Behind the Scenes from Our Wedding: Getting Ready

Posted by Liana at 11:56 AM

I've got SOOO much to post about our own wedding. Pictures, reviews, stories, videos... but since I'm waiting to gather everything to do a more complete review... I figured I'd share some snippets in the meantime.

I love this behind-the-scenes pic because
a) it's hilarious how much photo/video coverage we had for our VERY small wedding and shows some of our awesome vendors in action
b) I'm caught wearing my Uggs... classic... so ugly, but so me! Haha

Sara was a guest at our wedding but couldn't help herself and shot as many pictures as she would shooting a wedding with me! Haha. We've had some fun going through her images this past week.

She took this picture of me getting ready - with our photographer Jessica Claire (love how it looks like she's hiding in the bushes - haha!), and videographer Joshua Smith of Cinematic Bride, and hair/makeup artist Nicole DeAnne fixing me up right.



Eddie and his amazing wife were with Mikey at the Maison 140 while the guys were getting ready then everyone came together for our first look. Jessica and Josh both also brought another shooter with them so there were 5 photographers and 2 videographers total in action! Stay tuned for more pics...

Counting Sheep

Posted by Liana at 12:13 PM

What's wrong with me!? Does the jet-lag really have me this out-of-whack? I'm usually fighting for every last second of sleep in the morning, a bear to get out of bed. But since we arrived home from Australia and New Zealand I can't sleep more than 4-5 hours at a time.

This morning I was wide awake by 4AM. Finished work by the time Mikey woke, and I had pancakes and eggs ready for him. He's going to be spoiled I tell you!

Well, here's a picture of some odd sheep-shaped building we passed in New Zealand on the north island. I have no idea what's inside.




New Zealand was the LAND of sheep - everywhere! Mikey is probably going to kill me for posting this here but I can't help it - he's just too cute in this little lamb hat!

Home, Sweet Home

Posted by Liana at 4:11 PM

This weekend, Mike and I returned from a MONTH of being away from home for our wedding, honeymoon, and work abroad. We left Atlanta March 31st and didn't return home until May! Today is actually our 1-month anniversary!

Our trip was amazing, but being away that long certainly makes you appreciate not living out of a suitcase. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be home - especially after a long 30-hours of non-stop travel! The great part is that we got to ride in one of the largest passenger airplanes in the world on my new favorite Airline, Qantas. The A380 Airbus was SOOO spacious, high-tech, and QUIET. And by a stroke of luck, the lady's seatbelt next to me broke and she had to move, so we had the whole aisle to ourselves on the 14 hour flight.



They had a HUGE array of entertainment options, and since we left at 1PM from Sydney I really wasn't tired and ended up watching FIVE movies and a bunch of House episodes! LOL. So much for sleep and reading my Australian book!




We had a grueling layover in Los Angles. Between running to the restroom 100 times to wash hands so we didn't contract the Swine Flu, we dozed sitting up amid the screaming loud speaker. Ick. The ride to Atlanta was turbulent the entire way. Double ick.

But alas we arrived home late, but safe.. and were greeted with all kinds of nice surprises. The first think I noticed was our front landscaping. It had MOM written all over it... she'd come from NC while we were gone and completely redone our front beds! It looks SOOO much better than what we left which must have been an embarrassment to the neighbors. haha. Thanks Mom!



Then I walked into the kitchen to a gorgeous spread complete with an advice book they'd put together from our shower and instructions on what to do our first night home.




I found out later my awesome bridesmaids Kimberly and Susan came while we were away cleaned, got groceries, and left us all kinds of nice surprises around the house. I wish I liked strawberries - they look so yummy! My mom had even left some home cooking in the freezer for us. Sara even stayed here 4 hours waiting for the cleaners to come so our house got cleaned twice and is super-clean now... awesome!




Got to love all the Tiffany's. That is one of the wedding gifts Mikey got me. So sweet!



This one on the left cracked us up the most. They'd found our left-over table signs from the wedding and found creative use for it. Haha. And that's my tattered, Santa-Monica-Pier-Dirtied wedding dress on the right.




