Sunday, February 10, 2013

10-on-10 | February 2013

So – as many of you know… our sweet Sophia fell on Monday and fractured her elbow.  She has such a high pain tolerance and is so strong and brave that, truth be told, more tears were shed by the adults that know and love her than by Sophia herself.  She is now sporting a bright pink cast which she is very fond of and says it’s “cool”.  But there is something about a 2 year old in a cast… something about her sweet little face looking at you and accessorized with that heavy pink plaster…that makes saying “no” just outright impossible.  Popcorn for dinner? Sure!  Cupcakes “for your birfday” even though it’s not your “birfday”?  You betchya!  You also need presents for your birfday??? Daddy is already half way to the store!  Oy.  We are toast.  She owns us.  And we wouldn’t have it any other way.  So this little two year old that owns me wanted nothing to do with my camera today for my 10-on-10 project.  Usually I would bribe her and dress her up and insist she participate anyway.  She is my favorite subject after all!  But not today.  Today she got a pass simply because she wanted it.

But for those of you who check in for a much needed Sophia update ~ here are a couple of snaps from our zoo trip a couple of weeks ago.  It was her first carousel ride!  Sophia chose the tiger and she loves to “RAWR!!!”

Today we started our day by visiting the zoo in our back yard.  These are Javelina.  They look like pigs, but are actually large members of the rodent species.  So we have come to call them “pigrats”.  Our neighbors feed them.  Twice Daily.  Now… I could write a dissertation on why people should not feed wildlife, especially at their homes.  And how it actually makes their neighbors lives less enjoyable for several reasons.  One of them being that our backyard smells like a farm.  Another being that these animals are not always docile, although they look innocent enough here, making our front yard unusable because you just never know….  I was once surrounded by these animals in our driveway with an 8 month old Sophia and our labrador.  Not.  Fun.  But I digress… At least they gave me something to point my camera at today.

During Sophia’s nap time I had fun with a new little hobby I’ve picked up.  Candle making.  If I was independently wealthy, I’d probably spend my time as a hobbyist… I’d start each day with a long bike ride and then:  Candle making Sunday… Knitting Monday… Reading Tuesday… Sewing Wednesday… Baking Thursday… Photography Friday… And brunch with friends Saturday.  Brunch can be a hobby, no?

Proof that I remembered to water the plants while the wax was cooling down to pouring temperature!  I’m not known for keeping plants alive…

Back to the wax.

I won’t be able to unmold these until tomorrow morning, but they are cranberry rustic pillars scented with black raspberry vanilla oil.  I’m calling them my “Valentine candles” and they will look a lot like these:

Photo courtesy of my ever supportive and talented husband.  And because he surprised me with a photo shoot of my sage green candles as well, here they are… scented with eucalyptus mint.  Don’t you wish you could smell pictures?  Well… the candle pictures anyway.  The pigrat pictures?  No.  You don’t want that.

Now please visit my friend Eleanor Haley to see what she has to show us for this month’s 10-on-10!

xo,

 

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Thursday, January 10, 2013

10-on-10 | January 2013

It’s no secret that I’ve been not only a bad blogger, but I also really dropped the ball on my 10-on-10 project last year.  Tis the season of resolutions… so I hope to remedy both of these things starting with my new 10-on-10 group!  Some of the ladies in the group are the same as last year, and some are new – and I’m excited to see all of their photos each month!

If you are new to my blog, you can read my very loose interpretation of the 10-on-10 project HERE.  Speaking of loose interpretations:

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy

When skies are gray

You’ll never know dear

How much I love you

So I’ll tell

You

Every

Day.

Now please visit my new friend Danielle Hatcher to continue the 10-on-10 circle!

xo,

 

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Friday, August 10, 2012

10-on-10 | August 2012

If you missed the explanation for the 10-on-10 back in December 2011 when I started this project, you can catch up by reading the post HERE.

Things I don’t want to forget… (Part I)

You call our yellow lab Riley… Liley.

You know how to pronounce your “R’s”.  I know this because for breakfast, lunch and dinner – you ask for “Raisin?  Raisin, Mommy.  Mommy, raisin?”  But Riley… is simply more of a Liley to you.  So you call her Liley.  And now so do we.  Riley doesn’t seem to mind.  In fact, I don’t think there is anything you could possibly do that Riley would mind.  And we’ve seen you poke her in the eye with your inquisitive fingers, jump up and down on her while yelling “HORSEY!” and take food out of her bowl and put it in your own mouth while she was eating her dinner… much to the dismay of pretty much everyone.  But Riley doesn’t mind, because before you came into the world Riley ate her dog food and drank her water.  Every day.  Same dog food.  Same water.  But now?  Now Riley eats your goldfish, your hot dogs, your animal crackers, your grapes, your vegetables, your pretzels – and whatever else you throw in her general direction that day.  Riley LOVES you.

But Mommy caught you in your first fib this week, and you may have thrown this precious dog who worships the ground that you walk on – right under the bus.

It was late afternoon, and you weren’t quite yourself.  You were a bit more sensitive and a bit more emotionally fragile than usual and I think you maybe skipped your nap that day.  So as we held hands and walked up the stairs together, I asked “What’s going on with you today, Sophia?  Why are you such a whiney-pants?”

Now, I didn’t expect an answer to this somewhat grown-up (even though I said whiney-pants) question because it required a bit of introspection. But wasn’t I surprised when you looked right at me and in oscar-winning melodramatic flair you announced:  “Lileyyyy! BiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIiiite!”

I assured you that Liley most certainly did not bite you, and if I slathered you in peanut butter and accused you of breaking and entering, Liley would still not bite you.  And if you were made out of bacon and squeaked like a chew toy… Liley would still not bite you. I think you get the point.

But I still picked you up and cuddled with you and soothed your feelings because as it turns out you needed a hug.  Anytime you ever need a hug, I will be ready with open arms and a few hundred kisses.  I enjoy them at least as much as you do, but probably more.

You call yourself Soh-pa!  

You fully know how to pronounce Sophia.  Once when I wrote it out for you and I said “Sophia”, you repeated “Sophia”.  But you call yourself Soh-pa!  In fact, you have this little game that you like to play that goes something like this:

You:  Where Liley?

Me or Daddy:  Liley is right there.

You:  Where Dad-tea?

Me or Daddy:  Dad-tea is right here.

You:  Where Mommy go?

Me or Daddy:  Mommy is right here.

Me or Daddy:  (Because we catch on quick…)  Where’s Sophia?

You:  (Point to your chest proudly and yell:)  Soh-PA!

You say it with all the pride, ferver and charisma of the father of the bride at a Greek wedding. And part of me wishes that we would throw our glasses into the fireplace after someone says Soh-PA! because it does seem appropriate.  But we don’t.  Because it’s dangerous.  And expensive.  And it would land our tushies in time-out faster than Mommy could say “It was Soh-PA’s idea!”

You call yourself Soh-pa.  And now so do we.

We will wait for Grandma to visit so she can point out that you are actually Scottish, and not Greek.  But the Scottish don’t throw their glasses into the fireplace… they are too afraid of wasting that last precious drop.

(to be continued…)

To read the next post in the 10-on-10 circle, please take a visit over to my friend Renee’s page.

xo,

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Friday, July 27, 2012

Meet Rebekah | Scottsdale Senior Portrait Photographer

Well the end of summer and the beginning of the new school year is deftly approaching, which is evident by the inquiries I have received lately regarding Senior Portrait Sessions!  I thought this would be a great time to share with you the last session I did for the Class of 2012.  If you are a fan of my Facebook page, you have already seen some of these.  But if not, then it is my pleasure to introduce you to Rebekah, Desert Mountain High, Class of 2012:

I am often asked how I happen to meet and get to shoot the most beautiful girls.  Here’s the answer:  I don’t know!  I’m just lucky I guess!  (However, this particular beauty is an import from Canada… so maybe that’s part of the secret?  My Canadian friends say yes.)

We started this shoot a little traditional, and I couldn’t be happier that we did:

And then we relaxed and had a few laughs:

And then, as is inevitable, we got down to business:

Thank you, Rebekah, for being such a good sport! (She climbed trees, people:)

Gah!  Best.  Job.  Ever.  Congratulations Rebekah!  I had such a great time on our shoot! I wish you much fun and success at ASU! #chante

Hairstyling and airbrushed makeup application by the ever sassy and most talented Sarah Sanmarco.  If you are visiting my blog because you are researching for your class of 2013 senior portraits, you should know that hair and makeup is automatically included in all my Senior Portrait Sessions – so you are sure to look and feel great and there’s one less thing for you to worry about!

I am very excited about the Class of 2013!  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to inquire about booking your own Senior Portrait Session!  Don’t delay – spots fill up very quick, especially after the first week of classes, when everyone realizes that the yearbook pics are due so early!

xo,

 

 

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Sunday, June 10, 2012

10-on-10 | June 2012

I can’t believe it is already June!  If you missed the explanation for the 10-on-10 back in December when I started this project, you can catch up by reading the post HERE.  And I’ll need you to read it.  Because in it, I basically gave myself and everyone involved an out so that we could break any and/or all rules.  Which I typically do a little – but this month it’s borderline obnoxious.  I just could not limit myself to 10 pictures!!!  But I did limit myself to 20ish ~ which is great when you consider that I had 100 photos marked for this months post!  One hundred, people.  That’s a lot.  And why??? Because our little family went on a wonderful and much needed vacation!  So may I present… 10-on-10… Flagstaff style.

