A Favorite

This is one of my favorites from that day.

The M. Family. Sunday Afternoon at Lincoln Park.

About five years ago when K and I worked together the television station offered flu shots. We decided we’d go together. We walked out of the newsroom, headed towards the elevator to go upstairs. Once there we sat down and the woman who was about to inflict those shots on us had us fill out a form … and then informed us that if we were pregnant we’d have to get a doctor’s note. Well turns out I was pregnant at that time. I wasn’t ready to tell any of my co-workers about my pregnancy. So I thought quickly, and turned to K and said … ‘you can’t tell anyone …’ and in turn she said basically the same thing to me. That’s how we became belly buddies! There were only a couple of days difference in our due dates… but in the end our boys were born 9 days apart. Since then K has added another. I have not!

I hope you enjoy your sneak peak K. and A.

Baby Bumps

Being this cute when you are pregnant should be illegal. We used to work together … many years ago. Back then she wasn’t even married, now she’s working on baby number three. 

Doesn’t she look fantastic!

So exciting. Can’t wait to meet him … or her?

Holiday Mini Session

I am excited to announce some holiday mini sessions … a quick session at the park or at your home. Ideal for the perfect photograph for your holiday cards or how about some gifts for the grandparents or even for yourselves. Hurry and book now …

Senior Session Sneak Peak

Here is a quick look at a couple of shots from a session with high school senior, Maddie. When we first met, Maddie told me she didn’t really like being in front of the camera because she didn’t like the way she looked in photographs. I told Maddie that she wasn’t alone in that boat. But I think she looks pretty darned beautiful in these shots … if I do say so myself.

I’m especially happy that Maddie and her Mum chose me for her senior session because a portion of the session fee will go to the non-profit organization, Teens In Public Service.

Thank you Maddie and Flo. More to come soon.

Getting ahead (shot)

So a few weeks back (yes, I’m a backlogged blogger) I was on Facebook pretty early in the morning and all of a sudden a friend popped on the instant chat.

“Hey, can you shoot a quick head shot? Today.”  Sure I thought. It just so happened to be one of those days when I wasn’t playing “mum’s shuttle service” too much and I was more than happy to oblige. I’m often taking photographs of children, so to take a professional’s head shot was something different and I’m all for doing this more often.

 Jessica was the first person in our neighborhood who greeted my husband and I and our then 18 month old daughter when we moved into our first home in Seattle. That was more than 15 years ago. Since then, we’ve moved a couple of times and now live in a mobile home. Jessica lives in a houseboat that she and her husband recently renovated.

 

And they were recently featured in a local paper. http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100902/LIVING03/709029999

I love that their kitchen cabinets were designed to accommodate the wine cooler!

I’m also looking forward to a private tour sometime soon (hint! hint!)

Can It

A couple of weekends ago hubby and I took the three urchins berry picking. It’s one of those summer rituals we have. See who can pick the most blueberries and raspberries, or in some cases, eat the most.

In the days that follow we eat blueberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But last year my dear husband upped the ante. He made jam. Not freezer jam mind you … full on canning with pectin and water baths and ”make-damn-sure-that-lid-pops” canning. For him it’s all about the process. I wanted nothing to do with it until I opened a jar and tasted the blueberry-raspberry goodness.

So this year it was my turn.

After a couple of hours in sun we wound up with some tired kids, 15 pounds of blueberries and five pounds of raspberries. Not to mention the berries that just sort of popped into our mouths along the way.

This time because my husband’s summer project is building a deck onto the back of our house, he didn’t have time to make the jam. In reality he didn’t want to hear me nag anymore about why wasn’t he working on the deck, blah blah blah. So that left me with mounds of fruit that would rot in a few days if I didn’t do something with it quickly. I did make the obligatory raspberry-blueberry cobbler, blueberry muffins, blueberries with yoghurt, blueberries just out of the box. But I also decided to “put up” some of those berries (look at me with the fancy canning lingo)…

I must admit I was a little nervous because I am not good about following directions. (Hey, at least I admit it). The first batch I made was similar to last year’s jam. Then I got a little fancy-schmancy and made peach-cardamom jam (very sweet, but ever-so yummy) and then I threw caution to the wind and decided not to follow a recipe and make a  blueberry-peach jam with less sugar and no pectin (probably not a good idea this early in my canning obsession not to follow a recipe because this one is a little runny, but it does taste good).

I did have a few moments when I didn’t think the peach jam worked. After taking the jars out of the bath it took a while for them to pop … but in the end all turned out, dare I say, peachy.

Now I am eyeballing blackberries that are growing off the bushes in the back yard. I’m thinking of throwing some vodka over them and see where that takes us. Yum…