the blog

This past weekend I surpassed 30 and jumped to 31…an insignificant birthday by all normal standards, but in my little world it was extremely important! You see last year I moved away from several of my closest friends. It was the hardest part about moving. I couldn’t see their faces whenever I wanted (although google chat offered some relief) and I couldn’t just pop on over and spend time with them. My love language is TIME. Probably because I don’t have much of it to spare. So when I invest time into someone it means they’re REALLY important to me and vice versa. This year my 3 best friends and their hubbies all came to visit me for a long weekend. It was the best birthday present I could ask for! I don’t need “things” to know they love me, they all drove 600+ miles to be with me on my special day! Of course the time went waaaaay too quickly, but it was incredibly special none the less. We spent Friday shooting each others faces, Saturday being bums, and Sunday with good food & movies! The. Perfect. Weekend! We all agreed that this needs to be an annual thing. NC seems to be a great midpoint between FL & NY.

Here are a few shots from our weekend. Most of the pictures were taken on our photo day and then on the morning everyone drove home. It was nice putting down my phone & camera for a day or two so I could live in the moment. I am blessed beyond belief to have these incredible women (and their husbands) in my life! They provide comfort, commiseration, accountability, laughter, song, joy, and general silliness. They’ve all been there for me and I try my best to do the same. They’re all INCREDIBLY talented women and I’m so excited to be part of their artistic journeys. Thank you darlings for making my birthday extra special this year. Come back to me sooooooooon!

XOXOXO,
Mabyn

Cell phone silliness…

The whole crew!

My friends are some of the most beautiful women ever!!! I’m biased of course 😉

Donna of Donna Martinez Photography

Emily of Emily Elizabeth Studios

Gina of Gina B Cinematography

Hello everyone! I hope you’ve been having a lovely past couple of weeks! I wish I could apologize for my absence last week…but I really can’t! You see I’ve been in sunny Florida for the past week (I’m still there!) shooting weddings, friends, and having an all around FANTASTIC time!

My trip started out by flying into Sarasota, FL and meeting my beautiful bride Courtney at the airport. We drove around in the sunny warm weather doing errands and getting all those little details together that you really need for a successful wedding. We then met other people, organized time lines, and laughed a lot! By the end of the wedding I felt like part of their family! Wednesday came along and my best friend Donna galavanted over to the west cost to help me shoot. I really could not have asked for a better day! Gorgeous weather, a stunning bride, and TONS of time to take pictures of almost everything! Yay!

Thursday – Sunday I’ve spend celebrating friendship. That of my best friend Donna and our other good friend Kar-Lai. We all started our friendship living in Syracuse and now both Donna and Kar-Lai are here in FL. It brought me so much joy to just be around these amazing women! They’re a constant encouragement and always make me laugh! This also happens to be Donna’s birthday week, so you can imagine the photo shoots, videos, and other shenanigans that have been going on around here! Kar-Lai will be going back to Orlando today and I will be spending the rest of the week here with Donna. Then I’ll be jaunting up to Orlando myself next weekend to visit HARRY POTTER LAND!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!….I’m not excited or anything….;)

Here’s a lil’ instagram collage of what’s been going on!

Then on the 12th I will reluctantly board that airplane and head back to the cold and…maybe snow? I know I will enjoy being back in my cozy office…it has everything a girl could want! Coffee, a giant imac, and my clienty goodness!!! Yes…I just said clienty goodness! Luckily, I have a lot more free time this week…so you know what that means…I will be working! 😉 Is there a cure for workaholics?

 

To whet your whistle here are some sneak peeks of the shoots I’ll be working on while I’m enjoying the sunshine and the heated pool! 😉

Meghan & Erik’s Anniversary You + Me

Caitlin & Andy’s Ski Bunny You + Me

Best Friend Lifestyle Session

Courtney & Craig’s Tropical Love Story

This week has been so amazing and crazy at the same time! My best friend, Donna, is visiting from sunny Florida! I know, I know, why did she come up to Syracuse? Well because the people here are AWESOME that’s why (present company included ;oP)!!!  Yet I’ve managed to balance play and work pretty well….but then again my work is play! I’m so stinking lucky! When I take a step back and look at everything I am constantly blown away!

Anywho I digress, so Donna got the photography bug from me and has been devouring all she can about it. It’s no surprise that she’s a natural since she’s insanely artistic in all things! One of those said things is makeup and my face is her frequent canvas! So on a sunny afternoon to continue her photog training (My goal is life is to train her to be my right arm and then she’ll move back up here and work for me! eeeeee!!!!) Donna painted me, dressed me up, and took me out to do a photo shoot! At the tail end we took some pictures together…like we always do (you should see my facebook!) and snapped the perfect picture to sum up our friendship! I’ve included it below along with a delicously vintage sneak peek of my You + Me session with Liz and Alton! Ah! I’m drooling with anticipation to edit this bad boy! Enjoy!

xoxoxo,
Mabyn

Typical Donna and Mabyn, laughing until our stomachs hurt!

Liz & Alton’s You + Me Session featuring The Desserted Attic!