Vacation Check in.....

Helllooo ALL!!! Well it's hard to believe it's been 2 weeks that we've been gone, but it has!!!! It went by super fast, especially with the wedding, but I am ready to get back home and get back to my love of photography, crossing fingers to book some more shoots and just get back to our normal schedules.

Vacation has been wonderful! Full of relaxation (well after I finished the wedding of course! ;)  Speaking of the wedding...I Can. NOT. WAIT. to post all about it and put up some pics from it! I could not have asked for a better 'first' wedding!!!! Simply gorgeous (ok, I may be bias since the bride is my stunning sister, but still!!!) So unique, everything went off without a hitch and my lovely mentor Lisa was my second shooter as well as my voice of encouragement!!!! Thank you from the BOTTOM of my heart Lisa for everything!

So after we get back and settled look forward to a full wedding post!!!! THRILLED with how the photos turned out!  After the wedding hoopla was over we headed up to my parents cabin in upstate NY for straight up, PEACE, QUIET and RELAXATION!!!!  The 'boys' spent their days fishing, the girls went antiquing! Happy and overjoyed that I scored 2 vintage cameras!!! That was pure addiction!! I will DEFINITELY be taking mini me and hitting up the antique shops in good ole Arizona! Enjoyed a much deserved date night with my love which included dinner and a movie!! HEAVEN!!! No sitter, no worries....just a stress free night out....

Hope everyone has a fabulous fourth!!!! Be back next week!!!! XO

One of the gorgeous sunsets we got to enjoy while we were at the cabin!!!

Friday!! I expect so much from you.....

Yep, that's right Friday...I am expecting some ANSWERS today!!! We have been waiting and waiting to see where life is going to take us and I, personally am OVER. THE. WAITING! I am too much of a planner for this little game of unknowns. Hmph!

Answers would make leaving on vacation....sooo much more relaxed! Awww...I can see it now...pure bliss, no worrying, hmmmm how sweet. Oh well, onward and upward.... I am getting completely excited and amped up over my sister's wedding!!! Yesterday I had my phone critique with the Wedding Photographer who I shadowed/second shot with last month. I was a HOT. MESS. waiting for her to call.  Like stomach in knots, tissues ready to cry, sick etc..(you getting the gist) Well I am THRILLED to say holy cow....she said I did a great job on my first wedding and she's using 60 of MY IMAGES....yes, mine!!!! OMG!!! What the?? You could have knocked me over with a feather. I was elated!!! Better yet, she said she has a second shooter she uses regularly and at the last wedding they did together she only used 5 of. her. images.!!!! She said that although that girl is a great photographer, she lacks creativity and catching those 'moments' and that imagine this, I have a good eye!! Ohhh it felt like a weight was lifted off of me. I have so much more to learn but she gave me the encouragement and drive to keep doing what I'm doing. She was so helpful and gave me lots to think about when I'm shooting my sister's wedding. I am so grateful she has been such a sweet heart and so full of knowledge.

So here a couple of my shots from the wedding..... :)     (it feels weird to even say 'my shots from the wedding'...but I can get used to that!!!)

I'm going to be a practicing fool from now until Samantha's wedding...using all of the tips she gave me and trying to remember it all!

I am sooo ready for vacation, can't believe it's FINALLY. ALMOST. HERE.

That's all for this girl today.....have a super fun weekend!!! I'm going to try to post here and there while we're gone, but I can't make any promises....this girl is going to be annoying every family member and friend with her camera, ya know, so that will keep me busy!! ;)  XO

Lakeside Beauties

I had the wonderful privilege of getting to shoot an absolutely GORGEOUS mom and her three kids as a Father's Day gift to her husband.  We met at the lake right before sunset and the setting was perfect!!! This was my first evening shoot at the lake and I have to say it did not disappoint.

Seriously...is that the Mom, or the older sister??

Justice is a year older than my son and just a little character!

Sooo handsome!

Brittany was in Hayley's 5th grade class this past year....

She's just a really sweet girl!

This gorgeous young lady is Mariah...and she is simply EASY to shoot!

She was surprisingly shy...well in front of MY camera anyway...(I did hear that she and her friends have gone to the lake and took TONS of photos of each other for fun!!)

