thankful

Some of my fave fall photos from 2011.

As you may know, I have a little maple tree.
I am thankful for this maple tree.
It brings us shade on the hot summer months.
It brings us color in the fall.
It bring the whole family together for our annual fall portrait.
It gives us lots of opportunities to enjoy each other's company: playing in the leaves, raking the leaves, climbing its limbs, photos and more photos.
It even displays my Christmas lights come holiday season.

Thank you, maple tree for all you do!

p.s. I was inspired to write this post by this post.

i heart faces

I have seen the I Heart Faces logo around the blogosphere, but never really knew what it was all about. But I happened to stumble upon a blog that spelled it out for me...

So, here I am submitting a photo for this week's contest: Autumn Splendor. This is perfect because fall is my favorite season to take photos and I've been shooting like a madwoman. Even getting friends and neighbors in the act!

I have a gorgeous red maple tree in my front yard which attacts a lot of attention and is the perfect symbol of fall.  It was hard to choose just one photo of it (because trust me I have hundreds!) But this one has the tree in the background, the pile of leaves and the happy kids (and was taken just a few days ago.)

Do you want to play along? Click on the I Heart Faces logo to enter!

halloween revisited

How was your Halloween? I'm glad the weather held out and it was dry and not too cold on Halloween weekend. On Sunday, we went to a Halloween neighborhood party. Both girls dressed as butterflies. Well, Zara was really a cat fairy. She was set to be a cat, but added the wings to be like her sister.

 and Halloween night, we met up with some of our neighbors to take photos and then trick-or-treat. I posted on my other blog all the Halloween decorations I made.

fall photo season is here!

Fall is definitely my favorite time to take photos. The weather is brisk. Cool enough for sweaters but not a heavy coat. The leaves are changing. Twilight happens in late afternoon (after Zara's nap is over and after Sofi gets home from school). Not to mention the photo ops. Pumpkin patch. Halloween. Our maple tree. Or anywhere there is beautiful foliage. Yup. Fall photo season is in full swing in our house!

The family knows the drill by now. Wear something pretty. Brush your hair. Load up the car and find a scenic spot with lovely leaves. And be prepared to take LOTS of photos.

On this sunny Sunday afternoon, we decided to go to Kelsey Creek Farm. The farm animals were already put away so it was pretty empty. Even the playground had only one other family there. Which is great for photos.

At first the sun was still a little harsh. But I found a nice, mossy boulder to sit on.

Happy smiling faces, but the light is harsh.

By the time I hopped on the rock for this self-portrait, Sofia was unhappy. The rock was a little uncomfortable, even with the baby blanket I brought.

When there is harsh light, I try shooting with the sun behind them.

Ring around the rosy. love the highlights in their hair.

The little playhouse at Kelsey Creek.

After playing on the playground for a bit, we climbed the hill to reach the farm proper. Isn't that a gorgeous barn? Love the graceful lines of the roof.

On top of the hill, I spied a pretty spot for more photos. The light was hitting the leaves just right.

Favorite shot of the bunch: I used my new trick: "Attack Daddy" to get this shot

Awww. Sofia loves her Daddy.

Jumping into the shot.

I used my tripod and self-timer for this one.

Another favorite pose: lying on the grass while I shoot from above.

And we're back at the playground.

happy sisters on a fall day.

fall day

It's not every day that it is sunny and bright on an October morning in Bellevue. It is not every day that my husband is working at home. It is not everyday that I get the overwhelming need to go on a long walk. It is not everyday that Zara is willing to sit in the stroller. But today (10.13.2011) was the day when all these were true. Zara, Jamie and I took a long, round-about, meandering walk to the library. We avoided the direct route because a) it was such a gorgeous day b) for the better part the direct route there is no sidewalk just a wide shoulder on a busy street. c) Zara sometimes insists on walking and it is nervewracking to walk on this street without her sitting in the stroller.

good bye crossroad farmer market

My usual Tuesday lunch at the farmers market: a savory crepe and mojito iced tea from Grapeseed Catering Co.

a href="http://www.crossroadsbellevue.com/SpecialEvents/FarmersMarket">Our favorite farmers market had its closing day today. To celebrate, I got a vanilla-lavender chocolate-covered bar by Whidbey Island Ice Cream Co. in addition to my usual lunch of a savory crepe (pesto chicken) and mojito iced tea. Jamie got the flat-iron/gorgonzola crepe and lemonade AND a chocolate chardonnay bar (which Zara ended up devouring herself). She got lots of smiles and stares from passers-by as the chocolate stain on her mouth got bigger and bigger.

first bite

last bites

She even shared some with Jamie.

