Sytist:  Anne Jackson

Make Up:  Vanessa Devonne

1.  Anne Jackson sorting through the accessories  2.  Marik Lingo–on her 7 year anniversary of her heart transplant!  (THE miracle of the Marikle Foundation) 3. The Dream Team (Carrie Lingo, Anne Jackson, Vanessa Devonne)  4 & 5.  Vanessa working her magic and mad make up skills

OH!  and the best part–we will have ANNE JACKSON, stylist, and VANESSA DEVONNE, make up artist, on hand to help us look our best!

This year we are proud to be sponsored by FUN IN THE SUN SPORTS!  10% discount to all that sign up!

During our TWO WEEK drive we were able to collect:

Travel Shampoo – 81

Travel Cond. – 37

Soap/Body wash – 66

Toothpaste – 24

Lotion – 67

Girls Underwear – 287

Boys Underwear – 130

Boys Shirts total – 72

Girls Shirts total – 48

Here are some pictures for our delivery!

HERE IS WHAT THE LITTE BIT FOUNDATION HAD TO SAY:

“This is just amazing, and we cannot thank you enough. I know the students in our schools will be thrilled. This represents a significant donation which will be helpful to so many, and we are very, very grateful. Thank you for leading this effort, and please extend our thanks to all who supported that effort.”

With our greatest appreciation,

EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS!!  Thank you!

The Little Bit Foundation is a non-profit serving 3,400 underprivileged students in 14 St. Louis area schools.  90-100% of the students in the Little Bit schools are at or near poverty level.  Little Bit provides new clothing, uniforms, shoes, emergency food items, hygiene kits, dental kits, fully-stocked backpacks, and books.  The unique thing about this organization is they provide one-on-one attention to each and every child to ensure a comfortable atmosphere and trust to meet the child’s emotional and material needs.  I got to experience this today.  After I gave a 6 year old girl a new coat, she smiled and said “My Mom is going to love this.”  Another child told me she was going to wear her new shirt on her birthday….her birthday is in September, months away.

I don’t need to have millions of dollars to make a difference.  Simple needs such as socks, pencils and underwear are priceless to these children.  5 homeless children lost all of their belongings (which probably was not much) in a home explosion last night.  They were just sleeping there the night, and lost everything.  When we gave one of the boys a sweatshirt he clung to it tightly.  This is all he has.

I am so excited to help them with their photography needs…but really excited to help with their everyday needs.  I am asking ANYONE to help!   If you are interested,  I will be having a drive starting tomorrow until FEBRUARY 13th, thats 2 weeks.

ITEMS NEEDED:

NEW (next time you go to Target)

ADULT SOCKS :Men’s and Women’s sizes 6 to 12  (some of the older children wear adult sizes)

BOYS UNDERWEAR:  size 10/12

GIRLS UNDERWEAR:  size 5/6

Gently Used Clothes:

Pants, Coats, Jackets

GIRLS and BOYS sizes 3/4-14/16  (please be mindful of the items you send.  cleaned, no holes, stains and no skulls, etc on the clothing)

Hygiene Kits:

If you travel—they are needing travel size shampoo, conditioner, lotions and soaps.  (the free hotel stuff you have in your closet!)

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Monetary donations are also accepted via their website here.

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PLEASE FORWARD TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE!   Thank you in advance!  Please contact me if you would like to drop off a donation or I can arrange to pick it up from you.  THANK YOU!!  Heidi

heidi@heididrexlerphotography.com

Here it was before–my sons nursery turned office.

and after!

and with the new rug!

Here the final!  Everybody needs a little REBECCA in their life.  Check her out.

Delivering me the secret envelope from their Doctor!  They had a brilliant idea to fill a piñata with pink or blue.

I stuffed the piñata and hung it from a tree (yes, by myself thank you) and waited for them to arrive.

and then it happened!

IT’S A BOY!!!!!!!!!

And so the next chapter continues.  Sarah, Todd and their Baby Boy.  xoxoxo

“Other things may change but we start and end with family”  ~ Anthony Brandt

Today I lost my very special Nana.  I knew it was today.  I was running alone this morning and a hummingbird (her favorite bird) flew right in my path and stood still for seconds.

Muriel was 93 years old, lived in Cape Cod, Mass. and was the most amazing Nana ever.  She was a wonderful cook ( my favorites were fried dough and dumplings) she was strong (she swam miles in the ocean every day until she was 85 years old), she was talented (she did a headstand in front of my class when I was in 3rd grade) she was funny (dressing up in pearls and gloves to meet her girlfriends at the beach just to make them laugh), she was spontaneous (her and I jumped a fence to sneak into the Willie Nelson concert (she was 67–I was 15) she taught me how to drive (she would scoot way over against the door and I would sit in the driver seat and push the pedals and steer–I was 13), she was hip (had a poster of Clay Aiken above her bed),  she believed in me (she bought my first digital SLR camera 6 years ago),  she loved me a lot and I always knew it.  She was soft spoken yet witty, crafty and creative, watched Days of Our Lives every day, and (I believed) was a  bit before her time.  Nana was a grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, mother, wife and friend and has impacted our lives forever. I hope one day I grow up to be a Nana just like her.

Oh, how I love my job.  I just returned from a weekend in Chicago with 10 other photographers from all over the states and Canada!   We all attended one of Michele Anderson’s (Pinkle Toes Photography) workshops in 2011–and had so much fun that we wanted a reunion. This was not a workshop, no classes, lectures or meetings to attend–just the ultimate girls weekend.    We explored, we shopped, we ate–a lot, we went sight seeing, we laughed–a lot, we posed, we photographed, we photographed each other photographing each other, we were camera dorks, we loved, we talked, we shared, we met new people, and we saw the city through each others eyes.

Thank you Michele, Janie, Lena, Carol, Leah, Shona, MeeMaw, Stacy, Minnette, and Sarah for the memories!

xoxo

Such a talented group of women!  Check them out if you get a chance!

Shona Reid ~  Ottowa, Canada

Carol Swaitkewich ~ Winnepeg, Canada

Stacy Krager ~ Springfield, Illinois

Leah Cook ~ Dallas, Texas

Sarah Jordan ~ Boston, Mass.

Janie Jones ~ Kansas City, Kansas

Lena Antaramian ~ New York, NY

Minnette Demafiles ~ Houston, Texas

Michele Anderson ~ Austin, Texas

and MeeMaw, who was just there to make us laugh