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been doing a lot of this lately. . .

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

DSC 89841 been doing a lot of this lately. . .
. . .both physically and virtually. I apologize for any delays and I thank you for your patience! :) muah!

1 Comments so far ↓
  1. Me too! Good luck with your move, love!

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quick update! : )

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

So life has been a little wild! I will expound on everything later, but for now I will clue you in a bit. We sold our house before it was put on the market. . .Jimmy is preparing for a trek across country. . .I am currently in Atlanta for some photoging. . .There are several posts coming soon. . .an electric blend of weddings, engagements, family. It is wedding season and I can definitely feel it! Love this time of year! Excited to share it all! For now here is a sneak peek from a very fun recent engagement session!

DSC 1236 quick update! : )

DSC 2027 quick update! : )

1 Comments so far ↓
  1. ashleigh says:

    ummmmm these pics are beautiful!!!!! post more soon!!!! and by soon, i mean NOW! ;)

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jon + lisa + 3 moncriefs {personal}

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

We had not seen them since their California wedding in October 2008, when Jimmy served as groomsman for Jon, we meet Lisa (Jon’s bride) for the very first time and Ada had her first flight at 8 months old. The two have started off their marriage in some fabulous places..first Hawaii and now Colorado. They will soon be moving once again this time to the Mid Atlantic for yet another adventure. We were so happy to catch them and catch up in CO before the move.

Lisa works third shift as an RN so the day we arrived we headed to a local downtown bookstore, The Tattered Cover, while Lisa caught up on her zzz’s.

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We love bookstores and this one definitely did not disappoint. The bookstore housed a fantastic kids section so while the guys caught up over coffee, Ada and I explored. Ada is sporting my favorite ever Ivey Handrafted hair barette that our sweet friend Tobi made Ada for her 1st birthday last year. She is really just now getting to wear it since it was hidden away in my lovely, ahem, husband’s ski jacket and unfortunately he had not been wearing said jacket since last year when we were actually once again in Colorado.

adabookstore jon + lisa + 3 moncriefs {personal}

Jon and Lisa introduced us to several things during our visit. One delightful little introducation was to ice wine, which is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. It made a nice accompaniment to the chocolate covered strawberries we made for the guys one night.

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It is a rare day in the Moncrief Household if we do not partake in tea AT LEAST one time! I have been known to finish a 20 count box of tea in a week. A tradition that started before we were married almost 8 years ago and one that I hope to continue for forever. We love sitting on separate couches, piping hot tea near by, Jimmy reading his Reader’s Digest with a magnifying glass and I knitting a new pair of socks. Okay, only 25% of that statement was true, but you get the point. So when J&L suggested we visit Celestial Seasonings, a brand of tea that has most frequently graced our household cupboard, we were thrilled. I specifically love their Raspberry Zinger, a tea I drank incessantly while pregnant after being told raspberry tea would allow for a quick and easy labor…yeah, well, don’t believe everything you hear :)

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The girls partaking in some tea right before the official tour when cameras became off limits…too many proprietary machines out and about.

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The gang hanging with a dress made of tea bags

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Immediately following the tour. Jon and Ada stayed back since no little ones were allowed. Lisa and Jimmy sporting the super hot hair nets we were required to wear. Jimmy was particularly excited about getting to don a beard net (hot, babe, very hot! :) Lisa, please don’t hate…you really look cute and if you were a surgical nurse you would be assuming this look daily :)

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I love this girl who turned 2 during our visit. I love her and this blue sucker and how it matches her baby blues…heavenly!

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Dear Boulder,

You are beautiful!

Love,

Brittany

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Did we get enough tea during our Celestial Seasonings tour? Never! So what did we do?…headed to The Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. Lovely, lovely and lovely to say the least.

teahouse jon + lisa + 3 moncriefs {personal}

We put into practice our new found knowledge of preventing green tea from burning by steeping for only 3 to 5 minutes. I have most definitely had a nasty home brewed cup or two of green tea myself.

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I enjoyed the most fantastic tofu I have ever had in my life along with polenta and roasted tomatoes. Jimmy had butternut squash with who knows what inside…whatever it was…it was good.

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The next day, Ada was feeling better so we dropped her at a sitter and headed to Eldorado Canyon State Park. It was fabulous and a gentle, okay really precipitous, reminder that in our hometown of Chattanooga, TN though referred to as mountains, we really simply have hills.

The guys looking like we took them straight out of an L L Bean catalog. I mean really! These two were in the marine corp together years ago and are seriously brothers from another mother. One small moment of proof…they both wore corduroys… hiking…(seriously…who does that!?! :)

guys jon + lisa + 3 moncriefs {personal}

If you look REALLY closely dead center to the picture below on the left you will see what might appear to be a chigger on your computer screen, but in actuality is a rock climber. (chigger? really…that was gross…sorry)

eldoradocanyon jon + lisa + 3 moncriefs {personal}

Next we took turns taking some fun couple shots of each other

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Again, Boulder even though your land is bare from the harsh cold of winter, your beauty shines through.

DSC 1642 jon + lisa + 3 moncriefs {personal}

A continuation of our kid-less day, we headed to the most delicious India’s Pearl. I had sworn off Indian food after having a horrible experience on our 1 year anniversary vaca to London. I am happy to say, Indian food has most definitely redeemed itself. Following a delightful dinner we headed to the adorable Stella’s for some coffee.

indiapearlstellas jon + lisa + 3 moncriefs {personal}

Our favorite new tea from our CO trip. I stayed loyal to the area we were visiting (Boulder, Co) and came home with a loose leaf blend of green tea, strawberry and rhubarb, while Jimmy was a CO trader and instead brought home Yogi’s Egyptian Licorice, an Oregon tea. If we can be completely honest my Boulder Blues kicks some Egyptian Licorice tail and not to mention, the tin is way cuter than the paper box ;) Again, Thanks J&L for the introductions to our new favs!

DSC 6605 jon + lisa + 3 moncriefs {personal}

DSC 6606 jon + lisa + 3 moncriefs {personal}

A just-because-I-love-random shot of Ada who got really excited when I was photographing the tea pictured above.

DSC 6615 jon + lisa + 3 moncriefs {personal}

You can’t believe we went to Colorado and didn’t go skiing/boarding, you say!?!? Well, little bambino-head was under the weather the day we were scheduled to go and I hated to leave her with a sitter we were meeting for the first time while Ada was feeling crummy, so the boys went to Keystone, Ada and I went to Colorado’s very own Chick-fil-a ;) and Lisa slept off her 3rd shift (woah, very long certainly grammatically incorrect sentence).

*****

Thank you J&L for a most fabulous time! You were perfect tour guides and oh so much fun!

*****

I suppose this is my first personal entry on this blog. Sad? Perhaps, but it really depends on if you enjoyed it or not. I hope you did, but if not hopefully it provided some good ideas if you are ever planning a road trip to the Denver/Boulder area :) Either way, thanks for hanging out with me…I know it was a long one :)

11 Comments so far ↓
  1. anna kim says:

    I love ice wine. And chocolate covered strawberries!? What a delectable combo!

    Looks like you guys had a good time in Colorado!

  2. jennifer froehlich says:

    Ice wine is one of our favorites!!!!! And I love the couple shots w/ the mountains, wow!

  3. This might be my favorite blog post yet!

  4. Sean says:

    Yeah, Brittany, you just have such… divine style. I looove your photography. It inspires me to shoot everywhere.

  5. such an awesome blog post – and thanks for the IH love :)

    Great pics – oh and I have to say Egyptian Licorice is my fave :)

  6. Kerry says:

    This entry is wonderful — you told a great story of your trip and it felt like I was right there with you! You truly have an awesome gift, Brittany. :)

  7. Becca says:

    so excited to see personal life incorporated into moncriefphotography life! yay

  8. Great post! I’m a tea girl too!

  9. Lindsey Hinkle says:

    Really enjoyed this post! A little peek into the facinating lives of the Moncriefs :)

  10. ellie says:

    I want to go hiking, it looks so beautiful there

  11. Ashleigh says:

    i love everything about this post :)

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j + star {the workshop}

Monday, March 1st, 2010

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!

DSC 1763 j + star {the workshop}

Fresh flowers cheerily adorned each table top

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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.

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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!

DSC 1818 j + star {the workshop}

JD documenting the day for us. . .

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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 :)TheWorkshop0003 755x570 j + star {the workshop}

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

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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.

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

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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. . .

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lovable. . .

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beautiful. . .

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fun and silly. . .

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incredibly talented. . .

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a new friend. . .

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a fabulous peer. . .

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

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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. . . ;)

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DSC 3103 j + star {the workshop}

thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou

15 Comments so far ↓
  1. Sia says:

    LOVE everything about this post! even my signature silly pose. did i see that you may may be going to WPPI? hope it is true! if so would love to meet up.

  2. Smiled through this whole post. You bring such joy to the world. So happy to have met you!

  3. Samantha says:

    Awesome! I’m from Canada too and I hope to go to one soon. :)

  4. Ashleigh says:

    aw brittany i love everything about this post! you documented the WHOLE day through images and through words and you did it sooo perfectly! you are so talented and joyful and i am so glad to have met you! ;)

  5. ellie says:

    AMAZING, you got some real artistic shots missy!

  6. Lisa Ridgely says:

    What an incredible experience that must have been for you! I’m so excited for you that you got to go – it looks like an amazing time!

  7. Brittany! I LOVE this post! You documented the day perfectly and had me reliving each moment. You are an amazing photographer and storyteller!!

  8. Lindsey Hinkle says:

    Wow, Brittany… I heard you talk about this workshop you were looking forward to, but I had no idea you were one of only 20 (!!!) chosen to attend. It looks as though it was an incredibly awesome experience, and I’m happy that you got to be a part of it!

  9. Shannon Hamaker says:

    WOW WOW WOW!!

    Can’t wait to hear more about this in person! What an incredible opportunity…so glad you “seized” it!

  10. Awesome post, hey I found this post while searching for music videos. Thanks for sharing I’ll tell my friends about this too.

  11. Sean says:

    I love all the behind the scenes photos! It looks like you guys all had so much fun together! Awesome, Brittany!

  12. Caitlin says:

    This post put the BIGGEST grin on my face! Wish I could go back and do it all over again. You are the best Brittany! Love all of the pics so much!

  13. Michelle says:

    I can’t wait until my turn! She is incredible and I am so glad you had a great time!

  14. Kerry says:

    Oh my goodness…so happy for you, Brittany! And your gratitude makes your experience all the more special…clearly you’re not only an amazing photographer, but also an amazing person. I love reading your stories!

  15. Lara Rios says:

    Brittany! I love love love this post! And all your pictures of course! Actually I really like your style, I’ve been looking around and your work is so beautiful. I’ll keep coming for more :)

    Take care!!! :)
    Lara

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