Cross your fingers!

So, the open house for the daycare is Saturday!!  I went in today and hung the last of the images I ordered for the walls.  It looks so beautiful.  Warm and welcoming, very friendly.  My images are really strong and I am very proud of every single one of them.  I have a total of 17 large images on the walls.  It is so incredible to stand back and look at them all up in one space all together.  I have never seen my work up like this in my 11 years of having my own business.  I never had a gallery, a show, or a space that allowed me to do this.  Even though I am sorry that I hadn't done this years ago, I do feel like "everything in it's own time".  So many things had to come together for me to do this.  Babies had to be born, (not just my own two), colleagues had to leave, music classes had to take place, friendships had to form, other professionals had to start their businesses that influenced my business, (does that make sense???)...and many more things had to be in place.  I am glad that it has all come together for this viewing of my work.  Hundreds of people will see this over the course of the next couple of months starting this weekend.  It is a huge deal for me.  I have both feet planted in this town now...I am starting to make my mark and own where I live...after 6/7 years of living here.  Here are some of the images that appear in the space.  Wish me luck that it all goes well and other people like my work as well and want to hire me.  Cross your fingers I haven't forgotten any detail.

OVO!

What a great weekend we had.  Saturday morning I got up early and went to a friends house to take photos of her new baby.  The images are beautiful and we had so much fun while we chatted, waited for the baby to nurse, change diapers, set up shoots...I wish every day was like that!  Right from her house we headed straight to Quincy where Ava swam all day and ended up staying over night.

I got a great book for my parents:  Betty Crocker cookbook for cancer.  It was so helpful to read some of the information in the book, it isnt just a book about food, but gave helpful information on taking care of yourself when you are going through chemo, what vitamins are important and why, and even some emotional stuff too.  My mother made one of the recipes right away and it was delicious.  The recipe was ideal for mouth sores.  It is great to have some more information and variety in his diet now.  Sunday he was sick and couldnt keep anything down, but hopefully that will pass with the medication that stops nausea and he will be back to fighting this off.

Sunday we saw Ovo by Cirque Du Soliel...it was amazing!!  We had such a great time and Ava LOVED it!  It is so fun to be able to take her to events and she can really appreciate them now.  At the end of act one, she threw her hands up in the air and shouted: YES!  Even though the performers were incredible, I think her reaction made the show for me.

So, it is back to work today and hopefully squeeze in some beach time with some friends this afternoon.  We have only been once this summer so far.  Manny loves the water though and it is easier now to take him since we can use sunblock.  He started eating rice cereal this weekend.  He loved it and acted like he had been eating this all along!

More prints should arrive today in the mail for me to hang at the daycare.  They are having an open house this weekend and I will have a little table set up with brochures and cards and such.  My friend Patty was planning on coming with me to help me...she is my amazing assistant who is currently in the hospital with an abscess of some sort.  She may need surgery today, keep all fingers crossed everything turns out well for her.

I want to also congratulate Christabelle and Pat on the arrival of Patrick John this weekend!!  Way to go guys...10lbs!!  I cant wait to get him in front of my camera!

Enjoy your day everyone!...here are some photos from the shoot this weekend:

Meadow Island

Yesterday I went with the camp to take photos of their trip to meadow island.  It was so pretty.  The campers planted baby clams...it was like gardening only your planting baby clams instead of seeds.  I took Ava with me, she loved the boat ride as well as trying a hand at raking the sand...but, her favorite part was when she and another counselor (who drove the boat, not lead the class) made sand castles in the sand and a mermaid tail for her in the sand.  If she had her way, she would be a flying acrobatic mermaid...I love that she has such an exciting imagination.

New "brochure"

It is hard to make a brochure.  Well, at least I find it hard.  I am always trying to figure out what information to put on the brochure.  Do I add prices?  Do I add my phone number?  Which phone number am I using?  Is my website working?  How is the wording going to be?  So many decisions sometimes I feel like if I put it in a brochure that now it is written in stone.  I cant make a mistake, what if what I put is open to interpretation?  So many times I have written information on something only to have someone find the loop hole, or the error.  I hope that this new brochure is simple enough and gives people enough information for the time being.  I only ordered a small amount and even as I type I realized I should have put some disclaimer about prices subject to change...but, again...I always leave a loop hole until it is too late to change it.  I hope you enjoy it.  I think it looks beautiful.    The blue lines will not show...the layout is a 5x5 tri-fold spread.  The top is the outside of the spread and the bottom is the inside of the spread.

Cowboys!

So, I am hanging a ton of work in the daycare down the street.  Today I took a photo I wanted.  It is of two little brothers and they practically live in their cowboy boots.  I could just see the image and I hoped it would turn out ok.  It came out better than I imagined.  I ordered a large one for the daycare.  The mom said it brought tears to her eyes...it took us 10 minutes to do the shoot.  All the stars were aligned.

The weekend

The weather was so beautiful this weekend.  Friday night Jose had to umpire a game.  I was on my own with the kids and it was hot and sticky.  I had forgotten that I had to take a camp photo of the WHOLE CAMP and squeezed it in at the last minute.  Luckily, someone whom I trust was around and watched my kids for me while I took the photo...I rushed the kids back home quickly, got them both showered/washed and in bed before 8.  It was so important to get Ava to bed early.  She had been going to bed late and had had camp and was a tired, cranky, little kid.  Saturday we headed straight for the pool and hung out all day.  SO NICE!!

It has been a little hectic to head to Quincy every weekend, but honestly I have to say that once I get there and I am away from my desk and my work, I actually relax and have fun.  Manny LOVES the pool and splashes around and laughs.  Ava started swimming without any life jacket on...she is a little fish.

Again, I have no photos although I did take my camera with me this weekend.  I have been enjoying myself so much I dont want to pick up the camera...I want to be a part of the action.

Today I went to visit a friend who just had a baby.  She used my doula and had a wonderful experience.  I happened to have my camera with me and took a photo...it came out GREAT!  I am going back for a more formal shoot this week.  I have a couple of ideas in mind and how to execute them.  Here is the photo from today:

ups and downs

Today has been a tough emotional day for me.  My father is sick.  He went for his second round of chemo today.  It is hard for me to even think that he has to go through this.  The chemo is starting to effect his body.  The drugs are strong, I am not.  I have to remember he will be ok.

Ava had her little "show" of Green Eggs and Ham today at her camp.  It was the "big" finale to the two week camp she was a part of.  I miss my theater friends and wish I was closer so she could be a part of real productions.  After the show we went to Red Robin to celebrate.  My wish is sort of granted by running into a theater friend at the restaurant.  It is nice to see her and it is a nice surprise to my day.  Ava throws a temper tantrum in the restaurant...I know it is my fault for letting her stay up too late last night.  I am paying for it now.

We come home and Manny turns over.  My big round beautiful boy is growing in leaps and bounds and I am excited to see the person he will turn out to be.  Right now, I think I will give myself some visual medication that makes me happy and look at him all soft and round.

Ava came with me in the afternoon yesterday while I took photos of the camp.  She took her camera and was taking photos of textures and shapes.  I loved it.  She was ADORABLE and we had a really nice afternoon together just the two of us.

Balancing act

So, this weekend was busy.  Jose umpired a game on Friday night.  I was home alone with the kids and it was actually a calm night.  They went to bed early and I actually got some time to decompress on the couch.  Saturday we headed straight to my parents first thing in the morning.  Jose had a double header so it was just me and the kids.  I had to pack us for the whole day.  That meant extra clothing, bottles, diapers, toys, bathing suits, special sunblock(which I left behind) and pj's.  It is easiest to leave there when it is bedtime so the kids will sleep in the car.

We visited with my cousins who I haven't seen in a year, played Bananas (btw:  anyone ever want to play, I would LOVE to...I am addicted!!) laughed, ate, and swam.  Jose joined me later and took me out for a WONDERFUL dinner at Alma Nove.  It is a new restaurant in Hingham Shipyard and the food was super good.  The only thing is that I do not recommend the pasta...I don't know why, but they seem to excel in all the other dishes and fall flat with the pasta.  When we got back to my moms after a 3 hour meal, we learned that Manny cried the whole time.  Luckily, he had a dozen babysitters to help pass him around, sing to him, swing him, drive him in the car, push him in the stroller, rock him...but...nothing worked really and he just wanted his mama.  :-)  He did end up falling asleep because he was completely exhausted on my mothers lap.  Needless to say, we will not be heading to Alma Nove anytime soon.  My little guy still really needs us at bedtime.  It was nice to pretend for that one night though.

Sunday we were going to hang around all day and maybe head to the beach and do some housework, but I got the urge to head back to my mothers (mostly to prove to her that Manny was not scarred for life from the night before) and we spent the day in the pool.  Manny slept outside on some cushions by the pool, or in my arms, ate his lunch at the picnic table and swam with us.  He loved splashing in the water and we were very happy to see he likes the water as much as Ava.  She spent the whole day jumping in the deep end, learning how to swim without her life jacket (which she calls a scooby...i love the name)  and being so active.  She was super hungry at the end of the day and I felt like she really experienced summer.  We left somewhat early but Manny cried the entire ride home in the car.  We stopped to take him out of his seat, but that was just a temporary fix.  An hour ride home at the end of a long summer day with a crying baby is not a fun ride.  It makes me want to turn in my drivers license.

Today was off and running as well.  Ava started her first piano lesson and the teacher said she was very smart and did very well.  Jose was great because he took the kids to run some errands first thing in the morning and ava off to her first lesson while I worked the summer program.  I got home, they came home and we headed off to a birthday party for one of her friends.  It was a great afternoon because it made me stop and just enjoy being with Ava and my friends for the party.

I still have a ton of work to do with the open house to the place I am hanging my work in only a couple of weeks away.  I wish I was excellent at time management.  I am still trying to finish up some jobs from year in the life that I do.  It will all get done.  I know it will.

I have no photos to post...I know, dont panic.  I just decided to experience the weekend and today and not shoot it.

Camp

So, Ava started camp this week.  She goes to a little camp that is geared towards art.  In the past she has never been one to be much of an artist.  She can do art, it was never her first choice though.  She would much rather play make believe or sing...hmmm, I wonder where she gets that from??!!  So, she brings home her papers from camp and I am looking at the images...the first paper I see I say to her:  "oh, that is so pretty honey, what is it??"...she gets a little annoyed with me and says that that is the BACK of the painting and that the painting is on the other side!  Im such a nice mother.  The image is actually quite good for someone her age...4 1/2.   It is crayon with watercolors.   I am proud no matter what.

Here is the picture:

4th of July

What a great 4th of July we had.  We went to Grinky and Papa's house, swam with the family, and had a wonderful day.  I think Ava has a future career as a cheerleader that gets thrown in the air...either that or a freestyle diver of some sort.

Thank you

I want to just say thank you to my wonderful husband...(insert joke about "I'd like to thank the academy" here)...but, really.  I want to thank him.  Every day I get to go do the most fun job in the world...take pictures.  During the summer I wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast together with my family at the dining hall, and head out on my bike to take photos of our beautiful campus and the kids having fun at camp.  I can leave with a feeling of excitement for the day and that is because I know I am leaving my children with their dad.  They are safe, they are loved and they are well attended to.  Thank you, Jose.  I love you.