a lovely sunday…

a little sunday loveliness from me to you. may your day be filled with beauty and laughter and little reminders of what makes your life so lovely…

UP!

yesterday this is what i got to photograph! have you possibly seen anything cuter? oh my goodness…

Miss Lenah: Sterling Newborn Photography

i had the pleasure of photographing miss lenah when she was 8 days new. she is so precious and kept giving me little baby dreaming smiles. i’ve  photographed her family several times now and it’s been so wonderful getting to know them. i am awe struck at the the realness and beauty of this family and am deeply honored that they have allowed me into their lives and have entrusted me to capture them in pixels.

 

Kat and Rich….engagement session peek…

i’m blown away! seriously! i met up with kat and rich for their engagement shoot this evening…here’s a peek because i just can’t keep these to myself. seriously. these two are rock stars of epic proportions…

momma never promised me a rose garden….

i’m not sure i’ve ever overly loved that statement….not sure that i’ve ever really bought into it either. it sounds so negative. it sounds like a cop out. let’s face it…there are very few promises that anyone can make that are not capable of being broken. i think we make promises because they sound good. and because of course we mean them at the time the words come from our mouths. we rarely (if ever) intentionally or consciously break a promise. we rarely make a promise that we don’t intend on keeping.

but you know…life happens.

we are all human. we all mess up from time to time. we’ve all broken a promise or two or three. we’ve all hurt someone. we’ve all hurt someone we love. we’ve all been hurt. we’ve all been hurt by someone we love. we’ve all wondered exactly where that damn rose garden is. we’ve all had to look really, really hard for the beauty in life at times. and we’ve all had to dig really deep to find forgiveness and trust.

no. my mother never promised me a rose garden. but she did promise to love me unconditionally forever. not matter my mistakes. no matter my misfortunes. no matter my shortcomings, my failings, my lack of good judgement. no matter if i forgot to send her a birthday card. no matter if i didn’t agree with the decisions she made and voiced them to her. loving me is a promise she has kept. and i will forever be grateful to her for that beautiful gift.

i’ve made many promises in my own life. i shutter to think how many of them haven’t been kept. one promise that i fully intend to keep is the beautiful gift my own mother has given me…to love my children unconditionally. forever. forever plus one day.

another promise…but to myself…to keep trying. to keep loving. to keep trusting. to keep my heart open. to not be so damaged that my heart shrivels. to keep looking for the beauty in life. to keep looking for the beauty in people. to keep forgiving. to live with purpose. to know when to put myself first. to try and live without fear. to let things go. to keep looking for the roses…and when i find them…stop to smell…and take a picture or two.

 

 

Michelle and Joe: Virginia Engagement Photography

a few weeks ago i had the pleasure of finally meeting michelle and joe in person and shooting their engagement session. we have been talking for months…discussing their june wedding and a little bit of everything about what they wanted both in their wedding photography and engagement session. michelle and i did the most of the talking and emailing and i was instantly drawn to her. the way she spoke about her and joe. the way she described what she wanted in regard to photography. the way she described what her and joe want their wedding to be like..the feeling. i had one of those moments…those moments when i just knew that we were a perfect fit.

meeting michelle and joe in person was no let down. they are beyond wonderful. we did a lot of laughing, a lot of chatting and getting to know each other. i did a lot of trying to say funny things so they would be comfortable in front of the camera. you see michelle had expressed to me that they both might be a little awkward in front of the camera. she had me fooled for a couple of minutes then…well then…let’s just say that they are so natural with each other that there is no way they would be awkward. they way they move around each other and smile at each other. the love permeates from them.

take a look at their meadowlark garden engagement session…

let it go….

sometimes the only thing you can do is breathe deeply…and continue to say…let it go…let it go…let it go…