Prom and Graduation Milestones are Right Around the Corner!

Prom and Graduation isn't too far away. Have you booked your photographer yet? If not, I would love to be your photographer and capture these precious milestones in your child's life! I have posted some examples of my work below. Please visit my website www.CheriHokePhotography.com to view more of my portfolio and pricing. The counties in North Carolina that I will be photographing Prom is Catawba, Caldwell, Burke, Lincoln, McDowell, Watauga, and Buncombe. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at 828.291-1089.

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Winter Wonderland 2018

There is no doubt about it, we are experiencing a winter wonderland in Hickory, NC right now! To be located in the city limits, my street is normally very busy. I think I have only seen a small handful of vehicles drive by my house. My husband has been home all day. His boss doesn't want to risk the flatbed trucks getting damaged in severe weather. After all, they are very expensive trucks! He has been laying around most of the day. (Which, he needs the extra rest) Ticia and I worked on her homeschool assignments. After she was finished, she went outside. I played Betty Homemaker and fixed ham & turkey sliders for lunch and now I'm cooking chicken to go into chicken quesadillas for dinner. I did manage to go out for a few minutes to take some pictures of the snow. I destroyed my boots several years ago. So, today I wore my husband's big size 11's outside to take Sassy to go potty and snap some photos to share. :) Also, please remember that these are NOT professional grade photos. They are just snaps from my SLR that I'm sharing. Enjoy!

My dog, Riley. He's supposed to be a German Shepherd. I call him my mutt. When he's bad, I call him asshole. Ha! He's bad a lot. 

Normally, Riley is scared of EVERYTHING! Cars, rain, loud noises, thunder, the air that comes out of his butt when he tootie-hoots. However, he loves snow! He's actually whining now wanting to go back out and play in it and I won't let him. I love this photo of him. He's got a face that only a mother can love! LOL

I should have had my cell phone out instead. He went running down the driveway and got into the road. When he got in the road, he started sliding...which scared him and he came running back up to his mommy. 

It was fun watching him run and play in the snow. At the time of taking these photos, my daughter was in the hallway in shorts and a tank top roller skating. 

The snow on the azaleas in front of my house. The aperture makes this a pretty photo. 

My patio is covered in snow. My fire pit that we have only used like twice. I get lots of use out of my grill. I hate cooking indoors but, I love to grill. The house behind our storage building is the house that I grew up in. The new owners have been working on it little by little for the past year. It's coming along nicely!

The snow beaten trees and our ghost town of chicken coups. The faint pink sky in the background is pretty though. 

The Hickory tower. This is like a street or two over from my house. 

Poor Sassy wasn't having it! She's my ten year old German Purebred Rottweiler. She stands like this every time we are outside, watching everything around us. Not sure if she's supposed to be my protector or if I'm supposed to be hers...maybe a little bit of both. :)

I hope you liked my photos. Until next time! ~Cheri

An Evening on the Parkway

Last Friday, my little girl and I grabbed our cameras, jumped in the car, and took off for an adventure.  We do that sometimes. We don't tell anyone where we are going, other than we are going to take some photos and we just go! That's our way of spending much needed quality time with each other. During the week, life is so hectic with me homeschooling her, babysitting my grandson for my oldest daughter while she works, laundry, taking care of the house, grocery shopping, cooking dinner, and trying to get everyone in bed by 9 or 10 so we can do it all again the next day. I feel that I am spreading myself so thin Monday through Thursday that I feel guilty if I don't devote some extra time just to spend with Ticia to take photos and talk about anything and everything that crosses her mind. (Which is mainly anime and music!)

Ticia is nine years old. She's a tall, lanky, little thing with a huge personality! Her hair is dark like mine but, she has huge, bright, blue eyes. To be nine years old, she's very artistic. She loves to draw, paint, and do photography. The more photos she takes the better she gets. Her art is still very raw and she rarely listens to me when I tell her in areas she can approve but, as long as it is something she loves doing, how can I argue too much? Tim, my mom, her sisters, and her brother would say she gets her attitude from me. Maybe to some degree but, I think she has a personality of her own. I just influenced her gracefully! :) This sunset shot with the strong gold over tones is her photo. I kept gloating about it, telling her that I still can't get a shot with that much color naturally. She would giggle and ask if she was doing good. "Yes, my baby, you are!," I would reply.

