New Things are Happening!

(Just so you know, this picture has nothing to do with my blog.)

I just don't like to write a blog without some kind of picture...it's like reading a book without pictures. I mean, because you know...I don't read little kid books any more. Ok, whatever. I do.

There are some pretty fun things happening both in my personal life AND in my business life. For starters, in my personal life, I got a new job working with the Federal Bar Association as an Administrative Assistant. I'm excited...but so nervous. I don't really know what to expect. I know there are only 15 people in the office and it's near my house..ish. AND there's a Barnes and Nobles next door!! Tuesday is my first day at FBA! I feel like it's kindergarten all over again when I cried on the first day...I mean...ya know...ummm ok yeah, so? I cried on my first day of kindergarten!! (I also got in A LOT of trouble on my first day of kindergarten too...all my stickers were covered which is NEVER a good thing) Anyway, I feel like I need my Lisa Frank trapper keeper and my My Little Pony lunch box and thermos when I go to my first day on Tuesday. (anyone remember Lisa Frank!!?? loved her!)

Among starting a new job, I am also pregnant!!!!


Ok, no. I'm not pregnant. But I got your attention didn't I? I should really not say stuff like that here...rumors will start and I'll get asked a BUNCH of questions. For the record, I AM NOT PREGNANT. (Chill out, Mom! You'd be one of the first people to know if I was!!)

For my business life, I have mentioned a few times before that my business name/brand has gotten a whole new renovations. I am excited to announce I will be able to launch my new blog and brand in just a few weeks! YAY!!! I'm absolutely in love with my new brand and my new blog. I'll be able to tell you more about it when it launches...but the girl who did it is absolutely a GENIUS!

The day of my new blog launch, I will be hosting a contest! One of my sweet friends is also doing a side business. Her stuff is just so stinking adorable and I want to help her out...and I want everyone to see her cute things! I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say you can WEAR them!

So dear friendly-friends, be on the look out for my new blog launching soon...AND the way awesome really fun contest I will be hosting the day of the launch!

See all of you on the flip side!

Our Sprezzatura Saturday

Anybody who is anybody with an iPhone will tell you the best app of all time is with out a doubt, Instagram. It's like caring around my camera as well as a built in post-processing system in my phone! I just love it! So when creativity sparks and I see something that catches my eye, and I don't have my camera...my iPhone does the trick! If you don't have this app yet, get it. now. It's free!! That's the best kind!! If you don't have an iPhone yet...well, I'm sorry. It pretty much rocks my world...especially since they are now available with Verizon.

Ok...enough of the free advertising. I do believe that Apple and Verizon should pay me $1 MILLION dollars!!
This Saturday wasn't something that was unique...there was nothing extrodinary about it. It was just another Saturday where Brian and I ran some errands and spent a lazy afternoon at the pool. But I loved it! I love the art of doing normal things together. Last night, Brian and I watched The Bachelorette. Ok, I know what you are thinking... 1. Why are you watching that show? It's horrible, offensive, the girls/guys are not what you would call "godliness". 2. Why is Brian watching this? 3. Don't you have better things to do with your time?
I have answers to all of these questions: 1. I can't help watching it! It's like watching a train wreck! (though, I don't really know why I would want to watch that either)...ok, it's like watching...well, I can't really think of anything to compare it to that would justify watching this show. I agree. It's a ridiculous show, and the relationships NEVER work out. 2. Brian watches it because he loves me and loves to spend time with me...and we kinda make fun of the people on the show together. (yes, we are horrible). 3. I DO have better things to do with my time...but I didn't feel like doing them at that time.

ANYWAY...one of the guys on the show is very sweet. Unfortunately, he got kicked off. Brian and I think it's because he is too good/intelligent for her. He mentioned this Italian word for being romantic through doing the normal, everyday thing. It's called Sprezzatura. Now, he may be wrong because I looked the word up on Wikipedia and it basically says "studied carelessness".

But I think this is a good word to describe mine and Brian's saturday's together...they are careless. Not in the way that we do things without thinking as if we'll go jump of the nearest bridge without a rope attached. No. It's just that they are easy...they are carefree. We enjoy being together that it's just careless. It's the art of doing the normal thing, but taking a carefree, romantic enjoyment out of it.

