little kicks

baby converse.

i loves it.

lover of the light

I love light.

Doesn't it look so whimsical?

I love this event space, that's part of Elephants Delicatessen in NW Portland.

I shot a reception here last month and the view from the outside in was absolutely lovely.

It just looks so warm and cozy inside and I love all things warm and cozy.

maddox

Little Maddox is growing up.

I had a ton of fun on Sauvie Island with these guys today.

The weather was a-mazing.

eyes

beautiful eyes.

erika & will

little loves

a grand exit

they've got a love that sparkles

(i know, i know, i'm so cheesy. i just can't help myself)

the lovely hjelmervik's

just started editing my dear friend courtney's wedding, and had to post this little gem.

a gaggle of girls

i am so stinkin' blessed to work with such amazing and inspiring women.

the sea

"the cure for anything is salt water: tears, sweat, or the sea."

mother nature

i love being in the woods.

and standing in the midst of tall tall trees.

i like to feel small and remember that i am just one tree in an entire forest.

my life is just one glimpse of a much greater story being told.

joy

"I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It's probably the most important thing in a person." -Audrey Hepburn

acts of love

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou

lovers in the light

i am still recovering from shooting two weddings in one weekend.

just started the long process of editing a bazillion photos.

i just loved this one and that yummy light.

i love sunshine.

secret life of bees

My friend Erika had pinatas at her wedding last month.

I thought it was the cutest idea, because who wouldn't want a wedding pinata?

I loved them and loved the hive and honeybee idea.

It got me thinking about my favorite book, The Secret Life of Bees, so I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes with you :)

"I hadn't been out to the hives before, so to start off she gave me a lesson in what she called 'bee yard etiquette'. She reminded me that the world was really one bee yard, and the same rules work fine in both places. Don't be afraid, as no life-loving bee wants to sting you. Still, don't be an idiot; wear long sleeves and pants. Don't swat. Don't even think about swatting. If you feel angry, whistle. Anger agitates while whistling melts a bee's temper. Act like you know what you're doing, even if you don't. Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved."

"Drifting off to sleep, I thought about her. How nobody is perfect. How you just have to close your eyes and breathe out and let the puzzle of the human heart be what it is."

"And when you get down to it, Lily, that is the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love but to persist in love."

"Now and then sprays of rain flew over and misted our faces. Every time I refused to wipe away the wetness. It made the world seem so alive to me. I couldn't help but envy the way a good storm got everyone's attention."

"some things don't matter much. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart--now, that matters. The whole problem with people is...they know what matters, but they don't choose it...The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters."

"I will not wait to love as best I can. We thought we were young and that there would be time to love well sometime in the future. This is a terrible way to think. It is not a way to live, to wait to love." - David Eggers

like the tide

Love is tricky. It is never mundane or daily. You can never get used to it. You have to walk with it, then let it walk with you. You can never balk. It moves you like the tide. It takes you out to sea, then lays you on the beach again. Today's struggling pain is the foundation for a certain stride through the heavens. You can run from it, but you can never say no. It includes everyone.

-Amy Tan, The One Hundred Secret Senses

evening sun

"To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides."

-David Viscott

twilight

love this time of day

you really can't beat those deep blues and calm waters

we are made of love

We are made of love,

And all the beauty stemming from it.

We are made of love,

And every fracture caused by the lack of it.

grace in your heart and flowers in your hair

"With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair"

I did a shoot for one of my co-workers this week. Allison designs dresses and then sews them-and they're amazing. She's amazing. These are just a couple, but I loved the flowers and messy hair.

Mary Oliver

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

Mary Oliver

Cylis

My nephew Cy is growing up.

sigh...

(pun intended)

He's so handsome already.

I love this kid.

So much.

"Farther Along" - Josh Garrels

I am loving the new Josh Garrels album. You can get it for free right here. He's a true lyricist and songwriter. I'd be embarrassed to admit how many times I've listened to this song on itunes already. Okay, I'll tell you, 94 times, THAT'S how good it is.

If you know what's good for you, you'll go download it right this second.

Then listen to the song called Ulysses. Because that song , whew, THAT song hits me at the core of my very being.

*sigh*

What would I do without music?

It's the equivalent to those all-comforting two words "me too". To know that others have thought my same thoughts and been through what I've been through, that's worth everything and somehow makes going through the hard stuff just a little bit more bearable and little more hopeful.

mark and courtney

i just love these two together.

just perfectly so.

sweet love

so many cute ones of ben and dacia.

LOVE karyn's hair

Somehow a few pictures I snapped while getting ready for my lovely friend Karyn's wedding went missing until just yesterday.

She had the most beautiful hair.

Just look at it.

I loved it, so much.

Hair by Heather B. Simon at Tribe Studio, located in Portland, OR.

ben & dacia

I'm really excited for these two.

They are beautiful people inside and out and the way I've seen them both serve the people and community around them just blows me away.

I couldn't be happier for them.

I had so much fun shooting their engagement pictures last weekend out on Sauvie Island.

We had fun scouting out places and thinking of fun ideas.

I'm not done editing yet, but I had to share a couple with you all.

:)

Life in Camp Hope

As I type this, the team that's headed to Camp Hope are running around checking things off their "to-do" lists and counting down the number of sleeps until Haiti.

I won't be joining them this time and it kills me; it literally aches in my heart.

I just want to be with them and joke with them and experience joy with them.

But it will have to wait, and until then I will be with my people here and joke and experience joy here, and wait until I can go back again.

Enough, whining.

I am thrilled to be sending down the second half of our portrait project to the camp.

In February, Carly and I went from tent to tent capturing the lives and faces of the residents of Camp Hope and promising them a portrait of their family to keep.

This is the awesome part of it too. Something that was intangible and a possible false promise from a couple American girls will become a beautiful tangible gift for these families.

I don't have loads of money to give away but I do have a camera and time, so that's my gift.

It's a small gesture, but I know they will be so grateful for it.

That makes me happy.

maddox

Is he not the cutest?

This is Maddox, my friend Janine's little nephew.

He's such a cutie and a lover of the camera.

I bet he'll be a model someday.

Can I just say how much I love those newsies hats?

I love them, so much.

I think all little boys should be required to wear them.

Actually,

I think boys of all ages should be required to wear them.

just beachy

Our home community spent the weekend at the beach for a retreat last weekend and oh my, it was so lovely and relaxing.

We spent the day on the beach playing some volleyball, walking in the sand, playing makeshift badminton, finding shells, playing horse shoes and all kinds of beachy things.

And we had to make a visit to the local pub/wine bar to watch the Sounders/Timbers game.

Such good times.

I just love these people and the role they each play in my life.

I'm a lucky girl to be surrounded by some of the best ones out there.

photo credit: brian wilkins

photo credit: robyn hossler

photo credit: brian wilkins

photo credit: brian wilkins

photo credit: robyn hossler