Spinning...

Wow! After that little blog marathon of all the catching up from last weekend, things started to slow down a bit which is so GREAT! I love it when you still feel super busy so your mind is still running and coming up with ideas but you can actually just sit back and think and pray about them too!
I'm so excited about the next couple months and even though they are going to be crazy busy, I feel like it's going to be the next stage in becoming who God has called me to be! I almost feel like my head is spinning right now with everything that I want to do, but I have to make sure I take those little baby steps and start moving forward rather than biting it all off at the same time and getting overwhelmed!
It's also so important to surround yourself with people who will always challenge you to go farther and higher than you ever thought you could go! I am so blessed to be surrounded with people like that all the time, it's one of the most valuable things in my life! Find some people who will kick your butt into action and run with them it will take you to the next level. I hope you all are having an amazing life so far and dreaming extra big because even that's not big enough!!
PS. The picture above I thought was so awesome I grabbed it off my friend DJ's(one of my friend's who challenges me!) blog from our awesome breakfast yesterday with my dad and friend Brett at the top of the Hancock building! AMAZING!!

The best blog post ever!

Well...at least close to it! haha! I did an engagement session with Jeff and Rebecca last week and they are big blog readers and couldn't wait to see what their blog post would look like so of course I said it would be the best blog post ever!! lol!
I am so extremely excited to shoot Jeff and Rebecca's wedding because if it's even just a little bit like what the engagement shoot was like then it will be the most fun ever! :) The two of them are absolutely adorable and so fun to be around! I was laughing almost the whole time or saying "awww"! I couldn't help it! They are so perfect for each other and totally complete each other! I'm counting down the days until the wedding! Check out their extra fun shoot!!

And now...the moment you've all been waiting for!

It's the REAL Barlowgirl post! haha! I've been waiting for months and months to post this slideshow but had to wait until the CD release of the new album! So after months of these pictures being under lock and key you can finally see them! :)
But first to build up the anticipation(although I know you can just skip all this and watch the slideshow...lol). We'll start with the girls latest CD that was released on Tuesday. Number one it is beyond incredible. Number two go out and buy it right NOW...ok you can watch the slideshow THEN go buy it!! It will change your life! It's definitely one of the most controversial albums I've heard but they get the point across with boldness and it's just awesome to listen to too!!

A couple of my pictures did get into the album artwork which I'm excited about..and this time I actually got a little photo credit too which is always sweet! hahaha!
Here are some pictures of the new album and the two pictures I took:) (sorry I cut off this first one..)I was so honored to second shoot with the amazing Jeremy Cowart on this shoot it was one of my smaller life goals! :)



Drum roll please.............


Goodnight Chicago!!
LOL

Like Christmas!

I love those type of days where just everything seems to go right and you don't have a care in the world! Yesterday was definitely one of those days:) I think starting the day off with my trainer definitely helped get the day off on a right foot!(although I'm majorly feeling it now! lol!)
It totally felt like Christmas though with so many fun things going on and...I got my new Shootsac in the mail! The Shootsac is a camera bag that my friend Jessica Claire designed that I'm already in love with!! It's so adorable and very functional so I don't have to carry around a flimsy little side bag anymore! I get to use this stylish bag! I think she should start designing purses too, don't you think?? I was wanting to wear this to the store!! haha!

If I thought the day couldn't get any better I also got in the mail the new Chicago edition of Brides magazine that my work is featured in!! I'm so excited! Jenifer and Pete totally deserved this with the incredible wedding they had!! Here is their **slideshow** if you haven't checked that out! I was totally surprised when I got this offer from Cristina Lozito from Brides and even more excited when they actually accepted it!
It was funny because a ton of things like this happened right after I took this retreat away several months ago and everything started falling into place! God is so amazing when we set aside time for him he honors and loves it!!

Oh yeah...

After the wedding on Sunday we all headed downtown Chicago for some fun times!
We wanted to show Josh, Lyn, and Sarah Chellappa's friend Amaryah, Chicago since they hadn't been here before! It's always so much fun to take people of tours of the city! We walked around for awhile, then tried to find a fun restaurant to take them to. We tried the 95th floor of the Hancock building but I don't think they liked us because we weren't dressed very formal! haha!
We headed to Maggiano's for some AMAZING Italian food! I love that place! We also decided to celebrate Sarah's birthday which is coming up tomorrow! We had the most fun we've had in awhile! Thank God we are not old enough to drink because we already act crazy enough without it! Although it seemed like someone spiked our drinks;) lol! Here are some pics! :)

Sarah joining in on the dance party out in some random parking lot...

