Just the 2 of us...and a cat

I Heart Faces: Family Fun

2012-01-15T23:19:00.000-06:00

I knew this was the perfect shot for the "Family Fun" at I Heart Faces. I had this session a couple of months ago and I just love this family. During our session they asked if they could do a "crazy face" photo - why would I even say no to this?

Wedding Recap: Reception

2012-01-10T17:35:00.000-06:00

Today marks our 3 year anniversary! Hard to believe that three years have passed and I really believe that this year will be the best! I could not ask for a more supportive husband - cheers to many more!

I am going to continue to wedding recap this time with some photos from the reception. We did the whole bridal party introduction which went well, then announcing Mr. and Mrs. Canon...

See that look on my face?

Right as we were getting introduced Brad stepped on my dress and veil - we forgot to bustle both - oops! Everyone joked that I was already starting to yell at him HA! Needless to say our intro pics look horrid, but this one makes me laugh!

Time to party!

After our introductions we opened the dance floor, then cleared it for my parents to show their sweet moves to J. Lo's "Let's Get Loud"

We took a few to mingle with guests before the blessing and the food opened up

I worked with these girls at Walt Disney - such a great group!

Overhead shot of the whole room before food started - - we call these the "Where's Waldo" shots

We had our first dance as husband and wife. We danced to Michael Buble's "Everything" which was perfect for us!

This is my favorite photo from our first dance

I danced with my dad. We danced to Loudon Wainwright III's "Daughter." It is the song playing during the credits of "Knocked Up." The first time I heard it I made hubs rewind it, then I googled the lyrics. Seriously could not have been a more perfect choice.

Next up, Brad danced with his mom. They danced to a portion of Leeann Womack's "I Hope You Dance." This is another favorite photo, love it!

Aren't hubs' parents adorable?

Brad also had to lead the conga. This was his last step in becoming an official "Adopted Cuban"

We had the blessing, and the eating began!

We had a salad bar

Build your own pasta station - with shrimp or chicken. It was nice because people could have the type of sauce, meat, etc.. that they wanted and it was cooked there for them

Veggie Skewers, Spinach, 2 beef tenderloin carving stations, roasted potatoes, and I think bread

We wanted to tie in the baseball theme a bit more so for appetizers we had sliders and hot dogs, along with a cheese and fruit station with crab cakes. We also had area that had popcorn, bags of peanuts, and bags of cracker jacks that people could take home with them

While people ate Brad and I were able to take some time out by the field for some photos

This photo I just had printed on a large canvas for our home

Brad was then sworn in as an "Official Cuban"

A lot of our family friends are "Adopted Cubans"

It is a tradition in our family that you can become an "Honorary Cuban." In order to do so one has to eat homemade black beans and rice, my dad's famous Cuban Pork, eat the Cuban Bread, drink a very strong cup of Cuban Coffee, learn to carry on multiple conversations at once - all at a higher decibel than normal, and lead the Conga line.

Once completed the original Cubans sign a declaration and present it to the recipient, and he is "sworn in." Hence the picture of Brad's hand on the can of Cafe Bustelo. This was presented at our reception and the framed declaration is now hanging in our house.

More on the reception tomorrow - and CAKE!

Wedding Recap: Ceremony

2012-01-08T09:00:00.000-06:00

Our ceremony started at 2:30 and lasted around 45 minutes. We did not have a full church ceremony but we did have readings and hubs' Aunt sang.

Back story on this church: We had no church. The church I am a member of is in my home town. Most Catholic churches you have to be a member of for at least 6 months prior to getting married there. I had always seen this church when going to baseball games but we never realized that it was a Catholic church. I looked online and fell in love with it - it was gorgeous, and could not have been located any better? I mean hotel, church, and reception all right next to each other - perfect! I called them and they told me that they did not book weddings until 6 months prior to the year. So we got married January 10, 2009 so we could not book until July 1 of 2008. OK, we will wait.

{throw wrench}

They only have 1 wedding a day there, only on Saturday, not past 2:00. OK I guess we will work with that.

{throw wrench again}

Oh and just to let you know, brides line up outside to book this church..WHAT! So we got there are 6AM on July 30th to wait outside for 8AM and there were SIX people there already. A bride and her mom SLEPT OUTSIDE. Thankfully no one before me wanted my date so we got the church!

Seeeeeee...I told you!

Once that stressful event was over we knew everything would work out.

Ok back to the ceremony - everything was perfect.

People showed up!

Apparently my dad was not nervous - say hi to my BFF Ang!

My Aunt, Godmother, Dad, and sis - having fun while I am locked in that room nervous as hell

Do I look nervous? Don't worry I had a breakdown and would not let my sister leave me. I asked her if I looked pretty, and almost had the ugly cry.

I told them not to leave me...but they had to get down the aisle!

I am biting the inside of my lip making my cousin tell me jokes.

I would also like to mention that my dad shook someone hand as we were walking down the aisle! That's my dad though - has to greet everyone! lol

This is also 2 of my favorite photos - after the ceremony

We took some formals...

This is my priest from my families church and he is a great family friend, so happy he was able to marry us.

After formals we headed across the street

This is on the cover of our album - I love you can see the church behind us

Time to party!

Rcception recap to follow!

Hope everyone is having a fab weekend - I am in NOLA!

Wedding Recap: Pre-Ceremony Photos

2012-01-07T09:00:00.002-06:00

You saw all of my "getting ready" photos yesterday, so here are more of the "pre-ceremony" photos. The guys met in the lobby of Inn at the Ballpark for their photos, get their boutonnieres, ~~pre-wedding drinks~~, and cigars. Yes, cigars. My dad did this at my sisters wedding - gave all the guys cigars - even though hubs does not even smoke them. The guys were happy though.

I love this photo of my mother-in-law and my dad. I am pretty lucky to have such awesome in-laws.

I also love candid moments like this

Brad's family cleans up nice too huh??

Brother-in-law, dad, and hubs

I also love that you can see what time it was....just under 40 minutes to go!

Poor Brad had to sit in this stairwell before the ceremony - it is a really old church so there are no extra rooms

And the girls...after the boys left...

Next up...ceremony!

Wedding Recap: Getting Ready

2012-01-06T08:00:00.002-06:00

Since I posted the other day about our engagement and the rings, I decided that I would do a wedding day recap. Our 3 year wedding anniversary is January 10th and I cannot believe how much time has flown!

We got married on January 10, 2009 at Annunciation Catholic Church in Downtown Houston and had our reception at Union Station inside Minute Maid Park. This post will be all about getting ready.

Since our ceremony was at 2:30 we did not really have the day to relax and my girls and I went to my make-up artists studio down the street to get beautiful so there are no photos of that. The guys we also ~~ordered~~ told to be at Inn at the Ballpark ready to go for photos.

Ok funny story about this photo: Do you notice the pill bottle in my moms purse? I am a pretty high strung person, and with all the nerves flying around the days previous my mom had a prescription filled from our doctor friend for a muscle relaxer. She did this for my sisters wedding too. It was actually mainly for my dad but my mom took one the day before and then she cut one in half for me that morning.

I wore my moms pearl necklace and pearl/diamond earrings

I also wore purple heels with a six pence taped in. It is for good luck - it is supposed to be from the year you were born I think but we did not have that so we used it from the year of my parents wedding. Good enough right?

I also wore an Astros Garter

I wore my moms mantilla veil - it was hand made in Spain as a gift from my dads family for their wedding 46 years ago. My mom wore it when she married my dad, my aunt wore it, my sister, and me. It is gorgeous - it actually bustles up so I wore it all night.

Here we all are about to head downstairs - we clean up nice right?

Check back tomorrow for more pre-ceremony photos that include the guys!

Ring Bling: A Ring, and a Proposal

2012-01-03T12:14:00.001-06:00

I saw this linky flying around the blog world so since me and hubs' three year anniversary is next week I decided I would link up with Happiness Is...!

In addition to showing the ring, I will give our proposal story too since our anniversary is fast approaching!

Hubs and I started dating in September of 2006, we had known each other for about 4 or 5 years prior - we met through his best friend that I went to college with. He was more seriously about the relationship then I was but I came around after a couple of months. He lived in Austin and I lived here in Houston and I was not keen on getting into another long distance relationship but he wooed me anyway!

He moved here about 8 months after we started dating and him and my roommate became instant buddies (for the record my roommate was my male cousin!) ...and our third roommate. We had talked about marriage, the future, etc.. and even got schooled in rings over the summer of 2007. Around September of 2007 hubs came up with the idea of going on a nice date night every month that he would plan - so of course I would get my hopes up EVERY date night.

On our December 14, 2007 date night everyone kept saying he was going to pop the question and of course I doubted. I came home from work and he was rushing me to get ready, I kept asking where we were going and I finally figured out we were going to Grotto - where we had our first date, and celebrated his birthday so it was kind of "our place."

We got there and we were quickly seated, which is rare because it was a Friday night and they did not take reservations. After he proposed I saw all the signs that something was going on - quick seating, the hostess kept staring at me like I knew her, Brad getting up to go to the bathroom, not ordering a drink, etc...

We ate dinner and ordered our dessert. Brad kept asking me if I wanted another drink so I ordered one with our dessert. I remember I was asking why it was taking so long to bring a slice of cake out! Right after we ordered our dessert Brad got up to "go to the bathroom" (He was really giving the ring to the manager Paul whom he planned the whole evening with). Shortly after our "dessert" came out. Paul had a covered plated and sat it in front of me and said something like "We thought you might like this better" he took the lid off and the ring box was there. Brad then got on one knee and proposed in front of the whole place, of course I said yes! Everyone at the restaurant applauded, and congratulated us! I kept saying are you serious and asking him if my parents knew! Paul came over and told me what Brad had done, and I was completely surprised by his sneakiness!

My parents and his parents knew - he took my parents out to dinner earlier that week to ask permission and to show them the ring. He went to Grotto earlier that day and gave the ring box to Paul, and he made sure he had a table set up for us. The whole staff knew what was going on and they were gathered around the bar right after he proposed to congratulate us - it was a perfect evening!

