Adventures in DSLR-Land...

About two years ago I discovered the magical word of DSLR cameras...I got a Canon Rebel T1i for Christmas 2010 and since then I have been trying to learn how to take great photos.  I don't consider myself to be very good...yet...it's more of a hobby-in-progress! But when my friend Sarah put out a request on Facebook in need of some photos taken of her band Anvue, I offered...I told her I'd be happy to take a few if she couldn't find anyone better. Long story short, I got to do my first photo shoot ever...and if I do say so myself, I think they turned out pretty good!  Here are a few of my favorites!

 

Check out Anvue on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/Anvue?fref=ts

Daniel and Kayla

As you might have read in the post before this, one of my dearest friends, Kayla, got married last June. I was so honored when she asked me to help with her wedding...and I got to be a bridesmaid too!
Now Kayla is super talented and creative on her own...she did most everything all by herself and it turned out amazing! But I did get to help her with her flowers. It was quite an adventure!
We went downtown to the LA Flower District bright and early (6am!) the day before the wedding and got everything we needed for bouquets, boutonnieres and centerpieces and then we had a party at the Bride's house where her family and friends all pitched in to put them together! Each Bridesmaid got to design her own bouquet, choosing the flowers herself and I helped Kayla design her Bridal bouquet...it was such a fun day and I was so happy to be involved!

At the Flower District...love the color on those peonies!

Construction begins! These are our 'concentrating' faces...

...we smiled too, though!

The Bride's Bouquet
Photo by Othello Silla: www.othellosilla.com

My Bouquet...love the peonies and the lace!

Who doesn't love a shoe photo? Can you guess which one's are mine?
Photo by Othello Silla: www.othellosilla.com

Pretty girls and pretty flowers.
Photo by Othello Silla: www.othellosilla.com

And the handsome men with their boutonnieres.
Photo by Othello Silla: www.othellosilla.com

Seriously, she's a Knock-Out!
Photo by Othello Silla: www.othellosilla.com

Her bouquet is my favorite!
Photo by Othello Silla: www.othellosilla.com

Congrats, Kayla and Daniel! We love you!

Kayla's Shabby Chic Shower

My dear friend Kayla got married last month and I was so very honored to be able to throw her a bridal shower! She and her new husband hope to do lots of traveling and have many adventures, as she calls them...so naturally the theme of the shower was Adventure/Travel/Vintage/Shabby Chic!  I asked for a list of top 5 countries that they hoped to travel to and we built the menu around food from those countries. The games and the thank you favors also originated from the countries they chose.
Huge thank yous to my Husband and my friend Nicole, who hosted the shower with me...they worked really hard to help me set up at the venue...which required a bit of a hike to get there!
I am so excited to share this event with you...it is probably my favorite to date!

Beautiful Invites ordered from "i do" it yourself on Esty: http://www.etsy.com/shop/idoityourself

"Guest Book" Tree...the girls wrote a note to the Bride-to-Be and hung it on the tree!

Beautiful sign ordered on Etsy from the amazing Allie of Visibility: http://www.etsy.com/shop/visibility

Placemats handmade by ENF from burlap and organza trim, glasses from Anthropologie, thank you favors were small bottles of olive oil (the Bride and Groom hope to travel to Italy!) with custom printed labels.

Mason Jar centerpieces

Food Table

Where the Bride sat to open her gifts. Just couldn't resist hanging the Oo La La sign behind her!

Can You Tell Me How to Get, How to Get to Sesame Street?

I canNOT believe my baby boy turned 2 last month...where did the time go?! I had been planning his party for so long it just snuck up on me! Originally I had wanted to do a circus themed party for his 2nd birthday...but when he discovered Elmo a few months before and actually started saying Elmo's name (and people understood him!) I knew we needed to have a Sesame Street birthday party! I think he definitely had more fun at his 2nd birthday party than his 1st...and although my husband still says that all birthday parties before the age of 5 are pointless because he won't remember them, I know I'll have some great memories and photos to pull out one day to remind him!

Invites ordered from The Paper Blossom Shop on Etsy and my sister in law did his photos!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thepaperblossomshop
https://www.facebook.com/APAdamsPhotography

All of the mini Sesame Street signs are made from dissassambled bird houses!

Guest Book Table...everyone wrote a message to Colt in Elmo's Face!

The happy Birthday Boy in his Elmo shirt!

Photo booth! The guests held the frame any way they wanted: horizontal, vertical, crooked...we got some fun ones!

Sportin' our favorite Sesame Street characters!

Each table was a different Sesame Street character...and I made the pennant banner myself!

These wrapped water bottles might be my favorite party decoration! And they were easy to do!

Cake Table!

Big thanks to my Mom for making 70 of these adorable cake toppers!

Colored layers!

Favor bags for the kids! Thank goodness for the $1 section at Target...they had tons of Sesame Street stuff!

And the favors for the adults...Candy Bar!