regret nothing

how many times have you heard people say this? how many times have you said it yourself? i know for myself, i always say that i want to live a life with no regrets. "regret nothing, just take things that don't work out as a life lesson." when i look back on the last year or two of my life, i am filled with what i can only describe as regret. i spent too much time in a situation that was never going to work out, no matter how hard i tried and pushed. i distanced myself from people. i closed myself off to so many things. my mother worried about me (it's ok, it's her job...), i lost friends, i almost lost myself. i don't know if i can say exactly what it was that turned me around, and i don't honestly think i am all the way there. but thank god i can look back and say i'm not that person any longer.

i can't carry anger towards the person i had become. whatever it was that i went through am going through is shaping my future self. i have to let go of the thoughts that keep me trapped inside myself and of the anger i have towards things that are in the past. without doing that, i have no room to love those around me, or as corny as it sounds, to love myself.

i'm not sure what sparked this reflective friday morning post, but it feels good to be writing again.

So, I went on a road trip...

 Asheville, I do love you!

Gorgeous Pisgah National Forest.

 

An overlook in Tennessee.

 Bristol, you rocked my face off.

 Two states, one state of mind. 

Shenandoah was breathtaking.

And never wanted to come home...

excitement!

i love having friends with similar interests. i love photography but kind of put it down for a myriad of reasons, one being motivation. my fab friend, becca, loves photography. she got together some other friends, some i know, most that i don't, for an online photo group of sorts.
we will be shooting through the alphabet, posting once a week a photo that is our interpretation of that week's letter.
i'm so excited to be doing this, and to get to know more photography enthusiasts!
we will be posting to a blog, which i will hopefully link back to here soon! EDIT: here's the link!  i really like the shot i got this week, but here is one that i liked that didn't quite make the cut...

A is for... alcohol.

i heart faces- self portrait

it's been a while since i have entered a photo into the i heart faces challenge, but i love this one too much to not participate! here is my self portrait from august of this year... this was the first time i had used my new wireless remote. such a fun accessory!

head on over to iheartfaces to check out some other great self-portraits!

something new and exciting

cause i am going to disneyworld!! (yes, again.) (yes, i know i was just there last december. i really like it.) (no, really, i do!)
i need that vacation. i might lose my mind before it ever gets here, but i only have 6 more sleeps to go and i will be here:

this time next week, my mom and i will be joining friends for dinner with mickey and friends!

a little too much honesty

i am feeling twitchy this morning. actually, i've been feeling twitchy this past month.
i dove right in to working long hours and weekends... at my regular job. i'm finding that i am starting to like it. after 18 months. this is all good, except for the extra long hours.

the not so good? i am a strong, confident woman. i know what i want out of life. but i chicken out. i am afraid to ask for what i want, for fear of being told "no." and that is a word that i don't hear very often. (perhaps because i don't do a lot of asking.) -so, what's the question? maybe it's asking for a raise. or time off because of all the extra time i have been putting in. asking for a date. maybe it's that i don't want to let people down. maybe it's because i have lived a relatively charmed existence. not that i haven't had struggles, because there have been plenty.

i'm sure i am not alone in these feelings. but how does one move forward? how does one muster up the courage to go after what they want, and not be afraid of rejection?

any advice?

need

where i would much rather be today... and everyday.

lucky.

i got super lucky and caught this outside the window at work today and was able to run and grab my camera to fire off a few shots.

more than i could imagine

if fabulous weekends could be scripted, with every player knowing their lines and performing them flawlessly, they wouldn't even come close to how amazingly perfect this past weekend was.
for the last few months, year, YEARS... i had been talking about turning 30. how i wasn't ready for it, how it seemed so scary, how there was still so much in my life that i thought i would have accomplished before IT happened. i gave myself 2 options for bringing in this momentous occasion. option 1~ taking the time off of work, closing the blinds, watching sad movies, and eating my weight in ice cream. (not really the healthiest option) and option 2~ gathering all of my friends and family together and celebrating. i mean, living life to the fullest, partying hard, people will talk about it for weeks kind of celebrating.
and then i got this text from my mom "now that the wedding (she was baking, i was shooting) is over, what do you want to do for your birthday?" my response? "a party." that's all i wanted. to be celebrated. to be loved.
we texted back and forth for a few minutes when she said, "i was thinking of a small, intimate gathering." i didn't respond. i was pouting. but she was just throwing me off. and guess what? it worked!
i got an invitation to a friend's holiday picnic for the 3rd (for which i arrive fashionably late. and by that i mean 45 minutes!)
i pulled up to karen's house, saw all the cars and thought she had an overwhelming response to her first party in her new house. and then i saw the luau sign on the window and thought that it was so fun that instead of a patriotic theme, she went with a luau theme. why would i even suspect a party? my birthday was still a good 12 days away.
and then i walked in the door.

every time i think about when it dawned on me that this was no ordinary holiday picnic; no, this was an EPIC surprise. pulled off by my fabulous mother and my equally fabulous friends, i get chills and i tear up. i have never felt more loved in my entire life.

