BFFE

Christie Grummons. This girl (well now woman) came into my life in the 8th grade. I was sitting with my friends in the gym at LAB and in walks this cute blonde girl and sits behind us on the bleachers. We started talking. The rest is history. We became inseperable. If we weren't together, we were talking on the phone with one another. Our parents came to know the route from Northridge to Westchester very well. :-) Because we always wanted to go over to each other's houses. We were best friends. Who knew though that 16 years later this same girl would be my "go-to girl"?!?

This isn't a post about how we are such good friends and where I proceed to tell you all about our fun moments and so forth. This is post to tell you how much I admire this woman and who she has becomes. She is an amazing wife, daughter, sister, and mother! :-)

Seeing her grow throughout these 16 years has inspired me to become a better person. This is the girl that at the age of 16 got told that she had to transplant her whole entire life from sunny California to Spokane, Washington! And after a few tears, a quick trip from me up there to visit 5 days after she moved, she picked herself up and made the best of it. And from those years in Spokane, she gained best friends and her future husband. :-) This is the woman that finished college in 3 years while working 5 jobs!!....yes 5 jobs!!! And without one complaint. This is the girl that no matter what life puts in front of her, good or bad, she has kept her faith in God so strong and visible to the world. This is the woman that while pregnant with her son, was working 16 hour days! This is the girl that has gone through raising her son in the first year of his life with no family in the same state as her! This is the girl that NO MATTER what is going on in her life or at that moment will drop everything for me for anything I need.

We've been through A LOT in those 16 years. I couldnt' begin to tell you some of the things that this girl and I have conquered throughout these years. But we've made it. I've made it. And I've made it because she is the girl that has hopped on a plane for me because she knew that just seeing her face when she steps off that plane makes me feel so much better. We don't have to say one word to each other...she just knows exactly what I'm thinking and feeling. This is the girl that has opened her home to me countless times. A girl who has opened her home to me from one day to another, when I call her and tell her I need to fly out to Portland the next day because I need to get away. This is the girl that has stayed up with me for hours with pizza and ice cream...talking, or not talking, or crying, or laughing, or laughing so hard we are crying...did that until I felt better. This is the girl that if we don't talk for a while, the next phone call will seem like we just talked 5 minutes ago. This is a girl gave so much up for my wedding. She sacrificed time with her husband and son to be here for me that day and the 9 months before it. This is the girl that made the most heartfelt beautiful matron of honor speech ever. Of course she was my matron of honor...who else would be. :-)

I don't know what I would do if she wasn't brought into my life. I have a feeling the life would be so much different. All I know is that I thank God for the day that he brought us together. Thanks to that day.....BFFE....was born. BFFE: Best Friends For Ever. Yes internet, we know that forever is one word and not two. But we wanted to be different and unique :-) And to this day whether its in an email, text, or even on the phone...the first words out of our mouths are: Hi BFFE@!!!!

I admire this girl more than anyone. She is a beautiful person inside and out. And I can only hope to one day be the mother that she is.

BFFE - Thank you for so many ridiculously great, amazing, unforgettable memories for the past 16 years. I can't wait to have more memories. Especially memories of our family vacations together. :-) And our kids' marriage(s)....of course!! :-) LOL!!!

I hope everyone has their own "BFFE" out there. They come in handy. :-)

Until next time,

-Me

Back to the homework days :-)

Started school this week. Very wierd to be back on that campus, being such a different person. Last time I stepped foot on that campus I was 21...and oh so naive. My life was in such a different place...making it such a different experience. When you are that age and in the prime time of having fun...you could care less if you are late for class, if don't go to class, if you pay attention in class, and basically you just want to survive the class and make it out alive and with a passing grade. It's so different now. I want to be there, I want to do good, I want to learn anything and everything that I can.

Looks like the semester will bring me some very very good challenges that hopefully will make me become good at photography. At least that is my hope. I just know that every time I start snapping away at that camera I have a huge smile on my face and I feel at home...I feel like it's something that I LOVE doing and can't get enough of.

Well I'll keep you guys updated. Until then just wanted to let you guys know that I've started using my Flickr account to upload my pictures. Feel free to take a look and comment :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreamurphyphotography/

Until the next time,

-Me

Good...no Great.