The ring was exactly what I wanted. Come to find out he put a down payment on the ring the day I fell in love with it and the jeweler had it for safe keeping up until the week he proposed. Sneaky sneaky man.

Ring Details:

I think it is a 1.1 center stone

Princess Cut

Platinum

With I think 48 pave diamonds around it

Wedding band is also a platinum band with pave diamonds all the way around

I am also in love with the setting - I love that the diamond is set a little different than most

I cannot believe in just a few short days we will be at our three year mark - time really has flown!

Happy Birthday to ME!

2011-12-24T09:00:00.001-06:00

Today marks the start of my 30th year - I am going to call it the year of awesomeness.

The last year of my 20's threw some wrenches my way but looking back I could not be more blessed.

My wonderful husband is getting his paralegal certificate next month from Rice.

My photography business - Fleurish Imagery - has really taken off.

A couple from my last sessions...

www.fleurishimagery.com

and I have the most loving and supportive family - and a pretty awesome cat.

I am looking forward to my 30th year - a lot.

I am not nervous about it at all, in fact I am pretty excited. I have heard from several friends that their 30's have been their best years and I fully intend to make it that way. I am pumped to build my business more, and possibly start looking at the option to start the process of putting out house up for sale (that will be more towards 31, but its not to early to start right?) No babies yet, we are still quite selfish, and we both want to establish our careers a bit more but I believe this year will rock my socks.

Bring it on 30!

Source: google.com.au via Jay on Pinterest

Nail Polish Swap

2011-12-19T12:52:00.000-06:00

About a month ago or so Celia over at ...just trying to find my way and Tara over at Fabulous but Evil hosted a nail polish swap. I thought it would be pretty fun to participate so I signed up, a week later I found out my partner was the uber sweet Mandell from Nameless for now... We slacked a little bit but finally exchanged e-mails, what our favorite colors were etc...

A few days later we e-mailed and we both had mailed off our packages - super excited as I love getting anything in the mail other than bills or those annoying coupon papers.

A few days went by...no package

A week went by...no package

Nearly 2 weeks...no package

She got hers and loved it, and then we finally decided that USPS is horrible and it never made it here. I hope someone got it and is enjoying it! Well Mandell decided to resend the package - which she totally did not have to do especially when she was trying to get ready for vacation! She e-mailed me and told me that the polish was on its way - this time via UPS...take that United States Postal Service!

My polish arrived the next day!!

Look at all these fab goodies!!

Essie's Master Plan
Essies's Tart Deco
Buffing block
Cuticle groomer
Liquid exfoliate

Here is "Master Plan" on my finger nails - I absolutely LOVE this color!

Thanks Mandell!!

I have always wished...

2011-12-14T12:35:00.000-06:00

That I had grandparents.

I mean obviously I HAD grandparents at one time I just never knew them. Well I knew my mom's mom but she lived in New Orleans and I did not see her much, and she passed away when I was a Junior in college.

Source: etsy.com via Teresa on Pinterest

My dad left Cuba with his sister right after Castro took over, left his family and came to the states, they passed away before I was even born.

My mom's dad died young so I never knew him either.

My grandma - well she was grandma. I saw her maybe twice a year and she would sometimes send cards. She passed away from Alzheimer's in her mid 80's (I think she was 83...or 84).

I was always jealous, and to some degree I still am of my friends who have a close relationship with their grandparents.

Grandparents day at school? I always had my godmother come.

Hubs was close with his grandmother, she passed away almost 2 years ago...at 100!

This was taken at her 100th birthday celebration in Feb 2010 - did she not look amazing?

I always wanted to have that special relationship that my friends have with their grandparents. My parents are older so even though I am not ready for kids (make that singular...) I fear that our child will not have the chance to have that either.

It is so great to see Evan (my nephew) with his Nani and Papi, he just loves going over there spending the weekend and going to the recycling place with his Papi.

I think I was most sad for Evan when my brother-in-law's mother passed away in April because now he is with one less grandparent to make those awesome memories with.

I always think more about this during the holidays so sorry for the sappy post!

I am thankful for the awesome family I do have and I look forward to the next couple of weeks of spending the holidays with them, and seeing how excited Evan is on Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday: Recent Session Favorites

2011-12-13T17:10:00.001-06:00

Posting on Tuesday night but whateve...I have had a lot of sessions recently here are a few favorites

On Your Feet

2011-12-04T22:51:00.001-06:00

This is one of my absolute favorite feet shots. This was from my newborn session with Mr. Owen - I just love his little toes and isn't his mom's ring just gorgeous? Love!

Check out more feet here!

Favorite Holiday Movie

2011-12-01T10:27:00.000-06:00

Linking up with the Holiday Blog Challenge....

Today's topic: Favorite Holiday Movie/TV Special

Some favorite quotes from my all-time favorite Christmas movie...

"Only I didn't say "Fudge." I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word!"

"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, Kid"

"Stuck? Stuck. It's Stuck. It's STUCK!!!"

"Fra-gee-lay. It must be Italian."

"NOTTAFINGA!"

"The heavenly aroma still hung in the house. But it was gone, all gone! No turkey! No turkey sandwiches! No turkey salad! No turkey gravy! Turkey Hash! Turkey A La King! Or gallons of turkey soup! Gone, ALL GONE!"

I am sure you guessed it by now...

This movie is also one of my most favorite movies ever - I really could probably recite every line. My mom also got me this Christmas ornament last year

There is a button and it plays the triple dog dare scene....love it!

I also love Elf.

I mean who does not love Will Ferrel dressed as a big green elf???

I also love Serendipity - such a cute love story!!

What are some of your favorites??

Our Traditions

2011-11-29T16:20:00.001-06:00

I missed day 1 of the holiday challenge so I am failing already but better late than never right? I love the holidays so I thought this would be fun for me to participate in

Today's topic is:

Favorite Holiday Tradition

Before Christmas I always try to make hubs oreo balls, he loves these things and since he is not a big sweets person this is a big deal, plus he actually likes something I make too = )

Christmas is always a big deal in our house, especially since my birthday is on Christmas Eve. Yes Christmas Eve - and to answer your burning questions...

Yes I get double presents from my parents. Some are wrapped in birthday paper and the others are wrapped in Christmas paper.

Yes it does sometimes suck to have your birthday on a holiday

..and to top it off Christmas is the following day, and our wedding anniversary is 3 weeks later how was that for planning??

Anyway back to our traditions...

Every Christmas Eve since I was 1 (so this year will mark the 29th year) my parents have an open house party. All of our friends come over for food, drink, and merriment from as my mom says "noonish to 4ish." In the morning as we are getting ready for the party my cake, champagne, and presents are worked in somehow as well. We always joke that I am just the forgotten child, that we have to just hurry up and pay attention to me for a few minutes then we can go about our day.

We then go to church at 5 as a family, come home and head to another open house party for home made tamales and drinks.

Every year my dad always makes his famous Cuban pork - it is SO good and I look forward to it every year. My parents will call a few days before Christmas Eve asking if I can smell Christmas...which means "can I smell the garlic all the way in my house?"

Christmas day we wake up and have breakfast, mimosas, and open gifts, then head over to my parents neighbors and finish off the drinks from the day before and fry turkeys - YUM!

My mom and dad also make THE best Cuban Sandwiches for lunch on Christmas day - really they will be the best ones you ever have, all of our family and friends rave about them. Hooters also has one that is almost identical to my dads, but they will never match his pork!

The boys in our family started their tradition of every year getting each other new beers so on Christmas day their day goes something like this...

I also canot forget that it is Bentley's tradition to sit under the tree as soon as it goes up, and once gifts are under it it is his own tradition to chew on the ribbon...

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Bust a Gut

2011-11-29T14:48:00.000-06:00

This photo is from my photo session this past weekend. Mr. Max turned one the week of Thanksgiving and his mom wanted to do some cake smash photos to commemorate this big milestone. Before he tore into his cake she wanted some photos before he was covered in cake, he was a ball of laughter, especially when his family was behind me dancing and making crazy noises. I am sure all these babies think we are nuts seeing the things we do to get a baby to laugh, but it worked and he was definitely busting a gut in this shot!

Check out more bust a gut submissions here

My Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T12:32:00.001-06:00

in phone pictures...

Thanksgiving was so busy with my in-laws in town, hosting Thanksgiving at our house, an impromptu Black Friday shopping excursion, painting, photo sessions, etc...

I brined our Turkey the night before we cooked him

My Thanksgiving table

The fancee flatware = )

Our table all ready to go

How is that for presentation....seriously the Turkey could say 13 pounds but my dad can totally carve off an extra 5

No Thanksgiving is complete without desserts!
My pumpkin roll and my moms YUMMY guava pie!!!

Brad playing with the photo booth props

Last minute my friend Mindy and I decided to do some Black Friday shopping. I had seen some sheets on sale that we needed so out we went at midnight. We drove past Best Buy just to see, and seriously looked like the apocalypse was headed our way, the line was wrapped around the entire building. We started out at Macy's, Bed Bath and Beyond, then headed to Kohl's, Old Navy, Target, JC Penny, and ended at Home Depot...at 5AM. Here is the trunk and back seat of my car...

Here is one of the ornaments I bought on Black Friday too

Friday my in-laws and I painted our guest bathroom - its so great to have such handy in-laws!

The shower curtain was also a Black Friday purchase

Bearded cat!

He looks happy doesnt he?

Our front door holiday wreathe that I made - I LOVE it, took a couple trips to Micheal's and Hobby Lobby but I love the way it turned out!

and last but not least we got our trees up and decorated!

Canvas People

2011-11-18T11:30:00.000-06:00

For the past oh almost three years I have been wanting to do a gallery wall in our house with some of our wedding photos and a few others but me being the procrastinator that I am I had yet to start it, I mean it took me a year to pick out the photos for our already paid for wedding album - picking out photos is hard yall!!

I knew I wanted to do canvases since I love the clean look of them...that's as far as I got...

