Branding & Pretty Things

Yesterday morning I woke up and decided I want to become a brand.

HAH. Totally kidding. But I did have an itching to start making my business more simplified and prettier at the same time. I decided to start with packaging. I am shooting a wedding this August (so soon!) and I wanted to send the bride and groom the best possible welcome packet I could create on a limited budget; so I hit up my craft drawer and came up with this...  Let me know what you think! :)

Before:

After:

And to top off this wonderful venture, my beautiful new MINI business cards came in the mail and I am in la-la-looooooove with them!

- J

"Frosted" by Monica

This past weekend, I had the honor of doing a styled shoot featuring my dear friend Monica's cupcakes. This shoot was organized, styled, and shot by yours truly... and despite the insanity of undertaking such a daunting and huge task, I loved every minute of it.

I love Monica's story so I thought I would share a bit of it:
She lived in a small house with her family for years, with an oven that didn't work. Like, at all. Her desire for all things cute and cupcake-y was so intense that for Christmas she received not one, not two, but three little pink cupcake makers. Then in this past year they moved into an apartment. Of all the new blessings they found there the best of all these was a brand new oven. Monica dove into the world of baking almost immediately. Within weeks of learning how to read a cookbook, she started making her own cupcake recipes. In just a few short months she was creating these delicious little creations, and during our shoot I ate about three too many!

So when you next find yourself in need of cupcakes, get "Frosted" by Monica

(Proof they were eaten & delicious!)

Then we transferred into a portrait sessions because Monica's too pretty to not take a thousand pictures of.

Love love loooooved this location.

And thank you to my lovely boyfriend for assisting 

... and purchasing this vase (that he now loves more than me)

Falling in Like

Sunday Love Story

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It had been a long time coming.

My friends knew before I did, my mom was convinced I was hiding something from her, even strangers that saw us together knew it... Sam and I were supposed to be together. 

It was one of those days that started off like any other and ended with three words that changed my life. June 17, 2009, to be exact. We decided to get together for the first time... just the two of us. And what better way to spend the afternoon than with pizza on the beach? After evading a group of students I taught at summer camp, laying out our towels perfectly distanced from one another, and creating a picnic of sorts, we spent the next couple of hours just talking. I kept waiting to feel awkward, or for the conversation to drift away, but it seemed like all we wanted to do was learn more about each other. In fact, I wanted to learn every single detail about this wonderful boy laying next to me. 

He said he liked my smile. 

I told him he had nice arms. 

When I got home I was sunburnt and exhausted. I did the same thing I did every day after I left him, I texted him and asked what he was doing. We then continued to talk until the sun went down. And then far too long afterwards. But this time was different, and my stomach started to flutter again so sleeping wasn't really an option. I knew what was coming and I'm pretty sure Sam knew it too.

Without any explanation, I told him he had to say it first. And after what felt like hours my phone buzzed and the screen lit up with the words that changed everything.

"I like you."

a day in the life

When I first tip-toed into the world of photography, I was told that it would be difficult. No, I was told it would be impossible. Everything I heard and read warned me that other photographers would treat me like competition and friends that I wanted to become clients wouldn't take me seriously. I feel like the past few weeks have proved this oh so wrong. People that I have never met before have started coming into my life and have brought some wonderful opportunities along with them! I'd love to share some of these with you:

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On April 15th I booked my first wedding with an amazing couple. I feel so blessed that they would trust me to capture their day without really seeing me do any wedding work before hand, and can't wait to share their day with them!

I was also asked to second-shoot a wedding in February in one of the most beautiful locations I have ever seen.

A couple days ago I booked a maternity session as well as a newborn session. I can't wait!

I've had three wedding inquires in the past two days and my maternity/ newborn client has already referred a friend to me despite the fact that our shoot has not even happened yet.

On Monday I am organizing, styling, and photographing a stylized shoot all based around a friend's budding cupcake business (yum!).

And today I had lunch with a wedding photographer who's work I admire so much and who also happens to be an amazing person. She shared so much of her business with me and is even going to allow me to assist her this summer.

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I am writing this blog post because I want to remember all of this. These people are extending their hands to me and giving me a chance, and for that I will always be grateful. Keep checking in to see when all of these exciting things make their way to the blog!:)

Mother Knows Best

In honor of Mother's Day, today's Sunday Love Story is about a time when the phrase "mother knows best" really rang true for me. Certainly not the only time, but one of the most important.

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Like I mentioned in Sam's Birthday Post, before we were together people seemed to just know we were supposed to be a couple. My friends would ask me way too often if I had a crush on him. No of course not, I would say, we're just friends. It began to feel like that phrase was falling out of my mouth far too often. But in all honesty I couldn't imagine him as anything more than my best friend. 

I had just finished my junior year of high school and was ready to fall into a quiet summer. One of the first weekends, I decided to go surfing but felt a little silly going on my own when there is such a surfing niche in the area. So I invited my mom (Yes, even though I was 16 my mom and I were friends!). And then after mentioning my little weekend adventure to Sam, he invited himself to come along. He had never been surfing before, and I was fully prepared to show off the thing I had been doing for twelve years. 

On that day I found myself sitting on the beach in between my mother and this boy I had barely even told her existed. I introduced them and then quickly left to head into the water. As I sat on my board just past the surf, my stomach began to flutter and I worried about what they were saying to each other. Were they talking about me? Was she asking him questions that are too personal? Were they even talking at all? I felt their eyes on me and grew more and more nervous.

Suddenly I realized what was happening around me. The waves were crashing closer and closer together and a current was pulling me away. I dug my hands into the water and tried to fight against the waves. Then came the most embarrassing ten minutes of my entire life. I rolled. I fell. I swallowed a gallon of salty water. I wore myself out, and did not catch a single wave. So much for showing off.

I managed to make it though the day without too much more embarrassment. However, the moment Sam and I hugged goodbye, my mom began raving about him nonstop- how he is so polite, so easy to talk to, such a gentleman, so cute. Wait, what? 

"Do you like each other?" she asked.

"No mom, we're just friends."

"For now."

Chelsea

Yesterday I had the opportunity to do a rather special photo shoot with an old friend. Chelsea and I have been friends for 16 years (and wow saying that makes me feel old.) In the past couple years she has been doing some amazing things with her life. She moved to Cleveland and started following her dream of becoming an archaeologist at Case Western University. Chelsea is also about to embark on her second archaeological dig in the Middle East this summer- so cool, right?!

With all of these exciting things happening in her life, she has always had her mom standing behind her and cheering her on. As a thank you Chelsea wanted to do a little something special for Mother's Day, so we spent the afternoon basking in the amazing summer sun and taking some fun pictures!
Happy Mothers Day, Delena & thank you Chelsea for being such fantastic model! :)

I am swooning over the light in this one! Oh how I love summer :)

We then relocated to the beach in true California girl style.

The Sunrise

There was this one morning.

It was the summer after we graduated high school and we had nothing to do except spend time together. I remember waking up each day and counting how many days we had left together, how many days until he would leave to go to school in Arizona. It was supposed to be a carefree summer, the type of summer The Beach Boys sing about, but I was feeling worried all the time. Three months had never felt so short.

That one morning I wanted to do something different. I texted him the night before and asked if he would wake up early with me so we could watch the sunrise together. He said yes. Mind you, this is a boy that has barely seen many days start before eight. But he said yes anyways. He was outside my house before 6am and we drove up to one of my favorite spots. We kissed in the darkness, our eyes still heavy with sleep. Anxiously we watched the sky, waiting for the sun's grand entrance.

It was the absolute wort sunrise ever.
It was one of the most beautiful sunrises ever.

The sky was plastered with clouds and only a sliver of dark yellow light peaked through.  It was boring, it was dull, it was short-lived; everything a sunrise shouldn't be. But somehow it felt absolutely perfect, because he was there. And we were able to laugh about it as soon as I bought him a cup of coffee and the sun was a little higher in the sky. It was a morning I will never forget and just another reminder of why Sam is my best friend.


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I was thinking about this sunrise story today because it was our "first sunrise" together. Something that should be romantic and special for a couple to experience, and I find myself smiling every time I think about it. Sam and I are coming into a lot of "firsts" in our relationship as we end our second year of college and have invested in our first piece of property together (okay, its a lease on an apartment, but still!).  And I'm happy... really, really happy.

That's todays (late) Sunday Love Story. Goodnight! :)

A wild ride at the Wildlife Park!

Last weekend, in celebration of Sam's birthday, we made our way to Camp Verde, AZ to finally spend a day at a zoo wildlife park called Out of Africa. We drove out of Flagstaff and soon found ourselves on a dirt road with no sign of civilization for miles. At one point I asked Sam if maybe it was a hoax and the park doesn't actually exist, but he just laughed at me and said we must have just made a wrong turn. Then  just ahead we noticed an archway stretching across the road with a modest sign that read "Out of Africa." It wasn't a hoax!

The rest of the afternoon slowly became a day of “firsts”. The first time we road an open school bus through a field of animals. The first time we fed a giraffe. The first time we saw someone cuddle with an ostrich. The first time we pet a gaboon viper. And Sam’s favorite and dream-come-true: the first time we fed a tiger.

It was an incredible experience. I honestly felt like I was IN Africa, and can't wait to go back!

"This is why you don't feed the Zebras"

Sam's favorite moment EVER.