| Ashley + Nathan | SURPRISE We’re Married! |

I’m so excited today to share a little secret I’ve been holding onto! These two Decatur love birds are not only engaged but as of this past weekend they are MARRIED! While it will be just a bit before all their wedding images are ready to share with you (check our facebook/instagram for a sneak peek).

These two planned an intimate ceremony in Chicago (on a boat!) and a couple months ago contacted me about creating some engagement images to celebrate this milestone. I’ve known and worked with Ashley through my work with the Avon Theater creating their annual staff portraits and I was thrilled when she called me to share the news and invite me to create their portraits. And you all know I was even more excited knowing Huck would be on session (I love people, but DOGS… well that’s just next level).

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Be sure to stay tuned in the coming weeks for a closer look at their big day too…. just a peek for now!

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| Decatur Coin & Jewelry | Small Business Feature |

Oh boy guys it’s been BUSY around here this summer and that means it has unfortunately been quiet here on the blog. But not to worry we are back up and running and I promise there are some fun sessions headed this way, starting today with a very unique local business located right in downtown Decatur

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The Details: Decatur Coin & Jewelry (Facebook Page| Bennie & Samantha, Co-Owner | In Business: 44 years (started in 1973)

Hours: Monday 9-4, Tuesday 9-4, Wednesday, 9-4, Thursday 9-7, Friday 9-4 (closed on weekends & closed every day 1-1:30 for lunch) Location: 104 N Main St, Decatur IL

This shop is full of really unique and interesting pieces both for authentic collectors and those looking for fun and interesting gifts. Who wouldn’t want a one million dollar bill this Christmas! 

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Tell us about your business….what do you do? We are coin dealers or as we like to say in our industry…Numismatists. We study any and all things about money. We buy and sell money literally! We look at coin collections daily. We help determine value based on age, condition, content and quantity. Maybe try googling numismatics to help you better understand what a numismatist is. We also buy and sell any jewelry that is made of a precious metal: Gold, platinum and silver. We buy diamonds, turquoise jewelry, old vintage costume jewelry, sterling flatware, silver plated flatware, wrist watches, old pocket watches. We have even bought old test mortar rounds before. We were able to find a buyer so we bought them from the client. You just never know what we will buy. We make a living at buying stuff. So, maybe you have some neat old cool stuff laying around your house. Bring it on in and we’ll take a look.

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What makes your business unique/special? We buy and sell actual money! We are coin and jewelry dealers. There is nobody else like us around. We explain everything in depth so you get a clear understanding of what is going on. We are qualified traders in medium to high dollar assets.
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What item/service on your menu or in your shop do you just love and think everyone needs? Sam says “everyone needs help in understanding what all their stuff is worth. Too many folks just throw stuff out thinking it’s worth nothing. She thinks giving knowledge is what everyone really needs and “A right hand ring of course! Bennie says “investment quality Morgan dollars” Doug says “everybody should have some artistic antique paper money”.

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In what way have you gone above /beyond in the past for a customer? Bennie says “we pay out a lot of money. We’ve gone to folk’s houses and looked at their stuff because they couldn’t drive or were too ill to come in”.  Doug says “we always help carry in boxes and bags from their vehicles because the stuff is too heavy…so WE GOT THE MUSCLE LOL” Sam says “I’ve fetched someone’s range rover and drove it around to the front of the shop because she was worried she couldn’t get out of the original parking place due to someone parking so close to her”.

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What was the coolest thing you’ve ever had a client do for you? Sam says “people have bought my newborn son stuffed animals or clothes. I get hugs often too from some of my regulars OR even strangers”. Doug says “people have brought him in food coupons”. I always call Doug a growing boy still LOL He sure can eat.  People will bring in chocolate for Bennie. He is patiently waiting for chocolate covered pretzels from Dells by the way. <<< Yum, me too! 

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What tool/equipment/or other vendor could you not imagine doing business without? Why? Our customers. They supply us with stuff to either sell into the network, online or across the counter.  They provide jobs for us and for the others that work with us. Everybody wins in the end. Without our customers life would be pretty boring! Couldn’t imagine Coney McKanes not being down the street from us. Their pie and cookies are amazing.

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What other local businesses do you love? Why? Coney McKanes feeds us often. Really all the local restaurants do☺ All downtown local businesses are great.

STAFF: Samantha is funny and loving but very serious when she needs to be. Doug is referred to as the professor. Don’t call Bennie the boss he doesn’t like that. He prefers to be called the Captain. All the ladies that work with us are leaders.

Tell us about you? Why did you choose to do what you do? I am speaking for us all here when I say we all love and enjoy it because we love serving the community for the greater good. We want to give the people as much money as we can for their stuff.

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When did you know you wanted to go into the business? Bennie says “after I found my first Indian head penny while delivering the Grit newspaper door to door years ago when I was just a kid. That is when it all started. Back in those days the ladies at the bank would let me look through all their bags of silver dollars. I probably was a nuisance after a while. My father also used to bring home his pay for the day and put it on the kitchen table. The sound of those silver coins always sparked my interest. I have been driven since then to learn all about numismatics”. Doug says he got into paper money for the art. And an added benefit was investment potential. Sam says” I’ve been looking at coins and jewelry since I was a kid. It was always in me through my father and now we run the business together.

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What are you passionate about outside of your business? This is Samantha answering for her father because he is, as usual, extremely busy. He is passionate about teaching. He will give knowledge and wisdom to anyone with an open ear. He likes being physically fit eating healthy and enjoys spending time with his new grandson Jaxon. Sam likes to work in the garden and watch things grow☺ Aside from all the duties that go along with being a happy wife and mother now.

Describe your perfect day… Sam says the beach, a large umbrella, the ocean minus the sharks and being surrounded by the people I love. Bennie says hitting the grand slam in the stock market, making a big trade or riding on a real steam train with my grandson.

See the latest news and items available from Decatur Coin and Jewelry HERE!

See our other past small business features to connect with more businesses in our area:

See more on our Facebook Page and follow us on Twitter @sjanephotog, Instagram @sjanephotograhy, and Snapchat @sjanephotog

If you’d like to have YOUR small business featured for FREE on the SJP blog (or know a small business we should feature) you can find details HERE! These features are 100% free and we’d love to feature you next.

| Alyssa + Corey | Engaged! |

I’m so excited to show off Alyssa and Corey’s engagement session today! This week’s blog post is a bit late due to us taking a little family vacation time for the fourth but it’s worth the wait because these two are just adorable and so sweet. I was lucky enough to meet Alyssa a year or so ago and was thrilled when she called me to tell me she was engaged and to setup a time to bring Corey by to chat about having me as a part of her wedding day.

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Choosing a wedding photographer can be overwhelming (just like choosing every other piece of your wedding day!) because it’s such a big event and your photographer is not only there with you all day (like right there, so you better like them) but they are also creating the images you have left from the day once everything else is over. So though Alyssa had worked with me before I encouraged her to explore the others she’d heard about too just to make sure I was the perfect fit for their day and we were both SO excited when she came up to my booth at the Decatur Bridal Expo to tell me to pull out the contract they were ready! Of course, I’m thrilled to be a part of their day and honored that, after doing some looking, they chose me and SJP. Now it’s game-on to make their wedding day and images as perfect as possible.

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I was really excited when she told me they wanted to personalize their engagement session a bit by bringing along Corey’s stunning el camino and to add a little of their personality with a campfire feel (and luckily our fire pit fit in my car!).

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Be sure to stay tuned for a look at their big day this fall. <3

| A Year … | We Miss You Momma |

It’s time for our weekly blog post and today I sat down to post and just couldn’t shy away from what was on my heart. It’s a bit (or a LOT) deeper and personal than things often are here on the blog but who knows, maybe somewhere someone else is struggling with keeping on after a loss and they’ll find these words. And maybe not, maybe they’re just for me but here they are. And we’ll be back to regularly scheduled programing with pretty people next week. <3

 

A year.. without you here. 365 sunrises and sets. A million toddler milestones. Birthdays. Holidays. So many good things and bad days. All with no phone calls to/from you. And today, calls from family and a carefully treaded ‘how are you this morning’ from my husband and tears feeling nearly always just below the surface. But while today is not a day I want to commemorate it seems one that I won’t be able to ignore. It’s here. It will pass.

I’m not sure the ‘right’ way to feel today. If I’m ‘supposed to’ want to visit your grave or buy a rose or ‘pour one out’ because today is not your day… today is not the day I want to remember or celebrate. Today is the day I want to forget. Today is the day I learned of real loss and real pain of which I knew nothing about before this day. Today is the day I broke. And I don’t want to remember today. So today I’ll be busy. I’ll be in meetings and with clients and focused on them. On creating, not remembering. On moving forward. Not forgetting you, never. But not remembering this part of you.

