I attended the South Florida Renaissance Festival this past weekend and had a fantastic time! The Renaissance Festival is held only 20 minutes from where I live, in Deerfield Beach, Florida at Quiet Waters Park, a gigantic park alongside a beautiful lake.

Saturday, I visited with my mom, dad, and Zachary. It was Zachary’s first time at the Ren Fest, and I think he really liked it! He got to try faire food (one of my favorite parts), run around the park, and see lots of different types of people. We saw the wonderful Apothecary, some people walking around on stilts, a jester, lots of fairies, some pirate types, and best of all, lots and lots of animals!

We happened to attend on Pet Appreciation Weekend so we were lucky to see dogs of all types! I especially loved all of the little dachshunds running around, since we have a doxie of our own. I even saw a hedgehog! Of course we saw some birds of prey too, as they are a very popular sight at the faire.

It was fun to look at the different vendors as well, from the parasol sellers, to The Crystal Garden, to the Vagabond Artisans (who gave me a sweet handmade Team Edward bookmark! thanks Suzn!!). There are so many fantastic vendors with all hand made products, and so many fun things to do and see at the Renaissance Faire. It is a wonderful visual experience. I also made sure to have a hard apple cider while we were there, one of my favorites! The Ren Fest serves Magners Cider – only the best!

The next day I attended again with my friend Jessica from ArtEssence Studio, who second shoots with me at weddings quite a bit. We had a great time walking around, people watching, taking photos, catching up on life, and had lunch together at the faire. We also went shopping and bought some garden ornaments from the Coppersmith as well as some delicious garlic mustard, spread, and olives from Garlic Festival Foods (seriously yummy!!!).

Here is a selection of my favorite images that I captured. Camera buffs, all images were captured with my Canon 5D, using my 50mm f/1.4 and 100mm f/2.8L lenses.

The Ren Fest is a great place to go with your family, with your friends, or as an adventure on your own to see new things, enjoy new sights and smells, do a little shopping, take some interesting photos, and have a great time. You can purchase tickets online at the South Florida Renaissance Festival website. There are two more weekends left to attend (until March 13th), so get your tickets now!

Disclosure: I received two complimentary media passes to attend the Ren Fest. No additional compensation was received. All opinions are completely my own.

Last weekend I attended my friend Carol’s daughter Sabrina’s 2nd birthday party with Zachary over at Kids Hub Cafe in Sunrise near the Sawgrass Mills Mall. Zachary had an AMAZING time! We have gone to other birthday parties before, but this one was the first birthday party that Zachary has attended and actually understood what was going on since he is a bit older now. I explained to him we were going to a party and he was very excited. He was saying “birthday party!” and “happy birthday” all day the day before. I loved it!

As soon as we arrived, Zachary headed over to play on the equipment. He loved playing with all the different toys, at the train table, in the toddler area, and in the climbing area (which is really for bigger kids, but many of the small kids had a blast climbing too).

It was our first time visiting Kids Hub Cafe, and actually our first time playing at an indoor playground like this. Believe it or not, I had never taken Zachary to play at a kids entertainment center before. When he was 8 months old, I had met up with some friends at a different kids place, but at the time, Z. was too little to play on anything so we just sat with the other moms and Zachary actually fell asleep on my lap, which I thought was so funny. Oh how times have changed! Now that he is two, he wants to run, jump, climb, and do everything that the big kids do.

Carol’s mom always makes the most awesome birthday cakes so I was thrilled to see another one. It was as delicious as it looked! Zachary was actually having so much fun playing in the climbing area at this point that he did not want to go into the party room to eat, but I enticed him with pizza and cake and got him to stay put for at least a little bit. It was kinda cute to watch him sitting and having his pizza with all the other little kids. :) I love birthday parties!

If you’re in South Florida and have been crazy enough to leave your house this weekend, you’ll know that it’s about 900 million degrees outside (in February? Seriously?!). I’m thrilled to know about a new place to take my little guy when I need a fun place for him to blow off some steam. They even have a cafe and gelateria (of course, Zachary loves ice cream/gelato).

Big thanks to my friend Carol for inviting us to celebrate with Sabrina on her birthday and for introducing us to Kids Hub! Looking forward to going back again soon with some friends to join us!!

