Top Down

Posted by Liana at 4:04 PM

Kelly decided we would travel this weekend in style in the red Audi
A4 :)

Headed to Destin, FL again :)

Posted by Liana at 3:00 PM

Just crossed over into Florida ... Headed down to Destin for the
annual Buckhead/NorthPoint Singles Labor Day Retreat..fun :)

What's on your walls, inside your doors?

Posted by Liana at 1:06 AM

If observed carefully, you've probably noticed a few changes recently... colors, systems, my lack of participation online....

... but the big changes have been made behind the scenes. Changes so big that they are uncomfortable and extremely time-consuming. Projects that keep me up at night... one part night-owl habits, one part excitement, another part workload. But it's worth it.

When you're trying to get all the "plates spinning" it takes a lot of focus and work in the beginning to get them going on their own. After that, it's a LOT easier though observation and an occasional tilt and correction here or there is necessary.

I suppose all of this blabber will make much more sense when I can unveil some of the projects that have been in the works for the past year. We're so close and I'm so excited...




In the meantime, I'll share with you a preview of one of the many photo installations that will be gracing the walls, inside my home, sometime in the next week or two. My home is a palate of different colors and it seemed altogether suiting that the entryway set the tone. Above are the images that made the final cut out of 50-60 "doors from around the world." Thanks to the metadata, I confirmed my guess that almost all of these were taken in Athens, Greece last month... the rest are from the islands. They head to the framer tomorrow - good stuff!

So what's on your walls?

..and who said prison isn't fun?....

Posted by Liana at 2:05 PM

LOL.

Check this out - my mom just sent me a link to this video on YouTube - craziness!!

1,500 plus CPDRC inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines at practice! This is not the final routine, and definitely not a punishment! just a teaser.

Time for a routine!

Posted by Liana at 3:04 PM

The crazy wedding travels are slowing down a bit and the hundred-
degree heat is starting to give way... It's about time to formulate
some resemblance of a routine as my life has been lacking one for over
a year now. Today I got up early, had my quiet time, breakfast,
started laundry and attacked my closet (serious organization needed).
The cleaners came and went while I continued with some work before
heading outside for a 50 minute walk/run. Now I'm in the pool
floating around and catching up with folks on the phone... This part
is going to be in the new routine for sure!

Sent from my iPhone

Tag You're It!!!

Posted by Liana at 9:11 PM

So there's this game of blog-tag going around. I guess it's my turn thanks to the fabulous Amy Martin, Michelle White, and Joy Moody.

We're supposed to spill the dirt on 8 little-known-facts about us then tag 8 others.

So here goes... in no real particular order...

8. I can turn my feet backwards. Thanks to over 15 years of training in ballet. It's really gross.

7. I'm allergic to cinnamon but eat it anyways. My parents couldn't figure out why I got red around the mouth after eating cinnamon applesause as a kid and we finally figured it out when I was older and cooking a batch of cinnamon candy. Mmmmmmmmm...

6. Glamorous first job. I washed dishes in a pizza kitchen for my first job when I was 14 years old. Every Saturday I'd get up early and head in with my sister to go to work for the day. My brother-in-law is from Italy and owns a cafe/sports bar/pizza kitchen in my home town. We'd make donuts out of the left-over pizza dough..mmmmm..

5. I LOVE kitty cats. I used to meow at my parents, friends, etc. Okay, some might say I've still got a frisky side. I had the cutest little (not really, he was really fat) kitty cat in college... but he didn't like ATL so he lives in NC now and I miss him :(

4. I used to be terribly scared of dogs. I was selling Girl Scout cookies to neighboors one summer evening and a really mean dog ran out of one of the houses and bit me on the behind. They almost took me to get a shot because of it. It was so scary. It took about 10 years for me to like dogs again...

3. Secret Family Recipe. For about ten years, I've had a secret plan to start a business selling a top-secret family recipe and retire by the age of 32. Just bought the domain name yesterday ;)

2. Crazy Dreams. When my parents were building houses when I grew up, before I saw the blueprints, I'd have crazy dreams about what they'd be like. Most of them had water going through the hallways so we could swim around the house... for some reason, they never turned out like that in real life.

1. Instead of playing with barbies... I used to turn my bedroom into a "library" and make my sister and brother pretend to check out books from me. In the summers, I'd take the entire contents of our pantry out to the back porch and get the big-wheels out and we'd play "drive through" and "grocery store."

Okay, that was fun... it was a bit difficult to think of since some of my little-knowns have been more-known for a while.

Who can I tag?? Hmmmmm...


The G and J$$ Family
Mr.Hall, Who's Been a Blog-Slacker about as much as me!
Paige Kearin who I can't wait to meet in person one of these days
Darling, hilarious Me Ra and Brian
David Jay who I'm sure has been taged but hasn't posted
Tim Ferriss, Author of 4HWW who's probably got some interesting things already out there
My long lost Crystal who I get to see in a few weeks :)
Last but not least, let's tag Kevin Meyers because it's been a while!

