A 7 Days Farewell

I'm so behind on blogging (are you noticing a theme?)...I wanted to do this DURING the final round of 7 Days but, as it happened over the Christmas holiday, there was really no time. I still need to go in and finish commenting on everyone's photos...sheesh.

Anyway.

7 Days is a project that I was invited to by a longtime internet friend.  It is was a group on Flickr in which, four times a year, members would take a self-portrait every day for 7 Days.  The creativity and ingenuity and just overall badassedness of this group of people welcomed me in with open arms and just-slightly-too-tight Internet bear hugs.

I participated for 3 years of the 7-year life span of 7 Days.  I got more creative with my photos.  I met some incredibly amazing people.  None of whom I have met in real life, mind you, but with whom I've become very close and of whom I've grown very fond.

I've mentioned them before.

I'm so glad for Internet friends, and for Twitter and Facebook, which allow me to keep up with them constantly, whether they like it or not!

Anyway...You can view my sets on Flickr here:

Spring 2011
Summer 2011
Fall 2011
Winter 2011

Spring 2012
Summer 2012
Fall 2012
Winter 2012

Spring 2013
Summer 2013 (unfinished because I was overly pregnant and OVER EVERYTHING)
Fall 2013
Winter 2013

And here are some of my favorites of all my 7 Days shots:

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage...

There are certain people who come in and make a stamp on your life, pretty much from the very beginning.  I feel like our friend and photographer, Lynn Michelle, is one of those people.

When Michael and I were planning our Texas wedding from the great city of Boston, MA, one of the things that was the most difficult to choose and book was the wedding photographer.  Originally, we booked a photographer and arranged for him to take our engagement photos while we were home visiting for a family wedding.  When the pictures arrived, I was disappointed.  Wait, that's an understatement.  I sobbed because I hated them and we'd already booked him for our wedding.

I was very active on The Knot back then, and Lynn always came highly recommended, but her price just seemed out of my range.  However, I decided to follow an instinct and call her anyway.

I immediately connected with Lynn. Our personalities are VERY similar, and she somehow managed to be both professional and a bit irreverent at the same time, which of course I loved, because it made me immediately comfortable with her.  We talked pricing, and she flat-out asked, "What's your budget and what do you want?" I told her and she said, "Don't worry, we can work something out that will make you happy.  Talk to your other photographer, then call me back."

Luckily our "other photographer" was incredibly gracious and only wanted us to be happy with our final product.  So, contacts were voided with him and our adventure with Lynn began!

Lynn has documented so many moments in our lives, always managing to capture stunning beauty as well as some crazy, hilarious and zany moments.  Everything from my bridal portraits...

...to our engagement photos, ONE WEEK before the wedding (also the first time she ever met Michael)...

...to the day we said "I do" in front of all of our friends and family...

After the wedding, Lynn apparently couldn't get enough of us, and we sure as hell loved spending time with her, too...So not only did we go to her for our holiday season portraits every year (and of course we had to include our first "baby,' Carmen, whenever we could!)....

....and if she wasn't sick of us by THEN?!  We also had to trash my wedding dress (along with some other fabulous brides) for national television (you know, like you do)...

...and because she loves me and supports my theatrical endeavors, she shot some of my FAVORITE productions that I've been a part of for the local theatre that means so much to me...

Lynn also was able to be a HUGE part of helping me and my amazing friend Anna in our fundraising efforts for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure by helping us put together a couple of fundraisers with some other local photographers!

Wow.

Even though I know Lynn has been a huge part of our lives in the past 5 years, just putting it all in one blog post like this amazes me! 

So of course, who is the first person we call when we're ready to take the next HUGE step in our life?  Surely you've been paying attention enough to know that nobody else would or could be trusted to take our maternity photos.

Lynn and I have had an agreement ever since wayyyyyyyy back when we did our engagement photos that she really doesn't do tiny baby pictures.  We even joked during the maternity session that I could "call when the baby starts walking!"  Also, Lynn is scaling back a bit so that her schedule isn't quite so full ALL the time.

So, this maternity photo session was incredibly special to me for so many reasons...not the least of which was that we may be taking a break (at least for photos) for a while from Lynn. 

We honestly cannot thank her or praise her enough for documenting our lives the way she has.  First came love, then came marriage, then came a bunch of theatre productions and a couple of fundraisers and random other crazy things...and then came the news of Baby R's impending arrival.  Lynn has been there for all of it, and it means everything to us!

Hump Day Bump Day -- Celebrating all Forms

I call this look "The Pregnant Ballerina."

Did I mention that I finally caved on the Message Boards? I did.  I still stand by what I said in an earlier post about how crazy some of them get.  I'm very lucky that the board for my birth month (June 2013) is relatively awesome and drama-free.  I also try to stay out of the threads regarding potentially incendiary topics, which helps, I think.  But anywho, it's been a lot of fun at times...especially Wednesdays.

Why?  Because Wednesdays are known as Hump Day Bump Day (HDBD).  Everyone posts a photo of her current baby bump, how far along they are, whether or not they're a first time mom, height, etc.

First of all, everyone always looks adorable.  It's so fun to see the smiles growing as the bellies grow each week.  But that's not what absolutely thrills and fascinates me about these weekly threads...

What I absolutely love to the point of actually getting teary-eyed sometimes (man I'm such a hippie...) is how different yet absolutely beautiful every woman looks.  No matter her height, shape, size, outfit, hair color, skin color....it's just amazing.

Now before you blow me off as being some crazy lady who is in absolute awe at the wonder of the children growing in our expanding wombs...it's not that part that gets to me (although that's stupid awesome, too!).

What fascinates and excites me is how differently every woman shows and grows with her pregnancy (first, second, fourth...you get the idea).  Some of the moms who aren't doing this for the first time will post a side-by-side comparison picture -- this time THIS pregnancy vs. this time PAST pregnancy, and the differences can be so awesome!

Also, everyone is SO supportive of each other.  There are women who are weeks farther along than I am, and SMALLER...and women who are weeks behind where I am with bigger bumps than mine...but it's such a supportive environment!  I sure hope that anyone who thinks "I shouldn't be this big already," or "Why am I not bigger by now?!" feels as uplifted as I do after this weekly post.

It just serves to prove the "every body/woman/baby is different" that I keep hearing throughout this pregnancy...but it also proves a great lesson even minus the baby bumps.  There is so much beauty in every woman, no matter her shape, the size of her jeans, how tall she is...and these weekly posts have been a tremendous reminder of just how we are all "fearfully and wonderfully made" by our Creator with loving hands.

EDIT TO ADD: I just finally opened my daily devotional email and this was today's key verse: But Lord, You are our father. We are like clay, and You are the potter; Your hands made us all. (Isaiah 64:8).  Pretty cool and appropriate, huh? :)

Wordless Wednesday