Stationery and I go way back. :)  Yes, I still send letters.  Yes, I have more stationery than letters to send.  Yes, I knew that my wedding guests would throw away my engraved invitations and I just didn't care.  Exquisite stationery is worth the splurge. :)  For my photographer blog readers (and clients who love little pretties like this!) . . . take a gander at the lovely letterpress goodies that I recently got from Kat at Gilah Press. She was lovely to work with and you must look at her stunning online portfolio!

I got new business cards, note cards, mailing labels, and stickers.  Swoon!  (I know, horrid product photography as usual!)

And while we're oohing and aahing, look at sweet Miss L.  This is part of an order that went out today. :)

While the P. family waits for their gallery to go live on Saturday, I thought I'd give a few more sneak peaks to tide them over! These are a couple that made me smile while I was proofing--just quintessential summer images!

This first one is hilarious and just the cutest thing!  I always adore images of parents mimicking their children--I think I could fill a gallery with them!

And this next photo features a cameo by . . . the artist's hand?  What can I say--you are just inspired to have FUN when you are near a pool, even if you're not swimming!  Look how happy little C. was to get that ring from me too. :)  Stay cool, everyone!

After my session with the D. family on Sunday, I drove out to Chester County (and boy did I see some big hills on the way!).  I had the pleasure of meeting little L., a 2 1/2-week-old bundle of cuteness.  I was instantly in LOVE with his adorably spikey hair.  But don't take my word for it . . . see for yourself!  I also got to meet the "first baby," aka Miss Bailey the lab.  Look how she smiled for me! :)

And just a couple more sneak peeks for the new parents.  It was a pleasure photographing such an important time in your lives.  Just remember--sleep when the baby sleeps!

Question: How do you keep two running boys in the same frame?

Answer:  Have a multi-talented dad standing by!

I had so much fun yesterday morning with this fun, creative family.  I can't wait to look through more of the photos because I know we got some terrific ones!  Here are just the first few that caught my eye . . .

The flying brothers (they were such charmers!) from another angle and the little baby S. in a quiet moment later in the session:

And the whole family together.  It was so lovely to meet you!

More sneak peeks from my weekend sessions are coming up soon!

Your life on Google StreetView, that is.  Have you seen Google StreetView, aka my latest obsession, aka my new best friend?  I love it so much--how much do I love it? I love it so much that if I didn't have so much work to do this week you'd have to pry me away from Firefox.  I love it so much that I figured out a way, albeit a self-indulgent one, to incorporate it into something that is technically work--blogging.  And if we are blogging--by its very nature self-indulgent anyway--then why not go whole hog? :)

Here are just a few of the highlights I have hit so far in this sometimes nostalgic, sometimes shudder-inducing look back at the geographical markers of my past.  Try it . . . you will be hooked!  Almost as fun as looking around is reading about the guys who capture these images and their decidedly-more-impressive-than-mine camera. Six teams of two travel these streets in a VW Beetle.  There is a script here, I am sure of it.

But onto the sites. I may keep blogging as I find new ones, if for no other reason than to amuse myself.  For now, though, we have Joyce Smith, the early years ('72-'96).

1972.  I am born. Nope, no photos of that.  But I do have a little glimpse of one of the streets I grew up on in Melbourne, FL.  This is on Wickham Road peering down Sellers Lane, a street named for my grandfather Joe Sellers.  Deep sea fishing enthusiast, music lover, business owner (jukeboxes!), and apparently the only guy crazy enough to live in the then-wilderness that they had to name the street after him.  Apparently there is now a town near here (Vieira) that didn't even exist back then.  I remember walking to the bus stop in 3rd grade, the first day with my new eyeglasses, and thinking, "Whoa!  You can actually see the individual leaves on trees?  Like, from the ground?  Get out!"  I thought trees were like the green blobs and trunks that I drew with my crayons.

On some of the best days of my childhood, Mom would put me in the car and head down 92 to Kissimmee until we got to a little place I liked to call heaven on earth.

When I was 13 we moved to Melbourne, Arkansas.  Please don't ask.  And, I beg of you, don't inquire, like my 6th-grade merciless taunters, if Melbourne, Australia was next on our list.  To sum up the Arkansas experience succinctly, let's just point out that Google StreetView, like oh so many things, has not arrived in Melbourne, AR.  This is about 100 miles south.  Turn left at the third cow and you can't miss it. Ah, what fun is adolescent angst anyway without anything to rail against?

My college years in Louisiana also can't be chronicled on StreetView.  Surely it must be because of post-Katrina logistics because let me tell you, New Orleans was a happening place when I lived there.  Hammond, LA decidedly less so, but I enjoyed them both.  I still couldn't wait to leave for graduate school in Chicago, though.  Here was my first apartment on Dorchester in Hyde Park, a studio with brick-wall views, a super named Silvio with an impressive temper, and no air conditioning.  I will confess that this southern girl spent a good hour looking for the wall thermostat when she moved in . . . whoops. Note the artistic use of sun flare here . . . Google StreetView team, I applaud you. ;)

And then the school itself.  The University of Chicago.  To give you an idea of the intensity contained therein, a favorite t-shirt undergrads don reads "The University of Chicago: Where Fun Goes to Die."  But I was just tickled pink that I got in and had a scholarship.  Because, you know, it's a kick to come from a public regional no-name university and compete with former Yalies for the professor's attention.  :)  My favorite anecdote from the year will always remain this one:  three students in the department came to the opening pizza and beer party and then were never heard from again.  Yes, even the welcoming mixer was THAT intense. I'll say no more . . . .

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!  And to my photographer readers, I want to see some StreetView reminisces on your blog!  Pretty please!  Long-windedness and mind-numbing minutiae entirely optional.