last evening, i photographed an engagement session with an absolutely beautiful couple, andrea and dan. they are so in love and so photogenic! just look at how adorable they are!

they met while andrea was doing a work/study program for restaurant management in england. she was a student. he was the chef. it was love at first site for dan and eventually, he won over andrea’s heart and they fell in love.

it was on a flight to greece, with a bit of help from the flight crew and pilot, that dan proposed. about one hour into the flight, they were engaged. the entire airplane cheered for their happiness. they will be married this september. i am looking so forward to photographing their special day!

cheers,

seven years ago today, i looked like this. i was as big as a house and i was so ready to give birth. (warning on next two photos: bad image quality, they are scanned)

about 4 hours later, our son was born, weighing in at 9 lbs 15 oz.

it was a day that brought so much joy and happiness to our lives. it was a day that changed me forever. i was now a mom of two beautiful, healthy and happy children.

happy birthday tyler! you are everything i have ever dreamed a son would be. you are smart and witty. you are a joker at the best of times but you are also serious about many things too. you are caring and soft-hearted and not afraid to wear your heart on your sleeve. you are rough and rugged, with lots of scars and scraps with bandaids to prove it. you know what you like and what you don’t and when you’re not sure, you’re always so willing to try new things too. i love that about you. you can be quick tempered but calm down easily. you have the BEST belly-laugh ever! you love to read. you love to be tickled. you love to ride your bike and you love candy…. a little bit too much, i’m afraid! you know how to save money and i hope you always keep that quality! you are a total cuddler and i love that you still want me to snuggle with you every night at bed time.

you are all of these things and more! but best of all, you are my son and i love you with all of my heart!

happy 7th birthday buddy!

love and hugs,

Mom xxoo

see where she’s jumping? do you know where that is?

that’s where my studio room in our new house will be located!

we started clearing the lot this week and things are starting to roll now. i’m getting excited!

have a great weekend!

lilies, especially calla lilies are one of my most favorite flowers. a colleague at work shared her plant with me almost two years ago. it didn’t look very good last summer and i wasn’t sure it was going to survive.

until now! it finally flowered this year. three of them.

simple, elegant, feminine, and pure! and absolutely beautiful!

enjoy,

last fall, i went to arizona for a flash photography workshop hosted by wendy. (see the slideshow in my sidebar) when i returned home, i played a bit with my flash, mostly practicing with bouncing it indoors to supplement the available light when it just wasn’t quite enough on it’s own. at the workshop, wendy taught us several different techniques for using flash. the one i was most intrigued with was using my flash for sunset portraits. i love the look of this type of lighting.

luckily for me, emily was eager to earn a few dollars over the weekend and she agreed to be my model for a quick ’session’ in the driveway. so, outside we went, with camera, flash, wireless triggers and umbrella, to get these fun shots. i’m sure the neighbors probably thought we were crazy! emily was so full of spunk and attitude! i loved working with her! we had so much fun and i can’t wait to do it again. but next time, i want to go try it at the ocean!

note: these are all sooc. only sized for web and sharpened. {warning: photo overload}

thanks for looking! happy wednesday!