How some women are blessed with a head of GORGEOUS, THICK hair is beyond me and...unfair if I must say so myself!! I LOVE this picture of Mistie...it just captures how naturally beautiful she is.

LOVE!!

These 3 interacted with each other really well...they were definitely fun to shoot!

 Just look at this sibling LOVE...I wonder if it's like this at home...hmmm?? LOL

The sun, the beautiful mom & son....LOVE!!!

We really lucked how with such great sun flare shots!!!

Thank you to the beautiful, sweet Masters family!!! It was a great evening!!! :)

No More Mopey Mondays!!

I haven't done a 'Mopey Monday' for what feels like months! So I thought I would go ahead and spew out 5 things I'm happy about on this NON Mopey Monday!!! :)

1.  Awesome weekend with family and friends....went tooo fast, ate too much, exercised too little but had a great time...and sometimes...you JUST need that!!!

2.  Did my FIRST ever....Boudoir Shoot!!! Yep...you read that right!! A lovely lady wanted to do some shots for her hubby who is deployed to Korea for a year. I have to say, I was pretty nervous and had no - idea - what-so-ever what I was doing, but we pulled it off!! She looked GORGEOUS and we got some beautiful shots!!!

3.  I have another Father's Day gift shoot tonight and then I am done until after vacation. So I will be an editing fool starting Tuesday AM....:)

4.  Hayley and I are getting hair cuts and beautified in preparation of our vacation/sister's wedding! Woo Hoo! Can't even believe it is almost here!!!

5.  Finishing up my photography course ....I will definitely be re-reading thru some of the lessons...life got sooo crazy busy that I definitely fell a little behind but luckily I am able to continue reading lessons and practicing! Have learned soooo much in the 9 weeks that I've been taking it so..yay for that!!! ;)

It's going to be a whirlwind of a week trying to finish editing, doing last minute errands but hopefully I will get on here and post another one of my recent shoots. In the mean time here are 2 of my favorite shots from my Boudoir Shoot today!! Have a great Monday!!! xo

Wowzer....Time to RELAX!!

If you can imagine a happy dance right now...that is what I am doing!!!!! I am finally. COMPLETELY. CAUGHT. UP. ON. MY. EDITING!!!!! The best feeling EVER!!!! It was a lot of long days and nights but sooo worth it to hear all the positive feed back!!!! I got 4 shoots edited and given to my clients this week so I am feeling pretty darn  accomplished.

I don't know if anything could feel better than having your client call you after they see the photos and tell you how absolutely happy they are with them and how they are 'priceless' memories to their family. It makes you feel like you just may be getting better at this! I still am so over the moon grateful to all the families who have let me have the opportunity to shoot their family. I have been so lucky and I couldn't ask for better clients.

Now that I am all done editing, it's going to be a weekend of RELAXING and fun! Family time on Saturday, then Saturday night dinner with super awesome friends and Sunday a COMPLETELY different shoot for me to tackle!!!! It's hard to believe my sister's wedding is in 15 DAYS!!!! What WHAT!!?? The kids are super stoked about seeing Grammy & Pop Pop, I'm ready to see my brothers, sisters, bestie etc.

It's time for me to post some of my shoots that I have been working on this past week. So here's the first one. Our friends that we are going to dinner with tomorrow night, these are their kids. They were having their dance recital and Mom didn't want the typical, in an auditorium, fake back drop, spend a fortune for 5 pics, dance recital pictures. So we headed out to the park one evening and to the desert another and they turned out soooo good!! We could NOT have asked for a better sunset! Just gorgeous.......(warning...PHOTO heavy!!! ;)  It was hard to choose!!! SORRY!

This girl is sooooo STUNNING!!! It's hard to believe she's going into 5th GRADE!!!

 Every time I am with these kids, I'm in awe of the relationship they have. Just sweet sweet siblings....

I'll post a photo from our dinner tomorrow night on Monday....these 2 are mini me's of their Mom & Dad!

 This was for the Hip Hop portion....

 

He was cracking me up!!! He just went with it and posed all on his OWN!!! Love that in a guy!

Have a fabulous weekend of fun and relaxing.....xo

Seriously??!!!....It's time to prioritize....

