out like a lion, in like a lamb...

i would just like to start this post by saying how incredibly hard february and march sucked. i am finding it so difficult to find our new normal and to find energy. the freakin gloomy new england weather is not helping. when we returned from CA i was invited by a friend's mother down to Hingham, MA for a playdate and relaxation. it was a lovely day despite rain and the kids had such a fun time together. you may recognize little sisters Anna Rose and Josephine from a session last fall, or maybe from the mother's day ad. these girls are just so gorgeous. Josephine with her dreamy curls and Anna Rose with her fiery red hair, and both with big brown eyes that melt me. yea, i'm a sucker for little girls.

anyway, this was visit was well over a month ago, and then my sister in law came into town and i shot nothing but nieces and nephews for 12 days straight and i switched from jpeg to RAW shooting and and and...and so i decided i had to start somewhere. so i started here. hopefully i can muster a big post i've been dreaming up that will be me blabbering endlessly about my jpeg to RAW revelation.

i wasn't kidding about these two, they're gorgeous.

Leo and Josephine enjoyed a show together. two year olds are hilarious to me. they both requested to be seated snug next to each other and also requested a blanket.

the other cool thing about said friend's mother is that she has the most amazing knitting room i've ever seen. that i wasn't quite able to do justice in pictures because it was very dark and very gloomy and the light in the room did not lend itself well that day.

and one more of beautiful Jo.

love these girls and their mama and look forward to documenting much more with them. one post down, many to go. i will get my mojo back!!!!

in other exciting news, i'll be shooting my first wedding this coming weekend and the weekend after we have our mother's day mini sessions! there are only 3 spots left so if you're itching to book, do it now! i'm so excited about all the new families i get to meet with our first round of minis.

xo isabel

this weekend i overdosed on family - and it felt good

this is part one blog post of my weekend. because i'm sure you're all just dying to know what i do with my free time. i use the term "free time" loosely, as all mothers and wives will attest. when we all returned from the CA trip, there was a strong calling to spend more time with each other. within days of landing my brother asked if we could find a sitter, so he and his wife (another one of my many fab sisters) could take us out on a double date to china town for dim sum. my sister in law, Alysia, brother(in law)'s wife, is half chinese and spent a large part of her childhood growing up in Hong Kong. to my surprise, brother Mike didn't even like chinese food until he met Alysia!

anyway. we happened to have a plethora of babysitters available this weekend and so we dumped the kids for 2 hours and headed to china town. when we sat down, husband and i made a pretty lame attempt at picking what we wanted, but quickly realized we had mostly no idea how dim sum worked. before we could even scratch our heads or begin to look confused, Mike and Alysia said that they were picking everything. this made me nervous, as i really don't do well with things such as random parts of rare seafood being added into a dish, or parts of a dish that resemble something along the lines of wet garbage. Mike has rarely led me astray in terms of food, so i handed over my menu and proclaimed my faith in him.

we over ordered, 10 dishes i believe. we reassured ourselves that this would provide a bounty of leftovers. well, maybe 45 minutes later and one weird dish, we had eaten pretty much every spec of food. the weird dish you ask? turnip cakes.

after we headed to a bakery for smoothies. which my five year old made sure to recommend to me. this is what happens when the people who surround your children are so cultured, and i freakin love it. yes, my five year old has gone to dim sum, more times than i have i believe.

i love my brother Mike in a crazy person way. it was a wild ride for a minute, but worth it. i love what he does for my boys, i love to see the way they love him. in fact love isn't even a big enough word for what he means to my boys. i love Alysia for loving him and i love him for loving her. because really she's just so awesome. and adds so much to our crazy family quilt. i wish i could describe the relationship he and my husband have, but no one would understand it unless they knew each person. but this is them, in the doorway of the chinese masonic lodge, because things like masons really blow their mind, and a chinese masonic lodge was too much for their brains to handle. they cuddled up with their smoothies. have i mentioned i love these people?!

i'm very behind on lots of little outings that i've been on in the past week. people seen and loads of love floating around. one post down...how many more to go?

xo isabel

mother's day mini sessions - medford ma family photographer

what better way to treat your wife on mother's day than to spend a glorious 20 minutes smiling in the sunshine with her and your beautiful family. is she always wishing she was in the picture? or that you had a picture where everyone was wearing something slightly dressier than PJs and yoga clothes? this is the deal for you! i'm so excited to be doing this and will definitely be making it an annual event. throughout the year, we (being me) at furie photography will hold mini sessions like this, which will likely be the only times i will ever run specials or discounts. have questions? ready to book? use the handy contact button up top!

looking forward to seeing what wonderful people i'll meet next... xo isabel