j + star {the workshop}

Rewind to November. My mother in law was in town, child asleep, husband surfing our plethora of 13 channels on the TV and I cozily positioned on the couch with laptop in place. Opening my in box  and expecting nothing but the norm, I was ecstatically surprised….

(You see, the day prior I woke up to an email newsletter announcing Jasmine Star’s Feb 2010 workshop. I screamed. I hopped out of bed and pretty much accosted my husband in excitement. How he was able to translate my thoughts through my screams I still do not know. Knowing how competitive this workshop could be to get into, he quickly told me to put in for it NOW! Being the good little wife that I am :) I did just that. I pushed send and quickly received a reply that the workshop had already filled up. How could this be? I responded within an hour of the announcement. I was bummed to say the least, but clung to the fact that I was on the waiting list.)

…to find my name and Jasmine Star’s name within the same email. I WAS IN! I WAS IN! I……..WAS……….IN! I jumped and screamed and jumped and screamed! My neighbors thought I had won the lottery, my child thought we had been invaded, my mother in law thought I was crazy and my husband…he knew exactly what had happened. This singularly, was one of the greatest days of my life!

So in short, yes it has taken me way to long to blog about it, but secretly…I just have not wanted it to end and when it is on the blog it means it is done…it is over…complete. But, the truth is, this is really only the beginning because what I have taken from this workshop will be with me forever. Thank you, thank you thank you Jasmine Star for being even more fabulous in real life than I ever could have imagined. The workshop. . .

I entered a beautifully lit room to find that I got to be “brittany *” for the day :) Thank you J* for the notepad, pin and handwritten note and OH so much more!

Fresh flowers cheerily adorned each table top

Jasmine’s beautiful mom who successfully home schooled (well, still is actually :) four fabulous children and lived to tell about it. I enjoyed talking to on how to do such a thing and do it well.

The next post consists of my pictures of Jodi and Matt during the workshop, but for now is a little behind the scene. Jasmine doing what she does best: teaching and photog-ing

I seriously have a girl crush on this chick. . .J* you are FABULOUS!

JD documenting the day for us. . .

One of JD or Jasmine’s shots. . .please excuse my overly white arms. I am pretty sure we could have used them as reflectors if needed :)

Peering through Jasmine’s arm, I got this shot of Jodi’s beautiful eyes.

Yes, Jasmine is fabulous. I love her laugh. . .and she even made us cry. No, she did not beat us nor smash our photog gear on the ground. She instead shared a personal story that had each of us a bit choked up…her self included. This shot is obviously documenting the former.

This shot made me laugh. Love these two…seriously, love them!

I was not the only lucky one that February day. Myself along with 19 other photographers from around the North American continent (yes, continent…one of us was from Canada), spent the day with Jasmine Star. I am so blessed to know each and everyone of you!!!

You each are kind. . .

lovable. . .

beautiful. . .

fun and silly. . .

incredibly talented. . .

a new friend. . .

a fabulous peer. . .

Thank you to each of you! Much love to you all!

Thank you JD for taking these last two! I personally love the first one the most-est :)

and I always thought Jasmine was the funny one in their relationship. . . ;)

thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou