Posts by Adel:
My Baby Turned 3!
May 21st, 2013Yeah it happened today. My youngest turned 3!
We had her party over the weekend and her one request was that it be a leopard themed one. Who am I to deny my baby?

The party was fabulously wild, as it should be when you’re celebrating 3 phenomenal years in this world. I will (hopefully) be posting pictures from that shindig soon. In the meantime, I’m just sharing her birthday portraits we took here on the blog…

She’s pretty darn amazing this girl of mine. Love her to pieces.
Mothers Day
May 15th, 2013I had a pretty great Mothers Day this year. Largely due to my amazing husband.
One of my favorite gifts was a mini photo session with my children. Courtesy of that same amazing husband.
I was especially grateful to have 2 cooperative kids for this. You guys don’t even know what it probably took for them to do this, given the fact that they have a photographer for a mom!

Well they were cooperative for “most” of it… But I’ll take it! ![]()


To have this many great shots of my kids with me in them, well it’s a gift I cherish more than anything Grizz could have bought me.
Best Mothers Day gift ever!
All photos taken by my husband, my Grizzly Bear.
Quiet Easel Time
May 7th, 2013It makes me immensely sad I’m updating my family blog so little these days. Not so much because I miss blogging all that much, but more because it means I don’t spend nearly enough time as I should just photographing the fleeting everyday moments of my children’s lives.
I think about it often. But I find myself struggling a lot lately, to balance a suddenly flourishing photography business, documenting my quickly growing children’s lives and then all the motherly obligations that increase as they grow. Trying to fit in a creative outlet for my own personal photography growth (and sanity) seems like a luxury now…
I’ve been telling myself that life will slow down soon. That this craziness can’t possibly last for another week or so. Let me just get through this birthday, or 4-job weekend, or backlog of editing, I say to myself. But yeah, I’m not so sure anymore that life will ever slow down. If anything, it seems to accelerate!
I would like to pick up my camera more often to just document the simplest things. Like my daughter, her markers and an easel.
And shoot for what makes me happy right then.
Light.
Love.
And my child and her art.
She turns 3 soon. It makes my heart clench thinking about it.
That quote about the days being long, but the years short? That’s my life right now.
I’m grateful I have reminders like these some days, to remind me to slow down.
CM Blog Circle Monthly Challenge : April – Shooting Through Glass
May 1st, 2013I’ve been SO BUSY these past 2 weeks, I barely got this in in time. Phew!
I’d like to say this though, I was very mindful to shoot through glass whenever I could. It pushed me creatively during client sessions this month as I looked for every opportunity to find a window or sliding door. I am grateful for this project in so many ways.
Here is my take on our theme this month.

Funny I did not end up shooting through a window for this even though I was doing it so much with clients!
Please continue on through our circle to view how Amanda shot through glass…
San Francisco Zoo With My Animal-Lover
April 25th, 2013I’m busy a lot lately. Mostly because my photography business has been taking off quite a bit. I keep thinking it will slow down. And that I will have more days like these…
Carefree, sunny ones at our city zoo. With my littlest. You know, where she is having the time of her life but just refuses to pose for a happy shot for her mama? Yeah those days.

But when I get the chance to spend those few hours with just her, it’s pretty darn cool.
And it’s even better when we randomly run into her preschool buddies. And end up making a whole playdate out of the day.
But then of course someone always trips and falls.
*sigh* After about 30 seconds of loud crying though, she jumped right back into our beautiful, sunny carefree day with her buddies!
Love her!
Filling My Days With Field Trips
April 13th, 2013My son is blessed with a wonderful teacher who works very hard to organize some amazing field trips for his class. LOTS of them!
It’s one of the many reasons my blog suffers. I’m spending my days chaperoning and watching my child grow, learn and experience so much of what San Francisco has to offer with its rich culture and arts.
I thought I’d share a few shots from one of my favorite trips recently. The DeYoung Museum of San Francisco.




After this particular excursion, I have completely fallen in love with this gorgeous museum and its beautiful light and lines. I would love to do a session here one day. Maybe I’ll start with one of my kids…
Academy Of Sciences On Spring Break
April 8th, 2013As the kids get older I’ve had to up my game on our daily activities when they’re not in school. The Academy of Sciences never fails to keep them entertained and impressed. Thank God.

And sometimes more than a little mesmerized…
Well this little excursion to one of San Francisco’s favorite kids’ spots was such a hit, we renewed our membership for another year!



I’m guessing this will quickly become our backup summer activity!
North Beach On Our Anniversary
April 5th, 2013I’m a little behind in posting images to my blog as you can tell since our anniversary was over a week ago. But I don’t think life will ever slow down for me to be as diligent about blogging as when I first started it back in 2011.
Maybe one day when Jack-Jack is 18… In the meantime I’ll just have to deal with the fact that I’m just going to be behind some times when it comes to this blog.
Since our 9 year anniversary fell right in the middle of the spring break week for us, we decided to just take a nice relaxing day wandering around the area of San Francisco where we tied the knot – North Beach.
We were married at the SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church on Washington Square.

It was fun to lunch and take a leisurely walk around one of the most popular tourist traps in the city.

Yeah it was the week I had my little lensbaby so most all these shots are with that lens ![]()



We introduced our littlest to the place where the magic began. But yeah she’s two. And was none too impressed.

Still, it was a fun afternoon out for our family in a part of the city that we don’t frequent often but has a special place in our hearts.

CM Blog Circle Monthly Challenge : March – Interesting Perspectives
April 2nd, 2013For our theme this month of Interesting Perspectives, I decided to take the opportunity to rent a lensbaby! I’d been itching to try one out for awhile now so was glad to find an excuse.
I quickly learned that this unusual looking contraption is not the easiest thing to use. Manual focus on a 3 dimensional plane. Yeah, I can barely get stuff in focus when it’s in autofocus in 1 dimension!
But honestly, I really liked this little lens. It took me awhile to get used to using both hands and multiple fingers to focus and shoot, but I slowly got more comfortable with it.
Too bad I had to return it just when I was starting to have fun with it.
I’m thinking it needs to be on my Christmas list to Santa this year… ![]()

To continue through our circle check out Amanda‘s take on our theme.
Nine Years And Counting
March 27th, 20139 years ago today, I put on a beautiful white dress…
And rushed to a church to meet this dreamboat of a man…
And vowed to love and honor him till the end of our days…
Little did I know then, that the fairytale life I was convinced I had found with this amazing man, could be overshadowed by the great love I have today with him. One we’ve grown together through tears, laughter, heartache and oh so much joy.
9 years later.
That fairytale ending? Thank goodness there was no such thing. Because the life we have built in these last 9 years, is so much stronger and beautiful than anything that could be written in a storybook.
Happy 9 Years to the man of my dreams.
I chose us then.
I choose us now.
And I promise to choose us even when we’re old and grey.

The kids and I dug up our wedding video from the archives and watched it together this morning.
Yes I cried.
(all photos by John Riedy Photography. Edited in 2013 by me!)

