One of the more tame pictures in front of the Apple store! lol

The beautiful Sarah!! We surprised her with a Tiramisu birthday cake!

The extremely sad balloons that I found tied up outside of the restaurant that I decide to give Sarah as a gift! I'm sooo generous!

The love of my life! LOL

Our crazy group!!!

We had such an amazing time!! I think I need to do this more often!! We only live this life once you know!! :)

Ignite Chicago!

Well I have about 4 blog posts from this weekend so this will be the first! I'm finally trying to get caught up with everything! It's been a seriously awesome week though! And today topped it off with going to meet with my personal trainer for the first time! Let me tell you..she kicked my BUTT!! Oh man..I though I was going to die! lol! But she did say that I'm strong like a really good athlete so I'm excited about that...but after she said that she made my work out so much harder! lol!
Anyways, we all went to Ignite Chicago on Saturday. It was a big festival with a bunch of different bands including my cousins, Barlowgirl. They did wonderful! There was a little delay at the beginning with the soundboard messing up so Beka Hardt had to entertain the crowd which was amazing! It's at the beginning of the slideshow!
Check it out! Also, there's some pictures of Rebecca St. James at the end! She's AMAZING too!!

The REAL Barlowgirl post is coming up soon!! Can't wait!

Dream wedding!

Ahhh....what a weekend!
Yesterday, I shot one of the most incredible weddings I've been too! It was like a beautiful dream! The weather was beyond perfect, the location of the wedding(The Narnia Estate) I could shoot at for every wedding and not get tired of it, and the bride and groom Abby and Ben. The two met in high school, went to college together and fell in love along the way. They complement each other so perfectly in every way! It's amazing! One of my favorite things about the wedding and Abby and Ben was that the whole thing was so musical! It reminded me of my families weddings! So many people sang including Abby and Ben who sang two songs to each other! It was perfect!
Here is the slide show with their theme song....

Another thing that made this wedding even more incredible, if that was possible, was that I basically had my dream team along! I only recommend people if they are someone I would use for my wedding, so being pretty picky..I only recommend two vendors on my site. My friend Christine Stahl for makeup and hair and Josh Smith doing videography(and his AWESOME assistant Lyn). My bride was so smart and hired both of them!! It was amazing to work with them at the same time and they did an incredible job! I love it!! Also, my amazing friend Sarah Chellappa came for her first wedding to learn and the famous Jake Preedin came along to assist! You guys are the best!
Have an amazing night you all!!

Pampered.

Wow! I feel really loved! This has seriously been a birthday week with about 3 different celebrations! :) It's been such a blast getting together with a ton of the people I love! Last night we finished off the week with getting together with my cousins! My sister asked what I wanted to do for my birthday and who I wanted to get together and I thought if I could get together with anyone it would be my cousins. I love them so much and they are some of the best friends I have. We went out for Sushi at this AMAZING place called Ju Rins. Afterwards we all went to get pedicures and paraffin! I had never had paraffin. One word. HEAVEN. We had a sleepover then this morning my cousin Lauren, Natalie, and I headed to the gym to work off the sweets we had last night and I signed up for a personal trainer! Lauren had been telling me about it so I broke down and got one too! I'm sooooo excited! Slapping this body into shape!
The AMAZING underwater camera that my friend(and basically cousin) Beka Hardt gave me! I can't wait to use it!! LOL
Beka pretending she is stealing nail polish. She is THE funniest person I have ever met...good thing I'm not old and have a small bladder..enough said..lol.
The lady doing my nails disappeared so Beka decided to take on the job!



Our beautiful end result that we DID walk proudly through Target in! haha!
Thank you all for making this a wonderful birth...day...um week!

Abby & Ben!!

Last night I did an amazing engagement shoot with Abby & Ben! I had so much fun with these two! They are so adorable and SUPER sweet!! We actually ended up doing a night shoot which I hadn't done for an engagement shoot before but after doing it I think I'm hooked! It was so much fun and sooo gorgeous! We shot downtown St. Charles which I could basically shoot there all day! There are so many place to take pictures! I love it! I'm so excited for Abby and Ben's wedding this Sunday, which the AMAZING Josh Smith will be videoing too! Should be a blast!! Here is the slideshow!!

