Halloween 2015

I had a LOT of fun taking Halloween photos this year! This was in part because my kids were so great about allowing me to take photos of them in costume - I think it helps that they really loved their costumes! I did a whole shoot with just them before Halloween, and just this weekend posted it over on the photo blog, so you can check it out HERE. I was so happy with how those photos came out! It was also really great to not be stressed at all on Halloween night about photos, since I knew that I already had some really good ones.

But...that doesn't mean I didn't get a few on Halloween! This year we were joined by even more friends: Beth and Kathy both came out with their families for the Leesburg Halloween parade. We all met at our house first, and the kids were great about taking photos before we headed over to the parade grounds.

 

This one is definitely my favorite!! Henry cracks me up.

We had a couple of little ones with us too - look at Rosie in her chicken costume!
Note: I'm particularly proud of this image because Beth's hand was actually in it, holding her up by her left arm, and I managed to completely clone it out. Yay editing skills!

I once again wore my Anna dress, since I just got it last year and I have to get my money's worth from it! Since we had not one but TWO Elsas this year, I had to get a photo with them!

And here's my Belle...and Stella as a monkey! She's so cute. And I like how nicely she's highlighting my "Macbeth for Treasurer" sticker.

 

We managed to get a quick family photo with my cell phone before the parade began. The kids didn't really want to do it (hence the faces), but at least we got one!

Oh, right, and then the reason we were there: so that we could all support Evan in the parade! Here is a shot of the entire Macbeth for Treasurer group. Evan had a lot of support, and we all had a great time walking in the parade. As I'm sure you pretty much all know, he unfortunately did not win, but I'm still so proud of everything that he did!

Our 2015 family photo shoot

Wow, I am the worst photographer ever, when it comes to our own family photos! Not only have I not posted these up here yet (and it's been just over 6 months now since they were taken), but I haven't even ordered my own copies of any of these. Bad photographer! Clients of mine, do not follow my example!

So, yeah - it had been two years since we last had professional photos taken, and when my friend and fellow photographer Blaire decided to offer mini sessions back in April, we quickly signed up for a spot so that we could get some new family photos taken. The best part of it, to me, was that the only spot she had left was actually on Henry's birthday. Since we'd had his party the day before, we didn't have any big plans on his birthday, so this was a really nice way to cap off the day spent together as a family. Even better, we were able to snag the last spot of the day, so we could have a nice relaxing photo shoot - sometimes it helps to be friends with the photographer! Blaire really outdid herself, given that this was a mini shoot - we ended up with fantastic shots of the kids

Great shots of the family... (love that setting sunlight!)

Blaire was nice enough to take some fantastic head shots of me, which I badly needed! I've used all 3 of these for work since she gave them to me; the second one is currently the one I'm using for my professional photo for anything work-related (LinkedIn, Skype, the webinar I did recently).

And finally, she did a whole series of shots of Henry because it was his birthday. Look at my handsome guy!!

Society for Neuroscience 2015: Chicago!

Typically, I head off to the Society for Neuroscience conference in November of each year. However, sometimes they do move it a bit earlier to October, as was the case this year. So, about a month ago, my colleagues and I headed off to Chicago for 5 days of work, eating, work, work, more eating, and more work. Here I am with Shannon and Brooke on the plane, about to take off.

Arrival in Chicago was easy, and on a truly lovely day. It turned out that my colleagues who had gotten there to set up the booth a couple of days earlier were basically done, so we had the rest of the day to all meet up and then explore the city. Here was the view from my hotel room - not bad!

The first couple of nights there, I took my camera with us as we walked around. Coming back from dinner we went through Millenium Park at sunset; here are a couple of my favorite photos:

 

But, we were definitely there to work! Here was a photo I instagrammed of our booth on the first day. Look at all of our lovely green and white! The white carpet that my boss ordered for us this year really made us pop, in contrast to a lot of the other booths which had the standard grey or black carpet.

I also tried to get some "artsy" shots of our booth.

 

And...group photo!

I also took a couple of selfies in my various Noldus shirts. I actually like these polos - they're sport polos, so they're comfortable, and the purple in particular is a pretty nice color, I think!

 

After all of our long days working in the booth, eating lots, and wandering around the city

...it was finally time to take down the booth after the conference ended on Wednesday. In total, it took us just under 4 hours to break everything down, get it all put away, and finally leave, giving us about a 13 hour last day.

 

Definitely a long day, but we manage to find our fun :) Gonny (below with me) is one of my Dutch colleagues who I so rarely get to see - she and I roomed together and had a blast! I am looking forward to seeing her again when I go to our Dutch office in March 2016.

 

My 35th birthday

Since we seem to put so much emphasis on round numbers, certain birthdays always seem to mean more. This year I turned 35, which just seemed to require more celebrating than last year at 34, right? I ended up having a fantastic birthday weekend (my birthday was on a Saturday), and it actually all started at work on October 2, when my colleague Hanting turned 25, so my colleagues got us a birthday cookie! And I celebrated with the office birthday octopus on my desk.

 
On my actual birthday (Saturday), I woke to all of this on the table. Home made cards from the kids, a present from them, and a present from my sister. When I opened everything....coloring books, colored pencils, music, books, and custom made jamberry wraps! Wow, does my family know me or what? :)

 
That day was pretty relaxing, and then that evening it was time for fun with my friends. Again, since 35 seems to be a more "important' number than 34, I actually planned a bit of a party for myself. I'd been twice to a local ceramic studio, and as she schedules private parties, I invited a bunch of my friends to come and make leaf bowls for the fall. We brought food and drink (and cake!) and spent about 3 hours hanging out, eating, drinking, and making our bowls. Evan was nice enough to photograph the event while we ladies (and my friend Will) had fun with the clay.

This is me with the owner of the studio, Kristen.

As I said, we were making leaf bowls. We gathered up a ton of leaves, branches, etc from out in her yard and used them to make imprints on the clay, in whatever patterns we wanted. I used this large leaf for the bottom of my bowl, and after imprinting it I etched it deeper with this tool.

I'm glad Evan got some group shots of everyone! Love seeing all the creativity in this room.

Here we are actually making our bowls into a bowl shape.

And...a bunch of the "finished" products! As you can see, she taught us how to make "feet" for the bottom of the bowl, so it won't just sit on the table, but will be slightly raised.

Someone took this photo of Evan and I! Aren't we cute?

Here I am with my cake...mmm, Wegmans cake.

And here's my "finished" bowl! It's obviously not entirely done because it hasn't been baked in the kiln or glazed yet, but both of those are things that Kristen did afterwards for us. At this point, I had decided I was done decorating it - I think you can see my leaf patterns on both the inside

And the outside! I particularly love how the outside (bottom) looks.

And, a group shot of everyone! Evan refused to get in the photo, but chose to take it for us.

And as you can see, we had a little guest too - Rosie came along and helped her mom! She was really great, not crying at all, and was definitely a hit of the party.

Thanks once again to all of my friends who came and helped me celebrate - it was an awesome party!! And what about my completed bowl? Well, I have gotten it, and I think I will use the light box my sister bought me last year for my birthday to take some truly good photos, so you'll just have to wait!