Personal | When Friends Come to Visit

My life has been jam-packed with awesomeness, lately. And that awesomeness primarily exists of awesome people. Take, for instance, the fact that currently I'm sitting on my parent's couch in Indiana awaiting my dear friend Lindsey's wedding festivities which will begin in JUST a matter of hours. This weekend actually marks my first ever experience as a bridesmaid. I've been a flower girl and I've been the bride, but never before a bridesmaid. And I can say I'm truly honored and excited to be getting the privilege of standing up alongside such a dear, life-long friend on the most important day of her life. Not to mention it's a fun change to be on the OTHER side of a wedding and seeing it from the perspective of a wedding party member. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like to be photographed in the way that I'm so used to photographing others. :)

But anyway, since the wedding hasn't happened yet, and I don't really have any photos or updates about that, lets step back a few days and talk about LAST weekend. Because it was pretty darn awesome, too. My darling sister Aimee, my spunky cousin Emily & a very witty friend, Will, all descended upon Richmond to visit the Watson household for a few days. Awesomeness and hilarity were bound to ensue, and many, MANY quotable moments were created. I love it that they all found it worth their while to spend the time traveling to Richmond and made US their priority. I tried to remember to snap at least SOME photos in the midst of all the fun...

Emily, me and Will hanging out at the apartment, right before embarking on a game of Monopoly (which Aaron creamed all of us in).

Aaron was the banker with the new fangled "electronic" version.

Aimee trying to make a wise decision....

Me trying to make a wise decision... (this game takes concentration!)

I just love my beautiful cuz!

I told the other 3 to get together for a photo and this is what they did....

I said the gap was a little large and it looked awkward, so this was then the progression...

It cracks me up how Adam just keeps getting closer, and Aimee and Aaron continue to look awkward. Hah.

Aimee and Will. (The man with invaluable comments, advice and opinions about practically any and everything... from the music at Panera, to the discontinuation of scents at Bath & Body Works to cooking, Anderson Cooper and beyond!)

We capped off the wonderful afternoon with some tasty snacks for the evening. Adam was particularly excited about the watermelon.

On Monday, since Will, Aaron and Adam had to go back to work and normal life but Aimee and Emily weren't leaving until Tuesday, we girls decided to live it up and have a relaxing, enjoyable girl day. We started with some quality time at Barnes & Noble, then spent a couple hours soaking up some sun at the pool and topped it off by getting manicures before meeting up with Lydia for coffee. Basically a fantastic Monday, if you ask me. :)

Emily's nails...

Mine... (I wanted something light and pretty for the wedding this weekend)

Aimee's...

Coffee/tea/hang out time!

Self-Portrait group photo (not bad, if I do say so myself)

And friend pictures! Because all too often I fail to get these type.

The crazy travel-buddies.

Photos all around!

After our photo spree, Emily decided that she loved Aimee's new glittery sandals, even though they're about a foot too big for her.

Then I started randomly aiming & shooting without looking. Which actually came out with decent results, and managed to amuse me for a while... ;)

Basically, fabulous times were had by all. It was a perfect weekend and I already can't wait until the next adventures that we all get to have together! But for now, I'm off to do some shopping with my mom before rehearsal tonight! Yay for dear friends, good times and happily-ever-afters. :)

Portraits | Mady & Family

A couple weeks ago I got to head out to the beeeautiful property of Tree Hill here in Richmond to do 2-year-old portraits for one of the world's most adorable little girls. Her mom, Allyson, who is a photographer herself, had contacted me a few months prior and as we communicated about the shoot I got more and more excited about meeting and shooting her precious daughter, Mady.

As most people know, 2-year-olds can be pretty independent and when it comes to photos....sometimes entirely uninterested and uncooperative. But Miss Mady was in good spirits throughout the entire shoot, and even while being rather on-the-go (and incredibly fascinated with the silos - and by that I mean, she knew this word and frequently pointed up to them as we explored the farm. Talk about a smart kid!) she was a dream to work with. She laughed and smiled a lot and, I'm sure you'll agree, is just an outright photogenic child.

Look at her eyes! Such beautiful innocence.

She got pretty fascinated with the grass...

We made sure to take photos of Mady and Momma, too. :)

And some shots with Allyson's boyfriend, Reid, too. Aren't they just a cute little family?

And then Mady went off exploring, so I followed her... :)

And THESE are some of my favorites from the day. Such precious moments of mother and daughter. :)

Then we had a brief outfit change, and went exploring (near more silos!). Tree Hill is such a gorgeous area!

Definitely wanted to grab a few of just Allyson and Reid, as well. I'm thinking these two have a lot of fun together, in life. :)

We finished by checking out one more field.

And these are some more of my absolute favorites. Allyson and Mady are just so precious!

Mady meeting a ladybug!

And to end on another STUNNING photo...

So, as you can see, I had a BLAST photographing this gorgeous girl and this wonderful family! Thanks, Allyson, for having me do your photos and I hope you guys enjoy them as much as I have! :)