This has been 3 months of planning and preparation, but it’s finally done!  I have a photography display now, at Ultrasona of Columbus.  It’s been really great working with them to make it a reality.  They’ve been so nice and accommodating (with 2 or 3 of my kids tagging along while I measure walls, etc).  If you ever need a 3d or 4d ultrasound, Ultrasona is the place to go; everyone I know that’s gone there has been really happy with the experience.  I had a 3d ultrasound done there when I was pregnant with Vivi, and it was fantastic.  Cushy couch for the family to sit on, big screen tv to see the baby on, and Kelly worked to get the nice facial view in 3d and find those baby (girly) bits.

Oh and you get to browse my stuff on the walls as a bonus.

The two images up over the ultrasound machine and bed are about 20″x25-26″.  They have 13 foot ceilings I think.

There’s one side of the waiting room.  The little model working the kitchen would be mine.  The one over the couch is 32″x40″.  It doesn’t look nearly so big now that it’s on the wall, but believe me, it feels really big when it’s not!  The other one is 16″x20″.

There’s the display over the loveseat.  The middle one is 20×24, and the 2 on the sides are 11×14’s.  The kids love the toys in the corners of the waiting room (that’s Greg, there).

Then on the other wall of the waiting room, there’s 2 16×20’s over the row of chairs.

The goal obviously is for the pregnant people going there for their ultrasounds to see the work up on the walls and go “wow, I need some maternity/newborn portraits” and give me a call.  (And for them, they get some beautiful artwork for their walls; it’s win-win!)  But I have to say, it feels really cool to stand there and see my images, really big, up on the walls.

My daughter’s been  very excited about my birthday for the past 2 weeks, and drew this birthday picture for me.  It’s me, sitting behind a table, with a birthday cake covered in candles. (I think the perspective on it is very interesting, coming from a 5 year old)

Anyway, today was the big day. (I have to say, it was more exciting for the kids than it was for me).  I had photoshoots in the morning and afternoon, but then we went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner.  Their flavored lemonades are yummy!   Sunday, we’re having a dual birthday party for my sister and I (her birthday is May 7), which should be fun.  My brother’s coming down from Cleveland, and my mom is making a cake.

One of my recent clients, Lori, sent me a couple photos of her new photo bag.  I had it drop-shipped to her house, so I didn’t get to see it before now.  It’s a bucket-style handbag, with leather trim, and pink liner (although you can’t see the liner).  On the front and back sides are photos of her daughter from her birthday session that we had the beginning of April.  Doesn’t it look great?  She says she really enjoys showing it off, and she gets loads of comments about how cute it is.

Today was pretty non-stop… the kids had swim lessons in the morning, then lunch with my mom.  After I dropped Maylie off at preschool, we went to a synagogue to scope out the location for a bat mitzvah photography shoot next week.

So, on days like today, I dig deep into my files of some older photos… some of my favorite pictures of all time (that I’ve taken, that is).  Actually most of them are from our big trip to New Zealand in 2006.  If you EVER, and I mean EVER get the chance to go to New Zealand, run… don’t walk… but run, all the way to the airport and go.  It’s positively the most amazing and beautiful place in the world.

Here are a couple (of my many) photos from that (once in a lifetime) trip.

This first one is of windswept trees.  This was on the South Island, on the coast, which gets a lot of wind.  All the trees in the area were all like this.  I found it amazing that they were still alive!

This second one is of Wilmot Pass, which is on the way to Doubtful Sound (where we took a boat ride through the sound).

Tomorrow, my son goes in for adenoid surgery. Send good healing vibes his way! (He is having them removed because they block his nose, and he can’t breathe through his nose, so when it’s over, he should be able to breathe again!)

I had a photography session with a newborn baby last weekend! This little guy was a 7 lb baby and 9 days old, but he seemed a whole lot bigger than 7 lb.  Newborn babies are so sweet, and this one was no exception! Here’s a little sneak peek!

We had dinner at my sister’s new place, and got to “meet” her boyfriend’s gecko (the name of which is eluding me at the moment).  I’d never seen a gecko up close before… its feet feel really soft, and its scales are surprisingly soft as well.  My kids were squealing over it (that’s my daughter’s hand holding it in the picture).

Isn’t it cute? (in a reptiley sort of way)

I was busy with 2 photoshoots today, and the first one is going to be a big surprise for someone’s Mother’s day.  So of course I can’t put a sneak peek on the blog, it’d ruin the surprise.

This week’s going to have some gorgeous weather.  Inniswoods was so lovely, with the trees in bloom for spring, I can’t wait to go back there to take pictures.

So, since I’m out of current blog fodder, I went back in some older photos, and leave you with this interesting one.  It is a human sun dial, and as you can see from Maylie’s shadow, it was taken at about 4 pm.  Very cool, huh?

So… I bought this tool needed for framing off of Ebay.  The guy took forever to send it but I got his package today… and he sent me a tape roller when I bought a point driver.  Needless to say, I wasn’t very happy, and put in a complaint to Paypal. (The guy has not responded to a single email, and so that was the 4th contact attempt).

Anyway, so today I called around locally and found that Hobby Lobby carries them, with a 40% coupon to boot.  So I was able to get started framing the 11 pictures (and maybe be able to actually use the studio on Tues).  I still have to install the hanging hardware on them, but the images are at least in the frames now.

I’m really excited about hanging this one on my wall.  It’s about time I got some of my own work up on our walls! It’s even bigger than our 16×20 (plus mat) wedding photo above our fireplace.  So here it is in all it’s framed glory:

The weather was GORGEOUS today, so I took the kids to the zoo.  I took my trusty point & shoot camera along (which is a Canon Powershot S3 IS) because my good camera is heavy and requires a bag to carry it in, so I don’t like to take it if I have to double as Chief Baby Wrangler.  The P&S takes pretty good photos if there’s enough light.

We went through Asia Quest and then to the Americas.  The kids really enjoyed the train (it was closed the last few times we’d been to the zoo), although the baby had had enough of sitting still and wanted to climb off my lap and do her own thing on the train.

These are a bit artsy, I was playing around with some conversions in Photoshop.

They thought the sand sculpture was nifty. “Mommy, can we climb on it?” (good thing they asked first!) I told them no, but if they went over “there”, I’d take their picture with the sculpture.

I don’t remember what kind of cat this was.  It was one over in Asia Quest.  I played around with some color on this one.

Congrats to Megan J. who was the first person to email me about missing a day on the blog!  She wins a $10 Starbucks gift certificate.  The contest runs until May 31, so keep on watching, I might miss another day (I hope not!)  I was just really busy a couple days ago and completely forgot to update the blog until 3 am, when I had a very happy and awake baby, I realized it too late.  Oh well. Maybe Megan will think about me as she sips her tall latte.

For a picture for today, while Maylie was at preschool, we went to Once upon a Child to get the 3 kids summer outfits.  This is why it’s best not to take Maylie shopping… If she goes shopping, then she wants stuff that I don’t want to buy for her, and then she’s upset.  (Maybe she’s 5 going on 15).  But if I surprise her with new clothes, then she is ecstatic and giddy about the new clothes, and loves them all.

This is how happy she was: