{the soos}

despite the rainy weather - we found one little bit sun in the clouds to shoot a couple of photos of anthony and renee for their new phonebook ad for their business - Handyman Construction here is augusta. we shot these at their new house that they are building. it made for a beautiful setting to showcase his "handiwork" in the background and their family (complete with pup bailey). these are a few shots they probably won't use for the phonebook but they were my favorites from the day...

{rainy days...}

isn't this little bird beautiful? i love rainy days...

{my favorite things}

so i thought on this cloudy friday i would write a little bit about the things i love. i've seen people do a top ten list of things to check out and i'm hooked - so today - i am sharing my list of favorite things...

1. for those of you who know me - i am a checklist fanatic. seriously. if there is a list to be made - trust me - i've already started checking it off... its the only way i know how to function! the magazine REAL SIMPLE has a great checklist resource on thier website - you can find it at http://search.realsimple.com/results.html?No=0&archive=Checklists&N=36 or just search thier site for checklists. it keeps my life organized and ready for the next step!
2. i have a love affair with vintage cameras...well with vintage anything. our home is filled with vintage art and furniture picked up all over the place from here to there. our mantel is filled with old books and my little camera collection...those jokers are expensive, so we only have few...but we're working on it...

3. i desperately wait every month for the latest issue of domino magazine. it is filled with great tips and ways to decorate on a budget. i just can't stand waiting for the next one to be in my little mailbox!

4. daryl likes to tell everyone that i am his CFO. i wouldn't be able to handle all the bills and keeping up with our spending if i hadn't found a free resource called http://www.mint.com/. this is a fantastic way to keep all your spending and even investments all in one place. if you haven't tried it out - please please do! :) 5. so as some know... i am a blogstalker. seriously. its a problem. i love love love to read other photographers blogs. i am constantly checking to see if people have posted new work or if they have written about thier little families. i'm just sick with loving my followed blogs! there are a few photographers who i am just crazy about thier work and the personality they show through it! i'm just going to share one so that you're not overwhelmed with the 30 or so blogs that i follow! seriously - i told you it was a problem.

betsy king photography - (formerly betsy and john photography).

although i have never met her or commented on her blog, i just love this girl. i love reading about her life - i know it sounds creepy but i do. she has the sweetest personality and it really shows in her work. reading her blog has really showed me to remember the little things in life - health, family, and happiness - and be satisfied with all thats around you. thats pretty deep for a photography blog - but really. i just hope she knows how amazing she is. this is an image i swiped off her blog of her little boy...hope she doesn't mind! isn't he adorable?

check out more over her work @ http://betsyandjohn.net/blog/

6. now. on to something else. i love photo booths. here are a few recent photobooth shots from our vacation to the mountains a while back - i just scanned them in to show ya the excitement! why one is blue and one is black we will never know - but really what do you expect from a curbside photobooth in helen georgia? really. i happen to think they are fantastic. eventually i would like to offer a photobooth option for weddings - wouldn't that be great?
another photography blog i follow is http://www.theimageisfound.com/. they have a great format for what they call the "crazybooth". hopefully one day once we get things off the ground with {h+d} we will be able to have something like that. also if you just wanna see some amazing images - check them out!

7. i love my klean kanteen. daryl swears that it was an impulse buy but i just love it. its so cute. and enviromentally helpful and its not a plastic bottle that will end up in a landfill somewhere! its beautiful. :) get yours today - they even have sippy tops for kids! how cute!? www.kleankanteen.com.

8. wheel of fortune. need i say more. just the sound on the wheel spinning! ahh! :)

9. all things handmade. buying things that someone made by hand is so personal to me. i just care about it! also - for purchasing handmade - www.etsy.com is a fantastic resource for gift ideas and for gifting yourself! :)

10. and last but certainly not least. i love being at home, wasting time, cooking dinner, and taking walks with my amazing husband. we've almost been married a year - isn't that crazy!? well - i hope he knows how great he is. (okay - now that you are gagging with all this love - i'll stop!)

so there you are. my top ten list for today. i could go on and on forever with the things that are special to me and the things i love. but i'll share again at another time the second set of favorites. thanks for reading...

