Life with Sunday | #gratituesday

Last weekend, something big happened. Sunday woke up only about an hour after I put her to bed. This doesn’t happen often, but when it does our routine usually looks like this:

If her cries are whimpery, pitiful “I’m really too tired to be awake” cries, we let her cry for a minute or so. But if she doesn’t fall back to sleep quickly, I will go into her room and pick her up. In the past, I have sat down in the glider and nursed her back to sleep. In recent weeks, I’ve picked her up and just held her for a little bit until she is barely asleep and then laid her back down.

But I always pick her up.

Until last Saturday night. She woke up and threw out a few whimpery cries, but I knew it would be easier if I just went in and coaxed her back to sleep. When I opened the door I found her sitting up in bed, usually a sign of a larger task ahead. I gently said “Sweet girl, what happened? Can you lay back down?” I patted her little pillow and repeated myself. “Sweetie, will you lay back down?”

And you guys, she did. She did!

She laid back down and I covered her with her blanket and rubbed her back for about 30 seconds. And that was that.

It’s small little moments like these that force me to recognize that she is growing up, and she’s never going to stop growing. No matter how much I LOVE this age and how badly I just want her to stay small forever, she is going to keep changing. It makes me sad, yet so excited. Oh, motherhood. Such a pickle you put my emotions in.

So, today, I am using this Gratituesday to express my gratefulness for life with our precious girl. It is good, so good. I know moments are fleeting and you never know how many days you have with each other. Let it be known that our days with Sunday have been the best days of our lives.

Here are a few snapshots of life with Sunday lately.

gratituesday is a weekly post I try to keep up with. Join us at Heavenly Homemakers by sharing your own Gratituesday post!

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Equipment used for these images: canon 5d mark ii // canon 50mm f/1.2 lens

Ashley Baber Weddings | Professional Wedding Planners

Earlier this winter I had the pleasure of getting together with the ladies of Ashley Baber Weddings (the Virginia team) at Blenheim Vineyards in Charlottesville, VA. We spent some time walking the grounds of the Blenheim Vineyards while Amanda gave us the unofficial tour of one of her favorite wedding venues. It is such a beautiful location! The view behind the winery is incredible and I’ll be sharing more pictures of the grounds with you all later this week. Ashley Baber Weddings is a group of talented and experienced wedding planners serving Southeastern US. Amanda heads up the Virginia office (they have offices in Atlanta, Virginia and Charlotte!) and works regularly with Allie and Emily throughout Central Virginia. These ladies absolutely love what they do and they do it very well. I have such respect for wedding planners, designers and coordinators because while my job on the wedding day is to do my best to capture the day while also pleasing the couple and their attendants, it is a planner’s job to make everyone happy. This includes the bride and groom, their families and attendants, and all of the industry partners who are a part of the day as well! I'm not the only one who thinks these ladies are working magic every weekend, though. Check out what others are saying about them, and more importantly, check out their client's testimonies on their website.

I’ll be writing later this week about the benefits of hiring a wedding planner. But for now, check out the beautiful ladies who make up the Ashley Baber Weddings team here in Virginia!

First, meet Amanda:

And Allie:

And Emily:

What a beautiful team!

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

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

Professional Head Shot Mini Sessions | Fredericksburg Portrait Photographer

The professional headshot mini sessions I did a few weeks ago were such a hit that I am planning another mini session day for my clients in Fredericksburg! I’m excited about the opportunity to see some of my past clients again, but, I also have really enjoyed shooting something a little different. Shooting head shots is refreshing change of pace and I’m looking forward to that again! If you are a small business owner or a local professional, you are likely in need of some fresh new headshots for yourself! Professionals use these pictures to attach to their resumes, on the about page of their websites, and some use them on their business cards (real estate anyone??). It’s always good to have an updated portrait of yourself and now is a great time to make that happen!

Check out the details below and contact me for more info if you’re interested in booking a mini session!

Here are a few of my favorite headshots I’ve done recently:

New Brand for Lynchburg Snapshot Studio

Lynchburg Snapshot Studio is taking off with a bang! Thanks to the assistance of my interns, I have finally had time to focus on the rebranding and marketing plan of the photo booth and it’s really fun to see all our hard work paying off! We soft-launched the new brand last weekend at Bliss: A Fine Wedding Fair, and it’s so exciting to see all the bookings coming in! Of course after working so hard on something, it’s exciting to experience success, but I am also excited for a couple of other reasons:

1. I finally figured out how to put into words exactly what it was that made me invest in the Snapshot Studio in the first place - and that is the professional, print quality images it produces. I love that the pictures are black and white (timeless), typically without props (timeless), on a solid background (again, timeless), professionally edited, and available as free downloads to all wedding guests. I love that our clients and their guests have a physical “capture” of them from the evening, available to use on facebook, stick to their refridgerator, or even print and frame to give as a gift. But most importantly: the images produced by this photo booth meet my high standard of a pretty picture. :)

2. I think Lynchburg Snapshot Studio is a solution to some KEY elements of a wedding day: entertainment AND documentation. Obviously, I have personally observed the Snapshot Studio in action, and at some events it is THE entertainment for the night! Clients and their guests have so much fun in the booth, snapping away and making ridiculous faces! And then there are the precious grandparents who hop in the booth for a simple smile, nothing crazy, but still create one of the most cherished images of the evening. I’ve seen it happen and I LOVE being able to offer fun entertainment AND a timeless documentation of the event.

3. Bridal Expos are just not the cup-of-tea that my wedding photography marketing plan prefers. I have found that I book more brides for wedding photography through word-of-mouth referrals, and especially after we’ve had the chance to sit down face-to-face and chat (there’s just not much time for that at a bridal show). However, thanks to Lynchburg Snapshot Studio and the success it has found at bridal shows, I get to join all my local industry friends on expo weekends for many more events in the future! I LOVE it! They really are so much fun!

4. Also, rebranding and launching a new website for Lynchburg Snapshot Studio was on my 101 in 1001 list. I’ve actually completed a lot of items on the list in recent weeks, so feel free to click over and check out my current progress.

So… yay! I’m a little over-the-top excited about it, but it’s really so rewarding to see something you love go out into the world and be successful. :) Is this a teeny sneak peek into what it will feel like to send Sunday off to college? Oh dear. I shouldn’t expect it to be this fun, huh? Haha… :)

Okay, if you would so kindly... go see the new Lynchburg Snapshot Studio website!

Also, a HUGE thanks to Tucker Francis of Tucker Francis Design for the new logo. He knew exactly what I was going for and illustrated it perfectly (and quickly, at that!). I have worked with a lot of different designers and I believe they each have a place in the design world. Usually I lean towards the girly, frilly designers for my brand, but Tucker’s style was perfectly masculine and professional for the needs of Lynchburg Snapshot Studio! I couldn’t be happier!

Gratituesday: On Marriage...

Life is always throwing curve balls, right? Big ones, little ones. Of course the little ones seem huge if everything else is going swimmingly at the time. I'll be turning 30 this year. Sometimes, I still feel like a lost little 24 year old girl. Where did these years go? I got married at 24… and I feel like it's been just a few weeks since then.

To say that our marriage has been easy would be….. a joke. Then again, what marriage is easy? I am a pretty transparent person, so those who are close to me are aware of some of the challenges Tommy and I have faced together since we got married. Giant, divorce-worthy challenges. But here we are. Still together, still working hard to learn teamwork, patience, and lots and lots of grace. Still loving one another.

I remember someone telling us one day that once we got through those giant hoops, only then would the real work begin.

Well, the real work has begun. Oh yes. Not because we have a baby now or because we're 5 years into marriage. But, because we don't have a huge elephant in the room anymore distracting us from the every day marital issues. Oh, you know those every day issues. One person doesn't see the importance of closing the cabinet doors after opening them every single time. Another doesn't stop to close the shower curtain after stepping out of the shower every single time. One cleans up as he works in the kitchen resulting in a clean kitchen as dinner is served while the other lets dishes pile up into an overwhelming mess that is ignored until breakfast the next morning. Again, all the time.

Marriage. Learning to live and love - together. Remembering that no matter what gets in your way, what frustrations may surface, or who waves a flag of distraction, you are a team. Until death do you part.

During the hard moments when I feel like we are enemies, I have to stop and remind myself that I am his helpmate. His wife. His teammate. We are in this life together, and behaving as an enemy only delays our growth together. Then, and only then, am I often flooded with grace and a decision to either let my pride fall down, or further delay the growth.

Luckily, I married a man with what appears to be an endless supply of "I forgive you's" and "I'm sorry's." It's a good thing I married him, too, because so it seems, I don't have very many of those to give… so he compliments me perfectly. We are a match made in heaven. Despite the hoops we've jumped through and the fires we'll put out in the future, we continue to come out stronger each time. I know I've said it before, but I need to say it again. And again. And again.

Today, I am grateful for my partner in life, for the lessons he has taught me, and for the beautiful memories we've shared. I'm so glad he picked me and that I get to do this life with him. And I'm really excited about our future together. <3

 (photo by my friend Sabrena!)

Isn't he such a cutie?!

Also, I'm super proud of him for taking off of his 1LT shoes today and putting on his CPT ones, instead. :) I'm so amazed by his career... he works for the man really, really well. ;)

Gratituesday is a weekly post I try to keep up with. Join us at Heavenly Homemakers by sharing your own Gratituesday post!