I had this crazy idea, let’s clear the house and throw dad a surprise birthday party.  I thought she was going to freak out, but honestly that mother of mine,  she just sat across from the little table where we were eating crepes and said ‘ok.’  And just like that we were planning a party.  It came together with weeks of hard work and planning and then the moment we brought him in the house and he saw everyone there, his face lit up.  It was a face I will never forget.  He was so surprised.  Not just surprised.  Stunned.  Everyone was there.  Many had not seen him in years, several driving hours just to be at his party.  For him.

And as the night went on, as I expected it to, something happened that I wasn’t expecting.  You see when you’re young, this man, you know him as your father.  And then when you get a little older, you get to know him as more of a adult who just had kids, just like the rest of the world.  But during this party I got to know the people that worked for him and called him their boss.  It was a side of him I had never seen before.  They looked up to him, valued his opinion, trusted him, and built friendships.  Because this person that I’ve known all these years first as a father, then as an adult, I now know was a hard working supervisor and friend to everyone he worked with.

I’d like to send a huge thank you to my friend Peter who came to shoot the party for me, half of these beautiful images are his!  Thank you Peter, I know I said it a million times, but we are forever grateful that you were there with us!!  We decided on a vintage nautical theme since Dad loved to spend his summers on the Chesapeake Bay!

I snagged this sail from Dad’s house, the one that we actually used to sail with, on his 38′ Morgan and the oars before we sold his house in downtown Annapolis.

The invitations were lined with old nautical charts, and hand addressed in gold by my sister.

I made all the paper pieces, starting with the invitations stamped in gold and closed with a gold rivet and sailing knot.

This Sláinte plaque we gave to my dad several years ago for fathers day which hung in the cabin on his boat until he sold it, and now has been sitting on his shelves for the last couple of years.  We decided to place it at the head of the table right in front of him.  Sláinte is an Irish toast meaning “good health.”

Just Cakes in Bethesda did an amazing job with Dad’s ombre wave-like birthday cake.

Now THAT is what I call a dessert table; Mom made the rest of the desserts and did a superb job.

“Take some sweet treats for the road”

This is my G-pa.  He is a very young ninty-six.  And he has an iPhone.  I don’t have an iPhone.  Something is wrong with this picture.

I was starting to wonder if Dad was suspecting anything, but seeing his face when Brian turned him around.  Nope.  He knew nothing.

I love this one.  Together.  And happy.

Very special birthday wishes.

It’s sixty-five degrees.  The sky is gray.  And I’m wearing my Uggs.  Quit judging, yes it’s cold enough.  Adele is blasting.  And I’m doing everything in my power to avoid doing work.  OH LOOK DUST, maybe I should dust that before I start sneezing.  I’d like to know how to-do lists shrink.  No really, I want to meet someone in this universe who has ever successfully crossed everything off their List.  Because seriously, my List?  That dang thing keeps growing.  I cross one thing off, and add three.  What’s up with that?  Bunch of bullshit if you ask me.  Sorry folks, not PG rated today.  And the warm weather, where art thou?  My pool membership and swimmies are waiting for you.  Please come back.  But in the meantime, I’ve decided to take a vacation.  I know, such a foreign idea to me.  Last one was two years ago, and then the last one before that was in 2004.  So I declare 2012 the year that I will vacation again.  My toes WILL HIT SAND AND SUN THIS YEAR.  It will be during wedding season, so yes, I’m crazy.  It’s ok though, I need it.  You have no idea.  Pass the frosty beverage please.  Until then, this will have to hold me over.

Don’t ask, cause I’m not sure why.  It’s like when you’re in school and it happens every year.  It doesn’t matter what grade you’re in, you still get nervous.  Heck, I rolled up to my senior year in college the first day and STILL GOT NERVOUS.  I mean how many years of school is that?  Seventy?  Like I said, it just doesn’t make sense.  And after five years, the nerves still get all twisted up inside me with the first wedding of the season.

And then I walk into the room where the bride is, unzip my camera bag, take out my lens, attach it to my camera, and take a deep breath.  You know, the kind of deep breath you take when you’re about to do something big and you need all the umph in your body to get you going, then the very moment the locking mechanism latches the lens into place and I calm down.  It’s the familiarity of the situation.  Of the camera.  Of what I’m doing.  Of what I love.  I know I’m capable of doing it, it’s just the anticipation, the thrill, the excitement that gets me nervous beforehand.

