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Irish Festivites!

Oh the Irish Festival...it's one of the many reasons why I love living in Columbus!  This was our third time going, and yet Doug and I were so excited that we were acting like two little kids going to see Santa for the first time (well ones that are not terrified of him lol).  This of course is another reason why I love Doug so much :) he not only enjoys going to any kind of festival whether it be Irish, Italian, Greek, whatever...as much as I do, he is also totally in love with the Irish culture.   We both have Irish roots in our family trees, Doug's mother's maiden name was Carey, which was originally O'Carey.  My great grandmother on my father's side immigrated from Ireland to the United States when she was just 14 years old.  In fact, my great aunt still to this day drives around in her van with a large green clover taped in her back window.  My mother's side is also littered with Irish names such as Brigham and Patterson.  There is just so much about the Irish culture that I'm drawn too...the music, the dancing, the art, it's just all so magical!  It has always been a dream of mine to visit Ireland photograph it's beauty and trace some of my Irish roots.  One day, hopefully soon, I will be blogging about my wonderful trip back from the beautiful island, but for now a blog about the Irish Festival in Dublin, Ohio will have to do (after all it's just like Ireland except smaller)

:)

This is Molly, she is an Irish Terrier.  Each year they have a section at the festival dedicated to the 

Irish dog breeds :) 

This was my mom's second visit to the Irish Festival, she too is proud of her Irish roots!

My dad, brother in-law Mike, and friend Adam talking about "Irish" things I'm sure :)

Doug and Mike trying to figure out where exact they were on the map

Yup, still haven't figured it out :)

Doug's new goal in life...learn how to play the bagpipes

And this is what I left with...it's a Claddagh Ring meaning "love, loyalty, and friendship"

"With this crown, I give my loyalty, With these hands, I offer my service, With this heart, I give you mine"

   

Little Myla

I met Dustin and Adriene about a year ago when Doug and I first joined their small group from church.  At that time Adriene was actually pregnant with little Myla, and over the past year Doug and I have gotten to know Dustin and Adriene better and we are blessed to call them our friends!  It has been really great seeing them transition into first time parents, although you would think that this is their fifth child not their first since they both are so amazing with her!  They are the most calm, cool, and collected new parents I have ever met!  This, I am sure, will not be the case when Doug and I have our first child lol.   Hopefully they will be willing to give us advice when the time comes :)  I couldn't wait to finally have the chance to take some photos of little Myla!  She is so sweet and has some of the greatest facial expressions.  I had such a great time during the shoot, of course how could you not with that sweet little face!  I am so blessed to be able to share my love of photography with my friends and family.  God has blessed Dustin and Adriene with a perfect little baby girl and I can't wait to continue watching her change and grow.

No this is NOT Myla lol this is Sadie their dog, we were waiting for Myla to wake up from her nap :)

Sadie patiently waiting for Doug to THROW THE BALL!

Dustin getting Myla ready for our photo shoot...this is so sweet :)

Wait till you see her next expression....

She already knows how to give her parents the stink eye!

 

Happy Friday!

Ok so it's Friday, I'm in a really great mood (because it's Friday!!) and I wanted to blog something kinda fun.  This past week I have been working every night painting our house, I couldn't take the white walls on white trim any longer!!  I'm totally loving the new color and now I'm ready to start filling my walls.  That is a huge task but I'm totally up for the challenge.  This has been my dream for a long time, to finally have a place of my own where I can put my stamp on it.  Last weekend when I was back home for a wedding, I remembered a couple of prints in frames that I had taken from my great aunt's house a long long time ago after she had passed away.  I was probably only in middle school at the time but for some reason I fell totally in love with these two prints.  There was something so romantic and mysterious about them that I knew I had to save them from being thrown out.  For years I've had these two prints with never a place to put them...that is until now!  Right before Doug and I left to travel back to Columbus that Sunday evening I went on a mission to find those two lost prints and bring them home with me.  After a few moments of digging through some of my mom's keep sakes in the basement I discovered them once again!  They were just as I had remembered :)  After years of being tucked away they finally found their home, with me, in my home. I'm not sure where they originally came from or what they are worth, but that's ok because they mean something to me.

Happy Friday!!

Melissa and Tom Married!

This has been a pretty amazing summer for me, I have been so blessed to have had the opportunity to photograph so many of my friends weddings.  I had no idea that by following my love for photography I would be able to share such a wonderful time in so many of their lives.  Tom and I have known each other for a long time... since primary school to be exact.  We grew up going to school together and shared the same group of friends, so I was so honored and totally excited when he asked me if I would photograph his wedding.  The first time that I met Melissa at their engagement shoot over Thanksgiving I knew exactly why Tom was so smitten :) she was such a sweet and genuine person.  They were totally in love, and made my job easy when it came to photographing them... I don't think they stopped smiling at each other the whole time!  Their wedding was beautiful and it was great seeing Tom's family again.  Thank you Tom and Melissa for allowing me to be a part of your wedding, it was so great seeing a childhood friend marry his true love.  I wish you both the best!

Lauren and Eric

Doug and I head back to WV again this past weekend to shoot Lauren and Eric's wedding.  It was another beautiful wedding and a great day to get hitched!  This wedding was a lot of fun for me because I was able to catch up with a lot of old friends.  I've actually known Lauren's family for quite some time now, her older sister Alyssa and I were bff's in the old days starting way back in 5th grade :)  I grew up spending the night at the Roadman's so it was really awesome to be able to share such a special day in their family's life.  Lauren and Eric I was so happy to be a part of your wedding day, I know that you are going to have a wonderful married life together!