Over the Rainbow

So last night Mr. PhotoJoe hosted another pizza night, mmmm. After about a month of figuring out dates that were good for everyone we finally got together. Storms were crazy yesterday but they also brought a nice present. I think Joe's kids ran around the neighborhood looking for the pot of gold. I don't think they struck it rich though.

So here was our crew, the Kielinski's Carver, Kyle and Linette, then me, Ryan in the green, Joe and his lady and my Donald. Joe's other lady friend is trying to peek through and I am sorry I don't remember their names. I am horrible. Thanks again for a lovely evening.

I am taking the day off today. I just got back from a lovely, yet hard, yoga class and am going to run out the door to hang with Linette and Carver today. It has been a whirl wind over the last couple of days and I have 4 really fun engagement shoots to share this week. So even though I have a mound of editing to do I need a bit of down time. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, it was absolutely gorgeous! Could not have asked for better weather.

Have a great day.

Blooming Wax Plant

My wax plant is blooming and it is so unusual that I thought I would share. My mom gave me a clipping of her plant years ago and it took forever for mine to produce a bloom. My mom's still out blooms mine.

Its very interesting though, it sends off these shoots and they look like little wax beads or something.
This is what it looks like before it blooms

Here it is in full bloom, spectacular isn't it?

I think the underside is just as interesting, I love the star shape.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I just wanted to send some birthday wishes out to my Mom today! She hits a milestone at 65 today!

Here is a recent photo I swiped from her blog with Geoff when she was in Hawaii a few weeks ago.

Happy Birthday Mom, I hope you had a fun filled day. Love you.

Jumble of stuff

Ok, I have a few tid bits of info to throw out there. So this post is just a mish mosh of thoughts.

First, Jilly had her baby boy today, 8.6 lbs! Woohoo! He has no name as of this very moment and I can not wait to see what it will be. There are a handful in consideration. Her film will be ready on Wednesday so can't wait to see what we got from the belly shoot, man the timing on that could not have been any closer.

Love ya Willy!Today we got to hang out with the RRSC for Dylan and Calebs first birthday party! These guys are getting so big and being twins they could not be any different. They have surely grown, a few days old and six months old! Yes we are a tad late celebrating the birthday but everybody has been super busy. Here are the birthday boys, I will be posting more later.
I had to snag this just because from Ryan's blog. Not too often I am in a photo these days. We had a good Philly PUG BBQ on Thursday and it was great to see so many people make it out. I never even had the chance to eat anything because I was talking too much. He has more photos from the evening at his blog as well.
PhotoJoe, me and Miss Jackie Bayne

I will be out of the office all day tomorrow attending the AltF workshop out in Lancaster. Looking forward to it. I promise to have Melissa & Mike's slideshow up this week, I know I know its been two weeks, I will be caught up after I get that posted.

A lot of you have asked and sent your good thoughts about our house, I just wanted to say thank you so much! There has only been one day since it has been on the market that we have not had a showing. Hopefully we will soon hear good news. Keep thinking good thoughts!

OK, thats it for now! Have a great week.

CT PUG retreat

The last few days I have had the pleasure of hanging out with some awesome photographers up in Connecticut, well we were actually in Massachusetts just over the CT border. Amanda Harris was our gracious host and I am in love with her cabin. Over the past year I have developed some wonderful friendships with the Connecticut Pictage base of photographers and whenever I can I try to make it up to events that they hold. It was really awesome getting to spend a few days with everyone and make many new connections along the way. I didn't go picture crazy, besides my obsession with the flowers.... But I did put together a few that sum up the visit.

Here is the cabin, the view of the club house from the doc, Mr. Justin Marantz paddlin in the lake and the reflection of an awesome sunset in the water. Oh so peaceful.

Love my bumble bee. I might make a large canvas print of this one.

Jo recreating an Australian shampoo commercial. Lovely water swirl.

More flowers, what can I say I like colorful pretty things.

Its been so nice these past few weeks just taking off to visit friends and travel. Its always good to have some inspirational time with photographer peers as well. I am still working on some goal setting, my 101 in 1001. Its harder than you might think. I need visits like these to keep me on my toes.

I am getting back in motion today, I am super tired though. A nap might be in order.