My kittens ran away at first but then resumed their normal behavior. Such as Grace here pretending to be laundry!



So cute!! She turned a little more brown while we were away.


Being the good wife that I am, I made - errr, went and obtained - breakfast in bed for us the next morning. We'd been craving good ol American food such as Chic fil A for a while. Mmmmm.


The past few days have been filled with the house being torn apart, us unpacking Mikey's stuff, running errands, and the 101 things to do after being gone for a month. I somehow have not managed to sleep longer than 4-5 consecutive hours since we've returned, so I'm a bit of a zombie still with jet-lag. Maybe by next week I'll be cooking real meals and back to sleeping in past 5AM.

Gosh it's good to be Home, Sweet Home!

RSVPs - Is this Normal?

Posted by Liana at 6:33 PM

Perhaps all the fellow brides-to-be and recently-married can help with this.

Our wedding is just over 40 days away, we sent invitations out over a month ago, and the RSVP deadline is tomorrow....

To date, 40% of our list has NOT RSVPed - is this normal??

Union Hotel

Posted by Liana at 12:21 PM

Last night I flew into San Francisco and met up with Laura Meyer who flew in from Chicago for the Photo Biz Boot Camp we're having out here in Cali this week. The drive over to Benicia was not bad and when we arrived at the Union Hotel (there are only two hotels in this town it is so small!) our secret codes were taped to the door with our names on it!

My room is PINK, and Laura got the blue room. Check it out!





Besides the "eu de mothball" scent coming from the closet, this place isn't so bad. It's more like a Bed and Breakfast - we got served a hot breakfast of eggs and toast already this morning!

Better than iPhones

Posted by Liana at 12:38 AM

It started back the first few months we were dating - I'd fly to some remote island without cell coverage - and Mikey and I would communicate via Skype or iChat.

We had forgotten about our old means of communication when I'm out of town working, but he reminded me tonight and it's SOOO much easier than sitting on the phone trying to hear each other through bad connections.

Sometimes I catch him doing Mr.Napkin Head for me or something silly. Haha he just flashed me his bellybutton and I missed getting a pic of it! Darn!

I'm in Hickory, NC this week teaching a Boot Camp so we gave iChat another try.

Well, here are the pics I got this evening:

I'm fresh out of the shower hence the towel on my head


All Smiles (I think he's laughing at the brush stuck in my wet, knotted hair) ha!


All Seriousness


All Spooked


Our Late-night branded wear


Look, a book about Mikey! j/k


Hey... I have flare from the lamp. Niiiiice!


And last, but not least, Mr.NapkinHead!!

Happy Candy and New Years Non-Reflections

Posted by Liana at 10:03 PM

This picture makes me happy!



Old fashioned and foreign candy always puts a smile on my face...not sure why. And this week I'm trying to "give it up" for a while :(

Anyways, my new years goals/reflections I've purposefully put off thinking about until next week. While most photographers have this time of year to kick back and get a little R/R, marketing, catching-up time in... this happens to be one of the busiest times for me!

This month I'll be teaching THREE Boot Camps so I've got lots of travel ahead, and LOTS of planning and working-on-the-business time. Before that comes though, I have to squeeze in all that R/R, marketing, and catching-up time in a tiny, itty-bitty time frame. My mom is in town this week helping with some wedding stuff we're working on too as the countdown is officially under 90 days!

Okay, back to business...

Rough Week

Posted by Liana at 1:27 AM

I've been having a rough week. Literally. We got off a cruise ship 4 days ago and I'm STILL rocking. With the holidays around the corner, and work to catch up on, I've had a rough time getting my feet planted firmly on the ground.

Every morning I wake up "Please God make the movement have stopped today!" and then I'm greeted with the swaying motion that is in my head that I've grown accustomed too. Throwing off my equilibrium, keeping my stomach tied up in knots, and distracting me from the tasks at hand.

So here's to another nights rest, and hopefully waking up in the morning without the motion!

The Oldest Kitty Portrait

Posted by Liana at 11:39 AM

Awww... look what my sweetie sent me today...

