Certifiably Insane

These are the only words I can think to truly describe the two women involved in these photos.

Yes, I am one of the two.

The other is {obviously} nearly as crazy as me.

If you have followed me for some time, you know that I have this one client. She's quite the creative one. We do a session in the fall every year. Every. Single. Year. (much to her husband's dismay). Each year - the day after we shoot her session - I begin thinking of how I'm gonna top it for next year.

Well this year the timing had to be perfect - because it involved the carnival. Darn carnival only runs Thurs-Saturday and guess what days out of the week a family with three school-age kids has sports etc.? That's right ... Thurs-Saturday. Sunday would have been great. Too bad we would have been the only ones there on Sunday. Well no - that's not true - it would have been us and the clean-up crew. Not exactly the photo-opp we were looking for.

So, being the stubborn creative types that we are, we figured out that if we met at a certain hour on Thursday we could make it work. We would have to move quickly and dear husband would have to be excluded from the shoot. Kids only. He was very disappointed I tell you. He's probably still crying right now over missing this shoot.

Well guess what?

Rain.

That's what.

We spent the day on the phone with each other and stalking Gary Lezak {local weatherman - only guy I'll watch, btw}. Do we go for it? Do we not? It will be another year before this comes to town again. Look - it's slowing down to a drizzle! Just how crazy are we?

Turns out - very. Certifiably insane.

'Cause we went for it.

I stopped and loaded up on umbrellas on the way. Good thing. 'Cause we had an umbrella over each kid and an umbrella over my camera the whole time. We were a vision - kids all dressed up, hauling 72 umbrellas around (ok, ok - maybe not quite that many) and me laying on the ground in the drizzle to get the shots. Have you ever looked around at a fair or carnival? Interesting people, no? To say we stuck out like sore thumbs would be a huge understatement.

But we had fun. Ok, the kids had fun. Me & "Miss K" ... well ... when you're certifiably insane can you really judge just how much fun you did or did not have?

And guess what? We decided that we just couldn't stand to have her husband miss all the fun for an entire year - so we're gonna do another one later in the fall. One with their whole family. Not the carnival. And no rain. Or drizzle. I bet her husband is jumping for joy right now. Just giddy with excitement that we found a way to include him once again this year.

*important disclaimer* I will not shoot a session in weather that will make it impossible for me to protect my equipment or be dangerous to your children. The weather in this session involved zero risk to the kids and was a situation that my equipment could be protected. It was, in fact, a rare instance.

Brain Food

I need some. No, really - I need some brain food pronto. What is it about allergies that causes all intelligent thought to drain right out of your head? Why in the world would a perfectly sane {well, relatively} person sit in front of her computer screen for hours upon hours ... waiting on the big bright screen to inspire her ... to give her the perfect topic to blog about for a sneak peek? I'm on my 3rd cup of coffee and it's not working. So coffee appears to not be the brain food I need today (doesn't mean I won't continue to try it though). I tried nutella. Nope. Dark Chocolate peanut butter. Nope. The pantry & fridge are pretty close to empty...so I'm running low on ideas here. The package of "potty-training M&Ms" {Peyton's} is staring at me. I keep telling it to go away. The package of saltines is staring at me too. I keep telling it that it's not my friend until I return from my trip to the beach.

That's right ... I'm now talking to food and expecting a response. This could all be do to the 6 ... that's right SIX... allergy meds I'm on at the moment.

Consider this a warning ... all clients scheduled for the next 5 days ... this blog post is your warning. I may not make much sense at our up-coming session. I might even do the chicken dance. If I get a glazed over look on my face ... well ... just don't feed me a saltine. There's a beach trip in my very near future...

Wait ... there it is ... brain food! Beach trip + husband - kids = brain food. That's good news for everyone scheduled for the week I get back. This week's clients ... well ... just snap your fingers in front of my face and remind me of my up-coming brain food.

"Y" family - I present your "peek." And I apologize for a lack of thought-provoking chat to go along with the peek. But I figure, if anyone can sympathize with my fatigue and surprising moments of being lost in space ... well ... it would definitely be the parents of a newborn and 2yr old. Yes, I'm sure you can sympathize with me!

the new big brother and I had some play time while baby was eating...what a ham!

now, I realize that some may be slightly taken off-guard by me posting a baby bottom on here. I apologize if you have been taken off-guard. But c'mon ... is there anything much cuter than the little bullet-bottom of a newborn?! When else in life is it so adorable to have dimples and fat rolls?!

Another Birthday!

For me! That's right - Happy 29th Birthday to me! (and yes - it HAS been 29 years since 1975...it has - I'm bad at math so I get to claim 29. shshhh.)

So I figure I gotta post a birthday session on my birthday, no?! We celebrated his birthday in the park - eating cake, playing with bubbles and swinging. I think that's exactly how I'm gonna spend the rest of MY birthday!

Peek A Boo