Boots McBlog

While temperatures are dipping below freezing and a wintry mix is attempting to stick in La Petite Roche,  my mind is drifting to warmer weather and summer dresses – which I can always find at Calypso.    I recently stopped by their Dallas boutique and I cannot quit thinking about these dresses.   This is a sure sign they will be in my closet soon, waiting for their warmer weather debut.

This Shireen Dress will be perfect for a summer lunch with girlfriends and comfortable enough for a day out with my camera.   The dupioni silk makes it effortless for packing for a weekend escape. And that scallop detail repeated on the hem makes me swoon.

barclay dress

The Barclay Dress is another fave. For a bride-to-be this dress would be gorgeous for engagement pics in a field of waving summer grasses.    Dressed up with multiple long strands of pearls and Fendi’s raffia and suede pump  – oooh la la! – now its perfect for the outdoor wedding reception for a friend.    This dress also comes in Navy which is equally as gorgeous.

www.neimanmarcus.com

In addition to beautiful clothes with attention to detail,  Calypso embraces others in the creative community and features musicians, filmmakers, and photographers on their website to present a concept of travel for a shared experience and makes their site a fun place to escape on grey days like today.  If by chance you do make it by one of their locations, you may have the chance to view Vanessa Lenz’s photographic journey through southern India.   Lenz  captured everyday life a world away and is giving a portion of her proceeds to help build schools in the poorest areas of India and Nepal.  Her work is captivating  and reflective of the attention to detail Calypso offers in its wares.

If you appreciate effortless glamour, unique design, and a commitment to creativity as I do,  then Calypso will become one of your favorite escapes, as well.

Cheers!

“Photographs are for people who can’t remember”  George Clooney’s character in his latest movie Up in the Air says this to a room full of traveling entrepreneurs.    It’s a quote that has haunted me for the last two weeks since I saw the film.    Here I am,  I have just taken up photography and have found myself wondering “is this true?”  Am I weak minded for opting for an image over my aging memory?

A few weeks prior to seeing this movie,  all of the images I had digitally captured since 2005 were lost.  They were moved to a hard drive that by complete accident went crashing to the floor. “The crash of  ’09″  – as I have come to refer to this event -  rendered the drive useless.  My images are gone.  Perhaps the most fun years of my life – POOF! – left to a memory in my mind’s eye.    At the realization that it will cost a couple grand to recover the images,  I have cried tears – real tears -  of sorrow for their loss.  I will someday pay the big bucks to retrieve them.  For now, I try to remember what images were there and scramble to find those left in my email attachments.   My floral arrangements for parties.  Fun times on the Board of Directors with the Junior League.   My amazing trip with The Angler to San Ysidro Ranch.   Finley Dog dressed in his feather boa.   Sadie Francis when she was a 2 pound, 5 week old puppy no wider than the hard wood plank of our floor.   Me sitting atop a piano at a bar on my 32nd birthday.   (Ok -well, my mom is at least happy the last one is gone)

The Angler & Moi, Ojai Valley, California 2008

Last week I was asked to share my “story” to a group of women in a local bible study.    As I hand wrote the 10 pages of my life,  I realized that my story is made up of landmarks  that at the time were deemed heartbreaks.  Some, to this day, bring that lump to my throat and tears to my eyes to remember.  However, its the hard times that have shaped me the most.   Cut open a tree and you will see the life rings.  The thickest rings – the years of most growth – are the years with the heaviest rains.  And so it is with us.  If we allow it,  we grow the most when the hard rains fall.    As I told my story from milestone to milestone,  it was the heartaches,  and not so much the victories,  that have strengthened my faith. This is where it dawned on me exactly why my pictures on that hard drive mean so much.   We remember the bad times.   We remember them vividly: the tears, the hurt, the pain, the loss.  In an instant our hearts can feel the heaviness again.  We don’t need those pictures.

grand ol' maple in my front yard

Now, open your photo album – what  do you see?  The good times.   There they are: the laughs, the celebrations, the cheers, the victories.   So, in our storybook of life, we have our dark days of hurt brightened by images of joy.   So yes,  George Clooney,  photographs are for people who sometimes can’t remember.  For those of us who find ourselves with the “January blues”, the “June gloom” or any day in between.   Pictures remind us we are happy and blessed.    We have had our share of reasons to celebrate.   We laugh.

