Cassidy really wanted to start their session at her family’s GORGEOUS beach house. She and her family have spent Thanksgiving there ever since she can remember…so obviously it is very special to them! I LOVE when my clients incorporate meaningful, personal things like this…and I mean, come on. Who can say “no” to shooting at a beach house?

He proposed to her last Christmas Eve. And as you’ll notice, he did an amazing job with her ring! Not only is it beautiful, but it was her great-grandmother’s stone! How thoughtful is that?!

For the second half of this session, Cassidy really wanted to go somewhere green. As soon as I took a trip to the Carpinteria Bluffs, I knew it was the perfect location for them! We had so much fun, and these two are so crazy in love. I never had to remind them to stay close to each other, or ask them to kiss…they did it all on their own! It was so sweet to see them interact. Even after all this time, they still can’t keep their hands off each other! <3

Cassidy’s maid of honor (and super talented makeup artist) Whitney Willison was such a great help, too! Not only did she help with the styling and do Cassidy’s hair & makeup, but she was also my light stand! Haha…it was so great having her along…and the train shots would NOT have been possible without her! THANK YOU, WHITNEY!

I posted some sneak peeks on my Facebook, and I was COMPLETELY FLOORED at the reactions I have gotten from their friends and family. Cassidy & Nick, you guys are SO LOVED! Someone made a comment saying, “Beautiful people, inside and out” and I couldn’t agree more. I know I said it before, but thank you both so much for hiring me to photograph your love. I loved every minute of this session and I CANNOT WAIT for your wedding!

WORK IT, girl! Isn’t she gorgeous?

One of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken! We got pretty lucky.

I’ve photographed Cassie for about two years now, but she and I actually go way back! So you can imagine how excited I am to be a part of such a special time in her life.

Whenever I post any of my sessions with Cassie, most people comment on how delicate and petite she is. But don’t let her small size fool you! This girl is a bad ass! She does not take any crap from anybody and it’s a quality I have always respected and admired about her. Some men may find her feisty nature intimidating, but not Kevin! Not only does he ADORE Cassie’s fiery personality, but he says she is exactly what he needed. Any guy who loves and respects a strong woman is a winner in my book! These two are PERFECT for each other!

We headed to beautiful Santa Barbara for their session. As soon as I told Cassie about the carousel, we knew it would be the perfect setting and I’m so glad we did! I mean, between their good looks and killer fashion sense, I had it pretty easy, right?  Right.

Thank you sooooo much Cassie & Kevin! I am so happy with the way these turned out and I had such a blast with you two. I can’t wait for your wedding next year! <3

FAVORITE shot of the day!!!

Second favorite. I love how even though her hair is in her face, she’s still working it. GET IT, GIRL!

P.S. Whatcha guys think of the new blog design?

As far as my goals go, I am doing okay. Better than I expected, but still not as good as I would like. I’m still not blogging as much as I want to, but part of that is due to the fact that my blog is also my website. Once I’ve separated the two (hopefully sometime soon!), I think I’ll feel more comfortable with it. I’ve booked more weddings this year than I did last year, and the inquiries are still coming! So that is pretty awesome. I am eating SUPER healthy and running at least twice a week as well as training at a local studio. AND, I’ve been trying new things! Ian’s dad and brother visited us a few weeks ago and we went hiking and had a BLAST. What the heck? Who am I? I’ve also started nesting. Small things here and there, but our little apartment is coming along nicely!

I still haven’t started working on my album, though. In fact, I kind of neglected music for the majority of this month, but I am starting to get back into it…February will be different! And who knows, maybe it was good for me to take a break from it for a bit.

Well, enough about me! Here’s a little giveaway to start this new month!

THE DETAILS:
- Must book between now and February 28th, 2013
- Applicable to all 2013-2014 weddings
- Travel fees may apply
- If the wedding collection you choose already includes an engagement session, the amount of the session ($300) will be deducted from total amount

That’s it! Please contact me for booking information or if you have any questions. I can’t wait to hear from you!

And just because I can’t help myself, here’s a photo of my little girl.

It’s pretty much like playing dress-up with your favorite girls. I’m lucky enough to call this lovely lady not only my client, but my friend, too! She’s one of my favorite people to photograph and I was thrilled that she hired me for this session.

