1 | My favorite singer is Celine Dion. I’ve you’ve been reading my blog this week, you probably already know this, but my FAVORITE singer of all time is Celine Dion. I own her first Vegas concert on DVD and have watched it approximately a million times. Beyonce is definitely #2 in my books. If I have a long drive home late at night after shooting a wedding, I’ll put on my trusty “Celine & Beyonce” playlist, crank up the volume, and belt it out the whole ride home. I know every key change to “My Heart Will Go On” like the back of my hand.

2 | I went to college at UVM. My undergraduate degree has nothing to do with photography… It’s in secondary education with a concentration in history from University of Vermont. I graduated in 2012 then headed back to school for 10 more months at Hallmark Institute of Photography. Choosing to go to photography school wasn’t a way out of education for me… I loved my student teaching experience and I’m sure would be a very happy middle school social studies teacher right now if God didn’t have other plans for me with my photography business. My dream is to one day incorporate teaching & photography by either teaching workshops of my own, speaking at conferences, or teaching in some way.

3 | You want to hear me laugh? Put on the movie, ‘The Proposal.’ I love movies. So it’s hard for me to pick a favorite… there are so many genres that it’s impossible to just pick one (or even a couple!). But I can tell you what my pick for the funniest movie is… ‘The Proposal’ with Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds. I remember I saw that movie in theaters with my family and could not keep it together. I was hysterically laughing the whole way through. But the important thing is that it was withheld the test of time. Every single time I see that movie, I still laugh out loud. If you’ve never seen it, WATCH IT.

4 | I’m a dancer. Am/was? Once a dancer always a dancer :) I danced through middle school, high school & college. Dancing in college was absolutely amazing because I got to meet other amazing dancers & girls who were some of my best friends in college, I got the chance to choreograph, and we worked our butts off to put on 2 amazing shows each year. Unfortunately, there aren’t so many opportunities here in rural NH to take dance classes as an adult so Zumba will have to satisfy my dance cravings for now :)

Check out UVM Orchesis on YouTube!

5 | My other job. A lot of people ask if photography is my full-time job. For now, the answer is not quite. During the week, I’m also a part-time nanny for 3 great kiddos in Hanover. When we moved to Hanover last June after I finished photography school, there were a lot of uncertainties for us. I knew that I had weddings booked, but would I book more? Would I be able to book any portrait sessions? My business was far from established enough to be able to depend on it for a living. Well I have been very fortunate to hit the ground running with my business, but while Corey is still a medical student with no income… some day he’ll return the favor ;) … I’m the sole bread winner baby. So working part-time as a babysitter/nanny/child-wrangler allows us to have a steady paycheck, and gives me the flexibility to be able to put what I make in photography back into my business so it can grow. The “plan” (and I put this in parenthesis after Katelyn James’ blog post really hit home for me yesterday… read it HERE) is for me to go completely full time with my photography business once Corey graduates from medical school in June 2015.

6 | I’m a picky eater. This is my thing. That one thing I could change if I could. My biggest weakness. Beans & cheese are specifically the two food groups I don’t eat (pizza, mac & cheese & green beans are the exception)… It’s not just food that I don’t prefer. It’s a visceral no-thank-you. Corey tried to get me to eat a piece of cheese the other week… Needless to say, it didn’t go so well. Anyone know any cures for picky eaters? Hypnosis? Trickery? I hear that when you’re pregnant you sometimes crave foods that you never liked before. I’m hoping that will be my ticket (not that that will be for a while!).

7 | My drink of choice. Depends on the night. With a burger? Woodchuck Hard Cider (made locally in VT!). Cocktails with friends? Vodka-Cranberry. I’ll also never say no to anything fruity that comes with an umbrella… It brings me back to our honeymoon in Hawaii.

8 | I’m a TV junkie. Scandal. Grey’s Anatomy. The Bachelor. Law & Order: SVU. Revenge. So You Think You Can Dance… just to name a few. I think it’s the thrill of being left on a cliff every week and having to wait to see what happens. It’s always been my way of relaxing & unwinding at night, starting back in college when I would need a study break. Now it’s just a great excuse to snuggle up on the couch at night with my husband :)

9 | I’ve lived in 3 different states (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire). When you’re an early-twenty-something, there seems to be a lot of moving around. Life is always changing and moving forward, which makes this time in our life so exciting! I grew up in Ellsworth, Maine (near Acadia) then attended undergrad in Burlington, VT. I lived in the dorms for the first 2 years, then moved into an apartment (appropriately named “The Chateau”) with some of my best friends in the world for the last 2 years of undergrad. After Corey & I got married in July 2012, we moved into an apartment in Bellows Falls, VT while I attended photography school at Hallmark. It was a terrible small little town, but it was one of the only towns to choose from that would fairly evenly split my commute to school in Western Massachusetts with Corey’s commute to Dartmouth. It was our first home– this tiny, old apartment that we’ll never forget. Luckily we only lived there for less than a year, before we moved up to Hanover, New Hampshire, where we live now (complete with a dishwasher & a bathroom bigger than a coat closet)! Corey will be finishing up with medical school in June 2015, then we’ll be off to residency who knows where :) Maybe we’ll stay here? Maybe we’ll try something different? To be continued…

10 | I have the cutest cat in the world. Sorry everyone. There’s just no contending this one. Everyone who meets Oscar says he’s more like part-human, part-dog. I’m the first to admit, I was not a cat person. But Corey really wanted a cat once we got married, so I caved, expecting the cat & I to be “frenemies.” A love-hate relationship if you will. Well once I met Oscar, there was no going back. He snuggles on my pillow with me when I’m sleeping, he ALWAYS greets us at the door when Corey & I come home and he jumps into our arms to snuggle with us. This is no joke. He’s that cool. Oscar always needs to be in the same room as Corey & I and I probably take wayyy too many photos of him. How can I resist?

…. and then there’s this: