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! :)

Marvelous Mondays | Oops...

You know what's awful? To realize it's Tuesday and that just ONE WEEK after starting my first weekly blog series I've already missed the second installment of Marvelous Mondays.

Good going, Tori. Very smooth. Way to remember to post on Monday once it's the following Tuesday.

And thus marks the story of my blogging life, so far. I have great intentions, people, but it just takes me a little time to catch reality up with those intentions.

SO. Please accept my apology, and for now, lets assume it's going to be an every-other-weekly series...and that not posting yesterday was actually artistically intentional, somehow.... K? Great.

Besides, maybe I was too pre-occupied with finally posting my honeymoon photos yesterday (only 6 months after the fact...) that it distracted me from otherwise sharing something marvelous. But since my honeymoon (in Jamaica!) was marvelous, I'll leave you with a few snapshots to enjoy.

Happy end-of-Tuesday, friends! And really, there WILL be more real Marvelous Monday installments in the future...as soon as my remembering abilities catch up with all of my plans. :)

Featured | Jared & Samantha on Lucy Dylan Weddings

I was so excited to see that the beautiful wedding of my friends Jared & Samantha was featured on Lucy Dylan Weddings, yesterday! The only thing I love more than getting to document gorgeous wedding days (especially of friends) is seeing others excited about them and wanting to share them so that even MORE people can experience the beauty and creativity that the bride put into her special day. So, special thanks to LDW for wanting to feature their wedding!

I loved reading the behind-the-scenes info that Samantha provided for the post. She's so talented and put so much thought into each detail - which really showed in the way everything turned out. Such perfect touches of elegance and class! But, don't listen to me ramble on about it, head over to the blog post and read what Samantha had to say!

Marvelous Mondays | Return to Me, Pinterest & Starbucks Happy Hour

For a while now I've wanted to start a blog series that would allow me to share all the random things that I enjoy in life. This isn't an uncommon kind of series - several friends and bloggers I know do this. Many of them on the weekends, though (when, of course, you're happy to be released from work and free to think about and do lovely things). But, for me, sometimes I need that inspiration and happiness at the beginning of the week, when all of the impossibly-long to-do lists seem overwhelming and daunting and I'm just not sure I'll even MAKE it past Monday. If any of the rest of you are like me, then perhaps this new weekly series will be a welcomed pick-me-up for you, as it will be for me.

So, friends and readers, allow me to introduce "Marvelous Mondays"! I happen to really like alliteration (even in all of its cheesiness) and with an obvious play-off of my business name, I thought this would perfectly sum-up what I hope to do each Monday, from now on. And that is to simply show you things - ranging from potentially incredibly brilliant inspiration, to perhaps insignificant silly little knick knacks - that make my Mondays (and my life, really) feelmarvelous. There will never be any rhyme or reason to which things I choose to showcase, but that's what makes it so lovely. It's a way for me to let you all in on the many different aspects of things I love and appreciate in life.

So, without further ado....here we go! This week's Marvelous Monday items:

1) RETURN TO ME

So, last night I tried to watch a movie that I'd rented from Blockbuster, but for some reason it would not play. So, Aaron and I resorted to watching something we already own, instead. After much debate as to what it should be, we settled on Return to Me. One of my all-time favorite chick flicks. I love watching favorite movies at random times, especially when you finish it still convinced of its remaining one of your favorites. Not only is there charming romance, there's Chicago-style hilarity via Jim Belushi and Bonnie Hunt. If you haven't seen this 11-year old gem, do yourself a favor and pop it in some evening when you want to laugh, cry and be swept off your feet.

2) PINTEREST

So, I'm not exactly the first one to realize how awesome Pinterest is. In fact, I'm pretty late in catching on to it. I actually still haven't pinned much, but I lovvvve looking at all of the pretty things others have pinned, and it's certainly inspiring me to get better at it, myself. It's just such a brilliant concept to make digital inspiration boards SO easy. There are endless possibilities for designing themed boards and I'm pretty sure anyone, regardless of their interests, could get addicted to finding and pinning (or re-pinning) beautiful things.

3) STARBUCKS HAPPY HOUR

I needed to run some errands, and it worked out perfectly that it happened to be between 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. I made a quick stop in at Starbucks and happily got a grande frappucino for half of its regular price. I haven't had a frap in a long time, actually, as iced lattes are my main go-to. BUT, let me just say that a new favorite is for sure a caramel coconut frap. I haven't tried their normal mocha coconut, yet, but I'm pretty sure it would be hard pressed to rival my own caramel coconut combo. I love those two flavors more than just about any others and it was the perfect afternoon delight on a warm, sunny Spring Monday. Go take advantage of Happy Hour while it lasts!

And that concludes this week's features. Hope you all enjoy what's left of this Monday and will check back in next week for more current favorite things. :)

Goals | May

All right, I'm not gonna lie. I've been putting off this post these first few days in May.... 1) because I was in Indiana this past weekend, and was a little busy but, 2) because I didn't do as well on goals in April as I wanted, and I've not been looking forward to staring at it on paper and showing my lack of accomplishment to the world. BUT. The point is that I had goals, and do again for this month. And that some - even if not a lot - of progress is most definitely better than none. Right? Yes, that's what I choose to believe and thus have a whole new, clean slate for May and will hopefully achieve more than April. :)

With that said, lets take a look at how April went (items in bold are what I accomplished):