On our way to Trader Joes to get some groceries, we noticed a few yard sales (no one in VA has garages so they are called Yard Sales). I got super excited and screamed YARD SALES! YARD SALES!! Let's stop! Let's stop!! Ya just never know what you could find at yard sales. One man's junk then becomes my junk that I will turn into beautiful junk that will either hang on my wall, or redecorated and turned into something it was never intended to be.

We stopped by a few yard sales...hoping to maybe find some cheapo curtains or something of a unique sense, but had no luck.

We then drove by this house that had a whole bunch of furniture out in the lawn. We pulled up and my eyes were immediately drawn to this beautiful chair! I loved it! I had to have it! I asked how much it was! It was $250! All of the sudden, I didn't have to have it! As Brian and I were looking it over, I was picturing a new project for myself...reupholstrying. Now, I have no earthly clue on how to do this, but I could find a YouTube video that would show me how! I love the wingback chair, I loved how deep it was when you sat in it, and I really liked the pattern, but I wanted to make it my own. Brian's favorite part were the feet on the chair...they were claws! It was a pretty sweet chair, but way over what we could afford right now.




Moving on, we noticed another yard sale. I grew up in a neighborhood that held an annual GARAGE sale (because everyone in MI has a garage) every May. My mom always taught me the art of slowly driving by a garage sale to scan it seeing if it was even worth stopping. I scanned this one, and noticed a lot of boy things. I didn't think it was worth stopping, but Brian did. Sure enough, there was a lot of boy things...action figures, games, clothes...nothing really in the fun, kitcheny, artsy department I liked. We purused the books a little and noticed this little gem!



A C.S. Lewis children's book of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe! What a find for $1! I immediately started picturing us reading it to our children before bedtime and them being so excited that it became their favorite book. Right now, Brian and I are reading it to each other before we go to sleep.

I love all the illustrations in it!



After we got home and unloaded our groceries, a few friends came over to enjoy the pool with us.
And this is where I begin my rant about how much I adore everything about summer! Give me the heat anyday of the year over stupid, cold snow. BLECH! I love how the days are longer and the pool is open. Everyone enjoys the outside. You don't have to wear layer upon layer to keep warm. I love the smell of hotdogs and watermelon on a Saturday afternoon BBQ. I LOVE watching baseball. GAH! I just love everything about summer. I never ever ever want it to end.
I keep telling Brian and I'm so sad even thinking of how Fall and Winter are on their way in the next few months. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will have this picture to remind of how it feels to jump in the cool pool water on a very hot and humid day.




And, I had to laugh at myself this weekend. We went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. I was about to throw away this Dunkin Donuts cup, but then realized...HEY! I could use this for my OWN iced coffee or ice tea...so...I kept it. What has become of me?!!?! Next thing you know, you will find a dozen or so Ketchup packets in my purse!


Last week, after church, Brian and I stopped at Barnes and Noble. I picked up Tina Fey's book "Bossypants". I know, she is hard core liberal, but who isn't? (besides me and my friends...and my family...and pretty much my whole church) But she is stinking hilarious. And I appreciate a good sense of humor. One of the many reasons I married Brian. If you've ever seen her show 30 Rock, you'll see what I mean. Her sense of humor is random and weird, and I like it. Needless to say this book was hilarious! It was so good, I couldn't put it down, and I never say that about books.




Anyway, that was our Sprezzatura Saturday. I love them! I do. They are sweet and special and I wish everyday was Saturday.


Ps. hopefully next time I'll be writing a blog, it will be on my pretty NEW site!! Can't wait to show all of you!

Guess I'm Falling For You

Favorite thing about weddings:

The dancing.

Hands down.

I love when the party gets started and everyone's out on the dance floor letting their inhibitions fly free into the wind.

I didn't care about anything else at my wedding...I just wanted to dance!

Dancing brings people closer.
It draws from the soul.

It overflows from your heart.

and then you're face knows it...

your whole body feels it...

and you just. let. go.

