Thursday, May 29, 2008

The trifecta is complete

As my neighbor said when little Miss E arrived last Saturday on her due date, with 58 minutes to spare. Three new babes in my cul-de-sac, all born within one month of each other. Really, I cannot wait to watch all of them grow up together. :)

She was perfectly squishy--just as I love them--and perfectly beautiful, too.



Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Because I can't stop listening to this...

Those iTunes commercials are killing me since I can't buy this until June 17th.


ColdplayViva La Vida

Friday, May 23, 2008

Can you believe...

That these two refused to let me come along on vacation with them this weekend?

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Preschool graduation...

It's amazing how happy and proud you can be while simultaneously being so sad that his preschool/toddler/baby years have now officially ended...





Thank goodness he's got an October birthday and won't be headed off to preschool until he's nearly 4...

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Who needs big smiles to be cute?

He asks, raising his eyes in that inquisitive (and adorable) way he looked at me all morning.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Mail order seedlings...


Those of you who work with me this summer might be lucky enough to get some homegrown (and organic!) peppers and tomatoes as part of your session. But, as much as I'm an optimist, don't completely count on it as my gardening record is not so, um, green.

Actually, other than hiring a gardener, I think I've actually got a Jen-proof method down. I purchased Earthboxes, which are these really cool containers that claim they cannot be over- or under-watered and self-feed themselves (the best part of all about that was that I didn't have to dig up my yard anywhere for a garden--and when we actually buid a deck, if this is a success, I plan to have a spot on the deck just for my Earthbox garden); and an automatic watering system. See, Jen-proof. As long as I don't need to water it and can't overwater it, I think I'm set.

These are the last seedlings to go in, which I had shipped to me from an organic seedling company in California. I've gone completely nuts--trust me, for someone with as poor of a record of gardening as I have, I don't know what I'm thinking, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Here's what been and being planted: strawberries (haven't killed them yet--I've got green ones!); beans; peas; tomatoes (roma paste, a few heirlooms, cherry); peppers (red, green, purple!); squash (butternut, acorn, butterstick, zucchini); cucumbers; eggplant; melons; and herbs.

Pictures of my success (or lack thereof) to come; and any gardening/growing tips/good luck appreciated. :)

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Brown-eyed girl

Oh my goodness.

When I first showed up this morning and met little Miss E, I was immediately blown away by her eyes. They're just so full of soul and honesty. She was such an amazing little girl to photograph. I love them at two: They're just them.









The color today was amazing thanks to all of the rain we've been having, but I know her mom wants some B&Ws, so I can't resist but share this one with those beautiful eyes...

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Honestly...

Have you ever seen a cuter alert newborn? I was thrilled to get such great eye contact.





But I couldn't resist lulling him to sleep, either.



He was as sweet as he looks. :)

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Is that the smell of coffee and burnt pancakes?

Which must mean it's Mother's Day morning.



The one day a year Joe uses his chemistry degree, somewhat unsuccessfully, but with my sincere and heartfelt appreciation.

Happy Mother's Day. :)

Saturday, May 10, 2008

And in the mail today...

Just a little something to make me feel old.



My husband's (need I bold that?) invitation to his 20-year high school reunion. (There's still several years left before it's time for mine, thankyouverymuch. :)

Wow--20 years. How'd that happen?

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Seconds

I wasn't quite sure how to title this one since I had two sessions today--both quite different from one another. The first was a reschedule from my Portraits in the Park session (all which had to be rescheduled due to bad weather that weekend), and it was also their second time meeting with me; and the second appointment was the second baby born in my cul-de-sac to the maternity couple below (and not to disappoint those following the theme here: also their second baby ;)

The family wins my award for a perfect coordination; and Baby M wins my award for the cleanest newborn I've ever shot since he didn't pee or poop on me (or his dad) once. I can't believe I walked out of a newborn session without two loads of laundry! (As an aside, I've been dying to shoot a newborn with a tattoo'ed dad--I'm so glad I finally got the chance.) Isn't Baby M perfect? *sigh*















Tuesday, May 6, 2008

New feature - new stuff

If your eyes take a little look over to the right over there --->, you might see that I installed a handy dandy subscription service to my blog. If I did it correctly, all you should need to do is enter your email address, and every time my blog is updated, you'll get an email message alerting you to new posts. (If it's not working, someone let me know, OK? ;)

As part of that, I've decided to blog a little more regularly with some non-client images. Lately, I've been obsessed with macro (close-up) work, and these are of the pansies on my front porch. I just love pansies--I'm just hoping there's some way that I can make them survive into the dead heat of the summer? Anyone got any good tips on how to do that (and wanna come over and make sure I don't kill them with my brown thumb? ;)

Anyway, for now, I'm loving the purple and the rich tones. :)



Sunday, May 4, 2008

Was that a sigh of relief I just heard?

Doing large group family portraits with young kids is unpredictable at best. Literally, you've probably only got the first 5 minutes for their cooperation, and anything beyond that is just borrowed time. (This is also true for most of the men involved in the session, too. :)

I have a slight feeling at the end of the session that the person who organized it wasn't quite sure if it was successful or not, but I'm hoping she'll be relieved when she sees these three. While I feel a great sense of accomplishment getting those traditional, everyone-looking-straight-at-the-camera shots, I truly love family images that capture interactions and relationships so much more (and really, I think they're almost more challenging to get).





Saturday, May 3, 2008

Meet the most daring couple in the world...

Because they hired me--yes me--to shoot their wedding. Really, I couldn't feel more honored that they asked me in the first place, but, honestly, I gotta tell you that despite my nerves at going into unchartered waters, they're so much fun (and really, so cute together) that I think they're going to make me feel quite at ease and make my job quite easy.

Look for more of them on their big day a mere 8 weeks away (and if you could spare a prayer for perfect wedding and photography weather, that would be awesome...:)

Just a few I enjoyed from today's impromptu mini e-session. (That's photographer speak for engagement. Not something I talk about much here primarily shooting 2 year olds. ;)