PERSONAL GOALS

• Continue working out at least 4 times a week (only exception being when I was in Indiana...)
• Brainstorm and accomplish 1 for-the-home art project (it was more home decorative than artistic, but still! It counts. See photos below. :)
• Make at least 5 meals without Aaron's input (including but not limited to pan broiled rosemary lamb chops with a side of veggies, coconut chicken with mango salsa, mexican chicken with black beans, rice & fresh tomatoes/onions and lemon-pepper chicken with sauteed asparagus & onions!)
• Have girl time with at least 4 different friends in person
• Call or hand-write at least 2 far-away girlfriends
• REALLY Finish writing Thank-You's (except for 3 that Aaron, specifically, needs to write...but since that's out of my control, I'm still writing this off as a success!)
• Mail the last Thank-You's
• Order Wedding Album (another step closer! But still making final decisions on layouts...)
• Finish catching-up on personal photo editing & uploading (I made some progress, but it's nearly never-ending, it seems...)
• Organize iTunes & all Music folders on computers
• Help my Mom pick out frames & wedding photos to print when I'm in IN at the end of the month! :)

BUSINESS GOALS

• Get all receipts from March in order
• Blog at least 2 times a week (trying this again!)
• Finish researching Business Insurance options & decide on a company/policy
• Organize all 2010 pictures on all computers/hard drives
• Finish researching and choose a company for online backup & off-site storage
• Research new laptops
• Research new desktop monitors
• Make a list of prioritized purchases

Ok, clearly my business list is TERRIBLY unaccomplished. BUT, what wasn't on the list is that I shot two weddings and some bridal portraits and traveled to Indiana for the weekend. All of which took time and were accomplishments in and of themselves that I should have thought to put on the list.... Needless to say, I will be adding many of these back on May's list....

But first, check out the latest Watson apartment decor!

I've dreamed of having a plate collage for a long time. (It was always one of those, "When I get married and have a place to decorate...." sort of dreams) And I'm SO excited that I finally have the start of one. :) I hope and plan to have a wall decorated with only plates, at some point, but for the size of the space we have, right now, I really like the plate and picture combination. The best part is that Aaron already had this picture, and most of the plates were found for really cheap at thrift stores (only two were bought for regular price from Pier 1).

I love how perfectly our place mats (that we got as a wedding gift) and the napkin holders (that I also found for cheap at a thrift store here in Richmond) go with the look and feel of the collage.

It all makes me so happy, and I still periodically squeal with delight and thank Aaron for hanging it all up for me. (Our interior decorating styles/preferences aren't very similar at all....so the fact that he not only is ok with this, but helped make it HAPPEN is very sweet. I have a pretty great husband. :)

Ok, now that we've seen my current apartment happiness, lets get on with goals for May:

PERSONAL GOALS

• Continue working out at least 4 times a week
• Brainstorm and accomplish another for-the-apartment decorative project
• Make 2-3 meals per week, without Aaron's help (8-10 for the month)
• Have girl time with at least 4 different friends in person
• Call or hand-write at least 2 far-away girlfriends
• Mail the last Thank-You's
• Order Wedding Album!
• Make more progress catching-up on personal photo editing & uploading
• Work on organizing iTunes & all Music folders on computers
• Sort through all clothes & shoes and get rid of some!

BUSINESS GOALS

• Make detailed weekly to-do lists
• Total all receipts/costs from January - April
• Get mileage for both cars up to date
• Blog at least 2 times a week (trying this again!)
• Finish researching Business Insurance options & decide on a company/policy!
• Finish researching and choose a company for online backup & off-site storage!
• Finish researching laptops/desktop monitors
• Make a list of prioritized purchases!
• Edit one bridal shoot
• Edit two weddings
• Shoot two weddings
• Prepare for & lead the photographic team at TeenPact (the organization my husband works for) National Convention

May is definitely a full month, especially with National Convention. But here's hoping I can still get a LOT of goals accomplished!

How did you all do with your goals in April? And what are you hoping to accomplish in May?

Weddings | Personality-Filled Details

I love shooting weddings for friends, especially when those friends are as wonderful and lively as the Blake family. From Courtney, the bride, to her parents, brothers AND sisters....the whole family is just packed with spunk, personality, hilarity and wit. And her brand new husband, Scott, seems to be pretty spunky, himself.

All of which made for one heck of a fun wedding today (well, technically yesterday, now....)

And while I most definitely should be going to bed, now, so that I'm not tired for church tomorrow, I just wanted to share two fun shots, because I LOVE when the wedding party has an aspect of personality-filled details that create a spunky opportunity for memorable photos.

And these guys, certainly had just that.

If all groomsmen could be that awesome, and that wonderfully dressed, I'd be a happy photographer.

Today was absolutely wonderful, but I'll blog in more depth about Scott & Courtney's wedding later. For now, enjoy the inspiration for adding fun wardrobe details to YOUR wedding, or heck, just your regular life. A bit of pattern and a lot of color can't help but do the heart good. :)

Happy weekend, friends. Hope you're enjoying it!

Personal | Happy Easter!

I know I've been failing at my blogging goals (again) this month. But the fact that I blog significantly more, now, than I did at this point a year ago is still progress in my mind...

But, what I really came here to say was Happy Easter, my friends! I truly hope each of you has enjoyed a beautiful, blessed day with loved ones - reflecting on and cherishing, most of all, the love and salvation that comes from a risen, ALIVE Savior. I'm grateful that today, and every day, I'm made worthy in the sight of the Lord because of what was accomplished on the cross. And furthermore, what was made complete by the resurrection. What a beautiful cause for celebration!

I'm grateful, as well, for this first Easter spent with my husband! (Quick self-portrait taken before church this morning - don't mind the hair eating my face, or Aaron's skeptical look. Both are pretty common...)

AND grateful for family-away-from-family (we love you Shanks/Haggards! :)

I missed seeing my own family today, but I'm happy knowing I get to see them this weekend and am mostly just amazed by all the many ways God loves and blesses me. May YOU all feel loved and blessed, as well!