Baby Annie - Galveston newborn photography

I admit, I have not written in a while. Mostly because I am thinking of updating my blog and have not got round to it yet. But that is kind of like waiting to buy new clothes until you lose weight.....Anyway...

These photos are of baby Annie, a sweet little sprite that I had a chance to photograph a little while back. We were doing another session that day with Annie's aunt Clara on the tall ship elissa and decided to get a few shots in of Annie as we were walking the beach. It was steaming hot that day but we waited til a bit later and the beach always has a breeze. That is one of the things I used to love about living in Galveston, you could just open up the windows and put on a fan most days ( well, if you dressed minimally :)

Without further ado, here is little Annie!

Thats daddy, Drew, doing his best Annie impression :)

 

Only in Texas on a hot summers day

     So yesterday was fathers day and as I was working Saturday and Alex was supposed to take Maddie to a swim meet, but they got the lurgie on Saturday and did not go, we had not made formal fathers day plans. Now on the way to work on Saturday night, I did notice that the Alabama Ice House had a sign up that said "Waterslide Sunday"  so yeah, even though we dont really drink much anymore, it sounded like it had to be good, so we went.

     Now if you have never been to the West Alabama Ice House, you gotta go. Seriously. It's been there for going on 81 years! Ice Houses are pretty much a cultural institution in the Gret State of Texas. I assume at one time or another it was a place to buy, well, ice? But what better place to chill, um, beer I ask?? And they have all kinds of bottled beer. So what is an ice house you foreigners and non-Texans may ask??? Well its an open air beer bar and its open all year round. They do have a little bit of indoor seating, but no air conditioning to speak of. And all sorts of people hang out here, hipsters, professionals, bikers, heavily tattooed, regular folks and winos too. And you are welcome to bring your little ( or big ) dawg too.  You can play horse shoes, basket ball or pool and they have some great live music on the weekends. You might hear bluegrass, blues, rock, old school country, punk rock or even gilbert and sullivan show tunes? Ok, the latter is not the norm, but I swear I heard some yesterday...They also have a very eclectic juke box for when there is no live music. There are also  free hot dogs on Fridays ( but dont forget to tip!) AND sometimes on weekends, it can be a fun place to bring the kids...especially if there is a sign that says "WATERSLIDE"

    Don't think that a three story, blow-up waterslide is just for kids ya'll, cuz there were plenty of adults on there too, some fully clothed, like my husband. And he wasn't even drinking. The rest of us, who did not want to climb all-the-way-up-there in our Sunday Best decide to just pour buckets of ice water on each other. Felt SO good, I swear the ice never hit the ground it was so hot!

Gumbo ya ya

Hanging out at the House today and I am thinking a big olde bowl of gumbo sounds pretty darn tasty. Now I always lose my moms recipe  and end up calling again, so this time I decided to type it into the blog. This way ( hopefully) I can always find it :))

Pictures and commentary will be added later.

I will probably half this recipe as I dont really need 6 quarts......

will probably also not use the accent as i dont generally cook with MSG if I can help it and I am not so sure that the kitchen bouquet really adds anything....wondering if I should add some andouille....

OH and FYI, Roux is a whole other monster, I prefer to make a dry roux, but thats just me....

Mother's shrimp gumbo

1/2 stick butter ( I used some olive oil- mom's recipe actually calls for "oleo" which is that margerine stuff I never buy)

5 pods garlic ( or more, Garlic is good!)

1  medium onion ( I used red, but I am sure any would do)

1 bell pepper ( I used orange, but green is nice too)

3 stalks celery

1 C okra ( I used fresh because they had it at central market)

Saute Veggies for a few minutes til onions are translucent

add

2 1/2 quarts of water

2 cans chicken broth ( You could also use bouillion cubes)

1 can diced tomatoes ( maybe  next time just  1/2 can. Rotel or Italian tomatoes can be nice too. Rotel if you want to go nuclear)

1 T creole seasoning mix  ( Bam! Bam!)

1 1/2 T Old Bay ( I put in extra, made it like 2 1/2 T)

2 T chili powder

1 T parsley flakes ( i used about 2 T fresh instead)

3 T worsteshire sauce ( might cut this down to 2 next time...)

1 t thyme

1 t Garlic powder ( or more, garlic is so very nice. AND I actually used Roated garlic powder- oh la la )

1 t salt ( probably added another teaspoon because I did not want to use the accent/MSG)

1 t pepper

1/4 t Cayenne pepper ( Yow!!! and to think I am feeding this to kids!)

