A Visit from Home :: Personal

March 25, 2011 Michelle Cross

I love the feel of a Friday morning. So much potential, so much excitement, and so much, well, freedom. Unlike the feel of Thursday morning, the 5am alarm on Friday doesn't feel the slightest bit painful. Instead of dramatically throwing the covers over my head and attempting to dig a fighting hole in the mattress, I usually leap from bed singing a happy song. Oh, yes! You haven't heard a joyful noise until you've heard this girl sing. I tend to lean toward medleys myself, most commonly comprised of old hymns, nursery rhymes, and Natasha Bedingfield - for good measure. To give you a taste, here's a recent favorite;

This is the day! This is the day! That the Lord has made, that the Lor-OH! Oh! What a beautiful morrrrrnneeeeng! Oh! What a beautiful daaaaayyyeeeeee! Oh! What a beautiful morrrrneeeenngg! Sunshine is coming my wa- I! gotta pocket, gotta pocket full of sunshine!

...

Basically, anything involving sunshine is fair game for a morning song. Much to my delight today was no different than the usual festive Friday morn. After a quick portrait session involving Marines wanting to replicate this painting (no joke), we are now getting ready to pick up Colton's parents from the airport.

I hope your weekend plans involve relaxing your body and feeding your soul. And maybe making some delicious food to feed your body as well! I thought it wouldn't be right to write about the Cross family visit before posting a few pictures from my mom's stay last week. My mother happens to have been given the jackpot of all gifts from God in that she can bake like it's nobody's bid-ness. This works out well for me when I feel like eating little more than carbs, butter, and brown sugar more carbs. While my mom was here last week she blessed us with sweet, wonderful company, many long walks on the beach, and enough chocolate-caramel-chewy-fudge-ness to last us through the black plague. Or at the least another flu epidemic.

Colton grabbed these shots of us on the beach and I couldn't be more thankful. I know I'm biased, but I think his skills with the camera are pretty good. I give him a B+ just because I can.

{Sneak attack kiss, courtesy of my mother}

Happy Weekend!

Michelle

The New News :: Life

March 24, 2011 Michelle Cross

Lately I've been giving a great deal of thought to the purpose of blogs. What are they used for, what info do they give, and why do we religiously check our favorites on a twice daily basis?! While I wouldn't dare attempt make a generalization about the blogosphere's readership as a whole, what I do know is why I am an active blog reader. The truth is I like to feel as though I know people. I like to hear the random stories and watch the current events unfolding in the lives of those I know, those I would like to know, and, ashamedly, those I'm too afraid to talk to in real life. When it comes down to it all I'm looking for is a common connection with others. The type of relationship where we finish one another's sentences, borrow each other's shoes, and take wild road trips across the country together. As ridiculous as it sounds, deep down it's the reason I read blogs. So, here, I've decided to start giving you the news. To some this will seem completely random and entirely mundane. I get it and that's okay with me. But for others of you this will be an opportunity to jump inside the walls of my life, grab a cup of coffee, and chat for hours about how we wish we'd met earlier. I'll admit that the following file folder of info will seem absurdly disorganized and seemingly unimportant. And being completely honest, I'd have to say you're right. But, if we're being honest and all, my only rebuttal would be a big, warm, Welcome to my World!

And on that note...

>>> I'm trying to watch fewer trashy television shows. I wanted to cut cold turkey but realized I needed a little background noise during the day. Instead I've opted to turn on the National Geographic channel every time I get a TV craving. And while I do miss Lisa, NeNe, and Bethany, did you know an Orca whale can kill a great white shark (the artist formerly known JAWS) in just one bite?! People, this stuff is far juicier (and considerably less uncomfortable) than all of the Real Housewives reunions combined.

>>> Colton's parents are coming to stay with us this week. We really lucked out in the in-law department. We actually both, wait for it, like the other person's family. I find this especially awesome seeing how both families seem to like us and continue to visit. Can you say WINNING?? ...Whoa, I think I just felt a wave of nausea for having used that word in a blog post. Where is tiger blood when you need it?

>>> I'm really into oranges right now. We bought a bag of citrus last week and now I'm all smitten. Today I ate three, which might explain why I'm also suffering from a wicked cold-sore.

>>> We've started the process of planning our moving adventure West (Also in new news: We're moving to California!!). But, true to form, we have no idea where we'd like to stop. We're taking suggestions for must-see places anywhere between...well...the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Suggestions for locations along I40 aren't required but do get bonus points.

>>> I'm getting super, super excited for this summer's weddings. I'm feeling way blessed to be shooting here and here this year, as well as at a handful of other lovely venues.

>>> SPOILER ALERT!!! We (and by we I mean me, my business, my iMAC, and my coffee pot) are currently in the process of a branding and blogging remodel. While it goes against all of my better judgment to tell you this now, I'm painfully bad at keeping secrets. When something is this exciting it's physically impossible for my lips to stay shut about it. I feel like I'm getting a new wardrobe and the only thing I want to do is use a megaphone to tell the world.

>>> It took me the better part of thirty minutes to make the New News graphic above. This reaffirmed my suspicion that God forgot to tighten a few screws when creating the graphic design portion of my brain.

I hope you've enjoyed this peek into what my world currently looks like. Maybe, sometime, you could tell me about yours?

Hearts,

Michelle

WPPI Recap

March 22, 2011 Michelle Cross

As a forewarning, this post is going to be all over the place. I have pictures to show but, much like the state of clothes in my closet, they're completely random and in no particular order. Regardless, it's only appropriate that I do a blog recap from my time in Vegas last month. Last year was my first year at the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) conference and as I mentioned in this post, I was the definition of a loser - multiplied by, like, a hundred. Still, I had a wonderful experience and came away with a wealth of knowledge and an even greater wealth of new friends.

Drinks, Dancers, and Gold Diggers? All downtown? I mean, really, what more could you possibly need?!?!

Fortunately for me I had both friends and tickets to the cool parties this year. Which for the record, is especially uncomfortable for me to say given the fact that now, just as it was in high school, I am very much not a cool kid. I'm painfully awkward, kinda shy, and have an uncanny ability to blurt completely unnecessary comments at all the wrong times. Essentially, I'm a mess.

Anyway, somehow I had friends this year. And while the week went by in a snap, I had an incredible time learning from a few of the wedding photographers whose work I respect and admire the most.

I also managed to get my husband and I wrangled into another workshop modeling gig. This time the shoot was a benefit for Thirst Relief International - an amazing organization with a stellar cause.

(From the suuuper sweet Ginny Corbett Photography)

(From the lovely Kristen Allen)

On Saturday, tired of smokey casinos and the cr-azy night life, we headed West in search of blue skies and open air.

And blue skies did we find! Red Rock Canyon was absolutely gorgeous and just the reprieve we were searching for.

My dad, who flew from Oregon to spend the weekend with us (Love you, Dad!!).

The handsome men in my life.

These next pictures were taken haphazardly on my Blackberry so I take no responsibility for their lack of quality. When I wasn't in class (or sleeping off the inevitable exhaustion of Sin City), you could find me devouring my new read, drinking coffee (where on the third attempt the Barista settled with Holton instead of Colton), eating here (maybe it happened ~~twice~~ three times), and drooling over the new Cosmopolitan hotel. I'm now convinced I'll never be happy unless my home has a three story crystal chandelier. Visit this place and trust me, you'll feel the same.

And a handful of shots from the Airhorns and Blazers shin-dig. While there is little I would change about our wedding, if I were to do it all over again I would beg, steal, and borrow to get The Flash Dance as our DJ. You have no idea what you're missing until you've been to a party with Michael as the mix-master.