Memorial Day in Philly!

Fishing, hockey, barbeques.

Ok, one of those things is not like the others. I'll give you a hint- ok, no, I'll just tell you. Fishing? Hockey? Psssh, this girl doesn't usually do that. Barbeques? Ohhh yeah, I looove barbeques.

But regardless of whether or not I usually go fishing (or maybe just watch someone fish) or watch hockey (and pretend to know what's going on), I had an awesome time doing ALL of it in Philly this weekend.

Tom and I had fun following Joe around like the paparazzi (cue GaGa here...)- he was definitely a good sport, until he went all i'm-going-to-shave-my-head-like-Britney crazy. He just couldn't handle...what a shame.



And of course I had to get some shots of Tom with his new awesome camera (I'm not jealous. Ok, yes I am)






I had to trek down a steep muddy hill in a dress and flip flops to get down to the water, but it was totally worth it.


What I didn't include in that list was kickball, beer, sightseeing, and Mets bashing. I don't think you have to guess which one of those I was NOT pleased about. Whatever, they're just jealous of my awesome team. ;)



The next day Tom, Pat and I walked around downtown just snapping some pictures. I just can't get enough of this city. :)


Ohh, and then I got to see them play an aweeesome game of kickball!




I was sad to say goodbye to Philly, but I'll be back soon! After getting back to DC, I met up with Kaelyn for some headshots! Here's a sneak peek! :) The shoot was full of boom box, salsa dancing, old pickup trucks goodness!




And, of course, the weekend was memorable because we were celebrating our Freedom. Our Freedom that so many people take for granted.
Our Freedom that we owe to the men and women serving our country so selflessly.
Thank you for everything you do.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and remembered to thank someone who served or is currently serving in the military.
:)

Spring means Hot Pink Shoes time!

I love Shoes
I love Pink
I love Spring




Most of all, I love wearing pink shoes in the Spring!

Enjoy the beautiful weather, everyone! :)

60 Degrees of Amazingness!

Yes, I'm aware that "amazingness" isn't a word, but how else would I describe the beautiful weather? I don't know if I have ever been so excited for Spring before- this year, the return of warm weather brings a whole new element into my life- photography. Lots and lots and lots and loooots of piiictures!

Just about a year ago, I decided that I was finally going to act on a dream of mine. I decided that I had waited long enough to buy something that I had wanted for years- a nice, brand new DSLR. I admit, I didn't know what to do with it when I got it. First of all, I had to get over the initial shock of my impulsive decision (which Cara didn't mind helping me out with).

Impulsive decisions are common for me. I decide that I want something and then I get it. That's it. Simple. Sometimes, like in this case, it meant that I had to put more money towards my credit card every month (Thank GOODNESS for Best Buy zero percent financing!). Looking back now, that decision was TOTALLY worth it. I did, however, have to promise myself that I would take lots of pictures- this camera couldn't be stored away in my closet and forgotten. I was going to make it worth it...and I did! That following weekend I remember taking 1,500 in one day. I headed into DC for sunrise and I was there til past sunset (ahhh Cherry blossoms!), and I couldn't be happier.

As I progressed and learned more about my new hobby, I began to see everything as pictures. My camera would be nowhere in sight, yet I would picture photographs in my head. How would I position that tree in the picture? The depth of field would be awesome in this picture! Look at that couple, if I had my camera, I'd put them to the left of center, and click! Yes, that can certainly get annoying to my friends who could care two cents about how a dog could be captured in a photograph, but they understood. :)

Flash forward a year- I've learned so much and I'm sooo looking forward to learning a lot more. I enjoy every moment of every photoshoot. I have some AWESOME photoshoots coming up (hellllo lots of Naval Academy pictures!!!) and I have some awesome people to meet (yaaaay my 2010 brides!).

So stay tuned for lots of pictures coming up in the next few months. I'm ecstatic- not only to meet these new people, but to learn with every picture that I take. So, seriously, Mother Nature- you need to back off! Let me take some pictuuures! ;)

And because I want to add some cuteness to this crazy post, here's some Dolce lovin'!
(Yes, it's just her nose, but she's so cute I couldn't help it!)




Dolce also wants to play outside in the pretty weather, although I would be lying if I said she didn't l.o.v.e the snow. She IS a snow dog, after all. :)

Hope

This past Saturday marked a historical and mournful day in the country of Chile. My thoughts and prayers go out to Chileans everywhere.

