Category Archives: Personal Stories

I keep starting this post over.

There should be some pretty way to eloquently sum up the fascination of marriage & love, but my allergies have left my mind at a loss for a single polished thought.

This week was full of huge milestones for me.
I turned 28.
I had my 7th wedding anniversary.
This baby blog turned 2.

To quote one of my very first posts, “The kindest thing I ever did to myself was get married the day after my birthday.” The closer I get to thirty older I get, the more I appreciate that the focus isn’t on how many candles are on my cake (or where to find so many), but the years Rocky & I have been so fortunate to share together. The life we’ve built. The boys we’ve created. We were always two old souls & even though we married young, it suited us.

My only regret is that I didn’t realize the last seven years would slip by so quickly.

The last two have been especially brief.

When this blog was created, I was an apron clad wife baking elaborate dinners & decorating pretty cakes in my free time. As I became more fluent in the art of photography, that apron began collecting dust. Perhaps I can work on balancing it all a little better this year, especially for the sake of my dear husband {who has become quite adept at cooking for us}. He is a patient man. He definitely deserves a hot meal every once in a while.

This diary started as a way of sharing my images & stories with my friends & family. When I look back I feel a mixture of pride & sympathy toward my earlier work. I wear my posts like tattoos, that are public for the viewing & judging. I include my pictures and hope they mean something to the people I take them for. This little online journal is home to sweet stories & sometimes very honest confessions. It always waits patiently for me to come back & allows me a canvas to hang my art.

Thanks for being such a very big part of it. ♥

 

 

Now it’s time for me to work on my emails. This week has not been my finest hour, thanks for your patience!

*Yes, I love Green Day. “Wake Me Up When September Ends” has particular sentiment since Rocky left for a deployment in September of 08.

**Tonight though, my new favorite song is Willie Nelson’s cover of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” from the new Chipotle ad.
You can listen to the whole version on Spotify for free!

***My first tattoo was a “safe” one, I’d love to do something classic but more ambitious for the next round. I am in love with the look of painterly tattoos.
You can see all my inspiration on my Pinterest board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • Jill Jensen - September 1, 2011 - 3:42 pm

    Happy Birthday and Anniversary Andrea! I wish we could have met while we lived in Dayton – we have so much in common! Photography, cake decorating and my birthday is two days before my anniversary! Although I have to admit I am a bit older 😉 We moved to Mtn. Home AFB this summer so if you ever are here (I don’t wish it on you) look me up!

  • alli - September 2, 2011 - 5:49 pm

    Andrea, your blog and your writing is so beautiful, and you never fail to inspire. Happy birthday, anniversary, AND blog-iversary!

  • Andrea - September 4, 2011 - 8:48 am

    Jill, I would have loved that! I didn’t know that you had a birthday before your anniversary too! I hope you all are getting settled ok up there, I’m glad we can keep in touch! 😀 Alli, thank you so much! I’m so happy we met on here & have been able to work together on some amazing projects! I feel so excited for you & all the ways your creativity is being shared with the world!

  • Perfect Wedding Day » Flower Fashion: All about Faux - September 4, 2012 - 11:39 am

    […] Source […]

* THIS POST WAS IMPORTED FROM MY PERSONAL BLOG ON BLOGGER TO THIS WORDPRESS BLOG
Here are some photos from the past week as we’ve checked out Kevin’s new school. He is starting kindergarten today & I really think he’ll like it. Even though it’s been a hard one for Rocky & I to take in. Everything started happening really fast once he was accepted into this school district. He is enrolled through an open enrollment program since we don’t have any schools close to us & our choices were not promising. There is a Montessori school so close and it would be wonderful to walk him up there. But we aren’t religious & wanted him to have a public school like we both did. It was also very small, and I want Kevin to have an experience where he has multiple teachers/students. The school we chose is a 20 minute commute, but he is near the base (where Rocky works), so we plan on taking turns driving him. It’s from 8-2:10 everyday… it is so odd to pack his lunch so young!
You can see more on my photography blog here.
I am really impatient to hear how his day went!
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We just dropped Kevin off to his first day of kindergarten.

After I gave him all my final “goodbyes” & “don’t forgets” I stood back & waited for them to whisk him away.