The O's

My adorable sister Olivia's birthday was yesterday! She turned 4 years old and I still remember like it was yesterday the day she was born! Craziness! She is such an amazing blessing to our whole family and makes us laugh all the time! Plus, she is ALL girl. She said that she wanted clothes for her birthdy! haha! We're training her up right! I took her to Panera for lunch yesterday for a Sarah - Oli date! We talked about what we want to be when we grow up and ice skating. She wants to be a mommy, ice skater, teacher, and doctor! I love it!
She wanted to wear part of her new flapper dressup outfit to Panera which was just so cute!
We had a little party in the afternoon out by the beach at my cousins which is all she wanted to do for her birthday! We had such a great relaxing time as always! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY O!! :)

Amazing birthday weekend!!

Yeah!! I'm actually NOT a teenager anymore! I definitely feel old now;) lol!
Saturday was my 20th birthday and we had such an amazing time! I fully enjoyed THE whole day from midnight to midnight(with a little sleep in between;) We started the day by watching my one of my favorite movies, Flyboys, amazing btw! For lunch the whole family went out for Thai food at my favorite Thai place ever(My all time favorite Greek place closed down so I had to settle for my second favorite...haha!) Afterwards we headed to the mall where my parents bought me...drum roll please...dishes!! :) lol! Yes, I am officially old now asking for dishes for my birthday! They are the cutest Italian dishes ever from Crate and Barrel and they were just discontinuing them so I HAD to have them! :) They're AMAZING, I can't wait to use them!
We then headed to the gorgeous Morton Arboretum to just relax and chill by the lake! I love just laying in the grass and looking up at the sky! I could do it all day. Afterwards Andrew, Natalie, and I headed out to get a GPS system for my car! Last week when I was in Nashville DJ had a GPS for the rental car and we ALWAYS knew where we were going so after that I was hooked especially since I get lost at almost every wedding! lol! Then we ended the night with Sushi and walking around the lake testing the new Nike + systems that my brother bought for him and I! Soooo sweet!
Yesterday my sister through together a little dinner with a couple of my closer friends at The Cheesecake Factory! Total HEAVEN! I'm absolutely so blessed by the friends God has put into my life! I have the most amazing time with all of them and laugh non stop! Here is a little slideshow from the weekend...crazzzy pictures at the end when we were high on cheesecake! lol! I love you all!

777 Wedding!

Yeah! Finally getting caught up on some things! :)
The wedding I helped shoot in Nashville last week with DJ and Krystal Mann was so much fun!
The couple Beth and Curt were absolutely adorable and during the ceremony I almost choked up a couple times at how they would look at each other! Sooo adorable! They are super genuine people and I seriously loved getting to know them and be a part of their wedding! They had their reception at the very cool Rocketown downtown Nashville. It's a kind of hangout/skate park for teens and college students so it was very hip! To top it off they catered in Baja Burrito and a place like Coldstone creamery! Soooo good! Here is the slideshow! They had some of the most adorable kids at the wedding and I couldn't help but shoot them a ton!! :) Enjoy!

Finally!!

My cousins were finally featured on the cover of the huge christian music magazine CCM!! I'm so proud of them!! It's a wonderful article about there lives recently and what God's been working in them! It is AMAZING what he's done through them in such a short amount of time! If you have a Christian bookstore around you I HIGHLY recommend to pick up this magazine! Super exciting too is that two of my pictures made it in here!! The two black and white ones!! I can't wait till their cd release on July 24th when I can show you the whole slideshow from the shoot!!!
In other news..my AMAZING friend/studio manager Sarah just became an intern today too!! She got a brand new 30d and is going to start tagging along to some weddings with me to learn photography! I knew that she would get sucked in!! I'm so incredibly excited for her!


I love you all so much!! The slideshow is coming soon from 7/7/07!! :)

Back to the grind...

I got back from Nashville last night after driving our new van home with my dad all day yesterday! It's such an easy drive and so gorgeous all the way up!
The whole time in Tennessee was really so wonderful! I got so rested and met with some amazing people! The main reason I was down there was to shoot a wedding with DJ and it went so great! I'll post more about that tonight or tomorrow as I'm trying to get caught up after several days without internet! haha! I'm not sure how I survived! ;)
To keep you entertained until then here is video of a crazy site we saw on the way to the wedding!!

Early birthday!

Yesterday morning we headed back to Nashville to meet up with some guys from the music industry. It was such a great afternoon and I really learned alot! I'm so fascinated with the whole music industry so really learning more about it is so fun!
Last night we headed over to my aunt Wendy's house for dinner! I absolutely LOVE my family! They are just so amazing! Whenever I get together with my aunt's Wendy and Janet it's like we are cousins! It's so fun! We had a super late dinner out on my aunt's porch, the food was out of this world and with candles and lights everywhere it was like a dream! Afterwards, they had a mini birthday celebration for me complete with homemade ice cream! YUM! My adorable cousin Keeley even re-taught me how to hula-hoop, I'm actually not that bad!;) haha! Relationships really mean the world to me and I'm so blessed to have some of the most amazing people to have relationships with! I love you all!
PS: the top picture is of my aunt Janet and I:)
PSS: DJ put up a hilarious video from the 4th check it out!

