Snow, Snow, Snow... and more Snow!

So I keep waking up saying, "Today I'm going to blog.  Today, I'm going to blog"... and I have an engagement session that I haven't blogged yet, but I wanted to get these out before the snow melted.

Ryan and I don't have kids... yet.  But we love taking our 70lb Golden Retriever, Ginger, out in the snow and letting her romp and play until she passes out on the living room floor...  Here are some of our exploits from this morning...

Some of the wonderful scenery...

 

And here are the two furry playmates that we found along the way...

Coco

And Molly...

Have fun and stay safe everyone!

Crystal & Ian Engaged!

I had the wonderful pleasure of being able to shoot Crystal & Ian a few weeks ago for their engagement! Thanks to my wonderful second shooter, Dawn Roof, the day went off without a hitch! These two were such a pleasure to be with and so cute with each other! We started the day out at her parents house and ended in downtown Monroe. I couldn't believe that we took Ian's truck thru the field to get to the pond! I cannot wait to see these guys walk down the isle in November.

Here are a few of my favorites...

Congrats Mark & Uconda!

Okay... so I've been a bad little blogger... It's been almost a month to the day since I've blogged and kept all my loyal follwers up to date on the minute by minute happenings of this crazy photography world I'm in... I was shooting like crazy, and then went on vacation... and then by some random act of God my website ended up on the front page of Google and inquiries started pouring in like mad! So over the next few days get ready for some amazing posts people, because I've been wedding crazy and you deserve to see these pics!

Mark & Uconda (affectionately known from here on out as Marky-Mark & U) were definitely some of my favorite clients. They are fun, spontaneous... and had the most random reception I have ever attended! They were married at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC and had their FIRST reception at the church... their second reception was held by Luxury Yacht Charters with the beautiful Lake Norman sunset as their backdrop... Did I mention the Blackjack and Texas Hold Em tables?? Here are some of my favorite photos from the day!

Love this shot!!

Singing in the Rain...

So my wonderful Aunt Suzie had her rehearsal dinner on Friday night... and on the way back from the rehearsal at the church... the downpour ensued. My mother had worked for 2 days to set up for the dinner, and when we reached the place where the dinner was set up - all the linens, china, silverware and wine goblets were drenched...

The soaking wet shoes by the door...

These are not floating candles...

My mother was so exhausted that she had no energy left... So my sister Beth and I checked the radar and realized it was going to stop raining in 10 minutes, so we rallied the troops. My sister, other sister, other sister's boyfriend, friend 1, friend 2, friend 3 and friend 4 all armed ourselves with towels and headed outside. We peeled off the linens, went out for nice plastic wear, dried the chairs and lit the fire...

Beth and I were singing "The Ants Went Marching 1 by 1 horrah!" while we were tossing water off plates and drying everything off... it was fabulous. The motto of the night was "We'll make it work." And you know what... we did! And it had to have been the most adventureous, fun, love filled rehearsal dinner that I've been to in a long time.

Here are the last of the pics of people enjoying the deck after the rain...

Lost & Found

So my husband and I both have this bad habit of putting important things down and then not remembering where we put them... like phones, keys, credit cards and this past week's saga... my husband's jump drive.

Let me give you some back story... the hubby keeps our LIFE on that little white piece of plastic and hardware. We're talking our budget, miscellaneous work nuances, resumes and our billpay schedule - which means we got paid Friday (10 days ago) and couldn't pay our bills because we stopped our paper statments and didn't know what was due... talk about stressful!

So we know that it went missing sometime last Sunday night, and I thought I had heard the dog chewing on something plastic that same night... so we're talking a week of following the dog around everytime she went outside while Ryan was in Virginia, and I was secretly tearing the house apart looking for the darn thing... only to have him come home, slip into the shorts he was wearing that night and discover the drive... in his pocket.

Mark & Uconda Engagement

Mark and Uconda have a love for all things UNC... and not just because it's March Madness... it's where they met. And after 14 years of mishaps, heartbreak and missed moments they are finally getting married in May. All three of us traveled up to UNC Chapel Hill yesterday for their engagement session... talk about fun! If their engagement session was this enjoyable I cannot wait until their wedding! Here are a few of my fave's from the campus...

Time to Relax? Not yet.

Whew! I am so tired.

I don't think I've ever felt this tired in my entire life. There are so many things to do... renovating my studio (which has meant more location shots), preparing for the weekend in Greensboro, going up to Asheville tonight... I just need a night where I can sit in my tub for an hour, read my cosmo and relax... but that doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime before... Sunday.

Not that I'm complaining... I love my life right now... I just wish I had time to slow down and enjoy it! And over the next 3 months I have engagement shots at the Biltmore, a wedding in Blowing Rock and 2 bridal shows... *sigh again.* But hence is the business of starting to finally get into marketing... maybe I should hire someone to do that for me? Nah...

On a side note... I love my friends and family! Thank you guys so much for your support, love and ability to pick up the phone just to hear me vent for a half hour... I know you have caller ID... thanks for picking up anyway. I need you in my life, and I wish I could just give all of you a giant hug. Thank you, thank you, thank you.