tortas de aceite

we were walking through the fresh market tonight, checking out their coffee samples and special treats. justin was picking out a new box of tea, and once he had made his choice, we headed back up to the front.

until i saw these...
the package looked familiar and i had to stop to figure out where i had seen it last.

and then it hit me. spain. madrid. andalucia. cafe con leche y tortas de aceite. vino tinto de verano y tapas--sitting at a cafe beside a busy street as the sun set over the city. catching the metro down to gran via. riding a train to cadiz for the weekend and exploring the seaside town with a dozen other 20-somethings. getting a snack at the pasteleria between classes and finding somewhere--anywhere--that would sell coke "light" with ice.

(oh how i wish i had a DSLR back then...for now, i'll settle for a postcard scanned in.)that package took me back to seven years ago. a time where i spent summers working camps in the mountains and studying abroad. where we made krispy kreme runs at midnight and looked forward to taco tuesday at todd dining hall. when i spent hours on the practice field during the fall and led tours through out the campus in the spring. when it was just me and my friends and school...

and then my husband said it was time to go--and we checked out with our tea and went home to our house and our pets and our busy lives.

where did time go?

a link that must be shared

loving this post this morning by missy over at "it's almost naptime." she's written some beautiful stuff before, but i really was touched by her post today.

this past weekend--a little late

it's been one of those weekends where it's taken us a few days to catch up. pepper's been feeling it, too...
but here we are. my first night to finally catch up on stuff in several days, but i'm feeling better and much more in control of the crazy holiday schedule that accompanies this time of year.

we had two holiday parties and several photo shoots scheduled for the weekend. of course, the weather did not cooperate so we moved a couple of them inside for some great holiday backgrounds in front of the tree.
(this is the happiest baby ever. she has the BEST expressions!)
then i stopped by the hospital to see the baby of my co-worker stephanie. riley payge was adorable and ready for some close-ups!
then over to kim and rob's house to watch the end of the ecu game and capture their adorable (and energetic!) boys...
(love this one)



and in memory of the babies that weren't there, but are always part of the family... the blue ribbon has new meaning this year.
then it was time to go home and get ready for our staff christmas party, where we may or may not have ended up with one of these...
the ironic thing? we brought a pirate-themed snuggie for the yankee swap/dirty santa/chinese christmas game. and ended up with a blue one.

sunday was our choir program at church, and mom and grandma came into town for it. the performance was awesome and i'm so glad to have been a part of it--but i was definitely glad to be done, too. i don't have any pictures from it--should see some popping up on facebook soon, i figure.

so that's our weekend in a nutshell. amazingly, the rest of our holiday season isn't quite as hectic. i do have several church parties next week, with both the middle school and high school ones as well as our small group. but with most of my major shopping done and the majority of the busy busy events over with, i'm feeling much better about this holiday season! ready to just enjoy it with justin and my family and friends...

how are you handling the holiday season stress?

worship music wednesday

a Christmas-themed worship music wednesday...



we sang this song in church this past sunday, and i really enjoyed it (enough to go get the new chris tomlin cd to hear the rest of it.) the lyrics are simple but powerful--"born that we may have life."

amid all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, don't forget the real reason that we celebrate...

edited: todd and teresa

i met todd and teresa at the imperial center in rocky mount on the saturday after thanksgiving as we made our way back from fayetteville. i do love the imperial center--it offers for so many great locations and is pretty contained, which is helpful when you have an active little one--like their daughter, riley.


and the exposed brick is always a great backdrop!
riley was sweet--a little camera shy at first, but we got her to warm up and captured some great smiles and her beautiful blue eyes.

she also carried her favorite blanket around--she does love that blanket!

and then over to the railroad tracks for a few more shots...
and the warehouse entrance to end the morning.

my favorite from the day...
hope you guys like the photos! thanks for a fun morning in rocky mount with your family!

i heart faces: sweet dreams

this week's theme at i heart faces is "sweet dreams." as much as i wish i could use that photo of pepper and justin in bed, it won for the pets category and can't be reused. so i went back in my photo library and thought i would share a story that is close to my heart.

this is jonah.
jonah is the son of my dear friends, matt and patrice. i was able to capture jonah's birth (and as someone who hasn't had kids or experienced a birth before--can we say wow?) and then have continued to follow them on their journey as they learned jonah was diagnosed with epidermylosis bullosa.

this picture was taken when he fell asleep following one of his daily dressing changes--each limb and his stomach and shoulders stay wrapped with several layers of bandages and gauze to prevent blistering and protect his skin. you can read about patrice's adventures with jonah and taking care of him at their blog. there, you can also buy one of their magnets (another "we heart" thing!):
which contributes to debra.org, an organization dedicated to research for EB.

