playing house :)

almost every little girl (including me!) loved to play "house" growing up.
I have no idea what my sister and I were thinking as kids,
but we would go over to vanessa bridges house across the street to set up our "house".
we'd drag out old sheets and clothespin them to the branches of her backyard pine tree's that created a little cove for us to build our "house".  we'd "borrow" flowers from neighbors to decorate around our house.  we even swept the floor and laid down a "rug" (okay, so it was a towel) to make it cozier!
but we'd play over there for hours, just imagining what our real house would look like someday!

I used to think that magazines like these were THE end all.  And, if your house did not look like the ones in these magazine, then you fail.  :)

but I'm getting a little more comfortable with my own style.  kinda minimal, kinda modern, totally comfortable and just a smidge eclectic... and I've found a place that I simply LOVE!

it is a most magnificent place online that I might just be getting a smidge too obsessed over...
house wares...vintage decor...giant graphic design sticker wall art...kids clothes...unique one of a kind presents...vintage shoes...even techy stuff like web design, printables + custom fonts!

yeah, etsy has my number. :)

but I love that REAL people are either creating or refurbishing old stuff...cool stuff...one of a kind stuff!

1.  custom blog design by paper me pretty 
2.  vintage fan by KMDCreations
3.  cupcake pin cushion by made in lowell
4.  custom, original baby onesies by evy love creations (friend of mine who is SO creative!)
5.  pea pod long necklace by art of silver
6.  the dress that my daughter wore at my brother's wedding by beane and co.
7.  vintage desk that I SO want in maddie's room by poppy cottage studio's
8.  seriously cool shoe clips (jazz up a plain pair of black wedges!) by Chloe and Maddie
9.  refurbished vintage cedar planters by andrews reclaimed
10.  vintage white + green chandelier by vintage chic furniture
11.  and my favorite store lately...wall art by simple shapes

playing with a thunderstorm

"pets" is this weeks challenge over at i heart faces.
but I do not have a pet.
although, I should VERY much like one (for you matt, if you happen to read todays post) :)
a pug, a min-pin or even better yet...an english bulldog.  *sigh*  but it is not to be.
you see...my husbands heart is three sizes too small...he and the grinch are cousins. :)
*bigger sigh* but I love him anyways :)

I like to imagine sometimes what it would be like to have a pet.
having the thought like tiny tim from a christmas carol
"if I can't have none of them, why not want all of them?" 
and if I could pick any animal in the world without fear of being bitten or eaten,
I think I would pick a lion.
a lion?!
yes.  I lion.

when you're a kid, what's the first animal you want to see at the zoo?  yup, it's a lion.  they're majestic.  they're powerful to the point of being slightly scary.  and their eyes look like they've seen a lot and could tell stories if they could talk - almost as if they're looking through you...

as a young girl I read the chronicles of Narnia.  and my fascination with lions only grew.
aslan was all of the things I imagined a lion to be and more!

"...He stood for a second, his eyes very bright, his limbs quivering, lashing himself with his tail.
then he made a leap high over their heads and landed on the other side of the Table.
laughing, though she didn't know why, lucy scrambled over it to reach him.
Aslan leaped again.
a mad chase began.
round and round the hill-top he led them, now hopelessly out of their reach, now letting them almost catch his tail, now diving between them, now tossing them in the air with his huge and beautifully velveted paws and catching them again, and now stopping unexpectedly so that all three of them rolled over together in a happy laughing heap of fur and arms and legs.
it was such a romp as no one has ever had except in Narnia; and whether it was more like
playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten 
lucy could never make up her mind..."

so here is my "pet"...
photographed from an amazing place called "out of africa" set in the high hills of arizona.
his name is lazarus.  he almost died as a cub and was even pronounced dead for a full minute before simply breathing on his own.
I like that...Lazarus. :)

last week is so...2000 and late.

I feel like a lot has happened over the last three days.  maybe just internally though.
let me explain...
do you ever feel like you're doing life and doing it pretty okay?
that was me.
last week. :)
the last few days I feel like God is stretching me.  and challenging me to do life even better...and to grow in the area of discipline.  (I kinda just snickered a little bit to myself...it almost sounds like a cuss word to me.) 
that's how far removed I am from discipline.  and I desperately don't want to be a stranger to it anymore.

don't get me wrong.  discipline is not that foreign of a concept to me in all areas of my life.
if there was anyone who could be a workaholic, I'd be first in line.
but I think that that is where the problem starts.  for whatever reason, work comes easy to me.  I like it.  challenging myself with the things I like and am good at and interest me.  so the equation:
hard work + interesting things = jen is happy.
but am I disciplined in the areas of my life that aren't "work"?
to be honest.  no.
(*gasp* I just admitted that.  out loud.  take it back, take it back!) :)
no.  I won't take it back.  it's who I am.  or rather who I was.  last week.
to quote the b.e.p.'s last week is "...so 2000 and late..." :)

I realized with the help and continued help of my amazing husband and seriously cool sisters that it's okay to recognize areas you fall short in and to work hard at them.  which is hard to do.  especially when it means being 100% honest with yourself and the people around you who love you.  I'm the queen of getting gung ho about something for two weeks and then crapping out two weeks later.
discipline is working hard when the gung ho leaves.
discipline is work.  hard work.

but today.  june 25th, 2010.  is a new day.  and discipline has started today.  and honesty about myself has started today. so here's to a fun friday being disciplined....and being truly happy. :)

now.  on to my favorites + not so muches!

*my lovely sisters.  they are two of my closest friends.  the younger one being miles away and has the ability to hug me through a phone.  the older one taking the time to really listen to me over a diet coke at wendy's.  even though miles and life may get in the way of us being together...I know that these two will forever have my back and be my biggest fans to the end.  I simply love, admire and cherish them.  a lot a bit.

