Saint Patrick's Day Crawl with Friends- Matthews, NC

Before shit started hitting the fan for real in Matthews, we decided to go on a little Saint Patrick’s Day Bar Crawl early on (perhaps not the most well though out plan in retrospect, but we wanted to support our fave places). We met up with some friends, made a few and probably annoyed a few more while going from The Loyalist Market, to Jekyll and Hyde, to Seaboard before I got at little too day drunk and places got a bit too crowded and Clint and I called it a day.

Sad we didn’t get to make it to Grace O’Malley’s and Stumptown Station, but we will for sure be hitting them up with this craziness dies down.

I know it’s weird being a freelancer in this environment, but everyone stay as safe as you can, self- isolate as much as you can (I see the irony, don’t worry) and remember we’re all in this together.

Matthews Chamber Holiday Gala 2019

Clint and I always have an amazing time at the Matthews Chamber Holiday Gala and this year was no different. I had the honor of photographing the event this year and it was pretty clear that everyone had a great time.

This year it was held at the Hilton Garden Inn at Waverly and was Sponsored by Novant Health Matthews Medical Center and Dessi Dufresne of Edward Jones.

Feel free to scroll through and see just how much fun everyone had at the event recognizing some of Matthew’s amazing local businesses.

Sloth Encounter - Tiger World - Charlotte, NC

Yesterday with Lauren, Adam, and Adrienne I got to go meet a baby sloth at Tiger World! His name was Nacho and he was way softer then you would imagine a sloth would be. Adrienne and I came up with this for Lauren’s birthday present and I got to say, we totally benefited from it as well. Such a cool experience. We learned a ton of things, like how sloth saliva is actually toxic- so no sloth kisses for us- and that Nacho could actually rotate his ankles around so that he could climb down a tree without shimmying down butt first!

Lauren was totally enamored and was definitely not paying attention to our guide so I was trying to look like I was to make up for it. I think we retained like 25% of what she was saying because we were all so excited. Sorry!

Tiger World is using these encounters to help build Nacho a nice warm habitat which is really awesome. We found out that 4 out of 5 of the animals at Tiger World are rescued from all over the place. It was a very neat place to visit. Highly Recommend it!

The Birthday Girl

Sloths have little hidden ears under their fur! They almost look like human ears.

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Georgie's Bachelorette Party - Charleston, SC

I had a great time (maybe too good) be-bopping around Charleston, SC with these wonderful women.  Georgie gets married in September and our girl's weekend was a wonderful way to celebrate her! We took a go with the flow plan for our weekend and we did some awesome things.  We went to the beach just long enough to not get burnt to a crisp. Then we went on a boat for a tour around the harbor and finished the evening with some good food and a ghost tour.  

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Had to end it with the awkward pic.  Basically sums up our day: sweaty, tired, a bit hangry, but still having a good time.  Also, they took a picture of me taking a picture to prove that I was actually on the trip.  Ha.  The plight of the photographer is to never actually get to be in photographs unless you entrust your baby camera to a stranger.  We're going to have a great time celebrating together in September!

Not Another Film Post - JK It is-- Charlotte, NC

I'm forever taking photos of these kids and their dogs.  If they weren't so darned cute they wouldn't appear as much in blog posts. 

So thankful that the Hubby had such an awesome best friend so that I could steal her away from time to time and she could help me harass him when need be, or you know, for fun.  

Thanks to the The Dark Room for doing such a great job with this film!  Especially since I still have no idea, how old it was.... My bad guys. 

Matthews Free Medical Clinic

On Monday, I had the pleasure of hanging out with some lovely people of Matthews Free Medical Clinic and taking photos of their annual golf tournament.  This year it was at Raintree Country Club and we had fun zooming between holes on our four-seater golf cart and greeting everyone.  We were also able to eat food from some of the sponsors, including Chik-fil-a and Papa Murphy's Pizza, and do beer tastings with some of the others!

Many different companies and people sponsored the event, and everyone had a fun time coming together to support the clinic. 

