2009 January «

Archive for January, 2009

New Address

Great news! I have my new address all set. The pieces are coming together. If you are a current or past client, you should have received an email with my new address and mailing details. If you didn’t receive it, email me and I will get it to you right away. Have a great weekend! We’ll be packing all weekend ~ fun stuff!

Add comment January 30, 2009

Last call for mail

Happy Friday! I hope you are having a great day. I just wanted to send a reminder that my address will be changing next week!!!! Wow time is flying! I will have my new address hopefully confirmed today.

If you need to mail something to me, please do so in time for it to arrive by Tuesday of next week. If you don’t think your mail will arrive by then, if you can just hold off sending anything to me until I am in San Francisco. (Just makes me feel better to not have things sitting in my mailbox waiting for me.) I will be forwarding my mail form our old address in case you forget.

Make sure to check my blog next week for updates on our progress of our travels. We will be hitting the road on Wednesday. I already started researching some of the classic all american road trip stops and can’t wait to document them! Do you have any good ideas for places to see along I-40? If so let me know!

Add comment January 30, 2009

Follow Your Passion

In the process of packing up a house, you run across items that you wonder if you should continue to keep (aka keep storing) or if you should find them a new home. I stopped on a particular item that I have been holding on to for years…my Dad’s guitar. He had kept it from his childhood. I remember when I was in high school he brought it out for the first time. Immediately thoughts ran through my head to learn how to play with his guitar. In high school, I played around with it learning pieces of songs from friends and trying to figure things out on my own. I never took lessons and I never officially caught the guitar bug. Like most teenagers, I was pretty tapped out already with band, advanced classes, swimming, student council, french club, SADD, the list went on and on…

I kept this guitar through all my moves. My Dad passed away almost 10 years ago. Wow, it’s hard to believe it has been 10 years. I have thought of selling the guitar a number of times, but never followed through with it. Finally I came to the realization that keeping the guitar in a closet for my whole life is not suitable for such a neat looking guitar. Even though memories make me want to hold on to it and never sell it, the thought of the guitar never to be played and enjoyed overruled my ties to it.

Today I took it to Guru Guitar in Raleigh. When I walked in, the care and passion of the workers at the store confirmed that I was doing the right thing. Looking in their eyes, you could see their passion for their work. Even though I didn’t find that passion with a guitar, I can relate as I had found it in my camera. Knowing this, I could say a bittersweet goodbye to the guitar knowing it would be in good hands.

Add comment January 28, 2009

When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bay…

Well I have some exciting news to share with you! I wanted to let you know that we are in the process of moving. Our house sold really fast and I have been having trouble deciding what I wanted to do as far as where to live next. This year I have a number of weddings across the US so I will be pretty mobile. Justin, my husband will be traveling to Manila a lot for work so I was torn between staying in Raleigh or moving closer to him so traveling to see him would not be a 25 hour trip one way from Raleigh.

I just finally decided that I am going to move to San Francisco to be closer to Justin and more centrally located. My phone number/email/website/blog will all stay the same. The only contact info that will change will be my mailing address & I will keep you up to date on that. I’ll be traveling all around the US for weddings and back to Raleigh numerous times so it will be an exciting year! More to come…

Road Trip!!!
Justin and I will start our road-trip in early February, date yet TBD. Once we head out, I’ll try to write posts each night so you can track our progress.

Have something you need to mail to me? My current address is good through the first week in February. Make sure that if you do have anything to pop in the mail to me to send it out soon. Otherwise, you can send it to my new address. I will have my new address available shortly.

1 comment January 26, 2009

Snow Day called before snow is even on the ground??

Last night I watched How I Met Your Mother and the News. The whole time, there were school closings being sprawled across the bottom of the screen due to the “possible snow storm” hitting the Triangle in the morning. At that moment, there was no snow on the ground and it was still about 40 degrees outside.

