Harmony Loves: San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, Seattle Wedding Photographer

It’s what computer backgrounds are filled with, walls are adorned with, wallets packed with, facebook avatars uploaded with… it’s our favorite pictures. Pictures of friends, family, kids, you as a baby or a child, you looking cute or you just looking fiinnnnne! Pictures that speak to you… tell a story that you and a select few know, fill you with memories, remind you of special occasions, or just remind you. For whatever reasons, they are your favorite and most prized possessions. We all have our favorite pictures and some are hard to let go and even hard to replace… I think what I’m trying to say is…

It’s easier to replace a dead man than a good picture. -George Bernard Shaw

I noticed that certain pictures seem to end up as my profile pics on several different social sites, as my iphone background, or on my computer screen. And it’s these certain ones that seem to be the ones I adore.

Here are some of my favorite images and why. Some you may have seen before, in fact I’m sure you have because I use them everywhere.

What are your favorite images and why? Feel free to share yours with me… share them on facebook, here, instagram, twitter, your blogIf you don’t have any favorite pictures then I encourage you to take more pictures or have them taken of you until you have not just one favorite, but several.

One of my all time favorites is one from my wedding. It’s of my husband, myself and my two step kids. I adore this picture. It’s on my wall and I use it everywhere I can.

I’m not sure why any parent would allow their children to be seen in public like this but it happened… underwear, tank tops, and halvsies… I’m sure isn’t respectable outerwear. I remember this time so clearly. I’m on the right and I remember being so angry with my sister because I wanted to wear the yellow half shirt. Clearly, it’s the better shirt and I wanted it. I love this picture because other than us not smiling, this was us… running around with curlypigtails and half naked

This is my step daughter, Adrianna, when she was around 4 years old. I wasn’t in her life at this point but the picture is one that I can’t get enough of. It shows her personality so well and I can just imagine how sweet she was at this age.

Speaking of… you can see her same sweet smile here as well. She wasn’t supposed to be in the picture but if you know Adrianna, she’s trying to get into every picture she can.

Unlike his sister, Blaine isn’t always so keen on having his picture taken. I had to make up a lie to take this picture and every time I see it, it reminds me of that day and I laugh. I literally laugh out loud.

There are some things in my life that I think are funny and worth repeating… I twittered/ facebooked this a few weeks ago and really, it’s that funny that I may need to repeat it here. This is typical of my husband…

husband is holding my hand, says to me “you know you have really small hands.”
me: “I know this.”
him: “especially compared to your backside.”
me: “I do know this too but thank you.”
him: “you know you’re kind of built like a t-rex.”
What the eff?! I have small hands not short arms!

Want to see and hear other random stuff in my life? Then we can Catch Up Instagram Style:

#1. I received an early christmas present a few days ago… a Keurig! I talked about it a few days ago on the blog but I’ve had more time with it and I think I definitely have an opinion on in… coffee at the touch of a button… AHHHMAZZZZING! extra padding to my behind at the touch of a button… DISSSSSASTROUS! And although I’m not loving the coffee that came with it, I’m still loving the machine as a whole. Now if there was a way for me to stay away from the creamers, I may not blow up to 500 lbs.

#2. These are blog stats. You know, the number of people that visit your blog each day. You can see the numbers are high, 25,000, 35,000, and up… certainly not my blog stats… not even close! But I’m going to dream big and clearly out loud here… those will be mine someday. Maybe even higher!

#3. 5 Random Facts About Me:

• I say inappropriate comments constantly… sometimes I think I’m a 15 year old boy.
• I can only have clean, clean, clean blankets on me. I’m super weird about dirty (not fresh out of the dryer) blankets touching me.
• I can maybe go 10 minutes without my iphone in my hand… Max!
• Thank you goes a long way with me. I love appreciative people.
• P.Diddy said hi to me in NYC. Actually he said what’s up.

#4. some of you may or my not know, I’m a twin. yes, identical. and sometimes we do twinsie things. we sent a very similar text to each other the other night at the exact same time. it was a lame text like “what are you having for dinner” but that’s what twins do… text randomly and often just to see what the other one is doing.

#5. the sunsets here for the past few weeks have been amazing. autumn is my favorite time of year and the light during the late afternoon is simply devine.

#6. One of my all time favorite holiday treats (I rarely discriminate treats.. all treats are equally great) are the peppermint pretzel slims at Trader Joe’s… like I can and have ate a whole bag in 10 minutes. I’m sick and disgusted with my self in the end but that’s for another time and post.

#7. I love to try new foods. I saw this, it was new, so I tried. It was good but I like the original with honey the best so I’m going to stick with that.

#8. I’m not a huge pie crust fan. I wish I was, I hear nothing but great tings about it. So, this is how I eat my pumpkin pie, without the crust.

#9. See, amazing sunsets. This was at the Pacific Beach Pier.

#10. Bead head monster. This was Lola as she woke up the other morning. True story. I did nothing to make her look like this… it was all her.

#11. Airports have the best things ever. A weekly pack of Nutella… YES, PLEASE! Although, I doubt those would last a week.

#12. Ok, here’s where me trying new things gets interesting… a plantain enchilada. Yes, a sweet plantain. With cheese, enchilada sauce, meat all in a banana. We traveled to Puerto Rico and I’m all about trying the local cuisine. I tried and I’ll pass on the plantain enchilada next time.

#13. I’ve had my fair share of fun weddings and receptions but when a Puerto Rican band comes through the reception singing and playing the drums… well, that pretty much takes the cake.

#14. An instgram friend recommended her two favorite things to try out in Puerto Rico- Piragua and coconut ice cream. They were both out of this world but my favorite was the coconut ice cream.

#15. El Morro Lighthouse. A beautiful lighthouse in Old San Juan, built to protect the city.

#16. I saw an ad in the  skymall magazine… “Having Dental Work Done?”  was the tag line and at the bottom “You’re not a monkey.” typed on a picture of a Chimpanzee, which is not a monkey. Advertising fail.

#17. Ugh, I’m such a fatty. The best french fry dip ever is a wendy’s frosty. would you agree?

#18. I shot a wedding with Logan a few weeks back and the bride and groom had the same first name. Which may not be that uncommon, i.e. Kelly and Kelly or Kelley, but this particular name isn’t as common… they both were named Kelsey, spelled the exact same way.  If she changes her last name, things could get very interesting!

#19. Cute gold glittery vans for a wedding… so cute!

#20. I know in reality I did nothing to get on OWN- Oprah Winfrey Network, but nonetheless I’m still excited to have a few images I took a few years ago on Oprah’s All Stars- 20 year olds share everything a person needs to know.

#21. The Incredible Cheesecake Co., we found this little gem hidden in San Diego and the fatties that we are, we just had to try it. My husband had the original and I had the pumpkin cheesecake. The pumpkin one was to die for.

#22. My first batch of cookies with my new bff, sugar cookies. Made from a recipe off of pinterest.

Happy Friday y’all!

I came across this video on twitter via @jonaspeterson and it really struck a cord with me. There have been so many days when I wanted to give up… give up photography, give up trying to have a business, give up the fight all together.
It’s not easy, in fact it’s beyond exhausting… but I know if I give up, I’ll never know success.
So if y’all need a little push, a little or a heaping spoonful of motivation, go ahead and watch the video below.

How Bad Do You Want It from Greyskale Multimedia LLC on Vimeo.