You could buy a skirt (donations going to the clinic) and wear it to be able to hit the ball from the women's starting point.  That's probably not the correct terminology at all, but we're going to go with it since I know next to nothing about golf. 

I didn't get to stay till the end of the tournament, but we had fun right up until I had to run off for my next appointment. They had a dinner after I left where the winners of the silent auction was announced.  

 On a different note, I'm so glad I wore sunscreen. 

First Day of Legal Marriage

Clint and I totally got married in a courthouse before we went on our epic jaunt to Scotland and had a ton of adventures involving Scotch and Hairy Coos. This is our first day of marriage adventure. It was pretty low-key, but it features photos in front of my favourite door (may it rest in peace), my husband's goofy hungover face, and oysters at RockSalt so who can complain?

Teal Film - Charlotte, NC

I did a fun experiment with some teal film I found at the PhotoPlus Expo a few years back.  Finally got to shoot and send it off.  It's definitely interesting.  Everyone came out as smurfs!  Lots of family beach photos and the color shift definitely came out kind of eery in those. 

Saint Patrick's Day

Had so much fun last weekend with everyone in downtown Matthews for Saint Patrick's Day!  Met some new people and spent some good time with friends. 

Like this gorgeous woman. 

Had some fun and amazing drinks with the lovely people at Stumptown Station.I love hanging out in Matthews, not only because you see so many people you know, but there's a great atmosphere throughout the whole town.  No one gets shwasted (generally) and you're not dealing with crazy, drunk, bros. 

Then we headed down to Temple Mojo and sat outside in the beautiful weather (where'd that go by the way)!

We paused to take a few photos in front of the Planet Ballroom's cool green door, where Ace got a new dog girlfriend. 

After that we bebopped on down to Seaboard (one of my favorite places in all of Matthews) and sat on the patio where Lori and Laura were trying to teach Ace to balance a goldfish on his nose.... 

Seaboard just opened their brewery! It's awesome and they already make some kick-ass beers! You should check them out!

It was so great to get all of these people together and hang out, even if we were missing my Hubby (he had a bachelor party to be at and he missed out on all our fun).

Yadkin Valley Wine Tour

Yesterday I went to three wineries with some amazing women!  The Matthews Women in Business Group went to Laurel Grey, Shadow Springs, and Dobbins Creek Wineries.  Johnny from Johnny B Limo Service took us around and kept us on schedule. Thanks to Kim Gossage and Dessi Dufresne for sponsoring such an awesome event!  We did a lot of laughing as you can see. I can't wait for the next event with these ladies. 

Snow Days Are The Best Days

I was able to have an awesome snow day today!  I worked on some personal projects as well as some business.  In between that,  I went on a  photo adventure with a couple of my friends. There's nothing like the world being a giant softbox to create some beautiful portraits.  Or some silly ones. And I got a quick one of my dog because dogs are amazing and he was too fast to get anything else (He's not a fan of snow). 

Go Ruck Light

You guys won't be surprised to know that I was not the one doing the Go Ruck.  I was merely following along until I saw Unknown Brewery and then I bailed.  I still managed to get three gnarly blisters and also conned into walking another mile and a half at the end.  

Clint decided he was going to get all in shape so he's been signing up to do runs and rucks and things.  In July he signed up to do the Go Ruck Light, which is supposed to last 5ish hours and you "ruck" for 7-10 miles.  I think his lasted 7ish hours and they rucked 14 miles.  At least that was the consensus.  Started out in the glaring sun and ended in the rain!  

I just waited around downtown all that time for him to be done.  Ryan and Lori kept me company for a little while and then I sat in a very nice coffeeshop until Clint's phone GPS told me he was close.  I thought, "oh we're near the beginning! I'll follow along till the end."  But no, we kept going until we reached Unknown Brewery again!  Should have drank beer all day and relaxed there apparently. 

