Polly and Andrew in Little Rock

The loveliest people you'd ever hope to meet...

Aren't Polly's blue shoes the coolest?

Andrew didn't look too shabby himself.

Such beautiful mason jar arrangements.

This was payback!

Lily was the ringbearer! My worlds collided!

With friends like these...

Polly's bridal party looked like a sunburst :)


Relaxing after the ceremony.

I loved loved my weekend in Little Rock photographing Polly and Andrew's wedding. They are friends of my dear friend Jaime from college and are so fun and open that they wanted a pet photographer to capture their wedding. I'm so glad they did. All of the little details of the day were so perfect. They had a big table of board games, pies instead of a cake, and actually had a saw player to perform their processional music! I loved it all but really I was just so taken by the spirit of Polly and Andrew. Both of them have had to handle some serious health setbacks in life and they have dealt with them by dedicating their lives to love, creativity, and generosity. I was so taken by their ability to stay in the present moment no matter what (Polly was the calmest bride I have EVER seen) and how gosh darn generous they are. When I snuck into their room to capture their post-ceremony relaxation, not only did they let me but they also insisted on sharing their snacks with me. Anyone who is around them for any period of time can feel what makes them so special and are changed for the better. I definitely was.

dreams are awesome.

this book is the most important thing i've read in a while. it made me cry for all the people out there who have forgotten how to dream or that only dream of furniture and breakfast sandwiches (me included most days). i forget sometimes how important my personal dreams are for the larger whole. what would the world be like if we could never imagine anything better, more exciting, more daring? at a time when so many of my dreams are coming true--just because i went out there and tried it--i want to say that you don't have to be good or the hardest working person to make exciting things happen in your life. you just have to have a healthy respect for what you care about and faith that maybe it can happen. i think it really could be that simple but we are so good at keeping ourselves distracted that most of us have forgotten and then we wonder why we are so grumpy most of the time. and then we take a vacation or let ourselves play a little and suddenly life feels so much better. its a cycle--know, forget, remember and i think each time we remember, our powers get a little stronger and our faith a little bigger. here's to dancing wild animals with diamond coated wings for helping us all to remember more often.

unprecedented lamp dancing.

<3

I just revisited this piece that my friend Ryan, the director of "Spirit Songs," made from his first journey to the jungle. He's such a great filmmaker and I got inspired again watching. I just got the trailer in the mail from the footage of our expedition to the Amazon last April and it's so exciting. Right now my life is just a matter of balancing my passions and I think when I get back from Israel it's time to put some major love and attention on this documentary. It's so important that the beauty of this region begin to reach us all so we can see why we need to preserve the lungs of our world.

So tomorrow I am off to Chicago and then I leave for Israel on Monday. Aaaah! I'm so excited. People keep asking me why I am going and I don't really have a great answer. A whim? I'm following my intuition? I want to see Bethlehem and float in the Dead Sea? Time to draw in my journal? Yes yes yes and yes and maybe taking a vacation while I am at it. And it's coming to together. A week ago I had no idea what I was going to do, but I bought a lonely planet and started talking to people and now I have my two weeks pretty much mapped out. And now, through friends of friends and couchsurfing (awesome idea) I have places to stay everywhere I want to go. Of course I'm leaving a window open for inspiration but I just have this feeling like it's going to be such an amazing trip. I'll have stories and so many photographs when I get back.

See you in two weeks! So much love to everyone <3

"Spirit Songs"