Jena Rhine is my muse!! Not only is she gorgeous and in great shape, but she is also a fellow photographer, so she completely understands what I am going for when I put her in an unusual pose or in front of a crazy background. She is just as creative and artistic as I am, so when we work together, pretty much nothing is off-limits! She is also a great friend, so we always have a blast together. It’s pretty much the perfect working arrangement!

Jena’s bridals were actually done in two locations, so I am going to split them into two posts, one today and one on Sunday or Monday. Our first location was a SUPER DUPER TOP SECRET, so if any of you out there know Justin, DO NOT mention this to him!! He is not supposed to know until after the ceremony, so if you see him, keep your lips sealed!

What better place to shoot a bridal session for a fireman’s wife than…..

A fire station!!! Funny story.. Jena originally picked this station because it was located close to where I live and it was in a fairly photogenic area. A few weeks later, Justin was transferred to that station - crazy!! So now when he sees these photos, it will be even more of a shock, because she is posing all over the firetruck that he drives on a daily basis. I just love Fate
Next we got her all dolled up in her dress (which is so perfect for her, by the way) and shoes.. Jena is a shoe fanatic. Wait until the next post and I will explain this more!

How adorable is her bouquet? I don’t think those are the flowers she is using at the wedding, but it’s still so cute! Very colorful, simple, and elegant, just like Jena

If you like these images you will DIE when you see the photos from our second location.. It is so beautiful, and also completely illegal
Leave a comment and let me know where you think we went next.. I’ll give you one hint: a photo of it was posted in the blog in the past two months!

Normally I hate holidays (too commercialized!), but Valentine’s Day is one of the very few that I really enjoy. My job is all about love, and the celebration of it, so basically Valentine’s Day is a celebration of everything that I am surrounded by. It’s a time for me to think about the many, many couples whose marriages I have been privileged to be a part of, and the people in my own life that I love and cherish. I don’t believe in the “If you’re single, Valentine’s Day sucks!” thing, because we all have people in our lives that we love, whether they be family or best friends or that special someone. It’s a day to remember the people closest to us and how happy they make us - what an awesome holiday!!

This year is especially meaningful to me because it is me and Jason’s very first Valentine’s Day together. I really wanted it to be special, but I also knew that I didn’t want to do anything expensive or fancy because we already spend WAY too much money on ourselves, and each other! So we agreed - no gifts, let’s just do something fun. I actually left all the planning up to Jason, and he totally come through. He took Monday off of work, and we drove out to a random field and flew kites all day! SO MUCH FUN!! I had never flown a kite before, but it was something I always wanted to do (and I mentioned it to him constantly!). It was pretty much one of the most fun, hilarious, enjoyable experiences of my life!!

The day started off a little rough.. This is mostly what things looked like for the first hour:

Basically I would throw the kite in the air, it would flail around wildly, and then come rocketing back towards me and slam into the ground (or into me). It was HI-LA-RI-OUS. I could not stop laughing!! Poor Jason was trying his hardest to get that thing airborne, and I could barely breathe from laughing. However, eventually we got the hang of it and Jason got it up and flying!

A collage of our fun flying experience:

As you can see from those shots, the sky quickly turned from a pretty blue to a very ominous cloudy grey. Here is an AWESOME shot Jason got of me flying the kite with the storm clouds approaching:

Gotta love the self shots!

All in all, despite being four days before Valentine’s, it was definitely the best Valentine’s Day I have ever had, and I can’t wait to go fly our kite again!

Remember how I am always mentioning how bad Jason is at keeping secrets? Yeah, he mentioned THIS special delivery to me about two weeks ago:

Still, despite totally knowing it was coming, it was a much appreciated gesture. I am totally a flower girl! I know a lot of girls think flowers are dumb, but I am SO not that way. Flowers are beautiful and happy and fragrant and you just can’t help but smile when you look at them. Jason buys me flowers quite often (which I LOOOOVE) but even still, sometimes I go to the store and buy a bouquet for myself just for fun. They are so happy!!

