Shiny and new:

New blog... go check it out here and update you bookmarks! 

Side note: Today is my husbands birthday so I won't be doing any new posts on the blog until tomorrow...  

busy

Just a note to promise I'm not dead. And new posts will be coming very very soon. ;)

I'm in the process of catching up on all of my editing and redoing my image, branding, blog and {soon} my website... so yeaaaaa. Very soon there will be a whole new site to bookmark and big, glorious pictures to marvel at! ;) 

..... ramblings.....

A sign I saw today at the store:

"Do something you love every single day."

It made me heart smile. So simple and somehow so revolutionary.

So, today I will do two things I love. Just to catch up. ;)

~ 1. Eat a very large, very naughty, bowl of ice cream. With brownies and hot fudge.
~2. Make out with my husband ;)

Giraffes do exist!

Rewind five years ago. Our buddy Erik was planning on moving to Mexico to work at a orphanage in a few months, but since the orphanage wasn't fully ready for kids Ryan {boyfriend then} Sarah {my bestest} Erik and me would make the 4 hours journey every week to work on getting things ready. We scrubbed and painted, the boys tiled and put up walls.. and then in the evenings we would steal away for roadside tacos or if we were feeling rich, twelve dollar lobsters. It was a great summer. The worst part of the trips ( or best part, now looking back) was that Erik's car had no radio. No, I don't mean no cd player, like literally the radio had been ripped out. And so, we four were forced to talk for hours on end. We would fight and argue, sing crazy annoying songs and laugh over jokes. All in all, we had a great time making noise to fill the silence.

One particular day we'd run out of things to talk about and Sarah decides to play the Alphabet game. What?! Short synopsis: "A for Antelope" next person "B for bear" "C-" you get the idea.... {And she wondered why we weren't eager to jump in. } So she's playing all by herself because the boys were in a mood and I was busy laughing at her. She was having a grand old time. And she gets to G.

"G for giraffe"

and I still don't know why but I thought it'd be funny "What did you say?"

"G for giraffe" she says, laughing.

"Sarah, giraffes aren't real" I say glancing up and meeting the boys eyes in the review mirror.

They caught on. "Are you serious? Oh my gosh Sarah!"

She's obviously flustered and I'm dying laughing, because honestly, she believed anything back then. "Oh so I suppose you thought unicorns were real too? " I press " Have you ever seen a giraffe?"

She's shaking her head, bright red and completely embarrassed.

This torture went on for at least twenty minutes. Maybe longer. We three had my Sarah convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt, that giraffes were make believe. It took another good half hour to convince her we were kidding...

and the story is legendary. I use it whenever I need to prove how blond Sarah can be. Or just for a good laugh...

that's why when Sarah called me and told me about this shirt I almost had a heart attack. I mean, what are the odds that somewhere, someone else was convinced that giraffes were pretend?

Daniel and Lydia I July 25, 200

{Sit back, grab a cup of coffee and put your feet up. This is a long one... ;) }

The weather was perfectly fitted for a lazy summer day, but the day was anything but lazy. From the early morning hours Lydia's friends and family worked to make her ceremony the black, cream and red vision she'd dreamed of for years. And it was well worth the work.

When Lydia and her father came though the old oak doors of the church, the stained glass windows illuminated the beaming bride. The congregation stood, holding candles as she came down the aisle to the wedding march played by a gorgeous and rare 18th century Organ.
Classic, yes. But traditional? No. Just sheer perfection.

Sneak peek...

Lydia and Daniel got married two weeks ago in Portland and since I know shes dying to see a picture.. here's a sneak peek from their day after session...

Traveling...

