Douglas Robert DeEsch III & Company

The day after Christmas I flew down to meet Brian and his family in Charlotte. His sister, Laurie lives down there with her husband, Doug and their son, Trey. I was so excited when she asked me to take Trey's 9 month pictures while I was there! Trey was so much fun and was being such a good sport about the whole shoot, probably because his mom LOVES to get his picture taken and he is so used to it by now! I was really lucky to get so many great pictures, Trey is very photogenic so it was hard to get a bad picture of him. Here are a few of my favorites from the day:

My Very First Wedding Vendor Is...

of course a photographer! Ever since I found her webpage, I knew I wanted Kristen Gardner to be my wedding photographer. Her pictures are so natural and never "over edited". She has a fresh style which I really like. Here is her website: http://kristengardner.com/

One down, five thousand more to go!

The Moment We've All Been Waiting For

We're engaged!!!

You would not believe how many people keep saying "Haven't you BEEN engaged??" No, no we have not. Brian and I have known we would be getting married for a couple of years now but it was a team effort to wait it out and allow Brian to finish school, and we couldn't be happier!

It was such a blessing to receive so much encouragement from our family and friends, we didn't realize how many people cared about us, haha! It has only been 36 hours and I have already had such a great time, but I am also EXHAUSTED!

Anyway, I thought I would share with you the one piece of photographic genius we were able to capture right after he proposed, get ready to applaud:

I was happy to atleast get this picture!

Enjoy a few of these fun pics of the most beautiful ring! Its my new favorite accessory :)

The First Snow!!

On Saturday morning, Lauren and I ventured out to Old Town Manassas to enjoy the Christmas parade! It was so fun (read: it was so cold that my smile was frozen on my face) to enjoy it in the snow! Old Town looked so beautiful and magical! We then headed over to Trinity (Lauren's church in Old Town) to thaw and enjoy some coffee. Enjoy these pictures of the parade and the snow!

I can't take credit for this picture, Lauren took it. This is the front of her church.

Lauren loving the snow on the train tracks!

This tire mark looked like a heart, so cute!!

Life from Death

I know that these pictures aren't very "beautiful" but I had an inspiration from something I saw yesterday! This osage orange (and yes I had to google what the heck this thing was) has been sitting on our deck for about a month now. By pure coincidence I snapped this picture when I was testing out my new zoom lens, and I'm so excited that I did because I am about to tell you my Eureka moment!

So as this osage orange is on our deck, it not only sits there but it also rots. Its getting disgusting and brown and its skin is sagging, just like anyone else who ages, haha. And I keep thinking, why don't we throw this thing away? Its so gross and and isn't very aesthetically pleasing. Lets just say it: its dead. But of course I'm too much of a wimp to throw it away myself. So it continues to sit and die. Until one day...

Yesterday morning I came downstairs to start my day with a nice cup o' joe (or 4) and saw two little squirrels dancing/flirting on the deck. I watched them for the 25 seconds that my coffee was heating in the microwave and looked closer and noticed that they were feasting on the dead osage orange!! My first thought was "Yuck" - its like eating at a restaurant, these squirrels have no idea what could be wrong with this food. And then the more I thought about it, the more I realized the beauty in what had happened. How many times do we label something as dead? Our church, our family, even our spirits. And then someone gets down to the core of the dead thing and is surprised to find life and sustenance from a rotting osage orange? Sometimes it is good to let something go if the life has gone out of it. But just remember that sometimes those dead things can secretly have life way deep down inside, it just needs a little shredding, yikes!

**Apparently osage oranges are used to keep spiders away - like poison. I hope the squirrels survive**

How badly do I need more than just a bedroom? Within the last year I have been slowly collecting items for my future home. Bathroom ensembles, decorative bowls, kitchen towels, glassware, flatware, candles, you name it! This has been very rewarding because usually what happens is I find something that is MAJORLY on sale and I purchase it. Brian and I even purchased a beautiful chocolate brown sectional over the summer because it was such a good deal! BUT these things have slowly been taking over my room, and even parts of my parents life ( my mom kindly donated her garage space for me to store the sectional in ). And throughout all this, I've also been collecting photo equipment for my developing business. Needless to say it is quite a struggle to keep my life organized at the moment, in fact here is a recent phone conversation about it:

*ring*ring*

Sabina "Hey how are you doing"

Kristyn "I have too much stuff, how are you?"

