GENA LARSON PHOTOGRAPHY: $25 OFF ALL NOVEMBER SESSIONS

I am so excited to not only share our family pictures with all of you, but also a fantastic deal with Gena Larson Photography! Gena took our family pictures a few weeks ago and we love them so much. Gena is insanely talented and just about as sweet as they come.

Do you need fall family pictures and live in the Madison area? If so, this is a perfect opportunity to book them. Gena will be offering a $25 discount on all November sessions. All you have to do is mention this blog and "like" both of our facebook pages - links below. Simple as that!

What's Up with The Buells facebook page

Gena Larson Photography facebook page

Please message Gena through her facebook page to book your session.

PORTFOLIO PICTURES FOR OAK + OLIVE

Posting twice a day?! Who am I? I guess Ohio must have really lit a fire!

Krizia, from Oak + Olive asked me if I would style and capture her amazing work for her portfolio before she sold her items at the Randolph Street Market in Chicago this past weekend. Yes, this market looks amazing! Why have I never heard of this before?! I grabbed some of my vintage knick-knacks, borrows some of Jodie's (she is a vintage goods hoarder ;) and headed on over to Krizia's house for a little photo shoot!

Here are just a few of her amazing items. Also, her speciality is doing client work. Do you have a old piece of furniture that needs a little TLC? She can turn it into something you will proudly display in your home. Seriously, the girl is so talented and loves what she does! I have enjoyed getting to know her and so excited to see what she does with Ellis' play kitchen! Stay tuned!

set of 4

set of 4

CAMERA PRACTICE: GARCIA 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PICS

As I am sure you all know at this point, Jodie is my Kirsten Dunst look-alike bestie. Jodie and Luis (usually referred to as J&L in my blog posts) got married a little over a year ago and Kate (my other bestie - now known as Ohio bestie... boo!) and I were her maid of honors. They got married in their backyard and planted a 'wedding tree' as part of the ceremony. The plan was to take a picture by their tree every year on their anniversary. Well, they got married in April, so we are a little late... but who cares. :)  Jodie has been asking me to snap their picture with their special tree for a few months now and I keep forgetting my camera when we go over for Monday night dinners. Anyways, I called Jodie last week and told her we are taking that darn pic and we are doing 'pretend' engagement pictures, too. Ok, let's just call them anniversary pics. It will probably just be a tradition now. We will call it the annual Garcia anniversary photo shoot. :)

These too are pretty much my favorite. I love them and I love how much they love each other. (that's a lot of loves) I will take pictures of these two anytime. I love Jodie's vintage style, red lips and adorable smile. Luis is pretty darn adorable as well. :)

CAMERA PRACTICE: SRNKA FAMILY PICS {CONTINUED}

Happy Monday morning! Here are a few more pictures from Friday night's little photo shoot. Like I said in my last post, I had so much fun taking these pictures. How can you beat cute floral dresses, big baby blues and beautiful lighting? Even though I am a complete amateur, I am in love with the way they turned out.

Amy is a girl after my own heart. She got that fabulous dress just hours before at Urban Outfitters for $10! :) Yes, we are both love a good sale! We were taking the girls to the Children's Museum and Amy just happened to do a little shopping before I got down there. Oops! ;)

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT... OR AT LEAST MAKES YOU BETTER

Last Sunday I was a mess. I was just all sorts of out of it. I think I was tired b/c I worked both Friday and Saturday, our house was a mess, we had no food and my anxiety was through the roof. (I know, I know... first world problems. poor me.)

I do have some anxiety issues. It doesn't effect me much these days, but on Sunday it was through the roof. I had almost chalked it up to be a complete disaster of a day until 6pm, when we decided to pack up Ellis, the stroller, my camera and dinner and head down to the Willy Street neighborhoods (downtown) to take a walk. I am in love with that area of Madison. It just makes me happy. I love all of the old houses on the lake and how all the people are actually outside enjoying what is left of summer. I love how the trees canopy over the streets and how it always smells of a BBQ. There was a yoga class going on at a park and it was one of those things that makes my heart smile. I long to be a hippie living on Jennifer Street. :) We walked, talked, I took some pictures with my camera, and we stopped at a park and ate dinner and played with Ellis. It was a pretty perfect ending to a super crappy day.

I love photography. I am not sure how a creative soul couldn't love it. Photography is really such art. I stalk about a million photography blogs and would love to get better at taking pictures myself.  I know the only way that is going to happen is if I practice. what a concept, right? Practice makes perfect... or at least makes you better. :) I have thought about doing the whole 365 project where you take a picture a day, but there is no way I would be able to take an interesting picture every day. I would have a whole ton of pictures of my one year old, with food all over her face, in crappy lighting, in my kitchen.

Anyways, I have vowed to practice taking pictures with my camera once a week and I will probably post them on here. So get ready for a bunch of amateur pictures of flowers and E. Here are a few from our Willy Street walk.