Saturday morning, a dream took flight and landed in Great Britain. Everything she’s worked for since the day she started school has finally come to fruition… and as she prepares for her first day… we all get to watch as a new chapter in life opens and blooms in the morning sun of a new year.

My closest friend since 4th grade starts Medical School this month, and there are no words to describe how proud I am.

We started as friends in a 4th grade classroom. As time moved on and we were promoted to the 7th grade in a new school, our friendship grew and tightened as the seemingly impossible junior high experience closed in on us. We battled boys and our middle school’s GATE program together… competed in school track meets and laughed our way through it all. High School brought many ups and downs, AP classes, and high school sports. She ran Cross Country and Track. I swam and played soccer and water polo. She was the genius who breezed through AP Calculus our Senior year… and I was the random student who took 4 years of ceramics, some spanish, and a multitude of science classes. I did okay…

Though we defined ourselves differently and had our separate interests, we always connected as best friend “twin sisters” when it came down to the wire. Even through college, our visits grew less and less, but we always kept tabs on each other and championed each other thru the really tough stages. She never thought she could do it…. she never thought she would go to Medical School. I knew though. I knew she was brilliant when she helped me understand subtraction in elementary school. I knew she was brilliant when she always beat my test scores in our Bio-Medical class in high school. I knew she was brilliant when she got into one of the top Biology programs at a leading UC school. She had the periodic table memorized in 4th grade for crying out loud!

So when she told me she was leaving on Saturday to go to medical school… I told her we HAD to spend some time together…. and that I HAD to shoot some pictures of her beautiful face before she left. She agreed and we spent all day together. We got asian pastries at 85*C… we shot some sweet pictures…. we took a nice walk in the park… and we talked. That was my favorite part.

So Kimber, I know you don’t like pictures of yourself… but I think these shots are BEAUTIFUL… and SO you! I hope you’re getting settled in nicely in British Land… and I hope you know that I love you and I’m your biggest fan! Go Get ‘Em Girl!

Here’s some of my favorites from the afternoon….

Side Note: Kim has this ridiculously sappy love for her French Bull Dog named Wyler. She REALLY wanted him in the pictures with her… And yes, he’s real.

I’m sorry (not really)… but Kim, you are GORGEOUS!!!

Some shots from the park…

Okay… so these next shots are the product of an experiment on my end. Kim is such a fashionable person… something I strive to become one day. So I thought we could experiment with some off camera lighting self portrait style. These were SO fun to do… and I love the attitude!! What do you think? A little different than what I usually shoot, hey?

Favorite!

Another favorite…and another…

We had some good ol’ fashioned fun that day… I miss my girl already…