Birthday Celebration

My birthday was awesome! Saturday David and I had brunch with fam, went to Beck's first birthday party and then headed up to Salt Lake to shop + eat at our favorite Thai place. I got a new purse, which I was very excited about since the one I've been toting around I've had for about 6 years and it's falling apart. We also got to finally go to Les Madeleines which I've been dying to try for over a year. I tried my first macaron! I'm in love. Passionfruit was my fave. David got an eclair which was also very yummy. But the lavender lemonade was the best part.

Sunday we celebrated my birthday and also used it as an excuse for a little going away party at the park. I was so glad mostly everyone was able to make it; it meant a lot to us. We have some amazing friends here and we're sad to move away.

Thoughts on moving

Some things I've learned over the last week:

Don't do a newborn shoot unless you plan on having one yourself in the next little while. You will leave wishing you were taking him with you.
Don't plan 4 photoshoots within a 1 week period- the same week you are moving.
Don't plan a birthday party for yourself. And don't wait until 20 minutes before to find an open gazebo at the park.
Don't leave packing til the last minute and then stress about it for the 3 days before you move.

I will be glad when we are settled in California. I'm soooo looking forward to the 4th of July, sleeping in this weekend and seeing my nieces and family.
Oh, and if you are going to do 4 shoots in one week, make sure there are cute kids involved like the one above :)

Baby boy

I just had to put these up. I took them (two of them) YESTERDAY. I couldn't stop looking at them so I thought I'd let everyone else enjoy too :) The before was taken 2 days before baby boy arrived. So sweet!

One more week

We're counting down the days til we head out on our last road trip for a while between Utah + California. We've sold almost all of our furniture (we're just taking our bed, TV, my dresser and a chair). I've started boxing up stuff we won't need to use in the next week and I'm slowly deep cleaning the apartment. Is there anything worse than cleaning a place when you're moving OUT of it? I think not.

We have a busy week ahead of us. More packing...it needs to be done by next Tuesday. We've had two shoots this week and we have two more to go. Saturday we're having brunch with family, a birthday party for sweet little Beck's 1st, and celebrating my birthday in Salt Lake with one last Sawadee dinner (and hopefully macarons @ Les Madeleines!). Sunday we're celebrating my birthday with friends + family and celebrating/mourning our move.

If anyone has any packing tips, or cleaning tips, or words of encouragement, they'd be appreciated :)

And here's some shots of Lola from the orchard/field shoot we did a few days ago. What a cutie.

1960's

Most days I wish we lived in a time where women wore dresses and men wore suits 99% of the time. Dresses are much more universally flattering, we wouldn't have to worry about seeing peoples unmentionables when they bend over...(I guess you shouldn't bend over in a dress anyway?)
I'm drawn to 60's styles. The rounded babydoll collar, the autumn colors and the pretty patterns. Plus, I LOVE long hair. I do think of Twiggy and her pixie cut when I think of this decade, but I also think of my mom who's hair was long enough to sit on most of her teenage years. Are these outfits not perfect? I pinned these to my Pinterest boards recently.

Source: google.com via Natalie on Pinterest

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Source: None via Natalie on Pinterest

Nothing sweeter

To me, there is nothing sweeter than a newborn babe. I've had the amazing opportunity of capturing the sweet little faces of the baby boys of my two closest friends while living here in Provo within hours of their birth. Christiana had her baby boy last June, and just 3 days ago Kristine gave birth to her sweet baby boy on his due date. I'm so happy I got to be here long enough to capture this wonderful time. Holding (and photographing) babies is my favorite.

Raw Melissa's Cooking Class + Jacob's Cove Heritage Farm

Thanks to Dresden, I got the link to a cooking class for last Saturday that took place at a local farm literally 1/4 mile from my house. I signed up eagerly! Everything we made was so yummy, and my favorite part was that the teachers of the class picked the ingredients out back moments before they started cooking. I am a big fan of fresh, local produce and the less it's tampered with, the better. We made so many yummy things- Here's a picture of the kale coconut ice cream they made us (topped with a few raspberries).
Who knew kale was so good in a sweet dish?

My other faves were the fresh basil walnut pesto (which I'm making tonight) and the pea and lime hummus. I was not disappointed! Jen Johnson and Lindsey Johnson did a great job! I love food + cooking. Plus Kara's reactions to the amazing food made it that much better :)

Also, apparently Jacob's Cove Farm does a CSA (where they provide shares of their fruits/veggies for a certain amount of weeks to you if you sign up and pay in advance.) If I was staying here I'd for sure sign up for it.

