From the Archive: Black & White Wednesday – Freckles

I’ve really been feeling freckles. Spending time outdoors, even with sunscreen and hats, the sun does find a way to my face, making my freckles pop. We all know that warmer temps mean more skin hanging out, but using sunscreen and other protective gear to prevent burns, blisters, and sun related skin disease is a good rule of thumb year round. Just a little PSA for you.

Hemlines have been steadily rising in conjunction with the thermometer. There’s lots of exposed expanses of calf, knees and thighs. Collars have been peeled away and necklines have dipped nto more relaxed positions. Clavicles and the sweet nape of the neck are showing with with more reckless abandon. Sleeves stripped off, shoulders unabashedly uncovered! Beauty marks, cafe au lait spots, and freckles, freckles, freckles are springing up.

I’ve pared down my beauty routine significantly to let my natural beauty show. I’ve put away the concealer and foundation in favor of my SPF laced tinted moisturizers.

I’ve heard that freckles are where God and the angels kissed you before you left heaven. Every summer, as the sun draws them into view, I see count new kisses and, I fall in love with with each of them.

IN: photography projects & DIY ON: July 30, 2014 TAGS: photo, photography BY: Hilary

That Time Vivi Turned Two

About nine years ago, when I was pregnant with M, my beside table was overflowing with parenting magazines. I had “Parents”, “Parenting”, “WonderTime” (awesome and so sad it’s no longer in publication), and everything in between. Of all of the articles that I read, there’s only one that I can readily put my hands on if I choose to. The title of the article escapes me, but the concept doesn’t. The author created a project to capture the growth of her daughter over the years. Every year, on or around her daughter’s birthday, she pulled out her bathing suit – a fetching orange, pink and white flowered maillot — and dressed her daughter in it. Once situated, the author snapped a photo and tucked the suit away for the next year. Along with the story, there were 16 photos, starting from when her daughter was a newborn through her 16th birthday when her mother’s maillot fit her like a glove.

I was amazed and inspired. I ripped the article out, stored it with my other important papers and gave my baby bump a pat, promising to create something similar for her. Fast forward through M’s birth, first few months, and well past her first birthday. We had relocated from Richmond to Norfolk, where the Hubs commuted to work, and I psyched myself up to forge new friendships in our new zip code. During one of M’s naps, I unearthed the aforementioned article from my piles of papers and did a mental head slap. A year plus had passed and I hadn’t made good on my promise. Rummaging through my dresser, I dug out my Lands End Bathing Suit and pulled M out of her clothes. It was October, a good while past her first birthday, but she still had the chubby baby look about her. I slid her into the suit, grabbed my Sony pocket camera and snapped a few photos. I have to admit, the quality on them was not the best. I had not yet discovered my passion for photography. At this point in time, it was more like a casual fling. Still, the image was captured and I vowed to be more on top of things for the following year.

This year, M will turn nine and that bathing suit will certainly ride a little higher on her long legs. C, who is going to be 7 at the end of the summer, wears a dress that I bought from a long ago trip to Greece. As for Miss V, I did something differently with her when she was a baby. I did a monthly capture of her growth. Every month, I snapped a picture of her with a sticker denoting her age decorating her chest. Because I was so dutiful in this endeavor, I didn’t really think about doing a yearly snap as well, until M & C called me out on it. So, I bestowed upon her that J.Crew sweater that I just could not make work into a suitable outfit. It’s well past her knees, loose in the neckline, and the sleeves cover her hands, but it’s already way more flattering on her.

They say the days drag and the years fly. Watching my girls literally grow into my clothes means I know this to be true.

Happy Birthday, V.

May 18th, 2012

5lbs. 2oz.

6:50pm

IN: ON: May 20, 2014 TAGS: birthday, funny stuff, my girls, photography, photos BY: Hilary

#Winning

The Richmond Ad Club is a group of extraordinarily talented and creative advertising professionals living and working in RVA. In addition to supporting the visionary work of their peers, the Richmond Ad club also works to make the Richmond advertising community by hosting events like fundraisers and networking opportunities. The RAD Show, also known as the Quest for the Cannonball, is an award show and party hosted by the Richmond Ad Club to recognize and celebrate the award winning work put forth by Virgina’s advertising professionals.

