Shhhh! (Durham family photographer)

I am the worst secret keeper. The WORST! Every single time I have bought a present for Aaron that is supposed to be a surprise, I crack on day one.

Imagine my dismay when Kellie called me and explained that she wanted to kid nap her neices and nephew, do a photo shoot, and surprise her sister (Darcy) with the pics on Christmas. Christmas! Do you realize how far away that is?

Well, I loved the idea and we started planning. I figured I would be able to keep a secret for once in my life, since I had never met Darcy.

Guess who I sat next to during my book club last week? Guess who I chatted with for an hour? Darcy! Well, you know me and secret keeping. Every single thing we were talking about led to a conversation in my head about my impending top secret photo shoot.

"Oh, you lived in Germany?" (I bet you got some awesome pictures there. Speaking of pictures...)
"Don't you love living by your sister now?" (Well, I happen to know that your sister loves that you live here too.. in fact she just bought you a photosession-with ME!)

Man-oh-man I was a mess. But I didn't crack. Kellie I owe you one. I think I just had a breakthrough!

Also, I owe you for bringing these umbrellas.
The best jumping picture I have ever taken







Merry Christmas!
(And to all of you who know Darcy.. SSHHHHH! If I can keep a secret, you can too!)

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I am laughing out loud

as I sort through my session with this family. They were putty in my hands and so so fun! It is the best feeling in the world to sense that a family is relaxed in front of my camera and completely comfortable just being themselves.
I am in LOVE with this picture with all its sun flairy goodness..
Now do you see why I'm laughing? This was towards the end and I told them to do whatever they wanted.
I love that they requested the blue wall. It never gets old to me.
I love this picture. The girls are posing away and Sam is like, "hey are we done yet?"

I can't wait to edit more and put them up here. You're going to love them Stephanie!

Thanks, H Fam!!

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I really don't have time to post this...

but as I browsed through my pics this morning I HAD to post this. It sent me into a texture/color euphoria that I don't think I'll ever recover from.

And then I saw this...
and this...
Guess where we found this grass?
(this is where you say, " a beautiful little meadow.... a grassy field??")

WRONG! Would you believe I found this in a parking lot?
(This is when you say, "Shut. UP!")

I know, crazy. And she's crazy beautiful, huh!

Many more to come!
(This is when you say, "GET BACK TO WORK, MELISSA!")

Bye!

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Strep Through Makes me Loopy

My eyebrows and I had the pleasure of meeting Carey and her family last weekend. We have been blogging friends for couple of years (is that right, Carey?) and I could not WAIT to meet her. And after spending two days in a strep induced coma, I was extra jazzed to shower my crusty self and make an appearance to the outside world. (unfortunately brow plucking was last on the list of to-dos).

I didn't think it was possible, but Carey was even cuter and sweeter than I pictured.


Now let's see... what happened after these pics? Oh yes. This is when I realize my keys are in my camera bag which is locked in my trunk. Faaaaantastic. We improvised, and I drove with Carey's entourage while frantically coming up with a plan for key retrieval in my head. (My husband was gone, and my kids were at my mom's.. I knew the plan would be tricky). Her family could not have been more kicked back about the whole ordeal.

I laughed so hard when I looked at their jumping pictures. I think they totally show off their fun personality. Look at Cal's poses (on the right). Disco? LOL!

The C fam drove me to my apartment and I got out of the car feeling like a 12 yr. old being dropped off from a babysitting job. How's THAT for professionalism?

How did I get back to my car? I'll tell ya.

Now in the 3.5 years I have lived here, I have never cleaned my sliding glass doors. That is, until last Saturday when I got the random urge to clean those bad boys. It's a good thing God sent that little prompting because that unlocked door was the only way I could get back into my apartment!

My friend Leanna (bless her heart!) drove me back to my car and I was able to go collect my kids at my mom's.

Carey and Co, you are the BEST! Thanks for being so kicked back!

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