He took one final look back.

Even though I was standing behind the glass door, I could see straight through those brown eyes. He will be ok.

I feel excited for him but so terrified of moving on to a new season. There will be lots of people to meet & words to read, I know they’ll teach him more than I ever could. There’s a little relief in the fact that he is going to be taken care of. That he will be amazing.
There will be artwork to display, new songs to sing, & sweet tales of his new adventures.

I had to hold back big elephant tears as he lined up inside the school. It reminded me of saying goodbye to Rocky when he left for basic training. We had been married for a year & it was our first goodbye (of many). I wanted to cling to him, but sometimes you do what you have to do.

And let go.

♥

♥

♥

♥

* You can see more pictures on my family’s personal blog here.

** Pandora played this song, “The Worlds Greatest by Bonnie Prince Billy,” for the first time as I wrote this morning & I can’t stop listening to it.
Much different than the original version.

 

 

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  • sarah - August 18, 2011 - 10:39 am

    i can’t imagine what this will feel like! dropping benjy off at daycare was so traumatic for me, i had to make olli do it everyday!

  • Andrea - September 4, 2011 - 8:50 am

    Sarah, that first day was really hard for me. But now it’s getting more normal to take him over there. He is enjoying himself and already learning so much. I don’t like that he’s getting so big, but it does feel “right” that he’s there. Definitely makes me want to squeeze baby Damian every single chance I get 😀

  • K is for Kevin » Andrea Dozier Wedding Photography based in Dayton, Ohio - April 18, 2012 - 8:03 am

    […] it is so odd to pack his lunch so young! You can see more on my photography blog here. I am really impatient to hear how his day […]

Damian turned one.

I want to be a good mom. There just wasn’t a lot of time to really sit down & plan this party, so I entered into the weekend a little frantic. I had one full day set aside to decorate & bake for a party that didn’t have a theme.

There were several ideas. Should we do a traditional Fourth of July party since he was born on the 5th? Maybe it would be a good time to do his first Greek themed party, since his middle name is Achilles & his dad loves Spartacus. Is it too early for Thomas? He’s kind of into playing with his brother’s trains…

Then the mail came. And a very pretty pretty cake stand that I won from Sweet & Saucy Supply arrived.
One look at this lovely yellow beauty, and a concept was born.

Damian is accustomed to listening to Florence & The Machine, Adele, & Bon Iver, but he does know & love one nursery rhyme: If All the Raindrops. This has been a lifesaver since he was less than a month old, we would sing it and watch his tiny mouth open for the chorus, “Standing outside with my mouth open wide… ah ah ah…” Kevin knew that to calm his baby brother down, he needed to hear us sing that. Soon Damian was singing with us & it is one of the most precious memories I have of his infancy. I decided to focus on part of a lyric, lemondrops & gumdrops, for the loose theme of his party. I took the meaning a little whimsical & of my own interpretation, but that made a lot of things come together in a very short amount of time. One stressful day.

I had a lot of help from my family & I can not thank them enough! My sister Abby & her boyfriend Zach made the pom pom tissue balls. My brothers hung the streamers for the photo booth backdrop! I WISH I had a picture of them doing that, it turned out beautiful.

I baked vanilla bean cupcakes & lemon mini cupcakes & my sister frosted the cupcakes. I always kind of wing it with the frosting, since I still have yet to unpack cookbooks {oh my}. You can tell I don’t do a lot of experimental baking anymore.

I love this beautiful 6″ Yellow Hobnail Cake Stand from My Sweet & Saucy Supply that I won for commenting on their Facebook Page! It came just in time.

I found the cupcake liners at Jo Ann Fabrics along with a slew of cute new goodies from Martha Stewart. It was hard to decide which ones to select.

In retrospect, I would have loved to devote time for crafts ahead of time.
I would have enjoyed gluing the rope into the word “one” instead of burning my fingers in haste.

I made a bean salsa & used the cans to make a toss game. I used wrapping paper scraps & wooden stars leftover from a previous project.

lemon cake with bunting topper

As I mentioned a few posts ago, Damian was not himself during his party & ended up in the ER two days later.
I am so happy to see some very happy moments shine through…

You may notice this little Thomas on his plate. His big brother “gifted” it to him just before he ate his cake. It was a very sweet moment because I know how much Kevin loves those trains & what it meant for him to “give” it to Damian. I missed photographing it of course.