 (photo courtesy of tanis)

i was handed a tiara right away. i was ushered around to greet close to fifty people. seriously? seriously, this is my life?
i could give you all the play by play (and i will post more pictures as i get them) of the rest of this fabulous day, but instead i will just say "thank you." this party was more than i could imagine. and if i had planned my own party, it would not have come anywhere near the ferocity of this day.

i am loved.

pets only- i heart faces

i have this photo of my friend's pug, archer that i wanted to share for this week's challenge. this is archer... he's probably my favorite pup, ever. and he makes me want a pug.

head on over to iheartfaces to fall in love with more puppy dog (and other animal) faces!

so excited!

i have been submitting photos to the *i heart faces* challenges since february (even though i had been stalking it much longer than that...) this past challenge was all about teens, and i knew i had a great photo for this challenge. imagine my surprise when, 1) i log onto fb and see it featured on their fb page and 2) when i got up this morning and saw that my photo was an angie and amy favorite!
each week i am so inspired by all the other amazing photogs who enter this challenge to work a bit harder.

congrats to all the winners and thanks for pushing me onward!

celebrating teens--i heart faces

i am so super excited about this weeks iheartfaces challenge theme. it's celebrating teens this week and i have just the right shot for it!
a few weeks back, i got a call from my pastor's daughter on the day of her prom. she was wondering if i could meet her and her bf at the subway to snap a few shots before they took septa to their prom (because they're boss, that's why.)
i made it just in time to get some gorgeous photos of them, ride the subway down a stop, get back on going the other way, and still make it to my house by 7 (when someone was meeting me there...)

does it get any better than this?! they are ROCKSTARS!

head on over to iheartfaces to check out more boss teen pics!

~all about babies~

if you know anything about me, you know that i LOVE babies. love them. want a TON of them. but for now, i will be satisfied loving on my friends babies, like little miss L, whom i had the pleasure of photographing at less than 12 hours old and then again a week later.

head on over to http://www.iheartfaces.com/ to see hundreds of gorgeous baby pics!

i heart faces- play!

a silly moment during a recent shoot!

head on over to http://www.iheartfaces.com/ to check out some more play-full images!

i heart faces 'photowalk across america'

i know i have talked about how excited i was to attend the iheartfaces photo walk, and let me tell you: it met way exceeded my high expectations!
i love, love, LOVE meeting new people, and add into that people who love to do what I love? perfection.
i wanted to share a few of my front-runner faves from yesterday, but be warned- there may be more posts highlighting the pics... or just obsessive linking to my flickr page!

So far, my absolute fave!

did you attend a photowalk? did you blog about it? leave your blog link and i would LOVE to check it out!

back in april, i blogged about the excitedness of being able to attend the first i heart faces photo walk in philadelphia. i am stoked because today is finally the day. i think there are 35 of us that will come together in the chestnut hill section of the city to do what we all love to do... photograph everything! i have no expectations for today beings that i have never gone to one of these or know anyone that has, except for what i have read on-line!
i'm sure there will be TONS of pictures to share with you!

veggie goodness

i'm have this salad that i eat in the warm summer months that is so, so delicious. it's a mixture of peppers, tomatoes, avocado, vinaigrette, onion, and beans. i have some marinating in the fridge and it's taking everything in me to not eat it before it's had time to sit...
so, i'll share with you how to make it and some yummy pics, in the hopes that it will be ready by the time this post is!
ingredients:
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can chickpeas, rinsed,
1 can kidney beans, rinsed
3 peppers, diced (any color, but i prefer the red, yellow, and orange variety)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
balsamic vinagrette, any variety, at least 1/3 of a bottle... this is really suited to your taste
1 avocado, peeled and sliced

start by mixing the beans together in the bowl.

then, add the onions, peppers, and tomatoes; mix

carefully stir in the dressing and then add the avocado

give it a gentle mix and place it in the refrigerator. you could eat it right then and there, but it really needs time to marinate in all the vinaigrette-y goodness.

give it about an hour to chill and then DIG IN!

love.

you may or may not remember my dear friends heather and eric from random moments on my blog. first, here from their engagement shoot and then again, here from their maternity shoot. on friday, may 28th, at 10:10 pm, their little love bug, L, entered this world. i took a drive up to reading to meet their sweet little baby, and to get in a quick shoot ;)
this is one gorgeous baby, who has stolen my heart.

sigh.

holy 1993!

i was feeling antsy and a little down tonight. which is weird, considering i had a pretty great day at work... had a good talk with a coworker, who was so encouraging and received a compliment that lifted my spirits. but, i didn't know how to make that feeling last. the feeling that all is right with my world. i crashed pretty hard due to a copious amount of coffee and a poor night's sleep. it was starting to get ugly. so, on the recommendation of a friend, i put on some music and i set out to read a book. the book made it worse... it was too- mushy, sentimental. i threw the book across my bed and decided to clean out my closets.
i ended up finding some pretty junky stuff that moved with me from the house i grew up in, to college, to the house my parent's live in, to being shoved in the closet of where i live now. trinkets from my childhood, items from my trip to Europe in high school, cards and letters from college. hello, memory lane!
one such item that i found was my journal from 1993... oh, 13. i must admit, i was pretty embarrassed for my 13 year old self. and my 14 year old self. talking about crushes on boys. oh, the crushes on boys. And each one was "the one." for example: okay, forget that... too embarrassing. maybe, if you're lucky, i will throw some excerpts on here... maybe.

another i heart faces challenge-week 20 "faces and flowers"

i am in love with this picture, as well as the little girl featured in it! my good friend, t's little girl is a great subject! she and i are kindred disney princess spirits.in fact, both our families are going to disney this fall, at the same time, and will be meeting up for dinner (at least one night!)

anyhow, this week's theme is faces and flowers. enjoy!

don't forget to head over to iheartfaces to check out some other great pics!