Visiting Jilly

Earlier this week I went up to NYC to visit my good friend Jill who is very pregnant. We had been going back and forth trying to figure out a good time to visit for the past few months. I called her on Friday because I had been thinking about her a lot and just so happens that she took 2 days off of work to get stuff done around her apartment in preparation for this baby. I rearranged some things in my calendar and headed up on Monday to lend a helping hand.

Jilly is due 8-8-08

She has the typical small apartment in New York, well a tad larger since she is actually in Yonkers but you get the drift. She had a ton of box's and bags of gifts from her shower that didn't have homes yet. I helped to organize a little, never thought I would be helping someone else organize! We made plenty of trips to return and exchange things as well. I think we made a good dent in things and I can rest a little easier knowing I was able to help with something that would have taken her ages to do.

We did do a belly shoot, of course! Jilly has been around since I started doing this and its not everyday when good friend is pregnant. I haven't had a chance to take the film in so it will be a few weeks until we see anything from her shoot. We did a few fun ones with the digital but most of the visit thats exactly what we did, visited.

It was really fun to see her pregnant. Her belly is super cute, so round and compact! You would never know she was pregnant from behind, aside from the little waddle, or when she lays on her side. Its crazy! OOh we did get pedicures too, which was wonderful on our sore feet and especially Jilly's poor feet. Its crazy to think that the next time I see her she will have a new person in her life. This kid is going to have the best mom and such a fun filled childhood. Jill is the program director for the Central Park day camp, and has been doing camps since I can remember. I would go to visit her in Delaware when she worked on the boyscouts camp during the summers. So you can imagine what a fun and adventurous person she already is and the kids all already love her, just add her own child to that mix and watch out! Oh boy!

Jill, so excited for you and so proud of all you do!

I am continuing to get caught up today. I will be out of town again this week! I am going up to Connecticut to hang out with some photographers for a little retreat, really looking forward to it. Then I get to hang out for a day with my fun couple and friends Jess and Chris. I love that I can do this sort of stuff! I have an awesome job.

Internet problems over here.

Between house showings and our home network being down we are a bit swamped!  Just wanted to let everyone who is waiting for their blog posts and slideshows know that we are without internet.  I think the storm the other night fried my wireless router, drats!  Its seriously killing me.

Thank goodness for the iphone in these time of desperate measure!

House for Sale!

Our house is for Sale!

We have been hard at work getting this house ready for market. It officially went up on Friday. Know of anyone who is interested in a great house, tons of charm, updated and close to the city?
Here is a little description:
Move right in to this fabulous home with classic details and modern conveniences. Plus, there’s a giant 800 sqft detached garage for contractors, car collectors or hobbyist! Architectural details – 9’6” ceilings, tall windows, orig. woodwork, random width h/w floors, door knobs, and more – have been preserved. Spacious L/R opens to the D/R, making one large bright and airy living space. Newly installed kitchen with retro charm. Abundant storage & new appliances make this kitchen a luxury to use. French doors access a sunny laundry rm with storage, greenhouse window & new half bath. The 200 sqft backyard is also accessed by a breezeway allowing light and a cooling breeze into the house. The master bedroom is open and bright and has abundant closet space. Full bsmt has lots of storage. New 200 amp electrical service, outlets and wiring. Convenient location off the main road, but close to shopping, Hinge Café, and the famous Tacconelli’s Pizza. Enjoy neighborhood living with easy access to I-95 and Center City.

We have put a ton of work into this place. Don has done such a fantastic job preserving the architectural integrity. We have used a lot of rescued materials to bring this place back to life and into the modern age. I will certainly miss it, but we are hoping to find ourselves a home with some land. We need to feel some grass between our feet, and so does our pooch. We most likely be moving about 45 minutes out of the city. I will update when we find our new home. Here's hoping our house will be a hot ticket for someone in this unstable market.

Take a tour of our house!

Living room looking to the back of the house.

Dining room

Dining room looking to the front of the house.

The kitchen.
This is the gem of the house. Rescued 1950's cabinets, 1922 cast iron double basin sink, restored Gaffers & Sattler oven, NOS kitchenaid dishwasher, and 1920's subway tile. The floor and counter tops are round penny tile. Notice our custom wine rack? There is also a custom spice rack and a pot filler over the stove. I will miss this kitchen tremendously.

