GRATITUDES + BREAKTHROUGHS // MAY 17, 2016

Gratitudes

Meetings, meetings and more meetings! Why would I be so grateful to have a schedule packed with meetings? Well, I was fortunate enough to sit and meet with other industry professionals and talk shop. I really do love being a small business owner, setting my own hours and working from home. Working from home has so much freedom – insert t-shirt + underwear wardrobe, not showering, brushing your teeth after 2pm and drinking entirely too much coffee – but it also means I don’t have any human interaction all day long. I sit and talk to Ava (my pup) who looks at me like I’m crazy and I’ve begun talking to my boyfriend’s cat Tom Burgeron. So when I do have the opportunity to meet other people I try to meet-up I try to set-up a meeting it’s usually around my editing schedule. This week I met with Sarah Beth of Photos By Sarah Beth, she’s a D.C. wedding photographer that I met online. She was trying to learn how to shoot on medium format film and I let her borrow my Mamiya 645. We met for coffee + a late breakfast so I could scoop up my camera and get to know each other better. Her photographs are amazing and she has so much wisdom especially within the industry, it was nice to make a new friend! I also go to sit down and share coffee and conversation with Liz Miller, she’s a Berryville based make-up artist and hair stylist. We were recently connected through a mutual industry friend, Liz has a fierce style and a warm heart. We are cooking up something a little bold and amazing for her business. Finally on Friday, I shared another cup of coffee and admired the brand new home of Stephanie Messick. She’s been a long time friend and being able to see her brand new home, totally decorated in her style was special. She has such a vision for design and anything that is ascetically pleasing to the eye – her home is gorgeous!

Friday night my sisters and I got together to officially celebrate Mother’s Day; as a note my family always celebrates birthday and holidays late – always. This past year we had a lot of family milestones, one marriage, one home purchase, two sisters moving out and in a month another wedding. Trying to schedule any family celebration is almost comical with how complicated it gets with travel (northern Virginia traffic), work schedules and more. After a million texts on the sisters chat thread we pulled it together. It was so nice sitting outside on the deck while the hot dogs and burgers sizzled catching up with each other. We as a family are close, texting on a thread all day every day, but nothing beats that face-to-face interaction.

Thursday I worked on a styled shoot for the lovely Julie Abrera of Beaumont House Design. Julie is an incredibly talented floral designer. She loves foraging and a naturally chic look and this shoot was exactly that. Above you’ll find a sneak peak of a bouquet she designed specifically for this shoot. She was inspired by her mother’s wedding dress and the lace jacket that went with it. I’ll be sharing more of this shoot in the weeks to come!

Surprise! Another polish change and this week needed the color red. I scooped up the red from the new OPI Coca-Cola Collection – obviously called Coca-Cola Red. It’s bright + bold, and matches the famous brand perfectly! I had a long week last week with meetings everyday, plus a styled brand shoot and a belated Mother’s Day celebration and baby shower. I was feeling run down over the weekend and I knew I needed red for the confidence to get me through this week. The rest of the collection is equally as cute, I’m looking to scoop up the neutral You’re So Vain-illa. Check it out, super cute stuff!

Breakthroughs

Again, I want to continue to keep this space authentic so I’m going to pass on a breakthrough this week. I have a few things brewing but I’m not comfortable sharing yet. Stay tuned.

As always, thanks for reading. xoxo.