Jack at the Old Train Depot

One of my favorite places to do photo shoots is the old train depot, off the square in Marion. But I'm usually so busy with clients I never have had the time to take Jack there. But I actually had a free weekend so Jack and I went for a little photo shoot of our own. Plus I knew if the trip involved trains and tracks he would be all about it! Here are a few of my favorite shots from this morning....

A Few of My Favorites....

Business has been picking up again with the weather getting nicer and I've had the pleasure of taking pictures of some cuties lately....

Tuesday Ten: Music Edition

Again, it's no secret that one of my true loves in this world is music. So I thought I would compile a little list of my all time favs. There are many different genres I like and many different people/groups I love, but these are the ones that you could pop in a cd of any album from any era and I could listen to from start to finish.


I always have fun putting together these lists because it allows me to reflect on things I would normally give a second thought to. Several things I learned will composing this list: A) I'm drawn men in music. Not to say I don't like women singer or women musicians, but not a single one made my list. Hummmmm, what does that say? B) Most of my favs are from another country. I think only 3 people on the list are actually from the U.S. C) And lastly, I'm a HUGE fan of the "triple-threat" performers. By this I mean singer/songwriter/musician. Every single person/group on the list fits the "triple-treat" description. Wow, how cool is that!?

So here we go (in no particular order).....


1. John Mayer. I LOVE John for his great guitar playing and smooth voice. His Continuum album (can we still call them albums?) is one of my all time favs!! But I tend to be a fan of lesser know tunes and his cover of Jimi Hendrix's Bold As Love is one of my favorites! I turn my blind eye to his weird personal life and crummy attitude, because wow, he can really wail on a guitar!!





2. The Beatles. There is no surprise here. I love The Beatles music all the way from the 60s to the 70s to the their solo careers of the 80s to present! But my fav songs include Here Comes The Sun, While My Guitar Gently Weeps,Good Day Sunshine, and Blackbird....just to name a few!!!





3. Eric Clapton. Again, another performer that has stood the test of time. I love "Lay Down Sally", "Bell Bottom Blues", and "I've Got a Rock n Roll Heart". And his "Unplugged" album is another all time love of mine. I love the bluesy side of Clapton.


Also, some fun R&R trivia: George Harrison was married to a girl named Patty Boyd whom he wrote "Something" for. Eric Clapton, George Harrison's BF was so smitten with her, he wrote "Layla" for her. Patty Boyd divorced George, later married Eric and then Eric wrote one of his biggest hits to date "Wonderful Tonight" about her as well! Wow that was one lucky gal, although she later divorced Eric too!





4. Elton John. I love many of Elton's songs, and of course all his old school tunes, but a more recent (if you can call 2001 recent) is "I Want Love". I attached the video because not only is it a great Elton song, but it's RDJr. lip syncing it! I double heart this video. I wonder where Elton came up with the idea!?









5. Stevie Ray Vaughn. In my opinion, one of the greatest guitar players of all time making his untimely death all the more tragic! He was actually traveling back to Chicago on a helicopter after performing a concert with Eric Clapton. I LOVE "Texas Flood", "The Sky is Cryin", and his version of "Little Wing"!!




6. Dave Matthews. I've been a fan since his music first hit the airwaves (circa 1994). That makes me sound REALLY old...or rather Dave sounds really old! Crash is one of my all time favorite albums!!





7. Bryan Adams. He was one of my first music loves. I LOVE LOVE LOVE "Please Forgive Me". I think that may be my most favorite romantic song!!





8. The Eagles. The thing I love about The Eagles is as much as I love their music as I group, I love all their solo music just as much!





9. U2. I could say so much about U2 and list soooo many songs, but I will just say "One" might be my fav song. Ever. Of all time. And "Achtung Baby" is another top album. I can't wait to finally see them again in concert this July!!!




10. I couldn't decide on a #10, so here's my honorable mention list:

Ray Lamontagne
James Taylor
Led Zeppelin
Neil Diamond
Shakira

.....it's quite an ecclectic group, I realize!!

Valentine's Day Hotties

I also planned this to be a "Tuesday Ten" post, but then I remembered V-Day is Monday so the whole Tuesday post wouldn't work too well for this!!! :)

So I thought I would do a fun little post on my definition of a hottie! Let me tell you I had fun doing all the research for this one!! And I do want to mention that I am happily married, although I'm not dead. I realize that there are certain things that attract me to a man like brains, humor, and of course being nice to look at doesn't hurt either. Some are cliche and some not so much....


1. Jake Gyllenhaal. He's got humor, great acting skills, looks, and brains (attended Columbia). I think he's a keeper!




2.Bradley Cooper. He definitely has humor (LOVED him in The Hangover) and apparently brains too (attended Georgetown and fluent in French). Oui, Oui!





3. Colin Firth. What is it about a man with a British accent that's is so darn cute? Well, he obviously has that going for him, as well as a hand full of Oscars too! If you haven't seen The King's Speech....YOU MUST!





4. David Beckham. Ok, he's just eye candy. I'm really not sure if he has a whole lot up there, but he has enough everywhere else to make up for it!! Although two requests is you're reading David. One, I don't dig the buzz cut, keep the hair long and two, please don't talk. You are so much hotter when you don't speak. (He is one of those men who doesn't have a voice to match the looks. He sounds like a little school boy. It's almost comical. Gosh I hate the truth!)


