Cruz & Presley

I think of sunshine when I think about this shoot. A friend of mine Skyler has the cutest kids. She contacted me to take her little ones photos and I was thrilled to do it!!! We met at a park on a very brisk and windy Oklahoma day. Cruz was a little social butterfly as he said hello to everyone who passed us by. Presley was not feeling the wind but she did amazing...and I could eat up her cheekies, pouty lips and gorgeous eyelashes! I just love these sweeties! Thank you Skyler for asking me to capture your family!

October Events

 I ended up taking a month off from blogging :) not really on purpose... just been a very busy girl! But I do have some new stuff to share! In October we took our Mexican honeymoon and while we were on that honeymoon we witnessed some of our good friends getting married. The trip was wonderful...the food was awful... but overall we had a blast! Word to the wise though, don't go on an all-inclusive paradise vacation when your pregnant...wait until after the baby is born, you will have way more fun! Here are some of the moments I captured while kickin it in paradise...

{I did not take this one, but I love it!!}

{Tarren & Chelsea had a professional photographer through the hotel capture their day...these are the ones I captured as a guest at their wedding. It was so much fun!!!}

Mrs. to Mama

I'm back! The wedding has come & gone and I am officially a Mrs. now. After a few much needed weeks of down time I am ready to get back in the swing with my photography and blogging thingy. The wedding turned out to be a perfect evening with our closest friends & family. So much love was floating around you could pretty much taste it in the air! Our friend Chef Lon from Colorado composed an extraordinary display of Italian food and everyone mingled and sipped on Tres Suenos' wonderful selections of wine, grown & made right here in Oklahoma. Pictures are coming.... our lovely photographer Aubrey is getting married right after us so the pictures are taking a little longer to come back then usual. Alot of the details were crafted by me & my dear friend Ashli...a true DIY bride...so I can't wait to share!!!

There was one surprise that we were not expecting.....two days before our wedding day we found out that we are pregnant!!!! I am now 7 weeks along (still pretty early) and me and this little grape in my belly are doing fantastic! I have always wanted kids I just never thought it would be happening before we got through the wedding and the honeymoon coming up in a couple of weeks. But, we are beside ourselves HAPPY!!!!
It has been an adjustment worrying about what kinds of foods & drink I am putting in my body, but I was a pretty healthy eater before so it's pretty much the drink that's been the biggest adjustment! Jt & I have been together for almost 10 years, we bought a house two years before we got married & now we skip the newlywed phase and jump right to becoming mommy & daddy....cheers to doing things backwards...that's how we roll! :)

Here we go

September is here! The countdown begins and the amount of "To-do's" has taken hold of all of the free time! My online college course in constitutional law has kicked off, college football is in the air, and all I can think is what next. This past weekend I was blown away by the love and support of my closest friends & family! My beautiful friend Ashli threw me an amazing lingerie/bachelorette party! Being surrounded by all the closest women in your life is a very humble feeling! I have never felt so blessed!!!

 My MOH(baby sister/maid of honor Heather), Me & My Ashli

Pictures taken by Kelley S.,

and Tawny Port made an appearance...

Two Become One

We officially purchased JT's ring...one more thing to check off of that dreaded list! We got it at the same place JT designed and bought my ring, Parsons Jewelry in downtown Edmond. The people at Parsons are so great! We looked through a few catalogs and finally settled on this beveled beauty. It's tungsten with brushed beveled edges and a polished middle. Absolutely LOVE it...I was not expecting to see JT so excited about a ring but he was!!!

Tawny Port

So we have a new little occupant in our backyard...a little brown bunny! Several months ago a hole popped up back by our storage shed. After weeks of Praying that it was not something awful and ruling out the fact that neither JT or I were randomly digging holes just for fun, we finally encountered the little fella. We bought this house last year as our first home. When your a first time homeowner you don't really think about things like spiders wanting to share your house with you or a bunny who looks like your dogs toy setting up shop in your backyard! New procedures had to be put in place to make sure Bella did not think that this bunny was her toy! Over the last several weeks the bunny has become braver showing himself more often & Bella has become more fascinated with her new little friend. The Bunny & the Pit Bull...what a sight! Since the bunny has decided to stick around we thought he could use a name. Introducing "Tawny Port"...

He hides in my flower bed...maybe one day I will catch him sitting upright on his hind legs like he does sometimes which is oh so cute! To explain the name choice...I mentioned in an earlier post that my uncle introduced me to his own concoction of wine. Well, it is equal parts Merlot & port wine mixed together! Try it, it is absolutely yummy! While shopping for the port wine I accidentally grabbed a bottle of Tawny port wine. The difference? Tawny Port  is aged in wooden barrels, gradually mellowing to a golden-brown color and gives off a sweet nutty flavor, while Port wine is red in color and not as aged. I just like the name... our little brown Tawny Port!

Weddingness

"We seek not rest but transformation. We are dancing through each other as doorways."

~Marge Piercy

 I have had an amazing amount of stuff going on lately! Between wedding invitations, my man's ten year high school reunion, one of my girl's leaving for a new job and an endless list of wedding details to shop for, I am exhausted! I have not been able to really do anything photography related lately, but I wanted to share a few things amongst all the chaos going on...

