Finn’s mom (who also happens to be a fab friend) tagged me for a Meme. How fun! I’m supposed to write about six random or odd things that you might be surprised to learn about me. Since this is a photoblog, I have tried to include as many photos as I can.  Enjoy my randomness!

1. When I was in 7th grade, I fell 35 feet out of a tree.  Seriously. I am really lucky that I only broke my wrists. I am also lucky that I made my sister go get my mom to come outside and take a picture moments before I fell, otherwise no one would ever believe that I fell that far.

And for whatever reason, my mom made me return to the scene of the crime for a picture after I got my casts on. Do you love my Umbros?

2. When I was little, I had a lazy eye and had to wear a patch.  I of course hated it, by my mom made me stick with it and do all these crazy eye exercises.  To this day, when I go to the eye doctor, they always comment on what a good job my parents/doctors did correcting this when I was a kid. Thanks mom. This photo was taken in the school house of some sort of historical site. I was giving some sort of reading lesson I suppose. Nerd alert.

3. I won the superlative “Most Likely To Get Away With Anything” in 8th grade and then again in 12th grade.  Here is the pic that was in the yearbook. We are in the assistant principal’s office kicking back with some pizza. It seemed cool at the time.

4. You may need to sit down for this one.  When I was in college, I had a nose ring for about six months. It was a tiny little stud.  And no, I don’t know what I was thinking.  Note that I am pointing to my nose ring with a french manicured finger.  Oh the irony.

5. Ben Folds is my absolute favorite artist. I have seen him in concert 12 times.  This a pic from a concert I went to in Williamsburg, VA.  It was one of my favorite shows because it was so small and intimate.  (And low budget… note the truck right behind the stage).

6. I don’t have a pic for this one, but you may be interested to know that my first major in college was Peace, War and Defense (aka PWAD).  Although taking classes such as History of Sea Power and Crisis and Change in Eastern Europe was fascinating, I eventually decided to change my major to Journalism. (However, I am still an expert on the Czech Republic since 1989, so if you have any questions, just let me know…)

Since my baby sister had a photo shoot, my middle sister wanted one too. (No bribery was involved this time!) My sister, Stephany, was in town recently and we had so much fun with this session. I’m not sure the same can be said for my husband who played lip gloss holder, body guard, and reflector man.

I finally got around to uploading my pictures from my trip to Bald Head Island last night!  Since several of you have asked, I thought I’d share a few.   The gulf coast is beautiful, with the white sand and beautiful blue/green water, but there is something about the North Carolina coast that just takes my breath away.

I got to spend some QT with my favorite little guy this weekend. Photographers make great babysitters, because odds are they won’t be able to resist snapping a few pics.

But instead of pictures of an infant, it’s my baby sister. She was in town this weekend for a visit and was kind enough to be my model so I could shoot at some new locations that I’ve had my eye on. When bribing encouraging children to be cooperative for pictures, usually bubbles, stickers, or goldfish crackers work. When encouraging bribing teenagers, the ante is raised to say, oh a pair of expensive jeans. I think it was worth it, I love these pictures!

Vacation was fabulous. I did nothing besides sit on the beach and devour books. I didn’t even take that many pictures! I was too busy doing nothing to get my camera out. I will share a few snaps, though.

This was the view from our deck. I miss this view

Look who decided to play shutterbug?

Looking for some beach reads? Here are a few books I really enjoyed.

Tan Lines by JJ Salem ( Trashiest book I have EVER read. It is Valley of the Dolls meets Sex and the City. I loved it. But it is baaaaaaad. So this comes with a disclaimer - not for the faint of heart!)

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything by Janelle Brown

Chasing Harry Winston by Laura Weisberger

When You’re Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

Now, back to editing! Lots of galleries to get up!

It’s been a while!  Todays’ Friday Favorites are doggy related.

1. Scented Doggie Waste bags from www.doggiewalkbags.com  Seriously - stick with me here. These things really do make picking up after your dog a bit more pleasant. I am much happier walking around with bag of nastiness if it is lavendar scented! Or if it smells like the ocean, or even a rainforest!  If you have a dog, you need these. Trust me.

