Memorial Day Drive

We're kind-of old fogies sometimes, so on Memorial Day we went for a drive. Sometimes we go for drives. We stop at Sonic, get a slush and then head out on some little westward road. This Memorial Day we ended up in Wimberley, eating lunch at INO'z. Good food, good view. This is the creek below the deck:



After a catfish po'boy and a honey chicken wrap, we headed toward the house, stopping along the way to take a picture of this little gas station in Driftwood:



And this church:


I like little churches. This one is just around the corner from the Salt Lick and not too far from our house.

Hope your long weekend was nice, too!

Zack Attack!

Okay so don't judge me on these photos. I took them with my Canon Powershot (which is actually a really good little camera) in a dark bar. So they're not the greatest quality. But I think you'll agree, the subject matter makes up for the low quality.

So this Tuesday Michael won yet another radio contest and got us tickets to go see a preview of the new tv show Franklin and Bash. It was a Tuesday night so at first I thought, 'eh.' We very rarely go out on the weekends, much less a Tuesday night.

But then I read down the invitation and realized the stars of the show would be there for a Q&A after the screening.

Do you recognize this guy?



It's Zack Morris! Ha! Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Brecken Meyer (the skater boy from Clueless) are the stars and they were both there. The show and the guys were both funny. I didn't get any really good pictures, but here's the best one of the two of them:



And one more of Mark-Paul/Zack for you:


Enjoy!

Oh yeah - the pictures aren't really copyrighted. I was messing around with the watermark settings in Lightroom and forgot to take it off before I exported them.

I Couldn't Help It!

I got new shoes! I was really looking for some pink or blue shoes to wear for Brandi's birthday party. But then I found these:

I doubt you could have left them behind either! I mean come on, they have bows!

Now It's Okay!

I can show you Kelly's bridal portraits now, because she got married last night! She and Jacob got married in Duncanville and should already be relaxing on their Jamaican honeymoon! I'll have plenty of photos to show you of the celebration, but for now, I hope you like her bridal portraits!







We took some at Mayfield Park in Austin. This is where I got the shot of the peacock I showed you earlier.





The Love Poems book is upside down because Kelly didn't think Jacob would believe that she was reading a book of love poems. I hope this one made him laugh.

Kelly also wanted a few in a less manicured spot, so we headed to a second location for the last few minutes of daylight.
This is the one she chose to have printed for her reception. It's one of my favorites, too. Here are a few more:



She was such a beautiful bride and I can't wait to show you photos from her wedding! Stay tuned!

Straight Out of Camera Preview

It was such a great wedding and I can't wait to share a TON of photos from it with you! But for now, a few previews (straight out of camera - no retouching done yet!) will have to do!




Congratulations Steven and Elisha!

P.S. - I'm going to need some blue suede high heels.

A Peacock Preview

So we got to shoot Kelly's bridals this week, and I'm really excited about how they're turning out. But ya know what stinks?! I can't show them to you until after the wedding!

But what I can show you is the awesome peacock that decided he also wanted to be in the pictures.


He's not as pretty as Kelly, but he'll have to do for now.

A Porch Swing Post Makes 100!

I'm glad this post turned out to be my 100th, because I've been thinking about it for a while - since I ordered my porch swing a few weeks ago!

My swing is still in the box, so no pictures yet. But there will be plenty once it's hung!

It came in this week and even though we have quite a bit more work to do before we can hang it, I've started planning! I ordered one with no stain or paint so I can decide what color I want. I spent a lot of time Saturday scouring the internet for images of porches that I would want to swing on. And these are a few that I found. The first two are pictures that I like, but that I probably won't copy because they wouldn't go with my house.



I do plan on putting a cushion on my swing, and I have a few different ideas about what colors I want. The first idea came from this picture:

I've loved this picture since the first time I saw it. It's from Fly Through Our Window (one of the first blogs I started following.) I love how crisp the white and black look so I may just end up with a white swing and black cushion. I do keep coming back to this image. Paige just looks so sweet!

