Our hearts and cheers are in Boston today.
Super proud to have spent our past few years in such a great place.
Congrats to all the runners this year.
(Photo from 2012)
Us working 2013
Every year we share some fun photos of us behind the scenes at our sessions of the past year. Here is just a SMALL sample of the silliness that took place at our weddings and sessions from last year. DANG did we do a lot!
Of course there were selfies…
 We broke a lens.
Hillary took our photo.
We got ourselves into precarious situations.
I stand in for set-ups a lot.
We make not so interesting scenes work… like parking lots. #makeitwork #timgunn
Bubbles!
We help out when needed.
We get to hold babies.
We do the work.
We take photos with couples. Sometimes even within the formals… since we were the only witnesses!
Can you see me?
The Red Coats are coming!
Cheers to 2013…
Wisconsin 2013
Back in October (!) I went to visit my friend Annie in her beloved state of Wisconsin. We have been friends for almost 10 years, long distance. Whenever anyone disses the internet I kindly remind them that the internet is not only HOW I met one of my best friends, but also where we maintained it for nearly a decade. Yay internet!
We have traveled together a lot, some trips are even here on the blog (Vegas, Disney..) but this is the first time I have even been able to visit her in her homelands! It was so fun to get the local tour from her.
A few things to note about WI:
- It’s precious. Like a lot of what I saw and did could only be described as “precious.” I liked that.
- Door County is worth a visit for anyone and everyone, unless you don’t like precious places.
- The Milwaukee Art Museum is an architectural masterpiece.
- The Harley Museum is gorgeous, unexpectedly.
- If you visit, prepare to eat… all day… every day…
- Rainbow Umbrellas make all things better.
- Holy Crap. Lambeau Field is impressive and shocking and… like many other things, worth a visit.
- It’s only missing one thing, the Ocean
- I need to shoot a wedding at the Anderson Warehouse in Door County
Here we go!
Milwaukee Museum of Art :: The Public Market  :: The Harley Davidson Museum
Eating is a big deal in Wisconsin :: Maple Bacon Donuts  ::  Beer Cheese Soup
The Kohler Showcase
Annie’s Beloved Pups, Gus and Gracie
Lambeau Field and Hattie’s Souvenir
Door County  ::  Wilson’s ::  Al Johnson’s Restaurant  ::  Hwy 42
Anderson Warehouse ::  Annie  ::  Me  ::  Me & Annie
Photos of my by Annie 😉
#coxesgotohawaii
Hashtag titles aside, we really are on our way! I am sitting at the gate in Boston, having already flown from Raleigh to here this morning. We are waiting for our flight to Seattle. Then it’s on to Honolulu tomorrow and Maui on Wednesday. #what!!!??!?! Dan is walking Hattie outside, trying to give her the best experience we can with all this flying. “Doggie Xanax,” as Dan is calling it, is going to be spiking her treats too so… we should be good to go there 😉
It is hard to put into words the way we are feeling today. I had typed and deleted quite a few sentences here trying to get it right. The sleepless nights worrying about if we are doing the right thing, and the hard decisions we had to make to protect our dreams are about to add up to this day right here. We are going. It is happening. We are chasing our dreams, in spite of the challenges we face.
Of course Hawaii is awesome and it’s going to be super fun, but the bigger picture for me is the symbol it represents. It means many things to me, some personal, but others simple… the fact that we didn’t compromise and we, with the help of so many of our friends and family, made it happen! We are headed to paradise to reconnect, fall more in love, appreciate this wonderful planet that God made, and to…. wait for it… HAVE FUN! We promise we will take you along for the journey via our blog, facebook and instagram. Afterall, you guys had a hand in getting us there.
God Bless and pray for us in all these flights. whew!
Boston is part of my Heart
Something didn’t feel quite right about business as usual for me today. It is important to take a moment and a pause when things like this change the history books forever. I want to be resilient and move forward with normal life, but today is simply not a normal day.  So, instead of the planned blog post I just wanted to post about the hope and love I felt yesterday, under the dark cloud of grief that was overtaking Boston.
Dan and I, have only lived here in the Boston suburb of Newton since March 2010. We never really actively let this city into our hearts, always thinking we were just not a part of this community.  We thought of it as a temporary home until we moved on. The funny thing is, as a married couple, this is the place we have lived the longest. We have a home here and unbeknownst to ourselves, we have indeed become a part of the community.
As the news played on all day in the living room, I sat in a chair and spent literally hours trying to connect with all the people that I could think of in our lives here. I checked in with the local photography community. I checked in with Dan’s work colleagues as well as colleagues I had worked with in the past.  I checked in with our Boston area clients. I checked in with my friends from out of town who were here just for the marathon. I checked in with a woman who had been to our house to buy photography equipment who I knew was working as a photographer at the finish line.
I checked in with people I knew but what I realized was that I was checking in with our friends, some of them I didn’t realize just how much I cared about until I was scared they were gone. I love you’s were exchanged for the first time.
People I had never met checked in with me. People cared.
There is great sadness around this city and I realize just how blessed Dan and I are. This event revealed to me just how much love we do have in this place, that I had simply been overlooking these recent years. We are new here… but now we are part of this place. No longer is Boston just a place we live. Boston is now a part of me and a part of our hearts.
The funny thing is that it has been for a while, we just didn’t know it.
As all of us struggle to wrap our minds around the details and the reality of what happened, I encourage you as well as myself, to focus on the love that is all around us. The love that you have for the people in your life, and the love they have for you is real.
Please pray for us here in Boston because the pain is great but love needs to be greater. Like I said yesterday right here on the blog: God is love and love is real.
