finding the field

there are some days i really enjoy living in eastern north carolina.
especially when i'm driving by those back-country roads that i frequent so often and spot a field of sunflowers.

and especially when i find a willing family to try it out (and the owner of the field is totally cool with it--trust me, i checked)...

well, you end up with pictures like these.




thanks, again, molly and lily (and amanda!)

and the flowers should be in bloom for the next few weeks---wanna book a session? let me know and we'll make it happen :)

celebrating the fourth

justin and i have done fireworks in greenville, washington and a couple of years ago, fayetteville. we knew we wanted to do something different this year, and chose to check out new bern. another opportunity for fireworks over the water and great historic waterfront.

we got there in plenty of time to walk around and explore the downtown area. new bern has always had some of the best architecture, and justin enjoys looking at the old houses.
this is also one of the best churches there--centenary UMC. one of my mom's favorites from back in her youth group days.
and with it being the 4th, the flags were out flying.
we grabbed a quick dinner to go at a cafe downtown and took it down to the waterfront to eat and watch the boats come in and out. as we listened to the live music coming from the sheraton and hilton hotels right there by the docks, we were joined by some other picnickers and people enjoying the waterfront. it was getting warm sitting in the sun, so justin asked if i wanted to move to the shade to finish our meal. as i turned around to see where he was moving, i saw one of the other couples by the tree--with the guy on one knee and a jewelry box in his hand! i joined justin and told him that they had just gotten engaged, and as the couple was hugging and the girl was squealing, another few people walked by and started taking pictures of the couple. i said to justin, "that's weird. why would you take pictures of them like that?" but then we realized it was the girl's parents and her younger brother, who had been hanging out at the other end of the waterfront until he popped the question!

(i love people-watching. can you tell?)

so after all that excitement, we made it back to the car and headed over to the park where they were holding the fireworks that year. with the drawbridge closed, the waterfront park with the gazebo isn't as easily accessible. it was surprisingly easy to get in, and we set up our chairs and my tripod and camera in the grassy area by the parking lot. we actually didn't go into the main park area, but lots of people joined us and it wasn't crowded at all. we stayed busy streaming some john philip sousa on pandora, since their music selection was... well, limited. there was one lone bagpipe player wandering around playing the same six songs.

that's when i really miss the parade field at ft. bragg.
the fireworks were great, and i had fun photographing them again. i included a few of my favorites here.

it actually didn't take too long to get out--about half an hour, and believe me, we've sat in worse. however, i just don't understand why there are 15 volunteers and police officers escorting you in and only two standing at the exit waving to let you out. i've had the same complaints at concerts (oh, i can tell stories there) but we were on the road by 10ish and back home by 11. not too shabby.

so how was everyone else's 4th?

have to share these

before we head out for food and fireworks.

misty, a friend from work, asked me about doing pictures a while back. then, when her family found out that they would all be in town for the 4th, she asked if it would be possible to do them on the holiday. we didn't have any plans, and we were able to schedule it for this morning before it got too hot, too bright and before all of the cookouts! it was still a little bright, and i'm nervous that these are over-exposed. they look good on my computer, but i've seen some of my pictures on other computer after editing and they just look a little off.

we scheduled the shoot at an old plantation house that's been in her family for years. i loved that there were century-old photos hanging in the hallway of past family members in front of the home.
and i had the best time exploring. they still keep many of the rooms furnished in period style, so there were lots of great details that added to the general architecture of the house. misty's mom said to let her know if i ever wanted to use it for other shoots, and this house just screams "bridals!" or senior portraits, i guess, but i really think a bridal shoot would show it off. so... just lettting you know we have some options :)
so then once everyone got there, we headed outside and made good use of the shade. again, i've lightened up everything in post-production, but i feel like i've found a good balance between the bright light in the background and the shade we were using for the family.
on the front porch...
then we had the dogs join us. they actually did really well!
and we included the smokehouse in the backyard as well.
misty wanted one last shot of them walking down the lane leading up to the house. so picturesque!
check out the rest of them over at flickr!

and have a happy and safe 4th of july. we're about to head out to new bern. more "fireworks over the water" shots to come, i'm sure!

a night of live music

let us start with a couple of pictures of a pretty sunset i captured this past week. it includes the house in progress that wakes us up every weekend, has construction workers roaming around through out the day, and brings trash to our backyard. but the sunset is nice, right?
last night, after we finished our abbreviated (but crazy) work week, we headed downtown to have a delicious dinner at marathon. i love greek food, and could eat it quite regularly--except for the whole stuffed grape leaves thing. not appealing to me. but give me a greek salad, some cucumber sauce and pitas, and a kabob--and i'm a happy girl.

we then made our way down the street to the tipsy teapot, and i had to stop and take some pictures of the renovation work going on. the downtown area doesn't have the best reputation, especially after this past week when we had a double-murder during a drive-by shooting in front of one of the clubs. but there is so much potential, and the work being done on this theater and old shops shows some of the progress that's to come.
then it was time to see our friend jordan perform a two-hour set at the tipsy teapot. jordan is the worship leader at church and has become a good friend of ours. he and justin can always talk gaming, and i've enjoyed getting to know him through the music and worship ministry at church. his wife, becky, and i have also become pretty close with our mutual interests in crafts, couponing and reading. jordan is incredibly talented and it was awesome to hear him perform.
i was there to take pictures, and i met my senior project student jessica and had her taking pictures as well. it became a good practice on manual focus and lighting, and we discussed learning about shutter speeds and having her practice with the fireworks this weekend.
and there was a great crowd of locals and church people that came out to support jordan. so nice to hang out with everyone (and enjoy some delicious tea!)
today we're both off of work, and justin's making plans to see a movie with one of his friends. i've already been up since a little after 7, done my notes, made blueberry pancakes, taken pepper for a walk, uploaded about 80 photos, edited them, made these collages and written this blog post.

