Today’s tidbit: “Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.” ― John Maeda

This is the last of the rewind posts!! I love making these blog posts, but I am happy to say that I am finally caught up. From here on out it will be all new things as they come along with some reflection posts.

True friendships are treasured, especially when you’ve been friends since elementary school! Emma and I have two things, among many, that we will always have in common — the love of horses and riding and of crafts and creating new things. Making candles for friends and family quickly turned from a hobby to side business for Emma. When Emma wanted to start selling the candles on websites like Etsy in 2010 and asked for my help with branding, I came up with the Waxworks name and logo. After that I designed the website banner and tags for the candles. Her business had been taking off in 2012 and she decided she wanted to enter some craft fairs but, depending on the craft fair, there are certain things your company and product have to qualify for in order to take part.

Sneak peek image:

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Today’s tidbit: “Design is a response to a specific problem. You are given a problem to solve, and then you let the problem itself tell you what your solution is.” — Chip Kidd

Remember the engagement sessions from my posts earlier on Allie & Brian (shoots one, two and three)? I was thrilled to capture the natural beauty of their relationship. They are the type of couple that can’t hide their affection towards one another and their happiness radiates outward for everyone to see. They don’t try to force themselves to appear that way, it just naturally happens and they are just perfect together. Having a maid of honor with a graphic design and photography background comes in handy as I told Allie, since I told her would gladly take care of the Save the Dates design and all the invites and stationary for them. The Save the Dates were mailed out in January, but not wanting to ruin the surprise when people opened them I wanted to wait a little while to post about it.

Sneak peek image:

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Today’s tidbit: “Kindness in words creates confidence, Kindness in thinking creates profoundness, Kindness in giving creates love.” — Lao Tzu

Taking a little break from the rewind posts.

Everyday should be Valentine’s Day. This day should not just be about material things like flowers, diamonds, dinners, candy etc. This day should also be about Kindness. It should be about passion, compassion and love. Sometimes it feels like there are so many things we can’t control, but it’s important to remember the things we can — like forgiveness, second chances, fresh starts, friendships and relationships.

Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Valentine’s Day! ♥

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Today’s tidbit: “Like snowflakes, my Christmas memories gather and dance — each beautiful, unique and too soon gone.” — Deborah Whipp

When you think about the holiday season approaching what do you get excited about? Perhaps it’s baking and cooking or shopping and wrapping… for me, it’s decorating and DIY crafts! I love everything from picking out the perfect tree and decorating it to diving into a big box full of sentimental (and many handmade) treasures and transforming our home for a little while. Not to mention the chance for beautiful handmade cards and gifts and creative packaging. Of course, it’s always so much more enjoyable with candles burning, a roaring fire going and the fresh pine scent of trees and garland. I just love this time of year.

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Today’s tidbit: “A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves — strong, powerful, beautiful — and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence. — Pam Brown

Happy Friday! Since this is my first equestrian post, I thought I’d first start off with a little bit of background. Since middle school, I have been riding horses and going to the barn 4-5 days a week. I was fortunate to get my own horse, Bailey (well, large adorable pony) in high school. Although the horses I rode, trainers I learned from and barn locations changed, the wonderful feeling I get pulling up to the gate of a barn and being greeted by happy horses never seems to change. It’s an experience I can’t explain or compare to anything else.

You can count on more posts about riding and Bailey later, but for now I wanted to share some pictures of the barn decorated for the holidays.

Isn’t he adorable?!

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Today’s tidbit: “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” — Melody Beattie

Thanksgiving is the best time to remember, thank and appreciate the many blessings that life brings you…
Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for this year?

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Today’s tidbit: “Live and work but do not forget to play, to have fun in life and really enjoy it.”—Eileen Caddy This is something everyone needs to do, and sometimes just watching your four-legged companions can remind you of that!

Happy Friday! It’s been a very cold week here in Alexandria. Last weekend, however, was beautiful and warm (well for January). My roommate was puppy sitting for her friend. Sammy and the puppy, Haddie became friends and had fun running around the backyard playing with a variety of toys and sticks. I, of course, turned it into a little photo shoot.

Sneak peek images: Puppy photo shoot.

Run/jump/sprint for joy!

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Today’s tidbit: “To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.”
— Bill Wilson

As I mentioned in my previous post, for the second and third part of the engagement pictures, we went back to dear ol’ UVA. As promised, here are pictures from the third and final session, part 2 of the UVA shoot. Enjoy!

Sneak peek images: my second engagement photo shoot, part 3.

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Today’s tidbit: “Love is the expansion of two natures in such fashion that each include the other, each is enriched by the other.” — Felix Adler

For the second and third part of the engagement pictures, we went back to dear ol’ UVA. This is where Allie and Brian met and spent the first 4 years of their relationship during undergrad. They have lots of memories there and it held a special meaning to them to take their engagement pictures there, where it all began.

Sneak peek images: my second engagement photo shoot, part 2.

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Today’s tidbit: “Falling in love consists merely in uncorking the imagination and bottling the common sense.” — Helen Rowland

Brian and Allie have been together for more than 6 years, since they met at the University of Virginia during Allie’s first year. Throughout all of undergrad, and now medical school, they have had a strong relationship and stayed deeply in love. This shoot was very special as it’s with my twin sister!

Sneak peek images: my second engagement photo shoot, part 1.

Be sure to click below to read more and check out the slideshow. Enjoy!

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