So… it’s June.  And we live in the Phoenix, AZ area.  So… it’s hot.  Very hot.  But thanks to some very generous and loving friends, we were able to escape to Flagstaff this week!  Squee!  It’s only 2 hours north of us – but let me tell you, it feels like a different world.  It is typically about 20-25 degrees cooler, and there are trees!  And grass!  And lakes!!  Quite the paradise for us desert dwellers.

In fact,  I sent this photo to my sister and my mother today via text:

And there was not a peep about the “beautiful picture” or “how gorgeous” Sophia is… none of that usual nonsense.  My Mom?  She responded:  ”Trees?  Grass?  Wow.  She looks befuddled.”   (My mom lives in Florida.)  And my sister (from Vermont) said none too subtly:  ”Where’d you find that green stuff?”  Me:  ”Two hours north, in Flagstaff.”  Sister:  ”I see.  I’ll visit you there.”  Diva!

I look forward to when they read this post and learn that they both had the same reaction.

Lucky for them, Auntie Ashleigh appropriately gushed.  She’s fully in the know about Flagstaff and it’s beauty, so she was able to focus on the 2 year old.

In their defense, Sophia wasn’t quite certain what the green stuff was either.  But she knew she wanted OUT of it.  IMMEDIATELY.

But all was better in her world when Daddy showed her it was safe, and that it was fun to look for flowers!

We didn’t really find any flowers, but we did find Dandelions.  That picture at the beginning of this post?  That was taken while Daddy and I were trying to teach Sophia the joys of blowing on Dandelion’s and watching the seeds fly wistfully through the air.

Sophia accepted that Dandelion from Daddy as if he was handing her his car keys for the very first time.

And it looked like she might really catch on!

I just knew she’d love this activity!  You see, in one of her favorite movies, Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell actually is created from a Dandelion that is sent sailing in the wind due to the first laugh of a nearby baby… MAGICAL, right?  Poetic!  And beautiful!  Of course Sophia is going to LOVE this!  And Sophia is so gentle, warm, and loving… there is no way she would cause any harm to Tinkerbell!  Right?  RIGHT?!?

Oh dear.

Are you scarred?  Maybe not for life, but a little?  Yep.  I was too.  Here is a “flower” for you, with our hopes for your speedy recovery.

We did SO MANY other things on vacation!  We went to Bearizona and looked at, well… the bears.  And we went biking, and shopping!  And oh the eating! And the views!!!  But one of our favorite things to do was go to the putting course.  I have only ever played mini-golf, and a couple of times, many moons ago ~ I went to a driving range.  (If you want to make my husband laugh until his tear ducts cry for mercy – just ask him about the set of golf clubs I bought for those couple of trips to the driving range.  He discovered them when I was packing to move to AZ to live with him.  They didn’t get to come to AZ with me – they were donated to Goodwill.  Meh.  He married me anyway… so they couldn’t have been that bad.)

So – I wasn’t great at putting.  But Sophia caught on quick!  First, there’s the beautiful trail to get to the course, so we took advantage and stopped to smell the “flowers” on our way.

But once we could see the course… there was no slowing us down:

And now, since Sophia did catch on so quickly to golf and it’s many nuances, we thought we’d share with you a little tutorial.

First, you’ll need a golf club, and a ball.

It’s okay to run with them if you are so inclined.  They’re not scissors, after all.

Next, you will want to make sure to stretch.  Your golf game will be best if your swing is nice and relaxed, so stretch it out people:

Don’t be afraid to take extra time with this step to get a really deep stretch:

Next, and this is vital, you will want to line up your shot.

And finally, but most importantly, drop your ball in the most advantageous spot.  This helps to ensure the best possible outcome.

Now.  For those of you who follow the above steps, but golf just doesn’t seem to be your thing ~ feel free to play horsey instead!  (Daddy says Sophia has not been watching Happy Gilmore… BUT… the evidence would point to Daddy being busted!)

OR!  You can race to the bottom of the gigantic 3 foot hill!!! (Warning:  Sophia always wins.)

And if you really need to add some excitement to your experience, why not play a quick game of hide-and-seek with Daddy on the way back to the house?

………………………Where’s Daddy?                                                                   Do you see him?                                                                   Yep.  You found him.

Then follow Daddy back to the house.  He always knows the right way.

And lastly, we recommend you enjoy some well deserved milk and cookies.

Happy summer-time to all!

Please continue with our 10-on-10 circle by visiting my friend Renee!

xo,

 

 

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