This past Saturday night, the Hubs and I attended the RAD Show, and your girl came home with two silver cannonballs. My homepage of wiggling, spiraling curls directing you here and there is now an award winning website!

I first had the idea to create a unique splash page for my website about this time last year. I had not seen anything even close to what I wanted to do. There were a few ads that showed curly haired ladies that had words superimposed over their hair, or that had words written onto the hair, but nothing that showed words spelled out from the hair itself. Writing and photography are my forte, so while I could describe easily enough what I wanted to do and even take a few mock snaps of myself to storyboard it out, I needed some additional help.

The first step was getting the right picture. I love beauty shots. I love the simplicity of a white background and nothing but the tight close up of the model’s face filling the frame. In order to get the desired effect, I was going to have let my hair have free reign. My good friend Ariel Skelley set me up in her studio with the right lighting, great direction and provided me with scores of shots from which to choose.

Once the image was created, I needed someone to work some Photoshop magic on it to get the words spelled out. I started talking to other creative types I know and one suggested Jeff Glotzl, who does photo retouching. Jeff did work on the Science Museum of Virginia ad that showed the young boy lifting up the ocean to see what was between the water and the sand (It’s a such a resonant image, because who among us hasn’t wanted to do that very thing). Click here to see it.

I reached out to Jeff, explained what it was that I was trying to do, and he was enthusiastically on board. Of the course of our collaboration, Jeff mentioned once or twice that we should consider submitting the finished product to some contests because he hadn’t seen anything like it in his experience. As things took shape, like the words “about”, “writing”, “photography”, “projects” and “contact” — from a literal lock of my hair, I could see what a one-of-a-kind design I had created. I followed up with Jeff about submitting the design with a simple, “Just let me know if you hear anything,” and left it at that. Eventually, the page was complete, the “i’s” dotted with a curl and the “t’s” crossed with a bobby pin. Jeff gave each word a little more personality by having them wiggle and wave as your roll over them. I was thrilled and just awed that something I had scratched out on some notebook paper was live in front of me.

With the help of Andrew and Spencer at Team-Eight, we took the site live to what it is now. I’ve had incredible amounts of positive feedback from family and friends as well as people who happen to stumble upon my site through various means. I’ve been riding high, and when Jeff sent me an email several weeks ago with “We Won an Award!” in the subject line, it was the icing on the cake. We entered the design in the web category for micro-sites were in contention for Gold, Silver or Bronze. We were also chosen to win a design award (Gold, Silver or Bronze), which, as it turns out, we did! Complete list of winners here.

The Hubs and I got duded up and spent the evening at the show. It was incredible. There are so many talented people working in advertising in Richmond. Major campaigns for UPS, Geico, Oreo and the like, originated and were created here in RVA. Seeing my page up on the large screen, hearing my name called along with Jeff’s, threading my way through the audience to receive my award, hearing the President of the Richmond ad club tell me, “Oh, we clicked on the curls a lot!” — the entire experience was surreal.

We ended the night with little post show celebration of oysters and prosecco at Rappahannock afterwards, just me and the Hubs.

A great number of things, both creatively and professionally, are falling into place for me right now. I’m so fortunate, so blessed, and so giddy about it all. A few weeks ago, I posted a snap on IG of a bottle of champagne, saying that I’d had the bottle for close to 10 years, but was going to pop it open this summer. This past week-end is one more reason to celebrate.

IN: ON: May 5, 2014 TAGS: creative, feel good, photography, photos BY: Hilary

photography projects & DIY recipes

Recipe Friday: Teddy Bear Beach Party

The week-end is already over and it’s only Thursday. I’m calling it because between now and Sunday evening, it’s go, go, go until we can face-plant among the pillows only to wake up on Monday and start fresh. The kids are heading into end of year mode. May marks one month until the end of this school year. The first week-end in May kicks off the slide down that slope with Spirit Week, Field Day and Magic Dragon Day. Spirit Week involves the kids dressing up each day from a pre-approved theme. Monday and Tuesday were Blue and White Day (school colors), Wednesday was Tie-Day day, and Thursday was Crazy Hat day. Sadly, we have no “crazy” hats, but the girls looked, to quote M, “Stylish, sophisticated and continental,” in two of my church hats. Friday is field day where each grade participates in relays, running races, and other fun games. They wear their Magic Dragon Day shirts — the dragon being the school mascot, the shirt color pre-determined by the eldest family member attending the school (Go, Blue!) — and run around, getting hot, sweaty and grass stained. It’s an early release day as well and I’m confident that this year, I’ll remember to get them at 1pm instead of the regular dismissal time like I did the last two years (oops!).

Magic Dragon Day is on Saturday and it promises to be a rolicking event. Every year, the school hosts a carnival like event for the entire school. There are booths with games of chance, tug-of-war contests in each grade, dunking booths, Spirit Wear sales, book sales, a cake walk and the highly anticipated kidnergarten May Pole Dance. While this is our third MDD, this is our first May Pole Dance and cake walk experience. The kindgergarten kiddos have been practicing since before Easter to kick off MDD with their dance. The girls and boys wear their Sunday best and dance around the blacktop, lacing grosgrain ribbons up and down the length of a flower topped pole. Once the dance is over, Magic Dragon Day can officially begin.

C is in kindergarten this year and has been protesting having to do the May Pole dance because she “doesn’t want to hlod hands with a boy!!” Keep up that attitude, kiddo! As we’ve gotten closer, though, she’s started to get more excited. She’s picked out her dress, she’s decided what color flowers she’d like in the wreath that will sit atop her head. She is ready to peel out of the dress with her friends and into her MDD shirt in order to paritcipate in her first ever tug-of-war. I suppose it’s no surprise that her enthusiasm has been escalating. While neither she nor M have ever done a May Pole before, they’re third year MDD vets and ready to eat and play their way through the day.

In addition to the May Pole prep, kindergarten parents are also tasked with preparing two cakes (or 48 cupcakes or some combination of cake and cupcake) for the MDD cake walk. Cake walk? What’s that, you ask. The Cake Walk is one of the most fun and successful booths at MDD. Similar to musical chairs, participants move along a serpentine path on the blacktop. The path is sectioned off into numbers which correspond to numbered cakes set up in the auditorium. When the music stops, the emcee draws a number from the pile and whomever is standing on that number, wins the corresponding cake. The cakes are indeed prizes to be had! The cakes are either homemade or store bought, and decorated within an inch of their lives. The more decorations, the better! In years past, cakes have been decorated as sand castles, treasure chests, dragons, Legos, Polly Pocket Beach parties and Star Wars themed cake toppers.

Earlier in the year, when talking with another kindergarten mom, we resolved to buy our cakes instead of fool around with the homemade foolishness. At the time, the mandate was, homemade only — not necessarily from scratch, but definitely homemade. I was all about “breaking the law” because I didn’t know what the heck kind of cake I could scrape together or whether or not I was really up to the challenge of finding something that could hold its own against other Pinterest-worthy cakes that were sure to come down the pike. I went back and forth the Hubs about it, who clearly fell on the side of “Just buy the cake!” and my mom who was more of “Oh, c’mon, you can make it.” Truthfully, I was doing a cost benefit analysis as to what was more cost effective: buying a pre-decorated cake or buying the uspplies and doing it myself. In the end, I think it was a wash. I found a recipe that looked hard, but was more time consuming than anything else. Ultimately, my biggest challenge was making sure my cupcake cups were equally filled. Well, that and trying to keep the girls from eating the decorations before I could put them on the cake.

Between the cake and the prep for the May Pole dance, which included hot gluing silk flowers to a ribbon encased wreath, it’s been straight up Crafty Town up in here. The recipe for the cupcakes follows the photos of my finished product. I baked the cakes and cupcakes a few days ahead of time so that I could focus solely on frosting and decorating.

Teddy-At-The-Beach Cupcakes.

Teddy’s lounging.

