Craft Time with Dyl Pickle

We call him Dyl Pickle, along with tons of other nick names. Or, maybe thats just me that has a thousand different nicknames for him. I pretty much have at least one nickname for everyone I know. It’s my thing. Anyway, his name is Dylan and he is my cute little nephew. I took these pictures of him about a month ago while I was watching him. We had some “craft” time and made some slap bracelets for his mom (my sister, Mindy). I can’t believe he is nine years old and has never heard of a slap bracelet!

I decided to share these pictures of Dylan, well first of all because he is so freakin’ cute, but also because these pictures remind me to appreciate the small things in life. They say that a pictures says a thousand words, or that you can tell a story through photographs…I totally agree with this statement, but sometimes I’m not even aware of the story that I am capturing until after looking through the images a second or third time. Looking through these pictures now, I realize that on the day that I took these pictures it was just another day to me. But, now I realize how happy and blessed I am to be able to share some craft time with my nephew. Happy that he can see and create things. You see, when Dylan was a baby, we (my sister, the rest of my family, and I) found out that Dylan had optic nerve hypoplasia. In a nutshell, this means that his optic nerve did not develop all the way and he is “legally blind”. When we first found out, we of course did not know how much he would be able to see or if he would be able to see at all. Well, thankfully he can see a lot more than we ever dreamed of. It’s still hard to determine exactly how much he can see, but I am so happy that he can see. Even if it is just a little bit.

I love these pictures I took of him. He is so adorable and is one of the sweetest little boys ever. He makes my heart smile

Lovin’ what I do

As you may know, I am into photography. I enjoy doing it as a hobby and I also work with a local photographer. His name is Michael and he is also a good friend of mine. I shoot along side of him at weddings and other shoots. Every so often I’ll shoot weddings of my own. As much as I love to take pictures, I will be honest and say that it is so easy to get in a rut when you’re constantly doing the same thing- like shooting beach weddings. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the beach and I think that beach weddings are beautiful, but if that’s what you’re taking pictures of 75% of the time, it can stifle your creativity…just a little bit. Anyway, to get to the point, I shot a “trash the dress” session today of a bride and groom for Michael because he had to go out of town. It’s something that I’ve never assisted Michael with, and definitely haven’t done on my own. Needless to say, I think I fell in love with photography all over again! Yes, they wanted them done at the beach, but we shot them near the Jetties (where I’ve never shot before). I love those rocks! Sometimes that’s all you need…just a little something different and it totally inspires you! I’m so excited about the weekend, because all I wanna do is take pictures. Of people, things, anything. It’s good to get that creativeness running through your body every once in a while. I am so very lucky to have a friend that is a photographer, who lets me shoot with him and for him and is constantly teaching me new things. Someone who has complete faith in me as a photographer. I am so grateful for that and so happy to be doing this.

Here is one of my favorite shots of the day. They did end up getting in the water and “trashing” their wedding attire, but I really just love this pic.

INSPIRE: Annie Leibovitz

Tonight my mother-in-law and I watched Life Through A Lens, and it has me all excited and inspired. It’s a documentary about the famous Annie Leibovitz. Maybe I should have watched this earlier in the day, because now my mind is racing with a million thoughts and ideas and before you know it, it will probably 2a.m. in the morning! Why my creativeness only seems to hit me late at night, I have no idea. I would definitely recommend this video. It’s so inspiring and fascinating. Her work. Her story. Everything. It’s so easy to get in a rut with things we do in life, and it’s so encouraging to see someone doing what they love and interesting to know their thoughts, ideas, and point of view on things. If you’re in to photography at all, you should definitely watch it.

Here are some of her photographs that I found. All of her work is beautiful to me, but there is something that I absolutely love about her earlier work. Maybe it’s the stories behind them. They’re pretty much amazing.

A One Year Celebration!!

Today is kind of an exciting day for me. It marks one whole year of me having a blog of my very own- woohoo!!! Haha. This is just a little celebration post to share my excitement. First of all, I would have never thought that I would one day have a blog. If you know me, you know that I’m a pretty introverted person. If I don’t know you, then I’m pretty shy and am kind of quiet. I’m definitely not that girl that never shuts up! Anyway, it may not seem like a big deal to have a blog, but it is for me. I feel that I took a huge step out of my comfort zone to share part of me for the whole world to see. Not to say that tons of people look at my blog or anything like that, but it’s here, I share the link on my Facebook page and it’s kinda scary to know how many people could possibly look at it and be judging me, thinking it’s silly, or whatever. But, at the same time, it feels so good just to put yourself out there, share your thoughts and passions, and just have a “take it or leave it” kind of attitude. It’s something that I’ve gotten better at and it is sooo refreshing! I seriously think that everyone should have their own blog, whether it’s for photography, crafting, music, or just simply for sharing pictures for friends and family. Whatever it is you decide to blog about, it’s kind of like a journal, and it’s fun to go back see how things have changed, or how your work has progressed.

Anyway, enough of that… I made a little collage of SOME of my favorite pics and/or moments. I have tried a lot of new things and have learned a lot of things throughout this past year of blogging and I’m excited to see where another year of blogging will take me!

24 things before 25

It’s official. I’m almost a quarter of a century old! Last week I celebrated my 24th b-day. I thought it would be fun to make a list of 24 goals that I want to accomplish before I reach the quarter of a century mark. These goals are mostly fun goals that are easily obtainable and some sort of silly…but they’re all things that I’ve always wanted do or have been wanting to do for a while.  I figure seeing them written down on paper will make them that much more obtainable. Hopefully I’ll be crossing them off soon. Happy Monday!

