A New Chapter

Welcome to my sorely, consistently, neglected blog. I have the best of intentions. I swear I do. But time flies by and suddenly it's been months since I created a new entry.  I spend most of my time posting on Flickr and Facebook to be honest.  But, I can certainly see the value of the blog. My following right now is pretty small. But, perhaps if I used this more, it would get bigger. (logic is amazing, isn't it?) And, truth be told, I do much better with photographs than I do with words.

A few weeks ago, my life changed dramatically.  A twelve plus year relationship with a great company I worked for ended.  I loved (almost) every minute of it.  For the past three and half years, I've also had my photography business, along side of my other job.  And, for the past two and half years, my non-photography job has been done part time, from home. It was perfect.  It gave me all the flexibility I needed, doing a job for a company I believed it, with an awesome boss using the knowledge I'd acquired in the prior 10 years. It also gave me time to get my business going, create awareness, build my client base and improve my skills. But, as always happens, things must change and with that comes some sadness as well as some excitement!  I can now focus my efforts on photography more than I have in the past.

With this new chapter comes some new goals and intentions.  As it relates to this post, I plan to write in here more often (and yes, I've said that before so we'll see how it really goes).  Maybe if I don't feel I have to write a novel each time (and really, do you want a novel on someone's blog?) then I can get in here more often.  So, please stay tuned.

To kick it off, here are the 1st 7 weeks of my personal Project 52 this year - one photo a week for a year.  Thanks for stopping by and for reading my update.  Hope to see you again soon!

A Day in the City

Backstage peek

Cub Scout strategy during the Pinewood Derby

Birthday celebrations with Grandma! 

Snow - at last!

Horse country. I can never get enough!

A special Valentine's Day - breakfast in bed!

Miss E Sneak Peek Photos

I've been lucky enough to have a few more Senior Photo Sessions this year!  We had a gorgeous fall day for this session!   Miss E was fun and sweet and willing to do whatever I asked, including sing for me, as she is going to be a vocal major at school next  year. Her voice is amazing!

Have a fabulous Senior Year! I wish you all the best as you head to college for the next chapter in your life.  It's going to be better than you can imagine!  

Thank for asking me to be your photographer for these photos.  It was so much fun working with you!

Miss L Senior Photos Sneak Peek

It took us a couple of tries to get this session underway.  On our first scheduled date, we had extremely high winds and decided to postpone the session by about a week and a half to the following Friday.  However, a few days later, I looked at the forecast and Friday was going to be rainy and 48 degrees.  So, I emailed Mom and asked if Tuesday would work instead as it looked like it was going to be 68 degrees and sunny. The new date was set and we agreed to meet in a nearby field I wanted to try out.  Much to my dismay, we had another crazy wind day. However, I was thrilled to see that Miss L wore her hair in a ponytail with a headband. Could anything have been more perfect on a windy day?  I think not!  We started the shoot and had a great time.  After hanging out in the field for a bit, we moved to the downtown area and hit a few more locations. Mom even joined in a few in both places!

I was so happy to catch this moment. As a six foot one inch basketball player, Miss L squatted down to make her mom taller.  We all had a good giggle!

Thank you again for asking me to be your photographer for these Senior Photos!  

I hope you enjoy them.  Best of luck in your final year in high school!

G Family Sneak Peek

Oh how I have got to start using this blog again!  It's been way too long. I thinking it would be good to get things going with a sneak peek on my most recent family shoot. We had a beautiful day last Saturday when we met at the Arboretum.  I've known this family for a couple of years now, as our kids attend school together. I was thrilled when the mom asked me to do a family photo shoot.  Everyone had fun and I think we got some great shots.  Here's a quick peek into their session.

They were ready to go, right from the start.

I love the love in this image.  They were so willing to do what I asked!

What a little man.  He didn't have a lot of patience for multiple shots.  Most of the time when I took a photo, he'd say, "Are you done?"  Most of the time, I would respond with "Noooo."  It made me laugh!

Such a gorgeous girl!

A very happy family!

I hope you enjoy the images so far. Thank you for the opportunity to capture your family!

My Warrior!

