Babies
Children
Engagement
Family
Posted on August 15, 2010
I had so much fun with this group. They are old college friends who live all over the country but try to get together ever few years. This year they met in NC and wanted to have their reunion documented.
Gorgeous friends, beautiful weather, a little wine in dixie cups, what more could you ask for?
They made me laugh the whole time!
Cheers!
Posted on June 15, 2010
We just got back from our vacation to Kill Devil Hills in the beautiful NC Outer Banks. We discovered a little jewel of a motel last year and there was no doubt about where we would stay this year.
The Cavalier Motel started in 1949. It is the classic 50’s type motel with the “U” shape building layout with the pool in the middle of the parking lot. There are no key cards here but real keys with the classic big, plastic, diamond keychain. I forgot to take a picture of that for y’all.
The oceanfront rooms are ON the beach as you can see in the last picture in the collage below. They also have a great playground. We had breakfast on the porch each morning and you can’t beat the view from those chairs. You take 4 steps off the porch and your toes are in the sand. I told you that the rooms were ON the beach!
We were able to watch dolphins everyday and I did catch one picture of flipping out of the water and onto his back. I was on the porch so I was not too close to the water but I wanted to share it anyway.
My daughter LOVED the water as you can see from these pics.
This motel is family owned, friendly and clean but it is very old school! From the wood grain walls to the paper bath mat, so much of it is still just as it was in the 60’s but we love it. (Yes I said “paper” bath mat with a map pf NC places to see on it. I have not seen those since I was little! We now take our own bath mat just to make it feel a little more like home.)
http://cavaliermotel.net/
Check it out if you are planning a trip to the Outer Banks. Make sure you look at the tour/history section of the website. The last and only color picture is from the 60’s and it looks like what you will see today.
Posted on June 3, 2010
I love going to the Farmer’s Market and I proud that I have passed that onto my daughter. She loves walking around, looking and tasting…..well she really only will eat the cantaloupe and watermelon. But she does enjoy looking, touching and asking what things are.
I love cooking and there is so much inspiration to be found.
I love the colors, smells and textures of everything.
These will be used to make a Strawberry Trifle for a family reunion this weekend.
On this trip we were there to get some fruit, some freshly made salsa, a few flowers and Kathryn really wanted a cactus.
After looking for about 10 minutes, she finally picked the winning cactus.
Go out and support your local farmers!!!
Posted on May 6, 2010
There is a very talented photographer who is making Mother’s Day very special for someone! She is having a contest and is giving away some beautiful handmade items.
I love all things crafty. I knit, craft, scrapbook, I love shopping online at Etsy.com and love to see what fun and lovely things people can make when they use their creativity.
I wanted to share this because there are links to 25 unique, creative and wonderful websites. Please check them out. In a world of machine made everything it is important that we promote and patronize the artists who put their love and care into making handmade items.
Posted on May 4, 2010
Mother’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. It took 4 long years to get my little miracle baby, Kathryn. So I am very thankful to be a part of this day.
One of my favorite things to do with Kathryn is reading to her. We do this every night. She is in her comfy jammies, she snuggles close to me, she is quiet and and I get her complete attention.
So in honor of Mother’s Day I thought I would share some of our favorite books.
I have favorite books from my childhood. I worked with children from high school to college so I have seen and read a lot of books. I have a BA in English, and in the mountains and mountains of books I had to read, I did sneak in some children’s literature classes. I am a firm believer that reading is beneficial in so many ways, but I am not going to give you a public service announcement! I just want to share some of our favorites.
I love books so much that I painted Dr. Seuss book covers on the walls of her nursery before she was born and I started reading to her when she was around 5-6 months old.
I started with these classics.
She would crawl to a book, drag it to me and crawl into my lap and it would just melt my heart!
Once I started taking her to the library we really started having fun with reading.
Here are some of our favorites just from the past year.
