meet nayeli, nahuatl for "i love you." isn't that a beautiful name?  i knew after hearing her name and the ideas that her mom had for her happy birthday, i'm one! session, that we were a good match.  and timing couldn't have been better as we transition more into st. louis family, children's and baby portraiture and away from weddings.

holy piggies, batman! it was all about the food. since pretty much every single meal we ate since wednesday evening was phenomenal, time for some shouts out.

in woodridge, IL, just down the road from our super sweet $37 priceline score at the lisle hyatt was blue ginger sushi.

on hwy 53 in bolingbrook, we stuffed our faces at family square. ironically enough, this was the place where adam dropped the "let's have kids" bomb. still working on it, folks.

our gluttonous thanksgiving dinner was at coco pazzo cafe just off michigan ave.

for breakfast the next morning we trekked down to pilsen prior to hitting the national museum of mexican art. LOVE that place. buenos dias con desayuno al nuevo leon. coffee and tea at cafe jumping bean.

after the museum we headed north to bucktown and wicker park and got our veggie burger fix at the ear wax cafe. food was delish and the decor was interesting. glad i hadn't read this article.

for dinner we met my parents near our hotwire score, the palmer house hilton, at miller's pub.

breakfast the next morning at yolk.

more than a few images of our self-indulged selves. we're not vain, i promise. when we go places, we photograph each other. that's what happens. more than a few of these were at the bean. i just can't help but love that sculpture no matter how many times i visit it.

oh, and on a food unrelated (sort of) sidenote, i thought tomato tattoo west was hilarious.

i find this so inspiring. it renews my faith in humanity. to contribute to the film (a mere $2) click here.   you'll be captivated for seven or so minutes, i hope.

blogging was a big part of our business for awhile.  i've been a slacker lately and just haven't felt like i had anything interesting to say.  our move went smoothly in september.  life has been a bit of a blur for the last month or so as we've been dodging curveballs.  all will work out eventually.

in the meantime, our new quest for fabulous indie west county businesses is slowly producing results.

three new favorites are whipt cream,  lone wolf coffee company and one lucky mutt.  whipt cream has divine cupcakes (and i'm sure the cakes are phenomenal, too.)  lone wolf has incredible sandwiches (still have lots to try there) and they seem to be quite involved in the community, which is awesome.  one lucky mutt has fabulous self-service dog washes and a whole bunch of other treats for your four-legged friend.

old favorites include manee thai and big bear grill.  and i love that we are now so close to one of my favorite parks in the st. louis metro area, castlewood state park.  discovering unfamiliar trails has been great.   queeny park is also beautiful.  i'm still adjusting to spending time on manchester.  ick.

i like our neighborhood.  it's quiet.  we have a bigger yard.  we have to rake leaves and a vacuum truck comes around to suck them up.  we have to put the trash out on wednesdays.  where to put the cans stressed adam out for a bit, but it's all worked out now.  i say this tongue-in-cheek, but he really did stress.  we have a ginormous recycling "cart."  yes, they call it a cart.  i will always have fond memories of our magical alley where we could put nearly any bulk item and watch it disappear oftentimes within minutes.

so that's life for now.  wedding season is over for this year.  we still plan not to seek out our own weddings for 2010.  i think i will probably second shoot, which i very much enjoy, so if you are a fabulous wedding shooter in the 'lou who happens to blog stalk us, drop me a line if you need a second eye.  :-)  my focus will be more fine art, i think.

i would love to continue building our portrait business.   if you are a potential portrait client looking for out of the box documentation of your family, shoot us an email.  if you are looking for "a family picture" where everyone wears matching outfits we are probably not the best fit for you.  i'm not being a smart a--, just trying to connect with clients with whom our style is a good match.  we are not so traditional.  our portraiture sessions typically last a couple of hours and are a mix of documenting your family interaction and posed, lifestyle imagery, with more emphasis on the former.