But I also had another idea. It came from these pictures:
I've noticed before how lots of historic homes have blue ceilings on their porches. There are lots of reasons, but I think the most interesting one is the Southern idea that this light shade of blue keeps "haints" away. Haints are ghosts who apparently have to be shooed away from Southern porch swings. Personally I don't believe in haints, but if I did I wouldn't blame them for wanting to swing. Also, a blue ceiling would look really silly on my house, so we won't do that. Still, I do love this color, and I think it would be a fun nod to a Southern tradition to paint the swing itself "haint blue," as it's been dubbed, and have some natural color of cushion on it. Just like this:
The swing is blue, I promise.

I have also considered painting it green and using some bold black and white print, like in this picture:
There's no history lesson to go with this one.

Now this last picture looks nothing like my house, and it's not the breezy summery look I really want to go for, but I can't help loving it!
I loooove the rug! And although I haven't run across this particular rug, I am thinking about adding one underneath my swing. That is, unless I can convince Michael to add flagstone to our porch to make it look like this:
We should add a fireplace, too! We may have to commandeer some of our neighbors' yards for the final project. They won't mind. They don't use the back half of their yards!

I also plan on a little side table (or coffee table, like the orange rug picture) to hold books and sweet tea, and probably some outdoor drapes like in the picture with the "haint blue" ceiling. And some hanging plants.

I can't wait to have y'all over to swing with me! Of course, you'll have to come one at a time because my swing is only four feet long. It'll still be fun - who doesn't need a little one-on-one time with Jenni? And Carmen, we can stop swinging when you start to get motion-sickness.

A Good Try

Again, it looks alright, but it kind-of tastes like a three-day old grocery store cake.

The cake was dry and the icing was waaaay too sweet. Also, the white chocolate chips look cute, but they didn't really go with the other flavors.

It's chocolate inside, by the way.

I very carefully followed Real Simple's chocolate cake recipe from their May issue. But it's not quite my cup of tea. (Or maybe it's not my slice of cake.)

I'll be trying a few other recipes before I make the cake for Brandi's 30th birthday party in June. I'll let you know what the winner is.

A Magical Post

So I assume that you've all received your May issue of Magic Magazine...

...but I wonder if you've made it to page 50 yet. Anyone?

If you have, look closely at the photo credit. You might not recognize the name since I chose not to have them write "Images by Jifferdoodle," but it's me! I took those pictures!
You're probably thinking, "Now what now? How did Jenni get hooked up with Magic Magazine?" Well the name right above mine is my friend Brad's. He's the magician from this post:

http://jifferdoodle.blogspot.com/2010/10/eat-sleep-eat-sleep.html

And he writes for Magic Magazine. And he needed some photos. And he happened to know a photographer. So abra-ca-dabra! I'm published!

Also, I really like the photos I took, but it is surprisingly difficult to get an interesting picture of a picture, so ask me to see the issue or pick up a copy to see the rest of the spread!

Tomorrow...

...was Jon's answer when I asked when this couple is getting married. They've actually planned a fall wedding, but it sounds like he tries to get her to elope whenever he can work it in!

Jessica and Jon met at work and fell in love. They also happen to be in love with Austin, TX, so we met up at the Long Center to get some decidedly "Austin" engagement shots for them.


I have more than 100 images of this couple to choose from for this blog, so I'll just post a few of my favorites.




Okay - I wasn't sure if I was going to like this next one, but I think I do now that it's in black and white.

But I definitely like these! Jon and Jessica specifically wanted some photos with one of the "Play Me I'm Yours" pianos. There was one at the Long center that we used, but when we got to our last spot over behind the Palmer Event Center, there was another one.

And there just happened to be someone there playing it really beautifully! So we staged a little impromptu dance scene, and this is what we came out with:



Don't they look happy? I wouldn't be terribly shocked if he doesn't get his way and marry her before the summer's over!

Email me at jenni@jennirobertsphotography.com to schedule an engagement shoot for you and your honey!