First of all, last week was my birthday and…I got engaged! You can imagine my excitement since I am constantly around brides and everything involving weddings and now it’s my turn to be a bride! I am thrilled and cannot wait to marry Ivan! We have not set a date yet…but for now here’s a picture of us from back in February:

Wait, what’s that at the bottom of my picture and at the top of this blog? It’s a NEW LOGO! I have wanted a new logo for quite some time now, and I finally took some action and hired a professional to help me out! For anyone who’s wondering who designed it, it was done by Rose with Bittersweet Design Studio. Her website is http://www.designbybittersweet.com – you should check it out, because her work is fantastic! I am thrilled to be using this logo from now on. I will miss my little polka dots (maybe some of you will, too) but I love the sophisticated, modern look that this one has. Not to mention it has a cushion cut diamond included in my name! Every girl loves a little sparkle . My engagement ring also has a cushion cut diamond, and I love it!

Another thing I wanted to share is the WINNER from my Click2Houston contest…I asked everyone to vote (thanks for those who did!) and offered a prize to those of you who wrote a review for me. I got tons of reviews – thanks to everyone who took the time to write them! The winner was chosen at random using random.org, and I am proud to announce that Natalia is the winner! Congrats Natalia..I’ll be emailing you to let you know and you can claim your prize. In case you’re wondering how I did in the contest, I consistently checked throughout the voting process and was at 7th until they hid the final results. 7th out of about 100 nominees…I am a happy camper! Thanks again for voting!

Lastly…my poor blog has been so neglected, but I promise I won’t neglect it much longer. I have 5 weddings to post and countless more sessions…so stay tuned!

I am so excited to be a part of Wish Upon A Wedding! This organization provides weddings for people who are facing life threatening illnesses and have been diagnosed with less than three years to live. It’s refreshing to know that I can do something to help! The Houston launch party was on Wednesday night and it was awesome seeing how many wedding professionals came out to show their support for a wonderful cause like this one. To learn more, go to http://wishuponawedding.org/.

The food and hors d’oeuvres were fantastic! One of my favorite things were the truffles by Cakes by Gina.

How divine is this bar? And the linens!! The ruffles make me swoon. Done by Events in Bloom and Over the Top Linen.

And lastly, a couple of photos of me with friends! On the left is Kelly Balfour with Eventology Weddings (she did an amazing job planning the party!!), and on the right is one of my assistants, Kim!

I thought I would share a couple of my personal images from my trip to Mexico for Meghan and Wayne’s wedding! The Zoetry Resort had a bird lounge with beautiful parrots…I don’t think I’ve ever seen a parrot this close up, but aren’t they cute? It made me want a pet parrot! My beautiful friend Janell came with me (we decided to ditch our boyfriends and spend a girls weekend together! ) and we took full advantage of the gorgeous view to snap some shots of each other while we were on the beach. Before we left to catch our plane, I told Meghan and Wayne I wanted to get some quick shots of them on the beach too, so I included a couple at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

That’s me on the left and Janell on the right. We love cute dresses.

Can you imagine waking up to this view in the morning? I LOVED it!

Thanks Janell for snapping this one of me!

My resulting shot:

Before this workshop, I went in without any expectations because this was the first workshop of its kind and I really didn’t know what would happen. I knew that I would meet other Christian photographers, but I had no idea how it would affect me. Well…let me tell you…it affected me a lot. Over the span of a few days, I learned a lot about myself. The word that kept coming to my mind was “selfish”. I am such a selfish person. I don’t consider myself to be a competitive person, but with photography I am. I turn into this little competitive monster that wants to be the best photographer and the one that all the brides and grooms want to choose to photograph their wedding. I wanted to be the best, and I wanted everyone else to think I was the best too. Some of you out there may be thinking, “What’s wrong with that? Being ambitious is a good thing.” No…this is not the kind of ambition I want to strive for. Selfishly, I wanted photography to be MY talent and didn’t want anyone else to be able to do what I could do with a camera. All along in my head, I thought “God blessed me with this talent, and I’m using it for others.” Sure, I wanted to serve others by giving them beautiful photos. But my heart wasn’t in the right place. I would hesitate to help other people that were exploring a career in photography because I was afraid that somehow they’d be better than me and steal all my brides! Thinking back on this egotistical, cowardly attitude is a little embarassing.

You see, it’s not all about who’s the “best” photographer, who can get the best angles, the best brides, the best weddings, the best lenses, etc. It’s about using this God given talent to reach other people and allow them to see the beauty that He sees through me. God is the creator of creativity…how could I think that I’m doing this all on my own? It’s impossible to try and succeed all on your own, but nothing is impossible with God (see Matthew 19:26). I guess what I’m trying to say is, photography isn’t about me. It’s about God, and showing other people the beauty in the celebrations of life that I am blessed to participate in because of Him. All this competitiveness that was stored up inside of me is useless and a waste of time to get caught up in. I am rejoicing that God blessed others with the gift of creativity, especially in photography, because I have met some amazing photographers and I can’t imagine where my life would be now if I hadn’t had the opportunity to meet them.

I also want to thank Ginny Corbett, Lauren Clark, and Erik Clausen for putting the workshop together! I’m so blessed that I was able to be a part of it!

The next few photos are from our nature adventure!

We got snowed in for a couple days! My second shooter Kim and I went outside to play with everyone .

Thanks Kim for taking this picture of me

Alison Holcomb braved the cold to be our model for a little bit!

Jenny Beck and Lauren Clark! We took turns sliding down a hill in trash bags and cardboard boxes.

Kim took this one too . Megan Greathouse, me, and Lauren Clark!

Pretty Jenny!

Love these pictures of Kim . She’s not only my second shooter, but a really awesome friend!

Here’s Erik (Poser) showing us what he does best! The pretty lady on the right is Rebekah Hood (Kallima Photography).

Gorgeous Andrea!

This is Maria…she is so amazing. I loved listening tot her and I’m so excited to see what God is doing in her life.

Jason Mize – he took my photo at the workshop and I loved it! If you’re my friend on Facebook it’s my new profile picture.

Allison Davis workin’ it! She is such a sweetheart!

This is right outside of our cabin. Can you believe the view? Thanks again Alison Holcomb for being beautiful!

Other photographers not pictured here…Kelly Hornberger, Chelsea Giles, Kasey Boatright, Allison Ballinger, Clary Pfeiffer, Leslie Harris, Nicki Smith, LaRae Russell, Glendon Tang, Christopher Luk.