Make My Day

I've been relatively slow in the photo taking arena as of late.  Still waiting for my "baby" to arrive - my Canon 50D that my husband surprised me with last week!  It shipped out last night so - maybe by monday...(fingers crossed!)  In the meantime, I've been busy preparing for my son's 6th (oh my golly goodness - 6 years old?!?! where have I been?!?!) birthday party this weekend and flattering my drabby wardrobe with some spring/summer essentials.  Two things in particular I felt compelled enough to photograph...

My new Steve Madden oxfords.....adore

and, because I'm a major dork - matching mother/daughter swimsuits from the new Liberty for London line at Target. LOVE!

Hope you all are having blissful springtimes.  I am!

JUMP for joy for iheart faces!

I have sooooo many photos I could have added to this challenge - my family likes to jump extremely much (as Lola would have put it...).  And also extremely well.  However,  I chose a more recent photo - one you all might recognize.  Ethan and his fabulous superhero flying powers!

Check out more jumping photos @

My Interview With Superman

This is my husband...

He's an inspiring drummer/bassist/singer...

[photo courtesy of Hannah Bryant Brown]


He's an amazing, compassionate, tender father...





And he's just a tad bit goofy sometimes...



And he's all mine.

He blows my mind. Seriously. Today he surprised/blessed my pants off with the $$ for my long awaited camera + some! I'm in awe and shock and every other word that radiates disbelief. I am also humbled. I am SO not worthy of all he does for me yet he continues to do it, all because of his deep love for me. For us.

He gave me my world-changer of a son, he's given me a beautiful daughter, and now this...!? Three words: heaven. on. earth.

You Are My Sunshine[s]....

Even after all this time The sun never says to the earth, "You owe Me."

 Look what happens with a LOVE like that. It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz

We went to the park last weekend - the sun shone for us afterall and despite the chilly wind, warmed our frosty faces.  Oh, we love you sun!  Keep note for photos of the all elusive Ethan.  I can hardly keep him still for one minute so luck be to us that we finally captured him!!!

Forgotten Language

Forgotten Language

Written by: Shel Silverstein

Once I spoke the language of the flowers,

Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,

Once I smiled a secret at the gossip of the starlings,

And shared a conversation with the housefly

in my bed.

Once I heard and answered all the questions

of the crickets,

And joined the crying of each falling dying

flake of snow,

Once I spoke the language of the flowers....

How did it go?

How did it go?

This weekend I had the utmost pleasure of photographing the White family - a family of 7!  It is a good thing I had recently discovered the near impossibility of managing to get 5 children, all with such unique and different personalities, to look up and smile at the camera at once, thus....we just flowed with their rhythm!  Hence producing perfect, magical photos - looking at them take me back to my childish days.  I had so much fun capturing their little moments and watching them sweetly interact with one another.  They are proof that families of large numbers are truly a good thing!

















































By the Way....If you haven't noticed, I've been playing around with my branding logo quite a bit lately.  One of my fellow bloggers recently asked, "Do you ever annoy yourself?" And my answer to that question would be YES.  I cannot seem to be satisfied but since I'm still "in the making", I guess I give myself the room for a little ongoing "frustrative creativity" until I find the PERFECT one!...So bear with me....XOXO!

Of Love & Angles, Cabbages & Kings...

Ok.  May I firstly call to confession: I am behind on my develop project.  To all my fellow "developers" - accept this as my formal apology.  Especially to Jefra who works SO hard to bring us captivating, inspiring lessons and stunning, breathtaking photos!  *Muah!*

So, yes, develop project #3 got lost in all the clamour of our house as of late.  The "search for light" did not go so well for me.  To put it frankly: I worship the sun when it comes to my photography and without it, I melt to pieces.  New 2010 resolution: work on this.  Find some light in other things: flashlights, and headlights and television sets.  "Yes ma'am" - I tell myself. "Get on it!"

Now onto develop project #4 !  Angles I'm good at.  Mostly because I'm allowed to use the sun for this one.

 (*sidenote - awww - "Us" by Regina Spektor just came on...I LOVE this song....which reminds me I also am in LOVE with the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack! mmmm).  Anywaaaay.... 

I started playing with angles on my usual test subject....Ava the Great....

Anyway - the first is your typical straight on.  The only good thing about the photo is the fact that she's so darn cute with that "duh, mom" look on her face.  The second angle's alright.  She's got cute feet and I'll take any laughing picture I can get of her!  The third angle just looks like she's about to sit on my face so...scratch this.

My next test subject was my son - Ethan the Mighty......

Apparently, I really like this angle.  Interesting factoid: he was so concentrated on coloring at this moment (as you can tell by the last photo and the tongue phenomenon going on there...) - he didn't even notice me taking pictures of him!  Maybe this stunted my creativity - who knows.

I was about to give up until this morning during a "baby's napping - reckless freedom" moment, I got a little camera happy with test subject number 3 - a card Ethan gave me yesterday -

Here are some "looking up" angled views:






Here's an "oh hello, there you are" angle:



Here's a "creeping up on you" angle:



Here's an "I just ate a tea biscuit and grew 4 feet taller - curious & curiouser...." angle:



And lastly: a "you lookin' at me?" angle - nicely framing my muchly-neglected eyebrows



Jesh de Rox just wrote a beautiful post about love/pain/desire/needs.  In the wake of valentines day - reading it will encourage you and remind you of the humanity of us all.  I'll leave you with one exert that I especially loved:

to be seen is perhaps the greatest of all human needs, and we expect/desire/require this from the people we love. 

i held the moment in my hand...

I've been feeling inspired by some of the blogs I follow recently.  Today, Lisa Leonard had an inspiring post about moments and some lovely photos from a vintage book full of love letters.  I sometimes feel like this - like I'm enjoying a moment SO much, if only I could capture it in the palm of my hand, and hold onto it forever. 

Some favorite moments of mine:
- riding my bicycle as a little girl
- the way my sisters soft blonde hair always smelled so nice as a child
- hugs from my mom
- new ballet shoes
- leaving the reception of my wedding - to be alone as husband and wife for the first time!
- seattle - everytime!
- dancing on the rooftop of the place my husband and I first met for our 2nd year wedding anniversary
- the moment i first met Ethan
- the moment i first met Ava
- the moment Ava first walked
- conversations over coffee

I wish I could capture all my moments like this:

I got the photo idea from Amanda's blog. 

What are your favorite moments?  How do you like to "capture" your moments the best?