Things to Do - Project 52, Weeks 37 & 38

I'm still posting/editing photos from September, but I'm catching up. I'll admit that I've totally failed at my goal of photographing every day. During my busy season (which is now), it becomes harder to take photos of my own family after I've spent the morning and afternoon taking photos of other families.

But I still like to document what I can. Plus, it helps that I now do most of my personal work on the super light Sony a7 and all my professional work on my Canon Mark III, so there's a separation between "working" and "playing" for lack of better terminology.

Anyways, here are a few snapshots of our life. I stressed about whether or not to post the deer photo, but Dan hunts and we eat meat. AndI'm a big believer that if you eat meat you should know (and be okay with) where your meat comes from. Plus, I'm also a big believer on posting real life - in all it's messiness.













WEEK 37

(1) Fort building in the neighborhood cut-through/walking path.
(2) The first deer of the season.
(3) Dog walking with two of my favorite kids.
(4) F helping me with homework for a black and white photography class I'm taking online.
(5) After soccer practice.
(6) The dog park with P and Coco.















WEEK 38

(1) I love how all of P and T's friends meet at our house and then walk to school together.
(2) Halloween costume planning.
(3) The pogo stick is back in action.
(4) P and her best friend are trying a new sport this year. The games are very long.
(5) Dan and T mowing the lawn together.
(6) Since I've been working a lot the kids often bring a book into my office and read while I edit, which makes me super happy.
(7) Sisters.

Things to Watch - Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, & HBO (October 2017)

When I stopped blogging for Netflix, I also stopped blogging about "What to Watch." Mostly because after two years of monthly Netflix posts, I needed a break.

But now I'm ready to post about TV again.

When I edit photos, I often keep an iPad on my desk and watch/listen to movies/shows in the background, which means I've watched A LOT of TV in the past two months (autumn is my busiest season). I've tried podcasts too, but listening to other people talk makes me lonely (like I wasn't invited to the party, where when I have TV in the background I feel like I'm at the party, just not in the particular conversation. If that makes any sense).

Oh well, here's what I've really liked.

What have you been watching??



NETFLIX

The Meyerowitz Stories - I really loved this quirky family comedy(dramady?) about siblings dealing with their self-involved father. The cast is amazing and the dialogue (full of characters talking about themselves rather than listening to each other) made me laugh. (For more info, read this review).

Mindhunter - The first few episodes move a little slowly, but then I binge-watched the whole series in two days.

Shameless - Still my favorite show on TV.



HBO

Insecure - I binge-watched this in two days (and left a party early on Friday night to come home and watch more). It is just so so good.



HULU

Broad City - Truthfully, now that we're in season 3, I sort of wish the main characters would grow up a little. But they still make me laugh.

Places to Go/Things to Do - Location Scouting with T (Washington D.C.)

I really miss blogging and being in this space, but my "real" job has been crazy busy lately, so some things had to be put on hold.

In the meantime, a few weeks ago I photographed a wedding in DC and the couple wanted to take photos close to their apartment before heading to the venue. So I brought T and his friend location scouting and discovered a gorgeous park with unbelievable light (the wedding photos turned out AMAZING!).

Things to Do - Project 52, Weeks 35 & 36

I'm still loving this collection of our random everyday.















WEEK 35 - Our first week back from vacation (also the last week before school starts)

(1) Our end of summer trip to the Adventure Park at Sandy Spring. The girls went off on their own, but T and I had a fabulous time (and he seems to be conquering his fear of heights).
(2) Reunited best friends (one month is a long time to be on vacation).
(3) Hiking at Potomac Overlook Park, the water levels were disturbing low.
(4) Finding big sticks at Potomac Overlook Park.
(5) The trampoline at a neighbor's happy hour.
(6) One more shot of Sandy Spring.
(7) P at Texas Jacks looking like she's sick of spending time with us (in her defense, we were all pretty sick of each other after over 4 weeks together).





















WEEK 36 - The first week of school.