Just wanted to let ya'll know that I am still here I just don't have internet access so it may be awhile before I post again. Ryan and Me spent the last week and a half in Seattle, Portland and Colorado and now I'm in Virginia shooting another wedding. ( and catching up with high school friends) I will be home in a week and then there will be millions of hotness to blog so pllllleasse don't forget me. And until then, I'll be updating my twitter. ;)  

Wedding : Tiffany & Alex

*This wedding I was once again second shooting for the fabulous Shyla. ( who ps is nominated for Blu girl of the year pretty please vote for her!)*

Tiffany and Alex met when they were camp counselors one summer. It wasn't long before the attraction was evident for all to notice. As Tiffany's maid of honor said in her speech "we knew Alex was special from the moment we met him, but we knew he was for keeps when he would sit through 27 pictures to get one 'good' one."

Tiffany's love for pictures extended into her choice of photographers. She knew she had to have the best and thats why she searched until she found the perfect one. She took her choice to her dad telling him that pictures were going to last and she just had to have Shyla. Little did she know that her Dad had actually been Shyla's mentor in college. Small small world we live in.





This is during the 27 pictures speech...



After the dinner and dancing had started we stole the couple away to a made-in-heaven field that was caked with golden light... yum. {I truly do have a love affair with dusk... }

And you think I'm kidding...

But I'm not. Tomorrow is July 11 and on this day 7-11 (the store) gives away free slurpees all day long. No, I'm not even kidding.

Two years ago after discovering this phenomena Ry and I hit up as many 7-11's as we could find.... this year I'm thinking of going all ninja with wigs and outfit changes in the car. We need some type of disguise that will get us more then the one drink per person. Hey, some slurpees don't last all the way to the next store. ;) You can call me crazy. I call it one of the best days of the year.

See~ some of the best things in life are free. ;)

E session I Ariana & Dany

Ariana and Dany knew each other in high school but it wasn't until years later when they started to notice the little things about each other that were special...

She watches his every move with adoration. Doe eyed and enthralled. And Dany, well he's definitely smitten. Randomly throughout the day he grabs her hand and kisses it as a simple reminder to Ariana how lucky he feels to belong to her. They are a gorgeous couple full of life and laughter. A pleasure to be around and completly, utterly, head over heels for each other...















*Note: This is one of the engagement sessions that Shyla gets all the credit for. She's shooting their wedding in september but she let me tag along for fun. Make sure you check out her blog for all the hotness...*

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July! One of my favorite-st days in the year. I hope with all my heart that everyone of you be able to enjoy the simple things that makes the 4th of July so amazing.. bbqs and pool partys, fireworks and friends. I for one have to work tonight ( booo) but I had a festive breakfast with Joel and Emily of waffles, blueberry's, strawberrys and whip cream. All in the name of being patriotic. ;)

Thank you to all the soldiers who make independence day a reality. And to their family's who miss them.

And last, but not least, Happy birthday to my dearest friend. I love you Sarah Gentry.

Family

We'd been wanting to see the Quiz side of the family for a few months and finally got a few days off last week. So we hopped a plane to WY for some good food and family time. ( and in case anyone missed it my husband has 12 kids in his family. 6 of who still live at home.)

I'm so far behind blogging and trying to catch up, thus,

THE Highlights:

Bags lost there

Bags lost on the way back

Yellowstone park

- chased a moose through a swamp with Steven and Ry trying to get a good picture.. Note the trying.

- Bought a 10 lb bag of hot tamales' for the trip. And jellybellys. And sour patch kids and hoho's and chips ahoy cookies and cream soda and chips... and yea. No judgment. First of all, I didn't do the buying. Second, we took carrots too. And third, when your in a car for 12 hours searching for wildlife, what else are you going to do? We seriously had so much junk food that all 10 of us ate the entire time and we still had loads of candy and cookies left over... ummm, yea.

- saw a mom bear and her 2 cubs. ( and I won the slap bet! woot!)

- saw bubbling paint? It was pretty cool. Very land before time-ish.

- had old faithful spray us when it shot up. yes, I have tasted a national landmark. ;)

- Got reallllly close to a buffalo. ( Did I mention you're supposed to stay 45 feet away? We're rebels us Quiz's. )

- And last but not least played the story game. You know, where one person starts, and then the next person adds a sentence. Well, I was feeling all wilderness- y and envisioned a hunting story so I start.