My whole life I've strived to be the best....at everything. And I have a hard time accepting that I'm not the best at everything. I don't commit to everything, but once I have decided to commit to something, I have 100% committment to it. I am in it until the end. And I am not only in it until the end, but I will do it to the best of my ability. I'm proud to say I get this trait from my father. (I'm sure he would be proud that I said that too!). But it's true...he's taught me my whole life: "Andrea, don't do things "half-ass"...do them correctly and completely". When I still lived at home, I would constantly bring my dad on to all of my crazy projects that I had. Whether it be painting my walls purple, or finding a cool way to display my hundreds of picture frames, or even just washing my car. I would always enlist his help...partly because I thought he would know the "perfect" way to do, but mainly because I loved hanging out with him and I knew that along with the help would come some really fun conversations. And without a doubt, I knew that if mid-way through the project I decided that I wanted to start slacking because, "It was fine just like that", I knew that my dad would be there to tell me to stop doing it "half-ass" and do a good job. I have never and I will never forget the words that are so familiar to me, "Andrea, if I'm going to do something I am going to do it 'right', and if you are going to do something you are going to do it 'right'. Put 100% into it always."

I hear my dad's voice telling me this in everything I do. I graduated high school in 1999. My parents have always instilled in my brother and I that we will work for our money. Even though my parents had no need for us to work; and it killed them every time they saw one of their kids having to give up going out with their friends, or be completely exhausted and still have to go into work, they still made us work from the day we turned 16. (Well 14 for my brother, but shhh we won't bring that up :-)). My first job when I turned 16 was working for Marie Callendars...selling pies...and putting whip cream on them! Glamorous I know!! :-) Even though it was just a little old high school job, from the first day I started there...I put my all into it. I didn't just want to be good at my job...I wanted to be great...I wanted to be the BEST pie seller there! :-) I hated it at times. I hated having my friends come into the restaurant and have dinner and be sitting there having fun, while I had to work. But every time I came home bummed out about it...my dad: "Andrea you are doing good learning about responsibility and work...because of this job you are able to say that YOU are paying for car". Helped ease the wound a little.

After I graduated in 1999, I went to College of the Canyons. I had the grades to get into a state university but I really had NO clue as to what I wanted to do with my life, so I decided that because my parents spent a FORTUNE on my high school tuition, I would go to a community college for my AA degree until I decided what I wanted to do. The first two year in college, I was working at Black Angus restaurant. I liked it for a while. Same thing with this job...I wanted to be the best...so I worked my butt off to make it from Hostess to Head Hostess and then to Server and then to one of the their Top Servers. I liked my job until I learned that there are some people in this world that just should not be allowed to dine in restaurants...or there should be some mandatory education on tipping. Mandatory education on how most of the servers you see in restaurants are STARVING college students that LIVE for their tips and live off of their tips and when you leave $.50 (YES FIFTY CENTS!!!) as a tip....it really doesnt help that student with ANYTHING. Yes I am still bitter about the incident. That same night I put in my two week notice. I couldnt take it anymore...it just wasn't challenging enough. Don't get me wrong...I would reccommend a restaurant job to every single college student out there. It's short hours and you can make a crap load of money if you work your tables right! Like my mom has always said, "Andrea...let me see THAT smile...that smile is going to take you places". There is nothing like a happy, peppy, SMILING server. :-) But I had been there for 3 years now and I needed a change...a new challenge.

I was fortunate enough to find a 9 to 5 job in an office. But now I had to decide what to do with school. 9 to 5 was not going to allow me to go to school during the day. My parents have always said that once we graduate from highschool we are on our own for our spending money. They will of course provide house and food...but no more money. :-/ EXCEPT....they always said...if we wanted to study and go to school they would pay for that. This was their strategy to keeping us in school. :-) I decided that I did want to keep going to school...so I only had one choice: night school. At this point I obviously was not going to get my AA in two years so I knew I had to step it up. So next thing I knew...I was working from 9 to 5 in Woodland Hills, and then commuting out to Santa Clarita for school from 7 to 10 every single night. :-/ It was hard and grueling and sucked so bad at times that I would cry in the car. I was tired, I had no life, and was drowning in so much homework I had no idea how I was going to make it out alive. And of course....doing bad in school was not an option...because I have to do great...I have to get straight A's...I have to get a 4.0 GPA or very close to that. :-/ I was caving under the pressure. My parents could see it and my mom said that I should slow down. My dad said it too....but I could see it in his eyes...it wasn't pressure to do it all...it was that fact that he knew that I could handle it. And I did...I pushed through and I finished. I was so happy when I took my last final. And with a 3.6 GPA...not perfect...but I did ok. :-)

Once I finally got my AA degree I decided I needed a semester off. I had gone to college straight out of high school which meant that I was almost 21 and had not had more than a summer off from school since the age of 5! One semester turned into two and once that second semester off was over I was faced by my mom. At that point, I was working at a finance company. Doing good, but we both knew that there wasn't much room for much growth there. One day she said, "So Andrea....what are you going to do with your life??". I knew I had to do something. I never knew that my life would change so drastically in the following months from that conversation.