Adrienne & Quincy's Engagement

Posted by Liana at 8:40 PM

Last Friday, I had a marathon shooting day with engagement photos starting bright and early, filming a DVD with the crew from NewSchoolPhoto all day, then another engagement session in the afternoon thru the evening.

We kicked of a tremendously hot Atlanta summer day in the cooler Atlanta Botanical Gardens which turned out to be a perfect place to shoot! Adrienne and Quincy are quite the fashionable pair and we had a great time wandering through the "rainforest" areas and even got a bit wet!

A lot of our couples are choosing to do an custom Engagement Guestbook (Signing Album) and we did some tests today with a new program with their pics. Check out the results HERE.

The Greatest of These... (“Love” part I of V)

Posted by Liana at 1:04 PM

Road Trips. Trash the Dress. Grandfather. Death. Love. Reunions. Double-Wedding Weekends. Game Nights. Ogre Prince. New Friends. Caribbean Adventures. For Love or Money? Fever. Crazy, Simple Workflow. Getting Caught Up. Aruba, Jamaica. Boot Camps. Greece. Fires. Lost Money Found. Birthdays. Filming. Passion. Faith. Organize. Empty. Spill.

Words elude what has transpired over the past four months. With all the clutter and being pulled in this direction and that... I’m ever drawn back to one thing in particular... the greatest of all these... LOVE.




Perhaps it was my grandfather’s funeral when my uncle stood up and spoke with heart-wrenching conviction about his life that first sparked this relentless study. How the single most defining thing we could draw from his life is the LOVE he demonstrated.

While my grandmother suffered from a stroke at a very early age, leaving her increasingly immobile over the years, my grandfather exhibited a kind of love that was quiet and steady...sacrificing much for her care. Perhaps his devotion and service to my grandmother was the reason why we never knew him fully... why it was only at his death we fully understood.

A month earlier, my mother and father and I made the trip to Florida to visit him upon his diagnosis. He was given less than six months to live and somehow we knew his time was even shorter. We wheeled his shrunken frame into my grandmother’s room for a visit. She touted stories about how he would come and spray her hair and style it ... he did her hair all these years... I never would have imagined!! A few weeks later, I got a frantic call while I waited in JFK airport to head to the Dominican; my grandfather was on his death-bed and everyone was calling to say their goodbyes. Panic. Acceptance. False alarm. He would have two more weeks and a few more bouts of clarity before passing to a better place.

In the busiest work month of the year, I joined my family at the funeral. My grown cousins and I sobbed behind our row of parents then later toasted up in the apartment, celebrating his life at the informal sort of reunion it was becoming. It was in this apartment that our search through their past began, our discoveries unveiling their love story.

to be continued....

Devon and Jonathan's Engagement at the Braves Game

Posted by Liana at 9:47 PM

We've been all over Atlanta today and now we're celebrating at the 755
Club watching the Braves Game :) More pics (from the REAL camera)
coming soon....

Still filming!!

Posted by Liana at 5:24 PM

...and it is about to rain!

Shooting video downtown today

Posted by Liana at 12:35 PM

Kevin Swan and Del from NewSchool of Photography are with me on some
photoshoots today for a project we are doing. Here we are at Hand in
Hand grabbing lunch.

August BBC - Day 1

Posted by Liana at 10:28 PM

It's the end of a long 12-hour boot camp day and we just got home
from a lovely dinner after a full day of discussing goals, vision,
numbers, and lots of other biz stuff. It's a difficult day because
the number part is mind-boggling and we're all exhausted by the end
of it and have "homework" at night.

The group here is awesome. Here's a shot Kevin Swan shot of us during
our "wine and cheese" break before dinner.

Kimberly, Nicole Kent, Sara Harper, me and KT Merry. We'll have to
get some with Kevin tomorrow...

Talia & Adam

Posted by Liana at 7:05 AM

Talia & Adam have a story almost unheard of these days... they've know each other since their brothers were 11 years old! One day, one of the brothers wanted to go play at the others' house... but the parents would need to meet first to be sure everything would be okay. Little did they know that they were stepping into the house of what was soon to be some of their best friends...and eventually family! Needless to say, the events that transpired over the course of a few days were so very special... it was evident alone by the relationships, words, and details.

Outside the Limo... love this moment!




They opted to meet ahead of time, which turned out to be fantastic because we got ALL of the group and family photos done before the ceremony - not a single one after - so they could head straight to the reception and start the fun! Here they are seeing each other for the first time. Sara and I stayed back and shot with our long lenses so they could enjoy some alone time in the beginning.




At the 5th Street Bridge




The Ladies




The Gentlemen




We already featured a bunch of Talia below... here's Adam...




The Ceremony was held at Christ the King




The reception was held at the beautiful Biltmore Ballrooms - every detail was exquisite. Talia being the design guru she is, thought of having a chic, elegant lounge area set up in the middle of the room.




Dancing!




Of course the ladies had their fun on stage performing for Adam and the guys...




...then the guys had their turn at it....




A precious moment to end with...

Bella!