i love being able to tell jonah's story, and i always love being able to photograph him. he will never have perfect skin and he will face many challenges in his life. but the only downside to sharing a sleeping picture of him is that you can't see his eyes. jonah's amazing blue eyes show you he has hope. his smile shows complete joy and adoration for his parents. and i can't wait to take many many more photographs of jonah as he continues to grow and live out the amazing life God has planned for him.

check out the other sleepy photos at i heart faces this week :)

ARRRRGH!

when ecu won their game last week and the opportunity to host the C-USA championship game here in greenville, i had to admit, it was really tempting to turn my schedule upside down to try and attend.

then the weather report came out, with 90% prediction of rain all day long. highs in the 40s. photo jobs that wanted to be moved inside so they could get those photos for their Christmas cards.

so i listened to the game on the radio as i drove around town. watched it while i was home for lunch and at one of the houses where i was photographing. and more so than any other game so far...

i really wish i had been there.

back to back conference champions, which has never been done in our conference before. and just an awesome day to be a pirate!

(from piratealumni's photos)

a study on pepper-dog

pepper-dog helping to decorate the tree...

pepper-dog assisting me in trying out my new 35 mm lens...
pepper-dog begging for popcorn...
pepper-dog and milo begging for popcorn...
pepper-dog helping justin work on the computer...
pepper-dog in her cute cupcake sweater...
we're smitten with her. can you tell?

(can't wait to see if her christmas outfits still fit--but really, if they don't, we'll just go buy some new ones! :) )

edited: marty and exie

a couple of weeks ago, i met marty and exie for a portrait session. we included their niece and nephew early on, but those are Christmas gifts for their mom (exie's sister) so we have to keep them a secret :)

i'm happy to share these, though. i haven't known marty and exie very long, but they're friends with a lot of my friends at church. and we realized a while back that we live in the same neighborhood. after spending an hour or so with them, though, it felt like we'd known each other for many years. they're the kind of people that you easily get along with and have you laughing immediately. i love it when couples have fun and are completely natural with you--let's just say there are some fun outtakes...

this one is probably my favorite. they admitted that they weren't way touch-feely, but i thought they did a great job :)

this is one of the great park locations we have in town--but looks like you're out in the middle of a forest. love it!


then we got to include their boston terrier, gabe, who was incredibly well-behaved (even though he had eaten marty's bojangles wrapper in the car and inadvertently called someone on exie's phone lying on the seat.)
he did a nice job of posing for us and even perking up his ears a little!
after the park photos, we headed downtown to hit up some of my favorite urban locations. yes, you've seen these before with keely's senior photos and some of the woolard family photos. it's all literally within a 4 block area that is so easy to use!
and back to my favorite little window on the street...
love it.
thanks for a great morning, guys--you rocked it out and i hope you love your photos!

thanksgiving and a dickens christmas

thursday morning, we made our way to fayetteville to do thanksgiving with my family. we were able to see a lot of people while we were there and had a great time (though my dear husband felt way outnumbered without my brother there to help balance out the testosterone a little bit more.) what can i say? i come from a family of strong, independent females. and i have no pictures from that day. sorry, turkey took priority over photographs.

we decided to stay through friday and enjoy the annual downtown event--a dickens christmas. i love the downtown area of fayetteville. i can remember when it was not the best place to be--we'd drive to church and my mom would make sure our car doors were locked before we went down hay st. but they've worked hard to rebuild the downtown area and the dickens christmas is one of those big events.
they had a victorian santa posing for pictures in front of the arts center...
and gingerbread competitions going on in one of the downtown cafes.
you could take a horse-drawn carriage around the downtown area
or listen to one of the many street performing groups of carolers or musicians.
we picked up a bag of kettle corn (one of my FAVORITE snacks) and snacked on that as we browsed the stores and art galleries along the way.

but the true magic of the event comes later on, after the sun sets...
everyone gathers in front of the market house with their candles, waiting for the downtown lights to be turned on.
and with a great flourish, charles dickens and bob cratchet (along with tiny tim) turn on the signal to have all the street lights and twinkling tree lights turned on for the holiday season.
we made our way back down to the church (our church where we got married just a short 2 1/2 years ago)...
and enjoyed a "tubachristmas" with 25 low-brass musicians (and that my brother will be sad to know he missed.)
and then it was officially the holiday season.

what starts the holiday season for you and your family?