2. LicksaLots are yummy frozen treats for dogs. They are all natural using really quality ingredients. They come in single serving cups and my dogs LOVE them.  They get LicksaLots for special treats, or when they are boarding we have “room service” deliver one at night.

3. You can get the magical scented bags and the LickaLots at Wag-A-Lot which is #3! The secret is out about Wag-A-Lot, but in case you haven’t heard about it, it the best place in ATL for day care, grooming, and boarding. We take out dogs every Friday and we always board them there when needed. The staff is awesome and I know my pups are well taken care of there. Not to mention they have the best time! (I know becuase I watch them on the Wag-Cam!).  They also have a wide selection of good foods, toys, and goodies. Check them out if you haven’t already!

4.  I love the cute collars from this Etsy seller, BiceDesigns. 

5. This Hammock Car Seat cover makes road trips with the pups much more enjoyable. Not only does it protect your seats, but it keeps anyone from climbing into the front seat!

And since today’s post is doggy related - here are my guys. Emma and Wallace.

To my trusty assistant, tour guide, bag handler and husband. Thanks for always being there to facilitate a speedy lens change. Thanks for being cool with toting around my girly purses and camera bags. And thanks for being patient when I say “just one more shot.”

My goal is to take enough of these pics to make a slideshow for him for Christmas. For the song I am thinking “Wind Beneath my Wings.” 

What a super weekend! Everything was just perfect, and it was so much fun to be with old friends. And I have never been in a wedding before (always a bride, never a bridesmaid ) so it was really fun to be a part of it all! (This was also the first “official” wedding I participated in, since my wedding day consisted of going to the beach, taking a shower, getting married, then going back to the beach…. in St. Lucia)

I just want to share a few pictures from the weekend. And as an aside - I have never had any interest in shooting weddings, and this weekend fully confirmed that feeling. Mad props to the wedding photogs out there - it is not an easy gig! It’s like herding cats! Give me babies any day!

The Rehearsal Dinner was held at this awesome venue - a barn turned into an event facility on top of a mountain. So pretty!

And there were cows, too!

Ok, I realize that was a lot of barn pictures, but I was a little excited. I don’t see that many barns here in the ATL.

Here is the church where the wedding went down. My friend’s parents got married in this very church 30 years ago. How sweet is that?

The flowers were be-a-utiful

And here she is, the beautiful bride. Still makes me tear up a little.

And here is the groom after a long day of getting married

On our way out of town, we stopped at the Biltmore House. In all my years in NC, I never visited, so I was really excited to go! These gentlemen did not share my enthusiasm.

Here are a few shots from the gardens there

I’m back to my regularly scheduled shooting schedule this weekend - so be on the look out for some non-barn related pictures soon!

Happy Friday! Can you believe that today is the first day of summer? Time is just flying!  Here are some of my favorite things - sort of summer related!

1. I hate shoes. HATE SHOES. But I love flip flops.  My flip flop collection is embarassingly large.  For example, I probably have 4 pairs of black flip flops, all different and special in their own way. But it is impossible for me to find a matching pair! This invention from My PairTree is perfect for keeping me organized! I love it! 

2.  Looking for beach or pool reading? Run, don’t walk, to the closest bookstore and pick up the Jen Lancaster Trilogy. (Ok, it isn’t really a trilogy, but there are three books. I refer to three of anything as a trilogy, such as the Home Alone Trilogy.  But don’t get me started on Home Alone 3….) I promise these will be the funniest books you will ever read.  I will warn you, your signifigant other will be annoyed when you are reading and constantly bust out laughing or insist on reading passages from the book.

3. Aveno Sunscreen For Faces.  A lot of sunscrens clog my pores and can cause me to break out. Not this one! It’s light, doesn’t smell awful, and no breakouts! I am all about this stuff.

4.  Speaking of flip flops, my new favorite pair are these by Tory Burch.  These are my fancy shoes for the summer.

5. S’mores!  When is the last time you had a s’more?  Thanks to our new s’smore maker (hey - it was 75% off!) we’ve been enjoying this summer treat.  I had totally forgotten how delish they are.  I encourage you to put s’mores at the top of your weekend to-do  list!