So I have to start off this post with a preface…  This year, for Christmas, Quinn got the flu…  the coughing, sneezing, fever of 102 kind of flu.  So rather than get everyone sick, or having Quinn miss Christmas with his grandparents, they postponed our Christmas lunch, and instead we waited a week and it just so happened to fall on New Years Day.

So rather than our annual New Years Hike, we were playing at Mimi’s house with our cousins, pretending it was Christmas.

I missed the hike a little, but it was SOOOOO dreary and gray, and thick with fog.  Don’t get me wrong, I love walking in fog.  It reminds me of the Central Valley in California, where I grew up visiting my Grandmother.  Acres and Acres of thick, grey/white fog would settle on the cotton fields and almond orchards, muffling sound and limiting vision.  All at once, fog is a dangerous and beautiful part of nature to me.  My aunt was hurt very badly in a school bus accident back in the ’70s, because of fog and a big 18 wheeler.  I understand the danger of fog, and have spent nights driving home from work with my head stuck out the window of my car, travelling no more than 15 miles an hour, hoping nobody would come up behind me.

Thick, Pea Soup, Delay school kind of fog.

So my walk this year was cut short, but it was peppered with wonderful, just thick enough fog.

The really humid kind that leaves drops of moisture on everything, that hangs in the sky like a heavy sock full of water, until it just can’t hold any more and drips off of branches and fence posts.

So, though this Year’s Hike was cut short, I enjoyed what I had, and this year, that’s what I plan to do.  Enjoy what I have.  Quit wishing for more.  Love the now.

Hope your New Years is full of resolutions that aren’t too lofty to follow through on.  I’m going to make this a great year.

Jennifer

An amazing snow on Christmas day this year, for a good 36 hours!  Of course, Quinn had the flu, so we didn’t spend too much time in it, but enough.  The cornfields across the street have only been cut down for a few weeks, and what a wonderful view that made.

I always forget how perfect everything is with that first coat of white, especially when it’s all fluffy, so much so that it won’t form a decent snowball for throwing.  It was windy, too, this Christmas afternoon, and the snow was so light it would pick up in flurries and blow like the mojave across the yard.

Of course, within 24 hours the snow was melting, the yard was back to scratchy brown, and the mud was being tracked into the house.

But for those few hours that the snow is new, and clean, it’s magic.

j

Had an amazing session yesterday, with an amazing family.  Becky and Pech Ly invited me into their home to meet and photograph their newest family addition, Tatum.  And OH BABY, what a good girl she was!  She let us poke and prod, dress and undress her to our heart’s content, and only really complained when she’d had enough after an hour and a half!

I’m really so blessed to be able to do what I love and to meet the people that I meet.  There was just so much love in this family, that it rubbed off just a little!

Enjoy!

Jennifer

Spent some time with the Andersen Family last week, with their newest addition, Brynn.  What a cutie!  Poor Brynn was not having a great day, and would cry every time Mommy set her down!  Turns out, her little tummy was upset.  We still got some great images of her, and she is now, i am happy to say, feeling much better!

Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and are getting geared up for the holidays!

Jennifer

Well, actually the afternoon!  What a treat!  Caroline’s family welcomed us last week for an in home shoot, and what a sweetie!  I am really so blessed to be able to do what i do!

enjoy!

Jennifer

They are sisters, mothers, daughters, and even a few grandmothers.  They are students, nannies, finance officers, stay-at-home-moms, and teachers.  But most of all they are friends.  The kind of friends that watch your kids and don’t complain.  The kind of friends that are unaffected by the grossest thing you could ever do, who would defend you even if they thought you were wrong.  Because that’s just what they do.  No questions asked.

I’ve been fortunate enough these past few weeks to really dig in, get into the group, and be so touched by them.

They are the Greensboro Roller Derby.  and Folks, They Are Amazing.

I’ve never even been interested in Roller Derby before, but last night, as I watched the crowds line up around the corner at the High Point Skate South, here in NC, I was blown away by a fan base that had never even seen a bout before.  Last night was the first.  And it was a doozy.

Of course, with a halloween Theme.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introducing

The Greensboro Roller Derby, in their first Public Bout, Fangs vs. Brains.

Enjoy!

Abigale’s 1st birthday.  This child is so loved, mostly because no one ever believed anyone would EVER marry Gary and give him such a beautiful child!!!  (he’s family, see, so it’s okay if i rib him a bit!!!)

Stephanie and Gary are so unbelievable blessed, and I’m so proud they chose me to shoot Abi’s birthday!

To DC last weekend.  7 hours didn’t used to seem like such a long drive…  apparently being 40 and having a 7 yearold along for the ride makes it so.  Great weekend, though.  Lots of fun.  Spy museum, double decker bus tour (totally recommend).  Good weather.  Great weekend getaway!

j

Season Finale Event in Greensboro NC, and I got credentials… ME!!!  So much fun, got to interview the actors, though i didn’t keep track of what they were saying… i was just there to take pics!!!  SO MUCH FU!!!

j

Fun photoshoot with the Gate City Roller Girls last Friday night, to celebrate my 40th birthday!  What a way to ring in my new decade!