Last weekend, Kevin embarked upon this insane race called The Warrior Dash.  Almost 19,000 people competed in it between Saturday and Sunday with waves of 500 people going off every half hour on both days.   What an event this was to behold.  The race is a 5K interspersed with multiple obstacles such a jumping over fire, climbing a straight up wall with just a rope and footholds, working your way through smashed up cars and tires and ending in a lovely swim through the mud.  My hubby did an amazing job, finishing in 26 minutes and coming in 9th for his age group.  He finished 158th out of the 8797 people who competed that day and somewhere around 350th of the 19,000 total competitors.  As insane as this all sounds, I'm tempted to do it next year myself, as long as I don't have to run full out the entire time.  Here's a sneak peek into the events of the day.  (I could only see the final few obstacles but they were some of the best ones.)

Warrior - Ready for Battle!

Two Male Warriors!

The cutest little warriors I have ever seen! (probably the friendliest too!)

The amount of people that do this thing is mind boggling!

To me, this looked like a war zone, but fun. And with great music!

In the starting gate.

 

We were happily surprised to find that Kevin's mom and her husband had come to cheer him on!

Daddy's biggest supporters

There was some serious heat coming out of those fire blasts!

Coming into the final stretch of obstacles

Rope wall climb

Jumping the fire. This one made Maggie really, really nervous.

Sliding into the mud. And yes, he slid. No avoiding it.

The final swim to the finish line.

Can you see how exhausted he is?

FINISHED!!!!

Failed attempts to get kisses post race. NO WAY Daddy!!!

Mom got a huge hug!!!  She was such a good sport!

My rocking' warrior!

Perhaps I'll join him next time....

S Family Sneak Peek

What a fun shoot this was! As soon as the kids climbed out of the car, they were happy, laughing and joking with one another. The energy was high and I knew right away this would be a great session!  It took place at Mayslake in Oak Brook, a spot I had not been to before.  I had not shot here before and I was glad to be introduced to this property by their Dad.  My job was made very easy by the fact that the kids immediately showed me the closeness between them! Such great interaction between all three kids.  Here are a few images for the Sneak Peek.  

Such beautiful siblings! And, I loved how the water looks like a watercolor painting in the background.

Trekking to a bridge I wanted to shoot at. It made for a pretty journey through this field!

One of my favorite shots!  This was on a little hidden path.

We all had quite a fun time near the willow trees!

Thank you for asking me to be your photographer. It was a joy to meet all of you.  I loved seeing the wonderful relationship between all three kids.  Hope you enjoy the images!

Oh how I love Mother's Day!

Each year that passes, I grow to love Mother's Day more and more.  Being a mom just keeps getting better and better. And, I get more spoiled each year. I love having one day where I don't have any obligations, I don't have to make breakfast, clean up the kitchen, make dinner or honestly, really make any decisions about anything.

This morning my husband woke up, told me to go back to bed and not come downstairs.  (yay!)  I drifted off again and woke up around 8. I didn't hear much but I did start to smell pancakes.  (yay!)  I grabbed a new library book and started reading.  (seriously, a luxurious morning).  Not long after that, my little guy came upstairs, said, "Hi Mom, " dropped this on the bed and headed back downstairs. It made me laugh.

I went back to reading and shortly thereafter, the pancake smell got stronger.  A wonderful thing happened when my whole family appeared carrying this fabulous gift.

Breakfast in bed!  How fun!  The kids stayed with me for awhile and I shared my fruit and a few bites of the pancakes. Eventually, they headed downstairs to eat their own breakfast and came back upstairs again with all kind of wonderful goodies.

Am I lucky or what?!

Once all the morning hoopla was over, the kids and Kevin headed to see his mom and I got a few extra hours to myself.  I read some more, edited and posted photos and got ready to see Salt Creek Ballet's spring performance of Sleeping Beauty (Aurora's wedding) and other repertoire. My mom joined us for the show.  What a fantastic performance!  The dancers did an amazing job.

The day wrapped up with dinner at Maggiano's with my mom. We stuffed ourselves silly and then did a quick little photo session before we hopped into our cars to head home.  All in all I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day!

Me and my fabulous mom!!!!

Wishing all the other moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day! You deserve every single minute of it.