Posted in Family, Myles and Neo, Photography on December 19, 2010| 2 Comments »
I hope it’s a great one for you and yours!
I’m taking a holiday from this lovely blog to spend some time with my hooligans, but I’ll be back after Christmas… once I’ve stuffed myself with turkey, gotten a suntan (cuz… yikes, do I need one), read a good book (yeah, right), dreamt of snow, and chased a tiny superhero around the yard.
Here’s to happy messes!
Luv,
me
Posted in Dogs and Kids, Durban Photography, Family, Photography, tagged dog, family, great danes on December 14, 2010| 12 Comments »
I’m taking a break today from writing about our adventures in Zanzibar (more to come, don’t miss it!) to enter the I Heart Faces weekly photo competition. The theme this week over there is Pets. I took this photo of our Ella Bella a few days after we got back from 3 months in the USA. She had missed us terribly and was willing to pose. Now, since we’ve been back for awhile, true to Great Dane form, she turns tail and runs whenever she sees the camera come out. I’m pretty sure she thinks the camera is a Great Dane eating monster, just like her water bowl and the nail clippers. Cheeky puppy, oh well.
You can see more photos of Miss Ella-the-cheekiest-dane-in-the-world right here and let me know if you think I picked the right one to enter. I am a horrible decision maker, but I know you all love me anyways.
Luv,
me
p.s. go take a peek at all the other lovely pet submissions over at i heart faces!
Posted in Africa, Coffee Guy, Photography, Travel on December 3, 2010| 3 Comments »
I made a deal with God, which, you really never should do. My deal? I’ll move to Burundi IF…. we see a house we could live in while on this trip. Please God, please God, PLEEEEEAAAAASSSSSSEEEEEE! Ok, so maybe that’s begging, not dealing. I never have been really good at making deals. I was the girl on the playground that started trading marbles and ended up with zero in the end. My brothers and I used to “trade” baseball cards, which really meant that they shoved my head between their armpit and their forearm and shouted, “Give it!” Which, not only traumatized me, but left me with zero negotiating skills. My brothers have instilled in me a belief that has served me well in my nine years in Africa, “If you have something someone else wants, they could beat you up for it. So, watch yourself!”
Anyway, we woke up on morning four ready to hunt some house. Hunt we did. After trudging through the rain over pot holed roads to house after house after house… I began to re-negotiate my one-sided deal with God. “Ok God, maybe if we could just see something that slightly resembles the type of house where LIGHT streams through the windows and the bathroom tiles aren’t pink and the furniture isn’t a complete disaster.” We didn’t. We didn’t see a place that we would live in all day. We don’t want some grand old house either, we just want a simple house where light actually comes through the windows and the yard has space for growing boys to build a tree house and where there’s space to grow some veggies. Nothing major. No luck.
We did visit some friends of our South African hosts, Jesse and Joy, who live in our-kind-of-place, so there is hope. I ended up shooting a newborn session of their new baby Elliot while we were there. Isn’t he adorable?
We also looked at places to have our wee ones educated. We had good luck there. There are two schools that look good enough to pass our super duper high educational standards. An english speaking school run by the English (duh) and a french speaking school run by Belgiums (huh?). So, our kids will either shout “Hiya!” or “Bonjour!” Or maybe “Hiya! Bonjour! Howzit.” Howzit is a South African staple. I love South Africa, have I mentioned that? Once or twice? Maybe?
Our South African hosts were so great. They drove us to all these crazy houses and places and ended the day with us at Bujumbura’s only coffee house, Aroma. Here’s a video of Coffee Guy chatting away as we drive along. Prepare to be seasick.
Next? Hold onto your hats, I’m taking you to Zanzibar… if we don’t die on the way, but that’s tomorrow’s story. If I did die, then I’m truly a ghost writer (hah!). Ok, I’ll stop now.
Luv,
Me
Posted in Dogs and Kids, Durban Photography, Photography, tagged beach photography, durban childrens photography on October 28, 2010| 1 Comment »
Last week I hung out with my gym partner and friend, Michelle, and her two boys Alex and Matt. Alex has the.bluest.eyes.ever and Matt is such a cutie! We did a little session at the beach. Super serious fun. The weather turned ugly on us, but all that meant is that the boys got to eat ice cream sooner than later.
