Ryan Barr ~ Excel Coatings February 27, 2008

Ryan Barr is the owner and the man behind all of the success at Excel Coatings - {A Premier Northwest Painting Company}

He has two fabulous crews out on the Seattle scene painting both interior & exterior residential homes - with the occasional commercial job thrown in there; you can see their work at Gap, J Crew & Fred Meyer just to name a few.

Ryan not only has an impressive portfolio - but he is also there with each and every client to make sure they understand what products are being used in/on their homes and how to properly care for them so they will get the maximum lifespan out of their paint job. He often refers his clients to a designer who will assure they will love the results.

I’ve known him for a couple of years now, he is by far the hardest working person I’ve ever met! So I was of course excited when he asked me to photograph him for his online networking profile photo. Here are two of the MANY fabulous shots we got of him last week. =)

You can find Ryan a few different places - here are some links: Website, Biznik, Linkedin,

Ede Bookstein ~ February 25, 2008

Whether you are staging your home for life or to put on the market Ede Bookstein with Artful Lodgings is your gal!! She is the greatest home stager to work with - her reputation is second to none.

With this crazy market we have right now it is hard to sell your home - the single best thing you can do is hire Ede Bookstein. She will re-introduce you to your home through the eyes of a potential buyer - from the moment they step out of the car (the curb appeal) to the ‘feeling’ they will get while walking from room to room. She will give you a check list of things to fix/change/think about and she can also bring in her crew to fully stage your home with your own belongings or bring in a few pieces from her warehouse of furniture.

Here are a couple of photos of Ede that we snapped last week at her home in Capitol Hill - and if you or someone you know is thinking of selling their home, give her a call first!

Ede Bookstein - Artful Lodgings

p: 206.200.9990

e: edeb@creativelement.com

w: http://www.artfullodgings.com

(under construction)

Anne & Justin ~ MARRIED!! February 21, 2008

On January 26th - Anne & Justin met a hundred or so of their very close personal friends at St. Marks Cathedral (gorgeous!!) up on Capitol Hill to help them celebrate their wedding vows. It was a gorgeous cathedral filled with gorgeous people and of course gorgeous flowers too!

The reception was about an hour afterwards (we had to have time for photos!) at the Lakeside wedding venue. (Lake Union) I do have to say - this wedding was filled with so much love, laughter and THE craziest dancers I’ve ever seen!! LOVED IT!! Just wait till you see the dancing photos - so fun!

I had a really hard time narrowing the top images down - I hope you enjoy them!!

Shadows indoor and at night?! Love it!!!

At every wedding there are trouble makers - here are my favorite two!!

A & J’s Fabulous Venders:

Ceremony: St. Marks

Reception: The Lakeside

Florist: Sue Staple - Amaryllis Floral Design

Photog: Yours Truly - Barbie Hull Photography

Lunar Eclipse!! February 21, 2008

I didn’t even know we were going to have one!! We were channel surfing last night and saw the news… which reminded Ryan - oh yeah! 7pm there will be a lunar eclipse… what time is it now?!? 6:57?? Lets get outside! So dangling off of our 3rd story balcony we could just barely see the super cool reddish moon! It was so neat! After coming inside found three messages on the phone “Look outside, quick - take a picture of the moon!” So here it is - (gotta love my new camera - shooting 6400 iso…. just to see how it looks…. fabulous!!)

Savor Seattle! February 20, 2008

So - whether you are from out of town or a local here in Seattle - Pikes Place is a fun place to spend the day! Angela Shen (owner/mastermind of Savor Seattle) thought so too, so she created a super fabulous tour that lasts about two hours and takes you to a few of the hot spots in our favorite market.

On Sunday morning Brooke & I joined the group for some tasty treats and learned so many fun facts…. here are just a few of the many many photos taken that morning. ~ Enjoy!

We started our tour at Seattle’s Best on 1st & Pike - already off to a fabulous start!! mmmm!

The big group ~ we had people from all over the country with us - so fun! Angela Dewitt commonly referred to as Angela #2 was our guide.

At Market Spice we got to taste some fabulous spices and where to use them. =)

They have the most creative names for their tea!!

Of course we had to visit our famous flying fish boys!! They are so funny and lets us taste some of the greatest smoked fish (from Alaska of course!)

Did you know the Pig’s name is Rachel?? And she really is a piggy bank?? People put money in her all the time! (you’ll have to go on the tour to find out what the money is used for - I was busy taking photos and not paying attention… hee hee)

Following our fearless leader!

If you are ever in the market and see a cute gal with a pink umbrella - there is a good chance her name is Angela and she is leading a Savor Tour. =)

This was put up for all of the Japanese people who were forced out of the market so long ago… sad.

Did you know the eggplant is in the berry family?? (so true!) and that there are girl & boy eggplants?!?!

Pictured left is Mr. Eggplant and on the right is his lovely bride Mrs. Eggplant. =)

Mmmmm…. tasty treats!! Shots of uber delicious Colombian chocolate from The Confectional mmmmm… (my mouth is watering)

looks like more treats for us - this time cheesecake from the Confectional smothered with cherries from our favorite place - Chukar Cherries.

A long long time ago (thats my language for I wasn’t listening again and you’ll have to go on the tour to find out) the market floor was made of wood - then to raise money to pay for a new floor you could buy a square for $35 and put anything you wanted on it… some people were creative and some people put their names. =)

This was us eating some life altering cheese - at Beecher’s - YUM!!

This Russian owned Piroshky’s has not only fabulous food but a really sweet story about their opening!!

We learned the TRUTH about the original Starbucks location. =)

And of course we ended the morning with a sweet glass of chardonay at the Tasting Room. Delicious!

We finished up around noon and had the rest of this sunny sunny day to spend at the market. =) Brooke and I spent another two hours going back to all of the places we had just visited to buy full sized portions of all the food we had sampled because it was too good to pass up. (The Mac & Cheese from Beechers really is the best in the world!!)

Being on the Savor tour we were able to get 10-15% off all of our purchases - so cool!

Check out Angela’s website - HERE

She also gives a discount for wedding parties! So for all of you planning a Seattle wedding and have guests coming in from far far away - this would be a great adventure for them!

I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as we did. =)

Ryan & Amanda ~ MARRIED!! February 16, 2008

On the 19th of January Ryan and Amanda celebrated their wedding for the 2nd time so their west coast friends & families could partake in the celebrations. The ceremony & reception were at The Clise Mansion in Marymoor Park. It was so much fun - thanks to Austin Beaver, DJ extraordinaire (and in this case wedding planner too!) the entire day ran so smoothly - good food, great friends and a lot of dancing!

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day ~ Enjoy!

Christopher Flowers! February 12, 2008

I’ve worked with Christopher Smith of Christopher’s Flowers a couple of times over the past few years and could tell right away that he is a very talented florist. A few weeks ago when we teamed up to work on his portfolio, I was blown away! He is an amazing artist! He had created such unique pieces with combinations of flowers I never could’ve imagined - and loved it!!

Christopher has recently been added to the very illustrious group of wedding vendors on the June Bug site & has just published his brand new website check him out by clicking here - or going to http://www.christopherflowers.biz

Here are a couple of the images ~ Enjoy!

24 Seven February 1, 2008

Mann Publications is featuring the company 24 Seven in their premier northwest issue of Fashion Manuscript (coming soon).

So, on Tuesday afternoon we met down at the Seattle Union Station (a gorgeous place to be when it is cold cold cold outside!) and snapped a few fun shots. I can’t wait to see how they use them! (i’ll keep you posted of course!)

Have a great day!