Posts Tagged ‘things I love’

My Week(155) in iPhone Photos

Sunday, October 20th, 2013

This week is basically just photos of all the places I’m going to take photos. Plus Caroline.

Sunday:

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Super happy to be swinging.

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I GUESS this spot was OK for family photos. (This spot was amazing.)

Monday:

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Eyeing the last apple fritter at Chowder Days.

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Nicely done, Connecticut

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Free boat rides are the best boat rides

Tuesday:

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This is not my baby, but I kind of want to hang it up in my house anyways.

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75% off wings at the craft store!

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Pixie Girl

Wednesday:

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Practicing his long jump skills

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A pond…

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…a cove…

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…a park. I LOVE CONNECTICUT.

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Wrinkly toes

Thursday:

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Ready for school! It’s been 65 here all week, so she refuses to wear a coat.

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I found the steps where we did my maternity photos! I love this park.

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What does the fox say? BUY ME, I’M ADORABLE.

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Someone had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.

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That chalkboard was the train station schedule for Evan’s birthday. Repurposing!!

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Editing editing editing…I really loved this session!

Saturday:

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I did NOT buy this, even though I really really really really love it. I did end up buying a dresser. And a table. And a couch. And…another couch. It was an expensive weekend.

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I love you, soda machine.

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Project RECLAIM THIS DISASTER is underway. I’m so excited about it, especially now that it’s getting darker and colder and we’re going to be stuck inside more.

I had no photo sessions this weekend but I’m making up for it with 4 in the next 6 days and I’m crossing my fingers SO HARD that the weather stays nice. I’m hoping to get some of our personal photos sorted and (minorly) edited and shared too, since my family starts to get mad if there aren’t enough gingers on the blog. MOAR GINGERS SOON, I promise.

My Week(153) in iPhone Photos

Sunday, October 6th, 2013

Back in the photo session saddle again, which means my iPhone is feeling pretty neglected. The kids actually ASKED me to take their picture this week. It’s a miracle!

Sunday:

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Celebrity sighting at Type-A! It’s hard to tell, but it’s Minnie Mouse.

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Ballet slipper = my absolute new favorite color. MinuteClinic had the best swag.

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Oh, OK. I can do that.

Monday:

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The waiting-for-the-bus dance

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I could not love his school picture more.

Tuesday:

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Verdict: good, but not amazing.

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Clark Farms! Donkeys! Goats! Sheeps!

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And a giant slide!!!!

Wednesday:

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She dressed herself, then started carrying around that kitty in a box (?? I think it was swag from something????) as a purse.

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Sometimes, I have to step back from my photo sessions and do one for ME in the location I want.

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Open house at Caroline’s preschool. That was our most recent family photo.

Thursday:

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MORE swag from MinuteClinic. I love those guys.

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Sitting shotgun in the drop off line for school (which means we got there on time for once!)

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Thursdays are for napping.

Friday:

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My Friday morning newborn session lived at the end of a dirt road.

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I’m going to be SO SAD when it gets too cold to shove the kids out on the porch and tell them not to come back inside.

Saturday:

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I’ve been binging on home improvement shows. Caroline has been binging on vintage My Little Ponies.

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Playing red light green light at Gillette Castle

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Very nice, Connecticut. I approve.

The weather has been abnormally warm all week – even if it did rain today – so the fall colors still haven’t peaked. Good news for next weekend’s photo sessions! And maybe I’ll even have time to take some of my OWN family pictures before Christmas. Miracles do happen! Except it hasn’t happened yet, so don’t hold your breath.

More real blog posts coming soon! Like super soon. Less than 12 hours from now. I have to much to catch up on.

 

N-Love with my N-Tune Headphones

Friday, October 4th, 2013

It’s not super often that I get something in the mail that my husband wants even more than I do. Shockingly, I never have to fight him for newborn bonnets, Sephora samples or jeggings. But as soon as I opened my Monster N-Tune Headphones, I knew I might never see them again. Luckily (or really, not at all luckily) E works all the time so I have plenty of hours at home alone with the children where I can enjoy them. And boy, do I enjoy them. Monster N-Tune Headphones-3
Did I mention they’re noise-cancelling yet? Because that is a very, very important part of why they are so useful when I am at home alone with the children. I have an addiction to NPR podcasts, which is the only reason my house ever gets clean, the laundry ever gets put away and the lawn ever gets mowed, so headphones are crucial to the survival of my family. Life or death, people. Or at least clean underwear vs. dirty underwear.

Here are E’s top 3 favorite things about the headphones:
1. The in-line microphone. When he does have a free afternoon, E likes to play *cough*superdorky*cough* computer games online with his brother. They use their computer mics to chat and catch up while they play, so headphones with a mic built in are perfect. His brother reports the sound quality on the other end is excellent and doesn’t pick up the TV or the screaming kids in the background.
2. The sound quality. He’s the kind of person who appreciates music (hashtag marching band nerd) so he was impressed with how great things sounded through the N-Tune headphones. Although he might just have been listening to explosions on his game. Either way, they sounded GREAT.
3. Noise canceling. Because, kids.

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Here are my top 3 favorite things about the headphones:
1. Amazing durability. You can practically twist them in half and they’re totally fine, which means when I absent-mindedly leave them on the dining room table the kids can’t destroy them.
2. Their over-ear design, for 2 reasons. First, because they’re bigger than ear buds they are WAY harder to lose. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve left a dinky little pair of headphones in the pocket of a sweatshirt I’ve thrown in the wash. Second, because they’re way, way more comfortable than those torture devices a certain iCompany includes with their products. No seriously, whoever invented those things hate people and ears. I wore my N-Tune headphones for 2 hours before I even noticed them.
3. Noise canceling. Because, kids.

