Last Sunday the Bean family and I went to the U. S. Botanic Garden in DC for their Christmas photos. I’ve been friends with the Beans for many years and have always been blessed by their friendship. This session was special because I had the chance to play with Alex and spend a little more time with Andrew the latest addition to their family.

What an absolutely loving family. I had such a great  and relaxing time with them. While editing their photos seeing the smiles of Alex (their 3 1/2 yr old) would just make me smile – he is the cutest thing and very photogenic which always helps

Here are some of my favorites from their session. Enjoy!

Week 2 of the South Beach diet hasn’t been easy but here are two of the dishes i’ve enjoyed.

Left: Rainbow trout stuffed with crab meat (from Wegmans) + spinach arugula salad with sauteed onions, mushrooms and sweet tomatoes.
Right: Turkey Lettuce Wrap Tacos with Chiles, Cumin, Cilantro, Lime and Tomato-Avocado Salsa (recipe) This was exceptionally delicious!

Here are some of my favorites from Anne & Michael’s wedding, October 17, 2009. The wedding was in Winchester, Virignia.
Anne and Mike, thank you so much for giving me the honor of sharing at your wedding in such a special way.

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Hunter!

(photos taken by my iphone)

So i decided to try out the south beach diet. Most diets scare me because i think i won’t get to enjoy food anymore. This is especially difficult for a foodie like me but thanks to the internet i am now able to search for recipes, not just boring plain old recipes but delicious for foodie type recipes.

I wanted to share my first three dishes that i made to fit the south beach diet (phase one) requirements.
From L-R:
1. Sauteed Chinese long green beans with pancetta and shallots. I wanted a little more protein so i added some Cajun spiced shrimp cooked in olive oil. (recipe)
2. Spinach and arugula salad with avocado, tomatoes and cilantro feta chicken sausage topped with Annie’s Shiitake & Sesame Dressing.
3. Ham and cheese crustless quiche (recipe)

If you’ve ever been on this diet or any other diets and you have fresh ideas on how to make this journey easier please comment and leave some ideas for me and other readers.

Daniel and Jihee are friends of mine who have been married for a couple of years. They never had the chance to get engagement photos before they were married and wanted some fun non-wedding type photos to put on the wall so we scheduled a him & her session.

A him & her session is for couples – you don’t have to be engaged to get fun pictures together. These pictures are fun and casual definitely frame worthy!

I had a fabulous time with this session. I could tell that there’s just so much love and chemistry between them, you can see that from the pictures. The session was taken in Washington DC on the waterfront as well as somewhere near E Street. Thanks for a great time guys!