God really blessed me at that point in my life. I was at really low point, not really happy with anything or anyone in my life. I decided that I wanted to better myself. I wanted to go back to school. I wanted to go get my Bachelor's degree. But this time I was going to do it right...I was going to go to school full time and get my degree in 2 years...putting me at over 18 units a semester. Thinking about it now...I was crazy. But that was my decision and I was not going to go back on it. My job was going to have to take a back seat to my school no matter what. At that point, I let my boss know that I would either have to start coming in part time or I would have to resign from the job. They didnt want to see me go, so they agreed to the part time position. A few weeks after I decided that God laid out a plan for my family and I that none of us could say no to. He gave us a possibility of starting our own family business that my brother and I could run. But we would have to start from scratch...making nothing..and it could be a while before we would start making money. We decided to dive in head first at the opportunity. Within a week from that decision I had quit my job, used all my savings to payoff my car so that I could cut my expenses way down and opened up our business. But this wasn't going to change my decision of going back to school. So in the fall of 2004, I found myself going to school full time and trying to launch a business off the ground. It sucked again, and I had no life again, and of course this time I was GOING to get that darn 4.0 GPA even if it killed me! So I spent my days going back and forth from school to work trying to work around my schedule and then staying up late at night doing homework and studying. I wanted to be good...no great and both my school work and my job.

End of Spring 2006 I walked across the stage at CSUN to receive my Bachelor's Degree in Sociology. I graduated Cum Laude because of a 3.8 GPA. I have never been so proud of myself in my entire life. I not only had conquered two grueling years of school, but I did while launching a now very successful business off of the ground and dealing with some intense personal issues. I remember the look on my parent's faces that day...they were proud too. Not only because I was getting the first Bachelor's degree of anyone in our family...but because I had pushed through and pushed through to be good...no GREAT.

2009 has begun and I have begun it with a very different life...but that same attitude. I am now married to a wonderful great man that is so loving and supportive of everything, I couldn't ask for more. We are homeowners and are loving our life. But with 2009, also came that itch to something good...no great. I decided I wanted to pursue my love for photography.

I want so badly to be good....no GREAT at photography. I want it so badly that it hurts. I think about day and night. I start school next week. :-)

I guess the whole point of this big ol' blog is...I start school for photography next week. And there is no exception to this class than any other class I have taken in my life...I want to be good...no GREAT at it. I want to be great. :-)

I'll leave you all with some of my latest adventures in photography.

Until later,
Me :-)

Andrea Murphy Photography

Since I was in high school I loved pictures. Loved everything about them...taking them, being in them, printing them, putting them in frames and all over the place. I fed that addiction with a high school photography class. Loved the class and did very well in the class. Back in those days, we used film (digital wasn't big yet), so we would take the pictures, then have to process the film, then take the film into the dark room and use the machines to figure out the exposure that you wanted and print pictures. The class came and went and I moved on. I didn't really think much of it.

Once I was in college, I dabbled with the idea of taking of photography, but opted against it because I was so desperate to get done with school as fast as I could, that I didn't want to take a class that didn't have to do with my major, so that I could finish on time.

After college, my love for pictures remained. I constantly had my camera attached to my hip and was constantly snapping pictures of everyone, everywhere we went. I never really thought much of it though. I was focused on my career and job and business and focused on moving forward in life.

When David and I got engaged and started talking about what vendors we wanted and what was important to us, we both agreed on one thing....PICTURES ARE CRUCIAL! He also shares a love of photography, and we both knew that our photographers had to be AMAZING!! As our wedding planning process went along, I started following many different photographers blogs and that's when the spark really ignited.

