Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take a moment on this busy day to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I am so thankful for all of the wonderful people in my life, including you, my incredible clients and blogwatchers. It has been an amazing and successful year for me, and I look forward to having even more fun in 2009! But for right now I'm just going to sit back and relax for a little while, and enjoy being with my family. I can't wait to see the looks on my boys' faces when they are opening their presents tomorrow morning. It truly is more exciting to give than to receive!



I'll be back to work on January 5th. I've got some fun things in store for next year, so stay tuned. See you in 2009!

Holiday Schedule

Jen Marriner Photography will be closed from Wednesday, December 24 thru Sunday, January 4th to celebrate the Christmas and New Years holidays. I am looking forward to a nice long break to spend time with my family. These past few months have been crazy-busy for me and it will be nice to just relax with my husband and kids.

What does this mean for you? First of all it means that I won't be scheduling any portrait sessions for these dates. I also will not be answering my emails and voicemail messages as quickly as I normally do. And I won't be working on any print or album orders placed during this time period until January 5th.

But the good news is that I have a bunch of exciting new things planned for 2009. Be sure to stay tuned!

Changes

I wanted to let everyone know that there are some changes being made to the Jen Marriner Photography website. Some big, some small, and they are happening sooner than I had anticipated (the company that hosts my site is really fast!!). So if you see some funky stuff going on over there (I can already see that I need to change the colors in the logo or change the background color) rest assured that I am working diligently to get everything looking and running as well as it did before. The reason that I'm making these changes will be revealed in a couple of weeks (want a hint? Two words - shopping cart!!).

The biggest impact that this change will have for my current clients is that all of the proofing galleries have been temporarily removed to make way for a new proofing system. I will be working this evening and tomorrow to get the galleries back up for clients who have not yet placed orders from sessions that took place recently. If yours is an older gallery that was already scheduled to be taken down on 1/1/09, it will be put back up by request only.

Please let me know if you have any questions and thank you for bearing with me while I get these changes made!

Mush Brain

I can't believe I forgot to post this sneak peek! That's what Thankgiving mayhem will do to you, I guess. Anyway, I had a lot of fun with this lovely young lady, her parents and their two rambunctious dogs. I don't think I've ever seen a dog jump as high as this little guy did!!

Christmas is coming!

Hey folks, I just wanted to let you know that Christmas deadlines are coming up fast! If you would like to order prints from your portrait session for Christmas gifts, your order must be received no later than Wednesday, December 10th to guarantee delivery by Christmas Eve. Also, orders for Christmas cards need to be placed by this Friday, December 5th for delivery by December 19th (giving you enough time to mail them).

Please let me know if you have any questions!

The sisters, again

I'm just finishing up the proofs from this portrait session, and I had to share these. Two sisters just hanging out on the hallway bench, making faces and looking adorable. I especially love the last one...

Storyboard Sale Week, Day 5

I'll finish up this storyboard week with one of my favorites (and not just because it features my sweet little Griffin!). This "Hip to Be Square" design comes with either sixteen squares as seen below, or with nine squares, which is similar to the "Going in Circles" design seen in Monday's post.



The storyboard sale continues through Sunday night, so be sure to get your orders in for those great Christmas gifts!

Storyboard Sale Week, Day 4

Here's another 10" x 20" storyboard, this one vertical. This "Lots O Dots" design features the beautiful Ali...

Storyboard Sale Week, Day 3

Today's storyboard design is another square design, which are available from 12" x 12" up to 20" x 20". It's called "4Square" and this one features the lovely Miss Audrey...

Storyboard Sale Week, Day 2

Today's storyboard features the lovely miss Larkin, who recently celebrated her first birthday. It's a 10" x 20" horizontal storyboard called "Simply Me" and can be customized with any background color.

Storyboard Sale Week Begins!

I've been offering storyboard designs for a while now, but I don't believe I've ever featured them here on the blog. Well, the holidays are coming up and storyboards make excellent gifts. So each day this week I will be featuring a different storyboard design. And the best part is that they are on sale! Normally there is a design fee added to the cost of the print, but this week that fee will be waived, and you only pay for the cost of the print! The storyboards come in many sizes, the most popular being the 12" x 12" square and the 10" x 20" horizontal or vertical print. This week I will feature some of each, just to give you a taste of what is available. Keep in mind that you can pick which images to include, and also customize the colors and text.

Today's storyboard is one of the most popular. It's called "Going in Circles" and it includes eight images as well as one circle for a name or other text...



Sale details: This sale runs from Monday, 11/17/08 through 11:59pm on Sunday, 11/23/08. Any storyboards ordered during this sale period will have the design fee of $10.00 waived and will only be billed for the regular print price, plus sales tax. Storyboards are not available for all print sizes; please contact me for available sizes. This offer may not be combined with any other discount and prior orders are excluded.

Double Digits

The day is almost over, and what a day it has been. My little man is now ten years old. That little peanut who spent his first days struggling to breathe in the ICU is now a swimming sensation (to me, anyway). The sweetie who was once content to play with blocks and watch Bear in the Big Blue House on TV is now programming robots and watching all of the tweener shows on Nickelodeon. And that little mama's boy - well, he's still a mama's boy. :)

Today was all about celebrating Grant's first decade. We started off with a breakfast of french toast, his favorite. Then we spent several hours at the MOST in Syracuse. This evening the boys had dinner from Fajita Grill (the adults in the house are a bit burned out on that particular place, so I made pasta). Now he is involved in his new Wii game - Lego Batman. What better way to spend a day?

And now I feel old. I have a child who is ten. Where has the time gone? And of course, there are pictures...

Grant as a newborn...


