The Robinson's Family Portrait Session at Oglebay Resort

We had an incredibly beautiful day for this family portrait session at Oglebay on Friday! This session was a mother's day gift to Audrey from her kids. I've been to Oglebay a handful of times, and I don't think I've ever seen more brilliant blooms on the plants than I did on this day. They sure were welcome surprises for these pictures.

I photographed Alec & Nicole's wedding day here at Oglebay almost two years ago. They're sweet friends of mine, and it was really special to to take more pictures of just the two of them at the same location I took some of their wedding portraits.

These two were married not long ago at Oglebay as well!

I'm so glad I didn't forget to try shooting through the vines of these plants. The way these two look at each other is so sweet!

I loved my time with you all! Happy late Mother's Day, Audrey!

Online Role Models & How Small the World Can Prove to Be

Mary Marantz has been one of my biggest role models for a while now. My first introduction to Mary Marantz was through her and her husband's Wedding Photography Business, Justin & Mary. I followed them on social media, as not only were they BIG TIME wedding photographers, they were among the biggest names in online educators for wedding photographers. I soaked up so much of the education they put out, and I especially felt great admiration for Mary's poetic view of life and how she beautifully tangled that into their work. It went into how they posed their couples, connecting deep emotion into the moments. It inspired really beautiful, most importantly, genuine ideas for meaningful photographs.

My social media knowledge of Justin & Mary was all I knew. I didn't know of her blog at this time or it probably would have told me a lot more. All I saw were all their beautiful Connecticut pictures, the incredible wedding pictures they took, how popular and effective they were in educating photographers, and the love they had for golden retrievers (I grew up with a golden retriever so I certainly share that love.) I did sense some tie to West Virginia, but I didn't know what it was or if I was even accurate in thinking there was one. Then, in watching one of their free webinars for photographers, she mentioned being from West Virginia. I knew it! I knew there was something there! But what I didn't realized until searching farther was that she went to Richwood High School. Richwood High School is the other high school in the same county I grew up in and literally the high school my boyfriend went to. (She's a few years older than us)

Wild & Wonderful, West Virginia

I was so surprised! I am just constantly shocked by what a small world this is. Just think about it from my perspective. Justin & Mary were big time inspirations and educators in my life in this online world we live in for almost 2 years. I'd always seen their pictures with sailboats and lighthouses, and now I come to find out she grew up in the same county as me. I think it is just so cool, and just makes her even more of an inspiration in my mind. I wasn't dating Ryan at the time of this discovery, although we were friends. I have since found out that Mary grew up on the same street as Ryan. Yep, the world gets smaller and smaller.

In the past year, Mary has started her own podcast, The Mary Marantz Show, and I don't think I've ever been more confident in having her as a role model. It's full of so much life advice and guidance, and her relationship and trust in God really shines through in every recording. Besides sharing her own wisdom, she's always bringing others onto the show to share their own stories and ways they're using their life lessons and gifts to help encourage others to live life the way we're meant to. It's helped me grow so much in this past year, and I know a lot of it I will carry with me for years to come.

Mary has been fulfilling a new calling and has just recently finished writing her very first book! I know it's nothing short of amazing, and I'm so excited to be accepted to join her launch team!! Be sure to check out her book Dirt on pre-order now and officially out in September.

Meaningful and Inexpensive Gifts

I love picking out gifts and surprising the people I care about in my life with one that's especially meaningful. I love to try and find or create a gift that's just right for the person I'm gifting. It's easy to get carried away and want to spend more than planned, but thinking back on some of the most special gifts that I've been given, they really don't have to cost much at all.

Earlier this year I discovered this app, Felt, where you design greeting cards (your own custom photo greeting cards if you prefer) in the app and the company will print them out and mail them off for you. Each card can have up to 4 photos on it. Being the picture lover that I am, you know that's what drew me into it. I've sent them to my grandparents throughout all this covid mess, sent them for friend's birthdays, and just as a surprise to my nieces and parents so far. I just made one today for our friends' kid's birthday.

