5 random things for this Monday (okay, maybe 6. or 7.)

Oh, gosh! SO much to share! I don't know where to start so I'm going to dive right in.

1. Today is the first day of the 30 Days of Juice challenge. Will you join us? Just commit to having one glass of freshly juiced fruits and/or veggies once a day. No fasting, no dieting. Just add a glass of juice to your day. Snap a picture and use hashtag #30daysofjuice on Instagram and Twitter. I'll be sharing the yummy recipes I discover throughout the month over on Instagram, so if you're not following me and you are interested in yummy juice recipes, add me! @sincerelylizinc

2. Speaking of social media! Have you heard of Vine? It's like, 3 days old. But... it is SO FUN! It's like Instagram but for videos. I've already posted a few videos and I can quickly see it becoming my new favorite form of social media! Download the app and sign in... and then follow me! Liz Cook. :)

3. On a less social media note... my Crossfit Box is starting another Paleo challenge for the month of February. This time, I have signed up. I'm nervous... but feeling challenged and ready to accomplish a month of eating a strict paleo diet. I want to share the journey with you all, but I haven't figured out what that will look like exactly. Weekly blog posts with what I ate and how I felt? I don't know... would that get annoying? I'm exploring options... but this is definitely something I want to be completely open and honest about here so be prepared for some more foodie posts coming up!

4. Just in case you missed the last blog post, Sincerely, Liz: Photography has our First Annual Professional Headshot Mini Session day coming up this Saturday! There are a few slots left so if you (or someone you know!) need a new professional headshot, contact me soon.

5. Also, are you following us on Pinterest? Chelsea has been pinning away some really great resources full of wedding inspiration, paleo foods, activities to do with your young babes, and more! Come over and follow us!

Oh... and I've got a little something' something' in the works for Valentine's Day... :) I'll be announcing the details of that later this week, so check back in a few days!

Happy Monday! Speaking of Monday... did you all catch the news that Sunday finally named her sock monkey? Oh, you guys... this is awesome.

His name is Monday!

(There has been some skepticism and I figured I should put it out there that Tommy, in fact, named the Monkey. But I think it's awesome and Sunday will think anything we say/do is awesome for the next few years... so we are rolling with it. :))

2013 Interns: Meet Chelsea | #sincerelylizphoto

Internet, meet Chelsea.

She is adorable, witty, and lovable. I am so excited to have her joining our team this semester. She is passionate about small business, social media, and her husband, Tucker. She will be working with me on PR/Marketing projects. When we get together, we totally have fun nerding out about social media and coming up with fun ideas for the business.

Recently I asked her a few random questions in an attempt to help you all get to know her a bit. I hope you'll take the time to read her answers and welcome her to the team!

1. When you were a kid, what did you want to be? When I was a child I wanted to be a photographer or writer for National Geographic magazine. My dad collected them for me for most of my childhood, and unknowingly introduced me to the word 'wanderlust'. I still want to travel a ton, but I have since lost my desire to be a National Geographic writer. I'd much rather manage a blog for them these days.
2. What do you do on your days off? I drink an exorbitant amount of coffee, attempt to clean my house, catch up on TV shows via Hulu, and walk around beautiful downtown Lynchburg. I also attempt to bake things every once and a while.
3. Tell us about someone that's an important part of your every day life and why he or she is important to you. I'm going to have to go with my wonderful husband, Tucker. He makes every day, and every circumstance an adventure and is a far better companion than I could have ever hoped for or even imagined. We recently got married (July 2012) and are soaking up all of the wonderful things about being newlyweds, especially after dating since high school. He is definitely an important and super fun part of my day!
4. What is your favorite blog? I have quite a few favorite blogs. My first is A Beautiful Mess, which is a blog I have followed for several years now. It is a lifestyle blog that is simply about creating and enjoying a beautiful life, and it is often my inspiration to enjoy the life I am so blessed to live. Another blog that I just recently found out about is And Then We Saved, which is another lifestyle blog about living on the cheap. It follows a journey of paying off debt, and realizing the fun things that you can do for cheap or free. She also has a ton of fun guides to things like cutting your own hair and making sugar scrubs out of coffee. As someone who is getting ready to graduate college I'm loving a good 'I paid off $50,000 dollars in debt in a year' story.
5. What is your dream job? My dream job is such a tough scenario to see played out in my actual life. There are so many things that I want to do! I want to be a traveling social media and advertising guru. I want to work from home and have strange and ecclectic children running around my house one day in the distant future. I want to work with my husband and start a graphic design & advertising cooperative that focuses on small business growth and expansion. I want to write and publish book or two. I want to meet & blog about celebrities, tv shows, and movies for a living. I want to be a bakery chef. I want to do a lot of things, but I think I have been given one of the greatest gifts of all: not having a specific dream job. This allows me to dream big, and be happy exactly where I am until I move on to something else.

Yay Chelsea! Doesn't she sound like so much fun?? Here she is in all of her adorableness!

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Equipment used for this session:  canon 5d mark ii // canon 50mm f/1.2 lens

Liz Cook is the owner and photographer of sincerely, liz: photography. She is a virginia wedding photographer and virginia portrait photographer who loves virginia weddings, family portrait sessions and couple photography.

To see more of Liz’s work, check out her latest work as well as some of her favorite weddings. To hire Liz, simply fill out this form.

