THE Interns #3

Whew...well I'm CRAZY late on this simply for the fact that I took a vacation only 2 days after this internship ended and decided to not really touch work until I got back. Smart move for my life, I tell you. Now all recouped and re-energized I've started on the first day of my 4th internship of the summer realizing that I never did a recap of the last! Sad. But it was worth the wait!
This internship was incredible! It was the most girls I've ever had at one time with 5 total! It started feeling more and more so like my family with 6 people in my little apt. But amazingly with our 4 minute "Barlow Clean ups," we kept the place looking like a model home...well sorta;) We started the internship off with a party that I hosted for my friend's new start up company, 615 Creative. They took over my place for the first day and converted it into a spectacular studio party, complete with 9 Fruits smoothies and everything! It made for quite the first day of an internship with late night swimming in our clothes. Definitely the way to break the ice! ha!
These girls were literally from all across the globe, from Oregon to Colorado, and Maryland to Mississippi, as well as Germany by way of New York! INSANE! I loved picking up each girls' different accent...down to the way one of the girls Katelyn says "mountain." Everything in her accent was normal except for that...we LOVED it and laughed many times about it! Plus, throwing in a German accent girl who speaks 3 languages, and a deep South girl, we had many things to laugh about!
These girls are so precious! And made such an impact on my life! They were helpful, punctual...WOKE UP BEFORE I DID! I don't know how that happened! And hilarious to be around...never thought a burping contest would be thrown into the mix of activities that they would want to do! It was amazing.
There were, of course, several insane nights that always seem to happen during the internship. One highlight being taking an air-mattress out onto my balcony at 1 in the morning and people watching the people out by the pool just for the heck of it...then deciding to go down and hang by the pool at 2am. Spontaneity people. It's the best.
One of the last nights we decided to break down and create a music video, there always also seems to be a dress up time where all my clothes and accessories get pulled out of my closet and divied up between people. It always ends up horrendous, but we just can help it! Check the video out here!
ALSO **CLICK HERE for the slideshow**Pictures taken by all of us!

Okkk so onto the girls:


Xenia Berg: Xenia is originally from Russia, who the moved to Germany and then in the past year came to America for an internship out in New York. She is ADORABLE and made me laugh all the time. From her sudden love for Nashville after seeing the beautiful faces and the music to her awesome accent that took me awhile to be able to understand fully without having to have her repeat it a million times. She has such an eye for art and I loved all the creativity that she had throughout the time. She knew what her style was and stuck to it to the full! I'm trying to talk her to moving out here to NASHVILLE! If you agree with me leave her a comment on her blog... Check out her **BLOG HERE**!


Erin Wilson: Erin is precious. She is from Mississippi and has the sweetest southern accent... She was such the momma duck around the house keeping things nice and clean and such a go getter: when I assigned her something she'd be gone for a bit and come back with this incredible creation that she made! I think she'll be teaching her own internship next year!;) I loved every so often this little spark would come in her eye and she'd be the biggest practical jokester....and just plain crazy! I loved that subtle, but not so subtle side of her! I also LOVED how much she adores her family. It makes up so much of who she is and I know she is going to have the sweetest little family in the future! I miss her! Check out her **BLOG HERE**!


Megan Murphy: Ohhh Megan Murphy....she is from Maryland and found me through the beautiful Kristen Leigh who is one of her friends and my very first intern. Megan is such an eclectic person, a girl after my own heart who plays to her own tune as said even in her own words! She was quiet at first, which is definitely how I sometimes start...but after awhile, showed her true colors and was STINKING hilarious... we couldn't stop laughing at her! Her words for her business were: Funky, Fashionable, and Classy. So her. So all over the place, but it's like a bouquet! And that's what makes her so great! I loved discovering so many different things about her! Check out her **BLOG HERE**!


Cassidy Nettles: Cassidy, Cassidy, Cassidy! Ha! She has got to be probably one of my most exuberant interns I've ever had! I LOVE it! She wrote to me later last year about wanting to be part of the program; she was so crazy excited about it and couldn't WAIT to sign up! She then started counting down the days every so often on my facebook wall and just couldn't contain herself. I was so happy to find out that she is just like this in person, practically about everything! I love her excitedness for life, her sense of humor, and complete gullibleness. She literally believed almost everything we said in our crazy sarcasm. It was adorable. She has an awesome sense of style and in creating her brand came up with something so beautiful! Check out her **BLOG HERE**!


Katelyn Rich: Katelyn! Ah, Katelyn was my buddy throughout the internship! We hung out so much! When I needed to run errands she would come with me, when I was just hanging on my computer she would just come and sit next to me! I loved it! I'm a quality time person and I'm sure she is too and that means so much to me! Katelyn has such a great heart and passion to really go where God wants her to go! She is leaving for college in Canada in the fall and even though that is going to be challenging balancing both that and her business, she KNOWS that is what she is supposed to do! I'm I'm sure she is going to thrive in it! She also surprised me at how funny she is and has the best crazy loud laugh ever! I just love her and am excited for what she will do in the future! Check out her **BLOG HERE**!