But the best kind of dancing...dancing with the one you love. The one you were meant to spend forever with. It's a way to say, "Hey, I love you and I love to be close to you."

Often, when Brian and I are cooking in the kitchen, we will have some classic like Frank Sinatra on and he'll just randomly start dancing with me. I love it.

I love dancing with Brian.

Number 1: he's a great dancer!

Number b: he's cute.

Number 4: he's my forever dancing partner.

and Number d: it brings joy and happiness to each of us to be close with one another.

When shooting a wedding, i aim to get those feelings that swell up in pit of your stomach. I aim to capture those long gazes, funny distorted body movements, the soft touches of the

hand or back, the little kisses that sneak in there. Those are the pictures I want...and I'm sure you appreciate.

During my forever long editing evening tonight, I came across the reception part of the most recent wedding I shot and the dancing pictures made my heart swell. I

am in a good mood tonight because of these priceless treasures.

Just take a look.

When I look into your eyes
I see sunshine
The clouds are blown away
I hope you're here to stay
'Cause I've got me needing more of you
Guess I'm falling for you

You walk away
My eyes caress you
Then you turn and smile
You've caught me thinkin' of love with you
Guess I'm falling, I may be falling for you.

Since I met you days are brighter
Life's uneven loads are lighter
When I hear you whisper the words I long to hear dear
Now I look into your eyes
I'm lost in knowing that you are all I want
My need for you is growing
Guess I'm falling, I think I'm falling for you
Think about falling for me too

- Michael Buble

Superheros and Families

So I actually have two subjects to post in the this blog. One being about Superhero's and the other about this adorable family I shot (with my camera) on Sunday afternoon.

First, because you just have to see these kids, let's talk about the Smith family. Diamond contacted me last year to do a family shoot for them. Yes and Yes. She contacted me again THIS year to do ANOTHER family shoot. Gosh, I love repeat clients. :) They make my life so happy. And it's always fun to catch up with them. I met the Smith family on the east side of the Capitol. Ok, yes, I have shot here many many many times. So I decided to do a few different things this time. The Visitor Center has great lighting and different angles and the green green grass on both sides of the Capitol are prime for good coloring.
So, further without delay, let me introduce you to ...

Will. (yes, his name is Will Smith) :) And also, how can you resist that face?!?!

or THIS face? I mean, come on. He stole my heart. He held my hand. He called me Miss Jenny. I swooned. :)

and here's William and Diamond Smith, the maker's of these squish-their-face-stinking-adorable-children.

I mean, that smile. Those eyes!! :::sigh:::

Oh! And here's Elizabeth. Another stealer of the heart! I wish I looked that cute when I was baby. (I didn't. I was fat.)

Oh and also, it's really no biggie (ok, yes it is) but the following pictures are of her FIRST STEPS!!! Will she do it?

There she goes!! Standing on her own!

LOOK! LOOK!!

STEPS! HER FIRST ONES!!

How far will she go?

Oh...uh oh...annnnnd....

Back down again. Diamond was thriilllllleeeed to see her daughter's first steps. And I was so happy that I could capture them on my camera for her. It makes me get excited to have my own kids and watch them take their first steps.

The world is now yours, Elizabeth! Go on with yourself and discover it!


(ps. did you notice something new on my pictures? Yeah, it's part of my new branding process. It's my watermark for Jenny B Photography. Hopefully soon my new blog will be up and running and I'll show you the whole logo. It's pretty.)

We took many more pictures after these, but I just wanted to give you a few to look at. We all had a really fun time on the Capitol lawn that afternoon.

Will chased me.

I chased Will.

Will held my hand.

I swooned.

Will gave me a stick.

I swooned.

Elizabeth took her first steps.

I cheered!

Elizabeth plopped back down.

I snapped a picture.

Will gave me the Gospel.

I swooned.

Will told me to pray.

I did and thanked Jesus for letting us have a fun afternoon.

:)

Diamond and William were GREAT sports too in letting me play with their children and swooning after Will. :)

Ok, on to the Superheros part of my post.

