Kristi and Nate were married at the end of August at the beautiful Somerby Golf Club.  It was an amazing day with a lovely bride, handsome groom, beautiful location, an awesome wedding party, and a love worth celebrating.  Congratulations, you two! We loved spending the day with you and hope you have many, many married days as happy as your wedding day!  Special thanks to Sarah Field for second shooting with me!

I know it’s last minute, but I’ll be back in the Midwest next week! Let me know if you want to set up a mini session, they are perfect for Christmas cards!

Ok, so we did the whole house tour but I skipped a very important room!  The nursery!  This was actually the first room that we tackled when we moved in.  Which makes perfect sense since we didn’t really even use this room until she was a couple months old!  Ha…oh well, try telling extremely excited first time parents to be logical and get the rest of the house settled first…

As it turns out we could have kept the pink but at the time we didn’t know if Clara was a boy or a girl so we decided to to ditch it.  Plus, remember I am on a gray, gray, and more gray kick!?  p.s.  Where did all that STUFF come from?!?!  I never think I have that much until it comes time to move…

Let the painting begins. Even if you couldn’t get the best residential painting company philadelphia, get the right color.  Guess what?  Another gray!  This time it’s Cape May Cobblestone by Benjamin Moore.  It’s darker gray than the rest of the house but I think it’s OK.

Now it’s time for crib and rug placement and dresser assembly! We got the crib from (believe it or not) Walmart.  The bottom drawer originally had a wood finish so I painted it white to match the rest.  After that was assembled, the whole business of having a baby became R.E.A.L.  The rug is a Dwell Studio persimmon and cream draper that I got from Sugar and Spice Decor on a good sale.  The dresser is Hemnes from Ikea.  The dog is of the jealous variety but not for sale.

And it’s complete!  I ordered the bunting from Etsy.  I figured I could make one but there were so many cute ones there that I took the easy route!

The Dr. Seuss print was a gift from my aunt and uncle from our wedding that is a scene from the book “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are”.  The lamp is one I had since I was kid-it was yucky brass and I painted yellow.  The green square is a plain canvas that I hot glued letters on and painted green.

I made the “I love you to the moon and back” prints in Photoshop, printed them at my lab and stuck them in Ikea frames.  And of course, baby’s first camera.

I ordered the colored felted balls from the Fickle Felt Tree on Etsy, grabbed a branch from our yard, tied some twine on top and strung the felt balls with sewing floss.  Oh and I cut out 2 identical hearts from a piece of felt, stuffed it with toilet paper and hand stitched it.  That’s as crafty as I get.

We decided to tweak the closet to accommodate a changing station/storage area.  We (meaning Justin) added the lower shelf and then we (ahem Justin) cut an old bookcase from college in half to fit underneath.  Add some white paint to the shelves and some aqua blue on the walls and call it done!

Not the greatest photo but we added the strip of lights (from Ikea) underneath the top shelf which we now found doubles as the perfect night light!

Overall, I wanted to keep things very gender neutral since we didn’t find out what we were having but now that we have a baby girl, it feels a little boy-ish to me.  We loved having a surprise and I wouldn’t change that for anything but we may have to phase a little pink in as she gets older.  🙂

One of my new year’s resolutions was to eliminate the phrase “I can’t believe it’s __________ already!” Fill in the blank with whatever…. I can’t believe it’s March already, I can’t believe summer is almost over, I can’t believe school started already, I can’t believe I’ve been done with college for 9 years (SAY WHAT!??!) already, I can’t believe he’s 4 years old already, etc, etc, etc. I felt (feel) like time is always slipping by too fast and I knew that as I get older and now have a baby it was just going to get worse. So instead of feeling like I’m always running out of time and not getting around to actually enjoying the present, I wanted to make a resolution to just accept the fact that time goes by fast and there’s nothing I can do about it other than simply live in the present and enjoy it. But, can I just say:

“I CAN’T BELIEVE WE’VE LIVED IN PORTLAND FOR A YEAR ALREADY!!!!”

