I’ve been holding onto it and not blogging it partly because of valid excuses like Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the hectic, wonderful times that go along with holidays… but I’m also just being a baby. Like the way my Little Monster scrunches his eyes shut so tight and twists his body away any time I start a sentence with “Hey buddy…” cause he knows that will be followed with some horrible fate like “it’s time for lunch” or “it’s time to go potty” or “it’s time to clean up.” By trying REALLY HARD to not look at or think about writing this post I can try REALLY HARD to pretend that I still live three doors down from these beautiful friends of mine.

Meet Matt and Shelly and their kids Rowan and Lucia.

It was so hard and so wonderful to even write this post. I miss these faces so much. I just want to bear hug my computer monitor until all my friends pop out. Since technology isn’t quite there yet I will just bid you adieu as I awkwardly climb onto my desk and hold a machine.

p.s. Aside from the annoying we-haven’t-mastered-teleportation thing, isn’t technology so sweet? Soooo thankful for e-mail, Instagram, and hundreds of treasured images stored in my computer and hung on my walls of the friends I’ve met and grown to love in each setting of my life.

I have always hated New Year’s Resolutions. They just seem so… arbitrary. What is it about last Tuesday that is ANY DIFFERENT than last Monday? Why is January 1 any better than, say, January 11 or May 14 to make changes to your life, to my life?

Of course there is nothing significantly different- people just associate the first day of the calendar year with a fresh start- but that gets under my skin. I get it and I know why and it makes sense, but I hate it.

I think that line of reasoning is all fine and good, until you get here. Here’s the problem. The problem is saying, “I could declare resolutions any day I want to, thankyouverymuch!!” but then never actually doing it. If you don’t make resolutions ANY day of the year (yes, that would be me), you really can’t hate on those who happen to choose January 1st. At least they chose a day. At least they started.

This year, my “resolution” (as declared on January 7) is to keep making resolutions all year long. To see areas in my life that need adjustment and to start right then and there. But I don’t even mean grand, sweeping declarations. I mean daily, hourly resolutions. To resolve to be more patient in the last forty-seven minutes before nap. To resolve to keep the kitchen clean. To resolve to take the dog on an extra walk. And then to resolve it again tomorrow when I don’t do it today. Really, my whole rambling point here is grace, I guess. Knowing I’m not perfect, knowing I can consciously make better choices, knowing I will mess up, and know that it’s not a failure to start over.

Look, I even took a picture of myself to prove how serious I am.

Okay, not really, I took this picture one day for no reason at all. I have never attempted self-portraiture and thought I would give it a shot. I chose an ideal moment right after finishing a run on the beach when I was good and sweaty and happened to have my camera in the trunk of my car. It was an impulse, forgive me.

Taking a self portrait is incredibly awkward and weird but also very interesting. I might do it again. It’s also really fun when strangers walking the beach keep offering to take your picture cause you look like such a weirdo doing it yourself. Maybe that was my favorite part. I think it really freaked them out.

So anyway, here’s to a year of making resolutions whenever we want to. And messing up and starting again. And making people feel uncomfortable. Happy Monday.

I’m laying low until January 7, so if you need to reach me you’ll just have to wait until next year. : )

Merry Christmas!

If you recognize William, and Nakeeah, and Ava, it’s probably because they fill my camera with their gorgeous smiles every year (see 2010 and 2011.)

I’m slowly coming out of my turkey coma and catching up- one more fall session coming to the blog soon!

I spent the whole beginning of fall mourning the loss of foliage. There are a few color-changing trees around here at the beach but we are predominately pine and palm trees. I was expecting a good showing for our quick October weekend in Baltimore and I got exactly what I wanted.

Laura and her husband Dave and their boys Luke (10) and Nate (7) were originally scheduled for a sunrise shoot, but with heavy skies and threat of morning rain we moved it to the afternoon and I think it worked out even better. The pre-Sandy grey skies made the leaves that much more brilliant and I was a little glad the sun didn’t come out.

