Suzanne and I wandered around the waterfalls at Lucia Falls in OR. She was totally cool, 8 weeks pregnant and still 100% willing to do just about anything. She climbed on rocks, hiked down to the water and then proceeded to dive right in.

One of the main questions brides ask me when I mention the trash the dress sessions is how often people actually do this? What if their daughter wants to someday wear their dress?

Well, everybody is different, of course. I don’t ever want to push something on a client who doesn’t want it! BUT, I’m in love with the trash the dress shoot. How many times do you get to wear your wedding dress again? Usually never. And how many of us wanted to wear our mother’s wedding gown? Not many of us…and for those that did, a lot of stars have to align–correct sizing, etc. And, most of the time, your dress will already be very dirty by the end of the night. Usually you need to have it cleaned before sending it off to storage–So…why not put that gown back on, embrace the dirt and get some beautiful beach portraits?

And if worse comes to worst, you can always have your dress professionally cleaned and it will take care of all that sand and dirt you bring home with you from the beach after your shoot.

A month ago, I visited the Vancouver, WA/Portland, OR area and stayed with my best friend. She and I decided to photograph each other trashing wedding dresses on the beach for fun–And OH MY GOD, was it fun. Fun and freezing.

Before my little story…here are the photos I took of Missy. Is my best friend stunning or what? I mean, yowza. Her hubby is a lucky, lucky man.

Ok, so now…I just wanted to show these photos that Missy took of me. I knew the water was going to be freezing…so in order to NOT chicken out, I ran as fast as I could into the ocean. Only–I totally lost my footing and fell face first into that icy water. Not one of my shining moments…but wow does it make a funny slideshow of pictures! (keep in mind these aren’t really edited…they’re pretty much raw images) Let’s all have a quick laugh at my expense…

Here I am running…

Running all graceful-like (look at those pretty, pointed toes)

Looking back at Missy…

Oh, craptastic

Walk it off, Colleen. Just walk it off like nothing happened.

Aaaaand last but not least, I give in and laugh at myself.

This might come as a bit of a surprise to people, but my niece Adelynn is the absolute hardest portrait subject I’ve ever had to photograph. Because I’m her aunt, she doesn’t tend to take the time we have together seriously (portrait-wise). She DEFINITELY doesn’t want to sit or stand still long enough for the shutter to click and she doesn’t like being told to smile.  Oh, she smiles plenty on a normal day, but the second I hold that camera up to my eye, she stops smiling altogether. These smiles that you see were taken in the last 5 minutes that she was in town–while Bridget and Adam were packing up the car. Luckily, they were A+ smiles…

Usually when I come to visit, it’s for a holiday or a birthday. The weekend typically involves copious amounts of sugar and presents. On this last trip, however, it was for no specific reason. Just a weekend that I decided to come down and see everyone. We celebrated things like a late mother’s day, an early father’s day and my (early) birthday while I was in town, but it was very low-key.  I think that for this reason, Addie and I finally had a chance to bond.

Saturday morning she slipped into my bedroom with a box of birthday candles to wake me up. She crawled into bed with me and we watched Clubhouse Mickey while my sister showered and dressed. I rubbed her back and her head for the 30 minutes that the show was on and as the credits rolled, I stopped momentarily to stretch. In those 20 seconds that I stopped rubbing her back, Adelynn put her hand on the small of her back (like I’ve seen my dad do after lifting something heavy) and gave a loud sigh. “Oh, my back, Aunt Colleen.” She moaned as if she had just spent the whole day at the office and all she could use at the moment was a backrub and a brewskie. It was THAT kind of grunt.

Obviously, I had to continue with her backrub after that. We spent the rest of the weekend playing dress-up, tea parties, doing Addie’s and my make up…all those girlie things that you can do with your auntie.

The following week after I had gotten back to NY, my sister sent me an email. She had bought Adelynn a pack of headbands (which comes with 3 to a pack) and upon giving them to Adelynn, Addie set one aside.

“Who’s that for?” My sister asked.

“Aunt Colleen,” she responded as though it was the most idiotic question she’d heard in her life, “because she has fashbon-cents.”

Damn right, kid! Don’t you forget who the “fashbonable” one of the family is!

I try not to plug things too often–that is, unless it’s something that I 100% want and believe in. I only review things I love (or hate for that matter) and for me to talk about loving an organization and blog–you know I must really love it!

That being said, there is an organization called THE LAMP. A quick explanation of this organization (as it can be found on their website) is as follows: The LAMP is a non-profit organization creating a grassroots movement to reform and improve media. This is achieved through free media literacy workshops and public events for youth, parents and educators.

I think we can all agree that media is powerful. And with the infiltration of media into SO many aspects of all our lives (which can be both a positive and negative thing), we all need to become more educated on the best way to utilize the tools we’ve been given. But not only this, but RECOGNIZE when we’re being influenced by media. There was a recent statement made by a public figure head about how technology can be a distraction–and I agree. Without the proper education on how to use technology and media, it can be a very negative distraction–it’s all in how you use it.

But, I digress. THE LAMP is hosting a benefit along with a friend of ours (and by friend, I mean fellow blogger whom I’ve never actually met), the stunning Alejandra Ramos of Always Order Dessert.

On Wednesday, June 9 in Brooklyn, some of the hottest, most delectable food bloggers will face off in a dessert challenge. Celebrity judges will mediate AND as an attendee, you get drink specials, an entry into the raffle AND you get to taste all the desserts. Let me say that again–YOU GET TO TASTE THE DESSERTS. It’s a party–where the main focus is trying different sweets. I honestly don’t see how it could get any better. Except–oh, oh…wait a minute–all the proceeds go to benefit an extremely important cause!

