I was in the studio for the start of the week, but am back home processing on my computer for the next few days. Unlike normal, I’m working in the living room because I’m catching up on some horrible trash TV that I absolutely will not give any more details on.

I find that when my mind is heavily distracted and/or enraged by things like racists and police shootings and the reapeated killing of black people, my anger can get the best of me, and I am horrible at accomplishing basic tasks. But weirdly, if I can put in a background distractor like bad TV or a good audio book, I am more likely to plow through my to do list.

So here I am working on the couch with a terrible vampire drama on the TV, and these girls drop in to snuggle. Aren’t they cute? Hazel is more of the calming snuggler. Magda is more like, “why are you on MY couch? If you don’t move, I’m going to the floor and I’m going to take deep breaths and moan until you move.” But whatever. I’ll take it.

There have been many, many hard things about this pandemic. All the time at home, missing friends and family, lack of travel, lack of work… I could go on.

But one of the best parts has been the return of slowness to our house. The easy mornings. The snuggles and the talks. I know when things get back to normal, these are the things I’ll miss the most.

This week is spring break for us, and it’s dark and rainy. We’re letting the kid stay in his jammies as long as he wants, and we’re just pretty laid back in general. There’s a lot of reading, a lot of music and a lot of gazing out the windows.

I shot this yesterday in the late morning. I just loved the light on that little belly button.

We finally did it! We have joked for years about “someday” cleaning out the attic and making it a usable space for our kid and his friends to play games, hatch secret evil plans and read comic books deep into the night.

We started by cleaning out all the junk last fall (it was wall-to-wall packed) and then I spent the winter looking for pillows, blankets and a hammock on sale or for free on next door or facebook marketplace (still looking for hippie-like tapestries if anyone has one!).

Then we hired a handyman to build a stair railing so no small child fell to their death near the dangerous drop off, and we put plexiglass over the windows to block anyone from crashing through and falling. We also needed some electrical work added in and a light switch. As of Saturday, it was all complete!

And he loves it. He spends hours every day up there, reading or listening to books, swinging in the hammock or gazing out the window. I am so pleased we could pull this all together.

I guess it’s one silver lining of this pandemic and being stuck at home! Enjoy the photos.

I was lucky enough to photograph a baby again last week (This is Louie! Look at all those smiles! Isn’t he ADORABLE??) and these in-home shoots are my very favorite. I love capturing families where they are most comfortable and where, should we need a quick outfit change, it’s easily doable.

I also love that while I’m capturing your family, I’m also documenting your home. Our houses change, or we change houses, and seeing the places we lived years later (even if it’s the same house — but a new furniture arrangement or a new paint color) is always fun. It brings me so much joy to walk into a family’s home and to play with a new baby or better yet, a toddler (I truly do love playing with those littles!).

This is why it has been really hard on me to wait my turn for the vaccine. I know my work is not essential — in any shape or form. I get that. But to make money, I often need to take photos of people unmasked. And because of this, I am keeping my inside jobs (which in a Minnesota winter is almost all of them) 2 weeks apart to make sure there is no cross contamination. And doing this affects my income more than I would like to admit.

Now, as everyone around me is getting vaccinated, it’s incredibly difficult to just wait my turn. My patience is running thin, which I’m embarrassed to admit. But here I am, ordering more in-home covid tests to make sure I’m safe and just… waiting for my turn for my shot.

I am super hopeful that I don’t have much longer to wait — maybe a month? Maybe two? But until then, I’m having to really work on my patience. And please don’t take this as a call for a way to get the vaccine early — I want to wait until I’m eligible, I don’t want to cut the line and take a shot from someone who needs it. I just really hope the doors open up to myself and my family (and yours) soon. Until then? Deep breaths, my friends. Deep breaths.

A few weeks back, my kiddo was complaining that he never gets to make any “big” decisions in the house and that the food we eat for dinner every night is “boring” and “healthy.”

So we struck a deal that he could choose dinner once a month if HE cooked it. Please note that we get takeout each week and we rotate who chooses which restaurants and the kid is included. It’s why we had to have Jimmy John’s for dinner this month. So I am not a total monster forcing him to eat kale and quinoa on the daily.

Anyway! So a few weeks back Ezra made dinner for us. I told him it had to include a fruit and a vegetable, and he complied. And he did clean up. We all had a blast, and I can’t wait to see what he makes us next time. Enjoy the film!

I think March is the ugliest month in Minnesota, hands down. All the snow is melting, then there will be a blizzard, then it will melt again. All the dirt and sand and grime is showing up in the filthy snow piles, and where there are not remaining snow piles there is SO MUCH MUD.

Being a parent of children or dogs requires a ton of patience and feet wiping and laundry.

But! But the patterns of ice that Mother Nature leaves in the literal street gutters slays me every year. So yesterday and today I took photos of it. I hope you like it as much as I do.

February is this kid’s school read-a-thon, and man is he here for it.

I snapped this shot before school today. Remember how I told you everyone was fighting for the chair in my office? Yeah, that’s still the case. It’s right next to the warm radiator looking out on the street, and it’s sooo cozy.

If you have an elementary student, I cannot suggest enough the books by Trenton Lee Stewart. We are both highly entertained by them all. Other kid favorites have been the A to Z Mystery series, The World According to Humphrey series and, of course, the Harry Potters.

If you are an adult, might I suggest The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue? I just finished it last night, and wow. That was lovely. But please buy it from your local bookstore and not Amazon.

This month, I’ve been spending a lot of time in “quality assurance” mode.

In 2021 I made the leap to a new gallery set up for my clients because I loved all the many products they offered. Everything from prints to frames to frames with mats to calendars etc etc. And my first client in the system made a big purchase and I was thrilled.

And then the product came, and they were unhappy with it , and I felt like a total schmuck.

So I’ve been spending a lot of time (and money) ordering the products that I’m offering to see if the quality is as high as I think it should be and to see if when it arrives it looks as lovely as I want it to. There have been surprises both good and bad, and it’s helped me to refine my offerings.

Anyway, these are one of the calendars I’m offering. I love the adorable clipboard and I love that it has a magnet on the back so you can stick it to your fridge (or a filing cabinet at your desk). Such a fun way to display family photos.