Things to be thankful for

Things to be thankful for, originally uploaded by medusahead.

A family so beautiful and athletic that it makes me feel like I'm living a Ralph Lauren ad - as the photographer, of course.

Unlike her mother, my daughter's love of the game.



And that she's finally getting hair



For Grandpa John who bought vintage Super Mario Brothers and for the dents in my thumbs from playing it all weekend.



For bird formations that look like broken necklaces in the sky and barren trees and winter light.



For family, and my sweet Leica that makes them and the world they inhabit so darn pretty

The Chiozza Slideshow

I like taking pictures. Fiddling with technology, not so much. But they have created a slideshow program exclusively for photographers where you can marry your images with music and, in the case of the photographers who have, ahem, actually launched their sites, provide a link to that site and a place to buy the pictures. I'm still working on both of those fronts. In the meantime, here's a slideshow!

(p.s. there is music, so if you or your boss have anything against Amelie, turn the sound off)

The Hoods

I woke up Saturday to a freezing cold, gray day, pretty convinced that the day was going to be a bust for my family lifestyle session with the Hoods. Amazingly the sun peeked out, the temperature warmed up a tad, and the Hood family brought their A game to Overton Park. They were a blast to chase around; energetic, photogenic and bursting with great ideas. Here's just a few from the day.

fall leaves & fab coats

fall leaves & fab coats, originally uploaded by medusahead.

Poladroid

pjs, originally uploaded by medusahead.

If you haven't heard by now, Polaroid is dead and the only remaining film is in stored in a vault somewhere in my house and I'm not saying where.

But somebody brilliant gave us the next best thing. The online version, complete with the cool sound and the 60 seconds of antsy anticipation as your creation comes to beautifully muted life.

Play with it here.

What to expect when they are hellbeasts

Surprisingly, What to Expect: The Toddler Years doesn't include a chapter on this. Maybe that's because toddler is synonymous with "mutant spawn."

Maybe because 500 pages of :The Toddler Years is synonymous with "sucker."

But it also turns out that they are working on stuff in that little toddler laboratory. I suppose I would be cranky 24-7 if I was cutting teeth through my skin and trying to work out the concept of "be gentle with the ant."

Yesterday I was ready to put her on craigslist's free section. Today she has just blown me away with that big brain of hers.

I counted to four, and without prompting, she said "five."

Turns out she is paying attention.

She introduced about six new words into her vocabulary today, one of them being "happy" as her daddy tossed her into the air. She nestled into my arms as I read her a book. Turns out I learned a new definition of the word happy today, too.

chip

chip, originally uploaded by medusahead.

My brain is so fried that I have forgotten to give a big bloggy shoutout to Chip who saved my ass on Saturday and second shot with me. He caught some stunning moments, only mildly berated me for using disposable batteries and laughed at me when the limo driver mistook me for a "young man." Nice having someone talented and trustworthy around to keep me in line.

Thanks Chip! You rock.

The Chiozzas

I'm in the middle of processing a wedding but after my family shoot today, I couldn't wait to rush home and look at the pics. I promised myself I'd just fiddle with one. Just one.



Lucy was the gateway pic.

The Chiozzas were a dream to photograph; a handsome, loving dad. A gorgeous mama with legs for miles. Two sweet baby girls who were the hardest working minors in showbiz. It was a delight to tag along with the Chiozzas for an afternoon, and I look forward to posting even more pics! Here's a few more from today:

Grace is gorgeous

Grace is gorgeous, originally uploaded by medusahead.

May everyone have the good fortune of photographing a gorgeous redheaded bride with killer eyelashes.

my favorite so far

my favorite so far, originally uploaded by medusahead.

When it rains

my gig ensemble, originally uploaded by medusahead.

For some reason, two writing deadlines, a wedding shoot, and our first open house decided to happen all on the same weekend, so the Sweazys are a little exhausted.

