Kathlyn's Maternity Photos

* Please check the bottom of the post for my thoughts on being a "photographer." P.S. I'm not one.

My best friend since the second grade needed some maternity photos taken (I offered to take them). Kathlyn and I have been through thick and thin together, and in junior high we would write 3-4 page long notes to each other on a daily basis. Since all junior high girls needs a code name to avoid getting caught by the teachers, we came up with S.S. (yes, like the Secret Police in the Holocaust. We weren't thinking about that at the time), which stands for Secret Sisters. Yes, I know- how cute.

We've been in each others' weddings and stayed in touch even though our lives are going in separate directions (she's staying in Amarillo while we're moving to Houston). But she is one of those once-in-a-lifetime friends who you can pick up with right where you left off, even if it was several months ago. I think going through so much stuff growing up really gave us a bond that no one else can quite compare with.

Kathlyn was due on August 1st with her first baby, a girl, but due to some complications she was scheduled for an induction on Monday, July 16th. Between me being in Houston and her obligations, Sunday the 15th was our only chance to get the pictures done. We cut it close, as Liberty was born the very next night, but I love that Kathlyn will some day be able to tell Liberty that these photos were taken the day before she was born.

I took over 900 photos that evening and ended up editing over 100. I've never edited that many for anyone, but she is so dang beautiful and photogenic that many turned out well. These are some of my favorites.

Without further ado, here's the most beautiful pregnant woman I've ever seen:

 

I think she was about to say something, but I love her expression

This lucky lady had no stretch marks!

 

 

This one might be my favorite, and it was totally candid. She didn't even know I was taking them at this point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think? Is she not beautiful? Now I can't wait to go see that new munchkin.

 ----begin rant-------
Thoughts on being a "photographer"
Let me preface this by saying I am NOT a photographer. I own a nice camera, I've done a lot of studying and reading about photography tips and posing, I love capturing special moments for people, I love editing, and I love seeing how happy people are with the end result.

But I have never charged anyone to take photos, and I think no one has ever actually asked me to take photos- I've always offered and they probably just didn't want to hurt my feelings and tell me no. Although, I think people have genuinely been happy with the results, so it ended up being win-win for everyone. I've been practicing for over a year now and I feel pretty confident in my (very amateur) abilities.

I am not a photographer. I am a person who can take better pictures than your mom could (usually). It drives me batty to see all these so-called "photographers" popping up and actually charging people for really sub-par photos that look like they were edited (very poorly) in Picnic. Those people are not "photographers," they are people just like me who enjoy doing this for a hobby. So please don't start a Facebook page with your "business."

Perhaps I am being a bit harsh- I post the photos I take on my personal Facebook, because it's part of who I am and generally I am friends with whoever the subject is. Does that make my a hypocrite? I don't think so, because I've never claimed to be a photographer, nor do I claim to have a business.

I realize that all people have to start somewhere (even looking back at my photos from a year ago kind of make me cringe). In my humble opinion, though, it's not right to charge people for photos that quite frankly look like crap. If you need to practice, which we all do, then don't charge people for it. Don't say that it's your 'business.'

I don't mean to put people down, but really guys, this is just getting ridiculous. Everyone who owns a nice camera is not a photographer.
---end rant---

Time Flies

I really need to get better about updated more frequently so that I don't have to catch up on weeks at a time.

So basically, last week was pretty busy. I went back to work and my co-peer-advisor and I basically planned out the fall semester. We are still without a boss for another few weeks, so either we had to plan it or our events were going down the drain, and, I fear, our program not too long afterwards. It's a little scary being the one in charge and making all the decisions. I'm used to planning the details and making things happen, not setting the date and time.

Fast-forward to Thursday. I made some hot-pink zebra-striped peanut butter cookies for my friend Kathlyn's bachelorette party on Friday.

This one was named "Boob"

Unfortunately, this one had to be eaten.

My friend Brandy came to help. She didn't believe that the pink die would stain her tongue. Guess who won that bet?

Kathlyn and I have been friends since 2nd or 3rd grade. She is my longest-surviving friend (morbid?) and we have so many good memories together. She was with me through my mom's second and third marriages, so she understands and knows parts of me that only people who were there can understand. I always considered her mom to be my second mom, and I looked up to Kathlyn for her sense of style and worldly knowledge that was largely thanks to her older sisters :). In junior high we were legends. Really. We would write notes to each other every few classes, but these were not just regular notes, no. They were 2-3 page long notes. Written in high-lighters or awesome non-black/blue pens, decorated with doodles only as 13 year old girls can do. People oo-ed and aww-ed over them, amazed at how we could write so much so often. But we just had so much to talk about! We both talk about those notes. Somewhere, we both saved almost all them. It would be fun to go through them someday and see what we thought was so important. We were doubles partners in tennis- her dad coached us from time to time. We had so much fun making fun of the ditzy girls who were just in it because it looked "cool".

In high school, she helped me through my first and only "break-up" with the boy I had been "going out with" for 4 months. I broke up with the poor boy on the phone, but the next day (and for several days after that) he continued to sit at our lunch table. Like, WTF dude? We broke up. You can't sit here. But of course I didn't say anything out of niceness so we spent several super-awkward days in silence at lunch. Until finally when he began to sit down one day Kathlyn said "dude, you can't sit here anymore." So he moved over to the next table :) True friendship, my dears.

After our freshman year she transferred to a private high school nearby, but we managed to keep our friendship alive somehow. So much has changed since those days of note-writing, but she is still the same beautiful, fun-loving girl I grew up with. I was honored to stand by her side on one of the biggest nights of her life, just as she did for me last year.

Friday morning the other bridesmaids and some family members and I met at the church to help set up for Kathlyn's wedding. We worked at the church from about 10 am until 2:45 pm, but it looked great!

Aisle hangers: Mason jars with black ribbon wrapped around the mouth with a white feather sticking out in the back, filled with top soil, rock,and tea lights. 

 

 

Older sister and niece of the bride

After decorating we all went to the salon for manis and pedis. Fun Fact: This was my second pedicure EVER. My first one was for my wedding last summer. I just can't justify spending $$ on something I can do fairly well myself. One day, after college, I will splurge on them more often :)

7 Pedis and 8 Manis

The Beautiful Bride

I ran home afterwards and literally had 5 minutes to throw on a dress for the rehearsal and grab a change of clothes for the bachelorette party afterwards. The rehearsal went pretty well, and then it was time for lingerie and bowling!

 The party was at her sister's house and she did a great job on the decorations. The bra and panty bunting in the living room coordinated with the pom-pom and lingerie hanging above the dessert table.

 I wish we hadn't just eaten at the rehearsal dinner- all the desserts were AWESOME but we were all pretty full from dinner. See my cookies? They turned out more red than pink, but they tasted great! Her sister made cheesecake cupcakes and ordered the zebra cupcakes.

 Time for Bachelorette Bowling!

 Her sister found a "bachelorette bowling" guide on the internet where every round you had to do something different. This one was the "birthing bowl" round lol.

All of us.

After bowling we were all super exhausted so we went home to catch a little sleep before getting up early Saturday to decorate. I brought the bride some Starbucks to help wake her up, and the rest of the day was a blur of steaming, moving, decorating, getting hair done, and waiting.

I wish now that I had taken pictures of the cake and food tables, but oh well. Live and learn, I guess.
Then it was TIME...

The bride got a little hot while waiting. I love this pic!

The bride's mom with her first grandson. How sweet!

And at the reception, look who I found:

Mom and little bro no. 2, Daniel.

Me, a horrible pic, but me, none-the-less.

It was a beautiful candle-lit ceremony that was uniquely their style. The girls walked bare-footed down the aisle (Kathlyn could never keep shoes on and frequently wore flip-flops in the winter while we were growing up). The boys were flip flops and the groom rolled up his sleeves. They cut the cake together, but there were no toasts, speeches, dances, or anything else "formal". When they were ready to leave, they left :)

A few more pictures from the night (don't judge on the awful pics, it was late when I got home but I really wanted to document how awesome my hair looked!)

 They started off by curling my hair with the straightener. I think they underestimated how long and thick my hair actually is; it took over an hour. By the time I was done I could have been the Rodeo Queen with all my poofy curls. Should've asked someone to take a picture. Boo.

 This was after everything was over, so it had fallen out a bit. But this was probably my second favorite hair-do of all times (my wedding hair was my favorite). But this one actually stayed up better than my wedding hair. You can see a few bobby pins sticking out at the top lol. My hair is a beast that does not like to be tamed. Rawr.

Since we were bare-footed for the ceremony they gave us house-shoe slippers for the reception. I believe it's a tradition that both her sister did as well.

The rest of the weekend will have to be for another post. It's time for bed!