Thanks Williams and Co. for having me along :)
Luv,
me
Posted in Inspiration, Nature, Photographers, Photography on October 20, 2010| 1 Comment »
His work is inspiring long after his death.
His life was legendary.
Plus, he wrote things like this:
“To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things.”
“The negative is the equivalent of the composer’s score, and the print the performance.”
“The only things in my life that compatibly exists with this grand universe are the creative works of the human spirit.”
“There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.”
“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”
“A good photograph is knowing where to stand.”
“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.’
“A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into. “
“A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.”
“Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter. “
Ansel Adams
To read an article about his work and life, and to view some of his images, click here.
Posted in Design, Inspiration, Photographers, Photography on October 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I just discovered Pinterest and I am in love.
I can’t wait to start pining!
I found these globes over there, aren’t they pretty?
Global Swarming, originally uploaded by rauter25.
Posted in Design, Family, Photography on September 29, 2010| 3 Comments »
I LOVE getting mail. I really really do. So much so that when we got back to South Africa after three months in America, I sent myself mail to cheer myself up. Most of the time I don’t even let myself wander onto Etsy because there will be ten thousand things I want and shouldn’t buy. That said, I had been wanting to get a very small necklace with my boys initials on it for some time. I wanted something I could wear every day that would be so small I would almost forget that it was there. Something that wouldn’t get pulled at and tugged off. Lauri at The Hummingbird Nest had my answer!
This makes the tags look like a “normalish” size, which is why, just for you, because I love yah, I took a picture of myself. I hate pictures of myself, as a general rule. I am not being a melodramatic girl either, I just don’t like ’em. Of course, I had to apply the “Prettyizer” action, and several others, from Totally Rad Actions in Photoshop first. Normally don’t like to use a bucket load of actions. Nuf said.
I am in love with the necklace. The hand stamped pouch it came in, the note Lauri wrote me. Mail is my one weakness.
Luv.
me
Posted in Family, Inspiration, Photography on September 28, 2010| 1 Comment »
He used to hate me. Shut me out of his room. Wrestle me to the ground and keep me there until I cried, “mercy!” He ignored me and picked on me and was generally really mean to me whenever he had a spare moment. Look, even In this photo he looks like he’s about to break my camera, wrestle me to the ground, sit on me, and then fart on my head.
But today he won a fancy really important award, so today he is cool. But just for the day. My brother, copywriter guy Brett Knutson, just won a Radio Mercury Award for his Fatpants campaign (click to have a listen). Apparently this makes lots of other copywriting people very jealous, because they toil for years on end and never get the fancy really important award, but my brother did… after less than a year in his current position. So there, nah na nah na na you toiling copywriters. That was uncalled for, sorry. My childhood is rushing back all at once. I’m just really proud of my mean big brother… who has a cool pass, just for today.
Posted in Photography on September 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »
We are officially out of the dark woods and dancing in a field full of sunshine covered daisies! Myles is scabby, but mostly scabless. Today he made his first public appearance in over a week, at church. The pastor didn’t even kick him out! I’m not sure if that was because Myles looked ok, or if it was because Pastor Drew was being nice due to the fact that his kids gave us the pox in the first place!
Tomorrow, Myles goes to morning preschool and I will dance the freedom dance while doing admin and mountains of laundry and taking care of Neo.
Happy Sunday!
Posted in Coffee Guy, Myles and Neo, Photography on September 25, 2010| 3 Comments »
We’ve not only had the Chicken Pox, we’ve had a serious case of the cranks and our CRAPS have been off the charts! My CRAPS are down to about a two on the very prestigious Crankiness Rate Awareness Positioning System (CRAPS), of which I am the author. The CRAPS operate on a sliding 1-10 scale. One being little to no cranks on your CRAPS, ten being your CRAPS are plumb loaded with cranks. Variables include, but are not limited to:Â
Amount of sleep procured in a 24 hour period
Amount of times edges of the mouth turn upward in a 24 hour period
Amount of times escape diversion from those infected with a worse case of the cranks than you is possible
Here’s what cured my case of the cranks and brought my CRAPS right down. It began last night with a hug from my friend Jo and supper with her adorable family at their FATY. Then…
Coffee Guy spent the morning with the kids and sent me away to a beautiful spa. This is the road leading up to the spa. I saw these trees and this road and my CRAPS began an immediate downward spiral.
