Whoo hoo! My first time technically leaving the country in 10 years last weekend! (sidenote: what the heck, how did I let that happen?!) Ate soooo much good food and had so much fun.

Went up to Vancouver to perform on our Brazilian Zouk dance team lead by my BF Rob & his partner Cat. It was super duper nerve wracking to perform in front of a ton of professionals and other dancers! We practiced for months on the choreo and we did pretty freaking great!

It's been 2 years officially since I started taking Brazilian Zouk classes. I have never been a performer and always admired people who could express themselves through the art of dance. It's been super rewarding and fun (and also REALLY hard and frustrating), but I'm finally getting confident with myself, my body and my dancing! I've also met sooo many great people through dancing.

I'm super grateful to my boyfriend Robert who is an amazing and patient instructor. He's let me tag a long on sooo many classes and performances the past 3 or 4 years. I love spending time with him and seeing him shine as a teacher and performer! Thanks for not kicking me out when I sucked & got mega frustrated, babe! hahah. He's teaching Zouk all over the world and I'm so proud of him! Thanks to Cat for helping me out so much this year as an instructor and being so positive and helpful! Kelsey, thanks so much for the private 2 weeks ago, it helped me so much!

Besides the super fun classes and social dancing that went on until 3 or 4 am every night, we had a crazy party in our hotel room which was a blast. I wish I had photos of everything but I tend to put my camera away at parties and events so I can really enjoy myself. #photographerproblems

I had the best time planning our meals and scouting for fun spots! Eating out and exploring are basically my favorite things besides photography (and puppies). If you are gluten free like me, I highly recommend the places pictured below:

Nuba (Delicious and healthy Lebanese food)
Bao Down (Chinese and Filipino style Bao and other food and drinks. They have GF fried adobo chicken!)
Tacofino (amazing drinks and awesome tacos. Their neon logo sign and mid century modern decor are also #goals)
Mosquito (cocktail and dessert bar, yummy chocolates and macarons)
Cartems Donuterie (offers awesome GF donuts, go early)
Lemonade Bakery (GF HEAVEN! OMG! Seattle needs to step their game up HARD)
Long's Noodle House (amazing and cheap Chinese/Taiwanese food. The Xiao Long Bao were so good)
Laduree (more macarons. Expensive but good)
SURA (freaking delicious Korean food. They had Army Base Stew which I had been meaning to try, soooo spicy & hearty)

Also, The Steam Clock is fun & also hit up the Nike Outlet by the airport! DEALS!

xo - Haley

Had a great time collaborating on a 1970s themed glamour shoot with model Kaity Tainer & makeup artist Cat Refuerzo!

These ladies had never been to the main library in downtown Seattle so I knew we had to shoot there, as it's super aesthetically lovely & also went great with our 70s high fashion theme. Absolutely love it there. In college I used to spend hours walking around and browsing the seemingly endless stories of literature. Cat created a bold sapphire blue smokey eye with a hint of warmth that went super well with Kaity's beautiful blue eyes. We switched up the nude lip to a dark magenta to fit better with the red room. I loved the clothes Kaity brought, she told me her bodysuit in the second part of the shoot was actually her mom's from back in the day! Gotta love cool moms.

My goal is to keep doing more stylized, collaborative beauty work in the new year.

So excited to keep growing my skills and my circle of creative friends!