On Thursday, before attending the P&G Media Event, I met up with my friend Kim. This was our first time meeting in person, although we’ve known each other since the early days of blogging/online journaling for about 15 years! Here’s me and Kim (I’m on the right):

Kim was in town to attend a friend’s wedding in South Beach, so I picked her up at her hotel, and we headed off to find lunch at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. We had decided to check out the food trucks, but weren’t exactly sure where they parked, so we parked my car and took a walk ALL over Bayfront Park.

I actually had never been to the park during the daytime, and even then, I hadn’t been in maybe 4 or 5 years. It was a really relaxing place to walk around, take pictures, and chill out. Walking around Bayfront on such a beautiful day made me realize exactly why people decide to move to Miami. The serenity of looking out on the water, the cool ocean breeze, and the tropical setting all takes you away from everyday life and stress. It’s like an oasis right in the heart of Midtown Miami. So cool.

Finally, we found the food trucks. The two trucks at Bayfront that day were Sakaya Kitchen’s Dim Ssäm à gogo and the cleverly named Montaco truck visiting from Montauk, NY (get it? Montauk-o? ha ha!). Kim is vegetarian so she opted for one of the yummy veggie items on the Montaco menu, while I got the short rib spicy tater tots and kimchee eggrolls from Sakaya. No, I couldn’t finish it. It was way too much food. But, it was insanely delicious and I’m already thinking of the next time I can have the egg rolls again. They were just spicy enough and the ginger sauce was fabulous!

I’m so glad I could give Kim a little tour of Miami on her first real time visiting the city as well as share this fun experience with her. We sat, ate, and talked in this totally empty “seating area” right near where the trucks parked. I’m surprised no one else was eating there because it was such a great place to sit and chat, though it was kind of sunny out. Finally we were done eating and a little sleepy from the sun, we headed back to the car. I dropped Kim back off at her hotel so she could prepare for her friend’s wedding festivities, and before I knew it, it was time to get ready and head over to the P&G event that night.

Meeting old friends that I’ve known online is such a treat. It’s like seeing a friend who you haven’t seen in a long time, except it’s the first time you’ve met. Such an interesting feeling, but always a lot of fun.

I had such a great weekend! Saturday, I had a photoshoot with an old friend from high school, Alanna, and her husband Steven and little girl Bella (Hi Alanna!!). We had a lot of fun despite the random cold snap and I got some super cute pictures. After that, Amy came over to spend the afternoon with us.

On Sunday I attended a beautiful “Mother Blessing” or “Blessingway” baby shower for one of my clients, Daisy, whose maternity portraits I captured last month. I had never heard of a Blessingway before until I received my invitation and was so excited and curious as to what it would behold! I had such a great time. There were so many beautiful aspects of the ceremony/ritual, I thought I would highlight some of the things I really liked.

• The Blessingway began with the leader lighting a smudge stick & passing it around the room. As each woman received it, they introduced themselves to the group.
• The leader described the history of a Blessingway very briefly (that it is a special ceremony inspired by the Navajo to mark transformations in a woman’s life).
• We were asked to close our eyes and listen to a meditation read by the leader. The meditation talked about a woman’s power to create life. I wish I could remember everything it said but it was beautiful!
• We sang a really beautiful Native American song, The River is Flowing, while the leader (Daisy’s midwife) honored the mom-to-be by washing her feet in water fragranced with special oils and rose petals. Daisy’s mom also put a garland of flowers in her hair.
• Everyone was asked to bring a special bead for the mom-to-be’s labor necklace which would be made as a focal point to concentrate on during labor. We presented our bead along with a word to describe it and our wish for Daisy as a new mom. My word was “serenity.”
• Each woman was given a blank card to write on and a pen, and were asked to think of special traits about themselves that they love the most and would like to pass along to the new baby. I chose passion, creativity, lightheartedness, and kindness.
• The mom-to-be is asked to write down three things (worries, fears, etc) that she wanted to release from herself before giving birth. This paper was burned to symbolize the release. We all went around the room and read our words, and some people read poems or quotes too that they wanted to share. I read a line from the Dar Williams song that I shared the other day on the blog, “The One Who Knows,” since it has significant meaning for me as a mom.
• There was also a “rain ceremony” with a rain stick, and we read affirmations to encourage Daisy and support her that she would have a perfect birth, quick healing, etc etc.
• We used hemp cord to join our wrists and make a bracelet to bind our energies and wish for a healthy birth for the baby. The bracelet is cut when the birth is announced.
• There was a candle lighting ceremony where each woman lit a candle and placed them all on the table/altar to burn.
• After the ceremony was over, everyone enjoyed lunch and cupcakes from Misha’s! While having lunch, we decorated special posters that Daisy plans to put up around her home with affirmations to encourage her during the laboring process.

Check out the embedded YouTube below to listen to the song, The River is Flowing, which we sang during the ceremony.

I really loved all of the symbolism from the Mother Blessing/Blessingway. It was such a great day for everyone who came. I think it would be fun to incorporate some of these traditions into a new tradition for myself when I have my next baby.

Here are a few photos from the day:

Daisy during the ceremony | Me and Daisy after the ceremony

All of the participants' candles lit on the altar

Images photographed with the Canon PowerShot G11.

I am knee deep in photos right now, at least it feels like it. I can’t remember the last time I had a busier fall season. It’s a great thing, and I know it’s going to be over as quickly as it started, but right now, in the thick of it, it’s a little crazy. I’ve photographed some incredibly beautiful families so far, gorgeous boudoir sessions, two phenomenal weddings (with two more to go – and one of them in the Keys!) and in November I’m also hosting Photo Fun Month on my blog, in honor of my 5th year in business, Zachary’s 2nd birthday, and Thanksgiving!

Plus…. we have our own family pictures next month – well, actually it’s like two weeks. I am insanely excited about it, since one of my favorite local photographers is going to be doing them! More info on that after I actually have them done, because as of now, I have a whopping zero planned for that little adventure – no clue what to wear, what to do, where to go…. At least I have the date reserved! That’s a start…. right? :) Locals, if you’re reading and you have any thoughts of where might be fun for my little family to go take family photos with my nearly two year old boy… please do not hesitate to comment or just shoot me an email or twitter message! :)

Needless to say this is such a busy time of year. One of my goals with Photo Fun Month (aka #photofunmonth) is going to be posting a picture every single day in November, even if it’s just an iPhone shot. As a photographer, sometimes I forget to document my own life when I’m busy working hard for my clients, and while I LOVE my job and have a blast making beautiful artistic images for them — it’s not fair to Zachary to forget to take shots of our day to day happenings just like any other mom would be doing. More on that in a couple days though, as I will be posting something about the fun giveaways and the daily photo challenge on November 1st!

For now, here is some wedding art for you, and I’m sharing it here first! My friends Nicole & Scott who we’ve been friends with and have photographed many times since Adrian and I originally started shooting way back in 2005 got married last weekend and here is one of my favorite portraits so far from their wedding:

Today’s Wordless Wednesday post is in honor of our good friends, Jason and Luciana, who just had their first baby, a beautiful little girl named Lana, yesterday afternoon! A few weeks ago I did a maternity shoot with them, and this is one of my favorite images that I created (click for the rest).

Happy birth-day to Lana and congratulations to our friends! We wish you all the same happiness and pleasures out of raising your precious girl as we have with our sweet little boy.

I’m thrilled to have Lindsey of Waking up Williams post on my blog! Lindsey blogs about her life in Florida and her adorable baby girl, Ryann, and her husband is a graphic/web designer and specializes in getting bloggers online with Wordpress. They are my kind of fun and geeky couple, and maybe one day we’ll meet up since we both live here in the Sunshine State! :) I asked Lindsey to write a bit about living here in Florida since she’s not a native like I am, and I really enjoyed her perspective. Make sure you visit her site, too!

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I didn’t grow up in Florida, in fact I never thought I’d live in Florida, but here I am living here, raising a family here (for now) and definitely soaking up the sunshine and warm temperatures, while my family and northern friends are still shoveling snow well into March and when September rolls around their packing away summer clothes to make room for winter. So what brought me 1,300 miles away from family, snow and shovels?  Well college and then a man and now a family….

Here are the top five reasons I moved here and why I’m also looking forward to heading north again (sooner than later, fingers and toes crossed, prayers said and stars aligning)

5. Flee from family and enjoy the freedom.  And then I left and NOW I want Ryann to share clothes with her two girl cousins and let my parents spoil her like grandparents are supposed to do.