Another view of the kitchen looking towards the back of the house and the laundry room.

Master Bedroom

Master bedroom, different angle. You can see my office through the door on the left.

My office.

New downstairs bathroom.

Upstairs bathroom

So there ya go. Pass along the information to anyone you think may be interested. I will provide updates as they happen. We have our first showing tomorrow!

Stretch

I am sorry I have been a bad blogger. I actually don't even like saying the word blogger, anyway... I have been busy. We have a ton of things on our plate at the house at the moment, which I will reveal soon enough.

Today I started a yoga class. It is high time I get myself back in a routine of activity. I have really let myself go over the past year and I am really not comfortable in my own body. An under active thyroid does not help matters in the slightest and it tends to leave me feeling very sluggish. But excuses excuses la-di-da. The class today was very good. I have never taken yoga on a regular basis but I think its exactly what I need right now to wake my body up. I also need the group activity. I can not be trusted to go to the gym alone, I think thats my other problem. I got too bored with my routine and could not bump myself out of it. I need motivation. I miss the good ole days of meeting Christina to go to the gym before work at Drexel.

In thinking about yoga I am actually quite sore from being out shooting with Miss Jackie Bayne this weekend and I also came across this image Ryan sent to me a few months back. I was out shooting Carina and Ron's wedding with him and he grabbed this oh so flattering photo of me. Kinda looks like one of the yoga poses I did today. I will have to pay extra attention in class to apply more poses to my shooting technique.
Here's hoping I can find my center again and get back on the active track of life.

Don't be stupid like me.

If you have an iphone and want to update it to the new software don't do it today. I should totally know better, what did I learn supporting Mac software all those years? Never update software on the first day in case of glitches. I was excited and as a result I am sitting with an unusable iphone right now until Apples servers can catch up.

find out all you need to know here:
iPhone 2.0 update problems

So if you are trying to contact me, I have no phone right now and won't until I can finish the update on my iphone. Who knows when that will be.

Learn from my mistakes. WAIT to UPDATE!

**EDIT**
After 4 hours I am finally back up. ahhh.

Our orphan Turtle

We have been caring for a little Turtle since last week. This weekend I finally broke down and gave it a more suitable habitat. It had been in a shoe box, poor thing. We found him in front of the house last week and have no clue where he or she may have come from. Don has a friend that knows more about turtles and tortoise's so it will hopefully have a new home with her soon. From what I have been able to find and not knowing anything about these little reptiles he is a red bellied turtle, which in PA happen to be on the endangered species list. That just raises more questions about why we found him in front of the house. We are in a city neighborhood so its not like there are any ponds or creeks around.

I got some turtle pellets to feed him but he has been loving the wandering jew you see here. The two leaves that are near the rock are almost gone because he has been snacking on them.

As you can see he is actually very small.

So he is at least happier now that he has some water to swim in, he has been hanging out under the little shelters we made for him.

He is growing on me a little, but we can't keep him. He is better off with someone who knows how to care for him. Anyone know anything about these turtles?

It could have been bad.

Thank you to the group of people in a black Audi on the Garden State Parkway on Sunday for telling us we had a flat! We didn't feel it yet and as you can see here it could have been really bad if we didn't stop when we did. Luckily they flagged us down and there was an exit right ahead of us, we zipped off into a parking lot to checked it out. We were going to try to get down to a service station but as you can see that was not a possibility.

Don quickly changed the tire and we were back on the road safe and sound. Lesson? Keep an eye out for those around you, if you see they have a problem let them know. I am very thankful the "Audi" let us know, even though I thought they were pulling up beside us to try and race or something.... I was wrong. :)

I had a very fun baby session today, super cute 5 month old. Photos to come soon.

Happy Mother's Day, to my Mom!