I posted my favorite shot below that I had taken. I'm hoping this weekend to head out if it isn't too cold and take some more photos. The last several times I have shot, I have gone to Asheville. I absolutely love that city! In my opinion, it's very artsy. It's very easy for me to navigate through compared to Charlotte or Raleigh. Don't get me wrong; if I sink into my driving zone and not pay attention to where I'm going, I will get lost driving through Asheville. Thank goodness for my iPhone and Siri! Normally, if I'm not driving in Catawba, Burke, or Caldwell counties, I do always use navigation. Another artsy town I love shooting in is Morganton. I am Burke County born and bred...well, I was born there but, moved to Catawba County when I was ten years old. I love history and incase you were not aware, Burke County is loaded with history! Over the years though, Morganton has developed into an artsy town, kinda like a mini Asheville, without the cool murals and amazing factory outlet shops. (haha!) If you haven't been to Morganton lately, I urge you to visit. Try to go during the week and visit the museum or the old Burke County Courthouse. Those are two of my favorite places!

Until next time! ~Cheri

Clarification

I'm naturally a high strung person. Anxiety is an every day emotion for me. Sometimes, I don't realize how high strung I really get until after a day like today where I am out with my youngest daughter, taking photos and clearing my mind. After my last post "The Person That I Have Become," I feel that my words might come across as a little cocky to some. I wanted to clarify that in no way do I feel like I have all the answers in life. What I was trying to say is that I can feel myself changing. I feel myself maturing and growing each day. Instead of being this person that felt like she has to be married or having some serious relationship to make her happy, I'm becoming the person that can see that happiness in my life is what I make it. I can't expect anyone in my inner circle to make me happy. I am learning how to make myself happy. Everyone else in my life is just a bonus! How can I expect anyone to make me happy if I don't know myself well enough to determine what does or doesn't make me happy to begin with?  I hope this makes sense.

Until next time! ~Cheri

The Person that I Have Become

I have spent many years of my life beating myself up, fighting self-esteem issues, and dealing with all of those pesky demons in my head...you know...the demons that tell you, "you're not good enough to do what you want," "you're not pretty enough to catch the eye of that good looking man," or "you're not smart enough to hold down that career that you always dreamt about." All of those toxic thoughts and negative feelings have wore down on me over the years. They have made me feel like I don't fit in to certain social groups, even with my own families (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc)

Honestly, the older I get, the more I don't give a crap! Call it maturity. Call it stubbornness, or both. I don't care! If being forty-five years old has taught me anything, it has taught me...that...I am...ME! My life belongs to ME! I am happy. I refuse to fight that never ending battle of trying to make everyone else happy and sacrificing my own happiness. Yes, I have gotten older, I have been on a roller coaster ride of gaining and losing weight, I'm sassy...All of those nice things that come with aging. Of course I have bad days just like everyone else. I have to remind myself all of the time that I have to keep pushing forward when some days seem to be harder to get through than other days.

I could care less about the big fancy house or the flashy sports car. I'm the kind of person that is very down to earth. My house is an older house that I rent from my oldest brother. I bought my car used. I'm the kind of person that as long as my bills are paid and I can feed my family, I could really care less how much money I have in the bank. (Yes, that is the truth!) When my husband and I have extra money, I'm like any woman and I love to go shopping. Sometimes, I admit to shop a little more than I should. I am the type of person that I don't need $10,000 in my bank account to be happy! Money and materialistic items can not truly make a person happy! Through my life, I have been on both sides of the spectrum. Even throughout my marriage with Tim. We have had our low times, our even lower times, and our comfortable times. You know what? Our personality, our behaviors towards others and each other has not changed. The key to happiness is to love the people that surrounds you with love, don't take anyone for granted, and learn to be content with what you have and make goals to improve the areas you are not 100% with, bit by bit.

