Personal - Home Update!

Welcome to my home! I closed on my condo almost exactly one year ago and I’m just now finally getting around to taking photos of it. It’s kept me a little busy and I had a bunch of projects I wanted to complete before my new baby made its internet debut! I’ve included the before pics from when my little condo was empty, and now that I’m in and have photographed, I feel like I have SOOOO much stuff in this tiny little space! However, I am running a business from here so have many extra things from that, and my place has NO storage. Because of that, one of the projects I wanted to tackle was building a cabinet to go in the kitchen where there was wasted space before. Luckily I have the most handy parents in the world who helped me paint every square inch of this place, spruce up the floors, install ceiling fans, put in a live-edge wood dining nook AND build a cabinet I designed. I was so tired of having my garbage & recycling bins exposed and all I wanted was a pull-out drawer that they could be hidden in, with a counter on top with a shelf above. It freed up counter space in my kitchen and I’m in LOVE! They also built the butcher block island you’ll see below & mom painted my kitchen cabinets and we put in a temporary backsplash. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without my mom and dad & I am eternally grateful. Especially because I learned that I did not inherit my mom’s love of painting. I despised every second of it but I love my little home! There are still some things I’ll change after seeing these photos but I deep-cleaned today and it was photo-ready so I went with it! I’m only showing the kitchen and living area because the bedrooms are still a work in progress and the bathroom overwhelms me; I want to change everything about it & the cabinet still has several paint swatch strokes from a year ago! (If you’ve visited, you’ve seen it!) When I purchased, I had planned on using my second bedroom as an office & small studio space but after a few trial runs with newborns in the “studio” this winter I decided it just isn’t going to work logistically for new moms. I mourned that loss hard but have now decided to turn it into a guest bedroom/office so I’ll show more photos when it’s done. Likely another year from now ;)

Bridgeport Lifestyle Newborn Session {Chicago, IL}

Lately I’ve been discovering that my most favorite sessions are the ones where I’m mostly just a fly on the wall. I will give direction when needed, but generally I just hang back and observe. I love watching how people interact naturally, without me telling them what to do. And then I go from there. I might have you look at each other or bring your noses or foreheads together occasionally but otherwise I follow your lead and just photograph it. Pure lifestyle nature, which isn’t what I was trained in so doesn’t always come naturally for me. This newborn lifestyle session in Bridgeport was just like that. Beautiful family with the sweeeeeetest dog, PLANTS and lots of natural light. All of my favorite things - It was a magical dream come true. They sat in their sun-filled living room and had coffee, laughed together at my obsession with their pup and snuggled the newest member of their family. Sweet baby A would get a little fussy now and then & dad knew just how to hold him to calm him down. It’s the moments like these, especially in those blurry first few weeks, that I want you to remember the most. It’s real. It’s raw. Full of love. It’s those small moments that make up a beautiful life. How lucky am I that I get to witness those moments and document them so you so you’ll never forget. I do not take that for granted and I appreciate each and every one of you.

Intimate Wedding at St. Mary's on the Lake [Uptown - Chicago, IL}

I don’t photograph many weddings anymore but when I do, I only take on intimate weddings & I fall in love all over again with them. Scott & Erika had a beautiful wedding in Uptown at St. Mary’s on the Lake, one of the most gorgeous churches I’ve been to in Chicago. The inside is stunning with golden ceilings, marble columns and awe-inspiring vastness, and the outside has more wonderful columns and arches and amazing places for portraits! Their wedding was the first I’ve photographed since before the pandemic began and while I was nervous, it was summer, numbers were low, I was masked and their wedding was the smallest I’ve ever photographed. It was a dream. Their sweet pup Ripley was even able to join us for some photos outside the church gardens in the beautiful sunlit afternoon. Congratulations to Scott & Erika, and thanks for having me along to document your lovely day.