But now I see

Our own version of a hurricane inside of our house!

What a weekend it was for me! 

If you didn't know, my region (the DC metro area) is currently being hit by Hurricane Sandy. Schools, businesses, and governments started calling for closures starting Saturday but once Sunday rolled around? Well... all bets were off for most everyone in the tri-state area and cancellations were abound so much that I will be surprised if anyone is leaving their homes today. 

Despite all of the hubbub concerning the weather, I did precisely what I set myself out to do on Friday when I talked about how I needed some R&R. I mean, perhaps purging, cleaning, and reorganizing wasn't exactly restful or relaxing for a workaholic like me? It  may as well have been just what the doctor ordered!

I was able to do all of the aforementioned not just one or two rooms of my house but THREE of them!!! (I KNOW.) The goal was to make what would otherwise be the dining room the family art studio room and while it took some serious elbow grease the first picture (above) became the two pictures below in order to be completely ready to receive a wonderfully plentiful shipment of art supplies from Dick Blick sometime this week!!!

Not quite perfectly neat and clean but definitely a far cry from how it started.

My daughter is loving the studio table (that used to be our old dining room table) for all of  her creative endeavors.

The only big disappointment of the weekend is that because of Hurricane Sandy (or Frankenstorm as some of the locals have decided to call it), the art supply order for the home studio will likely be delayed. I mean, Fedex Home is usually pretty good about getting things where they are supposed to go on time (I mean, hello! Castaway was spot on with how good Fedex aims to be!) but I'm also trying to be fair here and say that I might not get the shipment tomorrow or even Tuesday the way it is slated to make it to me. *shrug* It's all in God's time and I am perfectly OK with that. 

Something amazing that I accomplished that I totally didn't expect to make happen? How about this...

It has been YEARS (I'm not kidding) since I have put myself behind the camera in order to get proper portraits done of my own child (I know. How shameful!) but it finally happened!!! In classic "mini-session" stylings, I was able to get all of the above (and then some) in less than 15 minutes in my own backyard with my child no less than 30 minutes from me getting her awake on Saturday morning. Doing it almost immediately after she woke up turned out to be clutch to ensuring that she was clean and shiny to look like how she does above. 

(o_O)

Seriously and truly... I have NO IDEA how I pulled it off. Well... the promise of gummy bears probably didn't hurt either. 

She is NOT a morning person by any stretch and her hair also (miraculously) does not look completely crazy. This means that I didn't have to overhaul any of the images in photoshop to see them as you do above to make them look completely portrait printing ready for me to use in the traditional holiday send outs for this year (that were ordered last night *GO ME!*) or for the grandparents to enjoy and print to their heart's delight. 

I guess I no longer can use the excuse that photographing my kid is such a chore and that's why I never do it. I guess it's true that when it comes to picking up the camera for the sake of perserving the memories and moments of my own family I really am that lazy. Well... lesson learned. The portraits (above of my daughter) have proven to me that so long as I am lazy, I will have less images to treasure the way I always provide to my photography clients.   

Anyway, I couldn't have asked for a more productive and relaxing weekend even with this being a Monday where I am waiting around to see if/when my power goes out and trying to resist opening the refrigerator and compromising the freshness of everything in it because that's always what happens when I am told that I can't open the fridge.

Hope you had a great weekend as well and you are NOT suffering from the impacts of a storm that is said to be 1) of historic magnitudes, 2) of epic proportions, and 3) the worst in many generations.