knittens

18 :: 365

They grow closer and closer everyday.  It warms my heart :)

Calm

The past few weeks have been a little rough, a little touch and go.  One good thing about having down days is that usually when they pick back up again I am pleasantly suprised with the work that I produced during that time.

I also feel very thankful for my husband and my girls.  They help me so much, and make me realize that even when I have weeks that I'm so down I hardly walk out of it with a coherent memory - I am able to recognize beauty and capture it for when I come up again.

(ps - I got my haircut and colored on friday and I love it!)

I write about my girls a lot because they are a constant source of inspiration. Even on my lowest days, they are there for me, giving me hugs and cuddles, or asking me if I need a time-out :)

They help me get down, get up, get wherever I need to get to see things from a different perspective. Take this shot, for example...

I like it because the negative space is simple and doesn't compete with the two of them. I like how they are both in the picture, going separate ways (as usual). I realized, however, that the negative space almost make it two images... See?

Try to see things from a different perspective today to keep it fresh. Fall is approaching, nature is going to be in a state of change. Why not go with the flow?

Hope you are enjoying a nice weekend.

xo
meg

Fresh

Not too long ago, I posted about how I've been neglecting my garden.  I stand by that argument, but regardless of the neglect I've inflicted upon her, she is still producing blooms.  We're having some company tomorrow (though it is still up in the air whether we'll be getting together at the house or the beach), so I thought I'd bring some color into the house.

Fresh, colorful, uplifting.  Just what we needed to fight the gloom of the weather.

I don't grow sunflowers, they were a gift from my neighbors.  The phlox, coneflowers, and ox eye daisies are all mine.  I was hoping to add some Black Eyed Susans to the mix, but unfortunately I have some greedy finches this year and a horrible case of black spot so my Black Eyed Susans are looking pretty pathetic.  I had to search for these lovelies, and I'm glad I did.  I'm tempted to fill a few more vases that I have, but I'm afraid if I do the garden will look pretty sparse.  I wonder how lilies hold up in water?  I'm thinking of bringing some in, but I've never done it before. 

Thaya pleaded with me to have a flower of her own.  It didn't last long, as 'gentle' is a concept yet to be mastered by my busy 2 yr old.  She was thrill to be included in putting the flowers together in the vases.

It is really a shame that as adults we don't have crystal clear memories of being two.  I don't know about you, but boy would I love to remember that feeling. I mean look at her.  Its just a simple flower from the garden, but she is absolutely busting at the seams - seriously just overflowing - with excitement and joy. 

And yet, as I sit here and type, I glance over at my flowers, arranged in their vases, and smile.  I feel warm, calm, content.  I guess I do know that feeling, it is just reflected a bit differently at 26 than it is at 2.

When you're on...

I think we all have "off days".  Recently, we've been so busy, our "off days" have become a little more frequent (who said that summer days are lazy and hazy? That person clearly didn't have kids).  A little hint of stress seemed to show itself, even during our nighttime hours and our precious weekends.  When you are in the middle of one of those days, it is hard to see past the little things.

Thankfully, the opposite seems to be true for "on days" - those days that everything seems to be going well, everything just fits, meshes, flows.  All of the little things that grind salt into the would on "off days" seem to be magical and mystical and amazing during "on days".

See, even that kid who ran into the frame made this image that much better.  In a family, it is easy for one person's "off day" to infect the whole unit.  On the flip side, if everyone else in the family is having an "on day", they can work together to bring Mr. Grumpy Gills (Nemo quote!) to a happy place.

That happened to me today. I've been moody, quiet, and on a short fuse all day (weekend).  Lack of sleep from the weekend has really effected me. But Matt and the girls were well rested and in amazing moods.  They simply ignored my bad attitude, brushed my "off day" aside, and included me in on their fun.  They took me along on their adventure - their perfect adventure with perfect timing, planning, and good fortune.

I'm really glad they did.  Though I'm still a bit moody, I've had an incredibly fulfilling day with my hubby and girls.  I feel loved, refreshed, exhausted.  I'm ready to crawl into bed and fall asleep reading.  I'm ready to dream. I'm ready to face tomorrow feeling refreshed, pushed along by the lingering effects of this glorious sunny day!

Hope you all had a weekend of "on days"!

xo
meg

Weekend Getaway

My mom and I took Aubrie down to MD this weekend to visit with my cousin and his wife.  We stayed not far from their house, and I have to admit I loved the room (pictured middle bottom).  We had a flat screen TV, and it was *SO* quiet.  Though, that could have been partly due to leaving the toddler at home with daddy.  {J}'s baby shower was on Saturday (some balloons from the event, pictured right), and then on Sunday we did a maternity shoot.  It was really great!  The experience was amazing, and it only furthered my desire and drive to make a career out of photography.  Having two amazing models who were more then willing to smile at me, gaze and the belly, and kiss (over and over and over) helped a lot!  (You can see a small moment that we shared pictured middle top.  During a little break the carousel opened up, and music started playing. Aubrie was thrilled!)  We also had the opportunity to see my Gram (pictured left, 94, and still kickin' it!). 

