Happy New Year

I can hardly believe that it is 2011. In the past I have found January and February to be rather depressing. Christmas ends, the decorations get put away and things can tend to seem, well... empty. But this year felt different for some reason. I was excited for January to come, excited for what this new year holds.

My husband is leaving on Saturday for four months and I am in the midst of preparing myself to play the part of a single mom for the time he is gone. With his last semester of law school starting Monday he is trading DC for Nashville. But I am not too worried. I feel blessed to have a webcam that will help us stay in close contact, I have many wonderful friends and family members helping support me and I am excited to find new business clients and challenge myself while he is gone! (Not that I don't challenge myself when he's here, but you get the picture)

When 2010 was drawing to an end I reflected on what I had done with the 12 months I was given in that year. And I am happy with what I accomplished but am determined to challenge myself even more this year, to get out of my comfort zone, to make new friends, to travel. I have a myriad of goals. 2011 is going to be awesome.

To celebrate what has passed I put together a few of my favorite images from last year. Thank you to you, my clients, for trusting me to capture your family moments. Happy New Year to all!

New Year's Eve wedding

Friday the 31st was an awesome day. Not only was it my birthday and I turned the big 3-0 (yikes!) but I got to spend the morning shooting with my dear friend who got married to her best friend. We woke up early to get some great light at Sunday Park in Richmond and then moved on to the VMFA downtown which had some of the most amazing backdrops and lighting.

I tried to keep the selection limited since my husband has teased me about my long posts but I hope you enjoy a few of my favorites from this wonderful day of celebration. Hope you both are enjoying your honeymoon!

Recipe Fail

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

And... I failed because I took some beautiful pictures of my stollen and then accidentally deleted them. Um, who does that!?

The stollen was interesting and pretty yummy considering I don't care much for dried fruit in bread. It had a warm cinnamon flavor with nuts and chocolate (an extra I decided to throw in for extra yumminess). I will make this short. Reading about food without any images is rather lame. January will bring a new baking challenge and photos which I promise not to delete. Happy New Year everyone!

An after Christmas family session

My first time shooting a large family group and I had such a great time! A wonderful family, gathered together for the Christmas holiday, enjoying one another's company and documenting this time in their lives through family photographs. I was warmly welcomed in, offered hot coffee, lent a screw driver for a camera piece and there was always someone concerned about whether I was warm enough. You would never guess by these pictures but temperatures were in the 30s with wind gusts up to 40mph. These guys were troopers!

There were so many pictures to choose from and with such a large number of family members I chose just a few of my favorites to share.










Thanks again for inviting me into your home to capture your time together! Happy New Year!

New little one...

A new little one was welcomed into the world recently. Such a sweet little girl. Loved the swaddle, the heat and being held by Mom and Dad. :)