life. photos. scrapbooking.

DIY: Master Bathroom Remodel - Almost There!

Hey hey hey!

Thought I'd bring y'all up to speed.

Clark is the man... Just sayin'.

:)

 

February Newborn Promotion | Eastern Shore Newborn Photographer

What better way to celebrate the "love month" and LEAP year than with a promotion for sweet newborn babies?!  All you have to do is book your newborn session in the month of February, complete your session (or your due date must be on or before) August 31, 2012, and you will receive a complimentary set of 3 mini accordion books customized with photos from your newborn session - A $65 VALUE!

These cute little 3x3 albums are perfect for gifting one to each side of the family with one left over to keep for yourself.  They fit perfectly in your purse and, because they are also magnetic will look great on grandma's refrigerator!  With these little babies, you, and your family, will always have some wonderful shots on hand for your friends to gush over.  

Contact me HERE to book your newborn session!!!

Vitamix In Action :: My Favorite Green Monster Smoothie

As many of you already know. I'm in LOVE with my Vitamix machine. I'm utterly endebted to my brother and sister-in-law for turning me on to it.

After many requests - I decided to just shoot a very quick iPhone video of myself making my daily greenie. At first - there weren't this many ingredients. Only about 3 really. But as my palette has adjusted to the taste I've slowly been adding things that I felt would be great in rounding out the smoothie as an all-in-one-cup meal. I'm talking about extra greens in powder form, coconut water for extra antioxidants, flax oil for omega 3's, and whey protein - in addition to the fresh fruits and veggies that account for the bulk of it.

Lately Clark and I have upped our game a bit and have been drinking one of these as a meal replacement DAILY (v. weekly)... and the benefits are just huge. I feel like my body is just "cleaner." Like my blood is clean or something. I know that makes no sense at all. Sounds freaky, really. But I mean it.

Seriously - my skin looks healthier - my digestive system is operating with good "turnover" and I have the peace of mind knowing that I've had loads of veggies each week - and loads more over the course of a month.

So - here goes... my favorite green smoothie.

Filmed, in the middle of REAL LIFE... My apologies.

 

Enjoy! :)

And  - because I forgot the BEST PART of the Vitamix... here's a very brief P.S. on that...

 

And because I love y'all so so much. And I think that everyone should own one of these. It's an investment - but one that is utterly worthwhile....

Here's a code you can use to get free shipping on a machine of your very own. It will save you $25/US or $35/CAN.

Simply visit www.vitamix.com and use this::

 

CODE :: 06-006644

 

In case you are interested - I purchased a refurbished model 5200. It has the same exact 7 year warranty as the brand new ones!!!

 

And also in case you want to make yourself a grocery list - here's a list of the ingredients in the smoothie ::

 

Katie's Green Monster

Kale (3 large leaves)

Apple (cored, skin on)

Blueberries (handful)

Strawberries (6-8)

Frozen Banana

Carrots (peeled)

Red Bell Pepper (1/4 to 1/2)

Cucumber (1/2)

Flax Oil (generous drizzle)

Coconut Water (1/2c. to 1 c.)

Spirulina Algae Powder (1t.)

Wheat Grass Powder (1t.)

Crystallized Ginger Slices (4-6 pieces)

Whey Protein (1 serving scoop)

 

 

Sweet Baby H :: Easton Newborn Photographer

Meet little man H. He was due on Halloween. Just a few days after his arrival, we enjoyed a few hours together. We played with wraps, props, we snuggled. It was heaven.

He truly is the sweetest little thing.

Here are just a few of my favorites... :)

I absolutely could not get over his heart shaped birthmark. LOVE.

His mamma is a flight attendant for Southwest - and his daddy is a butt kickin businessman who is constantly trotting the globe closing this deal or that. So... the vintage suitcase prop seemed utterly appropriate. :)

Quite possibly my favorite newborn image from 2011....

Happy Tuesday everyone! More photo sessions to come!

xo

 

Legend.

Penn Staters the world over are just sad sad sad at the news of Joe Pa's passing yesterday. Me included.

I had the priviledge of working for the Penn State Football program as an undergraduate, and the even greater honor of becoming close friends with his son Jay and his wife Kelley.