I just wanted to send a special Mother's day to my Mom! I am so thankful for my mom and especially after this past year of ups and downs. We found out in December after almost a year of going through one test after another that she had gastric malt lymphoma, a form of stomach cancer. While this news was not what we wanted to hear, it was finally a diagnosis. My mom took the news with the most positive attitude and strength I have ever seen. After almost two years of loosing weight, not enjoying food, not having an appetite, feeling horrible and no doctors being able to give her an answer this was finally a turning point. She was finally able to concentrate on getting the treatment she needed. She never let her diagnosis get her down and she even surprised all her nurses and doctors with her upbeat enthusiasm. Her friends and my aunt have been so wonderful to be with her through all her chemotherapy treatments. My mom lives alone and it has been hard for Geoff and me to be so far away through all of this. I am so happy that she has people to check in on her and be there for her when she needs it.

She has been through four rounds of chemo and lost her hair, but she has gained weight and her appetite back. The last couple of months whenever I talk to her she can not stop talking about how much she is eating, what she ate that day, what she plans to eat later that day and how wonderful it all tastes! She has pushed through it all with such strength and after her last visit and round of tests the doctors say she has beaten the cancer! How awesome is that! She will still have to go in for certain treatments every couple of months to ward everything off but the worst seems to be over. She has been keeping a blog of her experiences and I am sure would love your comments and well wishes.

Of any one I know my mom has been a strong and selfless person. She has always encouraged me and my brother to go out and pursue our dreams, which has not always been easy for her. She raised us as a single mom, I can not even imagine how difficult that was. When I left on my national exchange in college to Towson Maryland and decided not to return to school in New Mexico she was heart broken but she supported me. My mom and I were best buds through out my high school years. Geoff was off to college and exploring other countries and we were all we had. I felt horrible leaving her by herself in New Mexico but I knew I needed to leave for better opportunities. When I recently left my full time job that was a safety crutch for me she was concerned and voiced all the things I needed to think about and take care of but she still supported me no matter how concerned she was.

She is one of the proudest mom's I know. I hear it all the time how she brags about me and Geoff and it makes me feel good that she is so proud because it really shows how great a parent she has been to raise us the way she did. She always wants the best for us. She also desperately wants grandkids, but thats a whole other conversation. :)

Mom I love you with all my heart and I am so proud of YOU! I love you.

Last week when we met up with Sarah and Jessica they took a few photos of us to surprise you with. Its not often when Geoff and I are together and it has been forever since we have had a decent photo together. These are for you and you will be receiving some prints of them.

Happy Mothers Day.

An evening with Sarah and Jess

We just returned from a super fun evening of hanging out with Sarah and Jess here in D.C. So great to see you guys, I am happy we were able to get together. If you're ever in Philly be sure to give me a ring.


Heading home tomorrow and looks like its been great timing, the rain is going to roll in tomorrow. Its been a beautiful week here in D.C.

D.C. at night

Geoff and I wandered around a little yesterday evening. I really love how D.C. is illuminated at night. We weren't out for too long, I get a little creeped out with patches of darkness and wandering around with a big camera.

An attempt with the self timer, it was a bit challenging because it was dark and hard to focus, I set it up on the ground so once I hit the button I had to get up and get over and get into the photo and look "natural". Whew. So not the most flattering vantage point for me, but Geoff looks great!

View of the Thomas Jefferson memorial from afar.

And of course the Washington Monument.

I took it easy most of the day yesterday because the top of my feet/ankles are really sore. Not sure what I did exactly but it is a little painful to walk. We have done a TON of walking this week and I have worn a variety of shoes, I think I hurt myself when I wore flip flops one day. So its really just annoying. I am happy I don't have a wedding this weekend, although I have a super cool engagement shoot up in New Haven CT!

By the way I have received ZERO entries in the Mothers Day contest. We will see if anyone submits anything last minute but if not then next year I make sure to give people more time. I would like to receive at least three entries in order for me to give away one session.

Enjoy this beautiful day!

Hanging in D.C. with my brother

This week I am hanging out with my brother Geoff while he is in town on business. We have been having a great time wandering around the area. Yesterday he had a long break so we met for lunch and headed down to the mall again to check out one the natural history museum and head back. We have been on the go thats for sure and I have to force myself away from shopping in Georgetown. :) I have been down there two days in a row now.

Anyway, its been great to spend some time with Geoff. I had not seen him since New Years 2007 and he has since moved from Italy to Hawaii! What a life. He is loving Hawaii and I can not wait to visit.

