Baby Shower Peek

This past week has been a whirlwind of sweet time with dear friends and celebration of my baby girl that I'll get to meet in two months.

Of course, that means less blogging last week and this week. But once you see this sweet little video my dear friend Promise made of my baby shower that my talented sisters-in-law and bff's threw for me you'll see why it was easy for me to leave the virtual world for a moment.

More pictures to come, but I hope you enjoy this little peek into my world.

Thankful

There are SO many things to be thankful for each day let alone each year. One of those things is friendship. I'm so blessed to have such incredible friends! Growing up as an only child, I looked at friends like my family. Actually, I STILL look at my friends like my family.

Last week, one of my best friends in the whole world, Michelle, came to visit me along with her amazing husband Rob (You may remember Rob from all of the menswear posts).

Michelle and I went to high school together, have been in each others' weddings, and continue to remain close.

It was SUCH a sweet time of catching up! And, of course, I had to capitalize on the fact that these two are flippin' adorable and fashionable.

So, Gina Meola (another one I'm SO thankful for) and I put together a southern inspired anniversary shoot.

I styled them with fall and winter colors and clothing in mind. There are SO many southern inspired shoots out there, but they all seem to showcase the stereotypical sundress and jeans. I thought it would be fun to play with something different. A little more Billy Reid-esque, especially since Rob used to work there.

These are just some pics from my measly cell phone camera. I can't WAIT to share with you the finished product!

Until then, you can check out the inspiration board for the project and a sneak peek photo on Gina's blog.

Tina & Gina

Today I feel honored and joyful to share a photo shoot with you capturing two best friends and their love for each other.

Awhile ago, Gina (on the right) told me her best friend was coming to visit from out of town, and she wanted to do something very special for her. You see, Gina and her best friend Tina (on the left), have been friends since middle school. They are now grown women with their own families living in two different states, and through distance and time they have remained very close.

What makes this story of friendship go deeper is that Tina was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer back in February 2010, and Tina has worked very hard against this illness by going through all of the hoops of surgery, chemo and radiation (click here to read more of her story). So when Tina decided to come to visit, Gina did what any awesome friend would do - packed a weekend full of girl time, and this photo shoot was a part of her plan.

So, obviously, I said I would love to help, and I asked one of MY best friends, Jessica Williams of Session Nine Photography, to make some awesome memories for these amazing ladies.

How cool that I got to capture two bff's with one of my bff's?! People - we need to start getting pictures taken with our friends more. I have NO idea why I have not done much of this when friendship is something that is SO important to all of us.

We chose to photograph the gals at Gina's house, and really capture what girls to do best - sitting and talking. I picked a bright red shirt for Tina with a crisp white jacket, and added a pop of turquoise for fun. Gina was already wearing a really cute tunic top and jeans, so we decided to keep her in that. These ladies are already drop dead gorgeous, so it was easy impromptu styling.

I even found two coffee mugs with their two states on them! Perfect prop!

Tina gave Gina a beautiful friendship bracelet  (heck yes, we need to bring those back), and got that on film.

Later, I had them change into dressier outfits, and we went "cool wall" hunting. We found some great ones.

These ladies are SO much fun. I think we just laughed the entire time.

Take some time today to tell your best friends how much you love them. My friends are my family in many ways. I don't know what I would do without them.

Also, I know many of us want to be able to help when we learn of people's life struggles. You can absolutely  help support Tina as she goes through this battle by sharing encouraging words on her blog and/or offering a donation to help her family with this expensive process.