Vincent and Sofi Seck

One day several months (maybe a year?) ago I stumbled, quite by accident, across this blog/website. I immediately fell in love with this girl's work. True, I knew nothing about her, but I love love love looking at her photos. What I love the most is how she manages to capture the true spirit of her subjects, the love, the personality, fierceness- you name it.

It's no secret that I love photos, taking them, looking at them, scrapbooking them or just reveling in the memories I know they hold. Photos have a lot of value to me. I know this sounds dumb, but I have an absolutely horrible memory (G's mom calls it young-heimers) and the pictures will someday serve as my window on life. To add perspective, I have more than 200 pictures framed in my home (and no, I'm not a hoarder).

When G proposed this past July, I immediately thought about the possibility of Sofi Seck being my wedding photographer. But, she's a St. Louis gal and I'm getting married in Alabama (though she does travel!). When we went to Alabama this past summer we went to the visitor's center and got a huge list of wedding vendors for destination wedding planners. The list contains more than 40 photographers and I visited every.single.site. I did not like any of them as much as I like Sofi's photos. I honestly don't know what it is about her. And as far as wedding planning, we're really not there yet. We have a tentative date, but that's really it. Other logistics like exact location, budget, etc., are still up in the air.

But one thing I cherish more than any one day is my amazingly cute, now 5-year-old boy. Gary and I decided to have Sofi document his 5th birthday. We set up a date, which ended up getting rained out. So we set up another date to meet at Tower Grove Park. Gary ended up having to work and wasn't able to attend the photo shoot. But it was amazing. Sofi channeled her inner-child and captured some amazing photos.

And if you've ever met Gary you may know he can be hard to impress. But when I showed him the photos a few weeks later (as soon as we got them!) he said there wasn't one photo he didn't like. That is an awesome compliment. Without further adieu, here are the photos.

These are copyrighted and absolutely can not be copied, printed or reproduced for any reason. To do so would be violation of the U.S. Copyright Law.

I was concerned. Vincent is a rambunctious boy and not really good at sitting still... But within a few minutes any uncertainties I had went away. Sofi didn't even try to get him to sit still. She ran with him, played hide-and-seek, followed him around and let him be himself. She let him hold her camera and really "be the boss." If he didn't want to do something, she didn't make him. Maybe that's why all of her subjects look incredibly at ease and like they're professionals. I think his personality really shines through in the photos and I couldn't be any happier with out they turned out.

I took video on my phone too (so G could see), but I'll have to add it later.

http://www.sofiseckphotography.com/portraits-vincent/

Unfortunately, after Jan. 1, Sofi will no longer take photos of children so she can focus on her brides and high school seniors. If you happen to fall into one of these categories, I would highly recommend her. No, she didn't pay me to say any of this- I just really love and respect her work (and the work of other awesome photographers, I know how hard it can be).

Thank you, Sofi, so much for the photos.

My Friend Jennelle

...Nell, Jo or Nell-Jo to me... Though I'm fairly certain she hates all of these nicknames I've given her. But let's fast forward.

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Sitting around the newsroom yesterday, me and another reporter were talking about our busy non-work weekends (weekends where we're busy, but not with work stuff) when I casually mentioned my friend Jennelle's baby shower. I gave him a brief history of our friendship and he said something about us being friends for 15 years. I immediately said "No, that's not right."

But yes, it is. We have been friends for 15 years. It's seems crazy, but its true. Jennelle is one of my oldest friends. We've been through middle school, high school, dances, moving, breakups, you name it. I was even there when she met her future husband. My sister ditched us at the fair with our shared car and sent her (at the time) boyfriend's friend to pick us up. Yep.

I was the maid of honor in her wedding June 7, 2008. Now, Jennelle is getting ready for what I'm sure is to be the most amazing experience of her life, becoming a mom. Her shower, hosted by her mom and a college friend, was today.

Everything looked beautiful, including my friend Jennelle. Her friend and mama did an awesome job planning the shower. Unfortunately, I had a few contrast issues with my camera, so I don't have a ton of photos But here are a few.

