It is almost 2018! I really can't believe how quickly the year has gone by. I'm finishing a year of blogging every week, and I'm so grateful for the year that we have had. In the beginning of the year I decided this blog would be about our family, our home and our adventures. Sometimes it felt counterintuitive to not blog about the work I was doing with clients and their adorable babies, but it felt more right to make this more personal. It has made our family go out for more photoshoots, gave us deadlines to work on our home, and challenge us to become more engaged with our world. I'm so thankful to have this record of our year with our kids. They have been such amazing kids, as always. A huge thanks to my husband Ritter. Every photoshoot, renovation, and excursion has been possible because of his heavy lifting. All the IKEA trips, moving furniture, painting, carrying heavy sleepy children has been his job - I just take pictures! Kidding aside, it has been a most amazing year. It has been a year of resistance, painful, difficult, and hard, but it has also been a fun year, and one I will always treasure! Happy New Year everyone!
Skirts for my babies~
Merry almost Christmas! I'm usually taking pictures of other people's beautiful children, but I decided to do a tiny session with my babies today. Also sharing how to make those adorable skirts they are wearing. Check out the pics below.
Christmas gift cushion covers!
I owe some of my loved ones handmade gifts for Christmas. So I decided I'd show how I made one on toady's blog post! Hope you enjoy!
Georgetown Family Photoshoot!
Thanksgiving was a lot of fun for our family! We did manage to squeeze in a photoshoot, and we decided to do it in Georgetown. Mostly because we wanted to go to Falafel Inc. Check out the pics below~
Mudroom!
Good morning! Today I'm sharing about a little mudroom we made in the living room. Below is what it looked like when we did the living room in May. We moved the couch over to the other side, and I'll share what the rest of the living room looks like later in the year.
Uxmal!
It is officially Friday! This will be my last post of Mexico. As I finish up pictures for Donovan & Ana, I got these done and thought that I would share our time in Uxmal. What a magical place. It was really humid, and the stairs tall and scary, but we had such a fun day!
National Museum of African American History and Culture
A few weeks ago our family went to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. My heart was so heavy as we spent time absorbing the stories. I couldn't keep tears away as I spoke to my kids about the issues. As I put together this post my chest hurts for the horrors of the past and the present. I feel broken for the lives lost this week. It is hard to have hope. Despair is easier. But today is Friday - the days keep moving despite us being ready for them or not. Ida B. Wells reminds us, "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them."
March for Racial Justice & March for Black Women
We marched yesterday. It is uplifting to see the unity of people fighting for justice, but it is disheartening to have to fight for basic rights of our fellow citizens. We marched with our kids, our partners, our loved ones. We marched with strangers and sisters. We marched for racial justice, for the rights of black women.
Mexico wedding weekend! Hacienda Viva, Sotuta de Peón.
Our thoughts are with Mexico as we mourn with them the loss of life after the earthquakes. I was going to share about skirts this week, but I thought it would be better to share these beautiful images of this beautiful country. Ana and Donovan's wedding was at Hacienda Viva, Sotuta de Peón. We took a tour of the Henequen farm and production process.
Ana and Donovan's Wedding!
Ana & Donovan's wedding... It was such a beautiful day, and my honor to photograph a wonderful couple's special day. My plan today was to post 30 of the best shots of the wedding, but I ended up with 70. I'm sure you don't mind! I'm so thankful to have been a witness to a beautiful time filled with love, family, and fun!
Our Bedroom!
Our bedroom - finally! This room was different from all the other rooms for me. I had an idea of how I wanted all the other rooms to look before I set it up, but our bedroom was not like that. It's true that usually people set up their kids' rooms first, and there is a lot of attention given to kitchens and living rooms. Bedrooms get the shaft usually... Anyway, all this to say it's been 14 months since we moved in, and our bedroom is finally set up!
Cushions and pillowcases for our bedroom!
Our bedroom reveal is next week, but this week I wanted to show the materials I'll be using to style it out! I've been making cushions and pillowcases, and hunting around for cool things! Hope you enjoy seeing it!
Charlottesville
This was a hard week. There has been so much pain in our national dialogue, and people have died here and around the world in acts of terror. I've felt so helpless seeing everything happening around me, and its been difficult to find words to explain everything to our children. We decided that we had to go to Charlottesville - to pay our respects to those who lost their lives while fighting for justice.
Met Museum with the Kids!
After our anniversary trip to NYC, we decided our kids needed to see the Met. Growing up, our parents dragged us around countless museums, and I believe it makes a difference! I researched artwork by time period and regions, and picked out 15 individual pieces for each kid to look for as we went around the museum. When they found the piece, we gave them a card with the image on it. Here are Nuelie and Ellie with their clipboards!
After our anniversary trip to NYC, we decided our kids needed to see the Met. Growing up, our parents dragged us around countless museums, and I believe it makes a difference! I researched artwork by time period and regions, and picked out 15 individual pieces for each kid to look for as we went around the museum. When they found the piece, we gave them a card with the image on it. Here are Nuelie and Ellie with their clipboards!
Our Family Room!
Welcome to our family room/study. We usually call it our study, but we pretty much live in this room. It is on the second floor, and sits above our living room, and is the same size! It has our main computer, our tv, most of our non-kid books, a big work table, and a couch. We have art supplies and cork boards, and it has great windows. Nuelie has decided that he's going to plan out their after school program here... :)
Whitney Biennial 2017
I had the incredible privilege of seeing part of the Whitney Biennial in June. Unfortunately we visited a week after the full show came down, but there was a smaller collection of work that will be there until the fall. The work reminds the viewer of all of the things that are current in our world, but asks us to zero in on the artist's point of view. So many of us have seen the horrifying video of Philando Castile's last moments, but Henry Taylor allows us to see it again in the quiet of a museum; instantly recognizable, obviously a painting. Through photographs, sculpture, and drawing, we are asked to go deeper into a world that we think we already understand.
Dumbarton Oaks!
This picture says so much about our daughters. I love how photographs can capture personalities. These photos were taken at Dumbarton Oaks - a wonderful park with beautiful gardens. Go check it out in Georgetown!
Calvert Cliffs State Park!
Happy Friday! Today I'm sharing about our little day trip to Calvert Cliffs in Maryland. This beautiful state park has so many things going for it. A hike, a beach, and fossils! It is only about an hour outside of D.C., and is great for families. For more info, check out the state park website.
Our basement bathroom!
I can't believe how long its taken for us to get this bathroom done! It has been almost a year since we moved in, and our contractors did a great job making this room, but we've taken forever to hang the mirror and put up art. This bathroom is in the basement, and it used to be a room with just a toilet (not even a sink) but now it's the best bathroom in the house!
Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons Art of the In-between at the Met
Order/Chaos. "Am I an anarchist? In the sense that anarchy equals freedom, yes. Anarchy means freedom, but it also means chaos." Rei Kawakubo (2016)
The Metropolitan Costume Institute's Spring Exhibition is always a big event in NYC. The opening of the show is celebrated with the Met Gala, and this show was unusual in that it celebrated a living artist Rei Kawakubo. I really enjoyed the show - go see it yourself! It is up until September 4th! Below is the Met's writeup on their website. #MetKawakubo