Favorite 11 of 2011

Wow, what a year!! 2011 was a bit of a growing period for the business as I went through a branding revamp (which I'm in love with), so I apologize in advance for the two different watermarking on the photos below.

First of all, I am SO incredibly thankful for all of my 2011 clients, both new and returning. I was given the opportunity to photograph several clients again and it was so much fun seeing how much the kids had grown! I cannot tell you how lucky I feel to have such great clients, many of whom I'm thankful to call friends. As always, it was incredibly difficult to narrow down my favorite 11 photos of 2011 (and I admit, I cheated a little bit with the series of three in there).

The faves from this year are shown in the order in which they were taken, starting with the adorable Oliver and ending with Kathleen and Brett. Did any of your faves make the cut?

I have to say this cake smash was a great time, and these photos never fail to crack me up. Love his expressions!

Cozy Winter Engagement Outfit Ideas

Winter engagement photo sessions aren't for everyone, but they are SO pretty and unique! I have one coming up in late January/early February and I am super excited. I put together a couple outfits for inspiration, along with some tips for staying warm without looking bulky on a wintery photo session.

Tip #1: For women: put some leggings (regular will work fine, or look for a thermal/waffle knit pair for extra coziness) under your jeans. Your legs will thank you!

Tip #2: Better layer with the socks too, or wear a some that are designed to be warm in cold weather situations (like SmartWool).

Tip #3: Thermals are also good for layering under sweaters or jackets, adding thin (to avoid looking bulky) layers are going to also add warmth.

Tip #4: Find cozy hats that are also cute for photos if you want to keep your head warm, best to keep it on for the duration of the session rather than taking it on and off which creates tons of static + hat head.

You can click on any of these images for more information except the men's navy shirt (click here) and women's white hat (click here) in this first set.

Skinny Denim by Gap
Boots at Target

Leggings by Gap
Boots by Franco Sarto

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I have to admit, I've been feeling the holiday spirit 100% this year. We put our tree up on Thanksgiving, I finished my Christmas shopping the first week of December (I had a serious online shopping marathon on Black Friday), and I've been listening to the Christmas tunes on the radio (I found myself humming Christmas music while getting ready for work the other day). My favorite part of the holiday season so far was a cookie decorating party I had with my sisters a couple of weeks ago (don't worry, the cookies are long gone) where we ate homemade pizza, gave Martha Stewart a run for her money with our cookie decorating skills, and watched Elf.

I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season with your friends and family as well. I am taking a little time off from sessions from now through New Year's, but I'll be posting my favorite 11 photos from 2011 very soon, so check back to see if your favorites made the list! :) Until then, here are some photos of what I've been up to lately...





Check out the hairy gorilla gingerbread man towards the top of the photo, let's just say we took some liberties with our cookie decorating...


As a kid I always admired those department store Christmas trees with a color scheme, weird, I know. Anyways, my perfectionist tendencies are appeased by this strictly brown and gold tree (although Josh did sneak a Volkswagen ornament in there which he hid very sneakily in between several branches). This year I decided to add a personal touch by printing out some photos of us and Einstein (mostly Einstein) to hang on the tree.