“Mrs. Biddlebox” by Linda Smith. A creative book about taking your bad day, baking it into a cake, eating it up leaving you with a wonderful night.
“Dumpy La Rue” by Elizabeth Winthrop. A book about a pig who wants to dance.
Any and all of the Jane Yolen “How do Dinosaurs” series. Here are just three.
“Do Not Open This Book.” A recent favorite (found this week) by Michaela Muntean. I think I love this book more than Kathryn. It is so funny!
Try these books out.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
Posted on April 26, 2010
This week I took Kathryn to the opening of our new museum of art. The new building is AMAZING. It is about 1/2 glass and the rest is aluminum-clad. Lots of natural light inside, reflecting pools outside. I was hoping Kathryn would like it since she loves to paint. She was grumpy so we will have to go back. And it is a beautiful location for photography shoots.
There are 3 reflecting pools. Kathryn wanted to throw rocks into them so badly. Here is a black and white shot of one of them.
There is another reflecting pool in the Rodin Courtyard. And at the entrance of the museum is “The Thinker.”
I love this one. “The Cathedral” by Rodin. It is two right hands.
As you enter the museum’s lobby, you see these. Three Jaume Plensa sculptures, Doors of Jerusalem I, II, and III.
In the museum’s new restaurant, a mural made with sticks by a local artist, Patrick Dougherty. Very cool!
After a little accident in the restroom, Kathryn had to go without her undies. In the first gallery we got to she decided to lift her skirt and show her little naked behind. She was quietly scolded my Mommy then she sat in her stroller, pouted and fell asleep.
This is not new but one of my favorites. It is made of over 5,000 spools of thread. The artist is Devorah Sperber. You can see the image upright with a little glass sphere.
Another favorite of mine is this statue by Michael Richards. He made this to honor the WWII African American pilots but used his own image. The planes sticking in him is a haunting and eerie sight to see because he was killed while in his World Trade Center studio on 9-11.
Kathryn at the end of our visit.
Since she slept the whole time I was able to look at the new and my favorite works of art. This new building is just beautiful. If you have not seen it, check it out!
Posted on April 19, 2010
One of my favorite blogs to follow, www.twophotogs.com, is having another Inspiration Challenge. This time it was toys! Kathryn has lots of those but my biggest problem was getting her to let me play with them.
The Proposal
Duck, Duck, Goose.
Coming Home
Proud
Ouch
I can be pretty too.
Spring day.
Posted on April 14, 2010
I have always been a shutterbug. In high school and college I had a Minolta SLR. I even worked in a photo lab printing photos for a while. When digital photography started, I bought a little point and shoot camera. It was easy and I could take it anywhere.
After Kathryn was born, I was taking a lot of pictures of course. Actually, I was taking a lot while I was pregnant and I have a large belly bump progression collage to prove it. But, I will spare everyone from seeing it!
My poor baby always had a camera in her face. Here are a few snap shots from her first days.
A rare shot of Mommy on the other side of the lens.
When she started walking I realized that I needed to go back to my SLR. This allowed me the ability to be more creative so in her face went another but larger camera.
I took her picture all the time.
When she was sad.
When she wanted Mommy pick her up.
When she was having a bad hair day.
My poor girl was not safe even when she was sleeping.
I would take fun snow days and turn them into fashion photo shoots. Cute coat but who wears this while making a snowman?
Maybe it was this constant flashing and clicking that has turned her into an anti photo kid. It is like pulling teeth to get her to sit for a picture or to simply act normal. This is what I have to work with these days.
A recent Easter shoot started silly and turned into grumpy and pouting.
It is rare but sometimes I can catch her off guard and get a nice portrait.
So when you ask to see new pictures of my daughter, and I laugh…..you know why!
Posted on April 7, 2010
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Posted on March 6, 2010
The Savvy Photographer are giving away 2 Get Schooled Photo kits. If you are not following their blog, check them out and join! http://www.thesavvyphotographer.com