The Liz List

I thought it might be fun to share a portion of my way-too-specific bucket list. Is it cheesy to say that I’m a dreamer? Because…I am. I spend way too much time planning in great detail events for the future that may never happen. I drive around (often) just to look at gorgeous towns or homes that I’ll never live in, and I have a running list of saved homes on Zillow that I’ll never buy. It’s slightly possible that I drive my husband nuts when I ask about that ever-elusive remodel that we’re totally gonna do someday, and I think even my kids get annoyed with my imagination from time to time—“Mommy, can you just read in a normal voice?” Alas, I’m always adding to the bucket list and coming up with things to do all over the world. These are a few of my faves. Anyone want to adopt a few of these? Be my guest!

Walk barefoot in the Faroe Islands (somebody take me there NOW!)

Bungee Jump off of the Royal Gorge Bridge

Do a climb tour over the Golden Gate Bridge

Shoot a wedding in Europe (check, this coming October!)

Build a sand castle in Fiji

Gift a polaroid camera in a 3rd world country

Bury a ring in New Zealand

Kiss under the Eiffel Tower

Order a glass of milk in a German pub

Hang one of my photographs in an art museum (check!)

Climb a tree

Sneak out of my own house for a donut run without waking anyone

Repel down Sears Tower

Carve mine and Derek’s initials in a tree (half-check. Turns out it's kind of hard.)

Bury a time capsule

Handstand in a hot air balloon

Teach my kids how to use a camera

Le'Chaim or whatever (I think it means yay for living)

A Bowtie That'll Knock Your Socks Off

So this is basically the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I am totally obsessed with this copper wire bowtie that I made for my styled shoot during my Telos Workshop for professional photographers. You don’t have to love them but…you should. I’m a sucker for anything unique, and although I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of this, I hadn’t seen this done before and I was so excited to try it out! Now if I could only get the hubby to get on board and start sporting them around town (hint hint).

Supplies:

Copper wire

Wire cutters

Hot glue (optional)

Two safety pins

Step 1:

(Before beginning, understand that the more layers you do, the more “finished” the bow tie will look. You can add as many layers as you want or keep the design very skeletal and only do one or a few layers. For this project, I did just 5 layers.) Cut 10 pieces of copper wire approximately 9 inches in length. Set remaining spool of wire to the side (you will need more later.)

Step 2:

Using your fingers as anchor points, form your first triangle half-bow thingy (very technical term) and don’t quite bring the ends to a point, but instead leave some room at the end to wrap together. Try to keep them all close to the same, but a little variation in shape and size adds dimension, so feel free to play with the template a bit. Repeat this step with all 10 pieces of wire.

Step 3:

Connect all 10 pieces in the middle by wrapping the ends around each other (Try to keep any sharp ends pointing inward. If needed, VERY lightly dot with hot glue to soften, or file down). Stabilize the pieces by cutting one more piece of wire from your spool and wrapping around the center—as many times as it takes to stabilize the bow. (Fabric would also be a cool choice to add on top of the wire).

Step 4:

This could also EASILY be done with fabric, which would look much nicer. My version is pretty crude, but it got the job done. Cut one more long piece of wire to loop around the center. This will stabilize the bowtie and keep it centered on the collar. Safety pin these loops to the shirt and you’re done!  This could definitely be done in a more polished manner, but it keeps my supply list short and it’s so easy!

Step 5:

Be obsessed. Because this is the coolest EVER.

With joy, Lizard.

Jacy the Bride

I am SO excited to share these bridal photos with yall today! They have been top secret since December, and I’ve just been busting at the seams to post everywhere. This lovely lady got hitched Saturday in Midland, TX and I was so honored to capture the big day. Congratulations, Jacy and Blace!! Enjoy your honeymoon, and I can’t wait to share your wedding photos with you! Link to the full engagement and bridal gallery HERE.

With joy, Lizard.

A Look Back

2015 was a BIG year for me, both professionally and personally.

In September, Derek and I decided it was time to start trying for another baby. With our crazy amounts of stress between 2 jobs and a toddler, plus housewife duties, honey-do lists, and just plain life, I was sure it would take me a while to get pregnant; Stress-free is not how I would describe myself lately. Well, surprise, God gave us another child just a few weeks after we decided we wanted one! I feel so blessed to have had 2 relatively wonderful pregnancies so far, and only had to cancel one wedding (still a bummer, but I was able to do it just before the contract was signed, and gave her almost 10 months to find another photographer). Call us crazy, but we’ve decided not to find out the gender so in just 5 months, we’ll be getting another life-altering surprise and I can’t wait!