Here is Jennelle's gift from my mom and me.

A closeup of the blanket I made for "Frank." No, the baby's name will not really be Frank. She doesn't know the sex, so she and her husband have been having fun calling the baby Frank.

Vincent modeled the blanket with Pooky bunny.

Table decoration:

Place settings. Cute, no?

A whole table:

So I told you about the exposure problem I had, but you can get an idea of the cake with this. It was so cute!

The food was delicious too!

There were a lot of other delicious dishes too. The salad was to die for! There were sausage bites, spinach dip, chips and salsa, cucumber sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (both mini) and Starbucks coffee blends. Mmm-mm! I'm still full!

Jennelle and I

Jennelle, her mama and I

Jennelle with Annie, who helped host the party with Jennelle's mom.

The last present!

She showed everyone the blanket. I originally made her a different blanket, but we went to the craft fair in November I saw Jennelle buy a pillow for the baby's room that was gray and white zigzag. So I decided to try to match the pillow and make a different one. It's the first "ripple" blanket I've made. I tried once before but it ended up being a scarf because I kept messing it up. Overall, I think it turned out cute and it really does match the pillow she bought. It's not as big as I wanted it to be, but as Jennelle pointed out, babies are little.

This is absolutely not the most flattering photo of me, but here is a cute photo of the Union High girls Jodi, Jennelle, Lindsay and I.

The shower was a blast. Jennelle and Matthew (her husband) got a lot of nice gifts and of course, it's always nice to see old friends. I can't wait to meet baby Frank and watch Jennelle and Matt take the ride of their lives.

Train Show

This past Wednesday, Gary, Vincent and I went to the train show at the botanical garden. There was an advanced screening for members, so we got to see it one whole day before everyone else. We have kind-of made it a tradition to go every year and have gone for the past several years. Each year its a little different. Vincent loves the trains and walking around the garden like he owns the place. There was a scavenger hunt for the kids too. Besides the train show, we also got to eat a delicious candlelit dinner at Sassafras.

This year, rather than the little towns and villages there were presents, nutcrackers and more plants than ever!

I loved this poinsettia arrangement!

Christmas wouldn't be complete without Poinsettias! I liked the ones with red and green leaves.

Overall view. The Christmas present trees were pretty cool but I couldn't manage to capture their awesomeness.

Look! There's a train! I have a few cute pictures of him pointing at the trains.

A train makes its way out

A little succulent train, below. This one was G's favorite.

This was before you walked in. I just thought it was cute.

If you get a chance, go to the garden in St. Louis and check it out. You won't be disappointed!

Last Trip

This was our...second to last trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden. Our last trip, which was last night, will come eventually. Have I mentioned that I love that place? Anyway, I'm just now getting around to blogging this, but I got a few photos I wanted to share. Enjoy!

I know. My boy is pretty dang cute.

Feeding Fish.

You can just drop the food right in their mouths. I always like to sneak a touch on their slimy noses... Freak, I know.

Taking time to smell the roses...

Children's garden.

I love the bell tree.

... and this little boy.

Alright, that's all I've got time for tonight. Happy Thursday!

Sprucin' Up for the Holidays!

Gary wanted me to title my blog post that ^. Hehe.

Anyway, Gary has been making up these centerpiece creations from dried zinnias, spruce branches, Juniper, Autum Joy Sedum and whatever else he can come up with. Tonight, he drilled a hole in a tree branch for some dried flowers. I love how it turned out, so I thought I would share it.

And finally, I saw some painted pinecones on Pinterest that I loved. I was wanting some for several days. The Friday after Thanksgiving I had to work and Gary and Vin were off, so they painted a few pinecones for me. Vincent picked the colors. They're really Christmas-y, which I love. The ones I saw were painted in bright shades, but these are perfect for the holidays. Every time I look at them I smile. I want them all over my house! Ok...I'm getting carried away.

I guess I didn't have to tell you that G added the spruce to this arrangement...

And it looks pretty no matter which way you turn it!

See? Easy peasy!

The best part? It's pretty close to free!