(1) Our neighbors' Labor Day bbq.
(2) The first day of 6th grade (middle school!).
(3) The first day of 3rd grade.
(4) The back to school picnic.
(5) Now that this awesome kid started kindergarten I don't see her as often, but she still draws me flowers!
(6) Walking home from school (T only "let" me walk home with him the first week, after that all three kids started coming home on their own).
(7) The first day of 5th grade.
(8) Rainy afternoon.
(9) Picking T up from school.
(10) Walking home from our neighbors' bbq.

Things to Do - Random Links & 5 Hours 'Til Bedtime

Happy Friday everyone! T's pretty excited for Halloween this year!

If you have a chance, check out our awesome new post on 5 Hours 'Til Bedtime!

RANDOM LINKS:

* I'm totally smitten with this playlist.

* 16 films to watch this fall.

* A photo series on the wolf children, who fled the woods in the final months of WWII in order to escape death and exile, as the Red Army swept across eastern Germany.

* I can't stop listening to this song. Over and over.

* I just watched this movie and now I can't stop dreaming about Pantelleria. I must go!! I must go!!

* My friend shot an engagement session at the county fair and the photos are phenomenal. If anyone in the DC area is interested in a fair family session - keep me in mind!!!

* A new family photo shoot is up on my professional blog. We had so much fun!

* The new lego house looks AMAZING.

* Slant rhymes. I'm somewhat obsessed with these photos.

Places to Go (Vacation) - Europe 2017 - Part VIII - Vienna, Austria

I can't believe it is October and I'm still blogging vacation photos. I have THOUSANDS of photos from September I haven't even looked at yet. Between work and kids' sports I can never get over how crazy autumn becomes. On the upside, I'm not sure how I got so lucky, but I've photographed the most amazing couples and families this fall - so I'm feeling incredibly blessed.

Sorry, I digress, back to our last week of vacation . . .

By the time we reached Vienna, our last of 10 cities, everyone was pretty over vacation. And, in retrospect, a month of traveling was probably too much. The kids are already begging me to tone it down next year ("two weeks, mom, please! like other families. just two weeks."). But I love a road trip and once I start planning I have a hard time saying "enough".

Okay, so enough whining. On the upside, I'm a huge Vienna fan. I visited fifteen years ago and have always wanted to return. I remembered the art exhibits being some of the best I've ever seen (they still were!)







Upon arrival in Vienna, after chilling at our airbnb for awhile, we hopped on the u-bahn and headed to Prater Amusement Park. A truly interesting/quirky place. Sort of like Disney meets the county fair. Some of the rides were scary/awesome (Jurassic Park kept us all frightened for weeks!) and some are so rickety you're scared to ride. This is all from my point of view, my kids thought they were in heaven (hence we kept going back every night).





For our first full day in Vienna, we walked to the KunstHausWien art museum, where they had a phenomenal exhibit of Edward Burtynsky's water photographs (check out his website here).











After KunstHausWien, we headed over to the Schönbrunn Palace, where the kids had a blast in the labyrinth and playground (and it was nice to spend an afternoon just hanging out and watching them play for awhile).



Me and mini-me.





The flying bird was a hit.





Another night at the Prater amusement park.







On our second day in Vienna, Dan had to fly home early for a wedding. So I dragged the kids to Vienna's museum quarter for a day of art. I can't say the kids were thrilled, but they rallied. The art was awesome and I was so so happy.



Wolfgang Tillman's anti-Brexit posters were part of the "How to Live Together" exhibit. Aren't they beautiful? And heartbreaking?



By art museum #3 the kids were starting to break down.





But then they rallied.



Art museums all day = ice cream sundaes at night.









For our final day in Europe, I tried to make things "extra fun" by taking the kids to the incredibly cheesy Timetravel Vienna. I thought it would be Disney-esque, but instead it was just silly. Oh well. We then visited the Haus der Musik, one of the coolest/most interactive museums ever. And finished our day at Vienna's Romermuseum, where we saw the city's Roman ruins. Pretty cool.



Finally, on Sunday, we flew back to the US (direct this time). The blurry photo above is our last photo from Europe (in front of our apartment's big door) and even though we were all exhausted - the smiles on my kids make me remember that all in all we had an absolute blast.