It's our Date-A-Versary!!

It was a sunny afternoon the day I met my future husband a little over 12 years ago. 

I was a junior in high school at the time and was on my way to my mom's work and a friend of mine
stopped to chat with a couple of other friends.  Mind you at this time, our high school was the only
high school in our small town and the student population was a little over 6,000.  So there was a definite possibility of meeting someone new nearly every day.

That particular day after school, my friend introduced me to Arnaldo.  He was very nice, had a welcoming smile and was wearing a bright Hawaiian style shirt.  Those Hawaiian shirts were sort of his trademark style at the time and I could always find him in a crowd because of his shirts.

Oh how Hawaii was with us from the beginning :)

So we were acquaintances from then on because I learned he had a girlfriend at the time and I was far more consumed with school and moving forward to worry about dating. 

Overtime, I would run into Arnaldo every now and then at school and he was always the nicest guy, a little too charming for me, but always a really great guy.  And I remember thinking to myself "If I could date any guy, I would want to date Arnaldo or someone like him."

Time passed and we got to know each other slowly and the last day of my senior year, right before I was about to leave school Arnaldo found me in the crowd and we chatted, he congratulated me on graduating (since he was a year behind me) and we took a picture together,  one I always treasure and love to look back on to see how much we've changed.  After that picture I didn't think I would see him again.

About a year passed and I was in my first year of college and I ran into him at the local Blockbuster because he was working there and we got to talking again and exchanged phone numbers, it was the holiday season so we didn't get around to calling each other, haha!  Around the end of January we made plans, he actually asked me on a lunch date and we went out for sandwiches,it was one of the best dates I've ever been on!  We had many laughs, fun conversation and just a really great time.

From then on we kept in touch and would talk for hours on end every night and decided to make it official on February 20, 2003 and become "boyfriend and girlfriend".  I remember that Arnaldo was the coolest guy I've ever known, treated me great, made me laugh and always made me feel awesome as a person.

And it's been that way ever since.  I absolutely adore this guy, love him with every ounce of my soul and cherish every moment with him.  We dated for 6.5 years and were married almost 4 years ago in the gorgeous city of Carmel-By-The-Sea.

Today we are celebrating our 10 year "date-a-versary".  It truly is a huge special time for us, time has seemed to fly by and we have enjoyed every single day together.  He is my best friend, my cheerleader, my comic relief, my peace and comfort and my better half, truly,he makes me a better person and makes me want to be an even better version of myself every day of my life.  It's because of Arnaldo and the incredible love and support he gives me that makes me want to reach for the stars and beyond.  I'm so proud to be his wife and so proud of all the things he has accomplished in life, he truly inspires me.

And we truly have just begun in this awesome journey of life!

I can't believe I have the best guy in the world by my side, my husband and I can't wait to celebrate the next 10, 20, 30 years and beyond together.  We've done so much together, been on many adventures, grown up together and are building a life together, it is so much cooler than I could've ever imagined.  God has had his hands on our lives and our relationship and it's because of Him that
we have the incredible love and respect for each other.

I had to commemorate our anniversary with pictures of us over the years, starting with a picture when we first started dating.  We have sooooo many pictures that it was hard to choose which ones to share, but I was able to narrow it down somewhat, haha!  It made us laugh going through our pictures, to see how we've grown and changed and molded into adults and into a couple together.  I also have a few pictures from our wedding to share our journey.

Cheers!!

When we were first dating, awww we were so little!!

Us over the years, many trips together, birthdays, holidays, Halloweens, and so much more!!

On our wedding day.  It was a gorgeous day :)  I will remember this day forever!

A few more of our favorites, we have a lot of favorites from that day, but couldn't overload the post :)

Photography by:  Tammy Horton Photography

Here's to us and many more years of love, great times and laughter!!

Friends, Family and a photo collaboration

This is a total throwback to April 2012 and I am excited to finally have some catch up time on the blog to share some of the things I do in between my commissioned shoots.

1.  Travel
2.  Create new projects to shoot and practice
3.  Spend time with my loved ones

I travel frequently up to Mendocino County in Northern California because I have family in that area and they are so great in referring their friends to me for work, so it's a double win!

I was so excited for this trip in particular because I had been planning a "meet-date" with Sarah Wolfe of Sarah Wolfe Photography, she is quite talented (check out her work here) and lives in Seattle, Washington.  Sarah is friends with my cousin, Nadine, who has graced the blog with her beautiful face a few times over the years.

