Senior-ish sesh with Liz

If you live in the Louisville area, you know that yesterday was like a gift from God.  No snow, no rain, 55 degrees outside, soft breeze.....ahhhhh....  A photographer's (and momma's) delight.  So, that meant I was able to get together with my friend Liz for little photo session without freezing my fingers off.  Hooray!

Here's a little interesting back story about my pal, Liz:  Liz and I were both art ed. majors at Southeast Missouri State University.  However, since I was about 1 year ahead of Liz, we mostly saw each other in passing during college until the day before Kyle and I moved to the "The Big L" (okay, no one says that...but it's more fun then just saying "Louisville").  So, back to my story, we were chatting at the Missouri Art Educators Conference in St. Louis (Yeah, I went to that the day before moving to another state.  What?) when Liz told me that she was also going to be moving to Louisville in a year because her then fiance/now husband is from Louisville.  What a coincidence!  So, she told me to let her know if I found out about any art teacher positions for her....I'm pretty sure she didn't think much about this comment.  Well, long story short - we ended up working together in the same school.  That is, until I had a baby and ditched Liz for mommy-hood.  Sorry Liz!  We still get together though and "art" as we say....mostly talk....but also get our art on.

Now that you know that heart-warming story, here are some photos of beautiful and spunky Liz!   Thanks for modeling as a "senior" for me!

Gorgeous! 

Isn't this building cool?  I love finding locations like this!

I love how Liz kinda looks like part of the mural in this one.  Oh yeah, do you see Muhammad Ali?

Snow Day!

I am so lucky to have a friend that literally lives only 20 feet away from me.  My friend Ashley and I became friends shortly after both of us moved to Louisville.  Heck, now it's almost like she's a roommate that doesn't live in the same apartment as me.  Okay, that doesn't make any sense.  What I mean is, she is great friend and I can borrow a cup of sugar, Tylenol or blow dryer (all of which I have done) anytime.  Our boys are also the same age, so, that makes for some fun play days for our kiddos.  Yesterday we figured we should take advantage of the snow by taking our boys outside for a short winter excursion.  This was Liam's first time to play outside in the snow.  Well, kinda... last year I took him outside for about 2 minutes in his snow suit (when he was 4 months old), sat him in a bumbo seat, took some pics while he sat there confused and then we made our way back inside.  This year was much more fun!  Liam and Thomas had fun romping around, kicking the snow, eating the snow and even falling in the snow.

Oh, and once they finished playing outside, we made the BEST hot chocolate ever (dairy free, of course!) (FYI, I'm allergic to dairy).  And....here is the recipe:


1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
dash of red cayenne pepper (which pretty much the same as a pinch...)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup of boiling water
3 1/2 cups milk ( or almond milk, rice milk, whatev)

Stir together dry ingredients in a small saucepan, add water and bring to a boil while you stir.  Simmer for two minutes.  Add milk and let heat through (do not boil!).  Enjoy!!!  Oh yeah, and if you can think of a creative name for this recipe, let me know!


And now, here are some photos from our "snow day"!

"Check it out, Mom!  Snow!"

Trying out the snow....

Either he's not a fan or he ate something other than snow...

Liam, snotty nose and all.

Thomas loved the snow.

Yep, that's a sock on Thomas' hand.  What?  It works!

It was a family affair....

Over Christmas I tagged along with two of my friends THREE of my friends/neighbors, Amanda, JB and their little one (yep, the baby counts too!) to go to Amanda's family Christmas gathering.  You may remember this family because of this or this.  Anyway, Christmas 2010 was an important one for the family for two and 1/2 reasons (1/2 because the first two reasons are much much more important!): 
1.  JB, Amanda and Judson would be moving to South Carolina at the end of the month.
2.  Amanda's parents are planning to move to Puerto Rico in about two months to plant a church. 
2 1/2. I had to get a photo of Amanda's mom holding Judson up in the air for a silhouette, which Amanda was planning to give her mother as a gift. View that project here.

So, I brought along my trusty camera to get some family pics of her sweet and wild bunch.  I had a blast!  It was my first experience with conducting a large crowd of people (20+) so it nudged me a little closer to feeling prepared to someday shoot a wedding (which I am currently working towards!  Woo-hoo!  Two weddings for 2011 so far!).



Here are some pics from the day!

Sisters, can't you tell?

Such a cute family!

I think Tammy looks beautiful in this photo.

I like the way Judson's eye's sparkle in this one.

Custom Silhouettes

So, I'm back!  Sorry friends!  Between the holidays, the kiddo getting sick, Kyle and I getting sick and plain ole' getting caught up on things around the home I have had a blogging hiatus.  But, here I am ready to get back into the swing of things!


Recently, a friend noticed that I have a side profile silhouette of my son in our dining room.  She liked it so much (how flattering!) that she asked me to create some custom sihlouettes for her mother as a Christmas gift.  I couldn't show you all before what I was working on but now that it is post-Christmas time, here are the custom silhouettes I made:

Both pieces are 8x10's and were printed on high quality fine linen paper with archival print inks and matted with an 11x14 mat.  I liked them so much I thought I would share them with you.  Heck, I liked them so much I thought, "Hey, this would make a great gift!"  So, here are some options for those of you interested in ordering a custom silhouette for your loved ones....

So, if you are interested in ordering an image, here is what you need to do:

1.  Send me an image of your choosing, side profile or family members interacting.  The photos preferably need to be taken on a white background.

2.  Pick out the frame of your choice.  (if you pick out the ornate frame, no other decoration will be added)

3.  Select the shapes/decoration you want added.  Please tell me if you want the decoration at the top OR bottom of the frame or on both sides of the frame.  

4.  Select font and colors.  Also, select names you want to appear on the image.

5.  Send me all the above information in an e-mail to:  scmeadows1s@hotmail.com.  If you have any additional requests or questions please make them known in the e-mail.

SPECIFICS:

8x10 SINGLE PRINT (single person):  $20
8x10 DOUBLE PRINT (two people):  $25
Shipping fee:  $3.99
Each print is printed on fine linen paper with archival ink and matted to fit an 11x14 picture frame.   Please allow 1 week after you send your e-mail for me to process the order.  I will send you a proof in an e-mail once I am finished with the image.  Once the image has been approved, please allow 3-4 business days for shipping.  If you need the images sooner, there will be an additional fee of $5.00.

Payment is due upon ordering.

Well, there ya go!

More pics to come in the days ahead!