You've come a long way, baby*

As many of you (who is you? does anyone read this besides the obvious?) know, I have started a little photography business. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of photographing my friend Carrie's family. I met Carrie when I was pregnant with Lucy, in prenatal yoga class. I was then in a "new moms" group with her and her son L.J. Carrie had her second, daughter Emmie, just about 14 months after L.J.

I got this great photo of the two gorgeous kids yesterday:


And then I went into my archives and found this photo that I took of L.J. during the new moms group...almost four years ago now:

{that's him on the right}

Needless to say, he's grown up as a child and I have come a long way as a photographer as well.

*Note that I titled this blog post in a way I kind of disdain. It was the ad slogan for none other than Virginia Slims, and it implied that women made progress because they could now smoke with abandon. Yuck. But still, the slogan worked here. But now it works less because I've explained the heck out of it. Should I just delete it? Nah, I've just typed too much to hit "delete." I haven't got all day :)

Sick days

{the two little convalescents}

Lucy came home sick from school on Monday. Fever and general malaise. Since then, her fever has been up and down...mostly up at night and down during the day. She's had a cough, sore throat and a very scratchy voice. Almost no voice at all today, which is odd for my chatterbox girl. Is it swine flu? I dunno...maybe. Her doctor's office doesn't test and frankly, they almost seem annoyed with the whole thing. Hmrph. So I am treating her symptoms and she seems to have turned a corner tonight. If she has a restful night sleep tonight, which she hasn't had the past few nights, I'll know that brighter days are ahead. Phoebe had a fever on Tuesday after her nap, but has been fine since then. So I really have no idea what is going on. We've kept them both home from school all week, with me primarily watching them. Since Monday, I have been out of the house a grand total of once -- we took a drive last night and I ran into the Container Store to buy some hampers. Will the excitement never end???

To keep "busy" we've been...

Watching tv:
Making hats:
Watching tv:
Dancing in the kitchen:
Watching tv:
Playing with "snow":
And did I mention?...watching tv:
Handing out trophies (for "being a good sick girl"):
And, yes, we even spent a little time outside:

{get better soon, lu. you're gorgeous even when you're sick!}

Halloween: The Post Mortem (ha ha ha)

The festivities started last weekend with a party at the home of one of Lucy's school friends. I missed out because I was off at a photo shoot (sounds so glam, doesn't it?) and I didn't dare burden Jeff with a camera and two little girls. I did see a photo from another mom and it appears that Lucy had a great time. There was another party at her school on Friday...I went to that and snapped some photos of her there. Here is Ariel, enjoying the party:

Oh boy were the kids cute! Yesterday, which was officially Halloween, was a beautiful day. Windy but warm...perfectly mild and sort of spooky Halloween weather. My parents were here, and they prepared a special breakfast for the girls while I was off, where else, at another shoot. But I was back by noon and ready to prepare my special Halloween lunch...grilled smoked gouda sandwiches (Jeff made those) and homemade curried pumpkin soup. It was de-lish. After naps, the girls got into their costumes. Lucy decided that she was done with Ariel and wanted to wear a too-small Tom Brady jersey that she found in a box of things I took out for Phoebe. Ok, ok, so I went with the flow. But of course she also insisted on the pink hairspray I bought, as well as the stick-on earrings. I thought maybe she could be Gisele...a baby bump under that jersey perhaps? But no, she wanted to be Tom, or "crazy Tom Brady" as she put it because of the pink hair, earrings, pink and brown crocs. Hmmm, sorry Tom!

{hike!}

Phoebe was very patient while I put her in her full rock star regalia:

{bad-ass phoebers}

{punk rock girls}

And last but certainly not least...for those who don't know me personally, I am 17. Ok, plus almost 20. But really, I am 17 at heart. It keeps my mom amused to see that I am still basically a child when it comes to being goofy. And why the heck not. I could walk around in mom jeans on Halloween, perhaps going a bit "crazy" with a fun sweater from the Home Shopping Network...or I could do this:

{zexy, no?}

Uh-huh, yep, that's me. And lest Jeff be left out, I got him in on the goth action as well:

{ok, enough ghouling around...har har har}

In case you hear differently from him, he loved every minute of it. And now we finally have a nice family photo to use for this year's holiday card:

I HOPE YOU ALL HAD A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Free falling

{october = lady bugs}

Halloween: myth v. reality

Ah, Halloween. Five years ago, if I had gazed into a crystal ball and seen two little girls in my future, I would have believed the following myths about their Halloween costumes:

(1) They will certainly match. Perhaps Little Bo Peep and her lost sheep? Mary and her little lamb? The little girls will be sooooo happy to be presenting a cohesive theme!

(2) I will make the costumes by hand. I will by no means ever purchase them at Target! The horror.

(3) They will never be a Disney Princess, a Sesame Street character or anything remotely resembling same. They won't even know what those things are!!

And now, of course, the reality:

(1) You try telling Lucy that Phoebe is going to have a costume remotely like hers. I dare you.

(2) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Throw it in the cart...let's move...I haven't got all day!

(3) It's a little-known fact, but Walt Disney bought the rights to ultrasound waves back in 1950. So while we are hearing the pleasing "thump thump thump" of the baby's heartbeat, baby girl is hearing "When You Wish Upon a Star." And from there on out, you just can't fight the power. As for Elmo, he is quite literally thrown onto their backsides within 10 minutes of birth. I went from cloth diapering Phoebe to having a child who now refers to her diapers as "Elmos." How the mighty have fallen.

