Today is Mariah's birthday! If you don't know Mariah, she's one of my best friends and is my most valuable work-mate. For much of my career she's done everything, from organizing my files, to providing deep emotional support and encouragement, to second shooting thousands of beautiful images, to helping me find my shoes after I lost them on a wedding day....because, yeah, I'm a mess when I'm working. She is truly the type A to my B and she's saved my ass more times than I can count. She tolerates my idiosyncrasies and usually joins in the insanity. Want to swim around in a drainage ditch in lake Erie in a beautiful dress? She'll join you. Need to up and leave a house you rented while traveling for work at 2am because you decided it's haunted? She'll zip up her suitcase and hold your hand while running like hell out out the door. Too exhausted to drive home after that? That's not a problem when you've got a friend who will load up on caffeine and belt out Fiona Apple's entire Tidal album with you at full-volume-top-of-the-lungs-passion.

Below are some personal images from our greatest work-friend adventure yet, the trip to Antigua we took a few months ago. You guys, Mariah still returns my phone calls and meets me for coffee, even after I booked an apartment on the island that was full of mosquitoes and cockroaches and completely lacking in hot water and adequate air conditioning. She's that kind of friend.

In my truest fashion, I'm incredibly late on editing personal images. I dedicate them to her. I love you, lady. Thanks for letting me pet a thousand stray cats without judgement and for everything else you've ever done for me.