I guess fall is really here!

my saturday = dutch baby, pruning, garage sale, and bubbles

our first dutch baby = a fluffy souffle like pancake baked in a cast iron pan. i found the recipe in "a home-made life" by molly wizenberg and jamie made it. love a guy who can cook!

this lonely dandelion caught my eye when I opened the blinds of our bedroom window and looked outside. the morning light was hitting it in a pretty way. but I missed my window. I got distracted by the lavenders.

the lavender in our back yard.

While Jamie and the girls took a long walk to the mall, I stayed behind and pruned the hedges in the front. After they got back, Sofia and I hit the estate sale just around the corner from our house and took home: hand-carved, empty frame made in Mexico, a $3 oak accent table, one blue dish, one blue and white candy dish, a 1950s BHG sewing book, a 1950s recipe book, a free (broken, but usable) umbrella and a fabric coin purse (also free).

blowing bubbles in the evening

tuesdays with zara

With Jamie working from home, Zara benefits big time. She gets two parents to take care of her while Sofia is at school. On Tuesdays, it's farmers market day. We go to our favorite crepes booth at the market and pick up some fresh fruits and veggies, some fresh-baked bagels or fresh-roasted coffee. Are you sensing a theme going on here?

But today, Zara had even more adventures for her. After the usual walk to and from Sofia's bus stop in the morning, Zara spent some time in the sunshine while I hacked away at our overgrown bamboo bush in the front yard. I also trimmed our planter boxes of bamboo down to the base. We plan on digging it all up in the future and planting some other less-invasive plant.

While I did a little more gardening, Zara and Jamie went to Frye's to pick up some computer cables. Although she fell asleep on the way home, we headed out again while she continued to nap in her carseat.

It was an unusually sunny and warm September day. The shady seats at the farmers market were hard to come by.

Duck confit crepes. Chicken pesto crepe. Strawberries and cream crepe. Mojito iced tea and lemonade. Chicken mole tamale. One fresh peach. To take home: bagels, raspberries, coffee beans and three mum plants for the bare patch in our front flower bed.

beautiful mums in autumnal hues

And we didn't stop there. Zara wanted to go to a playground so we stopped at our favorite park to play and check out the ducks.

at the playground

And one more stop before heading home: a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up cream cheese for breakfast tomorrow (bagels!) and a few other items (like little pound cakes for the raspberries).

blurry photo but I love the wisps of hair

two time sucks : instagram and pinterest

Two more reasons I have been neglecting this little old blog are two things that I have just discovered (yup, a little late there): instagram for the iPhone and Pinterest for pinning your favorite linked images all over the web in categories of your own choosing. Both are pretty addictive especially because unlike your ordinary bookmarks or photos on your own computer, you can share all your stuff via your favorite social media device: Facebook, Twitter, etc.

And since I just figured out* how to share my Instagrams on the blog, I'd thought I'd kill two birds with one stone - update my blog and share some of my latest instagrams here. 

Date night! Harry Potter in IMAX 3D

Zara reading one of Sofia's library books.

Yet another diy book from the library. Love thumbing through design books.

On a rare hot day in grey Bellevue, the girls will cool off in the kiddie pool (which is decked out with a built-in slide and a sprayer - the giraffe head). Yup, they are in their clothes.

One festival I never miss: the biannual Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle.

Sipping tea at our favorite Chinese restaurant.

Zara is NOT a picky eater. Here she is chowing down on mongolian beef and Singapore noodles.

As for pinterest, I wish I had jumped on the bandwagon sooner! It's a great way to keep those images you find on the web in one place. I also find that it's a great way to promote your own blog or site. You can pin your own images, which then get linked to your blog. Then your followers can re-pin your pins and their followers can re-pin, and so on and so on.  For example, I just discovered a scrapbook page that I had posted at the JessicaSprague.com gallery (before I had signed up at Pinterest so I had not pinned myself). It had been re-pinned ten times already!

I have also noticed that Pinterest has a great way of helping you get followers. It prompts you (much like Facebook) to add people you might know. As far as I have seen, Instagram does not have this. As a result, I have only one follower on Instagram (boo hoo) and 83 followers on Pinterest ( and I signed up for Pinterest only last month. I've been using Instagram for five.

Anyhoo, I hope I can enable you to try out these two sites! But don't blame me if you start neglecting your own blog ;)

*At first I wasn't sure how to link them up here (there is no button on the iPhone app that I know of), but I just downloaded Webstagram and figured it out. Yay me! Above the photo there are little letters: T | M | L | O I assume they stand for tiny, medium, large and not sure about the "O". Anyway, I clicked on the medium and copied the URL and used the photo button on blogger. So far so good. (If there's an easier way, please enlighten me!)