Here are some things that I came across this week and thought you might enjoy!

Here’s a super creative local gal that takes pics of her baby during naptime and creates scenes of what the baby might be dreaming about..she is so creative…I love it!  http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

A better bubble? I found these bubbles and thought they were so cool.  They are nontoxic and nonstaining colorful bubbles and when they pop, the marks dissappear within 10 minutes (http://www.zubbles.com).  What kid doesn’t love bubbles?!

Be a farmer for a day!  You might not have a garden in your backyard (we’re moving ours and this year only have a potted garden), but that doesn’t mean you can’t pick your own fruits and vegetables.  Set aside a date this summer and take your family picking locally grown fruits and veggies.  Http://www.pickyourown.org lists which foods are in season, where the closest farms are and recipes.  When I was a kid we went cherry, peach, strawberry, blueberry and apple picking all the time.  We now mostly go blueberry and apple picking.  You get to teach your kids where some of our food comes from and it’s a great memory making opportunity.

Are you guilty of these marriage mistakes? Here are some of the common mistakes made in marriage and how addressing them is key to improving your relationship. Read here

A brief little history of popsicles (http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2010/07/07/a-brief-history-of-popsicles/).  Summer and popsicles go together like peanut butter and jelly.  And I don’t know who likes popsicles more, my kids or me.  What I liked about this link is that they also have some ideas of creating your own home made variety.  We love popsicles!

What’s keeping you from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro?   I want to be like Erin’s aunt…I want to actually start doing the things that are on my (partially started) bucket list.  What is stopping us? 

We’re getting ready to take a few days off work and spend some time with the kids before they go to school, but I wanted to finish this blog before we left.  I started it a few days ago and have attached an image of our middle son Danny and the youngest Mitchell who were in the back yard, all dressed in camo, looking for crickets to feed our frog and ghecko.  They did find some crickets, but were fascinated with a toad that they found.  Enjoy!

Looking for staycation ideas?  Check out this awesome site that lists each state’s tourist information: 
http://www.usatourist.com/english/tips/touristoffices.html.  See your home turf through a tourist’s eyes. 

For us Chicago locals, that link takes us to http://www.enjoyillinois.com.  And on that site I found a local festival
that’s celebrating it’s 30th anniversary, the Eyes to the Sky Festival in Lisle, Illinois. 
It’s only about 30 minutes away from me and I never heard of it until today.

The event attracts more than 150,000 visitors each year. Highlights include performances by nationally known musical groups,
the best in local band performances, a large carnival, a 100-booth craft fair, a special children’s area, food court and of course,
daily launches of hot air balloons and a balloon glow. There’s also an annual Fourth of July parade and a spectacular fireworks show.

The Eyes to the Skies Festival has been selected six times as One of the Country’s Top 100 Tourist Destinations
by the American Bus Association. It’s been voted Best Festival by readers of West Suburban Living Magazine
and named a member of the Illinois Festival Hall of Fame.  Hampton Inn named it as a place to visit in its Year of 1,000
Weekends and the Chicago Centennial Flight Commission selected the festival for inclusion in its 12 Events for 12 Seconds
when honoring the 100th anniversary of the first flight by the Wright Brothers.

I’m hoping to get over there tonight so that we can take some photos of the glowing hot air balloons and fireworks.  See you there!!

I saw this video today and thought it was so cute.  If a pug can go green, so can we.  We try really hard to be green at our house.  We take our own bags when we go grocery shopping, we try to buy items that don’t have a lot of packaging, we print on the back of paper, we recycle when we can and we basically try not to abuse the natural resources we have. 
And I’m a nazi when it comes to shutting off the lights when a room is not in use!   We’ve even gone green at the studio (our Product Guide is even  in PDF format – why waste paper when we don’t need to).

I know it’s hard to do everything, but we should all start and do a little bit, and a little bit can make
a world of difference to our and our children’s futures.

Enjoy this great little video.  Peace!

Dub FX is a worldwide street performer and studio recording artist from Australia.  His trademark is the use of loop and effect pedals combined with his voice.  He creates intricate hip hop, reggae and drum and bass rhythms.  

I saw this video on YouTube and absolutely loved it.  I am always amazed and how much talent people have.  And this man is talented!  Wow.  I love his music.  I hope you enjoy it too!

I first read this story in the book the 4 hour work week by Tim Ferriss, and then a friend reminded me of it again.   It’s a powerful story about how we should live our lives everyday and not be blindsighted by societal pressures about how we should live.  In America, it’s the norm to be working 6o hour weeks.  To drive the newest cars and to keep up with the Joneses. 

