This summer has been incredible so far. Every day the girls snarf down their breakfast and head outside, often before 8AM, to meet the neighborhood kids for scooter races and games of capture the flag and tag. They have been staying out there until we have to leave for swimming lessons. As soon as we get back they are back out there roaming anywhere between our house and the neighbors on either side until it is time for bed.
These kiddos (there are 7 of them) are great at entertaining themselves, but every so often an adult intervenes to up the fun quotient. One neighbor has a bounce house to get the wiggles out, another neighbor had the kids make clay figures to illustrate a story of their own making.
My contribution? A 10 year old sprinkler and some nice cold water. Like I said, cheap thrills. Who doesn’t like a nice run through the sprinkler on a hot day? I think I had more fun watching them than they did running around!
Here are my favorites…
For all of you folks looking for an alternative way to enjoy the sprinker there is the bumbershoot method…
I’ve got a shiny new website and I’d love it if y’all would take it out for a test drive. I made the big switch because I wanted to improve my shopping cart for my clients AND improve my workflow in the process. The website is actually just a pretty little bonus in the whole deal.
Photobiz is the company I went with and I can’t speak highly enough about them. Their customer service is FANTASTIC. Not only did I call them twice in two days but they even called me once with a suggestion for how to use the cart better for my business. They called ME! The last company that I used, who I won’t mention (BluDomain), only had email contact. Even if your site was down. Email only. When the chips are down I NEED to reach out and touch somebody.
I am such a technical idiot. New technology scares me. Actually, it doesn’t really have to be new, just new to me!
That’s why it has taken so long for me to get around to calibrating my monitor. I knew, that as a ‘professional’ photographer, I was supposed to do it, but I kept trying to convince myself that I didn’t need to. I edit my images on a happy, bright iMac. I LOVE this monitor! The colors are so bright and sharp and I get to see a never ending slideshow of my favorite pictures when I ‘m not working on the computer.
Reality has been creeping in slowly, though. I KNEW that when I was processing my pictures I had to make them much brighter than I liked, just so they would print okay at the lab. I just didn’t want to admit that I had a problem.
So I finally caved and had Amazon deliver a Spyder at the same time as they dropped off my groceries. (Okay, I’ve got THAT new fangled technology down. Anytime I can type on my computer and have food show up is okay by me!) It took 15 minutes to install and hook up this funny little contraption and the difference in my monitor is shocking.
I have to admit that I don’t really like what it has done to my bright, happy monitor. I was used to seeing my screen with a warm, bright cast and it changed it to a dimmer, bluer screen. Sigh. I guess I’ll have to keep it that way, though, because look at the difference in my printed photos. The black and white is less dramatic, but look at the color!
Too bad I can’t take this contraption and calibrate my laundry too. Imagine how bright and happy we would all look!
This past week our next door neighbors have been living large in Hawaii. While they were gone they hired Jill and Ellie (for $10 a day) to take care of their dog Pumpkin. With the $70 they earned they decided to save $25 each and use the other $30 to buy two seasons of the Brady Bunch.
The girls literally jumped up and down when they saw the UPS man stop in front of our house on Friday afternoon. (I wonder how often he gets THAT reaction?) They just knew he had the goods.
The timing was perfect because Allen was gone all weekend on a guys golfing extravaganza. We had a lovely evening on Saturday night enjoying our Brady Bunch marathon mixed with our brownie bites. Can you have a better girls evening?
Their favorite episode(s)? It’s got to be the episodes where the Brady’s travelled to Hawaii. The most embarassing? Hands down it’s Sunshine Day. Yikes! Those guys should keep their day jobs!
By the way, our neighbors did not see Vincent Price OR any tiki necklaces while they were on vacation.
Just for a little fun you might check out Jamie Foxx’s version (Stick with it to the end because be ‘breaks it down like Prince and it’s hilarious!)…
Ricky and Kelli braved the craziness of my household last weekend. They brought their Little Man Ronan for his six month pictures in the midst of our neighborhood garage sale. Not only did they have to make it through the traffic, but they had to push past all the treasure hunters in my driveway only to be confronted with my messy house. (Listen, internet, I can only keep so many balls in the air and it was the clean house ball that I let drop!) Thank goodness Kelli and Ricky were willing to just roll with it!