Tickets are only $20 and you can buy them here or at the door for $25.

Seriously, guys. Check it out. If you can’t attend the actual event, go read THE LAMP’s blog now and then. It’s a real eye opener…and for some great style, cooking, baking, event planning ideas, check out Always Order Dessert.

I bought myself a gift…because I’ve been so busy and so booked the past few months that after my last wedding, I decided to treat myself to some boots that I’ve been drooling over for a couple years. And not only did I buy the boots, but I went with Frye boots, which according to sources (and their price tag) are the best quality and should last me a lifetime.

I kept seeing girls in the city walking around with boots similar to these…wearing them over jeans, with summer dresses, in the rain, in the heat. They go with EVERYTHING! Or at least, that seems to be the trend. So, I got mine…in a distressed brown leather. AND I LOVE THEM. The only place I don’t wear them, is the gym. And believe me, if it didn’t scuff the damn Pilates room floor, IWOULDTOTALLYWORKOUTINTHEM!

You might remember Julia and Patrick from their engagement photos I shot in Central Park last summer. The two got married down in Playa del Carmen, Mexico back in January…and I was there to document their big day (and to do a little vacationing, myself)! Those photographs will be posted soon enough. In the meantime, because I do things a little a** backwards sometimes, here are their after-session images! Some might call this a “trash-the-dress” session…except there was very little (to none) of trashing the dress. It might have gotten a little dirty around the hem walking around the streets of Brooklyn–but other than that, not so much!

Have you ever wanted to model? Do you love having your picture taken? This is your chance to have a lot of fun!

Katana Photography is now accepting applications for 2011 Representatives from all high schools in the tri-state area! Slots go pretty quickly since I try to only take a couple from each school, so be sure to email or call me asap to secure your spot!

Your benefits, just to name a few:

-$50 off your session fee

-Your pictures on facebook, Katana Photography’s website and blog and promo materials.

-Beautiful 11×14 single picture print

-$20 in print/digital credit for each qualified referral

-25 rep cards to hand out to your friends

-24 free wallets
**Bonus- the Representative that refers the most students will get their portraits FREE! (Last year one of our reps received $500.00 in prints!)**

All 2011 Representatives will be photographed for a mini-promo session sometime in April. There will be an additional session in early-mid summer. You can choose from both sessions for your order.
You will be required to a sign photo release form and provide a deposit.

Contact Katana Photography today to apply to be one of my 2011 Representatives!

colleen@katana-photography.com

336.442.1135

katana-photography.com

I just ordered a few of these accordion book samples from the AMAZING ProDPI! They are honestly, the most amazing company ever. And as I mentioned before, they always send candy!!!

These accordion books are absolutely beautiful and a perfect gift for parents of the bride and groom, grandparents of the new baby…or just for yourself! They fit easily in a purse and are a beautiful way to show off your kid.

It was our third evening in Mexico. We spent the day in Tulum looking at the Mayan ruins and once we got back, all I wanted was a margarita. Fruity, alcoholic goodness to cool off after a long day walking in the heat. We were getting pretty sick of the touristy areas of Playa del Carmen and in trying to find a place to eat, ended up walking a little outside the tourist trap area. It was still 100% safe–well, I take that back. It was probably slightly less safe than the tourist-area of Playa, but safer even than Brooklyn probably.

After walking for a good 20 minutes, we found a place called “Kool Fish” with pitchers of margaritas for $4. I don’t think it gets any better than that, right? Except that this “Kool Fish” had the most amazing fish tacos I’ve ever had in my life. And as the ice cold margarita slid down my throat, I thought it couldn’t get any better than THAT. Except then our waiter started chatting with us. And Eduardo was the COOLEST GUY EVER. So friendly. So chatty. He even added 2 extra shots of tequila to our (already strong) margaritas. Then he offered us pot…because apparently in Mexico, that’s how you make friends. You offer them pot. We politely declined–but it was nice to be accepted.

The following night, we went back to Kool Fish. Mostly because we wanted to see Eduardo again before we left. HE WAS THAT COOL. And he gave us more strong margaritas and great conversation. He even taught me a few phrases in Spanish, the most important one being: Dónde está el baño?

To be fair, Sean also taught me that. But Eduardo helped with the pronunciation. And thank god for learning that…it was used A WHOLE LOT THROUGHOUT THE TRIP. Because my bladder is the size of a pea. Not even. More like the size of a pinhole. And much of the trip was spent with me crossing my legs or sprinting from the beach to find some sort of public restroom.

Another side note–what is with the lack of toilet seats in Mexico?!?! I did more squatting that weekend, than I did in the gym preparing my body for bathing suit weather.

Wow–that was quite the rambling. So, to sum up: Mexico is beautiful; Eduardo is awesome; Playa del Carmen needs to invest in some toilet seats across the board.

Below are some images from Tulum –

As an early Christmas gift and in honor of my first ever holiday tree, Liza and Maddie picked out these two ornaments.

The boat represents Savannah, where we first met (Maddie and I first met in Savannah as well when she was just 3 months old. And she spit up in my mouth.) and of course the NY ornament represents our adult lives here in the city–except for Maddie. I guess it represents her childhood here in the city.

It was a sweet and meaningful gift and for the rest of my life, these ornaments will hang as a representation of our friendship. And every year in December, I’ll look at these and think of this friendship and what it means to me.