His signal when he’s eaten enough:

I was in heaven when I found these classic toys at Target on clearance for half the original price.

Rocky worked so hard to help set everything up & pick up food for the party. This was definitely a “we did it” picture.

Damian’s cousin Nathaniel just turned one too & loved the balloons.

As the sun set, we brought out baby jar containers for catching fireflies. Definitely a hit with the older kids.

It’s very bittersweet to say goodbye to Damian’s baby days. In some ways I’ve known him all my life, in others it went entirely too fast. I’m so thankful for this past year & all the joy that he has brought us. For being able to be together & grow so close as a little family. When he used to wake up at night for feedings, I was so happy for extra time to hold him & cuddle with such a tiny new friend. I tried so hard not to take any of it for granted, because I knew how quickly Kevin grew up.  As I see him grow to look more like his Dad & admire his big brother, I know even better days are ahead.

Perhaps I’m biased because he so openly & affectionately loves me, but I just can’t think of a more perfect way to spend my life. ♥

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  • sarah - July 31, 2011 - 1:58 am

    if you threw this together in a weekend, i can’t imagine what you’d produce if given actual time. this is BEAUTIFUL!!!

  • Lisa Green - July 31, 2011 - 5:23 pm

    Beauty is you from the way you care, the choices you make, and who you are. You are love expressed.

  • BelkisH - July 31, 2011 - 6:52 pm

    I enjoy reading your posts. You are so crafty and inspiring!

  • Brancoprata - August 1, 2011 - 8:02 am

    This is so perfect!! It was such a beautiful party! You did an AMAZING job!!!!

  • Andrea - September 4, 2011 - 8:56 am

    Thank you all so much! I definitely absorb a lot of inspiration online & from really inspiring people in my life… plus I had soo much help with this! 😀

  • Emily A. - October 12, 2011 - 4:57 pm

    Wowza! So ridiculously creative! I feel bad for my little guy. All I did was take him to Young’s for ice cream. lol Next year I know who to ask for ideas!

  • {one pretty pin} Lovely lemon cake | Chickabug - September 9, 2012 - 2:46 pm

    […] a sunshiny day! There’s no recipe this time, just a gorgeous photo – one of many taken by Andrea Dozier for her son’s Lemondrops and Gumdrops first birthday party. I’m always in awe of […]

  • {one pretty pin} Lovely lemon cake | Chickabug - September 9, 2012 - 2:46 pm

    […] a sunshiny day! There’s no recipe this time, just a gorgeous photo – one of many taken by Andrea Dozier for her son’s Lemondrops and Gumdrops first birthday party. I’m always in awe of […]

This past Saturday we had a little birthday party for my Damian who just turned one a week ago.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t himself all weekend. He was fussy & showed no interest in his party or new toys.
We figured it was because he is teething.

His temperature spiked & he ended up spending Monday in the ER getting some fluids & antibiotics.
We didn’t get home until late that evening, but were happy to avoid an overnight stay.
It’s put me a little behind with work, but now you know why.

He has been growing so fast lately, but he felt so small & vulnerable in my arms as I held him in the hospital.
I don’t mind the extra cuddles, but I will definitely be relieved when he is walking & playing again! ♥

* I wrote this last night & today he is already oozing more “Damian” than he has all weekend.
He’s still a little sleepy, but MUCH better than Monday 😀

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  • Brancoprata - July 13, 2011 - 7:23 am

    I do hope he is ok now!!! He is so cute and getting SO BIG!!!!
    ♥

  • Andrea - July 13, 2011 - 10:10 am

    Thank you so much Sofia, he has been growing so fast lately! He is so much better today 😀

  • alli - July 13, 2011 - 10:31 am

    Sorry to hear! Glad he is starting to feel himself again – that is so hard on the entire family. As the previous commenter said, he is so cute and big now!

  • postcards and pretties - July 13, 2011 - 11:06 am

    Aww poor little guy! Glad to hear he’s getting better.

  • Chloe L. - July 13, 2011 - 11:37 am

    I sure do hope he if feeling much better =) He is precious!

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