The beautiful flowers below were given to a Chilean co-worker and friend of mine whose family lives in Chile. The flowers are just too pretty to not put up here. While I might not have any direct connections to the country, Cindy is always so proud of her heritage and I was so so relieved to hear that her family and friends were safe and sound. :)

If you would like to contribute to emergency efforts, you can visit:

* AmeriCares, https://secure.americares.org/site/Donation2?df_id=5820&5820.donation=form1

* American Red Cross, http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_subsrc=RCO_ResponseStateSection

* The Salvation Army, http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_sa.nsf/vw-news/7172714A0CE8FF75802576D70043BBB1?opendocument

You can also text to donate $10 to the following organizations. You will receive a confirmation text that your donation was received.

• Text “4CHILE” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Convoy of Hope

• Text “CHILE” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through the World Program

• Text “CHILE” to 25383 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Habit for Humanity

• Text “REBUILD” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Operation USA

• Text “CHILE” to 52000 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through the Salvation Army

• Text “CHILE” to 20222 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through World Vision

Happy Valentine's Day!

does it keep you up at night?
does it chase you in your dreams?
does it rip you up inside, tearing at the seams?
does it burn up like a star, falling from above?
does it feel like love?

when you wear it on your sleeve
it's hanging by a thread
you're counting butterflies
as you lie awake in bed

it's so hard to contain
and it fits you like a glove

'cause it feels like love
(feels like love- tony lucca)

I hope everyone is spending the day with someone they love. If not, make sure to call the people you love and let them know that you love.them.oh.so.very.much! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow Angels, Snow Plows, Snowmen, Oh My!

Snowmaggedon? Nah, I'll refer to it as Snowtorius B.I.G.
Funny that the last post I had on here was of nice, warm Florida weather. Ok, Karma, you already got back at me for rubbing the warm weather in people's faces, but another blizzard...ANNND another snowstorm tomorrow?! Sheesh, that's just a little ridiculous, don't ya think?

I don't want you all to think I'm a grinch or anything- believe me, I had my fair share of fun in the snow this weekend! Here are a few pics from my snow adventure with my roomie, Kay. It was like Kay's personal photo shoot this weekend haha (I know, I know, I'm sick of her too)! :)

First, we ventured to our cars- Kay wasn't too thrilled that her car was completely submerged in snowy goodness.






See! It was like her own little shoot!


Here's proof that I actually was there!





Climbing to the veeery top of a GINOROUS snowpile...


Apparently the snow was very yummy...I just took her word for it.


Bring it, snow! Victorious!


Ok, last one- she's gonna kill me. Here's Kay right after she jumped in the thigh-high amount of snow and then she almost faceplanted. Awesome.



Hope everyone had fun playing in the snow! And if you didn't get a chance to play in snow, don't worry, we have 10-20 more inches coming tomorrow.

Don't wear 45 SPF sunscreen if you want even a slight chance of getting a tan...

That is certainly what I learned on my mini vacation down in Ft. Myers, Florida this past weekend! Other than forgetting to look at the sunscreen bottle when I was applying it, I had a nice, relaxing, WARM few days in Florida!

I thoroughly enjoyed the 80 degree weather, while I was making fun of my friends who were snowed-in in DC! Well, karma's a you-know-what and now I'm back in VA and it's snowing again! Annnnd it's supposed to snow (A LOT) this weekend too! C'moooon, Spring- get here soooon! :)

I had so much fun hanging with my family and old family friends! Can't wait to visit again :)
Here are a few shots from my last day down South (when it was snowing in VA haha!):

I just looked out my window- it's still snowing. Maybe if I look at these pictures long enough it'll magically stop snowing and turn 80 degrees? maaaybe?



Hmm...the snowplow just went by outside, so I'm thinking that's probably unlikely haha


Apparently this ice cream man has been roaming the beach with his palm tree and cart for years! He definitely had a tan that I was jealous of!


While I was walking around on the pier, I made a few new friends! Three beautiful pelicans were just chillin' waiting for fishermen to throw them some fish! There was a whole crowd of people around them, but that didn't seem to bother them. One of them seemed to love the photo op, he kept strutting up to me and posing.




Afterwards, we ended an awesome day in beautiful Naples! We caught a college ball game and drank a few beers while looking out on the water- seriously doesn't get more relaxing than that!




