It’s been awhile since my last Wednesday Wandering, mostly because I’ve been busy wandering!  I am “living” in Wales until May, which is the natural course for a young lady with a British fiancé. We do a lot of back-and-forth. 

Life has been busy-busy, full of long work hours and steadily warming days. “The Crud” is going around, so instead of guzzling DayQuil, I’m sipping Lemsip, the UK’s lemony-menthol equivalent.

It’s nearly spring here: a season of new opportunity, frolicking lambs, and Six Nations rugby.

It’s a happy time.

Last weekend, we ventured up to Blackpool, my fiancé’s hometown. On the way, we scooped up one of my dear Duluthian friends from Liverpool. She was over visiting friends and attending a wedding.

We introduced her to some of the finer points of British life, including thatched pubs, cheesey chips (with three e’s), and the Lake District. Below you’ll find a few captures from the latter of those three. Somehow cheesey chips are much better consumed than photographed.

These were snapped atop Kirkstone Pass at the third highest pub in the UK, the Kirkstone Pass Inn. Oftentimes during the winter months, the pass is closed due to snow. It’s a cozy inn with a beautiful vista. (I’ve included a half pint to counterbalance the lack of cheesey chips.) 

XOXO,

First, we should take care of some standard engagement session protocol: The Superpower Inventory.

If Tony had superpowers, Anne says, “He would totally have Super Saiyan powers from Dragon Ball Z. I think it’s the ability to become really, really strong. Like the Hulk, without the green.”

Tony believes that Anne’s super awesome skills would be, “Either super speed or time travel so she could get everything done, be everywhere.”

So without further ado, allow me to share the rest of this Super Speedy Time Travelin’ Saiyan duo’s engagement session!

XOXO,

I met Anne and Tony at Wisconsin Point on a rather sultry Saturday in January. We’re talking 40°F: Duluth-style sultry. Despite the minimal snow totals, we still had a winter adventure involving awesome ice formations on the lake, blaze orange jackets, and a pair of visiting ore boats. Pretty north-woodsy, eh?

I asked both Anne and Tony to close their eyes and remember the day of the proposal. Here’s what they had to say:

Anne:  We were up in Grand Marais for the weekend.  The weather was awful but I forced Tony to go outside anyway.  We went out to the lighthouse and Artist Point, and because of the wind the waves were huge!  Tony decided to play daredevil and hopped in and out of them, pulling me along with him.  By the end of the day we were exhausted and completely soaked.  Heading back to the hotel I knew there was something on his mind and was getting kind of anxious.  Suddenly he just stopped, fumbled around a bit, and then “popped the question.”   Honestly I don’t know what was going through my mind, except that I couldn’t say yes fast enough.  The ring he had with him didn’t fit (He said he had been carrying it around trying to plan the right moment, but that moment was too perfect – awwwwww!) so we grabbed hands and raced into town to find a “for now” ring that I could show off the rest of the weekend.  I can’t remember where we found one, I think it was at a souvenir shop, but it was perfect.  I still have it.

Tony: I had been carrying the ring with me for a couple weeks, and I was just trying to find the right moment.  When we were walking along the beach it just felt like the right moment.  I was really nervous, even though I knew I she would probably say yes.  But it made me really happy to hear her say yes anyway.

Enjoy Part One of their engagement session!

 Stay tuned for Part Two, coming soon!

XOXO,

Let the beauty you love be what you do.

There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth.

-Rumi

XOXO,

Monday again, already!

While I tried my best to find something appropriately festive for this week, I just couldn’t help myself. So here you have it:

XOXO,

I too was lured in by the Pinterest siren song.

It’s clickable eye candy. It’s dangerously addicting. And it could happen to you, too.

If you don’t know what Pinterest is, it’s basically a community of people creating treasuries of their favorite things from all across the web.

I’m willing to wager big money that every female on Pinterest has a pin board called “My Dream Wedding, Someday…” It’s understandable: Pinterest has a divine avalanche of wedding inspiration pinned all over it. But I wanted to start something a little more specific: an Engagement Session Style Guide.

This goes out to all of my couples who may be seeking style inspiration for their upcoming engagement session with me. By no means should you go out and buy these outfits – this is simply a place to check out some color concepts and basic styles that work really well for portrait sessions.

Have a click on the image below to see my Engagement Session Style Guide so far. I’ll be adding more as time goes by, so be sure to bookmark the link below. And feel free to follow me on Pinterest – I will surely follow back!

XOXO,