The carpet in my studio matches my cat. Or is it that the cat matches the carpet? In any case, it sure is nice to go “pshshsr pshshr” and the cat looks up at my camera, sitting nicely on the carpet just below the studio light. This gives me the opportunity to test various settings on my camera and flash unit, to see what works and what doesn’t. (In this case, ISO 160, 1/60 shutter speed at f4, flash set on manual at 1/16 power.) This is much more successful than going “pshshr pshshr” at Bradley and Gregory because they just ignore me. Then again, they ignore me most all the time anyway.

I am notorious for messing up Daylight Savings Time. So much so that my choir director told the choir to remind me to change my clocks so I wouldn’t be late on Sunday. I’ve been getting e-mails all day.

“Julie, don’t forget to change your clocks.”

“Julie, don’t be late on Sunday.”

“Julie, Brenda said you’ve got some whacky hangup about the time change and that if we don’t shake some sense into you, you’ll sleep right through until fall.”

When I came to work, there was a note on my computer screen…

By “double check” this means I’m supposed to know which way the clock moves. So I looked that up to be sure.



Aha! Forward. (Clock checked.)



(And double checked.)

So I started noticing…

Clocks are everywhere!



My phone.



My iPod.



My computer.



The view from my desk without moving my head.



Turn my head to the left and I can see five, count ‘em FIVE CLOCKS!



And this is the coolest clock on the net. Everything moves but the green line. I wonder what will happen 24 hours from now. Will it make a sudden leap, like Donkey Kong?

I told Mike the clocks change this weekend.

“Sunday night,” he said, “right?”

“No — SATURDAY night!”

See, Brenda? I’m getting it!

My friend, Caroline Hotmer, took this picture of Bradley, Gregory and me way back in 2004. I LOVE this picture. I love it so much that I’ve got variations of it all over the place — this one, I “bespeckled,� going for a cool effect for a Christmas card idea. (I ended up using photos of the boys instead of this one.) I have variations of this photo in my wallet, one in a heart frame on my bedside table, one in the front of my Quotes and Thoughts book. Point is, a good picture that you love NEVER gets old.

Here’s another one that I love. When Bradley was 2-and-a-half, Mike dressed Bradley up (and Mike put on a tie — because he KNOWS how I love him in a white shirt and tie) and they went to one of those mall stores to get some pictures of the two of them for my Mother’s Day present.

Only my Japanese Red Maple tree (Mother’s Day, 1999) comes in at a close second to this beautiful picture!

So, dads, if you don’t know what to get your wife for Mother’s Day, I know just the thing: a beautiful framed picture of you with your children.

Trust me, she will cherish it forever! But don’t stop there, because we moms like pictures of ourselves with our children too.

Here’s the deal: Arrange for a mini photo session with me before April 30 — just you and your kids. We’ll pick your favorite image and frame it for your wife. I’ll design a personalized gift certificate for a full family session using another one of your photos. I’m NOT KIDDING, if you do this for your wife, you will be KING DAD for the next DECADE.

Now dads, I know you hate having your picture taken. But we moms LOVE pictures of our kids, and we love their dads, and we almost never get any pictures in the family album that have ALL of us in the same picture together, so just buck it up and do this for her.

More details and pricing in my info packet, at the bottom of page 2. All you have to do is call me, we’ll meet in a park, take a few shots, then voila! — you get two 5×7 framed images (one print and one gift certificate) all wrapped up and ready in time for Mother’s Day! You also get a $50 print credit which can easily take care of your own mom! See that? One afternoon with me, and not only is your mother’s day shopping DONE, but you would have racked up enough brownie points with the two most important women in your life to last for YEARS!

Better call today — spaces are filling up fast.

MOMS, feel free to shoot me an email and I’ll find a discreet way of letting your husband know this is what you want for Mother’s Day!

Mike went to South Carolina and all he brought me back was this Piggly Wiggly t-shirt. This puts a new dimension on the “grandma went to Florida and all I got was this t-shirt” theme. Then the other day, he ordered me a pair of custom-made jeans because the ones I usually wear make me look “larger.” Larger than what is what I want to know.

It’s a good thing I love my husband! How many wives wouldn’t be calling the divorce laywer by now? Hey, I’m getting jeans out of the deal, custom-fitting ones too! The man spent an hour on Saturday with a measuring tape and dealing with my indecision regarding boot cut vs. straight. Then once he input the entire order, complete with nine different precise measurements entered, I screamed, “WAIT! Do they have stretch? They HAVE to be stretch jeans!”

“Start over,” with an intense glare.

Payback for Piggly Wiggly. Revenge is sweet.

Elizabeth is due about two weeks from today.
Isabella can’t wait to meet her baby sister!










Isabella is very expressive!




Isabella and her mom are so cute together!




But I love the shots of Elizabeth wearing her baby body.







This one is my FAVE!

Elizabeth, here’s a slide show to thank you for making my first maternity shoot a grand success!

(Tissues highly recommended!)

Click here for the show!

Meet Finn.




Finn belongs to my new friend, Leah Kane. Though we’d never met face to face, we belong to the same writers’ group. Leah writes a regular blog, Raising a Little Kane, in which she documents her life as a new mom and a new blogger. (Fans of my “Quotes and Thoughts” take note: we’ve got a new baby to follow!)




Leah and Finn came over to help me test my studio light.




This is one of my favorites.




My best lesson from this exercise is that 1-year-old babies are best photographed in their own *baby proof* homes!




Still, I have to admit, I’m having fun with my one light!

Leah, I couldn’t help myself — I made you a slide show! Thanks for those really nice things you said about me in your blog!

Click here for the show!

More fun in the studio.



For a while, my three models were fighting to get the most time in front of the camera! Yay for me!



(Unless the cat is involved, Bradley is almost always reluctant to be anywhere near me when I’m holding a camera.)




But I can still afford Gregory. (Peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich and a half hour of “Tom and Jerry.”)




And all Kathryn wants is a print now and then!
(She loves modeling for me.)




She’s my photo assistant and surrogate daughter from down the street.




But this shot tells the real story. Completely unposed. Caption: “Are we done here?”


“Just one more.”


“NO!”


* sigh *