I just love Charleston.  No, really, I looovee Charleston.  Something about this charming, Southern city and all its history and secrets are so inviting.  The architecture is stunning and unlike anything else in the South.  As much as I love historic parts of Wilmington, NC and Savannah, GA, neither compare to Charleston, in my opinion.  There are so many fabulous places to dine and great shops to visit on King Street and it's a beautiful place to get married  :)

That's why today for my Resource Room post, I wanted to share Weddings Unveiled because of their Southern flair and low country weddings.  Click HERE to visit the Weddings Unveiled blog (with tons of inspiration and real wedding features!).

Happy Thursday!

My little football stars  :)

Happy Tuesday!

I love our family vacations...they mainly consist of laying on the beach until burnt or tan, whichever, eating, consuming the occasional chilled drink, eating, laughing at what the kids say, sleeping, eating, playing cornhole, oh, and did I mention eating?  Rinse and repeat!  I just love my nephews and nieces, they make vacation that much better and keep us laughing and entertained and on our feet the entire time :)

Anna's bridal session was the perfect opportunity for her to capture some moments of just herself, instead of her and her now husband!  This was such a fun afternoon...

Julia's session was AWEsome!  We scoured this amazing property in Eastern North Carolina and had a great time...this was a wonderful opportunity for Julia to try out makeup and hair and her dress!

And in this Anna's case, she wanted to do a hair/makeup trial run as well and get to see the venue property before the big day!  So fun!  :)

Thanks for checking in...happy weekend!

I think being an entrepreneur is a pretty amazing thing and I have so many other business ideas that one day I can't wait to implement and I guess entrepreneurism must run in my family because my two sisters have started a really cool business together!

This week for the Resource Room I am sharing none other than Sweet Birdies Nest.  Sweet Birdies Nest, founded by my sisters Heidi and Beverly, is a full service, custom design invitation and card shop.

Here is a tidbit from my sisters:

To see a slideshow from their session, please CLICK HERE!  **the slideshow takes a minute to load :)**

Happy Tuesday!

I have always wanted to get my pilot's license.  I don't really have a great reason why, but I just want to and I am very fascinated by planes.  So about a month ago, Mike called me excitedly after he left work and asked me to meet him at the airport...

And we got to go flying!  

So you're thinking, big deal, I just flew from Cinci to NYC last week.  OK, this is waayyy more fun than flying commercially.  I was having a hard time justifying to Mike that we should fly first class everywhere...but now I'm starting to have a really hard time convincing him that we should just buy our own plane ;)

This plane actually made a debut on my blog last year (oh, and there's also a super cute couple in the post as well :) )...click HERE to revisit the post!

Um, gorgeous!

I'm sold...I just have to get my pilot's license now!!

It's really awesome to be able to fly over where you live...since Mike and I haven't lived here that long it was nice to see how everything is laid out from the air.  These are the "bluffs" that we take Bear to everyday...

Flying over our neighborhood!

You see, flying and me will get along just fine...there are all kinds of checklists...

Yeah, I was pretty excited!

Check back next week...I have a few fun anniversary sessions to blog :)  Happy weekend!

See for yourself...

Soo, onto other news...this week for the Resource Room and weekly inspiration, I am sharing The Bride's Cafe.  There are some gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous ideas and images on this site, so enjoy browsing through it!  :)

Happy Thursday!

Caroline and her father getting ready to hop into the horse and carriage and ride around to the ceremony site!

Part two coming soon!

I love farms and I love cows, oh, and I love food...so this was a super fun day...

Pretending to be farm folk...

The ringleader...

Happy Monday!

As y'all know, Haiti is near and dear to my heart after my recent trip to Fonds Parisien and Port-au-Prince back in April (to learn more about my trip, click HERE.)  Yesterday, Laila, our amazing leader and founder of NRI (www.newrealityinternational.org) announced that the Haitian Christian Mission (where I stayed in Haiti) is partnering with NRI to find sponsors for 5 orphans.

First stop:  San Francisco!  About a year ago, Mike and I went to SF as part of our one year anniversary trip so it was fun to come back almost a year later...

Always have to get a few photographs of the Golden Gate bridge :)

The second day of our stay in SF, we had lunch at this little yummy cafe in Nob Hill, where I had some pretty darn good clam chowder...and if you know me, well then, you know that I just loooove clam chowder...no, I didn't eat it seven days in a row in Monterey last year...oh wait, it was me...whoops!

And of course, we took Bear along with us.  He is such a great travel dog!  We walked a lot more in SF this year than last so he is very worn out in this picture :)

Walking on some trails we found the San Francisco National Cemetery...it reminded me of Arlington National Cemetery...

Then it was off to San Jose for a few family portrait sessions.  First stop: shopping!  :)  We checked out Santana Row which is a really cool shopping area with lots of great restaurants.  And we may or may not have driven by Apple headquarters in Cupertino (yes, we are huge dorks!).

Um, I love!

And then we cruised over to Livermore for a wedding and just had to try out a few wineries in the Livermore/Pleasanton wine valley  :)

Happy Hump Day!

NAPCP put together some amazing swag bags for the event...and I can say without a doubt that they were, hands down, the best swag bags ever (coming from the girl who has been to a gazillion workshops!)

A few cute images of our swag bags in the resort vineyard...

Every little detail was so well planned and thought out, you would have thought we were attending a wedding!  :)

A little wine tasting was enjoyed by all...

Happy Tuesday!

Just a few months ago, I was so fortunate to be able to visit Haiti to document the work of doctors, nurses and surgeons and when I landed in Fort Lauderdale from Port-au-Prince at the end of my trip back to the US and crossed the line through customs, the border agent took a quick glance at my previous destination and said earnestly, "Welcome home, Whitney."  I literally started bawling right there in front of 500 people waiting to get where they were going...coming home never felt so good.

But no matter where I am, at the end of a long day of whirlwind travel and sight-seeing, I always have the same feeling...I am so darn proud to be an American and I think it's part of the high that I get from international travel.  It reminds me of what an amazing home I have, the freedoms I have been granted that men and women I don't even know fight for and I am reminded how lucky I am to be able to voice my opinion, run a business and vote for whomever I choose.  We should all be so lucky.

I read an interesting and emotional article in last month's edition of the Real Simple magazine...in short, the article interviewed a few women who recounted their stories and obstacles of becoming an American citizen...here is one quote that resonated with me:

                                            -Maria Yoplac

Happy Independence Day everyone!  Celebrate in style...oh, and everyone be careful playing around with fireworks!  ;)

Obviously my friends and family know how old I am (and being the youngest sibling, I take joy in always being younger :) ) but several industry acquaintances often ask how old I am.  And I am hesitant to inform them...maybe I like the mystery.  Most people are shocked when I finally tell them...hopefully it's because I look young and not the other way around :)

Time is flying by at a breakneck pace and sometimes I find myself frantically searching for the pause button on the proverbial remote controller of life.  Sometimes I just stop in the middle of the day and think, "this is so not what I had planned," but I don't believe in regrets, so maybe instead of being disappointed in what I haven't accomplished at this point I will celebrate the different path in life that I'm traveling on.

They say you're only as young as you feel and if that's true than I consider myself fortunate because I don't ever want to grow up...

Happy day to all :)