I hope you are having this kind of Friday:

These girls I just love, and I just spent 3 days with them in Florida. They are my photog besties…. minus a few gals who were not able to make it this year  :(    We met at a workshop a few years ago and have been getting together ever since! Last year we went to Texas…. and this year we went to Florida…. a retirement village in Florida to be exact…  :)  I went to visit my parents in Florida (they migrate in winter and head to Florida for 3 months)…I hadn’t seen my parents in 5 1/2 months! Way too long!!!! So, it was wonderful to spend some time with them… and then my photog friends came down and we had a blast. Love these girls with all of my heart. They keep me sane… help me do business better, encourage me, challenge me, make me laugh HYSTERICALLY, and they are amazing women of God. The beach photos are taken at Daytona Beach…   And I can’t believe that I left Florida and am still pasty white….

Casey: http://www.aricalanphotography.com/

Yours Truly

Janet: http://www.janetwisnerphotography.com/

Jan: http://www.janschillphotoblog.com/

Holli: http://hollib.com/

Tisha: http://www.tishaandjim.com/

I have a wedding today and also on Sunday, so if I don’t get to your email this afternoon don’t panic… it is just a busy weekend! And, I have been shooting like crazy so I have more fun sessions to share with you next week!

Happy Friday!

m.e.

So in 2007 I met a group of amazing ladies at a workshop that I attended… and we decided that we wanted to get together again, so we created our own little group and planned a trip. Last year we went to Dallas…. and this year we are going to Florida! We call our little group Focus… We are a group of ladies who are photographers, wives, and most of the women are mothers. We all love Jesus and love our businesses, and love sharing our ideas and strategies that work in our own businesses to help eachother grow.

So, last July, we all headed to Dallas, Texas to share, learn, and grow with eachother…. and we had an AMAZING time! We came from all over the place… and I feel like I have known these ladies for years even if it hasn’t been that long, and I am excited to say that we are getting together again this coming April!

I will share a little more about this trip this week, and show you some of the sessions that we set up… but I wanted to share the women with you that I love dearly, and that I can’t wait to see!

This is Kristin…. She is a proud wife and mother of 2… who lives in Nebraska! She has to be one of the sweetest people that I have ever met. She is a sweet, gentle spirit… You can check her out here: http://www.kparrphotography.com/

Hopefully she won’t hate me for this shot… I am posting photos of us hanging out during shoots that we scheduled… and this was after her flight to Texas and in the REALLY HOT Texas heat! We did headshots of eachother… so I shall share some of those as well!

This is Janet… Janet was my roommate at the workshop that we went to… and I love this chic to pieces! She CRACKS me up! Feel like I have known her all of my life. Janet is in Texas and is a proud mom to 2 children with a bun in the oven! So she will be cute and preggo when we see her in April! You can check here out here: http://www.janetwisnerphotography.com/

This is Holli B. She is located in Oklahoma…. and I love her dearly as well…. I would say that about each of these women so instead of repeating myself 10 times… You can just read on and insert, that I love them dearly…

Holli is a wife and mom of 2 kiddos… Holli and I went to another conference together last November in New Orleans. NOLA PartnerCon… and had a blast. We learned a lot… chatted a lot about life…. sang karaoke, ate alligator and other yummy NOLA dishes.

You can check out Holli here: http://hollib.com/ She isn’t going to like the photo I posted of her… but she wouldn’t have liked any of them…. so…..  ;)

This is Heather. Heather is another Texas gal… and is a wife and mom to 2 of the cutest dogs that you have ever seen! Heather is a really amazing woman and sadly she won’t be able to make it this year, but for good reason. She is opening up a new studio! So excited for her! She decided last year that she was done shooting weddings and was going to devote her time and talent to shooting children (that always sounds so bad!), families, and fashion…. It is so exciting to watch her be so successful in her endeavor. We will miss her a ton, but are so excited for her right now!  You can check out Heather here: http://www.heatherthorne.com/

This is Tisha…. Tisha is a Texas gal too… Do you see the trend? This is why we went to Texas last year! But Tisha is in No Man’s Land…. Brady, Texas… She and her husband just opened up a studio in their town, and they are the go to photographers in their area. They have 2 kiddos…. and are a really amazing couple! I was super excited to meet Tisha’s husband Jim this year at WPPI!  You can check them out here: http://www.tishaandjim.com/

Meet Casey. Casey and her now husband live in Lubbock, Texas…. Last year Casey was getting ready to marry her now husband Aric… who is also a photographer. They had a destination wedding in Mexico (the photos are AMAZING!!) and are now a husband and wife team! I was excited that we got to spend some time together in Vegas at WPPI. You can check them out here: http://www.aricalanphotography.com/

Meet Jan (left) and Angela (right). Jan is located in Colorado… and is a wife and mom of 2 kiddos. I got to spend a lot of time with her in Vegas… and she cracks me up! Seriously, some of the things she says… you think… did she just say that!?  She is actually the only one that we didn’t meet at the workshop but she knew Holli and came, and she fit in perfectly! You can check her out here: http://www.janschillphotography.com/

Angela is another Texan, but she lives in McAllen… so she is very close to Mexico! She and her husband are a team and they have a LOT of kiddos… 4 gorgeous girls to be exact! Her hubby always wants to come to our get togethers… but sorry, no boys allowed!  We love our husbands dearly, but there is nothing like a girl get together!  You can check out her and her husbands work here: http://www.gerardogarmendia.com/

This is Maureen…. Maureen, for starters, I didn’t take this photo! It was Casey! She was letting me play around with her Canon so she had my camera for a little bit….  ;)  You always look good anyways….Even when you are making a face that reads “Don’t you dare take my photo right now….”

