classified information.

things you may not know about me:
1. I have a separate cell phone just for talking to my mom (we talk a lot), and I still go over my minutes on my main phone plan. apparently, I'm a talker even though I claim to hate talking on the phone (I do. I really hate it).
2. the clothing in my closet is in rainbow order.
3. I can't start cooking in my kitchen until it's spotless. it doesn't necessarily have to be spotless at any other time--a fact I'm trying to change--but cooking time is a must.
4. lately I get major anxiety before every flight. not for a fear of flying, but for a fear of flying with him:


any suggestions? how do I entertain and contain a wiggly one year old for four hours in a one square foot area on my lap? please. help me. I really, really need it. I fly out tomorrow, and I've got nothin'.

p.s. I'm flying out to shoot my first wedding this week. emotions: flattered, nervous, energized, overwhelmed, excited like a five year old on christmas eve.

wish me luck.

scooters, strangers & sisters.

october was the best month of the year so far, hands down. take out the five days of the swine flu and it was pert near perfect. business is picking up, family visited, I went on a trip, macko turned one; really, we're a happy little family.
check out the happiness:

October 8th

I know I've written about it, but I thought you ought to "see" mack's little scoot for yourself. this is how he gets around the whole house. it's quite effective. a few pair of pants need some repair work done on the bum, but other than that it's pretty ingenious, don't you think?

October 9th

went to a jungle themed birthday party. it was so cute, and mack got his first taste of cupcake. it was his preparation for what was to come at his own birthday party. as you know, he prepared quite well.

October 10th



did senior pictures for this beautiful girl. she looked so beautiful in so many pictures, I had a hard time choosing which ones to share. to see more, click here.

October 11th



took engagements for these two. I absolutely loved shooting with them. they had me laughing the whole time, and I kind of fell in love with shooting engagements. now if only I knew more people getting married. :) you want to see these, I promise. they are beautiful people, and their photos turned out nicely. to see more, click here.

October 12th

took family pictures for this little girl's family. I LOVE this picture of her. to check more of their shoot, click here.

no more shoots this post, I promise. :)

October 13th

met this little guy and his mom in line at target. it turns out these two were born on the exact same day, in the exact same hospital, and weigh the exact same. so, we took a picture. so it would last longer.

October 14th

these vines of leaves were growing up a post outside my house, and I loved the green and the red right next to each other. fall is so beautiful here.

October 15th

just my cute boy being a cute boy.

October 16th

these two beautiful girls came to visit me. I have the best sisters(-in-law) in the whole world, on both sides! While we would have loved to have all the frandsen women together, the three of us made the most of it, and enjoyed every second.


well... almost every second. there was this one moment that a ferret in an antique shop started nibbling on mel's foot. it was a little less than enjoyable for her, but makes for a good story, right? as you can see, she survived quite nicely.

October 17th

basked in the beautiful, crisp, fall morning air before enjoying a super-duper-yummy breakfast here:

it was featured on the food network, and for good reason. everything was delectable. if you live in pittsburgh and haven't been, you're truly missing out.

October 18th

went shopping and took some photos. I might have forced them a little bit on that second part, but I had every reason to--look how stunningly beautiful my sisters(-in-law) are.


October 19th

*photos taken by mel (I think... maybe amy... do you guys know??)*
spent our last day together at the west end overlook. it's the ideal way to sum up the pittsburgh experience.


I couldn't be happier they came to visit. they made major sacrifices to be here, and nearly got stuck in new york on their way home, but they did it for me. a special thanks to my mom who took all five of their kiddos for much of the time, and never muttered a word of complaint. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have people in my life like amy and mel. they are astonishing mothers, and good people to the core, not to mention fun, funny and talented. so, thanks. you're the best. and just like they antique store manager said, we are sisters, in the truest meaning of the word.

so, there you have it: from scoots to sisters, october is shaping up to be a pretty good month--and we still have a few more days to go!

thanks for being a part of it all. :)

backtracking.

way behind. way, way behind. I keep thinking I'm going to do a major post for the whole month of october, but I think it's time to be honest with myself... that's not going to happen. so, here's the first bite.

September 28th
(I told you... way behind.)

this vest is one of my favorite articles of clothing that mack owns. every single time he wears it, at least five people stop me and ask where I got it. it came from mack's uncle stevie who thrifted it at some little shop in new york (he lives there, you know). isn't it awesome? it reminds me of my childhood. I think I owned moon boots in the same pattern.

September 29th

*photo taken by deej*


a growing leaf, and a floating leaf in honor of hannah's birthday. happy birthday little sis! you're the best!