Hope you all had a great weekend.  I'm going to be processing today and tomorrow and hopefully have some of the images up for a sneak peek on my professional blog by Wednesday.  I've already dumped my cards and backed up my images, and based on what i've seen, I am really really happy with how the shoot went!

Enjoy your day!
xo
meg

And the winner is...

A big congrats to Laura from Dolce Pics! You've won the camera strap slip cover from Designs by Jessie! I'll be contacting you shortly for your snail mail address and get that to you in the mail ASAP!

Laura wrote:
Lovely strap slip cover! Just saw it on twitter. I'll RT it too. :) My must have shot will be to take a cool shot of my kid blowing bubbles. Something different. :) Hope you get a lot of new followers! Love your work.

Thanks so much for everyone who commented, followed me on Twitter, and tweeted about the giveaway!  I have a lot of fun doing the giveaways because not only do I get to make some new bloggy friends, but I also get to use a random number generator! Fun!

Hope you all have a great day!
xo
meg

Beach Day

We have had such a remarkable couple of days.  Matt took off of work on Friday and we spent the day at the beach.  Although there are beaches as little as 20 minutes away, we usually take the 45 min trip to LBI because we have some friends there who own a house.  It is a beautiful drive through the NJ country side.  We pass countless horse parks (did you know that New Jersey has more racing horces than Kentucky?), and the roads are littered with farm stands and nurseries. 

New Jersey has more to offer than people know.  If you are ever in the area, be sure to look me up.  You won't be disappointed!

We usually head to Surf City.  My favorite part of these beaches are the jetties.  A few years ago they had this huge beach restoration project and the beaches were closed for awhile.  The added so much sand to the beach that the jetties were completely covered, and although it would mean erosion, I really looked forward to seeing the jetties again.

The beach restoration project actually took them longer than expected because in the area they were dredging sand a mile or so out happened to be where there was a net of WWII munitions.  They dredged over 900 of the munitions onto the shore!  The cleanup took awhile, lol.  They still have the signs up that recommend not digging holes in the sand!

That didn't stop us.  How else would I be able to get shots from this perspective?! I wasn't going to dare put my Mark II that close to the sand.  The only solution was to dig dig dig :)

We remembered how much Thaya loved her time at the beach last year, but Brie had never been before.  We were a little nervous about her and the sand because she is at that "everything in the mouth" stage.  Surprisingly, she couldn't care less about putting things in her mouth.  She had so much fun crawling in and out of her little tent, playing with the sand toys, and crawling after her sister.  It's official, our girls are beach bums!

I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.  We're going to spend the rest of our day doing some things around the house and playing at the park.  I really wouldn't have it any other way :)

Oh, and a side note, I spent the better part of yesterday trying to figure out how to add a blog to my website.  Thanks to many tutorials and hours and hours later, I figured it out.  I will now have a professional blog that will be separate from my personal blog.  I just didn't feel that it was appropriate to have client's images mixed in with my personal images.  I'll be sure to let you know when it is up and running!  My first post will be a sneak peak of the Baptism I shot last week.

xo
meg 

81 :: 365 :: Sushi

Yesterday Mike and Ellie joined us for the afternoon.  We had such a fantastic time playing with the girls, chatting, and making sushi.  Do you have those friends that you know you will be in touch with for the rest of your life, and even if time passes where you loose touch or drift apart, you know the universe will bring you back together and you will pick up right where you left off? That's what it is like for us :)  We've known each other since kindergarten, but during the high school years we seemed to drift a bit.  Then, just a little over a year ago, we bumped into each other totally by chance, and thank goodness we did.  It is always exciting to have people in your life who are in the "same place" as  you.  So much of life is about timing.

So anyway.  We've been getting together here and there, and yesterday they came over to make sushi.  It was amazing.  Ellie got lost in the Asian Market, but it was well worth it because she came up with some incredible supplies!  I am still impressed with how perfect the avocado was that she picked out.

It took awhile to make it, but I think they guys were more aware of that then we were... we were having too much fun with the sticky rice.  And, you were right, El, the sesame seeds were essential!

I hope you all had an incredible weekend.  This upcoming week is going to be a little hectic, but then again, what week hasn't been for the past 2 years?! 

Leave me a note to let me know you stopped by - I'm convinced I lost so folks when I changed the name of my blog :P