This past weekend I was able to spend a few days hanging out with four fantastic friends of mine for a West Coast "convention" of sorts. My dear friend Julie of ZOZOBUGBABY arranged this surprise trip with the intention of flying me up to Portland where I would then meet up with her and our mutual friend Amber (who was flying in from Texas) and the three of us would do a little road trip up to Tacoma to grab our third friend Lija and then all four of us would go surprise our friend Jayme who just moved out to Anderson Island up in Washington State. We kept the plans secret for nearly TWO MONTHS but then just a few days before the trip, the Northwest was being pummeled by insane storms with flooding, snow and sheets of ice covering much of it. To add to the dismay, Jayme's little island was without power for over a week. So, we realized that in the interest of actually enjoying ourselves, we had to change up our plans a bit and let Jayme in on the surprise! I still flew into Portland and got to enjoy a great evening with much laughter, hanging out with Julie, Amber and our mutual friend (and irrepressibly funny) Shannon Sewell. We then hit the road the next morning and all met up and crashed at Hotel Murano in Tacoma, WA for a couple days. Needless to say, it was AMAZING. The five of us are all very busy moms, some of us single working moms, some of us business owners and/or full time employees, some of us still nursing babies... so to get away from it all for 4 days was *quite* the treat! We are also all very, oh how shall I put this..... not the most demure of women... so, yeah. We had fun.
I took some quick headshots of all the ladies on Saturday morning in the hotel room (which was FABULOUS might I add) and then we wandered around Tacoma, hitting all the antique shops and book stores. Threw in some wine tasting. Ate to our heart's content without having to wolf down our food, share our meal or cut someone's up for them.... And, admittedly, there was a fair amount of alchohol consumed as well...Ha! :) Saturday night we all went dancing at the local gay club (which everyone knows always has the best dancing and music) until the weeeeee hours of the morning. And then we got to sleep in. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Heavenly. And I even got to go in front of the camera, for a change, as the model for my friend Julie's first attempt at shooting a boudoir session! I'll be doing a separate post about the whole experience of being IN FRONT of the camera next.
This was just the most restorative, rejuvenating and unbelievably delightful trip you could possibly imagine even though it was raining and snow was on the ground and there wasn't a beach or fruity drink with an umbrella to be seen. The "quality" of this trip was in the company I kept and the joy of being surrounded by four wicked little comediennes who had me in stitches from morning til night.
I'm going to post a few favorites from our mini headshots and a small collection of images I took while we wandered around Tacoma. We actually didn't have our cameras out all that much, but when the inspiration hit, we were ready!
I'll start with Julie, who was the mastermind behind this whole trip and who made it possible for me to come up and be a part of this fabulous escape from "real life".... if but for 4 days! :) If you are not familiar with her ZOZOBUGBABY line of clothes (are you living under a rock?!), then you should definitely check it out! She was just recently featured in Parenting magazine too! Go Julie!
Next was the stunning Lija. You simply cannot take a bad picture of this gal. She's got 1920's Hollywood starlet looks! So fab!
Next, was Jayme, whom you might know from LILLIPOPS DESIGNS. I'll be shooting an ADORABLE Valentine's day dress she made tomorrow! She's another awesome children's clothing designer that you MUST check out!
And last, but certainly not least, is Amber who flew all the way from Texas to join us! She's the brains of the operation seeing as the four "artistically minded" ones in the group couldn't figure out a bill to save our lives, thank goodness for Amber! Ha! She also has the most contagious smile I've ever seen and if you aren't smiling ear to ear while looking at these pictures of her then there's something wrong with you. She has the quickest wit and kept us on our toes! A complete natural in front of the camera to say the least!
Then, just a few from our wandering ways in Tacoma. The one huge antique store we visited, Stanford & Sons, was such a treat for someone like me whose favorite show is American Pickers..... Ha!
Tomorrow I'll do a post about being IN FRONT of the camera for a boudoir session.... :)
