Promo // All 4 Paws Animal Hospital

They say that sometimes models have an attitude and nowhere can that possibly be more true than when your models have fur and their shooting location is at the vet. That being said, these little critters that you’re about to see did a fantastic job with minimal whimpering or sad looks (just a few). And the whimpering was kind of adorably ridiculous because all we did was pet them and put them on a table. One of the dogs had to take a bath (have mercy) and the other had to get his paw wrapped in a bandage (the horror!) but all received multiple treats and pets and “who’s a good boy” and so they recovered quickly. The MVP of the entire show was a cat named Stinky who likes to lay on her back and was placed on the CT scan table with no struggle whatsoever in the strangest showing of cat-calmness at the vet that I’ve ever witnessed.

And maybe that’s because these animals are all calm and wonderful. Or maybe it’s because they were at All 4 Paws Animal Hospital knowing that Dr. Hilarie Jerauld and Dr. Emily Dorsett are totally awesome ladies who love what they do and all of their little furry clients. We had the pleasure of working with them back in 2011 and were so excited to give them updated website pictures of their new office and little friends. It’s wonderful to see clients’ businesses growing and succeeding, especially when they’re taking such good care of the local critters. :) Their clients absolutely love them, so if you’re in Apex and looking for a vet, look no further. So happy to work with these folks again!

Mom’s Southern Tour.

I’m lucky enough to make my own schedule (yay!) and Geoff is lucky enough to work from the road or at home. So we didn’t schedule any shoots or weddings for the month of March, and instead Geoff, my sister Laura, and myself took my mom on a two week road trip for her retirement! I’ll now field the following frequently asked questions:

#1 – But where was your dad?! Yes, this is the number one frequently asked question, and I believe our dad is flattered by how many of you are wondering about his whereabouts. Our dad was working because he’s not yet retired himself, and is saving his vacation days for the prized annual family beach trip.

#2 – Where did you go? We visited Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Natchez, and Asheville. We drove over 3,000 miles in my 2008 Mazda3 and listened to approximately 3,000 miles worth of Counting Crows. It only rained once. We saw alligators, cats, many cemeteries, ghost tours, the Mardi Gras Indians, and a surprising amount of hoop skirts.

#3 – Natchez? Natchez is a little town in Mississippi that has been calling to my mother via a southern cocktails book I got for her birthday several years ago and we’ve all just come to accept it and decided to take her there. She particularly wanted to tour a bunch of old houses, so that’s exactly what we did.

#4 – Did you have fun? We did indeed have all of the fun! We stayed in a bunch of Air BnBs and nobody was murdered. We drove all over the south but managed not to have any roadkill accidents, car accidents, or tickets of any kind! It was a bit cold, but otherwise everything went extremely well and we are all alive to tell the tale. Our mom got to see all sorts of great things that we love about living down here, and we got to eat a bunch of salted caramel donuts from HiVolt again. We took a ton more pictures of various other activities we did, but we used our cell phones for a lot of it (I usually don’t feel like lugging the big boy camera around if I don’t have to or else I feel an obsessive need to document because normally I’m paid to do that, so then I have a harder time living in the present moment… so sometimes cell phone pictures are a great relief for me). :)

#5 – Best part? We loved touring the Mercer Williams house in Savannah (house from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) where there are several resident cats. If you look closely underneath the roped off antique furniture, you can spot cat toys that have been batted under there and not yet retrieved.

#6 – Second best part? Seeing John Goodman walking his golden retriever.

#7 – Worst part? Slumped across a table in my pajamas holding back hungry tears while eating instant grits and a gluten-free Girl Scout cookie at 12:30am for “dinner” when Domino’s failed to deliver what should’ve been an 11:30pm pizza after an all-day drive to New Orleans from Savannah.

#8 – Second worst part? Driving through Atlanta’s i-85. Normally Geoff does this because he’s braver than I am, and I close my eyes and pretend it’s not happening. But Geoff had some work to do, so he sat on his laptop and I white-knuckled through it in fear.

#9 – Best food? Eating at the Gumbo Shop in New Orleans!

#10 – MVP? Our mom, of course! We love you and are so happy we got to take this trip with you!

Molly+Trevor’s Super Secret Wedding.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (November, sometime, in Durham), Molly and Trevor (now of internet fame for this dress and this apartment) were married in a super secret wedding at the courthouse. Although now, looking back on it, I’m not entirely sure that it was for marriage reasons or if it was just an excuse to dress up and taking pictures with their dogs… and also get their dogs a variety of floral collars. The Furst Ladies featured here are Eleanor Roosevelt (yellow) and Martha Washington (black). Abigail Adams, the cat, is missing in these photos (and all other photos). The large, bonus dog is Bodie, the dog of a neighbor who is a stand-in for us whenever we need a large, bonus dog because why not? As of now, this post concludes our triad of amazing sessions/weddings with Molly+Trevor. Now we just need them to get cracking on their new house so we have a reason to come over and take more pictures.