hello friends!!

i just got back from louisiana this week, and what fun it was! i’ve been to the south 7 times, and this was by far the most fun experience yet!

my friend tori, of tori courtney photography is expecting her baby girl in may! she asked me to come and take her maternity images at her favorite lake… and of course i couldn’t say no!

i headed out fairly early from pdx on thursday morning, with my beloved house of flynn bags. if you’re a photographer, or just even a bag lover… you should totally check out maureen’s bag collections. you can find them HERE. i love the evermore bags, the backpacks, the shoot cases, and of course the travlers wallet.

 

my flights were great, and my seatmates were all amazing. i love how the Lord always has someone for me to sit by. He never fails, each time. <3

 

friday was our photo day, and we were super excited! however the weather was a little uncooperative! there were thunder showers all day long! but we got a quick break and headed out to fontainebleau state park, and did some quick shots before the rain came back! both mom and dad LOVE to fish, and really wanted to incorporate the water in their session. how gorgeous is this location? so in love! <3

 

after our session, tori started talking about something called a snowball…. and low and behold it’s a SNOWCONE, but better! these have such a velvety texture!! they are so much better than the snowcones you get up here in the pnw! and the have a million flavors and add ice cream to them as well! i loved the little gummy bear on top too. needless to say, i was in heaven with the drive through snowball places…. and we sure went a few times!

 

the next day we had tori’s best girlfriend come over with her new little baby boy. tori and i had a mini newborn session in her house! we worked on lighting and posing, and wrapping. i am SO proud of my little grasshopper! (thanks sabrina! 😉 )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that night, nate went out and got crawfish. for the life of me i couldn’t figure out what crawfish was, until tori showed me a picture.

crawdad. it’s a crawdad. we used to catch these in the river up here and bring them to my mother, and she would eat them.

needless to say, this was an EXPERIENCE for me.

like a teeny tiny lobster…. but not.

mister nate showing me how to uh, “shell” them. tori took a video of me as well, but we shall leave that one out. 😉

**omgosh tori the toothbrush! her little man would carry around two toothbrushes all day long! he loved the way the suction cups would make a sound on everything!

 

so let’s talk southern bugs…

i’ve been to tennessee a couple times and oklahoma once, and south carolina once. and never ever ever in my life have i seen such giant bugs like there are in louisiana. i’m hunting a carpenter bee in these images, because i’ve never seen such a large bee!! we have bugs up here, but we also have a million types of spiders… so it’s kinda like natural pest control. 🙂

tori also took video, but we will leave that out as well.

i’m not scared of bugs, but DANG.

 

 

the day i flew out, tori and i took a trip to noew orleans.

now, i’ve been before. and i swore i would never ever go back. i do not like bourbon street. at all. you couldn’t pay me enough money to go back to that hell. and i REALLY didn’t like all the voodoo places. it’s not funny, and it’s not cute. it’s not something to play with. just walking by those places gets your spirit on guard.

however going to new orleans with a native was completely different. we hit the french market, which i had been to before… but it was different this time. she showed me all the fun things that i NEEDED to try while i was here. this market reminded me of pike place market in seattle, one of my favorite places. 🙂

she took me for a muffuletta sandwich! i’ve never heard of this before and it was amazing! they even had gluten free bread for me! i took the cheese off though… no cheese for me.

and now i’m addicted and desperately trying to find the olive salad and i can’t find it!

we hit aunt sally’s for praline’s which i had never had either! i will be ordering these for delivery…

 

i couldn’t pass this gem up.

and NO i didn’t try any.

 

our trip couldn’t be complete without a picture of us together.

i just love this woman. she has a special place in my heart.

she is such a beautiful woman of Christ, and she definitely has a divine anointing on her life. i cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for our friendship!

 

 

so my flight home… sucked.

i’ve never had such an awful experience with southwest airlines.

my flight out of nola was so delayed, i would miss my connection in LA. so they gave me a different flight with a connection in oakland airport.

that flight was delayed two hours.

we get to oakland airport, and all of us pdx travelers have a 3.5 hour delay…. because the last pdx flight had left 5 minutes prior to our arrival. couldn’t hold it?

needless to say, i was pretty ticked and tired. i toured all over the oakland airport wing i was in, got decaf and oatmeal because starbucks was the only thing open.

finally it was time to go, and we all landed at pdx at 1am, which was 3am my adjusted time.

our luggage had been sitting out in the rain, so everyone’s items were soaked, and my case was broken.

it was like living in the twilight zone. way to go southwest, you’re winning it.

 

overall i had a wonderful trip, and i am really looking forward to returning when baby lakeleigh arrives in may! i’ve not had super wonderful experiences in the south, but i have to say i do love louisiana.

i’ll be posting images from tori’s outdoor AND indoor images this week!

xoxo, olive