kellan

other than being obsessed with buying a new camera, things in my neck of the woods have been relatively quiet and stress free the past few days. After a week of big A being sick with strep and and ear infection, was finally feeling back to normal and we ventured out for a little girl time on Sunday. She missed most of school last week, and I think she was just happy to get out of the house and into the fresh air and warm sun. I also spent time with Kellan...who was less than amused that his mom and I were trying to get him into all sorts of little baby poses (you know, the ones where they are propped up on their elbows). He was perfectly content wrapped up in his blankets

and baring it all to feel the hot sun coming through the window.

now, back to that camera. any nikon users want to weigh in on what camera body they shoot with? I'm looking at the D700, D300s or the D7000...

the little green machine

big A has been sick for the majority of the week, so we have been trying to keep little C out of the house and occupied so she doesnt get sick as well.

one day after preschool, she decided to change into something a little more comfy than what she wore to school (which was very similar to what she changed into, only it matched) so she could play outside.

she came downstairs very proud of herself, because she dressed in all green...and in her little world, it was just fabulous.

She added a tutu, and became the 'green warrior princess ballerina'

i kid you not...

I cant imagine what the new neighbors (whom I haven't met yet) were thinking when they saw this little green blur running around the backyard.

three is such a fun age, and little C embraces all that is magical about it. she sings at the top of her lungs, plays pretend with a passion, and is just not one iota embarrassed or shy to do so.

she makes us giggle.

have a great week!

pictures were edited with patti brown's overlays...ethreal used on all of them

senior session

i tried uploading a sneak peek of this photo to blogger last night, but it was giving me a hard time...kept on getting some error message and so I gave up! it seems to be working fine this morning...now I just dont have the time to upload them all!

i posted a sneak peek of Chelsea's photo shoot on facebook. she totally rocked the camera...and the camera absolutely loved her! you can check out a few more of her pics here if you are so inclined!

thanks for an awesome saturday morning, Chelsea!

the seminary

I'm not much of a playground gal. I prefer wide open fields and new places to explore, and will pick this over monkey bars and plastic slides any day. dont worry, my girls arent playground-deprived, but lets just say that their dad is usually the one taking them there. someone gave me a tip on an old seminary not to far from my home, so little C and I checked it out over the weekend. it was just my cup of tea...cool buildings, lots of room to roam, things to find, and stuff to learn. she's my sidekick with these types of outings, and rarely says no if I ask her if she wants to go exploring. I cant wait to see some green on these trees, though. the brown is starting to get depressing. little C was interested in the 'snakes' on the ground, which were those pod-like things that fall from certain kinds of trees. I have no idea which trees are which, so I really have no idea what kind of trees they came from... but I did know that if you opened them up, there would be seeds in there. so we went on a hunt to find the ones that shook the best - therefore making it easier to open - and had a grand time finding the seeds (and being educated on the fact that eating them probably isnt a good idea) success! and, with each success, comes rock and roll... happy tuesday!!

weekend rewind...

besides watching the Kids Choice Awards at least three times this weekend, once live and the other two reruns that I could have done without, it was a grand weekend in my neck of the woods. My Saturday morning started out with a photo shoot of this beautiful young lady who is college bound in September. It was such a fun shoot...she was up for anything and was full of energy. I really like photo shoots with teenagers, they think outside of the box and are really cooperative when I suggest we climb up walls or pose on loading docks!

Chelsea has been a dancing since she was very little, so we did some shots of her in one of her ballet costumes. We went to a pretty urban area around here and did the shoot right on the street, and it was a blast. I cant wait to finish up her pictures...

the rest of Saturday was spent with little C while Dave took big A and her cousins on a bike ride. We went to the field behind our house and went on a rock hunt and sang songs (rather loudly).

and, while we were at it, we found some sticks and waved them around to ward off the evil groundhog empire that has formed in the clearing behind our house. I have already trapped two of the little suckers and set them free. but, if they keep on coming back and digging up more of my patio, I may need to think of alternate methods. i'm just saying.

when we got back from our walk, we came across Dave and the other kiddos gathering sticks to start a fire...

and we did some serious marshmallow roasting.

have a great week :)

i took a bite of the big apple

....and it bit me back. for real.

Dave & I went into the city last weekend to celebrate my milestone birthday. it was a great 24 hours in NY and I felt a lot like I did when we were dating and living in the DC area...just the two of us, no real plans except to find new things and explore. we got there around 11 am and headed to soho and the village. after walking around a bit and grabbing some coffee, we did a little shopping and stopped at a bar to have a drink and some nachos. we largely repeated the pattern of walking - shopping - popping in for drinks... for the entire afternoon.

And, before I go any further, I will admit that i was a tad buzzed that afternoon. not drunk. not falling over myself (or anyone else). In control. But, yes, buzzed. The good kind of buzz when you are giddy and goofy and with your best friend, just the two of you tripping around the city streets.

It was this kind of buzz that made going through my photos of that day a total blast, because I have clear recollection of exactly what I was thinking at each click of my camera. and, it was silly and ridiculous and the reason why I had such an incredible day...and no real amazing shots. I can promise you, these photos will not be of any quality, as I was, well, buzzed :)

{thinking} why would anyone put a cat on his head? what would that guy do if the cat pooped on his head? this is utterly ridiculous.

{said to dave} that is so stupid, i must have a photo of it.

{thinking} It's a good thing I bought that ipod, even though dave thought we were spending money frivolously. Its really coming in handy now that he's trying to find out where we are.

{said to dave} It's a good thing I bought that ipod, even though you thought we were spending money frivously. Its really coming in handy now that we need a map.

We came across this group of men singing in front of Ralph Lauren. We stayed on this street corner for a while listening to them and I remember thinking that I had just seen something special. I love the look of the guy playing the bass...but I think he's giving me the finger.

{thinking} reality check

{said to dave} we really have no idea how good we have it

{thinking} that oil & vinegar store looks so cute, maybe we need some new oil or vinegar

{said to dave, after tasting several vinegars} we need the fig vinegar

{now thinking} I guess I'm doing a giveaway on the blog soon, because I'll never really use$38 fig vinegar.

{thinking} I wonder if anyone famous lives in that building. maybe joaquin phoenix? maybe he'd walk out of the door right now and i could finally cash in on my top 5 freebie

{said to dave} that building is beautiful!

{thinking} dang, I just saw on Fashion Police that colorblocking is in this year. I should take a picture of it

after spending the afternoon together, we went to our hotel to meet up with our friends who drove into the city for the night to celebrate with us (thanks E & W crews!). we ate a fantastic dinner at citrus and at one point, looked at the table and saw this...

and i decided to officially cut myself off from any and all alcohol for the remainder of the night. the time stamp on my camera said 8:13 pm.

the unfortunate thing is that even though I did this, apparently those nachos we ate earlier in the day were bad and Dave & I both woke up at 4 am...sick, achy and with the chills. We formally apologize to our dear & understanding friends D&E for the fiasco that ensued in the hotel bathroom early that morning. it could not have been fun for them.

cheers!