A little behind on my posts…

I’ve been MIA on this blog lately…but I have still been taking pictures! Here are a few that I’ve taken of friends over the last couple months…

I had a lot of fun with each of them and so thankful they were willing to be my test subjects!!

Danielle

I’m loving being outside right now! It’s been beautiful and warm, the perfect weather. It’s also been a great experience for me to battle with the sun in my pictures! I’ve been able to get some great practice finding how to use natural lighting (since I don’t have a flash!) in a way that won’t ruin the pictures. On Saturday I was able to spend some time with Danielle being my model. She looked beautiful, and was so easy to take pictures of! I had wanted to go to Ravenswood, but there was a wedding going on, so we drove on past to Sycamore Grove. We walked around and got some good shots…I can’t wait to go back there… So many pretty places  Here’s a few of the pictures!

Alyssa

This past weekend we had a great time in Pismo. We spent 4 days relaxing and hanging out at the beach. We got to spend some time with my sister-in-law Alyssa, and she was kind enough to let me take pictures of her around SLO. She’s very photogenic and was so easy and fun to work with…we had a blast! As soon as we got home today I rushed into our office to edit so I could post some of her pics, and she looks beautiful! I had such a fun time, and look forward to taking more pictures of her in the future…if she’ll let me I was also able to take some pictures of my friends Tiffany and Becky who are both expecting little one’s soon…can’t wait to edit those and post them later this week. For now, I’ll post a couple of my favorites of Alyssa, my fun, beautiful sister-in-law! Thanks so much Alyssa!

Love & Respect

This weekend Garrett and I had the privilege of going down to Chino Hills to see the Love & Respect Conference by Emerson Eggerichs. It was an awesome weekend and we learned a lot about each other. Emerson has a great talent for being able to portray both the man and the woman in a marriage and the very real differences there are. I would suggest that everyone, Christian or not, read his book. It really opened my eyes to how Garrett and I can treat each other, and he portrayed it all in a very comical but educational way. I’m excited to take what I have learned and use it! It was also such an encouragement to see the 2000 people that attended. It’s great to be in a place with others who long to fight against the ever increasing divorce rates. My prayers are that at least one marriage was saved by that weekend…it would make the entire thing worth it

I’m really excited for this weekend. We are going to Pismo with some of our friends for a few days, and get to visit with Alyssa (Garrett’s sister) for a little while too. It’s our first annual friends trip and I’m excited to see how it works out! Hopefully it will be the begininning of many more to come.

While we are down there, Britt and I are going to take a stab at doing some maternity pics of our beautiful pregnant friends, Becky and Tiffany. I’m really excited to post some pictures from that!  We also are hoping to take some practice pictures of Alyssa too, if we can steal her away for a few hours down in SLO. Hopefully by Sunday night I’ll have some more pictures to post! So excited!

Sara

This weekend has been great! Every single day one of my beautiful friends would let me take pictures of them…great practice for me! Today (Sunday), I had the pleasure of helping my friend Sara get all glammed up, and spend the day out and about taking as many pictures as we could…it was great! She was so easy to work with, ready to do anything we could think of…and trust me, it wasn’t all that glamorous. It was hot, sunny and the bugs were out enjoying the nice weather. But after all was said and done, I think we got some great shots! Here are just a few of my favs!

Thank you Sara, for taking a day to hang out with me, and let me capture your beauty! I truly am blessed to have such beautiful friends…on the inside and out =)

Tiffany and her baby belly!

I was so excited to have the chance to practice taking pictures of my friend Tiffany and her adorable pregnant belly! I have a few that are really cute and I can’t wait to post them…but for now I’ll just post a few…including the one that every maternity photographer loves to take…the heart =) Can’t wait to show the rest! Thank you Tiffany for letting me take pictures of such a precious moment in your life!

UPDATE:
Here are a few more pictures of Tiff that I wanted to add after editing them!

Shoes!!!!

I LOVE SHOES! Before I met my wonderful husband who taught me the value of the dollar…I used to spend all my money on shoes! I think they are the greatest ending to anything you wear. You can put on the same outfit, and depending on what shoes you chose, it can change the entire feel of it…go casual with flip flops, take it up a notch with some wedges, make it trendy with some boots or throw some classic stilettos on and you are ready for a night out.  I believe shoes will you tell a lot about someone. For example, right now, my shoes will tell you I’m saving money and my shoe fetish is on the back burner! But my all time favorite are…little kid shoes. What could be greater than a tiny shoe? Although I must say, I enjoy everything mini. Especially all those cute travel accessories- mini toothpaste, deodorant, sewing kits…its all adorable. But kids shoes are the best…by far.

Elizabeth

Yesterday I was able to take a few pictures of my friend Elizabeth and her cute kids. I’m thankful for friends who are patient with me, as I try to learn the ins and outs of my camera…and I’m coming across an issue that I need to learn real fast…how to deal with bad lighting! We had the sun directly on us, and the pictures looked washed out and way to bright. Luckily we were able to find some shady places to get a couple decent shots in. Thank you for your time Elizabeth! And here are just a few from the shoot…

Truisms…

I just received this email from a friend, and I must say, it’s pretty hilarious. Just wanted to share it…Why can’t I ever think of something this funny that will circulate inbox’s till kingdom come??

TRUISMS:

1. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I’m pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don’t want to have to restart my collection…again.

13. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this – ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dang it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

21. Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

22. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

25. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear or understand a word they said?

26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

29. There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

31. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

32. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet everyone can find and hit the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

Brittany

So far, I’ve only taken pictures of my beautiful friend Brittany. She was kind enough to let me use her camera and get some practice in. She’s one of those people that make a photographer look good. Even with my lack of experience, the pictures look good, and I must say, it’s not because of me! Enjoy!