Krista & Jay: Engaged

A couple of weeks ago, I headed out to the East side of Cleveland to do an engagement shoot for a really great couple.  Krista and Jay decided on Squire’s Castle in the Chagrin Metroparks for the location of their engagement pictures.  I was super stoked because I’ve heard about the castle before, but have never been there.  The location was very fitting for them, considering they are going to be getting married in Ireland this fall–how cool is that?! I got really excited for them when I heard this.  How awesome would a wedding in Ireland be? Even if you weren’t Irish, you’d get the most amazing pictures…ugh, I’d die.  Anyway,even though this Cleveland-style castle won’t have anything on the ones they’ll see in Ireland, it was still pretty unique .

For a mid-January day in Cleveland, the light was pretty incredible.

The inside of the castle was great–it’s all open and there are a couple different “rooms”–some with fireplaces, some with high ceilings, all with great stone and brick walls.

Two of my favorite shots–this room was amaze!

 

Cozying up by the fireplace.

I loved Krista’s ring–it was beautiful.  Jay did a good job!

Krista and Jay have great chemistry.  They have a lot of fun together and are really very sweet towards each other.

 

Wishing these two a lifetime of love and happiness!

The Cabin

Jimmy’s family owns a cabin and some land in Pennsylvania.  Since all the men in the Minch family are hunters, it’s used primarily as a hunting camp aka, no girls allowed.  It’s pretty much almost always season for some type of hunting, but there are a couple of times each year when nothing is going on and I’m allowed to go–I look forward to these times!

It’s beautiful up at the cabin.  It’s peaceful, quiet and has amazing scenery. It’s a great place to go to get away from the stress of everyday life. Here’s a few shots from the front yard.  I took these just as the sun was coming up and the light was ahh-maz-ing!

We brought Norbert up to the cabin with us.  He loves being outside, so we figured he’d love it up at the cabin–he did. 

Shooting…a typical cabin activity for the guys.

The cabin sits on 14 acres of land, which is mostly wooded, and uphill.  But, when you get to the top of the hill, there’s a surprise.

 

I think Norbie liked it up there, too!

There’s a few game land areas around the cabin, which are open areas to the public to hunt. We took a drive around and this is what we saw.  No wonder Jimmy likes to hunt so much, he gets these views.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day “in town”. The cabin is about 5 miles outside of downtown Coudersport, which is a tiny little town, with a lot of character, and a ton of cool places to stop.  We went to a bunch of farmers stands, antique stores and small general stores.  Just an overall good vibe.

Doggie bones=Norb’s heaven

A couple from the antique store

There’s this cool old creepy looking house downtown that they haven’t torn down.  I think it’s very appropriate for Halloween coming up!

I’ll leave you with this one, which shows the beauty of fall at its finest!

 

 

 

 

A {Little} Love

For those of you who know me, you know I love my Little.  For those of you who don’t know me, I have a Little and she is fabulous!

I met Erika my Sophomore year of college at Bowling Green.  We were at a Sig Ep Tea and she was thinking about going Greek.  I obviously knew from that first time we met that she’d be a Kappa and my Little.  Here we now, six years and some change later and she’s one of my very dearest friends. 

Little recently moved in with her boyfriend, Adam.  They have this super cute loft style apartment in Treamont, which is such a great area for young people–perfect for the two of them, and their adorable husky, Wally.

I wanted to get them a housewarming gift, but instead, I asked them if they were interested in a little photo session so that they’d have some pictures for their new place.  I’m so glad they agreed.  We had a great time and I love the shots we were able to get. 

Here’s one of them in front of their new place!

I love a good brick wall.

This one is so very “Little”.  I love how happy they look.

Little and Adam were naturals.  They made my job so easy.

Adam is a great guy, he’s laid-back, very cool, very smooth, not to mention an overall fun guy to be around. But most of all, he loves my Little…a lot! Can’t you tell??

I can’t get enough of these.  I love how Adam seriously looks like a mix between James Dean and Leonardo Dicaprio.

Little, seriously, could you get any prettier!?

 

Love, love, love

We went to this perfect little spot just around the corner from their apartment where you could see a bit of the downtown skyline.

