The tradition has been going strong, and I’ve been happy to be a part for the past three years. We get a large group together and meet up for dinner to start… this year was the Pittsburgh Steak House and I had crab cakes. I was one pleased Mrs. Claus after that! We then venture around the South Side and cause a little ruckus, but it’s all in the name of Christmas Cheer!!

Originally, the crawl was meant to only include santas, but it has since then grown and now we’re getting all sorts of merry costumes. The highlights this year: Little Cindy Lou, a Christmas Tree, and a Gingerbread Man (hence my facebook profile picture! I stole the head!) These are pictures from our little point and shoots, but you can still tell we had a blast! Even better – we all stopped and had a snowball fight and made snow angels! It was like being a little kid all over again!

An important note: We do not photograph while wearing those sunglasses. That might be dangerous. We also do not hold our cameras by the flash units with lens caps on while photographing. That would be silly.

ShutterBooth Pittsburgh

Love any reason to buy fresh flowers for my home.

Cookies and favors. Got to protect from that nasty swine flu!

The spread and the ladies getting everything organized. We do “shirts, pants, and dresses” in order to keep some order to the chaos.

Started with this (actually, that’s just the “shirts’ pile), and ended with ^^ this! Lots to donate! Until next year, start filling those closets back up!

I’m lame and can’t remember the name of this costume, but it’s some character from an 80′s game. Joe! Comment and remind me!

Beyonce.  She knows the entire “Single Ladies” dance too. It’s quite impressive.

Old school vampire.

Poison Ivy

A lightning bug. Her backside blinked with little lights! Quite impressive.

His mustache is real! REAL!

And last, but not least, and fancy pirate!

Hope you enjoyed the costumes as much as we did! We had a great time! Now on to think about next year’s costume…

Whisking the dry ingredients and making the batter. I like mini-cupcakes!

The cupcakes turned out with this crazy light layer of crispyness on the top , but the insides are nice and moist.  Then on to the icing! We actually had to make home-made caramel for this, which is something I had never done before. Look at that beautiful caramel boil. We’re totally pros. 

Dana was in charge of making the icing, which included an ungodly amount of butter. Seriously. Just eat the cupcake and don’t ask. It’s better that way.

Icing the cupcakes! We were trying to come up with some clever term for all of these cupcakes, which maybe Dana will have something if she blogs this too, but all I could come up with in my “it’s-Friday-I-am-beat-from-the-workweek-and-just-want-to-eat-the-freakin-cupcakes” stupor is: Oh! Ba-can You Sea of Cupcakes. ha!

The finished product! So they may not look like the recipe blog’s cupcakes, but they’re DELICIOUS! You can taste when you get a little piece of bacon in them, and it’s a great salty/sweet contrast! I think we did a great job! These are my adorable little cupcake stands from the Pottery Barn that are generally useless but a total splurge.

Forget this wedding industry! We’re opening a cupcake shop!! Thanks for coming over, Dana. Let’s do it again!

I had such a great time this weekend, and I was glad to be on the other side of the wedding! As a bridesmaid I was able to take in the sights and sounds. I could sit back and enjoy the day without lugging my equipment around. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love what I do! That is for sure! It was just a new experience to be in a wedding as a bridesmaid instead of the photographer. There’s definitely some great things that I learned as a result:

1) THE PHOTOGRAPHER WORKS REALLY HARD. Heck, I know this from doing it, but I don’t think I realized how much work it takes until I’m sitting back and observing! On wedding days I’m totally in the zone, and I am a workaholic when I’m passionate, so I don’t think I noticed how much it’s really taking. Gina’s photographer was great, and I’m glad I was there to help hold some of his lighting and assist when needed (free assistant!!), but I just want to put it out there for everyone else who is not a photographer – we work really hard! (It’s nice to get a hot meal… just sayin’)

2) Spanx are awesome. They hold in all the lumps and bumps. GET SOME here.

3) A cookie table is never over-rated, especially when baklava is involved.

4) Weddings are amazing. There is no other time in your life when everyone you love comes together to celebrate. There’s such warmth, honesty, and friendship surrounding a wedding, and I think it’s impossible to not love them! That’s why I do what I do!!

So, in the end, CONGRATULATIONS to my best friend! I love you like crazy and I am so happy for you!

All the gals:

I love reading Zack Arias’s blog. It’s a great resource. He takes the time to offer critiques of other photographer’s websites, and he has some great points. Today he posted this video and it truly is motivational.

After watching, I have two main thoughts:

1) How many of us so quickly dismiss others who we feel aren’t worth our time? Why are they not worth our time? What prejudice do we have? What pre-conceived notion about them is altering our opinions of their statements – without having listened to what they have to say? I know that I am guilty of this. I will dismiss others at times who I assume just don’t know what they’re talking about, or don’t have something to offer that I want. But after watching this video I’m now thinking that I need to take a step back and allow more of my time to be given to others. I need to listen more. I need to appreciate all of the hard work that others put in. With all of the hard work that I do (full time, busy job + my own business + friends + family + husband), it’s easy to say “Well! I work a lot! And because I work a lot you should want what I have to offer.” But that’s just me. And it’s hard to “knock on those 30 doors” and only have one answer. It can be disheartening. And I’m not the only hard worker in the United States of America. Granted, I never thought for one second that I WAS, but all I’ve learned from this video is to listen. And appreciate. And be grateful for what others can teach you.

2) Patience is a virtue. Oi. I am not good at this one either. Ride in a car with me and you’ll realize that I have very little patience. However, through yoga and conscious effort I have found that I am much, much better than I ever was before with my patience level. Just not on the parkways. So ok, everyday patience I’m not too bad at, with a few exceptions, but long-term patience is where I have much more to learn. Derrick in this video states time and again that nothing he is doing is going to be instantaneous. I admire him for being wholly aware of that. I, sometimes, am not. Sure, I have the confidence I need. I get down on myself sometimes, but I try to always get right back up and look at the positive side of what I am doing. But the long term patience is hard. It’s hard when you know that you want to give. You know what your future can look like. You want your future to be now. It’s so hard not to give in to that and get disappointed when the future isn’t today, but let’s all try to be a little bit more like Derrick. This is a guy that is working hard, appreciates others, and knows that with hard work and a little faith that the success will come.

Gotta have faith.

Kim, Alyssa, and I ventured out to the Strip District upon deciding that a session was actually a possibility.  It had been off and on rainy the whole day and we decided to give it a go – and it was a great decision! We got some awesome moody shots with the sky and I love the results.  We had a fantastic time, and needless to say my dress is going to make it out alive Check out some of the great photos on Kim’s blog.

Here’s a throwback picture (note it was taken in college) of Cody, myself, and some freshman-year friends enjoying a night out! (me – far left, Cody – tall guy, white shirt, Michelle – my best friend, other girl )