:: While we were out ::

Visited our favorite farm stand off Crownsville Road this afternoon where we grabbed a bit of local goodness. Their watermelon are by far, hands down, without question the best watermelon you can find on Earth. The kids enjoy shopping open air and I always leave with a healthy portion of summer flavor.

At my lap

Great changes are in motion. So thrilled with the responses I've gotten thus far. I wanted to post a little information on a class that I will be taking to help me on this spectacular journey I am on.

When I was pregnant with this one


I found Creative Thursdays on Etsy and fell in love with owner and artist Marisa Haedike's work. I ordered her print Ashland Tree of Peace which became the design inspiration for the baby's nursery. I continued to follow her Thursday creations and became even more inspired by Marisa's PodCasts found on iTunes.

Recently I received an email update from her announcing that she would be offering an online course titled In the Fishbowl :: Life as an artist. ONline

I am so thrilled to be entering her world with this class and believe you will see some changes in October because of all the new fun and excited things I'll be picking up from her and other artists enrolled in the class.

I believe there are a few more spots open too. So if you are of the creative sort, I highly recommend looking into Marisa and all she has to offer.

Here's the other babe, the one who will be in school every day! ::sniff, sigh:: while the baby naps so I can have a little uninterrupted, guilt-free time to dabble in the fish bowl.

The babes like to rest their head on my lap while I work, reminding me it's time to paint, walk, run, bounce, jump, play, eat, nap or in this case get dressed for the day.

Putting the word out

In the past few weeks, I have been caught up in a bit of a personal career crisis.... My life as a photographer is ideal. I am right where so many professionals dream of being with a strong client base, a flexible schedule and income.

All of which is the product of lots of hard work, many nights up well past midnight, 1 a.m., 2 a.m, and up to rise early with my babes. Or getting four hours of work done during the baby's two hour nap. And even sitting down for 15 minutes during snack time, a moment when my little ones stop bouncing, buzzing, moving, to knock out a couple edits, blog a clients preview or put together a print order.

I love what I do!

So why change? I guess it has something to do with career progression, the dream, the goal. At the end of the day, besides wanting my children to grow into healthy, well-balanced, kind human beings, I still dream HUGE. I guess that's the hopeless artist in me shining though. Life is far too short to not be fired up about what I do on a daily basis.

What I'm saying is that even though I am totally in love and incredibly passionate about what I do right now, there's still so much more I want to achieve. So in order to keep up with my own demands, I am working on a few changes. First and foremost is my blog. I have two blogs right now and as many of you have noticed, the blog has taken a back seat, not as many posts, less photos, less writing when I do post. Juggling two blogs is more work than necessary, so I'll be combining my work and personal blogs and revamping the look and content a bit.

The other major thing I am focusing my energy on is commercial photography work. I have been working with a very talented artist, jewelry designer Laura Moore. Hope to share some of her work with you today. Laura has opened my eyes to how amazing it is to work with other small business owners. Seriously awesome stuff.

So as my readers, I'm reaching out to you, putting the word out, to see if you know of any small business owners, artists, musicians etc, who may be interested in my services. I am looking to photograph just about anything or anyone!

As for my my beloved clients, YES! I am still in business and getting busier with fall around the corner. So, I will be posting a few promotions within the next day or so for returning faces and for fresh, new faces. Keep your eyes out for that.

Will post a little more later. For now, snack time is over...

Stomping Beach

The kids and I took a break from all the summer fun here in Annapolis and headed north to where I grew up. Took the kids to the beach I played at ever summer. Both took to it as I had, loving ever moment from sand castles and flying kites so catching crabs and looking for shells.

Austin and I found an old fishing net someone had tossed, probably a clammer. The net has a small tear at the top and they probably figured it wasn't any good. That man's garbage become my little guy's treasure. He played with it as my brother and I used to with our nets, swooping up minnows and sifting through the sand hoping a baby crab my get caught in the fraying blue net.

Taylor loves the sun and the sand. Swimming with me and watching her brother buzz around. She did try to eat sand once, decided it was much more useful running it through her hair. She almost took a nap right there in the sand, but I scooped her up and put her in the car. The ride back to mom's is just a hop and a skip. Sweet little babe would be sound asleep before we'd even reach the house.

I wish I had more images to share. I was too busy getting wet and sandy with my little ones this time around. Enjoy for now. Have some wonderful photos from a beautiful shower coming soon.

Enjoy the remainder of your summer. Good luck to all our big kid friends heading into school tomorrow!

Hope you are all well. Would love to hear from each of you!

My Taylor's got Chucks

Aren't they just the cutest Chuck Taylors you've ever seen? And you should see them on this yummy little girl. My baby is officially a toddler, though she doesn't really toddle around the house, she's running. Here are a few things Taylor and her Chucks have been up to:

:: running into my arms now, smiling ear to ear... the best hugs ever.
:: rushing to the door to great daddy tonight when he arrived home from work.
:: Austin and she played tag, scurrying through the house.
:: shuffling through dirt and wood chips while in East Hampton, proving this pretty little princess is more a Tom-boy than anyone would have guessed.

We are here

Just a quick post with a few pictures to let you all know we are here. I've been keeping busy with my business and the little ones. We have had a lot of sick this summer, but I am confidant that we won't be dealing with any more of that for a while. A little sad myself because I lost a ton of pictures I had taken while we were in Maine. So many memories that we'll just have to keep in our noggins :) I hope you are all well and I look forward to posting more soon!

Oh!!!!! I almost forgot. HUGE news. Taylor is WALKING!!! Like crazy! Has been for a few weeks now, but ahem... we've been chasing one another around! Will post video quite soon.

With love, Liz