Family Vacation - Destin, Florida

Though Clint and my Dad couldn't make it this year (one off being a Marine and the other taking care of his own father), we had a pretty good family vacation.  It's hard to have a bad one when you're surrounded by pristine white sand beaches and water as teal and blue as I wish my hair was (#inspired).  Basically the beaches of Destin are my spirit animal, so pale the sun reflects off them and accessorized with anything remotely blueish.  See for yourself.  

Plus my little nieces aren't half bad as little models.  Silly little girls. 

We went on a badass dolphin cruise where we saw some dolphins but also had a lot of fun trying to keep our balance while dancing to the Spice Girls.  

We ate a ton of really good food from oysters at AJ's to a few gorgeous steaks between the four of us and even sushi at McGuire's; all of which I was too busy enjoying immensely to take any decent pictures of.  And we travelled all the way down the famous 30A Highway and back before deciding on one of the gorgeous beaches to spend our day at. We even stopped at the airstreams in Seaside which have all been converted into food trucks since their glory days of being offices for the architects in the area. 

And as usual the pictures of me are almost nonexistent.  Here's a few of me holding a camera courtesy of my mumsy...

Landsford Canal State Park, Part Two

We finally got to revisit the canals in a bit warmer weather.  Our friend Casey joined us on the hike along with our puppers, Oliver and Hugger. It was a beautiful day and I still forgot my sunscreen so if you've seen me then you know how that goes.  As per usual, there are no pictures of me because I'm the only one who knows how to use a camera.  So it kinda looks like I'm documenting Casey and Clint's date, or maybe Hugger and Olivers,' But, you know, whatever. We ended the hike the hike successfully despite Oliver jumping down from a bridge and doing a faceplant.  We then went to Carolina Beer Temple for refreshments and then Umami for sushi takeout! Because nothing ends a hike better then beer and sushi. 

A bridge in Landsford Canal State Park

Some sunbathing turtles

Monarch Butterfly, I think it's a monarch at least....

Oliver the adorable Pitbull takes a rest in the shade

Monroe Air Show

A couple months back I went with Clint and some of our friends to the Air Show, even though I know nothing about airplanes.  Clint loves them though so Laura and I followed him, Trevor, Ryan, and Jackson around from place to place. We did find the beer garden! Which they had hidden away in a back corner so the hooligans were properly corralled. And we also saw a truck with a jet engine inside of it.  Craziness. 

Lori and Ryan Engagement

Though we didn't get to drag race, we did get the strip to ourselves for the engagement. Lori was mostly in the dark especially when we got there and they had just closed because of the rain (even though we called before we left and they said they were staying open).  She did have her suspicions; apparently Ryan was acting a little more lovey dovey than normal the night before. And after she told him how cool it would have been if he proposed at the drag strip they met at (its closed since then); he said, "It would still be cool if it was another drag strip rightttt?"  Way to be subtle there Ryan.   We did convince Lori we were going to take some pictures of the truck on the strip, though I think the gig might have been up when Ryan told her to get into the pictures. 

So, Ryan and Lori met at a drag strip and eight years later Ryan asked her to marry him at another one! 

Seaboard with the Pup

Got to do an impromptu photoshoot with my pup and my handsome fiance at the awesome Seaboard Taproom and Wine Bar! Love this blue door so much. And the pit bull, and the fiance.

Glider in a Bucket Wish

As some of you may know, my grandfather moved in with my parents as he was recently diagnosed with stage four bone cancer. He shared with my father that he's always wanted to fly in a glider (something that would scare the bejeesus out of me.)  My father (an architect) just so happens to be doing a project for Michael Simmons, a man who frequently goes up and flies gliders.  He offered to take Papa up flying on Sunday so we made it a family affair.  So the whole family all headed down to Bermuda High Soaring and watched a 90-year-old man do something the majority of us are scared to do, get towed a mile into the air, and fly around in a plane with no engine. 

Doctor Killion

Wanted to congratulate my cousin Elizabeth (AKA Sniz) for graduating with a Doctorate from Tufts this weekend.  She's amazing! We're all so proud of her and excited for her to start her new adventure in California and we all had an amazing time celebrating her accomplishments in Boston!