There was the possibility that we could get 1-4″ of snow and that is enough to shut the city down. Before there was even a snowflake on the ground, schools were closed. I understand that it is different here than it is in Detroit. Raleigh is not equipped with all the abundance of tools needed for snow removal like Detroit so it is always better to be safe and call off school. And for the maybe one time a year of snowfall we get here, how can you blame the city for not having that equipment? Not really cost efficient to have it for one day a year.

However, I remember when I was young waiting in anticipation in the morning right before school. Hoping…praying… that by 6am there would be enough snow on the ground to close school so we could have a snow day. There was no early announcements of school closings in Michigan like there are in Raleigh. Schools in Michigan wait until the morning of to make the call if they are going to close or have a delayed start. For this miracle to happen (a true miracle to the kids in Michigan as snow days are few and far between), there would have to be at least a foot of snow on the ground with more on the way. It would have to be falling at the rate that snowplows, etc. could not keep up and the roads were completely buried.

It kind of looses some of the excitement if you know the night before about a snow day. In Michigan, you would wake up early and sit in front of the TV crossing your fingers that your school’s name would pop up. Many times, no such luck. So when it did actually come up on the screen you would go from zero to 60, grab your gloves, and head outside to play with a big smile.

In the spirit of the “Snow Day,” Keego and I took some photographs outside. Happy Snow Day!!

keego checking out the snowfall from the balcony

1 comment January 20, 2009

Hit the bulls-eye on sharing your wedding with loved ones that can’t attend

Congratulations to Andrew and Heather! They were married at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Cary, NC. The reception was at the Angus Barn Pavilion in Raleigh, NC. I didn’t even know that the Angus Barn was hiding this treasure on their grounds! What a great spot for an event! You drive down the hill to find a sprawling open air barn-like structure overlooking a lake. There is a HUGE fireplace, wood beams & columns, so much charm.

Andrew and Heather are such caring people. I had a great time working with them. They made sure to think of everything. It is so hard when close family members cannot attend your wedding. Heather’s Grandma could not attend the wedding so Heather sent a mini cake and flowers like her bouquet to Grandma. They arrived at her home on the day of the wedding so she too could experience the wedding day. Heather also sent a framed image from her bridal portrait to her Grandma prior to the wedding so she would know how she would look on the day of her wedding. Grandma is also getting her own album to experience the wedding day. I think these little things are touching and such a wonderful way to include loved ones that can’t attend the wedding. They also had other special events covered. Their wedding day was also Uncle Vic’s birthday. So they had a surprise Birthday cake for Uncle Vic and presented it to him before cutting their own cake. The day was beautiful in beautiful settings! Congratulations again to Heather and Andrew! I wish them much happiness in 2009!

Uncle Vic was Surprised with a Birthday Cake

Are you friends or family of Heather and Andrew?
Click here to see the Bridal Portrait and Wedding Photography Galleries.

1 comment January 20, 2009

Congratulations to Katie and Brian!

Katie and Brian were married at First United Methodist Church in Plymouth, MI. Their reception was at the Meeting House Grand Ballroom in Plymouth, MI. Katie and Brian were so laid back and easygoing. With the normal little hiccups during the wedding day (and some bigger ones), Katie and Brian kept their cool and always looked like they were having a blast. I had a great time working with them and getting to know their very welcoming families. Again, another hard time to pick out my favorites to post. Here are a few to share with you.

Katie looks great!!

Anticipation

Ready to Go!

Sweet Endings

Are you friends or family of Katie and Brian?
Click here to see their Engagement Session and Wedding Photography.

1 comment January 7, 2009

Sara & Lio – more to share

Good morning. I hope 2009 is off to a good start for you. I wanted to post a few more from Sara and Lio’s wedding to share with you. My first post was a sneak peek after the wedding, but I wanted to share more with you now. Here are some really cute ones of Sara, her family, and a deeper glimpse into their wedding day. The weather was perfect in San Francisco.