"I always wanted to buy a gun"

Ryan "and so I did."

April "and I shot my sister." (what the-? )

Josh "and that's why I'm in a maximum security prison." (getting darker by the second)

Mom Quiz " I'm not supposed to squirt my sister with a water-gun and so thats why I'm grounded to my bedroom thats like a prison. "

We all died laughing. Leave it to a mom to change the story to being happy and G rated. Unfortunately, Stevie was next and the sister died again...

The time was short, but sweet.

And these are a few pictures from our first evening there. I went outside to try and catch the sunset and take a few photo's of Rebekah's tree and ended up rolling around laughing in the dewy grass with Anna, April and Ruth. And for just a second.. I was little again...

Seriously.

Random, I know, but I had to share...

I 2nd shot a wedding today and it was so hot in palm desert that I burned  through my shirt. {And we were outside for all of 15 minutes} 

Is that even possible? 

As Shyla said last week, hells {most definitely} cooler.   

Side note: I will be posting lots of pictures in the very near future!~ 

Happy Saturday! 

Shyla

So I'm going to brag now... My buddy shyla is in town from Boston and I get to tag along with her all weekend long , because miraculously I have today and tomorrow off .

I'm super excited to be able to just sit and watch her with clients. Although I've worked with her before it's been over a year and back then I was more concerned on getting my manual settings right during the wedding then actually sitting back and just learning from her. So, I'm stoked to be able to watch someone hot rock not just one, but 3 sessions .

Yesterday we had the most gorgeous couple for engagement pictures. And oh the pictures and the Shyla light! Amazing. you have to check out her blog in the next few weeks for images from the shoot. HOT. I'll post some pictures in the next week or so once she has hers up.. but for now.. I leave you with these pictures of us..

and keep in mind that it was 1 in the morning at a grand celebration/reception party that started wayyyyy earlier... after 2 apple martini's {which is 2 too many } ;)

Too hot to think

So. incredibly.  hot.  

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago I was saying that I wanted it to be hot enough for shorts? Well, now its hot enough to fry a egg outside. {hmm.. I should test this theory}  And I wish it were cooler. Fall perhaps. Maybe even snowing a bit.   

 I finally convinced Ry to let me turn the air on yesterday. If anytime to turn on the air 103 is a good time. So now its hotter outside then inside by about ten degrees. Our little wall unit is trying his hardest and I really and truly appreciate all his hard work, but seriously, I would do almost anything for a good dip in a pool or some central air about now. Good thing: our freezer is full of ice cream. Bad thing: its rapidly disappearing. {And I'm the only one home. }  

Yes, I went there.

So today in San dimas its is 103 outside. 103. Hot enough to fry a egg on the sidewalk. At least thats what the people say. And I've always pondered it as a kid. "could you really fry a egg?" so, today, bored as I am I decided to try it.... its a myth... 

The Newlyweds I June 7, 2008

He spent fifteen hours making her a scrapbook for her birthday. Pictures of their past adorned the pages~ the outreach they did in Mexico. The road trip to Washington state. The murder mystery dinner theater. Their first kiss. He made sure to make a page dedicated to her birthday too, symbolized the present. And in the very back was a envelope all folded up. When Kim opened it she saw a picture of a ring, and "future?" scrawled next to it. Appropriately, Tom had bought her a three diamond ring. And the rest they say, is history...

I got to document one of the most important days of their present last Saturday. It was a beautiful wedding and I'm so lucky to have been apart of it. Thank you Tom and Kim for allowing me such a honor.



I just adore this picture! Something about it just makes me smile..












Ryan all the credit for the walking out picture~ super hot.

Teaser Teaser.

Its like a movie preview.. just a glimpse and your hooked.

more to come very, very soon. promise. But right now, it's girls night and I'm off to be finalllllly "carried away" and eat lots and lots of buttery popcorn. Yey!