Never End

A smile crept upon my lips as I made toe prints on the window. This always bothered my dad...the fact that I had my feet up on the dashboard of the car, my toes making tiny prints on the window. But Andrew, Andrew it never bothered. I looked over at him through the hair in my face and smiled as I wiggled my feet back and forth. He just rolled his eyes and looked back the road.

There are things I hope never end. I hope our trips to wherever always remain. I hope that whenever we get the urge to get up and go somewhere, that we always smile, grab our road trip bag and go. I wish that one day, hopefully in the near future, we can throw a tent in the back of the car, tell Garland to hop in and just drive.

If you follow me on twitter or facebook, you probably saw the start to our most recent trip and all my subsequent posts there after {really, I can turn off my phone, I swear!} Andrew and I have been slowly putting our home together and half of the things we still needed were all at Ikea. And being that we didnt feel like paying a small fortune for delivery, we decided to turn it into a mini vacation. So, after a surprisingly relaxing six hour car ride, checking in to the most breathtaking hotel I've seen in awhile, exploring Atlanta on foot for about five hours, wishing at every turn that I could have a shoot featuring all the gorgeous architecture, never finding the zoo, the best dinner of our lives, a near death experience, the longest shopping experience ever, one exploding bottle of white wine, and two of the best days with my husband, we returned home. Sure, we were covered in wine, we were tired, and we had killed our gas mileage on the way home, and we probably spent more money than we would have on delivery, but we lived those two days to the fullest.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Kelli and Mike: The Engagement

We sat across the table talking like old friends. I watched as Kelli looked to Mike for his answer, taking in his every word as he told when he knew she was the one. I laughed to myself knowing that Andrew and I would have a hard time answering that very question but shrugged it off after realizing that they werent going to ask us the same question. "When did you two know?" Mike asked as he watched Kelli eat her second cup of Mint Chocolate Chip icecream.

I love it when our brides and grooms genuinely care about our story. Andrew and I launched into our own story, sharing details, laughing, me rolling my eyes as I remembered small portions of the story Andrew was omitting. Something struck me as I listened to Andrew talk, Kelli and Mike just drinking in his words: we were getting swept away! Kelli and Mike cared so much about our story. They genuinely wanted to know! It was difficult to get them to talk about themselves. They would share knowing glances, smiles, laughs...Kelli talked about Mike being the guy on the bike; Mike laughed recalling how it started with a hi...but they wanted to talk about us, not them. It was shockingly different!

Our shoot with the couple was a race against nature. First the heat, then the rain, then the humidity, the bugs, oh, and the electric fences, we cannot forget the electric fences because some of us just had to see what it felt like...but I wont name names Andrew. But we walked away feeling as if we'd just spent the evening with friends we hadnt seen in quite some time. It's always amazing to be in the business and make genuine friendships. People that if you saw at the grocery store, you'd rush over and give them a hug.

My fortune cookie opened...empty. I stared at it for a moment and then burst into laughter. My fortune cookie was fortune-less! Without even batting an eye, Mike smiled: "You make your own fortune." Kelli, Mike, we cannot wait to be apart of your wedding this winter. Mike, seeing your reaction to seeing your bride for the first time....Kelli, you're adorable smile as you lock eyes with your groom...you two are lucky to have one another. Enjoy your story.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Meet Megan

Ask anyone, I'm awesome at getting distracted. I take on so many things at one time and run in all sorts of directions. I'm pretty sure that if I were to stop and do one thing at a time, I'd probably get more done, but I love the craziness of having a million different things on my mind. I love the sense of accomplishment that comes with checking things of to-do lists. But, there are some things that never get done. They're usually little things that turn into huge things. Like, oh say waiting until the last minute to get all your tax stuff in order...or balancing the checkbook...you know, those little admin things that drive you crazy.

While enjoying a cup of Moose Munch Coffee and a few episodes of Ghost Whisperer, I stumbled upon an idea...an idea I honestly didnt think would ever come to fruition. I thought to myself that it'd be nice to have an office assistant - a friend I could work - someone to go to antique stores and look for props for engagement sessions - someone to help me come up with awesome inspiration boards for shoots - someone to bounce ideas off of during the day...and someone to bring me coffee and muffins. Okay, so that last part, not part of the job description.

