Andrea Murphy Photography

Since I was in high school I loved pictures. Loved everything about them...taking them, being in them, printing them, putting them in frames and all over the place. I fed that addiction with a high school photography class. Loved the class and did very well in the class. Back in those days, we used film (digital wasn't big yet), so we would take the pictures, then have to process the film, then take the film into the dark room and use the machines to figure out the exposure that you wanted and print pictures. The class came and went and I moved on. I didn't really think much of it.

Once I was in college, I dabbled with the idea of taking of photography, but opted against it because I was so desperate to get done with school as fast as I could, that I didn't want to take a class that didn't have to do with my major, so that I could finish on time.

After college, my love for pictures remained. I constantly had my camera attached to my hip and was constantly snapping pictures of everyone, everywhere we went. I never really thought much of it though. I was focused on my career and job and business and focused on moving forward in life.

When David and I got engaged and started talking about what vendors we wanted and what was important to us, we both agreed on one thing....PICTURES ARE CRUCIAL! He also shares a love of photography, and we both knew that our photographers had to be AMAZING!! As our wedding planning process went along, I started following many different photographers blogs and that's when the spark really ignited.

I became obsessed with pictures and taking pictures and was fascinated by the work of these photographers. I wanted so badly to be doing what they were doing. To be capturing an expression that so clearly says what they were feeling at that exact moment. I wanted to do it soo badly...but I knew there was no way that I could do it at that moment. I was swamped with planning the wedding and the house and well 2008 was a big year for us.

So our wedding came and went...but my passion for photography still remained. I told David how badly I wanted to do that, and that I thought taking pictures would make me so happy. And that I am willing to go back to school to learn as much as I can. And for those that know me and know what I went through in my college year, well then you know that me wanting to go back to school for something is HUGE! So my wonderful husband told me, "Ok well if you are serious about it and want to do it, well then let's do something about it".

Christmas day 2008 I opened my very first SLR. David bought me the Canon Rebel along with all the goodies that I could possibly need to start off this adventure. He couldnt' have given me a better present. I love it and immediately jumped behind that lens.

Since then I've just been practicing on anyone that will get in front of the camera for me. :-) Usually its kids...because they don't really have a choice. :-) I'm loving every single second of it. I start classes next month and I am so eager to learn everything I can. I now know what its like to have a hobby that you LOVE.

Since Christmas 2008....this was born:

Andrea Murphy Photography

So for now, I'll leave you. If you see me behind the camera feel free to jump in front for me. :-) I"ll leave you with some pictures I've taken....

That's all I've got for you guys! Stay tuned for my adventures in my hobby!.... Until then!...

Love,

Me

Life has interesting turns to it....

Last time I left you guys I told you that there were big things to come in the life of the Murphy's. At that time, we did have exciting things going on...but we never thought that things would end up getting more exciting. :-)

Since the last time I left you...Andrea and David Murphy are officially HOMEOWNERS!!! We have purchased our first little home and we couldn't be more excited!! This was a huge goal for us and it meant so much to us to be able to finally do it. We love the place and are loving every single second of it. There is something about writing that check on the 1st of the month, but knowing that it is going towards your OWN home! :-) We are still working on decorating and making it perfect but here a few pictures of it in the meantime...

So for now we are having a great time finding the perfect decorations for our little home. :-) At the time that I posted last, this was the most exciting thing we had going on. Little did I know that the beginning of 2009 would bring us more excitement. :-)

Stay tuned for another exciting announcement in the next post!

Love,

Me

Big Things Coming and Past Great Things :-)

A post dedicated to my VERY good friend Lisa Jeppson...soon to be Lisa Feirfeil....in a little less than 6 months!! :-)
Hi everyone! :-) Sorry for the lagging in updating....but we have BIG things going on and I will update you all as soon as we can!! :-)

As for now, things are going good, we have gotten through the filming of David's new movie "Not Another Not Another Movie" all in one piece. We had to get over a lot of bumps in the process, but I think he did great dealing with all of it and he was able to get some big names attached to the film, including Chevy Chase and Burt Reynolds and Ellen Dow ( the little old lady from the Wedding Singer and Wedding Crashers). :-) So keep us in your prayers that this movie does good.