One Christmas, Jay and Kelley gifted me the book you see above. I treasured it then as I do now. I pulled it off the shelf yesterday and ran my fingers over those words. "To Katie, Thanks for all your help. - Joe Paterno"

No Joe. Thank you.

Though I know some will not view your legacy this way... I myself choose to remember you for the dedicated family man you were. For your devotion to a University you helped shape. For your expertise and honor on the football field. For your insistence on excellence from the young men who played for you, academically, athletically and otherwise. For you and Sue raising such wonderful kids in Diana, Mary Kay, David, Scottie and Jay.

It is said that Joe's father gave him the advice, "make in impact" when he chose a career in coaching over law school. And you delivered.

And your son, Jay and his wife Kelley did the same for me in my life. They made a huge impact on my days at Penn State, that I carried into adulthood. Carry still.

My heart goes out to all of them.

Your Penn State family is with you now and always.

 

 

34.

Last night, after I had picked him up from his twice-a-week daycare, I took Macho and the little bug through the Chick-fil-A drive-thru for dinner. (I know, I'm like Mary Poppins with the healthy homecooked meals sometimes.)

As we were waiting for our turn, I looked in the rearview mirror and I said...

Hey Macho, guess what tomorrow is?

What?

Tomorrow is Mommy's birthday.

Oh? It's your birsssday?

Yep.

Like, when it's wake up time?

Yep.

Do you know how old I'm going to be?

I dunno.

Can you guess? How old do you think I'll be?

Nine!!

Nine! Wow - that's great guess. But no honey, actually, I'll be thirty four.

FORTY FORTY WOW!!!

No,  no.... THIRTY four.

Yeah, Forty four! WOW!!!

 

I just rested my weary head ever so dramatically on the steering wheel and thought...

soon enough, dear child.

On a more sentimental note, I did receive not one but two cards in the mail yesterday from my parents. As I read each of them in the car in my driveway (no I couldn't wait until I got inside to open them) with tear filled eyes - I really had one of those full circle moments.

I wondered if at thirty four my mom was as excited to be receiving a card in the mail from her mom and dad as I was just then. Or if Macho will be as thrilled to read what I have written to him on his birthday so many years from now.

I mean, every child by this point in life, knows with an absolute certainty that the card will say, I love you. And, every child, by this point in life can predict with a moderate amount of certainty that a check or a few crispy dollar bills will fall out as they open, said card.

So knowing all that in advance - why all the excitement? I suppose, it's because I feel loved. And there's no greater gift you can give someone than to love the hell out of them for a long long time.

I'm grown up. I get it now. I'm a parent myself. I'm at that point now, where I'm less interested in tearing that card open - thinking about what I'm going to treat myself to with the loot - and more interested tearing it open just to read and re-read the words on that card.

Old age, I guess. Makes us all soft.

 

Boy, Is He Good.

Yesterday, I was trying so hard to get both kids to nap at the same time. It's a big challenge. Baby girl is a late morning napper - and Macho - in the late afternoon. So, if I have any hope of getting out of the house, I have two choices ::

Try to just take them with me and let them catnap in the car for 10-15 minutes. (I don't recommend this option - it never ends well.)

or 2

Get them to nap at the same time.

Easier said than done, I assure you.

 

Such was the case yesterday. The little lady was all settled down and fast asleep. But Macho - well - he never goes down for a nap (or to bed at night) without a LOT of negotiating. He's going to make one heckuva lawyer, or door to door vacuum salesman someday.

Finally, after reading books and tucking in and getting back up to use the potty and tucking, etc. etc. The house was quiet and I thought he finally gave it up. So, I went into the kitchen to start cleaning up.

About 10 minutes later, he very stealthily rounds the corner and says oh-so-tenderly...

"Mamma, I have a song for you."

and then proceeds to sing...

"One less lonely girl."

"One less lonely girl."

"One less lonely girl."

about 10 times in a row.....

For those of you who haven't seen Justin Bieber perform this live (or on his Never Say Never DVD) here ya go.

 

I took a knee right there on the kitchen floor and he crawled up in my lap - put his arm around me. And serenaded me.

He is gooooooood.

He was even in key.

And after I pulled my willpower back together. I walked him back to his bed - except I crawled in with him and spooned for a quick 5 until he fell asleep.

--------------

I don't EVER wanna forget these things. These small doses of wonderfulness that makes cleaning up mess after mess, and tantrum after tantrum, and sleepless night after sleepless night (don't even get me started on poop)... ALLLLLL worth it.

