August was such a great month! We had several out of town guests that stayed with us, including my parents who came to celebrate my 26th birthday! It was such a blessing to spend time with my family and great friends.

For the past couple of years Matt has tried to throw a surprise party for me but somehow I always find out about it. This year he was determined to give me a surprise.  My birthday was on a Monday and he left for work at his usual time, but about an hour later he came through the door with breakfast and flowers and tells me that he’s working from home! I was really surprised! After I spent a few hours with my sister in law, I came home to balloons and decorations all throughout our kitchen. I think this year he finally caught me off guard.

Matt also surprised me with two awesome gifts that I have been talking about. I really wanted a vintage twin reflex camera and he found this cool 1930s Pho Tak Reflex I on Etsy. It’s a very simple camera but I can’t wait to use it. It only takes 620 film, and if you aren’t familiar with what that means, it’s a medium format film that they discontinued in the 1995. However, you can buy 120 film that is re-spooled onto a 620 spool, which is what I did. The difference between the two is the width of the spool itself.

If you haven’t heard of the Shoot Sac I highly recommend you check them out! I’ve been wanting one for a while now, because carrying my huge bag around can be too much. It’s so much easier to have all my lenses and flashes right on my body. The outside flap is removable and they offer a lot of different designs so you can interchange them. Another great option is to check out the bags from Kelly Moore. There are so many great styles and they area so versatile!

My last new little toy that I picked up from Amazon is the Westcott Micro Apollo softbox. This little guys great for the reception to get those detail shots. It’s definitely too small to use for portraits but it just gives a little softness to that harsh flash.