4. Beach days starting in February and lasting well into October.  But NOW it’s just too hot, and too much work to take Ryann to the beach as much as I used to go, so really who needs 8 months of beach weather when the baby doesn’t cooperate?!

3. Flip flops YEAR ROUND!!!  I love not worrying about what shoes to wear, flip flops are a staple in a Floridians life, but NOW I miss my other shoes and wearing my dress boots and heels and cute snowbunny boots.

2. The weather, it’s gorgeous UNTIL the oppressive summer heat and humidity roll in.  Blech!!  I want my northern summers back, where a heatwave only lasts a few days and you don’t need air conditioning to breathe.

1. Shoveling snow and wearing 3 layers just to go outside for 2 minutes and then proceed to melt in the stores with all of the layers on.  OK, let’s be real no one wants to shovel snow, but I want Ryann to make snowpeople and sled and eat snow (even though we tell her not to) and whine when we need to spend 30 minutes bundling up for 5 minutes of playtime outside. I miss it!

I miss my Massachusetts drivers license, the Bahstin accent and when asked where I’m from I can proudly say HERE!  Instead of, I’m from Boston, but live in Florida.  Because I’m not a southerner, and I miss the grass, the accent and my family.

I am happy to announce that I actually had a pretty amazing time at my 10th high school reunion. I know these things are usually pretty crazy (from what I’ve heard) but everyone I’ve spoken to from my class has said what a blast they had, and I feel the same way. It was so good to see all of my friends and everyone really looked amazing, just a little more mature, and mostly the same. I reconnected with a few people who I’m really looking forward to seeing again very soon, too. And I’m hoping that I can keep in better touch with some of the people that I saw… especially since I was told by a whooooole bunch of people that I would be getting called about shooting their wedding just as soon as they became engaged! ;)

I really had a great time in high school, considering I transfered to the school I graduated from in the middle of 10th grade, and everyone else already knew each other already… It wasn’t always easy in the very beginning, but I liked my classes and I was welcomed by a sweet group of students who really made me feel like I was a part of the school. After a few months, JP Taravella High School was definitely “my” school, and I even decided to serve on my prom committee senior year!

Here’s me with my husband (first pic – top left) and a whole bunch of people who made my time at JPT great:

I have to say that I’m really looking forward to our next get together, hopefully it’ll be more like a 15 year meetup rather than 20 years! waiting another 10 years is too long!

happy Valentine’s from our family to yours! today Zachary and I spent the afternoon with Aunt Amy, window shopping at the Promenade in Coconut Creek, playing with some Thomas trains at a toy store (baby boy cried because he didn’t want to leave!!), giving little Z his first taste of ice cream (he loved it!) and enjoying the cool weather.

we came home to hugs and kisses from daddy, Zachary’s favorites for dinner, play time with his books, toys, and his fun airplane which he loves to push around his room, and lots of laughs and sweet, funny faces for mommy. he is just a sweet, loving little boy and I am glad to have been able to spend the day with him.

tomorrow starts the work week again as Adrian and I prepare for the WPPI (wedding & portrait photographers international) trade show, the biggest tradeshow each year in the photography industry, where we have a booth for our studio management software, Táve. it is going to be a great time, but we are spread thin right now getting everything ready!

hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s… here is a little card to brighten your day!

it is with a heavy heart that I write this post.

My friend Samantha and I are members of an online group for moms called The Bump. we don’t know each other very well and have actually only met each other a couple times. but all the ladies on The Bump have a great friendship and connection to each other – whether we’ve met each other or not, we are a tight knit group.

this morning I learned that Samantha’s husband Gary passed away. this past year, Gary had battled lymphoma and had finally beaten cancer, only to get sick on Christmas day and ultimately pass away this morning on New Years morning. He leaves behind a beautiful wife and a very sweet and adorable 2 year old baby boy.

you can read about everything Samantha has endured with Gary and his journey at her blog here. just a word of warning, you will probably cry. :(

a less sad new years post from me will be coming soon, hopefully. until then, hold your loved ones tight and give your babies an extra kiss. and if you wouldn’t mind, keep my friend and her little boy and their family in your thoughts. :(