{vegas - red rocks}

we returned home from vegas on sunday night after traveling for what felt like forever! but we had a fantastic 10 days out in the great west :). there is so much to share about our trip - i don't know if i will be able to share it all but some bits and pieces i will.

first off - it was quite a change from ole georgia! daryl and i had never been to nevada so we were excited to start touring! the first thing we noticed were the mountains. man - they are amazing. and no trees!! crazy for those of us who are used to tree covered moutain ranges. it was incrediable how vegas sits right in the valley between some of the most beautiful mountains i've ever seen. if we lived there we wouldn't get anything done for me staring at the mountains in awe and daryl hiking every trail that ever was through them! and the food. there is so many choices of places to eat - yet we chose del taco over and over :). oh well i will just start off with some images already...

this is the view over red rock canyon...

aren't they incredible?!

even roxie went hiking a bit...

elary was quite the photographer for us since we don't have any pictures of ourselves - except from our wedding - which if you have ever been to our house, you know that it is all we have!!

this is daryls attempt at pointing out every rock climber on the mountain...we have the pictures to prove it my friends...if there was a person rock climbing far off in the distance - daryl was certain to snap a picture!

i'm not sure what it is about men and climbing big rocks - its equivalent to beating your fists on your chest like tarzan. its strange. but we still love them...

elary and his girl roxie...

i just love this shot...how cute are we...

and last but not least - the actual RED rocks :)

we are so thankful to nikki and elary for opening up their home to us for 10 days! thats like half a month! :) but we had a great time visiting thier hometown and we hope that soon they will come visit us back here in thier "other" hometown. we loved seeing all the sites and sounds of vegas. there will be more posts to come of our adventures out west.

{las vegas + WPPI}

so i can't even explain to you how excited daryl and i are right now! we are headed to the great state of Nevada in just two days!! we are going to visit our fabulous friends nikki and elary for 10 days! whoa! i know its crazy! we are also going to go to WPPI 2009! For those of you who don't know how amazing WPPI is or what it is, its the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Convention and Tradeshow held in LAS VEGAS!! (and the best part is that its all tax deductible!) this will be our first trip to WPPI, so its going to be a brand new experience for both d and i. we can't wait to see if we can meet some of the folks we blogstalk!

nikki and elary also surprised us with tickets to see the Cirque de Soleil show "Ka"! we have been wanting to go to a Cirque show for forever! and a day. Seriously - so when they told us what all we were doing for the trip - we about went crazy! we can't wait to leave for the big adventure on WEDNESDAY!! i can't believe its here already.

aren't these costumes crazy? i can't wait to see what its like in person!

we will be shooting a family session while we are there in vegas and visiting San Diego too! we've never been to the coast so we are excited! this will be one of the biggest - not to mention longest trips we have ever taken so we can't wait to start the fun! we've missed nikki and elary so much so it will be so great to take a lil georgia to the other side of the states! pictures of the craziness to insue will follow. :) have a great week...

{mandie + louie} continued...

this is a favorite from the other day shooting with mandie and her husband louie - too much cuteness...check out http://www.handdphoto.net/ to see the full session!

{one of those days}

so...i'm having one of those days...seriously...i can't seem to get it together. WHAT IS MY PROBLEM? do you ever have those days? when everything you touch breaks or falls or just doesn't work the way it should. woke up late - tripped on my computer cord - forgot my wedding rings at home - dropped my breakfast in the floorboard of my car - am irratitated with everything everyone does - went to the mall (which can be the worst experience you have ever had if you go at the wrong time) - witnessed 2 wrecks and got caught by every train that comes through augusta georgia! ITS ONLY LUNCH TIME PEOPLE!!! seriously - what is my problem!? sometimes it just seems like you should just get back in bed and hope for the end of the day to come. i have tried to right the whole day by having starbucks and a snickers. and somehow i feel worse? how is that happening?!! oh...here's hoping the rest of the day gets better...i will stop in to let you all know.

{video of the week}