I was in Chicago over the weekend to shoot a wedding and for my brother Andrew's 19th birthday!! Crazy old I tell you! We went out to eat for Andrew's birthday for a nice big birthday meal! Here is what happened at the meal.... Oli and Jules are seriously like 2 peas in a pod, they really are the best buddies ever! I love to just watch them interact! I don't know how this picture happened as no one told Jules to do this...but I guess it was the perfect moment!Here's a SWEET shot of the birthday boy to go along with the mouth theme;) Even though I LOVED being home in Chicago...I LOVE coming back to Nashville...it's just so incredibly refreshing down here and the atmoshphere is unreal! I'll post more from the wedding and a big family shoot that we did SOON! :)
Wow....I'm pretty sure this is close to the longest I've gone without doing a post! But I DO have wonderful excuses why which I'll post about here! The past two weeks have been birthday central with tons of birthday parties between me and some friends, my sister, me...my sister and my family, me and my cousin, and me and my other cousin, cousins and friends!! HA! So pretty much a total of 5 birthday celebrations and a bunch of little ones mixed into that! I feel HIGHLY loved! I started off my birthday with watching the sunrise which is my absolute favorite thing to do ever....then going back to sleep, hanging out with the family and then meeting up with my best friend for smoothies and bike shopping! That night my friend Beth threw me a little party with a couple of my close friends at Kona Grill which OF COURSE has Sushi!! I don't remember having that much fun in a looong time! :) A little bit later my whole family went out for Olivia and my birthday's to Macaroni grill where the waitress sang to us "Happy Birthday"...in Italian! It was so impressive! I want to learn!;)....AND I got Tiramisu in a Martini glass..what could get better than that! A couple days later on the 17th my sister Oli turned the big 5! I can't believe it...but she is such a big girl now it's crazy! We celebrated by hanging out with our cousins, eating funfetti cupcakes, and going to the fair! My cousin Lauren and I are known to do INSANE things when we get together and this time when we passed by the fake tattoo stand at the fair we just couldn't resist! Then that night we headed out to see The Dark Knight....which of course was the last post;) My beautiful cousin Jessie came in town for a visit from Kansas City! I love her so much and even though she is the oldest of the Barlow Cousin Clan...which is really not that old;)....but acts like a teenager so we had SOO much fun together! Going downtown Chicago, eating Thai food, sleeping on the beach, and buying wedding magazines to each pick out our favorite things! Such a girly day! I love her so so much! On Saturday I went on a crazy shopping spree for MYSELF buying furniture for my second office which is waaay upstairs in our attic...everything is WHITE and it was hard finding just the right things but I finally found it after going to every furniture store under the sun! West Elm is AMAZING! I love it! I'll maybe post pics of that sometime soon:) Lastly this past Wednesday my cousin Lauren and I had our joint birthday party together at the Ravinia in Chicago! It is a huge outdoor amphitheater that has a huge lawn behind it and you bring blankets and picnic stuff....sit under the stars and listen to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform! It is HEAVEN! The girls went allll out too with Brie cheese, fruit, meats, sparkling Lemonade, and of course my favorite Funfetti Cupcakes! This was pretty much the most perfect birthday EVER! Thank you alll for everything! I LOVE YOU! Here is a slideshow with my new favorite song by Family Force 5! Amazing! Check it out!
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!
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!! :)
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!
Ok Ok....Well I guess posting pics from my dad's birthday didn't happen Sunday...lol! Better late than never!! Anyways, my dad is amazing! He is one of my best friends and has been my biggest mentor over the years. He's the one who really encouraged me to pursue photography because he saw it somewhere in me when I definitely didn't. He is always challenging me too, which keeps me on my toes alot! If it wasn't for him I would for sure be a couch potato and not be doing much with my life! It's awesome because I can go to him whenever and just talk to him about anything and he always gives me the best advice and usually it is for me to decide or to pray about it, which is the best and keeps me from staying a baby! lol! His 45th birthday was this past Friday. We celebrated by having some friends over and playing games! It was great and low key which is always so great(especially after a crazy week!) Sooo....Happy belated birthday dad!! I love you so much! :) PS...all the pics are from his little party!
Here's a SWEET shot of the birthday boy to go along with the mouth theme;)