We had planned to do an afternoon of shooting and I was excited!!  It was so great to watch another photographer shoot and learn from and vice versa.  I admit, I was nervous being watched as I photograph because it's such an intimate thing for me, but I had a blast.  I feel through every shoot I do, I get to know each individual through the lens and on a more personal level than just through simply talking, it's a bit difficult to articulate exactly what I mean, but I hope that these images will explain that.

Sarah is a fantastic person to spend time with and I so appreciate her taking time to be in front of my camera and have fun.  She also photographed me, which I usually get anxious about, but had a great time!  I also had the pleasure of meeting Ashley Roberts, an aspiring and talented makeup artist.  She is absolutely gorgeous and was totally model-worthy, I loved it!

Enjoy :)

 The beautiful Sarah Wolfe.

 Meet Ashley Roberts, love her jacket and hair.

 These gals have been friends for many years, so sweet!

 My cousin Nadine (on the left) is so beautiful, such a sweet person.

 In love with these two frames, ah!!

Turlock Journal Reader's Choice Award 2012

As I write this, I am sitting here with a huge smile on my face because I am so honored, humbled, overwhelmed, excited and touched.  An emotional jumble, but a good jumble.

I was notified yesterday afternoon that I was selected as "Turlock Journal Reader's Choice Favorite Photography Business".

Me!  Little ol' me, out the many talented photographers in this city, I was voted by the people of Turlock as their favorite!  Tears welled up in my eyes reading that last sentence.  

What a surreal feeling.  Absolutely surreal.

I had to re-read the email I received about 10 times to make sure it wasn't a joke and when I read it aloud to my husband he responded with a resounding "HELL YEAH!!"  and a high five, gotta love him :)

So this has definitely kept the wonderful high from my recent trip to Hawaii going.  I'm so blessed to do what I love, day in and day out.  Because I know that I would continue to do photography even if I wasn't being commissioned to do so because I love it so much!

The people I've met on my journey in photography have been incredible, without them I would have no business.  I attribute my success thus far to the many clients, family and friends who have believed in what I do, love my work whole heartedly and love me, it is because of you all that I am where I am in photography right now.  I am just at the beginning of this wonderful road of photography, I am so excited for what is to come!

Thank you to everyone of you out there who have taken the time to vote for me, it means the world.  I am truly honored.

Cheers!

Birthday Wishes: My Awesome Husband

I am so happy to share about one of my most favorite people:  my husband, Arnaldo.

He is the coolest guy and I just adore him to pieces.  We've been together for 10 years this year, married for 3 of those fantastic years and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us!  Time has flown by and we have had so many great experiences, travels, endless laugh fests together, it still feels like we've been together for such a short time, I so look forward to the adventures we will experience in the near future!

He is my biggest supporter in life and all that I do.  He cheers me on in my business every day, such a great listener when I need to bounce ideas around or when I just need to talk, loves me unconditionally and makes me laugh 24/7, he's so awesome!!

It's Arnaldo's birthday week, we celebrated yesterday and if were up to me, we would be celebrating all month long like I do for my birthday in November :)  I love celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, special moments and any reason to celebrate any milestone with all family members and friends, so prolonging Arnaldo's birthday, a little bit,  is awesome! 

Here's a look back on the last few months of some of my favorite pictures of this awesome guy!  Happy Birthday hon, you are the best, I love you!!!

In Hawaii earlier in January, what an awesome time we had!!

    

Feliz Cumpleanos mi amor!  (Happy Birthday my love)

Aloha 2013!

2013 is going to be an incredible year!

2012 was a year of immense blessings, growth, love, life and amazing-ness and I am so looking forward to this year even more than last!

I began this month working in Hawaii, photographing a wedding, making new friends at the airport who have now become friends for life, having a second honeymoon with the love of my life-my incredible husband and taking every second to enjoy this life I've been given.

A couple of years ago I never would have imagined I would be where I am today being able to do what I love day in day out and actually being good at my work.

Dreams have been realized and have truly expanded my perspective on life, future goals and new dreams and all this by looking through the viewfinder in my camera.  I realized that this is just the beginning and I'm so excited for the journey I am about to go on!

I spent the first couple of days in Hawaii last week in absolute awe and amazement because planning this trip was a little over a year in the making and to actually be there breathing in the fresh Hawaiian air and sharing a meal with my husband, I actually began to tear up.  Tears of joy, of course, because I was actually living my dream life, as a destination photographer.  It's everything I've dreamed of since I first picked up my camera (well, my mom's camera) when I was a kid.

Wow.

I will be catching you up on the fantastic shoots I did in the fall time, weddings, family portrait sessions and so forth, but for now, let's enjoy the view.

Aloha.