Sam & Ben {Seattle Children's Photographer}

These kids are growing up faster than I can keep up with!  We met up at Olympic Sculpture Park on a super cold day, and they were so good!  Beautiful as ever, silly, sassy, loving, and sweet.  I'm so happy I get to photograph them so often! 

Kim & Jon

Kim and Jon have been together for 22 years (though you could never guess it from looking at them)!  I think the secret is that they play together. These two were SO much fun to photograph.  They took everything I said to heart and really leaned into the experience.  They were silly and loving and open and honest.  The result?...I love them.  I want to put them in my pocket and take them home with me.  I want to have double dates and dinner parties and be their best friend.  Oh, you mean the photographic result?  Right here...

Karlee & Matt {McMinnville Wedding Photographer}

Remember Karlee & Matt? Well they got married!  WOO!!!

Karlee once thought I was the coolest person ever (What? I’m not exaggerating!) because I drew her a horse.  Now I think she’s catching up with me.  I mean look at her.  She’s stunning, clearly smart (I mean look at the guy she chose), and is unapologetically who she is.  I adore her.  She is so freaking cool.

Matt adores her too.  He was so confident that Karlee was the one (and that he could snag her) that just a few months into their relationship he bet one of his groomsmen $1000 that he’d marry her.  Pay up, buddy!

This wedding was so much fun.  The ceremony was full of smiles.  The reception full of great food, mingling, dancing, and a photo booth!

Karlee and Matt's pretty mommas put so much work into making this wedding amazing.  They even put together a surprise candy bar (which was one of Karlee's very first ideas for her wedding that had gotten put on the back burner.)

The wedding party was SO much fun.  And I even heard one of the guys say, "We're not letting these girls get more photos than us.  We're photogenic dudes!" HA!  (But so true!)

I absolutely could not narrow down the photos to a regular length blog post...so here's a little slideshow.  Congrats Karlee and Matt!!!!

Anna & Scott

I'm working on something new.  Working really hard.  I can't wait to open it up to everyone, but for now, here's a preview of the kind of images we're getting from it. 

This is Anna & Scott.  They've been together about a year and did this shoot just for fun.  I could see how they feel about each other with every click of the shutter.  I hope you can feel it too.  Pretty cute, eh?  I can't resist these sessions.  It is so much fun to bask in the love of two gorgeous people.  My job pretty much rocks.

The other side of the lens...oh, and I'm married!!!

Hi All!  I feel so happy to be back to the blogging, Facebooking, email returning, photo editing, real world that I call work.  I missed my camera and my people while I was away!!  But, I must say, that I had a pretty good excuse for being gone so long.  I am officially no longer a single lady (no matter how many times "All the Single Ladies" gets stuck in my head!).  As of last Saturday I am a married woman.  And a happy one at that! 

I just wanted to take a minute to mention that Kyle and I spent a good portion of the day and night on the other side of the lens.  Smiling, smooching, doing all of the silly things I make you all do.  We laid on the ground, clambored over hills and through waist high grass, tried to sit still while bugs crawled up our legs...all to get "the" shot.  And I'm not gonna lie, I kind of loved every minute of it.  Not only was it fun to see it all from the other side (and see how much more relaxing it is to be the subject than the photographer!...following directions is much easier than giving them!), but it was fun to get all dressed up and make out with my man.  Oh, did I write that? Oops. 

Our photographers were amazing.  We adore them and would totally hang out with them if they weren't MOVING!! (SO SAD!)  But if you live in Minneapolis (who am I kidding, I don't know anyone who lives in Minneapolis!) or even if you don't, look them up.  They're sweet, genuine, and amazing photographers!  So without further ado, here is the preview of our wedding photos!  I am in love.  Oh, and I like my husband a lot too. :)

Our amazing, wonderful, sweet, awesome photographers: Bb&Company

And just because a post isn't complete without a picture, here's one of our engagement pictures also taken by Bb&Co.  Did I mention that we love them? :)

Happy Mothers Day!

To all that give everything

Miss Saskia I will miss your smiling face!

This little lady and her family just moved away and I'm so so so sad!  Luckily for me, before she left, we got to play!  Her photo shoot was a two day project that took us all over Seattle.  We had so much fun even though it was cooooold.  It was a little hard editing these photos because I miss her little face already!  Kansas City, you'd better take good care of my peeps! 

John and Rebekah - Married!

Rebekah and John were married on April 9th at Shafer Baillie Mansion in Capitol Hill.  Their ceremony and reception were perfectly intimate and beautiful with only their very closest family and friends.  The reception was a gorgeous family style meal with wine and mingling and plenty of laughter.  I usually have so many words to describe my clients and with Rebekah and John I'm slightly at a loss.  Both of them have a quiet demeanor and a calmness about them and in looking at these photos, that's just how I'm feeling.  So I suppose I'll just leave it at that.  Congratulations Rebekah and John and thank you for including me in your day!

Venue: Shafer Baillie Mansion
Caterer: Brett's Catering
Bride's Dress: Eliza J (Nordstrom)
Cupcakes: Salted Caramel and Lavender from Cupcake Royale (My favorite cupcakes EVER!)
Flowers: Pike Place Market

Karlee & Matt - Engaged!!