Brian is a nerd. No, really he is. I told him that I was gonna post about him being a nerd. His words were, "yeah, but I'm a cool nerd, right?" Uhh...yeah...sure. :) I'm not disrespecting him. He tells me he's a nerd all the time. And now that we are married, I see it so. much. more. But I'm a dork! No, like really, I'm a big. time. dork. Not the smart kind of dork either. I'm the awkward, not really sure what to say in situations so I'll say something totally random and not very well thought out, kind of dork. So together, our poor, poor, children will get mocked ruthlessly in the school yards. Poor kids. Pray for them. Pray for them now.

I'll try to give you a few examples of how big of a nerd Brian is. (sorry, babe, but you know I love this about you anyway!) He loves, and I mean, LOVES superhero's. He also loves math. He also loves having things that are in a row neatly lined up against each other. He also loves science. He's just a nerd...but yes, he is a HOT nerd and he's MY nerd. :) Anyway, like I said he loves Superhero's and get's really excited when he sees something superhero related. He even bought a Superman t-shirt from Old Navy. Cute. :) So when the movie Thor came out, I knew we were going to have to see it. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE superhero movies too. (it's the dork inside me. dorks like those movies too) My personal favorite is Spiderman. So I was also excited to see this movie on Saturday. Which, if I may put in a quick plug...really, really good "family-friendly" movie. No sex. No swearwords (that I can remember). Just good vs. evil.

I don't really know much about Thor. Brian can talk your ear off about Thor and the rest of the Avengers. All I know is that Thor is the god of thunder. That's it.

Anyway, it was a good movie. Go see it.

Sunday morning, I got on facebook and saw my sister-in-law's status about Psalm 18 and God being the ultimate superhero. It peaked my interest since we have seen Thor just the night before and superhero's were on my mind. I didn't look up the passage right away since we were already running late to church (a usual thing I will admit). During the church service in one of the many weak moments of my A.D.D. mind (I SWEAR I was still paying attention), I wondered over the Psalm 18. I read it. I read about God being our shield, about God being our shelter, about God rescuing me from death and my enemies. What a wonderful passage this is! (Thank Sarah for saying something about it!) I'll be honest for minute here. I'm going through a spiritual drought. It's tough. I'm actually reading the book "When I Don't Desire God". It hurts to admit that. But maybe you can pray for me. I'd appreciate it! Reading this passage made me desire to stir my emotions for God. So for my Bible reading I've decided to start in the Psalms and Psalm 18 was a good place to refresh my soul a bit and remind myself that God is my ultimate hero and the one who rescued me even before I realized I needed to be rescued.

Married: Alexis & Coyle

Do you ever sit behind a dating couple in church and wonder when they are going to get engaged? No? Well I do...but maybe that's because I'm too nosey and want to know everyone's dating life. It's exciting to see people whom I know, but not really know, start to date each other. I remember back in the winter, Brian and I showed up late to church (which seems to be a pretty usual thing for us...) and we sat in the far left corner of the church slightly behind the piano. We sat behind this boy named Coyle. There was this girl named Alexis who sings in the church ensemble in the mornings and when they were finished this girl came to sit next to this boy. The next thing I knew, this boy threw his arm around this girl and her head was leaning on his arm. YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! Awesome people getting together to become a couple. love. love. love. I had no idea how long they were dating, but still wondered to myself when they would get married.

Well, I am here to say that on Saturday, May 7, I got to witness this boy and this girl who were sitting next to each other in church that one Sunday get married. What! What!! My good friend, Leslie was the main photographer for this wedding and she asked me to be her assistant. Umm..yes please! I love being a second shooter. You're not as stressed out and can have more flexability and creativity with different angles as the first shooter does their thing. It was fun!!

Saturday morning, I arrived at Leslie's house (despite my massively horrible tooth ache from my root canal 10 days ago) That's. another story. UGH! After some coffee, Leslie and I headed to CHBC to get the getting ready shots. We arrived in the Blue Room...yes, the room is actually blue...like really really very blue...hence the name, the Blue Room. Alexis was bright and ready to take on the day! She was so full of laughter. She enjoyed every minute of her day, as all brides should. She was lovely and charming and there was nothing that seemed to bother her. Such a great bride! The rest of the day was just like that. It was all so easy-going. There was really no rush for anything (except when Leslie and I got lost on the way to the reception..we blame the GPS!) Alexis and Coyle, I hope you guys are enjoying your honeymoon right now! Thanks for letting me tag along with Leslie. And seriously, you two were stinking adorable to photograph!

