Gibralter Gardens

I am going to follow a new rule: I cannot blog about something until I have put the pictures in my smugmug album. I am SO SO SO behind with all of that and am in the middle of catching up! So I have the pictures from this shoot in an album. 5 are edited, the rest are normal.

SO! My parents and Michael were subjected to my location scouting when I dragged them to the Gibralter Gardens. BOY, were we rewarded. It was gorgeous and the lighting was delicious.

I love capturing these kind of moments:

I hate to brag, but my parents are SO cute!

My mom channeling her inner model:

And one of my most favorite pictures of Michael now:
Now going to go to bed at a reasonable hour. And I WILL blog about Brian's parents visiting and Halloween!! I haven't blogged about the former because there are a kajillion pictures I have to wade through. And I haven't blogged about the latter because I can't find the 5 rinky dink flash pictures I took of that night.

VOILA.

Hardest Photoshoot EVER

You know what's a hard photoshoot? YOUR OWN FAMILY.

I can't believe my family did this to me. :)

I dragged them during standard nap time (after going to late mass) and made them go for a photoshoot. And you BET they made me pay for it! Ya think I would know better. But considering this is the LAST weekend it would be ABOVE 60 degrees for a while AND it was flippin' gorgeous, YOU BET I dragged them out to the Newlin Grist Mill!

It is Christmas card photo time and let me tell you - I would definitely pay for someone like me to take my family picture for me. Since I am the only one in my particular price point that does what I want, it's got to be me.

I had 2 guys, both ready for naps - and it wasn't pretty.

This is why you shouldn't tell your kids to "smile! Say cheese!" Because you'll get this:
EEK. That's not gonna work. Well, at least Brian is looking good! I finally got a decent picture of me but accidentally cut off the top of my head. You bet my family wasn't gonna wait for me to get another try. Tough customers. Michael is still channeling his inner Zoolander:

Naptime? That's like 2pm.

Yes. 2pm. It is winter and here are the light conditions for photoshoots up here in the NE:

2:00 pm - This is setting sun light - perfect for shade photography as well as direct sun photography.

2:30 - 4:00pm - Get your photos in NOW.

4:15 - light starts to fade. Having to bump up ISO to make up for it but that means more noise in the photo.

4:30 - Still can eek out some photos, but in about 15 minutes, you better get out of there. It's the end of the session anyways so a) no one is interested in a camera in their face anymore and b) you are at a low shutter speed and high ISO so it's time to give up.

5:00pm - SUNSET.

Here's just a few from the shoot. I'll post more later in smugmug. And I'll probably hold out on the Christmas card picture until it goes out in the mail. It will be a tight race between our Boston picture from the summer and this one - but one will end up being the winner.

This is what happens when Brian tells us to say, "Yahtah-hey. Hello my people." for the camera:

Somehow, he didn't get the memo and Michael and I did. I am glad that for my official picture, I turned for a side view instead of straight on view for the camera.

I just love Michael in these pictures so voila:

Those are SOOC, JPG. I need to recalibrate my monitor before I make another step. And I SOOO wish I could just shoot in JPG for the rest of my life.

Yes, I will post about Halloween and Brian's parents visits. I finally got the pictures downloaded and ranked. Still haven't found my 5 halloween pictures. They are on some memory somewhere...

Thank you to Kim Kropka for introducing me to the ranking/organizing function in Adobe Bridge. Has made my editing SO much easier.

More later and love to all,

p

Letting Myself Go

I forgot to post about this moment - but it's worth posting because it is very funny to me.

I know there are many moms out there who completely relate to having days where you really just let yourself go. You know, the days where you didn't wash your hair so you tied it up, and then didn't have time to put on make-up...and then have some sort of food stain on your clothes from your kid.

Heck...I remember having days like that BEFORE I had Michael. But they definitely became more frequent AFTER I had Michael.

But I digress. Stay with me. It will be worth reading this long story.

This picture up there of a salon called Sergio Bossi - this was our neighborhood salon. It was 2 doors down from us and we all went there for our haircuts. Regularly. So they were very familiar with us and very friendly with us.

Well, one afternoon, I went in to get Michael a haircut. It was a weekday afternoon so there was no one there but us. After Michael's haircut, they hesitated a bit and said to me,

"Sit down. We will watch Michael. Let us style your hair for you."

And they gave me a blowout. For free.

Now, of course, this was great right? And SO generous of Parisians!! Especially Parisians!

But imagine how AWFUL I must have looked for them to think, "Oh GOOD heavens...someone has GOT to do something about this girl since she can't do it herself."

I'm sure I was THAT American mom that the Parisian women talk about in disdain for not taking more attention for my looks!

Anyways, that was interesting for me. And a moment I will never forget. Parisians having mercy on me...and helping me look better. I can't remember if Brian noticed or not. But I sure was wishing I hadn't chosen THAT day to show up with greasy hair to the salon! My hairstyle would have lasted an extra day!

New Joisey

This past Monday, I packed Michael and I up into the car and drive to NJ to see Kirsten 'n Co!

We stayed at her mom's house and had a great time hiking in their woods (it was beautiful!) and enjoyed nice relaxing times at home. And of course, true to our form, we went shopping together too!

We packed the kids up in the car. Frankly, if you can put 3 adults side by side in the back seat, 3 carseats should fit right? RIGHT? And we dragged them all around creation with us. Not much different than what we used to do in Paris - except this time - we were in a car and not the metro!

On Friday, we spent the afternoon hiking in the woods and checking out their property. They have 2 cute lakes to look at, land to play in and a cottage to visit too! The boys had fun with their walking sticks, getting muddy, and terrorizing the tree roots of an old tree that had fallen down. After this jaunt through the woods, we had to get some food to feed the kids. Michael and Jonah decided to inspect the sugary cereals:
We ordered pizza in and called it a night! On Saturday, we shopped, ate out, and just played at home with the kiddos. They loved being in this swing, although it sure doesn't look like it right here:

And here's the picture Kirsten and I always get with one another. She's got the longer arm so she gets to take the picture!
I had a great time with my friend, who I miss so much! We spent the evenings talking, watching TV, and eating. It was such a vacation from my normal quiet life in the country! It was an awesome time, but just made me miss our friendship all the more. Jonah and Michael played with relatively few spats to break up and they really didn't interact with Kirsten and I much except to be fed and taken to the bathroom! Our boys have such a great friendship and we do too...and I really miss that more than I can really say. Paris would have not been Paris without them!

And Ella! She's adorable and I hate missing her grow up. We got along so great when she was a baby - which is HUGE because babies don't normally like me. She cracked me up this trip because every time you would set her down, she'd make a run for it. Not in a run to something to play with. More like - FIND THE NEAREST EXIT AND MAKE A RUN FOR IT! It was hilarious. Her pudgy little arms and pudgy little legs would just work and work to get-out-of-here!

I will blog about Halloween soon. And also Brian's parents' visit. And loads of other things on my camera/iphone that I have not downloaded yet. One day, I'm going to catch up. And then I have 3 years worth of blog books to make. And then loads of My Publisher books for my vacations. AAaaakk!

P