The Kooistra Family

A couple weeks ago I was so honored to do family pictures for my landlord, Paul, and his beautiful family! They were on their way back home to ATL and ended up coming through Nashville so we couldn't help but do a little shoot!
I've now been renting for the past 10 months or so and can definitely say that I am blessed with a great landlord! He's made sure everything has been taken care of over and above! It's so great! After knowing him for awhile and hearing about his family I was SO excited to finally meet them! And boy is Paul one lucky man with 4 girls in the house! It made the shoot super easy to do with these girls working it like they were on a model shoot or something! I loved it! They definitely made me miss my little sisters, so they became my family for the day and we hung out along the Natchez Trace Parkway and out to get Ben and Jerry's! Such a great day!! Check out their **SLIDESHOW HERE** and some of the favorites below!

California Roadtrip

Wow.. so after much teeth pulling persuasion from everyone I've decided to post on this blog of mine. For some reason it's very hard for me to really get anything done if I'm spending time with people I need to assign my daily menial tasks to about 47 different people so that I can be completely present all the time. Unfortunately though my bank account hasn't allowed for that yet so I'm sitting here overlooking all of Santa Barbara on the 4th of July, my friends outside by the pool not letting me come out till I've blogged and my brother not letting me get up to start a dance party until I've typed my heart out.
So lovely world...here it is...I'm out here in California for the week resting all of me and doing nothing but being. It's the most refreshing thing ever!
We flew in Wednesday night into San Francisco and after 6 hours of flying we hopped into our rental car and drove down the coast 6 hours to Santa Barbara and my amazing friend DJ's house. He has this big pimpin' house up on a hill overlooking all of the city and just taking one look out the window will change your life forever. Literally. The past couple days have been spent doing nothing, laughing hysterically until we had no more breath, shopping, sitting by the beach, riding on a sailboat, and having the best conversations! And did I mention I'm doing all this with two of my favorite people, my past interns and now incredible friends: Jamie Delaine and Kristen Leigh! We can literally laugh about nothing or about Kristen's amazing impressions of us or her predictions of what type of guys we'll marry. I don't think anyone else really thinks we are funny but we are our own best comedians so I guess that's all that counts huh?
Today we had the BEST breakfast made by this chef that DJ hired for the weekend: pumpkin-banana pancakes with cinnamon walnuts and whipped cream. Heaven. I think I have to go run 26 miles though to work it off though!
Tomorrow we'll be heading out to Carmel for a night then back up to San Fransisco for a couple days! Definitely the road trip that I've always dreamed about and doing it with some of the best people! Gosh I love my life! I love you all! Sorry for neglecting you. I will be better I promise!

THE Interns #2

Two down, three more internships to go this year! Most people when I tell them about this think I'm purely insane for welcoming 3-5 strangers into my place for 10 days straight. I've gotten the craziest looks and people not even knowing what to say. But to me it's no different from growing up! I would ALWAYS invite new people to randomly come to Chicago to stay at my family's house as well as having constant family or friends coming in all the the time! I thrive off of it for some reason, the entertaining, re-enjoying every new aspect about my city with them, "spotting" celebrities-like we were sitting in a fancy hollywood restaurant, or just staying up until 2 in the morning having dance parties! Who would call this work?? But somehow it has figured itself out to be my JOB! Every new internship seems to be my favorite and seems to get better and better each time, yet I look back and each one has been the BEST if that is even possible....just because of the people that were apart of it. I have no clue how I'm blessed with such amazing interns each time! I've never gotten a "rotten tomato" in the bunch!
So the second time around this year was quite amazing! It was made up of Feuza Reis of New Jersey, Mallory Clark from Alabama, and Elizabeth Shorey from Pennsylvania! It was a little bit of an age difference of 30 down to 19 but for some reason that didn't really come into the picture that much! We thoroughly bonded and after the first week, like I warn EVERYONE of my interns starting out, it got crazy! But you'll just have to see the slideshow for proof of that;)
We did everything from documenting the Nashville Rescue Mission, to the engagement shoot that was the last post, to going to a Hillsong United concert, but most of the time chilling next to the pool at my place or hanging out in the penthouse style-lounge area here working on starting their business! Amazing as it is each time NO ONE comes up with the same ideas and everyone's brand ends up looking completely different! Thank God for personalities!! I was and am SO incredibly blessed by these girls or more fondly known as my little duckling... apparently I was momma duck since they would always end up walking just two steps behind me sort of in line! Classic. They taught me so much about life, love, and my relationship with God. Amazing!
The time ended with prayers, tears, uncontrollable laughing and dancing. It. Was. Perfect.
Check out the slideshow **HERE**

