// Blog leave and good-bye x

Dearest friends,

As many of you may have noticed I have not been blogging much. AT ALL.
There was much talk and excitement from my side a few months back (or has it already been a year? waaaaa) about possibly pursuing this on a more full-time basis. But as it turns out, life had different ideas for me.

Besides still being the female half of welovepictures and documenting the love and joy that is the wedding celebration, I have recently also opened a little shop on behalf of Julie Gallagher called In Good Company, here in Cape Town, South Africa (see pictures of the shop here and here).
It has been a lovely, exciting and beautiful adventure so far, but as it turns out I now have even less free time for anything else really, except of course, hanging out with my amazing husband, our two dogs and our fat cat. And taking beautiful walks in the mountains and hanging out with God, riding bicycles with friends and adventuring to flea markets. And eating loads of great food and cheese! and drinking too many G+T's. And making a home... I wonder if I'll ever stop making a home. Oh and I just started surfing - we'll see how that goes.

But unfortunately my little blog is not on this list.

So! I've decided to take an official blog leave. I will maybe return to it one day, but until then I think it's best to close this little guy officially. Until further notice, no new content will be added to 'Love Made Me Do It'  but it will however continue to stay open for readers to access past content.

Lastly, I want to send out a huge blanket THANK YOU to all my lovely readers, old friends, new friends and fellow bloggers for all the support, love and genuine interest in my little blog. Your sweet comments and encouraging words have always put a smile on my face. Thank you.

love,
Maike



Image Source: I left my heart in Paris

// Hello little Pedersen family.

Our amazing friends, Luke and Jen, are expecting their first baby.
I went to hang out with them in their beautiful home to document them, their sweet dog Lilla and the little Pedersen bump, just doing their usual thing on a beautiful Sunday morning.
We made flapjacks, then ate them and then had a little lazy Sunday snooze.

I think that maternity photography, or any baby-related photography for that matter, can sometimes be quite cheesy. I loved being able to just hang out with these guys and to document a small part of this season of joyful expectation for them, rather than doing some elaborate photo shoot with only Jen. I think the father is as much a part of this as the mum is, and documenting something real and simple, like them just hanging out on a Sunday morning, is much more relevant. I hope that one day, when Travis and I are expecting our first little one, someone will document us in the same way. It's just beautiful. And it was fun :)

Jen, Luke, Lilla and sweetest little bump, thank you for making awesome flapjacks and for a lovely Sunday morning hang-out. You guys are gems.

love,
Maike

// Flower Safari

When Mariah asked me to photograph the opening night of Flower Safari I was pretty flippen excited. I'd been hearing so much about this beautiful group spring show and I felt honoured to be a part of it, in my own small way :)

The opening night featured Take Care's clothing, jewellery from Dear Rae and sweet Kirsty's amazing Tilly's Ice Cream as well as art & products from Amy Ellenbogen, Jessicah Pedersen, Julia Merrett, Emalie Bingham, Elsabé Milandri, Nix Davies, Kirsty Rielly and Thingking. Mariah made those amazing floral chandeliers as well as styled the event.
Too.Much.Talent.

If you're in Cape Town, be sure to swing by Side Street Studios and buy some rad art.