Time to take a stand!

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
I've been in the last couple weeks just talking and worrying about the next election until I realized that, one...that doesn't help anything...two...I haven't been praying for the election or the next president! What a concept! This election is one of THE most important in probably the history of our country....I challenge you guys to reallly spend some time praying that God's will over this entire process will be accomplished! Prayer brings His perfect will here into the earth! Let's get working and not just worrying!!!! :)

Time of my life!!

These past two weeks have been some of the most fun and monumental weeks of my life! It's been so crazy at times...but non-stop hanging out with people I guess is what I thrive on the most.... living by myself has made it twice the fun since I don't always experience it anymore! Last weekend my life long friend Angela came for a visit from Chicago! We completely grew up together going to the same church until we were about 14....so we had a lot of reminicing to do....but mostly laughing and talking waaaaay to late into the night! My friend Sarah who lives down here was also part of our "group" when we were little so she came along for the fun a bunch of the days! It was waaaay to much fun...I don't think it should've been legal! ha!
Here is Angela and I after finding out we had matching outfits....classic...just like old times!

Angela, Sarah, and I went out to Franklin, TN...one of my favorite little towns to shop, eat at a crazy unhealthy..yet yummy restaurant and take pictures, wave at cars, and throw things off a huge bridge that we spent two random hours on top of! I just love spontaneity and not having anything better to do than enjoying each others company! Someone asked me the other day if I was dating anyone because of how much fun I sounded like I was having....with all my status updates(HAHA)....nope...just enjoying life to the WAYYY full!!! :) I love it!
Right after Angela left my cousins headed out here for a day of interviews and a concert the next night! It was SOOO wonderful seeing them as they are my VERY best friends and I hadn't seen them in almost 2 months which totally wasn't right!:(
Here is their first interview of the day....this is pretty much what it looked like the whole time...laughing hysterically:)
My cousin Lauren and I every time we get together HAVE to do a photoshoot....it's kind of a knowing now...well this time I planned the shoot....buying Vale sweatshirts while I was out in New Haven earlier this month! I just love that neither of us have been in college....so that is why we HAD to do a college themed shoot...I think next time will be prom inspired since we never did that either...I know...so deprived I tell you!!!;)


Ahhh gosh I love my life...I seriously today have just been soooo thankful for everything God has given me and everyone He's blessed me with! I love you all!!!
PS...I have WAY more to post about...my cousins concert, my trip to Denver that I JUST got back from...so exciting!! :)

The Red Carpet Club....

Last week I FINALLY got around to buying a mattress...I had been sleeping on a air mattress for about a month and was in need of the REAL thing! I headed to the mattress store...picked THE one that I had been wanting out(it ended up being almost half price...just that day!!) and was told that they will deliver it in a few days for free(usually pretty expensive...) with the red carpet service....sure enough a couple days later this is what I find when they bring the mattress! A real red carpet all laid out just to bring in a mattress!! Classic! I just love how God has been doing this more and more....like I said in a post a little bit ago....he just keeps laying out the red carpet on every turn...even in the small things! Amazing.

Home for Christmas - BarlowGirl Shoot

As a lot of you know I headed out to Vail, Colorado this past March to do a photoshoot for my cousins band BarlowGirl and their upcoming album "Home for Christmas". It was probably one of THE most fun shoots I've ever done! We were seriously laughing most of the time...which usually is always what happens when we are together but here even more so! Anyways, we shot for a day and a half with about 6 or 7 different looks....we were DEFINITELY wiped out by the end but it was welllll worth it! We shot all around Beaver Creek, Colorado and then way up in the mountains at a big beautiful chalet type mansion! It was UNREAL! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect place to shoot! It also helped to have the dream team of all dream teams....with Kat, Kellyn, Megan, Carmen and David all along for the ride to make sure everyone looked perfect and everything went off without a hitch! YOU guys are the BESTEST! Annnnd now the moment you've all been waiting for (a promo that they had me make to show at their concerts).........HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Check out the INCREDIBLE album at your local bookstore or of course online.... although you can see more of my pics if you buy the actual CD though so that's a little bonus;) Definitely the best Christmas album out there right now!!

About time....

Ok ok ok....TOMORROW is the day....you who know what I'm talking about and have been emailing and messaging me like crazy about it...time to start the countdown....let's just say noon tomorrow?
See you then!
:)

New Haven!

I got back on Wednesday from New Haven, CT....I headed down there after the wedding to visit my INCREDIBLE friends Justin and Mary Marantz...who I did the Spread the Love workshop with back in April! We got together to plan the next step in taking this workshop to the next level and I'm SUPER excited about what we've come up with! Can't wait to share more! These two though, I'm ALWAYS astounded with....just at the point that I don't think I could be more inspired or challenged more I do! There is just something in them that pulls that out! It's amazing....and something I know is going to make all their endevors explode to levels they could never even imagine! BTW...Check out their new blogsite that they just realeased! It's SO Justin and Mary:)
Anyways...we spent about 2 and a half days planning, chilling on computers, eating AMAZING food and watching movies...what could be more perfect?? We also did one thing that I've ALWAYS wanted to do....visit Yale University! Mary actually graduated from Law School there so she was the little tour guide for the day! It was a very movie like experience!
On Wednesday morning before heading back to Nashville I also did a band shoot out in New Haven and Yale for a new up coming band!! I'll share more about that SOON! :)
-Here are some pics of Yale...the big door on the scary building on the top right is of the Skull and Bones Society...the creepy secret society that 3 presidents have come out of...CRAZY!-

Justin and Mary!! I love you both so much! Thank you for letting me stay at your AMAZING B&B!!! ;)Here is the Connecticut welcome sign next to their state flag;)

Lea & Jose ::: Wedding

The main reason I was out in Massachusetts and Connecticut this past week was for Lea & Jose's wedding in Stockbridge, MA! I'm shooting more and more destination weddings and am loving it SO much! Getting to see the world and places that I wouldn't even know to go to...I'm now getting to see...and all in the name of "work"! ha! One of Lea & Jose's friends was at a wedding in DC that I shot last year and recommended me to them!! So awesome! I hadn't met them until I got out there for the wedding! It's always interesting going into it when that happens!! As always though... and of course....my clients are INCREDIBLE!
These two were so much fun, Lea with her amazing love for all things food and Jose for his constant caring and love for Lea! I loved to see it! The wedding was in a small old stone church tucked away in some trees....the reception was at an incredible Bed and Breakfast called the Taggart House... I want to live there! Ahh! Everything turned out SO beautiful...especially with the help of Jessica Herberger, the wedding coodinator!! It's AMAZING what a difference having a coordinator makes! This was such a dream wedding...all the details, the food, the people, the marriage! Lea & Jose, God bless your future together!! I LOVED being able to be a part of your day!!
Check out the pictures!

Lea getting the first glimpse of her BEAUTIFUL flowers, Jose looking all ready to get married:)


I LOVE this shot of her dad wait for her inside the church.
This was my favorite little guy, John....he definitely made my day with his talk about how BORED he was and that is was more fun to be bored than to be a ring bearer...lol!

Lea actually wanted a picture of EVERYONE at her wedding which I thought was brilliant! Thankfully it was a manageable number! :)

I know I've used this song LUCKY before by Jason Mraz...but I just HAD to use it again on Jose and Lea's show as they picked out this song for their first dance after seeing it in one of my shows! Sooo special!! :)

Norman Rockwell.... is my hero.

