GINGERBREAD HOUSE PARTY

I have never built a gingerbread house. I have no experience WHAT.SO.EVER. When I was invited by a good friend to her gingerbread house party this past weekend, I accepted with the thought that I would go and WATCH other people build theirs.

Righhttt.... As soon as I found out there were prizes involved IT WAS ON! For those that don't know, I'm a pretty competitive person. No, I'm REALLY competitive...and that's putting it nicely. I have had several nights of sheer embarrassment after getting caught up in a moment, and later apologizing and having conversations about the way I handle myself. REALLY.

We arrived well into the building phase of the party and there were really great and creative ideas in the works. I was a little overwhelmed by how awesome the other houses looked and all of the options for building my own. There were tables loaded with all sorts of building materials- gingerbread crackers, cookies, candy canes, gumdrops, Twizzlers, marshmallows, icing, m&m's...the possibilities were endless! It looked like Candy Land!

When I started building my house, I took a more realistic approach. I quickly realized that this house will definitely be a flop. The supposed snow made of icing I put on the roof was running off and I ran out of time to finish or fix anything. Michael decided to add a last minute Santa trap... and giving up all hope of the prize, I obliged.

The votes were tallied and my friend Julie gave the "No one is a loser speech." I was all yea right- that would be us thank you very much! Julie called out the first place name and it was rightly won. It had my vote. Then Julie continued... "Second place is..........Kelly and Michael!"
OUR HOUSE WON A PRIZE?!?!?!?! WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

I was completely flabbergasted and excited- even if it was a pity vote :)

So without further ado....Here is the prize winning house.

DON'T HATE!

PORTRAITS: Cain Family

I had the pleasure of meeting this family last weekend. Brooke and Shannon chose the downtown Lawrenceville Courthouse as their location. They got married here, so it was nice to shoot at a location with sentimental value. When I arrived to scout spots for shooting I was surprised to see all the Christmas decorations already up. This made for a fun session.
I had a great time shooting with Brooke and her family. They have the sweetest girls and the youngest, Samantha played it up perfectly for the camera the entire shoot. She was an angel! Being the 2 year old that she is, Shea was harder to capture...but I think I got some good ones of her :)

Shannon and Brooke, thank you for allowing to capture moments with your family. I had a blast and ya'll are just awesome!
Here are a few of my favorites:

Networking and Settlers of Catan

So I was at a good friends house last night, getting ready to play Settlers of Catan (its the greatest game ever. Check it out)(for those of you that do know the game... we played a Traders and Barbarians Scenerio- awesome!) and out of nowhere my friend Jessica asks me about my 2 blog posts. Yea...for real..

So here it is!

I was looking at some photography information online this past week and a girl comes up from behind me and asks if I'm a photographer. I said yes and we started talking. Turns out she is as well and we blog stalk(yes blog stalk) some of the same photographers. We shared how we wish we could meet more photographers and get to know other peers in the industry. Just for chatting, learning, sharing, etc.

Well little did she know this is something something I have been thinking about for a while. Every time I meet a new photographer this sort of conversation comes up. So I am putting myself out there. If you are a photographer and want to get together with other peers in the Atlanta area...send me an email. Based on the feedback I will try to find an evening for us to get together at a central location. It would be great to make this a more regular type of thing.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Back To Settlers of Catan: This game is awesome. It has become my favorite game. When other people tell me they love this game I feel like we have an instant bond and will be friends. :) Seriously! I bet if you ask people you will be surprised how many people play!

PORTRAITS: Raglin Family

FACT: It has been a while since I have posted.
QUESTION: Will you keep me accountable?

I have decided to have at least 2 blog posts a week. I actually decided this in the beginning of November and with all the busyness fell short. So now I'm posting my commitment for everyone to see- 2 POSTS PER WEEK. Feel free to send hate mail if I don't stick to this :)

I have been busy with back to back sessions- so there are a ton of pictures to come.

A couple of weeks ago I met Marcia at her home for some family pictures with her son Tanq and Kristoffer. Kristoffer is a foreign exchange student from Norway.