Last December when I was in New Orleans I did family photos for my cousin and she really wanted a canvas so I told her about Canvas People - I knew that they were really affordable but I had never ordered from them. We went ahead and went to their website and they were having a 40% off and free shipping deal so she ordered a 16x20 it was super easy. I think it took about a week or so to get her canvas and she was really happy with hers. So FINALLY a few weeks ago I got a deal online for a deal on an 11x14 so I bit the bullet and said I needed to get that deal. I ended up choosing this image for our first canvas

*Image courtesy of Nhan Photography

Here it is on our wall:

I received my canvas about 2 weeks later and could not have been happier, they also included a nice little $50 off coupon on my next order. I also got another cousin in on this and she ordered this image for her 11x14 - she should get hers in a few days!

Then to top it off another friend of mine took advantage of another deal they were offering and ordered an 18x24 this week. I am narrowing down some choices for a larger canvas to order soon too.

I also had to call because my promotion code did not go through and I got charged so I talked to their customer service and everything was resolved that day - for the win!

If you are looking for an affordable canvas definitely check Canvas People out!

*I was not compensated for my reviews, I just wanted to share my great experience

It's OK Thursday

2011-11-17T11:20:00.000-06:00

I am back again for another edition of Hey It's OK Thursday...

It's OK that I am not that crazy over the Caramel Brulee Latte, just give me my iced coffee with milk, or my Cafe Bustelo

It's OK that from posting about the coffee I just remembered that I need to order the Cafe Bustelo...can't find it in the stores but maybe on a rare occasion

It's OK that every time I have gone shopping in the past week I have bough something Christmas decor related

It's OK that when my in-laws come in town next week there will be gray paint samples painted on their bathroom wall

It's OK that I am excited about hosting Thanksgiving again this year

It's OK that I am mostly excited that we can use our fancy china and our pretty dining room table

The set up will be similar to what I did 2 years ago...well the place setting will be the same!

It's OK that I have been INSANELY busy shooting, because that just means my client list is growing and I could not be more excited!

Fun With My Phone Monday

2011-11-14T22:19:00.000-06:00

I am late to the party but here are my recent phone photos for fun with our phones Monday!

Last week my friend Tara, her daughter and I headed to the Houston Dynamo game to cheer them on in the FREEZING cold weather. It was an awesome game and I will definitely be cheering them on on Sunday when they play in the MLS Cup finals - too bad I won't be in LA for the game!

Beanie pic - show me your crazy face!

YAAAAAY Dynamo Win!!

Some of you Pinterest addicts have probly seen this flying around - I made this last week for dinner, it was delicious!!

YAAAY red starbucks cup on the way to some of my photo sessions!

Hubs got up early this weekend for work - I was clearly still asleep and Bentley somehow got snuggled in too

I also hurt my knee in our last soccer game - BOO

Get the camera out of my face.

Had to get this ornament at World Market - he matches the Santa one I have

I saw this color in my People magazine - Essies Cocktail Bling so I was on the hunt, I ended up getting the last one at the Ulta I went to.

Wordless Wednesday: Recent Session Favorites

2011-11-02T11:22:00.000-05:00

Fun With My Phone Monday

2011-10-31T17:32:00.001-05:00

I have not participated in a couple weeks but I am back this week for the Fun With our Phones Monday

So I mentioned a few weeks ago that hubs bought a juicer...I personally hate the thing, but I will try some of the juices he has made. This one was cucumber, lime, celery, and apples - which actually tasted pretty good. The veggie ones I cannot do - for the record beets are disgusting, and when juiced they smell like dirt.

A much better selection of beverages...frozen mimosas, and below that sangria!!

The frozen mimosas were super easy:

2 cans of frozen orange, pineapple, and apple concentrate

Almost 2 cans of champagne

3 cans of ice

Blended and served

We tend to like the sweeter champagnes but the dryer works best here since the juice is sweeter

...and sangria!!

This recipe is also quite easy:

1 bottle of chianti, I use Gabbianno Chianti you can get it at most grocery stores

1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brandy
2 lemons, thinly sliced
2 cups seltzer or club soda
Chilled ice cubes, for serving

I also add in some simply orange OJ and I slice up apples, pears, or some oranges and throw in

He looks happy doesn't he?

Well if he doesn't there, they he sure is happy and snuggly here

mmmm one of my favorite candies

awww our front door display, I totally got this idea of Pinterest. Pumpkins are hard to paint yall. Next year I am getting the wooden letters to stick to them instead, but I am stil happy with how these look

Eff, Marry, Kill

2011-10-27T11:07:00.000-05:00

I saw this link up a few weeks ago and decided to participate this week, because let's face it who doesn't like a good game of eff, marry, kill?

I am going to use the men of Grey's Anatomy for this week. This is a hard decision but here are my choices

Sooooo we have Jesse Williams, James Picken, Jr., and Eric Dane....

The Eff award goes to Eric Dane because well let's face it he get's around on Grey's so he must be doing something right. He does not seem like the marrying type so I put him in the Eff category so I could at least experience all his lovliness.

Now on to marry.....oh Jesse Williams I could stare at you all day so therefore if we were married I could...preferably without a shirt pleas - thank you! He actually made his way to my "Top 3 Get out of Marriage Free card" ha!

Kill..sorry James Pickens, Jr. your day has come. Although you are handsome - you are old enough to be my father and well you are definitely on the bottom of the hot list when it comes to ranking the men of Grey's Anatomy.

Who would you Eff, Marry, and Kill?

Liebster Award

2011-10-26T15:29:00.000-05:00

What is this you ask?

Well it's award because I am awesome...well ok that might not be 100% truthful but whatever...

It is also because I have less than 200 followers...come on let's get to 200, I am so close!

Liebster is a German word meaning dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome....and AWESOME

Thanks Laura for this award, she is super sweet and a fellow Houston blogger - also go check out her blog as well!!

The rules for the Liebster Award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your top four picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

1. Michelle at Wifey in Training - she is an uber sweet new mom! We connected over wedding planning and she just had her first little boy who is adorable! Go check her blog out, she also does Prayer Thursday and she was always sweet to include my brother-in-laws mother when she was fighting cancer.

2. Laurel at Go Against the Grain - super talented crafty lady, she has made me some holiday props for my upcoming photo sessions and she also did my business logo - oh and she makes a mean cupcake too!

3. Victoria at One Crafty Momma - She is also super crafty! She won my 100 follower give away and was super sweet! Go check out her blog filled with yummy food and cute crafts!

4. Claudia at Mommyhood & Shoe Lover Tales - I have known Claudia for a couple years, and I recently took photos of her super cute little boy. They are also soccer fans, so they are good people in my book! = )

Now for some interesting facts about me...

A. AREA CODE: uhhh my cell is 409, pretty sure we are in 281

B. BED SIZE: Queen

C. CHORE YOU HATE: Laundry...with a passion

D. DOG'S NAME: Bentley..hes a cat but he acts like a dog

E. ESSENTIAL "START THE DAY!" ITEM: toothpaste...and a toilet

F. FAVORITE COLOR: Purple and Green

G. GOLD OR SILVER: silver...or platinum

H. HEIGHT: 5'8"

I: INSTRUMENTS YOU PLAY: I played the piano for almost 10 years, tried the guitar for a few too

J. JOB: Marketing and a Photog

K. KIDS: Just the cat

L. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: me, the hubs, and the cat

M. MOM'S NAME: Arlene

N. NICKNAME: Em, Boix

O. OVERNIGHT HOSPITAL STAY: none thank god

P. PET PEEVE: toilet paper that runs backwards

Q. QUOTE FROM A MOVIE: "FRAGILE...must be Italian"

R. RIGHTY OR LEFTY?: Righty.

S. SIBLINGS: Older sister

T. TIME YOU WAKE UP: depends how many times I hit snooze

U. UNDERWEAR: ummm Victoria's Secret PINK

V. VEGGIE YOU DISLIKE: squash

W. WAYS/REASONS YOU ARE LATE: can't find my keys

X. XRAYS YOU'VE HAD: leg, ankle, mouth, neck, arm, hand, foot, chest, knee

Y. YUMMY FOOD YOU MAKE: Desserts.

Z. ZOO ANIMALS YOU LIKE: Giraffes

Also - if I ever hit 200 followers, I will do another giveaway...hmmm what should it be?

It's OK

2011-10-20T14:12:00.000-05:00

...It's OK that I am the worlds worst blogger

...It's OK that I eat my frosted mini wheats in twos

...It's OK that I have pretty sweet dance moves

...It's OK that I am super excited to see some friends this weekend in Dallas but I would rather stick rusty needles in my eyes than drive from Houston to Dallas. Houston Press even ranked it as one of the worst drive in Texas. Read it HERE

...It's OK that I have dropped a shit ton of money on photography stuff in the past month - it's an investment!

...It's OK that I am super sad that its the finale of Jersey Shore tonight...tear

...It's OK that I finally started my photography blog, but it is still not updated

...It's OK that I think swirly margaritas and chips and salsa are pretty much amazing and can brighten any day

...It's OK that Bentley sneaked out while I was in the garage the other day and when I went to go out the front door about an hour later he was sitting on the porch waiting to get back in....oops!

...It's OK that I want to put the Christmas tree up already...ok trees

Hands

2011-10-10T15:35:00.000-05:00

The theme this week at I heart Faces is focusing on hands so I thought this photo fit the bill. I love that their hands and baseballs are in focus making it the main part of the photo. It is one of my most recent favorite shots as well, enjoy!

It's OK

2011-10-06T21:06:00.001-05:00

I have been a bad blogger, tweeter etc..

I think I am in a blogging rut, or just overwhelmed with lots of editing....yes that is it.

...It's OK that I have not blogged in I don't know how many days

...It's OK that I am about to make some oh so delicious mimosas on this fist pumping Thursday

...It's OK that hubs has a friend and his girlfriend coming in town in about an hour and the house is not ready....their room and bathroom is though so that totally counts!

