Archive for December, 2007
two thousand seven and me.
Well, the year is almost over. A year. My FIRST year. Juxtapose Photography’s first year…what a year it has been!
I honestly feel like I have won the lottery. Going back and looking at all of the babies and families and weddings and personal milestones I have been able to capture with my camera brought me to tears. I feel so blessed that I get to do this everyday for you and for me and for the generations that will follow to see all of the memories we have made.
If the slideshow program wouldn’t have been so dainty (it couldn’t handle all of the images I initially chose), I would have included more than you will find below. However, this slideshow forced me to choose 310 of my very favorite images from 2007.
Although these photographs are from a variety of circumstances, they have a common thread. They have HEART. I’d like to think if I went down tomorrow that people would say that about me…yeah, that Kate chick had HEART. And that, my friends, is also how I would like you to remember my photographs.
As this year ends and we move toward 2008, please know that I could have never asked for better clients, friends, and family members to stand before my camera. Thank you from the BOTTOM OF MY HEART for letting me in so that I could show the world YOUR HEART.
Enjoy the slideshow below by clicking on precious Allison & Kinnon. Once you get to the black screen, click the arrow. Allow several minutes for it to load, and TURN UP YOUR SPEAKERS!!!
Love, Kate
OH.MY.GOD1 I loved it! How awesome. Perfect song, too. And I agree - all of your pictures have heart!! Happy new year!
loved it! you had such a fabulous year…much luck to you in ‘08!
hope we can meet next year.
Very inspiring — wishing your family and your business all the best in 2008!
LOVE IT, Miss Kate!!! Wish you all the best in 2008. We feel so lucky to have found you this year and can count you as one of our friends!!!
Hi Kate, Great slideshow…Beautiful pictures! Happy New Year to you!
LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!! Beautiful work!!!! Here’s to many more years of sharing your talents—CHEERS!!!!!!
WOW! That was AWESOME!!! 
Congrats on your first year!!
Can I Say Something…
or is this Russia?
A $10 iTunes gift card goes to the first person who guesses correctly where that question comes from…and NO, Bobby, you can’t participate.
So, seriously…can I say something? My husband is THE. BEST. HUSBAND. EVER.
Not only did he brighten up my crappy 31st birthday (on the 29th) by showering me with gifts (iPhone, cool coat from Urban Outfitters, and a lovely meal complete with champagne at Rick’s Chophouse), but HE GOT ME A CAKE, people. How sweet is that? Almost even better (kind of close to make the call), he took Millie to the potty all day long and didn’t really make me lift a finger to do any work. WOW. I was a Princess for a Day.
My cake was from The Cake Stand, of course.
The details of it were GORGEOUS!
Though we are usually sugar Nazis, we let Mills have a few bites. She went through a wide range of emotions and strangely developed a Hitler moustache during the cake tasting extravaganza. If anyone could work that moustache, though, it would be her.
Ahhhh, we girls live for the chocolate!
Happy Birthday Kate. The cake looks so good!
no way! is your birthday really december 30th?!! You need a special party in June! Why was it crappy? And it looks so perfect to me. Cake AND no chores!! He IS the perfect husband! Can’t wait for this weekend and HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
p.s. “or is this Russia?” cracked me up!
Happy B-Day Miss Kate! You share the day with my favorite person….my daughter Mia. She turned 3….I was at a wedding. So it was sad for me. Sounds like your wonderful hubby made it a great one for you! Beautiful cake. We need to get together soon! Happy new year.
Happy Birthday!! What a gorgeous cake (and family!)
Happy Birthday, Kate! and what a sweet husband…
and darling little girl!
Happy birthday Kate!! Glad you had a good one
Happy Birthday, Miss Kate!! We share birthday’s!! My cake looked NOTHING like yours, I assure you!! I have decided that my kids should be jealous of Millie…..her entire life will be photographed beautifully for her. My kids have your standard first day of school shot in front of the house or school and Mills will have an entire photo shoot that looks incredible!!! I just love all the everyday pics you get of her and your entire family!! Hugs to you girl!!!!
Looks like you had a wonderful birthday! I think it’s so cool that we share the same b-day. And I am way jealous of your iphone….but hey I got heated ski boots! BEAT THAT! lol Hope I get to see you soon. It’s been much to long!!!
happy birthday girl! i love your cake.
awesome cake, happy belated birthday.
Your little one looks just like you
Our 2nd Annual Eat & Sleep Christmas
Yep. We’re different. We don’t get all dressed up on Christmas Day anymore. After all of the stuff that has gone down within our family in the past few years (divorce, cool grannies passing away and what not), we have revamped our holiday traditions to be more about the people, less about the hoopla.
On Christmas Eve, we cook a FABULOUS meal and get semi-dressed up and eat till we’re silly. We are even tightening up our food selections so that we can look forward to them year after year.
