The Baby Shower

Our baby shower was on the 20th of March to celebrate Coco (obviously), but also the beginning of spring. As I'm sure 90% of you know by now, I hate Washington and its crappy excuse for weather most of the year, so when I can officially see the start to some nicer days, I'm pretty pumped. I'm also really happy this little bean sprout of ours won't have a winter birthday, because I never got to do anything fun and sunny given mine is in December. 

Anywho, our shower was really fun and it was great to get to see all the friends we hadn't seen in awhile. I was stubborn and insisted on planning and hosting my own shower so everything could be *just* so, and though it was exhausting, I have no regrets. It was so absolutely overwhelming to be shown so much love and support from all of our most favorite people, and I feel so grateful to have it in my life. I figured instead of posting some mediocre photos of myself with various shower guests, I'd instead fill the post with some photos Michael and I snuck off to quickly take since I bothered to get all dolled up for the occasion.

::HERS::

GIFTED DRESS :: DSW MOJO MOXY HEELS :: PARTY CITY HEADBAND :: MAC LIPSTICK IN SAINT GERMAIN

::HIS::

OLD NAVY SHIRT :: ZUMIEZ PANTS :: JCP SHOES :: PARTY CITY MEDAL

My blog photos usually undergo a much different editing process than the photos I produce for my clients. I don't touch up my appearance (teeth, skin, hair), I don't add any overlays (natural light, etc.), and I definitely don't bother to get wrinkles out of my clothing (but I will take distracting lint off my clothes if necessary). All-on-all, I keep my blog photos relaxed and real because I like to keep things clean and pure for y'all, and also, let's be honest, I don't want to take the damn time. However, when I went to edit these I figured I'd add a little more oomph because I didn't know if I'd be taking any actual maternity photos. (I will be, but now I'll just have more memories.) So I took the time to edit all the wrinkles off the front of my dress, add in some natural light overlays so things looked super bright and pretty, and popped some falling cherry blossom petals on top of it all for a real dreamy kind of vibe. I must say that I'm really happy how these turned out. 

I must also say that posing for maternity-type photos is hilariously awkward. I always tell my clients  something to the tune of "ok, now look at your bump and smile," things like that, and it is so funny when you actually do it yourself. It feels ridiculous, and that's because it is. At no point in my pregnancy have I been lounging around all done up smiling at my belly. So absurd. The ones I tried to take with Michael were even worse. "You stand here, and I'll be next to you and we'll kiss and you put your hand on my belly...ok but lower so it pops out and looks really pregnant." I deleted them all. While they were probably cute, and maybe it's just me, I couldn't stand how absolutely fake they looked. At no point have I ever gone to kiss Michael while panning slightly to the side with his hand accentuating my pregnant tummy. They were just too unreal for me to handle, so I kept the one of us kissing and called it good. I feel like I now understand why my clients get awkward in certain pinteresty poses, but that's usually what everyone wants now, so there you go.