Come see me in Washington DC

Hi everyone!

If you happen to be in Washington DC, or the area, come see me! For 42 years, my aunt and uncle have hosted an open house to sell their wares. Mal is a potter and Judy does shibori silks. In recent years, they have invited other artists to join in, and I was able to participate about 5-6 years ago. Lucky for me, I get to go again this year.

I'll be selling prints and cards, and there will be other local artists there as well. Good time to Christmas shop!

So we are all driving to DC in the morning and will stay with our good friends in Frederick, MD. Wade and the kids will probably go to a couple museums on Saturday and Sunday while I'm at the show, and then back to NY on Sunday.

More from the show...

Bon voyage Brad & Kendall!

Brad & Kendall leave today. Sniff sniff. They have been troopers here while Wade and I have both been sick, we're distracted with moving, and our kids are acting out because they need our attention!

You guys are saints and we love you. Lucky for us they've both been here before and they have friends in the City. It's raining hard today which kind of matches my mood since I'm sad to see them go, but I'm glad that we'll get to see them more often once we move. That will make up for our lack of quality time during their visit.

We got one date night with them on Tuesday, and ate a great restaurant in the East Village, The Smith.


If you have an iPhone, go get the Shake It Photo app. It takes your picture like a Polaroid and then you shake it to get it to develop. So fun! And it gives it a bit of a vintage vibe.

So Brad and Kendall, thanks for coming to visit us and we'll see you in a few weeks in Denver. WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Dana's Baby Party

Have I ever told you that my dream is to be a freelance photographer for magazines? OK, I said it. That's my dream.

I love to photograph parties, events, places and details. I would love to photograph for Real Simple, Country Living or Cottage Living...if it was still published!! Still mourning the loss of my favorite magazine...

So yesterday I helped host my fabulous neighbor Dana's baby shower with Dana's good friends Diane and Heidi. Dana is having her first baby, a girl, and is due in February. I can't believe I won't be here to meet her, and I won't be here for her to Baby Gus!!!

We hosted it at the Rye Square House Museum, which is one of the oldest houses in Rye, built in 1730 I think. It was a great location, and I had sooooo much fun getting all the decor together.

Check it...

The front door with baby things put together by Diane.


Diane and Heidi also did this this clothespin line filled with baby clothes for Dana. Isn't it adorable?? It looked so great and they had to get Dana's baby a Brooklyn onesie since that's where Dana lived before Rye.


I had a lot of fun doing this setup. I got baby pictures and young girl pictures of Dana and displayed them on my vintage potato chip holder that I snagged for $6 at the Paris Street Market in Denver. This is a staple in my house and holds pictures, Christmas Cards, announcements, vintage postcards....anything that I want to display.

I also framed Dana's ultrasound picture and used my scrabble letters so everyone would know what they are looking at. Idea courtesy of my sister as she always has scrabble letters in her house.


On to the cakes. Oh my. It doesn't hurt that our neighbor across the street (the one whose chocolate shop we went to in Boston a couple weeks ago) used to be a pastry chef. What? You're offering to do a cake for the shower?? Um, let's think about that one. YES!!!!!

Wow, it was good, and Wade is enjoying some of the leftovers.


OK, now this was too cute. Diane and Heidi put together this diaper cake. Every diaper was individually rolled and taped down and set up as a tiered cake. Is this not the coolest thing ever? So it was double duty...decoration and gift. Dana is set for the first week (OK, maybe just the first few days) of diaper changing!


This next project belonged to me and Tyson. We went on a nature walk at the Nature Center and collected sticks, then spray painted them white. I ordered these tissue paper flowers from Oriental Trading Company and displayed them in white vases as the food table centerpieces. Then we pinned extra baby socks and stuff to them.

So each centerpiece cost like $3. Love it!


I love all my enamelware, some of which I picked up recently at flea markets here, and I used them for forks and napkins. White white white was the theme.


There were two fireplaces in the room, so I bought scrapbook paper and sewed a garland of flags to go across the mantels and used my telephone pole glass things that I picked up at Hell's Kitchen Flea Market in NYC as weights. I also used my spinning gourds from that I won from Janna's blog to decorate the mantel.

By the way, the flag idea also came from my sister. She made some for Tyson's shower and we hung them in his room. So Dana took these home and can use them to decorate in her baby room. And again...like $3 per garland.




Dana's mom came up from Savannah, which was so special. She reminds me on my own Mom and I just got attached to her immediately. She helped us shop for food at Costco on Saturday and was such a trooper.

Diane and I had asked everyone coming to write a wish or blessing for Dana that they could read (if they wanted) at the shower and bless Dana and her baby girl.