...It's OK that I just spent an obscene amount of money on 2 lenses the other day, I did not realize I could count that high

...It's OK that I got those lenses because hubs was able to get his stupid juicer...yall this thing is HUGE and LOUD, it sounds like a plane is taking off in our kitchen

...It's OK that we have so much planned this weekend that I will not be able to breathe

...It's OK that I think this cake stand that I made is the cutest thing EVER

Best Face of Summer

2011-09-26T16:47:00.000-05:00

The theme this week at I Heart Faces is "Best Face of Summer 20011." I have shared this photo before on the blog and it is definitely one of my favorites from the summer. This is from Tara's trash the dress session I shot a couple months ago - I love everything about this shot, the angle, the editing, and of course her lashes!

You can see more from her session HERE

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

2011-09-25T19:43:00.000-05:00

I have been a sporadic participator in Scavenger Hunt Sundays, but always happy when I can share my photo for each prompt! P.S. The word sporadic ALWAYS makes me think of the movie "Clueless"

1. Low Key - I also googled "Low Key" and was shown a lot of black and white photos so I thought this photo fit the mold. This is possibly one of my most favorite images I have shot recently. The prop, the light, I love it! This was such a fun couple to shoot too, they took all my ideas and ran with them!

2. Monochromatic and analogous color - Last weekend my nephew and his friend Parker had a joint birthday party. They both love firetrucks so their parents found a company that rents out an actual firetruck. The kids all get to ride, climb, and learn about the truck - and the fireman also turns the water on...which sprayed WAY farther than we thought. The kids loved it!

3. Circles - Also last weekend was Miss. Olivia's birthday party. I shot her 9 month photos and have her 1 year photos next week. Her mom asked if I could come and take some photos, and of course I said yes. Her party was "Olivia the Pig" theme and her mom went ALL OUT! This was her cake, with circles on it, and the other one I just really like, and we will say her eyes fall into the circle category

4. Scarf - This was taken about 2 weeks ago during my newborn session with the seriously adorable Mr. Owen. His parents are soccer fans and they wanted to use their Houston Dynamo scarf as a prop in his photos.

5. Phone - OK this is my take on phone. This was from my session last week for Miss. Alli's first birthday photos. Her mom sais this is her pose for when she is "talking on the phone." So this totally works! = )

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

It's OK

2011-09-22T16:29:00.000-05:00

Yep I have not blogged since last Thursday....bear with me I have been BUSY!

...It's OK that I have not blogged since last Thursday because I have been busy with sessions, softball and soccer games

...It's OK that I am completely in love with this photo, I have stared at it A LOT

...It's OK that I need to have a glass of ice water every night before bed, but I only ever take like 2 sips out of it

...It's OK that I am overly excited about all the Fall TV that is finally back

...It's OK that Grey's is finally new tonight...AND it's Jersey Shore night - hello perfect evening!

...It's OK that I think my nephew is the most adorable 3 year old EVER

...It's OK that I want to punch my husband in the face every night that he snores (I really won't punch him, but I wanna sleep too lol)

...It's OK that Bentley is all up in my grill at night, but I feel bad for moving because I do not want to wake him....and I like to cuddle with him

...It's OK that I think my engagement prop that I made was pure genius

...It's OK that I am ecstatic that I found another meal that Brad likes...score one for Pinterest!

Source: annies-eats.net via Emily on Pinterest

Yep I am totally OK with all of this!

Hey, Its OK Thursday

2011-09-15T12:03:00.000-05:00

I completely forgot to link up last week for It's OK Thursday, so I am making up for it today...

...It's OK that I downed an entire bottle of wine the other night just because I felt like it

...It's OK that you are completely jealous of these converse that I bought my nephew for his birthday

...It's OK that I paid $25 to overnight them because I think its ridiculous that I could not find them anywhere - trust me I tried!

...It's OK that I wanted to throw a tantrum when I found out that the buffet that I wanted for our dining room was discontinued at Star Furniture

...It's OK that even though I am addicted to Toddlers & Tiaras I think the most recent episodes mom with the fake baby is bat shit crazy

...It's OK that I still have 11 days in my cell phone billing cycle and I have used over 2,400 text messages

...It's OK that I never changed our initial yard flag from Christmas last year...I mean there isn't a Santa on it or anything so it works....

...It's OK that I got distracted from writing this entry and went to pinterest and saw this...and now want to make it

Source: gourmet.com via Amber on Pinterest

...It's OK that I would rather make desserts than an actual meal...this is where my hubs comes in duh

...It's OK that hubs has to call me if I am not home to see if the cat has been fed when he comes home (or the other way around) because we are convinced that he tries to trick us so he can get an extra meal

What are you ok about??

Also - if you have not had the chance, head over to Savanah's blog and enter her Scentsy giveaway, it's supporting a great cause, so do it! = )

Handsome Mr. Owen

2011-09-14T17:03:00.000-05:00

This past weekend with all that was going on I was super excited about this newborn session Sunday evening. Mr. Owen came into the world almost 2 weeks ago now - 10 pounds and full head of hair, I could not wait to meet this little bundle of joy! He slept through the whole session and could not have been an easier baby to work with, although his mom and I decided that his head was just too heavy to rest on his hands (because of his large brain, duh!) but even though he did not want to do that, we got some adorable shots!

He also had the perfect little baby skin, and look how much hair he has!!

His parents are big Houston Dynamo fans as well so we had to incorporate that somehow

His mom and dad also wanted to use this gorgeous blanket that his grandmother who recently passed away made

Hope everyone is having a great week! Lots already on the agenda for me this weekend including my nephews birthday that will be having a real fire truck!

Fun With My Phone Monday

2011-09-12T15:58:00.001-05:00

Another Monday - another set of phone photos, I actually took quite a few with my phone over the week so here are a select few!

So over Labor Day weekend I last minute decided to play in a 7v7 soccer tournament with some of the girls on our club soccer team...we won 10-0, 3-0, 10-0, and the championship we won 9-0....check out our huge trophy - holla!

I also ordered some fancy new stickers to use as marketing for my photography business - LOVE THEM!

This past week I finally went through all my hobby lobby bags full of ribbon - thank you pinterest for this amazing idea. Some of the spools did not fit but this works perfectly!

I also helped out a friend who was clueless on how to make a diaper cake - how adorable is this???

Most of you are aware of all the Texas wildfires. This was our view at softball this past Friday night - it is so sad to think of all the devastation. Please send rain!!

This week I also found this recipe on pinterest and HAD to make them THAT day...lemon bars - YUM!

Hope everyone has a great week!

I had a busy weekend of softball games, a wedding, a soccer game, and a newborn session and its not slowing down anytime soon - very exciting!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday - Holla!

2011-09-04T17:25:00.000-05:00

Back on it this week for Scavenger Hunt Sunday, I have been trying to be more consistent with this but life has gotten busy but I am happy to be participating this week!

1. Stairs - this was from a recent session I did in Old Town Spring, I love this little area it has so many great spots

2. Macro - this was taken while we were at the river over Memorial Day weekend. Our friends decided that they wanted to have a "Van Down by the River" from the Chris Farley skit on SNL

3. Clouds - This was also taken on our river trip. We headed to our favorite place to eat, the Gristmill and I always love to get a new photo of the Gruene water tower.

4. Abstract - My abstract photo might be a tad of a stretch but its all in the eye of the beholder right? I have shared photos before of my Uncle's '41 - or as my nephew calls it, the old timey car. I like the perspective of this shot, and think it fits into the theme.

5. Smile - I had a family session at the beach about a month ago and I fell in love with this shot!

Hope you enjoyed my entries, have a great rest of the holiday weekend!

It's OK Thursday

2011-09-01T12:09:00.000-05:00

Yay another Thursday which means another episode of Jerseyshore....I mean another "Hey It's OK" link up - yep that is what I meant. Any way here goes...

...It's OK that I am ridiculously excited for some new stickers I ordered to use for Marketing my photography business

...It's OK that I was making coffee and did not SMELL coffee because I didn't turn the knob on the stove correctly and gas was leaking out - BIG OOPS!

...It's OK that I look on HAR.com for the possibilities on our next home even though that is at least another year away

...It's OK that I want to BURN our living room furniture because it looks like we live in a frat house - seriously it sucks

...It's OK that a few weeks ago my friend and I tried the "cracker challenge" and we failed...miserably, but it was hilarious - check it

...It's also OK that the boys tried the "cinnamon challenge" and I knew it was going to be an EPIC fail but I let them do it any way

Hope everyone has a great week!

Fun With My Phone Monday

2011-08-29T19:50:00.000-05:00

I missed last weeks link-up with Savanah over at What Makes Savanah Smile... so I am back at it again this week!

My friend Tara and I have made it a habit this summer to go to the most amazing sno cone place EVER, Mam's House of Ice - seriously NOTHING beats a sno cone with a scoop of ice-cream, best. thing. ever.

So every time we go we always eat them in her car, (hello Texas is in a drought and it's hot I'm eating my 'cone in the AC..) and it NEVER fails we see some of the most, we will say "unique" people walk up. This trip was no different, this lovely lady nearly showed us her Britney at the sno cone place....not something I was to see while enjoying my summer treat.

Also if you follow me on Twitter or on Facebook you know that my hubs started school again last week. I told him that I needed to take the obligatory "first day of school" photo, initially he was against it but then rolled with it before he left, all of our friends got a kick out of it

...and here is is class schedule

...and my hubs' newest addiction...thankfully the DVR has cleared up a bit - although we decided that one day we totally want to buy property in the Dominican Republic one day

Saturday I played in a benefit softball tournament and this is how hot it was...it felt hotter

and after the first game my knee and shin felt like this...

at least my leg looks tan? Ha!

Go check out more phone fun!

White

2011-08-28T23:35:00.002-05:00

The theme over at I Heart Faces this week is "white" so I decided to share another photo from Tara's Trash the Dress session. This is definitely one of my most favorite sessions to date!

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! I had no shoots this weekend but my new website did roll out which I am SO excited about. www.fleurishimagery.com is live and I could not be happier, and my Christmas Card session day has been completely booked - bring on the new few weeks I am ready!

