NatalieAsIs

Last but not least, I would like to put this somewhere in my house. Maybe my bedroom.

sarahandbendrix

Check out Etsy {Love} Part 1 and Part 2.

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Well, last night Mike and I were invited by a college friend of ours to play in his Pay It Forward poker tournament. The catch was that there was no buy in. None of the players had to put in a single cent to be able to play. Our friend, John, instead was going to give the winner $500 to use to “pay it forward” in whatever way they wanted. Pretty incredible, right? We all get to have fun all night with nothing on the line, and in the end the winner gets to give away free money to make someone else’s day!

But then it got interesting. When we got there, John told us there was a twist and pulled out six envelopes. He said I will show you what is in one of the envelopes, but you have to decide as a group which envelope you want to see. So we chose envelope #3…and there was $400 inside envelope #3. We’re all wondering did we get lucky and choose the jackpot envelope and the rest all have $10’s and $20’s?? Unfortunately, Mike got out of the tournament pretty quickly. I held my own for awhile, but I didn’t quite get to the final table. But Mike and I had to see this thing out! So player #6 got a $100 bill. Player #5 $200. Player #4 $300, and we already knew Player #3 was getting $400. So at this point we’re pretty clear on the sequence, but then John said “wait around there’s one more twist.” So now it’s down to two players and it’s way too late in the morning, so they push all in on the next hand. Player #2 opens his envelope and it’s $500 just as we expected. Then Player #1 opens his envelope and he’s sitting there counting out one hundred dollars bills for what seems like forever (it was realllly past my bedtime at this point) and finally reveals ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!! (That’s $1,000 for those of you that speak in numbers vs. letters.) We were all shocked. The total prize winnings for the night totaled $2,500. And the grand prize winner announced that he would be donating half of it to St. Jude’s and the other half to buy soccer uniforms for a local soccer team that could really use the donation.

Even though the game ended really late, by the time I got into bed, I could hardly sleep thinking about what I had witnessed that night. And it really got me thinking. Mike and I had a fantastic idea for what we were going to do with the money if we won it. Now I’m kinda thinking maybe we should just do it anyway with our own money on the line. And I know that’s all that John wanted. Was to inspire all of us to remember to give forward.

And just because posts are never complete without pictures, here’s one that the incredibly adorable Jamie Delaine took of us in Vegas last week. I LOVE Mike’s new shoes, and I could wear these boots every single day.

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What I wanted more than anything was the teapots.

I love this two-tiered tray for holding my jewelry.

In the field we were shooting, there was one lone purple flower, so I dressed it up with one of my rings.

The tray.

I love the canisters. I sat there forever trying to decide what I would do them. I haven’t come up with anything yet, but I knew I would regret not buying them.

I think this set of mixing bowls is my favorite from the whole set.

Mike came out in the field with me to take these pics. We were standing a ways away from each other and Mike said let’s draw! So we put our cameras down to our sides and on the count of three drew them up dueling cowboys style to see who could shoot the other fastest. I totally won. This is my shot of him:

This is the shot he finally got of me. I can’t believe I’m showing this. I’m wearing his sweatshirt and overall just don’t look that cute!!

As I was finishing up some of the detail shots, Mike made me a giraffe out of weed-flowers. Seriously…how cute is he???

And a ladybug for good luck for all!

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I love movies. Any kind of movie. Comedy, drama, action, thriller, romantic. I’m a big fan! Of the movies. I could watch movies all day long every day. But there are only a handful of movies that I want to see more than once. You know…those movies that you could take to a desert island and watch only those 10 movies over and over till forever. Well I didn’t mention before that I LOVE MUSICALS! LOVE! THEM! There’s something so magical about a good musical. It takes you to a place that doesn’t exist in real life. In real life people very rarely break out into song and dance in the middle of normal conversation. But in musicals anything goes!

Moulin Rouge is one of my top favorites. I’ve seen that movie more times in the last decade than I care to admit. It transports me to Paris, and a place of truth, beauty, freedom, and above all things, LOVE! Well, if you’ve seen it, you know that it begins with Ewan McGregor’s character typing his story in Paris on an old typewriter. And I’ve been in love with how they incorporated the story telling with the typewriter. It begins and ends with the typewriter and the story in between is the story that his typewriting is telling. So, that’s clearly where the inspiration came for my promo video!

So, I’m totally cool with being in front of a still camera. I think it’s really fun. My girlfriends and I used to pretend we were models growing up, so I just think it’s a blast to still play pretend. But it’s a whole ‘nother story when you talk about the moving picture. Ya know…the talkies. I was TERRIFIED of being in front of the video camera, and even more so, I was afraid of TALKING on the video camera. There was just no way that was going to happen, I hate the sound of my own voice, and I knew I would cringe every time I saw the video. So I had to come up with a solution. And that’s when I decided to have the typewriter keep writing my story along the bottom of the screen. Actually, now that I think about it, Mary Frances said we should have captions and I laughed, but then realized that the typewriter writing would actually work perfectly. So, then it came time for a script. And I knew I wanted it simple. Because I’m simple. I think things clean and simple. So, I thought about the old Dick and Jane books…“Look, Jane. Look, look. See Dick. See, see. Oh, see. See Dick.” And I simplified it even more! And that’s the story of how the Amanda Rae video came to life!

Now, tell me…what inspires you??

PS…there are two quotes from Friends slipped into this post as my subtle way of saying Friends also inspires me.

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