Last weekend a friend of mine invited me to her niece’s 3rd birthday party to take a few photos, and seriously — I loved it. Whenever I’m around little kids, I always start to regret not finishing my Early Childhood degree, because they are just so much fun to be around. There is something about kids that is so honest and innocent, I love their outlook on life and find them very refreshing to be around.

Anyway, the birthday girl was about to turn 3, and as I was saying to my mum when I was telling her about it, I have a very strong mandate that children should remain that age forever! They’re out of the terrible twos, you can have a real conversation with them and actually reason with them somewhat, and they’re surprisingly articulate and ready to chat about anything! (One of my favourites on my RSS feed is the hilarious Kazooisms, for exactly this reason.) So cute.

This is just a preview, because her parents haven’t seen the photos yet and I’m not comfortable putting them online unless they are 100% OK with it. Dee and Ben, if you read this: thankyou so much for letting me into your home and photographing your gorgeous little ones! If you ever need any photos done, I would be more than happy to come and hang out at the playground with you guys any time, haha.

It was Edie’s first birthday today!! Happy Birthday kiddo… May this be a very exciting year full of walking and talking for you!

Dora the Explorer theme and all. Awwww yeah. I mean, a one-year-old doesn’t say much, but you could tell she was totally into it!

She wasn’t sure what to make of the cake at first…

But once she figured it out, it was all on!! Happy first birthday little missy, and congrats to Tam and Lachie on your gorgeous girl.

This was a real first for me.

I’ve been to weddings as a guest, and I’ve shot weddings as a 2nd photographer. But Lachie and Tamra’s wedding was the first wedding where I’ve been the primary photographer – no backups, no 2nd photographer…if there are no beautiful photos, I have only myself to blame. Needless to say, I did not sleep well the night before their wedding!

Of course, I wouldn’t be writing this if it didn’t go off perfectly ;) Before long the nerves wore off and the butterflies in my stomach settled down to give me a little buzz of excitement instead of panicky lurches. It didn’t hurt that the bridal party was amazing, either! For a change, I got to spend time watching both the bridesmaids AND the groomsmen getting ready this time.

Looks a bit small for a bride, doesn’t it? Tamra wasn’t the only one in white for her wedding — this adorable little thing belongs to their equally adorable 1-year-old daughter, Eden!

While the girls were having their hair and makeup done for them, the boys were indulging in some traditional male pre-wedding bonding: struggling to tie their ties neatly, and fiddling with cufflinks.

They scrub up pretty well!

Looooooove this picture. It reminds me of Sex and the City, haha.

When I pointed the bridal party toward this scruffy, graffitti’d barn, I have a sneaking suspicion they thought I was a bit nuts…but the photos turned out GORGEOUS. I love the contrast of the barn against these beautifully made-up group. That’s right folks, trust your wedding photographer!

Hard to make this group look bad no matter where you put them, to be honest. But still…I’ll take credit for it! ;-)

Tam and Lachie…I had so much fun shooting this wedding. Thanks for letting me have the privilege, and I hope you love the photos as much as I do. (That’s right, even after spending hours staring at them and editing them, I still love them…that’s how you know it must be true love!)

It seems like just yesterday that I turned 21 and my parents mortified me by requesting “Jessie’s Girl” at my family birthday dinner. (Then dancing to it.)

Somehow I’ve managed to reach the next “milestone” in my life: 25. I always had this vague idea that 25 = adult, which would explain my faint sense of guilt at being absolutely no closer to figuring out what I’m supposed to be doing with my life. I guess I just expected things to fall into place as I got older, but that hasn’t really happened yet.

I remember, when I turned 21, I wrote out this list of goals to achieve before I turned 25. Thankfully I no longer have that list, but I can recall a few things on there. “Be fluent in two languages and proficient in a third, visit X number of countries, live overseas, perform unassisted open-heart surgery”…you know, all those things that are so easily done in 4 years! Hah.

To be honest, the idea of racking up another year is pretty scary to me, so I’m trying to reassure myself by reminding myself that actually, I’m not doing too badly. I did a lot of travel, I went from zero Japanese to getting a diploma of language, graduated from uni, I lived alone for over a year, I have a good job. I got to know my aunt and uncle better and gained an ‘extended family’ as a result. And of course, I’m very lucky to have a wonderful relationship that has lasted over 6 years and counting.

This year I want to live overseas, go back to Japan again (preferably NOT in winter for a change!), learn another language, study hard and pass the JLPT, and keep improving my photography. Not easy but not impossible goals either. Here’s to my 25th year…