I try to take a different approach to boudoir. I try to get an editorial look so it’s more than just being sexy. It’s about being glamorous and classy…which is exactly what Cassie is!

I want to try to do more boudoir sessions this year. Add that to my list of goals for 2013! If you’d like to book a boudoir session, let’s talk!

It had built up for some time…probably since October. Between Halloween costumes, traveling for the holidays, and Christmas shopping…ALONG WITH running a business and running my household, I seemed to lose control of my sanity a bit.

One of my goals for 2013 is to create a blog that I’m proud of. And yes, I love writing about my children and I love writing about my fantastic clients…but I also want my blog to be more than that. I want it to be about me. My life. And obviously, my life isn’t always pretty and perfect. Sometimes, my children are monsters. Sometimes, I feel like the a failure. Sometimes, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing and I just want to rip all of my hair out and scream forever.

That’s what this post is for. I want to purge all of my self-doubt and all the bad, and bring the GOOD back in.

I have an amazing life. I have two amazingly wonderful and healthy children. I have a husband who loves me so much and who does everything in his power to help me..even if it means that he has to come home and watch the kids and make dinner after working for 10 hours all day, just so I can go to my Pilates class. We live in a great town that I adore, and even though I don’t have the cutest apartment and the nicest furniture, we always have everything we need. And finally, I have an amazing job. I may not be this super awesome rockstar photographer (yet), but I have worked really hard to get where I am…and this year, I have already received more wedding inquiries/bookings than I ever have, thanks to my wonderful friends/family and colleagues.

So Alyssa, when you’re feeling like the biggest loser/failure/jerkface, remember everything that you DO have and focus on that. And if that doesn’t work, then maybe this will.

and of course, these little faces help, too!

Obviously all weddings are special, but this one really hit me! Justin is in the Army and had been away from Kelly for some time. The wedding took place after he had only been back for about 24 hours! Not only that, but this was the last time they would be able to see a lot of their friends and family because these two newlyweds are starting their new life together in New York.

The wedding took place at a little coffee shop called Back to the Grind in Downtown Riverside (during the Festival of Lights, which was AWESOME!). It was the perfect venue for this intimate ceremony! This coffee shop is a regular hangout spot for Kelly and her friends/family, since they are all lovers of books and art (and coffee, obviously). Back to the Grind displays new artwork from locals and they never have a shortage of books on the shelves!

Kelly is a bit shy, and I could tell that getting up in front of people was a bit nerve-wracking for her. But as soon as they made their entrance together, all of their friends and family stood to their feet and clapped for them. It was such a wonderful moment, and I could tell that it immediately put Justin and Kelly at ease!

I loved every second of this wedding! Thank you so much Kelly and Justin. Good luck in New York! And another big thank you to my wonderful friends Tara and Erin for hiring me!

1. Blog more. (a 2012 goal that I didn’t meet. giving it another shot!)
2. Shoot 10 weddings. (2012 goal retry)
3. Buy a 35mm 1.4 lens (2012 goal retry)
4. Shoot more film.
5. Shoot for FUN. I noticed that in 2012, I didn’t really shoot for fun anymore. I need to get back to that!
6. Get more features on blogs.
7. Write an album. I grew as a musician/singer in 2012, and I’d really like to keep that up!
8. Write a musical. Actually, this is more of a “life goal”. Haha.
9. Get back into my workout/healthy eating routine. I really fell off the wagon when Ian was deployed and I haven’t been able to get back into it…I can definitely notice a difference, too.
10. Use “off-camera flash” skills more. I noticed in 2012, I hardly used my OCF knowledge even though it’s one of my favorite things to experiment with.
11. Create a blog/website that I’m proud of.
12. Be adventurous. Try new things!
13. Read more.
14. Nest! Everywhere we have lived has been a “temporary situation”. Well, four years later and I realize that I have never been able to “nest” even though I’m dying to!
15. Get in front of the camera more!
16. Learn to play One Winged Angel on piano. Maybe this is ambitious for only one year, but I’m pretty sure if I practice enough I can do it!
17. Schedule more “me time”. It’s harder than it sounds. Especially for mommies!
18. Schedule more “me and Ian time”. Again, harder than it sounds when you have two kids! We started this new tradition where we have “coffee dates” as soon as he gets home. Since we can’t actually “go out” for coffee, we just sit down at the table and talk to each other about our days. Sure, sometimes we get the kids screaming at us, but it’s nice to have scheduled time just to talk to each other.
19. Teach Mal to play piano because he loves playing so much.
20. Learn a new skill. Anything!

