Author Archives:Today I…
And right now, I’m sitting here at my desk in my adorable little studio, wondering just how it is that I got so lucky. Life is SO BEAUTIFUL, and today it was mine to capture.
Thank you, each and every one who came in… it’s such a privilege to capture your precious lives!
Love!!! : )
Ok, you all have been asking for it, and frankly, I don’t blame you… : ) Last year’s “Bunny Day” was such a hit that we knew, one way or another, we’d have to do it again this year. The main glitch was that the bunny that our friend let us use moved to Florida. Seriously, he did. And he was smart, in my opinion. But I digress… We found ourselves needing a rabbit for this year’s bunny day, and after making a few calls and looking at our options, we settled on (quite possibly) the best option of all. Please take a moment to welcome the newest member of the Tripple family:
No, I am not exaggerating. He is SERIOUSLY the cutest bunny. On earth. Ever. Like… EVER. So, you should know that if you’re hoping to come to the studio for this year’s Bunny Day, your child will be matched in cuteness by our new darling pet. It will be cuteness overload. Exponential cuteness. Over-the-top, make-grandma-cry, fill-your-heart-up-with-more-warm-fuzzies-than-it-can-take cuteness. Get the picture? So think puffy spring dresses, little-boy-spring ties, Easter baskets… and mark your calendars! Here are the details:
I had the sweetest session this morning. A totally wonderful one year old with a big personality, accompanied by his adorable parents, came into the studio! I do love one year olds. They’re SO curious! The first thing he wanted to do was check out my chandelier. He liked it, mostly because he’s got great taste. : )
I loved the feeling of this next shot. This boy’s parents love him SO MUCH. I seriously treasure getting to watch parents love on their children. It’s precious to me…
After the couch tickle-episode, we headed upstairs to play on the bed. He was mostly into checking out what was going on outside. Did I mention that one year olds are curious?!?
Combo sessions rock. Sometimes, you just can’t resist heading outside for a few extra shots to get an even wider perspective on who your child is at a certain age. Today, the lake effect snow had just begun to fall in fat, slow, chunky flakes, and we were all pretty excited to head out and see what this little city boy would do with it all: One year olds are curious. Or did I already say that? : )
He rocked. I loved the whole session, from the first shot to the last. I came home and discussed the coolness of my job with Jonathan, who wholeheartedly agreed. : )
Today’s photo tip:
A few weeks ago this sweet family was at the studio for some six month shots and some family shots. I’d already done a lot of just their little guy, so we were focusing mainly on family pictures at this point. I had them snuggle up to their sweet baby on the bed, and I got the shot I was looking for. I could have stopped there, but…
Sometimes you’ve just got to wait babies out a bit. And, in this case, he decided it was time to play with his daddy, and he cracked a smile that was, quite possibly, wider than the Grand Canyon. I LOVED it!!!
And then he reached out and touched his daddy’s face, and my heart just melted. Was this the shot I had been going for? Nope. Would it have even happened if I’d put my camera away after I’d gotten the one I’d originally wanted? Double nope.
You’ve gotta wait these little sweethearts out sometimes. It’s almost ALWAYS worth it!!! : )
Lately? LOTS of things!!! But one of my *favorite* recent creations was a set of kitchen towels I made for my mom’s birthday last week. It was a fun project… I happen to LOVE flour sack towels (why? no idea… maybe cause they feel so soft, or they remind me of something vintage-y!), and I noticed that Target sells white ones in packs of four for $3.99. Hmmm, I said to myself. What could I do with those? I picked them up and pondered their potential for awhile, then decided to dye them to match the wall color of my mom’s kitchen. I happen to have the exact same color of paint at our house, so I took a bit of the leftover paint, mixed it in a tupperware tub with water, and added a little fabric medium to it. Then I just dipped the towels into the tupperware, swished them around a bit, and wrung them out. After most of the painty-watery-stuff was squeezed out, I just rinsed them off in a little tub of cold water and threw them in the dryer with a Bounce sheet. 20 minutes later? ADORABLE silver sage flour cloth dish towels, ready for embellishment. YAY! I ironed them (definitely the least fun part of this little craft!), added some ruffles made out of one of the extra, undyed towels… and voila! Super-dooper adorable, handmade-with-lots-of-love, fresh, sweet little towels for my mom. I LOVE that kind of stuff, don’t you?!? I want to make some for me, but yellow! ; )
Ok… LAST thing, I promise!!! : ) The winner of the Sweet Shots giveaway!!! We had 162 comments, total, which was pretty cool to me… The winner, as decided by random.org, was #10… Kelly Hendrickson!!! (Who, ironically, grew up only 2 blocks from me, but I just met her a few weeks ago and she’s AWESOME!!! It’s such a small world, is it not?!?)
YAY Kelly!!! Jonathan will e-mail you details for registering… can’t WAIT to see you at one of the classes!!! :)
We’ve had quite a month. Sometimes I debate what I should share here about our personal life, because 1) it’s a business blog (sort-of), and 2) I’m never quite sure just how much of “us” you really want to hear about. But what we’ve been through this past month has shifted my perspective so strongly that it’s all bound to show up here eventually in one way or another. And I think there’s a lot of value in letting you all behind the curtain, because curtains (though sometimes necessary) can give a dangerously inauthentic picture of what life is like when they’re left drawn for too long. Here’s the story: Back in early December, Jonathan (my husband and our head e-mail responder) began battling some pretty hefty fatigue and leg pain. It took me a few weeks to get on board (I mean, really… aren’t we ALL exhausted?!?), but as he continued to get worse I began to understand that we weren’t talking about the typical “Daddy-of-Three-Little-Kids” Syndrome. : ) By early January the pain was holding him back from doing things that he used to take for granted, and by the middle of January he was so sick that he was hardly able to be out of bed. We began meeting with various doctors and specialists, trying to absorb and entertain possible diagnoses like “Multiple Sclerosis”, “Lymes Disease”, & “Neurological Disorders”. As he continued to get worse, our fears were magnified… whatever it was that was attacking his body was doing so with a vengeance, and we sensed a growing urgency to find the cause of the pain, tremors, headaches, and fatigue before things were past the point of healing. About a week ago, a connection was made between a possible interaction between two medications he’d been taking. Within days of stopping the medications, the frightening symptoms had all but vanished, and he was back on his feet playing with the kids and smiling from ear to ear. Jonathan was back in full force, and no one would have guessed by looking at him that he’d been nearly incapacitated for the better part of a month. I know… RIGHT?!? I feel as though I’ve just woken up from a bad dream… A week ago, I really didn’t think my husband would be able to walk again, and feared an outcome worse than that. And now he’s out with our almost-five-year old, poking around the model train shop in town, because that’s what you do on Saturday when you have an almost-five-year-old boy and you’re a daddy who can get out of bed. : ) In every marriage, there’s bound to be certain frustrations each spouse feels toward the other, big and small; our marriage is no exception. But so much of that melted away this past month as we realized that a loving spouse, however imperfect, is a treasure that words cannot begin to describe. Our families, our children, our parents, our siblings, our husbands… they should be celebrated. Every day. Because they’re with us. Because we love them. Because life is so very precious. And because nothing is a guarantee. I was so blessed to be reminded of that through this past month’s struggles. To wrap it all up, let me share with you something that I’ve wanted to share for a very long time (but never did for fear of the trouble I’d be in later… Ha!) I have an incredible husband. He’s brilliant, he’s funny, he fights for me, and he’s hot in flannel shirts. He’s got more integrity than you’d find in a hundred average men put together, but he’s absolutely impossible to control (which I always fight with him about but secretly love). He thinks I’m gorgeous, even when I have no living idea why, he lets me take his picture, even though he hates it, and he can outsmart anyone at any game, any time (but sometimes, I think, he lets me win). He’s a damn good pastor, an even better daddy, the most faithful kind of friend, and the person that I respect above everyone else. He will have my heart until my very last breath, because I gave it to him on the morning of August 12, 2000 and I’ve never once thought about taking it back. I thank God that this homesick, scared girl said “yes” to the walk around our teeny little collage fourteen-and-a-half years ago, because that walk was the beginning of the most amazing journey of my life.
Can I get a “YAY” for happy endings?!? : )
PS… Things obviously got a little busy around here… but I’ll be announcing the winner of the Sweet Shots giveaway in our next post. Your movies were, in a word… HILARIOUS… now I have to go count them all up and pick a number! : )
Jonathan and I high-fived each other this morning as we realized that we’d FINALLY gotten all three of our little ones out of diapers. All. Three. (It was a big, big day) : )
(keep reading for the prize!!!) Here’s some sweetness for you… I photographed these three beauties a few weeks ago. It was a total joy to go to their beautiful home and capture their perfection. Each girl was such a delight… I’m sure you’ll agree!