Meet Megan! If you've followed my blog from the very, very beginning, you might recognize her. Or if you saw my attempt at maternity photos, she was there too. You see, Megan's a friend of mine since highschool. I met her one day at school...her blue fuzzy track suit and white shoes. I remember that. I remember sitting alone in a class thinking to myself that it was going to be an extremely long high school experience. I looked around the room - pretty much everyone had coupled up already...you know, the clicks formed quickly. I sat there in my blue, red, and white striped shirt and I noticed this tiny little blonde girl sitting a few rows up...in her blue fuzzy track suit. Here we are, seven years later...Meg's updated her clothes from that blue track suit and I will never again wear a blue, red, and white striped collared shirt. She has a beautiful little girl, we're both married, dogs, houses, who knows how many conversations over coffee...and here we are. Five houses down, little did I know, Megan heard me mention an office assistant. And now, the awesome thing? I'm not only working with my husband, but I'm also working with one of my closest friends in the world! So now, all those admin things that I cannot stand to do...all the packaging I put off until last minute and then race the post office to get them out on time...she loves them. Yes, you heard me right, she loves admin work...the girl's a freak I tell you - freak!

Meet the newest member of Olimb Photography!!

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

To Make Me Smile

I love the way her little ears perk up atop her head...there's just something about seeing the tips of her fuzzy ears peaking up over the couch cushions. There's something about the way she has an internal clock that sounds snuggle time after 9pm that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I'm sure there's some sort of statistic that states the happiness of pet owners versus the happiness of those who dont own a pet; that extra pint of happiness is true in our house.

I always wanted a big dog. I wanted an enormous cuddle buddy that would make me feel safe and protected. And if it was one of these little cuties, I totally would not complain. So imagine my surprise when I came home with a puppy that fit in my purse {at the time}. It doesnt take much for her to make me smile...usually all it takes is me to look down from my desk and see her sitting there tilting her head to the side. What did I ever do before this dog! I spent a few hours on the living room floor yesterday just watching her roll around, beg me to play, and nap beside me...during that time I started to realize similarities between Garland and me. {dear Mr. Dallman, please forgive me if I messed that grammar up - I really was paying attention in English I promise!} First off, she puts up a huge fight if you tell her to do something she doesnt want to do. Oh, she'll do it, but she cries and barks and does it as slowly as possible...the little stinker. Second, she hates waking up in the morning. I'm not kidding, I think I stumbled across the best dog on the planet! You can open her crate up in the morning {yes, she's still in a crate..that whole potty training thing is almost perfect but I dont want to risk my pretty bed at night} and any normal dog would shoot out of there, happy to be free. Not Garland. She looks at you like "what. do. you. WANT." It's hysterical and so totally me. I love her crazy scraggly hair and that every day it pushes my OCDness a bit more. She hates the brush anywhere near her face so taming her shrewlike look is near impossible...but always fun to try. And while there are many other similarities, my favorite is how much she loves Andrew. If Andrew leaves the room, she will go to his last point of known origin and cry until he comes back. It would be annoying if it wasnt so cute...and she just does it with him. I spend all day long with the dog and she picks him over me...go figure.

And because I just know you're dying to see those cute little ears, I thought I'd give Garland a day on the blog. Because she's just so dang cute and she doesnt have to do much to make me smile.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Balance

Writers block...it's usually a nice little death sentence for writers. This thing that is the block comes and takes over your brain and you pray you can work through it. If you've noticed, I havent written much lately. I've had the occasional blog but to any outsider, I'd appear to be slacking. And to anyone who knows me well, you've noticed that what I've written isnt normal. It's missing something. It's off just a tiny bit. I've been trying to write through my writers block...I'm trying desperately not to let it hold me.

Balance. I sat down today to figure out whats causing this...I wanted to know why I cant seem to get my voice into my writing again. And I was bound and determined to make sure that I didnt post another entry that sounded like a 6th grade paper about "what I did this summer". The answer that I'm seeing now is balance. I lost the balance in my business and in my life. So here's to getting it back. I slowed down today. I took time for me. I made sure that I did the important things. And I took a look at my images through different eyes. I took a look at my blog with a different perspective. I realized that I need to put all this change on hold until I get a really good grasp of balance. Because in all honesty, trying to make change when you're unbalanced is extraordinarily difficult.

