Help, I've Been Shot...

As anyone who come in contact with me over the past three months knows, the selling of our Farmington home was extremely emotional (understatement of the century). For some people, a house is just a house, but I am the person who tends to become very attached to my surroundings, and I've never become more connected than to our cape in Farmington. It was my first grown-up home, and the place where Kyle and I were married, in the backyard, on a Saturday in September nearly three years ago. An infuriating place – where you had to duck when you went up the stairs to avoid hitting your head, and jiggle the latch and wiggle your nose three times to get the front door to open –, it was nonetheless ours and we adored it. (Of course the irony in all this is we wanted to move, and had been planning our path to Portland for more than two years, but that doesn't make the process any less painful.) In the final weeks, it was especially tough, and not an hour would go by when I didn't get misty upon realizing it was the last time I'd do whatever task I was completing in that home: bake in that oven, unpack groceries in that fridge, take a bath in that bathroom. But it was when I got glum over the "last time vacuuming these stairs" that I knew I'd gone over the edge, and felt the best course of action would be to hire a professional photographer to document a part of our final days in our new house.

I am blessed to have so many friends in the industry, and Andree Kehn, who lives in nearby Bethel, is one of my favorites. Her images are so real- exactly what we wanted. Though I emailed her only a week before we were moving, she and her partner Mitch happily rushed over a few nights later. Much like our late fall photoshoot with the amazing Emilie (which was never blogged here as I didn't want to ruin our holiday card surprise), it was soon realized that while our dogs may be many things, posers they are not, nor are they patient. Mayhem ensued! But thanks to a certain dirty tennis ball and the deft wrangling skills of Mitch, more than a few great shots were managed. To see some of Andree's favorites, check out our slideshow, which (of course) moved me to tears.

I'll also share the ultimate capture below. It's destined for a giant wall canvas in our new Portland home! As Kyle said about this image "By not getting us, she got us." Thank you, Andree and Mitch: you have no idea how meaningful these moments are to us!