Here’s my layer cake. Same premise as the cupcakes, but I got a little fancier with jelly bean rocks in the sand and icing trim around the edges.

Here, fishy, fishy!

Enjoy and Happy Friday, y’all!

Teddy-At-The-Beach Cupcakes

recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker, found here.

Ingredients

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® cake mix (any flavor)
2 drops blue food color
1 cup Betty Crocker® Whipped vanilla frosting
1 roll (from 4.5-oz box) Betty Crocker® Fruit by the Foot® chewy fruit snack (any flavor)
1/2 cup teddy bear-shaped graham snacks, crushed, or brown sugar
1 tablespoon Betty Crocker® blue sugar, if desired
12 teddy bear-shaped graham snacks
6 paper drink umbrellas or small plastic umbrellas, if desired
6 ring-shaped gummy candies
6 multi-colored fish-shaped crackers

Directions

1 Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. Make and bake cake mix as directed on box for 24 cupcakes. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Tightly wrap 12 cupcakes; freeze for a later use.
2 Stir blue food color into frosting until blended. Frost remaining 12 cupcakes with frosting.
3 Cut six 1 1/2-inch pieces from fruit snack roll; peel off paper backing. Use fruit snack and remaining ingredients to decorate cupcakes as shown in photo or as desired.

See also: A Day at the Beach Cake! Recipe courtesy of Reloved Recipes, found here.

IN: photography projects & DIY recipes ON: May 2, 2014 TAGS: arts and craps, baking, cooking, food, honesty, life, om nom nom, photo, photography, pinterest, recipes BY: Hilary

365 Days Later

A year ago today, I decided to challenge myself by participating in a Photo A Day Challenge. What started as a test to see if I could snap a new photo over the course of the month became a year long contest between myself, friends and followers. In the beginning, I used pre-made monthly challenges from www.theidearoom.net which served to direct my creativity. I found myself turning my eye away from the easy to get shot, instead looking for the clever. I posted all of my photos to my Instagram account and later, created a Tumblr dedicated only to the challenge.

As the months passed, I created my own monthly challenges, picked up some followers on IG and Twitter as I chronicled my progress with the challenge. Several hashtags were created after I challenged my blog readers to pick up their camera phones and snap along with me. It has been all in good fun and I’m so thankful for the experience that I’ve had.

I have been looking back over the photos I’ve amassed and they tell an interesting story. I can distinctly remember the reasons why I chose certain subjects for certain days. I can tell when I was phoning it in and when I was really trying to stretch myself, stylistically. I’ve grown as an artist, as a photographer, as a visual storyteller.

I’ve been asked if I’d do this challenge again and as of today, right now, the answer is probably not. While this one was great and it pushed me to look for the extraordinary in the ordinary, I’m ready to take on other challenges. There are a variety of 365 projects that I can tackle. I can make them as broad as I did with this past challenge, or specific as only blue colored pieces of clothing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, street signs on Tuesdays, and food on Thursdays. The possibilities are as far reaching as my own imagination.

I decided to celebrate the conclusion of one challenge with the unveiling of the new home of my blog. Hilary With One L was born on Blogger on November 27, 2007, when I was a newly minted mother of two, looking for an outlet to express my thoughts and feelings on motherhood. My first post was three short paragraphs, followed by a quote from Rita Mae Brown (trying so hard to be so deep). I re-read that post now and just shake my head at how simple it was and how far I’ve come. Close to seven years later, I’ve now got three children, I’ve moved twice, I’ve started a flourishing photography business and have some additional projects in the works. When held up to the photographic catalog of the past 365 days, I’ve made some serious strides.

So, if you’re new, welcome to the new home of Hilary With One L. If you’re a seasoned follower, thanks for sticking around. I’m looking forward to sharing where my next strides take me. . .

IN: ON: February 1, 2014 TAGS: activities, honesty, life, photography, winter BY: Hilary

January Photo Challenge

You guys? ZOMG, you guys! This is it! This is the LAST photo-a-day challenge for us. What started on a whim one February has developed (pun intended) into a daily diary of photo snaps and fun times. Have you been consistent in taking your pictures every day? Have you had fun with it at least? I know I have.