And well... it makes life worth living in general.

Now if you'll excuse me - I think I hear my womb aching.

:)

 

Worth Documenting :: MiMi's Car Moment

It really is lifes little details that are worth documenting the most, in my opinion.

Ask yourself, when was the last time you laughed at something until your stomach hurt?

Ok - now - do you remember the circumstances of that moment?

 

Well, yesterday, I had one of those moments, and I chose to stop and WRITE. IT. DOWN.

I had my laptop with me so I opened a sticky note quickly - and typed out the 20 seconds of dialogue that made me giggle and snort...

Whether this ends up on a scrapbook layout or not - doesn't matter. I saved it. In my mind and in my heart... But -  because I'm human and my mind fails me too much - I made sure I had backup.

Here goes...

The babysitter was in place and my mom and I were on our way to check out a newly opened TJMaxx about a half hour away.

I'm from a rather rural area... so when something as hip as a TJ's opens within a 60 mile radius... it requiereth a visit.

So...

We start down the road leading out of their development when she giddily says....

"OOOOH... I made a tape."
She begins excitedly pushing buttons on the dash.

I look up and say with a sly smile...
"Oh, how very 1993 of you."

To which she nearly shouts back... clearly oblivious to the sarcasm in my tone...

"I KNOW!!! I just love Gwen Stefani!!!" as she now bounces in her seat, beaming.

Queue music.... queue heavy kick drum beat.

"UGGH-HUUUH! This my shit! All the girls - stomp your feet like this!"
**intro to hollaback girl

I just turned to her and then... without saying anything... I just burst into laughter.

And then she burst into laughter.

 

These are the moments worth documenting.

I challenge you! The next time you laugh till you cry - write it down.

It will make you smile the next time you see it... and the next... and the next.

And who couldn't use a few more things to smile about, right?

xo

 

Miss Stephanie :: Easton Maternity Photographer

Now that the holidays are a wrap - I need to get back in the saddle with my business blogging. I have a TON of sessions that I have yet to share with all of you. Some of which, were due to me keeping a lid on it so my clients could surprise their families with photos for Christmas... while others were just due to me just plain running out of time.

So without further ado... I give you the glorious Miss Stephanie, and her bump.

Newborn session featuring her handsome little man coming next!

December Roundup - a WHOPPER.

Whilst at Mimi's house... I can be certain of one thing. She WILL be demanding photos from my hard drive.

She makes these really great hardback photobooks for each of the grandkids every year. A sort of summation of their year - using the software available in iPhoto... and has them printed via the Apple print shop. They are really quite QUITE cool - but she relies heavily on myself and my sister-in-law to provide her with a lot of the raw material.

Last year - with all the business photos I was responsible for spiffing up - the personal ones - well - they fell by the wayside a bit.

However, I'm determined to keep up this year. So yesterday I spent a fair amount of time going through my photos from the month of December... in order to copy a slew of them over to one of Meems' hard drives. 

SO! Do you have coffee in hand? Tea perhaps? Bloody Mary maybe?

Well - if not - go grab a beverage then come back. I have lots to show ya.

Alrighty... we begin December with this little beauty.

Don't let the subtle tones of the above photo fool you - she's the fireball at the party.

This year we, finally tuning into more of what the "locals" do 'round here, found out there is a cut your own Christmas tree farm just a short drive from our house. We decided to give it a go.

Macho found himself a little Charlie Brown special...

 

And acted like he wanted to chop it - but then we reasoned it needed a little more time.

Instead - we hauled this little booger around awhile.

And then... we saw it.

The Grizwold family Christmas tree.

Some of us were in awe. Or, some of us didn't know what the hell was going on.

Macho was totally enthralled by all the busy busy going on after you haul your tree back to the big garage/barn. They shake it - and tie it up all in like 30 seconds and there are people and trees and wreaths everywhere... it was all very well organized.

Then Clark got that baby up on the roof of the old front wheel drive sleigh and we were off! Yippee! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

In typical fashion - Clark handles the exterior... and me and my little elf handled the inside. We had a few goofs this year resulting in some broken ornaments. A few that were special... but that's just how it goes, I guess. I just loved that he was excited to do this with me. A small number of casualties in the "material" world seemed a decent price to pay.

