Let's see... this week was busy! I had a huge 8-hour shoot in my studio today, which required a ton of planning/shopping etc this week, and luckily Ezra took loads and loads of monster naps so I could get stuff done.In family news, Ezra is finally back on the eating and sleeping schedule that we worked out before Daylight Savings time, and he has started smiling SO MUCH MORE, which is rad. His eyesight is also getting better as he can now see his dog mobile from his crib, and it's so fun to see him smile at that. Next week we have his 2 month appointment at the pediatrician's office, and we're pretty excited to see how much he's grown. The shots? Not so excited for that.A few more photos below!
Tonight we had our dear friend Chris over for a simple supper and to catch up. It is always so wonderful to see this guy, but you know who might be even more happy to see him than we are? Yup. Magda. She ADORES Chris (good judge of character, that one).So after dinner (and before the *amazing* apple crisp that he made for us for dessert), I forced Chris to sit in my studio so I could adjust my lights for tomorrow's big holiday card shoot at Shuttersmack HQ. While I was working on my settings, in bounds Magda and begins covering Chris with kisses and love. It's so nice to see her making other people so happy :)No internet share for the day today -- I still need to clean the studio for tomorrow and my first subject arrives at 9 am, so I gotta get some shut eye. Happy Friday, everyone!
Aw, there's my guy.Poor Merlin is having a hard time with his mobility these days now that it's colder, which means the majority of his days are spent napping on this rug. Sure he wanders into the kitchen or checks on us in the dining room every once in awhile, but not as often as he used to.So today, I was heading to the basement while Ezra napped to get some work done in my studio for a big shoot I have this weekend, but then I stopped. I decided a half hour spent snuggling with this guy would be much better time spent. You never know how long you've got with those you love, and taking the time to just focus on him and give him tons of snuggles felt awesome. I need to do that more often.For your internet share of the day, check out 
Tonight we had dinner with some wonderful friends of ours who came over to our neighborhood for pizza. This is their 4-year-old, Josie, 
Look who made it out to dinner tonight! With a girlfriend!Nyberg and I resumed our monthly dinners tonight as we finally tried out Coup d'etat, a new spot in town. This month one of the local magazines did a writeup on all the gazillion new spots in town, and we opted to start with this one. The food was good, not spectacular, but really good, and the prices were right. The place does happy hour until 7 pm (!!!), so we had a glass of wine, a beer, a burger (a huge and delicious burger, at that), a large order of fries and a large order of fish and chips. Our bill was $26. So I'd probably hit that spot up again.The photo up there? That's a piece of artwork that was near our table. I think it would have been cooler as a larger mosaic done only with the colors of the wine-stained corks, but then again, this was cool as well.For your internet share of the day, did you know that Baskin Robbin's flavor of the month right now is 
Today was our first snow of the winter! Magda has a love/hate relationship with the snow. On one hand, it excites her to the point of sprinting around the yard like a madwoman. It's like you can hear her brain yelling, "It's fresh! Let's run! But it's SO DAMN COLD!"Yes, besides the happy running, she hunches her back in this weird way because, let's face it, she's freezing. The good part, however, is that it is no longer hard to get her inside.I was glad the snow could distract her today though, because she was in a deep depression after Uncle Steve left. Uncle Steve is a Dog Person (which of course, means he's just wonderful in every single aspect). Anyway, Magda loved having a dog person in the house who showed as much interest in her as in Ezra. And today he left, and apparently broke her heart. Well... maybe the heartbreak became official when I made her wear that hat.For your internet share, I'm sending you to one of my very favorite blogs on the whole wide internet. 
Yum. That's what that is.Today I'm gonna show you how I make my roasted chicken. It's super duper easy and delicious. In fact, I didn't try to roast a chicken until I was in my 30s because I felt like it would be as much work as Thanksgiving. Oh, but I was so wrong. This is so simple! If you don't have your own variation, chop chop!
So for my recipe, I use:• One bird. I'm gonna be honest and tell you I usually buy it already in pieces because it's easier to get off the bone that way. But for the photo, I thought a full bird would be prettier. Yeah, I make decisions based on aesthetics. You should know that by now.• A stick of butter• A red onion• A few cloves of garlic• A few celery stalks• 5-6 carrots• 3/4 tsp thyme• 3/4 tsp salt• freshly ground black pepper• potatoes or another starch (cauliflower works great for those Paleo folks out there!)
First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. While it's warming up, melt the full stick of butter and add the thyme, salt and pepper. Stir that up (yum). Next, I roughly quarter (or sixth?) the onion, peel and chop the carrots, chop the potatoes (into sixths as well), chop up the celery and peel a few garlic cloves. Mix all of the veggies in a bowl and then pour the butter mixture over SAVING A LITTLE BIT for later. Don't forget to save some!
Then you arrange the veggies around the roasting pan, and place the bird in the middle. You can do this all in a flat pan, but I prefer a roasting rack so that the juices drip down below (and it's easier to clean in the end).Next, pour the rest of the butter mixture that you saved onto the top of the bird and brush it into the skin. You can use a regular cooking brush or the back of a spoon. You just want some of that buttery thyme goodness on the bird. It makes for a nice, crispy skin. Then? You put it in the oven for an hour. And in that hour, you can bask in the amazing smells coming from your kitchen.
After an hour, the bird should look like the top photo in this post. Then you remove it and cut off the meat. I keep the meat on the legs, but remove it from the rest of the bird.
Then you serve it all up with the veggies! Yum! So very easy and so dang delicious. And it clocks in at about 412 calories per serving (four servings per recipe). Now, that's before the extra credit.
Wait, EXTRA CREDIT? Yes. This will take your meal to the next level, I promise.So, let's make a simple gravy. Use the roasting pan (DO NOT CLEAN IT) and put it on the stovetop on low heat. Add in about 1/3 cup chicken stock and 1/4 cup red wine. Throw in a dash more thyme and stir this over the heat until the wine begins to cook off just a bit (lots of steam). Make sure you scrape all the stuff from the bottom of the pan into the sauce. Mmmmmm.... Put this in a gravy boat and pour it over the plate. And you just try not to drink that gravy straight. It's harder than it sounds.
Oh this cutie is having a good week. He's loving up his aunt and uncle who are visiting from Sacramento, and he got to go vote this week. And oh how the senior citizens loved seeing a baby at the polls.
This was his face when I told him his grandparents were staunch republicans. Yeah, kid. That look you have? I think my dad has it each time he hears about me going to see Obama.
One thing Ezra is doing more and more of (and loving) is practicing standing up. He can hold almost all of his weight up on his own, but he's working on balance. But man, he loves to try. This was a moment where he was standing on the ottoman with Dad's help.
Tummy time with Aunt Amanda.
This is what Ezra looks like when his dad burps him. I've been meaning to get this shot ever since he came home. Just look at that face!
Here he is with Uncle Steve.
And Aunt Amanda again.
Here's some standing! And look at those adorable socks.
Oh hello, sweets!