an infamous hat makes a smokin' good time

For Christmas, my parents surprised me with an antique photo light--bought off Ebay of course. So, a few weeks ago, as our husbands/friends were playing some silly boy game, Julia, Jen, Claire and I decided to play dress-up and test it out. My "new" toy has a 600 watt lightbulb in its itty-bitty, Model-T-headlight-shaped enclosure. After blasting ourselves with it the first time, we decided it needed to be shaded a little. We tried wax paper...and melted it. We tried the scrap material from my curtains...and set it on fire. Then we decided to just go out into the pitch black darkness and see how lit-up we could get Jen. Thats when we noticed the light itself was smoking from the inside. So we took a picture.


One of my trusted associates claims that you can only have this light on for 30seconds or less at a time. As someone who is used to working with hotlights, I find this hard to believe. The box it came in and instruction manual claim the light is for video--it even lists weddings as an event at which to use this product. If anyone else has some input as to how to use my toy without setting a grass fire, I'd love to hear it.

Not inclined to give up so soon, we substituted the fancy-smancy-flaming-photo equipment for a floor lamp my friend Jarrod found at a garage sale. Here are the results:

Jen a-la-1940's

Julia a-la-United Colors of Benetton Ad

Add to the mix: one innocent looking puppy and a feather boa

...and then let her speak her mind.

A perfect evening!

Waiting for Daddy...

Just thought I'd post a picture of my babies waiting for Eric to get home.

Baumgartner Family Portraits

The Baumgartner family:

Pierce Family Portraits

A long, long time ago--well maybe not so long ago--the Pierce family helped me immensely in pulling off my wedding. Though it doesn't come close to repaying the debt, I offered to take a family portrait in return. Here are the results: