I honestly can’t believe it.  I pride myself on being the person who never has been surprised, can not be surprised, so just don’t think you can, you might as well give up.  I have ears, eyes, and any other type of sensory in the back of my head, and honestly not much gets past me.  Get the point?  Well my dear friend Becky, little sister Ash, and Mom proved otherwise.  Since my birthday was 3 weeks ago, I never saw it coming.  At all.

My Mom emailed and said we were having a “family time” at their house on Sunday afternoon.  Never thought anything of it, so when the kids got up from nap we packed everyone up and headed out.  Ash (my baby sis) called and said, “Mom wants to know when you will be here?”  I said, “Man, I emailed her like 3 times saying after the kids got up-3:30-4?” What the heck.  So we head on over.  I am wearing my grubs, not looking all that great…foot up, jamming out singing “Embrace Me” by Greg Laswell, when we start approaching my parents house.  They live on an old farm and we have this big field right before the house. All of the sudden I see all these cars parked out there. “That’s weird,” I think quickly, but 1 second later I see a huddle of people on the street and I think, “That’s even wierder.” (Yes, I think with made up words.)  At this point I am still zoned out, not having a clue what is going on.  The funny thing was all these people are standing around with a puzzled look in their faces (they were questioning whether that was our car or not), and I realize it is my parents, Aunt and Uncle, church friends, and my high school pals. What??!!  I saw my friend Becky holding a cake and then it clicked, but I still felt sorta out of place, I mean in my mind-my birthday was long gone!

Here’s what the scene looked like…I grabbed these off you myspace Meredith!

Then Brett whipped out his camera too.  I was overwhelmed.  In shock.

Back at the house with my Grandma and hugging Becky who coordinated the party.

Man, there were some good EATS!! My Mama knows how to feed people.

I am holding my Mom’s killer chocolate chip cookies.  I don’t know who I was looking at, but I know exactly what this face means:  “Have you tried these??! shesh. They are da bomb.”

That’s a lot of candles.

Wow.  I seem a bit under dressed.

My girls from school. Husbands were making fun of us because every time we are together we take a group shot.  They were saying, “So here we are August 07, and here we are January of 08, and here’s our spring shot in March 08….”   :)  Well we added another, August 08.

By the end of the party, Gabe was DONE.

After everyone left Brett wanted a picture in the tall grasses in the field.  I was not hip on another shoot in my recycling tee, (if you are my facebook friend you know I’ve-been there, done that) but we were just playing around.

Woah Ash.  BEAUTY!!

My cute baby sister…she’s single men.  But warning- you’d have to deal with me.  :)

All in all we had a great day. The weather was AMAZING!! I realize looking back that I don’t do surprises well.  Maybe because I am a planner and when I have something set in my mind and get thrown for a loop, it is hard. It seriously took like an hour to sink in! :)  But I am so thankful to the family and friends who put this together and came out to celebrate the big 3-0 with little ol’ me.  :)  I am a very lucky girl.

Love to you all!!!     ~jess

Polly, I mean Holly. What can I say to you. How can I tell you how much I LOVE you?? Ok, Ok, introductions first.

Everyone, this is my pal Holly. Fellow fashion, photography, music, blog stalking, and anything vintage lover. She shared this with me in one of her very first emails and I knew I was in love. Well, actually I had an idea from the get-go when she told me she had been searching and searching area blogs for the right photographer, and she just knew we were it. We talked and talked about outfits and ideas, and she was just so willing to roll with it. I just adore her personality, and I was SOOO looking forward to her session. When the day came everything worked out perfectly. We had so much fun walking around, chatting, getting espresso and tiramisu, that literally it was like, “Oh NO the sun is setting!! We need to take more photos!!”

So, without further adieu, here is the EVER SO GORGEOUS Holly-Shmolly. (My new nickname for you. Please add to the list.)

We had the most beautiful day to work with!

stunning!!

:) You make me smile.

Holly and her best friend Corinne, whom I think you will be seeing more of on the blog. :)

Smokin’. How fitting by the fire station :

Holly, you look like a movie star from the 1930’s. So beautiful.

Work it girl!

Then she pulled out her guitar. That was like the icing on the cake. :)

The “other Jess” and I love this shot of you Holly. :)

Can anyone say new banner for our blog??? Yeah.

Holly has been waiting and waiting for her blog post. She has been ever so patient. (Thanks girl!) Thanks to her beautiful mother who stood back and just watched us all play, with such love in her eyes for her little girl. :) And lastly thanks to my buddy Jess for helping me out on this shoot when Brett couldn’t make it…you were a gem.

LOVE to you HOLLY!!!!!