Steve and Tiffany's Wedding

Brian and I went to Morgantown, WV on Friday for Steve and Tiffany's wedding. Brian became friends with Steve when he started working for Ryan Homes in 2006. Tiffany soon came along and the three of them were practically inseparable, or at least that's what I've been told.

I spent the summer of 2007 in Hagerstown and never had so much fun hanging out as a foursome! Brian, Steve, Tiffany, and I hung out at least once or twice a week, every week. We played corn hole, watched The Office and American Idol, played air hockey and darts, visited the restaurants and bars of Hagerstown, and our favorite activity - playing wiffle bar in the park (with just four people). Brian and I were soooo excited when Steve and Tiffany got engaged in December of 2007 and could not wait for their wedding!

Tiffany told me to bring my camera to the wedding and take a bunch of pictures, so I did! I only had a short amount of time for editing and resizing last night so not all the pictures are posted yet. Hopefully I'll be done by Friday! Here's a sneak peek:

I was able to take pictures at the rehearsal since Brian was a groomsman:

Because rehearsal was held in the reception hall, I was able to get a sneak peek at the wedding day details:

Check out all the pictures from Steve and Tiffany's wedding throughout the week as I edit and post here. I'll post again once the pictures are all done!

EXCITEMENT!

Today was a good day. I kept busy at work and the sun was out for most of my time behind my desk - remember, nice weather (warm temps and sunshine) get me in a good mood!

Today was also a good day because I got a surprise from our Director of Food & Beverage at Liberty, Chef Dwaine Wishard - click on the link to check out Dwaine on Liberty's website, photo taken by yours truly :)

Dwaine showed his future daughter-in-law the pictures I took at the Liberty Bridal Open House a few weeks ago. She LOVED the pictures and is interested in having me take her wedding pictures next April! Yes, I said she is interested in ME AS A PHOTOGRAPHER for her wedding!!!! There are not enough exclamation points in the world that could help to describe my excitement right now. I was nearly speechless when Dwaine shared the good news with me. I've only taken pictures at a handful of weddings and have served as a second (or even third) photographer at each. I am anxious to fly solo for once and see what I can do on my own behind the camera. No matter what happens, there's major EXCITEMENT! This could be my big break!

Another thing to be excited about: my new lens came today! I ordered the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 lens from B&H (I highly recommend this company to anyone who is interested in photography, videography or just buying a new point-and-shoot camera) after reading some good reviews and after learning from a few pros that it's a good lens. This lens will alow me to shoot details, people and places and will hopefully allow me to use a lot more natural light to get good pictures. Here is the first picture I took with my new lens:

OK, so it's not that cool. Sorry, there aren't a whole lot of exciting things in the house.

Here it is! My new toy.


Here is a shot of our living room using the wide-angle range on the lens.

This is the kind of mess that is made from camera equipment packages.

SanDisk is offering AWESOME rebates on their memory cards right now. I bought three 4GB memory cards for $45 (after rebate)! Now I'll really be able to take loads and loads of pictures - like 4000 of them if I don't shoot in RAW. Watch out!

Brian and I decided to share our Easter candy wealth. We dumped out all seven Easter containers given to us as gifts over the past two weeks and took out the pieces we really wanted for ourselves. The leftovers went to friends and to work. We had a lot of candy!

That's all for now, folks! I hope you enjoyed my EXCITEMENT!

If that didn't get you excited, just think about the absolutely gorgeous weather that we are going to have this weekend! 85 degrees and sunshine!!!!!!!!!

Back from Bridgewater!

We are back from our weekend in Bridgewater. Man, do I love that place. Just driving through campus gets me excited! I said it once and I'll say it again, Brian and I WILL live there someday!

Hanging out with my former A-10 roomies (all but one) was great! We had lots to catch up on and shared many stories and many laughs. We even shared clothes! While hanging out around campus on Saturday, I realized how much of a Bridgewater nerd I am, and the girls concurred. I was excited to hear about the latest Bridgewater news, was excited to see old friends, and wanted to tell P.Stone (the college prez) that I'd happily take his job after next year (he is retiring)!

