Take a Pic with KGC Photography

Oh man, I have been patiently awaiting this post. A few weeks ago my friend Katie and I played around in my kitchen. I cooked and she photographed. Katie has the most incredible eye behind the lens and as soon as I saw the pictures she captured I wanted to post them all over the world wide web for everyone to see. Well the day has come to share. 

Katie and I became friends through our other friend Katie. Hi KG!! Now KR (still can't get used to that). We first bonded over finding out we both work in social media, then our friendship grew over our mutual love of matcha. Two bases of a deep friendship my friends:)

Katie started her own social media and website development company straight out of college. So impressive. But what I'm sharing today is even more impressive. After realizing photography was her real passion, Katie decided to dive head first into growing her photography business, a job not for the weak or weary! 

Katie has impressed me so much on how fearless she is in the entrepreneur world. Something I wish I had, but remain timid. She invested time and money into making her photog biz happen, and it totally paid off. KGC Photography has officially gone LIVE! KGC specializes in wedding and lifestyle shoots. I'm not getting married, #single, but when I got a snipit of her skills I immediatly texted her saying we had to do a shoot ASAP!

I'm obsessed with how the pictures turned out from our mini shoot. Katie knows exactly how to capture people in their element. Exhibit A, below. Me with my nose in a cookbook hanging out in my kitchen aka my favorite room in our house.

KGC Photography's website is up and moving and grooving. After only a few short months of shoots, she already has the most stellar portfolio. Check our her gorgeous work here. You can also stalk her via insta and FB. To stalk/get to know her more, we did a little Q&A so all you take a bite readers can see why you should "take a pic" with my girl Katie!

A: Give me some basics on KGC photography, what you offer, your style, your background, how you got your start in photography etc. 
KGC: Currently I offer lifestyle shoots + wedding photography! I don’t say no to much right now because I believe the more experience, the better. So I’ll take pictures of just about anything right now! I am loving getting to learn so much so often. It is humbling and exciting all at the same time. My style is definitely classic with a modern twist. I love the film look to digital photos, and natural light is my jam. I guess the correct way to describe my style would be moody, trendy, boho, and classic, all combined into my personal art :)

A: What made you decide to take the plunge to start KGC Photography?
KGC: Honestly, it was something that I wanted to do for a long time, but was really scared to start. I think the biggest thing that scared me is what others would think about it, which I don’t even know why I would care that much! After doing social media and taking many pictures for my clients, I knew that photography is the part of my business that I truly loved the most. There is something so special about someone trusting you to capture some of their greatest moments, and I think its a feeling that I will never get used to and always appreciate.

A: What is one piece of advice you would give someone wanting to start their own business? 
KGC: My biggest piece of advice is something that I needed to take myself: don’t worry about what other people think, and give it 100 percent. Starting your own business, no matter how big or how small, is an exciting yet nerve wracking thing to do! It has to be something that you are truly passionate about, because you will find yourself wanting to spend a lot of time on it. For me, I love it so it is never truly work. It is a very cliche saying, but very true!

A: What are your favorite and least favorite parts of photography?
KGC: There are so many things that I love about photography! I am a huge people person, so like I said earlier, I truly consider it an honor and a joy that people trust me to capture moments of their lives that they want to remember and be able to look back on. I still get butterflies when someone inquires about a shoot, and I don’t think that will ever go away! I also really love the editing process. I know some people don’t, but I see it as an opportunity to create hundreds of separate pieces of art that each have my special touch on them. I love being able to take something that started out ordinary, and make it into something extraordinary. I will never get tired of the moment that my clients open up their gallery and I get a special email or text from them, it is the most rewarding feeling in the world! To be honest, I haven’t found a least favorite part yet. Although I did wear a super uncomfortable pair of shoes the other weekend when I was second shooting a wedding for 8 hours.. I lost feeling in my last three toes for like three days. I definitely did that to myself. Learned my lesson on that one.

A: What is your 5 year goal for KGC Photography?
KGC: My five year goal for KGC Photography would be that I am booking out 30+ weddings a year, and getting to travel to at least 5 different places for 5 different weddings! I would also love to have a home office that I can edit in, but for right now coffee shops will do!

A: Coffee or tea? or matcha?! 
KGC: Gosh that is a hard question. Ask me 6 months ago and I would have been a coffee HATER. However nowadays, anything with caffeine is my jam. I’d say a dirty chai would be my drink of choice. Tea + espresso? Yes please. Now if we can just find a way to get some matcha in there somewhere.

A: Current Netflix binge?
KGC: Honestly, you’re going to think I’m crazy but I don’t even have a Netflix account! I’m a HUGE bachelor/bachelorette fan, so I am knee deep into Nick’s season. I haven’t missed a season in 4 years!

A: Favorite bite?
KGC: Right now, I’m loving brunch. I’m going to say Chicken and Waffles from Whiskey Cake!

You can follow KGC photography on Instagram under @cunninghamkatie, on Facebook @kgcphotographyokc and check out her gorgeous, newly launched site www.kgcphotography.com.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post featuring this amazeballs salad that Katie and I noshed on for lunch during our photoshoot. Look familiar? It's a copy cat of my fave salad from Republic.

Annie

What I'm Listening To...

Have you seen La La Land yet? It was just released in theaters nationwide on Christmas, but I urge you to get out and see it asap. It's already won arwards, predicted to win more and got 94% on rotten tomatoes, so that can help sway you too.

It's different from a typical movie, but it works. The story follows to California dreamers Mia and Sebastian as they strive to live out their goals, falling in love in the mean time. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling (heart eyes) are amazing. There is a lot of singing and dancing, but if you aren't into that don't let it scare you. If you are into that, run to the nearest theater. Since seeing it I can't get the songs and tunes out of my head. Especially John Legend's Start A Fire. On. Re. Peat.

