Yearly Archives: 2014

Hi and Happy Friday!

Ok so usually at the beginning of a month I try to write out some goals for myself!  It keeps me on track with all the businessey stuff I am not so awesome at!

I know it’s the 7th of November but let’s just pretend it’s still the beginning of the month!  I mean it’s technically still the first week of November!

  • NO MORE YOGA PANTS!  Yes this is the first on my list!  I feel like this is on top of my goal list every month.  I love my yoga pants, I really do.  In fact, I prioritize my yoga pants and lululemon gear over all the other clothes I own and Tuck owns when it comes to what needs to be washed.  I’m not outlawing yoga pants at all because I do love them and I believe they can be quite fashionable.  I just need to mix it up a bit!  I have the habit of wearing all lulu every single day!  I do work at the gym, I do teach yoga so there’s part one of my excuse.  Part two of my excuse is that I have a crazy active and wild toddler!  I chase him around all over the place and he loves to play in the dirt and mud.  I feel totally better getting my lulu muddy than my nice J crew clothes.  BUT I think there is a time to switch some things up!  I have a crazy pinterest board filled with some pretty awesome outfit inspirations.  I need to mix some things up:  lulu bottoms and scarfs and sweaters!  Plus maybe ONE day my husband will take me on a date 😉
  • Mondays:  business admin days!  I need to get better about task days!  Make sure all my ducks are in a row and all my busy work stuff (post office, admin emails, contracts, invoices etc) are all taken care of at the beginning of the week!  Mondays are a great day to sit down and knock all of those out so the rest of the week I can feel free to work, edit and play!
  • Carry the camera again!  I was great about this when Tuck was deployed!  Now, I’m slacking on this.  I need to start bringing the camera with me and having it available around the house!  Linc is really super fun right now!  He is mimicking us right and left (which means we have to be super careful what we say and do) but it’s also super funny!  He is all over the place with his skills and language development and I feel like I am just missing so much when it comes to documenting all of this!
  • Teach Tuck Manual Settings:  Tuck is great with the camera but he hates it when I ask him to use it.  This means I have like zero photos of me and Linc together.  It also means if I’m not outside with the boys, I don’t have any images.  One thing I love to do is cook dinner for my family.  I may not be the best cook but there are some things I love to make and I make them pretty OK!  While I’m in the kitchen, Tuck and Linc are usually outside scooping dirt or rocks with all of Linc’s dump trucks or excavators.  Tippers usually outside playing too and I feel like there are soo many missed opportunities for some great images.  I’ll throw my camera outside to Tuck but he just rolls his eyes.  I need to teach him how to use the manual settings so he will LIKE taking images.  There is a fun challenge element to manual settings.  You have more artistic control.  Auto settings are just point and shoot and I know Tuck finds that boring.  The challenge will be learning from me.  He’s not a fan from learning from me.. hence the brand new surfboard that has been hanging out in our garage since I was pregnant.
  • More At home lifestyle sessions:  There is nothing like an at home session!  I ADORE these sessions but I hardly ever get the opportunity to do them!  What’s more beautiful and real then documenting your family in your home and special routines that you do as a family.  Think your special pancake breakfast you make with the kids.  Think jumping on the bed in the morning or family movie with popcorn!  They don’t always have to be indoors either.  These sessions are about whatever is special, routine and ritual for YOUR family!  What’s something you love to do with your kids that you have set up as a tradition!  What do your kids love to do right now?   Do they love to ride their bikes in the driveway while you sit in lawn chairs and cheer them on?!  Do they love to jump in the leaf pile you just raked!  These are the memories you will WANT to have.  Do you always walk on the beach on Saturday mornings and collect shells?  Let me capture these moments for you!  Family sessions aren’t always about the polished dressed up images.  They should also be about the every day moments too.  Those are the moments your kids will cherish and share with their children as traditions when they are adults!
  • Continue with Advocare:  I’ll be blogging about this because let’s face it Healthy is awesome!  If you haven’t heard of advocare be ready to read these posts and fall in love!  I’m a pretty healthy person on the outside.  If you look at me or know me on the surface:  I’m healthy!  I teach body flow, I run (even though I hate it) and I work out.  Looking at me you would say I’m pretty healthy and fit.  If you really KNOW me though… I’m a walking disaster!  I have a number of health problems ranging from migraines to anemia and worse!  I might be petite and little but I’m not really healthy!  Advocare is helping me become AMAZINGLY healthy and FEEL AWESOME!  I’m going to start blogging my journey on this incredible product because it’s just phenomenal!  Read my story and find out what this product is doing for me on Monday!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday and an awesome weekend!  Here’s a little bouncing treat from my little man!  He’s a little bit of a bully on that air track!  He loves to bounce so much it’s hard to get him off.  And well… where’s Linc is his favorite game!  Sometimes if I leave the room for a second, he scares me because he hides so well in the couch I really can’t find him!