I almost always use photos for the front side, but you can also choose from their gallery of themed art.

On the back is where you can write your letter. I often use my apple pencil to make a handwritten note, but this time I tried out the text option. It would be hard to write neatly with just your finger within this app, but maybe they will improve that function in the future.

It is a subscription, but a cheap one. It's $6 a month for 3 cards a month. ($2 a card) and any credits you don't use for a month don't run out. I am not an affiliate for Felt, I just really love their cards! They have the option for to gifts- confetti, stickers, bath bombs, and even flowers now to go along with your card, but I haven't done that yet since it does cost extra. It's special enough with out it!

A few other inexpensive gifts:

A Bookmark

I still like to prefer to read paperback/hardcover books over kindle books. Ryan had noticed I was using a receipt to save my spot and a few days later surprised me with a beautiful hummingbird bookmark. It was a small thing, but it meant a lot that he thought of a way to show he cared like that. Now every time I open my book or save my spot for the day, I smile. If someone you care about likes to read, get them a bookmark with something they like on it (a hummingbird in my case).

The book I'm reading, one with messages to read daily, is Only Love Today by Rachel Macy Stafford. I highly recommend it. It's full of reminders of why we need to stop and be present because the most important thing in life is that we are loving each other. It's so easy today, with all the constant distractions, to always be working, doing chores, paying attention to something on our phones, etc. but this book reminds us to really take time to be present with loved ones. It's pretty fitting for this post actually.

Glow in the Dark Stars for the Ceiling

It feels like Ryan should be the one writing this posts, since he also got me this. It went along with other things at Christmas, but this gift I see every night and every time I turn off the light and lay my head on the pillow I feel loved. He knows how much I love the stars and stuck them on the wall for me to be surprised with when I went to sleep.

I think glow in the dark stars could be a perfect gift to give to a kid to make them feel a tiny bit safer if they're afraid of the dark. Obviously it doesn't lighten up the room really, but it might just brighten up their thoughts. I'm saying this as a kid that was really terrified of the dark.

I want to add a Painting to this list, but I don't know if it fits, because gosh do I know how craft projects can start to add up! (especially considering the time they take to make.) But if you have some talent and some paints, I'm telling you the sweetest gift I was ever given were three paintings done for me by a friend. <3 Thanks, Bri!

A Genuine Compliment or an I'm Proud of You and Here's Why

Yes, here is where I'm going to sound really cheesy, but this can make a bigger difference than any gift. Make sure you are pointing out when you are seeing the good in those you love.

A "One Second Every Day" Video

This one is for your future self. I just started using this app yesterday, One Second Everyday, where you take a one second video of part of your day and log it into the app. Once you have a bunch logged, it will stitch all the clips together for you at you can watch how things have changed over time. I think it's really cool for people with kids or a puppy because you can really see them grow over time in just a short video. I'm excited just to have something like this to remember this little chunk of life. I can't wait to share it with Ryan when I have one finished.

Photo Prints

This is the most common way I surprise someone with a gift. A couple weeks ago, I finally got around to printing out a bunch of 4x6 prints from all our birding trips this past year. I decorated a wooden box for the big reveal to Ryan. This is a gift for both of us. It's our first year really getting into birding and I want us to always be able to remember it well. I used Snapfish for the prints, as I do for many of my personal prints and photo products, as you know if you know me well. I take so many pictures a month, so to keep the cost reasonable I'll order the majority of my prints from Snapfish to keep up. Snapfish always has coupons you can add to your cart at check out, and with doing so you can get way better deals, better quality, and a bigger variety of products than you would get at Walmart, Costco, CVS.. all those kinds of stores. ***I just recently became an affiliate for Snapfish, but I've been using them for 10+ years.

Have a good idea or example of an inexpensive but meaningful gift? Let me know in the comments :)