Just Married 3/26/10

He is honestly one of the best people I have ever met in my life. He is sweet, caring, understanding, loyal, a good listener, GOOD looking, AND he is my husband. Doug and I first started hanging out almost 3 years ago, and I am so happy/thankful/lucky to be able to call him my husband now! So happy/thankful/lucky in fact, that I sometimes have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming! Haha, I know thats pretty cheesy…but seriously, I had no clue that a guy like Doug could possibly exist. He never ceases to amaze me with what an awesome person he is. I always try to take a step back and really take in the fact that he is such a great guy and how much I really lucked out with finding him. We got married on March 26th of this year. As if marrying my best friend wasn’t good enough, the weather was beautiful. Sunny and not a cloud in the sky. It was pretty much perfect.

Our wedding was perfect in the way that I feel it really represented Doug and I as a couple. We’re both intimate people and so we decided to keep it as immediate family only. We got married at Henderson Park Inn and then went out to eat at Mulhallow’s Bistro afterwards. I absolutely loved our wedding day. It was one of the most important days of my life and I wouldn’t change a thing about it if I could.

Since we’ve been married for a little over 2 months now, I figured it was about time that I share a little bit from our special day. The pictures were taken by the fabulous Michael K of course. I’ll definitely be posting more pics and stories of how our big day unfolded. There are just so many pictures and so much to say about our wedding that I couldn’t have possibly done it all in one posting.

A Ravishing Bride!!!

A few months ago, my friend Sherri and her hunnie decided that they were going to elope in Vegas!!! How exciting right?? Well, almost as exciting as that, she asked me to take some bridal pics of her before she left. I was so happy and excited that she asked me! This of course, was my first bridal shoot, so I was a little nervous. Everything turned out awesome though. I took my hunnie along with us for a little extra hand. Not only is he a wonderful assistant, he has quite the eye. Needless to say, Sherri, Doug and I had a blast. We laughed most of the day.

Thanks Sherri for letting us capture some BEAUTIFUL pics of you in your wedding dress! You looked amazing:) Congrats to you and Michael! I’m so happy for you guys. It’s about time y’all tied the knot!

Informal Do Up

So, Doug and I decided to update our spare bathroom last August. An old mirror that my mom had got from a yard sale or something is kinda what inspired it all. Then, I found the shower curtain and everything else sorta just happened. We painted it and that’s how pretty much how it stayed for about 8 months. Just a freshly painted bathroom, lonely and decor-less. I guess procrastination would be a little bit of an understatement…but I’m sure you would never have guessed that about me.

Anyway, I wish I had the REAL before pic for our spare bathroom. When I first moved in with Doug, he had a roommate and they decided on black for the wall color?? Ok, I am by all means not against the color black. In fact, I love the color black. But, I mean seriously?? In this small, already dated bathroom? It just did it no justice at all. So, I finally talked Doug into brightening it up a bit. Ok, well a lot. We went for a lime-ish color.

The kinda before pics:

And the afters:

I really LOVE the way that it all turned out. Especially after buying all the little details. Eight months after the fact. After I got everything setup, I kept finding myself in the bathroom every few minutes just staring at it. My little masterpiece- ahaha. I can’t help but be proud…it’s my first room in OUR house that I finally was a part of from start to finish. All I need now is a rug and pictures in the frames. Ah, I’ll do that it in the next couple weeks or so I hope you likey. And, just in case you are interested, I got the following from:

Paint, light fixture: LOWES

Mirror: Yard sale + spray paint

Shower curtain, shelves, frames, and cute little birdy: Target

CUTEST FAM EVER: The Hartman Family

Meet the Hartmen family!!! Are they not seriously the cutest little family?? Darris and Ryan have two of the most beautiful little girls ever. Layla is the older of the two and Harper is the  cute little baby bird. I don’t think that I could ever take too many pictures of them! They were absolutely hilarious and I had so much fun taking pics of them. Layla was a little camera shy at first, but toward the end of the shoot was loving the camera.  I shot these last month at the Fort Walton Beach Landing. Darris just wanted a good picture of the four of them. I think we got it!

Hot couple

This is Layla lovin the camera and posin like a little model

Thanks Darris and Ryan for letting be a part of your family portraiture! I had a blast with y’all and hope you like your family pics. If y’all ever feel that the family pic needs to be updated, holla at ya girl!

Jessie and Misty

And yet anotha one! Yeah, that’s right. Two blogs in one day. So what, if has been over a month since I last blogged?? Haha- just messin.

Okay, so meet Jessie and Misty. Two pretty little ladies that I had the pleasure of shooting a couple months ago. This seriously has to be one of my favorite shoots ever! I had a blast with these girls, the weather was perfect, we were in Pcola- which is a little something different, and it was all just for fun. No pressure. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention…I had an assistant that day. Michael K, who I am usually assisting by the way. But, he is part of the reason these pics turned out so fabulously. He was there to give me his expert opinion AND he held a reflector for me, which I’ve never have used before. AWESOME. Thanks MK!

Thanks Jessie and Misty for being such lovely models!!! You both are so beautiful! I had a blast with y’all and hope we can do it again one day! I hope you likey