Sabina "oh...do you want me to help you organize?"

Kristyn: "no, I just threw away 50% of my possessions hoping it would make some space. It didn't"

Haha so I hope Brian is very grateful for the sacrifices I am making for our future home!

In the meantime I have been able to take pride in the items I have NOT thrown away and help me get through the Dark Tunnel of Stuff I am in at the moment! I ALMOST see the light at the end...

Sun Rises and Sun Sets

Recently I have been having the worst sleeping patterns! In the past I have been the best sleeper -- a solid 10 hours, if my schedule allowed for it. But recently I have been having so much trouble sleeping through the night. This morning I woke up at 4am! A lot of stress and crushed spirits haven't helped with this sleep schedule. But today was different -- I was able to witness a sunrise and a sunset. It was the tiniest thing and it happens everyday but for some reason I just felt like it was especially for me today! This gentle reminder of the days coming and going was so uplifting. Things may seem so hard and you might have a very damaged heart but the new days are coming when you will experience happiness and joy. All you have to do is decide to allow your days to improve and for some it may be a slow process, and others can get past things in an hour -- but just remember to take time to enjoy your sunrises and sunsets. I love you all so much! I hope you enjoy your own sunrises and sunsets :)

La Grange Winery, Haymarket, VA

My new favorite place to go to and just relax and enjoy the beauty outside is at La Grange. I seriously want to live there and sleep in the barrels of grapes, like a real Italian. It is so peaceful and everything is very slow paced there, which is so different from about 5 miles down the road when you hit Route 29! The Vineyard has a beautiful plant tunnel in the back with romantic lights all over it and you can sit at one of the many tables on the land and just enjoy time with friends and a bottle of Viognier! Check out how fun and great this place is:

This day that we went was just after they harvested and they had maybe 20 HUGE bins of grapes everywhere!

Unfortunately, you have to burn some calories by climbing these stairs before you actually make it inside!

Here's the tunnel I was telling you about

The tunnel has a pathway that connects from the house to this great barn out back

While you are noticing this beautiful scenic picture, please also notice the man passed out in the lawn chair! Haha!

Thank you so much for checking out my pictures! I hope you all have a wonderful and SUNSHINEY weekend!

Fun Info

Ok so maybe its not fun but I wanted it to sound more exciting than it is! If you want to be a "Kristyn Blog Follower" go to the column on the right of the blog and click "follow". You will be like my little band of oompa loompa's, haha. Not really, but its nice to see I have some support! AND you should also check out my friend Jake's blog, we are blog friends (and real life friends, ha!) and his family still needs some major prayers! Here is the link to his blog: joshhiman.blogspot.com. I don't think you can leave a comment on his blog but you can probably leave a comment with...the Lord?

This is the third day in a row of nothing but rain, rain, RAIN! While I love this kind of weather because it makes for the best "moody" pictures, and it allows me to drink hot chocolate on a daily basis, it does nothing to lift your spirits! Here are a few shots I took from my front door step, and I got to use my new zoom lens!!

Check out the major zooooom!

This is what it feels like: an old dark black and white sad movie

Frank and Leslie-- Nov 1, 2009

When Frank asked Brian if I would photograph his wedding I was so excited! Frank and Leslie's wedding was so sweet and so unique! They had a wonderful brunch reception after their ceremony in Maryland. Here are a few of the fun pictures from their special day! I hope you enjoy :)

Washington DC!

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to live SO close to D.C. It is filled with so much history and importance and beauty! All of the memorials and monuments that are in remembrance of such important milestones in our nations history remind me of real life photographs! They are there so that we can look upon and laugh/cry/ponder about the great things America has accomplished. I hope you enjoy these fun shots in this great city of ours!

World War II Memorial

Union Station

Washington Monument in the Fall

Lincoln Memorial during the 3Day Breast Cancer Walk!

Washington Monument again. Has anyone ever noticed that tree before??