My sister and I were sitting around watching my girls swing when she mentioned that she was having a tea party for some of her friends the next day… and everything she told me sounded like something I’d love to shoot… and so I crashed it!  Thankfully, they all seemed happy that I did

That would be my Sis on the left, Tressa Ann. And Kristen, my brothers girlfriend who helped her pull it all together, on the right.

all the guests…

There were sooo many details too shoot, everything from food, to decor, to tableware, to hats… I loved it!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… I love me some laughter!

this little cutie showed up

They even had a little photobooth fun

I’ll end with this picture because it just feels good.

Thanks girls for letting me crash your party! XoXo

My friend Julies little boy, Emerson, turned the big ONE-year-old! Julie threw an adorable party, complete with a barn for the kids to play in made out of a cardboard box (which she painted and it looked nothing like a cardboard box when she was done!) farm animals, a fence made out of old pallets, etc. Her and her husband did it all and it was perfect. I took my camera intending to capture a little bit of everything at the party, but, I got busy talking, chasing kids and eating; and didn’t even get my camera out till Emerson dug into his cake! But, you can see more pictures over on Julies blog here and here….

And here are a few of the birthday boy digging in… I love how kids look at their parents as if asking “are you sure your allowing me to do this?!?” right before they dig in!

I love this shot… the flower centerpiece surrounded by sippy cups… it just yells “kids birthday party!”

and this little guy was loving the bubbles!

and this is one of the last shots I took before putting my camera back up…her name is Elle, and she is just precious!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

 If my walls could talk they’d tell you I can’t pick a color.

If my molding could talk, they’d tell you to get the paint brush away from me ’cause blue is not their color. (I managed to get blue paint in all the wrong places while trying to trim last week…or is it ‘cut-in’? I don’t even know all the right lingo that comes with painting)

And if the paint guy could talk…wait he can…well, lets just hope you don’t talk to him. Because he’d tell you that I clearly don’t have it together. At all.

Okay, here is the story:
I needed to paint, but dreaded it. So I kept putting it off. Finally we purchased laminate floors that look like hardwood to replace the carpet in our living room and hallway. So it would only make sense to get the painting done before putting in the new floors. I loved the green color I had but wanted something different. Gray. I LOVE gray. (or is it grey?) either way, I love it. But after trying a few samples I knew gray was not the color for these rooms. (I might add here that I was painting the kitchen, living room and hallway) It didn’t go with my cabinets at all and in general was just not working. So I moved on to blues and greens. (different shades of green than what I had) I finally settled on a blue that looked very pretty on the swatch.
Now, I’d like to add that I have never, ever had a problem picking paint colors before. Ever. I pick a color, I buy it, I paint, I love it.
Oh boy. Not this time.
So Monday morning I get started. I really think I like it at first. My Mom’s first reaction when she saw it was “Wow!” in a this-is-bright kinda way. But I was all like “Oh, I think I am going to love it!” So she helps me and the more we paint the more I get that Wow!this-is-bright! feeling. But I kept painting even when she warned me that if I didn’t like it I should stop and go get the color darkened or something…
We finish and it is just obnoxious. I kept thinking “oh it’s not so bad…” only to walk out of a bedroom and that Wow!this-is-bright! feeling hit again. And again.
Now, this color was not exactly ugly. It was just not ‘me’. And you kinda want your home to feel like ‘you’… right? So after begging my friend to come over and tell me what to do she suggested that I take the one gallon that I had not used and ask if they could change the color, then re-paint. More painting. Not exactly what I wanted to do, but at this point, I needed a color I could live with! So, off to the paint store I went. I drove to my local store, where the guy was simply NO help. So I left and drove to another location.
I walked in and gave the guy a run-down of what I had done, how I didn’t like it, and could he possibly help me get the leftover gallon of paint to a color that I could actually live with?  I am sounding dramatic now. Meanwhile I have a one-year-old screaming, no matter what I tried (candy, keys, paci, phone) she still screamed. And my two-year-old had an ‘accident’ of the #2 kind. Oh yes. Now, my kid is not perfect by any means. But that was a first. It was a true “Mommy Moment”. And when the guy didn’t seem to feel my urgency to save myself money by not buying more paint but still getting something that I liked (even though that meant going home and painting all over again for hours!) and he told me that there really was not anything he could do; that is when I felt the tears well up in my eyes. I was mortified. Why was I falling apart?! Thankfully I didn’t start bawling on him or anything, but he suddenly felt my urgency. He offered to add some black, twice, and I came home with a color that I could live with. And I actually like it a lot. Even though it is not what I was going for, I love it compared to what I did have!
Sigh. Mommy Moment of the week… hope it is the last ‘big’ one for awhile!