I always assume since I have a son I know what boys are like, but my son is two. I have no idea what boys are like. Sure, I grew up with brothers, but RAISING brothers… that’s a different story. Laura and Dave are doing it beautifully. What a fun family!

Watch out world… this girl has her model face down already.

And this was just a mini-session. You would have been reading this blog for DAYS if we had done a full lifestyle session. I laughed and told Beth (her mom) that I was done in eleven minutes. Seriously, Charlotte was about as perfect as they come. Hope I get to photograph the next sweet sibling in the spring…!

Her name is Daye. She lives in Atlanta. She has the most genuine, warm, beautiful parents named Sally and Taylor. She really likes Goldfish. Her little peacoat makes me squeak. She makes some really awesome expressive faces. I’ve looked forward to meeting her since she was born a year and a half ago. She did not disappoint. I am long on words and short on time… but I loved every minute with these three.

I know this next one is kinda random. It’s not a shot that should normally be in a finished gallery, much less on a blog… but somehow it caught me and I like it.

A definite fave. Looks like trouble.

This makes me sound like I’m 80 years old, but she is such a doll.

I absolutely LOVE reading Sally’s personal blog cause she is always adding captions to her pictures of what it looks like Daye is saying. They are always hilarious and perfect. In light of that, this one says, “Guys, I hafta tell you… the FUNNIEST thing just happened!!”

Shooting portraits for this family was an absolute honor. Call me a cheeseball, but it was. Sally’s friendship over the past year has been a true gift to me- this girl is a fountain of wisdom and encouragement. Sally actually won the sharing giveaway earlier this year… I’m so thrilled we FINALLY coordinated time to make this happen. Now if only we could do something about the five-hour commute and I could play with that baby girl on a regular basis.

But here we are, basically neighbors, dropping our boys off in the same Sunday school classroom. Life is crazy. My Little Monster wakes up almost every morning asking to “go Miss Nee houws.” And even though we’re not in the same neighborhood and have different lives and schedules and don’t see each other every day, I think I would be totally lost without this family as we adjust to our new life here. We may have unpacked the last box months ago, but this life still feels very new and unfamiliar and it’s just nice knowing they are there.

I think most of Hilton Head Island would agree that they are pretty awesome. Seriously, they are probably some of the most loved people I have ever met.

All of our past photo sessions (here’s last summer) have required such coordination and scheduling and traveling… it was so funny to just choose an afternoon and meet at the beach.

If you’ve never met them, I recommend it. This is Keely (6), Macey (5), Kres (3), and Wes (2).

Love these last two as we were headed back to the cars. Wish I’d take another 500 right here.

We’ve never lived in the same city, but somehow we manage a photo session every year anyway (2010, 2010 again, 2011). They’ve been with me since I first started my business. Group hug!

This time around we ended up on Tybee Island in Georgia. If you’ve been reading for long I am sure you will recognize John Dickson and Henry as some of the best-dressed children in all the land. I can thank Amanda for getting me hooked on Janie and Jack early in my baby boy’s life.

I die.

And then come back to life and immediately die again. More cuteness than a human heart can handle.

My favorite family shot. I just love it.

But these next two would definitely be blown up side by side in my house. I mean, if they were my kids. Maybe even if they weren’t.

We had basically no light left and the boys were like little timebombs about to self-destruct just off to the side, but dangit we were going to get a shot of Adam and Amanda together, and for whatever reason I really like how this turned out. All blue and grainy and neat.

We left this beach absolutely covered in sand. All of us. I mean SO MUCH SAND. And it was so worth it. If I measured the success of a photo shoot in the amount of sand that I later found in my pants this one would get top scores.

I know this was short on narration and long on pictures, but both last night and this morning my husband had to tell me my shirt was on backwards. It’s just one of those weeks. Weekend, here I come!

(A few) quiet moments

In this moment, Daddy is the safest place

The moment when the ocean greets you with its vastness

The moment you get wet- and you’re not in your swimsuit

Joyful moments

The moment that being two is the most fun in the world

An afternoon full of moments you never want to forget.