Archive for 'personal'
i have been home from india for 1 week. it almost feels like my trip was just a dream.
india is so many things it is difficult to process. it is beautiful, bustling, sad, loud, lovely…there are so many words to describe this colorful and complex land!
since i am most definitely NOT a writer i will try to share my experience with you through my photos. i will be making several posts over the next week (and these are just the travel photos. wait until you see the AMAZING wedding that i got to photograph in udaipur!).
the city palace complex was built in the early 20th century, in the reign of Maharana Fateh Singh (1884-1930). they were doing a lot of repairs at the palace complex while we were there, but it was still beautiful! we stayed at fateh prakash, which was in the city complex and built in the early 1900’s.
lake pichola and the lake palace in the distance.
dogs on a mission.
great mustaches of udaipur.
the day after shooting a 3 day wedding we sat by the pool at shiv niwas and relaxed!
our cute room at kankarwa haveli guest house.
the view from the rooftop resturant at kankarwa haveli. sunset was gorgeous!
shiv niwas
more photos to come!
better late than never! here are a few photos of my kids multiple halloween costumes!
at liza’s school the kids have to dress as a character from a book. she wanted to be “the giving tree” which i thought was a great idea. thanks to one of our fab clients, penny, for inspiration on the tree costume. it was so easy and inexpensive. brown shirt, brown pants + felt and hot glue and bam….one tree costume!
then on saturday night eliza wanted to be a vampire cat, but then at the last minute made me take off the cat face and she was just a “scary vampire”.
ryder was a construction worker. he had no clue what in the heck was going on!
even though reidsville declared saturday as the officail trick or treat day it was kind of a bust, so we went trick or treating again on sunday!
this time eliza was a “mysterious black cat” and her friend, emily, was a “vampire” that looked remarkably like a fairy. ; )
i’ve had this adorable vintage kids suit for about 7 years and was just waiting for the right time to bust it out. my husband came up with ryder’s brilliant costume:
the ladies man! we decided to go with the mustache theme for the entire weekend.
the ladies man don’t like it when they ain’t no ladies around!
it was a great weekend!
we had a great time visiting with maureen, our studio manager, her kiddos when we went to atlanta. i snapped a few shots of the kids and james the super dog while we were there.
maureen even got a shot of liza and i. i have so few photos of the two of us since i am always behind the camera.
liza had to jump in for a few shots.
the atlanta aquarium is awesome!
need a play space for your kids? rent a moving truck! the kids could have played in the back for days.
thanks maureen for a fun filled weekend!
So, my hubby got to come with me on my trip to Maine which was awesome! He was a great traveling companion for a tired, cranky pregnant lady! We went to Portland for a day, swung thru Booth Bay, Camden, and ended our trip at Acadia + Bar Harbor. I didn’t do a very good job at taking pics since I was mostly trying to manage my first trimester nausea but we had a great time anyway. Here are a few quick pics… Maine is ridiculously picturesque and the weather was amazing!
Tim and I- sunburned, windblown and happy- on the top of Cadillac Mountain. Cadillac Mtn is the first place to see the sunrise in the US and the views are unreal. We didn’t get up that early but the thought was cool.
whew, it has been a crazy few weeks.
1. i have survived 3 weeks without child care and trying to work with a 6 year old and a 1 year old as my “assistants”. i am happy to report that eliza and ryder and i are all happy and settling into our new schedules. liza is LOVING first grade, ryder is having so much fun with his new friends and teachers at school, and i finally feel like i can get more accomplished in a day than just getting dressed!
2. i had a complete technology hex vexing me for a few weeks. we were without communication to the outside world for over 3 weeks! first, we had lightning zap our satellite internet. there were so many troubles and charges to repair our dish through hughes net that i canceled my service. i had to find a new internet provider to support my uploading and downloading habit out here in the boonies and finally settled on verizon wireless. during this change i also could not use my iphone from home because, alas, i do not have cell phone service at my house! i just posted on facebook that if you really needed me to send a carrier pigeon or send a smoke signal!
then on top of all of this my mac book went down. luckily i had 150 days left in my extended apple care plan, but i had to bring her (my computer) in to the apple store two times (one time i was there with a 1 year old, a 5 year old and a 6 year old for 2 hours! yeah, that was fun!). ultimately, they had to send my baby off to the mac doctor and i got almost a completely new computer back. however, i was told that time machine would save all of my applications and files and this was not the case. it saved my files, but not all of my software. namely photoshop. of course, i can no longer find my original copy of photoshop 7, just the upgrades, so $750 bucks later i am now using photoshop 5, yea! but, the saga continues….i could not download photoshop on my wireless internet provider, so i had to wait until i got the the hotel in montana to finally get photoshop. i am still working on getting all of the kinks out of my other software, but i finally feel like life is getting back on track which is a good thing because at one point i was fantasizing about going to montana and just walking out into the woods and living like a hermit and completely without technology!
3. preparing for the busy season. the good thing about being unable to use my computer or phone was that i was basically unplugged for the 3 weeks that i had the kids at home by myself. we had a wonderful time just taking it easy. our lives are so busy and overbooked that i think we all really enjoyed just being home together. now i am taking a big breath and getting myself ready for a VERY busy season. i have 6 out of town trips between now and november 7th. this winter i look forward to some “hermit” time at home hibernating with my family. hopefully this time i will not need a technology hex to make me slow down and BREATHE!
-sara
here are some serene images that i took on a beautiful hike in rattlesnake park in missoula. being around all of that big sky and natural beauty really helped get me recharged and ready to go!
a big thank you to all of our clients who are waiting to see their photos. we appreciate your patience. ; )
hope you all had a wonderful 4th of july weekend! we did!
last years birthdays were pretty exciting. ryder arrived 2 and half weeks early which wound up being three days before his sisters big number 5 party. we could not have her first interaction with her brother be a bad one, so we decided to have the party with about 50 guests at our house with a 3 day old! this year was the complete opposite. unfortunately, eliza got strep throat as one of her birthday presents. we had to cancel with the kid guests and have a small party with just the grand parents. actually, it was really nice! the kids were the center of attention and there were plenty of presents to open….this might lead to a trend. small birthday parties are so much easier and enjoyable for the parents!
ryder enjoyed his first taste of cake!
liza with grandaddy and the tree that he planted on her first birthday. liza loves this tree. one day last winter i was looking for one of my really nice winter dress scarves and i could not find it anywhere. i looked outside and eliza had wrapped it around her tree “to keep it warm”!
liza was very excited to get a violin for her birthday. since she was 4 it has been her “dream to play violin”.
happy birthday to my sweet rays of sunshine!!
Whew- it”s been a crazy May, I can’t believe it went by so fast! I will be on vacation for the next week on Ocracoke Island, my favorite place ever! Hopefully I will return relaxed and refreshed and ready to edit like a mad woman! For those of you waiting on your images, thanks so much for your patience and I hope that you’ll find it was worth the wait.
Happy Summer! Mel
We decided to not mow our front hill this year and now it is filled with wildflowers- lovely!