I was excited to find out that some of the girls had found my blog and enjoyed reading and checking out the pictures. Of course I took advantage of the beautiful weather and having the girls around (Brian isn't an exciting subject anymore) and practiced my photog skills. The girls are excited for me to post some pictures from the weekend on my blog - they said they'll feel famous! So girls, here ya go:

Hanging out at Brian's parents' house with his brother Jason...Brian likes to be funny.

On the front porch with HONEY!!

Jason and his engraved and smoothed walking stick. Thanks for posing for me, Jason!

Walking on campus with the girls...

Jumping in the streets of Bridgewater!


We watched the baseball and softball games while at Bridgewater - such a lovely day for a ball game!

I caught Brittany's moves on camera...

Me and my roomie, Sharon!

A collage to remember our weekend...

Thanks for a great weekend everyone! Stacey, Whitney, Brittany, and Sharon - it was so nice hanging out! I hope you like the pictures! :) Check out all the pics here.

Taking another plunge...

It's a beautiful day in Waynesboro, PA! We are expected to enjoy temperatures in the low 70's with plenty of sunshine - summer, here we come! There's just something about nice, warm, beautiful weather that puts me in a good mood. I love that I can whip out a pair of shorts, cute top and flip flops for work. I love that I'll get to wear my snazzy new "old school" sunglasses while cruisin' in the car. And I love that I'll be traveling through the mountains, both to and from work, and then again later today when traveling to Bridgewater, with the sunrise and sunset creeping into the scene.

Bridgewater is a wonderful place. It's where I spent four awesome, fun, exciting, and rewarding years as a college student and it's where I met my husband, Brian. Bridgewater is a very small town with only three traffic lights. Everyone says "hi" and it's considered one of the safest places in the U.S. Brian and I eventually want to move to Bridgewater. Hopefully it will be sooner than later. It would be an amazing place to raise kids!

Brian and I are leaving for a weekend in Bridgewater tonight after work and I am WAYYYY pumped!! I am going to see four of my five former college roommates (six girls in one apartment for two years) and visit Brian's parents who moved to Bridgewater three years ago. I will probably be on cloud 9 the entire weekend and will be kickin' it into high gear when it comes to taking pictures and practicing with my camera. Sunday and Monday will bring some awesome picture posts!

So my blog title is called "Taking another plunge." There is going to be a lot of plunges taken as I pursue my photography interests, but this should be the last one for a while. I bought a flash a few weeks ago for my camera and am now ready to buy a lens. If you've never priced a flash or lens for a digital SLR camera, just google it and be amazed. There is actually a Canon lens out there right now for like $12,000! Don't worry, I won't be spending that much on my lens, but it's enough to get Brian nervous and sweating (he doesn't like to spend money). The new lens will hopefully take my photography skills to the next level so I am very excited about taking this plunge. Ready...set...plunggeeeee! Here are some recent pictures.

Staff lunch at work. These ladies always have something to gossip about.

Our General Manager, Eric Flynn, takes a moment to pose with some of Liberty's leading ladies.
Having a few beers with Brian while we wait. Have you ever tried Magic Hat beer? Pretty delicious!

Just a few knick knacks around our house - both wedding gifts complete with our wedding invitation and wedding picture!

Just a fun shot of the beer...and Brian's hand.

Well, have a great weekend, and take a plunge or two. It will be exciting and feel good. Bridgewater, here I come!!

Easter Memories

I am back from my Easter weekend in Connellsville. It was a different kind of Easter. I didn't wake up to my brother and sister anxiously awaiting to see what the Easter Bunny brought and we didn't have our usual Easter morning egg hunt through the house. I guess the last time we did that was when my sister was still in elementary school. Ha! Sometimes I miss those days.

It was also a different kind of Easter because my Great-Grandma Mulac passed away on Friday. She would have been 95 years old next month. She lived a lot of her years in Florida, but has been living with my Grandma Vilella for the past five years or so. My first legal drink with my family was at my Grandma Vilella's Christmas party - it was a glass of wine with my Great-Grandma Mulac. I didn't get to see a lot of my family members this past Easter weekend, but I'll get to see them Wednesday when we come together for the funeral.