September 30th

took family pictures for the richins. aren't they a beautiful family? we had so much fun, and I adore the colors they chose. to see more, click here.

October 1st

went to a park to play on the playground. mack is getting so big. he doesn't even look like my baby anymore. when did he become a toddler?? oh wait. that's right, he's not. he can't even crawl yet, let alone toddle. someday. I think.

October 2nd

flew all by myself (no baby to stress over=heavenly) to orlando for a girls' trip with a few of my good friends that moved away from pittsburgh last may. it was so nice to escape for a few days. here's what we did:

October 3rd

sat by the pool...


enjoyed the hot sun, and beautiful scenery....

October 4th

talked, shopped, talked, ate, talked, sat by the pool, talked, shopped, ate, talked, cried a little and talked some more...

October 5th

oh yeah, and sat by the pool some more (can you see us all in mel's glasses?)...


and enjoyed the sun and scenery a little more...


and ate, and talked and laughed a little more (jana and rachel are my favorite in this picture. amazing is the only word I can come up with)...

October 6th

and shopped...

October 7th

*photo taken by melanie*
and stayed up 'til all hours of the night talking, laughing, eating, talking, crying, and talking some more. I came home so refreshed and ready to be a good mommy again. it was just what I needed.

thanks to everyone who made it happen (you know who you are)! a special thanks goes out to dj who doesn't quite understand the purpose/need of such trips. he was a trooper though, and made minimal comments about my craziness. :)

I miss these girls so much. thanks for hanging out with me for a few days, and reminding me what good friends I have. can't wait 'til next time!

1.

if you know me, you know I think birthdays are a big deal. combine that with the fact that I am ridiculously sentimental, and you come up with a birthday party I spent way too much time and energy on, considering my child won't even remember it. but, in the end, I'm glad we did it.
**be warned: this post is meant to be super detailed so family members who couldn't be here can get an idea of how it all went down. I won't be offended if you get bored.**
here is mr. macko's birthday week, starting with the actual day:

October 27th
first of all, I was in and out of tears all day long. how can my baby be one already? secondly, all day long, I kept telling DJ, "we were doing _____ right this minute last year." so, we decided to drive to the hospital and take a picture of mack in front of the hospital the exact minute he was born. here you go. welcome to your first year mack.







no actual celebration that day, but mack did have a little bite of pumpkin roll. he loved it. look at the kid, is anyone surprised?

October 28th

spent the day making these super easy, inexpensive tissue paper puffs for mack's party. cute, no?

October 29th

went over to a friend's place to help with these. a million thanks to elise who made the cake pops, and let me come over to help dip and decorate them. I think they turned out so, so cute. she found the idea, picked up all the ingredients, and prepared everything. they were a hit! thanks again, elise!!

October 30th

*photo taken by deej*
all dressed up for the ward trunk or treat. honestly, he is the cutest dalmation ever.


October 31st
the party...
after a slightly hectic morning (went five different places to find dry ice for homemade rootbeer, couldn't find it anywhere, ended up buying jones soda instead.) and no sleep the night before due to a cake catastrophe (completely ruined the first cake, and started over at 1am), the party was ready to go. a huge shout out to keri who came up with the concept for the whole party. I'm lucky to have super creative friends. :)
the invites (wrapped around a jones soda bottle like a label):


along with the cake pops and tissue paper puffs above, here are the other parts of the food table:

white "pumpkins" filled with candy


the above mentioned jones soda.


millions of spider cupcakes



the cake. don't judge. next year I'm ordering one from a bakery. I was not made to decorate cakes.

somehow I didn't get a picture of the whole table. so, I've included my 'pre-game' sketch to help you visualize where everything was. the giant pumpkin on the right side of the table had soup in it, and a wonderful friend made a yummy salad for the other side of the table.


the costumes:
I was Galinda from Wicked. two years ago I was Elphaba, and decided to carry on the wicked tradition. unfortunately, people thought I was either the fairy god mother or a beauty queen. I guess Galinda needs an unnaturally colored face to be recognizable.


DJ bought a pig nose and a thermometer and was going to be swine flu. I thought it was super creative. we couldn't find the thermometer, and after running errands for the party, he didn't have time to properly affix the pig nose, so instead he was a super attractive husband. that's better anyway. :)

the little animals:






how mack started to feel about half way through:


...until we brought out the cake. he went crazy.

notice the first three pictures: 1. testing. 2. yay! this stuff is good! 3. more, please! (the fist in the hand is his version of the sign for "more"). also, notice how he plunged his sippy cup into the cake. yum. the hat was made by carlee. check out the link. she sells lots of cool stuff.
how much did he eat, you ask? one third. that's 1/3 for those of you who need to see it in numbers. nearly half of a double layer cake. yup, I think he liked it. and, he took a nice long nap after, and slept really well that night. maybe I should give him his own giant cake more often.

all in all, I think it was a success. thanks to everyone who came, helped, and made mack's birthday special!

