Farm Fun

Six weeks to go before little Ella-Marcé arrives! Until then we've got our hands full with preparations such as painting and decorating her room, sewing her crib-set and installing the car seat. While Jelani begins the paint job today, I am finishing up some weddings from this summer.

Here is a set from Kristina and Ben's FUN-at-the-FARM wedding ( : The ceremony actually took place at a church, but we were able to steal away for a couple hours beforehand!

Libra

Tonight is one of those nights that I just can't sleep. A recent slew of birthing nightmares (including one where my baby girl came out with misplaced boy-parts) has me anxious to fall asleep these nights. During my obsessive research on the subject, I discovered that a lot of mothers experience these nightmares previous to labor. So far I have found no sound connection bewteen these subconscious fears and their actualization's. I will count that as a blessing and recite this to myself when I finally attempt to sleep tonight.
On a lighter note, the weather has taken a turn for the better ( : I can sleep through the night, with only one bathroom interruption (versus 6+) if it's cool enough. And it has been. Our air-conditioner, a steal at only $150, has been a true lifesaver this anomalous summer. The "white noise" causes me to sleep a lot lighter however, so I am uncharacteristically giddy to see fall and her dropping temperatures approaching this year; cheers to cool, quiet nights.
Speaking of Fall, who would have thought that I would have an Autumn baby? Not me. Most of the women in my family were born in the summer months, which should give you an idea of their Winter activities, wink wink. I am kind of excited to see what effect that has on my child... Ella will experience her first year of life so much differently than I did mine. Of course, she would have anyhow, being raised in Portland rather than Texas.
Though I am not much into Astrology, I have had a few friends tell me about my daughter's predicted disposition. According to the stars (and maybe a few planets?), she will be a friendly child... both romantic and charming. Also, her sign -the Libra- represents "balance", which is somewhat of a relief if you have met any (and most of) my family; needless to say, none of my family would claim balance as a key characteristic.
Perhaps my fiery spirit and the calm of my husband will foster this supposed balance in our Ella. As a matter of fact, this makes more sense to me than an alignment of the stars ( :

Official Leave

Nearly done with 2 weddings, so I will be posting my faves next week!
I'm also very excited to design a couple wedding books before I take my official leave from photography.
While I am on this little break, I will be updating my blog with gorgeous pictures of our daughter, Ella-Marcé.

8 Months

Thought I would personalize my blog a bit with some photo updates of me- the prego photographer ( :

-taken by my hubbs jelani memory

Funnies

If you are interested in a refreshing point of view on life's smaller subjects, such as germs and loved, carnivorous bear- you should definitely take a peak at Jenni Walker's new blog Thoughts from the Jar.

My favorite quote is:

"There must be nothing worse than being eaten by something you love."
-some guy on TV talking about Bears

2 Birds

I just finished up my second wedding last night! Lauren Hurt has been assisting me this summer and was an absolute lifesaver these past 2 hot days!
This summer I have incorporated a slide show into my services, which includes a few snapshots of the bridal party- taken just a few hours previous. So, while they are not extensively processed, family and friends get to see a bit of the wedding photos!

Last night's wedding took place at a GORGEOUS venue in Hood River, which offered us a huge variety of backdrops for bridal party photos! Here is a glimpse into Kristina and Matt's wedding day:




















Saturday's wedding was in Lebanon, where we took advantage of the sprawling farms and golden fields. Here are a few shots from Kristina and Ben's wedding: