WOWZERS!  I am a bloggin' fool this week!  It feels really good to be back.  I kind of needed a break, as this summer (especially July) was not relaxing like I had originally planned it to be.  How could it be when I had:

A New York wedding (Courtney + Alex, below) and family trip (read:  not a relaxing vacation with a 4 year old on board)
A Santa Barbara wedding (Jennie + Kris, below)
Rachel + Colt McCoy's wedding in Austin
My very first gallery exhibition and reception in Deep Ellum in Dallas
A continuously operating portrait business

Of course, I am no different than anyone else.  I'm sure everyone is is just as busy.  I just am such a perfectionist that I can't let little things go, and that includes trying to be SuperMom to Miss Millie.  So, life is not relaxing.  It never is.  I shouldn't be surprised.  I am such a sucker for taking on more work and always end up pushing myself to the very limit. 

Why do I do this?  Not completely sure.  While I absolutely love my job and all of my clients (yeah, I said ALL, and I mean ALL!!!  I'm that lucky!), it might have more to do with testing my belief in myself.  One could compare it to running a marathon.  It takes a certain kind of individual to be so driven to train and actually finish the race, and maybe my business is my marathon.  At any rate, I'm learning so much about myself as I document the most important moments in my clients' lives, and thank heavens this is NO SPRINT.  I really feel that by witnessing so many different types of love that I am growing as a woman, a wife, as a mother, and as a daughter.  What a beautiful bonus for working so hard.  I'm nearing four years in business and don't see myself stopping in the foreseeable future.  It's just too much fun.

So, anywho.  Enough about me, and more about...JAKE!!!  He is a big 1 year old dude!  Honest to goodness, I cannot remember when I have ever photographed a more expressive 1 year old.  His mom, Jessica, and his dad, Dave are doing something right.  He is an extremely happy little boy who I could seriously just watch all day long.  It is so refreshing how he takes delight in the littlest things...like wood chips.  Or benches.  Or being flown like an airplane by his mom.  Or sliding to his dad.  Jake makes himself laugh when he uses a chair like a drum or finds himself congratulating himself by clapping after...really...doing anything!  Confidence is not a problem, and his magnetism reminds me of Millie's.  That's hard to come by, and something to cherish and nurture.  So proud to know this little man, his 'rents, his Aunt Kanon + Uncle Guillaume, and his grandparents and hope to see them all again sometime soon!

Leave Jess + Dave + Jake a comment so they can read your LURVE!