Smith Family | Portraits

It’s such a small world… back in 2007, I was a newlywed- a junior in college with a husband that was deployed overseas and absolutely beside myself.  How was I going to deal with all the new stress that had come into my life so suddenly?  A forum for wives of military men called “Soldiers Girls” became my refuge.  I made lots of connections and friends and even though we’re no longer “military”, those friendships have remained!  One of the friends I met through SG was a young woman named Tricia. She was getting ready to marry her sweetheart- a soldier in the Army (their wedding was beautiful, by the way)

Soon after, Tricia and her husband were re-stationed to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma! Just a short jaunt from my home base of OKC!  Their little family expanded to include two beautiful babies- Autumn, now 2, and Cole, now 4 months!

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of photographing their family on their last weekend in Oklahoma. They’re moving on once again to another base. I’m so blessed to have been able to capture some beautiful moments with their family.

Good luck and God bless, Smith family!

michelle and brian | couples shoot

I’ve been busy while I was out!  I had the most smile-inducing shoot with a couple from Oklahoma City!  Brian and Michelle are having a Halloween wedding (SO creative, right?) and wanted some pictures that really captured their fun and unique personalities. I was thrilled with all of their ideas (intense thumb war? Yes please!)

It’s go time, people…

There was also yoga, dogs, and break dancing involved…

We laughed the whole time. Thanks so much, Brian and Michelle, for letting me be a part of your journey to the altar!

National Breastfeeding Awareness Month

August is National Breastfeeding Awareness Month! Be proud, Mamas!

The Makings of a Weekend

This weekend felt a bit restless... a bit rushed... I don't know what it is about being pregnant that makes everything all of a sudden fly into a frenzy.  We recently decided to do a garage sale, so we were preparing for that this weekend.  To Bear it feels like getting rid of some old things. To me it feels like making room for our first child- making sure everything is perfect for her has taken over my thoughts a lot lately. We started registering this weekend, and let me tell you, finding stylish nursery decor is really difficult!  Everything is lavender, pink, mint green, and brown with flowers, bugs, and berries.  "Neutral" means jungle-themed.  I just can't find what I want. I will be attempting to make my own crib sheets, so stay tuned for that adventure.

But in the the hustle and restlessness of my weekend, I did get to take some time to be in my element. I photographed a wonderful little family that I've known for several years now.

See? Gorgeous, right? All of them. I can't wait to edit the rest of them.

How was your weekend?

xo,

Chels



Lidia | Portraits

Remember these little rascals? Well, I got to photograph big sister again this past weekend! She turned five years old on Monday- practically a lady, I know! She’s got tons of personality and is so curious and eager to learn things!  We watched horses and identified trees and bugs and even got chased by some unhappy geese. It was way more fun than most of my Saturday mornings! Happy fifth birthday, Lidia! I can’t wait to do it again soon!

announcing…

That’s right! The Ahlgrim Haus will have a new cuddly, pink, in habitant! We found out yesterday (after a little bit of coaxing during the sonogram) that we’ll be welcoming a baby GIRL into the world at the end of the year! We’re absolutely over the moon! We’ve already got a name picked out (but we’re not spilling just yet), so it’s time to start prepping the nursery!

21 weeks to go!

We’ll *hopefully* know by this afternoon!! Stay tuned!

Past Meets Present

I always wonder about the history of each of my vintage pieces. Yesterday something cool happened

See this ad from 1976? {via this post from Jill’s blog}

Well it looks pretty familiar to me… because it’s my favorite sweater!

I found it at a thrift store about a year ago, and I wore it SO much this past winter. Like, all the time…

Isn’t that awesome? It’s sort of making me wish it was cool enough to break out that sweater… it’s been WAY too hot around here!

Enjoy your Friday, everyone!

xo,

Chels

Summerization: Dining Room

I couldn’t very well make over the entire living room and leave the poor dining room in the dark. I mean look at it:

Pitiful. And dying.

But not anymore!

A mirror and some pretty mercury glass accessories really opened up the space and multiplied the light from the big windows

And my favorite measuring cups from Anthropologie are filling in as candleholders on the candleabra.  A lovely picture of my Nana and a vintage pitcher balance out the color.

I love the idea that it almost feels like a dresser display for a girl’s bedroom in the 50s or 60s! Although I have to be honest, I’m not thrilled with the oval-shaped pictures flanking either side of the mirror- I love the pictures, just not for the space. I’m pretty much just using them as place-holders until I find something I like better. It’s an ongoing process, no?

It feels much more like summer in the Ahlgrim Haus now <3

Summerization: Living Area

Our living room usually looks a bit warm and plain- cream couch, rust colored pillows and rug, beige, beige, beige, etc.

Now, in our living room’s defense, this picture is a bit old, but really, not much has changed about the ol’ LR. So, inspired by the lovely Everly Floral Dress (available now in the Red Dirt Revival Vintage Shop), I took to the living room armed with accessories in bright, summery colors and patterns. The result was absolutely fantastic!

Using red as my main accent color, I was able to build on the color palette of the rug (rust, gold, and turquoise). I threw in splashes of aqua, green, blue, yellow, orange- you name it! Fun textiles have replaced the sea of beige.

The fireplace got a hand from some of my favorite vintage floral embroidered pieces as well as a few other colorful vessels.

I even created a few vignettes using items that were lying around the house- an art display using vintage art and vintage scarves (inspired by this instagram by Kelly of Design Crush)

a bright splash was added to the white tv stand

and a collection of lonely vintage hearts came together to create a fun side table display

another favorite vignette was created from two vintage suitcases repurposed as a small tabletop

Pretty fun, right? And all for zero dollars. I love free space makeovers!

But we’re not done yet! This dark (and dying, yikes!) dining room needs some love… coming up next, I’ll show you how I made it pretty and cheerful for summer!