I’m blaming it on this.

I haven’t loved a possession this much in a long time. Isn’t that the most beautiful bike ever? (the fenders aren’t that pink, by the way… more of a beautiful maroon). I was kind of embarrassed to post when I first got it, because I just felt so spoiled! Lucky me, I just didn’t want to brag. It’s so much fun, though. I did my research, and found a bike that was not only pretty, but not trying too hard (some of those cruisers are pretty funky and being older than 17, I didn’t feel like I could pull off riding one without looking ridiculous!), but it’s also super functional. It has seven speeds and handbrakes, which was surprisingly hard to find. So, if you’re in the market for a cruiser, get one. This is the Raleigh Retroglide 7. So. Much. Fun. I might just sell my car and revert to pedal power from now on. I just prefer getting around that way. My kids do too… we’re biking everywhere we possibly can. Walking out of a store and seeing our pile of bikes make me happy.

(taken with my iPhone)

Anyway… if you see me pedaling around, honk and wave!

But wait… there’s more…

I’ve planned one day for mini-sessions! Friday, November 6. There will be a few morning sessions and a few evening sessions. Let me know if you want in!

Same drill as always: a 15-minute session, 10-12 images to choose from in an online ordering gallery, and one 11×14 (value: $110). I will also offer one 4×6 digital file that you can use for printing your own prints for Christmas cards at a special price.

Mini-Session price: $150.

Did I hear Christmas cards? Yes, I did. Want to see some? Ok…

That’s only a few of them… I have a bunch more.

So…15 minutes. That doesn’t seem like enough time to get decent shots, right? WRONG! While I obviously don’t take as many shots, and the ones I do take are generally more on the formal side than the candid side, some of my favorite images every year come from minis! Here’s a small sample from last May’s minis:

(by the way… hanging the kid upside-down was NOT my idea!)

One more thing. I finished my wedding website! Feel free to take a peek: www.shannonmontez.com

I spent my whole day in a state of giddy happiness. In a kind of backward way, this birthday just felt amazing.

(this picture doesn’t really match the post, but I’m between photoshops right now and I had this one all ready to go… I’d been wanting to post something about how playing outside in the rain was one of the coolest moments of childhood, but I guess I’ll just say what I just said and call it done.)

I declare this year the Year of the Homemaker for me.

See the end of the rainbow? That’s my home. My pot of gold. The last few years have been a great adventure, getting my business on its feet. It’s fun. I love it. But it also takes a lot of attention. And I’ve let some of my habits slip.

I have a picture in my head of what I want my home life to look like. It’s pretty. It’s nice. It’s warm, it’s comforting, it’s loved, it’s taken care of. In this beautiful picture of home life, home and family are attended-to FIRST, not LAST on my list.

That hasn’t been the case. Of course the kids come first but everything else came last. I noticed this problem especially during the crazy year-end busy season. I can’t be too hard on myself, it’s something to be expected and embraced in my line of work. But I managed it poorly and it cut into what I want for my family. I didn’t get my shopping done until a couple of marathon days the week of Christmas. No baking, no Christmas cards, no decorating, no special traditions. I’ve just felt the lack of warmth and the abundance of stress and chaos in my life and want to turn that around a bit.

I bought myself a Christmas present (and made Dave wrap it and put it under the tree for me!)

It’s just a pretty book where a British woman talks about all of her creative pursuits and home making endeavors. She knits, quilts, bakes, gardens, all with an artistic eye. I love the thought of viewing what I do at home as an art. Making a loaf of bread is an art rather than a chore. Love that!

Dave laughed at me when he saw the book. “The Gentle Art of Domesticity?” To me, even the title alone is beautiful. He asked if I got the recommendation from my inspirationally domestic friend Kathi, who he coined as my “domestic coach”.

No, she didn’t recommend it. But she probably could’ve written it. To my knowledge, she doesn’t knit. But I don’t think this Jane lady grinds her wheat for her homemade bread, so there.