These were especially cool, because it was sort of a do-it-yourself floral arrangement kit! The flowers came wrapped individually, and each one had to be unwrapped, rinsed, clipped at the stem, trimmed of the leaves, freed of the outermost petals, and then carefully arranged in the vase. They sent lots of helpful books and tips on how to present and care for the roses. All in all it took me about 45 minutes to get them out of the box and in the vase, and at the end of it my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. It was just so FUN!! I am definitely no good at floral arrangements, but I still enjoy it quite a bit
Here are some of the details, including the packing instructions (Packaged by Anna - thanks Anna!), Jason’s note to me, and the mess I left in the kitchen sink afterwards.

I also got a great gift bag from my mom (our family always exchanges gifts for Valentine’s Day), some gorgeous Thank You cards and journals, and a gold puffed heart necklace I have been wanting for YEARS!

My gift to her was pretty stellar, and I want one for myself SOOO bad, but I can’t tell you what it is until she gets it
I hope that all of you are having a great Valentine’s Day, or as Jason and I (and Dave Barnes) call it, Balumtine’th Day! Don’t forget to tell everyone you love how much they mean to you. If you’re single and feeling blue, here are two great videos to cheer you up!

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=jmdnO3Kcrno]

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=tzq3srbYEUY]

Well, SOMEBODY got a tattoo…….

But it wasn’t me!!!

It was Jason!!! He already had tattoos.. One is a really cool crest, and the other is a Chinese symbol for “peace”… Which also happens to mean “cheap” in Japanese. HA! So, needless to say, that second tattoo is a choice he has grown to regret, so he decided to finally cover it up with something that is actually meaningful to him. He ended up picking a fleur-de-lis, which is widely considered the symbol of Louisiana (where he’s from), and this particular fleur-de-lis is actually taken from the back of the Katrina memorial in New Orleans.

Let me just take this time to say I am not generally a fan of tattoos, and if I had known Jason had tattoos he probably never would have gotten a first date, haha! But I am glad I was able to see through my prejudices Of course you KNOW I had to get some photos of the experience….

The stencil/sketch of the fleur-de-lis over the symbol.. I cannot believe they were able to cover it up!

Jason’s tat artist Billy Jack Gunter of Artistic Encounter, hard at work!

Getting cleaned up..

The finished work

My favorite.. Pain Panda during the tattoo process, admiring his new ink, and Excited Panda afterwards!!

Yikes.. I am in pain just looking at that. But not as much pain as Jason is right now!!!!

Notice anything different about the blog??

Or perhaps.. the splash page?

Or even.. the WEBSITE???

Still lots of tweaking left to do.. But my excitement got the best of me, I just couldn’t wait any longer to show it off!!!  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think

A little back story on Jena.. When I went to A&M, I was an officer in the Photography Club (shocker, I know) and Jena was a member. Naturally, being two of the only girls in the club, we became fast friends, and have remained that way ever since. Jena and I have long had plans of starting our own studio together, and although we are both working for different studios now, we still have a dream to one day work under the same roof!

Jena and Justin have been dating for a ridiculously long time (since high school!) and when Jena and I took a Marketing class together my last semester, we pretty much spent every single class looking up engagement rings on the internet. I didn’t learn much about marketing, but I still have the huge folder of pictures of engagement rings we found saved on my computer! When Jena finally found the one she wanted (and casually slipped the hints to Justin), we knew it was only a matter of time, and when he surprised her in bed on the morning of July 4th with a gorgeous marquis-cut solitaire, everyone that knew them said “IT’S ABOUT TIME!”

The first thing Jena told me when we met up for this session was “Justin has smiling issues..” I think his smile is pretty awesome You guys judge for yourself! Here are my faves:

Yum, love this lighting! They are great at the sexy look!

This one is especially for Jena, who has a thing with shoes - wait until I post her bridals in a few days, you will see what I mean!

Here is Jena trying her best to teach Justin how to smile properly

A firefighter and a photographer, just hanging out in an old abandoned hookah bar. Go figure!

The great thing about working with other photographers is that they let me try weird and artsy things on them, like this shot

Another of Jena’s favorites. I can’t have a client in a big ruffley skirt and not make her twirl. I just can’t!

