Magnolia’s charm, color palette and decor is beautiful, warm, welcoming and relaxing – AND the cookies, cupcakes and hot cocoa are delicious!

So once we moved to NYC and settled in, I approached the owner of Magnolia Bakery and asked if I could take some photos of the place and capture its charm with my camera and she was kind enough to give me a few hours at the Columbus Street locale.

As I told her later, I felt like a kid in a candy store photographing the place – literally.

Zack Arias (one of my favorite photographers) once said that each photo shoot prepares you for the next shoot. I honestly felt that my 5 years of editorial food photography at Creative Loafing prepared me well for this shoot. Both the owners and I were pleased with the end results.

Here’s a slide show I made, and following that are some of my favorite images. Do you like cupcakes as much as I do?

and they sell the cutest aprons at Magnolia Bakery too!

We traveled to NYC this past weekend to get Juan settled in with some friends while he searches for both graphic design work and musical work, while I hold down the fort in Charlotte until I join him in November.

We are equally excited to finally follow our passions and live with no regrets.

I am ready to take my photography career to the next level and dedicate 500% of my time to the business. I am eager to learn, shoot, assist and be in the photography industry and focus exclusively in becoming a better photographer.

With that said, here are some images from our trip to NYC.

Waiting for the bus to Manhattan, I shot these two images.

After eating some always-amazing arepas at Caracas Arepas Bar, we stopped for a coffee at Mud. We had a chance to sit and chill in the back dining area and spend some nice quality time chatting and talking about our goals in NYC.

here’s a portrait i took of Juan at Mud

and here’s what the roof looked like – different colored glass, which gave views to buildings around Mud

and a detail of the wall decorations near us

Another highlight of this trip was our visit to Coney Island. Ever since I watched Tom Hanks in “Big,” I have always wanted to see Coney Island for myself. It was about an hour-long ride on the metro and a nice, cool breeze along with a bright, sunny day, welcomed us to the home of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest and place full of history, dating back to the 1800s.

Here’s Juan, eating a Nathan’s Hog Dog on the boardwalk, whilst enjoying some fun people watching

the remains of a hot dog

what’s left of one of the rides on Coney Island

Entrance to some rides on Coney Island

Bar Sign

Needless to say, it was a HUGE relief to have this part of his life behind us, and finally saying goodbye to homework-filled weekends and a lack of a social life for that long.

On the eve of Juan’s graduation, my parents treated us to a riverboat dinner, which was a total blast. Mom and I danced the entire time (except for dinner, of course), and it was a great chance to catch up with my parents in a fun setting.

As we were boarding the boat, we came across this old lifesaver and lifesaver box.

I liked capturing just the word LIFE…almost as though this is saying “welcome back to LIFE!” after a year and a half-long hiatus. Welcome back, my Juan.

This is my favorite photograph from the bunch, with the published photo being a second close! Enjoy!

here is a photo of my gorgeous wedding ring!

As a bridge from my old blog to this new one, I want to share with you 3 images that Herman took of Juan and I on a recent trip to see Herman in Washington, DC.

These images are special to me because they show a fun and goofy side to my husband and I, and they are a great reminder to live life and have fun  – life is too short!

I look forward to this new chapter in my photography career, and hope you join along for the ride and become an active participant in my blog.

Please feel free to tell me your thoughts on my work.

Join me on this journey and live, love and laugh with me!

Truly yours,

-Catalina