Friday, July 29, 2011

Photo session: Baby Riley

Had so much fun shooting newborn photos for baby Riley.  Riley's mom did not know if she was having a boy or a girl, but she couldn't resist purchasing an adorable flower headband and pink tu-tu during her pregnancy. 

Lucky for her she ended up with this adorable little angel to play dress up with!
Congrats Josh and Meredith on your new little bundle of joy!




Love this candid photo when Riley's "big sister" Bailey jumped in the middle of our shoot!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Photo session: Trace & his buddy Max

Had the privilege of shooting this delightful 2 year old, Trace, and his little friend Max.



Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Family Beach Trip

I'll take a quick break from the cramming I'm currently doing for my final exam to do a quick post about our lovely beach trip we had this past weekend with the family.

It seems to have become an annual tradition of a trip to Myrtle Beach with the in-laws and extended family. There is a huge group of us and we all stay in one big house. We had a blast hanging out with family and playing with the little nephews. Per the usual, I took a million photos. I had some great subjects, so how could I resist?! I'll try and restrain myself and post just a few...
My sweet nephew Davin.  Obsessed with this guy I tell you.  Obsessed.
This was taken after eating at Johnny Rockets.  This morning, I saw a segment on the Today Show talking about foods you should avoid because they are equal to an entire day's worth of calories.  They showed a chocolate peanut butter milkshake and said that it was equal to 2,000 calories.  Guess what Matt and I had ordered at Johnny Rockets that night in addition to our burgers and fries... oops!
Matt took this photo of Davin.  So cute!
Daredevil was all smiles while bouncing many feet into the air.
Beach games
Davin with his grandparents.  I love this happy photo!  
Oh look at that "framing".  Composition lesson in photography class really paid off.  haha!
I may or may not have taken a thousand photos of this kid during this trip.
And here is my other little nephew Dylan with his mommy.  He loved the beach!
Me and my love.
Morning workout at the beach.  Now I am especially glad for this after learning of my milkshake calorie consumption.  Perhaps this worked off two spoon-fulls.


Well now this certainly doesn't make studying any better. Wish I was back at the beach with all of these folks! Can I please have a re-do of the weekend?

Look at him.  I don't think he's too worried about my test.

Monday, July 11, 2011

I want to wake up every morning at the Vendue Inn

Matt planned us the most perfect anniversary weekend in Charleston.  He scored major points for this one.  
It was an absolutely splendid weekend!  Let me walk you through what it is like to stay at this wonderful place called the Vendue Inn...
It is bed and breakfast style and each room is decorated differently.  Although our room was not the most expensive, I am convinced it had to have been the best in the entire place!  We were in the building located across the street from the main hotel.  We were on the 3rd floor and our room was the ONLY room up on that level.  It felt like we were walking into our very own home.  Like we just own this charming little place, perfectly decorated, right in the middle of downtown Charleston.  No big deal.
I cannot speak for all the rooms at the Vendue, but if they are anything like ours, then I have to say that the beds there are little pieces of heaven.  I don't think there is anything softer in the world than those fluffy white pillows.
As hard as it is to get up and out of these heavenly beds in the morning, you at least have the motivation of a delicious made-to-order southern breakfast waiting for you across the street in the main building.  Thank goodness for that, or Matt would have never ever left that bed.
You know what else you get when you stay at the Vendue?  You get adorable old-fashioned bikes for the taking to ride all over Charleston.  Of course you do.
We took advantage of our free bike access and rode through the gorgeous Charleston neighborhoods and picked out which houses we would choose if we could have any one house out of all the adorable ones we saw.  We made a few attempts at a self portrait in the park.  
We eventually ended up on King Street and decided to tie up the bikes so we could explore on foot.  I stopped in some of the shops and Matt waited outside with frozen treats.
Back at the Vendue, we start to consider all of our dinner options even early in the day.  Charleston is full of fabulous restaurants within walking distance.  They are so clever to have a book in the lobby with menus from all the local favorites.  At least we could narrow down to the ones that chicken tenders for Matt :)  Just kidding, he was actually pretty adventurous with the food trying this weekend!!
The rest of our weekend was spent frolicking around the amazing city of Charleston, admiring the beautiful buildings and landscaping, stalking the swinging benches on the pier until their was an open one for the taking, napping and cuddling in our insanely comfortable bed, and becoming even more obsessed with the Vendue Inn by the minute.  This smile did not leave my face all weekend... except for the one afternoon that I awoke from a nap to find out that I had slept right through the free wine and cheese social... darn you heavenly beds.

Some Instagram snaps...
Cheers to 5 years
Cutie got a little more adventurous than usual with his food choices:)
Final props to the Vendue go to their milk and cookies.  Served every night at 9:00.  The chocolate chip ones are to die for.. or at least to butt in line in front of the little grade school boys from Toronto for... I am serious about these cookies, people.

Overall, this weekend was the perfect way to celebrate our 5 year anniversary.  As if I already didn't have the best husband in the world, he had to go an sweep me off my feet with a weekend like this!  Wouldn't change a thing :)

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Happy Birthday, Husband

Birthday shout out to the cutest 31 year old I know AND husband of 5 years.  Anniversary celebration on Friday, birthday celebration on Sunday.  Makes two good reasons for an indulgent getaway weekend.
xoxo

The best way to experience Baltimore

We've had back-to-back amazing vacations this past week.  I'll start with a recap of amazing vacation #1: Baltimore over 4th of July weekend.  On Saturday, we drove to Baltimore to meet my parents, who had sailed over the day before, and Patrick and his girlfriend Samantha.  We had a fantastic time walking all over Baltimore, eating TONS of good food, and celebrating the holiday weekend with family.  I'm convinced the absolute best way to experience Baltimore is to dock in the Inner Harbor Marina.

Love waking up to this skyline view from the Inner Harbor.
Patrick and Samantha waiting for their treats at a popular bakeshop in Little Italy.  It's the only thing that would make them feel better after Matt and I killed them in a game of Bocce.  Canolies and gelato takeout to enjoy back on the boat.
Taxi service courtesy of the 'rents.  Sure beats walking in the heat!
L.O.V.E.
We had the best seats in all of Baltimore to watch the fireworks.  Spectacular.
Here are some snaps of the show...




Friday, July 1, 2011

Very high on the cuteness meter

One more quick post tonight... I just got an email from my sis with this insanely adorable picture attached.  
I leave you with Sofi's one month photos to squeal over.  You're welcome.