Then I came home to this, and that was just fine. Believe it or not, his CRAPS are down too! Soon we won’t even need the CRAPS because we’ll be so happy.
Luv,
Mrs. Crank
author and creator of the CRAPS system, patent pending
Posted in Expat living, Myles and Neo, Photography on September 25, 2010| 4 Comments »
I lied, it sucks. My post from day 3 made it sound like “all is well, I’m just sitting over here taking pretty pictures.” It wasn’t that rosy, but my One Line A Day Five Year Memory Book (which is normally filled with my literary genius) states it a little more accurately.
“Chicken Pox sucks. Day 3. Myles is on everyone’s nerves, including Ella’s. The house is a mess, and so am I.”
We needed a break from the house, and day 4 brought one! We packed up some of my freshly baked biscotti and homemade strawberry jam, and headed for “the farm.” Our lovely friends, Vashti and Martin, have entered the good life and now live in a cute little cottage on a big farm with horses and pine trees and big blue skies. Since moving to the farm just over a week ago they have gotten three adorable ducks all named after Harry Potter characters, a chicken named Tonks who also has Harry Potter origins and a piglet named Toothbrush. Best part is, they didn’t care that we have the dreaded pox… they might care in 10-21 days though! They will be festering and we will be finished. Hurrah! Sorry, Vashti.
Poor adorable Jesse and Joe, they have no clue about the itcheyness coming their way!
Yep, they’re real. Real cute little yellow duckeys!
Vashti is one of those people. She just oozes coolness and totally can’t help it. Before I met her I thought to myself, “Yeah, she’s way too wonderful looking to be my friend.” I still think that, but she likes me anyway. All that to say, I was so glad she was wearing this adorable blue dress. It’s makes the duck look fabulous. She looked fabulous too, but the duck… I’m stopping there.
Puppy is her name. Really. She could not help herself around Baby Neo. You could almost hear her saying, “But I wanna lick him REEAAAL BAD!”
That’s one happy chicken pox covered boy, and a happy momma. You can’t see me, I’m behind the camera.
Luv.
Posted in Myles and Neo, Photography on September 22, 2010| 2 Comments »
I snapped this on my “photo break” today. Smokers get smoke breaks, right? Well, I take photo breaks. Today I needed one! We had a great morning, a chicken pox play date actually. It was so fun catching up with my friend Megan and her pox covered daughter Anja. Then there was a very crabby afternoon, and now the kids refuse to sleep at the same time. Just as Myles fell asleep after a two hour struggle, Neo woke up. Coffee Guy is on daddy duty with Neo and I am taking deep breaths and stopping this blogging thing and jumping in a warm bath instead!
Night night.
Posted in Myles and Neo, Photography on September 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The key here is not necessarily to slather them in african potato, calamine lotion, tea tree oil, and oatmeal rubs… it’s to not look shocked. All I wanted to do when I saw Myles this morning was hug him and cry and check out each of his festering pustules while murmuring, “You poor baby!” Instead, we made jam for the first time from farmers market strawberries and the boys (Myles and Coffee Guy) drew treasure maps and dressed up like pirates.
Let’s see how tomorrow goes…
Posted in Photography on September 20, 2010| 1 Comment »
Yesterday Myles informed me that he only wanted one picture a year, on Christmas, and that it was NOT Christmas.
Poor creature, he has no idea who his shutter crazy mother is.
Posted in Dogs and Kids, Photography on September 19, 2010| 2 Comments »
This is Ella, hunk o’ great dane love.
With us from the beginning.
When we had no family, she became our family… and now she runs our family.
Protecting us, loving us, GROWING with us.
She was there when we brought back strange bundles from the hospital.
Bundles who went from keeping her up at night to pulling on her ears.
She is happy to see us whether we are coming back from the grocery store or coming back from months away in far off places.
She is our sentinel, always watching. Vigilant, protective and serious… except when she’s not.
Today we ran around like puppies and chased frogs in the garden.
Kristy Carlson 