...at 5 years old...


...and last month...


Next thing I know he'll be going off to college. {sigh}

Sisters!

This morning I got to spend some time with these adorable young ladies. Here's just a quick sneak peek for their Mom & Dad. Now I need to get back to proofing some earlier sessions!

FYI

Hey all, I know a couple of you were expecting your proofs to be done this week. Unfortunately my mother-in-law has been sick and is now in the hospital, and she may be having surgery tomorrow. Therefore my time at home on the computer has been limited. I will have the proofs ready for you as soon as possible. The good news is that I have Monday and Tuesday off from my school job, so hopefully I will have everything caught up by that point. Thanks for understanding!

Expectations..

I spent Sunday afternoon with a wonderful family who will be welcoming a new member this Christmas. Baby Kash is due next month, and his mom was nice enough to be my first maternity model! I've only had time to proof a couple of images so far, and here is a little sneak peek...



BTW, I am still looking for a couple more volunteers to be maternity models for me. If you are or know someone who is in the last 6-8 weeks of pregnancy and would like a free portrait session, please contact me!

Autumn fun

Yesterday was a gorgeous autumn day. Even Lake Neatahwanta looked nice! I spent my morning with these guys. The kids are both on the swim team with my boys, so we see a lot of each other. We found a little trail back behind the high school, right on the lake. It's amazing the places I've discovered lately that I didn't know existed!

Mom and the kids found a pile of leaves...

...and Dad and the kids went out on a limb. Nobody fell in the water, but Grace did lose a shoe. We got it back, but she had a soggy foot for the rest of the morning.

Grace and Caleb...

Riding on Dad's shoulders. (Hey Tom, I think the muddy knee just makes it look more authentic!! :) )

Just a quick one...

Here's a little sneak peek of one of last weekend's portrait sessions. I had a request to do something similar to my family's Christmas card from last year. Which makes me realize that I haven't even thought about what to do for this year's card - I guess I'd better get on that pretty soon!

Flying High

I had such a great time with this family yesterday! We had a large group of extended family, with cute kids galore. We took a break from the more traditional posed groupings of family to spend a few minutes on the trampoline. I've heard of this kind of trampoline before, but I've never seen one. It sits level with the ground and has a large pit dug underneath it. So much fun!

Here's a few pics of Hannah and Jacob doing their thing. I don't think that this small sneak peek will be enough, so expect to see more soon. :)

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Can I just tell you how much I hope I win this? Who wants to be my first model if I do??

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Back online!

After getting a new modem from Time Warner, I finally have phone and internet service again! Wow, that was the longest 24 hours of my life!! :) I will be returning your emails as soon as I can, once I wade through them all!

Technical difficulties

Hey folks, I just came home to no phone service and no internet connection. If you need to get in touch with me please call my cell phone - 529-1900. I am getting some emails through my blackberry, but the best wày to reach me is the cell. I'll keep you posted and hopefully this will be resolved soon!

Six months old!

It's hard to believe, but little Miss Ali is now six months old! Ali was my very first Bundle of Joy baby. She's gotten so big!

This morning Ali got to try out the pretty new pettiskirt that I bought (stay tuned for more info on these awesome skirts).

Then she had to sit in the teacup, of course! She loved being in the teacup.

We tried playing with some hats, but she wasn't fond of those.

She did like sucking on her fingers, though. :)

What a gorgeous family!!

My boys

The latest pics of the Marriner brothers...

This business is going to the dogs!!

Really!

Lately I've had a few requests for pet portraits. I spent Saturday afternoon with this rambunctious crew. We had a great time and by the end we had these guys and gals worn out.

Meet Kendall, the "baby" - I love those ears!!

And then there's Meeka...

This is Noah...

...and his brother Killian.

And last but not least is Grady, the senior member of the crew...


What a fun bunch!

Griffin at Soccer

I've been so busy with portrait sessions lately that I've barely used my camera for anything else! But Saturday Griffin finally had a soccer game that wasn't held in the pouring rain, so I brought the camera along. His skills have really improved this year, especially on defense.

In the goal...

Here it comes...

Got it!

Eye on the ball...

Almost got it!

Is anyone surprised that he landed on his butt after this one?

A break in the action.


So that's how I spent part of my Saturday. Hopefully later today I'll have a chance to post a sneak peek of Saturday afternoon's portrait session - doggies!! And then if I'm feeling really ambitious I'll put up some pictures of the fall color we saw at Beaver Lake yesterday. It was beautiful!

Duncan Has His Say

Let's get one thing straight right up front: I don't smile. You can make all the silly noises and funny faces that you want, but you will never see the corners of my mouth turn upwards. I thought I made that clear to this strange lady with the camera months ago. But apparently she doesn't learn. And is she ever persistent! I was glad to see all of the rain out my window yesterday; that meant the whole picture-taking deal was canceled. Oh, but that darn sun had to come out today, and there she was again, pointing that silly camera at me. {sigh}

Nope, no smiling. I'll sit here in Grandma's chair and look cute, but I will not smile.


I'll stare at you with my big eyes and make you beg for a smile, but you're not gonna get one.


Ooooh, flowers! I love flowers. I'll grab some and I'll have fun with them, but they won't make me smile.


I'll just eat them and watch the adults go crazy trying to stop me. I'll be smiling on the inside.


Because I don't smile. I know you think you can make me, but... HEY, THAT'S NOT A SMILE! It's just gas, I assure you. No, it is not a smile!


Like I said, I will stare at you all day with my big beautiful eyes, but there will be no smiling.


What was that you said? The crazy camera lady is leaving and Mom's got me back in her arms? OK, maybe just one little smile. But no more!!