Travel: Beekeeper's Cottage

Every time I drive to the South (yeah, that's what I call "Virginia"), I happen to drive by this little cottage. The most interesting aspect of this cottage is its... wait for it! ... red-and-white polka dotted shutters!! They make me giggle. :) There's a polka-dotted silo nearby but that's a story for another day!

The Beekeeper's Cottage is a fascinating home furnishing shop. Whimsical. Romantic. A bit dreamy...


I like chairs. :)

Everywhere I looked, something else sparkled and shined...

"The Secret Garden"-inspired stairway. At least that's what I call it... because everything reminds me of a book. It's just how I think! :)

I was completely and totally charmed by the Beekeeper's Cottage. And I highly recommend it.. Go. Look. Dream. Smile.

Personal: Dressing Up is FUN!

My youth group does many fun activities... movie nights, game nights, playing kickball and football and Ultimate frisbee, scavenger hunts around town, road-trips, etc... but every once in awhile, we have a Formal night. Everyone gets dressed up nice + pretty, and we go out to dinner at a niiiice restaurant and hang out. :) It's super fun (especially for the girls because they LOVE that part about 'dressing up'). Awwwww... look at those cute faces! :)

(Kimmie's photo taken by Abbie, and my photo taken by my mom!)
Yeah, there was only one guy. But he represented his gender well!

All the girls!



Flowers in hair? Classy!

So many girls were rockin' these shoes under their formal gowns!


There's always one who eschews the formal look for something more her style. Tiffany went for cowgirl/country look. I LIKE IT!


On to the group shots...

One last photo taken by our waitress!

Children's Portraits: Malachi

During my friends-graduation-weekend-extravaganza, it seemed like I never had a moment to catch my breath... always going, visiting, eating, running out the door, going to a party or going to DC or going to church or going out to eat, or saying hello-and-how-have-you-been? to another friend!! In the midst of this happy chaos, I spent some time with this dashing little fella.

Malachi is 2 1/2 years old, but is clothed like a stylish midget man. (this is what happens when you have parents with good taste in clothes!!) :)


We never were able to carve out time to do a real portrait session.. but I grabbed these few shots while at a graduation party... ooh look at him laugh!


My favorite. :D

Senior Portraits: Stephanie

One of my dear friends, Stephanie, graduated from college just a short time ago. I road-tripped down to northern Virginia for some graduation festivities and while I was there, we did a senior portrait shoot on the campus of George Mason University! Stephanie is a beautiful person inside and out.. and I am privileged to know her! I had a blast capturing the loveliness of her face and her sparkling happy eyes..

And she laughs. I adore catching people laughing! :)

This shot totally reminds me of Jackie O.!

After weeks of cool weather, it was 90 degrees as we did this photo shoot!! I definitely contemplated jumping into these misty cool fountains!


Apparently, George Mason was a real person! There's a statue of him on campus... Penn State may have a "lion shrine" but George Mason has a "man shrine." Better? Maybe so!




She makes studying look good!



Steph's husband, Josh, was with us, too.. so we had a little fun with both of them!! :) "Hey Steph, don't turn around! Someone's watching you.."



Photographer's choice! I like to save my favorites for last..

Love, love, LOVE her eyes!!


Thank you, Steph, for allowing me to follow you around with a camera, laughing at my silly jokes and being such a good sport by trekking around campus in heels!!! You are a precious jewel and I treasure your friendship!

Wedding: Colin & Amanda

Social-networking (a.k.a. facebook) is very helpful in many ways. Because of facebook, I was able to second-shoot with one of my FAVORITE wedding photographers, Kristen Leigh. She's a super-fun, happy, photography-and-wedding-LOVING girl from Gaithersburg, MD. We'd never met face-to-face before, but became fast friends chatting about all sorts of important stuff for hours. :) Which *almost* made my wedding jitters go away. Excitement-nervousness-joy all scrambled up inside me, with a huge smile cemented on my face and a giggle spilling out... Because I love weddings. Yes, I do. I love weddings, how 'bout you?!?! :) :D


Meet Colin & Amanda.
If I could define them in one phrase, it would be a literal interpretation of "The Happy Couple." They were Happy. Silly. Funny. Laughing. Chill. Relaxed. Fun.
HAPPY.

Let's start at the beginning.. A very good place to start!

When the bride is happy, everyone's happy!


I went over to see how the groom + groomsmen were faring in their preparations. Which included mostly standing around, joking, opening groomsmen gifts, laughing and being casually not-nervous men. Even expressing their admiration of the engagement pictures "Oh yeah, man, I saw them! They were great!"
Colin = Happy Groom.



Onward to the wedding location: a gloriously wonderful bay in Maryland. There were boats, there was a dock, there was a beach, there was WATER (I LOVE WATER!). I was seriously lovin' this location.




It's almost wedding time... These guys know how to keep it COOL!



Without further waiting, it's time for the main event = the ceremony! Colin waits for his bride..
and then he sees her..
and joy breaks through!





Can you say, "Happy to be Married?!?!"


And now.. my favorite-of-favorite parts... the Bride & Groom!



The whole wedding party!


Such pretty, lively details at the almost-summer wedding...



This was such a beautiful wedding. I have so many more images, but restraint is a good thing, right? :)

Colin & Amanda were absolutely a joy! I looved sharing in this happy, happy day! Thank you both!! (and thank you, Kristen Leigh, for the wonderful second-shooting opportunity!)