August

August was a crazy month! It was just at the end of July that Maria and I had decided that we would want to open a studio together. The next step was to start looking for a place but I don't think that either of us had any idea that we would find the perfect place so quickly. But on the 3rd I went out scouting the Cow Hollow neighborhood. I really didn't think I'd be able to afford anything there but it's the perfect area, price aside, so I just wanted to torture myself by looking, and I had to be over there anyway to pick up Courtney to take her to the airport. So I wandered around and found some of the places I'd been looking at online and made notes and was just about to turn around to go get Court when I saw a guy with two pugs crossing the street so I ran across the street after him to give him my card ( I really don't run everyone with a dog down to give them my card, but I can't resit a couple of pugs!). But then I couldn't just cross the street again and go back the way I came after talking to the guy because then he'd know that I chased him down, so I just figured I'd walk one more block and then turn around. And it was halfway down that block that I wasn't even supposed to walk down that I saw the perfect place. Right across the street from a dog boutique, a bridal store and a children's clothing place! I was really running late by this point so all I had time to do was take a quick picture, look in the windows and write down the "For Rent" number.
This is the picture I took that day.
I couldn't stop thinking about the place so the next day the 4th I had Shawn come look at it from the outside too, then on the 6th we made and appointment with the landlord to see the inside, then on the 8th Maria was finally back in town so we made another appointment to go view it. She loved it. We looked around a little more, but not much because on the 9th, we looked at it again with Tutt and then Maria, Tutt, Shawn and I all had a meeting and decided it was the place. On the 10th we dropped off the deposit! We signed the lease on the 20th (the same 20th that was my mom's birthday that I forgot!!) and have been hard at work ever since, but I still can't believe how fast it all happened, especially when I write all the dates down like that- Crazy!

WAYNE
August was also filled with several weddings and photo shoots, but the most notable event of August was Wayne's leaving :( Wayne moved to San Francisco almost the exact same time we did and he has been our dear dear friend for the past five years. But he decided to move to Portland (where he just this month found a house!!) and we miss him terribly. On the 12th of August we had a goodbye party for him where we premiered this fabulous slide show of our memories with Wayne (doesn't work on the Mac). It makes me cry every time I see it but that may just be because of the powerful music choices, not actually because I miss Wayne :) This video clip shows how the slide show music even inspired us to hold a brief dance during his goodbye party.



CODY & MURPHY
Even in my saddened state dogs still must be photographed :) so the next day I had a photo shoot with Cody, the enormous and silly Newfoundland.
Molly bought this photo session as a gift for her husband Michael and his beloved Cody, but Molly and her little Cocker, Murphy, joined in for quite a few of the pictures as well. I'm especially fond of this one of the two blonds with the exact same expression on each of their faces!
Michael has this van that is used solely for activities involving Cody. It's the funniest thing- a huge clunker covered top to bottom in Cody's fur and slobber. It is literally Cody's car!! We did a whole series of pictures of the two of them hanging out in the van.


August 17th- OUR 5TH ANNIVERSARY!
So Shawn and I had one of our more unique anniversary celebrations this year- our 5th year of marriage. We were photographing a wedding in Tahoe the next day and needed to get up there by that evening, so we headed up there around noon and stopped in Vacaville for a celebratory lunch at Chevy's (only the nicest of places for us on this special day). Then when we stopped for gas in Placerville we somehow picked up a hitchhiker. Our car was completely full with luggage and camera gear and suits, but we still managed to fit this girl and her two dogs in the back. They were so crowded back there, but beggars can't be choosers, ya know. So an hour and a couple of nose plugs later we were in Tahoe and we dropped them off and headed over to the pre-wedding Lu'au. The location of the wedding (and the Lu'au) was at this Episcopalian campsite. It is a beautiful location right on the water's edge- a picturesque little chapel and tall pines all around. The real work didn't start until the next day but Shawn and I grabbed some free food for our Anniversary dinner and started snapping some shots there that night.
Then it was off to bed so we could be ready for the wedding the next day. And here's the best part of the Anniversary celebration- we slept there at the camp in bunk beds!

ALI & LOI
So then Saturday the 18th was the wedding. . .
I loved this picture of the father of the bride getting ready with her watching in the background. Alison and her Father are really close and I just felt like this showed her admiration for him.


More Tahoe
That night we stayed in the same camp bunk beds and right next door in the kitchen building a bear broke in and ate 20 pounds of bacon that was going to be used for breakfast the next morning. Too bad for those looking forward to breakfast, but maybe lucky for us that we weren't the only tasty-smelling thing around!
So that morning Shawn and I headed off to our favorite little joint in Tahoe- Sprout's Cafe. Whenever we're in Tahoe we always find this place- so good! Then we went for a tram ride where I was freezing even in August, saw the big blue, ate some ice cream and headed home.


EVE & EDDIE
So then the very next weekend was Eve and Eddie's wedding in Half Moon Bay, and those two are just about the most laid-back couple I have ever photographed! It was fabulous!
Seriously though, they were so funny and relaxed about everything- from their wedding date and location down to the last flower girl, their answer to everything was "sure- whatever". They even told me that the reason they were getting married at that date and place was because one of her cousins booked the venue a long time ago but then that cousin and her fiance decided to elope. So the place was already paid for and available, so her and Eddie just decided to get engaged and married! Isn't that such a great story!
Eve got ready in this fantastic red room at the San Benito House and I kinda never wanted the events of the day to leave that room because it made for such great backdrops!
Eve has one of the most beautiful smiles ever- It's that big Julia Roberts type that I have forever been and will continue to be envious of.
Eve and Eddie were also great in the fact that they were all about the kids! They just let every kid that showed up be in the wedding. They bought tons of flowers and just handed them to any kid who wanted to walk down the aisle- it was so cute.
And I just have to include these last two photos. At one point early in the evening (1st pic) this little boy and this little girl started talking and they decided to dance together. It was pretty darn cute and all the adults were pointing it out to one another. Well all throughout the evening they kept getting closer and closer. They slow danced together at one point and ate cake next to each other, and then at the very end of the evening, Shawn caught this picture- they had decided to kiss each other, but not touching- they did it through two napkins!
I don't think her mom thought it was so cute any more. But it made us laugh pretty hard.