Project 52 ~ Week 8 {The View From Here....}

Okay....LOVE the theme this week.  Basically because the view from here is pretty much wherever I'm standing and whatever I'm looking at.  I took more pictures for my project this week, than I have during any of the past weeks.  I had a really hard time deciding what my view really was.....

There are always great views at the beach....

But then it snowed...and that was great, too....

And...of course, this is one of my favorite views of the day.

So, you can see...it was kind of a difficult choice.  As I went through everything, flipping image after image, there was one that I kept coming back to.  I loved it the minute I took it, and truly, I didn't even take it with this project in mind.  Sometimes the best things just fall into our laps...or lenses, as the case may be.  The view from here is this....

I love that you can't quite tell what they're looking at.  What is it in the water that's grabbed his attention so much that he's pointing it out to them?  I love the mystery of it.  And I love looking at these people.  Their backs, their fronts, their faces, their feet.  Whether they are in front of a massive expanse of landscape, or huddled together in Daddy's chair.  This is my greatest view....and I hope it never changes.

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Brandy & Marc....MARRIED!

I had the incredible pleasure of photographing the wedding of Brandy & Marc last weekend.  

 You may remember them from their engagement session last fall.  Not only does Brandy love fall, she also loves hearts, so what better time to get married than Valentines?  

We met in the afternoon at the Courtyard Hall in Bothell.  Brandy arrived glowing, of course, and was immediately ushered into the Bride's Room by her friends, sister and mother.  Sometimes it takes a village, especially during a wedding.

(Those pearls belong to her grandmother.  It was her something old.....)

When she was ready, she met Marc in front of a fireplace for their first look....

Then we went out to the sun for some fun and love together.

 

Being a Valentine wedding, of course there was red everywhere!

Even on her shoes....

Little thing about the cake....Her friend drew the design.  Yes...that's what I said.  She drew it.  Then they took it to the bakery and had it made into this beauty....

After the ceremony, the bride and groom took a moment to catch their breath outside....alone.  

And then it was time to party!

Brandy and Marc....It was my sincere pleasure and honor to be able to play a part in your day.  I wish you a lifetime of happiness, love and friendship together!

Project 52 ~ Week 7 {Open Your Heart}

It's Valentine's Day.  Six weeks since New Year's.  Six weeks since I pledged to change my bad behavior of being a munch mouth into good behavior of taking better care of myself. 

I mistakenly chose to begin the day by stepping on the scale.  I should have known better.  It's never a good sign when you wake up feeling like you just finished eating dinner. 

The scale and I have never been friends, not since the first day we met 24 years ago.   Occasionally we can at least tolerate each other, but we mostly just go through long periods of not speaking.  I'm definitely not the scale's biggest fan and I try not to let it run my life (or ruin my life, as the day may be). 

But as this day, Valentine's Day, progressed, I thought I'd approach my old nemesis with something I've never brought to it before...Love.  Love for what it doesn't measure...my worth, my beauty, my self. 

I love you, scale...and for one day I'm willing to let you in to where my true worth lies.  Not in a number or a dress size, but in my heart and my mind and my spirit.  No matter how big or small I am, you'll never be able to measure how much I love my husband.  Or how quickly I would give my life for my children.  There is no weight for the friendship I try to offer those in need.  And you cannot put a number on what I have learned as I have gotten older.  You cannot measure that and you cannot measure me.  Only God and I can do that.  So for today, I will love you and I will love myself.  Without condition or judgment.  Just open-hearted love.

And P.S...Did you know it's six weeks from Valentine's Day to Spring Break?....I'm just saying.....

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{Miss C} is 5!

My sweet girl is five years old now.  I know it's cliche to say that time flies, but the older you get the more you realize how true a statement that really is.  She was so small and delicate.  Like a doll.  Then, in a blink, she's a beautiful young girl.  I have to pay more attention.  Be more in the moment with her and love every precious detail of her life, for I know that all too soon, she will be grown and all that will be left to me are the memories of my most wonderful little girl.

Project 52 ~ Week 6 {Words}

Not necessarily an original idea this week, but in the true interest of expanding my skills and horizons as a photographer, which is what Project 52 is really all about, this is something that I've always wanted to try...and it includes words!...so, there you go.

I have a wedding coming up in a couple of weeks, and I'd love to do something like this for them.  The trick will be getting the ring to stay just so without using tacky wax....'Cause I don't think she'll let me put......I mean, maybe....for a great shot and all that.  I might need to keep practicing the balance thing.

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Project 52 ~ Week 5 {My Muse}

Okay....I have to tell a little secret here.  I don't know what a 'muse' is.  I mean, I do now, but when I read this week's theme, I was kind of lost.  A muse?  You mean, like something funny?  Pretty sure not.  Thank goodness I have Wikipedia on speed-screen.  I basically knew what it meant.  I'm really not that far gone, I just needed a little reassurance that it actually meant what I thought it meant.  It did....more or less.  And if we're talking inspiration, there's nothing that inspires me more than these eyes or the story they tell.  It goes a little something like this.  Once upon a time.....

...I was putting my son to bed. Tucking in his sleepy head, when he turned to me and quietly asked,

"Do you miss me when I'm at school?"

"Oh, yes," I told him. "I miss you terribly whenever you're not here."

The corners of his mouth turned up in a shy smile as I whispered the question back to him.

"Do you miss me while you're at school?"

His nose wrinkled and a slow, "Weeeellllllll," came out. "I'm running so fast outside that the wind is blowing by my face. The air is going so fast that it just carries those dreams away from me." I looked at him, not saying a word, knowing that his thoughts were taking me somewhere I never expected. "But, I always know where they are," he continued. "Right now, they're in China. And then, while I'm sleeping, they'll be in Africa, and by the time I wake up, they'll be back with me."

I kissed him good night and walked out of the room, back into the reality of the evening. I will always love my son more than he will ever know. I will never even be close to becoming the amazing person that he is right now. And I will forever stand in bewildered awe of the magic that exists inside of him.

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