Category: Life in Love

Cut your own Christmas Tree: Advent Calendar Day 13

Life in Love, Our Love Story // 13th December 2012

Nothing makes it feel more like Christmas then the smell of a fresh cut live tree. Ever since I was young I have had the experience of hiking out into the woods to cut down that perfect tree. Once Liz and I got married, we continued the tradition and have cut down our own live tree each year. For Day 13 of our Advent Calendar, we are sharing our Christmas Tree Cutting adventure and encourage you to cut your own tree too!

For us city folk, there is just something extra magical about getting in our car and driving out to the country to cut down a Christmas tree. Sure we could pick one up at any one of the dozen or so places they are sold in the city but then we would miss out on the fun that mother nature has for us. This year we headed up to the Jarrettsville Nurseries (click here for coupons on a tree!) to find the perfect addition to our home.

A quick side note, we strongly considered purchasing a live tree in a burlap bag/pot this year. (Thanks to Sere for suggesting it on Facebook as her way of making her Christmas AMAZING this year! ;) We did some research and unfortunately we don’t really have anywhere to transition the tree from indoor to outdoors in order to keep it alive to plant after Christmas. Also, we don’t really have anywhere to plant a tree… lol. But that wouldn’t have stopped us because I am sure we could have found a school or a park that would be happy to take it off our hands! However, we also read that you should only keep them in your home for 4-7 days?!?… If anyone reading our blog has experience with live trees, leave us a comment! We’d love to hear from you and to learn more about your experience because we would ABSOLUTELY love to do this in the future!!

And now back to our Tree Cutting Adventure Date Day! :)

They had a few saws, but we came prepared and brought our own. :)

After we decided which type of tree we wanted, we grabbed a sled and were off. We wanted that strong Christmas smell of a fresh tree so we decided on a Douglas Fir, which according to our friend at the tree farm has the strongest aroma.

This tree was easily over 12 feet tall! I definitely had a Christmas Vacation moment… our neighbor from across the street saying “Where do you think you are going to put a tree that big, Ryan!” And if you have seen the movie you know what my response would have been. :)

Since Liz finally convinced me this one was too big, and that we didn’t exactly want to live out that Christmas Vacation scenario, we decided to continue on.

This picture looks like I am giving the tree eskimo kisses!?!? It definitely smelled AMAZING so maybe I was! ;)

Is this the one?

And of course we had to get a picture of us together next to our new family member, aka “Lucy the Tree.” That’s Lucy on the left. After we took the picture above, Liz looked at it and started laughing. Apparently she didn’t think the saw was very romantic.

Attempt two without the saw. :)

“Trust me, I know what I am doing” :)

Success! We found our tree! Today we will be adorning her with fine accouterments, so be sure to follow us on Facebook to see Lucy once she is all lit up and looking pretty! :) And if you have any fun Tree Hunting Adventure Date Day Stories of your own, be sure to leave a message in our comment box! We love to hear from you!

Date Night: Young House Love Book Signing Adventures

Date Nights, Life in Love // 29th November 2012

Most people’s idea of a date night would involve heading to a movie or going to a nice dinner. Don’t get us wrong, we definitely love both of these ideas, especially if the movie is the new James Bond movie! Ok, maybe Liz would prefer more of a romantic comedy but who’s to say James Bond isn’t romantic? I mean the ladies always seem to like him in the movies.

In addition to both of the before mentioned fine ideas for a date night, we also like to be creative and think a little bit outside the box when it comes to spending time together away from work. So when we heard that John and Sherry of Young House Love were coming to Georgetown as part of their book signing tour we knew it would be the perfect idea for a date night! We don’t get to venture down to Georgetown all that often just for fun so this would be the perfect reason. We ordered our copy of the Young House Love book (get your very own autographed copy here!), reserved our spots online for the Flor Book Signing event, and left early to head down to Georgetown. And thus began our quest to meet John and Sherry and to get our copy of the Young House Love book signed! :)

We arrived at 6:25 thinking we would be five minutes early and not have any trouble getting in. Ok, we actually left Baltimore well in advance but as is often the case, traffic was craaaaazy! We should have realized though that everyone else was also trying to get to the book signing too! :) At least we could catch a glimpse of Sherry and John in the window on the second floor of Flor.

The traffic dashed our hopes of finding a fun spot to grab some food before the signing but fortunately Captain Cookie came to the rescue! Flor was an AMAZING host and had arranged for Captain Cookie and his sidekick the Milkman to provide everyone standing in line with free cookies and hot beverages.

Mmmmmmm cookies! Cookies might just be my favorite treat! In fact, I actually had a cookie monster cake with a trash can full of cookies as my groomsmen cake for our wedding! Chocolate chunk and Peanut Butter are definitely at the top of my list!

Here is Liz doing her best to stay warm at the end of the line. You can’t tell from this picture but the line wrapped around the corner of the yellow building with the bicycle, down and around the block and then back up to the Flor building! I am not gonna lie, it was definitely a little chilly but it was totally fun and definitely worth it! Plus we met some AMAZING new friends that waited in line with us. Thanks Meg and Lucy for keeping us company! :)

Three and a half hours later and we could finally see the door. By this time they had sold out of books! AMAZING! It just goes to show you if you love something and work at it passionately, that you can truly succeed at anything you do in life! Congratulations Sherry and John for living big dreams and making it happen! You pretty much rock our socks off!