So as I re-balance my life, I do want to take a moment to share something. I couldnt sleep well last night so I stared at the ceiling thinking about my brides. I've been extraordinarily blessed by my brides. I'm sipping on some amazing coffee from one of my sweetest brides from this year. I cannot even begin to say thank you to all of you for trusting me to be there for you on your day. Thank you for embracing me. Thank you for embracing my husband, for caring about my dog. Thank you so much for loving me, for loving my images, and for being you. You guys have made my job so completely amazing and I love every one of you.

Here's a sneak from the post I'm working on at the moment featuring the lovely bride Ms Ruth who gave me this delicious coffee that I've had every day since her wedding. It's the most amazing thing ever and has made my favorite things portion of our new website {muahaha, yes, I said new - I am working on a updated version of our website - same thing, just updated!}

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Amanda and Jesse: The Engagement

You know how if you watch a Burger King commercial, aside from the creepy King guy, they always say "have it your way?" Well, in Amanda and Jesse's case, they sorta kinda do have it their way...they have each other. The two worked together at Burger King for nearly two years before deciding to take the plunge into something more than friendship. After our shoot, we were chatting with the two at dinner and just watching the giggles, the knowing glances, and the way that the two of them gravitated towards each other at all times...it made me realize something. I truly do love my job!

Andrew and I met up with Amanda and Jesse at Baytowne Wharf this past month having never met them before. It's one of the nerve wracking things about destination weddings. But luckily, Amanda and Jesse were more than willing to take a drive down to Florida for their engagement session. But the two were so sweet and genuinely in love, my nervousness vanished. Granted, we got them lost just a tiny bit in transit to the shoot, totally my bad, but they arrived, all smiles and cuddles. And bonus, the two schmoozed like pros in front of the camera.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Runners Month

So, for those of you who are completely unaware, May is runners month. Or at least, that's what I'm told. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you may recall that my husband bought me some awesome new running shoes. I had told him that I had two goals for May. One, I wanted to be able to run for 30 minutes straight by the end of the month. And two, I wanted to get to my goal weight of 130. So, I've been running! And dying in the process it would seem.

But I'm beginning to love pushing myself. Granted, it helped that when I stepped on the scale the other day, I weighed 133...but I'm truly enjoying pushing my body to go further and further.

I'm trying to apply this in my business mentality as well. I want to push my lenses, my camera, my abilities...I want to try crazy shots that may fail miserably but I want to try. I want to push myself to be better.

So here's to May, a month of pushing myself to the limits I thought I had.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Amanda and Jesse: The Sneak

Directions....I mentioned back in October that I give directions about as well as a blind deaf man that's been spun around and around and then asked to point straight ahead. Needless to say, when I get clients that come in from out of town and they call and say "hey, I think we're lost" I get a mild heart attack. Andrew and I have a silent war "you take the phone, no, you take the phone, I did it last time!" I promise, our marriage turns into a war of words mimicking a couple of five year olds.

Luckily, as I've said many, many times, we have amazing clients that laugh at our bad direction giving and dont give it a second thought when we're running oh say 20 minutes late into starting a session because we couldnt find eachother. And luckily, ever session that we've begun by getting our clients lost, has turned out amazing!! Because I cant contain it until tomorrow. I thought I'd leave a sneak peak of Amanda and Jesse. Just to give you a little tantalizing teaser of things to come....VIOLA!

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

In Lieu of Flowers, Send Bones

Garland was due to grace our blog this week. My bride yesterday chatted in the limo with me about how our puppy was doing for a good 15 minutes and I thought, Garland's due for a blog appearance!

However comma...Garlands on the mend. No one freak out, she's fine now. Since she's still a puppy and hasnt got the whole staying alone in a house thing down, she's been shuffled around from house to house on days that we have weddings. Being a super people happy dog, she's loves the attention and getting to see new people every week. She had a little accident this past weekend. Over excited, she jumped onto my parents couch...which is a bit of a leap for her being that she's barely 12 inches tall at the moment. She made it up but lost her balance as she collided with my dad who was seated on her landing destination. After taking a tumble from the couch, my parents took her to the emergency vet chaching! and made sure she was okay. Since she wasnt putting her weight on her leg at all and biting at anyone that came near her leg, and x-ray was in order. Hairline fracture. Yippee.

So Garland is crate bound for 10 days with pain killers till her fracture mends itself. And she hates her crate...so this is going to be a fun 10 days. Andrew and I keep giving her a new bone every day to keep her occupied in there. At the end of the 10 days, we're going to have one fat doggie. The only plus side to all this, I get a lot of cuddle time with my puppy!

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie