So…funny story - last weekend Miranda and I were killing time before we met up with some friends and we were just looking around at Pet Co. Well, we came across the CUTEST Hawaiian aquarium decorations. They were just so stinking adorable; and, hey, like I said they were Hawaiian themed!!!! Anyone who knows us knows that we’re practically obsessed with anything Hawaiian since we spent last summer there taking a class at the University of Hawaii. Well, we just had to have them…but one problem, we don’t have a fish tank. So what do you think we did…yep, on a whim, we purchased a 10 gallon fish tank without having a clue how to put one together or how to even take care of one. I know the employees at Pet Co are still laughing at us because it was quite obvious that we didn’t know what we were doing or what kind of fish to buy. Well, they informed us that we couldn’t buy any fish until we “conditioned” the water and got the water heated between 72-80 degrees. So we sadly went home with our empty fish tank and the cute Hawaiian decorations and read all up on “new tank syndrome” and the “nitrogen cycle” and other necessary but boring information.

Today, 3 days after the buying of the fish tank, we were able to buy some fish!!! Again, we looked like idiots in that store stating that we didn’t really know what kind of fish we should buy, but we just wanted the cutest and the most colorful fish they have. After much deliberating, we purchased our 5 fish and put them in their new home.

Isn’t it adorable!!!!

Abby didn’t know what to think about a new pet being in the house…I think she’s a little jealous already:

Miranda looking at our new pets:

So anyways, we’re excited right now; but I’m sure when it needs cleaning for the first time, our excitement will quickly fade.

Other news - school is in full swing for both of us (ugh…), and we’ve been pretty busy getting into the swing of it again. We’re getting caught up on some recent shoots, so we’ll be posting them soon.

Oh, and it’s that time of year again - FOOTBALL SEASON !!!!! We’re going down to the LSU season opener this weekend, and we’re just praying that Hurrican Gustav goes away.

Anyways, I better get back to my homework!

- heather

Let me first preface this post by explaining a few things. First, because I lost a lot of personal files when my computer crashed (pics for our business always get backed up immediately, but I’m always lacking when it comes to backing up my personal pics), I lost all my cruise pics from my camera. So all the pics you see are from my Dad’s point and shoot; and secondly, they haven’t been photoshopped either (just a little Lightroom edit). I was really bummed out when I discovered that the pictures from my camera were lost because I had a lot more “artistic” images from Mexico that I would love to share, but oh well. I need to at least be thankful that I still have some photos from our family trip.

We had a such a great time on the cruise. It was such a last minute booking for my family, but I’m so glad we got to go.

Here’s a pic of the ship, the Carnival Fantasy in New Orleans, LA.

You’ll notice that my dad isn’t in most of the pics because he was the one taking the pictures. But here is my mom, my brothers Jordan (far left) and Matt, and myself:

The entire family (again, sorry for poor quality, but its the best we have):

At night after the parents and little brother went to bed, Matt and I met up with Miranda and her brothers to p-a-r-t-y (translation: hang out, laugh at drunk people, and try to dance). Here’s us rocking out to YMCA:

Oh yes, we are so gangsta:

The cruise was a 4 night cruise, so there was only one port stop. But I loved Cozumel the first time I went on a cruise, so I wasn’t complaining to visit there again. Here’s us at Senor Frogs (again, without Dad):

For our shore excursion, we booked a beginners scuba class where you actually get to go about 40 feet deep and dive around a beautiful reef. I absolutely LOVED it (my ears gave me some problems from the pressure, but I didn’t let it ruin the fun). I just need to move by the water…after my surfing experience this summer (can read about it here) and now having gone scuba diving too, I want to do both all the time .
Me suiting up:

We payed a little bit extra to have an underwater photographer (sorry, I don’t know her name or if she even has a website, the boat captain contacted her) come down with us to take pics, and it was well worth the money. These underwater photos are some of my favorite from the trip:

The whole family:

Me and Matt:

Jordan among the reef:

And here’s some pics of the wonderful and beautiful underwater life:

I don’t know what this is, but it just looks cool:

An eel peeping out:

For my overall grade of the experience, a BIG thumbs up!

We’ll be posting some pics from a recent senior shoot, so stay tuned!

- heather

welp…. summer is over for me! i don’t know where it went, but it suddenly disappeared and now its time for me to go back to school. i haven’t really had much time this summer to post anything so i wanted to go ahead and post these from one of my summer trips. this summer, i got to go on a cruise to the carribean with my parents, my brothers, my aunt, and my grandmother. it was so much fun and we all had a great time getting to hang out together. none of my pictures are edited since we are still waiting on photoshop to come in, but i thought that i would still share some of them.

[slideshow id=2738188573448247745&w=600&h=475]

you’ll notice heather in some of the pictures. her family happened be on the same cruise and she will be posting some pictures from the trip a little later.
pay close attention to the pictures of heather trying to dance. for some reason, we are always arguing about who is a better dancer. i know that i know that i have more rhythm than she does and that i don’t look near as silly when trying to dance. i just let her though believe that she can dance better for the sake of an argument.
have a great weekend!!
—miranda—-

I came across this video on Becker’s blog the other day, and I loved it so much I just had to share. The guy’s name in the video is Matt (you can read more about him here) and he saved up his money for 10 years and then quit his job to travel the world. Everywhere he went, he taped himself dancing, made a short video of it, and posted it on his blog and youtube. Well, Stride gum found him and payed his way to travel the world a second time and make another video of him dancing; this time, though, anyone could join in and dance.

