And the $150 gift certificate goes to…
Dawn’s family!
Special thanks to all the people who voted for their holiday card! Their design won by a landslide! Happy Mother’s Day, Dawn! I’m SO looking forward to our shoot this October! Congratulations!
P.S. For even more blog praise (open to all blog readers), name the TV show I have in mind that featured the exact location shown in the above photograph on a recent episode. Hint: this is near New York City’s upper-something-side.
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 9:06 pm
STACEY, YOU WIN!
Stacey correctly answered both
trivia questions! For all her efforts in checking the blog everyday, posting comments in each of my card designs, and then winning the tie-breaker, Stacey and her family will be treated to a free family session! And, as an extra bonus, I’ll add to that a set of 50 greeting cards. Congratulations, Stacey! Happy Mother’s Day! Call me asap to schedule your appointment because I have very few time slots left for the year!
BOB, YOU ALSO WIN!
Bob also checked the blog everyday, posting comments in each of my card designs. He and Stacey were entered in the tie-breaker contest to see who would win the free family session. But I swear Bob let Stacey win because he not only didn’t answer the questions correctly, he answered them SO wrong and I know he would have gotten the “little red wagon” answer because he’s the master of
Coffeedrome, where the whole
Tree Grower’s Diary began. Bob, you are the sweetest guy on the planet. So, because I know you have a very large family, I would love to come hang out at one of your family gatherings and take pictures for you — a free extended family session. So take a look at your calendar, and let’s figure out when the next big gathering is! Happy Mother’s Day! Say hi to everybody for me!
By the way, the correct answers were: “What is 15?” and “What is the little red wagon?”
Check back later to find out who won with the most votes for their holiday card design. My mom is spending the day tallying the votes for me. Thanks Mom! I love you!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 7:29 am
My sneak peak at the concert tonight…
I went to the concert this morning for the school.
The orchestra was really good.
The violin solo made me cry, it was so beautiful.
Bradley is on the back row.
There he is! The chorus sounded so good!
They all look so nice in ties.
The 7th grade band sounded really great too. I was so impressed!
(Audience participation during the William Tell Overture.)
She was very patient and especially appreciated the upbeat pieces.
So did she.
Do good tonight, everybody! You sounded great this morning! Now I’m going to take a really long nap because I have a terrible cold. Cough. Cough.
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 1:27 pm
Wow, I love Alison’s hair in this picture — and what a great dip! If you know Alison and Rob, and would like to see their slide show, leave a comment or send me email and I’ll hook you up with the link. It’s so cute!
Don’t they look like a jcrew ad or what?
Alison and Rob live in the Washington area, and asked me to do some custom “postcard shots.”
Here’s a postcard of the happy couple!
I have my reasons for throwing things off center sometimes. More to come in a separate blog post next week about that. Meanwhile, can you guess why I do that sometimes?
I had such a great time hanging out with these two! I can’t wait for the wedding! It’s going to be so much fun!
Love this one! You may recognize this couple from last year’s Metuchen Memorial Day pictures. Rob was one of the Grand Marshals in the parade, with Alison by his side.
They wanted to include their pets in their engagement session. That’s Toby.
This one totally cracks me up. See, we were hanging out with Toby in the parking lot when all of a sudden this woman, a stranger to all of us, slams the brakes on her car, jumps out, runs over to Toby and throws herself completely around the dog in a long, tight embrace. I love Alison’s reaction! I’m surprised Toby didn’t bite her! He’s such a good doggie!
So, here’s today’s contest question. Win Alison and Rob a free 8×10 by posting a comment with the correct answer.
Hint. Q: How many pets do Alison and Rob have?
Sort of another hint. Hints all over the slide show though because Alison has plans to print close ups of her babies’ faces as 5×5’s and frame them in large white mats for the living room. I love that idea! I love how Alison and Rob planned their engagement session to incorporate some of the places and the little family they love so much.
Thanks again, Alison and Rob! Can’t wait for July!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 12:18 pm
My dogwood is still going strong! I love this tree in the soft morning light.
This one and the next one are cool. I was trying to capture how pretty it is when the morning sunlight filters through the petals.
Then I noticed that the sky is almost exactly the same color as …
… my neighbor’s house!