November 1st
a few pictures from mack's one year photo shoot:








dear mr. mackers,

happy birthday little guy.
I can't believe you've been mine for one entire year. you will never understand how you have made me better in every way (a little crazier too, but one has to take what they can get, you know). we love you more than you will ever understand until you have a child of your own. I hope you can put up with all of our idiosyncrasies and be proud to call us your parents.
I love watching you discover life every day. I love listening to and watching you figure out your words. every time a word escapes your little mouth or a sign comes from your little hands, my heart melts just a little bit. I love how proud you are of yourself when you realize what you've done. I'm proud of you too.
I love how excited you get to see daddy when he comes home, and I love how you still need me when you're sad or hurt. I hope that never changes, and you will always come to us when your sad or hurt and need a little comfort.
I love watching you scoot around the house. it's unconventional, inventive, and so smart. who wouldn't want to travel around on their bum all day? you have one-upped us all.
I love listening to you pound out your original compositions on the piano. I love that you love it--you have definitely inherited your mommy and daddy's love for all things musical. I know you won't believe it when you're older, but you already sing to us. you sing in the car, you sing in your crib, you match whatever tone comes out of our mouth. I think you're a musical genius; we have a progeny on our hands! oh, and by the way, if you end up hating all things musical, that's okay too. :)
I love that you have a little will of your own, and you quietly (or not so quietly sometimes) make it known. I hope you will always stand up for what you believe in... it would be all right if you don't scream it at everyone through the rest of your life though. just sayin'.
I love how you find humor in the simplest things. I love how you laugh at me when I'm crying. it makes the hard moments a little easier. you make me laugh every day.
I love how shy and cuddly you are. even though it can be taxing at times, I love that you want to cuddle up to me whenever you can.
I love how you remind me of the important things in life. you mean the world to me.
little man, I'm so proud to call myself your mommy. I love you to the moon and back.
happy birthday.
love, mommy

sentimental.

sentimental is the word of the day. today is my little guy's first birthday--I absolutely cannot believe it. all I can think about is what I was doing exactly one year ago at this very minute. much more needs to be said about that, but it will be in another post, another day, after his birthday party is this saturday, and his one year old photo shoot is later this week. my little man is getting so big.

on another, much less sentimental note, I'm fully recovered from the swine flu. that's right. the swine flu. so if you're wondering where I've been for the last couple weeks, the answer is in bed. literally. thank goodness for the most amazing friend in the whole world, and the best husband ever, or I don't think I would have survived.

now to this gaggle of photos. editing these is making me long for the beaches of virginia beach. when the G20 Summit came to town, we skipped town. the day before the summit commenced, we called up some friends, booked a hotel, and made plans to leave the next day. it was the perfect escape. we had sunny skies, rainy skies, and cloudy skies, but we were just happy to be with each other.

September 23rd

September 24th
cape henry lighthouse. such a beautiful, picturesque place. apparently, I was diggin' the black and whites, but who can blame me?










September 25th
the people...

keri: the stylish one.


*photo taken by keri*
me. keri says I was looking at dj when she snapped this picture. awww.


madi: the happy one.


mack: the coy one.


the whole gang. so what if we're forcing them to like each other?? what's the big deal? they'll thank us some day.

September 26th
the beach:

as you can see, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. not a bad deal, I say.

sand sculpting contest:

can you see the man in the moon? ...


that's right, it's been mack all along. he's all powerful.


this is purely to show you the scope of these sand sculptures. they were amazing.

the little ones discovered that sand is fun. looks like we'll have to take another beach trip soon.






September 27th

goodbye virginia beach. you were good to us.

I have much more to share. october was a busy, busy month, and I can't wait to show you what I've been up to!

see you real soon.

plugs.

mack is on the move--not your conventional type of movement, but he's getting around nonetheless. he scoots all over the house on his little bum, and we have discovered he loves plugs.

so do I. so today I'll be plugging some of my favorite things.

9.9.09

DJ and I celebrated 9.9.09 by gathering together $9.99 and browsing the aisles of our local rite aid. we split the aisles into 5 groups, and chose an item from each group. the idea was all his, so props to deej for being the brains of this outfit. we came away with a shoe polish kit (our big ticket item--$1.24!), rite aid brand chap stick, travel size hand sanatizer, travel size crest pro health (my absolute favorite--you've gotta try the clean cinnamon), fun size twix in a pack of 10, and a pack of crayola crayons.

big spenders.