"A Dollar Worth of Laughs"

Posted by Liana at 12:14 PM

Last week I was picking up some Wholesome Goodness Meow-Mix from PetSmart and spotted a halloween-costume sale at the checkout. $1 only for puppy outfits! The pretty princess hat looked PURFECT for Gracie, but if I got her an outfit, Charlie certainly needed one too! The pumpkin would go quite well with his orange fur I decided, and spent a grand $2 on my little "gifts" for my furry friends.

Turns out cats don't like outfits. Ha. Who would have guessed!??? Well, I felt it was cruel and unusual kitty-punishment to make them wear these for very long, but I DID get my "dollar worth of laughs" taking a few pics of them before the costumes came off.

Thanks Amanada for teaching me the "Dollar worth of laughs" phrase - love it! SOOOO worth the dollar too!

How CUTE is Charlie in his pumpkin outfit?


Gotta love the evil-eye Gracie gave me. I don't think she likes her Pretty Princess Kitty Hat.


I think Charlie needs a bigger outfit next time... this one was quite snug.


He kind-of gave up running around and would waddle a few steps then flop down. Awww.


Grace says "Charlie, u look stooopid!"


Charlie says "No, Grace, you look stuuupuud!"


Finally, the "I hate you mommy" look from Charlie


I wonder what they want to be next year?? ;)

Firewalled!!

Posted by Liana at 8:40 AM

So I'm staying at a very interesting "Resort" here in Lancaster, PA and it's funny because they put me in the FURTHEST room and you have to go up these stairs to get to the room areas - it's probably the most wheelchair UNfriendly place I've seen in a long time. The room is fairly nice but getting to the room was kind of creepy...lots of winding hallways that need some TLC. Gotta love Hotwire for hooking ya up with some random places!

Last night and this morning I kept trying to access websites that appeared to be down (including my own)... then realized that pretty much ANY websites with ecommerce and/or pictures do not show up. I'm being "firewalled"!!! Haha.

Needless to say, I cannot access my picture hosting site to be able to blog fun pictures :( I'm headed out to go teach a Photo Biz Boot Camp here today through Thursday so maybe I'll post from there if I have a few minutes.

I've turned into a couch potato

Posted by Liana at 11:53 PM

...according to my Nike+ Mini-Me. Haha. Actually, I went to the gym on Monday, Tuesday, then Mikey dragged me out for a three mile run/walk in the dark on Wednesday night... but I haven't been tracking on Nike+ with my iPod and shoes... so I look like a total slacker!

The Mini-me thing is super cool... you login to your account and can make a little guy or gal to look like what you look like when you're running, kind of like Wii. At first, my mini-me had blue eyes, but it put it on as eyeshadow instead of the eye color and Mike told me I looked like MiMi from The Drew Carey Show!

Guess I better charge my Nano up so I can stop appearing to be a lazy-bum mini-me! I might look much cooler too if I actually bought some proper running clothes like the cool choices they had on Nike+!

Gotta Give it Up!

Posted by Liana at 9:53 AM

Last weekend, when we were in New Orleans, we stopped at Cafe Du Monde for a dose of pure sugary goodness. Beignets are the ONLY thing they serve there so the floor and every surface is COVERED in sticky, powdered sugar. I wore black. Bad idea. Ha!

With the wedding close to FIVE months away, it's high-time we get into shape! That means: No More Sugar Overdoses! *note, I did not say none at all because I know I could not forgo wedding cake at my dear friend's wedding later this month...*

More on the diet later. For now, enjoy some sugary snap shots:

I want to put my Christmas tree up now...

Posted by Liana at 12:34 PM

... is it too early?

We usually wait until Thanksgiving but with this weather I want nothing more then to spend an evening pulling out the decor, brewing up some hot chocolate, and enjoying time in front of the fireplace while decorating the tree...

Charlie and Grace under the tree last year... they were so little and cute!


I just adore these pics of Charlie and Sarah Barlow having some bonding-time here last November:


So cute!


And I'll refrain from post the pics of Mikey wearing the tree skirt and doing ballet, and post this instead ;)

My Man knows how to make me SMILE :)

Posted by Liana at 11:09 PM

The pics he sends me:

Will Planning a Wedding Put Me In the Looney-Bin??

