OH so cute Clara

First of all, I have to say that I love the name Clara. And Claire. Except that I think Claire is of limits for our future little nuggets. Claire Fair. Yep, it rhymes. But maybe we could get away with Clara...

Anyway, Clara lived up to her cute name in the photo shoot this weekend, only 6 weeks old and check out that smile! My heart is melting into a little puddle :)

Along with photography, I'm also introducing announcements! I love when my two passions meet--photography and design. What could be better, a one stop shop! This is one I threw together for Clara.

Photo Lesson #I can't remember: Explore (with permission of course) your photographic location. I got a little nervous when I first came to this clients home because the room that she said got the best light wasn't catching the best light at the time. So we explored, and we pulled back the curtains in her older daughters room, and wha-la! Great lighting, didn't even have to use the new studio lighting equipment that I lugged in!

Pete the Sweet...

Dog Woe #1: Not yet potty trained! What a frustrating process this is! As soon as we think he's got it, we turn around and he's popping a squat! And it's like routine, he's good all night, until after 9, and then he decided it pee in house time. We have tired treats, a kennel, yelling, jumping up and down and doing a dance on our head. Not working. Any suggestions are welcome.

Dog Woe #2: My home is starting to smell like puppy. I'm having a very hard time dealing with this. Again, any suggestions are welcome.

Dog Woe #3: He has me completely and utterly in love with him. It doesn't matter what I do, I still think he's the cutest, bestest dog ever. I honestly think he's the the greatest dog to ever live, which I know is what everyone thinks about their pups.

I've decided that God makes puppies cute because otherwise we wouldn't put up with their smelly, pee-ingness. Who can not love a face like this??

Anyway, other that potty training the pup, here are the Weekend Goals:

1. Have a great baby photo shoot
2. Put wheels on the file cabinet for our letterpress
3. Clean my house!
4. pick up the drink cart from craigslist man
5. Edit wedding pictures
6. Do something nice for my hubby

I figured I'd keep the list short, low expectations, low disappointment. xoxoely

Chips and Coca-Cola for Breakfast

I am so tired today. The kind of tired that makes you have a horrible perspective on life, the kind of tired that makes you believe that something catastrophically bad is going to happen today, and you're just waiting to get smacked by a bus. But you might not be that sad if you got smacked by a bus because you would probably get knocked out or at least put on some pain meds, and you would then get to sleep.

It's the kind of tired that makes you realize that you have too much on your plate, and you miss getting to do what you love. Right now, I just want to do something creative. And not "make a logo" type creative, but slathering some acrylic paint on a brush, and pouring out my feelings onto a canvas, a piece of art that is created solely for me, not to be critiqued or changed by anyone else.

But instead, I will slowly remove the things from my plate, and that blank canvas will have to remain in the back of the closet for a couple of weeks, I just hope that I will still have the urge to record upon it at that time. So for now, I'll make myself feel better by eating Doritos and Coca-cola for breakfast.

Personal Project

I was reading on one of my favorite blogs today (design crush, you should check her out, she's awesome), and she did a highlight of Amy Mortimer and her personal project, 365 days.

photo by Amy Mortimer

She's taking a photo of herself every day for a year, something new each day. I have been wanting to do a personal project for a while since I saw photographer Sam Lamb's series, faceless portraiture of a country girl series.

Anyway, I want to think of something creative to do...if i were as cute as this Mortimer girl, I'd think about starting my own 365 project, but I'm probably too lazy to take a creative picture every day. I thought about doing bicycles, or maybe doing an art/photography fusion, creating dream like scenes and photographing people in them, or a series on hands. I'll have to think on this some more.

Busy Weekend

What a jam packed three days! On Friday afternoon, the lady in laws and I packed up and headed to Dallas for a shopping overnight trip! It was so much fun, but now we are broke until the end of the month! Oops, sorry dear hubby...

When we got back, I had 2 photography sessions scheduled, and then our drain decided to get a clog and it flooded our garage :( But we have it all taken care of, nothing was ruined, just a little stress.

None the less, I still had two great photo shoots. I'm really excited, because I set up a home studio in my dining room, and I think it worked really well for this family portrait!

My last shoot was of J.J. & Seth, they've been married for almost a year, but wanted to get some wedding portraits done. They are so fun, just love them (background look familiar??).

Photo Lesson #4: Although it went well, don't schedule 2 photo sessions on a Sunday afternoon after you've gallivanted around Dallas for a day and a half...your legs do not appreciate you for it!