The blue background in the top picture is the sky. The blue background in the bottom picture is the house next door. You can sort of make out VERY BLURRY lines from the siding. So, there you have it: sky blue paint.
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 3:21 pm
I took these pictures last November on leaf-raking day.
Congratulations to michelle, Steve G. and Dawn!
Each posted a comment in almost every card design in the STIFF COMPETITION for a free family session.
I went through and re-checked all the posts and found that Steve G. missed one, michelle missed one, and Dawn missed one. It was a very hard contest, I admit! Thank you all SO much for playing!
To show my appreciation to you for keeping that eagle eye on my blog, each of you may take 30 percent off the creation fee of your next family session! All you have to do to redeem this little “coupon” is reference me back to this blog post when it comes time for you to book your session. Just click the title of the post, then copy and paste the url of the blog post into your email message to me at the time of your booking. The coupon never expires!
So, this post is for bob and Stacey — the two remaining contenders in the competition for a free family session. CONGRATULATIONS, BOB AND STACEY! YOU ARE FINALISTS!
Bob and Stacey posted comments in every one of my card designs! WOW!!!!!
Thank you to ALL my readers for checking out my blog and helping me boost my google rankings!
Every time you visit my blog, google counts you as “traffic” to my site, and the more traffic a site gets, the more popular google thinks it is! Plus, every time a reader posts a comment, my site gets “updated” with fresh content in google’s eyes. This is another factor that keeps my site high in the rankings. Thank you to ALL my blog readers who give me lots of traffic and post comments! You’re the BEST!!!
So, on with the show, er, uh, the contest…
Bob and Stacey…
…to win the free family session, you must follow the directions EXACTLY.
1. Your response must be correct, as judged by me. If neither responds correctly, the one with the CLOSEST answers wins.
2. You must EMAIL your responses to me in the form of questions, like on Jeopardy, before midnight, May 8. My email address is shown on the blog, and within my main web site.
Here are the Jeopardy-style answers, both with visual hints within this blog post:
A) A non-growing item of special significance in the Tree Grower’s Diary.
B) The number of leaf bags Bradley, Gregory and Gabe accumulated on November 26, 2007.
Good luck, and there is no guarantee that ALL the leaf bags are shown in the picture!
One more thing: A very special thanks to Brad, Gabe and Greg for all that raking! You guys are the BEST!!!!!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 12:47 pm
She gets her picture taken once a month. This is her April set.
One reason for this is because she never ceases to be intrigued by my camera. And don’t we all love pictures of babies who are looking right at us?
I love this one! Bless you, sweetie, and your mom too! Look at that — it’s already May — time to schedule your next date with my camera!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 7:25 am
Click the picture, or click here, for Jack’s latest slide show. When the show ends, it will jump back here where you can answer a question and win Jack’s family an 8×10 print!
I love Jack’s eyes in this one especially because it makes me stop and wonder what he’s thinking. LOVE Jack’s dad peaking around the corner! So cute.
Speaking of eyes! They’re all gorgeous!
I bet Jack will be tall like his dad.
They’re such a sweet family. This is “our photo place.” We’re planning to take a family picture here every time we do a shoot, or at least every time we do a shoot at their home.
This is Jack’s 5th photo shoot since he was 10 weeks old. I spent a lot of time at this shoot just trying to capture the essence of what it means to be 10 months old and experiencing the first taste of freedom and exploration. In this one, Jack enjoys crawling into the space under this side table. He sits there a while before crawling out. In case you were wondering, THIS is lifestyle photography at its best!
A 10-month-old who has just learned to crawl and pull himself up to standing enjoys this activity even more when there’s a reward on the table.
He will investigate what’s on the table from all angles.
He especially enjoys getting to go outside in the wagon…
…with mom by his side in the pretty light of near-sunset.
Today’s question: Be the first commenter to answer this question and you’ll get bookoos of blog praise and win the family a free 8×10!
The hat Jack is wearing has a specific name in fashion terms. What kind of hat is that?
Have fun! And to Jack’s family: see you all soon at Jack’s birthday party! I can’t wait! But I also can’t believe the year has gone by so fast!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 7:30 am
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 8:15 am
