These totally remind me of the outfit that Popeye’s little Sweet Pea wore. Aren’t they adorable? Alessandra is brilliant when it comes to designing gorgeous baby products. She’s fine tuning these beauties for sale on her website.

Thank you to our wonderful little model Jackson and his mom Michelle for showing off the newest design from Lala’s Pequeños.

And the lovely and talented mind behind Lala’s Pequeños… Alessandra Gutierrez. She is brilliant! Check out her blog: www.tribal-times.com

Sweet little Kiera was our model for Lala’s Pequeños newest line of Noonies.

The founder of Lala’s Noonies, Alessandra Gutierrez with our model:

Kiera and her beautiful mother Amy:

My wonderful husband had a box of Georgetown Cupcakes shipped to me early for Mother’s Day since he’s out of town to be with his dad who is having a quadruple bypass tomorrow. Our prayers are with him and wishes for a speedy recovery. I think he deserves a Georgetown Cupcake after all is said and done. They make anyone feel a little better.

I was so excited when I opened the front door to find the pink box with stars, swirls and florals emblazoned on it. Brand recognition doesn’t get much better than that. The delivery guy neglected to read the “This Side Up” sign and left it standing on it’s side. I thought the icing would have slid right off. But Georgetown Cupcake’s brilliant packaging saved the day. The box was packed with Styrofoam sleeves and 2 ice packs to keep the cupcakes nice and fresh upon delivery. Here is my dissection of the box, bit by bit. The cupcakes were as delicious as though I’d stood in line to buy one myself. Bravo GC! I will definitely be ordering them when we move next year (hopefully back to San Diego). Order some for yourself or your loved ones here.

Over the last year and a half I’ve had the wonderful honor of working with Alessandra Gutierrez, the creative brain behind the Noonie. Today she brought her 2010 collection for me to photograph. Such bright, fun, vibrant colors! If you or someone you know has a baby under 3 months of age, these are the perfect gift of snuggley softness you can wrap a baby in.

Lala’s Pequenos is bringing out a fun new clothing line as well, so check back here sometime in February/March to see the fabulous new items. We are looking for boys /girls around the age of 5 for a model call. Must be hams in front of the camera. The bigger the ham, the better. Contact me with a photograph of your prospective model for consideration.

Today our lovely model was little miss Sofie. Such a gorgeous darling of a baby!

My friend Carrie sent me a link to the ad featuring me and my daughter that she took. Kinda neat. Thanks Carrie!

My friend Carrie Sandoval took a photo of my daughter (when she was a wee bitty-bit) and myself and it now being used as an advertising piece for this company. Kinda cool. =) Thanks Carrie!

My holiday card vendor of choice, and popular amongst a good number of my colleagues: www.tinyprints.com. If you have booked a session with me and would like to order your own holiday cards, let me know the design you’d like and I’ll be happy to upload your photos for you. They have hundreds of gorgeous designs and themes to choose from.

While I was in San Diego last month, I ate at an Australian restaurant called Bondi in the Gaslamp Quarter (downtown San Diego). A friend of mine ordered the Omrah Pinot Noir and it was love at first sip. I tried to find it here in VA, to no avail, but lucked out by finding an online vendor (Old Bridge Cellars) who shipped 3 bottles to me from CA. It was $36/bottle at the restaurant, but online it was only $17/bottle through Old Bridge Cellars. I ordered it last weekend and it arrived today. Not a bad turnaround time. So if you want to try something new, I recommend this happiness in a bottle. Oh, and I love the personal touch with the hand-written note included with my package. =) Great customer service from Old Bridge Cellars. Kudos!

Here is the product info from the Old Bridge Celllars website:

Omrah Pinot Noir 2008
SKU: PL08OPN
2008 vintage – not yet reviewed; 2007 vintage – 89 pts Robert Parker, 88 pts Wine Spectator, 88 pts Wine Enthusiast, 87 pts Wine & Spirits Magazine More details…
Region: South West, Western Australia

Deep, vibrant crimson in color. The nose offers distinctive Pinot Noir spice and vibrant cherry and raspberry fruits with subtle vanillin undertones derived from oak maturation. Supple and smooth, the palate displays lashings of sweet fruit, finely polished tannins and balanced acidity that provides a finely poised backbone, great length and impressive focus.

Fellow photographer Stephanie Beaty turned me onto BabyHawks when we were living in San Diego. Seriously the most awesome, customizable baby wearing product on the market. Way more comfortable than Baby Bjorns. You pick your strap colors and fabric style and they custom build it for you. I’ve purchased both the newborn and toddler sizes and they have saved me the hassle of dragging a big bulky stroller into crowded malls and grocery stores. Baby fits comfortably against your chest or back, leaving your hands free to shop. Happy baby = happy mom and dad. Babywearing… I think Americans need to catch the wave. I wish they had them when I had my first 3 children. I cannot rave about them enough. Here is a photo of my husband wearing our daughter in one when she was newborn and as a toddler (please excuse his beadhead):

Oh, and they are terrific for corralling rambunctious 4 year olds:

A friend of mine posted about these cool zippered crib sheets. For those of you who have struggled with putting fitted sheets on a crib mattress, you know what a pain it is. From the website:

• The world’s easiest crib sheet! Place the mattress in the zipper base, lay our flat mattress pad on the mattress and zip on the top
• When the top sheet is soiled, just unzip it—no need to remove bumpers—and zip on a clean zipper sheet
• 200-thread count 100% cotton sheet that’s soft and cozy for baby
• Covered zipper never touches baby