justin slept until 10:30 and just finished breakfast.

and just cause it's cute, i had to share pictures of our patriotic pup. the bandana came from her trip to the groomers this week, and justin says she looks like she belongs in a western movie with just the bandana, but when you add the t-shirt, it looks kinda redneck.
what can i say? she's proud.

hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend!

heading into the holiday weekend

first of all, a picture of pepper from one of the sundays in the park. she does well--95% of the time. and then we have that 5% where she's a terrier and there are just so many people and dogs and it's a little crazy. but man, she looks happy, doesn't she?
this post is inspired by the recent discovery of the small towns i travel to for work. i guess it's not really a recent discovery, since i've always known that i enjoy the charms of a small town, the nostalgic architecture, the old-fashioned signs, the amazing painted-brick advertisements (love those!)--but now i'm just taking pictures of them, too :)
and today was the ultimate road trip for me. ever since we took on two clients on the opposite side of the pamlico river, we've joked about taking the ferry across from aurora to bath. it's easier than driving an hour back and forth--and you get to take a ferry! so today, it was time to try out my idea. and i have to admit...work is just cooler when you get to ride a ferry.

agreed? agreed.

bringing it back home...

it's been a somewhat hectic week around our house, with both of us having short weeks and plenty of work to fill those four days. justin has had a particularly crazy time at work, but we both see the light at the end of the tunnel.

so in some spare moments that i found today, i put up our third installment to our master bathroom "anniversary trip" collection. i know it seems weird, but it's a room that we're in and out of all the time and i just like to look at these and remember the trips we've taken for our honeymoon and anniversaries. the top one is our latest addition, an artsy print of rainbow row in charleston. the middle one is from our honeymoon, a watercolor of the harbor in st. martin. and the bottom is actually a greeting card that we bought on ocracoke last year, but i loved it.
it reads, "if i had know i would get to spend the rest of my life with you, he said, i would have started the rest of my life much sooner."

i love the idea of adding to this each year, with all of the places we could go and memories we will have to go along with them. in a few years, we could have the whole wall filled up (or atleast a few feet high) we try to buy a christmas ornament, too, so that we can create our own collection.

so as i brush my teeth and dry my hair and do those everyday mundane things, i can also remember those awesome vacations we've taken together and those great times that help us get through the crazy weeks like this. thank goodness we have a long weekend coming up! we both need it, and the time spent together--watching fireworks, grilling out, sleeping in--will be well worth everything that we've been through this week.

i love you, honey! see you tonight :)

speaking out for short-legged women everywhere

ever since i graduated from juniors to misses (and since i stopped growing) i've found the necessity to drift over towards petites.

it never fails--a cute pair of pants, fabulous through the hips and waist, and then ten miles long so that my feet are completely covered up and the cuffs drag the ground.

or this time of year--a pair of shorts that wears like capris or cropped pants--or cropped pants that just look like highwaters. arrrgh.

so i ended up in petites, and i'm just frustrated. many other short-legged girls have commiserated with me on this one. why does "short legs" or "small framed" automatically mean i want to dress like my grandma?
(and i love my grandma dearly, but we don't exactly share the same wardrobe. yaknowwhatimean?)

the petites section is always so much smaller, with only a few racks of clothes. the selection is limited, they rarely carry the same range of styles and colors, and half the pants have elastic waistbands or drawstrings. the designs are just older and not all that appealing to the young women who have to wander over there for a pair of jeans that fit.

i went searching for a pair of bermuda shorts on sunday at kohls, and it took forever to find a pair that didn't look like capris. once i did find petite bermuda-style shorts, they only had one of a few different sizes, which didn't include my size. so i went up one, hoping they'd shrink once i washed and dried them, but that's yet to be seen. but they're not capris, so we're starting somewhere.we need a store for the short-legged/short-waisted women (not always the same--i have a longer torso, so i can buy some regular shirts, though this year's style always hang a little too low on me. argggh again!)
everything would be petite. all of the shelves and wall-racks would be low enough for us to reach without needing one of those fancy hook thingies. we could wear cute little flats with pants without worrying about getting our cuffs dirty or soaking up the puddles on a rainy day. all skirts would fall at the knee instead of mid-calf, three-quarter length sleeves would actually fall in the middle of the forearm instead of at the wrist, and don't even get me started on maxi-dresses.

now i know there used to be a great store called petite sophisticate. a good portion of my wardrobe came from there when their store closing sales coincided with the start of my "professional" wardrobe. i can always count on new york and company to have my perfect fit with their "short" styles.

and i'm also a long-time lover of "what not to wear" and i know what stacey and clinton would say--"dress the body you have now, not the one you want it to be, and find a good tailor!"

but in the back of my mind, there's got to be a place that doesn't require tailoring, purposeful "drying shrinkage," or rolling up the cuffs. and i bet there are a ton of other women out there with me. am i right?

"wedding bells" week at i heart faces!

it's my first time entering the weekly contest over at i heart faces, but the wedding bells theme is one that i knew i could work with!

so i pulled out this one out from last year. alan and rachel actually just celebrated their first anniversary, but it's still one of my favorite shots.



head over to i heart faces to see the other wedding themed pictures!

ever had the feeling that it's just gonna be one of "those days"?