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The other night we got to enjoy a perfect summer evening. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, Justin (along with everyone else in the neighborhood) was mowing, and the air was filled with that delicious smell of fresh cut grass! Hailey and I laid out a blanket with absolutley no agenda other than watching daddy mow. Of course I had my camera in hand and got to truly enjoy just photographing the evening as it progressed from my spot on the blanket. If we spent every night for the rest of our lives like this, I would be a happy girl .

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
~ Albert Einstein

Every day is an incredible learning experience for our family. It is so fascinating and such an honor to be able to see the world through the eyes of a child again. This morning it is dark and stormy outside, so we are playing inside and watching old Disney movies. Hailey just wandered over to her play kitchen (previously only really used as something to bang her other toys against) and said “mommy…hot…” (which is what we always tell her about our real stove). Then I told her she was right, it was very hot. She then proceeded to open the oven door and grab out a “cake” and tell me I had to blow on it before I could eat it!

I know that probably seems like the most boring of stories to many of you reading this…but I could not be more amazed! Her little mind is developing an imagination!! Happy Monday all!

And because, like they say, every post is better with a picture…here is another one from our shoot on Friday .

Yesterday afternoon I was working in my office when I looked over and saw this…

Now a ~ the light was just beautiful, so a pile of laundry could have been sitting on that table and I still would have taken a picture . And 2 ~ how stinkin cute is she?! I mean…the complete and utter concentration on her face…her little tongue sticking out as she focuses on drawing the perfect circle. And when she realized I had my camera in front of my face and threw her head back ~ really mom? more pictures? We are so blessed. We love you punko.

Well, this has been on my ‘to do’ list since…oohh….I don’t know…January-ish? Which is why it is the Spring What to Wear guide…even though its May. Sigh…

Anyway, its finally up and that’s all that matters. Probably one of the most frequently asked question from clients is “what should we wear?!” Here ya go! Here are some great examples of beautifully coordinated outfits. I want my sessions to capture the essence of your family. And I know there is SO much more to you than kakhis and white button downs! It’s a great idea to bring 2 sets of outfits to your session. One can be more dressy, and the other one can be more comfy/casual.

So…right behind comfort comes the next most important factor in your session wardrobe ~ layers!! Layer layer layer! Layers add so much fun and oomph to an outfit! This also lets us change up the look of your family/kiddos quickly by just adding or removing a layer. Layers can be jackets, vests, ties, hats, leggings, fun funky jewelry, etc.) Layering also lets you add lots of texture and interest to your clothing! And that always makes for a good photo .

Another thing I encourage is COLOR! Don’t shy away from it! Color adds so much interest and fun to your photos! Notice how the images below have a color “theme”…everything goes together, but they’re not all the same shade of red tshirts/polos/button downs.

The final touch needs to be something that screams YOU! Something fun and interesting. Think cool shoes, boots, sunglasses, hats, or a fun tshirt under a jacket.

Now, I do want to add that there is  a way to choose white as your main color, and not look like something out of awkward family photos. You just need to make sure you add another color to make things pop. For isntance, if you’ve got mom and little sister in cute summery white dresses, add some fun turqois jewelry or shoes!

I don’t know about you guys, but we are ready for some sunshine this week! Don’t get me wrong…I LOVE (love love LOVE) storms! Nothing makes me happier than listening to the rain…the smell of rain (mmmmm!) the look of dramatic clouds, awesome lightning…ask me about the time we hung out on the roof of our house in college to watch a thunderstorm roll in! That was the coolest thing ever! However, there’s this thing that happens when you become a mom. It sucks the fun out of everything! Okay, I’m only kidding…but really, driving through St. Louis last night with Hailey in the car practically watching the clouds swirling in that nice little circular pattern above us was not cool. Tornadoes were being spotted all around us. Normally I would have been a happy girl to be around all the weather drama. But when you’ve got another little life you’re responsible for, the game totally changes. But we are very happy to be back safe and sound in our  nice little house and out of the crazy storms.

I just had to show you guys this little girl I had the honor of photographing. I know you will all agree with me when I say she is the definition of a classic beauty. Look at that smile! She was such a sweetheart and I loved hanging out with her! She was truly such a pleasure to photograph because she made it easy as pie.

Do we all remember the chaotic post from a while back? Well I’m going on strike. For the next 90 minutes or so at least. Netflix dropped off About A Boy weeks ago and its been sitting here waiting to be watched. So I’m taking a break today to sit down at watch a movie. I have an awful track record when it comes to picking out movies though…so I dn’t have high hopes . Feeling incredibly guilty about it though, I sit here with my laptop feeling like I should post something here.

So…what else is clogging up my computer screen lately?  Trendy Peas. Tons of cute prints, wall decals, personalized stationary, etc. Check it out!

