Our weekend in Kiawah

This is a little belated (do I start all my posts like that?) but I wanted to share some images from our trip to Kiawah Island in early December for the Kiawah Half Marathon. Ideally all 17 of our closest friends would have been there, but we settled for the eight that were able to make it. The weather was gorgeous, we were only a few blocks from the beach, and we were armed with movies, junk food, football, pajamas, cameras, and plenty of Baileys and hot chocolate- recipe for an awesome winter getaway.







I'd never been to Kiawah but it made for some great photos.



Oh right, the reason we were there was the half marathon. It was my first half event and I had a blast! Mary O. and I ran together and had a great time. Mary R. was cookin' and finished in under two hours.  Check out my good friend Sara's blog for race pictures. She is a fellow runner AND photographer (we're two peas in a pod). The race filled up before she could register, so she made the best of it and was our official race paparazzi!

We spent a fun Sunday afternoon at the beach. Luckily, it was deserted, cause we spent a good 45 minutes in front of the tripod accomplishing this.



While we were there we took advantage of the beach and did a few mini-shoots.

Here are Mary and Ryan









And this is Sara and Wes









Sara took some of Dylan and I, too!

We're all excited about what we've decided will be an annual event. And next year maybe we talk a few more into running!

Suzanna & Jonathan's "Day After"

It's taken me forever to post these, but here they are!

Friends of mine Suzanna and Jonathan got married June 28. We tried in vain to find time to do engagement pictures or bridal portraits before the wedding, but it just didn't work.

But it's ok, because we decided to do a "Day After" shoot instead! For those that have never heard of this, many couples are now opting to have a longer portrait session with their photographer the day after the wedding. They get all dressed up again and have uninterrupted time to get some really cool pictures together without the rush and stress of the wedding day.

Now, I was not Jonathan & Suz's wedding photographer, nor did we do their session the day after (try November), but it still ROCKED. I referenced their hotness last month as they modeled their aviators.

This was really fun for me since I normally work more with children and families.

Since it was rainy on their real wedding day, we started out at First Presbyterian Church where they got married in downtown Columbia to get some pictures around the church grounds.



Suzanna was a beautiful bride the first AND second time. Several people congratulated them as we walked around downtown, thinking they'd just gotten married. One lady looked so excited she almost cried.







Then we headed to Main Street and ran around till there was just no sunlight left to work with!



LOVE these next two











So beautiful





We found one last spot with a little sun before calling it quits, and it made for some of my favorite images







Dylan and I had a blast working with them- they ARE our friends, after all. Good times. Thanks for being fun and going along with all my ideas! 

Rejects for Santa's sleigh team

I had planned a lovely Christmas posting complete an image of two well-behaved dogs (we've got Riley's BFF Oliver for the week) sitting by the tree wearing Santa hats and antlers.

Instead, I present you with this:












Now go to bed! Santa is on his way.

Merry Christmas!

He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice...

We all know that the closer you get to Christmas, the better your behavior must be. That is when Santa's elves are watching you the closest to see if you warrant presents wrapped in shiny paper or a stocking full of coal.

As kids, we all know Santa employs our parents as spies to report back on our behavior, and parents were quick to remind us of that. "If I have to tell Santa that you poured juice all over your sister again..." So December was the month to keep your juice to yourself, no matter where you were. If you couldn't trust your parents, who COULD you trust? You just never knew who Santa had employed as a clandestine elf.

But what happens when we get older? What happens when we no longer live under the watchful eyes of Mom and Dad, Santa's part-time seasonal spies?

We can only guess that is what this little guy was doing in our living room tonight as he tip-toed across the carpet toward the pile of presents under the tree, the perfect hiding place to keep a watchful eye on the Curtis household.

Luckily, Dylan caught the lizard elf and released him to the yard before he reported back to the North Pole that we had not done the dishes and had eaten way too much of Susan's amazingly rich (and delicious) chocolate Coca-Cola cake. 

I feel certain the lizard appreciated being relieved of his duties. It's not like he was dressed for the North Pole anyway.

Happy brothers

I have had this post ready for days and keep forgetting to publish it! (Really, how does that happen?) Without further ado, here is the follow-up to "Peppermint fingers".

I had a photo session with seven-year-old Zackary and 14-month-old Seth the day after Thanksgiving. I was amazed at how much Seth has grown since our last shoot in April!

We met out at Pine Island on Lake Murray and had the place to ourselves. The lake was totally still and the whole place was just so peaceful.

The boys have a lot of fun together. Seth was running all over the place, eager to keep up with his big brother, and Zack was happy to roll around in the grass with him. 

More pictures than I normally post- lucky you!















We slipped in a few with Mom and Dad





And then came the candy canes for a little bit of Christmas







It was really hard for me to choose only a few candy cane shots- there were some really cute ones. And I wasn't sure how much Seth would like peppermint, but I think his sobbing after Mom took it away at the end of the shoot answered that.

Love watching these boys grow- looking forward to our next shoot already!

The season to be jolly

We've already watched "Elf" three times this year, the shopping is halfway done, the CDs in the car are changed to all Christmas all the time, and the house is fully decorated. Life is good. Just walking into a house decorated for Christmas makes me warm and fuzzy inside, so I thought I would share a few pictures to make YOUR insides warm and fuzzy. (Ok that and the fact that I felt left out- everyone ELSE has Christmas pictures on their blogs.)









Tell me these are not the coolest stocking hangers you've ever seen



This is only our second married Christmas, but already one of my favorite traditions is getting out the ornaments. I'm really not as concerned with where they hang on the tree, I just love unwrapping each one and remembering where we got it or who gave it to us as a gift.

Here are a few of my favorites (yeah right, like I could actually choose. I love them all.) And you should know that thanks to our sweet Irish family approximately half our tree ornaments are either from Ireland or covered in shamrocks. We might put the tree back up for St. Patrick's Day.









Santa comes in 13 days! I've been really good this year- maybe he'll fulfill my Amazon.com photography wishlist?! Or some snow would be nice.