seeing double

This past Labor Day we discovered that the West Indian-American Parade and Carnival goes right in front of our house.  Despite the bad rap it gets due to the seemingly unavoidable outbursts of violence, and in that way not being unique to many crowded events all over the city on a holiday weekend, it definitely provided us with a unique people watching opportunity and chance to enjoy the spirit of our neighborhood.  I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked.....I've had to trade in some of my camera cradling for baby cradling....but I did manage to get this picture of two little girls who stopped to get a better view of the festivities from the neighbor's stoop.  Nothing like a baby to make you realize that sometimes one picture is enough....

obsessed with The Glow

Beautiful pictures of mamas and their babies.....love love love.  This is what I would like to do all day for the rest of my life....take beautiful pictures of mamas and their babies.  For now I spend all day staring at my beautiful baby....when the staring gets old I'll take more pictures.
All pictures courtesy of The Glow.

beginnings

When you're pregnant you look at life in terms of weeks and then months and then you begin counting down the days. In labor you look at the hours which then become minutes. As soon as your baby is born you look at every single second. Then you start to look at the hours and then the days and then the weeks and then the months. Eventually you look at the years. Through all of this you realize that time goes by very quickly and at some point you just have to stop looking at all the minutes, months and years of time gone by and all the minutes, months and years yet to come and stop to look at now. Now, I'm a mama and as I cherish every second of being in love with my amazing daughter and having the one thing in the world I wanted the most I realize there are no more excuses to let time go by not doing what I want to do the most.....so as I welcome baby Eliza into my life I also welcome my commitment to my creative practice back into my life. This blog is a visual reminder of all the ideas, people, images and projects that inspire me and feed that practice. It's so good to be back.

four days in mexico

As is obvious from the lack of recent posts I've been in a bit of a creative slump....arghhh....nothing like a very relaxing four days in Mexico to jolt me out of my melancholy mood and remind me what life's really all about.....

not caring that you woke up an hour too early because you forgot to change the time....a mistake unrealized because you'd stopped checking the time.....


pulling out your best beach tricks...I'm a fan of sand angels and underwater handstands....


loving your new summer dress even though it accentuates your well-nurtured "food baby" grown over the winter.....it's a ten pounder!.....


watching how the ocean turns everyone into a kid again.....


letting the water rush over your feet and not bothering to rinse the sand from between your toes.....


going fishing.....more fun when done the hard way.....


backfloating.....
remembering what it was like to learn how to backfloat.....scary and exhilirating.....
teaching someone else how to backfloat.....unforgettable.....


making time for siestas.....especially in a hammock forest......


taking time to be alone.....


even when you're not alone.....


remembering that the miraculous is never too far away.....sometimes you just have to get out of dodge to find it.....


while never taking for granted the magic and inspiration that surrounds you every day....

best birthday gift ever....

my sister is so ridiculously creative it makes me swoon....she is a scrapbooking genius who can turn any photo, scrap of paper, color of paint, and random odd, end or idea into a beautifully creative testament of life's most unforgettable moments....and who despite being nine months pregnant and juggling two toddler boys still managed to find the time to make me the most amazing birthday present ever!!!....a book about why she loves me so much....31 reasons for 31 years....a book that every time I open brings tears, giggles, memories, inspiration and wonderment at how she can make everyone around her feel so loved and adored (her boys are so lucky....you should see the baby books, memoirs and tales she has immortalized for them!)
So right back at you sister.....I love you so much!!!!.... and it's a good thing you're older because it gives me two extra (well one and a half) reasons to love YOU!....but you'd better live to be at least a 100 because my list is already at least a 100 reasons long.....and growing......

look at her other amazing memory pages at http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/userprofile.asp?user_id=353218

through my father's eyes....

I truly am my father's daughter.....I take pictures of everything.....my father took pictures of everything too....

the mundane, the seemingly insignificant, the tiniest details of everyday life often overlooked and otherwise long forgotten.....

a mother sleeping with her two baby girls....all three together....his girls..... 

flushed pink cheeks from the summer heat....browned skin and bandaids....

mom's signature painted nails, pale blue eyeshadow and long dark hair....hair cut shorter as babies grew taller....

a child's sandal tossed on the cabin floor.....a floor laid down by his own bare hands....  

me always wanting to be snuggled by somebody.....especially when sleeping, but often while awake.... 

the sheets that stay the same year after year.....softened with patterns never forgotten....

the pillow that bears the mark from where my father once laid....no longer there....

no longer here....

left only with the pictures of the girls he adored.....

things long overdue....

a trip to see my sister, her husband and my precious nephews....baby makes three beautiful boys in late April so a trip to Oregon is right around the corner....

editing the thousand plus photos I took when I visited them last August....here's the first one I pulled from the bunch just to get me started....

starting a new photo project....so many ideas....so many excuses....

around the block.....or two....

It's amazing that while I spend most of my time on 23rd Street in Chelsea I still manage to miss exhibitions....sometimes even by my favorite artists....so today I started my new springtime ritual and took a stroll around the block to see a few shows.....

Lisa Yuskavage and Philip Lorca di Cortia at David Zwirner:


Tanyth Berkeley at Danziger Projects:


Ian Davis at Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects:

This is an older work...."campaign" from 2006

ending soon on ebay

this week's great deals on ebay....ending Tuesday

from the archive...

Sara....another of my amazing friends....requested some photos from a shoot we did about a year ago....always fun to take a look back 

carefully worn - now on ebay

jess and tiff
her amazing sense of style
my photo eye
our love of clothes and all things vintage

visit our new store on ebay

steamscapes

it's cold outside and i've caught a cold....has nothing to do with me running around in nearly nothing on a 12 degree day in Ithaca....that was weeks ago and more than worth it....but today I'll remember it through steamy car windows

where's the beef?

you'd think the beef's in Argentina where grilling meat is a national past time and vegetarians are outlawed....when I first spotted the literal meat wagon delivering slabs of beef I was sans camera (yes, me!) and spent the next several days chasing the elusive golden chariots for a photo...on my very last morning in Buenos Aires, I was sitting in a cafe cursing my missed photo opportunity when the metal rumblings of a truck gate lifting brought me to attention....I ran outside and as if sent by the photo gods themselves this is what I found.....

tiffy

just one of my many amazing friends who indulges my incessant need to turn everything into a photo shoot...

lake cayuga

Nothing is more exhilarating...or freezing...than to run across a frozen lake with your heart laid out and bare....

While I usually like to be on the other side of the lens there was no way I was going to miss out on this one!

Thanks Julie for manning the cam!