I have not been good about bringing my camera out with us, our trips to the mall have been a little spontaneous, but I did get a good shot of Geoff with my iphone yesterday. Isn't he handsome?


I will get the real camera out at some point. I promise.

Mothers Day Contest

I thought it might be fun to hold little contest for Mothers day. What do you think?

Here's the deal.

I will give away ONE baby shoot and ONE belly shoot. The catch? Well I want to hear your stories, why you or your mom deserves it, why you want it or why someone you know deserves/wants this shoot. Send me your stories AND a creative photograph of your mom, yourself, your mom when she was pregnant with you or your belly. Self portraits are the best as you are always your most available subject.
I have never done this kind of thing before so I thought it might be fun. I hope you guys are up for it or can nominate someone who you think deserves a photo shoot with me.

I will post images as I receive them and a winner on Mothers day. Due to the timing of this I will be deciding the winner but I will also be posting the top three stories in each category along the way.
(if you don't think you can take a creative photograph of yourself or your belly, you can submit sentimental photos of your mother that you love.)

send submissions to: joy at joymoody dot com

So get to it! :)

Here are some old photos of my mom that I have always loved and may give you an idea for what you could submit if you go down the old photograph route.

Blogging for Linette

Yeah yeah I know its been a slow blogging week for me. There are actually a ton of things going on right now, I just can't really talk about them.... Don't worry all positive stuff.

So I get this in a email from Linette this morning:
"Ps... Would you post some new stuff on your blog already!!! Damn girl!"

So Linette darling this one is for you! Love ya.

These are some images I rounded up from a trip I took to Italy back in 2001. My brother and I purposely got ourselves lost in Venice and while trying to find our way back some little boys tried to steer us even further into the maze, Luckily Geoff is fluent in Italian and the grandmother caught wind of the kids giving us wrong directions and pointed us to the way out.

These images were all with my tried and true Hasselblad. And the color film was the last roll of Agfa 50 I ever shot, they discontinued it shortly after. It was the best saturated color film EVER.

These images come at a good time though since next week I will be in D.C. all week visiting with my brother while he is in town on business.

Enjoy.

Carver's first Birthday

I really can't believe it has been a year since this little guy made his appearance in this world! Linette and Kyle have become such great parents. It has been so fun watching them grow as a family this past year. I seriously don't know where the time has gone.

Just a quick trip down memory lane to one year ago.

Here is the little guy in the first few days of his life.

The new family one year ago, my how time flies!

Look at the little man now, one year old, growing so fast!

The wonderful Kielinksi's

Carver's cousin Dom taking him for a cruise.

I love this. Check out how intensely Carver is eyeing up his cake! MMM yummy!

Mom and Dad cutting the first birthday cake for their little boy, in their new house and new kitchen.

And I just love this portrait of Linette and Carver.

Can this kid get any more adorable?

There are plenty more photos where that came from, so check out the slideshow below. Special music chosen specifically with Linette in mind. Love you guys and I am so happy Don and I were there to share such a special day. The party was so fun, be sure to check out Linette's blog to see more.

Edit: I just swiped this from Linette's blog.
I find this image Kyle took of me and Don at the party absolutely hilarious!

Florida trip recap

Ahh we are finally home. The drive home really did us in. This weekend was just a nightmare on the road, so much traffic. After traveling for over 30 hours we were very happy to sleep in our own bed last night.
So a little recap of our trip. On the way down we had to stop at South of the Border, which before a couple weeks ago I had never heard of. It was something let me tell ya. In New Mexico I am used to seeing these types of Billboards for Running Indian and such so this was a treat to see how they do it on the east coast.

These images are on our way down to Florida, we stopped to stretch our legs and check out the sights. On the way back we actually stayed at the Motor Inn there. If you are into vintage things you would really dig the motel. It was pretty cool.

Don and Alma with the big gorilla.

I got to ride the jackalope

Self portrait

Woohoo Florida! We miss you already.

Me and Don on the gondola at Busch Gardens

On the way home we stopped and got some yummy items at the Orange Shop, cool sign!

Besides taking photos on the way down and back I didn't pick up the camera much on this trip. It was very relaxing. We really enjoyed our time at Don's parents and coming home is a bit depressing since we got used to walking Alma in a beautiful neighborhood, quiet and inhabited by people who care about their surroundings. We feel we need to be retired and living in a gated community like that.
There is a ton to catch up on now so I need to get back to business. Happy Monday.

Its cold in Florida

Don and I are in Florida this week visiting his parents and it is cold! It was 35 last night. Oh well, it's still better than being in the city. The bright sunny skies sure do help to cheer you up. After the last couple of rough months we have had at our house we have seen the light and really appreciate the calm peacefulness of a gated retirement community like the one his parents live at. Alma has been having a blast in the back yard too, poor pup is such a city girl and never gets to romp around in a yard.
We drove down this past weekend and it was kind of fun to take a little road trip, I have not done the 95 stretch before. We have some fun photos but I will have to share them when we get back. Our internet access is a bit limited. I am replying to emails as I can from my iphone but thats pretty much it for me this week. If you have sent an inquiry or email I am trying to keep up on response but it may be delayed a day or two.

Have a great week!

Take my picture I'll take yours!

Today I met up with my good friend Ryan Estes for lunch out in Phoenixville. Ryan and I have become great friends over the past year and have had a blast shooting for each other as well. I needed some new photos of myself for a new special something that will be rolling out in the next month or so. Who better to ask than Ryan to get some shots of me? He also needed some new photos of himself so we did a nice trade. Boy is it tough being in front of the lens, to all my clients you are really awesome for putting up with everything I ask you to do! Ryan will post some of my photos on his blog I am sure so go check em out.

Here are some of my favorites of him from today.

I can't decide which I like best, this one or the next one.

The color in the water was stunning!

One of my favorites

Who wouldn't love this guy!

Awesome hanging out, thanks for lunch!

Happy Birthday Don!

Today is my Donald's birthday. :) We decided we would celebrate by throwing a little party at our house last night. It was the first time we have had more than four people in the house at one time. We have been doing a ton of work to finish the kitchen and just get the house in a cozy state of being so we could actually enjoy company. It was great, we had a wonderful time and a lot of our close friends finally got to see the house. A lot of these guys helped Don when he first got the house to tear out all the old 70's horrid carpet.

I didn't go crazy with photos, I barely took any actually.

Hanging out in the kitchen, the awesome awesome kitchen.
Babies tired, ready to go home
Ginger and Geiger making weird faces playing guitar hero
Don and Joe look so serious compared to Ginger and Geiger
A photo to document Joe holding a baby! This is a rarity and seldom seen in the wild.
And Don demonstrating how to take a self portrait for Lindsey.
So thats it. I didn't take any photos of the cake or anything, but it was yummy. It was actually really nice to hang out and not document the party for once. Lindsey took photos so maybe she will share them with me.

We took a lovely Sunday afternoon drive today and got out of the city for a bit. We had a great dinner, stopped by a local ice cream shop for dessert and made our way back home. It turned into a really pretty day too, this morning was rainy and wet. Happy Birthday babe, I hope you had a great day.

Ruder Than You, look and listen

It's been a busy week, with out further delay check out Ruder Than You.



To give you a little background on the band, I have stolen some info from their myspace page.

The bands current roster is packed with veteran members including the Round Mound of Dub Sound - singer Freddie Weaver. Band leader Doug Dubrosky still sings and plays tenor sax. He and Don Pancoe on bass hail from the earliest days of RTY. Rod Martino and Chris Klimchak fill out the lineup on guitar and trombone, respectively. Larry "Ace" Snell of the Toasters and Public Service sits on the drum throne.

The band is putting finishing touches on a 5-song EP entitled God's Ghetto to be released in May 2008. The EP, to be released on the East-African record label Lulu Nyeusi, represents the first known American ska-influenced band to have a release on an African record label. The God's Ghetto EP features the group's hip-hop and dancehall influenced songs and emphasizes lyrics penned by Weaver during and immediately after his incarceration. The group has already started recording their next full-lengh (slated for early 2009), which features their contemporary ska and rocksteady sounds.

So, whether it be on the CD player, web, or HOPEFULLY live in concert, you are oh so encouraged to let your mind and body succumb to the rude, rude, Philly-Stylee sounds of those brothers of love, Ruder Than You.