My friend Nikki is a photographer in Scotland, and the last time we’d gotten to see each other was back in 2008 when we both happened to be at a photography convention at the same time! I found out that she would be visiting Miami so we decided to make plans. She had her son Jack with her (he’s 8) and Zachary was off  school for spring break, so we thought lunch with the kids would be a fun idea. We went to one of my favorite pizza places, California Pizza Kitchen, in Ft. Lauderdale, and the kids enjoyed getting to know each other, playing with Zachary’s iPhone, and eating some yummy pizza. It was great to catch up with Nikki in person, too!

I really enjoyed watching the boys together. Even though they are a few years apart, they became instant friends. I was impressed by how great Jack interacted with a little boy half his age, and Zachary just loved hanging out with a big kid! Their age difference is just a little more than what my boys will be after baby #2 is born, so it gave me a bit of a glimpse a few years into the future, when Zachary has a little brother to play with. So exciting!

Here’s a photo I snapped with my point & shoot camera before we parted ways that day (yes, the boys are wearing long sleeves… the pic was taken over a month ago and we were in the middle of a cold front!). How cute are they??

After Nicolas was born, I attended a posing workshop held by another photographer friend, Lindsay Brynn. I really wanted to see Laurel and the baby, but it was a lot of fun to see how Lindsay does things with her set-up, since I shoot in a more photojournalistic style when I take pictures of newborns, rather than the more posed style that Lindsay is known for. While I still love shooting in my own style, it’s definitely a lot of fun to learn new techniques!

I was looking at these images this week and thinking about our own little boy on the way! I’m be 31 weeks pregnant this week, so there are exactly 2 months left until I’m due. We are busy getting everything prepared for the baby and getting more excited as the days pass by — especially Zachary — he is sooooo looking forward to being a big brother! And I know he will be a great one.

There’s still so much left to complete on my to-do list, but we are getting there… and I can’t wait until I, too, will have a squishy and adorable new baby to hold!

I took a few moments to photograph Amy’s cat, Valentino. He is such a beautiful cat and Zachary loves going to see him. I took these images with my new camera, the Canon 5D Mark III! They were shot at 3200 ISO with my 50mm f/1.4 lens (at f/1.4). How gorgeous are these files?!

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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:

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.