So far, our menu includes:
Roasted Rack of Lamb (rubbed with an herb pesto)
Truffle Mashed Potatoes (my contribution)
Field Greens with Cranberries, Pecans, Gorgonzola, & Raspberry Vinaigrette (my other contribution)
Grilled Squash
Pinot Noir (Bobby’s contribution)
Dessert…we’re still working out the kinks with that category
Millie gets so excited about fine dining!
On Christmas Day, after we wake up from our fine dining coma, we roll out of bed and let Mills dive into her presents. This year, we realized that we probably don’t need to get her so much, but hey…it is a learning experience. We have stashed a few gifts for rainy days or major meltdowns. =)
Here she is checking out her faves…her pink & purple Radio Flyer trike, her baby grand piano from Nanny (so she can be like the chick from High School Musical), and her golf clubs. Yep…that is her little trifecta of toy perfection.
Anyone is invited to our home on Christmas Day but there are requirements at the door. You must be in pajamas and if you have even one stitch of eyeliner, you will be swiftly removed from the premises!
Great post!
yes. i am almost positive i should move to mckinney and be bestests!!!! i can’t wait to meet you. but i’m almost afraid we are going to miss each other on our fla. trips. what the crap?!
I LOVE it, Kate!!! We did the same thing….PJ’s ALL DAY….there is NOTHING better. Playing with toys all day, wearing flannel PJ’s??? I mean, come on….that is about as good as it gets!!! I even cooked our big Christmas dinner in my PJ’s. LOVE IT!
Beautiful and fun. Looking at what you have accomplished in just over a year gives me such hope for my new adventure with this business while trying to be a mom. Thanks for the inspiration and sharing the fun moments.
Allison + Kinnon :: Engaged!
Allison & Kinnon are getting hitched in Austin (my old stomping grounds from back in my former, much less maternal days) on January 12th at the University Lutheran Center of UT’s campus. Thanks to Sarah at Caplan Miller Events, I get to count these two as clients and as friends.
We had a fun little adventure last Saturday during which I got to hear all about the romance that is Allison + Kinnon. They met while in school at the University of Texas, and consider the University Lutheran Center to be an important variable in their love blooming over the course of their college career. After being friends and dating a while, Kinnon proposed to Allison on the rooftop of the ULC, which overlooks the Capitol and the UT clock tower…gorgeous and quite brave, in fact!
They gave me a tour of the chapel in which they would get hitched, and I had to snap a few!
We revisited the rooftop and I got to witness their adoration for one another.
Kinnon is so gentle with Allison.
After visiting the ULC, we headed out to the “drag” aka Guadalupe, and that was CASH money, yo!
Murals abound on the drag!
Allison says, “That’s it…signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours!”
When I asked them what they were most looking forward to about their wedding, they said, in unison, “the honeymoon”. Thought this mural was perfect to represent that sentiment!
I had a great time with you, Allison & Kinnon, and I can’t wait till your wedding!!!
Great pics, Kate! I love how you are able to capture the actual drops of sunlight in your work. AMAZING!!
[…] instance, I just got the green light from Allison to post her Unbridaled session that I shot the same day we did her engagement sesh in Austin. We […]
[…] tuned for Allison + Kinnon’s wedding, brought to you by JP (mom & me) and Sarah of Caplan Miller Events. Just got back from […]
Merry Merry!
Merry Christmas, Kate and Bobby and Millie and Grandma Susie. Jim and i wish all of you a joy-filled holiday together and a great new year. I am grateful to have shared the old one with you through your pictures and your very clever notes. Mary Ann
So, So, So EXCITED.
I am leaving today to go to Austin to shoot an engagement sesh and a bridal sesh for my darling January couple, Allison + Kinnon.
Not only do I get to frolick around the city that I once called my own, but I get to join my BFF, Sarah, and Courtney Caplan Events as they do their wedding planner thang at a fabulous wedding. It will be so neat to go all day photographing and then spend my evening watching it from “the other side”.
Can’t wait to blog all about it! Until then, have a wonderful Friday, and go bake some Christmas cookies or sumpthin’.
Christmas @ Spoons Cafe
Feelin’ stressed? Need some comfort food? Head down to Spoons Cafe in Downtown McKinney for a little tasty treat.
Hmmmmm….what is Millie looking at?
I think it just might be these…maaaaaaaybe.
They were made by Santa and his trusty baker elves.
There are even PEPPERMINT CUPCAKES!!!
Karen and her crew have the place lookin’ mighty fine.
Millie has already been 2 times this week, and is hoping for more. Care to join her?
That peppermint cupcake looks YUMMY!!! Might have to go get me one!!!
Tim and I went there 3 times last week We’re giving Millie a run for her money! Soooo yummy!
great! there went my diet!
You make it all look delicious! McKinney needs to thank you for how appealing your images make the entire town look–it makes me want to visit!
I TOTALLY agree with Natalie!! You make McKinney look incredible!!! I live here and never saw it the way you do, until I started becoming a blog stalker!! You even make the alleys look good!!!
Looks yummy in there. We don’t have places like that where I live 
Apparently, I’m “That” Girl
You know, the one that wears a scarf in her house just so she manage to eat a Dreyer’s Creamy Coconut popsicle. Some may call me weird; I prefer quirky-cute.
Good day!
omg…i love those popsicles! i must try the scarf thing…
Once, when I was a kid, we ran the air conditioner so we could burn a fire in the fireplace for Christmas!! You do what you gotta do for the things that make you happy!!!
You’re a goofball. I love it!
Nothing stops me from a taste of the cold and creamy!! Not even winter weather…glad I’m not the only one
Terry + Casey :: Hitched
I am almost sad that their wedding is over. Never before have I had clients who are more giving and open and trusting in front of my camera. It was truly an honor to be a witness to such love.
Thank you, Terry and Casey, for your warmth, your vulnerability, and for choosing me to capture your wonderfully passionate romance. Thank you, Terry, for your fun friendship, and Casey, for proving that chivalry is not dead by standing in the buffet line to make plates for Mom and me…you guys are class acts!
Terry jammed out to her tunes while writing her vows.
While photographing Terry’s dress on the porch of Storybook Ranch’s Victorian house, Mom & I found a ladybug. Since ladybugs are known in many cultures to be symbols of good luck, I thought I would bring it in to show Terry.
OK…not that Terry needed any luck, but ladybugs kept crawling out of the woodworks, it seemed. Well, maybe we all needed luck to save us from the fire!
An easy favorite…the minister came to visit Terry just before the ceremony to do a rundown of events and also to pray.
Maria, Terry’s sister, wore her Chucks like a champ. She’s my kinda bridesmaid, fo’ sho’!
Mom got these great images of Casey’s first glances at his bride.
Can you feel the romance through the computer??? If you can’t, you might want to have someone check your pulse.
Terry’s dad made the reindeer that topped the cake.
Like I said before, chivalry is NOT dead.
Thanks so much to Mom (Susie) for rockin’ out the second shooting, and also to Wendy Kidd for keeping things running smoothly and bringing in the water during the pre-ceremony fire.
I just don’t know how you do it Kate. Every time we work a wedding together, i know the pics are going to be fab, but they still surprise me into a Wow or almost tears every time! These pictures are amazing and I know Casey and Terry will treasure all of them. The rings with the kissing reindeer are such a great touch and I know Terry and her dad will adore it.
Great job, sweet Kate! I LOVE that ring shot - how fun!
OMG Kate… I think those are some of my faves… you are so fabulous. Of course it’s so much easier when you’ve got such a great couple to be shooting (they’re so cute)… I’m can see the night was so fun and magical.. and you captured that for them YAY!
Kate….what fun it is for me to be your “second shooter”….and again, you captured each loving moment….from ladybugs to fires to blissful romance in the Opry House….you go girl! I love you…Mom
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I think these are some of your best! I adore the one of the rings. Breathtaking!
Miss Kate, I LOVE Christmas Weddings!! How beautiful!!! I think the Reindeer Wedding Cake might be the sweetest thing I have ever seen! What a fab idea!!! Love the pic of the cake where you can see the shadows of the reindeer on the wall!! Great pics!!
Kate, These are truly wonderful pics! I love the one with the reindeer and the one of Terry laughing looks like it belongs in a magazine somewhere. The picture infront of the tree is so romantic, so “Gone Wtih the Wind”! You are a very gifted artist!
These are SO FAB! I have never seen a more gorgeous dress shot than the one with the sun spots! I could stare at that all day!
I so love that you took the dress outside it was such a great shot. I can’t wait to do our pictures
What a beautiful wedding! You can certainly tell that they are in love!
Marvin Is Not Just a Guy…He’s a Whole Congregation.
Here is the second half to my commercial assignment for Marvin United Methodist Church (aka the biggest church I have ever set foot in) in Tyler, TX. Once again, my awesome hostess/tour guide/bodyguard Rainey helped me find my way from worship service to worship service and everything in between. She even took me to a birthday party for Jesus, and yes…I managed to control myself around the cupcakes. I did, however, get a little giddy at the sight of clowns, balloons, and jingle bells. That place is one cool church!
Love this image!
Even the teenagers get a fab little assembly time right before the worship services start.
Just before he caught on that I was photographing him, he looked like an absolute angel.
Check out the choir. They were such fun personalities to watch!
The contemporary worship service was very soulful.
See ya ’round, Marvin!
These are incredible! Seriously, I’m blown away. I love the different pieces that you used to pain a full picture of the church. Some seem traditional. Others seem new and fresh. They’re wonderful. Amazing.
What an absolutely beautiful church!! The way you are able to capture people is AMAZING. These pics are nothing short of inspirational. You ROCK, Kate!!!
Kate….You really captured the mission of Marvin United Methodist…….what an intergenerational connection! Wonderful!
Wow! I absolutely love your slideshow! It’s incredible! I love the music, photos, etc. Amazing. You ooze talent. Thank you for sharing. You are so, so inspiring! Happy New Year!