Alyse French Photography | Houston-Based Wedding and Lifestyle Photographer

Christmas shopping is HARD, yo. I know that if I get my dad anything wine, cheese, or Ronald Reagan related, I’ll be golden. And mom? She could get towels every single year and be happy as a clam. But gosh, I just want to be different this year! I haven’t even begun to shop for Dylan, and I have a hankering that he’s already all done shopping for me. “Ah, but you have a MONTH!” you say? I actually don’t. Half-Christmas is on December 11th this year, so I better get moooving! (P.S. though… We just got a tiny baby Christmas tree made out of rosemary. Best smelling tree ever. But I’m sure it will be dead within the week..)

We experienced our first house fire this weekend. You see, the inner-boyscout in Dylan likes to light candles and then throw in the matches right after. So on Friday night, when I looked over at the table from the couch and saw flames shooting a good six inches from the wick, I went to go check it out. The flames were still contained within the glass candle holder, but the match-tepee-fire was simply too strong and un-blow-out-able. I asked Dylan to come help me blow it out, and even four lungs were not enough. So Dylan got some water in a mug, and proceeded to pour it into the candle. But that’s when our dining room table turned into a gourmet chef’s stovetop. Flames SHOT up toward the ceiling and danced across the table. I ran for the fire extinguisher, handed it to Dylan, and then screamed “NOOO, SULLY!!!” I grabbed all 65 pounds of him and locked him in the bathroom while Dylan shot foam ALL over the place. It took close to two hours to clean the mess. But despite that minor annoyance, I happen to think it’s a pretty awesome story. ;)

Once upon a time, I blogged about this amazing experience I had to photograph a veteran’s wish coming true. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, you can catch up HERE. Later that same day I got word that one of my images from that amazing experience was picked up by the Associated Press, and made Yahoo’s Photo of the Day. And I had never felt so warm and fuzzy… To be completely honest, the busy-ness of the month of November had been burning me out. But God so lovingly placed an opportunity in my lap to remind me of why I do what I do. And I’m so crazy thankful for that…

Speaking of! Every day of the past week has set a new record for the number of hits we’ve received to our blog. At first, we thought it was from the media buzz surrounding Blaine’s wish. But then we noticed a particular pin on Pinterest that had apparently gone viral and FAST. The pin is a photo I took of my sister-in-law Jenn, holding a picture of the moment my brother-in-law Josh proposed to her. He’d hired a photographer to take the image way back, but had waited to gift it to Jenn until their wedding day. Clearly, everyone on Pinterest thinks it’s a fabulous idea, and now it’s making the rounds via Tumblr. We’re stoked that our blog has been on the receiving end, with 1318 hits yesterday and counting! What power Pinterest has for our businesses if we just know how to harness it!

I’m terribly long-winded today, so I’ll leave you with this… A sneak peak of what’s hitting the blog this week, except for this post, it’s been processed with VSCO film presets for Adobe Camera Raw. If you’re a photog who enjoys the look of film but doesn’t shoot it, you MUST give these a try. I am in LOVE. First? Tina and Jin’s adorable e-session at Discovery Green, and then Eden and Michael’s awesomely unique wedding at The Tasting Room at River Oaks!

Happy Tuesday!