Ohhhhhhh her DRESS!! I feel like the theme of the wedding was from the 1950's. I just loved her dress!!

oh man, I loved her flowers! They were so simple and the color just made everything pop!

Adorable bride.

Leslie gettin it done.

Seconds before the walk down the aisle. I loved these few minutes the bride has to just get her thoughts together, pray, worship, talk with dad...such sweet times.

After all the vowing, praying, ring-exchanging, and kissing they were pronounced hubby and wifey!

(i know this picture is blurry, but I still think it's kinda cool)

I love this room. I love that at the beginning, the bride has sweet times with her dad who has been the one to care and protect and love her all her life. Then at the end the bride has sweet times with her new husband who will be the one to care and protect and lover her all her life.

and love her well, he will.

and make her smile and laugh, he will.

After the family pictures were over, we all head to the Library of Congress.

And I just loved the lighting in this hallway. it was perfect. and they made that hallway

sparkle even more.

and then we got the whole bridal party in there.

Alexis, STOP BEING SO DANG GORGEOUS!!

oh her flowers. Did I mention I loved her flowers?

I purposefully saved the best for last...HER SHOES!!!!!!! Leslie and I gushed and gushed over her shoes. Gah!! Love love love love love looooooovvveeeee.... I lust over shoes.

Ok, that was the LAST...I had to leave you with a few more pictures of this boy and girl who got married and couldn't stop smiling or keep their hands off each other. They were too sweet. :)

Catching up on my Weekends

This has been my life the past three weekends...baby shower for our good friends Sarah and Evan, off to New Jersey to see Brian's family, and a deep-spring cleaning at the Bosak home. So I am now taking the time to update you on what's been going on lately. (Not that you would really care anyway...) I'd thought I'd throw this out into the blog-mo-sphere to see if my readers (or my husband) at least really wants to know about my weekends. Anyway, since I have not had many photography jobs lately, I have been able to do some personal pictures over the weekends. Let's start with Sarah's baby shower....mmmmkay? Sarah and Evan are due in May with a baby boy! Hoo Ray!! Brian and I had a bet about the sex of the baby. Brian bet that it would be a boy and I bet it would be a girl...of course. Our winnings? For me: a pedicure...oh how I long for one every time I look down at my caloused feet and plain toenails...blech! For Brian: a bottle of scotch. Well, Brian won. Dang. They are having a baby boy! Instead of a bottle of scotch, he opted for a snowboarding night with good friends. Sarah had her shower a few weeks ago and it was just lovely. I should mention that Sarah is a Marine so most of her gifts were military related from a Marine blanket to a little rubber ducky with a Marine hat. So. Cute. Well...let's scroll down the pictures to see what the rest of the day looked like.

Oh man, CAKE!! I love cake. I love sugar. I love anything with chocolate. I would eat it all...all the time...no veggies, no protein, just cake. :::sigh::: only in a perfect world. DARN ADAM AND EVE!! If it wasn't for you, we could all eat cake all the time and never gain weight or clog arteries or have a weird brain function because of all the sugar. Darn you guys! I hope there's lots of cake in Heaven. There should be right? I mean, we will be celebrating Jesus all the time...celebration. cake. Celebration = cake!!

And then there were these adorable onesie cookies. Too adorable to eat. You can't eat something adorable? Can you?

And then there were :::sigh::: chocolates....LOTS OF THEM!! You can eat these...they aren't considered adorable.

And then there were games...FUN games! We had to unscramble the words and they were all themed with baby things. Can you guess this one? (I don't remember it)

And then there were chocolates. It's the only reason I go to showers...cake and chocolates, really.

And then there was a thoughtful and sweet devotional by Sarah's mom. She read from her journal she kept whilst pregnant with Sarah. Great idea and so sweet!