Happy 4th of July....still in some parts of the world!

What a day! I'm really falling more and more in love with Tennessee every day that I'm here! Yesterday, I met up with my friends DJ and Nathan and Amber Holritz. We went downtown Nashville for Sushi then started heading to Chattanooga for the 4th to hang out with my aunt and see the gorgeous house she just built! Well I DEFINITELY wasn't disappointed to say the least! This house is just a couple hundred feet from the lake and when I wake up in the morning all I see is water! It's AMAZING and I don't want to leave! haha! Anyways..on the way to Chattanooga we stopped for gas but the only place we could find was waaaaaay out in the country! As we were pulling up we found out that it was literally grand central station! Check out the video here! Toooo funny!(for some reason it's not letting me embed it so just click on the link and I'll try to fix it in the morning:)
This morning started with just heading out and sitting by the lake
and paparazzi shooting a tiny wedding they were having over on the dock next to us(just couldn't help it!)!Then this afternoon we went jet skiing I got to drive for the first time which was such a blast!! I totally want to get a jet ski sometime in my life:) Hopefully I'll have a video from that soon!

(Me and Addison, Nathan and Amber's adorable little daughter! I just love her so much!)
We just chilled by the lake all afternoon and by the pool tonight then headed to the fireworks which we watched from this really tall hill, and looking out over a valley! So gorgeous! I'm soooooo blessed with the AMAZING friends and family I have! I love you all!
PS...this last picture is of tonight from my bedroom window of the moon and reflection..it does the view NO JUSTICE but just imagine how pretty it is;) haha!

Julie and JB!

Ok...I have to catch up on my blogging! haha!
Everything with my job is a small world because I really only get my jobs from personal referrals which makes everything so much more interesting too!
Julie was at a wedding that I shot back in January which is where she found out about me and JB was a groomsman in a wedding that I shot last year! Too funny! Anyways, I did their engagement session last Sunday right after Jasmine and Warren's shoot. We headed up to Julie's grandmother's house in Indiana right on Lake Michigan! It was SUCH a gorgeous place to shoot plus Julie and JB are just so fun! I was laughing most of the time! I love it!! They actually met in grade school which I think is so absolutely adorable! It's so funny to because I've had alot of couples with the same story recently! So cute! I can't wait to shoot their wedding in August!! Here is the slideshow! :)

Nashville!

Yay! I finally found my second home, Panera, for some internet! I made it out to Nashville yesterday afternoon. I LOVE it here so much and am definitely wanting to buy a place out here..not to live full time but just whenever I want... My amazing friend Brianna came and picked me up from the airport and we headed straight out for some site seeing and shopping! Brianna is someone that I could definitely say is a "kindred spirit" we can just talk and talk for hours about everything, and laughing most of the time! It's just so great! I'm so blessed by her! I took her yesterday to my favorite place in all Tennessee called Natchez trace. It's a long parkway that connects about 3 states. Anyways, it has a gorgeous REALLY high bridge that I love to just walk across and look out over the valley! It's so breathtaking!
She also took me to basically heaven, it's this place called West Haven. Really it's just a neighborhood of new houses but every house that they are building is my favorite! It's amazing...I think I'm going to buy a town home there or something! I'll post some pictures of it when I go past it today! YEAH! Love you all!

Julie & JB

Yay! Finally some internet! I found a Panera near where I'm staying so I get to get caught up!

Deborah & Keith

I really just love my job so much...and the funny thing is the more I shoot the MORE I love it! I would think it would start getting old but it's not! It's such an amazing job to have! This weekend was definitely no exception! Deborah and Keith had a gorgeous super intimate wedding in Wisconsin. The whole day was just perfect because everything was so laid back! I definitely didn't feel like I shot for 8 hours! It felt more like 4! hahs! Deborah and Keith are sooo adorable together! They are expecting their first baby in 3 months so that made the pictures SO cute too! :)
Thanks soooo much to my assistants Morgan, Beth and Andrew! You guys are wonderful!
Here is the slideshow!! Ps..I'm going to be in Nashville for the next 8 days so hopefully I'll have internet but I'm not always positive:)