emilydrakephotography

last week I blogged about moving…a week ago we closed on our old house.  we are moved out and officially moved in with my mom.  we are SO very grateful that we have this option of “in the mean time” being able to live with  my mom, save up some money, and house hunt for our dream home!  “We’re never moving again!” that’s what we’ve both been saying.  It is certainly a process and not one we want to have to do a lot in the forseeable future.  But it’s an exciting time.  I’ve never looked for my very own house.  It’s a big step…a new season, with a new house, and new changes and challenges ahead.

During this season I’ll also turn 30.  Seems appropriate for all these big adult decisions I’m about to make about a house to turn 30 so my age sounds just as adult as these decisions.  Luckily I have sweet friends who are turning 30 along with me.  God has blessed me with these 4 friends for the majority of my life and I am grateful for their love, wisdom, patience, and encouragement.  We’ve cried together, struggled together, grieved together, lived together, traveled together, danced together, and laughed through it all together.  As each one of us turns 30 and we look ahead to all that God has in store for each of us, I’m grateful we are facing the future together.

Speaking of being together…we are going to attempt to let these 2 live together this summer…

they’ve already bonded over being lazy and laying in the sun.  I think they are off to a good start!

I am blessed with the cutest clients…no matter the age.  And these girls are no different…seriously, you ladies are beautiful.  and not only pretty, but SMART.  each of these ladies just graduated from Belmont with a nursing degree and on their way to becoming RN’s.  Smart AND cute…come on fellas

In the last few years more and more of my friends are nurses so I feel like I have full understanding of what it takes to get this degree.  let me just tell you…it takes A LOT.  Anatomy being the first hurdle to jump through, then all the memorizing for pharmocology…and so much more.  They’ve put in hours of clinicals, numerous patients, tests, exams AND SO MUCH STUDYING.  I’ll admit it, my degree did not take near as much work.  Through all the stress, studying, and patient charts these four ladies became friends and have stuck together no matter what.  As a way to celebrate their graduation they wanted to have a little photo shoot…the 4 of them…AND their Moms!  so sweet!

Thinking back on some tough times in my life, I know I couldn’t have made it through without my mom.  I’m sure these ladies are just as grateful to each of their moms for giving hugs, encouraging phone calls, home cooked meals to celebrate grades, and everything in between!  Such a sweet way to say thanks to their mothers!

I loved seeing each of these girls have fun together AND having fun with their moms…too cute!

I know each of these girls are grateful for the friends and family that helped get them through college and will support them through life.  I treasure my dear group of friends and couldn’t do life without them.  These 4 were so much fun to be around and I hope their friendships continue to bless them each year forward!

 way to go Jonelle, Jennalynn, Emily, and Victoria!  I loved capturing you lovely ladies and your sweet friendship!  Your mommas deserve to be very proud of each of you!

It’s official.  We are moved.  WOAH!  After having our house on the market for 11 months it seems like this day wouldn’t ever really come, to be honest.  We would just always have a clean house and always be ready to grab the dog and leave whenever someone wanted to come look at it.  But…we are officially moving on.  Last night was our last night in this cute house.

I loved this house…Josh loved it even more.  He owned the house before we met and it was one of the things that I loved about him.  It is such a cute house…lots of charm, character, and so many stories.  It is about 80 years old so it’s know it’s seen some good times.

This past weekend was the official “move.”  We rented a PODS and prayed that it would all fit.  I had this feeling from the beginning it wouldn’t.  Which was fine.  We had an order of importance for the the major items (couch, washer, dryer, dresser, etc) and we both knew in the end, some boxes would be stored in a parent’s basement.  WE WERE BOTH WRONG!  Turns out, you CAN fit everything you own in to a box.  strange…but possible.

We are both very excited about what the future holds for us…and where our home will be.  stay tuned…it should be a fun summer of house hunting!

I can not believe how much she has grown…and that she continues to get cuter and cuter each time.  Remember her adorable face when she was born? and then again at 6 months? can’t get enough.  and here she is…all walking and almost 1 YEAR OLD!

