Meghan and Ben: The Wedding

If there's ever been a time in life when I felt apart of someone else's family, it was then. Never have I felt that two families just completely accepted me into their own with hugs, laughter...and brownies. I arrived at Meghan's childhood home and slowly stuck my head inside the door. Timidly, I waited to see if anyone answered my call {you see, I was afraid I was in the wrong house} but then Mike came around the corner, all grins in his burgundy vest and tie. "My sister's running a little late, but come on in!" I was ushered into the kitchen, offered a brownie {this job is detrimental to my waistline sometimes} and the day began.

As you might remember, we shot Meghan and Ben's engagement session awhile back and discovered that Andrew, well, he fit right in. Needless to say, surrounded by their friends and family all with amazing humor...let's just say we had a blast. Meghan, Ben, we wish you all the best in your life together. As you return to your little northern world filled with seasons, crisp falls, really really cold winters, think of us and drink some hot apple cider and remember. You truly, truly, had the best wedding cake on the planet. Like seriously, I still dream about that cake. All the time...

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Lost Dog

"Stop stop stop stop stop!" I yelled at him as we slowed to the intersection. "Back up, now! Let me out!" I jumped from the not so stopped car, grabbing my phone as I went. "Come here little puppy!" yelled with the most sticky sweet voice I could muster. After close to 30 minutes of chasing the dog out of the street and another 30 minutes or so of being on the phone with various law enforcement and animal control, even PAWS, it pretty much became clear that since the dog wasnt hurt, they werent gonna come help us out. We were on our own at 1030pm with a dirty old white fluff muffin, tired from our wedding and really not sure what to do.

So, this is MissHap, or well, that's what we're calling her cause we have no idea what her name is. We found her on Redwood at the four way stop sign on 23rd street {or is it 21st street?}. We'll have her till Monday at which time I'll be taking her to wherever animal control tells me to. But if anyone knows who she is or where she belongs, please email me and I'll get you my phone number.

Now, usually, today being a Sunday after a wedding, I would try to post a sneak peak or a blog post from the previous wedding we had this weekend. But life, being as it is, is really random and not quite what you expect. At some point last night between really late and later, Andrew asked me why I did it? Why did I run after this dog? I told him a story...you see, when I was in my early teen years, my family had a dog. I'd picked her at the shelter and she was this beautiful little Chow/Shepherd/Something mix. One day when we all went on vacation, we left this dog with a friend and she ran away {the silly little thing was very skiddish and would bolt at the drop of a hat} We never found her. We put up signs, we went to shelters, we even tried a tracking device {totally ghetto but it sorta worked....sorta} A few years ago my mom thought she saw her being walked around a neighborhood, but she couldnt be sure and she didnt want to ruin some family's bond with their dog if it was her. "If someone had seen Cleo running down the street, I would have wanted them to stop and pick her up".

**EDIT** We found the owners! Well, my dad found the owners. My dad's a sucker for these situations just like me because losing our dog Cleo was definitely the hardest on him as he spent most of his free time for a good month looking for her. He called me this morning while I was on the phone with various shelters trying to figure out where I could put her {shockingly, there arent that many no kill shelters in Niceville willing to take in a lost dog}. "I found the owners" I heard him say over the screaming and near hysteria on the other end of the line. "Hurry up and get here". As we watched this calm, mellow little dog get more and more excited the closer we got to her home and her little whimpering whining began, I started to feel like an emotional sucker. I watched a woman barely holding herself together with her two children run towards this fuzzy little mongrel screaming Sandy and found myself getting choked up. So, Sandy is home and I still feel like crying just a little. My dad and I smiled at eachother all teary eyed...Andrew didnt quite get it. But we've been in that situation before and never got that happy furry reunion. Being able to whitness that for someone else...yup, there goes the tears.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Nikki and Travis: The Engagement

They were nervous...that much was clear. But as they clung to one another, with nervous laughter and smiles that made their eyes disappear, they soon realized that as long as they held on tight, they were safe, comfortable, and loved. Soon, nervousness faded and all that was left was them, holding on tight, laughing, smiling, and loved.

As we walked along the European-style stone streets surrounded by beautiful light and the most amazing fall breeze, we collectively breathed a sigh of contentment. Nikki and Travis, hand in hand, Andrew and I glancing at one another from behind the camera "This is perfect" Travis said and he pulled Nikki close. Smiling, we agreed, this is perfect.

Okay so they may kill me for posting this one, but seriously, Travis could make her laugh! I seriously have to force myself to stop laughing when I see this one!