I decided to take on 12 weddings this year, and before January was even over, I had ended up booking 16 (plus all the engagement and bridal sessions that go along with weddings). I hosted a workshop for professional photographers in Oklahoma—an all-inclusive 3 day retreat with a styled shoot at the end. The year was crazy, hectic, hard, and FAN-flipping-TASTIC. I traveled all over Texas, Oklahoma, LONDON, Mexico, Phoenix, Chicago, and loved absolutely every minute, trying my best to push away any mommy guilt of leaving my (very independent) toddler with her daddy. Derek, of course, never punishes me for doing what I love, and I’m a lucky girl to have so much support. The people I met along the way, the photos I took, the projects I’ve started (and have yet to complete) continue to inspire me and remind me to keep traveling and keep setting ridiculous goals.

I have so many photos to share from the year, but for now, I’ll just post a few of my favorite memories. Here’s to another great year in 2016!!

With joy, Lizard.

Fresh Year, Fresh Start

I have hopped on the “tidying up train” … Or perhaps I’m just nesting. Either way, I’m excited for another fresh start! I’ve been so blessed in my business in the last couple of years, and this has allowed me (*cough* FORCED me) to begin saying “No” to some things that tend to pull me away from my (much too specific) career goals. One of my biggest time munchers in 2015(besides laundry) was managing my SEO for my wordpress blog. It seemed like every time I gained some ground with Google, the silly thing would break and I’d have to re-design everything immediately. A very long, painful, story short, I don’t have time for that headache anymore and so I’m starting with a clean slate on this blog. Simplifying. Tidying Up. OK, nesting. I can’t think of a better way to kick of this blog than to reveal my photos from my first TELOS workshop’s styled shoot.

This was definitely my most favorite styled shoot that I’ve done, and of course I couldn’t have pulled it off without a few people. Alex and Olivia, my supermodels, THANK YOU! Thank you for getting up at a horrid hour to prepare for a sunrise shoot after driving all night into the very edge of the Oklahoma woods! An equally huge thank you goes to Amy McCord of Flower Moxie for creating the most jaw-dropping bridal bouquet I’ve ever seen in my life. I gave her complete creative freedom and she did not disappoint. Lastly, thank you to former Bachelorette star, and current newlywed Desiree Hartsock for understanding my vision and publishing my photos on her blog. Someone should warn her, I feel like we’re friends now and shall henceforth refer to her as Des, my bff.

This workshop and styled shoot has been in the works for the better part of two years, and I couldn’t be more pleased with how everything turned out. Inspired from paintings by Daniel F. Gerhartz, I wanted to use colors found easily in nature to create a breezy, ethereal vibe. After deciding on hues of pale blue, green, ivory, and copper, I found THE dress by Milamira bridal. In the last few years, the wedding industry has seen a growing appreciation for a unique wedding gown, and brides are becoming more and more bold in their style choices (which is FANTASTIC news for photographers and stylists!).This shoot was set in the untouched woods of Watson, OK during my Telos Workshop. I themed it as “I’m the Lucky One:” A morning brunch wedding, which felt light and whimsical.  This photoshoot was, in a strange way, artistically therapeutic for me—Since I hosted the workshop and styled the shoot alone, I had complete creative control. Anyone who knows me knows how out-of-hand that could have potentially been (wink), but I managed to stick to my color scheme and really pull at my interior design roots to make decisions and stick to them. It was incredible. I used pennies to really get the copper accent to come across, and the theme “I’m the Lucky One,” just really seemed to work on multiple levels for me.

We began shooting at sunrise to really set off those hues of blue and copper. After an early-morning drizzle, we moved inside to a gorgeous Cedar-planked wall to shoot the tablescape, dripping with local moss and “lucky” pennies. The table was set with several goodies from sister companies Anthropologie and BHLDN, and the shoot was complemented by custom invitations with genuine copper leaf by Pearly Gates Designs. The whole workshop and styled shoot was a huge success, and we couldn’t have asked for better lighting, decor, or models! I can only hope this shoot has made you drool and feel inspired and excited to get married, to style a shoot, or just to get outside and explore!

With joy, Lizard.

(vendor credits below)

Venue: River’s Edge Cottages

Invitations: Carrie Hawkins of Pearly Gates Designs

Olivia’s Dress: Milamira Bridal

Alex’s attire: H&M

Alex’s Wire Bow Tie: Handmade and I’ll have a tutorial up soon!

Olivia’s Hair: Also DIY and tutorial coming soon—it was SO easy!

Bouquet: Amy McCord of Flower Moxie

Table and Décor: Anthropologie/BHLDN

PS-Behind the scenes GIANT thank you’s go to my workshop attendees who made this whole thing even work, Emily Hullet who catered all of our meals, and my hubsy extraordinaire, Derek, who took care of our daughter and helped me with tons of little details for the shoot! I live my dream every day because of him <3