go saints… really go falcons but hey.  I spent three days in Miami with good friends and good drinks and now I’m back hitting the shooting schedule… not without first watching the SuperBowl on TV from a comfortable couch/chair… not from Section 104 or any other.  Couldn’t have been happier.  Good Saints victory… and also… good google commercial!

love love… more soon… erika.  erika@erikaleighphotography.com.

Sheyvone.

This is just a late addition in the countdown but there’s something about it I just like so much… though Shevs will kill me again for broadcasting her ‘amazing abs’ on this big, new thing called the ‘world wide web’  I just enjoy it.  Maybe its because I know the subject so well and to me she is beautiful and this just nails her personality… maybe it’s just the positive and negative space… maybe, it’s my countdown and I’ll put it on here if I want to…..  Ok jokes.  Love it, love her.

I could have never imagined the impact Tony would have had on my life had you asked me say… five years ago.  I guess that’s the beauty of change… we’re all so scared of change… for me, its the unknowing… but if I look at change as it applies to my Tony situation, I am solaced… as I know that the unknown could be something way more wonderful than I’ve ever expected.

Tony and I went to the big, dangerous, crazy school Iowa State University.  Big… in the small town of Ames, Iowa. Dangerous… in that you’ll never live someplace more safe thus giving you false sense of security where ever you should venture after.  Crazy… in that despite the ‘Iowa-ness’ of it you could still have a good time and feel comfortable and sometimes even proud saying ‘Go Cyclones.’  Tony was quite the big man on campus, kicker for the football team, handsome guy with lady followers and well-known for his doorman/tending bar days at a little pub on the main drag of Ames.  I always knew him, in fact he dated my best friend in college, Rachel (to this day, the most beautiful woman I have ever met), but we were never what I would call friends.  Let’s just say our first meeting is rather infamous involving fake ID’s, fatherly advice of ‘Be good,’ and someone (notice the lack of details here) being carried out of a fine establishment.  It was maybe five years later that I got a phone call from Mr. Tony as he was on his way down to the big, dangerous and crazy city (those are true, not implied nor sarcastic descriptions now) of Atlanta to kick for the Atlanta Falcons… one more reason for me to adore the Falcons (see this earlier post)!  :)

I could go on and on about the ‘how’ he came to be my most trusted and greatest friend but I’ll just break the ‘why’ down.  He is a talker, for a guy this is a rarity… initially his use of my cell phone minutes scared me but I learned quickly that this is just one of the ways he cares so much.  He is loyal beyond one would think possible… I could and I have asked favors of him that are outlandish and absurd,  he comes through because it’s just not in his nature to not, simple as that. (EX: ‘Tony will you go to the airport and find my car among thousands of cars?  Oh and I have no idea where it is… Will you also pay my huge parking bill and then when I get home in three days drive all the way back to the airport to pick me up?”  A: “Sure, and I’ll vacuum your car while you’re gone too!”… No I’m not exaggerating.)  His heart is bigger than any man’s I’ve ever met (even my dad)… the way he cares for his brothers, niece, sister, mother alone is proof… the way he cares for those who don’t care for him is bigger proof… for physical evidence you are welcome to visit the condo and see the paintings for yourself.

Everything about Tony is truly inspirational… personally, he has come into my life and made me better on so many accords… made me more content, made me have more concern for others, made me realize what a man can and should be to a woman, made me want to be a better friend, oh and definitely has made me a cleaner, more OCD (which is good) person.  :)  Most inspiring to me though is his work ethic and dedication for all things even when no one is looking… I don’t mean just in work, Mr. Medical Salesman.  I mean in all things in life he dedicates himself totally.  That is simple to understand but the area I want to most highlight is his compassion.  Personally,  he has stood by my side through some of my harder moments… business and personal.  The airport example is one… more being, the time he came home and saw some of my tears and then emailed all my friends (though he told them to not tell me he did this to organize pity parties for me where my friends took turns taking me to eat or sitting with me, he’s laid next to me when my health and safety was in question, he’s talked me back to confidence when I have business doubts (yes occasionally I have them…).  Those are huge examples of a man that is compassionate but the dedication to this way of life is seen daily: in his texts if I want anything from Kroger when he is going, he’ll change my laundry when I forget, he’ll text me to make sure I made it on long distance car drives, and simply he’ll just ask me how my day was and truly want to know.  He does all these things without ever asking for payback or applause.  The athlete that he is, he embodies this title quote, but it is his character and compassion that I see most applicable here… he never needs witnesses to induce nor prove his goodness.