This weekend marks my first wedding of the season for me and if I’m being totally honest, the first day of school nerves are there like every year.  But I’m ready, and I’m so excited to kick this amazing season off with such a wonderful couple.

Pork chops.  Who even knew there were so many choices?!  Center cut?  End cut.  Rib eye.  Yadda yadda yadda.  Oy.  I had no idea.  I just wanted the good ones for shake n’ bake.  Dude, quit judging.  I’m the MASTER of Shake N’ Bake!  I glanced over my shoulder to the magazine rack and saw where the wedding section was and knew what the last cover looked like and knew that it wasn’t there any more.  I grabbed whichever pork chops I was looking at and ran over to the rack of neatly stacked magazines.  I picked it up and looked at the date.  Spring/Summer 2012.  I hastily flipped through the pages looking for something familiar.  And there they were.  And were they ever.  Like, a whole lot of them.  And there I was.  In the meat department of my grocery store looking through a magazine with my images in it.

I feel so honored to be published in What’s Up Annapolis Weddings and it makes me so happy for all my couples that were featured in it.  So thank you to them for trusting in me, and for the magazine for wanting to use my images.  And yes, I bought my grocery store out of stock.  So if you live in Bethesda, you might have to go to a different grocery store to pick one up.

Mary Anne and Gus’s adorable milkshake bar was featured, because really when isn’t a milkshake bar a good idea.  That’s right, always.  Then this beautiful image from Katie and Mike’s wedding at The Oaks in St. Michael’s.

Nicole and Mike’s beautiful Annapolis wedding, which was held at the Westin was featured in their Real Weddings section.  And I wish you could just bottle up the love that those two had that day, it was adorable.

And Jamie and Corey’s stunning September wedding at the Hyatt in Cambridge.  Then Jill and Jeremy’s July garden chic wedding at the Aspen Wye River Conference Center on the Eastern Shore.

What are you waiting for, I keep asking myself.  For the weather to change?  To finally gain that twenty-fifth hour in the day?  I’m not sure, but there always seems to be an excuse.  So many things I want to do, but just not enough umph to get up and do them.  And then I went to NYC.  I dropped everything, and I went to one of my favorite places, for myself.  To feel alive.  They call it living life and unfortunately the last couple of years there hasn’t been a whole lot of that going on.  Life takes over, worrying takes over, business takes over and you crawl into bed during the wee hours of the morning only to do it all over again the next day.  Rinse and repeat.

As I was going through a pile of papers in my room this weekend, I came across something, and I sat there on my bedroom floor and read it over and over.  It was a date.  A date which reinforced that life is short.  Shorter than I’m ready to admit.  Shorter than I’m ready to deal with.  And unfortunately we don’t have a say in it.  So.  I’ll do what I can, and make the most of it.  And those things that I keep putting off, I’ll do them too, just to feel alive.  To live this life.

NOTE:  This does not mean I am moving to NYC.  Though I wish I could, but there just is not enough room in NYC for all my shoes.  And yes Mom, I had to hold up the traffic for that shot.  No Megan Beth’s were harmed in the making of the picture.  Don’t act surprised, you’ve seen me do more dangerous things for a photograph.  Thanks to Joy and Garrett Nudd for the photos on the diagonal!

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It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, heck, who am I kidding it’s been a ridiculous last few months and wedding season is about to start!  I’m in New York right now, soaking up the concrete, but I can’t wait to get back and share with you one very special event from the beginning of the month.

Get it, gurl!  Yes, that’s me.  No that was not taken during this trip.

Shake Shack!

World Trade Center site.

I think it’s safe to say he was definitely surprised.  I’ll have more from Dad’s surprise party coming soon, with beautiful photographs shot by Peter!

I’ve been working on a special secret project for the last few weeks and admittedly have been enjoying every moment of it.  I hope to share it with you soon, but until then, hopefully this can hold you over.

It has only happened a few times in the last thirty years or so.  And it even took me a second to realize what was different.  Umm, DAD?!  Your mustache?!  What happened to it?  I used the wrong length clippers, so I just shaved it off he said.  Just like that, he switched it up on us.  That’s just WRONG, I told him.  He was going to grow it back, but for Christmas, it was a very naked bare upper lip for him!  So although something was missing during our annual family photo session, we improvised to make them look as accurate as possible.

Let’s be honest, you can’t even tell the difference.

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