It was time for Wally to join the fun!! He’s such a great dog, and loves his mama and dad!

This was a great session.  I guess it’s not hard when you have a couple that are beautiful on the inside and out! Lots of love to my Little and Adam!

xo

Lindsay

The Boyle Family

In just a few short weeks, the Boyle family will be going from a family of three to a family of four.  Lisa and Max are expecting their first baby boy next month, and Mia, their daughter, is going to be a big sister! We went out to Brecksville for this family/maternity session and had a really great time.  I love how down to earth and relaxed they were.  We had a great time walking through the woods and exploring the downtown Brecksville area. 

I love maternity sessions, I don’t know, some something about them just get me.  I’m not sure if it’s the fact that maternity sessions are always filled with joy and love, or if it’s the simple fact that at the root of it is the miracle of life, which is just amazing.  Or, it could be that Lisa, Max and Mia are just a great family!

 

Not only is Lisa a great Mom, but she makes being pregnant look beautiful.  I love these of her.

 

Mia is going to be such a great big sister.  She’s so excited to meet her baby brother.  These are two of my favorites, she’s just so sweet.

We took a little break to grab something cold to drink.  I’m so glad we did because I got to capture these sweet moments.

Lisa and Max are a great couple.  You can tell they have a lot of love for each other and their family.

 

One of my favorites of the day.

We were having fun!

I’m looking forward to meeting the latest edition of the Boyle family.  What a lucky little boy, he has a wonderful family waiting for him!

xo

Lindsay

A Pirate’s Life for Me

I had the pleasure of doing two sessions recently with the Harmon Family. What a great family the Harmons are! Scott is a Local 38er with Jimmy and they play softball together, which is how I got to know him and his wife Sharon and their adorable little guy, Timmy. 

Sharon contacted me a few weeks back to do some family photos.  She also asked if I was interested in taking some pictures at Timmy’s 5th birthday party. You see, Timmy LOVES pirates, I mean LOVES, and so obviously his birthday party would be pirate themed, complete with Jack Sparrow and a Treasure hunt…I know, sounds fun, right? It was…

I LOVE these invitations, and, the best part, Sharon made each of them by hand!

The decorations around the house were great–the whole house was decked out in Pirate flare.  Scott and Sharon did a lot of planning to put all of this together.

The main event of the whole party was the fact that Captain Jack Sparrow was making an appearance.  The kids anxiously awaited his arrival.

 

This Jack Sparrow was hands down, the real deal! Check em’ out!

Jack had a treasure hunt planned for the kids.  Even though the weather was a little cold and rainy, it didn’t stop the kids from having a blast!

I think I see a treasure chest!

 

Here’s what was inside…

 

Official pirates for the day! Arrggghh!!

We headed back inside for cake and presents.

 

I love this one of Timmy and Captain Jack!

Timmy had an absolute blast at his 5th birthday party. He’s lucky to have such great parents like Scott and Sharon.  This is a great family with a lot of love for each other.  Here’s a few of my favorites from their family session we did a few weeks ago–see what I mean? They’re great!

 

Thanks to the Harmons for letting me capture some of these great memories.  You guys are so much fun and are a really loving family!

xo

Lindsay

Tis the Season…

for CLAM BAKES! Nothing says fall to me like a good ole’ clam bake! The Minch family has one every year around this time and I love it! It’s usually hosted at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and involves A LOT of clams—600 to be exact this time. It was a BYOCB affair (Bring Your Own Clam Baker), and luckily, since we got a Clam Baker for a wedding gift from Jimmy’s Grandma and Grandpa, we were keeping up with the Jones’ Minchs’.  That’s right, Jimmy and I had our own clam baker filled with all kinds of goodies, including 100 clams.

Ours is the one on the right! Here’s what was inside.

The main squeeze–sack o’ clams.

Here’s my contribution to the clam bake–snacks!

The kids had fun playing with the clam shells.

Surprisingly, 100 clams for two people isn’t a whole lot, although, I could only about 30 and Jimmy polished off the rest.  Needless to say, we were in a slight food coma after we were finished, but oh, so worth it!
xo
Lindsay

BFFs

Last weekend, my BFF Erin was in town from Cincinnati.  We’ve been friends since high school, so over 10 years now.  We’ve always lived away from each other, well except while we were in high school, of course—she went to UD for college and then moved to Cincy right after, but the distance has never kept us apart! We talk on the phone pretty much weekly, despite our crazy busy schedules and I try to make at least one Cincinnati visits a year.  Luckily she comes home often, too since her family is here.  She’s a lovely person inside and out and has a smile that lights up a room. I’m so glad to call her my friend.  This is Erin.

Per the usual when Miss Erin comes to visit, me Erin and Ally  like to get together for a little girls night action. You remember Ally, my other BFF! She was the gem that helped me with my guest room makeover.   Lucky for me, Ally lives so close, so I’m able to see her all the time. She’s an amazing friend…she’s smart, stylish, genuine, a great listener, an extremely talented artist and the list goes on.  I’m so glad that we’ve remained such close friends all these years. This is Ally.

Sometimes when we get together, we’ll go grab dinner/drinks, or even hang out as a group and invite the guys along (if they’re lucky), but this time, we opted for a strictly girls only (well, I guess Norbie doesn’t count) night at my place.  Of course, there was wine and some desert!

 
Cheers!

A little ambiance for my fav ladies!

Ally, among many things, is an EXCELLENT baker.  You can always count on her to make a delish desert.  She made this yummy Oreo and Reece’s cup bar.  OMG, it was heaven! This combo is hands down, my favorite and this desert was to die for.

I love when the three of us get together, we could talk for hours and we always laugh so much! We had tons to talk about this time—between Ally’s wedding planning, Erin’s new living situation (she recently moved in with her boyfriend, Nick—big step, ovbi) and my endless house projects and Norbert stories.  It was so great catching up with them. Oh, and Norbie loved hanging out with his Aunties, too (Max, don’t be jelly)!

 Honestly, these two ladies are the best friends a girl could ever ask for.  I couldn’t imagine my life without them…BFFs 4 life…LUMI!

xo
Lindsay

While You Were Out

Last weekend, I decided to do a little “While You Were Out” makeover action to our guest bedroom while Jimmy was on a fishing trip with some buddies up in Michigan.  I planned everything a few weeks prior, since I knew I needed to have all my ducks in a row before he left. 

I changed pallets a couple of times, especially after I was inspired by this fabric I found at Old Time Pottery.  I loved the bright mix of colors and eclectic pattern, so I snatched up all they had (I couldn’t beat the price either, it was $4.00 for 5 yards—score!) and would base the room on this.

Painting the room was obviously going to take up most of the time, so the week leading up to the makeover is when I got all my supplies for the job.  I had planned on painting the trim and the walls, but luckily we had some leftover primer and white paint for the trim, so all I needed to get was the wall color.  I thought I had my color picked out already.  I love using Sherwin Williams’ Color Visualizer  to create a little pallet for myself before I tackle projects like this, however, to my dismay once I got to the Sherwin Williams store to purchase my “Misty Blue” color I had picked out, it was WAY different in person.  I panicked a bit, since I thought I had everything figured out.  Luckily, I brought along a little square of my fabric and so I was able to pick out another color on the spot.  I went with “Conservative Gray”

I didn’t have a whole lot of time to complete the makeover—Jimmy was planned to be gone from Friday night after work until Sunday, however, I thought he’d be home late-afternoon on Sunday, turns out they planned on being home in time to watch the Browns game, which meant 1:00—EEEK! This meant that I had less than 48 hours to complete the job. 

Here’s a before picture of the room.

Unfortunately, I didn’t do a great job at documenting the process, but here’s a few highlights…

Luckily, I had a lot of help the whole weekend.  My parents came over as soon as I got home from work on Friday night.  My Mom was on dog sitter duty and my Dad helped me move out all the furniture and get the room ready to paint.

Dad also helped me sand all the trim, which was a huge help; I was super appreciative.  By the end of the night on Friday, I was able to: Move out all the furniture, sand the trim, tape, prime the trim and prime the walls—I was exhausted, to say the least!

