Twinbabies.

I am still in awe over these little miracle babies.  I just had to post a quick sneak peek from our session.  

Born at 27 weeks gestation, weighed 2 pounds each, now 9 weeks old and weigh 4 pounds 10 oz each. 

Amazing.

Peyton.

So, Miss Peyton just turned one.  Unfortunately she did not like her birthday hat.  Fortunately, she's just as cute when she's mad ;) .  Such a pretty girl... Hope you enjoy! (and yes, her eyes really are that piercingly blue and beautiful!)

Elizabeth and family.

I was so excited when my friend and fellow Memphis photog Elizabeth Wiggs asked me to do her family's portraits this year.  She has seriously the most gorgeous little family. I had so much fun with them!  So, here's a quick little preview of some of my favorites.  Enjoy!

Sasha.

Here are a few shots of Sasha, who was one of my sweet little mini-session clients.  Can I just say that 1- Anybody else jealous of those pouty lips? and 2- I love how mom brought Sasha's favorite book along for some shots. Love those personal touches.

Enjoy!

 

Adley.

Isn't she a doll?

This sweet family made the trek all the way from Nashville for our photo shoot.  And I am so glad they did! We had perfect weather, perfect lighting, and Miss Adley was oh so easy to work with.  Such a little beauty.

Also- big thanks to everyone who has become a fan of mine on Facebook! If you haven't, head on over there now and become a fan- you'll get instant updates and exclusive sneak peeks on your News Feed. Thanks!

Italy (Part 2).

(Read Italy Part 1 here if you missed it.)

So, to pick up where I left off.

Remember how we cancelled our Milan tour because it was pouring down rain, but was supposedly beautiful in Ancona? Well turns out the rain followed us. Again, it was no problema. We really weren't mad or frustrated. Our sweet family felt so bad for us and kept asking "Sono triste?" (are you sad?).  Nope.  Just enjoying every minute.

Since it was so rainy that Thursday and Friday, I stuck with my iPhone for pictures.  We always started off our morning at this cute little cafe in a beautiful town called Corinaldo for our shot of espresso and pastry of our choice. Marianna, the barista, is friends with Onny and always gave us a discount for our food.  Actually the first time we went, she didn't make us pay for anything. So sweet. 

So the first time we are in this cafe (Friday), I'm sitting there thinking that I love this small-town feel.  Not only is everyone so friendly, I'm realizing that my family is so creative and innovative and resourceful. For example, Luisa owns her own hair salon.  Onny has his own construction business. Massimo (Luisa's brother) and his wife Anna have a shop connected to their home where they sell vegetables.  Lidia (Luisa's sister) and her family have a bed & breakfast, as well as olive trees with which they make their own olive oil (Read more about their B&B here.) And as I'm sitting at our table, I look over and see this cabinet of beautifully packaged homemade jams and jellies and honey.  I tell Onny I want to buy some and he laughs at me. Like, histerically. I look closer at the label and see "Marmellate di Serenella." Yeah, Serenella is Luisa's sister as well. "Do not pay for this," he tells me. "We will go see Serenella."  How cool is that?

 (all pictures from the cafe in Corinaldo)

So that rainy Friday, Onny just drove us around and showed us different places. When Federica (Luisa's daughter) got home from school, she went with us to Senigallia, which is this cute little beach town (all these towns are within 15-20 mins of each other). Tons of cute little shops.  It was 6pm-ish and rainy and  we walked all through Senigallia.  Don't worry- dinner's not til 8pm every night. Paul and I were starting to get a little hungry so we all went into this little cafe for a little refreshment. I don't know why but I was cold and just wanted a hot chocolate.  Is that bad? Apparently so.  It definitely did not help Onny's perception of me, coupled with the fact that I often asked for a coke, which apparently only the "children" drink. And then I go and order hot chocolate.  Needless to say, I got made fun of quite a bit. 

We had a wonderful dinner that night at Massimo's house, which is a whole post in itself.  The sun didn't come out til Saturday afternoon and I was itching to take pictures.  So fast forward to Saturday afternoon real quick so I can show you some of the Italian countryside:  (Thanks to Onny for driving us around and pulling over on the side of the road so I could take pictures. Yet another thing I was made fun of for!)

The picture above was taken right outside Lidia's house, by the way. Yeah, she has this view out her front door. It's ridiculous. Can you imagine my photographic jealousy of these people? It was like a dream location-scouting trip. We'd be driving down those winding roads and pass by an old abandoned house in the middle of the valley with a bright turquoise painted door and I'm thinking- perfect place for a maternity shoot. Or a girlie toddler in a hot pink dress. Or a baby in a basket on the doorstep. I couldn't turn off the location-scouter of my mind.  It was almost frustrating. Man.

Ok once again, more to come! 

Our Italian Adventure. (Part 1)

As I mentioned here, my husband and I just got back from an amazing vacation in Italy.  I have some family who live there (long story short- my great-grandmother's sister's family) and they showed us the Italian ropes for 10 wonderful days.  I have been fortunate enough to visit many places all over the world, but there is nothing that compares to having locals take you in, show you around, and teach you their culture. We were so blessed to have had this opportunity! 

We left on a Tuesday night and flew all night long to Amsterdam. We arrived in Amsterdam at about 11am, freshened up in the bathrooms, and enjoyed an authentic Dutch lunch at the airport Sbarro.  I remember us being kind of quiet with each other, not because we were tired (that too), but I think we had so much adrenaline and nerves and excitement and anticipation to see our friends that we were just without words.  We could not stop watching the clock during our 4 hour layover while we waited for our flight to Milano.

Our family lives outside of Ancona, Italy (eastern coast), but the best flight we could find flew into Milan.  Fortunately Onofrio (Onny) is originally from Milan so we were still in familiar territory for him.  We were so excited on the plane. Flying over the Alps (Italian lesson: the Alpi) was magnificent. We were like little kids waiting for Christmas morning.

 (photos above taken with iPhone. not bad eh?)

 While we had a great flight and no customs/luggage issues, we soon realized we had a little "black cat" (as Onny told us!) with us.  We land in Milan, get our baggage, see Onny at the gate and were sooo happy! We hugged and hugged and chatted and went about our way.  I think Luisa called Onny a few times (she had to work and couldn't make it) just to get the play-by-play every few minutes.  But when we get outside, we see that there is a nice monsoon in Milan, and Onny proceeds to tell us that it's supposed to rain in Milan the next few days. Originally we were going to tour Milan the first day, but since the weather was miserable we decided to stay the night in Milan and head to Ancona the next day. We were so excited just to be there, that we didn't care. It was going to be perfect.

So after we get our bearings and start down the interstate from the airport, Onny tells us that he's going to take us out for a "slow" dinner at this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant outside of Milan.  Which, by the way, the entire time in the restaurant, American music is playing. First, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" comes on (a classic and one of my favorites) and I said, "Paul! Listen!" to which Onny immediately says, "Yes, Tears for Fears. Very good."        

I heart him.

Anyway, we had risotto and beef and wine and cheese and all kinds of good stuff I would have never ordered on my own. It was delicious.  Here's a little video so you can hear Onny talk. It's just so cute. It's like a game of charades, I swear.  I can't even remember what he's trying to explain here, but it's just cute to hear his voice.

So Onny hooks us up with this adorable B&B and we kiss-kiss him goodnight.  We get settled in our room, pass out in our bed, and are wide awake at 2am.  So begins the jetlag.... No worries though because we are in freakin Italy!

We have an authentic Italian breakfast (espresso, pastries) and then hit the road to head back home with Onny.  As we are driving out of town, Onny says that he wants to show us a little town called Bergamo on our way out.  We of course agree, not knowing that we are about to see the coolest town ever. About Bergamo: there is a Bergamo-lower and a Bergamo-upper (Bergamo Alta). The lower part is just like any busy city, but the upper part is like a hidden treasure of shops and restaurants and an amazing view of Bergamo-lower. I loved this. Of course, it was rainy but still so enjoyable. 

pictures above taken by iPhone because of the rain 

We hang out here for just a couple of hours (and no, unfortunately I couldn't swing those adorable little Armani's...) and then head back home to Ancona.  It's about a 4 hour drive, and thankfully the weather was clearing up once we arrived in Ancona. We stopped by Luisa Style (Luisa's hair salon) and drove through the "big town" of Ripe (it's teeny tiny- so cute). Then we headed back to Onny's house where they prepared a homemade meal for us.  

 (Onny is a contractor and installed their kitchen.. isn't it cute?)

So, that's the beginning of our wonderful 10-day adventure. SO much more to come. Stay tuned.

Meet Riley.

Just skimming through some images and this one caught my eye. I love the light, and her smoldering look. More to come from this session! Enjoy~

Our Halloween...

...consisted of us being Halloween grinches. 

Here was our checklist:

-Front porch light off.

-Indoor lights dimmed.

-Yelling at Charlie "Don't go to the door!!!!" when the doorbell rang.

-No costumes. (Although I did buy Jack his costume a few weeks earlier.. we just didn't don any costumes on Halloween night).

-No decor.

-No candy.

-Everyone in bed by 7:30pm, including me and Paul.

Why? Because 24 hours earlier, we were looking at this:

(the Italian countryside in Castel Colonna where we stayed)

and about 72 hours from that, we were looking at this:

(the bridges of Firenze)

And we were depressed that we were no longer in Italy and still recovering from a teary goodbye at the airport with these wonderful people:

That we opted out of Halloween '09.  I know all of you missed us.

HOWEVER! I didn't buy that $20 costume at the Disney store for Baby Jack's first Halloween for nothing! (Please don't tell Charlie I didn't buy him a costume.... well I mean actually we bought him a jacket in Italy and were going to send him out as "Italian Boy" had we been physically/emotionally able). So this afternoon, we got everyone all gussied up for a post-Halloween photo shoot in the backyard. Success! Enjoy photos of my little Pooh bear....

 

In case you're hungry for more Italy stories and pictures, I will be breaking down our trip and doing multiple posts sharing some of the amazing experiences/photos that we have.  So be checking in often!

Fall colors, funny faces, and big. blue. eyes.

I had to post a sneak peek for this family from yesterday's mini-sessions.  

I couldn't resist.  

I tried, but I couldn't.

While I am so physically and mentally exhausted, at the same time, I absolutely couldn't wait to start processing these images! Alisa (the gorgeous mama) works with Paul, and I have been itching to photograph her beautiful kids for quite some time now.  Yesterday was a perfect day and we got many amazing shots.. Beautiful, beautiful children!

Also be on the lookout for a ton more previews from the mini's as well as some newborns from this past week.

Enjoy!