See, look at that smile? Love it!!

I love the way they are looking at each other in this shot. You can just see the love and happiness written all over their faces. I love my job

Another of my favorites.. Love the pose here!

This is hands down my favorite shot of the day, maybe even one of my favorites ever. Jena says that the little smirk he has in this shot is “SOOOO Justin!”

But this is a pretty close second

Jena says she loves this one because her hair looks good, haha!! I think it always looks good!

Love this wall .. I could have shot here all day!

Okay, I know this is super cheesy.. But I can’t help myself, I love it! I am such a girl…

This one was shot of them in the back of their truck.. We got lucky and had the most amazing weather.

Hot hot hooootttt!

I just can’t live without my flare

This reminds me of a perfume ad.. Very soft and surreal and romantic.

This one was totally Jena’s idea. They are going to use these for their Thank You cards after the wedding. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - my clients are brilliant!

Jena’s bridals are so, so, SO incredible and I can’t wait to show them to you.. Those will be up probably mid-next week.

AAAAAND.. it’s official! The super secret surprise will be unveiled on SUNDAY, so don’t forget to stop by and check it out. I’m so excited!! I will be giving a FREE Dallas portrait session (or somewhere else, if you’re willing to fly me out) to the first person to comment on Sunday’s post, so check in with me all day and you might be the lucky one!

Jason is off on a fishing trip for the next four days, so I am stuck here at home, sad and lonely. Leave me a comment to cheer me up!

Well, I am trying to keep my promise to update at least once every other day, so here is some cool stuff happening in my world:

:: I don’t know if any of you know about Google Alerts, but it is a great little tool that e-mails you every time the Googlebots find a certain phrase on a website. For example, I have one set up for “Stacy Reeves” and “mist Photography,” so every time either of those phrases appear on a website, Google lets me know. It’s a great way to keep track of who is mentioning you or your business on the web.

It’s also a great way to find out things you didn’t know about yourself.. For example, apparently I died at a Shreveport convenience store in 1997. I also rescue Akitas in Kansas City, and I am an at-large member of the Hope Mills Youth Association. Cool, huh?

:: Jason and I received an invitation to see a test screening of 21. I love Kevin Spacey!! I will be sure to let you know if it’s any good

:: The super secret surprise is AAAALAMOOOST RRREEEADDYYYYY..

:: Last night I played in a poker tournament (I was all about poker in college), but the best part was, all the players were wedding photographers!! How cool! I have no idea how many people played total, but I made it to the final table I was totally stoked. I ended up getting taken out by the one and only Jessica Claire, who is a total poker all-star. I finished 7th, but next week I am taking it all!

The “Wedding Poker Stars” tournament happens every Wednesday at 9 PM CST. If any of you wedding photographers out there want to get in on the fun, e-mail me and I will send you the info! It’s an $11 buy-in, and the first three places win. It’s also a great opportunity to network with photogs from around the country!

:: Jason sucks at keeping secrets. You regular readers will know that we opened our Christmas presents to each other about a week before Christmas for no reason other than our own excitement. Well, Jason and I agreed not to exchange gifts for Valentine’s Day, and instead we are just going to do something fun with each other. I told Jason it was his job to make plans and surprise me, and naturally, the surprise lasted about 24 hours before he admitted what his plans were. I’m not going to tell you guys what it is until after we do it and I have photos to show, but I am SO EXCITED!!!

:: I shot an incredible engagement session about two days ago, and I am so wanting to show you guys the photos, but since I don’t have any sessions coming up for awhile, I am holding off until next week.

:: I’m still holding on to these FOUR bridal sessions that are all GORGEOUS beyond belief.. Maybe I can convince some of these brides to let me show you a sneak peek.. Jena, Jacqi, Alex, Courtney? Anyone feeling bold?

That’s it for right now.. Leave me a comment and let me know what YOUR Valentine’s Day plans are!

Remember a few days ago when I mentioned there was a surprise in the works?  It is almost GO TIME!!!  I am so excited!!!!

What could it beeeeee…….?