Sneak Peek: Lorenz Family

Searching for the perfect stone...

...mission accomplished.

Just a quick peek...a beautiful family session of a mama and her two lovable boys on the beach.

Aliza

The McDevitt Family

The weather was threatening to make a turn for the worse, but the girls were ready to head straight for the beach. Three girls with piercing, bright eyes, a sprinkling of freckles, and mile-wide smiles, will win every time. The family of five meandered their way down the tall wooden staircase to the lakefront at Klode Park, one of my favorite parks in the city. Large boulders stretch from the shore and small waves lap at the sand. Between hugs for mom and dad, the little girls wandered the beach, making mini sand castles, tossing rocks to the waves, and dipping their toes in the water. The forewarning breezes ruffled their dresses and wisps of hair. The storm did not catch us...we danced between the raindrops as we arrived back at our cars.

McDevitt Family | Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin

Aliza

Friday Thoughts: The Quiet Season and Sparkle

As the last leaves spiral to the ground, the photo season lulls into its own hibernation. Besides the brand new babes born this winter, I am already looking forward to next year's babies, family shoots, and weddings.

This incredibly beautiful wedding, and many more to share with you as 2010 draws to a close. Images from spring and summer should keep us all warm as the first frozen flakes begin to dance on the chilly wintry winds. So much to still blog, so faithful followers, visit often. If you're new, thanks for stopping by and get ready for more!

Lush and dreamy and accentuated with sparkle.

Aliza

Three Girls in Dark Glasses in Indiana

We ran down hills through tall grasses and reeds. Leaves of gold, rust, and fire, cooled only by droplets of green. An earnest sun. A motionless spider. A cold marble slab covered in carmelized sweets. Bright blue eyes and a ride in a minivan. Holding a day, a moment in time before it races on. Two girls in dark glasses. Racing down the hill. One girl in dark glasses. Click the camera quickly. It looks like they were flying. Click the camera quickly to keep the day. And hold it still.

The day. It flew.

Bloomington, Indiana | October 2010

Aliza

Let Them Eat Cake! The Tale of Thirty

Twenty-nine years ago, I sank my entire face into the corner of an epic cake at my first birthday party. Let's describe this cake...it was most likely some flavor of delicious, but its standout feature was the frosting design. You might want to be sitting for this one. It was layered high in sugary smooth buttercream and covered from corner to sweet corner in, literally, every color of the rainbow. Most parents pick some type of theme for their child's birthday party, like jungle animals or Sesame Street Muppets. I'm guessing my parents' theme had something to do with RAINBOWS! And CLOUDS! And VISUAL OVERSTIMULATION! A huge rainbow splashed its hues across the cake. Plump pastel rosettes were piped around the border. A cotton-ball cloud advertised "Happy 1st Birthday Aliza". It must have been pure joy for the senses as I dove in, sans utensils, for the time honored tradition of slobbering on and grabbing fistfuls of the cake that my parents then lovingly served to our guests.

Now, you realize that a Hall of Fame cake this incredible cannot be retired forever. We agreed, it was time to bring back the champion. The record-setter. The standard by which all insanely decorated cakes are compared. And for no other event than *sigh*.........*sigh again*.....my 30th birthday!

Despite what squinty-eyed disbelieving bartenders who glare at me regularly might insist, I have not, in fact, lied by a decade and a half over on my driver's license. It's simply true. I have hit the big THREE-OH. Instead of celebrating with champagne and caviar (which I eat every night anyway, if not for lunch, as well), we decided to keep humor and color and fun on the table in the form of a to-die-for replica of my first birthday cake, right down to the candle on the cake. Moist chocolate cake, vanilla mousse, and about three feet of buttercream on top. Not just any buttercream, but melt-in-your-mouth primary colors. And pastel, too. As the design was a funhouse of "loud", I closed my eyes, and surrounded by cake-savoring family and friends, took a mouth-watering bite. I couldn't help but smile, thinking how the past thirty years have been a busy and wild ride. And like my cake, life has been a colorful mish-mash of deliciousness. I'm looking forward to discovering even more in life that is colorful and delicious over the next decade with the kind of reckless abandon that makes one dive face first into frosting-topped pastries.

The dive into the first birthday cake...

The thirtieth birthday cake...

Aliza