Monthly Archives: May 2021

This beautiful, angel of a human being turned 35 this past Saturday and well what words can you say to describe Amanda?! I mean there just aren’t ENOUGH words in the English language?! She’s wild, she’s wonderful, she’s talented in just about all the things she’s ever set her mind to do. She’s completely giving and kind. She’s completely and 100% just OUT THERE and by out there she’s just that one person you know that is EXTRA of all EXTRA but you love her for it. In fact, you NEED her because she is so extra. She’s the person that teaches you about CONFIDENCE and how to rock it no matter what anyone thinks simply because you love it and you just need to be you! She’s the person that is always having the most fun and it doesn’t matter if she’s out with people or inside her house by herself watching a movie. She can have fun talking to a brick wall because friend’s… she IS THE FUN and we all know happiest girls are the prettiest girls!

So, what do you do for someone who is pure joy on her birthday? What do you do for someone who brings gifts to others on their birthday (and yes this is what she does). If you are me, you decide to celebrate her by surprising her… yes SURPRISING HER with an adult cake smash photo shoot!

It was not easy trying to keep this a surprise! I needed help, so I enlisted her BF Kim and we schemed this up together! Kim and I had some losses (like the epic lime green balloon that was my absolute favorite, and a few glitter surprises that were forgotten among this chaos of this session) but all in all it was a pretty incredible time! Even though I cried a little when we lost green balloon… and when she trickled her way up to the beach access, I wanted to scream RUN AMANDA… RUN! Because good gosh it was windy and Kim and were huddled around those balloons like our life depended on it!

There are some shots that were captured that will not be present. They are my absolute favorite and will go down in history but to protect everyone involved… they will forever remain behind closed doors!

All in all this was a huge surprise success! We laughed, we cried happy tears, we had some terrified moments where Amanda thought we were going to submerge her whole head underwater! That was awesome! We also had her thinking we were going to teach her a choreographed ocean dance! The surprise I think was the best part.

I think this might go down as one of my favorite sessions of all time. Here are some of the photos… I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

xo

B

Happy Monday Friends! I fee like I’m forever writing this same sentence over and over again but here we are…. it’s been a while! Blogging is sort of a hard “thing” for me and I call it a “thing” because I feel like if done correctly it should feel like a living, breathing thing!

I started this blog so I could share my stories with my family and so that I could also share my photography with clients and prospective clients. Also I wanted to have a diary or journal of all these things I could look back on through the years.

What really happened to the blog and why it’s a start again, stop again was…. pressure. The pressure to be perfect! The pressure to find the perfect words or express how I was feeling exactly and eloquently. The pressure to blog consistently but not feeling like I had the “right content” or something interesting enough for the people out there in this weird internet space. So I got stuck… stuck in the fear of perfection. Stuck in this fear of I don’t have anything interesting enough to say today. Has that ever happened to you? Stuck in this fear of what if it’s not good enough? Stuck so you don’t start? Stuck so just don’t try and you let time past? Then when you find something to blog about, you also find that way too much time has passed by so then it just becomes awkward and well then it’s too late to start?!

Yep that’s where I’ve been… stuck, awkward and in this place of just take the first step but then you back up because it’s too awkward and that little leap has become an entire grand canyan of a jump now!

Isn’t it such a shame that we do this to ourselves?! We let fear and awkwardness take over when really we just need to open up and start that conversation!

This world needs us to BE OURSELVES! I think in these times right now we need to go ahead and just BE AWKWARD! Heck I’m awkward all the time 24/7. That’s just who I am! For those of you who really know me or have met me in person, you know I couldn’t be un-awkward if I tried. I’m goofy and weird and accident prone and I snort when I laugh! That’s why my friends stick around half the time! They know I’m good for comedic relief: I’m either going to trip over my own feet, the curb or just plain air sometimes. When I say trip over air, I truly mean it. I can do this weird I don’t understand depth perception thing where I like high step it. It’s like a horse doing dressage. I swear it’s because for a moment I go completely blind. I know it looks hysterical but to me, I’m highly embarrassed but also super impressed at what just happened and how I managed to stay alive.

Anyway… my friends and why they like me: they know I’ll get to laughing and snort out loud and then turn super red! They know I’m super naive so I’ll probably also in this same time frame, say something highly inappropriate without realizing it and everyone can laugh while I slowly catch up on the joke!

These are the qualities that the world needs from ME. I’m also really empathetic and kind to a fault. I can’t watch tv or commercials or shows without truly feeling what other people feel. It’s a blessing to those who know me and also a curse. When I say I FEEL what other’s feel, I mean I truly feel it deep down inside and out. When a tv commercial comes on or I’m watching a tv show that shows someone going through a hard time… I will feel it to an infinity degree. I will cry for days or weeks non stop because I can’t help but think about it. Ya’ll it could be a silly commercial but I will feel it to my core. I place myself in someone else’s shoes like no other. This is also what the world needs from me! We all have our gifts, this is one of mine.

So why am I telling you all this?! Because I want to start this blog again and I want to do it right! I want to SHARE… and I want to share all of it… perfect or not.

I want to share my photography with you, and boy do I have some plans for that this year! I have a passion project that I can’t wait to start sharing and creating! This comes straight from heart and soul. This is a project that I know is a big part of how I fit into this world. Something I know is part of my story and why I’ve had the experiences I’ve had. This project/this story has lived inside me for sometime. It’s almost like I have two heartbeats… and this one, this story, it lives and breathes and needs to get it! Now is the time! I seriously can’t wait to begin!

I want to share my life with you! I want to share it with my family that lives away from Virginia Beach and keep them up to date! I want to be real and raw and just share our life! I have a pretty cool, unique and wild kiddo. He has ADHD and anxiety and I feel like we have gained a lot of knowledge this past year through homeschooling. Sometimes parenting can be exhausting and sometimes it can be amazing. Most times it’s a bit of both. It can also feel pretty lonely when your advocating for child all the time. Or trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t, especially when you have an impulsive kiddo trying to figure out boundaries. I want you to know that hey… we are doing the same thing! We are all in this together!

So… here we are again! I’m back and I’m trying this again. This time I’m trying to let go of all that fear of perfection. I’m trying to let go of what had me stuck before… and I’m just writing! I’m just going to take that giant leap…. and let’s go for it together! Let’s see where we land. Hopefully it’s on the other side… together with some really good authentic conversations sprinkled in with some pretty photos and a cool project in the middle!