I became obsessed with pictures and taking pictures and was fascinated by the work of these photographers. I wanted so badly to be doing what they were doing. To be capturing an expression that so clearly says what they were feeling at that exact moment. I wanted to do it soo badly...but I knew there was no way that I could do it at that moment. I was swamped with planning the wedding and the house and well 2008 was a big year for us.

So our wedding came and went...but my passion for photography still remained. I told David how badly I wanted to do that, and that I thought taking pictures would make me so happy. And that I am willing to go back to school to learn as much as I can. And for those that know me and know what I went through in my college year, well then you know that me wanting to go back to school for something is HUGE! So my wonderful husband told me, "Ok well if you are serious about it and want to do it, well then let's do something about it".

Christmas day 2008 I opened my very first SLR. David bought me the Canon Rebel along with all the goodies that I could possibly need to start off this adventure. He couldnt' have given me a better present. I love it and immediately jumped behind that lens.

Since then I've just been practicing on anyone that will get in front of the camera for me. :-) Usually its kids...because they don't really have a choice. :-) I'm loving every single second of it. I start classes next month and I am so eager to learn everything I can. I now know what its like to have a hobby that you LOVE.

Since Christmas 2008....this was born:

Andrea Murphy Photography

So for now, I'll leave you. If you see me behind the camera feel free to jump in front for me. :-) I"ll leave you with some pictures I've taken....

That's all I've got for you guys! Stay tuned for my adventures in my hobby!.... Until then!...

Love,

Me

Life has interesting turns to it....

Last time I left you guys I told you that there were big things to come in the life of the Murphy's. At that time, we did have exciting things going on...but we never thought that things would end up getting more exciting. :-)

Since the last time I left you...Andrea and David Murphy are officially HOMEOWNERS!!! We have purchased our first little home and we couldn't be more excited!! This was a huge goal for us and it meant so much to us to be able to finally do it. We love the place and are loving every single second of it. There is something about writing that check on the 1st of the month, but knowing that it is going towards your OWN home! :-) We are still working on decorating and making it perfect but here a few pictures of it in the meantime...

So for now we are having a great time finding the perfect decorations for our little home. :-) At the time that I posted last, this was the most exciting thing we had going on. Little did I know that the beginning of 2009 would bring us more excitement. :-)

Stay tuned for another exciting announcement in the next post!

Love,

Me

Big Things Coming and Past Great Things :-)

A post dedicated to my VERY good friend Lisa Jeppson...soon to be Lisa Feirfeil....in a little less than 6 months!! :-)
Hi everyone! :-) Sorry for the lagging in updating....but we have BIG things going on and I will update you all as soon as we can!! :-)

As for now, things are going good, we have gotten through the filming of David's new movie "Not Another Not Another Movie" all in one piece. We had to get over a lot of bumps in the process, but I think he did great dealing with all of it and he was able to get some big names attached to the film, including Chevy Chase and Burt Reynolds and Ellen Dow ( the little old lady from the Wedding Singer and Wedding Crashers). :-) So keep us in your prayers that this movie does good.

We've made it through Halloween and we're getting ready for a very busy but fun filled holiday season.

For now that's what we've got going on....I'll be back soon to update you guys on all of the exciting and big things going on in our lives.

For now I leave you with some past due wedding news. :-)

DECEMBER 12, 2007

December 12, 2007....what would happen that night would change my life for the rest of our lives! :-) It was a cold Wednesday night in the middle of the holiday frenzy and I was about to experience the best night of my life...up to that point in my life. :-) This was the night that David proposed to me......awww! Most of you guys have heard the story of it, either from our wedding website: http://www.davidandandrea.us/, or at our actual wedding. :-) It was such an amazing night with so many emotions and it was absolutely perfect. :-)

For those of you that don't know the story here it is:

This is a crazy story! Let me just say, that I am not one to be shocked too easily! I like to find EVERYTHING out. And I'm always one step ahead of everyone! It's very hard to surprise me, because I usually ask so many questions that somehow it comes out. David is the only person that has ever been able to shock me with things! Since we've been together, he has sprung so many surprises on me that I never imagined. When Wednesday December 12, 2007 came around, it was just another normal day for me. My Christmas shopping was in full swing and I had luckily had the weekend before to myself to spend with my mom getting most of our Christmas shopping done. (David was in Cancun doing pick-up shots for the movie; which I now know was also when he talked to his dad about proposing) This year, I inherited the Murphy family, so I was shopping for both the Rosso family and the Murphy family, so I had to be extremely organized! That day I had told David that I wanted to get to the mall before it closed to finish up the Christmas shopping.

