Monday, January 9, 2012

{i heart faces} best face of 2011



how i am supposed to pick just ONE ultimate favorite photo from 2011 is beyond me.
seriously, i shot so many beautiful people and had such a great year - i truly don't know how to whittle it down to just one image, and call it my "best".

but that is what i[heart]faces asked this week, so i had to try.

i went down thru all my folders.
looked thru a lot of photos.
but somehow kept coming back to one image.

one that i'm going to deem as my "best" - my favorite.
it's one that has stuck out in my mind from the moment i shot it.
it's a classic, perfect moment, that could have so easily been lost in the hustle & bustle of a busy wedding day, but i was able to capture it forever.

i love that about my photography - that i get to capture those classic, perfect moments, that are so fleeting.


and.. you HAVE to head over to i[heart]faces to see more "best" photos! they're all going to be amazing this week!!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

1 year anniversary

all she wanted to do was jump on us, lick us.
she was hyper-active, on the super side.

one year ago tonight, we met a puppy named abby.
one year ago tonight, she became our puppy.

it seems like just yesterday,
and yet it seems like she's been part of our lives forever.

all she still wants to do is jump on us, lick us.
she is still hyper-active, tho' maybe not so much on the super side anymore.

we love her so much and we are so thankful for that night one year ago tonight that we made the decision to bring her home :)


Thursday, January 5, 2012

2011 Highlights [photos]

i promised fewer words so here we go :)
35 of my favorite-est photos from the year 2011 - in totally random order :)
let me know which ones are your favorite - and the easiest way for you to do that is: i am putting all of these photos on my facebook page - and i'd love to see which ones you like the most simply by "liking" the photos! :D

































 


 

and ..
i just wanted to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone this year:
everyone who has encouraged & supported me
everyone who read and left comments on my blogs
everyone who has liked my facebook page :D
everyone who believed in me
and especially everyone who hired me!
THANK YOU !
you have made me successful in 2011 and 2012 is going to be an even bigger and better year!
i can't wait to see how it all unfolds :)

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

2011 Highlights [events]

i have been going thru my photos from 2011 and was really struggling.
i had a group of photos that i wanted to post as highlights - photos that captured an event that was a high-point in the year. 
but then i had a group of photos that i shot that stood out as my favorites from the year - no particular special meaning - i just loved how they turned out.

so i decided to split my highlight post this year into 2 parts:
high-point events
and favorite photos

and without further ado - 10+1 of 2011's high-points [in the order that they occurred, not necessarily in order of favorites :P]

1. abby 
on january 7, 2011, we met and brought home our baby girl. you don't have to follow my blog for too long to know that we love her to death and she's frequently my photo-idea-victim :) she may have chewed up my pillows and ripped our couch and munched on our socks, but we wouldn't trade her for any other puppy in the world and we love her soo much.


2. valentine's dinner
actually, it's much more than just the valentine's dinner we put together as a fundraiser for our youth group in february- it's the youth group in general. we did SO much this year with our youth - fundraisers, game nights, challenges, camp, a retreat, a girls sleepover night, caroling - yeah alot and we had a blast :) oh and shameless plug: we will be doing a valentine's dinner again - and it's going to be this awesome AGAIN .. promise :)


3. one year anniversary
yes, april 24, 2011, marked the day that D & i had survived one whole year of being married and living together - a whole year without killing each other! WOOT - we both should get gold stars :) kidding! really, the first year wasn't that bad - hey if we could survive living in a 35 foot camper for the first 6 months of our married life, i think we can do anything :)
anyways, we celebrated our anniversary with a trip to Watkins Glen, NY - we stayed in this amazing hotel and simply relaxed. did some hiking and site-seeing too, promised to go back up sometime in the summer when it was warmer and more was open and, well, maybe this summer :)


