Maxton is ONE!

For some crazy idea I decided to go visit my family in Louisville, Ky. It right after my nephew Silas was born.

I don't know what this Florida girl was thinking.

Me in the Ville in February! Are you kidding me?

But I really wanted to meet him and also my sister-in-law (SIL) wanted me to shoot his newborn photos. (You can see some below.)

Anyway, once word got out that I was coming up, I started to book some jobs. But the weather was awful. It was cold, snowing, yuck! My very good friend, Robert Burge, well, I call him Bobby, has an amazing studio space, so, I begged to borrow it for an afternoon. And he said ok!

I had not been in a studio for well over 10 years. I was a bit out of my element. I hope you can't tell, but here are some photos of the Spink family. Their son Maxton just turned one! What a doll. He was so excited to be running around and showing off his new skills. I'm thankful for my SIL's help in keeping him happy and sort of still to capture a few adorable photos.

Here are a few of my favorites!

Lesley had a great idea to make this jumbo cupcake to let Maxton dive into. And dive into he did. He really enjoyed the sweets and it made for such a cute one-year-old photo shoot.

They are such a gorgeous family.

He wasn't like the studio at first, so, I decided to chase him around a bit in the office and you know how babies love stairs!

Bob Silah, Marquette Alumni Magazine

I was recently hired by Marquette University's alumni magazine to get an environmental portrait of, Bob Silah, an alum and a retired Naval officer who started a program for veteran's families at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital here in Tampa. It was a challenging shoot trying to find a nice space to take Bob's photo. It's the busiest veteran's hospital in the country and the parking lot proved that. He was very kind and patient driving me around the grounds until I found some flags that I thought would be a nice backdrop. Here is the page out of the magazine!

Silas' Precious Parts Poster

My sister-in-law, Casie, asked me to put something together from Silas' newborn session. I was so excited to play around with these pictures and make an adorable collage for her. I am now going to start offering these to all my newborn session clients.

Don't you just love his buns?

Beauty Secret Revealed

So, it's official, I'm old.

Well, at least my hair follicles think so, and Cate. I've had one or two gray hairs since my mid 20's. But for the past 6 years or so I've been coloring my hair, not just highlights or lowlights, but a full color. I'd like to blame it on my kids, or stress, but it's in my genes. My mom was pre-mature gray. But she has a very pretty gray, probably because she was blonde. Mine is coarse and wiry. Wild.

I can't tell you how many hours and dollars I have invested in coloring it every 6 weeks. It needs coloring now. I am actually walking around with gray roots. They are probably about an inch long. I'm not sure if you can tell in the photo above. I'm having a hard time hooking up with my gal, with her busy schedule and me having strep, and both our sons sick too, it's been put on the back burner. So, it had me thinking, maybe I'll stop it all and let my natural grow out.

Cate noticed it the other night and said, you could be a grandma. I guess six-year-olds associate gray hair to being old, well, older. Old enough to be a grandparent at least.

I ran the idea by Jimmy this morning and he wasn't excited. Actually, he was a bit panicky with the thought that his 34-year-old wife, would have gray hair. It doesn't bother me. It's one of two things that shows my Irish side. The other being my freckles. Which I adore.

So, what's your vote? Keep it or color it?

My new flyer

Let's be honest, everyone loves their kids. Most of us are damn proud of them and what they do. My parents are no different. They are my biggest supporters. They are always asking me for a new stack of business cards, since they have handed them out to everyone they know in west Pasco County. It makes me feel amazing to have them cheering me along on this crazy adventure of business ownership.

This brings me to the flyer above. They wanted to show my work to their friends, a business card is great and all, but they really wanted to have something for these fine folks to see. So, I asked my good friend, Kristin at Media Bug Unlimited to design me a few flyers. She did an amazing job keeping them simple and clean and showcasing my work and info.

I just updated this one with Silas' photo and brought it to my kid's pediatrician's office yesterday. I was thrilled when they said they would happily display it in their well room.

silas, newborn session, louisville, ky TEASE

I was in Louisville this weekend and photographed five beautiful families. Here is a tease to newborn Silas. His Mommy would like me to keep the others a secret until she has decided on her photos for the birth announcement. Here is a tease to this gorgeous little man. I will be posting photos from the other families this week. Check back!

100 Days of Kindergarten

The Bug has made it 100 days in Kindergarten. They had a fun celebration today and made these jazzy glasses! She was hammy it up and I snapped this cute photo! I'm proud of my baby girl..oh wait, my big girl!