Here are a few of my favorites:

NOT SO COUNTRY GIRL

As a child I was a bit of a tomboy. I loved to be outside. Summer days were spent exploring the woods, traveling the creeks, fishing in our pond, or playing some sort of neighborhood organized sport. It was hard for me in my teenage years to break into the girly side of life. I hated purses, anything pink, and was fashionably challenged.

I preface my story with this because I pride myself in my tomboy roots. When someone tells me I am girly I am quick to retort with my tomboy childhood story. When I go visit family that lives in the country and they call me "city girl," I plead my case of how I fit in the country too! When friends want to plan camping trips and skeptically invite me, I try my best to persuade them I can handle camping in the great outdoors.

Tuesday night I ventured out to see the Leonid meteor shower. We grabbed some blankets and hopped in the car to find a spot without light so we would have a good view. We drove down 316 and eventually found some dark roads to drive down. I pointed one out off of the highway that looked like it would do the job perfect, so we pulled off onto the road. As the light faded and complete darkness came, my mind began to wander off with the light. I pictured getting out of the car and a pack of dogs appearing out of no where and attacking us... or even worse...wolves!

We stopped on the side of the darkened unknown road in the middle of nowhere and I REFUSED to get out of the car. I demanded the sunroof be opened so I could view the shower from the comfort of a metal frame and glass with seats and an engine. I was prepared to make a quick getaway when the wolves came to attack us.

So we sat for a few minutes and I saw two shooting stars! It was amazing! I began to feel logic and reason return to my body. Just as I was returning to a state of normalcy, a pick-up truck appeared in the distance ahead of us. This would usually not bother me except we were in the middle of NOWHERE and the truck was driving incredibly slow, as if it was on the hunt for something... the hunt for... us! You could see flashlights darting around as the truck crept towards us. I entered panic mode. I felt as though I was in a movie turned horror. We were the perfect victims! It was almost as if we asked for it traveling dark roads late at night by ourselves!

The truck came and went and almost immediately afterwards we saw flickers of flashlights coming from behind. This put me OVER the edge. I was all like "No! We are not doing this! Get me out of here NOW!" I was DONE! I was so freaked out, there was no way I was going to be able to enjoy the night anywhere we went. So as we made the long drive to my home and calm began to set back in, I realized we probably would have been FINE all along. If I had not had such a vivid imagination that went wild, we probably could have enjoyed the shower.

I realize and am the first to admit the ridiculousness of my fears. In reality we weren't really in the country-only kinda. Kinda because it was a little ways out and there weren't street lights on the road we were on =COUNTRY!

So friends and family, I am finally admitting that I am in fact, not so country. My definition of country is in fact LAME and I relinquish the title of tomboy. I am in fact a girly girl and when you point this out to me, I will simply smile and nod in agreement.

ENGAGEMENT: Jennifer and Lee

She is my friend. She was my roommate.

For 2 years, Jennifer and I lived together and developed a close friendship that I now can't imagine not in my life. She is the most sincere, sweet, and giving person. I can count on her for anything, no matter what it is, how inconvenient, or what time of day.

I met him briefly one day a restaurant on Cinco De Mayo(remember that Lee?). I had no idea at that point in time that Jennifer and I would become such good friends or that I would ever see him or her again. All I knew of Lee is that he owned a karate studio him and his dad started from the ground up.

Since that time, I have gotten to know Lee and think he is perfect for Jennifer. He probably thinks I am the perfect friend because he can have a conversation with me about UFC. :)

They met 4 years ago at church. She was smitten with him almost immediately. They started hanging out...which eventually turned into more. Since then they have been together. They have gone through a lot - both good and tough- and have had each other to count on through it all. Now. Finally. It's their time.

Jennifer and Lee are getting married next July at Chateau Elan. I am so excited to be a part of it! It is going to be amazing! I am a bridesmaid so I won't be taking pictures... well maybe a few. I'm sure I won't be able to resist.

Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot:

These first 2 pictures are my absolute favorite shots of the day.











I love these next few sets of images. I think it portrays their fun personalities perfectly!