We made it inside and the heat was on! Ok, so I may have just had an 80’s flash back writing that! You know, “The Heat is On.”

Thanks Lucy and Meg for taking a picture of us while we posed with the Young House Love sign! :)

Now nearly four hours in, we finally made it to the top floor. Only a few more people before our mission was complete! We definitely were not alone, even Miss Washington DC was there to have her book signed! Side note, it is amazing how a crowd draws attention. Throughout the night we had dozens of people walk by and ask us why we were in line. It kind of felt like we were waiting in line for the next iPhone but better!

Finally we had made it. Thankfully we had purchased a book in advance.

I think Liz is probably asking Sherry where we can find some reclaimed wood for our next DIY project, or maybe she just wanted another cookie! :)

Thanks Sherry and John for being so excited and happy to meet us! Your enthusiasm was AMAZING especially after signing books for four hours! We hope you are doing something relaxing today, you deserve it!

Wahoo! Mission accomplished, we got our book signed and we met two people that are on our Hollywood Squares list of AMAZING People. More on that in another post! Cheers to living your dreams, making things happen, and living an AMAZING life!

Now we just need to work on finishing our guest bedroom!

Southern Weddings V5 Party! Sweeter than a peach, y’all

Date Nights, Life in Love // 16th November 2012

As Ryan tied his bowtie and I got all dolled up and put on my sparkly heels for our special date night, we chatted about how excited we were to be right there in that room. We had just had our first glance at the Southern Weddings V5… and it was nothing short of magical!

V5 is extra magical, my friends. Like extra extra magical! The Southern Weddings V5 magazine has one of our photos in it! ;) But not just any one of our photos… it has a photo of MeMe and Brooke! (yes, my MeMe and my cousin Tony’s wife!) I can’t even tell you how exciting that is for us! Yes, it would be amazing if it was any one of our photos because the magazine is GORGEOUS and it is such an honor to be a part of such a beautiful inspiration guide about love! ;) However, looking through the magazine and seeing my grandmother and my cousin’s wife sharing such a special moment together makes us do a happy dance x 1 million! ;) It is better than biscuits and gravy y’all! ;)

Last night we walked into a room of sparkly amazingness ready to celebrate with the fabulous ladies at Southern Weddings and so many other people who passionately believe “Love Never Fails!”! We walked into a room full of about 200 people we have never met… but we immediately felt like family! We were greeted with open arms and warm hugs!… ohh and did I mention, smiles that literally lit up the room?!? ;) We played cornhole, had fun in the photobooth, danced alongside the Blooomsbury Boys (the sweetest Bluegrass Band ever!), ate all kinds of southern treats, met new friends while enjoying time with old friends, and walked away with hearts fuller than ever!

It meant so so so much to us to be able to be there to support Lara Casey and the rest of the Amazing ladies at Southern Weddings! And to celebrate alongside Brooke and Tony was sweeter than a peach!! ;) Ok ya’ll, we are still working on our southern phrases, but lets just say… we had such a perfect date night!

(pardon the iphone pics! ;) )

Our Halloween Adventure as Carl and Ellie

Life in Love, Our Love Story // 1st November 2012

Ok, according to our Facebook friends, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are by far the favorite over Skittles! That tells us that we have some pretty awesome friends! ;) (And for those of you who chose Skittles… we will let it slide this time! ;) But we absolutely recommend that you go have yourself a Reese’s and take in the amazingness! ;) ).

We hope you all had an amazing Halloween yesterday and are now enjoying a continuous sugar high like we are! ;) Last night we celebrated Halloween with some of our favorite photographer friends and it was amazing! Even though the trick-or-treating in CT was postponed due to Sandy, we still dressed up and handed out candy… to each other! ;) Yes, it was pretty much awesome! But, the best part about the evening was sitting in the front lawn watching an outdoor showing of Beetle Juice!… cozy, under a warm blanket, of course! Yes, our friends Justin & Mary KNOW how to celebrate Halloween! ;)

Our J&M Halloween adventure was so much fun for Carl and Ellie! We loved every minute of it! Thanks J&M for having us! ;)

Couples Date Night: ROHA Farms Hayride and Bonfire

Date Nights, Life in Love // 23rd October 2012

Life can fly by at 100 miles per hour. Before we know it, it will be Thanksgiving, and then in a blink of an eye we will be watching the ball drop and toasting to the start of 2013. One of our favorite things about being wedding photographers is having the ability to slow things down just a little bit for our couples. Earlier this year we decided to start hosting couples date nights with our brides and grooms as a way to help them escape from the everyday craziness of life. Each date night is a chance to relax and soak each other in while enjoying life in this moment.

This past weekend we hosted a super fun date night at ROHA farms. We started with a hayride through the rolling hills and woods and ended with a bonfire, roasting hot dogs, and making s’mores. It was the perfect end to a great fall weekend. Enjoy a few photos from our date night below.

The fall colors are definitely starting to pop!