I’ll try post a picture soon… but truth is, we are not finished. Close, but not done yet! So once the room is put back together I will share it with you…

Meanwhile, I’ll share a few pictures of a trip we took to Imaginon several weeks ago… We had told Kennedy the night before we had a “surprise” for her, that girl loves a surprise, so she was thrilled!
I tried to take a picture of the two of them in the parking deck when we got there… I love it because it is so real!

when we walked in Kennedy literally squealed when she saw all the random stuff hanging from the ceiling – she loved it!

They quickly got busy trying out everything

Kennedy loved the market where she could ‘buy’ veggies…

Bristol just thought it was all balls… she would grab two at a time and throw them yelling “BALL!” Which was funny even though we had to make her stop!

Finally, we headed home…

 Happy Monday everyone!

Sherry emailed me awhile back telling me she wanted pictures of all her girls. And so, we made it happen! Ashlyn is the youngest, and is simply adorable!

Love, love, love these three!

Sherry, Brooke, Brittany, Melissa, Cheryl and Ashlyn… I loved meeting you all and spending a Saturday morning having fun! Thanks!

Aunt Lib and Uncle Clete recently celebrated 50 years together, and I was there to capture the family, friends and fun

The gorgeous cake was made by Daphne’s Simply Southern Bakery…

Uncle Clete spoke of family, friends and blessings. He mentioned one thing that has really stuck with me, I have heard him say it many times over the years, each time we would leave his house he would tell us “Remember who you are and where you come from…”  (thank you Uncle Clete)

50 years and ten kids…

a shot with all the spouses…

a little brotherly/sisterly love going on here…

a couple more group shots with siblings…

Congratulations Aunt Lib and Uncle Clete! XoXo

We call it “Nerd Night”, but it is a good kind of Nerdiness! We (me and some close photog friends) get together and discuss the ‘other’ side of photography that we – as photographers - find interesting. We discuss technicalities, idea’s, business, and anything else we happen to touch on! It is a lot of fun and we walk away feeling inspired and encouraged

Last week we went to NoDa and wondered around snapping pictures. Linden was our main focus, we kind of put her up to it since she is pregnant and we were sure she’d love some baby-bump shots…she easily agreed

Mallory working the camera

We took a few shots of the rest of us too… Linden took my camera and got this one of me..

I got this shot of Alicia…

some random bikes parked on the sidewalk…

Mallory…

As we headed back to our car, I captured this one of Linden, Mallory and Alicia together…

and lastly, I saw this and it made me smile…. I think most artists have probably felt this way at some time or another…

We ended our night at Ameliea’s with a yummy meal and lots of nerd talk

Happy Monday everyone!

Joseph is my cousin, he is marrying Lizzie whom we all love, and we are excited for their November wedding!

Here are a few of my favorite shots from their engagement session…

loooove this one…

Thanks you two, for asking me to do these for you
XoXo

Meet (from left) Andrea, Liz, Mackenzie, Brittany and Amber:

I was super excited when they contacted me for a photo shoot, simply because I knew shooting these girls was going to be fun (I just love friends shoots) and they did not disappoint!
First of all, they showed up with glass bottled drinks – gotta love that! Then, as I tell them how great they all look, they inform me that they had not discussed outfits with each other at all. They had agreed to each wear what they wanted so that each of their styles would be reflected in the pictures. I was impressed! They each have their own sense of style and, of course, their own different personalities.  I loved having every one of them in front of my camera.  

