Moments In Time

Entering this in Lucia's Photo challenge. the theme is LOVE in b&w.

Recently I've been a little MIA due to an overwhelming amount of school. (I just remind myself that I have a year and three months left of high school - they'll go by pretty fast, right?)

I've taken a ton of pictures lately but I wanted to focus today on those special moments in time. The ones that seem so unimportant yet once captured, hold such meaning. Like baby hands banging on the piano. And the steam rising off the food before dinner. And the two year old eating birthday cake. And the cat licking his paw. And the snow falling. And laughter. And love.

This is why I take pictures. This is why I love photography. To freeze moments in time, both the significant and seemingly unimportant. This is what I love.


Why do you take pictures?

~Mary Kate

This Boy is Two

Two years ago we were in the midst of two blizzards, one after another. Record snow and upwards of 5ft drifts (maybe that doesn't qualify as a blizzard for some of you but here that is definitely a blizzard :D). For the kids it was the best weekend ever. Right before the first blizzard hit our parents drove up to the hospital that my mom loves (it's 45 minutes away) and our Grandmother and Aunt came to stay with us. We waited all day for the call to tell us we had a new brother or sister. And finally at 10pm my dad called to tell us the news. Joseph William was born at 9:17 pm weighing 6 lbs 13.6 ounces and being 19 in. long.

John Paul & Joey
Left: When Joey came home from the hospital         Right: This past December

He is so cute! It's hard to believe he is already a two year old.
His birthday fell on the Superbowl this year so it was a combined Superbowl/birthday party.

He was so excited to sit at the table for his birthday dinner instead of his high chair.

Do you see how long his eyelashes are?

 Joey loves books and loves it when his older siblings read to him:

 I love this little boy so much!


~Mary Kate

A Simple Life

7/25 {2.7.12} 

Check out this post to learn about my current photo project: Project 12

Linking up to:

This week's theme was perfect considering that I've been taking a food  photo each day. The two pictures are SOOC. My setup consisted of slicing the few slices of cheese and then moving the cutting board onto a chair set up right next to our french doors. I enlisted my younger brother to hold the knife for me. :)

Also linking up here: 

The theme for this link up is "favorite" and the photo in this post is be far my favorite food photo I've taken so far. 
~Mary Kate

p.s. go check out this amazing giveway: here

Fun Times

 I've been on the hunt for some really good digital software for awhile. I have always loved looking at  Kelle Hampton's (Enjoying the Small Things) photo books that she puts together for each of her daughter's birthdays and I've wanted to do the same.

So when I say a giveaway (hosted by Johanna at Growing Up on a Farm) with the prize being My Memories Suite 3 I had to enter.  Right after I entered the giveaway I went to the My Memories website, downloaded the free trial version of this software and fell in love. I loved it so much that I was planning on buying it if I didn't win it.And guess what? I won it! So now I can share some of the pages I created with you.

In the "Family" album:

My "Portfolio" Album:

This is the cover of this album.

 Another plus to this software - I can make collages on it, which is really good because I've made collages on picnik for the past two years and I had no idea what I was going to do when it closes in April. Now I have an answer :) Thanks so much Johanna.

~Mary Kate

Lotsa Goodies

I don't usually enter a lot of giveaways and I think I've posted about giveaways once (maybe twice) before, however I have stumbled upon 4 terrific giveaways today and I had to share them.

First up is hosted by Elisha:

She has five gorgeous necklaces for five lucky winners. So go enter!

Second is found at Unsinkable:







They have four prizes for 1 lucky winner.

The third giveaway is over at The Color Issue:








The prize is a Ona camera bag in the color or your choice (retailed for $329).

I'm the most excited about this next one. It's hosted at Beautiful Photo Props






And the prize is an Epipanie camera bag of your choice. I have had my eyes on an Epipanie camera bag for almost a year but they are between $150-$200 each and so they keep getting pushed down on my list.

And since I'm in the topic of giveaways I also wanted to share this giveaway which is going to end in a week:

My favorite item from her giveaway is the

Project 12

I never got around to starting a 365/366 project this year, but I still wanted to have some sort of photography project/challenge to do throughout the year. Which is why I'm introducing....

This is a monthly project (hence the 12) where each month my photography theme/goal will change.  For 25 days out of each month I have to take a photo or more that follows my theme.

Technically I didn't have a theme/goal for January, however I had lightroom 3 trial for the whole month and I played around with editing a lot so I'm saying that my January theme/goal was editing.

Two examples (roll over the image to see the SOOC shot)

But I do have a February theme.And it's food. I really want to get better at food photography and now that I have my 50mm lens I don't have my old excuse of bad kitchen lighting. :)

Here is what I have so far:

1/25 {2.1.12}
(I made these following this amazing recipe: Cookies and Cream Cupcakes)

2/25 {2.2.12}

And in the topic of food photography I have two photos from January to share:

I added a Project 12 button to my sidebar in case you want to join in on the fun. {And don't forget to grab my brand-new blog button also located on my sidebar}.
~Mary Kate

P.S. Thank you for all your sweet comments on my watercolor paintings.