Dang. I broke my resolution AGAIN but geesh, that went fast. I have an obsession with documenting memories so as milsetones roll by, I get nostaligic and revisit what we were doing a year ago. Moving out of my office. Moving out of our house. Saying goodbye. Shooting three consecutive weddings, one in Southern Minnesota, then one in Western South Dakota, then one in Baltimore. Fighting a cold. Moving into a new house. Unpacking. Growing a baby. More and more unpacking. Adjusting to a new city and new everything. Like most things in life, it’s been a combination of good and bad. Happy and sad. Challenging and worthwhile. Relief and dissapointment. But above all that, I am thankful. And I’m working on simply enjoying today because I know if I don’t, I’ll be saying, “I can’t believe we’ve lived in Portland for two years already!!!!”

Portland is a great city and there’s MUCH cooler things about it than our house. But getting settled into our house really helped me adjust to thinking of this place as home. Doing laundry would be way more productive but here’s the “before” and “after” tour of our house…something I meant to post about 7 or 8 months ago…

Anyway, here’s us moving in…October of 2012.  Why the awkward pose?  We started the tradition back in 2006 (see below…)

Moving in (on the left) and moving out (on the right) of our first home together.  2006 and 2012.

Let the before and afters begin!  Here is the living room before.  Moving in chaos and YELLOW!

And after.  The paint color is Horizon by Benjamin Moore.

The camera shelf is now officially baby proofed and bolted to the wall.

I found the (Pottery Barn!) lamp at Goodwill for $3.99 and painted it yellow.  The prints on the right I made in Photoshop and ordered from my lab.

Kitchen before:

The new wall color is Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter (which I LOVE) and used throughout the kitchen, entry hallway, stairwell and upstairs hall.  We also repainted a good majority of the trim as the previous owners had a mixture of white and off white trim which drove me batty.  The cabinets were also a weird cream/off white/butter color so we painted the base cabinets and had the doors sprayed.  Ahhh, I’m a fan of the white cabinets.  All the trim is Benjamin Moore Simply White.

I missed my light fixture from my office so much so we removed the old pendant shade above the island and took the existing pendant to a local lighting store.  They reworked it to fit the clear glass shade and we added an Edison bulb.  Not the greatest photo of it but I love the modern feel it brings.  Same with the concrete counter tops.  They were here when we moved in but I really do like them!

Dining room before:

And after!  Our instagram collages in the frames on the right.

The very blue half bath on the main level before:

Our house in Minnesota was very brown/tan/rusty red/orange which I liked at the time but by the time we moved out, I was way over it.  And in this house I am very much into the gray with white trim EVERYWHERE.  Justin thinks it feels a little like Russia with all the gray so I went for some COLOR in this room.  It’s Plumage by Benjamin Moore…sort of a peacock/teal/blue-y/green.

And of course my maps to remind us of all the places we’ve lived and loved.

Entry way organization.  Thank you nesting instinct.  🙂

This house is weird in the sense that it has two living rooms very close to one another.  This is dubbed the “TV room”.  Before:

And after.  The walls are Edgecomb Gray.  This is our furniture from our house in MN and so we needed a more brown/tan-ish color for the walls that wouldn’t clash with the Russia gray of the rest of the house.  I don’t LOVE Edgecomb Gray as a color but think it was perfect for this situation.

Stairwell before:

Stairwell after:

Master bedroom before:

And after.  I love the light and airy feeling of this room (Benjamin Moore Horizon again).  But really, Emily?  A white comforter with a black dog and a new baby?  Brilliant.  🙂  Also, those frames initially were waiting for pictures of the baby.  But new mom anxiety set in and they are currently sitting on the floor in the office because I was having nightmares of them falling off the wall while holding a baby in bed.  So we’ll be exploring “safer” options for decorations above the bed.  🙂

Add a pack and play and a bunch of baby stuff everywhere along with an unmade bed and that’s what this room now looks like.  And I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Master Bath…Revere Pewter.