2013 Interns: Meet Becker | #sincerelylizphoto

Internet, meet Becker.

Her real name is Kaitlyn but she goes by Becker. That makes her super cool to me. I always wish I had stopped being embarrassed by my middle name (Carter) and used it as my first name, too. (True confessions!) :)

Becker is laid back, intuitive, and artistic. She is a dreamer, a talented photographer, and super eager to learn. I am really looking forward to working with her this semester. She will be assisting me at some weddings as well as working on graphic design projects for me during our time together. I am so excited about all that she will be bringing to the Sincerely, Liz, Inc. team.

I asked Becker a few questions to help introduce her to you all. Please take the time to read her answers below and welcome her to the team!!

1. When you were a kid, what did you want to be? I wanted to be some sort of performer or creator. I knew my life would not be boring. My mother sings opera, and my father is a photographer. My mother says that my interests were also "dramatic", from ballet and irish step-dancing, to opera and writing. I recall going through mountains of National Geographic magazines, cutting out my favorite pictures, and knowing right then that I was meant to be a storyteller through photographs. So, I decided to shoot for the mundane and be either a famous musician (I play the viola) or a National Geographic Photographer! You never know what God has in store....
2. What do you do on your days off? On my days off I read, read, read! And I love spontaneous adventures in good weather like hiking, waterfall-jumping at panther falls, walks in the park with my boyfriend Josiah, and getting in shape at the gym! If I was back in my hometown, Rhode Island, I would be at the beach swimming everyday and enjoying clamcakes and chowder.
3. Tell us about someone that’s an important part of your every day life and why he or she is important to you. Wow, narrowing that down is very hard. I'm going to have to say that Josiah Johnson is one of the most influential people in my life. I know everyone says their boyfriend is their "best friend." But he really is. He pushes me to try harder, and is incredibly supportive of my larger-than-life goals, always giving me great critiques on my graphic design projects and encouraging me. He is the goofiest person I know, with the biggest arsenal of character voices, funny accents, puns, and silly card games. I have learned to take myself a little less seriously (too many embarassing stories to tell here...) in the time I've known him, and to trust God in everything. He loves me the way I am, but continually makes me a better person with each day we spend together; The Mark of the good man.
4. What is your favorite blog? I divide my blog-time pretty equally between a few, but I love my photography blogs! I love to look up the newest adventures on this National Geographic Adventures blog. My favorite was a Mongolian Horse Trek feature. I also check out blogs on old vintage cameras like Film is not dead. A few fitness blogs have been motivating me lately, too.
5. What is your dream job? Oooh, thats a toughy. I'm still a little kid at heart and I want to do 5,000 different things. I would love to be a documentary photographer. I love storytelling, I love travel, I love being involved and recording what is around me. I did a documentary with The Festival Ballet Providence in Rhode Island and I fell in love with the story that was unfolding before me. Thats why I love National Geographic so much, because of their great stories through images. I have toyed with the idea of also owning my own photographic film darkroom in an artist community....a very small, but needed niche.

She inspires me so much! To be young again with the world at your fingertips... I just love her heart. :)

So, of course I had to do a portrait session with each of my interns..! (More to come later this week.) Becker's session was planned super last minute when the local weatherman began predicting snow in the forecast last week. We exchanged a few texts and ended up meeting in the corner of a parking lot for about 15 minutes the next morning to capture the pictures below. I just love how these came out and was jumping for joy that her artistic eye knew JUST what colors to wear with her porcelain skin against the pure white snow. So, so pretty!

I invited Josiah (her boyfriend) along for a few fun pictures at the end and was reminded, again, how passionate I am about capturing the love and chemistry between two people. You guys, I seriously snapped pictures of them for less than 4 minutes and look at the joy they instantly shared! Becker just lights up in Josiah's presence!

Such a fun semester ahead!!

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Equipment used for this session:  canon 5d mark ii // canon 50mm f/1.2 lens

Liz Cook is the owner and photographer of sincerely, liz: photography. She is a virginia wedding photographer and virginia portrait photographer who loves virginia weddings, family portrait sessions and couple photography.

To see more of Liz’s work, check out her latest work as well as some of her favorite weddings. To hire Liz, simply fill out this form.

Portraits of Crystal | Lynchburg Professional Headshots

You guys remember Crystal?! We had been trying to get together for another round of head shots for months (years?!) and we FINALLY made it happen back in the midst of our crazy fall season. I find that ironic. :) Of course we tried and tried to wait for a sunny day - but we finally caved and did the session without a ray of sunshine to be found. That's okay, Crystal is a ray of sunshine in my world (you like how I did that just there?) and made my job so super easy!

Here is she in all her cuteness (though she works the sass pretty well, wouldn't you agree?). I really love this session and I am looking forward to the next time we get together to update our headshots! :) (If you missed it, check out the results of the last time we got together!)

Equipment used for this session:  canon 5d mark ii // canon 50mm f/1.2 lens // canon 70-200 f/2.8 lens // canon 35mm f/1.4 lens

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Liz Cook is the owner and photographer of sincerely, liz: photography. She is a virginia wedding photographer and virginia portrait photographer who loves virginia weddings, family portrait sessions and couple photography.

To see more of Liz’s work, check out her latest work as well as some of her favorite weddings. To hire Liz, simply fill out this form.