Black and White Wednesday - Miss Eileen

2011-08-24T17:25:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was a LONG one, and I think it took me a few days to recover. I had soccer boot camp on Saturday at the gym for almost 4 hours, then had to go shoot a session/birthday party for another 3 and back on the field for Soccer on Sunday morning - and it was HOT.

Although I was insanely tired, oh and sore I had a great time at Miss. Eileens sunshine themed birthday party! I have not seen a birthday party with cuter decorations, it was so adorable! Here is Miss. Eileen enjoying her day!

Hey, Its OK Thursday

2011-08-18T12:49:00.001-05:00

Another Thursday is here, so I am participating in Amber's Hey It's OK Thursday!

...It's OK that I put my ice-cream in the microwave for a few seconds before I eat it, hellooooo trying to get a spoon is hard work when its frozen solid

Source: causematters.files.wordpress.com via Vivian on Pinterest

...It's OK that I am still staring at a load of clean clothes that are waiting to be folded

...It's OK that I could eat a really good sandwich everyday vs anything else

...It's OK that I wasted a hour and a half of my life watching "The Wild and Wonderful White's of West Virginia"

...It's OK that I am pretty sad that the MTV Challenge season finale is next week

...It's OK that I am pretty excited about all the new clients I have been booking for photo sessions

...It's OK that I am seriously over the repeated 105 degree days, I love summer but it's pretty ridiculous

...It's OK that I am over the insane heat, but I hate winter

...It's OK that Hubs is starting school on Monday at Rice and I am already ready for him to be done (he will be done in January - yay!) He will be a...

...It's OK that I find it super annoying that hubs is begging for a juicer....yes a JUICER!

Source: amazon.com via Leah on Pinterest

Last Minute Entry

2011-08-16T19:22:00.000-05:00

The I Heart Faces theme this week is all about the eyes, and I am submitting a last minute photo. It was hard to narrow down a choice but I dug into a session that I had earlier this year. Here is Miss. Brianna:

Fun With My Phone

2011-08-15T15:10:00.000-05:00

Another week starting, which means another Fun With Your Phone Monday over at What Makes Savanah Smile.

So this past week...

My shin splints have been AWFUL, pretty sure there is some scar tissue up in there. VACATE PLEASE!

I bought this fun prop for some upcoming engagement sessions I have!

My friend Tara and I had this amazing brunch and a delicious frozen mimosas at one of my most favorite places - Onion Creek

This past weekend I nearly ran out of gas - OOPS!

Had this for dinner - clearly hubs was not home, and I did NOT feel like making anything

I was also a good wife and bought some of hubs' favorite beer....ok I wanted this

so I had to bring something home for him too

Check out more phone fun here!

Hey, Its OK

2011-08-11T12:10:00.000-05:00

I saw this link up last week and put it in my brain to remember for this week. I have found a few new link ups and have been excited to come across some new blogs too. So I am linking up to the "Hey, it's OK" link up over at the Chronicles of Neely!

Hey its OK...

...that I drank and entire bottle of wine last night

...and had a cupcake...ok 2 cupcakes

...to be addicted to ridiculously bad reality TV

...and to Starbucks Iced Coffee...and wine

...to not want to work full time and pursue photography as my career

...to text your husband when he is in the other room to tell them that So You Think You Can Dance is over and we can watch the challenge <---- more reality TV!

...to text your husband in the other room because you don't want to yell because you know it will scare the cat

...to not want to produce spawn yet, we are not ready get over it!

...and to have Maroon 5's album on repeat since Sunday

Eyelashes

2011-08-09T22:00:00.000-05:00

About a month ago my friend Tara and I were talking and got onto the subject of weddings, she mentioned that she never took bridals so we decided that since her dress was still crumpled on the floor that we would do a "Trash the Dress" session of sorts.

So me, Tara and my cousins girlfriend Kelly grabbed our venti starbucks and headed on over to the Heights area and got to shooting. I wanted to get some "normal" bridal shots and I really wanted to get this shot. I LOVE eyelashes, especially when they look like this.

This is probably one of my most favorite shots to date, I know you love it too!!

Fun With Phones Monday

2011-08-08T16:39:00.000-05:00

I am participating in a fun new link up with the fab Savanah at What Makes Savanah Smile this week. She started a new "phone photo linkup" which is pretty self explanatory - share photos that you took with your phone. Now if you follow my blog you know I am an avid photo taker, so of course I had to participate in this!

So over the last week I have...

ordered these adorable 5x7's of my awesome nephew for family

...discovered a yummy new beer - if you like grapefruit, and beer try it!

...used these adorable flip flop coasters - oh and if you read my previous post about my newest wine obsession casal garcia wine, yes that wine was in that glass

...I also stopped and had a grande iced coffee with 2% milke - YUMMM, its not wine, or vodka but it will do!

...and lastly I received this in the mail from Celia at...just trying to find my way. It is my first Scentsy product and I love it!

Check out more here!

True Life: I'm a...

2011-08-05T18:25:00.001-05:00

Photography Blogger.

I am participating in a fun link up today, - ok truthfully I was seeing my blog roll blow up with this True Life.... post from Fabulous but Evil and Mrs. Monologues and so I had to check it out, and since apparently all the cool kids are doing it I will too.

So True Life: I am a Photography Blogger.

PS. If you do not think this photos is the cutest thing ever, you have no soul = )

A little about me...

I am 21...ok add on 8 years to that

...I am half Cuban and half Cajun, which makes me a Cuban Coonass, and I am proud of it

...I may be Cuban but my Spanish is el sucko

...but my dad speaks it fluently, and he and my mom also bust out moves like this

...my birthday falls on Christmas Eve...every year, that is sometimes el sucko too

...I love everything photography, and basically is what my blog is based around, with a little personal updates as well

From my most recent session

...that is what I want to do full-time, but for now it is a no go, hopefully in the next couple years

...hubs and I only have a ~~dog~~ cat that acts like a dog

...mainly because we are not ready for kids, I love them but the thought of birth terrifies the bajeezus out of me

...bajeezus recently became my new word

...our nephew is pretty much the coolest kid ever

Told you.

...oh I forgot we love sports

...like really love sports - I still play soccer twice a week and play softball with the hubs once a week

...like love sports so much that we had our wedding reception inside Minute Maid Park

...and served ballpark themed food for apps

...this wine - Casal Garcia Vinho Verde is my newest obsession thanks to my sister

...seriously try it, its like $7 - AMAZING

...yep I have 1 sister, she is 12 years older than me

I know, I know you all think the one in the middle is my sister, but that is my mom.

...oh and wine, I love wine, but my go to is probly vodka, with a splash of Simply Raspberry Lemonade

...I also love Texas Country, floating the river, and live music - I actually met my husband when I went to go float the river...AWWWWWW

...oh yeah I have a small addiction to Fleur de lis, they are in every room but the garage...no lets face it there are probly some in there too...

...and I also have the most random things happen to me. Trust me, I can't make up half the stuff that happens to me.

That is a little about me, hope you enjoyed it and stick around etc etc etc...

Ok I will leave you with one more fab photo

A baby in adult shades? Cuteness overload.

Have a great weekend!

Isaac Turns One

2011-08-02T20:29:00.001-05:00

Earlier this week I met up with the oh so cute Isaac to commemorate his first birthday. Me and his parents had been trying to plan this session for a few weeks, so I was happy we were finally able to work something out. Isaac was all smiles, and he was a boy on the move! Here is a shot of him and his mom - Isaac was enamored with all the ducks, and his dad's singing!

Elissa

2011-07-30T00:33:00.000-05:00

Little sneak peak for those who do not follow my facebook page. Here is Miss. Elissa! She was so sweet, and I was so happy I had the opportunity to take photos of this little one. I used to work with her mom Kelly and she was so excited to document this moment, and I could not have been happier to do it for them. She was born 2 weeks ago, and mom and dad could not be prouder new parents!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! I am up in a few hours to head down to Galveston for a LARGE family photo session at a beach house - 25 people! Ranging from a not nearly 1 year old, to a 91 year old ack! Should be fun! Then we are headed to my sisters to celebrate my dad's birthday. Nothing like a little pulled pork, yummy sides, dessert, and some beer and wine!

Also - HELLO to all my new followers! Have a great Saturday!

Owen

2011-07-26T23:32:00.000-05:00

On Sunday morning I headed back into Houston bright and early to meet the Sanders and Wallace family for a photo session. We started around 9am and it was probably one of the most humid days that I have shot on, it was hot, hot, hot but that did not phase this little guy. There were 3 kids total, Owen was the youngest, then there was Jocelyn, and Thayden - I will share more from their session later! Owen was seriously the calmest baby I had ever been around - he did not make as much as a peep until the end, and he just hammed it up for the camera.

Top of the mornin' to ya!

After my shoot I parked it at a Starbucks for a couple hours before I headed out to the H-Town Bloggers meet up at a local wine bar - Max's Wine Dive for brunch. Glad I at least brought a shirt to change into after the insanely hot shoot! We had a HUGE group of girls show up so we were grouped at a couple different tables. Hopefully next time I will get to talk to more girls, but we had a blast at our table!

Photos courtesy of Miss Meg O.

Here is about half of the girls

...oh and here are my DELICIOUS creme brulee french toast amazingness. Went perfectly with a tasty mimosa!

Looking forward to the next one!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday - 2 weeks!

2011-07-23T12:08:00.000-05:00

2 weeks in a row for Scavenger Hunt Sunday - aren't you proud?? I pretty much am! I am excited to show you my interpretations - and all are ones I have not shared before.

1. Music to my Ears: A couple weeks ago we headed to Round Rock, TX to see my husbands parents and to go to my godparents 50th wedding anniversary party. The party was thrown in true Cuban fashion - drinks, good food, and lots of music! Both my parents have some pretty sweet dance moves, but I caught this "John Travolta" move my dad was throwing out, apparently the song that was playing was music to his ears!

2. Hat: What is better than a cap and gown? I did this senior shoot a few months ago, I have known his mom and her sister since I was about 4 and I was around when this guy was born - ahhhh 18 years ago!

