Projects

04/52

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“a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2014”

Emet: The best big brother.
Jade: Sweet sleepy girl.

Between long days at school, various playdates and sleepovers, and a lot of time spent preparing for baby, it was difficult for me to find time to shoot this week’s portraits. My original intention when I started this project was to shoot exclusively with the fancy camera in natural light, and when the entire weekend vanished without me taking single picture, I knew I was going to have to shoot inside our poorly lit house.

I made two different attempts, and neither of them resulted in any exceptional photos, but I shared several priceless moments with both of my kids and really, that is what this project is all about.

In other news, January has been an incredible month for our family. February is shaping up to be equally as exciting, and March. Well, March is when things get really good. 2014, I just knew you were going to be fantastic.

03/52

Posted on by Lynzie · Leave a comment

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“a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2014”

Emet: Carefully considering his next move.
Jade: This girl is obsessed with doing flips on the bars.

A lot of healing happened this week, in ways that I hadn’t expected. A walking cast magically appeared at school with my name on it, courtesy of a sweet and generous parent, and what a difference it has made in my ability to get around. Crutches are such a pain! My foot is slowly but steadily recovering, and I’m feeling confident that I’ll be good as new in plenty of time to prepare for birth. Thank goodness.

Over the weekend, I took a quick 24-hour solo trip to Los Angeles in order to attend my grandfather’s memorial service. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to go until the absolute last second, but it all came together thanks to my sweet mister. Heavens, how I love that man.

The trip was perfection. I love a good train ride, and this particular journey was exceptionally lovely, with the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean just so. Getting to spend some quality time with my dad — actually, getting to spend some quality time with my whole family, something we’ve never really done before — was tremendously satisfying and just so much fun! I look forward to more visits with them in the very near future.

The best part of it all, though, was coming home to those two sweet faces. And of course, the handsomest face of all, which happened to surprise me with a shave and a haircut, and yes, I did bury my face in his neck the moment that I saw him.

This life of mine, man. It sure is fantastic.

02/52

Posted on by Lynzie · Leave a comment

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“a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2014”

Emet: We talk about staying focused a lot these days.
Jade: Rapper’s delight.

In another exciting edition of this week’s technical difficulties, the charger was nowhere to be found until after the sun went down, which means that I managed to fire off all of six shots before losing the camera to a dead battery. And my plans of taking the kids to the park for our first “location shoot” were waylaid by this broken foot of mine, so we settled for our front entryway. Again.

With all that being said, though, I love these pictures. And those sweet faces.

INSPIRATION

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I’m a big fan of the work of Mary Kate McDevitt, a talented illustrated based out of Brooklyn. Her whimsical style is one of my favorites when it comes to hand lettering. One of these days, I’d like to take her Skillshare class, but for now I’ll just admire her talent whilst attempting to fiddle with fancy type on my own.

In other news, it’s only Wednesday and I’m beat! I’ve been a busy bee, but I have to say, although I’m tired as can be, it does feel good to get some stuff done.

01/52

Posted on by Lynzie · 2 Comments

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“a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2014”

Emet: This boy is the sweetest, kindest, most generous, and most noble ten year old on Earth.
Jade: Never a dull moment with this girl.

I have long admired the 52 Project, and have never managed to muster the courage (or the dedication, ahem) to commit to shooting a weekly portrait series. Since learning how to take photographs is high on my list of life aspirations, I figured I’d finally just give it a go.

And lo! For my first attempt, I’m rather pleased with these shots. Snapping a few pictures with my kids this afternoon was definitely the highlight of my weekend. I’m excited to see how this project unfolds, especially with the addition of a new little face in just a couple of months.

Oh 2014, I’m in love with you already.

HOME MAKING

Posted on by Lynzie · Leave a comment

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image via

One of my biggest goals for this year is to actually move in to our house. We’ve relocated so many times over the last few years that we haven’t really ever completely settled into a space. Enough of that, I say.

Of course, before we can get to decorating our cute new abode, we must first sift through the mountain of random boxes that currently occupy our garage and purge purge purge. I foresee many a weekend spent decluttering, organizing, and arranging our things just so, and to be honest, I’m thrilled.

THE BEGINNING

Posted on by Lynzie · Leave a comment

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I’m going to teach myself hand lettering and calligraphy this year, and spent a little time today playing around with the new set of nibs I got for Christmas. Clearly, I have a lot to learn.

A LITTLE PROJECT

Posted on by Lynzie · 2 Comments

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One thing I’ve never been good at is taking pictures. I’ve attempted to teach myself photography on more than one occasion but really I just haven’t been committed enough to the process and so my photos never seem to get any better.

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My mister says that if I want to take better photos I have to take more photos and so yesterday, I did. With the fancy camera in my hand, we set out for a little walk through the neighborhood.

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Oh, this neighborhood. Beautiful homes on beautiful streets, and lots of families with kids. Emet and Jade are especially happy about the fact that friends from school live just a few doors away, a most serendipitous coincidence that has provided many a playdate, not to mention a pretty sweet carpool situation. Thanks, Kacey!

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I’m a sucker for finding the beauty in the everyday, it’s a practice that helps me to stay balanced. I often ask myself why I don’t just try to capture these things on camera, and really the answer is because I’m lazy.

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But, lo! I have been inspired by yesterday’s adventure and the images that resulted from my being brave enough to just give it a go. Honestly, most were pretty bad, but still. You gotta start somewhere, am I right?

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What I’m trying to say is that I’m going to teach myself how to shoot decent photographs, so I don’t constantly have to ask this handsome guy to do it for me.

MISE EN PLACE

Posted on by Lynzie · Leave a comment

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The French have this saying that mostly refers to setting ingredients out in a logical and organized way so as to maximize efficiency when preparing a dish, but I think it’s a good metaphor for life.

Everything in its place.

A simple idea, and yet not so easy in practice. At least, not for me. This is the part where I tell you that I excel in messmaking. It’s an art, really, one that is terribly under appreciated but one for which I most certainly have a talent.

Now, I have my theories as to how I became so gifted in the discipline of clutter, and they almost all have something to do with the fact that I have moved seventeen times in the last decade and that, frankly, settling into a space was never really something I had the opportunity to do, and so I never really did.

When we moved into our current house eleven months ago, we were still very uncertain as to whether or not we had made the right decision in relocating to San Diego. After the year we had in Oregon, I think we were all a little hesitant to get too comfortable, too quickly. It’s taken us this long, but we’ve finally chosen to stay put.

San Diego has been good to us, better than we could have hoped. And I got to thinking that maybe, just maybe, I haven’t been able to find places for things because I haven’t felt in place myself. And that in finding my place, I’m ready to do something that I’ve never done before.

I’m ready to make a home. I’m ready to unpack years of boxes, to embrace tidiness, and thoughtfully curate our living quarters.

Which, by the way, I’m sincerely hoping makes cleaning easier, because let me tell you. There are about a million things I’d rather do than clean my house. But my home? I think that sounds kinda fun.