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Photography is amazing!  I truly feel blessed that I have found this gift and by gift I don’t mean that I have this gift!  I mean that I truly feel blessed to be given this gift of photography!  I feel blessed to be able to meet so many wonderful people and see so many beautiful and raw moments.  I feel blessed that when I say “I’m going to work” I come home with a re-affirmation of how crazy beautiful and adventurous and lovingly messy in all the right ways life can be!

There is one thing about photography that can be tricky… it’s finding a balance not between work and life but between wanting so much for yourself and wanting so much for the others who are also striving to succeed in this wonderfully awesome field!  A wonderfully awesome yet sometimes competitive field!

If you are a competitive person by nature, it can be really tricky to navigate:  sad but true!  One thing about me:  I am a really competitive person!  I’ve always been this way.  I played a lot of sports growing up and I’ve always had a drive that made me want to be the very best at whatever it is I was doing!

I really worried when I started in photography that my competitive nature was going to get the best of me.  How was I going to cultivate positive and true relationships with other photographers if I was competitive?  How would I grow if  we were always going to be working towards the same jobs?

Somehow though… this competitive bug that I have didn’t quite bite the same way as it had before!

Maybe that’s because I had Elizabeth!

I’ve actually known Elizabeth a really really long time!  We grew up together in the same neighborhood.  Her older brother and I went to school together all of our lives actually.  Our parents are still in the same neighborhood and they still talk and catch up in the grocery store!

It wasn’t until I found out Elizabeth was also into photography though that our friendship really grew into what it is today!  This is something I am truly grateful for and thank my lucky stars for every night!

One really important thing people tend to forget about photography when they think about all the things they need or want, is to make sure they have a friend and confident who also is growing right along with you!

This is a tough community!  Art is a tough community because it’s all subjective!  It’s all at your own pace and if you aren’t working at it, it can leave you behind in the dust.  It’s super important to have someone there by your side to push you and keep you motivated!

Elizabeth and I do this for one another!  We have each other’s back no matter what!  This doesn’t mean we are each other cheerleaders ALL the time.  Sometimes we give it to each other pretty straight and pretty bluntly.  It’s the only way to grow!  The difference is, I know she wants to see me succeed and I want to see her succeed!  We push each other  HARD!  We make sure we share our tricks and our tips.  We share our gear and our precious ideas too!

She’s my go to girl when I need someone to bounce an idea off of that I’m just not sure about or I can’t quite get right.

She’s the one person that I know no matter what happens.. she will be there!

She’s there to pick me up when I’m feeling low or having an off day.  She’s there when I’m super excited about something (that no one else will understand!)

We are better together because we are growing together!

So here’s to US today!  We’ve been shooting together for a while now but never really celebrated it!

She’s also doing some really BIG things right now with her business and her branding!  Things I’m super excited about and super proud of her for!!!

So here’s to us and all our crazy shenangians together!!!

Thanks for always being my partner in crime!  Thanks for always having my back YO!

You my girl EB!

Thanks for always being there to remind me how ridiculously goofy I am when I’m shooting!  Also how un-ladylike I am too!

your turn will come my friend!  your turn will come!  I will catch you!!!

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If you don’t know this sweet little lady by now… you should!  If you aren’t already reading this amazing mama’s blog… you should (after this post!)

I’m totally and completely hooked!

Ashley is a fashion marketing teacher here in Virginia Beach and her hubby owns his own welding company!  The two of them along with little Miss Waverly make up the fantastic blog:  Words About Waverly!

I absolutely adore this family!  When I received an e mail from Ashley about a family mini session, I knew there would be more in store for us!  I logged on to her blog and immediately knew it would be on the list of blogs I read while Linc was napping!

Ashley is amazing!  She’s incredibly sweet and fun!  She has the BEST fashion sense (obviously) and her style for Waverly is to die for.  Sometimes I find myself wishing I could swap closets with little miss Waverly Maye!  I mean, come on now that Halloween costume alone… PERFECT~!!!

 

The four of us met at First Landing State Park for some fall family pictures!  We couldn’t have asked for a prettier day and honestly I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing family!

Waverly stole my heart the second she popped out of the car!  She is soo spunky and soo full of sass!  She knows exactly how to strut her stuff at the big old age of two and she totally rocks it out!  Everyone we met along the walk to our first spot was totally taken with her!  Her personality alone is larger than life and just completely melts your heart!

We played lots of games and Waverly was the perfect model!  She was also the perfect mother to her baby doll whom she sat off to the side in the high chair and was quite attentive to the whole time!  Of course, no session would be complete without a few selfies!

Here are a few of my favorite from our time together!

 

 

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