We've made it through Halloween and we're getting ready for a very busy but fun filled holiday season.

For now that's what we've got going on....I'll be back soon to update you guys on all of the exciting and big things going on in our lives.

For now I leave you with some past due wedding news. :-)

DECEMBER 12, 2007

December 12, 2007....what would happen that night would change my life for the rest of our lives! :-) It was a cold Wednesday night in the middle of the holiday frenzy and I was about to experience the best night of my life...up to that point in my life. :-) This was the night that David proposed to me......awww! Most of you guys have heard the story of it, either from our wedding website: http://www.davidandandrea.us/, or at our actual wedding. :-) It was such an amazing night with so many emotions and it was absolutely perfect. :-)

For those of you that don't know the story here it is:

This is a crazy story! Let me just say, that I am not one to be shocked too easily! I like to find EVERYTHING out. And I'm always one step ahead of everyone! It's very hard to surprise me, because I usually ask so many questions that somehow it comes out. David is the only person that has ever been able to shock me with things! Since we've been together, he has sprung so many surprises on me that I never imagined. When Wednesday December 12, 2007 came around, it was just another normal day for me. My Christmas shopping was in full swing and I had luckily had the weekend before to myself to spend with my mom getting most of our Christmas shopping done. (David was in Cancun doing pick-up shots for the movie; which I now know was also when he talked to his dad about proposing) This year, I inherited the Murphy family, so I was shopping for both the Rosso family and the Murphy family, so I had to be extremely organized! That day I had told David that I wanted to get to the mall before it closed to finish up the Christmas shopping.

From early in the morning, David was acting more scatter-brained than usual! In the middle of the day, David called and told me that Jeff & Gina wanted to take the kids to go look at Christmas lights on CandyCane Lane with us. Of course I said Yes! Not only because I love spending time with them and the kids, but because I'm a kid at heart and absolutely LOVE looking at Christmas lights! They would be at the house at 6:30pm so we could get back early. When I got home, David was more hyper than usual, but I didn't think anything of it because I was so busy thinking about Xmas and everything else. The really wierd stuff started happening when I got home! David started changing and putting on a really nice shirt. Now this is not at all like David. David is the epitamy of wanting to be absolutely comfortable at ALL times if possible! So when he started doing this, I was a little confused since we were just going to be looking at lights from the car. (I now know that this was because he knew we would be taking a lot of pictures!) Then he started trying on jackets! Now for those of you who know David, he DOES NOT wear jackets unless we are in snow condition! But he started trying on a bunch of jackets! I now know that he was doing this to find the perfect pocket for the ring, but at that moment I thought he was the wierdest person in the world! But believe it or not, I still had ABSOLUTELY no clue!!!

Jeff and Gina were right on time at 6:30, we were ready to leave and David says that he can't find his wallet! We looked everywhere and then just decided to leave since they were waiting downstairs for us. Of course, I started lecturing him on how could he lose his wallet?! (I now know it's because he had proposing on his mind!) We got in the car with them and headed out to CandyCane lane. We started driving the streets, deeply entertained by little Ethan's hilarious and cute comments, and we see this house on one corner that was so beautifully lit up with a million lights. Jeff says that we should get out there. Usually, we don't really get out of the car and walk up to houses and look at lights, but just stay in the car and look. Well, when we parked and started getting out, I STILL had no clue what was going on. Jeff grabbed the Camcorder and Gina grabbed the camera and we got the kids and headed towards the house.