For a short 4 minute video, its amazing how it made me forgot about how messed up and divided the world appears to be. I also really envy this guy. I would LOVE to travel and see the world like this….to see all the world, not just the “touristy” parts. Until I can afford to do so, though, I’ll just have to settle for watching this video over and over again . Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&hl=en&fs=1]

- heather

well, first the bad: my computer is crashed, messed up, broken, whatever you want to call it…its just unaccessible at the moment. its in the shop now and its all fixable (for a price, of course), so thats a relief; but that’s why we haven’t posted in a while. most of our programs (photoshop, files, etc) are on my computer, so we won’t get to post the wedding pics from july until next weekend. therefore, if you’re looking for matt & malissa’s pics, don’t fear, they will be available next weekend. we usually don’t take this long to get them up, but like i said, we’ve had some slight technical difficulties. thank God we back up our files.

and now for the good: WE GOT TO MEET JASMINE STAR!!!!! (i know, a little over-emphatic, but that’s really how excited we were about it). anyone who knows us knows that we blog-stalk a few of our favorite photographers daily (ok, well, maybe hourly), and J* is definitely one of the best of the best. Her and David Jay (another amazing photographer) gave a conference in Dallas, TX and the second we knew about it, we were signed up that very second without even having to think about it. we had a great time and it really was amazing and just extremely helpful for us. we can’t wait to implement some of the ideas we learned about. lots of good things on the way :).

here’s the pic of us with J* from our point-and-shoot (again, no photoshop on this pic due to my computer being in the shop):

and then miranda, alan, and i headed out to sonic for some midnight supper :):

good times, good times
- heather

I know it and I now admit it. I’ve always justified every ridiculous clothes purchase that I’ve ever made for my dog Abby; but now, there’s just no justification. So I declare: Hello, my name is Heather, and I buy silly looking clothes for my dog, throw her birthday parties, and just overall treat her as a spoiled-rotten little kid. So with that, happy 3rd birthday Abby:

On another note, both Miranda and myself will be unavailable until Monday, July 21st. You can email or call and leave a message, and we will return your call next week. Thanks and have a good weekend!

- heather

hopefully everyone had a great july 4th. i spent the day with family at my grandmother’s house playing the game apples to apples. if you’ve never played it, you should check it out. its a great family group game.
couldn’t help but think though how last year in july heather and i were in hawaii taking a photography class and how on the 4th we went to an awesome firework show on the beach. it doesnt quite get any better than that.

here are a few pictures from the firework show in hawaii that we never posted last year. notice the palm trees swaying in the breeze under the fireworks. pure beauty:

and a flag picture that i liked from one of my assigments in hawaii:

have a great weekend!

—–miranda——

these pics didn’t make the cut for the initial Destin post since they do not necessarily scream “Destin” or “beach” or “vacation”, but I like them nonetheless. These were taken one afternoon in the condo room while the kiddos were just playing around and being natural. And, honestly, those “natural” and “spur of the moment” photos usually end up being some of my favorites.

Addy:

Bria:

And Dawson - trying to attack the camera. I know its not technically the best photo considering it’s not tack sharp and there’s some grain, but it still just makes me happy.

- heather

So we made it back from Destin, FL safe and sound and needing a vacation from our vacation . We had a great time at the beach and just wanted to share a few pics from the trip. We also took some family beach photos that we will post in the next few days once we go through them all. Most of these photos were taken with the simple point-and-shoot camera and not our professional cameras, so that’s why the quality isn’t the best on some of them. But anyways, here we go:

Check out this little doll, Dawson. He was soooo sweet and good on the trip. He would just smile at anything. Here we are at Fudpuckers:

But he wasn’t too happy the first day on the beach. he was just so tired and sleepy and hot (weren’t we all though ). Look at this poor little man. Even not smiling, though, he is such a cutie:

and let’s not forget his adorable big sisters Addy and Bria:

Other than hanging out at the beach and pool, we also went to The Track family fun center. The girls loved the go-carts. Check out Bria’s face in the below picture….sheer joy.

and here’s me and miranda in the arcade:

And finally, i tried out surfing again. As you may remember, I tried surfing while in Hawaii last summer and failed  MISERABLY…you can read about it here

Luckily, I fared much better in the significantly calmer and smaller waves of the Gulf. I even rode a few waves the first day; but the second day the waves were larger and I was on a more difficult board, so I wasn’t so great the 2nd day (and I was on my own without an instructor). 

Me right before my lesson the first day:

check me out riding those waves !

That’s all for now, be checking in later for those family beach pics. 

thanks!

- heather

because i’m lazy and i don’t want to drag out my camera at the moment (i know, i know…i’m a bad photographer), photo booth pics will have to do for now . here’s a pic of me on our balcony and one with me and my cute little cousins Addy and Bria.

our condo is super nice..6 pools…golf course (not that that benefits us any)… and short walk to destin’s famous white sand beaches and beautiful water.  

more to come later!

- heather