Happy Halloween!

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. My husband Toby carved this very special pumpkin for me to do portraits of our pug, Oliver. He spent many hours carving a pug pumpkin. Better Homes & Gardens put out stencils for pumpkin carving of the American Kennel Club's Top 10 dog breeds. I think the pictures turned out great and I'm so glad he did this wonderful thing for me and my business.

Oliver was very curious about this weird, smelly object.

I think a lot of pet costumes are silly but this
little hat suits him, if you knew him and his
personality you would agree. My mom got us
this cookie jar and I wanted to show her how
much we love it. Plus it went with the hat.

I hope everyone has fun during this really
fun holiday. Especially if you get to see
your children or dogs dress up.

Bedford County (Part 2 of 2): Fall Foliage Festival

So, after Toby and I toured the county looking at historic covered bridges, we went to the town of Bedford's Fall Foliage Festival. They had over 400 artists and craftsman, at least 25 different food vendors (crab cake sandwiches, gyros, funnel cakes, and homemade lemonade just to name a few), and live entertainment. It was huge and thousands of people came from all over the northeast to be a part of it.

We parked at Old Bedford Village and took a shuttle

bus to where the festival was being held downtown.

Old Bedford Village is a collection of historic homes,

shops, craftsmen and re-enactors designed to be

from the French & Indian War and Civil War eras.

On the courthouse steps, young women from

the community were being named to see who

would be Miss Fall Foliage Festival (much

like a high school's homecoming court).

Historical sign in front of the courthouse

with a description of the county's history.

Just one of the many food vendors

Greek food vendor's wonderful food items

for making gyros and Greek salads.

Toby eating Twinkies that are battered

and deep fried like funnel cakes.

People kayaking on the Juniata River

A man making kettle corn

There were horse rides for children at Fort

Bedford (located along the Juniata River).

A quartet that walked around singing country music.

Live entertainment on the square at the gazebo.

These guys were the Four Townsmen and they

performed classic rock n' roll songs.

A little girl dancing to the music.

Everywhere you looked, you could see beautiful

architectural features in Bedford's downtown buildings.

Bedford County (Part 1 of 2): Covered Bridges

This year my husband, Toby, and I decide to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary (it’s officially on Oct. 28th but we did this trip on Oct. 10th) by driving out to Bedford County in western Pennsylvania. It is only an hour and a half drive away from where we live so we made it a day trip. We broke the day into two parts, first I wanted to go on their famous driving tour of their historic 100-year-old covered bridges. Then we went to the city of Bedford’s downtown area for the Fall Foliage Festival. Since I took so many pictures from our trip, I’m breaking it down into 2 posts. So, first are the photographs from touring the covered bridges.

Claycomb Covered Bridge

Dr. Kniseley Covered Bridge from the 1880's
Toby and I took turns taking each other's photographs at Kniseley.

Colvin Covered Bridge from 1866

Most of the bridges have signs located nearby like this one.

Looking out over the countryside on a beautiful, fall day.

Turner's Covered Bridge

I loved the fluorescent color of these fall leaves.

Once again, Toby and I took turns taking

pictures of each other at Turner's Bridge.

We stopped and I took photographs of this farm.

They had a horse and ox out in the field past the

barns and it was such a beautiful sight.

Herline Covered Bridge from 1906. It is the longest

covered bridge in the county (there are 14 covered

bridges in their county).

Christi's Senior Portraits (Part 2 of 2)

As promised, here's another post from Christi's senior portrait session. It's always great having someone who is up for anything. We were crawling around on the grass, in bushes and plants, and even up close to a fire. She got so close to the fire that she was getting really hot and I just keep saying, "Almost finished. Just a couple more," until she couldn't take the heat anymore. She was a trouper and we got some great shots together. I really hope you enjoy them as much as I had fun taking them. All the best, Lizzie

Christi's Senior Portraits (Part 1 of 2)

Christi is the daughter of our family's friends. Her parents were at our wedding. She is a part of a great family and I was excited to get to take her senior portraits. She just started her senior year and she keeps busy with a lot of activities including being on the softball team. All the girls (her mom, sister, and new niece) and I went to her grandparents' house where they had great backdrops for all the photos. It was a wonderful fall afternoon and I think the photos turned out great. This is the first of two posts, so more to come soon.