Now at this point all I thought to myself was,"I guess you videotape alot when you have kids!" Still had no clue! We took some pictures and then David pulled me aside. At this point, I was so cold, the only thought in my head was that I hoped that we were going to blast the heater in the car. But David had other intentions. He pulled my hand and got this serious look on his face. He said, "I wanted to get you a ring for Xmas but I won't be able to afford it then...because I got you one now." I didn't believe him and got mad for him joking about that. And then he pulled the ring out and I stopped breathing for 60 seconds. All I could say after that was "Are you serious? Oh my gosh!" I spent a good 10 minutes in complete shock, with Jeff catching it all on tape, Gina taking pictures while laughing and crying and Ethan kept hugging us.

We spent the rest of the night telling everyone about it and driving all over the valley to find all of the members of our family and consistently calling ourselves "fiance"! It was the beginning of the new Murphy family! :-)

Shortly after that night we started planning the wedding of our dreams. :-) Calls were made and appointments were attended. We booked some of our vendors, but we also booked one of our favorite vendors shortly after that night. We booked our photographers: eight20photography. They are amazing. They are a newlywed couple with such a fun and unique take on photography and had exactly what we were looking for.

In January 2008, eight20photography shot our engagement pictures. We fell more in love with them then we were before and couldn't wait for them to shoot our wedding. Here are some of the great shots they got of us that day:

This one down here was the one featured on our custom made stamps on our Save The Dates. :-) Which were a big hit! :-)

And this one down here was the one featured on our actual Save The Date. :-)

That's all I got for you guys now! :-) Keep checking back for new updates in our crazy but chaotically beautiful life!

Love,

Me

~ Back to Reality ~ Thank God for blogging!! ~

Well folks....welcome Andrea to reality! :-) As we can all see....I suck at keeping up with blogging while planning a wedding! :-) But since I only get to do that once in my life, I am happy to announce that I am back to the blogging world! :-)
As you can tell....David and I are MARRIED!!!! We are so excited and loving life and loving being married! :-)
We just got back from our honeymoon less than a week ago and are still trying to adjust to life without wedding chaos going on.
I promise I'll be blogging lots of fun stuff about planning the wedding, pre-wedding stuff and of course the happiest day of our lives! :-)
So keep checking back for updates! :-)
Till then I'll leave you with a little picture from our happy day.

Love,
-Me :-)

"Wedding Planning Leave"

I have come to a serious conclusion that all brides-to-be should have a legal "wedding planning leave" of at least 5 months. :-) I'm just saying!!! Planning a wedding is hard!! :-) Now imagine if the state would just let us have the 5 month wedding planning leave, and life would just be so much better. For the brides-to-be and the fiance's!!! :-)

We're in full wedding planning. :-) As most of you can see, our save the dates have been stuffed, stamped and mailed out and most of you have received them. Hopefully everyone like them. :-)

But between vendor appointments, and checklists, emails back and forth with people; I can definitely see the legitimacy in "wedding planning leave". When I tell people this GOOD idea that I have, they just look at me and laugh. But I swear that work gets in the way! LOL! It just makes sense to make the planning our work. :-)

Yesterday marked our official "6 months to the Big Day". Ahhhh!!!! We are so excited and so not ready!! Slowly but surely we are getting there though. :-) I'm hoping to not drive David crazy with all my details. :-)

Luckily David is full force trying to finish No Bad Days so while he edits the movie at home I have endless hours to make sure every detail is perfect. In between us "working" (see it's work, I'm telling you!!), we come back and take little breaks to make sure that we stay sane.

Well hope you guys enjoyed my GREAT idea and I think we should get a petition out there and take it all the way to the top. :-)

Just another little tid-bit in the lives of us! :-)

-Me

Bad Girl! Go sit in the corner for a serious time-out young lady!

