Photographer in Northern Virginia

BIRTHDAY PICTURES!!

My amazing friend Ashley just had her birthday on Sunday. Clearly we were very excited about her big day...

We also did some birthday pictures of her, just for fun. Doesn't she look amazing!!

Ash, I love you to pieces. I hope your day was everything and more you could have wanted. Here's to a year of new adventures and special surprises!! Love you!

Will has been out of town for a month.
Both dogs have been sick for the past week.
It's been rainy and gloomy for days.

Today:
I woke up with my husband next to me in bed.
The dogs are feeling much better.
This morning I sat in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee with the window open and the warm breeze and sun blowing in to wake me up.

All is right with my world again.

I love my family. They bring such joy to my life. I am so grateful.

:-) Have a wonderful weekend!
Stacey

Birthday Girl

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friend Jennifer!!!

~~~~~

I just love this picture of her and her goofy girls.

And here we are in all of our Hawaiin beauty! :-)
Jennifer and I met about 12 years ago and have been best friends ever since. She is beautiful, talented, loving, hilarious, a faithful friend and I couldn't love her any more than I do. Jennifer, you are amazing and I hope you have the perfect birthday! (Maybe Brett will surprise you with tickets for the 4 of us to go back to Hawaii!!! Hahaha!! Hey, we can dream!)

Feeling the Love

Will and I spent this weekend visiting "The City of Brotherly Love," Philadelphia, PA.


Even with all the history to see and city to explore, I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that the first item on our agenda was to seek out THE original Philly cheese steak restaurant!

Pat's King of Steaks was the original...

...and we'd be willing to bet that it's still the best!

After we fed ourselves (and, yes, I did eat that entire thing!!), we walked down to the historical part of the city and saw Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed) and the Liberty Bell.


It was a wonderful weekend! And now, Sunday night, time to start preparing for another work week. Hope you had a great weekend as well!

Pearls and Fur

On our wedding day, Ms. Lesley from The Paw Keeper's Inn kept Bailey and was kind enough to drive her out to the vineyard where we got married for pictures. I just learned yesterday that Lesley has yet to see any of the sweet photographs from that day....so this is for her! :-)

Bailey was very excited to wear her pretty pearl necklace. She's such a lady!

I can only imagine she was looking around those rolling hills thinking of the fun she could be having if she wasn't stuck there taking pictures!

Ms. Lesley, thank you so much for being so sweet to us. You and Karen really do provide such a wonderful service to us dog lovers who can't/won't settle for anything less than the best for our little ones!

Work or Stay Home in Bed?

Most every morning while we are getting ready for work, we can turn around and find this scene in our bed...

Bailey is queen of locating the biggest pile of pillows to prop her head up on. The blanket? Well, I'm pretty sure the blanket fairy covers them up. And they don't seem to mind! :-)


I often ponder this question...go to work or stay at home in bed?? Clearly reality always sets in and I power through to make it in to work, but I sure wouldn't mind staying home to snuggle with these comfy munchkins every once in a while!

Random Me

I saw another blog this week where the author put together a list of some of the random things about her. I thought it was entertaining and realizing that I'm full of random traits, thought I'd give it a go....

• I have been drinking coffee every morning since I was in jr. high. It's become such a comfort routine for me. It makes me think of my Mom and our morning coffee and talks together.
• I can't go into a store and buy only one item as it feels like a waste of time (standing in line) and a waste of the swipe of the credit card. Even if I love the item, but can't find anything else that I have to have, I'll walk out empty handed.
• I cannot stand dishes or anything at all in our kitchen sink. It drives me crazy.
• I make lists for EVERYTHING. Sometimes I make them just so I can cross off things that I've already completed.
• I can't swim -- I can't even tread water or float on my back. And yet thanks to my brother Russ who taught me to waterski, I love being in the water and have learned to trust the life jacket. Thank goodness because I can't imagine missing out on amazing experiences like snorkeling in Cancun and Hawaii!
• I wasn't a candidate for lasik surgery, so I have contact lenses surgically implanted under my corneas. (Unbelievable!! Let me know if you have questions about it -- I'm a HUGE fan!!)
• I spill. All the time. I'm not picky about what I spill on myself, but coffee tends to be the most common offender.
• When I wear my hair straight, I play with and twist the left side of my hair all day long. When I curl my hair, I don't touch it. Weird.
• I don't take criticism well. I'm such a pleaser and I'm a perfectionist, so if I get criticized, I feel like I've done something wrong and I've let you down. This is a bad trait, I know.
• I could give a speech to a stadium full of people and not get remotely nervous. If a small group of my friends or co-workers, however, throw me a surprise party and make me give a speech, you'll see me turn a million shades of red. The intimate settings make me WAY more nervous.

I'm sure there are MANY, MANY more that I'm just not thinking of right now. I'd be very interested to hear about any of your random-ness...please share!