Ding Dong! was the sound that woke me from my nap. Startled, I rushed out of bed, tried to make sure I was presentable enough to answer the door, and ran downstairs. Half asleep, I opened the door and stepped outside, immediately closing it so the dogs wouldn’t get out and attack the delivery guy.

As the door closed, I came to the realization that I had just locked myself out!

No worries… I knew where the spare key was (otherwise known as the “Gwen-proof” key since I always lock myself out)!

After realizing I wasn’t completely locked out, I acknowledged the delivery guy and smiled. He had me sign his form and handed over a beautiful arrangement of flowers with a “Get Well” balloon from my coworkers!

I don’t always love going in to my week day job (I am sooooo not a morning person), but I do love the people I work with! Everyone at my account is awesome and we all get along so well! I’ve enjoyed being home all this time, but I’m looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday!

Thank you guys for thinking of me! : )

I think I have developed an addiction to photography! I’ve been on bed rest for a week and I feel like I am DYING to photograph something! It has only been 7 days since the last wedding. Yeah, I kinda have issues!

But that’s not what I really love about what I do. I LOVE the people that we meet, and I think Matt is becoming addicted, too! We really enjoy working with the couples we meet, and if I don’t feel a strong connection with a couple, I have started to decline weddings. I hate to do that, but this is such a personal day in a couple’s life and there has to be a mutual connection there. Boy, it sounds like dating, doesn’t it?!

This week has been so wonderful. We received an invitation to a baby shower for a couple we worked with last fall! We are so honored to be invited to that, because it says something about the relationships we’ve built along the way.

Yesterday I received an email from Christina, whose wedding we shot just over a week ago. She said “I want us to stay friends. Brian and I want to go skiing, do you two do that?” She is just too cute! Yeah, of COURSE I want us to stay friends as well! They were such a fun couple!

We are not “vendors.” I had someone say that word to me once during a consult, and I closed my eyes and squinched my nose and laughed and said “Ooh, please don’t call me a vendor!” Haha! It just takes out the personal and creative elements of being a wedding photographer.

Tonight we met with such an awesome couple. It was probably the shortest meeting we have ever had with a couple, and I think they pretty much made up their minds before we met because they were ready to book after a few short minutes. We knew right off the bat that they were going to be fun to work with. Some things are just meant to be! I suppose you have to have the heart of a romantic to be a wedding photographer. I love LOVE and I love working with people who are in love!

Another thing I really love about photography is meeting and getting to know other photographers! I’m meeting more and more people every day, and I love that we don’t see each other as competition. Everyone has their own unique style and a bride is going to be attracted to different people for different reasons. I’m more than happy to refer couples to other photographers if they are looking for something different or if I am not available.

So in this small world of ours, photographers have a special bond. Photography is a universal language that we can all understand. I was reading through the various blogs I follow when I came across the blog of my new friend, the St. Lucia Wedding Gugu Kirk Elliott! I am not even sure how we got connected. It happened through Twitter, though I can’t recall if he added me or I added him first. Either way, we started following one another on Twitter and then we became friends on Facebook. As I read his blog today, I saw that he mentioned my name. As I read on, I realized the article was about me and how he was touched that we became friends! That really brightened my day. I just think Kirk creates some gorgeous images, and some day I declare that I am going to go to St. Lucia and we are going to shoot together! I just think he has a wonderful personality and I know it would be so fun for us to be able to share in our love of photography sometime!

I’m in pain from my surgery still and it hurts to laugh, yet I am SOOO fulfilled and happy right in this moment. It’s a beautiful thing! I just felt compelled to blog about it! : )

It’s been a while since I blogged about CamiCakes, because it’s been a while since I’ve had CamiCakes!

If you don’t live in Jacksonville or if you live here and haven’t to CamiCakes, you are missing out on a real treat! They only make a certain number every day and once that variety sells out, c’est ca! No more for that day. The good news is that no matter which of the fabulous creations you choose, you will not be disappointed!

Tonight Matt brought home a carrot cake and devil’s food cake. Both were delicious and sweet and buttery. It’s hard to choose a favorite!

And since we are talking about how sweet life is, I can’t wait to be able to blog about our exciting trip planned for this weekend! Since I can’t talk and all I’m doing is sitting around, Matt and I decided to take a last-minute trip to a peaceful and serene secret location! We’ve been trying to plan this trip for about a year or so and for one reason or another it keeps getting pushed aside. We’ve even made reservations twice! But as fate would have it, I’m off work all week and this place had a special promotion that we had to take advantage of! Ooh, I can’t wait to share!!!! If you’re on my Facebook you probably already know, but for my blog followers you’ll have to wait a few days to find out! : )