I seriously deserve a very very very long time-out in the corner! I know!! I have been the epitamy of horrible at blogging! Life has been crazy! The wedding craze has officially started and is full-fledged right about now. So that only means that I have more to talk about and update you guys on. :-) (Hey its one good piece news!) :-)

Since the last time...let's see...A LOT! I officially got "THE DRESS"!!! It was very exciting. My mom and I ventured out on a rainy Sunday morning, while everyone was at home relaxing, and we strolled into a bridal shop and I heard the angels singing. So many beautiful beautiful dresses. And sure enough after 2 1/2 hours in there diving into many different dresses, I walked out of there with a dress order in my hand! :-) And that is all you guys will know about that. :-) No more info about the dress...well except for the fact that it's blue :-) ....well at least I'm trying to get David to think that it is. :-)

We've been busy running from vendor meeting to vendor meeting. We've been quite successful and have been right on schedule with planning and booking everyone. :-) I'm the epitamy of being, what I like to call "precise", and everyone else in my life likes to call, "anal, annoying, picky, etc". :-) You get the point. :-) My wedding "notebook", has now turned into a bag with files in it, and I have now changed it's name to: My wedding "life" :-) It doesn't leave my side, and although at first sight, you may think that it's very unorganized in there, if you ask me where something is, I'm sure to find it within 5 seconds.

I am happy to say that we are now in probably the funnest parts of wedding planning....cake tasting!!! It's awesome! What other time in your life are you going to be able to go into these places and get served giant pieces of cakes...for free...and if you don't like it, oh well you just go on to the next place. :-) It's by far the coolest and funnest part of this whole thing, and I intend to milk it as long as I can possibly get away with it. :-)

Since the last post, Christie, AKA: super Maid of Honor, landed and departed from Los Angeles. Like always, it was the best 24 hours of my life! :-) She landed in the morning at about 10:30am and we started our adventure right away. If you would have seen us, we looked just like chickens with their heads cut off. It was great, and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. :-)

Since it's been so long, I'll have to continue this post later. But we are still alive! :-) And we will be posting regularly from now on. :-)

**The search for "The Dress"**

First of all, so sorry that I have been lacking on the posting. This past week has been a week of craziness!!! But it's Friday and all I can say is Thank God It's Friday!!! I am very ready for this weekend to begin! You would think that it would consist of tons of relaxing....wrong!

I am officially on the hunt for "The Dress". That's right, my wedding dress. Let me just explain something to everyone. I thought that I was going to try dresses on and then there was going to be a moment when the heavens part and I can hear the angels singing and God telling me, "Andrea, this is THE DRESS!!". However, it hasn't happened. :-( And I've been told by other brides, that they didn't have that moment either. So I'm still on the hunt. I've dragged my poor mom to 5+ stores to joyfully sit there while I dive into these dresses and come out of the dressing room and prance around in front of her in the hopes of hearing the heavens part. And unfortunately, nothing yet.

Now, it's not that I haven't found a dress that I like. Totally the opposite! I fall in love with every single dress that I try on! I mean, how can you NOT feel pretty in a wedding dress?!?!? I love them all. So now I've come to complete and utter confusion. I don't know which one I want. So once again, this weekend, I will drag my mom to 4+ different bridal shops in search for "The Dress"! :-) What are moms for huh??? She loves it though. I just hope and pray and that I will be able to share in my own daughters hunt for her dress. And like my wonderful mother has done, tell her to try on dresses that she absolutely "knows" that she is not going to like, and smile as she tries it on and falls in love with that one over every other one that she has tried on. :-) Yup that's right guys, the two dresses that I have narrowed it down to (so far!), have both been suggestions of my mom. And I couldn't love her more for it!

So we're off to another fun filled wedding weekend. It's so nice to be David and just have to pick a tuxedo to wear. Oh but I'm enjoying every single second of trying on a million dresses. :-) I mean I'll never be able to do it again in my life! So I'm living up every moment of it!

So this weekend when you guys are relaxing and enjoying staying in while it's pouring rain outside. Just imagine Andrea & Betty Rosso running around town looking for "The Dress".

Just another tid bit in our lives....

-Me :-)