Some people float in and out of your life as quickly as they have entered it. Others make such a profound impact  that you are forever changed! I met a wonderful person named Nicole two years ago while working at my day job at a commercial construction company. Me & Nicole became quick friends... two Georgia girls who liked mostly the same things, had the same work ethic and both were goofy odd balls in our own way. She is now like a sister to me! For two years we went through all the tumultuous transitions the company has taken together, leaning on each other for support. A couple of weeks ago I had to say goodbye (but not for good)! Nicole decided to follow a different direction with her career and went over to another company. It was a really sad day! I have learned so much from her...about myself and many other things, I am truly gong to miss her being there everyday! So here's a shout out to my girl Nicole! She will be my day-of wedding coordinator, which has me extremely relieved! I love my Nicole!

So keeping the wedding ball rolling...here is my wedding inspiration board! Choosing a wedding theme for myself was alot harder than I thought it would be, I think because I like too many different things, ha! If you can not already tell I love birds...particularly black birds and blue birds! Somewhere along the way "Birds of a Feather" became the official theme, with southern influence and a kind of midsummer nights dream/enchanted forrest background to it! Set at a vineyard, it will be a night of feasting and dancing outdoors!

Baby Sprinkle

                         "Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life"

                                                               ~Albert Einstein


I took a road trip up to Indiana to join in on the festivities of my beautiful cousins baby sprinkle. I spent the whole weekend catching up with family, sipping my uncle's unbelievably yummy concoction of wine(more on this later) and relaxing by the pool soaking up that summer sun! The last time I got to see this side of my family was four years ago, so a visit was long overdue. It was a great weekend! Baby Hudson is due in August & I can't wait to meet the little guy!

I snapped a few pics of the baby sprinkle...of course...these are a few favorites.

Some kids are pure entertainment. Brighton, my cousin's daughter is one of them! 3 going on 17, Brighton would leave us all in suspense anticipating her next sassy little statement. She was so much fun I could have hung out with this kiddo all day...probally becuase I am a big kid myself!

This little doll was sitting across from us at the sprinkle. Her facial expressions were cracking me up!

Summer Movements

I am a busy little bee right now. Between planning a wedding (wedding inspiration board coming soon), finishing our remodel of our cute little kitchen (pictures coming soon), working full time for a commercial construction company, and fine tuning the direction I am headed with my photography, I am constantly doing something. I have captured a few random things over the past couple of weeks that I wanted to share. Some of these things surround me in my creative happy place at home and others were things that simply inspired me to pull my camera out.

Homemade LIT's

Summertime in Oklahoma is smoldering hot. Unless we absolutely have to get out I would rather stay indoors working on my many remodeling projects at home. Since me and my man are both huge movie buffs we frequently have movie nights snuggled up on the coach together. If it's the weekend we like to spice things up with a yummy cocktail...or two. My man's favorite cocktail is a long island iced tea. Those of you who know this drink know that it has many different kinds of alcohol in it. Since we don't usually stock some of the items it calls for, we have never attempted to make them ourselves. Well this past weekend we decided we were up for the challenge. All I can say is "wow"... they were delicious! This is definitely a drink we are going to keep in our bag of tricks for entertaining & personal enjoyment. You can find the recipe similar to the one we used here. You can use whatever brand of liqueur your little heart desires.

We used alot of fresh lemons! We love that almost lemonaide taste. Yum Yum Yum!!

Our engagement session favorites

I came across a very lovely & talented photographer while reading the spring/summer 2011 issue of the Brides of Oklahoma magazine. Her name is Aubrey and she is the talented photographer behind Aubrey Marie Photography. When we spoke for the first time over the phone it was like speaking to an old friend that I have known forever. As sweet as cake and genuine to the core, Aubrey is truly wonderful! There were so many beautiful images to choose from it was hard deciding which were my favorites! I can't wait for her to be there to capture us on our special day in September!

Small side story...When I told my mother the name of our photographer (Aubrey) she gasped and said "oh Lauren, I almost named you Aubrey after my favorite song!!". My mother loved the song called "Aubrey" (you can listen to it HERE)...which I never knew this story...but she ended up naming me after her favorite perfume at the time "LAUREN by Ralph Lauren". When I first met Aubrey at our little Starbucks meeting I told her what my mother told me about her name and she smiled and said "that's the song I was named after!". When I think of Aubrey I think of us as kindred spirits...in more ways than one. :)

*These were the ones that touched my heart

Schwartz

In September I will be walking down an isle, surrounded by pine trees, towards the love of my life JT. 9 years & many adventures later, I am going to be marrying my best friend. We still crack each other up on a daily basis...complete goof balls...and are still consumed with each other! Anyone who knows me truly knows that my life is a series of different shades of blue...my car, my kitchen, my beautiful baby doggies eyes...my life revolves around the color blue! I told my love that I wanted a medium blue Sapphire when he asked what style/type of ring I wanted...well, he spent months designing this beauty and  searching for the perfect shade of blue sapphire! The result...the most beautiful, romantic, vintage styled sapphire ring I could have ever asked for! We call it the Schwartz (after the movie Spaceballs)...why? I don't know...one day we were being our normal, goofy selves and it just popped out of my mouth, accent and all, and it stuck with us...still makes us laugh! :)