This past weekend, Sara and I ventured up to the North GA Mountains to Apple Pie Lodge for one of the most spectacular and beautiful weddings.
I was really excited for this one because the family is soooooooo incredibly sweet and caring... and not to mention FUN!!! We've stayed in touch for over a year and a half now almost, photographed engagement pictures, senior pictures, and now the wedding - and did I mention they're gorgeous too!??
Well, it's been a crazy fun week.... (more soon)... and it's late after hours of passing out candy to trick-or-treaters... but I can't help but post a whole slew of photos (narrowing them down was so difficult!!). Enjoy & CONGRATS Callie & Eric!! 
They decided to see each other ahead of time and had some quiet-time before the ceremony... we kind-of ran down this hill.. it was fun!
View of the Lodge from the ceremony site
A few of Callie getting ready. Everyone kept saying "we didn't know Grace Kelly was getting married today!" 
I think I must have gotten all giddy when I saw her veil... ABSOLUTELY LOVE it! 
One of my favorite portraits from the day
And of course Eric had his turn too!
When we got back to the Lodge after some portraits up on the hill we caught the bridesmaids chilling at the reception site
A few details
I heard the cake was really yummy - coffee-inspired. Love the rich-colored flowers!
Callie with her three darling flower girls...
....also gorgeous....
I got to work with Gardenia Floral again and they made the adorable head pieces for the girls...
Waiting for the ceremony
Here comes the bride...
There were lots of photographers and videographers in the audience ;)
Love these candid shots too
After the ceremony, the guests were invited to head down to the Lodge and outside reception area for some Punch in honor of their grandparents... it was quite some punch too I was told! 
A few quick shots of the newlyweds
There were SOOOO many from the reception and so many neat people there (including a future bride Devon who's epics we will show you soon!) and a long lost fellow FSU gal... so I'll post up a few here...
The guys hanging out
...little ones too....
checking out the action on the dance floor
... guarding the punch!
And while the nephew snoozed on Callie's bed....
...and the darling flower girl played little red ridding hood with her blanket since it had gotten a little cold out... 
...and all the gals (okay, the guys too) tore up the dance floor all through the night...
Good times!!
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Gorgeous: Callie & Eric's North Georgia Wedding
Monday, October 29, 2007
100k in 29 days - check!
Look - I did it!! Yeaaaaahhhhhh! And ooooooooouuuuch! 
A few things I came to learn from this little experiment/competition/race... whatever you want to call it....
1. Get out and run even if it's raining out - it's quite refreshing
2. Give yourself enough time for your shoes to dry in-between runs though... running in wet shoes hurts
3. Go on a long path - running in circles through my neighborhood got old REAL fast!
4. Stretch (before and after)
5. Getting started again with a personal trainer at the gym in the middle of doing 100k in 30 days may not be the wisest of choices. Let's just say I was in agony last week and didn't get much distance in.
6. Set the rules ahead of time and stick to them. Everyone wants an exception like "oh, I ran, but didn't track it with my NikePlus.. it should still count" or "somehow the system didn't track my gym run the other day." (None of mine from last week went towards this..)
7. Consistency is key. That I was not ...thanks to freak computer crash, longer than usual meetings and jobs, and other various complications.. rain last week was great but didn't make for good 100k weather. Perhaps our next competition should be a consistency challenge....
8. Last but not least, I learned I STILL do not really enjoy running/walking/jogging. It was much more pleasurable with something to work towards though... and lots of good music and podcasts to entertain me. Maybe I should take up dancing again...
Well, at least I won't have to wear a silly costume and post it here like the many who (might not) finish the 100k will... ;P
Okay... off to soak the footsies!!
Post a CommentThursday, October 25, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The Miracle: Scott breaks world record in Hawaii !!!
You may have seen post throughout the past few years about my friend and co-leader (for little ones Sunday AMs) Scott Rigsby... this just in:
IRONMAN TRIATHLON
Double amputee struggles, succeeds
Atlanta's Rigsby pays price for making history
By STEVE HUMMER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/22/07
The Atlanta Ironman kept to his wheelchair this past week. The ends of his amputated legs were blistered, swollen and raw, and showing signs of infection. His muscles felt like they had been doing laps through a pasta maker. The gifts of completing one of the globe's notorious endurance races just kept giving.
A week ago, on the big island of Hawaii, Scott Rigsby, 39, became the first below-the-knee double amputee to complete an Ironman triathlon. That meant swimming 2.4 miles without legs, then biking 112 miles and running a 26.2-mile marathon with prosthetics. He had 17 hours to complete the task. He made it in 16:42:46 — a little close, but that kind of history didn't require much margin.
All this was set in motion when the teenaged Rigsby was injured in a south Georgia truck accident. He would begin exiting a long period of depression and pain through physical exertion. Nearly two years ago, he decided to test himself against some of the hardest races, vowing to compete and complete. He lined up sponsors. He began a foundation aimed at enabling physically challenged athletes. He rounded up the people and the technology to make an audacious idea possible.
One catch. He actually had to do this thing.
"We hate to say it," said Scott Johnson, a friend who is helping organize the Rigsby Foundation, "but if he didn't finish, he'd be just another person out there on prosthetics trying to do the unthinkable and not being able to do it."
Rigsby had tried once and failed to complete an Ironman event in Idaho earlier this year when he crashed during the bike segment. He arrived in Hawaii weighed down by the need for credibility.
In the race program, he was heralded as "The Miracle." Earlier in the week, a wounded veteran approached Rigsby after a practice swim and told him, "You have got to finish this race because you can change the world. Our military men and women need you."
Those were among the thoughts in his head with about seven miles to go in the final, marathon leg as he was on pace to just miss the cut-off time.
"He's not going to make it; he's absolutely not going to make it," Johnson fretted.
That simple prayer Rigsby offered before the event — "God, if you open up a door, I'll run through it" — didn't seem quite so simple now.
Rigsby sailed through the start in the ocean, safe for being kicked once in the face. A strong headwind for the last third of the bike course depleted his strength and his wiggle room with the clock. And in the pitch darkness amid some lava fields, he was hitting the infamous "wall." He struggled through that, picking up his pace.
The last three miles, he said, comprised the worst pain he has felt since he had begun competing.
"I started talking to myself: You have three miles to go; if you can just do three miles, you have an opportunity to really change the world. You can have an impact," he said.
When he hit the finish, the sound from the crowd, he said, "was like the loudest SEC game you've ever heard."
"I was thinking: I want to cross the finish line, I'm going to smile at everybody, I'm going to strike a pose, and I want to find the first stretcher I can," Rigsby said.
The accomplishment was in the bank, and in the what-now stage that follows, Rigsby and his friends are designing ways to draw interest. Rigsby will be featured in the NBC broadcast of the event, to air Dec. 1. In the meantime, he said, there is work to be done in positioning Rigsby, behind his foundation, as a spokesman for physically challenged competitors and the redefining of limits.
When able, Rigsby said he will resume training and plot a schedule of events in 2008.
"There is no beer and chicken wings in my future," he said.
"The legacy of Scott is not whether he does another Ironman or 500 more," said Mike Lenhart, Rigsby's training partner and founder of another organization like his, Getting2Tri. "[His legacy] is if there are a dozen or so other physically challenged individuals who do a 5K run or do an international distance triathlon or even an Ironman, and say the reason they did this is because they saw Scott Rigsby do it."
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Let the Fashion Begin...
Over the past two months, I've had the opportunity to do something I haven't done in a while: fashion shoots!!
My client work is top priority so we've been putting these on the back burner but I'm looking forward to posting a bunch of stuff up here over the next week.
Here's another one of Svitlana, aka "Julia Roberts" ;) I think she kind of resembles Gwen Stefani here (vs Julia) - perhaps it's the Armani pants? 
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Made it past the junk yard : almost 25k in one day!
further than last time because I just past this cool junk yard :)
Edit: Updating from home now. Passing this little landmark was great - I beat my personal distance record AGAIN - yeah! 24.5 kilometers in ONE day. Off to soak these tired toes!!
Who wants to come with me tomorrow?? (j/k... or am I?)
Marisha & Robert's Beautiful NC Wedding
This weekend, Sarah & I traveled up to North Carolina to photograph Marisha & Robert's wedding at the beautiful Hudson Manor in Louisburg... which is about an hour north of where my parents live so we also got to visit for the weekend!
The day was ABSOLUTELY perfectly BEAU-TI-FUL. I mean it couldn't have been any nicer out and the Hudson Manor house was such a great backdrop for Marisha & Robert.
Also, special thank you and shout-out to photographer and friend of Marisha's, Beth Crook for referring them... I believe Sarah's got some killer shots of the bridesmaids doing their "Stop in the Name of Love" routine... we'll have to see about posting some!
Have I mentioned before my LOVE for cake?? Well, this one we thought was especially pretty. 
The gals getting ready in the upstairs part of the house
A few details.. LOVE the flowers & yellow walls! 
Just before the ceremony
Love the light here with Marisha's dad walking her to the ceremony location outside!
Giving her away...
More great ceremony backlight!
How beautiful was this outdoor location? 
The first kiss
Some quick portraits of the newlyweds after the ceremony in the house
Congratulations Marisha & Robert!!
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