Mommy Mondays {An Extra Day}

Ahhhh.... We just returned from such a fabulous and relaxing spring break in Jacksonville.

The pool, the beach, the zoo and lots of F-U-N family time :)

Micheli got her first set of water wings and Hudson assisted in her crash course swimming lessons.

After a fun day at the beach we were barely out of the parking lot when the last little set of eyes closed and the ride home was oh-so-peaceful!!!

Even had time to squeeze in a new shorter haircut and a pedi date with my little sis. It was heaven!

It's funny how even after a full week of this splendid relaxation I still needed one extra day to recover from packing, unpacking, repacking, traveling back home and unpacking once again- Agh! But, no worries... after all, that's what Mondays are made for.

Happy Monday!

Sneak Peek: Jan McCray Flemmons, P.L.

Jan is bubbly, sweet and ohhh soooo funny! I was thrilled when she contacted me to create a fun shoot that debuted her new office in Fernandina Beach as well as updated headshots for her website. Specializing in Family and Marital Law as well as Estate Planning and Business Incorporation she has a very unique personal approach with all her clients (love that!).Our goal was to keep it fresh, professional but above all else express her personality. We had such a great job in her beautiful office filled with the comforts of home in every corner and drenched in natural light- definitely a very welcoming environment (not to mention all the fun Jan had decorating-yay!)

Ok, enough talk...here's some more gorgeous images of Jan- She is lovely from the inside out and without a doubt a wonderful lawyer and person, the kind we all need whether for planning for our family and business's future or a as simple as wills and trusts if there is anything you may need... please contact her :)
Thanks Jan for a wonderful time and all the laughs ;)

Blessings of a Baby Sister

Within all the hurry and rush of everyday life we all balance the fine line between managing deadlines, family time and never ending to-do lists. Thankfully, among other things I have an awesome baby sister who insisted on me scheduling some time to take off with her in beautiful Amelia Island. Her birthday was coming up and I am expecting our third child (a baby girl) and she wanted to celebrate by us going to get pedicures together...

I had every excuse in the book on why I could not and was not particularly excited about a stranger touching my feet (well, the marshmallows that resembled what was once my feet).

However, no matter what my response was she would not take no for an answer. Persistence is something that runs pretty strong in our family and I finally gave in and blocked off the afternoon with her.

As we walked into the salon, I had just decided to relax and not over think it. Which did not work very well in the beginning... but once I realized that the chair I was sitting in was going to also give me a massage for the 40+ minutes I would be sitting there with my feet relaxing in warm bubbling water...AND I would also enjoy a foot and leg massage...well, everything just didn't seem all that bad!

I finally did relax and even upgraded to a manicure while there! I really enjoyed spending time with my little sis and the much needed massage. I am thankful that she was stubborn enough to not let me pass up a wonderful opportunity to take some time and enjoy a few moments without having to rush from shoot to appointment or be consumed with meetings, editing and errands.

Additionally, my outlook on pedicures has forever been changed and I am afraid to admit I may be finding excuses to go get more...just the other day I was meeting a friend for lunch and she suggested she needed one so, I had another :)

Here are some pics of us at the salon and our sassy little manicures...

Before heading home we had some fun at her house and with A...he is such a ham for the camera :) I love this series because it captures the distinctiveness of our personalities...I am pretty calm and conservative (though I have my moments) and she is such a prankster who can find humor in almost any situation!

Reflecting on the day, I realized that God places special people like her in our lives to step in and put a pause to the many things that we let become so important that really (in the big scheme of things) in no way trumps family, love, relationships and the simple moments in life that we spend with the ones we love. It is important to embrace those moments and have some quiet time to think, reconnect and simply relax.Thanks baby sis! I am so thankful for you and it makes me look forward to seeing the blessings that the boys will receive from their baby sister! Love ya :P

Engagement: Stephanie and Brian

We have all heard the love stories- you know the ones…I knew from the moment I saw him/her…Well, this is NOT one of those stories…

Imagine you work in an office, an office with cubicles, an office with different personalities but there is this one guy that you just don’t get, a guy that is mostly quiet but when he does say something to you it just comes out all wrong- even rude at times…Enter Brian into Stephanie’s world... Brian secretly (or, not so secretly) snooped in Stephanie’s cubicle to get a better idea about “the new girl” and eventually grew to have a crush on her. That said, Stephanie did not even have a clue about this until it was brought to her attention from a mutual friend and even then did not believe it. Eventually, however Brian’s charm and unique sense of humor made Stephanie fall in love (now here’s the gushy part) and she quickly found her prince charming! Stephanie and Brian met at Coach (yes, ladies- that Coach!) and have an absolute blast working together. In addition to working at Coach, Stephanie is also a wedding planner, so we both had a WONDERFUL time talking about the details of their wedding and engagement session.

They live on Amelia Island (Fernandina) and really wanted to incorporate that and their two (beautiful) retrievers, Elle and Emma! We also filmed a little love story for Stephanie and Brian to incorporate into the wedding festivities and to create a unique way to introduce and preserve their story. We came up with some questions and I played the part of the interviewer (loved it!). It was so sweet to hear them talk about how they met and how they feel about the future and one another. Ed Roy manned the camera and we will be incorporating images from their session into their love story (so stay tuned).

Thank you so much for letting us get to know the two of you and spend such a wonderful Saturday morning with you both (well, you five...can't forget Elle, Emma and mom)