the tale of two chairs | micah
Posted on January 31, 2011
I love old chairs. I don’t have room for them in our house (I can hear David’s voice as I type) but I seriously love them. For several months I went from garage sale to antique store to garage sale hoping to find the perfect chair. I found nothing. I dropped by one morning to visit my mom in Stephenville and convinced her to hit up a few garage sales with me. To our surprise, we hit the jackpot. We found an old wingback chair for $5 and another antique chair for $10. I conveniently forgot my wallet (as I always do when I shop with my mom) so my mom bought me my new treasures! I wasn’t too fond of how antique the fabric looked — dark brown stains don’t speak “vintage” to me. So thus came the quest for upholstery fabric. Call me a dreamer but I thought choosing fabric would be simple and affordable. I had a new thing coming. I quickly discovered I had expensive taste 
. I refused to spend $30-$40 a yard, especially knowing I needed about 5-6 yards to cover the chairs. My mom and her lovely friend heard of a upholstery fabric clearance sale in north Dallas and took a road trip just for me! After several hours of texting pictures of fabric from iPhone to iPhone and much convincing (since I can never seem to make up my mind) they found 2 fabrics for my chairs! I was so thrilled and humbled they would do that for me!
I thought for sure the process would be smooth sailing from here on. But I was wrong. My dad volunteered to drop my chairs off at an upholstery shop in the back woods of Stephenville. He warned me they don’t get in a hurry, but after a month I started questioning if they were ever going to be completed. Each week my dad and I had the dreaded phone conversation: Micah: “Well, are my chairs ready?” Dad: “No, Micah. I told you they drag their feet.” After 4 weeks of phone calls and 2 months of waiting, my dad decided it was time to take the chairs to another business. I was told my chairs would cost me an “arm and a leg” to upholster. I tried not to freak out and asked the Lord to lead my dad to someone to upholster them both for $100. Many people laughed and told me it wasn’t possible. But I continued praying. My dad drove the chairs to Granbury to get an estimate, and to my dismay the estimated “damage” was $500 a chair. I freaked out. I told my dad $1,000 was not in my antique chair remodel budget . My dad’s patience was growing thin but he found a lady in Tolar who understood his frustration and within a week called my dad to tell him my chairs were finished!
My dad called me immediately after he picked up the chairs. He said, “Micah, I need you to take a seat.” With my heart beating out of my chest and dollar signs bouncing in my mind, I willingly obeyed. All I could think was my about my Mom warning me to not let my dad to drop off the chairs. She said he was likely to surprise me with a ginormous bill.
Calmly, “Dad how much are they?”
“Are you ready for this?!? $90″, he laughed.
I was in utter shock. The Lord was so faithful to me!! What a relief!
While jumping up and down, dad interrupted my celebration. “I have some bad news. While I was driving your chairs to Tolar I forgot to tie them down. One of your chairs flew out and I broke it’s leg. And there are some huge chunks missing out of the arms. I took it to get worked on and …. well… you will see what it looks like.” Long pause, “Sorry, you know how I am.”
At this point I couldn’t help but laugh. Laugh hysterically. To have come this far and now have an “injured” chair.
My parents came to visit yesterday and brought the chairs. As my dad unloaded them one by one, my mom whispered in my ear, “Your dad has spend a lot of time getting these chairs ready for you. Just don’t react when you see the one that flew out his truck.”
How bad could it be, I thought to myself? Let me insert this before I continue. I learned something yesterday. Sometimes God brings things in your life to make you smile, or in my case chuckle. Every time I look at my chair I will forever remember how faithfully God provided:
1. 2 awesome antique chairs just because I wanted them
2. 2 affordable upholstery fabric that I LOVE
3. a sweet lady who for some reason only charged me $90 for 2 complicated chairs
Most importantly I will never forget how much I love my dad for who he is. He left his special touch on my chair. Every time I look at my antique chair I will remember these lessons learned from my father these past several months
“Slow down and take time to smell the roses”
“Love the imperfections in my life because they make me who I am” .
So are you ready to see? I’ve never heard of wood puddy. Have you? Maybe that’s because they banned people from using it
From a distance it’s not too bad .
Here’s my other chair! I LOVE it!
