ping & pong's little christmas brunch

I had the opportunity yesterday to meet up with my friend Cathy, aka Pong, for a little Christmas cheer. It's so sad that in the busy-ness of our lives that we don't have more time to do this, but I was thankful for this brief time.

We had a little lunch and shared this wonderful white chocolate raspberry torte cupcake. She gave me this fun foamy FIG soap because FIG stands for Fun Island Get-away and I gave her a Kelleys Island Shirt which my cousin Lindsay sent to me.

The shirt says "Drink More Coffee Do Stupid Things Faster".

Maybe it's a good thing we didn't have too much time to get into too many stupid things.

Flash Back Friday 145

Cousin Lindsay, 1984

Love Thursday

Bubblelicious :)

A Shining Thing

Whatever else be lost among the years,
Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing:
Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,
Let us hold close one day, remembering
Its touching meaning for the hearts of men.
Let us get back our childlike faith again.
-Grace Crowell

Oh. Wow.

Her name is Willow.

It seemed like yesterday, my neighbor & I were out watching our kids play. Now her oldest is home from Alaska for the first time with her new baby. She asked me if I would take pictures when she was home and of course I was more than happy to!

This is the first one I took of about 200:


Isn't she so sweet??? What a good baby!

We sat around and chatted, drank coffee and took pix. Here are a few:

Willow and her grandma, Faith.

Willow looks up at her mom, Jenna.

Flash Back Friday 144

Maria & Bridget, December 1998

Love Thursday

I love my teenage girls!
September 2009

These are the Times

A few weeks ago, back when we still had leaves on the trees, I went out with the fun family of Bridget's friend Jessica. It was a gorgeous fall day, and the park where we went was swarming with people who had the same idea as we did. It was a bit of a challenge to find spots with no people in the background, but we managed to find some nice settings. I liked the coordination of colors the family wore. The end of the shoot even included a trip to Bigby's for some good cwoffee.

Raising a Mathlete

Edward came home this past Sunday for lunch and shared news of his math exploits at Calvin. Ok, it's not like he talks non-stop, but he does tell me about it. I think back to 7th grade when I would drive him across town to a local university for an advanced class and how we would try to think of as many phrases with a short "a" sound in a row and say them in a nasal tone... like did you pAck a snAck in my bAck pAck for mAth clAss? He still likes to say silly things like when I want to know something, he says, did you "glooble" it?


I love how he patiently waits for me to take his picture before he goes back.

Anyway, he had just spent 6 hours on Saturday taking the Putnam, a nationwide Mathematics competition. Last month, he was on Calvin College's 1st place 3-person team in the MATH challenge against other colleges in the midwest (I think they typically have over 60 teams but I don't know for sure about this year). I am happy that he's continuing since his high school days!

The Joy of the Sea

All photos, OBX, June 2009
May Monday come to you like the joy of the sea coming home to shore!

Winter Wonderland

Ok, I am finally getting with the program here, accepting the fact that winter has arrived. We had our first official snow this past Thursday night and most of the local schools were closed on Friday - not for our kids though! I had a quiet Friday to catch up on some photo things I needed to do - edits, ordering, taking winter time pix, getting into the season, etc. - just what my soul needed! I LOVE the first snow, it is so, so beautiful, but I admit, it gets old sometime in the vicinity of January/February.

And just in case you can't get enough of winter, here is my December 09 Snow Set.

Flash Back Friday 143

Panama City, 2002

Winter is coming and I just have my mind on beach and sun lately. I need to get out and do some Christmas photos soon!

Love Thursday

Photo by Maria

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.
--Helen Keller

Waves