The cool part is… my friend Kathi has offered to teach bread-making lessons. I’m so excited. We’ll just take an afternoon and go start-to-finish and talk about the whole process. What’s more… she’s going to offer her classes to anyone who wants to learn. Reply here or send me an email if you’re local and also interested in learning! The class will be held within the next 3 weeks, most likely… though we haven’t talked about a date yet. Believe me… it’s worth going just to sample the end product!

But it doesn’t stop with bread. I plan to start a garden this year (again, with Kathi’s coaching). I cleaned the spot already, but that was last fall and with the rainy season there are all sorts of pretty green non-welcome plants back there needing to be dealt with again. She tells me that weeding is part of the deal. I’m coming to terms with that.

I’ve cooked meals at home every night this week. I’ve decided that there will be no more eating out in this family until April. Even school lunches are banned. So far, so good. We’ll still go out for special occasions like birthdays (mine’s tomorrow!) and date nights. But other than that, I’m making the time and planning ahead and living life consciously. Less than a week in, but I’m doing great so far! This is kind of big for me, because in the past months I’ve generally decided to run my errands around lunch time so I’d have an excuse to eat food that someone else has prepared. Who knows? Maybe this change alone will help me lose some of the weight I packed on last year. (no more denying this isn’t leftover from pregnancy!)

So. I’m putting it out there. Committing myself. The Year of the Homemaker. I plan to update my endeavors on this blog. So prepare for this place to be a bit more personal and varied, not just about photography, but also about my domestic arts. I’m excited. I only made a couple resolutions this year (I hate to fail!) but this is the biggest one. Wish me luck!

Her room looks lovely with all of the snowflakes hanging from the ceiling! She was pretty excited about it. I pointed out that if she’s going to have a decorated room, it needs to be clean or else it just looks cluttered. So far, not so good. But we’re working on it…

This shot is SO Shelby.

Which reminds me… she gets her braces off next month. Exciting stuff!

I’m almost done with getting all my work out the door for Christmas! I’ve been so busy the last couple months that I’ve barely had time to think. But it’s all good… I’ll have time to rest soon! I’m really looking forward to January. A time to reflect and plan and start over and catch up. I’m excited to update the website, to post sessions I’ve been sitting on for months, to finally plan that open house at the studio, to do a lot of things I’ve been putting off. Like napping.

And while I’m here, I might as well post a session! This one was from this summer. It was a large family group. Large family groups can be intimidating and rather hard to work with. There’s not a whole lot outside the “class photo” sometimes, but we had fun! I did take a few shots that were just for me.

I LOVE these doors.

And these ones.

These two said they hadn’t kissed so much in a while… I think he enjoyed it, don’t you? I like it when I have that effect on people. I’m trying to make the world a better place.

It’s been a crazy month… sorry for my month-long absence from blogworld! But it’s been a great one.

You know how much work it takes to get ready to leave and then to catch up when you get back…  Plus run a business and take care of a family at the same time… Well, I’m starting to finally catch up and hopefully soon I can share all the fun I’ve been up to! I’m way way way behind on posting sessions, but I’ll do some of that too. Starting Monday, I’ll be a good little blogger again…

We’re going to have a great time. I had so much fun during our engagement session. They started out uncomfortable (as almost everyone does!) and complained that it didn’t feel natural. I assured them that by the end, they would feel very comfortable and relaxed… and they did. See? It doesn’t have to be painful! I feel the same way in front of the camera… it just takes a little while to stop fighting it.

This is one really good reason to have engagement shots done… you want to get all of the uncomfortable-ness out of the way before the big day. Now, they’re total pros and ready to go tomorrow!

Today, I wrote my list. Well, a lot of it was left over from yesterday, but still… I had plenty to do.

The problem was that I left a few items off my list that ended up taking most of my day. Stuff like “look at the internet” and “eat oreos”  and “watch an episode of My Super Sweet 16″.

So, I added them in, just so I could cross them off. Now I feel *so* much better about getting so much done today!