Annie

Gift Guide Round Up

image via Camille Styles

One of my favorite parts of the blog world is when gift guides hit the interweb. I can kill some serious time scouring through gift guide posts, opening new tabs left and right, perusing the products bloggers are promoting. 

I used to think gift guides were more of just an excuse for a post and didn't really produce good curated content. These days there are some seriously good guides out there. Listed below are some of my favorite guides this season.

*BONUS* The perfect playlist to listen to during your holiday online shopping!

The Everygirl's Budget Friendly Gift Guide  (something for everyone on your list)

Cup of Jo's Gift Guides that includes ideas for people such as "Your Little Brother Who Throws Your Kids Way Up in the Air and Makes a Mean Grilled Cheese" (she is continually adding new guides).

LC's Gift Guide for the Fitness Buff.

Gaby's Ultimate Kitchie Gift Guide, salt cellar and spiralizer please! 

The Gilmore Girls Beauty Gift Guide, duh.

Amazon's Gift Guide for the party planners.

The Gift Subscription Gift Guide (Kathleen gifted me Try the World last year, and I loved it)!

100 Gifts under $25 Guide. Perfect for Dirty Santa parties, friends, neighbors etc!

Happy gifting!

Annie

Guest Post: Season for the Senses

Peyton and Madison are back for guest post round two! See yesterday's "book club" post here. Today brings some sense appeal featuring my favorite season-fall!  -Annie

We spent most of our childhood in Asheville, North Carolina, home to some of the most beautiful fall foliage due to its location among the Appalachian Mountains. Some of our fondest memories are of around this time of year.

Touch – We went for more of a "wear" theme here! Autumnal temperatures, thus dressing, is our favorite. A lovely coat and scarf combination is always welcome this time of year. If the weather isn't quite cool enough for a scarf, we are both big fans of hats. A wool fedora style being the favorite for this time of year, such.

See – No trip to Asheville is complete without a trip to the Biltmore Estate. We go almost every time we're in town. If not to see the house itself, to run the miles and miles of trails or visit the winery.

Taste – While the area is known for its microbreweries, the city was just featured in the Wall Street Journal as the next wine destination. Full article here. There is a wonderful wine bar located on the ground floor of the Battery Park Hotel downtown. Also on our list is Rhubarb, owned and operated by Chef Fleer formerly of Blackberry Farm in Tennessee.

Hear – We've been listening to the new Johnnyswim album on repeat for the last week or so. 

Smell – The most prominent smell of the season is probably pumpkin, but for us the fall smells outside top the pumpkin baking inside. The light this time of year shines a little differently and the leaves changing makes for a smell that can't really be described.

A season for the senses indeed.

Peyton + Madison

Guest Post: Book Club

Formerly known from their blog Identical Ideals, but soon relaunching as The Honeypot December 1st, I'm so excited to have Peyton and Madison guest blogging today! They are red head identical twins, currently studying at College of Charleston, the masterminds behind my blog design and two girls I get to call friends from the unique bond the blogsphere brings! You can follow Peyton here and Madison here. Today they are talking books, and tomorrow they will be back talking seasonal senses-stay tuned! 

Both of us spend a lot of time with our noses in a book. We've each included two book recommendations along with a short synopsis.

Peyton's selections...

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller (Peyton gifted me a copy of this book and I can't wait to dive in-Annie)

The byline of the book is "Non Religious Thoughts On Christian Spirituality." Donald Miller goes over various topics related to Christian spirituality that one may question and offers further explanation. It's one of the best books I've read this year. I highlighted many sections of the book as I was reading and this particular one stood out: "... I want my spirituality to rid me of hate, not give me reason for it."

Jackie As Editor by Greg Lawrence

Endless books, newspaper columns, and magazine articles have been written about Jacqueline Onassis's time as Mrs. Kennedy and more importantly as First Lady. It is often overlooked that after the death of Aristotle Onassis, she moved back to New York City and began a very successful career as a book editor. Jackie As Editor is written by Greg Lawrence, an author who wrote three books edited by Mrs. Onassis, and offers some charming anecdotes from other authors she worked with, as well as friends and acquaintances. I have read many books on Jacqueline Onassis and this is one of my favorites – it shows a more down-to-earth side of the former First Lady.

Madison's selections...

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

This book is devastating and moving – and certainly a book which I think anyone could find meaning in. In his memoir Dr. Kalanithi is tremendously humble and seeks to define what makes a life worth living. A must read not only for the content, but also for the eloquent manner in which he details the beautiful and difficult moments of his brilliant life.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

Also by Donald Miller – I'm currently reading a third book by him, so they're okay I guess (kidding) – this book is based on the process of writing the script for the film Blue Like Jazz. I would recommend reading Blue Like Jazz to better understand some of the references he makes to the book. Blue Like Jazz is full of observations of the world, whereas in A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Donald Miller seeks to discover how we can all live good stories. At this point in my life, where I am on the verge of graduating from college and looking for a career path that I am passionate about and thinking about how to live out my purpose in life; I frequently reference the messages in this book when talking to Peyton about what I hope for. And with that, just a few of my favorite lines from the book:

"The most often repeated commandment in the Bible is 'Do not fear.' It's in there over two hundred times. That means a couple of things, if you think about it. It means we are going to be afraid, and it means we shouldn't let fear boss us around. Before I realized we were supposed to fight fear, I thought of fear as a subtle suggestion in our subconscious designed to keep us safe, or more important, keep us from getting humiliated. And I guess it serves that purpose. But fear isn't only a guide to keep us safe; it's also a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life."

"A good storyteller doesn't just tell a better story, though. He invites other people into the story with him, giving them a better story too."

Peyton + Madison