Posted by Liana at 1:41 PM

One would think I'm bound for the looney-bin or going through some serious trauma lately. Last night I went from happy-go-lucky getting quotes from caterers to down-in-the-dumps reconsidering eloping again. Seriously.

Wedding planning sucks. Well, it's lots of fun too. But the whole trying-to-figure-out-budgets and chasing-down-potential-vendors-that-hardly-ever-respond part is a real downer. Next week I fly out to see the location we've already locked down for our wedding... which means lining up as many vendors this week to meet with while we're there.



I'm excited about:
- Seeing our location for the first time and taking LOTS of pics and video of it
- Meeting our potential DJ. He called right away and was SUCH a pleasure to talk too I really wish all vendors were this way!
- Cake tastings!! Mmmm
- Scouting cool hotel for wedding night and getting-ready suite
- That my little bro has agreed to help us out with a certain aspect of the wedding
- Finding a vacation rental for the week
- Possibly meeting with hair/makeup person
- Lots of fun DIY projects to make our wedding completely personal
- Practicing DIY projects with Kimberly and others during a "DIY night"
- Scouting cool locations for a rehearsal dinner/luncheon/brunch depending on when we do it
- Making a special secret-family-recipe cake for my soon-to-be hubby for his groom-cake and seeing his face when he sees the cake-toppers :)


I NOT too thrilled with:
- Trying to figure out the whole catering/rentals thing
- Figuring out who our photographer(s) and videographers are going to be
- The long flight there (sure, I love travel... just not airplanes too much!! LOL)
- Chasing down more vendors that don't respond
- Finishing the registry (I know, it's supposed to be fun but finding pans that don't have teflon because they're outlawing it soon is NOT an easy task! LOL)
- Coming up with an invitation design... maybe Mikey will be good at that ;)
- Probably having to wait until the last minute to know where we're going on our honeymoon (depends on my work during the same month)

The save-the-dates are finished and going out very, very soon. In fact, a few have already received theirs. The website will be populated while I'm out doing planning next week. So soon, very soon, I'll be able to share the Save-the-Dates ;) That is if we decide for sure not to elope....

Make-shift monitor

Posted by Liana at 4:52 PM

Today I had Apple look at both my iPhone and my desktop monitor so now
it's getting fixed and we had to plug in an HD tv in order to sync my
new iPhone they gave me... It's crazy having a screen this big!!

Speedybanana: Not So Speedy

Posted by Liana at 1:11 PM

Today as I plugged in my iPod to clock my walk around the block, I was rewarded with this awesome Nike+ milestone: 100 miles!! Yippeee!!!

They even give you an emblem to reward your progress and you can print it out and hang it on your fridge or give it your mom! Except my momma started just a few months ago (vs over 1/2 year that it took me) and she's kicking my bootie walking like 5 miles every day!! Oh, how I wished I enjoyed running/walking more... "speedybanana" ain't so speedy! Hahaha

That's Not Fair!

Posted by Liana at 2:46 AM

"That's not fair!!" Mike brought it to my attention, "You can't JUST post pictures of Grace... what about Charlie!??"

True. True. I tried to reason with him "well, Gracie likes to pose and Charlie just rolls around and won't stand still." It was true at three months and now at almost-twelve.

So in my deliriousness of making it home at 2:23AM I slipped the CF card back into the camera and caught Charlie in his usual position hanging over the edge of the bed watching over the room.

So ladies and gentlemen, in all fairness, I give you Charlie at 3 months and Charlie at almost-one-year too :) :) Awww...my has he grown!!

All Grown Up

Posted by Liana at 11:42 PM

Gracie aka "Pretty Girl" was all posing for me again when I pulled out my camera to shoot some furniture today and I realized all of a sudden "SHE's ALL GROWN UP!!" Uggg!! Not a baby-kitty-girl anymore :(

Gosh, I'm REALLY going to be silly when I have REAL kids (vs my kitty-kids) to document ;) Here she is at 3 months and then today at almost 1 year!!