Most of all, staring at those smiles around us, we are reminded… we are loved and have loved.

Grace and Peace,

Boots

Photography.  I say my current passion started with my iPhone.   Taking pictures here and there of the silly, the pretty, the interesting things that passed my way.   Truth be known – it started years before.  It was a Polaroid.  It was in a huge black case.  It was the “instant” film that took ten minutes to develop. Remember – the kind that you peel the paper away to see the image?  That was the one.  I would see that case in the coat closest of my first home and beg  my parents, “take my picture!”  In third grade,  Santa brought me my very own Polaroid.   I took it with me to birthday parties.  My teddy bears were models.   I would dress in my head-to-toe Esprit and hand over the white boxy contraption with 10 exposures and exclaim, “take my picture!”  Those were the easy years,  I just wanted my picture taken.  Then, puberty hit.  The clothes became even more important.  The hair.  The make up.  The insecurity.   Soon “take my picture”  became “you can only take my picture, if you make me look good”   (For the record, I don’t think the yearbook picture photographer ever heard me)

iPhone fun

In the past few years due to work,  I’ve had the opportunity to have my picture taken by some AMAZING local photographers.   Here I was, years later in life with many lessons supposedly learned  I was to appear as this together, smart woman who wasn’t bothered by the minutiae of life and yet  – the last thing I would say to these poor photographers – “make me look good!”  Three hundred shots later,  I might like three of them.   Really?   I’m that thirteen year old girl all over again.    Is this normal?   Apparently, yes.  I came across this article in the New Yorker.   World Leaders struggle with it, too!  People working towards world peace.  Trillion dollar budgets.  The Lives of their people in the palm of their hands…and at the end of the day, they still worry about that little image.  The image they want the world to see as  …well….”perfect”.  Winston Churchill destroyed one of his portraits after praising it publicly.   This man of great insight, strategy, and wisdom bothered  by a simple painting.  Maybe that picture bothered him because it was too “realistic”.   He knew what he really looked like – inside – and this was it.

www. lancejohnston.com

Images in photography  can be taken in a format called RAW images.  Pros take this RAW image and transform it.  Take away the lines.  Brighten the eyes.  Nip that waist.  Tah-dah!  That together, smart woman is there smiling at us.    I’ve been in a photography workshop with the incredibly talented  Marta Locklear over the past week learning how to improve my skills in this area.  One of our assignments was self portraits.  I find I actually like these.  Really?  Yes!  Why?  Because I have the control of the edits.  Its when another photographer has the images of me that makes it difficult.   What if he doesn’t brush out those worry lines?  What if my eyes look puffy from tears I have shed?    What if the world realizes I often find solace in a cupcake?   What if they see me RAW?

heatherowensphotography.com

No matter how many tweaks I can make to an image in my heart I hear, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”   I can outwardly be picture perfect and inside I feel like a mess.  God knows exactly what caused these lines.  He knows why I’ve cried.   He knows why I needed that cupcake.  He knows me RAW, and loves me just the same.   This is grace:  Grace takes that ugliness of life and uses it to transform the image.   He sees me (and you)  as picture perfect.  I am so thankful for that.

self portrait

There are far too many photographers ahead of me for me to ever hope to be “the best”.  But I do hope to be real.  I hope to be the kind of photographer that is sensitive to the insecurities on the other side of the lens.  And most of all,  I hope that I don’t get so caught up in the polish and flash of it all, that I quit looking at the heart.

Grace and Peace!

For years we’ve had the options to upgrade, supersize and make our meals a biggie .  Some of us have  “valued” our way into a whole new body shape. When faced with having to buy a larger size pants – that 25 cents doesn’t seem so smart after all.    Because most of us want to have our cake and eat it, too- it’s important to know just how big a piece of cake we are talking about.   I have found that controlling portions is perhaps the ultimate secret weapon in maintaining the balance of sanity between what you want and what you should have.

a tennis ball or size of a woman's fist = 1 cup

It’s been years, since The Angler and I have actually ordered separately in a restaurant.  We split everything when dining out – the appetizer or salad, the entree, and when we splurge – dessert.    Yes, some places charge fees.  We pay it happily.  Often times this means they give you an extra serving of veggies.  YAY!   Even with the cost of splitting we often walk away with a few more dollars  in the pocket of our skinnier pants.

a custard cup / ramekin is the recommended ice cream bowl - not the entire pint

Knowing portion sizes also helps you as you log all those calories you are taking in ( and hopefully expending)  By now I hope you’ve had a chance to check out the LoseIt App or FitDay.com for personal caloric intake.     You may also want to check out  www.calorieking.com  which is an excellent resource for telling you just how many calories  your favorite foods are packing.
There are several “rules of thumb” for portion sizes.   Literally  – an ounce of cheese or meat is roughly the size of your thumb.    I often, tell my nutrition clients that the good Lord gave us measuring utensils right at the end of our arms -  if we use them.

More examples:

the size of the palm of your hand and thickness of your hand is  a 3 oz – 4oz serving of meat, fish, poultry.

Your fist is  a cup = for raw vegetables  or a fresh piece of fruit.   or TWO servings of starches such as corn, potatoes,  rice, or grain

Tip of your thumb =  a serving of margarine or butter ( = 50 calories!)

1 oz of meat or cheese is roughly the size of a lipstick tube

Say no to the heapin helpin.  One of my giant pet peeves in the kitchen – is  incorrectly measuring with dry and liquid measuring cups.   Dry ingredients in the dry (silver cups)  and Liquids in the pitcher type measuring cups. This does make a difference in how many calories you are taking in – as well as the outcome of your recipe.   Make sure your measurements are level.  This can be done with the back of your knife or flat edge of a rubber spatula. (Mrs. Gray  – my first home-economics teacher is smiling in heaven right now)

flour, sugar, rice, vegetables = DRY ingredients should be measured in these

Over the last three weeks you’ve set your goals,  you are tracking what you are eating:  Biting it, Writing it and MOVING.   You should be  well on your way to that cute frilly dress.

If you take time to measure (portions) twice – you’ll only have to lose this weight once.

Oh and for the size on that cake -  a two inch by two inch square

Cheers Y’all.

I was THAT bride.   You know the one – that had the notebook divided into sections for cake, dresses, flowers, music, food,  guest list, ribbons.   Yes, –  ribbons – 5 inch double faced satin to be exact.   The Details.  I loved and still love the details of  a wedding.    I bought my first Brides magazine when I was nine years old.  I own the first 5 years of Martha Stewart Weddings.  I’ve clipped every wedding featured in Veranda and Southern Accents (God rest her soul).  Classic. Timeless. Creative. Modern weddings have always made my heart skip a beat.   I am so blessed to say that I now get to particpate in capturing all those details and the love that makes the big day so incredibly special for couples though my photography.  I am so excited to formally introduce Belle Vie Artistry

Belle Vie Artistry is a creative partnership between myself and fellow photographer Heather Owens and is devoted exclusively to wedding photography.  Our style is classic, yet modern; forward, yet refined.    Heather and I like to joke with each other that I bring the elegance , and she brings the edge.    Both of us would love to sit down with you to find out all about you, your spouse to be and all the big plans for  your special day and how we can capture those moments and details for a lifetime.   Contact me today through this website or through the email address below.    And stay tuned for our fabulous website currently in the works.