2 t accent ( nope, did not use, added extra salt though)

1 1/2 T kitchen bouquet ( I had some left over from last time, so I used it. Gumbo is nice dk. brown color)

boil down then add 6 C shrimp ( I only had like 2 cups, I would think that translates to 3 pounds, ads I did not feel like peeling that much, I added  4 links of andouille)

add roux

top with file and green onion and some Tabasco!

makes 6 quarts

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?

Oh my gosh, this photo was taken in June 2005 on our last "BIG VACATION" Location was Cafe Du Monde, two months before Katrina hit.

We went to Disney World for 9 days and stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. We also visited Universal Orlando for a few days of that. We then headed back to Houston with a 5 day stop in New Orleans. Alex's cousin, Adam, met us there from Toronto and I remember he was trying to find a date to go with him because we offered to pay for his and a friends flight with our ( then abundant) airmiles. He brought this girl Michelle, which I am glad to say went from "possible girlfriend interest" to his wife this past October :)

On the way to Disney we drove down through coastal Mississippi because I wanted to see what it looked like as I had never been. I remember we went through a bunch of little towns, but I specifically remember Pass Christian  because that is the route we took to get to the coastal road, and then through Biloxi when we decided to go ahead and get back onto the freeway. We really just wanted to see if the beaches there were very nice so we would have another alternative vacation spot that was a relatively short driving distance. I remember looking at the houses along the coastal road and thinking how vulnerable they looked. I grew up in a coastal town that had been hit bu a bad hurricane before, so we seemingly has more safeguards for our residents ( water can apparently sneak in on the bayside as well we learned after, its not just storm surges that can wreck a city). 

This particular photo was taken at Cafe Du Monde. I love this place. Yes, you might be able to get biegnets and Cafe Au Lait other places, but they just dont taste the same as when you are eating them in this open air cafe. The first time I went here was about 20 years ago with a boyfriend long gone and my best friend ( also moved far away now) and I remember all that powdered sugar dust and the creamy coffee and the slight crunch of those little friend dougnuts. Yum Yum Yum. Still has not left me to this day really. My ex-boyfriends family lived there and we were all visiting for a wedding and staying with some friends of mine who had moved to the quarter.  I remember he also took us to some coffee shop in Metairie that had some original arch from the original cafe du monde or something of the like, but really NOT THE SAME unless the story meant something to you. I still go every trip to New Orleans.

Last time I went to New Orleans was for Mardi Gras last year. I generally try to make it at least twice a year, but our last summer vacation got derailed by hurricanes, first Gustav, then Ike. I had a blast last year though. It was my first trip there sans family in a very long time. I brought along my friend Jill and other friends Summer and Will there for a photo shoot.  SO.MUCH.FUN.  Weirdly kept running into people from my past...Sheri Milam, an old friend from Galveston from  20 years ago, still looked exactly the same, complete with half shaved head and pink streaks (hahaha). Angel who used to work at Harry Anderson's shop, Sideshow, in the quarter, she moved back to Austin after Katrina and never moved back. Jackie, from the  999 eyes circus sideshow... we also saw some crazy bands at Check Point Charlies and the Dragons Den. Met some wacky charachters at the Abbey, ate at Coops and Fiorellas ( had a pitcher of beer with our brunch), you know all those fun and crazy things you cant do with the kids :)

Now I am planning the "NEXT BIG VACATION" this time we are going to NOLA first for 4 days, meeting up with a bunch of crazy wedding photographers I met on flickr, then heading on over to Disney World again, but this time only for 4 days.  More about this adventure to come....gotta make some breakfast!

Janik - Casey wedding - Houstonian 6.13.09

I second shot these with David at D. Jones Photography and these are a few of my favorites from the day.

I love getting beautiful shots of the bride getting ready for her big day and I love getting all the little details too.

Kellye and Lance got hitched this past weekend at Memorial Drive UMC and had a grande reception following at the Houstonian hotel. It was pretty darn cool! You should have seen the cakes, the grooms cake was a deer! The whole shindig was coordinated bu Alia of Belle of The Ball, who is totally fun and awesome to work with! Music was provided by Blind Date from Austin and they kept the party going into the night. We get to work with them again tomorrow night too for another wedding at the Houston Country Club. We had a lot of fun, I just love my job!

Cakes - Suzies

Linens - Over the Top Linens

Lighting - Bright Star Productions

This Kellye, isn't she a doll? She is really a lot of fun!

This is the gorgeous bouquet made by Wedding Flowers By Lisa who always does and awesome job!

Rings! I just love sparkly things :)

The happy couple leaving the church, now married!

Congratulations you guys!!!!