September 10th

started teaching a new class at a new gym with new people and new nerves. here's to hoping it works out.

September 11th

mack gets a forward facing carseat. woot! we chose the graco nautilus, and we've been happy so far. my favorite part? glancing in my rear view mirror and seeing my happy, smiling boy.

September 12th



one of my good friends started an etsy shop selling women's and children's hair accessories, and appliqued children's clothing. All of her items are fantastic. she asked me to take her product shots, and I fell in love with everything she is selling. I already have two head bands and one clip, and I'm sure I'm not done. check out bold minimalist. you won't be disappointed. to see more of the product shoot, click here.

September 13th
the mack games...


yes, in the 'technologies' picture, he is sliding the 'slide to open' gadget on dj's phone. he has it down. he can open that phone in no time flat. he's a chip off the old block.

September 14th
went family outing to sonic. it was a bit of a drive, but totally worth it. I can't wait to live close to one again.

while we were there, we ventured into a chuck e. cheese where mack went on his first ride. he wasn't exactly sure how he felt about it...


September 15th





another incredibly talented friend who makes amazing diaper bags, birdie slings, and little girls' tutus. she's in the process of making me a custom diaper bag right now, and I can't wait to get my hands on it! check out le sassy seamstress. you can see more of her product shoot here.

September 16th

went to dinner at the cheesecake factory with some friends. yum.

September 17th

did a newborn shoot (truly, one of my favorite things) with this sweet little girl. I just wanted to eat her up. look at those cute little lips. more can be found here.

September 18th

went on a date with my husband. we went to a romantic little restaurant called Point Brugge Cafe, then to Julie & Julia. The food was delicious, the movie was one of the best I've seen in a while, and the company was perfect. thank goodness for good friends who took our little man for the night. thanks. you know who you are.

September 19th

another cute little newborn to brighten my day. only four days old, and so cuddly and cute. to see more, click here.

September 20th

reggie out on the town. he's a charmer.

September 21st



found this truck on a sunday drive. dj was nice enough to stop so we could take a few pictures. I couldn't stop talking about it for days. isn't it awesome? to see more, click here.

September 22nd

*photo taken by deej*
happy fall. my favorite time of year here in the 'burgh.

no more plugs for you, but as long as mack has his obsession, there will be lots more for us.

so, waddayathink? do you have any plugs to share with me? pretty please?

sickies, cookies, friendsies & lovesies.

September 1st

*photo taken by DJ*
mack gets {really} sick for the first time. I'm talking a fever of 103 and rashes all over his back and tummy. three doctors later, I calmed down a bit, and we spent the day like this looking out the window at this:

it was actually quite nice.
how can one be that sick and still be that cute? how?

September 2nd
mack is back, and cuter than ever.





my little man is TEN MONTHS and ONE WEEK old, and life with him is getting sweeter every day.
by the way, he says mama and dada, and it gets me every time. even when he's yelling it at the top of his lungs from the next room. he loves us.

September 3rd

a new recipe. it is definitely the best I've found so far--and believe me, I've been on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookie for years. deliciously chewy in the middle, a little bit crisp on the outside, and a slight hint of toffee flavor. YUM!!! email me if you want it (libbijones at gmail dot com), I'm keeping it a teensy bit secret before a chocolate chip cookie cook-off next week.

September 4th

drove here for labor day weekend to spend the holiday with some of our favorite friends

September 5th



started the weekend out with an incredible breakfast of blueberry pancakes & produce shopping at an open air market. it was divine.

September 6th
made our way here:






the birthplace of him:


where they prohibit this:

so I was unable to get a picture of the gorgeous vintage covered baby crib in Washington's house, and I can't find it online anywhere. I'm a little heartbroken.


I did, however, get a picture of these artichokes in the one place they allow indoor pictures--the slaughter house. thanks a lot.


*photo taken by Katie*
mack played in George Washington's yard while DJ and I ignored him a little and maybe might have kissed.

good day all around.

September 7th

woke up to homemade lemon pancakes with raspberry topping. they were even better than the blueberry pancakes, which is quite the feat.

September 8th
visited here:

it was breathtaking.


*photo taken by DJ*
mack even snuggled up for this picture. there are no words for how much I love him. really. none.

and, there are no words for how much I appreciate your support and words of encouragement. it means a lot. you keep me going. so thanks.

lovesies all around.