I had such a fun morning with Rachel and Virginia!  The weather was beautiful and sweet little virginia was just happy and full of cuteness!  Her blue and yellow dress was perfect for this field of yellow flowers!

now for a little wardrobe change…nothing says girl like flowery pink dress!  LOVED it!

is she not the cutest little baby model with that pose?!

can you tell that I have just a few favorites from this session?!

this one below I think would just look beautiful blow up big on her wall in the nursery.  I just love the location and all the green and her sweet face and dress!

wardrobe change again to finish out the session!  gotta have some tutu pictures, duh!

hello, this is cuteness calling, with side of baby model fierceness…

We love the Martins!!! all 4 of them.  we first met them when addison was 2 and they were a family of 3 and now their of family of 4 is the just cutest and we always have a great time with them! You may remember sweet little scarlette from her newborn pictures.  Here are some of my favorites from our afternoon at the park with them!

thank you martins for hanging out with us again and letting us capture these sweet moments of your precious family and children!

there are things in life that just make me happy…they put a smile on my face and remind me that everything is going to be ok.  pretty sunsets, polka dots, my dogs, nature, cheesecake, the ocean…and fresh flowers.  There is just something about putting fresh flowers in your home that make things better.

when your house is on the market, you think to yourself that having fresh flowers will add life and make someone want to buy your house.  that’s what I told myself was the reason for buying these WONDERFUL ranunculus a few weeks ago.  Really, I just needed a little “happy” (as my friend Ryan would say) and wanted to treat myself to something that would make me smile.  I fell in love with these flowers when planning my wedding.  Melissa beautifully worked them into my bouquet (which I LOVED) and I’ve had my eye on them since. 

They were so pretty. Different, unusual, layered, and so pretty.  It worked.  I smiled.  Knew that everything was going to be ok.  Everytime I looked at them I knew that God’s mercies were new each day.  Just as I saw these flowers open up and come to life in my house, God continues to provide for me, forgive me, love me, and allow me to open up and enjoy this life He has graciously given to me.

meet tammy, tori, and tyler!  aren’t they cute?!

we loved spending the afternoon with this wonderfully sweet family!  tori looked beautiful and tyler rocked his best “I’m way to cool to really smile for these pictures” look! seriously though, it was a lovely evening and we had a wonderful time!

are you over the cutness yet? can you feel the love oozing from the pictures?!

Jennifer and Scott have been married for 3 months and they were so sweet to photograph!  I met Jennifer years ago and we always seem to end up in the same friend circles…which I’m so glad we do!  pinterest has also confirmed many common interests as well   Jennifer is now married and lives in Asheville with her sweet husband Scott.  They were home for Easter and I’m so glad we got to spend some time with them and meet Scott!

Is Jennifer not ROCKIN’ those beautiful boots?! love it!

oh, the newlyweds!  these two were just precious and loved spending the afternoon with them!

poor dylan.  it’s a hard life being a very well loved house dog.  our alarms start going off at 6:15am…Dylan stays under the covers.  we get up, shower, get ready…Dylan stays under the covers.  we get him food and start our days…Dylan stays under the covers.  usually we literally have to push him off the bed to go outside before we leave.  he comes back in and gets on his “spot” the window bench that looks out the side of our house to keep watch on the day.  he’ll fall asleep in no time.

If one of us comes home early he is SO happy for about 10 minutes and then returns to the window bench to sleep some more.  Since our house has been on the market his sleep has been interrupted…roughly 87 times…but who is counting?!?! a lot of times he stays for the showings.  sometimes he gets to go.  it’s his favorite word really “g-o”  it can make his head turn almost 90 degrees exactly.  friday we had a showing, saturday we had 3 showings, sunday…2 more. yesterday, another.  sometimes it’s just hard for the poor pup to keep up.   us too dylan, us too.

this sweet little girl is just growing up so fast and seems to get cuter and cuter every time I see her.  seriously…just look at this face?!

helllooooo adorable!  libby just turned 2 and I LOVED getting to capture these moments of her at this fun stage.

can we talk a minute about this adorable dress?! so cute! gotta love the feathers!

I LOVE libby’s sweet parents.  I get to work with her wonderful mother everyday and hear all the fun libby stories…but it was such a treat to see a daddy and his girl.  matt is just a great dad!

what’s a photo shoot with a girl without a little wardrobe change?!

and of course we had to have a little family fun!

thank you so much Matt, Julie, and Libby!  I love your family and libby is just too cute!