Tuesday, January 31, 2012

what family looks like.

this past fall, before all the leaves and grass turned brown in upstate NY and winter came barreling through, i was able to spend a bit of time with a dear friend of mine and her family. this photoshoot was F-U-N and also inspiring... it was one of the ingredients that got me thinking about my current model of what a family photoshoot looks like, and what i'd like it to look like in the future. enough on that topic now, but there's more info to come, believe you me. i'm excited to share. :)

back to this darling family- they love well. they really do! and they seriously know how to have fun as a foursome. take a look at some of these shots:























friends, thanks so much for allowing me to spend time in your world! it was a blast and a half. love you all.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

hello again, my laptop-y friend.

sometimes i feel like computer and i are joined at the hip.

75, nay, probably closer to 85% of my work is done in front of a laptop. edit, sort, edit, return inquiries, emails, set up wedding details, edit, back up data, repeat. beyond that i'm a normal girl, right? so i facebook and read blogs and pin all kinds of pointless drivel that somehow makes me feel connected and current.

like i said, i spend a lot of time in front of this thing.

so when my computer had to go for a minor repair late last week i was like sayonara, peace out, catch you on the flip side, yo. i dreamed big dreams of being excessively productive in the great unpacking and settling in effort of 2011 (leftover from moving into husband's house) and in general, doing all those things i don't do when i'm "busy" lurking on facebook.

let's not talk about how productive i actually was, ok? ok.

i don't think i noticed how much i actually did do (which wasn't exactly, ahem, much) while freed from my machine but moreso, my mind and my heart was a lot free-er if that makes sense. tonight, after enjoying a lovely quiet night filled with documentaries and chipotle bought with a leftover wedding present gift-card, i booted up the recently returned machine and began my "really important" business. while next to the hubs i started reading some things, some really negative opinion-y things posted on facebook. ugh. and then i saw something that reminded me of a pretty negative set of feelings and being valued more for "doing" than "being"... which, if you've ever felt that, is really no fun at all. and then i glanced over to my email inbox which is hardly caught up and very much the bane of my days. i started getting lost in the rest of my week and it's only... tuesday.

then this guy i'm committed to 'til one of us croaks leans over to me in the middle of all my weighed-down-ness and whispers to me, "life's too short."



and he's totally right.
so i'm going to power down for the night, shake off the negative blahs, and finish my cinnamon tea which is right now brewing in my favorite multicolored bird mug. i'm going to wake up tomorrow and strive for a little more simplicity and a little more free-ness, even in the midst of not having the excuse of "out for repair." and then i'm going to wake up and continue to do it all over again the next day, and again the day after that.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

a spot of sunshine.

today is a rather dreary day, as are many days in the pacific northwest this time of year.

i got up.
ate some breakfast.
burned some discs to mail to clients.
thought, a lot.
talked with my sister as she drove to the hospital.
worked on my list of "to-do"'s.
figured out a grocery list.

all the while, my heart was rather heavy for old friends i know who are going through an unimaginably hard time.
i think it's just one of those days. which is ok.
but instead of posting just anything, why don't i post a bit of beauty?
that's one of things i love most about the arts.
there can be sadness, tragedy, darkness, tears- and still- beauty is there. and hope is waiting, just around the corner. as is springtime when you're smack dab in the middle of january.

(enjoy these photos taken while on our honeymoon in jamaica this fall. jamaica = stunning, not to mention quite cheery.)




















Wednesday, January 11, 2012

henley and eden (post one of a million :))

i feel extraordinarily blessed these days.

after a really (really!) scary/tough/uncertain pregnancy, my sister safely delivered twin girls on december 30th. they were born early as we knew they would be, but not as early as they could've been. things are going much better than the doctors expected- but have you ever seen a 3lb. baby in real life? up until last week, i hadn't. t-i-n-y. full term newborns look like giants to me now. :) as these are my first nieces or nephews, i am absolutely over the moon smitten, and even if they were my 15th niece or nephew, i have a feeling i'd be in exactly the same smitten space. let me show you why.





















i don't know about you, but prior to this none of my friends or family members had given birth to multiples, and i'd never witnessed firsthand what it's like to have your newborn in the NICU. the best way i could think of to describe it is to imagine that you give birth to a baby (or babies) and immediately put them on the bus for boarding-school kindergarten. this is not exactly how ANY new parent would want to start things off! of course, without the NICU my nieces would not be alive at this point and so my family is super grateful for all the technology and medical advances here, but we're so looking forward to when these sweeties can go home. :) there are tons of things i didn't know before having someone close to me go through this kind of situation, and here are a few of the things i've learned along the way:

when a baby is in the NICU, this is the itty-bitty version of the grown up intensive care unit. when updates say "things are going well"- this does not mean things are going normally and all is perfect. it just means the situation is less life-and-death than it could be, and there's hope of improvement every day. there are lots of ups and downs to your baby needing a lot of extra help to stay alive.

when someone has more than one baby at one time, remember how overwhelming one brand-new infant can be. then multiply. :) multiples are an incredible blessing, but twice (or more than twice) the adjustment. new moms of multiples are trying to learn a WHOLE lot about more than one tiny little person. it's a super busy time for those parents... maybe the busiest time in their lives. :)

things that can be so so so helpful to a new parent going through something like this:
- meals (food of all kinds has been a gem to my sister and brother in law! they definitely don't have time to cook or grocery shop for themselves.)
- cards/letters/notes of encouragement that they can read in their free time
- offers of help (even if a new parent doesn't take you up on an offer, it's so sweet and encouraging!)
- nights in a hotel closeby if the hospital is a drive away from their home
- the occasional text/email/call. even if there's not a lot of spare time, it's awesome to stay connected to people they love.

if a baby is in the NICU or is premature, visitors may be wanted, but not necessarily safe. tiny babes like my nieces are in more danger if they even catch a cold, especially if they're already struggling to eat or breathe. when my nieces are finally released to go home from the hospital, they'll probably still have to be more sheltered from a ton of exposure to people than the average newborn... it's a totally different situation than having a full-term baby.

it's a long road when babies are born very early... most importantly families like this need your prayers! if you think of them, please pray for my nieces in particular. their mommy and daddy want them home and out of the hospital more than anything. :)

Monday, January 9, 2012

heather + thomas (for fun)

on a chilly day in mid-december, i met up with some dear friends for a mini-shoot of sorts.

wait- i take that back. it was NOT a mini-shoot.
it was a professional/personal/professional shoot. all packed into 45 minutes. bam!
it was wild. we had outfit changes. my fingers froze. (ALL of heather froze at one point as she was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt!) but overall, we three had a lot of fun. they made my job easy, as these guys are easy on the camera lens!

















heather and thomas, as always, i loved spending time with you guys! you two lovebirds are certainly gonna have some beautiful babies one day. ;)