Posted by Liana at 9:48 PM

There are so many from Talia & Adam's wedding I figured I'd start with sharing some of Beautiful Talia first and foremost (and some details of course including her stunning flowers and dress)...

Moisture...

Posted by Liana at 11:22 PM

... we have WAAAAY too much of it in the basement!

It's a brand-spanking-new house and we discovered the other day mold had taken root on some of the stuff stored down under... :( Now that I'm actually back in the country for a while, I've had a chance to resume all the house-stuff I've been neglecting for so long like putting up curtains, moving heavy furniture, purging the closet, and organizing stuff for a garage sale in honor of "National Yard Sale Day" this Saturday...



... so I went out today and bought a large Energy-Star approved dehumidifier today from the nice man at Sears and we plugged it in late this afternoon. By dinner time the WHOLE TANK was full of water (pulled from the air)!! Wow - super cool!

Okay.. need to get to bed now because I have to get up at 5:45am to go get good seats for this tomorrow...

Talia & Adam's Wedding Album (Draft)

Posted by Liana at 9:21 PM

This weekend, we photographed Talia & Adam's absolutely STUNNING wedding at Christ the King church and the Biltmore Ballrooms here in Atlanta.

There are so many photos I love it's hard to pick - so checkout a bunch of them in their album rough draft (and it's very rough but you'll get a good glimpse of the entire day).

More details to follow...

***CLICK HERE TO VIEW***

Farewell Flops / Sleeping in the Athens Airport

Posted by Liana at 7:01 PM

Friday July 27, 2007

What to do when you arrive in Athens, Greece at 11pm and have to check in again by 4:55 am to head to Santorini?

Sleep... but only for 15 minutes at a time because after that the cleaning ladies in the cafe will come poke you with their mops and yell at you in Greek to wake up and put your feet on the floor. Hmmmp. We even bought stuff so we were allowed to take up space there! Plus, everyone else was doing it!

I hadn't hit sheer exhaustion yet upon arrival so I headed to accessory store after Mike gently reminded me again that I needed a new set of flip-flops since mine were well past their useful life... I have many bruises and bumps to attest to this (slippery steps and no tread on shoes is not a good combination). Excited to have something to do for at least ten minutes, I wandered around the tiny store in search for the perfect pair of replacement flops. I couldn't bear the thought of parting ways with my sparkly silver flops that I'd been wearing as my main casual easy-access shoes for the past two years. $10 Mossimo special from Target! Before the beloved silver Mossimos it was a pair of black $4 light-weight no-names from K-Mart that had been all over Europe and back with me and finally got tossed after they'd been layered with permanent black soot from the streets of Spain. There had been a gap in good flops between the two pairs and I didn't want that to happen again. A pair of taupe with golden stones caught my attention on the 1/2 off wall... only 6 EUR. Perfect fit. I took them around to be sure there wasn't anything better and sure enough my new pair was waiting for me on the other side.. a lightweight pair of tan flops with stretchy comfy fabric brand that has gold thread running through it. Parting with the silver Mossimos did not seem as daunting all of a sudden.







So it was in the unrestful cafe after being woken up by the cleaning ladies that we walked away, leaving the silver Mossimos behind... never to be seen again.

So sad!

Stuck on a Beautiful Island

Posted by Liana at 6:58 PM

Thursday July 26, 2007

Stuck on a Beautiful Island... I suppose there sure are many greater problems to have in this life. We made the best of it by heading back to the hotel and rental car area to let them know we'd need the car for another day and that we'd be in the room until checkout (sleeping to store up energy for the next 24-hour haul). After that, with backpacks in the back seat, we headed off to the only internet cafe that seemed to have a connection and booked tickets to Santorini for 5:55 the next morning. We'd be spending the night in the Athens airport as five or six hours was hardly enough time to merit two 45 EUR taxi rides and an expensive hotel in the city.

After a late lunch, we headed north towards the part of the island where Shipwreck Beach sits. Many detours, pit stops to ask for directions, and windy roads later... we found the spot that overlooks the beach from the top. We'd been swimming at it the day before (you can only access it by boat as the cliffs around it are too steep) and now we were hanging over the top of it peering down at the little specks that were people and the miniature ship that loomed above us when we were down there.

Somehow filling up 7 am to 9 pm on Zante was easier than expected and I wondered if it wasn't the most beautiful island I'd ever seen. Compared to Hawaii? Nope... Zante's got it beat. Dominican Republic? Nope... comparable with the mountains but still more beautiful.

I don't think my pictures do it quite justice... but here are a few from Wednesday (by sea) and Thursday (by land).























Scared of heights anyone?

I am!

Mike's not (Scared of heights)


These guys helped direct us to the right places


After we'd taken a little detour to a fishing village




All the windy roads to get there


So pretty!

I'm Back!!

Posted by Liana at 6:53 PM

We made it home in one piece!!

It's been a crazy few days since home Monday night - my night-owl schedule is all out of whack because I'm sleepy by 8pm and getting up super early.

I've got a bunch of blog posts backlogged from Greece so I'll be posting them here over the next few days in addition to a bunch of others that never made it to the old blog.