Jack of all Cakes...

It's something that we have all seen in movies and magazines. A one year old celebrant devouring a first birthday cake as if it were his last. Frosting smeared all over his cheeks and hair, cake crumbs hanging from the corner of his mouth and a barely recognizable cake on his table.
In real life however, most one year olds are barely willing to stick a finger in the cake...maybe he would grab a tiny piece and smoosh it up in his chunky little hands. For many of us who have witnessed this first birthday cake ritual, it is across the board, uneventful. A let down to say the least. I know that I have felt this way...but not anymore. Along came Jack!
Jack attacked his cake with careless abandon. He barely had to take any direction or wait for permission to dive right in and give us the show that we waited to see. The end result in Jack vs. the Cake...clearly the cake did not have a fighting chance. He now holds the title for best Cake Eater in the one year old division...he plans to defend it next year. And we will all be waiting with baited breath!
Taking pictures of this little guy was easy breezy! Even when he wasn't looking at the camera, he gave me the best expresssions. His party was jam packed with friends and family. And where most toddlers would get completely overwhelmed by this kind of attention, Jack welcomed it and bounced from one arm to another...giving every one a chance to get their birthday squeezes in.

All afternoon Jack would let out a series of vocalizations that sounded like this "mmmm....mmmmm...mmmm..." I think he is telling us that his life is delicious...and I couldn't agree more!

Happy Feet

I have an obsession with theater! This is a girl who saw Wicked three times in one year. Who spent a weekend in New York show hopping from one theater to another. And this is a girl who, judge me if you want, took her 6 year old to see RENT and we both belted out the songs from the upper balcony. The costumes, the music, the performers...it is all so magical. And I shall confess, that whenever they do the curtain call and each performer takes their moment of glory on stage, I cry...ok..I BAWL!
I cry because I am in such awe of these talented individuals who work day in and day out to bring art to life for regular folks like me. I cry because they usually have amazing dancer's bodies that no amount of pilates could ever help me achieve. I cry because witnessing them live out their extremely artistic lives only makes me realize how much I long for creativity in my everyday.
My good friend Jessica is part of the amazing Chicago Human Rhythm Project's BAM! on Tour. The company performed at Oakton Community College last Sunday and I was able to have full access to their tech rehearsal. I'm not gonna lie...I barely got ANY pictures of their first dance because I was too busy picking my jaw up off the floor!
These guys are amazing dancers and amazing people! I was able to get on stage, side stage and backstage to take some photographs. I truly had the best seat in the house.
I apologize in advance that some of these images are blurry...it's hard to know what's in focus when ya got tears in your eyes!

Super Sassy

I love Facebook. Those who know me know that I am a little addicted. I like the idea of catching up with people through their one line status updates, their pictures or their videos. What I didn't realize until recently is how powerful this social media outlet truly is. It all happened innocently enough during my facebook nightly ritual. I immediately noticed an uploaded set of pictures of the most gorgeous, vibrant, playful fabrics and clothing I have ever seen. And then when I realized who posted it, I was immediately hooked. It was my friend Lisa Holman, and I remember from her past creations how ridiculously talented this girl is.

Lisa and her friend Nicky are starting up a clothing line, Sassy Lassie Design. They started a facebook page BEFORE an official website and business is already booming. See what I mean, Facebook has power! As soon as I saw their work, not only did I become a fan on facebook..I became an ambassador for them in real life. I told my friends... I told my family and I BEGGED the designers to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me do a Sassy Lassie photo shoot.

Lisa and Nicky live in Indiana, so making this shoot happen took lots of planning on all our parts. But I couldn't be happier with the images we got when we met up in Geneva, IL.


The hardest part about the shoot..well it was pretty tough to make the clothes the center of attention when we were working with such adorable models. But I think I got a pretty good balance.