books.
May 22nd, 2011 by sharaleep | 3 Comments »
my parents cultivated a love of books into us at a young age. from “pokey little puppy” to “grandma’s attic” to “babysitter’s club” and gordon korman, to “nancy drew” and “little women”, to madeleine l’engle and “the hobbit”. we did a lot of driving and growing up in the pre-dvd player/cell phone/personal game system age, there wasn’t much else to do but read. and fight with my sisters. and be annoyed with my dad for renting an audio tape of a guy talking us through the landmarks of north and south dakota from the state info centre. and read some more.
when did reading become such a luxury? oh right. that time i had 3 kids. and a job. and a teensy tiny little bit of a life. and a great need for sleep. and a desire to watch things like survivor and the office. the other day, my youngest was sleeping and my husband took my two oldest to the park so that i could get some work done. and though my “to-do” list was long and time was short, i took a shower and decided to sit down and read for 20 minutes. and it sure did my heart good. it wasn’t even what i was reading (though it was good and i highly recommend it)…it was just the act of reading that was so delightful. this summer i am determined to take reading from a luxury to a regular practice.
my kids love to read. i am SO grateful for that. some of my favorite pictures are of them absorbed in a book.
(allie being the cranky bear)
i have a dear friend who has reminded me of the benefits of our kids reading…and reading good books. i’m hoping to create a budget to make sure i can buy my kids some quality books…i’m thinking of having one of these parties. want to come?
so i’m going to read this summer. don’t know what, but hopefully it’s going to be good. you should join me. what are you reading (or if it’s more realistic, what do you dream of reading) these days?
birthdays
May 15th, 2011 by sharaleep | 1 Comment »
so i celebrated a birthday this week. i’m not one to freak out about these things, but this year i had to take a deep breath. i don’t know what it is about being firmly entrenched in your thirties…i suppose it’s just that i can remember being 16 and when referring to someone “in their thirties” it basically implied that they were “old”. which i know i’m not, nor do i feel it…but in some 16 year old’s eyes, i am. old. so the lord in his mercy, knowing how i was feeling, offered me the opportunity to hang out with some 16 year olds the week before my birthday. i’m not sure whether that was meant to be a cruel joke, but it turned out to be quite the early gift.
and hey, at least i can remember being 16…right? while we’re on the topic of the lord’s mercy, thank for that amazing weather too. i can’t imagine trying to contain all of this 16 year old energy within four walls. happy birthday, bethany!
p.s. if you’re interested in seeing the view you too could enjoy if you book a portrait session with me, check out the album on facebook of pictures beth’s mom took of me while i was shooting. i don’t know why i’m sharing this.
happy birthday, keith!
May 13th, 2011 by sharaleep | 3 Comments »
i got an e-mail from kristi a few months ago requesting a photo shoot with her daughters which they wanted to surprise their dad with for his birthday. one of the stipulations was that we re-create an old picture from when the girls were little. while mom had just wanted to get a nice picture of the girls together on the first day of school, rachel made the mistake of saying something offensive to elena and little miss e. couldn’t quite hide her disdain for her older sister. thankfully rachel wasn’t phased 🙂
with that out of the way, our only mandate now was to have fun. kristi had her eye on a sweet little farm down the road, which provided a great backdrop for some shots of the three of them.
c & s: engaged
May 8th, 2011 by sharaleep | 6 Comments »
when i left home, it was rainy and grey, but as soon as i hit the beach the sun emerged. these two are delightful…totally relaxed, fun, stylish, outdoorsy, incredibly cute together – made my job easy. not to mention they kind of look like movie stars being chased by the papparazzi, don’t they?
i think i may have failed to mention silly. they (or shall i say she) are also very silly. which i love. because without silly, you’d never get a picture of a bride-to-be pretending to be a seagull.
and so after a little playing with shadows and a quick dip in the frigid water (you guys are hard core), we were done. i am beside myself with excitement that i get to shoot their burnaby mountain wedding in august. does anybody know what kind of wildlife they have up there? i’ll have to get seana to start working on her impressions 🙂
pre-summer fun
May 7th, 2011 by sharaleep | 4 Comments »
two things i love: friends and the beach. combine the two and it’s pure magic.
i’m already loving the thin film of sand that’s formed on our bathtub floor.
our kids were so cute, asian tourists stopped traffic to take pictures of them. i’m not joking.
sederberg wedding: part 2
May 3rd, 2011 by sharaleep | 7 Comments »
sorry for the monstrous post, i just didn’t want to leave out any of the beautiful little details! laura did such a great job planning everything from edmonton whether it was the tulips or the vintage glass or the beakers full of wildflower seeds (genius) and her amazing family helped execute her vision from here. she even had a “make your own candy bag” section at the reception dedicated to shawn’s sweet tooth.
thankfully this wasn’t how the actual proposal turned out…
bless you, shawn & laura! loved being a part of your day.
that (fill in the blank) wedding i shot on the easter weekend
May 2nd, 2011 by sharaleep | 7 Comments »
i was going to try and squeeze this whole wedding into one post, but then i realized that would be a serious injustice especially seeing how gorgeous this day was.
when we started the day, laura made it clear that she didn’t want to be “that boring wedding sharalee shot on the easter weekend”. it kind of became the running joke as they couldn’t find the paperwork during the ceremony (“that illegal wedding sharalee shot on the easter weekend”) to missing family members during group pictures (“the time the in-laws got lost during that wedding sharalee shot on the easter weekend”)…you get the picture.
this day was anything but boring. the family was lively, the bridal party was hot, the details were fun and the weather. was. amazing.
we were so blessed to be able to use the grounds of venema pottery for most of the pictures. they have an amazing studio and a beautiful yard…you should really check it out for yourselves. the groom was anxiously awaiting his lady’s arrival…
(the flowers are all by “ferns and flowers” – she’s amazing!)
i will leave you with that for this evening and will be back soon with more – you won’t want to miss it!
new.
April 27th, 2011 by sharaleep | 4 Comments »
the cherry blossoms. a clear and beautiful indication that a new season is upon us. we could call this couple “engaged”, but that’s kind of boring. let’s say they’re in the blossom stage.
my peeps
April 26th, 2011 by sharaleep | 3 Comments »
this is my dad’s family. since doing maternity pictures of my cousins and sessions with both of their newborns, my auntie norma has been saying that she wanted to do some of their whole family. so when my cousin contacted me to do pictures as a gift for my aunt’s milestone birthday, i was delighted knowing she would be so happy to receive them. i won’t tell you how old she is, but i will say she looks amazing for that age and you’ll just have to trust me!
it’s true
April 22nd, 2011 by sharaleep | 4 Comments »
to the one who will someday complain that there are not as many pictures of him growing up as there are of his siblings:
it’s true. i see it happening and feel powerless to stop the inevitable cycle. but today? today is yours. this is for you little fish.
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