This Mother's Day is full of emotions. I lost my sweet Mimi a few weeks ago and I miss her so. She was as sweet as they come, a kind and thoughtful southern gem of a woman who loved her family and friends. She raised 7 children on a dairy farm in Charlotte, NC. She loved her husband dearly. She volunteered for so many organizations that were meaningful to her. She lived a considered and consequential life and her spirit is still here with me, I see her in each and every one of my aunts, uncles and cousins. I am so grateful for the time we spent together. This Mother's Day is also very emotional and special because my Mom will become a grandmother and I will almost be a Mommy! I can't even believe it, I am so excited! We are so grateful for the legacy Mimi has left for us and can't wait to tell our little baby all about his/her great-grandmother. I love you bunches, Mimicakes. I'm not worried about you because I know you are happy as can be square dancing with Grandad in heaven right now.

This is an image (above) of my Mimi and my Mom on a vacation to Michigan when my Mom was little. I'll be framing it for the baby's gallery wall in the nursery.

Here's my Mimi while she was attending college at Queens.

Here's my Granddad and Mimi on their honeymoon to...guess where? Charleston! :-)

I love you so much, Mimi!

We asked our 7 and 6 year old neighbors what they might like us to name the baby and they said matter-of-factly: "Snapper", "Lightning" or "Baby Build-it". For some reason, Baby Built-it stuck and we've been using it to refer to the little peanut ever since we told them our news. Steph and I are thrilled to announce that we are having our first baby in August! We are so excited...and nervous too. I feel so lucky...I'm married to the man of my dreams, I live in the city I love with all of my soul, I get to do what I love every day and I can't wait to add a tiny little bugaboo to our family.  
 
These past few months, I've been taking some time to read and add books like this to my collection (btw: love this book)....

...and purchase things like this for the baby...

...and look through some of the clothes that I used to wear. My sweet Mom brought a box full of clothes down to Charleston to add to the baby's closet. How sweet are these little shoes? It looks like I wore these all the time...and check out the "L" and the "R" to help me learn which shoe goes on which foot. And I guess my Mom also added the bell to make sure she could hear me even if I ran off somewhere...

...and of course to grow a bump like this (Steph took this pic yesterday of me at 24 weeks)...

...Lexi is going to be one very good big sister...

Yesterday was simply amazing!!! We went to the Masters! I grew up watching the Masters Golf Tournament with my Dad every year so be there and to see the players up close felt like a dream! Here are a few images from our relaxing and fun day in Augusta.

Here's my friend Ryan enjoying a cold brew. Steph absolutely covets these little plastic cups and we got a good collection from staying hydrated all day. :-)

We got to see lots of famous golfers - Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson, KJ Choi and Jack Nicklaus to name a few. Ryan has a serious crush on Mr. Adam Scott, hence the heart.

Here are Steph and his good friend Britt at Amen Corner.

The clubhouse.

We all wore New Balance because we're cool like that.

I love these tenured officials with their hats and green jackets....or are they judges? My Dad will know and I'm sure he'll call me to tell me exactly their role in the tourney.

The highlight of the day was the Par 3 Contest in which honorary invitees, past champions and tournament players compete on a 9-hole par 27 course. It's a beloved Masters tradition and very family friendly. Most of the players have their spouses or children caddy for them. How adorable is this miniature caddy?

And this little one too?

Love this shot of this little aspiring player with his signature flag.

Our dear friends, Ryan and Britt.

And the highlight of the day for Steph was seeing his favorite golfer on the planet, Fred Couples. Did I tell you that we almost named our puppy Freddie Couples? I'm afraid Steph might want to name our first born child Freddie Couples as well!

Hola! Sorry I've been MIA recently...seriously want to get this blog back up and running and can't wait to show you the gobs of photos I have from the past year! I promise, blog posts are coming your way! I'd like to kick it off my blog roll with this photo I took at Charleston Fashion Week last year! I love this time of year here in CHS! The flowers are in bloom, the weather is AMAZING and there's something going on every weekend in this beautiful city! One of my favorite events is Charleston Fashion Week and this year I have the honor of shooting the models participating in the Rock the Runway contest tonight. Can't wait to meet everyone and of course see the show! xo!

Did you know that the word sabbatical comes from the Latin word sabbaticus, which literally means "ceasing"? I can't think of a better word to describe this past January. Everything came to a halt after the last of my many Christmas guests left and I collapsed on my bed...then I got the worst flu, which a few weeks later morphed into a really bad cold. Needless to say I've been in bed most of the month and on a little hiatus from work. Maybe I needed the break...from shooting, from social media...just to clear my head and think about how I'm going to tackle the new year.  
 
Last year was incredible and I have so many great clients to thank! My goal for 2011 was to book 10 weddings and much to my delight, I booked 20! I am incredibly grateful to the many couples who took a chance on me in my first year of business and even more thrilled that they love their images. While it was a great first year, it's been overwhelming to have so many images to share, all the while learning how to edit images, file my taxes, create albums, and so on! I had every intention of showing every wedding and portrait session on my blog this past year but my first priority was to get the images to the client and then it seemed like I had another photoshoot or wedding to attend to, so putting the images online got put on hold. I have so much content to share and I've spent a lot of time thinking about just why I started this blog in the first place. I find myself answering questions in meetings with couples and thinking "I should really put this online". I need to share the story of our wedding (which changed my life), and about the workshops I've attended, what I've learned and why I do things a certain way. I've come up with a system of updating my blog that I think could work well...now I just need to stick to it. I can't wait to share what I've been working on with you! Cheers to new beginnings in 2012! xo, Char

Image shot on my LOMO while visiting my friend Kate in Point Loma, CA. I was going through my archives looking for a good picture and found this one...it reminds me of a dreary January sky but the birds represent new direction. (Steph proof read this post and told me I needed to explain why I chose such a random image).