.:: The Aster ::.

This post is a little ok a lot more personal for me than most. Today, June 13th, is a day that will always bring me heartbreak. Two years ago today I lost the only (blood)Grandparent that ever was apart of my life. My dear sweet Granny Loraine. She was the strongest woman I have ever known. I loved her more than I can even put into words and as I write this, thinking back on her makes me cry. Growing up in a home with divorced parents meant summers spent with my Daddy, and one thing I looked forward to every summer was making the trip from Florida to Louisiana and seeing my Granny. It meant that NO MATTER what time we got to her house (be it midnight or later) there was a pot of Crawfish Étouffée cooking and Cajun roast beef & garlic dip in the fridge. It meant donuts every morning, ice cold coke & oatmeal cream pies. It meant Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, and Baseball on TV. It was the simple things with her. Her smile, her laugh, her mannerisms, her "sha baby"s, and her all mighty middle finger. It meant lunch at Judice Inn, and dinner at Pizza Village or Alesi's. It meant FAMILY time. A time for us to slow down, see the family that we only saw once (maybe twice) a year and catch up. Where names like Scottie, Titta, Banana Head, & Nanny hold special to me. It's where I was loved, no matter what, no matter how long we were gone, no matter how much I had changed. Where I could go and feel like I belonged. Where I felt apart of something bigger. Where my roots were planted. Where my heart is and always will be. I lost a piece of myself on June 13, 2011... A piece of me that meant more to me then I thought. I wish I would have told her how much she meant to me. How amazing I really thought she was. How thankful I was that she was a part of my life and made me feel so special and so loved eventhough we didn't see or talk to each other nearly enough. I am happy that my daughter got to meet her. That there are pictures of Ainsley and Granny together. I cannot wait to tell Ainsley stories of her when she is older, and tell her to be strong and love life like she did. I admired her, and I never really knew how much I did until she was gone.


Granny & My Bug - Granny taught Ains to flip Grumpa (my Daddy) the bird.

This brings me to my next and even more important part of this blog post. I know you all have noticed a lot of changes going on with Brooke Ashley Photography and the re-branding going on. Soon after I lost my Granny I knew I wanted to do something to honor her. It took me a long long long time to figure out what I wanted to do. And then one day it hit me. Growing up Granny always told me "All good people are born in September" and it wasn't until after she passed that I realized why she told me that. It was because we both shared a birthday in September. Me on the 19th and her on the 26th. That's when I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted my whole branding to somehow be centered around the month of September. But how? I didn't want to change my business name.... I couldn't think of anything to do with a Sapphire.... And then there it was... The Aster. The September flower. I knew that was it. And so the new and much improved Brooke Ashley Photography branding was created. I am in LOVE with it. And I want to give a HUGE HUGE HUGE "THANK YOU SO SO MUCH" to Carine the owner of Demoiselle Pixel and the AMAZING artist that made my idea in my head a reality. My photography business means the WORLD to me, and now it means even more. It's not just some logo I found and "liked". It is me. It's my heart. It's honoring one of the most important and loved woman in my life.


You were everything to me. I love you and miss you so very very very much. I hope that I can be half the woman you were. It's still hard for me to accept that you are gone. That you won't be there when I go back and visit Louisiana. I still picture you sitting there on the front porch swing drinking your coke and eating your lemon filled donut. To me, that's where you will always be. 26 years was just not enough years to know you.