He wears a suit like no other....





Looks fab in the uniform....





And is the ONLY man on the planet that has my permission to wear a speedo...





5. Hugh Jackman. He has the Australian accent going for him (next best thing to British) and obviously the looks. If you haven't see Australia yet, see it now. You'll be in love too......





6. Robert Pattinson. Alright this is my girlie, cliche crush. I better not get any flack about this either! He's got the looks, obviously the acting skills, but also a FANTASTIC singing voice as well. He's got a song on the Twilight soundtrack that I heart! Take a listen sometime. I promise you won't believe it's him....





7. Robert Downey Jr. . I LOVE LOVE LOVE RDJr.! He has that bad boy edge (I'm so glad he was finally able to kick the drug habit though) and a great actor. I love him in serious movies, but I think I like his comedy roles best.





This was his role for Tropic Thunder (yes that's him, playing a black man). It makes me laugh just looking at this picture! Again, if you haven't seen it, you must check it out!!




8. Johnny Depp. Again, cliche....but total eye candy!!! But you can quit making those Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Johnny! The first several were good, but there is something called "too much of a good thing"!





9. Bronson Parrish. I told Bronson he made a Valentine's Day hotties list and I needed to do a quick GQ style photo shoot. And when I say quick, I mean literally 3 minutes because that's all I got. My husband is even less cooperative than my 2 year old when it comes to picture taking (and that's pretty darn uncooperative!). He HATES having his picture taken. But he is the total package! He's smart, funny, handsome, a great musician and a true handy man. He's kinda like MacGyver, although way cuter. He had me at,"Hey, look at this house I built!"











10. Jack Parrish. I'm a little biased when it comes to the Parrish boys, but Jack is quite the catch too! He's fun, loves to dance, gives kisses and hugs, and knows how to melt his mommy's heart! He's super smart and is also a future musician, I do believe.








What's your hottie list look like????

Valentine's Day Shoot

I'm always looking for photo ideas! I don't really consciously look, but it's more of a sicko obsession that I constantly find myself framing shots and finding inspiration in the strangest places. Well, my latest inspiration came from the Justin Beiber Vanity Fair cover....





Here's our version. And Jack Parrish is WAY cuter than Justin Beiber if I do say so....

Random Tidbits

I was going to save this one for a Tuesday Ten, but I haven't posted in a while. So here you go...


1. My best girls surprised me Saturday morning at the spa for a birthday brunch, massage and facial. I will do an entire post of yesterday soon, but here's a little preview picture:





2. While on vacation I read "Water for Elephants". Great read and I highly recommend it. Plus the movie is coming out with Robert (yummmm) and Reese, so I had to take action!







3. I also read "Evidence of the Afterlife". It was a life changing book for me. Again, I highly recommend it!





4. Next on my list are these books....








5. My staple perfume is Clinique Happy, but I recently purchased Viva La Juicy and I LOVE it!




6. I have been in full panic mode for the last week after just realizing my sis-in-laws wedding is in just over a month and Jack (the ring bearer), Brons (the musical guest) and myself (no official role but still in pictures) have NOTHING to wear! What!? I know, procrastination is not in me. But the wedding is March 14th in Colorado, which doesn't exactly call for Spring attire, which is all that is available right now!!! I had actually ordered Jack the cutest little tweed pant/suspender set from Dapper Lads (I think the store name says it all) but was just notified this week that I won't be receiving it....EVER! FULL PANIC!!!

So after MUCH stress and online searching I think I've found something that I love. Part of my problem is that I always have something very specific pictured in my head and then spend hours and hours of my time actually trying to fulfill that look. But here is Jack's wool herringbone blazer I ordered from Janie and Jack.....





The wedding colors are brown and turquoise and it's not a really formal affair. But has more of a outdoorsy, Colorado (western), mountain, natural feel. (Sorry Bhrett if you're cringing at my description right now). So super fancy is NOT what I was going for here. But Jack will have chocolate pants, suspenders, hat, and I have a turquoise bow tie for him, but we'll see how that works with "the look".



7. And here is the sweater dress I just ordered. Again I knew exactly the look I wanted and THANK YOU Anthropologie for answering the call. My plan is to put a fun belt and jewels with this sweater and I bought some brown slouchy taller boots with a little western flare to go with it! I couldn't be happier!! Crisis averted!!





8. Speaking of Clinique, I'm pretty old school when it comes to makeup and skin care. I use the 3-step and wear their tinted moisturizer and use pretty much all of their other products as well. Clinique is definitely not considered trendy, but I LOVE it.





9. I LOVE The Beatles! It's no secret that I love music and maybe that should inspire my next Tuesday Ten list. I think many bands and artists are overrated. They don't live up to their hype and honestly The Beatles might be the most hyped band in history. But also one of the few that deserve every bit of it! I think John and Paul were (and Paul still is) musical genius. George Harrison wasn't too shabby either!

I also love, love, love this picture! It's pictures like these that make me jealous of the photographer. I only wish that I could have made this image!





10. But this may be my favorite picture of all time. Photography and history all in one....it doesn't get much better for me!! This picture speaks so much. I had it on the wall in my classromm when I taught and was able to look at it everyday. I think maybe I can give this picture credit for sparking my love for photography!