One Day at a Time

If you need me, if you've noticed that my phone isn't stapled to my ear 24/7, if it takes me two or three days to reply to an email instead of one, please be patient. I am all over the reprint orders, album designs, and special requests for each and every person. I've got all my bases covered, dudes. Not to worry. ;)

That said, if you don't know, there are two people in my family (or friend+family="framily" as Tanii would say ;) with terminal illnesses. We've been living with the diagnosis for decades, and we've gotten to be the odds-beating medical miracle people for most of that time.

The only thing I've ever known for sure is that there will never be enough time together. We all know how this story ends, and I will never be ready to say goodbye. Brad is still fighting, to the point that when I got news of his choices regarding treatment earlier today, I was like, "Damn. He is one strong motherfucker." Then it was all, "Okay, team. We're still fighting here. Good thing I brought my jersey and my cleats and my helmet. Send me in, coach. The least I can do is block. Let me go all Terry Tate on this."

But things change hour to hour.

All I want is one more day. One more Thanksgiving, God. Give it to me in the ICU with the tubes and the vents and the beeps if you can. Give it to me on the phone, for a brief moment between procedures. Give it to me in Lancaster with my sweet, funny bebes and Mickey Mouse DVDs and air plane rides and hours of Play-Doh and Fischer Price so their mom and dad can go to UPenn.

Just let our family have him one more day. Thanks for the extra 19 years, now give us one more day.

Sneak Preview: Katie's Baptism

Owl in a Box!

OMG, this made my whole day. It's only 9:55 a.m. but I assure you, my day is made. Owl in a box! I keep giggling out loud to myself, thinking about one of the pictures where you can only see the owl's eye from inside the box. Go! Clicky! Have your day made, too.

God, I love the internet.

Sneak Preview: Jack

Last weekend, I got to do a mini-session here with sweet baby Jack and his mom and dad who wanted to get some nice photos for their holiday card. Jennifer really wanted to capture the autumn colors and shoot in Central Park. I was totally psyched about this until we realized that it was Marathon Sunday in New York. And the finish line is in Central Park. And Bethesda Terrace, where we wanted to shoot, was about 100 yards from Tavern on the Green. Which is where the runners collapse and get their shiny foil blankets at the end. Nothing says "Greetings from our family to yours in this season of comfort and joy!" like 35,000 euphoric sweaty people in short shorts discovering that their toenails fell off back at mile 22. Awesome!

So they braved the detours and the GWB to come up to the new house to shoot! As it turns out, nothing motivates me to finish actually finish unpacking the studio gear like someone booking a session. Woo hoo! Here are a few of my favorites...








The jaunty, pointed hoodie is my favorite. :) Thanks for driving to Rockland, you guys! I PROMISE we'll get to shoot in Central Park someday.

Again? Really?

Just spotted on our deck: homeless mama cat with two 12-week-old adorable kittens. It's probably Scooter's mom and littermates. And you know when the first killing frost is due? Any minute now.




Added to the To Do List:
Let Bella out in front yard only so as not to emotionally scar kittens with "KittyKittyKitty! I see a kitty! Two kitties! HERE KITTEH I WUV U!" Dance of Happy Happy
FIV testing
Find de-worming pills
Locate de-flea shampoo
Trap
Spay
Release? Foster? Adopt? Drop off at ASPCA?

Note to self: Just invest in your own damn Hav-A-Heart trap already. Sheesh.

Halloween: The One With Absurdly Long Arms

So, I was Luna Lovegood for Halloween. Luna Lovegood is a secondary character in the Harry Potter books and movies, though she becomes increasingly important as the series comes to a close. All night long, everyone kept calling me Hermione. Hermione would NEVER deviate from the approved Hogwarts dress code by adding Spectrespecs. ;)



Joel is, of course, Harry Potter, mostly because it was an inexpensive last minute option that kind of coordinated with my costume after abandoning his previous costume, as discussed below... Only the geekiest of Harry Potterphiles will know that J. K. Rowling has shared that Luna ends up marrying not Neville, but Rolf Scamander, the grandson of Newt Scamander, author of the Hogwarts Care of Magical Creatures textbook "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." The adult Luna and her husband travel the world studying magical creatures and identifying new species. They have yet to find evidence of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, but Luna still believes. I actually think that going as Luna Lovegood-Scamander and Rolf Scamander would have been AWESOME. Imagine the costumes: Dragon gloves! Spectrespec omnoculars! The Monster Book of Monsters! AND this is how people end up going to CosplayCons. I kind of get it now. ANYWAY...

We started out by swinging through Queens.



Zak is the ideal Shaggy from Scooby Doo, isn't he? I know the goatee is super-fake, but you can really see the man he's growing up to be. Spooky...



Oscar is a person from a role-playing scenario where the attendants at a masquerade ball go insane. Bloodshed and creepy masks abound.



The only photo I have of Melanie from Halloween is a shot of her with another little girl whom I don't know at all, and I have no idea how her family feels about Internet photos, etc., so I'm not going to post it. But Melanie was there, and she is awesome. The rest of the year, Melanie is all about Bratz, glitter, and girly-girlness, but on Halloween she went for scary. Love it!



We went into Manhattan after that for a Halloween party with Joel's softball team. Dan and Heather were Ghostbusters, and yes, by request, I PhotoShopped in the Proton Pack lasers for this one.



Don't cross streams!



Oh, man, I cannot WAIT for their wedding next month. Hee!

After that, Joel and I made our way down to the Financial District to my friend Amy's apartment. Someone actually came to Amy's party... as Amy.



There was also a guy there who was dressed as... well, as a guy with absurdly long arms.


Seriously, if you ever get to play around with a pair of absurdly long arms, you must do it. You MUST.





The only thing is... You get a bunch of newspaper employees crashing from sugar high and give them Jell-O Shots at 3 a.m.... Wanna know what happens? No, you don't. It's depressing as hell.



It's a good thing we had a pair of absurdly long arms around to cheer ourselves up.




Aw, man. This was a good Halloween. It really was.