When I arrived out in Stockbridge to my delight I found out that it was where Norman Rockwell used to live and they had a museum there totally dedicated to his work and with his studio!When I grew up the first place I saw Rockwell was on the walls at the Old Country Buffet... lol! I'm sure my parents always were wondering where I was after being gone for so long to the bathroom... but actually just looking at the pictures the whole time! I love how real and hilarious so many of them are... it is inspiring and not your traditional "art" which hilariously I was never into! (I did get to meet the model from the picture below as he did a lecture while I was there...the boy on the far left!)I guess that is one of the things that originally gave me hope in the "art" arena knowing that it didn't have to be crazy interpretations of the thoughts people had in their head...(not that that's not cool sometimes!)... but to have real to life pictures that people feel like they are a part of and can truly connect with emotionally.... art in itself coming secondhand.I spent about 4 hours in the museum and totally could've spent another 4 with how much info and pictures there were! It was pretty much heaven! Definitely a highlight in life so far! :) The fall color pictures were on the property of the museum! Gorgeous!

Stockbridge!

I've been in Stockbridge, Massachusetts since Thursday for a wedding that I had out here! This area is called the Berkshires and it is absolutely INCREDIBLE!! The pace of life is perfect small country town style....and everything looks like it hasn't been touched since the 1800s! It's adorable! I seriously feel like I should be wearing some big hoopskirt dress or something! lol!
The wedding I shot today was seriously amazing and I'll post more about that tomorrow or Monday...but here are some shots from around town and around the place I'm staying...which is totally the hub of the town...people just lounge around the main area and drink wine by a wood burning fireplace...it.is.perfect.
This place called the the Red Lion Inn apparently has been here since 1773! Crazy!
It's so funny because whenever I shoot a destination wedding I seriously have NO clue where I'm going or where I am...I actually thought I was going to be by the ocean only to find out it's like 3 hours away...ha! I got in late Thursday night to Connecticut, flipped on my gps and drove down a pitch black highway for an hour and a half! Thank God the gps worked the whole time...otherwise I would have had to sleep with the bears or something!
Here are some detail shots of the area! SOOO gorgeous! I want to come back here again SOON! It's amazing!
I'm actually here by myself..which is fun as most of the town has consisted of the retired and elderly...and then me! I feel a little out of place...but I have had so much awesome time with God! It's fun!

Here are details from my room...which actually doesn't have a bathroom...the about 15 rooms on my floor share a bathroom which is an adventure...I guess in the olden days things were a little different! lol!
I just sat and read for hours yesterday at a little hole in the wall restaurant down the street...ahh life as it should be!Here is the pool area at the Red Lion...SOOO beautiful with is being chilly out and all the fall colors around and a warm tempting hot tub! Nothing can beat! :)I just love my job more and more!! Getting to see places that I wouldn't normally just go to or even know about and experience so many different cultures even just in America! :)

Down time...

My brother Andrew was just in town for the past week during his fall vacation from school! This was the first time I've had anyone stay at my place and boy was it an adventure! He came in on Monday morning and we were supposed to head out to Chatanooga right after I picked him up...well come to find out my car that was in the shop( for being sideswiped in a parking lot with no one leaving a note!) had to stay in longer...so we cancelled that trip to just hang out and get some work done! Later that night as we are about to head to bed everything was working out until I figured out I didn't get the airmattress I was going to borrow because I didn't think I needed it that night! Ahh!!! Well needless to say...I can officially become a missionary now...as I slept on the floor and let my brother sleep in my bed! ha!!! After coming close to running out of water and food...we finally got my car back late Tuesday then rushed over to my aunt and uncle's house for a 20 minute birthday party before I headed to small group then Andrew and I went to Eagle Eye after all that! HA! I guess we just tried to cram everything in that we had wanted to do from the past couple days...lol!
Andrew was such a huge help and got internet, networking, and my office area set up! It was such a fun couple days! Here is the both of us at Chick-fil-a...us Chicago people MUST eat here at least once a day apparently when we visit...;)
I love how much Andrew is growing up and becoming who God has called him to be!! It is SOOO exciting to watch!!
I love you all! Hope you all are doing well! :)