Philly photo phun, here I come!

Well, internets, it is adios from me for a few days. Headed out of town for a spontaneous little weekend in Philly. I get to see her and her, and FINALLY meet her and her. I am giddy with excitement.[ I am also practically paralyzed with fear as I have 11 photo shoots lined up for the weekend.]

Nothing like a little pressure, eh?

But I am looking forward to the trip. Especially the part where I sit on a plane all by myself and read a book for several hours. Bliss.

But before I go, I wanted to leave you with some of my favorite shots of the Great Family B. One of my favorite families anyway, but I am even more in love with them after getting to see them through the lens of my camera. They are some beautiful people, no? And nice? When you look up nice in in the dictionary - you would see this whole family there. Not an exaggeration either. Ask anyone who knows them.

This pic just might be my favorite of the whole batch - love the moment between a daddy and his sweet girl. Love the colors. It was a somewhat accidental picture - we had wrapped up the shoot and were getting ready to leave the park when I turned and saw this. And how, HOW, could I let one like this get away?

Wish every shot was this easy to take.

Have a good weekend, peeps. Don't have too much fun without me!

Photo Shoot Week - day three

Thrown in the midst of all these family shoots recently was a very fun senior portrait session. Meet Dani. Five-foot-ten, long legs, flawless skin, and hair like you see in the movies.

I mean, hello? Does she even know how high school was for girls like me? With my bad perms, baby-blue eyeshadow, and pegged jeans?

Luckily for her, she does not.

And after getting to know her a little better on the shoot, I've come to see that she absolutely deserves to be this beautiful because she is just. so. nice.

Thanks, Dani. Here's hoping that before I turn 40, I can look half as good as you look at 17.

(Not bloody likely, I'm afraid)

Photo Shoot Week - day two

Meet family S. While I love and adore their whole family, their sweet little girl has a special place in my heart. She's one of my little nursery friends, and she reminds me so much of Hannah when she was that age. It's like getting a second chance to play with your little one all over again. LOVE her. Love them.

We had the misfortune to time this shoot on one of the 28 stinking days of rain we had in the month of October. Needing to press forward and get it done anyway, we hid out under trees and awnings, and managed to get a few shots in spite of that.

I painted the sky blue in this particular shot because I was so annoyed with the rain. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have known that if I hadn't just told you. What say you, internets? Do you like the fake blue sky?

If only I could do that every day.

Are they not so darling together? I love shooting couples. It makes me so happy.

They really are a gorgeous family, no? And here I thought Michelle knew all the pretty people. I think these lovely Missourians are giving her peeps a run for their money.

Thanks, guys. LOVED this shoot (but hated the rain). Your family is so beautiful, so happy. That just rubbed off on me and brightened my whole day.

Photo Shoot Week

Hello, Monday. Is it you already?

There are lots of things I could share with you today. But I really don't feel like talking about Halloween and all the candy I've eaten over the last four days (neither do my thighs). I mean, seriously, there are candy bars in the store year-round. Why must I eat my weight in them every year between October 28th and November 1st? WHY?

I also don't want to remind myself of the 1.6 billion leaves currently blanketing my backyard. I am trying very hard to ignore them. I'm putting my fingers in my ears and singing LA LA LA LA whenever I walk by, hoping the leaves will magically disappear. Yes, have you met me? I live in Denial. It's lovely here.

And I am most certainly not going to talk about my new favorite obsession: The Pioneer Woman Cookbook. I've only had it a few days and I have already made several things from it which were richly laden with butter and sugar. Again, the thighs are begging for my silence. (But they will permit me to tell you that you really ought to buy the book. It's absolutely fantastic.)

One thing I do want to talk about is the plethora of photo shoots I have had the last few weeks. I have so many fun pictures to share with you. So many, in fact, that I am dubbing this week "Photo Shoot with Stie Week" and am going to show you nothing but the beautiful people I've been hanging around with.

Sadly, I don't get any cuter by association. It's not true what they say - beauty won't rub off on others. Crap.

Anyway, here is family K. One of my all-time favorite families EVER. Not only is this lady an entrepreneur, but she's classy, beautiful, and is a lot of fun on a road trip.

Plus, her husband? The master of all things You Tube. If it's funny and on the web, this guy can find it for you.

Here is the beautiful Bec and her daughter Chantalle (though I call her Chantanna Montana because of her super star-like posing abilities. She kind of liked that.)

Balancing out the girls in this family are these handsome devils.

Thanks, guys for letting me shoot your gorgeous family. It was so much fun.

The one in which I post gratuitous grandparent photos

The last several months, I have unintentionally turned this blog into a showcase of sorts for photo shoots involving a lot of beautiful people. I have taken great pleasure in sharing these photos with you, but have neglected posting any of the shots I take for myself. The ones of my own babies, who I love best of all.

I figured it was high time I did so.

Feel free to skip these if you are:

a) not related to me
b) not the least bit interested in ANY photos, words, or drivel I ever put up here
c) clicking off as we speak to search for free p0rn
d) drank too much diet coke and are running for the bathroom, legs crossed, doing the potty dance

Wait, sorry. That last one was me. I'm back now. (Phew, that was a close one!)

And all four of you who are left (hi, grandparents!) can enjoy these gorgeous photos of my gorgeous children, who seem to be growing up entirely too fast. I will try to stop humming "Sunrise, Sunset" while you scroll down.

But I'm not making any promises.

Happy Wednesday.

"Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play? I don't remember growing older. When did they? When did she get to be a beauty? When did he grow to be so tall..."

Sorry. Stopping now.

Sniff.

Helping you poor, sad souls

I am a weird person.

I know, right? You had absolutely NO IDEA.

Shut up.

I think the quirk that is most annoying to the Husband is my unflinching, urgent need to have our family Christmas card done before Halloween.

Yes. You read that right.

I seriously start to panic and will sit bolt-upright in bed in a cold sweat if it's not done and in my hot little hands. I am not sure why, but it is something I have accepted and made peace with after years of struggling in vain to wait.

The Husband is now trying to work through the issue in therapy, however.

But since it is, after all, ALMOST HALLOWEEN, I thought I would offer my services to the rest of you (as my own cards have been done since before Labor Day). I have been designing some Christmas cards and am now offering them as part of my photography packages (click over for the full line). I've been very busy doing family fall portraits and figured this was the perfect compliment to that.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, are a few samples that I have put together:
(Yes, this is what I do with my free time. Judge not. My kids have been home sick for two weeks.)

If you're interested in working with any of these designs or have ideas of your own, email me at stiesthoughts at gmail dot com and I will be more than happy to help you out.

Because, really, if you don't at least have the picture for your card yet? You had better get crackin. Halloween is in, like, two weeks, people!

[Insert the sound of me breathing in and out slowly into a paper bag for you here]