What Hasn't Been Blogged Part 1

Wishing You All.....

Happy Holidays!  I have some sessions to blog, but I thought I better wish you all Happy Holidays before 2012 gets here!

A Weekend Project?? | Julie Marie Portraits | Rochester, NY Photographer

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving!  We spent Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh and had a great time visiting with family!

I wanted to share with you what was going on in our neighborhood.  I'll give you a little background on it...we live in the Park Avenue area of Rochester, and we absolutely love it!  It has beautiful old homes and lots of restaurants and shops that we're able to walk to.  It's a very quaint area.  I especially love that Jake and I can walk to get a coffee and cookie everyday at the coffee shop just down the street!   Anyway, our neighborhood had their 18th Annual Park Avenue Holiday Open House.   I wasn't really sure what to expect, so I took my time on venturing out to check it out.  I was amazed....there were so many people down here and all of the merchants were open for folks to stop in and shop, eat, and just mingle.  

So, because I wasn't sure what to expect, I went out with out a camera, but I did have my iPhone and was able to get a few pix.

I think my favorite thing was this newspaper wreath that was displayed in a store's front window.  How fabulous is this!  We were walking by, and I stopped to check out the beautiful (very full) wreath in the window and realized it was made out of newspaper.  

Doesn't it look great?  The other side is a dress made out of newspaper.

I tried to get up close to see how it was made....I'm thinking this could possibly be a weekend project to try?

And this was too funny.....we had just walked down the street and we saw Tigger & Big Bird walking down the side walk.  Jake was excited, scared and not sure what to think.  He wasn't into talking to Tigger at all, but he was somewhat excited to tell Big Bird hi & bye.  As you can see, Jake is squinting in the photo...that's because my iPhone flash is soooooo bright.  It's not the best picture, but I think Big Bird & Tigger look great!

Just a glimpse of the traffic lined up down the street looking for parking.  

Next year, I will be prepared as I know what to expect, and I will be out there earlier to do some shopping!

Have a great weekend!

Gobble, Gobble Says the Turkey!

I thought we'd kick off Thanksgiving week by making some rice krispie turkey pops!  Check out the link to see the recipe.  I saw these on a post on Facebook, and I thought it would be something fun for Jakey and I to make.

So, we pulled up a chair....

And he waited patiently for the candy corn to get opened.... He LOVES candy corn!  In fact I had one bag left over from Halloween that I was going to use for the turkey pops, but two guys in our household...( by the names of Dada & Jakey) ate all of the candy corn this week.  Luckily, we were able to walk over to the store today and find some candy corn on clearance for $.49/bag.  Great deal, huh!

So, while Jake ate candy corn, he watched me do all of the work, but it was fun listening to him say, "Gobble,Gobble" every time we talked about the turkeys.

Overall, they were very easy to make.  Obviously, mine do not look as good as the ones shown on the link, but it was something fun for Jakey and I to do together.

Hope everybody has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Veteran's Day! | Julie Marie Portraits

Happy Veteran's Day!  Thanks to all who have and are currently serving.  A special thanks to my dad, Richard Schmucker, for serving and fighting for our freedom. What a great day it is to live in the United States of America!

My dad's old uniform

Jake's Haircut | Julie Marie Portraits | Rochester, NY Photographer

Last night we ventured out to get Jake's haircut.  I got on the website, Kids Out and About, to look for children's haircut places and found Haircuts for Peanuts.  It looked really cute online, so I thought we'd give it a try!

On Jake's previous haircuts, either Josh or I would have to sit with him to get his haircut, but not this time!  He got up in the chair and didn't even try to get down once.  They had a flat screen tv on with cartoons, balloons, candy (Jake's favorite M&M's) and it was painted really fun with bright colors and murals on the walls.

Overall, a cute little place for kiddos to get haircuts!  And before I forget....if you haven't been on Kid's Out and About, you should check it out.  What a great site!  I have found it useful so many times especially being new to Rochester!

A New York Hurricane Wedding Affair | Julie Marie Portraits | New York Wedding Photographer

They say that rain brings good luck on wedding days, so does a hurricane count for that as well?

I had the pleasure of traveling to Rhinecliff, New York to photograph one of the most beautiful, intimate weddings ever!  Oh, how I love a small, intimate wedding with so many details!  I would photograph a wedding like that every day of the year if I could!  The kicker with this wedding, though, was that it just happened to fall on the weekend that Hurricane Irene hit!   

Let me just say that I was a nervous wreck because I had to leave my husband and my Jakers home alone during the hurricane.  I pleaded with my husband to leave and go visit his family in Pittsburgh, but he said they'd be fine and not to worry.  Ha!  However, when I showed up at the Rhinecliff Hotel, most of my worries subsided as I was blown away at how gorgeous everything was in Rhinecliff, NY.  What a fabulous little town it is, and it lies right on the Hudson River!

So, in between the raindrops falling, I was able to get S&L outside to do some photos before the ceremony began.  What a classy couple they make and let me add that they were so, so nice!  They were up for anything and just went with the flow.  I think I was more anxious about the hurricane heading our way than they were.  They just wanted to celebrate their special day, and a little hurricane wasn't going to stop this from being a happy day!  

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Side note:  After the wedding, I took off driving to get out of New York in hopes of avoiding the hurricane.  Let me just say that it was one of the worst drives ever.  The rain was so intense that I couldn't really see anything, it was windy and the roads all had puddling water.....I was probably pretty stupid for driving as far as I did, but luckily, my sister stayed up late making sure I was ok driving and found me the only available hotel room in the area that I was near.  Needless to say, the room went for over $400/night, but they were generous and gave it to me for $250 since I was checking in after midnight...what a steal, huh! (umm, no!)  After the power went out at 2am, I really couldn't sleep plus my cell phone didn't work, so I packed it up and started home.  I finally made it home to see my boys, and then I think I took a 3 hour nap after that.   What a fun, crazy weekend it was!  

May The Force Be With You.... | Julie Marie Portraits | Rochester, NY Children's Photographer

Happy Halloween weekend, everybody!   We've had a great weekend in Rochester thus far!  My niece, nephew and sister came to visit, and we had a Star Wars Trio photo shoot this afternoon.  Last year, Jack, Julia and Jake dressed up as superheroes, and my mom used that photo for her holiday card.  This year we wanted to surprise her with the a new theme - Star Wars.  So, for all of you that receive a holiday card from my parents, you know what it will look like this year!  (and in case you're wondering...last year's photo shoot with the 3 J's was also 100x easier  because Jake wasn't even crawling at the time)  This year was a different story......he barely stood still for even a second, and we had to bribe him with M&M's!

After the photo shoot, we packed into the car and went down to the National Museum of Play.   They were having a special Halloween party there.  The kids had the best time...they got to make some crafts, get some tattoos, play on the exhibits, and they even got a little bit of candy!!  We can't wait to go back!  

Halloween 2010 - much easier to take the photo b/c Jake just sat!

And I had to share a photo of my sister and her kids, Jake aka Yoda and Jake, my hubby & I!  

Can He Be 18 Months Already? | Julie Marie Portraits| Rochester, NY Photographer