Amy's Housewarming Party

I threw a Housewarming Party for one of my closest friends, Amy! She recently moved into her first home. Our original party was actually postponed due to snow. The rescheduled date turned out to be a very nice day! I'm so happy for Amy and her new "home" adventure. Her house is so cute and of course well decorated!

Here are a few images from her party! There was a lot of food and I couldn't help but to document it all :)

There's no party without a picture of the girls!

Carol & my mom helped me out a lot with the party and that help was greatly appreciated! I honestly couldn't have done it without them. There were a few other great helpers that day too! Thank you to everyone who teamed up to prepare food or clean up! Here's a pic of the mom's with Amy, Kay & Amy, and me & Amy!

Kay showed up a little later so she didn't make it to the group shot, but I'm just glad she was able to make it! It was a floating party :)

Plus, some of the girls missed out on this!


Lastly, here is a cute picture of Amy in front of her house!

I'll leave you with what you can look forward to with Twenty Two Photo!

1. Matt & Kay Family Photo Shoot

2. Kelly & Brooks Engagement Shoot

3. ALL of my family Day Photo Shoots

Ava

I spent a little time on Sunday with little Ms. Ava. I'm so glad her mom, Jennifer, contacted me about doing a photo shoot with her daughter. Ava just turned one, so it's a big deal to be a part of that big celebration in her life! Her brother Gavin was there also. I snagged a few shots of him, but he preferred to stay away from the camera :)

I knew my pink chair would be perfect for this shoot! Ava even matched perfectly! Isn't she adorable?

Our Photo Shoot was at the Imperial Centre, so we went inside for a few shots.

I love these shots of Ava & Gavin playing together. They both did a very good job of working together and sharing!

It was such a nice day that we were able to go back out for a few more shots. I'm so glad that Spring is in the air!

This is my favorite shot of the day! What a great smile Ava has! I love her little teeth!

I couldn't help but get a few shots of this handsome boy! The only reason he was sitting so still was that he got distracted by people walking by.

New Camera Bag

My much awaited new camera bag has arrived! I bought this bag before our big car purchase, otherwise I probably wouldn't have this camera bag now! It seems to hold just what I need it to hold. There just enough room for my camera. The real test will come on Saturday when I have a wedding to shoot!

Esty Store

I'm thinking about recreating an Etsy store. I still have ideas for greeting cards/postcards that I'd like to try out! I really didn't have much time to do much with it before so I thought I would try again! Keep your eyes on my other blog for the grand "reopening"...or something like that :) I hope after the Holidays I can work on it some! I also want to post on my "etsy wedding," because I bought so much from there. I thought this might help others in search of unique items for their big day!

Accomplishments

I have the "house" to myself for a whole week! Chris is in Ohio visiting a good friend of his. My goals this week (and before Christmas) is to get a lot accomplished!



Here's a few things on my list (business and personal...in no particular order):



1. Order Lisa's Wedding albums

2. Edit Alex & Brian's wedding

3. Post images of Alex & Brian's Wedding

4. Order Brittany's Bridal Prints

5. Post family visit pictures

6. Finish Christmas shopping

7. Post Rebecca's b-day

8. Take the trash out (that seems never ending!)

9. Burn old UNC games onto dvds

10. Put clothes away

11. Family Photo Shoot: Jennifer, Ryan, & Seraph

12. Edit Family Photo Shoot

13. Post Family Photo Shoot

14. Bake cookies and Corn Casserole for Christmas Party

I'm sure there's more to be added to this list, because my brain is always thinking about all of the things I need to do :) Next time I post (maybe today) I'll post some pictures!

Our Wedding Album

I am so happy to say that I finally finished designing our wedding album! Please come take a look at it on my website. Once you get there you'll click on client and the password is karenchris. I think I'm going to make the poppy's on the front cover carry over to the back. I think that would look cute! Note that the cover resembles my necklace and my bridesmaids necklaces! This will be printed as a 12 x 12 book. I can't wait to order it!

Bags...

I have a really hard time finding a Camera bag that I truly like. All the "Professional" bags I have ever bought I have not been satisfied with. Over the last year and a half I have used this bright red bag I got from Budapest. It works great, but it still doesn't hold as much as I would like for it to hold. I also fear that if I keep using it, it will get a big hole in it. I've already found one little hole, which I think was from my knitting needles.

There are these "hip" Photography bags that Jessica Claire (Photographer) makes that I love, but I've come to realize that I just can't spend over $200 on a bag. Camera bags can be fairly expensive. I'm willing to spend around $100 if it's something that I know will hold everything I need it to hold. Well, I think I've found my match!

Check out this cute bag from Etsy ! I love the pattern and the fact that it is reversible! It has a lot of extra pockets that will hold all of my lenses and other equipment. The designer is willing to make longer adjustable straps and add a little extra padding for only a little extra expense! She said her sister was a Photographer and uses this bag also! The funny thing is I do always keep my eyes open for a good diaper bag. They seem to have the right amount of compartments for camera gear:) Hopefully when I get a little more income I will be able to purchase this cute bag!

What's Up?

I was inspired by my friend and fellow Photographer Christina yesterday. I went to Rocky Mount to visit her and she loaded me up with more ideas for my business!