If only my forty-five year old self could go back and tell my 20-some year old self all of this! Wow! I could have saved myself so much heart ache over the years. Call it an epiphany, I don't know but, I am no longer bothered by those demons telling me I'm not good enough to go for what I want. I know that deep down, I am good enough. I personally don't care if I am noticed by some man down the street that thinks that I'm ugly or over weight. I wasn't put on this earth to excite you! I have a man that loved me enough to step up and be the man that I needed. He's my husband and he's my best friend. We may not have some wild sex life but, we are the happiest laying in bed, talking or listening to our love song. After you settle down, love isn't how many times your partner can get your jollies off. Love is about being comfortable, being able to communicate, and caring about your partner's feelings more than you care about your own. Even if Tim would leave me today, my life would still go on. I would be heartbroken and sad but, the clock wouldn't stop ticking just over a broken heart. Everything that happens in life has a purpose, whether if its good or bad. Life is full of trial and error! Some people have no problem trying to find out what makes them happy. For people like me, I'm forty-five and I'm just now learning to put the pieces of this effed up puzzle together! Some people go through life and are never really happy. Sure, they put a smile on their face and put a facade on that they have this and they have that, money grows on trees for them but, at the end of the day, they have a different love interest every week or every month, they come home to an empty house, their souls are cold because everyone that tries to care for them, they shut them out. I guess for some, it's easier to push people away than try to analyze what it is about you that could actually make a person love you for you.

Let me put this out there. I'm not by any means a hippie. I don't get into that whole free love shit. I don't drink. I don't do drugs. I don't even smoke. As you can tell from my photo, I am not a skinny mini, I rarely wear make-up. My daily wardrobe usually consists of tee-shirts, shorts, or yoga pants. Today, I'm actually wearing blue jeans and a blue jean jacket because it's 31 degrees in Hickory right now. I don't do well with cold weather. I am down to earth and simple. I am a woman that has learned to love and appreciate who I am and what I have in my life. I have learned to love myself. I love ME!

Until next time! ~Cheri

How Christmas-sy Are You This Season?

I am sitting at my desk, waiting for my oldest daughter, her boyfriend, grandson, and my step-son to arrive for Christmas dinner. I have no decorations this year. I don't even have a Christmas tree up! My husband's business phone just went off for him to go tow a vehicle. I have to admit that I am not in the Christmas spirit at all! Don't get me wrong...my faith is Christian...Lutheran to be exact. I was raised Baptist and converted to Lutheran after I had gotten married. So, I believe in God. I believe that Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary. I'm just not feeling Christmas at all this year! Of course I practically went broke after purchasing gifts for the family but, when I have been asked what I wanted...nothing. I don't want anything. My family is healthy, I'm able to wake up every morning. I don't want anything materialistic, which I'm always like that...even for my birthday, Mother's Day...Anniversary. All I want is to hold the people I love closer to my heart, if that makes sense.

I think after you lose a parent, Christmas just doesn't feel the same anymore. I lost my father in 2005, during my last year of art school. Christmas was always our holiday. He worked all of the time as a long distance truck driver for a furniture company in Valdese. He had worked there before I was born and it was basically his life. I really didn't see much of my dad when I was growing up. He was gone all week, came in on Saturday and left again on Sunday night. After my parents split, I saw even less of him. However, he always made Christmas feel special. My step-father loved Christmas too. After my mom and step-dad got married, my step-father instilled into me that it was a time for family. Every Christmas it was my mom, step-dad, my brother, my two step-sisters, step-brother, me, my oldest, and ALL of siblings family! Needless to say, our house was full of laughter and chitter chattering. We lost my step-father in December, 2008 due to traumatic head injury. My youngest, Ticia was 8 months old at the time. Our family is now scattered. We don't see each other like we used to. It's depressing! We all grow. We all get older. Eventually, we pass on but, knowing this, doesn't make it any easier. Being a Cancer sign, that emotional crab...I am a selfish person and I love holding the people I love dearly close to my heart!

To be honest, there has been a lot of occurrences to hinder my mood this past year. 2017 has been an emotional roller coaster for me for personal reasons that I don't wish to make public. All I can say is that my heart has been through a tough journey by someone I love with all of my being! But, what can one do? I just keep pushing forward by taking care of my family, throwing myself into work, and hoping for the best. Maybe next Christmas will be better. I'm not giving up. I'll continue to learn my life lessons that fate wants to throw at me and continue down my path.

I'm sorry if this blog is so gloomy. Life isn't always cupcakes and rainbows. I'm a normal person just like everyone else. I breathe, I bleed, I fall in love, I get my heart broken, and cry like anyone else. Even though, I'm not the most festive person I could have been this year, I will gather around the people who love me, that I love and cherish them. Until next time! ~Cheri