I am beyond blessed to have him in my life.  I hope I never know a life without him in it.  I often stop and wonder how I get so lucky to have the people I have in my life and even Tony has told me before… ‘Erika, you really have some really good friends in your life.’  So now Tony… wake up and realize that you are one of the best I got…

ONE MORE DAY… five more to go!  Thanks for sticking around… erika@erikaleighphotography.com!  Oh and fun stuff (well in a way … TROPICAL STORM ERIKA (Erika with a K) is out there… she’s gonna take it easy on the islands though… sad that that excited me.

Jakene.

When Jakene first asked me to shoot her, for two reasons, I was elated… and that’s an understatement.  First, she is one of the most naturally beautiful people I’ve ever met so it meant me basically showing up that day and knowing we’d have some beautiful images.  I especially love these outdoor shots because of the light.  She has an almost angelic glow (as cheesy as that sounds) against all the rust and dirty background environment.  She was so brave as I knew she would be and just took any direction and made it ten times better.  The second reason for my elation: she is equally as beautiful on the inside.  Like I’ve told her many a time, I owe her so much for my current state of success and happiness in the big ol city of Atlanta!  She took a chance on me, lil ol’ blond Iowa girl, a few years ago and has supported me non-stop since.  I am envious of her in so many ways… and thankful in just about as many ways as well.

Oh yeah, baby!  I love me some Atlanta Falcons.  Yes, I’m a chick but I can get rough and tough when the sports chatter comes around… I suppose most talking about sports don’t call it chatter, do they?  Regardless, as an Iowa native (and lover), the world of professional sports wasn’t hidden from me but it had to be a distant obsession with only cornfields not stadiums surrounding me.  I had grown up in a family of soccer players, I repeat, ‘in a family of’ not grew up as one… though I did have my brief stint on the varsity soccer team as the undersized, yet aggressive defensive blond.  I was always the dancer, though.  Odd, I enjoyed being on stage and enjoyed competing, but never individually.  I think that is why I adored sports teams so much.  I would rather watch a college basketball game than go to an opera and would rather study the depth charts of all NFL teams so to accurately position my roster for fantasy football than go shopping and no questions asked when I was younger, I would’ve rather collected baseball cards with my brother than collect lightning bugs (though I did rock at both of those  Thus, since moving to the big city my love for my current hometown NFL team, the Atlanta Falcons, was a given.

I have been, without a doubt, blessed to be very involved with the Falcons for four years now.  They have not always won.  They have had unthinkable setbacks.  They have had character building years.  But they have never been seen as anything but classy and full of heart in my eyes, from day one.  This year we face, in my eyes, a greater battle… history.  We face the cold hard fact that never, in the organizations 43 years, have they had back-to-back winning seasons.  Match that with a very tough schedule and the even more daunting idea of EXPECTATION.  Last year was a beautiful surprise, marked with triumphs that were even more glorious because of the negative outcome predicted going into the season, every win was that much more amazing.  I remember the turning point in my confidence in the team, Chicago Bears at home, six seconds left, down by one point and I was sure the game was over and it was a loss, as the year before the team would have looked at the clock and ran into the locker room… but not this team.  Matt Ryan and his magic arm threw a deep pass to Michael Jenkins allowing Jason Elam to step in and kick a 48-yard field goal for the win with one second left.  Matt Ryan, Jason Elam, Michael Jenkins… all big names… but every person in the organization was a part of that field goal.  It is one of my hugest honors to say I am a part of this organization.

As we enter this year of uncertainty and expectation I can’t help but root for them in all things regardless of win or loss.  I’m daily inspired for my own business by not just this team of athletes, coaches and cheerleaders but of every employee from the top, Mr. Arthur Blank himself, down.  They represent character.  As I’ve found in many blogs that I read, they make it a team one, regardless of location or loyalty, can’t help but root for.  That surpasses athleticism and sport success… it is success in life.  I cannot wait for the season to get kicked off… thanks so much to Matt Ryan and his offense, John Abraham and his defense, Mike Smith and his coaches, Chato Waters and her beautiful cheerleaders and Arthur Blank & Thomas Dimitroff and their outstanding staff for inspiring this little photographer what character and heart can do for an organization big or small!  Let’s go FALCONS… This title quote couldn’t apply any better: now get out there and get what you’ve never had!

Special HAPPY BIRTHDAY wish to my amazing brother Brandon!  I love you and hope you’re rockin out Madison.  Also special thanks to Celeste P. and Cathy S. for their lovely and always welcome words of encouragement!  :)

#26 is coming up tomorrow… and this one isn’t about sports…  stay in touch… erika@erikaleighphotography.com!