Ahmed Family Session | Hey Kate! Photography

Back when I worked in the corporate world I worked with an energetic, hilarious, kind lady named Shireen. When I decided to quit my job, Shireen is who I trained to take over my job. 

We've kept in touch over the last 2 years since I left the company with lunch dates here and there. She's told me a lot about her kids (she's an incredible mom!) and her husband and I could always tell how much she loved her family by the way she talked about them. When I actually got to meet them at our photo session I completely understood why. They're sweet and loving and silly with each other. I had so much fun hanging out with them for our session. Shireen - hope you (and your GORGEOUS! family) enjoy these photos. 

I'm glad we're friends. :)

 

this one is just way too awesome. the kids wanted nothing to do with it. ;)

spring, spring, spring

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"...
"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Connor is 7.

I took a trip down to Lake Erie with my nephew, Connor (and siblings), a few weeks ago.

This is what I learned about Connor (and probably most 7 year old boys) while taking his picture.

• Smiling often looks like grimacing.
• It's hard to look RIGHT at the camera. (I have SO many shots of him smiling at me, while his eyes are looking to the side. ha!)
• Goofy pictures are much more fun.
• Shots right by the water are really cool.

I love this kid. And his siblings.

shameless plug

I've been working on my Etsy shop. Check it out and support my life. (Since I don't have April Ludgate to be my marketing rep I gotta just copy her style. Andy is so lucky.)

And listen to this while you're at it:

It's a happy, encouraging reminder. :)

year 2

This year for our anniversary Craig and I decided to spend a day in Cleveland celebrating. After all, we live in a great city - no need to travel anywhere else to do something out of the ordinary!

We started out the day having brunch at a place called Luxe in Ohio City. Tasty food can be had in really interesting and lovely surroundings.
This photo of our coffee cups makes me smile. Craig doesn't usually drink coffee (he tries to stay away from caffeine) but he did that morning because he knows how much I love drinking coffee with him. It's such a simple joy to drink a cup of coffee with someone and I loved that he ordered it just to bless me. :)

After brunch we headed out to the art museum, taking a quick stop at Rockefeller Greenhouse. It's free and open to the public every day, 10-4. Such a refreshing spot, especially in chilly winter!

From there we headed to the Cleveland Museum of Art. They've been doing some serious renovating and I haven't been in ages so it felt like visiting the museum for the first time. Wandering around all that beautiful art is such a re-fueling exercise.
There's a bright, expansive indoor courtyard in the middle of the museum. Shows the connection between the original building and the newer buildings. 

I love this chair. Someday I'll own one.

After leaving the museum we stopped at Edison's Pub in Tremont for drinks and to play pool (one of Craig's favorite pastimes). Lots of fun!

 

The day ended with this ridiculously tasty chocolate cake from Giant Eagle, Mario Kart and pizza ordered in. 

  

I love my husband.

I love my city.

I love having fun in your neck of the woods.

I want to draw!

I've never been much of an artist. I've daydreamed of creating breathtaking doodles in a cinch, of sketching a beautiful landscape while sitting on a hillside (very Jane Austen like) and of adding watercolors to a quick room design I've done that would make it worthy to sit next to Albert Hadley's renderings.

Alas, I wasn't a kid who drew all the time. I took an art class in high school and the teachers didn't really know how to direct me. They encouraged me to loosen up my lines, to relax and they said everything short of "just get better at drawing". When I took a photography class in college the ability to create something lovely was exhilarating. It didn't matter that I couldn't draw a chair or make the vase look round - I had an eye for beauty and the camera was the means to capture it.

I have a husband who can come up with the most darling cartoons and creative patterns on a piece of paper that was left out. I love to appreciate his talent, to hang up sketches he did when he was a kid and to secretly want to punch him for the fact he doesn't even have to try to have this talent. (I sure do love him, in spite of his excessive talents.)

So in order to get my creative urges out of my system I plan to take more photography trips just for the fun of capturing life with my camera. I took one down to frozen Lake Erie last week and it was marvelous. Cold, but marvelous. I'll be adding a few of the shots to my Etsy shop later today, but here's a sneak peek:

It's such a different feeling when you're on a frozen beach. No waves crashing, just stillness.

But to sum up this rather scattered post - I want to keep going in the direction of creative outlets I know I have some talent for...but I do also want to get better at drawing. I have a book I bought back in college called "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". It's full of lessons and exercises to help you learn to draw. We'll see how I do. Please, no expectations.

Anybody have any good tips for improving drawing skills?
(Simply posessing talent doesn't count as a tip.)

light up

"She lights up like a firefly whenever you're around." | it's a wonderful life

happy Christmas!

my fave ornament since I was a kid :)

our marvelously snowy street!

  

one of our first "married" ornaments - compliments of my sister, Jodi :)