A quick outfit change into a more casual look…. I loved how they were all “Oh (insert name here) I love that color on you!” …..”that is so cute!”……. “you look great”  Truth is, they all looked great. And while each of them looked different, they fit perfectly together.

a couple of silly props I brought along and we almost forgot about!

As I got in my car and drove off Taylor Swifts song “Fearless” was playing. And yes, I know that song is about romance, but somehow, the words seemed to go perfectly with the evening and the friendship I’d just captured.

Cuz I don’t know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me head first
Fearless
And I don’t know why but with you I’d dance in a storm in my best dress
Fearless

Okay, I know this sounds crazy, considering it is the middle of summer, but Christmas will be here before we know it! Yep, I just went there It seems that the fall season is the absolute busiest season for me. Last year I ended up having to turn down a few people, which I really didn’t like having to do.

Fall is a great time of year to have pictures taken for many reasons; it is cooler, it is beautiful, and – probably the biggest reason – it is right before Christmas. People start thinking about Christmas cards and Christmas gifts.  (as I’ve said before, pictures are the gift that just keeps on giving… I make a coffee table book for my parents, my grandparents and my in-laws every year)
So, I wanted to get you all thinking about it, and if you are considering doing a photo shoot, please contact me so we can get you on my calendar
You really don’t have to wait till right before Christmas to do pictures that you want to use for a Christmas card – unless you just want too! They can easily be done early in order to ensure you are not freezing while we shoot.  Unless of course you want the big jackets, cute hats and scarves look (which I also love). But sometimes even bundled up it can be hard to enjoy the shoot if it is really cold. However, I did shoot several times while we had snow flurries last year!

I think I am rambling now, I am half asleep, moving on…

Right now, we are still enjoying every minute of summer…. bare feet,  popsicles, swimming pools, juice boxes, sunscreen, tricycles… it’s all good.

Bristol has mastered the slide…

And Kennedy flies around all over the place on her tricycle…

And if Big Sis loves it, Sister Bears gotta try it…

Juice boxes (even though they are not ‘boxes’ that is what we call ‘em..) my girls loooove!

Happy Monday!

Every year we celebrate MawMaw’s birthday at my Aunt and Uncles house. They live on the lake, so we just make it a full day of swimming, hanging out, eating, etc.  The party was a few weeks ago, and while I didn’t come close to getting pictures of everyone, these are a few that I did get :)

Here is the birthday girl:

My cousin Heidi

Bristol and Max…

love this!

love this one too

Poppa…

Kristen, who my girls affectionately call “Kiki”…

Poppa with my youngest sis, Tressa Ann…

JoJo with her oldest, Kourtnie…

Trey

Hannah

Westin

Doug aka: Bryan (Doug was a nickname he got when he was a teenager, and it stuck with some of us)

Emily, looking shocked! (thanks for being a good sport about me posting this Emily! XoXo)

Justin

Kourtnie, Tori and Kennedy…

Aunt Millie, holding her grandson Jesse Ray…

Max with his MawMaw Mauch…

Bristol got as much of this red drink on her as she did in her

Katie

My cousin Jillian decorated the cake, and I think she did a great job of doing a theme of two of MawMaw’s favorite things; reading a baking!

And in case you are wondering; the red santa hat represents Christmas baking with MawMaw. Since I was very young MawMaw has gotten all of the grand-girls together and we make christmas candy and cookies just a couple of weeks before Christmas. We have never missed a year since she started it, and I have to say, it is pretty incredible!

MawMaw with Aunt Lou… 

with Jax

Uncle Nelson

At the end of the day, we had some very sleepy babies…

MawMaw, I love you so much!