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I told you I was addicted to NPR podcasts

With less than 100 days left to do your Christmas shopping (ahhhh!) these would make a fantastic gift for your spouse, parent or anyone who commutes anywhere ever, especially on public transit. They basically scream “I’m not listening to you!!” What subway rider doesn’t need that?
To enter to win a pair of Monster N-Tune Headphones (valued at $150) for yourself (or someone you really like slash love!) head over to Walmart.com, check out the colors, and leave a comment here letting me know which one is your favorite! I really love the green. The comments on this post will be aggregated with the comments on the posts from the other bloggers participating in this review, and 25 pairs will be given away. This giveaway will close on Nov 1. 

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post.
For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

BlogHer will pool entries from participating blogs and select a sweepstakes winner at random and will contact the winner with details about fulfilling the prize.

The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 10/2/13 – 11/1/13

Picture Your Dreams, Make Them Come True

Thursday, October 3rd, 2013

I am officially 2 months into this crazy photography business idea and I am busier and happier than I’ve been in years. Convincing people to pay you to do what you love is old, cliched advice…but it’s repeated so often because it’s true. Never do I think “Oh no, I have a photo session today.” I always, always think “Yes! New people! New location! New light! I am so lucky!”

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It’s been a long road to discover what I wanted to be when I grew up. Until I showed up to my first day of Biology 111 in college I was convinced I was going to be a marine biologist. Then I wanted to be a journalist, a tv anchor, a Pilates instructor, a human resources manager, a house flipper, a real estate agent, a thrift shop owner, and some sort of unnamed, unspecific job that involved being semi-famous and doing glamorous stuff all day. I was somewhat successful at a few of those, incredibly unsuccessful at others and never got past the just-dreaming-about-it stage of most. But once the idea to start Ginger Snaps Pictures took over a tiny piece of my brain, I couldn’t let it go.

Am I still terrified on almost a daily basis? Totally. What if the day gets crazy and I flake out on an appointment? What if I drop my camera and it breaks in the middle of a session? What if my client hates every single picture? What if my computer and my back up and my back up back up all fail? What if I’m charging too much? What if I’m charging too little? What if I am the worst photographer ever and everyone is just too nice to tell me?

Believing in myself might be my biggest challenge. It’s hard not to compare myself constantly to other businesses. There is always going to be someone better than I am. Always. My goals are just to work hard, constantly improve and make my clients happy. It’s really not that different from parenting – except the clients are a lot LESS demanding and easier to please! It’s super cheesy to say that because I believe in myself I’m making my dreams come true, but it’s the truth.

Working hard to make your dreams come true no matter what stands in your way is also the lesson in Monsters University.
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This is the face I make every time someone wants to hire me.

We’re big Monsters fans in our house – we own the first one and I took the kids to see the second in the theater this summer. We watch a lot of happily-ever-after-type movies, so learning that hard work, determination and doing your best are worthy endeavors too is something I’d like to emphasize. Of course the message is cleverly hidden in an adorable, hilarious movie that my 2 year old, 4 year old and myself all liked equally. Plus I hope the kids can see that lesson in real life as my business grows. Fingers crossed!

You can pre-order your copy of Monsters University here! And to celebrate the release, Disney is going to give one of my readers their very own Monsters University Blu-ray Combo Pack PLUS a $50 Visa gift card. To enter, leave a comment telling me about a time you believed in yourself to achieve your dream.   

 

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “”#SweepstakesEntry””; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post”
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 10/3/13 – 11/3/13.
Be sure to visit the Monsters University Page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

 

Connecticut Renaissance Faire {2013}

Thursday, September 26th, 2013

We went to the Connecticut Renaissance Faire (the extra e is absolutely necessary) last weekend. It was ANOTHER Sunday that E was able to join us (Two in a row! I’m getting spoiled!) and it was probably the most fun day we’ve had in a really, really long time. We are just dorky enough to think people in costume talking to us in fake Olde English accents is fantastic, and the kids were basically in heaven with tons of people talking to them and calling them Princess Caroline and Brave Sir Evan. We’d only been there 20 minutes and Caroline was already a Butterfly Princess Warrior, Evan had a sword and shield, and E had a giant turkey leg. I blew through every dollar in my wallet during our 3 hours there and I regret nothing.

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Caroline is a face paint champ already.

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What does the fox say?

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This girl’s costume was amazing (and she must have been MELTING inside those fur pants).

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The dragon gave her beads and said “Never do anything for beads!”

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This acrobat was unreal. How is that even possible????

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Both kids loved that turkey leg.

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Evan could barely fight he was laughing so hard.

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Victory!!

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This guy put one of the fancy hats on Evan and I said “Sorry honey, I don’t have enough money.” Evan grabbed the kid-sized hat and said “This one isn’t too ‘spensive!” He was right.

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That’s Caroline’s angry pirate face.

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Of course Caroline got a tiny sword too.

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King Henry VIII. Not sure which wife that is. Katherine? The first one?

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I have no idea why there was a guy selling these super cool puppets, but he let the kids play with them and they LOVED it.

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Watching the Trash to Treasure show

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Authentic Olde Tymee Root Beer Floats

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My kids are such participators. They both RAN up on stage to be bears in the Betty White and the Three Bears and the Beanstalk (or whatever this crazy show was called).

I’m hoping we can go back again before they leave in mid-October. We didn’t even get to see the rat circus or the jousting!