Second bedroom before:

And after.  Edgecomb Gray in here too because we had so much leftover.

Second blue bathroom before:

And after.  Benjamin Moore Horizon again because we had so much leftover.  If I would have been thinking clearer, I would have switched the master bath and this bathroom colors because we have Horizon in the master bedroom and it probably makes more sense to have the master bedroom and bath the same but OH WELL!  Ultimately, all the colors we chose flow pretty well so it doesn’t really matter except to me who tends to obsess a little lot too much over this type of thing…  🙂

Wow, are you still here for all that?  Thanks for indulging my want to be DIY/home renovator self!  Happy Monday!

I know it’s last minute, but I’ll be back in the Midwest next week!  Let me know if you want to set up a mini session, they are perfect for Christmas cards!  (Am I allowed to say that in August!?)

Ellen + Darrick were married at the Mayowood Stone Barn in Rochester, MN and from start to finish, their day was a fairy tale.  Remember them from their engagement session?  The super cute couple with the adorable dog?  Yep, that’s them.  As it turns out, they make a beautiful bride and groom as well.  And not only are they super stylish and adorable, they also are incredibly thoughtful, kind and sweet.  They are so gentle with each other, their love is obvious and infectious.  And the thought and consideration that went into making all the details of their day special and sentimental was phenomenal.  Ellen and Darrick, I have loved getting to know you and feel so thankful to share in a part of your story.  Congratulations on a beautiful wedding and an even more beautiful love!

p.s.  Special thanks to the fabulous Sarah Field for second shooting with me!

p.p.s. Denae Brennan coordinated all the details of the day…thank goodness for people like her!

p.p.p.s. Love + Brain films did some fantastic videography of their day…you can check it out here!

I don’t photograph many seniors but the ones I do are awesome! Lindsey is going to be a senior at Mayo High School in the fall. She is sweet AND beautiful AND stylish! Thanks for trusting me to photograph this exciting time in your life! Hang on for the ride as you enter your senior year, full of endings and new beginnings!

John is going to be a senior at Mayo this year and is just a super cool guy. I mean really, who else can balance a baseball bat on his nose? I have photographed his family and sister previously and just love this whole family. Thanks for a fun evening of senior photo-ing and best wishes on your senior year!

Remember Andrea and Miah’s engagement session from last summer?  Their wedding was in the first part of June and it was gorgeous!  It was my first wedding back since Clara was born and although I didn’t want to leave her, it was good to be back!  These two are so awesome and in love, they are the kind of people that make me love my job!  Congratulations on an amazing wedding, it was a beautiful celebration of your love!

Hello blog, it’s been (LONG) awhile!  But there is a good reason you have been on the waaaay back burner…Our sweet little Clara June was born on March 6 at 5:22am weighing in at 8lbs. 1 oz and 21 inches long.  Needless to say, we are over the moon in love with her and have been soaking up as much time with her as possible.  I am just barely coming out of the baby bubble I have been in for over four months…I’m still in shock that we have a DAUGHTER (I was guessing she was a boy) with big blue eyes and lots of dark hair!  I have shot one wedding a couple portrait sessions since her birth so I have some new photos to post but in the meantime, let me introduce you to the newest member of our little family:

She doesn’t really look like this anymore since she is four (yes FOUR!) months old already!  You’ll be seeing lots more of her I’m sure but like everyone says, the time is going way too fast so I’m ignoring the computer (and dishes and laundry and weeds in the garden and the list goes on….) and soaking up as much time with her as possible.  We were so fortunate to have the amazing Becca Wood photograph her birth-to watch the slideshow click here.  I’ve debated about whether or not to share her birth story here but honestly, these photos tell the story better than I can and we are forever thankful to Becca for them.  Hope you all had a fantastic 4th of July and thanks for sticking with this neglected old blog!  🙂  More to come, I promise!