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Website Down

I’m in the process of switching webhosts and my main website is currently down and my email is coming in but not going out.  As a result slideshows will not work and it make take me longer to respond to emails until it is back up.  I apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience!!

Here is a sneak preview of what is coming tomorrow to the blog!

Downtown Dallas Engagement Photography – Steve & Mariah

I have known Mariah since I was about twelve years old.  We were friends all through high school.  She was the cool one who got her license before the rest of us and drove us around in her brown Buick.  We had some fun times in that car!  We were the two out of our group of friends who always wanted to get old black and white movies from Blockbuster, and everyone else thought we were grandmas.  Well maybe we are…

It was fun to get back in touch with Mariah and it’s alway so great to see your friends so happy and in love.  I had a great time with Steve and Mariah wandering around downtown Dallas.

We started out in front of the American Airlines Center, where these hockey fans will be Stars season ticket holders this year.

After that we just winged it and wandered around, which was lots of fun!

There was this random bench in front of an empty store that wasn’t bolted down – perfect!

We mozyed on over to the West End –

Once it got dark we did some night shots.  This is my absolute fav from the whole shoot –

I love this one  – it’s so them!

To see more of Steve & Mariah’s downtown Dallas engagement session click the image below for a slideshow–

Haircut

Let me start by saying that I am really cheap when it comes to my hair.  Seriously, I’m the most low maintenance Dallas girl you will ever meet when it comes to hair.  I usually get my hair cut about twice a year, I don’t do any kind of highlights or color, and rarely spend more than $50 a year on salon visits.  I also have never committed to a stylist.  I almost always go to the Toni and Guy Hair Academy right around the corner.

On Wednesday I had decided that I needed a haircut – which was already breaking out of my norm because I’ve already had my hair cut this calendar year and I generally only go twice a year.  I further broke out of my norm by not going to the hair academy.  Since the academy generally takes about three times as long as a normal salon experience and I’m not exactly made of time as a nursing mom and business owner, I took my mom’s suggestion and tried an older woman named Antonia.

Ahhh Antonia.

My mom warned me that although she gives a fabulous haircut, Antonia has probably the worst disposition you could have as a stylist.  She was right.  I think she wanted to cut my hair dry because the shampoo she gave me was probably the most painful shampoo I’ve ever received.  She asked me a few few small talk-y questions while she shampooed me but by the time I got to the chair, there was silence.

‘Alright,’ I thought, ‘I can do silence, no big.’

After a while she asked me a question about what she was doing to my hair, and after I answered I asked her how long she had been cutting hair.  Fifty two years.  She speaks with an accent so I asked her where she was from.

“Italy.  Why?” she barked.

“Oh I was just trying to place your accent,” I said – cowering.  “How long have you been here?”

“Too long.”  She then launched into this whole rant about Obama, Biden, cussing, young people, politics etc.  There was a whole spiel about how they just don’t get it.  I’m not sure who ‘they’ were or what it was that they don’t get, but I can assure you – they don’t get it.  I just sat there, eyes wide, smiling and nodding.

I watched as she cut my hair and got a bit nervous about how short it was becoming but I didn’t dare speak up.  I just watched in silence.  To me haircuts are always an adventure with the unknown.  A commitment that can will grow out in a few weeks if you will.  So I don’t get too stressed if my hair ends up a bit shorter than I anticipated.  Twice I made a point of saying, “Well you’ve been doing this for 52 years, I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”  She agreed with me both times.

I marveled at how fast she could still cut hair at her age, she must have been around 70.  She told me that she’d had carpal tunnel surgery five times.  She doesn’t blow dry anymore.  “If someone come in with long hair and wants blow out, I tell them, ‘Get out of here.’ ”

At the end as she combed and fussed with my (wet) hair she sat back and said, “I give a good haircut.” in her Italian accent.  I agreed.  As I was checking out, she actually smiled at me (well, I think it was really directed at the haircut she just gave me) and invited me to come back.  I told her I would.  Something tells me that she doesn’t just invite everyone to come back…  Her whole presence and personality amused me so much (not to mention the haircut she gave me really was great) that I think I will go back and see her.  Who knows, I may even start getting regular haircuts!

Gage is One!

This is the third time I’ve had the privilege of photographing Gage!  I first photographed him when he was 3 months, then at 6 months, and now he’s a big strapping (walking!) one year old!  I can’t believe how much he’s grown!  What a happy little guy –

Danna Maternity

Danna looks fabulous.  In fact she looks so good that there were multiple times during her maternity session that I had to reposition myself so that I could actually tell that she was pregnant.  I wish I was lying.  I don’t think that anyone had that problem when I was pregnant.  My jaw was on the ground when Danna was telling me about how she and her dad have been ripping up her deck (like she’s been doing manual labor…) and that because of this she had just been too tired to make it to the gym the day before.  Right.  I can’t even tell you the last time I stepped foot into a gym, it certainly wasn’t while I was pregnant!  Danna and Greg are braver than I and have decided to be surprised by the gender of their baby in just a few short weeks.  I can’t wait to meet him or her shoot his or her little newborn session!  Danna, you really look spectacular!

To see more of Danna’s session, click below for a slideshow –

Another Bridal Sneak Peek

Here is another bridal sneak peek!  I love shooting bridal portraits!

Also – Check out the LOVE AFFAIR BLOG and enter to win a Kelly Moore Bag & a seat to their upcoming workshop in Dallas!! http://www.loveaffairworkshop.com

UNO DVD and Love Affair Scholarship

Love Affair Workshop is a photography workshop for women…

Women love so many things and yet have such a hard time being true to them all. Family, children, husband, creativity, business, soccer games, laughing, life…

It’s time to figure out how to do it all…how to have a love affair with everything and most importantly with life. Don’t cheat yourself out of life beyond business. You’re going to love life more deeply and love photography and business all over again.

I want a UNO DVD and a shot at the scholarship to the Love Affair Workshop! http://www.loveaffairworkshop.com

Grammy & Grandpa

This past weekend, Jake’s parents and grandma came out to visit us and meet Rhett!  I snapped some pictures of the boys with Grammy and Grandpa on Sunday evening before we headed out to celebrate birthdays at Saltgrass.  Ummm have you had the potato soup at Saltgrass?!?!

Aren’t they cute?  I didn’t tell them to do that, they just like each other =)

“I get M&M’s if I smile for a few pictures!?  Ok!”

Love Affair Workshop!

Photographers!  Check out http://www.loveaffairworkshop.com! They’re giving away prizes & a seat to their workshop on the blog this week! Go enter to win!