I’ve been SO excited to show you all some of the changes we’ve made at the studio over the winter. It’s been a LOT of work, but also an absolute ball… the studio is my favorite creative outlet! We’ve installed a “new” barnwood floor, recovered some furniture, added pictures on walls… it’s becoming a super-special place that I can’t get enough of. : ) Check out the sunroom: And the waiting room:
When I was a little girl, my number one favorite movie was National Velvet, starring Liz Taylor as a sweet 10 year old girl. Today my kids watched it for the first time, and I sat along with them as the music and sweet themes brought back some really wonderful memories. Have you watched any of your favorite childhood movies with your kids yet? There’s something kind of magical about it. It’s the perfect time of year to pop a bowl of popcorn, make a little fire, and snuggle up to share something like that with them. : ) One last thing on the subject of National Velvet… if you haven’t seen it and can stand old movies even a little bit, you really must rent it. The true star of that movie is “Mrs. Brown”, the mother of Liz Taylor’s character. It’s such a beautiful story of the wisdom that comes when you chase your dreams, whatever the outcome. Trust me… you’ll LOVE it!!!
So… shall we celebrate such a fabulous diaper-free occasion?!? Leave me a comment over on this blog entry’s Facebook post sharing your favorite childhood movie. On Monday, I’ll randomly pick a winner from all of the commenters to win free admission into any one of the DSLR classes listed below:
Click here to leave a comment!!! (and have an awesome weekend!) : ) Hello everyone!!! I’ve been seriously stalling on this post for awhile because… well… I’m never completely comfortable sharing about personal accolades. After all, I’m always telling my kids: 1) not to be so darn competitive, & 2) not to brag about their accomplishments. In true hypocritical fashion, however, I’m about to do both. Couldn’t be much worse than having a cookie for breakfast when they’re not looking, right? (You know you’ve done it) ; ) So here goes… I recently placed in the NAPCP International Image Competition!!! The NAPCP, or National Association of Professional Child Photographers, is a fantastic organization for both photographers and parents who value professional photography. I was honored to be accepted into the organization in 2009 after an in-depth application and review. There are many benefits to being a part of this talented community of professionals, one of which is the opportunity to enter and be judged against countless talented photographers worldwide in the organization’s semi-annual International Image Competitions. They receive thousands of entries for the international competition, each of which are critiqued and judged by some of the most talented and successful photographers in the field. This past summer, I entered five images that I felt represented some of my best work, then sat back and crossed my fingers. When the results were in, I was blown away to find that three of my entries placed among the fifty-six images that received accolades in the competition. One of my very favorites took third place:
And two received NAPCP Recognitions of Merit:
Anyway… I’ve been secretly really wanting to share that with you guys… hope you didn’t mind!!! : )
DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO MAKE FOOD THAT EVERYONE LIKES?!?!? From our kids’ perspectives, we’ve had a few winners, many losers, and a few “tolerable” menus this past month. Tonight’s dinner, however, was a HOME RUN!!!  photo courtesy of Pip and Ebby! Since many of you also struggle to find foods that your children and your spouses will consider tasting, allow me to share this fabulous meal suggestion with you!!! Tonight we made “Veggie Cheese Stromboli” from the fabulous Pip and Ebby Messy Kitchen blog. We all went goo goo over it! And, best of all, my six-year-old helped make it… basically, this Veggie Cheese Stromboli is great on every level!
Little note… I couldn’t seem to find any sun dried tomatoes or jars of roasted red peppers at Target, so I grabbed a jar of the Giada Sun Dried Tomato Basil to spread on the dough instead. It was… just… WOW. Try it, you will NOT be disappointed!!! : )
I am so excited to share this little update with you guys… I GOT ONTO my treadmill!!! And I made it GO!!! I’ve gotta tell ya… I can already see that this will be the most difficult thing I’ll be accomplishing this year. Three miles in 30 minutes seems about as do-able as climbing Mount Everest right now, but my heart tells me it can be done and now I can officially say I’m going after it! I put together a little video of my very first few steps… it’s posted over on Facebook and I do hope you’ll go over there to check it out. While you’re there… become a fan, will ya? It’s fun to have a place to share the little stuff with you guys… : ) PS… So that we can all keep track… I did one mile in a little over 17 minutes. Mostly “running”. It was not impressive from a runner’s perspective, but for me?!? A HUGE victory!!! Gonna do it again tomorrow! PSS… Oh my word I almost forgot my Oscar speech: I could never have done my 17 minute mile without the encouragement from my mom, Jonathan, Kendra, my three babies, Christine, Missy, Julie, Kori, Melody, Jennie, Tonya, Kristen, Eric, Jeff, Karyn, and Stephanie… Seriously… THANK YOU for all of your encouragement and helpful advice!!! I would still be staring at that thing feeling terrible if it hadn’t been for you all!!! XOXO
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