*true love.  I got to photograph the 50th wedding anniversary of some dear, sweet friends of mine.  two people who have demonstrated what true love is.  is their marriage perfect?  is it easy?  nope.  but they chose to love.  and to grow old together.  and to be best friends.  and it is a most beautiful thing.

*good friends. :)  these two make me smile.  and be inspired by how hard they work at life.  I love to see them love on each other.  I love to read their post-it notes.  and I fully believe you could make a new york times best seller book out of their continuous life story.  I would call it "love. on a post-it note."  seriously cool people. :)

*being featured on other web-sites!  it shouldn't matter what other people think of you and your work, but it kinda is really cool when they "like" you and feature you on their web-sites.  must be the high-schooler in me. :)

on i heart faces on facebook

on pretty lovely designs

on swatchbook weddings

and now for the...

*being stuck in the middle.  let me explain.  not being gung ho.  not not caring.  but stuck somewhere in the middle.  the middle is not cool.  the middle is not for me.  :)

that's it for this week!  have an amazing weekend! :)

kissing the clouds :)

as a kid I remember riding the train into chicago and visiting the sears tower.

standing at the base of it, typically you couldn't even see the top because it was buried in the clouds.

all you would see is window upon window and steel beams leading up as far as you could see!

riding to the top was an adventure, too.

going up the seven minute elevator, you would feel the sway of the building.

yes.  I said the building swayed.

and yes.  I said seven minutes.

not good for a motion sickness prone little girl. but no worries, I made it.  :)

once you reached the top it was simply breath taking.  but I distinctly remember the fear of not wanting to take that first step onto the observation deck.

as if the floor would give way and I would fall to my demise.  pbsh.

after being coaxed by my dad to walk around, you got used to the feeling like you were a sailor.  and when you looked around, it was breathtaking!

how was it that mere man constructed this amazingly tall skyscraper that kissed the clouds?!  Ah-mazing.

that was my first experience with architecture.  later in life in college, I would try and replicate through drafting, creating pencil drawings of buildings that others had constructed and I was intrigued with grids and lines and shapes.  there's real art in architecture.  not baby cheeks + wedding flowers - which I love...but different art.  and I admired it.

over these last few months, I have had the privilege to shoot three commercial architecture sessions.

steve kovach, of kovach, inc. is a most interesting person that I've had the privilege to work with.

a man of many layers with interests in off road racing (he has his own team he takes to baja, MX every year!), playing the blues in his sound proof music studio and more importantly running an incredibly, successful company!  I shot his family this last christmas and he asked me a few months later if I would be up for photographing some of his latest projects for a brochure he was working on and to use the images to create an art gallery for his offices in phoenix

I was most definitly up for the challenge!

I love the use of color and shape and lines in how he designs and constructs for each of his projects.  and am amazed at how many people are on the job sites!  amazing to watch and be a part of!

here are a few of my favorite snapshots from the sessions at phoenix children's hospital, the new arizona casino, barney's at scottsdale fashion square & his work shop at his office...

♥ the chipette's ♥

*warning - you might shed a few tears if you choose to read this post.*
(and for those of you who just said "pbsh, I don't cry" let's just say I warned you) :)

a few weeks before mother's day I teamed up with "save our stories" in books and had this contest.
there were quite a few unbelievable tear-jerkers on kreatid's facebook fan page! *sniff*
there is just something that tugs ALL of our hearts when it comes to mothers.

forever until I die, the soundtrack in my head when I hear the word mother
will be "the mother song" by the chipette's.
(I'm pretty sure I just audibly heard a few of you snort/laugh.)

but it's true.

this is a scene from the epic adventure "the chipmunk adventure"...
let me set the scene:
the chipmunk's and chippette's are racing around the world.  eleanor (the blonde chubby one) rescues this baby penguin that was stolen from it's mother in Antartica by an arabian twerp king.  she sings this song and convinces the stubborn britney (the blonde cool one) that they NEED to help the little penguin get back to it's mother.  even if they end up losing the race! *sob*. 

once again.  YES, I'm 32.  and NO, I will not grow up.  ever.

click here to listen to it.  :)

I couldn't decide a winner of the contest so I had my own mother pick the winner.
here's the entry that she ended up picking by the lovely miss emily maccrane :)

I'm no mom.   I'm the daughter. But by the grace of God, I know I want to be one from the example my mom has given me. My mom is the image of laughter, faith and love.

Recently I was commenting about how badly I wanted a surprise birthday party but I was already planning a party so I thought "No problem, there's still next year." My mom and 10 of my closest friends surprised me last night to celebrate my 17th. I was blown away, not only because I had just seen my friends 45 minutes before and not noticed, but my mom, who had been working everyday this week, planned it all because she loved me. She didn't have to day it, because her actions spoke the loudest.

Faith. My mom has been in a physical battle for 9 years. Breast cancer followed by CML. And yet she keeps going! When my dad sucks or I whine about a problem at school, she will listen and bring me back to my God, who gave us our relationship. She could have given up, she could have become bitter or despondent. Instead she loves her God, loves her family, and takes each day as it comes.

My mom is one of the more sarcastic people you can meet. She makes me laugh beyond the point of breathing with her silly voices, wit and faces. On a bad day she is the one I will tell because I know she will make it better. Just like a Bandaid cures any booboo.

I'm not my mother but when I grow up I want to be like her: faithful to my God, full of laughter, and loving to the best of my ability.

congratulations, Emily and thanks for letting us hear your beautiful story! :)   here's a couple of the snapshots from the mini-shoot that she won! :)