all because I wanted to show off Claire's fashion sense...

Olivia's been picking out her own clothing for almost a year now, so we're used to the weird combinations she comes up with. But recently, Claire has joined in on voicing her fashion sense. And let me tell you, the girl can pick one fancy outfit!

I started out just wanting to get a picture of Claire's outfit. I love the lighting the side of our house gets mid-afternoon, and closeup, you can't see all our junk...

Claire hamming it up


Olivia not so into the whole deal


But before I could really get to documenting the beauty of the outfit... WAR breaks out! To set the scene - Claire is using a random stick from the yard to play music on the two trash cans we have. Outfit of choice for this - Blue jackets jersey type top, ruffly tweed skirt, lace socks, and polka-dot shoes. Olivia wants the stick. Olivia will have no part in finding her own stick.

Olivia tries to rationalize with Claire. Loudly and up in her face


Claire pushes past Olivia to get to the other dumpster (and away from that crazy chick)


Olivia shoves Claire down into the concrete


Claire is unhappy with the whole situation


Olivia's in time out


Mommy's done with being outside, and tells the girls we're headed in for lunch. Olivia puts up a small fight, but goes in. Claire wants to stay outside.






Hope everyone is enjoying the outdoors as much as we are!!

we have a Fan Page!

I made Purple Platypus Pictures a fan page on Facebook! Become a fan to see my latest work, and to hear about specials I run. I'm pretty excited about it!

IT'S SPRING!!

It's spring, and time for the winter blahs to leave the building! The girls and I have been spending tons of time outdoors - I've been photographing everything and everything I can - and hey, last night was our first wedding of the season. YAY!

So, to celebrate spring, here's Olivia's big achievement. She did this at the park on the last day of winter... went straight to this ladder, and climbed it all by herself. Now we can't keep her off of it.

Happy Spring!!!

Hoping your Valentines was Sweet and Sticky!

The girls' sure was!

I love photographing in the snow

...it makes a wonderful reflector!

Realizations about myself

I haven't blogged in forever. It was a needed break. I'm burned out on blogging - not on photographing! Just blogging. And I have a confession to make. I don't want to share all of this years 365 day project on the blog. I know, I know - but if I blog it all, I'm just going to get burned out again. Plus, while I enjoy this 365, it's a little boring. Heck, my kids aren't even changing clothes anymore!

I have a bad case of the winters. I mean, it is one heck of a case! The girls are cooped up, which of course makes me batty. I can't get outside to photograph as much as I like because its so cold. And January/February/March are just bad months at the job.

So I've been bored. Bored and burnt out. Last weekend, in an attempt to get out of the house, my sister-in-law, Claire and myself all went shopping. It was great to get out, and complain about how much we hate being cooped up. I had a bit of an epiphany about myself while we were at Kohls.

So we walk past the shoes. I have a new love for shoes. I love heels. They have to fit well, or else I hate them, but when they do I just love them! And of course never ever wear them. So we're at Kohls, and I'm coveting a pair of heels that I would barely wear, when Wendy says to me "I could never be one of those moms that chase after their kids in heels." I sighed and said "I'd love to be."

Fact is, I would! I mean, heaven forbid I ran into anyone I knew that day at Kohls! I was wearing an ancient sweater thats all kinds of stretched out; baggy jeans; and my hair pulled back with one of my kids ponytail holders... I was a sight! And I hate being like that.

I was never the kind of girl growing up to care about how I looked. I could give two sh... well you know... about what other people thought about how I looked. I still can be that way. But I'll be honest, I do that because I would hate to put the effort into looking nice, only to have it not be worth it.

Well, I decided in that Kohls in that moment, that I wasn't going to be like that anymore. On TLCs "What not to Wear" they say to dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Well I'm dressing for the life I want.

First on my list - stop biting my nails. That one sucks. A friend recommended just getting acrylics to get myself out of the habit. Its not a bad idea (if I could just get over the dang prejudice I have about acrylic nails - sorry, I just find them a little frivilous)

Next - I want to try wearing my contacts again. One thing I covet more than shoes... sunglasses. I've never owned a pair that I could wear. I've bought some, just for the fun of it - but I can't see without my glasses, and prescription sunglasses cost too much. Now, I don't really like how I look without glasses. I've had glasses for 20 years, so I kind of identify myself with them. So most likely, I'm going to be taking a lot of self portraits, to get myself used to seeing myself.

For now, I'm going to try to blog weekly. Any time I have a session, that will go up, in addition to a weekly post. But I'm not blogging daily again for a while. Probably the first few will be self portraits... any maybe some Valentines of the kids ;)

Since I hate having a blog with not pictures, here's some pissy pictures of me. I glammed myself all up to take boudoir photos, only to realize I couldn't find the remote to my camera. So I got mad, took a couple snapshots, and then took a shower and went back to normal.

Man I wish my kids wore clothes...

Some day, when they are old enough, those girls are going to want to kill me for doing this project, and showing off the pictures. And I'll tell them, 'You were the ones who wanted to be naked all the time'

Lots of Olivia...











...and lots of Claire