The first few months, I looked to pre-made photo challenges to try, but by June, I decided that I would create my own challenges. I did my best to be creative and to inspire others to think outside the box with their photos. I truly looked forward to my IG newsfeed everyday.

Now that I have these 365 images, what to do? what to do? I’m leaning heavily towards making a photo book via This Life or Printsagram. Just my own little souvenir of this adventure. I do have my tumblr where I have been keeping track of my snaps, but I’d like to have something to hold in my hands and thumb through in the future.

Would I do this again? I liked how it forced me to stop and think about what was going on around me. I liked how creative I could be when it came to certain words. I liked how easy it could be when it came to others. I even liked laughing at myself for all the botched selfies I took trying to get one that was worth posting.

So, here it is. The January Photo A Day Challenge courtesy of Hilary with One L.

(image)

For those of you unfamiliar with the Photo A Day Challenge, I’ve provided you with a list of prompts or suggestions for each day of the month. On the designated day, you snap a photo of the suggestion or a photo of your interpretation of the suggestion and post it to Instagram. You can add a caption to your photo, as well as the hashtag #hilarywithonel so we can keep up with you. If you input #hilarywithonel in the Instagram search box, you’ll be able to see what others have already posted.

These monthly challenges are part of my greater year long challenge to take one photo a day. You can follow my progress here: f/365

Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. It’s just a fun way to be creative. No penalties for missed days, and no prize for hitting all the days – well, satisfaction is a prize in and of itself right?

Snap on, my friends, snap on.

IN: ON: December 31, 2013 TAGS: activities, photography, photos, winter BY: Hilary

Week-end Wrap Up & December Photo Challenge

You guys. I have thoroughly enjoyed this Thanksgiving holiday. We went home to my parents house where we celebrated with all kinds of food, family and fun. On Friday, I bypassed all the shopping madness for sitting around with my kiddos, reading, watching TV and consuming mass quantities of pie. My brother and The Hubs took me to the movies where we watched “The Best Man Holiday” in the tiniest theater the cineplex had. We were practically sharing seats, and when the woman behind us wouldn’t stop talking, I didn’t let the holiday spirit prevent me from shushing her. Oh, she got indignant about it, but wharves. I believe her actual words were, “What?! Did she just shush me?! I’mma keep on talking!” and funny enough, after that outburst, she actually shut the hell up. Nice.

Saturday brought some sisterly relations with one of my young sorors. It was great to sit around just talking about our respective collegiate experiences. I squeezed in a manicure and got both Mo and Co’s hair washed, conditioned and twisted before The Hubs and I went to a wedding for one of his frat brothers. The wedding brought several college friends together, and confirmed for me that we are at a stage in our lives where we are not the kids any more, but not quite the grownups. We’re straddling this line of adulthood. Our parents have moved up a row, so to speak, now that the majority of our grandparents are passing. That means, my generation is filling in that vacated row. Not sure how I feel about that. The Hubs turned to me while we were sitting listening to the prelude music at the wedding and commented on how, this is an instance where we’re at a wedding where we don’t know anyone aside from the bride and groom. Considering we went to 10 weddings in the two years after college graduation, that’s something. When we did connect with some other buddies at the reception, we clung to them like grim death. Well, let’s just say, it was nice to sit and talk with folks we already knew rather make small talk with “How do you know the bride/groom?” type table mates. It could have gone either way, and I don’t doubt we’d have had a good time in either case.

So, that brings me to today. December 1st. Kind of fitting the first day of the month, the end of the Thanksgiving week-end, and the beginning of the next holiday starts on the first. It’s a clean slate, and I like that. I have completely wrung the fun out of Thanksgiving. I’ve eaten, drank, haven’t exercised, stayed up late, fed my kids junk food while their hands fused to their iTouches and their eyes glazed over from the steady stream of My Little Pony Equestria Girls. It’s been awesome. And now, I’m hitching up my pants (which surprisingly still fit) and looking to getting the Christmas season underway.

It’s December, and do you know what that means?!