I met Julie, Ben, Claire, and Yoda on a chilly day to get a photo for their holiday card, and despite the chill we had a great time! I say “chilly” but Julie and Ben are from Michigan so they’re pretty hard to make cold. I’m from Pittsburgh and used to think I was also hard to make cold, but now that I’ve lived down here for many years I no longer go anywhere under 70 degrees without at least a jacket (how did this happen to me?). Claire, who I was warned has a bit of stranger danger, didn’t take long to warm up at all (figuratively, since we were outside) and was excited to walk the trail down to the beautiful little park near their house. There we saw lots of deer, hung out near the gazebo (which Claire loves), and played on the swings. Claire is in an “all things leaves” stage and enjoyed holding and giving away her colored leaves, and she loved riding on the gazebo porch swing with her parents. She is adorable, strong-willed, and very smart… she also has the best shoes. Yoda the Very Good Boy of a Dog stayed closed and obediently took part in family portraits even though Claire didn’t always want that (it wasn’t part of her vision for the pictures apparently). I had such a good time spending some time with this beautiful family and exploring a new-to-me gorgeous little park.
Caitlyn and Jasmine joined us at the NC Botanical Gardens in Chapel Hill for their engagement session, which was 90% getting bit by mosquitos, 8% asking them a lot of questions about their awesome tattoos, and 2% admiring Jasmine’s fabulous British accent. Jasmine grew up in England, but soon moved to California where she met Caitlyn. They lived on the same street since they were in middle school, where Caitlyn was pleasantly surprised to learn that Jasmine and her family did indeed take breaks during the day for tea. They are well traveled, having been to many different countries separately and together. Jasmine just got back from completing her master’s in Iceland, and Caitlyn travels all over as a photographer for the army (which sounds super interesting!). Together they make a fantastic, fun-loving and easy-going couple who proved to us via various lifts and Dirty Dancing-style jumps that they could have a long and promising career in Cirque du Soleil if they choose. Fans of: cheese, reading/writing, cooking, birds (Caitlyn), and bunnies (Jasmine). Not fans of: mosquitos, ebola, butterflies (Jasmine). Both great at: pretending the floor is lava. So happy to have had the opportunity to meet this beautiful couple and work with them on their engagement session! Also to introduce them to Locopops, which is important.