Can't wait for my next vacay (and some warm weather)!
:)

When life deals you a bad hand...

...well, just deal with it!
I have never been the philosophical type, so just bear with me haha.
All, I can say is, thank goooodness for patient friends...and a handy cheat sheet :)

Last night I played poker- and when I say "played," I mean "failed miserably," but certainly learned. Luckily we started with $10, so I only lost $9.65 by the end of the night. This obviously just means that I'm hustlin my friends- I just WANT them to think that I'm bad, so next time I'll kick butt. Yeah...that's it. :)


I didn't even have to use the cheat sheet once (ok, no, that's a TOTAL lie)! It only took a quick lesson at work which involved cutting out fake cards and getting quizzed (thanks, Cindy!), and some quick lessons before the game (thanks, Eric and Nathan!), but I think I got it?



I swear I won a few rounds- really! But then everyone's piles of chips started to get bigger and bigger (like enough to make cool towers), and mine started getting smaller and smaller.



Was it worth the $9.65? Definitely!




Watch out, people! I'm a card shark (or maybe I will be eventually...) :)

My friends also thought I was taking pictures of them all last night...psssh, told ya I was actually taking pictures of the table, people!

Everyone have a great weekend! :)

Like a Kid in a Candy Store...

New Year's Weekend my roomie and I headed up to MD to see our awesome college friend, Laura, who hosted a fun fun fuuun Gingerbread House party!

Seriously, eating lots and lots of candy and icing might be fun at first, but a half an hour later the crazy sugar high fades away and you just never want to see candy ever again.

It felt like Halloween to me- it was almost as if I overturned my completely full pillow case of candy on the floor, sorted it, and just started eating. And eating. And eating. Ok, you get the picture...

Well, besides crashing after the sugar rush, we had an awesome time! Our personalized gingerbread houses are still sitting all pretty on our kitchen counter. Yay! :)

And the hostess with the mostest....

So I finally have my new computer which means fun stuff is comin at you guys! Please be patient with me as I change around my blog and FINALLY launch my website! Yeeeees!! :)

Bring it, 2010!

Wow wow wow...2009 went by in a whirlwind. In the last 6 months, my life has completely changed. My hectic (but amaazingly fun) life now includes something that I absolutely love- photography. Last January I would've NEVER thought I'd have my own photography business by the end of the year- just insane. Just thinking about me practically makes me speechless, which, believe me, hardly EVER happens.

I've met some amazing people (new clients and other photographers who've become friends) and I just can't wait to meet even more people in 2010. I'm shooting my first weddings (on my own!!) this year and I'll be assisting a fantaaastic photographer (I don't want to name her because I'm afraid I'll jinx it!!) who has been such an inspiration to me. :)

So, here's to a new and exciting year- a year of personal growth. I have so many new goals for this year (launching a new website, booking more weddings, and oh yeah...running my first half marathons and marathon!).

Thank you so so much to everyone who has inspired and pushed me to pursue one of my biggest dreams this year- without you guys, none of this would've happened! Thank you to everyone who was patient with and who will be patient with me in the coming years as I learn to become a better photographer. I have so so much to learn, but you guys helping me along sure makes it lot easier!

A Happy and Safe New Year to you and your families!

Here are just a few of my favorite pics from 2009:

A Very Merry Christmas

Ok, this is a little late, but I wanted to post up a few pictures from my Christmas this year. The crazy blizzard two weeks ago messed up our Christmas plans a little, but it turned out for the best- we got to spend the holiday with our family up in Jersey and PA!

I <3>

The pups got to play in the snow...

We had some fun, even if it was just with a silly pair of glasses (whose were those anyway?!)

We got to eat some DELICIOUS food (I just might have to run approximately 9130.6 miles to burn off all of those calories, but it was toootally worth it)

And, oh yeah, I got to play with my NEW LENS!! Did I mention that my sister, Cara, and my brother-in-law, James, are basically AWESOME! They bought me a kick-butt 35mm lens that I definitely had some fun playing around on. Yeeees!

I got fantastic presents this year (thaaanks Mom and Dad, Cara and James, and faaamily!) and I think I gave some pretty sweet presents too, if I do say so myself. :)

Presents are great and all, but being able to spend time with my wonderful family (but my immediate and my extended) was amazing!

Check back soon for my Engagement shoot in DC with Jackie and Dylan! So cute! :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! :) :)