A few weeks ago, we met up with an amazing creative team and shot the Southern Jewlz Fall 2012 fashion line. We absolutely love and look forward to any opportunity we get to collaborate with this group of talented individuals. This is the third major editorial shoot we've done for Southern Jewlz and we are so excited to share these images with you.

It's been really fun to watch the fashions of Southern Jewlz evolve, even in the short year that we've been photographing them. Lots of people know about Southern Jewlz, but what you might not know is that the owner, Randa Yezak, started this now-thriving business in her own college living room. Here we are, years later, and Southern Jewlz is a household name (at least in our area of Texas it is) and the once-living-room-bound business now has a boutique in College Station and an online storefront as well. Not to mention the 25,000+ Facebook fans.

While I originally met Randa mainly because she went to college with Luke, as time has gone on, I feel like we're in this together. We both started our businesses around the same time and there have been countless phone calls and e-mails bouncing ideas back and forth, and sharing both the happy times and the growing pains of entrepreneurship.

So, without further adieu, we are excited to share the Southern Jewlz Fall 2012 Lookbook. We couldn't be more proud to be the photographer for this exciting shoot! Thank you Randa, and we can't wait to work with you again for the Spring line!

We just reached our halfway point of our fall vacation, and it is going too quick!

As we drove north from Texas, we could see the signs of fall all around us. The temperatures were steadily getting cooler, the leaves were getting hues of oranges and yellows, and somehow, the air even smelled like fall.

I used to think that winter was my favorite season, and in fact, it really was when I was younger. The canceled school due to blizzards, slipping on the ice, putting out straw for the cattle to bed down on, these were all things that I loved! Well, I still love those things, however, it now seems that fall (or is it Fall?! I am horrible with punctuation) is getting a bigger spot in my heart.

When Cat and I are in Indiana, we stay at my parents house in their furnished basement. It really is like an apartment. We have a kitchen, laundry, bathroom, bedroom, living room, etc., you get the picture. Anyhoo, I was walking up the stairs to the "main" level of the house and when I opened the door, it hit me! All of the windows were opened, letting a fresh cool breeze sweep through the house. My mom had scented candle warmers, filled with fall-ish scents, that mixed with the crisp cool air to create a heavenly aroma. Cinnamon rolls were rising on top of the stove for breakfast. The dappled sunlight was filtering through the turning leaves creating a warm glow.

Does it get better than that? I wish that I could relive that moment over and over again. It was magical!

Then again, last night, I was taking the pups out to do their duties. The sun had set, and the night air was calm. As I walked by the pool, like I had done so many times before, I noticed the full moon reflecting in the crystal clear water. With fallen leaves floating on the water, I just stared at the reflection of the moon. I was tempted to just jump in, but I chickened out!

Another sure sign of fall in Indiana is when farmers start harvesting their fields. It's also a sign that school is starting, but luckily, I don't have to worry about that anymore!

I know that fall is starting to make its way south, and hopefully by the time we get back, it will have reached Texas, but until then we are going to soak up every bit that we can!

The fall TV shows are just getting started, and I'm excited to be watching a few new shows this season.

The reason I say we're watching "a few" this year is because in previous years, we have started watching some very interesting shows and get very invested in them, and then they get cancelled. Then we're left wondering what the big event was (The Event) or what caused the blackouts where people could see a glimpse of their future (FlashForward) or if there was really magic out here (The River) or which reality was the actual truth (Awake.)

Those are just a few of the ones we've gotten hooked on that left us hanging.

One of the new shows we're watching this fall is Revolution on NBC. The network had been really marketing this new show heavily, so when it premiered, I was excited to watch it. Luke's a pessimist about new TV shows and really doesn't like to get invested, partially because we've been burned so many times. But we both sat down and watched the pilot of this show and really enjoyed it. Now that Episode 2 has aired, it's safe to say that we're fans and like it.

As best I can figure out, the show is set 15 years after a major and permanent worldwide blackout of all technology - from cars, computers, phones, lights, electricity... everything. That, in itself, is fascinating to me. It's hard to think about how reliant we all are on technology. I think to myself, hey, if the lights go out for a few hours, that's not so bad... I can play on my phone (still technology.) Recently, one of our past brides posted that they were without power for a few hours so she was sitting in her car charging her iPhone so she could play on it. (Good idea, by the way.) But in the world these characters live in, none of that technology worked. It wasn't a matter of having your iPhone charged up when the blackout happened, because even if your battery was 100%, it was technology, so it was blacked out.

So, in the past episode, one of the characters (remember, this is 15 years from now) had an iPhone in her backpack. One of the other characters said to her, "What in the world are you doing with an iPhone?" and she explained that the only photos she had of her family were on that iPhone. I immediately thought... wow. I wasn't the only one, either. A few of my photographer buddies posted about the same thing on Facebook. The character said she was holding on to her iPhone incase someday the power came back on, so that she would have those photos again.

I'm guilty of it too. We are photographers, for pete's sake, and we don't print nearly enough photos. I mean... we are shooting film now, but instead of ordering prints of the film, we're requesting digital scans from the lab. When we have our own picture taken, if I sit back and really think about it, I honestly think that I'm satisfied with something as insignificant as being able to change my Facebook profile picture, as opposed to having a picture printed to frame. Even as I write it... I'm irritated with myself!

One of my favorite things to do growing up was to find a box of photos and look through them. My parents and my grandparents each have cabinets in their house stuffed with boxes that are overflowing with old photos. I loved to look through them. That was a great way to kill an afternoon... no technology required. At the rate we're going now, Luke and I won't even have enough actual prints to fill up 1 box. We have 2 or 3 actual nice albums from our wedding and a few portraits we've had taken, but our kids and grandkids could look through them all in about 10 minutes or less. That certainly wouldn't kill an entire afternoon. But I have my iPhone, right? Hmmm... doesn't seem nearly as fun.

So I'm going to start doing better myself. We're going to print stuff more often. I don't want all of my memories trapped in an antiquated piece of technology years from now (and yes, even Luke's iPhone 5 (I'm still stuck with the 4, booo!) will be antiquated one day: think about if all your pictures were on a floppy disc, nowadays.) I want my kids and grandkids to have our boxes of photos. So I'm going to do better.

By the way - it's a good show to watch. It's on Monday nights and it's only aired 2 episodes, both of which can be watched free on NBC.com. Enjoy :)