Here is me in all my glory gear. Gotta love a job where you can wear your fave gray suede boots and get paid to take pictures of people. Almost seems unfair.

Many, many, many pics to come.

Do they make anything besides creepy dolls?

Do they make anything besides creepy dolls?, originally uploaded by medusahead.

I believe the children are our future...

...of karaoke.

When she's not entertaining us with a scintillating mashup of Row Your Boat and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Harlow is using her words.

Here are a few of Harlow's that make me excited:

applejuice (used mostly in context, sometimes confused with the sauce variety, but hey, kid's not even 2.)
Mama - it is her second* favorite word
boots, as in I need to wear these red cowboy boots with these lime green tights NOW
Nice - always drawn out, like Niiiice. There's a vague Ricardo Montalban inflection.
syrup - as opposed to SUR-up and helps waffles and avocado and turkey go down better.

Here are some of the words that don't get me excited:

baby - it's totally cute how she says it. The problem is that it is immediately followed by her thrusting a pen and piece of paper (or bill or magazine or whatever is handy) into my hand and demanding that I draw her a baby. I blame her father for starting her down this path, he of the art school persuasion who can handily sketch a baby or a dog or Parisian street scene. My baby looks like an elderly woman suffering from porphyria regardless of how many dozens of times I have drawn a baby on command. I just can't do it, and I hate proving this fact about 17 times daily.

And now we come to her favorite* word of all.

Elmo

It was her first word, so I suppose it would make sense she clings to it like those bitter people do their guns and religion. It is the first word out of mouth in the morning. It is a verb. It is a mantra. It completes the holy trinity of mama and daddy and she just won't let it go. She is madly in love with Elmo, so its going to be a very dark day when her parents sit her down with a TV crew from A&E and explain to her that we are there because we love her but that the Elmo has to go.

Lazy Sunday

Lazy Sunday, originally uploaded by medusahead.

Ugh

I'm beginning to wonder if somewhere in our fall wardrobe Harlow and I have large KICK ME signs pinned to the back of our coats. It seems every virus that has been cruising for marks has found us since mid October. I mean, nothing has been serious, just seriously annoying in that the most gorgeous time of the year has to be enjoyed by staring out a window. This weekend alone we missed a free trip to Florida, twins' birthday parties, a holiday bazaar at my favorite store, ravioli making, a picnic at Shelby Forest and general rolling around in fall foliage goodness. To make things worse, Caleb has spent the majority of the week single handedly cleaning the house in preparation of listing while I sleep. And I know he is cursing me the whole time, not truly believing how completely miserable I feel, and I don't have a legitimate excuse like pregnancy to fall back on, so the guilt is just as bad as not being able to breathe. We did suit up and walk over to Otherlands this afternoon for a chance to escape the house. The day was wonderfully coat inducing but ultimately the kind of damp that your mama warns you will seep into your bones and catch you a cold. Turns out if you already have one it makes you feel about 10 times crappier.

But as next week is shaping up to be one of the busiest in recent memory, I'm content to let the Welcome to Fall, Bitch! Brigade have their way with me so I'll be good and ready.

Hope you are having lovely weekend. Go play in the leaves.

edited to say that my left ear finally cleared. Sounds sound so nice on this side of my head.

Nov 5

Melissa Sweazy photography, originally uploaded by medusahead.

What a beautiful day.

Yesterday was positively nerve wracking so I spent the majority of it at the Holiday marketplace at Harlow's daycare. I had my first ever table for my photography and was just so happy with my cute little flipbooks I had made for the event. That pretty little head you see on the cover may or may not be my new logo for Melissa Sweazy Photography. I'm still feeling things out.

But today. I'm a touch hungover from the wine, the nerves and the ultimate tears of joy shed as Caleb and I held hands on the couch and watched history being made. I am so proud of us, our country, of everyone who voted.

It's a very good day.

Let the Right One In

Why I miss living in a select city.