I had the great pleasure of photographing Addison and her parents for the first time in their Bridesburg home.  I was so delighted to photograph a family so close to my home!  There were no bridge tolls or “roundabouts” and I could consistently make left turns on my drive there!  (To my many  NJ clients and friends, you know I love you….. but I often wish you were closer and in a more navigable state!)

ANYWAY,  Addison was fantastic for her portraits.  She missed her nap for my visit but she was still so happy and energetic.  She ran back and forth showing me all of the fun stuff she has to play with.  Some of those items were her favorite little pink chair, a stuffed animal that she loved to hug and kiss, a teapot, a collection of adorable shoes and a puzzle.  She is beautiful and has the most stunning big blue eyes.  Without further ado…. here she is:

Love this one….  Addison does a really great “fishy face”.

I couldn’t decide to post the black and white or color of these next two.  And, so, I posted both!

Addison’s shoe collection would surely make most girls jealous.  So cute!!!

So, my recent blog post The Other 4% of Philly , was picked up by Spirit Community Newspapers.  My blog post was featured as well as a few of my photographs.  You can view it HERE.  More photographs were used in the actual article.

I was excited to see this and hope that Mayor Nutter and other city officials read our local newspapers and react to community needs.  As I look out the window and watch the snowflakes fall, I expect we will find out soon.  I would love to think that a story like this could make a difference.   Time will tell.  Stay warm, everyone!!

According to Mayor Nutter, 96% of Philadelphia’s streets have been plowed.  WHAT?!  REALLY?!  My assumption is that Fishtown (and I have heard South Philly) were the exception to this.  Our entire neighborhood has been a disaster.  Now, nearly 2 weeks after the storms, it is still unsafe to drive down our streets.  I have watched numerous accidents and so many cars slipping, sliding and getting stuck in the 6+ inch holes of ice that have formed.

Yesterday morning there was a tractor trailer immobilized from these holes for almost 2 hours.  A tow truck came along but couldn’t make its way down the street.  Instead it parked way down at the corner and set up cables to “rope” the truck in.

It is tough to see in this picture…. but the red by the wheel of the truck is the cable….

Later in the day, after watching numerous other vehicles struggle down the street, another car was completely disabled.  Some neighbors, a couple of guys from the surrounding cars, and I shoveled, picked and pushed the car until eventually the guy got out.

After that, a neighbor suggested that we all get together and dig out the street ourselves since, clearly, the city wasn’t going to help us.  So, we grabbed our shovels, axes and sledgehammers and slowly but surely neighbors got home from work and came out of their homes to help.  We ended up with a group of about 15.  This all started around 5pm and we didn’t finish until around 9:30pm.  And, yes, we bitched a lot about Philadelphia taxes, the Mayor and the all too forgotten neighborhood of Fishtown….  but in the end, we did it and I am so proud!

Happily we can all now drive down our block of Memphis Street without concern.  Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for most of the surrounding streets.  In fact, just this morning a car was stuck and struggling on the next block down from us.  Sigh….

Though I know I am not the only one that is very sore today with burning and blistered hands, I am happy that we did it!  Maybe other blocks will be encouraged and do the same…. 

My photos are not quite the best as it was extremely dark outside and I really couldn’t feel my fingers or manipulate my lens well.  Besides, I was anxious to get back to work…..  Even still, here you go..

With 6″-8″ of pure ice, this, clearly, was not easy work:

even the kids helped out!!  And, I assure you that these are 2 very strong and determined girls.

try picking that up with 2 hands!

I love that it looks like Carl has a mustache in this picture….

So…. when the last major snowstorm hit, I was SEVERELY disappointed.  It was my plan and intention to photograph the “getting ready” stage & details of a friend’s wedding in Glenside, PA. That same day I was supposed to photograph a first birthday party too.  I knew it was too dangerous to drive as I stared at the snow drifts covering my car and witnessed several cars get stuck on our street.

**  BTW, 9 days later, our streets are still a disaster.  I have not driven my car yet (thank you, SEPTA!) and thinks that Mayor Nutter forgot that Fishtown and South Philly exist.  **

ANYWAY!!!

The wedding couple completely understood and did, indeed, have a local friend photographer that was able to make it for the rest of the wedding.  I had only planned to be there for about an hour.  If I was to be their only photographer for the day, I would have skied there for sure!  Word is that it was a beautiful wedding and that mostly everyone was able to make it.  The birthday party was rescheduled and I am looking forward to that next week!

Anyway, being that I was looking forward to the wedding and birthday party, I decided to do a few “detail” photographs in my backyard with some details from my recent wedding.  Anyway, here are the results!
I love that my shoes were called “Melissa”.  

and also that they had big red hearts….

for our wedding, we made 1,000 paper cranes.  my Mom then got me these beautiful and unique crane earrings from ETSY (sorry don’t know the seller as they were a gift!).  they are handmade and folded silver.  really beautiful and thoughtful.  i love these and wear them often!

a set of  my Grandmom’s pearls.  I, apparently, love the way pearls look on snow.  don’t you?

just an fyi:  this was on snow that was over 2 feet high.  at one point, they started sinking into the snow.  i had to dig them out. shhhhh, don’t tell my husband!

i also love pearls in trees….

yes, my engagement ring was a surprise and yes, my husband designed this one himself….. i love it!

Though it is cool to break records…. I would love this to be over!

Anyway, I wanted to post a few quick snow photos I shot while hanging out my window at 12am….