Lots of tears were shed, and it was one HUGE love fest.









It was such a great and special afternoon, and I'm so glad I had the chance to be a part of it. Love you Dana!!

Preview: More Povemba Kids

I love the ages of these kids. I'm sure life with four kids is not always perfect, but I can't help think about when my kids will be that age.

I've been having a pretty rough few days with my own kids, and my pregnant belly is telling me I need to take it easy. Wade has been out of town for a long weekend, and then straight back to work, and I can tell the kids are missing him. They are acting out more, and I am getting tired of sending Tyson to time out. REALLY tired. And I need Wade too. Four straight days of single parenting has me worn out to the point I'm fighting getting sick. I have a big load of stuff from Costco that has been sitting in the car since yesterday, and I just can't bring myself to pick all that stuff up for the FOURTH time. You have to load it once into your cart, then onto the checkout belt, then into your car. And my pregnant self just doesn't want to do it again!!! (Don't worry, I already hauled in the perishables). Ava keeps asking, "Mommy, why are there soooo many diapers in the car?" And all I can say is, "Just because Ava. You never know when you may need 186 size 4 diapers!"

But I have to say that posting these pictures this morning has done my heart good. One of the reasons I love photography so much is that it takes your life and makes it stand still. Even if for a moment. And I love capturing those moments. A certain crooked smile, a laugh or a gesture caught in a still moment. I realized this morning that I need to look at my kids as a still moment and realize this time in our life is fleeting and will never happen again.

So no matter what today brings me, I am going to (and constantly praying that I can) look at my children as if through my camera. Mentally capturing who they are TODAY. Not tomorrow, not yesterday, but TODAY.

Here's to taking a moment to appreciate the blessings God has given you TODAY.

Preview: The Povemba Kids

Back in May, Ava's preschool had a silent auction to raise money for some improvements. Since we've lived in Rye, I have not put my name out there (at all) for photography services, but I decided to donate a photo session to the auction. Gottta get back in the saddle sometime!

Lo and behold, the preschool director bid and won the session! So we headed to the Nature Conservancy in Rye and hiked through the woods, to the open field, and then down to the beach area. There are a LOT of great photos, but thought I'd throw out a quick preview of her four beautiful children!

Enjoy Sheridan! More to come...

VW's...

...make me happy.

Not all VW's, mind you, and I am no VW fanatic by any means. If you ask me what year, engine type and size, you're asking the wrong person.

I've always loved cars that are unique, and yes, old. I think I got that from my Dad. I always preferred to be tinkering with him in the garage than in the kitchen. Funny how some things don't change. I'm still trying to get used to being in the kitchen.

Most people know that I drive a VW van. Not an old bus, although Wade and I almost bought an orange pop up 1978 one a number of years back...but we already had 4 cars. I drive a 2003 VW Eurovan. With 2 kids and a big dog, I needed more space. But a Honda Odyssey just wasn't going to cut it. I needed (ok, wanted) something more unique, so my 6 month quest for a Eurovan with low miles finally ended with "our van" that we found in Boulder the day after Christmas in 2007. And it's been love ever since.

I guess that's when I became a VW fan. But mostly I just love old vintage cars, and certain VW's happen to be in the category.

Our fabulous mechanic in Greenwich, CT has been in business since the 1920's and they are third generation VW people. Why would I take my van to the brand new VW dealer just NEXT DOOR (also next to the Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes, and Bentley dealerships) when I could take it to Freccia brothers and their lot full of previously-loved-old-VW's that now have weeds growing through the windows?

Exactly.

So when I picked up the van last week from her 50,000 mile massage, I took along my camera and had some fun. I'm just showing you one image, because someday when I get my little (but continuing to grow thanks to baby Gus) tushy in gear and get my new website up and running, I will also have a stock photography site where my full collection of vintage cars and trucks can be seen.

Happy driving!

The Wenzel Workshop

My mind is still swimming from last weekend's Amy Wenzel Workshop in Michigan. I still haven't unpacked! It was quite a non-stop weekend, and I don't know when or if I will actually absorb all the information that's in my little notebook. I got to meet gal pal Melissa there again, and I know she went home as excited and overloaded with information as I did!

It's taken me all week to get through the images from the weekend, mostly because......well, I don't really know. Life I guess.

On Saturday afternoon, Amy had a photo session all set up for us with a group of her kid clients and we split into groups and jockey'd for position to get some shots. Could these kids be more gorgeous??!!

And here is fabulous Amy getting us all started. She was quite the gracious and fabulous hostess.



WARNING WARNING WARNING: Lots of pictures to follow! I need to practice the blog collage thingy we learned at the workshop. Maybe next week.


































Thank you Amy for a fabulous weekend!