So, what are they going to be for Halloween this year? For Lucy, Ariel (the Little Mermaid, a la Disney). But just the dress and the shoes. For some reason, she has no interest in the red clip-on ponytail offered to her (by me)...at Target.

And Phoebe, well, I bought her a little black tutu that I just couldn't resist. I had thoughts of making her a witch. But she won't wear a hat, or carry a broom, I know that. So I really had no way to make her look witchy, especially since she looks like an angel. Off we went, for inspiration, to...Target. Where she proceeded to fall in love with an Elmo costume. We purchased red Converse sneakers to match and called it a night. Then I made the mistake the next morning of making her try it on before she had her coffee. And whoo boy, that did not go over well. And now all she says about it is "NOOOOO ELMOOOOOOOO!" Instead, I decided that we'd go back to the black tutu and simply accessorize it into a costume. A $3 t-shirt from Children's Place ($3 because who the heck else would want it) plus some fuzzy silver mock-crocs do the trick nicely. So here she is, my one-year-old "rock star." It ain't a little sheep, or Mary's little lamb, but it sure is something.

And here they are together, umatched and happy, just the way I like them:

Just photos...I'm tired :)

Kinda spooky...

Forget Halloween. What is truly spooky is how this child managed to get none of my genes (ok, except my absolute worst gene in the form a mild blood disorder).

{mr. strong genetics}

Bye-bye wide-angle lens...

...I shall miss you dearly.

High heels and rock star

I did it...

...and now I am going to bed :)

Go big or go home

I'm going big today...shooting my first wedding solo. I'll be ok, I know it. But still, I have had anxiety-ridden dreams the past two nights. They are mostly about taking tests that I am unprepared for...urgh, my least favorite type of dream, especially because I did take so many tests through my many long years of education (not as long as some, but more than many). But for this "test" today, I think I am prepared. And if not, well, there is always my good buddy Photoshop. It's like the Cliff Notes of the photography world.

I rented two awesome lenses...a wide angle and a telephoto. Funny, I thought I would be in love with the telephoto, but it's the wide angle that I am actually the most jazzed about. It is just awesome...photojournalistic. I snapped the above photos this morning just goofing around with the lens and though I am not wild about my exposure, I love the story they tell of Phoebe asking me to put on her "shoooz"! That's what a wide angle lets you do...tell a story through the lens, which is what I love to do the most.

Ok, wish me luck! I'll try to post some wedding photos tomorrow!

Sharp shooter

I got a new camera this week...a really nice new camera. I think I am in love :) I am shooting a wedding this weekend (wish me luck!) and really want two cameras with me in case of disaster. Also, this way I can keep different lenses on my two cameras I( am renting some pretty swell lenses). It is much easier to switch cameras than to switch lenses.

Here are a few shots I took last night/today. I am fairly impressed with them, aren't you? ;)

{phoebe, apres nap}

{she's officially a little girl now}

{lucy making a "halloween" face...she asks me every day if it is halloween yet}

{in the basement, at night, no flash, high ISO...and still a clear shot}

{same setting here...and isn't my model cute??}

Wednesday, Sept. 30: Under the Sea

[I know, I know. I should have called this post "Back in the Saddle Again" or something like that. I have failed terribly in my attempt to post once a day...but I am back again. And I am going to try to be better...really, I am.]

Do ya think she is ready to start ballet class????

Flip!

Wednesday, Sept. 16 & Thursday: Sept. 17 : Just what I needed

{daddy's home!}

Well, folks, I have faltered already in my once-a-day posting quest. But I am still going to write about each day, so this post is a two-in-one.

On Wednesday, I took a sick day from work. Not actually sick (I was honest with my employer), but more of a mental health day. I have been working SO much, and the kids have been SO needy (cute, but needy) that I just needed a day with no kids and no work. It was actually really, really good for me. Not that it made me go into some zen-like blissful state. But it did help me re-set my brain a little. Every time I thought, "I should be doing this or that" I told myself no, there is nothing you need to do today. It was a hard concept for my poor overworked brain to grasp, but after I practiced the concept a few times I settled in to a pretty nice day of doing not much of anything. I did clean up around the house (setting a timer for 30 minutes, as my mom always suggests) but that was about it.

On Thursday, I kept Lucy home from school and took the girls to the DeCordova Museum to roam the sculpture park...we met my friend Ellenor and her kids Max & Anna there. L & P had a ton of fun and it was great to see their cheeks get rosy as they rain around in the crisp air. Lucy is so receptive to learning about art, which gives me great joy. There are two giant heart sculptures there and they have all sorts of objects embedded in them...we stood for a while playing "find the..." as in "find the screwdriver" and "find the flashlight." I also taught Lucy a bit about perspective -- how you see more when you stand back, but in less detail. It would have been a great place for photos, but I deliberately left my camera at home. I hope to go back there soon with the kids and Jeff to do an official fall photo shoot :)

When we came home, both girls napped for THREE HOURS!!!! Woo-hoo. Phoebe made up for the fact that she had woken me up at 5:00, screaming unless I played This Little Piggy over and over and over again. At dinnertime, Jeff arrived home from his business trip to L.A. and was greeted by girls squeeling in delight. We went out for pizza and called it a night fairly early.

Wednesday and Thursday...just what I needed.