Jessie and Sean met while working at an herb nursery. Sean was Jessie’s boss. After a few months, Sean asked Jessie out on a date, and they have been together ever since. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be around them before they started dating. When Erik & I first met them we instantly felt the chemistry between them, and it felt even more intense when we met up with them on Saturday at the Longshore Ice Skating Rink in Westport. Erik & I decided to protect our gear and our bottoms by not getting on ice skates, since we are super klutzy! Jessie and Sean were a bit nervous about falling (and us capturing it no less), but they were both so graceful – we were really impressed. We saw many people falling, but not Jessie and Sean. They were skating around like they were pro’s.

Putting on the skates:

Love this shot of Sean tying Jessie’s skates:

Skating!

So cute ; ) Jessie has the best smile.

Things started to steam up…

Seriously! Can you feel that??

Hot!

I love this one:

The ring.

I LOVE this one that Erik captured.

See what I mean about being coordinated? I was very impressed that they pulled this off – it came so naturally!

Jessie & Sean are beach people, so we made sure to take the time to go to “their” beach – Burying HIll Beach in Westport.

It was really cold – but they kept each other warm.

The light was gorgeous!

I was loving the rocks at low tide – the colors and textures.

Really gorgeous light.

There were these cool wooden posts scattered everywhere.

; )

Beautiful sunset

We found the spot where they had carved their names

Then we went to Starbucks to warm up!

They had some cuddling time

Thank you Jessie & Sean! We had so much fun with you guys. We are really looking forward to your wedding!

Vicki & Erik

This post has been a long time coming since these images are from back in November when Erik and I visited his parents in Placerville, CA. I am finally feeling rested and recharged from our “holiday break”, which consisted of watching TV, getting reacquainted with World of Warcraft and the new expansion, and knitting! Knitting has become one of my secondary passions – something that I love to do in my spare time to relax. Lisa taught me to knit a couple of years ago, and I feel so lucky to have been taught but such an extremely talented artist and knitter. As you may know, I LOVE color, and Lisa creates the most amazing colorways, it makes me want to create something just as fabulous! Since Erik and I started dating 6+ years ago (now THAT sounds crazy to me), I have been fascinated by Lisa’s process for creating yarn. I saw her website pretty early on and was blown away that someone actually “makes” yarn. I still really couldn’t comprehend the extent of it, and just like any creative art, there is SO much more that goes into it than just buying some fiber and dunking it in some colors. As a photographer most people think we just show up for a wedding or portrait session and we are done. Yes, we have amazing jobs, but that is just a small piece of what we actually do! I will get into that in another post, but I will say that I foolishly didn’t realize the amount of work and creativity involved in creating what Lisa creates. She makes it look easy!

In the past year since our visit from last Christmas, the Souza’s added a “little house” or “mini-me” as I call it. It is a studio space / guest house, and a smaller version of their “big” house. This was where Erik and I stayed for our visit – and it was heaven. It was almost like staying at a bed and breakfast. Placerville is extremely quiet, and we spent most of our vacation being more relaxed than I ever remember being. We took a drive up to Lake Tahoe, stopping to take in the beauty along the way, we spent some time in small-town historic Placerville, and we re-watched the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. And, I got to spend some time shadowing Lisa as she worked her magic.

Here is a glimpse of part of the studio/guest house where we stayed.

Everyday I would look at all of this amazing yarn and I had the urge to pick them all up and put them in my bag to take home with me. Lucky for me I got a “care package” for Christmas with some of this very yarn.

One of the spinning wheels that Lisa sells and uses herself. Isn’t it pretty?

Here is Lisa in her studio, arming herself with rubber gloves.

Some of the many jars of dyes

Lisa explained that there are MANY techniques involved in applying color to fiber. I got to see 3 different techniques.
Painting:

Pouring:

Soaking:

Neat, huh?
And of course I had to get a picture of her husband Rod, helper-extraordinaire. He reminds me a bit of Erik ; )

Those are my in-laws. I’m pretty lucky, wouldn’t you say? Check out her website if you are in the market for some amazing yarn!

A few months back Erik lost his handmade wedding band at an engagement session on a beach in Boston. He has been ringless since, and I have been on a mad quest to find a special ring to replace the one he lost. I am a bit of a jewelry lover, and I especially love modern and unique pieces. I found the coolest website the other day in my search and I just had to share with all of you brides! The website is New York Wedding Ring and you get to spend a day making your own ring! If I had known about this back when we were getting married, I would have loved to spend a day with my hubby-to-be making each others wedding bands. Exchanging rings on your wedding day is always special, but how much more special would it be looking at that wedding band for years to come and thinking of the day they were made. Really. Awesome. I am also a fan of Mokume Gane, which is how I came across the site in the first place. Now I will just have to talk Erik into spending a day to make his wedding band. Check it out!

And just for fun, this is a website I check out often – Krikawa. I absolutely love their work! Specifically the Mokume Gane rings ; ) Someday maybe I will own one.