Skytop Apple Orchard | Flat Rock, NC

Right on top of the mountain lived the perfect apple orchard where all your dreams of apple slushies, apple donuts, apple butter and apple cider could come alive. A couple weekends ago, some friends and I made our way to Flat Rock, NC and spent the afternoon picking our favorite apples and giving our sweet tooth something to talk about. It was also the perfect afternoon to use my new Canon 60D camera (upgrade!). Nothing like picking apples with the mountains surrounding you and friends right by your side.

We even had an impromptu photo shoot of Tommy + Laura here.

I love these mountains.

Tomahawk + Laurabird

Birds of a feather flock together.

Sometimes living in the mountains has its perks like living close to the perfect apple orchard. In between yummy apple cider donuts, apple picking and apple slushies, I just had to take advantage of photographing these little love birds. They let me use them as models while I tried my new camera (yay!) before my big wedding gig. Thank you Laura + Tommy for being the most naturally photogenic couple! You both are so beautiful inside and out.

More apple orchard pictures to come!

JOSEPH + KATIE

The mountains - the beautiful backdrop for a beautiful kind of love.

Joseph and Katie met and fell in love with these mountains as their backdrop. It was only appropriate to take some photographs of them in celebration of their engagement. One sunny morning they dressed up, slipped their Chacos on and we took off to Pretty Place and Lake Sudie of Camp Greenville. Aren't they a beautiful couple?

The mountains are a beautiful place and it is wonderful watching love grow from them. Here's to Joseph and Katie, my wonderful camp friends. I love that even with their fancy button ups, dresses, dressy shirts and one heck of an engagement ring, they are still rockin' the Chacos. Yeah, definitely camp folk :)

Friday Favorites | Week 002

harvest records | asheville, nc

( image by melissa vega)

Welcome to another week of Friday Favorites! This new blog series may or may not be my new favorite posts to write! Actually, spending more time blogging in general has been a nice sigh of relief and creative outlet. This week I am featuring some music, advice from a notable graphic designer/blogger, a little fashion, photography concepts and another blog! Say what?

 FROM ACROSS THE TABLE | HELLO SUBURBIA

photo by Hello Suburbia

Lisa, of Hello Suburbia had a beautiful and unique concept of photographing her view from across the table in various locations. It is a view that we are all accustomed to, yet never consciously think about. After her blog post, I can now say I do. I think her series changes perspectives and makes your view of across the table a little more deep and intimate than it used to.

 ORIGINALITY ADVICE | DESIGN LOVE FEST

Design Love Fest has been one of my favorite design go-to blogs for quite some time. Bri and her team of influentially creative women also write an advice column and host Blog Shops to help us young creative folk turn our ideas into a tangible product. Her latest advice about coming up with original ideas was extremely helpful! Check out her short and sweet advice about keeping it original in the pixels of recycled ideas.

 EVERLASTING APPAREL | HANNA'S PLACES

Everlasting Apparel is a blog series by Hanna created as an alternative to the typical fashion blog. Instead of focusing on the clothes to buy and the new trends to look for, her fashion feature focus on the individual's favorite piece of clothing. This represents getting away from the trend and wearing something meaningful and for a lifetime. This is a new series, but I can't wait to see it catch fire and see it grow. I was actually asked by Hanna to put together a post so hopefully I will have mine up soon :)

 MODERN VAMPIRES OF THE CITY | VAMPIRE WEEKEND

I have been anticipating this album release for quite some time now. After Alison and I heard "Step" play in Cafe Helios in downtown Raleigh, I just knew I had to have this album. Although their days of "A-Punk" made Vampire Weekend feel like head-bobbin' and fast paced, this new album is phenomenal. Listen to it yourself!

 TUMBLR

This past week I rekindled my love affair with tumblr. Do any of you still blog using tumblr? It was definitely the original Pinterest (although Pinterest does have its perks). And yes, my URL is the Damien Rice song "Rootless Tree". There was a period of time during my high school days where this song meant the world to me. Still does, actually.

I am off on some adventures this weekend! Can't wait to to share them :)

Unplug this weekend,

spend time with your loved ones

and give yourself a break!

You deserve it.

See you guys Monday...or maybe Tuesday ;) After all, it is a three-day weekend!

PS

Did you enter the custom blog design giveaway hosted by A Girl Named Leney & I?

You should probably do so :)

Giveaway ends June 4! Check her blog for more details.

Hannah + Delilah

A few weeks ago, I got to photograph my beautiful friend Hannah, and her gorgeous pitbull Delilah. We wanted to get a few shots around City Market in Downtown Raleigh before she gave her pup to a new family :(. Photographing friends is such a great way to spend some quality time and do what you love with who you love! Enjoy our mini session. We will miss you Delilah, hope you love your new home.

And a few more ones from our LinkedIn appropriate photos:



Love you Hannah!

Friday Favorites | Week 001

(This is obviously a day late, but let's ignore the fact it's actually Saturday and pretend it's Friday)

(photo - instagram @mashleyvega)

Inspired by Tastes Like Love's "Start Your Week Off With..." blog series, I wanted to share with my readers inspiring posts or ideas I have collected from around the internet. People are truly the root of all my inspirations and I am constantly inspired by their honesty, creativity and talent. Here are a few favorites I'd like to share this week:

 #ABEAUTIFULMESS IPHONE APP
Um, seriously can Elsie + Emma get anymore talented? Surely you know their blog, A Beautiful Mess. Well now they have gone mobile and created a photo-editing app that will add that special handmade touch to your photos. I have only edited a couple photos so far but this app seriously makes me want to go back and edit all the instagrams I have ever instagrammed.

 

 INSTAGRAM'S ENVY EFFECT
Below is a preview of an amazing article written last month about the danger of social media's well-edited, filtered partial truths and the envy effect we all seem to suffer from it. It was a great reminder that life cannot be captured in status updates and that although social media is a great tool, be careful to not use it for comparison, but rather connection.

 TO WOMEN BY THE FLOWER CHILD DWELLING
A beautifully written article by Kelly Ann taking on the topic of feminism and women encouraging other women versus berating other women for taking a different route. Kelly references the incredible accomplishments women have made throughout history and the challenges they have faced and conquered. Kelly reminds us women to stick together, support one another and believe in ourselves.

photo by Kelly Ann

 WONDERFULLY MADE SERIES // POPPY THE BLOG

Kristyn started a blog series named "Wonderfully Made" to showcase and celebrate who we are as women. On her guest posts, she asks her bloggers to list what three things they love about themselves. I am in absolute love with this concept. We as humans are susceptible to focusing on our "flaws" versus our strengths along with viciously comparing ourselves to one another. This is a great series to take a step back from our short comings and focus on what makes us thrive. Beautiful series!

 THE LIGHT // THE ALBUM LEAF
Just listen and you will understand. This song will forever remind of the tv show Scandal (any fans out there?!).  It is beautifully composed and a well thought out piece of music. Enjoy!



Anything you'd like to share this weekend?
I think it is extremely important to share and support other individual's content and creativity! I come across so many beautiful pieces of work and I can't help but want to share it with everyone :)

See you readers on Monday!