I often feel guilty when I take time off work to do things with our kids or when I leave work early.  This story helps me remember that I work to live, to be able to spend that time with my family and friends and that I dont’ live to work.  Do you really want to work hard for 40 years and then take retirement until you die, (if you don’t die sooner) or do you want to reward yourself along the way and enjoy the small riches in life?

One day a rich Westerner who had made sqillions from speculating on the stock market was strolling along the beach and saw the fisherman pulling in his boat with his meager catch.

The rich Westerner stopped and remarked “not much of a catch today”. The fisherman replied “yes not much” but explained that his small catch was enough for him and his family. 

The rich Westerner asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“I sleep late, play with my children and have an afternoon’s rest under a coconut tree. In the evenings, I go to the local pub to see my friends, play some music, and sing a few songs….. I have a full and happy life.” replied the fisherman.

The rich Westerner ventured, “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you…… You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.

With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have a large fleet. Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you can negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to a city from where you can direct your huge enterprise.”

“And after that?” asked the fisherman.

“After that? That’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the rich Westerner, laughing, “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stock in your company and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?” pressed the fisherman.

“After that you’ll be able to retire, move out to a small village by the sea, sleep in late every day, spend time with your family, go fishing, take afternoon naps under a coconut tree, and spend relaxing evenings with friends…”

Have you made the choice to spend time with your family, take afternoon naps and relax with your friends lately?

It’s interesting how we’ve become a society that no longer prints their photos. With the advent of digital cameras, people copy their images onto a computer and leave it at that. How sad is that. Can your photos really be enjoyed on a computer?

Certainly I am biased since I’m a portrait photographer, but I develop all of our photos and put them in albums. There is nothing more satisfying and pleasing than seeing my children pull their albums off our shelves and relive moments that they may have forgotten. How awesome it is to hear them squeal over something funny that we’ve recorded or they’ve remembered. Photos need to be felt and touched!

The comic strip above is sort of funny, but it is a sad reality of what happens to most of our photos. Surveys show that about 1/3 of people are not backing up their photos. Our family photos are printed, backed up on two external drives, and copied onto DVDs.

I’ve heard so many stories from clients who have lost as much as a whole year of memories. All it takes is a computer virus or accident to lose those memories forever. It’s happened to me personally in the past…about 6 years ago and I lost 3 months of photographs that I can never get back. And I take tons of photos of our family.

Learn from my mistakes and that of thousands of others. Back up those digital images and print them so they can be felt, touched and enjoyed for years to come.

Our youngest son Mitchell is in Preschool now.  I was looking through some paperwork he brought home and one of them was this poem.  It’s so wonderful that people much wiser than us pass along such powerful reminders, while we still have time….

If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again.

If I had my child to raise all over again,
I’d finger paint more, and point the finger less.

I’d do less correcting and more connecting.
I’d take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.

I would care to know less, and know to care more.
I’d take more hikes and fly more kites.

I’d stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I’d run through more fields, and gaze at more stars.

I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I’d build self-esteem first, and the house later.

I’d teach less about the love of power,
And more about the power of love.

~Diane Lommans

Thank you Diane for these powerful words!

Wow, I saw this video and enjoyed it sooo much.  Truly creative Genius.  It took them 3 months to put this video together with the help of lots of fans from various countries.  People are so creative!  Enjoy!

Willow Springs, IL children’s photograpy and portraits

http://www.kukucphotography.com

Wow, this video is so creative. It totally inspires me!! Enjoy!

 This is one of my most favorite videos ever.  It’s been around for a while, but every time I see it, I get really choked up!  Coming from a family that has precious few photographs of me under the age of 6 and even less of my parents and grandparents…this means SOOO much!  The priceless few that remain I treasure as if they were the only connection to my past and to the loved ones no longer here.

Through photographs, you have the chance to stop time forever – let your family’s memories live on.  Capture those fleeting moments before they become just faded memories.  And faded memories they will become.  Without photographs, I would never remember in detail how precious my boys were as infants.  What their little faces and their darling little hands and feet looked like.

Leave a lasting legacy for your children, grandchildren and their children.  Let them remember you always as they see you now.  Memories of a loving mother, a caring father.  What will they have of you when you are no longer here.  When our presence is absent, these photos will be a testament that we lived, loved, played, laughed and cried.