Speaking of learning to appreciate my imperfections, I’m learning to appreciate imperfections in my photos. We can teach you how to appreciate the imperfections in your photos too! We’ve extended our early bird discount to February 10th for our 2nd Double Knot Photography Workshop. You should come . We would have lots of fun together!
Best of 2010 | Contest
Posted on January 25, 2011
It’s really a cruel joke to play on a girl like me (Ashley). I have to go shop for “real” food, while chocolate sits on every corner of every aisle. Chocolate is my favorite. Stuffed bears peer sulkily at me, hoping I will be the one to take them home, like they are the last puppy or something. Did I tell you my favorite book growing up was The Last Puppy? Then, I have to sort through hundreds of cards with cheesy sayings to find just the right one to express my love so perfectly for my man. When he finally gets to open the card on Valentine’s Day, I watch as his eyes skim the card just slow enough to pretend like he read. every. word.
Torture, I tell you.
You know what’s not torture? GIVEAWAYS! In honor of the holiday that evokes oh-so-many emotions, we are having a little contest with a couple of exciting prizes!
Here’s the deal.
You can vote for your favorite Image/Couple from 2010 by commenting on this blog AND posting on Facebook or Twitter! The Bride & Groom with the most votes wins a 20X30 Canvas Gallery Wrap of their choice! Yipee!
That’s not all, though! Once you’ve voted, YOU are entered into a drawing to win a special Valentine’s Day Gift Bundle, valued at $30! It will include some yummy things, some fun things, and some good ol’ Valentine’s ideas for those of you who might need a little help romancin’ your honey!
Sound fun? Great!
Here’s how you enter (you may enter a total of 2 times by doing the following):
1.) Leave a comment on this blog giving us the name of the Bride/Groom or the number of your favorite image.
and/or
2.) Post on your Facebook or Twitter about the contest using our website http://doubleknotphotography.com/blog and linking back to either our Facebook Page by including: @Double Knot Photography or Ashley’s Twitter by including: @ashleywilkins. Don’t forget to include BOTH the website and the link back one of our pages, otherwise we can’t see that you voted! You might want to check our Facebook page to make sure it posted (if not, just leave a comment on our Facebook page).
The contest ends at Midnight on Tuesday, February 8th. We will announce the winner by Noon on Wednesday, February 9th!
Ready?! Set?! Vote!!
#1 Drew & Lensie
#2 Derek & Cricket
#3 Stephen & Amber
#4 Eric & Amanda
#5 Andrew & Casey
#6 Gary & Baley
#7 Josh & Ashley
#8 Joe & April
#9 Wes & Sarah
#10 Chris & Jessica
#11 Joseph & Jackie
#12 Keith & Arlie
#13 Ben & Whitney
#14 Nathan & Lindsey
#15 Hunter & Brooke
#16 Matt & Laura
#17 Randy & Alyssa
#18 Matt & Shana
#19 Curtis & Kelsey
#20 Josh & Lyndsey
#21 Jonathan & Rachel
#22 Marc & Brittany
#23 Jearen & Becky
#24 Andrew & Andrea
#25 Roeland & Desiree
#26 Nick & Shannon
#27 Michael & Ashley
#28 Patrick & Dani
#29 Jon & Brandy
#30 Justin & Catherine
#31 Brian & Meggan
#32 Taylor & Victoria
#33 Matt & Leah
#34 Cole & Kaylee
#35 Derrell & Arlene
#36 Kris & Ashley
Joseph & Jackie: Addison Wedding | DFW Wedding Photographers
Posted on January 24, 2011
We should have known when Joseph & Jackie booked us a year away from their New Year’s Eve wedding, it was going to be amazing. For some reason, we still underestimated how awesome of a party it was going to be! When we walked into the reception, we were blown away with all the details, which we later found out Jackie made herself! Seriously incredible. Just wait until you see them!
The day was so fun and tons of people came to celebrate Jackie & Joseph. We felt very blessed to be able to spend New Year’s Eve document a very special ceremony and one of the most fun receptions we’ve been to! Enjoy the recap!
Arlene & Derrell Day After Session | Cancun Destination Wedding Photographers
Posted on January 19, 2011
There is a different spirit about a day after session. It’s the joy that overflows from the beginning of new season in the newlylwed couple. Plus, when you’re doing a Day After Session in Mexico, it kinda feels like we get to be on their honeymoon vacation, too! We had such a blast getting to know Arlene and Derrell and getting to spend their wedding day with them. The Day After Session just totally topped the cake. The whole session was relaxed and perfect. We fit right in with the slow paced beach lifestyle, just strolling along the beach, stopping when something caught our eyes. At the end of the trip, we reflected on how much we love Arlene and Derrell and how much we love to travel.
Did we mention we love to travel?
Enjoy Derrell & Arlene’s incredible Day After Session!
dreaming in abilene | ashley
Posted on January 18, 2011
(Pictures from Top Left to Bottom Right: Millie’s Get It Together Kit, Micah & Me waiting to meet Caroline & Nancy at a coffee shop, Prime Time in Abilene, Our bowling Gear,
Micah before her big strike, Micah & Me posing for Cosmic Bowling, Micah and her hubby David,
My lucky bowling socks, Me and my hubby Eric, Micah hitting the gofers extremely fast, Micah’s reward for her amazing gaming talents,
Me cutting my face off in pictures like normal, David & Eric doing the shooting game, Another picture of Micah winning a million tickets, Me pretending the tickets are mine,
Evidence of who is the best gamers, Micah showing us how it’s done in SkeeBall, The medicine Micah got for me at the Feed Store that’s supposed to get splinters out of my rear that I got while posing outside for Micah, the awesome green table I got at a place in Abilene)
Last week I drove to Abilene to meet Micah for a week of dreaming, planning, and creating. The first thing we did when I got there was open and read the amazing Get It Together Kit by the incredible and inspiring Millie Holloman. We felt challenged to take our business to the next level and to create lots of systems for our business that will help us create an amazing and consistent experience for each of our clients, plus give us structure in our work week so we can be more productive in less time. Sounds great, right?
We sat down in the living room and read our goals to each other (3 months, 1 year, 3-5 years – Thanks, Millie!). What was so cool is how we practically had the same vision for our business, totally a God thing. One HUGE goal we wanted to obtain was that we both really wanted was to be full time Double Knot Girls (no more Ashley Wilkins Photography and Micah Schmidt Photography), plus some other “additions” to our business that we will eventually share! We named lots of things that would be attainable, yet we had just never sat down to get it on paper and discuss a plan for getting there. Really, the first 2 hours I was there I could not stop thinking how blessed I am to be in business with Micah. She’s such a dreamer. I am not. I’m the realistic one. Realism only gets you so far, ya know? I always think about what it takes to get something done, which usually discourages me from dreaming. Micah dreams big, but doesn’t always know the steps to get there. We really are a good team, but you always want what you don’t have. I’m thankful for her. By the end of the first day, we decided to take the leap. We are officially full time Double Knot Girls!
With a large To-Do list every morning, we managed to make changes to our packaging, bought/installed/set up Shoot Q, created lots of useful systems, and tons of other things. We were supposed to have a photoshoot with the ever-talented Caroline Joy, but the weather held us back. It was SO cold! The cool thing was, the timing of our photoshoot sat directly between the two dates for the Branches and Light Workshop that Caroline and Nancy Ray were hosting! This meant that Nancy was in town from North Carolina and I got to meet them both for the first time! Since Micah was already friends with Caroline and I’m a blog stalker, I felt like I already knew them both SO well. In fact, I made the confession that I took a picture of Nancy to my hairdresser so I could get my hair cut like her. Our first conversation when we all met for coffee was about how she does her hair. Awesome. I’m such a creeper. haha!
On Friday, Eric drove down and Micah & I got to spend some quality time with our husbands and each other at the same time! That hardly ever gets to happen and it was so much fun! Micah & David had planned for us to go to Prime Time, which had bowling and games. So perfect! Micah also made sure to cook every meal for us (amazing) plus some cupcakes that were out of this world! We all had a blast and it was such a great way to end the end of a productive and hard working week!
Last week was so awesome and this week we’ve been hitting the ground running. We’re so excited about all the changes and we know you will be too! Stay tuned for some inside peeks about what changes we’ve made and how it will affect you! Also, if you are a photographer and are interested in taking your photography to the next level, take a look at the Double Knot Workshop we are hosting in February!