3. Clear: This is another photo from my May wedding, clearly their toasting flutes are clear = )

4. Out of this World: I was originally going to use this for clear but changed my mind. This was taken July 4th weekend, we had an unexpected downpour and the sun was trying to creep its way back out.

5. Sprinkles: Ok well a tad of a stretch but I was baking the other night and took some photos while I was creating a yummy dessert, and well even thought this is chopped up chocolate they still LOOK like sprinkles right?

Not sure if I will be around to link up first thing - I have a shoot in the morning and then heading to a Houston bloggers meetup brunch. Hope everyone has had a fab weekend so far! Tonight some girlfriends and I are playing in an indoor soccer game against some of their guy friends who think they can beat us. We have all been playing for 20+ years....them...for about 3, wish us luck!

I Heart Faces - Props

2011-07-18T00:08:00.000-05:00

The theme for the week at I Heart Faces is focusing on props this week. A couple months ago I had a session with the oh so sweet Mr. Drake. We came across this little area in front of a shop and it was the perfect setting for a photo. Drake really did not want to sit still so his mom gave him that little toy he is holding and it stopped him from wiggling around long enough to get some adorable images. I think this photo is prop overload (how about that awesome chalk board?) which makes it the perfect entry for I Heart Faces this week. Enjoy!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday - Miss Me?

2011-07-16T21:58:00.000-05:00

Stop the press - I am participating in Scavenger Hunt Sunday! It has been MANY MANY weeks, ok months since I have participated but I am baaaack. Really excited to share all my images, and they are all ones you have not seen yet, well I think except for one....anyway here goes!

1. Black and White: This is another image of Miss Paisley, this is another one on my favorites. Such sweet innocence, and her expression is priceless.

2. Reflections in Glass: This is one I think I have shared before. Here is my nephew Evan at his Nana and Papa's house. This was taken the last time I saw my brother-in-laws mom and I went over to take some photos of her with Evan. She lost her battle to Pancreatic Cancer about 2 months later.

3. Headlights: This is a shot from our recent trip to New Orleans. This car has made its presence on my blog before, but this is a new one! My cousin pulled the '41 out of the driveway and I pulled the camera out. I love this image, love, love, love.

4. Seeing Double: This is also another image from New Orleans. I met up with my cousin to take some photos of her daughter Miss. Kali. These shoes were made by a friend of her moms - CUTE!

5. Bare: ...and here is Miss. Kali before she put her shoes on. Before her mom changed her we had her crawl through this statue. Since it had rained earlier that day we did not want her to ruin her cute outfit, so she was bare. well minus her diaper!

Hope you enjoyed my entries, maybe I will make it back next week for 2 in a row??? Check out more entries here, and enjoy the rest of the weekend! We are off to cheer on the US Women's National Soccer Team in the Finals of the World Cup - GO USA!!

Paisley and Mom

2011-07-13T18:52:00.000-05:00

Back on the blogging train. I had not been a good blogger this week - we were out of town this past weekend and time got away from me, but I am back! Here is another photo from Miss Paisley's newborn session. This is by far one of my favorites from the session. I am really loving newborn sessions - capturing their first few days, and sometimes a little smile or 2 come out which is really special as well. I am not ready for a baby yet, but all these little ones are too cute!

Happy Birthday!

2011-07-11T12:22:00.000-05:00

Happy 33rd Birthday to my wonderful husband! Cheers to another wonderful year!

Our First New Year's together!

Last wedding before ours!

Happy 31st!

My 29th!

Happy Birthday - and I hope to celebrate many more!

Hopefully you like my dinner I cook....

Mostly Red...and the Truck again

2011-07-05T22:01:00.000-05:00

Yep I shared this photo last week, but I had a comment saying it reminded them of a southern 4th of July, so I am sharing it once again for the Red, White, and Blue theme at I Heart Faces.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! We had some pool time, grilled a little, and spent some time with friends. We had no fireworks here which was a little strange, damn you drought, damn you! Oh well there is always next year!

100th Follower Giveaway - WINNERS!

2011-07-02T11:11:00.000-05:00

I am super excited to announce the giveaway winners! First off want to thank everyone who entered, tweeted, followed, blogged, etc... You guys rock! Welcome to all my new followers on my blog and via my facebook page, and finally thank you to my giveaway contributors, Ashley and Laurel.

Each winner was picked randomly via random.org. After counting the valid entries (there were a couple deletes, and Laurel commented, so I wanted to be exact!) there were 80 total

Now on to the winners!!

Drum Roll...

The winner of a set of handmade coasters by me is...

Entry number 8 - Victoria at one crafty mamma

Congrats!! If you would like this set of coasters e-mail me the initial you would like on them, or if you have another color in mind let me know!

Winner of the lovely signed print from the talented Ashley Sisk is...

Number 33 - Alyssa from Becoming Alyssa

Congratulations!

And finally, the winner of a set of 12 cupcake flags from Laurel at Go Against the Grain is...

Number 28, and a fellow Houston Blogger! - Heather at Blonde Undercover Blonde
Congrats!!

Congratulations to all of the winners, please e-mail me your contact info so I can get it to Ashley and Laurel. Thanks again everyone for entering, and I will definitely do another giveaway - maybe at 200 followers? We shall see! Hope everyone has a fantastic 4th of July weekend, we are heading to hang out with some friends today. Happy Saturday!

Vintage Chevy

2011-07-01T08:29:00.000-05:00

I really do not have anything to blog about but wanted to remind everyone that today is the last day to enter in my giveaway! I hope to have the winners posted Saturday sometime, if not (we have some plans) then it will for sure be up first thing Sunday! I hope everyone has a fantastic 4th of July weekend! We will have no fireworks this year because of the horrific drought we are in, but that will not stop us from grilling some food and having some yummy drinks!

Of course I will leave you with another photo from my weekend in New Orleans. Here is Miss. Brooke once again! I have another I will be sharing next week for before and after! Hint: Broken glass? No problem, it can be fixed!

This is my cousin Brooke striking a pose on my Uncle's vintage Chevrolet truck. I am actually surprised this shot came out since she was running all over the place. Give me a vintage car and a cute kid and I would be set - I love how it turned out.

Enter, Enter, Enter - STILL TIME! You know you want to!

Miss. Kali

2011-06-29T22:31:00.000-05:00

Like I already mentioned I was in New Orleans this past weekend, so while in town I also snapped some photos of my cousin Cristi's daughter Kali for her first birthday. We headed out to City Park, and got there right as it stopped raining. Thankfully we were able to get some cute shots of the birthday girl, her mom, and sister. Poor dad will have to wait until next time since he was working.

BEFORE

AFTER

I have been super busy and don't have all my steps but I shot this using my Nikon d5000 with the Nikon 24-70/2.8 lens. It was edited in camera RAW, then brought into CS5. Zoomed, straightened, slight unsharp mask. Levels adjustment and ran I THINK florabella's lullaby and dropped to the opacity down to around 30% or so.

You still have until Friday at midnight CST to enter my giveaway! Such a great response I have had so far, love it!

Dancing Queen

2011-06-28T22:11:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we packed up and headed to New Orleans to see family, and so that Evan could meet all his other cousins. The other main reason we went was because my Aunt owns a dance studio and the revue (recital) was on Friday. This was her 41st year to be teaching - yes FORTY-ONE, she has it in this big theatre and it is always so neat to go. This year was special because all the little cousins were dancing with their dads this year so we had to go witness it!

My cousin Markel asked me to bring my camera to take some photos of everyone before they headed out on stage. This is her daughter Brooke (she has made her presence known on this blog too) getting ready to dance to My Girl, My Guy. They had the cutest little blue tutu costumes, fully outfitted with a crown and white gloves. Here she is in her dressing room about to dance her little heart out!

Don't forget about my giveaway - it ends Friday!

A Touch of Whimsy - Miss. Paisley

2011-06-27T19:33:00.000-05:00

Late afternoon Thursday when we got to my parents house to sleep before we all headed to New Orleans for the weekend, I had the opportunity to take some newborn photos of my friend Wendy's little girl Paisley. She is a little over 2 weeks old in these photos and she was so sweet. This was the first time I met her too and she was such a good baby.

I think my post processing gives this shot a dreamy feel, which totally falls into the "whimsy" category.

Also my giveaway is open until Friday, so you still have time to enter!

And, one last oh so minor thing...my "your best photo" over at the Paper Mama was selected in the top 30. If you could pop on over and vote for #3 I would love that!

Miss. Olivia...

2011-06-21T23:03:00.000-05:00

...and the cutest little crab smocked dress

I had a 9 month old session on Saturday morning with the oh so cute Olivia. Her mom told me about her dress and I could not wait to see it. How cute is it? I love that she is not dressed in the typical pink and white girly outfit (don't get me wrong I do love them)- I love the colors! She did a great job modeling and there are a lot of cute photos of her showing off her teeth!

Also, don't forget to enter my 100th follower giveaway - HERE

Your Best Shot Challenge

2011-06-20T19:43:00.000-05:00

I shared this shot for shoot and edit awhile back but when I saw the Paper Mama's your best shot challenge my mind came back to this shot. Now don't get me wrong in the past month or two I have had to opportunity to shoot a lot of uber adorable kids, but something about the look on her face - and the fact that she is covered in cake - nails it for me.

Check out more adorable kids...and pets

All about Boys!

2011-06-20T10:06:00.001-05:00

The theme for the week at I Heart Faces is all about the boys! Yesterday morning I met up with my friend to take some photos of her son Caleb for his first birthday. I really wanted to use balloons so his mom graciously picked some up for his shoot. We originally planned on going to a park but it was so hot, and we got a later start then originally planned. So we headed to a little pavilion that is out on the lake in The Woodlands and got some really adorable photos. Here is one of my favorites:

Happy Dad's Day!

2011-06-19T15:52:00.001-05:00

Happy Father's Day to the most amazing dad! You have taught me so much, and been there for absolutely everything in my life, and could not appreciate or love you more!

I am also pretty lucky to have an amazing father-in-law as well. I call that winning!

Hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend! I had a couple shoots this weekend, played 4 softball games Friday night and have a soccer game tonight! Hope all your dads, granddads, dads of fur babies all had a great day, I will see mine on Thursday when we all head to New Orleans, cannot wait.

Also, have you entered in my 100th follower giveaway yet? You should!

100th Follower Giveaway!

2011-06-17T00:03:00.000-05:00

For some time now I have been toying around the idea of doing a giveaway; then a few weeks ago I reached 100 readers - so I thought that this would be the perfect time! I have really enjoyed blogging (even though I do not do it as consistently as I would like) and it has enabled me to meet some wonderful people and discover some very talented people out there. So I have finally put it together and I think there are some pretty sweet items up for grabs!

Now, I know you want to know what they are...

A set of four hand made coasters from my etsy shop - Carried Away by Paper. These can be customized with your initial on them, or if you have a different design in mind have at it!

This signed 8x10 print from the lovely and very talented Miss. Ashley Sisk from Ramblings and Photos.

Annnnd a set of 12 custom made cupcake flags from the talented and creative Laurel from Go Against the Grain. She also did my Fleurish Imagery logo, she does some great work!

Since there are 3 things up for grabs there will be three different winners!

Now how to enter:

Each entry requires a separate comment for each and will give you 1 entry per so you have 5 chances to enter!

1. Follow my blog, if you are already a follower comment and let me know

2. Follow me on twitter: eboix

3. Tweet about this fabulous giveaway - and don't forget to mention me

4. "Like" my photography page on Facebook: Fleurish Imagery

5. Blog about this amazing giveaway and use the button below in your post

You have from today Friday, June 17th until Friday, July 1st at 11:59PM CST to enter.

Winners will be selected randomly from random.org and I will announce the winners on my blog after

GOOD LUCK!

Shoot & Edit - Swing - The Edit

2011-06-15T23:10:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I shared the adorable photo of Miss Molly enjoying her ride in the swing. Now I will share with you the edit. Here is the SOOC once more:

SOOC

The Edit

Brought into ACR and made some minor exposure/brightness adjustments

Edited in CS5

I zoomed, cropped, straigthened

Adjusted levels

Slight unsharp mask

I think I added the Milk Flora Bella action dropped the opacity to under 30%

Changed to black and white

Ran TRA's antique action

Check out more edits here

Sitting on the Bench

2011-06-15T18:20:00.000-05:00

About a week or so ago I shared a photo from Mr. Drake's first birthday session down in Old Town Spring. I thought I would share one of his mom's and my favorite. We were walking around town and stopped at this little bench, Drake wanted to turn around and play with he back of it, but when his mom took out a snack he quickly perked up!

His actual birthday, and birthday party is this Saturday, cant believe he will already be one!

Shoot & Edit - Swing!

2011-06-13T11:46:00.000-05:00

I remembered I had this photo from my mini session day and had to share it for this weeks shoot and edit. Miss. Molly has the best expressions and is such a happy child - and she just loves to swing!

Here is the original shot:

SOOC:

Come back Thursday to see the edit!

Bright and Vivid

2011-06-12T18:20:00.001-05:00

I shared a photo of Miss. Aubrey about a month ago, but once I saw what the prompt was for I heart Faces this week I knew I needed to share another from her session. It is also a little bittersweet seeing as her and her family are moving to Kansas this week. Her mom Erin is one of my really good friends and I will miss her! I am saying a little prayer that they are not there for too long, I need her back in Texas!

Here is Miss. Aubrey - before she was covered in cake. If this does not qualify for "Bright and Vivid" then I do not know what does.

If you are interested you can see more from her session here. I have set up my Fleurish Facebook, feel free to "like" it as well (I still prefer "fan" to the new "like" thing...)

Hope everyone had a great weekend, we played some softball on Friday and celebrated Miss. Aubrey's big brothers 4th birthday at the pool on Saturday and had one last night out with her mom and dad before they move...sad face!

Today I headed out to the Astros game to meet up with some other Houston Bloggers. Right before we headed to buy tickets this nice man came over and gave us all free tickets, and to top it off it was $1 hot dog day - hands down cheapest game I have ever been to. Winning! Even though they lost I still had a great time and met some wonderful ladies! If you are in the Houston area check out the blog - there will be more fun meet ups planned!

Ethan

2011-06-09T12:41:00.000-05:00

About a month ago one of our long time family friends booked a session for her sons senior photos. First off I could not believe that her son Ethan was graduating high school - I remember when he was born! So it was extra special that his mom Erica asked me to do his photos. We met up in downtown Houston, walked around and got some great shots - he had a great attitude about sporting the lovely cap and gown in the middle of downtown - luckily it was early and not too busy yet! Here is one of the images from his session - and one of my faves.

BEFORE

AFTER

Shot with my Nikon D5000 with the 17-55/2.8

Edited in CS5

Did some adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw

Adjusted the levels/curves

Zoomed a tad, straightened

Cloned out the light to the left

Slight unsharp mask

might have been a couple other steps....but I edited this about a month ago....

Black and White Wednesday - Mr. Austin

2011-06-08T12:09:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I had the opportunity to take some photos of my wonderful friends son Austin. He turned 1 a couple weeks ago and she wanted some new photos of him. His mom Valerie and I have been friends for about 5 years, we worked together and became fast friends over our love of shopping. We were both in each others weddings and she has always been a great friend. So Sunday afternoon we headed down to a park and let the very mobile Austin run around.

Drake Turns 1

2011-06-03T12:15:00.000-05:00

I have not posted all week - oops, but I wanted to share an adorable photo from a session this week. My friend Tammy asked me to take some photos of her adorable little boy, Drake for his first birthday. Cannot believe a year has gone by since this little guy was born! We walked around Old Town Spring, and got some really cute photos - and she also brought along her husbands old red wagon - LOVE! He was a great model, and loved riding around town in the wagon. This is one of my favorites:

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Eva in Yellow

2011-05-22T23:09:00.001-05:00

The theme at I Heart Faces is yellow this week, and how is this not the perfect photo for that prompt? A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take some photos of this adorable little girl, her parents, and grandparents. She was decked out in this oh so cute outfit complete with little yellow chucks. I love love love little baby shoes, especially baby chucks - they are seriously the cutest things ever.

So meet Eva, and her newest snack - baby chucks

Black and White Wednesday - Married

2011-05-18T11:33:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned earlier - I plan on showing you a few images from my friend Gwen's wedding. I can't help it, love the way they turned out, and well that is heavy on my editing plate right now. So here is the happy couple after they said their "I Do's"

Circles

2011-05-17T11:16:00.000-05:00

I have not submitted a photo for Shutter Love Tuesday in awhile, but when I saw the prompt this week I knew I had a photo for this. This is another shot from Gwen and Mark's wedding - and it is all about cake! Their cake - was circular and had dots, so it is perfect for the circles theme this week!

May Flowers

2011-05-16T10:59:00.001-05:00

A few months ago I got a call from an old friend asking me if I would shoot her wedding. She was originally planning on getting married this August but got accepted into grad school and she and her soon to be husband were packing up and moving to Boston - so they moved up the wedding...to MAY. Moving up the wedding was one thing, but they completely changed venues etc as well. The original wedding was going to be a full reception etc, then the May wedding was going to be small, no party just dinner at a restaurant, then changed to a different venue with a full reception at Hotel Derek. I could not imagine doing all of that in such a short amount of time - oh and I failed to mention she was doing all this planning from Memphis - but her wedding turned out beautiful!

Gwen and I have known each other since we were about 3-4 years old, and I was so happy that she asked me to capture her special day. Her original photographer was not available on her new date so she asked me and I could not have been happier.

I will share more images from their day, but here is a shot from before the ceremony, the bride and her beautiful flowers!

Black and White Wednesday - Mr. Joseph

2011-05-03T23:23:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I had my Children's Spring Fling shoot at Hermann Park. The day was hot - note to self: bring sunscreen next time you do this but I had a great day shooting some adorable kiddos. My first session of the day was with the very sweet Joseph and big sister Avery. He had the sweetest little smile, and loved the train that passes by in the park. Here is the handsome Mr. Joseph

Shoot & Edit - Family/Friends - The Edit

2011-04-28T00:23:00.000-05:00

So earlier this week I showed the uber adorable photo of Miss Aubrey demolishing her birthday cake and making the most adorable kissy fishy face ever.

I wanted to enhance the photo a bit so I brought the image into Camera RAW made some minor adjustement on exposure, fill light then brought into my CS5. I made a really slight unsharp mask, adjusted the levels a bit to bring out more the the bokeh in the background then ran Florabella's Halo action and dropped the opacity to around 30% - I can't remember specifically, I really need to get better at saving the psd file or writing down my steps... Hope you like the edit - and that it went from good to WOW!

Here is the SOOC

EDIT

Black and White Wednesday - Brady

2011-04-27T01:16:00.001-05:00

I shared a photo the other day of Miss Aubrey, so it is only fair that I show one of her big brother, Brady - or Superman.

He was a trooper on Saturday and had a fun time jumping off the bench pretending to be Superman. I did not make many of the photos into black and white (I think only 3 total) because all the colors were so pretty and it just did not seem fair - and you know I love black and white.

Happy Easter

2011-04-26T11:55:00.001-05:00

I have not entered in the Trendy Treehouse Shutter Love Tuesday in awhile - either forgot, got busy, or life just got in the way, but I am back this week to share with you a photo of my adorable newphew Evan.

I can't get over how big he and his vocabulary has gotten. Sunday we all went over to my sister and brother-in-laws house for some good food and family time. I also brought over some confetti eggs for Evan - every kid should experience the confetti egg! I hid them outside and Evan had a blast, and found it really funny when all the confetti came out of the egg.

Here he is trying to get him to look at the camera while he was egg hunting. Hope everyone had a great Easter.

Shoot & Edit - Family/Friends

2011-04-25T10:45:00.001-05:00

The shoot and edit theme this week at Jill's blog is all about family and friends. I was going to use a photo of my nephew Evan but I am sharing that later this week, so I opted for a photo of my dear friend Erin's daughter.

