we have an official announcement for matt’s welcome into the OLOL family but until then he’ll be blogging his fantastic weddings. go check out this current one here…

and if you want to add matt to your RSS feeder here is the link

Jade and Matt held a spectacular wedding in green turtle cay in the bahamas. This wedding was photographed by Whitney and David…they had a little man vacation. i would elaborate more but since i wasn’t there i don’t know any of the details. Of course Whitney’s response was “Jade and Matt were amazing and the family was so sweet.” then he started talking about this golf cart story. but i think the photos say it all. who needs words. head over to David‘s blog to read and see more. i love the colors.

You know those moments in life where you go, “ah, ha. Yes. This is what I want.” The moments where you feel your eyes open really really wide. Well I might not normally share such an experience on my blog but since it is related to all of it for me and possibly for you, I thought it would be a perfect place to share. Just sharing it here is my first step in making a difference. Last week I went to a life as an artform. I wasn’t quite sure why I signed up when I did and I didn’t know what to expect. But I was sure it was going to be very different from the other workshops in the past. A little less “F-stop” talk with a little more “plant the seed” talk. A little less “pose clients like this” talk with a little more “get to know who you are looking at” talk. Six of us spent 3 full days from ten in the morning until midnight in the same room. I was writing notes frantically trying to absorb this wealth of information. The day I left I thought I need to share this information to everyone I know, I need to be this information. It’s the kind of information that will make the world a better place, that will make you a better friend, that will make us better parents, that will make us better at whatever we choose to do in any moment. I have noticed so many changes since I have returned. Some have been huge and some have just been tiny little seeds of change. I have been paying attention to my labels, acknowledging them as labels and then choosing to look to see what is really in front of me. In every moment I am trying to experience something new. The experiences are unlimited. I am practicing imagination and discovering the endless amount of perspectives. Then looking at the ones I choose to hold on to. I am more aware of the shortness of life and what I want to do with each moment. I am excited about really getting to know the people who will be in front of my camera. Each of these when translated into photography have changed my entire outlook on what it is that I do. I know, that’s a big statement. But it’s true. The ideas are not new. It just felt so good to remember the truth in them. It ‘s so refreshing to say “YES” and not “yeah..yeah..” when these truths pass by. I owe a big thank you to this profound teacher. And if you ever have some spare time and some room in your heart I recommend experiencing it too. I might even see you there.

to view all CLICK HERE

i could not imagine a better way to bring in a birthday. period. my amazing husband had me convinced we were going bowling. due to my inability to bowl, i was stalling at dinner enjoying the company and ambience. little did i know there were 40 people crammed in my bathroom waiting to jump out and yell “surprise”. it makes me laugh and i think it’s kind of cool that they got to all know each other “a-lot-a” better. so the story goes… we had to stop at home because gracyn was not feeling well. we have this really long wood walkway and not too many lights outside. whitney had my computer set up out in the dark with an incredible video of all of my long lost lovely friends and family…well at least the ones that could figure out the video technology. so here i am sitting in the dark with a bright video, tears streaming down because of the sweetness and i thought “man, i am so happy no one is around here to see me.” i was so enamored by this video i didn’t notice whitney running into the house warning the crowd in the bathroom. completely unprepared with wet eyes and a red face i walked into the house to be completely surprised with many of my dearest friends. not knowing even how to handle all of this, i started circling the room with a big embrace. it was only a few minutes later when my sweet husband really blew me away. to give you a little background before i share, we have never really been able to find “our” song. i returned from an incredible workshop and opened our dear friends monthly awesomeness and heard track 7. whitney agreed instantly which was a very good sign. so we went home, printed out the lyrics, kept them in the car to rehearse at the red lights and decided we would make a video singing to each other. back to the surprise party- my sweet husband stood up on our couch and asked everyone to turn around and listen for a moment. right there sitting in my living room was a stranger at the time but know known as my favorite musician. it only took a few strums on the guitar and i think everyone melted a little bit….there it was- our song. i can say for sure that i wasn’t the only one shedding a tear or two. david is an incredible musician and his wife, sarah only made the song better as she stood on the sidelines tapping the tambourine. instant new friends. i love them. then we hung out sipping on soup from my favorite restaurant…it was a warm coconut tomato pepper heaven-ness. something like that. Then whitney built a bonfire and nearby had a record player sitting on a table. all of my wonderful friends brought their favorite records so not only do i have a record player finally i have an incredible library of records. i love all of my friends and feel so blessed. so blessed. i have to give a special shout out amy osaba for smoothering my house with incredible flowers and ashley for the smilebooth backdrop and of coarse my husband for setting the bar so damn high for a really good party.

click here to see all of the smilebooth fun