Happy Birthday Horse & Doggy Spa, The Girl, The Boy, Among Other Things

My girl had a clinic on her birthday and while she was riding, her friends brought cupcakes and sang to her. It was so cute and so special. She blew her candles out while atop Ella. It made me a little nervous but then I realized – it’s Ella. Ella is so laid-back that a bomb can literally go off next to her and she wouldn’t notice. She wanted to eat the cupcakes herself – she has a little bit of a gluttonous side.

It got me thinking about the girl’s temperament again. Even as a baby, she was extremely shy and extremely introverted. I don’t think she started talking to her coach until about a year ago. It’s funny that she surrounds herself with people (animals) of the same disposition. Ella, her favorite horse on the farm, is really laid back – nothing phases her – absolutely nothing.

Except when there’s food around – then she perks up.

And the girl’s other companion, the dog, is exactly the same way.

Here she is before her spa treatment yesterday. She was very afraid to see me go. By the way, the spa treatment was a necessity, not a luxury. It was necessary to rid her of her natural – uh – smell. And the shedding – ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

So off to the spa she went to get a furminator and an ear wash.

You would have thought I was dropping her off to get tortured. The dog is also very shy, very introverted, very laid-back and the smallest things scare her. Like the hair brush.

Poor thing.

However, the girl, the horse and the dog have another thing in common. They love to eat.

They are definitely cut out of the same cloth those three.

And then there’s the boy – this was him after seeing the movie War Horse.

Someone help me…

For Wordful Wednesday.

February 29, Happy Heart

The husband gave me these roses for Valentine’s Day and though they are drying and withering, I can’t bring myself to throw them out. I will have to eventually, but not before I capture them forever with my lens.

Don’t let your love wither on the vine – I think it’s a song.

Texture by Kim Klassen – for Texture Tuesday on Leap Day Wednesday!

February 28, Out Of The Stirrup

My girl had a clinic last weekend. Unfortunately I don’t have too many photos. Where’s my creative mojo? Anyone seen it?

This photo of the girl without her foot in the stirrup seems like a good metaphor for life. You have to take chances, take yourself out of your comfort zone, deliberately let your safety net go – and then rely on your own two feet and God to carry you over the fence. It’s hard, it’s tiring, and your legs and back hurt.

But it’s how one gets stronger, how one builds emotional character and confidence. It’s how one gets through whatever life brings and can carry oneself in the seat beautifully – without the stirrup.

It’s hard for me when the kids decide to voluntarily forgo the safety that is their mom and venture out on their own with their relationships. I don’t like it – but it’s a part of life, and that’s where I’m growing too.

February 27, Swiss Cheese

The girl has quite a sophisticated palate. We wanted to do something special for her birthday and it seemed the perfect solution was fondue. Her friend likes to cook, she’s a mini Martha Stewart so they two of them had a great time.

The poor boy though…I thought he might go hungry until he finally figured it out. Boys.

Happy Instagram Mosaic Monday. I hope your weekend was wonderful.

And My Favorite Oscar Dress Is:

Penelope Cruz! I thought it was beautifully cut, beautifully worn and a beautiful color. And of course Penelope Cruz is beautiful as well.

Just thought I’d start off Monday with a little bit of the mundane. I will get back to posting because this place is my creative elixir. When I’m not here, it means that I am not feeling creative. Whenever that happens, I make a fashion faux pas, much like Angelina Jolie did last night:)

I suppose it can happen to anyone:)

La Pinata

I purchased this pinata for the girl, or rather, for the girl to give away. She changed her mind about giving it as a gift – something about being embarrassed. It doesn’t take much time for the boy to claim it as his own.

He then invited some friends over for a hockey game.

And they took some shots.

And poor Justin Beiber lost his cookies – or candies in this instance.

For Wordful Wednesday.

February 21, Thoughts On Rolling Coins

Where do you keep your excess change?

Do you stop in mid-stride and pick up pennies off of the street? – in public? – I do.

Is there a project you are putting off? – like rolling coins?

Do you find it detestable that banks now charge you for counting  coins?

Is there dust gathering your coins because they’ve been on your countertop for three weeks?

Do you find it hard work to get to the bank to get more coin rollers?

Do you love Miranda Lambert? I do. Listening to her on the radio right now…

Back to the coins –

Do you pay for your coffee with change?

Is it offensive to leave a tip all in coins?

What’s an acceptable amount of money to give to the cashier in coins?

I gotta get these coins off my counter, all $34.12 worth.

One last question – can you tell that I’m out of inspiration today?

For the wonderful Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday. Texture is called “Shine.” I promise to do better next week…

February 19, Dumb Girl Poses

I am a part of our fantastic social media team at work and I admit, sometimes things get a little crazy during our brain storming meetings. No one on the team is hurt in the process though. Our fearless leader Social Media Nate once interjected this during an animated discussion, “We should all agree that we are basically nice people – .” To which I said, “Speak for yourself Nate.”

In our attempts to find a way to communicate a new service, a member of the team showed this photo to me. In this Internet age that spawns fads such as planking and tebowing, this is another fad called Dumb Girl Poses, in which someone parodied how teens, particularly girls, like to post photos of themselves on the Internet.

Since we are an organization that normally wouldn’t post something so – classy for our own organization, we did take that idea and made it our own. We hurriedly gathered whomever was walking around in the halls and stood them up against a wall and I snapped as quickly as I could.

And this is what we came up with…

I love it because the mosaic color is so nice, the postcard invitation really pops, and I love the people with whom I work. They are the most creative, most fun, and most passionate group of people I have ever had the honor of being around.

And I get to photograph them!

For Mosaic Monday.

February 17, Suma Cum Laude

In continuation of my Senior Portrait series ~

The boy in this photo is graduating in a few months and if anyone is going to be a huge success in college and in life, it’s him. He’s already a huge success in high school – top of his class, Homecoming King and a super kid at heart.

It’s amazingly all wrapped up in this one package.

He saw a silhouette photo of someone throwing his cap in the air and he thought it was “cool” and wanted it replicated. It was a gorgeous morning with a beautiful sunrise but boosting the saturation and placing a strong vignette on the photo really made it pop.

I did one more thing – can you tell what it is?

Now can you see? My kids said it looked like he was waving to a square space ship.

It did look kind of odd so to make it more realistic and in context, I placed a tassel on the corner of the square.

What do you think? Is it better? Or is it cheesy? Or would you not have known had I not told you?

It’s not easy being a photographer, don’t let anyone ever say so.

Boys In The Kitchen & Doing Life

Believe it or not, when we remodeled the kitchen, this is what I envisioned.

I wanted people to eat, play, watch television and just live in the kitchen. It doesn’t matter that they are smelly and sweaty from hours of playing hockey. Or that they eat me out of house and home and leave a royal mess each time.

They have my laptop at the end of the bar and are watching some kind of video – and sitting on my granite countertops! Argh!

They are good boys – really and truly. I went down the line and asked all of them what their plans were for after high school. Ironically, my boy will be going the farthest away. They all told me that they would come and visit me – and that the boy will come home one day and his photos will be replaced by theirs.

This is what fills a mother’s heart with joy.

Today we celebrated the life of my friend Charles, a friend who passed away unexpectedly last week. So many wonderful words were spoken and so many tears were shed at his Memorial Service. It is the moments shown above – these short, precious moments that mean nothing at the time but will mean everything later – that I hold the most dear. They’re doing life together. It’s a reminder to me that I have to share my life with them.

Thanks for letting me share my life with you.

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