Maureen is a wife and mother of 2 little boys and is based out of Louisiana… She is a fun loving, easy going girl… who is ADDICTED to her iphone  ;)  You can check her out here: http://www.wilkinsonphotography.net/

And this is Meaghan… ha ha just kidding…

It’s me… and yes, I have a box of Sprinkles Cupcakes in hand… We all went to Sprinkles in Dallas on the day that we left to take some cupcakes home to our husbands, kids, and for me…my 2 dogs. They really do have dog cupcakes and our dogs loved them! As for the one for my husband… I don’t know if he even got any… I have to say cupcakes are a weakness of mine…  I love Cupcakeries… and yes I may have just made that word up.

So….  a photo of yours truly…. notice the sheer joy on my face because of the box in hand.

Enjoy this amazing weather!!!!

m.e.

Last Friday I had the opportunity to head to NYC to photograph the NYC Hope Gala to benefit the Penn State Dance Marathon, aka, THON. If you want to check out the post about how amazing THON is click here.

Here are a few photos from the evening to give you a glimpse into what an amazing event it was!  There was a silent auction that had some really amazing items that folks could bid on…. a PSU football signed by Joepa…

A round trip to L.A. to be a part of the audience for Chelsea Lately and The Soup! … and then some….

An autographed photograph of Sidney Crosby with the Stanley Cup…And trust me… that is nothing! There were so many more amazing items!!!!

The Gala was held at Capitale…. gorgeous venue! Especially decked out in PSU blue and white!

Meghan Day the Overall Chair of the event opened the evening…

Followed by the infamous BlueBand

The evening was hosted by LaVar Arrington. He did a phenomenal job!

There were some really amazing families there to share their stories of the struggle of pediatric cancer and the hope and help that THON and the Four Diamonds Fund provide…

Below Connie and Hank share their story… through tears about their journey with their son Gabe. They actually started the THON Express, a 135 mile run in 24 hours that helps bridge the dancers of THON with the families of THON in the Hershey Medical Center. 

Elaine and John also shared their story of Ashley’s battle. She has had 2 successful years of chemo and doing amazing!

Ashley had a few things to share.

A photo of the overall committee with LaVar. They really did an amazing job!! The Gala was super successful!And of course the night ended with a little bit of dancing! Ashley is loving it!

m.e.

Wow! Totally ashamed I am… Gosh, it has been quite a long time since I blogged…. I knew it was at least a week, but over a week! Shameful! I don’t have that many excuses for you…so I won’t begin to make any up…

But I won’t let it happen again…  I plan to post for the next couple of days.

So, here goes…

This Thursday I will be leaving for New York City to photograph the Hope Gala for the Penn State THON. For those of you who don’t know… I am a Penn State grad, and there is no better place on earth than Penn State (…well…maybe Hawaii).

For those of you who don’t know what THON is click here. It is Penn State’s Dance Marathon and is the largest student run philanthropy in the Nation. The dancers dance for 48 hours straight…  THON is amazing… I am tearing up just thinking about what an amazing event it is. THON has raised over $61 million dollars over the past 32 years that has been donated to The Four Diamonds Fund to help families battling pediatric cancer.

I could go on for days about THON, literally… As a student I was involved on a committee every year to help with THON, and I was a dancer my sophmore year, and it was one of the most amazing experiences I have been a part of….

So, I am so excited and feel so blessed to be the Event Photographer for the NYC Hope Gala this Friday evening. And, the emcee for the evening will be LaVar Arrington, an NFL star, and Penn State Grad.

I tried to find some photos of THON from when I was a student…. I will try and share a few with you, but check it out.. and if it moves your heart, make a donation!

Here are a couple of great clips that will give you a better glance of THON… the videos made me cry…. AMAZING!

Check out the line dance (every year there is a new line dance that EVERYBODY at THON learns and does throughout the entire weekend : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnO2XOAwSjk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS2znImpA78&feature=fvw

Pretty sweet video of all that goes into THON: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmFV6m7Fsfw

This one has an opening statement by JoePa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgilcll4cg&feature=related

m.e.

I always love getting the mail…. but I especially love getting the mail when it is full of wonderful surprises!!!

Yesterday, I was excited to open an envelope from the Baltimore Bride’s Magazine because one of my August weddings from last year was featured in the Spring/Summer edition for 2010! You can click here to see Kristi and Brad online at Baltimore Bride. Below is the cover and also the magazine spread of the photographs they used…..

m.e.