I can't not

I can't not post this so I get another entry to this AMAZING giveaway. Seriously. Best giveaway EVER. Jordan Ferney is the best, and her blog is so lovely.

WIN A TRIP FOR TWO TO PARIS!

Besides, you KNOW I'd love to redo this.

Birthday Wishes

I'm always saying how I need to wear something other than jeans...but I just can't help swooning over these gorgeous outfits. I LOVE high waisted jeans right now and I'd love to rock them. I've always been a bit of a hippie at heart. Any of these things (or obviously copies of them since the leather bag is mucho dinero) would be accepted happily by me for my birthday. I can't wait! Last year was a bit of a bust because we shot a wedding all day. This year is going to be amazing!

Source: moonfaceon.blogspot.com via Natalie on Pinterest

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put on your red shoes and dance the blues

I love photographing peoples shoes during shoots. Shoes, for the most part, tell you a lot about people. They can be worn and loved, or new and perfect. Most of my shoes are worn from too much wearing (David goes through a pair of jacks faster than anyone I've ever met). I'm a flats or slight wedge wearer. I love heels but just don't feel comfortable in them for long periods of time. Remember how I wore those darling BCBG black heels of Christiana's to Brian + Moonsung's wedding? I paid for it later. Shoes are a window to the soul. Oh wait, or is it the eyes?

Buffet Dreams

We're getting rid of practically everything we own for this move (which is less than 3 weeks away!! yikes!)so of course, I've already started looking into our future furniture options. We recently traded our obnoxiously huge TV for a more manageable sized flat screen that will look perfect above something like the options below. I plan on finding something thrifted and painting it either stark, clean white or something funkier...like grey, mustard yellow, or some kind of fun green. No more black Ikea furniture for me!

Source: houzz.com via Natalie on Pinterest

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Giveaway Winners: Grace + Joe

Um, coolest couple ever? These fine people are getting married this August, and what a joy they were to shoot! They reminded me of a couple from an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel (but with a happy ending).

Rings

(this is not my ring, but one of my bride's)

I really like funky, vintage jewelry and funky chunky pieces like necklaces that make a simple but bold statement, but I RARELY wear any. Right now the only jewelry I have on is my wedding ring. Most days that is the case. I see stuff I like in stores and on other people but when it's time to buy a piece for myself I always pass it up. Why is that? Maybe I'm just not a jewelry person.

One piece I was sure of was my engagement ring. Yes, I picked it out :) I actually originally found an estate piece in one of our favorite antique shops in the Orange Circle- it was from the 1920's but it was amazingly enough white gold (which is what we were looking for, but apparently pretty rare during that time because most were made of platinum). It was an Edwardian setting similar to my ring now, but it had little triangles of sapphire on either side of the gorgeous diamond. It did look quite huge on my abnormally small hands...but oh, I wanted it. The diamond in it was really bad quality and they wouldn't sell the setting alone to us, so we moved on. We ended up finding something I loved almost as much in LA for a much better price. I adore my ring. It's probably my favorite thing I own.

Six months ago I noticed the diamond made a noise if I pushed on it (don't ask me why I was pushing on it...I have no idea) so we took it in and got it reset. I was informed that sleeping with your ring on can make the diamond come loose. I had no idea! I NEVER took my ring off. I wasn't too worried about the diamond coming loose before either because my diamond is set into the setting and not above. Needless to say, I take my ring off before bed every single night now. The last thing I want to do is lose my diamond!

A lot of people get new rings after they've been married for 25 years or 30 years. I don't see myself EVER replacing this ring. It's timeless and perfect for me.

B + W or Color?

I have this never ending dilemma...when I edit my photos I ALWAYS turn my favorite ones black and white. Usually when I give someone a disc of edited photos that I took, most will be in color and a few will be black and white- makes it easy to tell which ones I love the most :) Something about the simpleness of the black and white picture is what draws me to it, I think. I like that I don't have to depend on the color or editing to make me like the photo- it's bare and plain. Also, if you didn't already know, I like old fashioned things.

So what do you think? Color or black + white? (I'd choose b+w if I had to choose only one to use for the rest of my life).

Happy Birthday, Christiana!

Happy birthday to this pretty lady. I'm going to miss her so much!