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Our Favorite Things: Cupcake Vineyards

I never claim to be a wine connoisseur, not by any stretch. And actually, until this past year, I didnt really like wine. My dad however, loves wine. I would definitely say he is a wine connoisseur...or at least he's learning to be. Growing up, my dad was always very, very good about taking my brother out on daddy date nights. Whenever he'd take me to a nice restaurant and order a glass of wine, I'd think one day I can order one with him. As a teen, I'd see my dad with a glass of red wine and think to myself one day I'll sit with him and have a glass of wine. In the mean time, I would grab my trusty bottle of Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice from the fridge and play pretend. So, when I turned 21 I was all sorts of excited to finally be able to be a daddy's girl and enjoy a glass of wine, not Welch's finest with my dad. One problem: I hated wine.

Now, if you havent picked this up from my blog in the past or if you dont know me well enough in person to know this, you dont tell me that I cant do something. So when my taste buds were pretty much saying yeah sorry, that dream of wine with your daddy, so not gonna happen...keep on with the grape juice you dreamer I forced it. I hear you laughing...yes I forced myself to like wine. I tried whites, reds, pinks, bubbly kind, fancy kind, cheap kind {oh yeah, I totally Boones Farmed it up for a while!} until finally I found one! It was a sparkling white that was like, insanely sweet. Once I found that one, I then found a local winery with a blackberry wine I couldnt get enough of and then from there, a really really expensive one I had with my dad. But I still didnt have "my wine". I didnt have a bottle in my pantry or an "oh, I recommend..." wine. And then it happened. I found the most amazing wine and I found it totally by the sheer genius of marketing. I was standing in the wine aisle staring at the bazillion different labels and this happy little one danced in front of me and jumped in my cart. Seriously, I saw the name cupcake and the happy little cupcake logo and the next thing I new, a Petite Sirah was in my cart.


"You're picking one because the label is cute?" Andrew asked in complete awe and with a slight smile pulling at the corner of his lips. Yes internet, he was mocking me...laughter was all but busting out of him when I rolled away in our squeaky cart and a bottle of wine that I picked because the label was pretty.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

And we're back!

Why hello dear internet! How I've missed you! As much as I'd love to say that's a lie and that I truly loved being off from the world wide web, sad to say, I seriously missed everything! The first week I was going through withdraws and if I'm being honest here, I was kinda bored. I sat around my house with my stack of books thinking: HOW long did I say I was doing this for? But once I got out of my photography mode, I started really enjoying the time I had to just be me.

Now that it's October and the amazing fall air is totally at home in Florida, I cant help but look back and think that September went by crazy, crazy fast. So, a quick recap of my September.

- I drank red wine nearly every night...nearly. And on occasion, I totally had a glass of white wine in the afternoon on the porch....just sayin.
- My backyard now actually looks like a backyard instead of a weed infestation and pots full of dead sticks.
- I discovered Andrew and I have the exact same love language...creepy.
- I've totally gone Purple.
- I'm quite a few shades tanner thanks to long mornings at the beach with a book.
- I enjoyed my first pumpkin spice latte of the season, discovered the carb and sugar content and totally went back to my americano. **Only after I emailed Starbucks asking that they make a sugar free option for us healthy conscious pumpkin spice lovers**
- I bought a trashy celebrity magazine every time I was at the checkout counter.
- I lost 5 pounds {woot!}
- I spent a full day shopping in Tallahassee with Megan and bought my first pair of shoes that cost me over $100. *gasp, I'm still twitching over that one*
- I discovered that I dont want to raid antique stores for props for shoots...it's just not me.
- I discovered I love looking through antique stores for no reason whatsoever.
- Andrew turned 25! Yes, I'm married to an old man - I kid, internet, I kid.
- I embraced black nail polish for the entire month and now without it, I feel a little bit less inspirational.
- I started a great relationship with Nick from Spilled Milk Designs. Are you excited about that one? Cause you totally should be.
- I found three new locations I cannot wait to shoot at.
- I fought the urge to get extensions put in my hair. Really people, I want crazy long hair again. Word to the newlywed bride. Dont chop your hair off immediately after returning from your honeymoon. Seriously, dont do it.
-I indulged in my guilty pleasure Keeping Up With The Kardashians every day. If it was on, I was watching. Dont judge.
- I had Andrew remove the shutters from the font of our house so I could paint them red. Only after they were off, we both stared at the house totally loving it without the shutters. So now, I have a red door instead of red shutters.
- I went to Best Buy at midnight with Andrew to buy Halo Reach. A silly reporter was writing an article and completely quoted me as saying something that never came out of my mouth...go figure.
- Coincidentally, Andrew and I played a lot of Halo Reach. Like seriously, it became a nightly ritual.
- Andrew and I took a trip to Ikea to buy new office furniture. Once we arrived, we realized we really didn't like what we intended to buy...so we wasted a trip, got stuck in traffic, and killed our gas tank. Plus side, Andrew bought a bunch of clothes at H&M
- I started drawing up the floor plans for our dream home. I now cannot wait to build a home!

So, we're back! In all our crazy nutcaseness, we're back! You all have no idea how I've missed you! And to start off our October, I thought I'd give you a little family picture of us with Garland. That adorable little scraggly puppy makes our lives happy!

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie