I have quite a few nieces and nephews . . . and I love them all dearly. But, this post is about my niece, Andrea.

Andrea always knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life and she was willing to work exceptionally hard to make her dreams a reality. After attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (my alma mater, I might add) and graduating with a PharmD degree, she completed two residencies in clinical pharmacy. And her hard work is really paying off these days. Andrea learned a few weeks ago that she will receive the 2008 American College of Clinical Pharmacy New Clinical Practitioner Award. This is HUGE! Not only is it a national award given by the premier professional organization for clinical pharmacists – she is the first ever recipient of the award. And if that isn’t enough, Andrea has been selected to travel to Japan in February to provide professional development seminars. I am so proud of Andrea, I’m singing her praises constantly.

Andrea needed a new head shot for the award she will receive. So of course she came to me. I may not be the best photographer around, but for her I’m certainly the cheapest. We were going to be together at the beach for Anna and Johnny’s wedding, so we decided to do a very quick shoot while there. The problem was to make the pictures NOT look like beach pictures. And that turned out to be a little more difficult than I expected. I actually liked the ones of the ocean in the background the best because they are SO Andrea. Anyone who knows her knows how much she loves the beach. But, we weren’t altogether sure the American College of Clinical Pharmacy would appreciate her passion for the ocean. So, this is the picture Andrea chose.

You and I know that Andrea is actually sitting in the sand – but hopefully when others see the picture they will see a beautifully mottled muslin backdrop.

Here are a few other pictures from the session I really liked – but couldn’t use for obvious reasons.

I was hoping converting the pictures to black and white would make them appear less beachy. That didn’t work – but at least we got a usable head shot. And, now I know what to give her mother for Christmas!

Oh, and for any of Andrea’s other aunts who may read this blog article . . . I want you to know that I am DEFINITELY the favorite aunt