We ended up getting an "everlasting internship necklace"..cheesiness is a necessity to life you know. And the neckless had 5 charms on it... mine being the bird..aka momma duck, a feather meaning wisdom or something like that and the rest are described below:)
Feuza Reis-The heart{her being a wife and mother(what all us other girls were aspiring to be) she gets to love the most and is SO loving!!}:
She tried to apply for the internship last year but I had a crazy age limit and intern limit so we weren't able to work it out...but this year everything seemed to work perfectly and she was able to come! She is orginally from Brazil but has lived here in America most her life now! She is a wife and mother of two adorable little boys and I think she is incredible for letting them stay with a babysitter for almost 2 weeks so she can take her business to the next level so they can be provided for in the very best way possible!! She is such a go getter and just the joy and love and wisdom that she brought into the group was incredible! I love you so dearly Fuze! :)
Mallory Anne Clark-The Pearl{she such a beautiful pearl, sometimes liking to hide in the shell but is much more beautiful out of it!!}:
Mallory is a peacock. She started the week really observing and taking everything in and by the end of the time showed her real beautiful colors in the crazy person that she is. She had the craziest story of how the internship came about for her where she was really praying about getting more into photography and she somehow opened her browser and my internship info popped up! At the exact time she was thinking about wanting to do something like that! I love how God really does work in crazy ways! She is from a tiny little town and for her to step out her comfort zone of what is the "norm" was a big move but such an amazing one! I know she is going to flourish so much!
Elizabeth Anne Shorey-The Diamond{Elizabeth has such a glow about her and she took some pictures of herself that was literally sparkling like diamonds from the sun!}:
Elizabeth, I actually met several months ago when I shot her brothers wedding up in Pennsylvania! She is great friends with my very first intern Kristen Leigh and after hearing what Kristen did decided to come herself!! I'm sooo glad that she graced us with her presence!! She is such a character who comes off really sweet at first but after you get to know her has such a fun personality that you just can't help but love and yet such deep wisdom that makes it a great mix! She is a pastor kid as well and from a large family so we had a ton in common and a lot to laugh about!!

Soo that about wraps it up!! I just TODAY started my next internship with 5 more girls!! Quite the crowd but SOOO fun!! :)

Megan & Johnny ::: Engagement

Last week while the interns were here(which I'll post about them TOMORROW!) we did a photoshoot for my neighbors, Megan and Johnny! These two were some of the very first people I met here in my building and made me feel so welcome as I knew no one around here or anything! They are so sweet! They are getting married next year in Jamaica so while we were talking one day I thought oh my goodness, you two would be such great models for the internship! They were such pros posing in front of the 4 of us while we shot around our building and we were even allowed to shoot up in some of the model units which was a big time SCORE! Check out the slideshow **HERE**

Jenny & Tony ::: Wedding

Ahh! It has taken me two weeks to get this blog post together and two reasons it has not gotten up until now...1.The minute I finished shooting the wedding I headed home with interns waiting for me to start the 10 day internship program. 2. This wedding was BEYOND incredible so much so that I took almost 4000 photos which I normally max out around 2500 or so.. but Jenny and Tony planned this day so impeccably that I couldn't help but keep the shutter button down almost the whole day!
When I first heard from Jenny about possibly shooting her wedding I was so thrilled as we have so much in common, she just kept discovering more and more of what we had in common from my blog and such so that when we finally met in person with Tony and my sister Natalie all four of us became such fast friends! That is my kind of business! :) We did their engagement session last summer, which would have to be up there with the top engagement shoots I've done! It was ridiculous that yet again we just couldn't stop shooting! You can check that 6 hour shoot out **here**!! Anyways back to the wedding!! I brought along two of my past interns, Cassie Schott and Laura Dart who both have incredible eyes for photography! (I snuck a few of their pics in the slideshow cause it just made it complete;) We shot for about 11 hours starting at Cantigny were the girls were getting ready in a little cottage in the woods that was just precious!

We then headed to the ceremony at College Church in Wheaton where their guest packed out the place! I don't think I've shot a wedding with that many people! Amazing!


Right afterwards they had a fun casual lunch reception for everyone who came. It was so great and personal...kinda felt like a talent show or something with a TON of their friends coming up and singing or making slideshows or videos and even Tony playing piano and singing to Jenny! It was perfect.
Later on, after a fun afternoon of pictures at Cantigny they had the traditional Korean Tea Ceremony... this was the second one that I've shot and am always so fascinated by it! I LOVE culture! They then transitioned into a formal dinner reception for their closer friends and family! Whew. It was quite the day but one not soon to be forgotten!!! Jenny and Tony I love you both so very much! I'm so blessed that God has brought you two into my life! Your love for each other and those around you is mind blowing!! God bless your future together! :):)

Check out the ***SLIDESHOW HERE***

Michelle & Josh ::: Engagement

Two weeks ago while I was in Chicago I shot Michelle and Josh's engagement pics! I hadn't been downtown Chicago in almost a year and I had missed it soooo much...I didn't even realize!! We met at Grant Park by the HUGE fountain and walked around finding crazy tunnels and beautiful piers to shoot at! I was sooo glad to get to know these two, which is why I swear so much by doing these engagement/get to know you shoots because having this time to hang out before the wedding is SO much fun!! I can't wait to shoot their wedding in August! Should be a blast! Check out their pics below or ***CLICK HERE*** for the slideshow!!






Definitely "favoritist" photo of the day...haha! With halos and all!