Beauty…

there is nothing quite like the beauty of a woman on her wedding day…

Pockets of Sunshine

today while rummaging around the house with a somewhat heavy heart i started humming a tune. do you ever do that? just start humming something and you have no earthly idea for a second what you’re humming or how it got into your head? well…i have no idea how long i was humming away before i stopped and realized the tune. ok…now you may laugh…it was “pocketful of sunshine”. seriously. i have no idea how that song got into my head!

i shook my head. laughed at myself. and walked out the door to my appointment. this appointment was the reason for my apprehension. i was dreading it and what was sure to be crappy news.

long story short…it was not crappy news. it was the anthesis of that. i didn’t dance a happy jig but the impending gloom in my heart was gone and i smiled. my gray day turned into a yay day.

so i got to singing again…”i’ve got a pocket, got a pocketful of sunshine! do what you want but you’re never gonna break me!…”

when i got home i sat on my couch for a few and noticed my container of collected seashells. these shells are from all over the place. hawaii, nc, california. they each are a little memory, a little reminder of pretty days and the ocean with my feet in the sand and the sunlight on my face. and i thought…i dont’ just have a pocket…i have a friggin’ huge container of sunshine! it would require pockets, plural, many pockets to handle all this sunshine! and so i sang…”take me away, a secret place, a sweet escape, take me away, take me away to better days….cause i’ve got pockets, i’ve got pockets full of sunshine…”

Something Sweet: Introducing Evan and Sweets by E

yesterday i had the privilege of photographing baker and decorator extraordinaire evan of Sweets by E. we met last summer at eric and steph’s wedding that i photographed and she made the cake. it’s always so nice meeting other vendors in the wedding industry that are sweet (pardon the pun), talented, and friendly.

evan is so warm and friendly and immediately makes you feel at ease. she operates Sweets by E out of her home and produces beautiful, tasty treats! meet evan…..(did i forget to mention that she’s gorgeous too?)

she decorated a few cupcakes and a small cake while i was there…

she also had a few cakes already decorated to show her clients…

i’m in love with this one! love the ruffles and simplicity…

this is one of her cake cups…so cute…and i might add delicious!!

evan gave me a box of sweets to take home and this little gem was my personal favorite. chocolate coconut. yum!!

if you’re getting married and looking for a gorgeous and delicious wedding cake evan is your woman! she also makes cupcakes and other sweets for all occasions. visit her website www.sweetsbye.com for more information or drop her an email at  sweetebakes@gmail.com.  you can also find her on facebook.

The Want List: Part 1

you know i’ve heard that i’m hard to buy for….but i beg to differ! i think in fact that i might be one of the easiest people ever to buy for. given an unlimited supply of money i could find stuff to buy all day long. and i have quite the varied list too.

this little gem was on my christmas list this year. i’m sorry to say that i did not receive him. seriously…omg…isn’t he just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen??!! he’s a teacup piggie and i can just see him trotting around my house…sitting on my lap while i’m on the computer…and letting himself out the piggie door i’d have to install. and yes he would be in 50%+ of all photo shoots i do because he’s the cutest thing ever!

i love this shirt and it’s def on my want/need list. i get quite a few comments about my un-tanness. about the fact that my skin probably glows in the dark. well…at least i won’t be covered in wrinkles with skin like leather! it’s available at coolspotters.

so i’m trying to be a little more “green” these days and eco friendly too. we recycle. i reuse shopping bags…you know the routine. but wouldn’t shopping just be so much more fun with this bag!!!!!!!!!!! after all it is what i say when i’m on the way to the grocery store. available at cafepress.

i love jewelry! i love interesting jewelry. stuff that not everyone has. on top of that i am completely obsessed with chunky rings. when i saw this…i was in chunky ring heaven. yep i need it…oops…i mean i want it. available at bulgari.

i’ve been looking for some brown boots. there are many out there but many of them are the wrong color of brown…too red…too light. these are perfect. i think i rock these out! available at free people.

wanderlust. i have it. my heart, my soul, my obsession with beauty…all leads me to want to travel more. santorini, greece is definitely high up on my list of must see places. ahhhhhhhhhh. so beautiful. check out santori.com.

ideas….

i am full of ideas! ideas for everything…what to wear, what to photograph, how to decorate, what to make for dinner, how to market my business, etc. however…i sometimes fail in the follow-thru department.

i’m going to work on changing that this year! more follow-through. i believe good intentions are what i’m made of…but without the good actions…well…my good intentions cannot be seen. so i’m making lists. i’m brainstorming. i’m implementing plans of action. i’m practicing follow-through. i’m practicing the fine art of not procrastinating…well at least not too much.

it’s going to be a good year! i can feel it in my bones and in my heart.

Looking at the Smaller Picture…

“Patience child, patience. Remember, life is a journey. If you got everything you wanted all at once there’d be no point to living. Enjoy the ride, and in the end you’ll see these “setbacks” as giant leaps forward, only you couldn’t see the bigger picture in the moment. Remain calm, all is within reach; all you have to do is show up every day, stay true to your path and you will surely find the treasure you seek.”

- Jackson Kiddard-

i happened upon this quote a few weeks back. i skimmed it and moved on to other things…not really reading it or letting the words sink in. when i was cleaning out my inbox today i reread it…really read it this time. and  it resonated.

patience. i need patience. and i need the constant reminder that i can’t always see the bigger picture. i need to remember that sometimes the setbacks are blessings in disguise. they make us slow down and enjoy the journey more…because otherwise we are just on autopilot zooming forward.

the treasure…oh the beautiful amazing treasure that i seek. it’s called beauty and happiness and love. and yes i continue to seek but it also surrounds me if only i look a little closer.

Miss Samantha: Arlington Newborn Photography

miss samantha is beyond adorable. i believe i actually made the comment when i blogged a sneak peek of her that she made my ovaries ache. well….perhaps that sounded a bit weird or dramatic or something…but i mean she’s so darn beautiful that she makes me want another baby. it’s a female response to babies i think.

i photographed baby samantha when she wasn’t quite a week old. she was so tiny! and she has so much hair!

 

i think this may be my favorite…or one of my favorites anyway….

meet miss samantha’s beautiful mommy…

and her big brother tristan…

i just had to include this frame. it was at the end when i was packing up to leave…they were both done! can’t tell they’re brother and sister at all ; )

Polaroid Collage

polaroids rock!

i have a soft little place in my heart for my fugifilm instax mini 25 camera. it produces credit card size photos that really make just about anyone smile. i have this awesome habit of taking pictures, holding them in my hand  and watching them develop, falling in love with them, then somehow sticking them someplace where i don’t find them again for awhile.

i’ve been collecting a little stack on my desk and i’ve been meaning to find a way to display them. i want them out to look at, not in an album. i also wanted a non-permanent way to display them. that way i could add to my collection, perhaps rearrange the photos, or at a later time move them to an album without ever ruining them. wow! a lot to ask for huh? (this is why i tend to procrastinate projects.)

no longer!!! here’s how i made my new polaroid collage/collection……

i have this frame i picked up at a barn sale a few years ago. actually there was a mirror in this frame until my last move when the mirror shattered into a million bits. i saved the frame just knowing i would come up with something to do with it. i believe it cost me around $10. (gotta love barn/garage sales)

so it needed a back in the frame…something to attach the polaroids to. i decided to use white foam core. hey it’s cheap and light weight and i have some weird obsession with “100 ways to use white foam core”. (it just so happens to be my very favorite reflector to use in photography.)

i gathered all the necessary items for my diy project…scissors, an exacto knife, ruler, scissors, framer’s points, double sided tape, packing/mailing tape, white fabric,  and a cutting mat.

i measured the foam core to fit inside my frame and cut it with the exacto to fit perfectly. i had to use two pieces in order for it to be large enough. i taped the two pieces together using the packing/mailing tape.

next i measured my piece of white fabric to cover the foam core and extend to a minimum of 3 inches along each side of the board. my fabric was thin so i doubled it. after cutting the fabric i ironed the crap out of it making sure that there weren’t any fold lines.

next i laid my foam core on top of the fabric and wrapped the 2 longest sides first around the foam core and held them in place with the mailing/packing tape. i wrapped the foam core kind of like a present making sure that there weren’t any ripples in the fabric. i also wanted to make sure that the corners looked extra good. i taped down all the edges. you could definitely use a hot glue gun  here but i didn’t want to burn my fingers and i found the tape worked really well and i could reposition it if i needed to.

when all the fabric was wrapped around the foam core and secured  and looked good i placed my “backing” in my frame. next i used framer’s points to secure the backing in the frame. you will find that i use many things perhaps a bit incorrectly. technically framer’s points are supposed to be used with a little gun/stapler like mechanism. i don’t have one of those so i just tapped them in with a little mini hammer i have. it was effective.

next i took the polaroids that i wanted to use and arranged them on my finished frame, securing them with double sided tape. i will be adding many more polaroids to this collection as i take them (and as i find them laying in haphazard places. as a matter of fact…i found one in my wallet the other day). i tried to arrange them in a fun way that makes it visually pleasing (at least to me) while i add to it and fill it up. it now sits in my office upstairs. i love it!!!

how do you arrange your polaroids? i’d love to see what you’ve done.

A Little Snow

“the first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event”

 

 

i don’t have a great love for the cold stuff…but it sure is pretty the first time you see it every year. the weather has been whacky around here…snowing one day…50 degress the next…

White with a Splash of Yellow, Sprinkled with Gray

i love to decorate. i love diy projects too. however at times i have a little problem pulling it all together. i see great bedrooms, living rooms, and ideas for decorating all over pinterest, houzz, decorating magazines, and the 1000 decorating blogs that i peruse on a daily basis. i ohhh and ahhh over rooms and fabrics, and color schemes, and furniture, and decorating details. so many pretty pretty spaces.

but so many of them just aren’t me. i could see myself walking into these picture perfect  spaces and almost dying because it’s so pretty. but i couldn’t see myself living there. i need homey. i need comfy. i need a little eye candy. i need a bit modern mixed with a bit eclectic mixed with simple, mixed with character, mixed with something used with history, mixed with something shiny and new mixed with something i’ve created or something someone else has created by hand. not sure that’s a real decorating style though and at times hard to actually bring together.

so i sit and i contemplate. i leave rooms empty and undecorated or i just fill them up with all the items i have and call it good. periodically i will reappropriate items and move them to other rooms or the garage sale pile. however…i’m completely in the mood to make my place a little more me. or should i say the me that i am today. obviously when items were originally purchased and decorating schemes planned they were me at that time. i’ve changed though and so has my sense of design and decorating.

here are a few peeks at my bedroom. this is as always a room in progress. however i really really like the progression so far.

i’m in love with this poster. my mantra when greeting people in the morning is “good morning sunshine”. it started as a sarcastic quip. i don’t like mornings…i am a night owl myself. but over the years i’ve realized that every morning is in fact a good morning. i love greeting myself with words that make me smile. the white mirrors around the poster i picked up at the local goodwill and painted white.

hello pretty lamp! this lamp is awesome and one of my more favorite pieces of decorating goodness. i bought this lamp about 10 years ago at a garage sale for 50 cents. that’s right 50 cents. i quite frankly couldn’t believe that it worked when i got it home. it was an olive drabby/mossy color when i first got it. then i painted it bright red and purple to match my moroccan themed room. now i’ve repurposed it yellow. and i love it!! i didn’t want a real side for my bed. they can be so drab and boring..so why not repurpose a chair? it was a  hand me down from a friend…i just painted it white.

oh i love this little detail too. it makes me smile every time i walk in my room. i picked up the old frames and mirrors at goodwill and other thrift stores. i repainted them and then hung them on this plate hanger. i also painted the plate hanger white…as it was gold.

this is by far my favorite mirror out of all of them. it’s just fun with the geometric shape and boards that are loose and worn. i found it at a thrift store for a couple of bucks and just added some white spray paint. voila!

no room is complete without a little photography. the left prints are from a pinhole camera. the prints are actually test prints when i was tweaking for a final print. the far right print is an alcohol transfer print onto the back  cover of a spiral bound notebook. the middle framed print are just a bunch of my favorite words. reminders to me.