This past Saturday we headed out to Old Town Spring and took some photos of Aubrey and Brady. The session was more for Aubrey since she turns the big 1 next week - so hard to believe. I also did her newborn photos too, so its crazy to think a year has passed! She did a fantastic job and had the cutest outfits. Of course the shoot would not be complete without a little cake. This is one of my many favorites from this session - is her face not the cutest thing you have ever seen? Apparently she makes this face a lot when she eats and I am glad I captured it.

SOOC

Spring Fling

2011-04-21T16:31:00.001-05:00

So a few weeks ago I was pushed by a friend to put together a "Children's Spring Fling" a day of mini sessions for kids. This was something I had been thinking about doing for awhile so I thought why not! Since I have started to get my business going I thought this would be a great way to get my name out there. I was just hoping to at least book a couple sessions but turns out I have been able to book 7 out of the 10 slots I have - super excited and cannot wait to do this. Also, for my Houston friends I have 3 slots open, so if you know anyone pass it along!

Before and After - Dalton

2011-04-21T16:02:00.001-05:00

I thought I had shared this photo of the handsome Mr. Dalton - but looking back I had not, so here he is again gracing you with his presence. Him ans his sister Sophia were really great during their session, and I cannot wait to work with them again when I head back to New Orleans.

BEFORE

AFTER

I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend. I will be taking some 1 year old photos of Miss Aubrey and her big brother Brady in Old Town Spring on Saturday then heading to Kingwood on Sunday to spend Easter with my hubs, my parents, sis, brother-in-law, and wonderful nephew Evan.

I Heart Faces - Wind

2011-04-17T11:11:00.001-05:00

The theme for the week at I Heart Faces is all about wind this week. The day I took Haydyn's photos happened to be a somewhat windy out on the beach. I love the look on her face, seems like she is so interested in the beach and ocean.

Before and After - Nick

2011-04-14T11:27:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I headed to Galveston this past weekend to take some photos for a high school friend sons. Their mom wanted some close up shots of their faces, in the original photo Matt has the awkward forced photo, he was totally ready to run back into the water, but Nick had a really cute smile on his face so what I saw this image I thought maybe I could crop Matt out. Sorry Matt! Here is how it turned out:

BEFORE

AFTER

and black and white just because...

Nikon D5000 15-55/2.8

Edited in CS5

Zoomed, then cloned the beach and water to erase the rest of Matt's head

Adjusted levels and curves

Ran Flora Bella's Halo and dropped the opacity to around 30% I can't remember...oops

I Heart Faces - Shadows

2011-04-10T15:35:00.001-05:00

The theme this week at I Heart Faces is shadows. I am now being sure that I make the entry deadline, I missed it last week. Yesterday morning I headed down to Galveston to take some photos of my high school friend Sarah's two sons - Matt and Nick. The shoot started a little shaky, they boys were super shy, but once we went out on the beach they were having a blast. I took my shoes and socks off and joined in on the fun - lots of sand and water later we came away with some adorable images including this one

Week 13 Shoot & Edit - UP! - The Edit

2011-04-07T13:09:00.002-05:00

Time to show you my edit to my UP shot. The original was really flat and definitely needed a pop of color. I am happy with the outcome, even after forgetting where I saved the original edit, redoing, saving over another file, and starting all over again..only to finally find my original edit, it was hiding. Damn you! I am also pretty surprised at how blue the Galveston water looks here, trust me people it is NOT that blue in person...at all! Enjoy!

Don't you think this would be a great advertisement for MetLife? I think so too, haha

SOOC

EDIT 1

Cropped the lovely people to the right

Ran TRA's "Punch Out" Dropped fill and opacity down to 40%

Adjusted Levels a tad

Dodged the Dirigible some

EDIT 2 - Cloned out the Blimp...er Dirigible

Judi

2011-04-05T23:52:00.001-05:00

My brother-in-law lost his mother to cancer tonight.

Her smile could light up a room.

Her positive attitude was infectious.

She was loved.

By many.

You will be missed.

I am glad I was able to give them these images.

Two

2011-04-05T11:37:00.001-05:00

Faith over at Simplicity - My Life in Mostly Pictures photo challenge prompt is all about "two." When I saw this today I knew that I had the perfect photo. When I was in New Orleans a few weeks ago and did some family photos for my cousins co worker, we headed out to City Park. Near where we shot at there are these rocks with these metal numbers on them. We had Sophia sit on the number 4, since she will be turning 4, and we had Dalton sit on the number 2. Dalton has made an appearance over here a few weeks ago, and here he is again. Enjoy!

Week 13 Shoot & Edit - UP!

2011-04-04T13:23:00.000-05:00

This is my first week participating in Jill and Ashley's Shoot & Edit challenge. When I saw the prompt this week my first thought was the movie Up - if you have not seen it, go rent, netflix, or borrow it, its great!

Now for my SOOC shot - this was taken a couple weeks ago when I was in Galveston for Miss Haydyn's first birthday photos. We all looked up and saw this large blimp (or a "dirigible" as my dad says, he taught Evan this word so I guess if a 2.5 year old can use this word so should I right?) just floating along. Apprently I did not get the memo that this thing was flying around the area all weekend. My parents even saw it at their house that is about 15-20 miles away

Here is my SOOC:

Check back later this week for my edit!

I Heart Faces - Best of March

2011-04-04T12:07:00.000-05:00

Best of March for I Heart Faces I think will definitely go to Miss Haydyn, and her snazzy shades. I shared this photo just last week, but I just knew you wanted to see it again.

Before and After - Flowers

2011-03-31T12:36:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share another photo from Sadie and Micah's wedding day with you. Her bouquet was gorgeous, and she also added her grandmothers rosary to it as well. I always love little personal touches like this. I snapped this as we were waiting to walk over to the church for the ceremony.

BEFORE

AFTER

Shot with my Nikon D5000 17-55/2.8 edited in CS5

I did not do too much to alter this photo, I zoomed and cropped a tad and adjusted levels and curves. I added TRA's EZ-Burn and dropped the opacity to 40% to frame the flowers a bit. I did not want to do to much to this photo just wanted to add a little more pop to it since the original was a little flat.

Before and After - Sassy Haydyn

2011-03-24T11:44:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share another photo from Miss Haydyn's first birthday session in Galveston this past weekend. She would not let those sunglasses go, but they totally made this girl the most stylish toddler I have ever seen.

BEFORE

AFTER

Nikon D5000 with 17-55/2.8

Zoomed and cropped

Adjusted curves/levels

Slight unsharp mask

Ran TRA's Burn Out and dropped the fill and opacity to 60%

Ran Florabella's "Timeless" and dropped the opacity to 40%

Miss Haydyn

2011-03-22T23:21:00.000-05:00

For my entry this week for Black and White Wednesday I am sharing a photo from a session I had this past weekend. I headed out to Galveston to take some photos of Miss Haydyn for her first birthday. We found this really cute pavilion that provided some great shade so we shot away. Haydyn at first did not want to give up the car keys, but we quickly replaced them with her Aunts sunglasses, and this was the result....

Could she be stylin any more??

My First Vlog

2011-03-22T23:11:00.000-05:00

Hey guys - this is my first attempt at a vlog. I am also not even sure if my guilty pleasures even count as real guilty pleasures, oh well. Hope you enjoy it!

Also - as I type this, I am watching Teen Mom and will probably watch the Real World tomorrow...another guilty pleasure...

Rings

2011-03-16T20:41:00.001-05:00

I am pretty excited to show this before and after simply because I am pretty happy that I finally got a good ring shot. I always had a problem focusing on rings and I think this shot is my best ring shot yet.

BEFORE

AFTER

I cannot remember all the steps I used to edit this...

Shot using Nikon D5000 with the 17-55/2.8 and SB-600
Edited in CS5
Zoomed and straightened
Rand slight unsharp mask
Adjusted levels and curves
Cannot remember what else...

Mr. Dalton

2011-03-16T17:01:00.000-05:00

This past weekend my husband and parents headed to New Orleans to see family and for the boys annual Oyster Run. My cousin also set up a family shoot for her coworker - so Sunday, after some time change confusion (thank you clouds!) we headed out to City Park to take some family photos of Vanessa, her husband, their daughter Sophie and son Dalton. This shot is right at the end of the session, but his face is priceless here.

Emotion

2011-03-15T12:21:00.000-05:00

As I was going though photos from my first birthday session for Miss Coley I came across this photo. I think this shows that you can get a great photo even if your eyes are not open. I think she looks adorable in this shot. If I remember correctly her mom and Grandma were singing to her, and she thought it was hilarious.

Before and After - The Happy Couple

2011-03-09T21:10:00.000-06:00

Like I mentioned in my previous post - I helped shoot a wedding this past weekend. I am excited to share a few of my favorite shots. I have always loved the whole "veil blowing in the wind" shot - I do not care if it is an "overdone" thing or not, I like it! = ) So here is the happy couple ready to get to their reception.

BEFORE

AFTER

Shot with my Nikon D5000 using 17-55/2.8
Zoomed, cropped and rotated
Adjusted levels and curves
Ran TRA's Cool as a Cucumber and adjusted the fill to 45% and the opacity to 69%
Ran TRA's EZ-Burn and adjusted the fill 53% and opacity to 62%
Ran TRA's Oh Snap and dropped the opacity to 90%
Used slight dodge
Cloned out shadow in background

Black and White Wednesday - A Wedding

2011-03-08T21:09:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I had to opportunity to shoot a wedding with my friend Chris with Loudernow Photography. Sadie and Micah were married in a beautiful Catholic church in Anderson, TX. The bride looked gorgeous and they had a beautiful ceremony. Here is a photo from the ceremony:

Also, do you see that new watermark? Yep - that's me - Fleurish Imagery. With my crazy love of everything fleur de lis I think the name is fitting. I have officially have a logo - thanks to my friend Laurel at Go Against the Grain (check her stuff out here, she rocks) and have started my business. I am excited to see what this new adventure will bring - and if you want you can check out my facebook page too.