And then there was another game where we had to guess how many toilet paper squares Sarah was.

And then there were GIFTS!! many many gifts. Baby got spppooooiiiilllllleeeeedddddd. Which is the way it should be.

Sarah and her BFF Emily who put together the shower all the way from Indiana. Tis a blessing to have friends like that.

Cute Marine bibs!

The ladies.

RUBBER DUCKY!!

Cheese! Yes please!

Coffee bar.

Adorable book from the Morgans.

And now we move onto our weekend in New Jersey. We had no specific plan of action on Saturday. We mainly just hung out and ate. But our main course of action was to put on these wicked awesome Transformers tattoo's. Everyone put at least one on for the day. We felt powerful! We felt alive! We felt like we were apart of Mega-Tron and Bumblbee's crowd...and then they washed off and we realized who exactly we were. Humans.

And then we went to Bobby's Burger Palace. I've never been before and have recenyly become a fan of the show America's Next Great Restaraunt. If you're a foodie, or you watch the show, then you know who Bobby Flay is. We were standing in line and Brian looked over in the seating area and says..."oh look, that's Bobby Flay!" Well, we all started freaking out because we all like food and well...were in his restaraunt. I had my camera (of course) so Jess and I made our way to him.

Oh hey Bobby Flay! Watchya cookin?

The Crunch Burger. I think it's a guy think to put chips on your burgers. I remember in elementary the guys would allllwwwaayyys put chips or cheetos on their sandwiches. I thought it was the grossest thing. But this...this was good!

Jess' friend Lisbeth, Jess, and A. Sammy-Sam

And finally, we move on to this past weekend. (ps. I'm sad it's monday) It was our deep-spring clean day! Seriously, I scheduled it on our calendar. I was looking forward to it all week! I blame all of my weirdness on my Pensacola Christian College Whiteglove days. These were days where we had to clean our dorms room from top to bottom...like even IN the drawers, they had to be organized and clean of dust. EVERYTHING, had to be wiped down and sanitized...and the best part? It was always during mid-terms and finals. Yes, thank you PCC. And now that I'm married and have my own home, you'd think I wouldn't EVER want to do that again. BUT I DO! I love a clean home! A clean home is a happy home. (Yes, I'll be saying this to my kids all the time and they will hate it.) So Brian and I start early Saturday morning and finished around 7pm. I debated on taking pictures of the whole process, but didn't want to disgust you. Brian started in the kitchen and I started in the bathroom...the very place I hate to clean. But after I cleaned it, I feel like I've won the battle and the monster has been crushed! I am. VICTOOORRRIOUS! As I was wiping down the toilet, behind the toilet, under the sink, I started to notice the walls....were black! EW! We have white tiles around our bathroom and they were all black! What? I didn't even know they were black. I was thankful I had my Shaklee all-purpose cleaner to handle this task. This wonderful little sample was given to me by my good friend Bethany who lives in Boston. I LOVED it! It conquered anything I put in front of it and it was only 1/4 tsp. and a 16oz. bottle of water and two drops and water conquered my windows. Fabulous!! Contact her to get her information on how you can get some of this magicalness!

Brian and I still have to organize our linen closet which is in MUCHO need! On Sunday, we debated back and forth about what to do after church. The Cherry Blossoms seemed attractive, but then on our way home from church 395 was a parking lot. (Darn tourists) So we decided against it. Go for a run? Maybe. Well, we got home and I washed the dishes and Brian started working on my boxed herb garden. :) He's like me, once a project gets started, he doesn't want to stop. So we did that! My handsome handy man put the box on the outside of one of our windows, and then we made a trip to Home Depot to get the soil and herbs. So. Excited!

And there she sits! Waiting for rain, the sun, for growth!

Well hello Sweet Basil! When you have grown some more I will pick your leaves and put you on pizza, or with tomatoes, or chop you up for some pesto. You smell nice too!

Well hello German Thyme! Though I like how your frien Basil smells, I think I like your fragrance the most. I can picture a wide variety of meats you will be sprinkled on to.

And hello to you Rosemary! Together with Thyme, you two make a great pair!

Grow my little children, grow!