This week we’ll go to our hometown’s downtown Fourth of July festivities. We’ll get corn dogs and blooming onions and root beer and lemonade. We’ll walk the streets and remember you, remembering what you loved and the great times we had laughing on those same streets stuffed so full of junk food we’d have to carry our funnel cake home for later (not skip it for sure). We’ll get a bag of kettle corn. We’ll watch the fireworks. We’ll love and laugh and be a family and you’ll be there. You’re always here. I don’t ever doubt that and this is why I’m not drawn to your grave… you’re not there.

I’m not sure how we’ve made it a year without you while not making it a day without thinking of you. Actually I do know how, we’ve made it because you made me this person, this mom. We’ve made it because God gave me Brooklyn before he took you home. Because my purpose in her and to be even 1/2 the mom you were keeps me going and keeps me smiling. Because of you I live better, am better, than I ever could have been without you. Because of you we love, we laugh, we eat, we enjoy, we live. Because of you my daughter will know love so fierce it can overcome and outlast any pain. And I pray, so hard, that she’ll not know this pain like I do but even if she does she’ll survive because your/our love is stronger.

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| Thank You & I’m Sorry | Life Happenings |

| Senior Model Volunteer Event – Take ONE | PawPrints Ministries Decatur, IL Comfort Dogs |

Last week we had the first ever SJP senior model service day! If you have been following our 2018 senior models on facebook and instagram you know this year, more than ever, we are making senior year about more than just portraits… it’s about creating experiences! While some of these are fun and just for us (like the new pop-up sessions which just recently included carnival lights and rides and super melty ice cream and a few fireworks), I wanted to also make sure that some of these experiences were about others. So, one day last week we scheduled some time to give back to a fabulous local organization Paw Prints Ministries.

You might remember them from the recent headshots I did for a few of the pups on the team. I was so happy that Jennifer (a past client of mine) was excited to partner with us and let us come in to lend a hand. While we’d hoped to have more hands to lend, those of you with teenagers know summer schedules can fill up quite quickly and between camps, summer jobs and illness our full lineup of models was quickly reduced to Jaiden and I! We may have been a small ‘group’ but we sure were mighty and stuffed over a box load of cancer care packages and tragedy gift bags.

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Payton and Enzo were there to lend a hand too!

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Payton’s clearly supervising here!

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Check out all the goodies packaged into these care bags.

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If you follow me on snapchat you got a lot of behind the scenes looks at what we were up to that day including some fun videos of us attempting a group photo with the pups!

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After our time at headquarters we headed over the the Decatur Conference Center for a training session. It was so fun to see a few dogs at different stages of training. To see what they struggled with and what they were able to pick up and learn in even just one session. Check out Enzo fighting the distractions (even of a favorite toy) and staying put on his table.

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And this happy guy was working so hard and learning so quick to ignore all us distractions in the room and follow his owner’s lead.

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Jaiden got in there to attempt to distract them too, this awesome guy didn’t move once!

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Pawprints provides cancer care packages to those going through the often tough cancer treatments and include items like chapstick, hand sanitizer, lotion, tissues, candy, socks, scarves, hats, etc. They also provide small care packages with a prayer, tissues, candy and chapstick when they attend gatherings where there may have been a disaster or life loss. These are small offerings provided to bring comfort along with the presence of their dogs.

Last year when I spent much of the year in the hospitals and long-term care facilities with my mother there was one particular hospital which had a beagle comfort dog free-roaming the halls/rooms at least a dozen times I was there and in places like these, especially long-term care hospitals where there’s not much hope of your visit being short or even pleasant, this pup brought a smile to so many faces and a lightness to the air felt by both staff, patients and families like myself. Since that experience, I’ve had a special place in my heart for these dogs and I’m so glad that our first service project could be with them!

You can learn more  about PawPrints Ministries HERE and you can contribute to these cancer care kits by dropping off items to the PawPrints Ministries office at 226 W Eldorado in Decatur and you can learn more about what the kids can contain HERE. To continue our support of this organization we’ll be adding a cancer care kit box to the studio where clients can bring donations to add to these kits!