4. the house
we did some awesome updates this year - the most noticeable being that we painted! it looks SO nice now - no more haunted house! we painted inside too, most recently the guest bedroom and stairwell and we tore all the carpet out of the office & guest bedroom.
OH - we closed on our house too :) that should count as like MAJOR news - we now OWN this place! well i guess not yet, the bank still does, but our name is on it! WAHOO :D


5. the garden
okay and while we're talking about the house, let's talk about the garden - i'm a fabulous gardener let me tell you! [never mind that my eggplants never ever came up, i never got a pepper from my beautiful pepper plants, and i harvested my lettuce way to late and had to throw most of it away] other than that i was a fabulous gardener - haha :) it was definitely a cool experience that i learned a lot from and all i can say is: wait for this year! my garden is going to be amazing!


6. camp bethel
even though this could go under the youth group stuff - i wanted to list it separate. simply because i spent 3 solid days with the youth kids, slept in a tent for 2 nights with them, and used the port-a-potties with them. yes, this gets it's own highlight event title :) it was a super exciting and awesome time though of learning and getting closer to God. i was so blessed to spend the time with the kids and i'm looking forward to this year - except for the port-a-potties part!


7. the lake house
i miss going to the lake every weekend with my family - which makes me even more super-duper thankful for the handful of weekends D & i get to go down to see everyone and spend some time on the water :) this year, not only did D ski, but he perfected his kneeboarding skills, learned to wake-board, and attempted skiing with only one ski - let's just say, that's a skill he'll have to work on this summer :)
the lake house is and always will be one of my very favorite retreats - it's completely relaxing, no internet, no cell service, nothing except card games with cousins, reading, sunshine, water, marshmallows, and campfires :)


8. the flood
okay, so it's not a highlight as in a good thing - but it definitely changed our area forever. i think for a long long time, people are going to look at our area in terms of before the flood and after. people are still trying to recover from the major flooding that hit our area september 11th weekend. let's just say, it definitely damped the 10th anniversary memorials, no one was very interested in remembering september 11th, they were more worried about where they were going to sleep that night. it was a tragic tragic even that has changed so many people's lives forever.


9. sisters
i was finally able to convince my mom to let my sisters drive up to spend a weekend with me! we had SUCH a fabulous time, and it went wayy too fast [as usual]. next time girls, you are going to have to stay longer so we can do more and laugh more and take more pictures :)


10. tim hawkins
um who's highlight list would be complete without mentioning going to see this man in "concert"?! ahh, this guy is so funny and as funny as it is to watch his DVD's? he's just as funny in person and definitely just as awesome! if tim hawkins could somehow bottle his comedy in a pocket sized portion, i would pay a lot of money to get me some so i could keep it with me at work and pull it out when people are being mean to me :) if you don't know who this guy is - look him up on youtube, he's hysterical!


11. [the bonus] family photos
it's been 2 years since we got a family photo and you could say we were a little overdue. so, many thanks to ellen's tripod and the piano bench and the timer mode on her camera - we now have an updated family photo :) we look amazing - and wayy too grown up - everyone needs to stop this growing up thing RIGHT NOW - i like ya'll the way you are!


okay so there you have it - just a few of my favorite things from the year :) keep your eyes peeled for my favorite photos from the year! i promise there won't be so many words with that post - but definitely more pictures!!

Monday, January 2, 2012

welcome 2012!

welcome to - the new and improved - karAbbey photography!!

i have been working on these ideas for what seems like forever and to finally see them all come together is SO amazing - i'm completely in love :)

you'll notice, i kept some old things [like my A and the color purple] and added some new things! look around and find out for yourself.

AND - my favorite update: no more blogspot.com address!
that's right, i now have an official website and an official domain that is officially mine :D
so, yes the old address will still redirect you here, but please take note of my brand new address!
www.karabbeyphotos.com

so, while you're looking around, please excuse any little glitches you may come across - as with all updates, sometimes thing get a little wacky :P

and, since i've been offline for a little over a week - look to get caught up on a bunch of stuff soon!