On Saturday morning I woke up early to put the first coat of paint on the trim—that didn’t take long at all, but I needed to wait 4 hours for a recoat.  In the meantime, I started on my handmade pillows, using my fabric from Old Time.  I bought two square Euro pillows (only $7.00 a pop at Old Time!) which I was going to cover.

My BFF Ally came over to help shortly after—she was a lifesaver, couldn’t have finished on time without her! She helped with the second coat of paint on the trim, finishing the pillows, spray painting the mirror (more to come on that), and putting the first coat of paint on the walls! I owe her big time!

We finished shortly after 5:00 on Saturday and had another four hours of drying time—a perfect opportunity to sneak away to Target to get the final touches for the room: Drapes, more decorative pillows, a lamp, etc. Ally’s fiancé Carlos joined us.

After Target, we grabbed some subs to go from Penn Station (YUM!).  Dinner gave Ally and I a second wind, and having Carlos help with the second coat of paint made it go by super fast! All the painting was done just around 10:00PM on Saturday night—not bad!

On Sunday morning, my Dad came back to help me move all the furniture back in and hang the drapes and the mirror. 

Jimmy ended coming home just about on time on Sunday, and so I was so lucky to have everything done.  He was really surprised with the makeover, but actually really liked it (I was nervous). Looks like I’m in the clear to do another one the next time he leaves J

Here’s what the room looked like when it was all finished.

The much lighter color on the walls really brightens things up and makes the room look a lot bigger—I love it.  I was nervous about painting over that dark red wall, but it turned out really well.

I love my duvet cover from West Elm! It’s so bright and cheery.

The pillows turned out great—adds the pop I was looking for.

I also love the drapes—I think it’s key to hang your curtain rods high and wide and get a floor length drape. My old curtains did not come to the floor and made the room look smaller.

The other side of the room needs a little work still. 

I detached the big bulky mirror from the back of the dresser and replaced it with this guy, which was formerly black and in our living room.  Spray painted white, he looks nice in the new room!

I need to add some more decorative things to the dresser—maybe give a little height on either side with some vases or something and remove my junk.  I also want to hang some things on the walls and get a little bench or storage ottoman for the foot of the bed (I’d love to find an old thrift store bench with upholstered stead and DIY it with white paint and my fabric!).  At some point, I’d also like to refinish the dresser and night stand, but I think that’s definitely down the road.

At the end of the day, I was really happy with how everything turned out and that I was able to get it all done in time to surprise Jimmy! I even think Norbie liked the new room…

xo

Lindsay

 

The Roda Family, Take Two

You remember the Roda Family, right? Well, this was my second opportunity to photograph a group of Rodas.  We headed out to Berea for a little family session.

This is Sara and Greg.  They’re a great couple with a lot of love for each other.

They have two great boys. This is their oldest, Tommy.

And here’s little Jack.

What a great looking family.

These little boys are buddies.

This was the first time they had family pictures taken. I’d say they did a pretty good job!

The boys had a lot of fun, especially playing with the dinosaur fossils.

Here’s Mom and Dad with their boys. So much love!

 

What a sweet family.  So glad I had a chance to document these memories

xo

Lindsay

Ashley is almost ONE!

This little lady belongs to our neighbors.  Her name is Ashley and she is going to be one at the end of October! She is one of the smiliest babies I’ve ever met–therefore making it very easy for me to capture great shots like this.

And this

Ashley is a very good little girl.  She did great for our little photo session, not to mention, the weather was beautiful. Mom brought along some props for the session–who doesn’t love a good rocker?

 

On the move

We had a little outfit change and were back at it.  Love me a good tutu!

 

Little Princess!

Phew! This picture-taking business wears a girl out! Ash needed a refill.

Now, onto some fun! I brought along a couple cupcakes for the session–after all, it’s not a true first birthday celebration without a little cake smashing! Here she goes!

I love this, she was having a blast.

 

This face is priceless.

Ashley’s brother, Zack came along with us. He’s a doll.  He yells “Hi Miss Lindsay” to me everyday from across the street and always makes me smile.

Ashley, you’re darling. Thanks for a great session. Happy (almost) birthday!

xo

Miss Lindsay