Ok, really....was my last post almost a WEEK ago!!?? Ugh....I feel like all I have been doing is having my eye balls GLUED to my computer!!!! I have just finished up editing 2 shoots, I have 2 more shoots to edit and 2 more shoots to actually do and then of course I have to edit them.....ALL. BEFORE. NEXT. SUNDAY!!!

Whew...I am more than ecstatic that I have had the opportunities I've been having  :)...I just evidently need to learn to prioritize my time better. I guess it's hard because I want to give every one so many great shots etc that it's all very time consuming and I don't think the average person really understands how LONG it takes to edit photos. I am going to DO better!! Oh, yes I am....I am going to better manage my little self, my little family, this little side gig...I am going to do it, if it kills me.  (umm....I'm thinking it will take me a bit to make this transformation....yep, maybe after vacation!! ....hey at least I'm planning it!)

On a positively HAPPY note....I am completely READY for vacation!!! We got every last thing we needed this week, so that can be checked off!!!  I am getting really excited for my sister's wedding. (got my outfit all completed too!) Yes, I'm going to be busy, but that wedding is going to be a guaranteed BLAST!! I get to see my best friend who I have been friends with since we were 14 years old and who my family just adores. We haven't seen each other for about 2 to 3 years now and we are WAY over due!!!  I have to say I am really looking forward to taking my big girl camera with me on this trip and capturing memories with my brothers, sisters, old friends and family, it will be such a treat! (they will be DONE with me and that camera by the end but it will be WORTH it! Ha!)

Well I really need to get some sleep...Have a great day!!! xo
Here's a sneak peek of a shoot I am editing now...can't wait to get it on the blog....she was a DOLL!!!!

Oh FRIDAY....I'm sooo happy to see you!!!!

Phew...this week has been a whirlwind!!!! I've had 3 photo shoots, a tattoo, a sick little girl, and lots of crap to get done!!! I couldn't be happier with each of my shoots I had this week!!!!!

I'm slowly going to get each of them posted on here. It was such a great experience because each of the shoots was unique and FUN in their own way!!!!! It's so funny because as I'm editing the photos I take, I'm thinking in my head 'Wow, this shot is A-MAZEEEE -ING!!!! This has to be one of my best shoots!!' But really I don't think there is a shoot I've had that has been bad. It's so fulfilling to actually SEE your work getting better, so for me that makes all of the editing, late night hours, and eyes being glazed over by the computer WORTH IT!!!

As for my little sick girl....ugh...she was running a 102 - 103 temp from Sunday thru Wednesday...only to find out that she has Bronchitis....YEP...please don't all rush to give me 'Mother of the Year' award!!! Hold your applause...I already feel like a complete loser!!!! ;(     In my defense, I have been there, done that...where you RUSH them to the dr only. to. find. out........imagine...it's the FLU, nothing we can do, keep giving her fluids...yada yada yada!!! How the heck was I to know that this would not be the FLU!!!???

After getting antibiotics pumped in her yesterday, I headed out for what may have been the 'bravest' thing I have EVER done and will EVER do again!!!! I had this 'braniac' grandiose idea to cover up the dumb a** rose on my ankle that I got when I was 18 years old!!! I had it all planned out...I wanted a vintage locket with our anniversary date and the kids birth dates. Sounds easy enough, right!?

3 HOURS of bone chilling PAIN!!! (and I can say bone chilling because DAMN it, that's ALL I'm full of and that was quite apparent yesterday....BONE BONE and more BONE!!!!) I will say I love it, but I won't say that I would be one of those NUT jobs to get another one!!! This is not like labor where you forget the pain and go for round 2! Hell to the NOOOOOOO!!!!!

It's still healing but I know when the pain has subsided and the swelling and red go away I will be a new improved HAPPY girl!!!!!!

 Travis - The Tattoo Artist

 I think this was glass number 2!!!! ;)

 He's cracking up, because I was in a TON of pain, but still managed to grab my camera and snap pics!!!

 The Finished product!!! I heart this!!!!

I survived, but man do I look like hell compared to the beginning when I first got there!! LOL

I hope everyone has a Fabulous Friday and an awesome weekend!!!!! (Another shoot this Sunday!!! Wooo HOO!!!)