Caberete!

YAY!! We just got back from the beach last night and boy did I not want to leave!! They practically had to drag me out kicking and screaming to make me leave! lol;) jk.... But it was one of the most incredible and relaxing times!
Besides the couple times that I broke the rules and practically gave my aunt a heart attack it was good!! Thank God that He kept me safe in my ignorance! Oh the ways of an American suburban white girl...
The first night I was running along the beach and caught the eye of this surfing instructor but I just ignored him...on my way back he ran up behind me and started talking...I was caught off guard but decided to be friendly...we talked for a little while and then I walked up to my cottage. I told my aunt when I got back about it and she was like "YOU DID WHAT??" Apparently you DO NOT talk to the men here especially when you are by yourself and you definitely don't let them see where you live because apparently even just eye contact gives THE wrong sign! YIKES!!
Then the next night, my cousin and I went out for a walk along the beach to watch the sunset and started running a little bit...after awhile the sun started going down pretty quick so we turned around and headed back...once we got back it was dark and we saw my aunt standing out on a ledge over the beach looking for us...apparently you DO NOT go out on the beach at night because there are the crazy men again but this time there is no one around to save you!! AHHH!! My uncle was out for awhile looking for us apparently too! Oops! I guess I've got my mom's adventurous spirit a little too much!! :) At least I survived!!

Ok..onto pictures...this is called a publico it the public transportation down here! I saw this on our way to the beach...wow! :)

Syling while we were out shopping one day! Shopping here is INSANE!! They buy the old styles from last year in the US that were on clearance from like, Holister and Aeropostle, then bring it down here and sell it for crazy prices! lol! I really can't wait to shop back in the states!:)

Here is one of my favorite things do get down here!! Sweetened with REAL sugar cane too!! So fun!

The sky right above our Cottage....ahh!

A gorgeous Dominican sunset! The perfect thing about where we stayed is you can watch the sunrise AND sunset!

My cousin Nicole working the camera!

Ahh the sky!! One night while we were walking at sunset I almost cried at how overwhelmingly gorgeous it was!! God is quite amazing!! It was weird because it was similar to the feeling when I first walked into Times Square! I felt like I was overwhelmingly in love! ha!

Love the motion!!

The Nanny Estate....the place where we stayed...it is wonderful because it's mostly all families and some people live there full time!! How wonderful!

Right before we left...windblown hair and all!

Night time over Nanny's!

My view from our drive back...

Some more bulls on the side of the road!!



The drive back was QUITE interesting!! I was sitting in the back between my cousin and my friend with all the windows open in the car + being in a 3rd world country + everyone driving motor bikes = smelling pretty much every smell possibly known to man! After awhile and getting HIGHLY nauseous I decided to wear a sweatshirt over my head for the rest of the trip...pretty much saved my lungs! lol!!

Ahh the beach! I am determined to own a house on it one day!!
I love you all!! Back to more photo shoots!!
I'm excited for coming home because of all the thinking, reading, and praying that I've been able to do! I'm ready to get moving on some things!!:)

Gone Fishing.....

Well it's been a WONDERUL past couple days down here...since last posting. We've just been swamped with photoshoots and now I have about 4000 pictures to sort through which should be fun!! Only 5 more shoots to go! hehe!
I'm leaving this morning for Cabarete, a gorgeous little town right on the ocean! I'm realllllly excited!! I won't have internet until Monday so I'll post all about the mini vacation within a vacation then! :)
I hope you all are doing wonderful!!

The other side of a marathon....

After thinking and debating whether I should run Jarabacoa's "marathon"(really only 7 miles rather than 26.2!) I decided against it to instead riding a motorbike around and taking pictures of all the people we knew who were running! Let me tell you it was MUCH more fun and I'm pretty much addicted to motor-biking now!! I love it! It was slightly freaky now and then with people zooming EVERYWHERE around you and on all sides of the road....it's craziness but it's sweet cause it get's your adrenaline running! :) This was so fun too because again it was SUPER cultural! There was so much to document I think I probably took at least 1000 pics just during the race!

Here is my aunt Annie and I just before the race started...all ready in our gear:)
The little kids had a race too!! Only 3 miles but some of them were sooo little and yet still running! I love it! I'm totally going to have my kids running "marathons" at 3 too!! hehe!

Some of the older kids! I LOVE the kid on the far right...still rocking it even while running!! That's how you should roll!:) lol!

The race started with a HUGE hill that was hard for us to drive up let alone for them to run up!! This here was one of the major things that made me thankful I wasn't running! :)

My adorable cousin Nicole starting out the race!! She was a trooper! :)

And now for the main event! A lot of these people run for the cash prize at the end and if they know they aren't going to win during the race they'll drop out because a lot of them train just for the cash prize..... because sometimes even though it's only like $70 it's a whole months pay! Amazing!

My cool cousin Richard running like he was born doing it!

Some of our friends, Drew and Brody, Drew had the RIGHT idea;)

One of the staff here at the school, Jeff, worn out from the "tough" course....lol! He was actually following our fastest runner Sean who ran 7 miles in like 56 minutes, which was amazing!

My face's reflection in the mirror of the motorbike..... my uncle was driving so that I could be the paparazzi on the back;)

This guy just looked like a model so he deserved a niiiiice picture;)

Two of my friends running and as you can see the cars start driving back on the road after about 20 minutes into the race! It's insane!

Nicole and my aunt Annie moving along!! My aunt was there to encourage Nicole along the way and apparently to hold her number too! LOL!

A couple of the fans!!! :)

A random bull on the side of the road......that's comforting....reason #4593 why I was thankful I didn't run! lol!

What do you know! A Pentecostal church...this was out out out in the field so it was so random to see! lol!

EVERYONE was throwing water(from their drainage pipes) on the runners and a lot of them wanted to throw it on me but you just shake your finger and they won't do it:) ha!

Some more spectators in front of their shack...also note the campaign signs!! They are HILARIOUS down here...Apparently instead of Democrat and Republican I've heard it's corrupt vs. less corrupt.... LOL!

Never, ever, ever drink from the "Frio Man" lol! Death in a bottle I tell you! Thankfully I do not know from experience! :)

The cutest Dominican.

Richard about to cross the finish line!

One of my MANY new friends at the finish line....they were all trying to talk to me and apparently instead of saying "I don't speak spanish" I found out later that I was saying "They don't speak spanish" soooo they just went on talking to my blank face! ha! They alll wanted their picture taken too which was fun...lol!

My friend Erin so excited to cross the line!

Two of my police friends who were taking pictures with this pink flip phone...so funny! Although...while they "thought" I wasn't looking got a picture of me which is quite disturbing I think...lol!

John, one of the guys from the school was the very last and all along he was right in front of the ambulance(which was the end of the race) the ambulance came in but no John?? We decided to cheer on the ambulance thinking he was in there! lol! He finally ran in about 15 minutes later determined to finish the race without hitching a ride! So hilarious!

And last but not least my cousin Nicole winning second place in her division!!! Posing with the Mayor and all! Sooo awesome!! I'm so proud of her for running AND winning too!! Amazing!

Ok.....time to hit the sack! Sorry for the long post but I decided to switch things up a bit and post individual pics for a change! :) I love you all!!

A Dominican Easter

Well this past weekend has been amazing!! I've determined that when I have a family I want to take them down here every year for Easter! It's such a wonderful and cultural time!
We started off Friday by heading down to the outdoor cafeteria for lunch, then I joined a bunch of students in watching the movie the Passion which was my 3rd time watching it yet everytime it's like I'm watching it for the first time! It's soooo real! Afterwards we did the annual cross walk up the mountain. Basically they have this big cross that everyone takes turns carrying up the mountain to the top of the campus and we stop along the way to sing songs and read about what all happened then! Really eye opening especially after just watching the movie! :)
Saturday was sooo fun and that will have a whole post on it's own!;)
And then this morning we all woke up at 5:30am to head down to one of the student houses that looks out over the whole valley to have a sunrise service! It was GORGEOUS and a great service at that too! :)
After the service we all headed down the hill to have an easter egg hunt while the guys on staff made breakfast for everyone! YUM YUM! Right before breakfast once everyone gathered together they had a contest on who decorated the best egg and boy were there some AMAZING ones!! You'll see some of them in the slideshow here!! I really love the community down here! We all do so many things together and when were not doing that we are just relaxing and doing nothing! What a life! This is really how it should be lived! Check out the slideshow here!!
Can't wait to post about yesterday!!
Super funny!
I love you all!!

Dominican - Day 2

Ahh....I really do fall more in love with this place every time I come down!
I'm doing a little recap from yesterday since I forgot to post about it...and each day really has soooo much to post about! It's just that fun! :) Can't wait to post tomorrow, about today...because it was UNREAL with it being Good Friday and all! :)

So yesterday was fun because we had our first day of shoots!! It was 2 guys and they were so fun and into it which was a shocker!! I loved it! We have a total of 10 seniors we are shooting this time....which will make everything nice and laid back!! We realized that the first year I shot about 20 seniors in 1 week..so I have 18 days for 10...which should be nice! ha!
Anyways...I was just chillen in my regular spot on the porch yesterday and my aunt asked if I cut hair....I got kinda nervous but told her HECK YEAH!! Watch the shocking results here:
LOL!!
I've cut a couple people's hair before and always thought it was sooo fun...but I was just really nervous during this cut...and rightly sooo because afterwards....it pretty much looked like a cut from the 60s before she styled it right!! yikes!! I have a little more schooling to do before I move onto getting paid big bucks...;) NO FUTURE PLANS FOR THAT. So please no emails about booking hair appointments I WILL NOT respond;) LOL!
So yes....also, in other news I'm debating whether I should run a marathon tomorrow or not....any thoughts??? Please cast your votes.
I LOVE YOU ALLL!!:)

YAY! In the Dominican Republic!!

Ahh....I think this is one of my most refreshing trips EVER! I only got in last night and already feel so relaxed and refreshed! I really needed this trip because things have been so incredible busy lately and I just needed some down time!
I'll still be shooting a little bit which is always my excuse for coming down here....but I always stay longer than that takes;) LOTS of fun things planned for the next couple weeks that I'll be posting about!! Right now I'm going to do some more chillin!!
Here is a video of my aunt Annie and I this afternoon!! Ahh! So fun!

Winter Jam!!

Well...as I said last week was INCREDIBLE!! I had a complete blast on the Winter Jam tour with my cousins! The bands that were on tour with them were Mercy Me, Skillet, Newsong, Mandisa, Group 1 Crew, and Pure NRG....it was insane!! We were pretty much following Miley Cyrus around the country too because we were playing in the exact same venues!
Here is a little slideshow of some of the shows...I think I have probably posted a hundred slideshows of my cousins concerts...but this time I tried to get some different angles and pics...not just the norm:)
(Korey from Skillet is in a couple of these shots because she comes up and plays one of the songs with the girls at the end of the show! It's sweet!!)

Ok..gotta run....I have to shop, pack, clean, edit, and breathe....in the next couple hours before I leave for the Dominican Republic!! Ahh! :)

Taking the plunge....

Sorry the video is grainy...but at least it gets the point across!! :)

I love you all so much!!

My secret passion....

OW OW OW!!!! Yep...my ankle hurts..tonight while about to tell my little sisters a story before bed all of a sudden we started dancing! I decided to break out my old skills of Irish Dance which I took for several years when I was younger. My mom then found the old Irish music and put it on so that I could try and remember all the dances...without much success though! I probably remembered about 2 steps from 3 of the 16 dances I learned ahh!! Of course my little sisters didn't know that though!! The were dancing right along side of me just like they had taken it for years! It made me so proud! I want to get them both in Irish dance soon so that they can be awesome pros at it when they are older and they can teach me someday! lol!
Ahh...memories...and the fact that I can share them with some of my best little friends and they get the biggest joy out of it! Even though I didn't pursue the passion of dance...taking ballet when I was 4, choreographing dances with my brother when I was 8, Irish dance when I was 12, and just last night hosted a hip hop workshop with my friend...I still love it JUST as much!!
All that to say...I think I need to go ice my ankle it hasn't gotten stretched like this in over a year!! ahh!:)
I love you all!!!

Life...

...on the road! I love it and am highly addicted! Last week I flew into Denver from Chicago and after waiting 6 hours at O'Hare...in the plane, waiting on the runway, back to the gate, switching flights, re-booking everyone, and then changing planes..it was insane! But I made it even though I didn't think I would after awhile! Once I got to Denver there was a horrible storm in Vail which was where my next flight was so I had to wait in the airport for another 4 hours with my new friend David, the designer for the shoot we did. It was perfect because I was able to hold onto him when we were about to die when hitting an air pocket right over Vail! YIKES! But I made it to gorgeous Vail and did a day and a half shoot for my cousins which was probably one of the most fun shoots I've ever done! Everyone that I worked with was amazing! We then headed to Kansas City for a day off between the tour and I met up with my super fun friend Paul Rogers, then the whole family headed over to my dad's sisters house for some NEEDED chill time and hanging out with our cousins who I hadn't seen in forever! Apparently we look very similar...according to alot of people so we had to get a pic:) I LOVE my family so much!! It's so huge that I'm constantly meeting new people...like my new second cousins who are absolutely adorable!
We then headed to Kentucky, Indiana, our Tennessee show got snowed out so we headed up to Michigan for a day off before the show there!! The tour is amazing with 100 people traveling, 9 tour buses, and close to 15k people in attendance every night! It is unreal!! I definitely didn't want to leave! I'll post pics from the concert...but unfortunately I can't post any from the shoot for awhile...but it's worth the wait!!! YAY!!
I love you all!!
PS...here is a fun little video about how celebrity I am...LOL

What I'm actually doing...

I just realized how vague I've been about my trip! But here is the explanation....

We are in Fort Wayne, Indiana today and it's FREEZING....but super fun...I just LOVE this tour!!

on the road...

So after 2 gorgeous days of shooting in Vail,Colorado! We left last night for a sweet day in Kansas city, MO and now we are on our way to Kentucky! I haven't had wifi in awhile so i'm posting from my phone just so you all knew that I was still alive! :) I'll post pics from today once I get some service!:)
I love all you beautiful people!!

First wedding of the year!

Yesterday, Beth, my new friend Sally, and I shot a SUPER fun wedding for Ashieka and Garreth! There's was the last engagement shoot that I did and after shooting that I was hooked and completely couldn't wait for the wedding!! Ashieka was one of the most stunning brides...and the fact that she could work the camera along with all her bridesmaids made her doubly fun to work with! Garreth wasn't half bad himself! lol! The way that he treats Ashieka and cherishes her...he even wrote a song for her at the reception!! I love it!! It's weddings like this...that make me SO glad I'm in the industry that I'm in!!! Plus did THEY know how to party or what! OMG...I haven't seen better dancing in a long time! :)
Here is Ashieka and Garreth's fun slideshow!

I just woke up after only 3 hours of sleep to head out to Colorado, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and Michigan for some fun for the next 8 days! Yay!! I'll post more soon!!:)