One thing I hope to do MORE of in the future is designing and selling Christmas Cards! I enjoy making these for my Clients! If you are a Client and want Christmas Cards please let me know:) It's the time of year ALREADY! The Christmas Card pictured below is just a sample I made just for fun.

I designed and ordered Twenty Two Photo "Thank You" cards last night! I really want to keep my logo and style very clean and simple.

Front

Inside

Lastly, I designed Labels for all of my packaging! I can't wait for these to arrive!

A few other items on my todo list are: create Moo Mini business Cards (www.moo.com), purchase this camera bag that I've been wanting for awhile, learn how to mount pictures in frames (Christina is going to teach me!), advertising in more local businesses, & try to go to free or affordable Photography classes so I can continue to learn and improve! I know there are many more items I could list, but this could go on for days!

NEW WEBSITE!!!

Hello Friends & Family,

I am so very excited to inform you that I just completed my BRAND NEW WEBSITE for TWENTY TWO PHOTO! This has been a project I have been wanting to do for a long time now. Thankfully I have had the opportunity to work on it over the summer and FINALLY get it up and running! Some of you will see that YOU or a FAMILY MEMBER have made it to the site! I thought you would add a special touch ;) I hope that in the future I can add a few more of your faces! Please pass the word on to other family & friends that I would love to photograph their family too!

If you have any questions regarding my packages or if you want to book a Photo Shoot please send an email along to me (karen@twentytwophoto.com). Also, I'd love to hear your feedback on my site, so either way send me a message!

Change can be GOOD!

A lot of new changes coming along the way for Twenty Two Photo:)

NEW:

• Blogger banner (DONE!)

• Business cards - in the process of designing new cards and passing them all around the triangle and Rocky Mount.

• NEW WEBSITE!!!! I am very excited about sharing my new website with everyone. It will definitely show all of my recent work and what I am all about:)

The Life of the Busy Newly Weds

We have been to Texas, Ohio, Kerr Lake and as of this coming up Sunday New York. WHEW, it all makes me tired thinking about it!

I figured since we are about to head out again I should at least leave you with what WONDERFUL things I need to post:)

Here's what's up in the world of Chris & Karen AND Twenty Two Photo:

• Lisa's Bridal Shoot
• Lisa & Mike's Wedding (probably won't be posted until September)
• Youth Works- Trip with Youth group
• Kerri's visit to Chapel Hill
• Saundra & Vince's Wedding
• Kara & Matt's Wedding
  
• Kerr Lake Vacation
• NYC & VBS in Chinatown with our Church
• Trip to Houston- Corporate Baptist Conference (hopefully posting today or tomorrow!)

I should have a little break after the NYC trip to catch up on everything! I also will have a NEW website to design and a wedding album create! So much to do!!!

Oh Me, Oh My...

Me Before the wedding! I was trying to get so much complete it wasn't even funny! I'm very thankful that the two computers that I work on now are right beside each other!

This was still before the wedding! Chris was actually in the room behind me studying for exams. I believe this was the week before the wedding!!

Tabor

Here are a few pictures of cute little Tabor (Matt & Kay's first son)!

Pinewood Derby

A few months back the RA's, and anybody in the Church who wanted to participate, made these really cool race cars out of wood! As a child I recall my brother making these cars for either RA's or Boy Scouts. I always thought they were pretty cool, but this was my first hands on experience with a Pinewood Derby!

Chris made a Batman car of course:) It turned out really awesome! Here's a slideshow from that day!

Home Sweet Home

Well, we have finally settled into our place! Yes, Chris did already live here, but we rearranged basically everything so you can't even tell it's the same place. For those of you who don't know, we live in a Church. The Church is right dead on Franklin Street and UNC Chapel Hill campus. I've always said I wanted to live in Chapel Hill at least once in my life, but I never thought I'd get to live on Franklin Street (for FREE at that!). We have access to all the Carolina shops, plenty of restaurants, hiking trails, and just a 15 minute walk to the Dean Dome!

This is our kitchen. It is located right outside of our main room. It's very difficult to fit two people in this space, especially when cooking. We definitely used every corner and space you can possibly think of!

Here is the new and improved Bedroom/Living Room/Office Space! For those of you that had the privilege to see it beforehand it looks a bit different (some sarcasm in that statement!). I believe it has a great touch of both Chris and I's personality:)

Our bathroom is connected to the main room. It's a fairly large bathroom, but we had to create some extra storage space! I love the blue walls and tile in the bathroom. By the way the Sanctuary in the Church is also Carolina blue:)

The only space not pictured is the closet. We packed that to the MAX!!! I can't even believe we got what we did in there. It's a walk in closet, so that's a plus! It was too dark and my flash sucks so I just didn't bother taken photo's of it! Chris thinks I'm silly for organizing my shirts my color and style (meaning tank tops or short sleeves). I'm a neat freak!!!

Hope you enjoy a little peak into our place!

Engagement: Lisa & Michael

I had a wonderful time photographing Lisa & Michael! They were a lot of fun and very EASY to photograph! I'm really looking forward to shooting their wedding this summer:)

This is a long post, so hopefully it makes up for some lost time! More coming soon!