Valerie and I go back quite a few years, both gaining an edjumacation at good ol’ sunny VUSC. As an English major, Val might want to smack me through the screen for my intentional spelling botch. My sociology degree would lead me to tell her that is completely within social norms… but I digress. After each moving away to more northern, woodsy, and liberal climates, we have managed to continue a friendship via blog, and a mutual love of literature & snark.
What you should know about Val is that she is a brilliant writer. I would reserve a specific space in my bookcase for her first big novel, if I only knew the color of the book cover. 
We have discussed a joint desire to work together to produce some images for her blog, promotions, and (drumroll please) author photos for that impending big novel that will hit the world by storm! Alas, this collaboration was postponed due to her living in “the other Portland” (secretly scheming to relocate her to the obviously superior East Coast), but as luck would have it, we both were back in Orange County to attend Bonny & David’s wedding, so we seized the day… (sans choreographed dancing & newsboy caps, though I happily would have integrated that).
Meet Valerie:
(insert snarky comment, get these faces)
There is a story behind this location that I don’t know if I’m allowed to share. Val, feel free to chime in below in the comments.
Charlie decided to hop into a few photos, and as you can see, he is a natural. Work it Charlie. Work. It.
Tree nook with a favorite book = heaven.
Valerie, what can I say… I am quite fond of you. Also, I look forward to seeing my work on the jacket-flap of a Pulitzer. Wishing you the absolute best in your work, your marriage, and your efforts to keep Charlie’s ego in check after seeing all of his images.
Cheers,
Briana
I’ll say only this about the ivy location: there was poop…and it wasn’t Charlie’s.
Thank you so much for doing this shoot with me, Bri! I’m completely awkward when it comes to having my picture taken and you made the whole afternoon so easy and fun. Thank you for believing in me and my future books, too. It means a lot to me. Oh, and if we should ever have the pleasure of doing this again in the future…I will be demanding The Newsies package. So, heads up on that.