From early in the morning, David was acting more scatter-brained than usual! In the middle of the day, David called and told me that Jeff & Gina wanted to take the kids to go look at Christmas lights on CandyCane Lane with us. Of course I said Yes! Not only because I love spending time with them and the kids, but because I'm a kid at heart and absolutely LOVE looking at Christmas lights! They would be at the house at 6:30pm so we could get back early. When I got home, David was more hyper than usual, but I didn't think anything of it because I was so busy thinking about Xmas and everything else. The really wierd stuff started happening when I got home! David started changing and putting on a really nice shirt. Now this is not at all like David. David is the epitamy of wanting to be absolutely comfortable at ALL times if possible! So when he started doing this, I was a little confused since we were just going to be looking at lights from the car. (I now know that this was because he knew we would be taking a lot of pictures!) Then he started trying on jackets! Now for those of you who know David, he DOES NOT wear jackets unless we are in snow condition! But he started trying on a bunch of jackets! I now know that he was doing this to find the perfect pocket for the ring, but at that moment I thought he was the wierdest person in the world! But believe it or not, I still had ABSOLUTELY no clue!!!

Jeff and Gina were right on time at 6:30, we were ready to leave and David says that he can't find his wallet! We looked everywhere and then just decided to leave since they were waiting downstairs for us. Of course, I started lecturing him on how could he lose his wallet?! (I now know it's because he had proposing on his mind!) We got in the car with them and headed out to CandyCane lane. We started driving the streets, deeply entertained by little Ethan's hilarious and cute comments, and we see this house on one corner that was so beautifully lit up with a million lights. Jeff says that we should get out there. Usually, we don't really get out of the car and walk up to houses and look at lights, but just stay in the car and look. Well, when we parked and started getting out, I STILL had no clue what was going on. Jeff grabbed the Camcorder and Gina grabbed the camera and we got the kids and headed towards the house.

Now at this point all I thought to myself was,"I guess you videotape alot when you have kids!" Still had no clue! We took some pictures and then David pulled me aside. At this point, I was so cold, the only thought in my head was that I hoped that we were going to blast the heater in the car. But David had other intentions. He pulled my hand and got this serious look on his face. He said, "I wanted to get you a ring for Xmas but I won't be able to afford it then...because I got you one now." I didn't believe him and got mad for him joking about that. And then he pulled the ring out and I stopped breathing for 60 seconds. All I could say after that was "Are you serious? Oh my gosh!" I spent a good 10 minutes in complete shock, with Jeff catching it all on tape, Gina taking pictures while laughing and crying and Ethan kept hugging us.

We spent the rest of the night telling everyone about it and driving all over the valley to find all of the members of our family and consistently calling ourselves "fiance"! It was the beginning of the new Murphy family! :-)

Shortly after that night we started planning the wedding of our dreams. :-) Calls were made and appointments were attended. We booked some of our vendors, but we also booked one of our favorite vendors shortly after that night. We booked our photographers: eight20photography. They are amazing. They are a newlywed couple with such a fun and unique take on photography and had exactly what we were looking for.

In January 2008, eight20photography shot our engagement pictures. We fell more in love with them then we were before and couldn't wait for them to shoot our wedding. Here are some of the great shots they got of us that day:

This one down here was the one featured on our custom made stamps on our Save The Dates. :-) Which were a big hit! :-)

And this one down here was the one featured on our actual Save The Date. :-)

That's all I got for you guys now! :-) Keep checking back for new updates in our crazy but chaotically beautiful life!

Love,

Me

~ Back to Reality ~ Thank God for blogging!! ~

Well folks....welcome Andrea to reality! :-) As we can all see....I suck at keeping up with blogging while planning a wedding! :-) But since I only get to do that once in my life, I am happy to announce that I am back to the blogging world! :-)
As you can tell....David and I are MARRIED!!!! We are so excited and loving life and loving being married! :-)
We just got back from our honeymoon less than a week ago and are still trying to adjust to life without wedding chaos going on.
I promise I'll be blogging lots of fun stuff about planning the wedding, pre-wedding stuff and of course the happiest day of our lives! :-)
So keep checking back for updates! :-)
Till then I'll leave you with a little picture from our happy day.

Love,
-Me :-)