I’m in trouble…

I come across stuff like this all. the. time. And now my brain is full, and can’t handle any more. So I figured why not pass the lovliness on and get it off my shoulders? . Lucky you. While looking for some ideas for Hailey’s 2nd birthday party (uh…where did the last 2 years go?!? TWO YEARS!! calm down Stac…calm down…) I somehow came across this lovely website.  Just because its called Project Nursery, don’t think its just for nurseries. They have inspiring galleries and shops and posts on toddler’s rooms as well as every room in your home!

It is full of pretty pictures like this:

Um…sister-in-law…are you paying attention?!

and this…

and this…

Lots of cute stuff for boys too!! So go off and get lost in this fabulous website . Have a great weekend everyone!

In today’s world, where would we be without our trusty iPhones and Blackberries? It’s been a loooong week folks. Remember that last post where I talked about being overwhelmed with  my to do list? Yeah….

So here are some uber adorable snappies from my phone to end your week . Happy weekend everyone!

As I get ready to write this post about starting things and never finishing them…I can’t help but laugh to myself. I’ve had these photos taken for weeks, and I’ve had this post on my to do list for just as long.  That’s just how I roll I guess. I have a big problem. I have this awful habit of starting something…getting distracted…starting something else…thinking of yet another thing I need to do ~ so I start that just so I wont forget…and the cycle goes on and on and on! This is how my poor daughter’s play table has looked for the past month or so…

That is my “photo project” for the winter. Somehow that box collected every single photo I’ve ever printed out. Apparently I just tossed them in the box thinking that some day I would really take the time to organize them. Well, this winter I thought it was the perfect time to organize them! So one Saturday afternoon I started…and then something happened and I stopped. And there they sit. For way too long.

This is how my office work area looks. Each little pile is a “to do” that I haven’t gotten to yet. But I can’t put it away because I’ll forget about it!

And speaking of to do lists, here are my pages and pages of them. I literall fill one up and start another. I think there are 6 or so there. Some things crossed off on each page…

This picture frame has been sitting in the hallway since before Christmas. Actually it sat in our bedroom for a while, until I decided I didn’t want it there, I wanted it in the hallway. All I need to do is have Justin hang it and put some pictures in it. Why is that so difficult?!

And here is another one of my winter projects. On another fateful Saturday afternoon I went about the whole house collecting every frame from every wall. Everything was all mis-matched and I just didn’t like any of our photos on the walls. So I started with the first floor, re-doing the photos we had up - actually finished that if you can imagine it. Then something happened and I stopped. The frames got stashed in a guest bedroom and there they sit…for 4 or 5 months…and I should also mention that every other room in the house (besides the first floor) has empty, sad looking walls.

Justin will laugh at this next one. We went crazy after Thanksgiving and decided to totally remodel our kitchen…before Christmas. It was a rough, rushed three weeks. I’ve actually been meaning to post before and after pictures since Christmas…yep, that’s on my to do list too. I was in charge of painting the kitchen walls and cabinets. Since we cut it so close (Christmas was hosted at our house year) the edges didn’t get touched up on the walls. Even when I very carefully tape EVERYTHING…when I pull that tape off I still have bleed over onto the other color! It drives me nuts! Anyway, the very last thing we have to do in the kitchen is touch up the edges. And there the paint sits. On our dining room table. Its March Stacy…take the hour or so and just finish it! I know this drives Justin nuts…he hates looking at that paint every day. So do I! But God help me if it gets put away…those edges will never get finished!

And I’m pretty sure I crash the computer once a week…at least. Why? Because this is what it looks like 99% of the time. We’ve got the external monitor for editing, and the laptop just sits next to it on the desk. The really cool thing is you can extend the computer desktop across both the external monitor and the laptop. So guess what that means?! TWO screens to fill up! Usually photoshop is up and running on the left and poor, overworked Internet Explorer is open on the right. But on this particular day I had TWO windows open…both filled to the brim with open tabs.

I counted…there are 18 tabs open. EIGHTEEN!!! No wonder I always have a headache!

So what’s the point of all this? I don’t know I just had it on my to do list and am finally getting to it! . No, really…I’ve been going through a big overhaul lately and quitting this insanity is one thing I’m overhauling. I’m trying to seriously focus and work on one thing at a time…until its finished. This is hard for me though….REALLY hard. My mind just likes to run off on tangents! I am working on completing each one of those messes above. I’ve actually already made quite a dent . Keep your eyes out for some updates! And if I’m not the only one who suffers with this…please let me know!

I really don’t have much to say. Right now cabin fever is hitting us pretty hard over here. The weeks and weeks of single digit temps and days on end of snow are wearing me down. I cannot stress how badly we want to be able to get into the car without having to spend an hour bundling up. Ugh…this weather just puts me in a bad mood!

But my mood got a little brighter the other morning when I woke up to this. My beautiful orchid finaly decided to sprout a bloom after 8  months of nothing. So maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel? Sigh…I went out and bought us some color to brighten things up a bit, its helping a little .

And because I’m feeling very random today…here’s some randomness for ya .

Even Daisy is ready for spring…see that look on her face? It says “&*#(*$&#@I%@# snow!!”

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