He was so into it, in fact - that a girlfriend brought over a little "hand me down tree" that she used in her apartment last year - that she thought Macho would like. WELL... if he didnt think that was just the coolest thing. He kept sneaking out to the living room to steal ornaments for his tree.

Then it was time for a visit with Santa. We joined him for "Cookies & Cocoa with Santa" at our local YMCA. It's a rather low budget affair in terms of "set design" as you can see - but it's conveniently located across the street from our house and gets the job done! Woo hoo!

Plus - kids are oblivious to things like "set design." :)

I keep looking at that sign, thinking it says "Santy." Tee hee.

Then we had this playtime episode... Apparently, he was looking for something specific.
We also engaged in a lot of homemade craft & decor items this year... Glittery egg carton jingle bells, anyone?

Macho took part in his first preschool Christmas pageant. He did not headline the event. Just a chours girl this time. His day will come, I'm confident of that.
Two weekends before Christmas, we traveled up to PA to visit my brother and sister-in-law and their kiddies for some early holiday fun. Mimi and Grandpa came too.

There was wrestling.

And runway modeling. Girl, your hair is fierce.

And construction of the floor laying variety. Yes, I pretty much pimp Clark out. Just call me if you need some handywork done. We'll work something out.

Beautiful cork floor, no?

Then, there were boys dressing themselves in what they insisted were weather appropriate clothes.

Eating snow.

Attempting to pick on the little guy.

And generally giving eachother a beat down.

Before coming inside and attempting (a lame attempt) at a civilized photo.

Yes... mine is the one acting like a diva.

Bunch of cooky people we are.

We do love eachother, though.

Just a few days before Christmas, my cousin, a Navy submariner who has been underway for the past 6 months was able to come home.

He was a sight for sore eyes!

Also, just days before the big day, we undertook some massive culinary projects.

Did you know if you crush up blue Jolly Rancher candies and then melt them in the oven - you can make water? We added the Sweedish/Goldfish for fun.

And just like that, Christmas Eve was upon us. Sweet kisses goodnight...

And a few carefully selected Christmas bedtime stories...

By roughly 3am (thanks to my procrastinating on wrapping the gifts, and assembly of large items) there was this...

 

Just for fun...

Random photography tip :: Did you know achieving bokeh like this is super easy? Just flip your camera/lens to manual focus and rotate your dial until you like what you see. Then click. That's it. :O)

Right now are some sweet sweet years for us. Macho was sooooo into it this year. His face was just priceless on Christmas morning. He just stared and stared at that perfect replica Polar Express train going around the tree.

Santa is super polite... he always leaves a thank you note for the milk and cookies. And congratulates the kids on being good... and gives them some tips for being even better next year!
Those stockings were all knitted by my Grandma. Everyone in my family has one. At least - all the grandkids and great-grandkids (over 20 all together). They are super special.

I can't believe you are still reading this.

Hello?

Are you still there?

I'm sure you've more important things to do...

We're almost there.

WOO-HOO!

:) Betty Crocker.

Even at just one, she showed some signs of excitement.

Not nearly as much as this dude. But, still.

Betty... meet Ratatouille.

YAY!!! Christmas!

*This is the first and last time you'll be seeing me here in my bathrobe. Soak it up.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a little gathering together and feasting. So we did a little of that later that day...

My grammie with my baby. 82 years difference.

Special.

Special like a soldier getting to come home and see his three other brothers and having a beer with his dad.

Then began the week "in-between" - A.K.A. bathroom remodel week. Clark disappeared into the deep dark hole that is the ugly stepchild of our house floorplan, while I managed the kids.

Who, incidentally, rolled up their sleeves and got down and dirty with their new loot.

Fish kiss for moi?     MMMMMM - kay.

Then finally, it was time to ring out the old year... so I pulled Clark out of his purgatory for a night... told him to shower up and take me to a party so we could have fun and I could act like a total bufoon.

I call this one... "Vanna White takes photo in bathroom at 1am."

Once again, I wish you a very Happy New Year.

Goodbye forever.

I'm never blogging again. This was the longest post in the history of mankind.

God help you if you are still here.

Seriously... go away.

I'm not even proofing this before I hit publish it's so bloody long.

Go

Awaaaaaaayyyy

Now.

 

:O)

Just kiddin'