What to Wear: Spring

Here in sunny Los Angeles Spring is definitely in the air. The flowers are starting to bloom and the days are getting longer. While I welcome the new season with open arms I have been under the weather this last week thanks to the temperature going from cool to warm and back again, but I digress.

Spring is the time for Spring cleaning, but it is also time to bring out our warmer weather clothes. In my case I keep them boxed up under the bed, but for my son, what fit him last Spring wouldn't fit him this year because like all children he is growing like a weed. So I've been looking at kid's clothes and thought I would come up with some seasonally appropriate ideas for what to wear for a Spring photo shoots in Los Angeles, or anywhere else for that matter.

Clients often ask me for ideas, so here are a few. While, I don't like to use a lot of pattern, there are ways to make it work, and of course texture and color go a long way to adding interest and depth.

Easter Party


Easy Breezy

Fresh n' Sunny

The key to the various looks is keeping the color palette (or as they like to say on Project Runway the "color story") similar and complimentary, so siblings don't have to dress identically, but their clothes relate back to each other. Same rules apply for grown ups. So whether you having professional photographs taken, or are taking pictures yourself, having clothes work together creates a more cohesive image.

All clothes featured are from the Gap, Old Navy, Gymboree, Target and the Children's Place, available nationwide or online.

[PARENTING]: Reading

Why is it that all of my favorite magazines have folded? First domino, now cookie...

The publisher's sent me a note informing me that the remainder of my subscription would be fulfilled by Glamour. Who in the world thinks that a person who reads domino and cookie would have any interest in Glamour. Have they not studied their demographics?

Anyway, I digress from my real intention with this post. The last issue of cookie featured a kid's library designed by Kelly Wearstler for her two boys. The minute I saw it, I knew I wanted my son to have one. Not only had his pile of books become unruly, but I wanted to further encourage his already strong love of reading.

photo courtesy Cookie Magazine

So I turned a junk cupboard in my son's room into his new little paradise. The project took my husband and I one and a half days to complete over the Holiday break (including demo, painting and installation).

BEFORE:
AFTER:

The first words out of my son's mouth when he saw his new room, were "WOW, WOW!"


Would love to know what you think, so please leave a comment.

P.s. now I just have to figure out what to do with all the junk that I used to store in the cupboard... but that's another story.

DOUBLE TAKE - PART 1

They say that having a child makes you rediscover the world. I think that's true on many levels. For one, you start to see the potential danger that can lurk just around the corner, but on a more joyful note you also take notice of things that perhaps you would not have previously observed.

My son, like many boys, has a fascination with rocks and stones, so on a recent outing I took special note of the different rocks and stones, but also the textures and patterns they create. As parents we've all bought touch n' feel books to help our kids understand the different textures, but take a moment on your next outing and you will see them all around you.

The following images were taken in one location and there were plenty more textures around.

A DAY ON THE FARM

With the current economic crisis everyone talks about getting back to basics. I recently had the pleasure of spending a day on a farm following a lovely couple and their boys as they enjoyed picking their own fruits and vegetables and seeing the farm animals.

It was both a fun day and an educational day, as the mother taught the children about healthy eating and respecting the land. She was rewarded at the end of the day when her eldest son declared "Mom, I'm a farmer." The youngest was more into the animals and the dirt, but a great day was had by all.

I had previously photographed them for family portraits, so I thank them for giving me the opportunity to document this wonderful day.


I was inspired by this and have decided that THOMPSON and SPRING photography will start to offer half days and full days of "A day in the life of..." That way families can have beautiful photo-journalistic photos of everyday and memorable moments to look back upon. I will be posting the details of this package soon to the main website.

EVERYDAY HEROES

Every year fire stations around Los Angeles have an open house to meet the community they serve and get the kids involved.

As a family we went to give our son a ride in a big fire truck, but my husband and I enjoyed the visit even more than our son did. The firemen were all so nice, helpful, and full of information. We walked away having learned a lot more about our local everyday heroes.

While the big red trucks are cool, it's the men and women who take pride in risking their lives that really made our day. If you've never checked it out, I highly recommend going to your local fire station open house next year.

Check out our little hero in training.

THE ARTIST WITHIN

I've always been creative. From an early age I would spend hours drawing, painting and building fantastical houses for my dolls. My mother would occasionally call me her "little Kandinsky". Now that I am a mother I want to do everything I can to support my son's creative expression, so I am always thrilled to find cool kid products that do just that.

Check these out. They are bound to help your kids find their inner Kandinsky, or Matisse, or Rothko, what ever your preference might be:

Crayon Stones

Play Dough Kit

Clothespin People Craft Kit

Photos courtesy of Romp, Clementine Art and Mahar Drygoods respectively.

PARENT - JOB DESCRIPTION

The follow "Parent - Job Description" was recently shared with me and I laugh out loud, so I thought I'd share so that everyone can enjoy a little levity. It's been making the rounds by email and I don't know who the author is, but whoever wrote this got it spot on.

POSITION :
Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma
Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop

JOB DESCRIPTION :
Long term, team players needed, for challenging, permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities!
Travel expenses not reimbursed.
Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES :
The rest of your life.
Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5.
Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.
Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.
Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges,
such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets
and stuck zippers.
Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.
Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.
Must be a willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.
Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.
Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.
Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :
None.
Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :
None required unfortunately.
On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION :
Get this! You pay them!
Offering frequent raises and bonuses.
A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because
of the assumption that college will help them
become financially independent.
When you die, you give them whatever is left.
The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS :
While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love, and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.

AND A FOOTNOTE... 'THERE IS NO RETIREMENT -- EVER!!!

BORN TO BE GOOD

Heard an interesting interview on NPR the other day with the author of Born To Be Good, where he talked about goodness and compassion and how we can basically retrain ourselves to be kinder and more compassionate. He said that in his research he did not find there to be any significant differences in the brain between men and women, however, women had an average of seven times the levels of oxytocin, a hormone which he says makes women more compassionate. As all mothers will tell you, we have even higher levels of oxytocin when we are breastfeeding a newborn. Made me put two and two together. So that's why new mothers can't stomach watching the news and violent films... because their oxytocin levels make them even more compassionate. Now that makes sense to me!

Summary from Amazon.com "A new examination of the surprising origins of human goodness. In Born to Be Good, Dacher Keltner demonstrates that humans are not hardwired to lead lives that are "nasty, brutish, and short"—we are in fact born to be good. He investigates an old mystery of human evolution: why have we evolved positive emotions like gratitude, amusement, awe, and compassion that promote ethical action and are the fabric of cooperative societies?

By combining stories of scientific discovery, personal narrative, and Eastern philosophy, Keltner illustrates his discussions with more than fifty photographs of human emotions. Born to Be Good is a profound study of how emotion is the key to living the good life and how the path to happiness goes through human emotions that connect people to one another."