The last time I saw Ronan he was a teeny, tiny, sleepy, little babe. Just look at him now! Kelli wanted to wait until he was sitting up for this photo session and she emailed me ON THE DAY he sat up so she could schedule it. He’s a very talented little guy and so happy. And the best part about him is he was completely oblivious to my mess house!
Last month Sandra called to ask if I would help commemorate her 40th birthday by taking pictures at her party. This isn’t normally something I would agree to because I’m not a snapshot kind of gal. It’s really a personal problem because I seem to have a creativity block when it comes to big party pictures.
BUT… I’ve been to one of Sandra’s little get togethers and I KNEW it would be special. She has such an amaing attention to detail. Nothing is ever forgotten. One of the most amazing details that Sandra organized for this party was individual cupcakes for every person attending. Not just a flavor that each guest would like best, but each cupcake was decorated to match their personality too. (For example, my cupcake had a camera on top and Allen’s had a big purple W.) The best thing about Sandra’s parties is that you feel special to be there and those cupcakes are the perfect example.
This is going to be a long post so grab a glass of champagne and enjoy!
For Mother’s Day this year I offered to ‘help’ Allen out by ordering my own gift. Okay, we all know that I am a control freak and he really didn’t have a choice in the matter. (I have to say, the whole thing took 8 weeks to arrive so I was happy that it came before Father’s Day!)
I had heard about this amazing bag company from the Netherlands on one of the professional photographer message boards I belong to. After much gnashing of teeth I decided to pull the trigger and order this bag. Not because it wasn’t beautiful. I loved it at first sight! It was because of a past experience with photo bags that I had second thoughts.
I am quite handy with a sewing machine so I’ve made myself many photo purses. I always hoped that people would ask me “Who took that fabulous picture?”, but they never did. They always asked me about the bag. That was all well and good until I decided to get uber fancy and make myself a tote bag out of this amazing light blue dupioni silk. I adored this bag… until I was asked three times in one month “Are those your grandkids?” GRANDKIDS?!?!? That’s it. My ego couldn’t take it anymore. I hid that bag under my bed and it never saw the light of day again.
I’m hoping that the pink and yellow patent pleather of my new bag will convince everybody that I am a young, hip, mama. Or maybe it will just signal that I have an unresolved Barbie infatuation…
A couple of weeks ago Jill went to her end of the year sleepover with her Girl Scout Troop. The girls had raised a significant chunk of money by selling cookies this year and, together, they worked out a plan on how to spend it. Half of it will go to a horse rescue organization next week. (Never fear, internet, I’ll be sure to take plenty of pictures of THAT visit too!)
The other half the girls wanted to spend on a fun evening together. They brainstormed all of the activities they wanted to do in the evening, estimated all of these costs and eliminated anything that pushed them over their budget. Not only did they get a fun evening, but they also got a lesson in event planning and budgeting.
Girl Scouts has been such a great experience for all these girls. I love that the girls are learning how to be responsible, participating members of the community. Their fearless leader Becky has been such an integral part of that teaching. I know she doesn’t ever want to appear on my blog, but too bad. She does a great job and you all must know about her!
Note to self - When taking a ‘grass’ picture of this many people A) Choose a wider lens and B) Take the picture under tree cover. That sky was WAY too bright!
My friend Amy brought her girlie Addison back for some fun pictures and she also brought the two important men in her lives, her dad and her hubby. (She is soon to have a third man in her life because she’s having a baby boy in September. I had to point this out because she’s such a cute little thing that you can’t even tell she is pregnant! I don’t know. I may have to stop shooting her pictures out of shear jelousy!)
I got the cutest series pictures of Miss Addison and Bubba (that’s what Addison call her Grandpa, Bob). She was tickling him, and kissing him and clearly adoring him.
It was fun capturing moments between generations (It was a weekend of multi-generational pictures, eh?) and getting Jeff (daddy) finally in some pictures too.
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