I've known Karlee since she was two, so it is a little bit of a shock to me to be taking her engagement photos!  I used to babysit the girl!  She has grown into such a beautiful woman (how did that happen already?!) and I can hardly believe she is the same girl I used to play "kitchen" with in her bedroom and draw horses for.  What, you didn't know I could draw horses? Psht.  I'm a horse drawing fool.  Actually...probably the last horse I drew looked more like a camel and I drew it for Karlee in like 1990, but hey whatever. 

Karlee and Matt are super sweet together and you can definitely tell how much they enjoy each other.  I'm so excited an honored to be photographing their wedding in September!  Little Karlee is all grown up and she's picked a pretty awesome guy to call her own. :) 

We met on a sunny day in the Pearl in Portland and enjoyed just wandering around and finding fun little nooks to shoot in.  I had a lot of fun making them do silly things and watching them laugh.  Thanks to both of you for being up for anything!  See you in September!!!

Andrea & Joe

Andrea and Joe came out to Golden Gardens for a couples session on the first gorgeous day of spring.  Joe has been gone with the Navy and hasn't been home for all that long so it was extra special to capture their relationship.  Thanks Andrea and Joe for your willingness to be silly and laugh with me!

Mr. L (FINALLY!)

We met at Luther Burbank Park in Mercer Island for Mr. L's 16 month session after months of fighting the weather.  It was a beautiful day and I loved just being outside with this cutie pie and his sweet parents.  We climbed trees, played with sticks, blew bubbles and pushed around a wagon...can't beat a morning like that!

And just for fun...Here's one from each of his Milestones sessions (5mos, 10mos, 16mos)

My Monday Morning

Good morning!  (A "good morning" full of the perk and peppiness I used to despise.) I used to wake up miserable on a Monday morning, dreading going back to work and dragging my feet.  Some times the misery even started on Sunday evening when I realized that Monday was looming like a huge grey rain cloud just around the corner.  Not anymore.  I don't mean to rub it in, but my job kind of rocks, and being a list maker, I adore my Monday mornings!  I wake up around 7:30, pour myself a giant mug of coffee (or 2 or 3), turn on some music (Joshua Radin this morning) and get to listing.  I make my to do list for the whole week broken down by either category (photography, around the house, social, etc.) or day of the week.  Sometimes it is color coded, sometimes not.  Sometimes it comes with sticky note reminders, or check boxes or different handwritten fonts.  I may spend an hour on my list...which to some people might seem over-indulgent, but if I can feel organized and in control for my week in an hour I'm a happy camper! 

This last week was especially busy and my fancy little to do lists make me more than excited to dive into this week head first!  Now after this little babble, I'm off to check some stuff off.  Happy Monday morning!  I hope you're excited for your week too.

Brilliant Women Salon

(Clockwise: the article by Tara Sophia Mohr, Nicole's awesome shirt, Stratejoy cards, more article/my favorite rule, Tara Sophia Mohr)

Thursday night I had the pleasure of attending the Brilliant Women Salon: an interactive conversation on stepping up, owning your brilliance and playing big.  It is so refreshing just to be around so many women who want more for themselves!  The evening was centered around an article by Tara Sophia Mohr called "10 Rules for Brilliant Women".  Read it.  I promise, it's worth it.  If you are a woman, I guarantee you many of the rules will hit home.  And if you're a guy...well this is a little insight into your lady.  The panel was made up of Tara herself, Molly Mahar from Stratejoy, Amy Kessel: transformative life coach, and our lovely moderator, Lynn of Power Chicks International.  If you're lucky enough to know any one of these fabulous women you can imagine the fantastic-ness of the combination!  Add to that about 40 like-minded women of all ages and you've got yourself a party. We started with wine and/or champagne and snacks (including the most awesome chocolate ever! Ghirardelli 60% cocoa dark chocolate WITH CARAMEL!) and quickly delved into the article.  This was followed by small group sharing and brainstorming more rules for brilliant women.  I LOVED the energy and power of getting that many women with big dreams into one place and only wish I had all of our additional rules written down.  Our panel was amazing and the whole evening, in my opinion, was a great success.  I can't wait to spend more time with these women who are absolutely "owning their brilliance"!

(Top to bottom, left to right (you know, like a book): Our panel - Lynn, Molly, Tara, and Amy, Molly telling us how it is, mingling (and the cutest soon-to-be Mommy this side of the border), Lynn telling us, "YES! It is okay to want to make money!!", Amy's smiling face!, brilliant women listening to the brilliance x2)

John + Rebekah Married!

On Saturday John and Rebekah tied the knot in the intimate and ornate setting that is the Shafer Baillie Mansion.  Surrounded by 26 of their very closest friends and family, they exchanged vows and rings and were declared "husband and wife".  It was such an honor to be among those 26. 

I'm editing now, but couldn't resist posting just one.  How adorable are these two? 

an apology

Dear Bloggity Blog,

I'm sorry I haven't paid attention to you over the last...well, ever.  I'm sorry I have put Facebook and Twitter before you just because you take a little more effort.  I apologize for not giving you the time you deserve and taking the easy route instead.  I hope that in the coming months I can prove to you how I really feel about you!  I promise to visit you more often and give you the attention you deserve.

Love,
Me