Julia’s Blogfest

Lesley and Charles ‘gave’ me one of the most fun engagement sessions this year at historic Mt. Vernon, and they finally tied the knot on September 6th and their wedding was also a blast with all sorts of different elements!  I love this couple and their story.

They got hitched at Collingwood Musuem which is basically in my backyard.  I was so happy to shoot there and we had a glorious day on our side.  I have to give props to their cake vendor who is a local gal that just opened a shop in the Woodlawn area, Sabrina Campbell of Occasionally Cake. The cupcakes and fillings were to die for and their flavors just had me in awe:  pear and champagne, pomegranate, lemon, pumpkin…it goes on.  They were unusual combinations that  WORKED and the cupcakes were gorgeous.  Take a look below.  She does kids birthday parties and other events.  If you live this way, you MUST go check her out.  Across from Woodlawn Stables.  I also met and worked with Shawn Marie of An Exceptional Event and we had a great time chatting and working together.  Loved her energy and way with people.  She is an outstanding wedding planner!

One cool aspect of this wedding was that Lesley and Charles decided to have their food catered by Carolina Brothers out of Ashburn, VA!  Yup, pulled pig.  What a FAB idea!  her family is from NC and she felt compelled to serve it as part of the menu.  They had Carolina Brothers pull up their truck and all the fixin’s were there to serve.  The guests were loving it!

Finally, they were my only couple this year to do a ‘first look’ before walking down the aisle.  I was so excited.  For those of you who are asking what this is, it’s when the Bride and Groom opt to see each other before the ceremony.  It gives them some private moments alone and also a great photo op.  I had Charles face the other direction until Lesley was close by.  Such a sweet moment.

Congrats to Lesley and Charles who were simply wonderful to work with.   And wanted to acknowledge my friend and photographer Sally Brewer who 2nd shot for me that day.

My sweet baby, okay, so he’s not that big of a baby as he’s 6 1/2, underwent his 5th febrile seizure in his short 6 years of life last night at midnight.  This was brought on by a rapid onset of a fever/illness.  I checked on him at midnight as I do every night when I cease working in my dungeon and head to bed.  He felt VERY hot and I administered motrin.  But it was too late as within 1 minute, he began seizing.  Between the ages of 2 and 3, he experienced 4 febrile seizures, all with fever.  We did tests and ruled out any and all clinical problems.  We just had to accept this as our fate and wait for this long nerve-racking ride to end, one day.  We were told he would be 5 or 6 before he outgrew them and on his 6th birthday, we celebrated BIG by going to Disney World.  We really thought we were done and wiping our hands clean of this awful thing.  So naturally, we were blindsided by this event last night.  We ended up going to the ER and even when we were in the ambulance, we were told all of the local area ERs were full so we were waiting to hear which hospital could accept us!  Mt. Vernon was full, Alexandria and Fairfax too.  Ultimately, we ended up at Alexandria and they took good care of us.  Harry’s flu test came out positive and b/c we had the seasonal flu shot 2 weeks ago we were told to “presume” this to be H1N1.  Moreover, the ER physician said he had 12 confirmed cases of a flu that day.  It’s here.

Here’s my vantage point on the way to the hospital.  It killed me to not sit next to him but they were doing their job.

So with that, I am posting some information sent to me by my wonderful mother in law that will help families who are suffering from this flu.  Frankly, I’m less worried about this flu than I am about the febrile seizure.  That’s a hard visual to erase.  Please keep us in prayer.

PREVENTION OF FLU

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it’s almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. “Hands-off-the-face” approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe, etc.).

3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don’t trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*

5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

In early September I met up with one of my former Bride and Grooms and now regular portrait clients.  What a bonus.  I have seen them engaged, married, pregnant, with a newborn and now with a toddler.  I couldn’t be happier watching their family grow!  We met at a little park in Montgomery County and let their little one run and run because that’s what toddlers do.  Little Miss “A” literally ran for the first 40 minutes of the session…..by the end, she was spent and sweaty b/c it was so humid!  Poor thing.  But she’s just gorgeous anyway.

let the running begin….

and more running. 

So happy for these two adorable people!  Their wedding was incredible.  I shot their wedding on my birthday — which, to me, was the best way to ignore turning 41.  Lauren remembered by giving me the yummiest lemon cupcake from my favorite, Wegmans!  Thank you again Lauren.  They got married at her parents dreamy cape cod home in Fairfax, VA — the weather held out and it was a stunning day.  She used my favorite colors, orange and brown for everything from ribbons to bridesmaids dresses to flowers.  Then we headed to the Country Club of Fairfax for the evening festivites.  I got to work with Calla Carver of Weddings by Calla for the first time and I cannot say enough how amazing it is to work with a planner.  Calla never stopped moving all day.  Also got to work with one of my former grooms, who DJ’d the night — Brian King of bkthedj.com who is personable and  always has the right music mix.   And props to my 2nd shooter Amanda Pagon for tagging along and getting the other shots!  All around, a great day to be with such a happy couple and to work with amazing wedding professionals!

How about Lauren’s dad with his gorgeous car?

Just having some fun with the rich colors of her parents living room!

Lauren and Mr. Moss CUT UP the dance floor.  I loved this!

So my boy is working on new music.  Just wanted to share.  This one brought tears to my eyes!  Gotta love the new iPhone’s video upload feature!