A list for Monday

How has it been October for a week already?! Ahh this year is FLYING by! The past few weeks have been a whilrwind between weddings and fall portrait sessions. I LOVE this time of year! In completely random order, here are some things I've been up to lately:

1. Shooting, editing, and hanging out with some of the best clients EVER!
2. Finding an actual, real-time schedule for Sunday. Now that she is getting into a routine naturally, I'm trying to somewhat control it by encouraging bed time and wake time at the same times daily. The whole pink-eye thing threw us off for a bit, but I think we have almost gotten it figured out!
3. I've been working on some side design projects and in my adventures in finding inspiration I came across this lady's work. I'm in love with her design skills and incredible creative advice.
4. I just wrapped up a project with Lia and I feel like I am on the edge of a cliff about to plunge into a whole new world. It's the best feeling and I am eager to see where my career will take me in the next year! (Also, I cannot recommend her services enough!)
5. I've spent a lot of time perusing my crossfit pinterest board for inspiration. Between the half marathon, pink eye, sessions galore, and the yucky weather, I have fallen off the workout bandwagon. This is supposed to be the most beautiful time of the year to be outside so I am really trying to get back into it. It doesn't help when you feel like pooh every day. (Yes, I still have pinkeye. Sunday, however, is all clear!)
6. I've been baking lots of paleo muffins. I eat them completely guilt free and Sunday LOVES them.
7. As I've been tapping into the world of design inspiration I found two sites I wanted to share with you all: 25 logos with a hidden message // 20 creative and entertaining 404 error pages. Some super cool stuff right there! (Yes, I'm a nerd. Don't we all know that by now?)

Last weekend was a first here at Sincerely, Liz: Photography which was a double-wedding-weekend! It started with my sister's ten year anniversary vow renewal that I was honored to capture. It wrapped with another wedding Saturday night and a super fun Lynchburg Snapshot Studio rental at a first birthday party last night! Here is one of my favorite shots from the vow renewal:

I love this family so much!

Stay tuned for more sneak peeks hitting the blog this week! Have a great Monday, friends!

Family Portraits by Brett Alexandra

I am willing to admit that maybe now since I have a daughter of my own, I might be going a little overboard with the family portraits. I know, I know. But when I was on the other side of the state for the Virginia Beach Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon, there was no way I wasn't going to take advantage of being in the same town as Brett and NOT have our pictures taken! Tommy adores Brett's style of photography (which is very different from mine, as you will see!) so I really wanted to have some pictures taken by Brett specifically for Tommy. In fact, I tried to do it secretly, with just me and Sunday, back in July. But things didn't work out at the time. I am totally okay with it though, because I am loving the pictures that she capture of Tommy and I together! :) Here are a few of my favorites from our session.

If you are in the Hampton Roads area and are looking for a gentle-mannered, super sweet photographer with a wonderful eye for details, please contact Brett Alexandra Photography!

Gratituesday: Our Mondays

Remember Gratituesdays? I have really missed them! So right now, I vow to keep them coming for a long time, no matter how regular they are.

Mondays are the least favorite day of the week. I know I don't have to explain why to you guys. However, Mondays are good days around here. Tommy only works 4 days a week (10hr days), and the day he consistently has off is Monday. I love, love it. It's like our own personal weekend day to do whatever we want or need. We love the weekends and we love spending time with our friends and family... and of course enjoying seasonal activities with them. But when Monday rolls around, we are grateful to have an extra day to spend doing what we need as a family. Sometimes it's grocery shopping, getting hair cuts, or doing yard work. Other times it's curling up and being couch potatoes all day long. But it always includes a big breakfast and an early bed time. Which we love.

And the best thing of all? When we do start our "work week," it's already Tuesday!

So today I'm grateful for our Mondays. Yesterday was a typical Monday spent running, dinner with the parents, and putting the house back together for the weekend. It's such a great time of resetting and recharging for our family. I don't know what we'll do if Tommy's work schedule ever changes!

Gratituesday is a weekly blog post (that I try to keep up with) I got involved with over here. You should join, too! If you do, be sure to let me know in the comments as I would love to read what you write about.

Down and out

So I should start off by saying that Sunday still has zero teeth. I have lost count how many times she has psyched me out making me think she is teething when she is not. In her short 10 months of life she has had two low grade (nightime) fevers, a handful of "up every hour at night" adventures, days of no naps and days of all-day naps, a handful of runny noses, lots of chewing on things, always putting everything in her mouth.... Well. I am here to say, friends, that those are all symptoms of one thing: having a baby.

Oh yes.

You can call it teething all you want. But my baby has no teeth and all the symptoms.

Three days ago it started up again. Except this time it included watery eyes. So, watery eyes, a runny nose, a low-grade fever... she was chewing on everything, but also still acting her normal self. Then after about 24hrs she started getting fussier and fussier and I thought... this is REALLY it! This is it this time! Teeth! Finally!

Oh but then I went to bed last night... and I woke up at midnight and I couldn't open my left eye.

And the doctor confirmed it this morning.

Pinkeye.

Ugh. So, we're running a little slow around here. (I don't know about you but I did NOT remember that the Pinkeye virus also came with a slew of other symptoms like swollen glands, a sore throat and a headache!) Hopefully we'll be feeling 100% better by the time Tommy gets home. That's our only focus right now!

Look at these red, puffy eyes. :( Okay you might not be able to tell but I didn't want to photoshop an exaggeration. Trust me, they are red.

Forgive the mouth-wide-open. She was in the high chair shoving her mouth with food and this was the best I could capture in the 30 seconds I held the camera. :)

I've got some sessions to share with you guys in the next few days so I'll be back again soon!

10 Months Old | Lynchburg Baby Photographer

Sunday turned 10 months old yesterday. Gosh. I really just want to bottle up everything about right now and keep it this way FOREVER. But... ahh... life. Time just keeps on ticking. (sigh) I pulled the camera out a couple of times yesterday in an attempt to simply capture her life at 10 months old. No clean faces (read: runny nose) or cute outfits... just life as it is. As I was culling through the images to pick a few favorites for her 10 month letter, I decided I couldn't wait to show some of these to you (and her dad who is still out of town). Her expressions and emotions kill me. I love her so much and sometimes I feel like I want her SO CLOSE to me that I could eat her so she would be back inside of me. I sound like such a freak but I know you mamas out there totally know what I am saying!!

Look at this sweet baby!

(breakfast time!)

(pulling herself to standing on the side of the couch) (we got TV again, folks... here she is LOVING it) (such a cutie!)

Love her SO much!!