I might add more to this later. I am actually really excited to come back to this in 2014 and see  how much I have grown! Even if I don’t meet every single goal on this list, I am guaranteed to come out of it with new knowledge and experience.

I would love if you guys shared some of your 2013 goals with me! Seriously, let’s cheer each other on. This isn’t limited to just photographers or the wedding industry either! Friends and family, I want to hear your 2013 goals, too!

And of course, I have to include a Christmas photo! Sure, Mal has hot chocolate smeared on his face, and Leia has a mouth full of candy cane…but it’s the only way to get them to sit still for a photo!

Thanksgiving day was a lot of fun for us…but it was also tiring! Between cooking all day and chasing kids, we were all exhausted by the end of the day. But seeing how much fun my kids had with their family made it all worth it!

Instead of dealing with shopping and crowds on Friday, we all decided to go on a hike. I’ve never taken my kids hiking before, so it was really cool seeing how much they enjoyed it. If you know me, you know that I’m not exactly an “outdoorsy person”, but I really wanted to try since I know my husband loves spending time outside. And after seeing how much fun the kids had, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to get used to it! (good thing one of my 2013 goals is to try new things!).

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Time to blast some Christmas music!

BONUS THANKSGIVING PHOTO!
This is the way Ian entertained all the kids while we made Thanksgiving dinner. NEWSPAPER FIGHT! He’s a cool dad/uncle! (he gets the photo cred on these, too!)

Inspiration can hit us at the most unexpected times. I was watching Meet the Robinsons with my kids the other day. There is a scene in the movie where the main character, Lewis, child inventor extraordinaire, is forced to fix the Robinson family’s peanut butter and jelly gun. When he finally thinks he’s fixed it, they turn it on and the gun jams and peanut butter and jelly explodes all over the place. Lewis hides his face in shame and apologizes profusely. The Robinson family takes one look around and suddenly erupt into loud cheers. They explain that every time you fail, you learn something. From success, not so much. Failure is not a bad thing if you learn from it.

This was an interesting year for me. Last year, I set a lot of goals for myself to meet in 2012. And I did meet some of them. I upgraded to a full frame camera, I finally branded my business…I booked at least one portrait session a month for the entire year and I started branching out in Ventura and I met some awesome wedding vendors in the process. But there were also some goals that I did not meet. I didn’t shoot 10 weddings this year. I did not buy the lens I’ve had my eye on forever and I did not blog at least three times a month like I had planned.

I felt pretty down in the dumps for a while because things have progressed pretty slowly for me. I look at some of my colleagues and see how much they have grown and achieved this year, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t get jealous sometimes.

And then I realize how much I HAVE achieved. I have two children, and I have still managed to find time for my business, for my family, and more importantly, for myself. I think back to where I was last year, or even at the beginning of this year and I see how much I have grown, personally and professionally. Rather than beat myself up and think about all the goals that I didn’t meet, I am going to learn from it and better myself for 2013.

I have already started writing down my goals for 2013 (I’m thinking about posting them on here). Some of them are kind of scary, and I don’t even know if I’ll come close to meeting them. But I’m going to give it my all…and even if I fail, I am going to keep moving forward.

Hope everyone has a rad Thanksgiving. I’ll be out of town and probably out of touch for the next week or so, but I’ll be checking my email if you need to contact me.

I needed a little “pick me up” today…and nothing amps me up like some good music! Here’s a few favorites today…

Starman – David Bowie
Love Love Love – Of Monsters and Men
Excuses – The Morning Benders
Anywhere I Lay My Head – Tom Waits
Who – David Byrne & St. Vincent
Sleepwalkers – They Might Be Giants
Cough Syrup – Young the Giant
Emmylou – First Aid Kit
Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
Cosmogony – Bjork
Small Town Moon – Regina Spektor

What’s on your playlist today?