looking for a cure!

a while back my good friend rachel contacted me regarding a silent auction with proceeds going to find a cure for her sons cystic fibrosis.

sound complicated?! :)

you see her sweet little boy, asher was born with cystic fibrosis.  a seriously not fun condition that has unbelievably serious complications.  (you can read all about him and learn more on how to help here.)

rachel + jeremy (asher's parents) are HUGE advocates in finding a cure for cystic fibrosis organizing walks/networking with others who have cystic fibrosis and are looking for a cure/auctions...etc.
rachel asked if I would be interested in donating a session in hopes to raise money for the cystic fibrosis foundation efforts in finding a cure.

interested?!  heck, yes...I would give anything to help!

so at their silent auction, someone actually bid on a session with kreatid and won!

therefore...
meet sweet hannah.
oh, to be able to go back in time and freeze it when my kids were babies.  I love, love, LOVE baby shoots!  you get to smell johnson's & johnson's again, touch peach fuzzy heads, see their little rolls...sigh.  yes, I love newborn shoots. :)

anyways, I digress...:)  thank you SO much for asking me to help rachel.  and thank you SO much for bidding on this session + helping find a cure krista + dave! :)

smile

may I be transparent?

I'm not a fan of pictures of me.
I can take a million pictures of other people and enjoy them tremendously, but when it comes to me...I don't like to look at them.
buuuuuuut...
my husband.
he fancy's himself a second shooter photographer.
and he tells me all the time that he has "mad undiscovered skills" in the land of photography.  and to be honest, I give him a hard time teasing him about not knowing his settings or blah, blah, blah "i'm cooler than you" banter...
but really, he's pretty good.
he see's moodiness and moments and details.

so for this weeks iheartfaces challenge the theme is "smile".
and I'm being brave deciding that this weeks entry is going to be a self-portrait.
is my hair perfect?  most definitly not.
am I posed in a perfect way?  nope.
do I look like a "rock-star"? ha...no.
but I'm happy.
and content.
and my husband took this.  in a place that I now love.

there's a song that was orignally from charlie chaplin (nat king cole's version is my favorite...reminds me of the little cafe downtown wheaton where I would play his music during lunch break) called "smile".  and I love to sing it. (albeit in my slippers cleaning my house pretending I'm on broadway somewhere) :)  the lyric's are haunting and beautiful and ring true in my soul somewhere.  and thinking of charlie chaplin - an original entertainer - who you would think gives the appereance of jesting and amusement...he still felt the need to remind himself...to smile. :)

"...smile though your heart is aching.
smile even though it's breaking.
when there are clouds in the sky
you'll get by...
if you smile through your fear and sorrow.

smile and maybe tomorrow
you'll see the sun come shining through for you.

light up your face with gladness.
hide every trace of sadness.
although a tear may be ever so near
that's the time you must keep on trying.

smile, what's the use of crying?
you'll find that life is still worthwhile
if you just smile...

that's the time you must keep on trying
smile, what's the use of crying?
you'll find that life is still worthwhile...

if you just smile."
 
my heart is not aching today.
there aren't clouds in my sky today...maybe a few wisp's. :)
but there might be tomorrow.
and I know...
I know.
that life is SO worthwhile and worth trying and most definity worth the smile.
 

 
 
for more "smiles" visit here:

hey, soul sista' ain't that mista mista :)

this girl is a seriously cool girl.
um, and she's gorgeous.
aaannd she loves Jesus.  a lot.
plus, she's kinda fierce with that whole lacrosse thing going on.
um yeah...did I mention she gorrrrgeous?! :)
yes, this girl is a seriously cool girl that I was privelaged to shoot (with my camera, of course). :)

and you can guess what was playing on my internal ipod during the shoot...
yes, this girl is seriously that cool. :)

thanks for a fun afternoon Logan! :)

sweet that the last shot of the day happened to be my favorite :)

PSST!  what cha' think of my finished logo?!  been a long process...but it's done! :)

arizona/texas ♥

"...goin' to the chapel and we're
gonna' get married...goin' to the chapel of love..."

I simply love this girl.
She is sunshine.
And oh, how he loves her!
His eyes sparkle when he looks at her.  Really looks at her. :)

I got to travel to Houston to photograph my friend Caroline's wedding to Kyle this last March.
The first thing I noticed in getting off the plane were all the belt buckles and "ya'll's" being thrown around. :) 
No, I was not in Kansas anymore, toto.

And what a wedding it was...Caroline should win an award for the best bride who noticed details without being a bridezilla!
She had monogrammed everything!  Jackets, bags, bridesmaids tanks, mrs. bride...absolute perfection in my eyes!  And her colors were so original to me!  Coral + Navy Blue...fresh and most definitly modern + cool! 

The day started off with Caroline picking me up to photograph her getting her make-up done at "facade".  Probably the most perfect place ever to get your face beautified.  There were mirrors everywhere in the makeup parlor...with little pillows surrounding the vast amounts of brushes, makeup + hair things...just perfect for the bride on the day of her wedding!  The chapel she got married at was at the church where Kyle's dad is a pastor of.  I say "chapel" and it sounds quaint, right?  Nope...this was one of three weddings going on at the same time...it's just that this church is g.i.n.o.r.m.o.u.s.!  And simply beautiful!  Brick everything...LOVED it!
And then the reception was in the coolest tucked away PERFECT reception place...ivy growing on the outside walls, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling...wrought iron fences with water features...peaceful and breathtaking at the same time...I simply LOVED the whole day!  Amazing day, amazing people! :)

Thank you SO much for letting me be a part of your Kyle + Caroline and I wish you both the best in your Big State of Texas :)