Aside my Great-Grandma's passing, the weekend was quite nice. It was nice to be back at home and it was nice to hang out with my siblings. I got to color Easter eggs like I wanted and was able to see a bunch of my high school friends on Saturday night! Not only did Brian and I come home with leftovers, but also more Easter baskets! Brian and I now have seven (yes, SEVEN!) different baskets, bags and containers of Easter goodies! Gym time, anyone??

Here is a picture of "Big Kitty" - he weighs about 20 lbs! I miss having him around...

So my sister Krista is going to her first prom this year. This is her dress. Freakin' AWESOME!!! This is so a "jess dress" - I wish I had a reason to wear it!

Brian and I at my house in Connellsville on Easter.

We have two cats at home. Here is a picture of "Little Kitty" - he used to be a lot smaller than "Big Kitty" but has grown a bit over the past year. Brian says he has now earned the name of "Medium Kitty." We don't have normal names for our cats. We tried "Oreo" and "Bubby", but those didn't really work out. My Dad feels funny when he goes to the vet.

We played the Wii, of course!

Brian took this picture of me. Not too shabby!

We colored Easter eggs!

A blank canvas.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday! Yay Spring!

I'm gonna be swimming in fish!

Today is Good Friday. I don't have work. Brian does have to work. I generally like some alone time at home, but not an entire day! I was looking forward to going to the gym this morning to get some exercise and to kill some time, but it's closed because of the holiday. So now I am watching Rachael Ray and drinking a can of Coke Zero. I am definitely hitting the gym on Monday!

Brian and I exchanged Easter baskets last night. My mother-in-law sent us Easter baskets last weekend so we now have four Easter baskets filled with goodies sitting in our living room. Definitely hitting the gym on Monday!!

Brian and I may be dorky for exchanging Easter baskets, but we find joy in the little things in life, especially the little things we used to do at home with our families. We even considered having an Easter Egg Hunt right here in our house, just the two of us!

We are going to Connellsville, PA tonight (my hometown) to spend Easter weekend with my family and friends and I am WAY excited! I went home in early March, but before that, I hadn't been home since Thanksgiving! That's what the ski industry will do to ya. I don't have a lot of plans for Saturday at home - maybe some egg coloring and maybe some shopping! Saturday night Brian and I will be going out with a bunch of my friends from high school and on Sunday we will have Easter dinner with my family - definitely a lot of opportunities to practice with my camera so look for pictures from our weekend in Connellsville next week. I am very much looking forward to this weekend.

Brian bought me a 3.5 lb. bag of Swedish Fish for my Easter basket because I love Swedish Fish! In the collage below, I am using the 3.5 lb. as a weight-lifting device. And that's why I'm gonna be swimming fish...

Brian's face is so cute in this picture. I bought him a variety pack of Fruit Roll-Up, Fruit-by-the-Foot and Gushers and he was in heaven! He said it brought back to his elementary school days...

Licking out the juices from the Gushers...

Happy Easter, y'all!

Recent Pictures

This past Sunday, Liberty Mountain Resort (my employer) hosted its annual Bridal Open House event. The Liberty Wedding Coordinator (my good friend, Kelly!) asked me to attend and take pictures with my new camera. I was soooo excited! This was one of my first opportunities to take my new camera on a "real" photo shoot! Pictures of the open house will be needed later in the year for print and website purposes so it was important to me, and the resort, that I get some really nice pictures. Since I love weddings and ultimately want to wedding photography, I enjoyed the general atmosphere of the event, nonetheless.

I finished editing the pictures on Tuesday, but am just now getting the chance to post them. I was really happy with the way some turned out and Kelly (the Wedding Coordinator), the Sales and Food & Beverage Teams were all generally happy with the pictures. Yay!!! Here are some of my favorites from the day:

Gorgeous, vibrant flowers from A Lily Pad Weddings & Events.

One of my favorite cakes from the day, courtesy Karen Rodkey Cakes.

The yummy London Broil.

Liberty Executive Chef Dwaine Wishard and Sous Chef Dave O!

Silly Kristina...

Free cake samples!

Fancy shmancy table decorations by House of Clarendon.


To see all the pictures from the Liberty Bridal Open House, click here!