Love, Me Blog

My sweet and super silly little girl …

The other morning on our way out the door, she just looked so cute in an old CourtneyCourtney dress that she just HAD to wear, so of course, I HAD to photograph her for 7 minutes in the driveway before we left.  Here were the hilarious results.

that middle one just makes me laugh out loud.  and in case you are wondering, there was NO prompting. I never said “jump” or “act silly” or anything of the sort. I’m still not exactly sure what she was doing, but she was putting on a show in the middle of the street, that’s for sure.

AND … this last one. OMG.  The look she is giving that snail attached to our garage door is more than priceless.   Oh, three year olds …

And speaking of Courtney Courtney … just so you know, I have talked with Ms. Courtney herself about the possibilities of cloning herself so she can make more dresses for all of you fanatics out there (hint: I’m reading all those emails, I promise) She’s working on it, but in the meantime, keep your eagle eye ( read: refresh your browser every minute for a week ) out for her hot new styles that she posts daily!  They are currently selling in less than one minute!!!  Isn’t she just fabulous? We love all her clothes and its all Mia Grace wants to wear these days (this morning she had to wear her “NUMBER FOUR DRESS MOMMY”  (its actually a #3) More from that shoot later …

In case any of you missed my facebook update, Lauren is the one responsible for the giddy grin that has been plastered to my face for the past week!  The gift that she gave me cannot be measured by anything this side of heaven and that gift has made me a better person and a much better photographer.  Oh how I desire to give that same gift to each client that I am blessed to photograph.

While Lauren was busy photographing me and the little Miss, I also photographed her, well … just because!  She recently donated her gorgeous long hair to locks of love and is also sporting some new fresh “ink”. (I’m not nearly cool enough to say that, but I’ve always wanted too ) Lauren is a kindred spirit and I’ve had the pleasure of knowing her for a little over a year now I guess?  I’ve lost track because it feels like we’ve been friends forever.  I am blessed by the greatest group of five photographer friends and Lauren is one of them. Of all of us, Lauren and I are the most alike in so many ways, except she is extremely fit and healthy and feeds her children things that only nourish their little bodies.  Unlike my poor daughter who loves cheez-its and chocolate milk, her twins think that a candy bar consists of granola.  lol.  I know, I have a LOT to learn from her!

She is a dreamer, she is selfless and patient, and she is outrageously fun! Her smile lights up the world … promise … just go see for yourself!

Within minutes of meeting her, Mia Grace now refers to her as “my friend” and she cried when we had to go home

my favorite i think. its just, well HER in all her perfectly imperfect glory~

Now tell me you don’t want to go outside and play with her?  So many of these had serious “camera shake” because I was laughing so hard.

I lied.  This is my favorite!

Hey girl … nice ink! And yes, she that is her handwriting!

Isn’t she GORGEOUS??  And can you believe she gave birth to TWINS.  That is two babies at ONE time in case you didn’t know …

love this next series … its just so symbolic and her and wonderful and can’t you just feel the air blowing through your hair …

love you friend xoxoxoxo

Before we head out for date night, I had to share a few images I took of my baby girl before school a few days ago. Is she not the cutest?  I know I am biased, but she is just so much fun to photograph even if she makes me work REALLY hard for anything work keeping.  Again, this cute top is from the VERY talented Courtney Chu of CourtneyCourtney.  I know lots of you have asked lately where I shop for Mia Grace.  Courtney is our favorite and Mia Grace is basically a walking advertisement on a daily basis. Her clothes are fun, funky, and unique which fits my baby girl’s spunk. Oh, and they are super comfortable and wash up really really well!  Can’t beat that.  Make sure to tell her who sent you!  You can also follow Courtney’s BLOG to stay up to date with all her new styles.

She insisted that she wear “Mommy’s necklace” … from Africa of course.  Hey, at least it matched!

I’m all about the up close and personal shots with my new lens.  ::swoon::  I’ve been dying to get those eyelashes on camera for a while.

A new favorite.

This one is SO her.  This face cracks me up.  And NO, I didn’t catch her blinking. She’s closing her eyes on purpose.  My little drama queen.

Meet NaNa and Grandpa … my grandparents!  It was so special to me to get the opportunity to photograph them just before the holidays and even more special to finally open these up after the new year and edit them.  Several times today I laughed out loud or teared up a little.  These are the sessions that truly fill me me up and make me proud to do what I do.  

There was no specific reason behind our little shoot.  No milestone anniversary or picture needed for the newspaper … it was well, just because!  hence the title.  I think everyone deserves a “just because” session. It’s like saying my life and my relationships with those around me are important enough to be documented just because …  I love it.  I think its empowering and freeing and the images show.  

I just love my grandparents so much!  My NaNa is the hippest great-grandmother around and Grandpa Fred is one of those guys that’s just easy to be around (well, easy to everyone except my Nana, lol).  The whole session, he was being his normal self, acting like a goofball and cracking joke after joke.  I loved every minute of it.  I know my NaNa was a nervous wreck that he was going to look like a fool and more importantly, make her look like a fool  but I think they turned out wonderful.  Grandpa, all your craziness finally paid off I think  I guess he is good for something NaNa!  He made you laugh and your smiles are so genuine and beautiful!  I guess we’ll have to keep him around after all.

and my favorite!

well, i dont know, maybe this next one is my favorite!

And of course, I just had to get a few of my beautiful NaNa by herself.  Don’t you think she is just gorgeous? 

I love you both so much.  Thank you for loving me like you do and for being so proud of me all the time.  Even when I don’t deserve it.  Hope you enjoy your pictures.  XOXOXO.