The roses and lilies were fine, but these wee pink flowers made me swoon.

I shot this copse of trees across the street from my house one evening exactly at twilight – the sun had set, and it was just a tiny bit light outside. Snow was falling and it was just beautiful. I decided to give it a dark, moody, ethereal finish with lots of texture, blur and drama.

I liked the first two books, notsomuch the movies (sorry), but the final image immediately made me think of Twilight. ]]> http://lisarussophotography.com/2012/02/this-ones-for-the-twilight-fans/feed/ 4 http://lisarussophotography.com/2012/02/a-very-special-day-indeed/ http://lisarussophotography.com/2012/02/a-very-special-day-indeed/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:06:16 +0000 Lisa http://lisarussophotography.com/?p=5550 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

(page from IVF journal, 2005)

It was brought to my attention yesterday – due to a facebook post celebrating Ava’s conception day!, which startled a few people into thinking “Boy, that Lisa really does like to SHARE, doesn’t she??” – that some of my newer friends may not be aware that Ava is here thanks to In-Vitro Fertilization.

Since I’m a HUGE advocate of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), I thought maybe a little note was in order.

As a quick background – We went through almost 2 years of infertility treatments to have Aidan, then got pregnant naturally during a rest cycle. Started to try again when he was 2, got pregnant soon after and miscarried. Then 3 years and 8 months of treatments later – worn out, exhausted, needle-stuck, heartbroken and looking 40 in the face – we decided to try in-vitro ONE time, then we would happily put it behind us and move forward with adoption.

As you can see above, the old mix her up in the petri dish part of the cycle? Happened on Valentine’s Day. I’m still amused by how casual my journal entry is, since it was the day that changed our lives.

So – to us – Valentine’s Day will always be special, since it’s the day Ava was conceived. How many people have that information, eh?

As an aside – you can also see above that we only had 7 eggs retrieved, 5 mature, 4 fertilized. We ended up with only 3 to transfer – the bare minimum. You’ll recall – sometime in the recent past – some brilliant jackass politician tried to limit IVF transfers to 2 eggs. I can see where 8 might be too many, but 2? If that had happened, we might not have our sunshine girl.

If I ever meet that guy, I’m going to kick him in the knee. Or – better yet – I’ll have AVA kick him in the knee.

1. In Georgia, every class had a room mom who coordinated the classroom parties.

2. I always volunteered, and was always VERY happy when Aidan’s friend Christian was in his class because that meant his mom Dee would be my co-room mom.

3. Dee is very creative, and loves classroom parties.

4. Here in Pennsylvania, they really don’t want parents in the class unless you’re assigned. So you sign up at the start of the year and are assigned to a party.

5. I got Valentine’s Day.

6. Did I mention that – to volunteeer – I had to get a TB test? All clear!

7. We’re starting the party with Handprint Valentines. What Kindergartener doesn’t love PAINT??!

8. I must mention that I am now realizing the benefit of saving – and moving – my approximately 35,286 sheets of cardstock. However, our movers might not feel the same.

9. While those dry, we’ll move on to Valentine’s Day bingo. I’m not ashamed to say that – once again, even though her son is now in 7th grade and they live in California – my friend Dee suggested it.

Thanks to Pinterest, I found the printable blank cards here: Valentine’s Day Bingo Cards. i just opened it in Photoshop and typed in numbers 1-24. It took me about 2 hours to edit 22 cards, trim & package with candy hearts. Not too bad.

10. For our next activity, I’d planned on Valentine Hats. Just when I was preparing to trim the posterboard for the bands, Ava informed me that it was a great craft for the GIRLS, but the BOYS wouldn’t like it.

11. Crap. What do I do with 100 pipecleaners & foam stickers?

12. Voila! Valentine bouquets! A project deemed suitably unisex by Ava. Phew!

13. If we have time leftover, more bingo it is!

14. And for Ava’s valentines? As my creativity (and energy) are sapped, printable Valentines it is!

Printable Valentine Tags from Heather Bullard, who trimmed hers *way* neater than I did.

15. For such an inconsequential “holiday,” it sure is a lot of work.

My dear friend Margie suggested I should create some notecards out of my photographs, so that’s just what I did! Now available in the shop, these are gift sets of 4 flat 4.5×5″ thank you cards tied with a pretty ribbon. Nice to use or give. ]]> http://lisarussophotography.com/2012/02/thank-you-notecard-sets/feed/ 0 http://lisarussophotography.com/2012/02/the-structural-star/ http://lisarussophotography.com/2012/02/the-structural-star/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:59:07 +0000 Lisa http://lisarussophotography.com/?p=5515 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

Have you ever walked/driven/biked past *really* old buildings and noticed they have these very cool stars on their outer (usually brick) walls? I used to think they were decorative – but no – they’re structural. The walls of old buildings would often bow out, so to solve the problem they would install tie rods from one side to the other and, to disguise the ends, they would use washers in the shape of stars. Voila! The structural star.

I think they’re old, rustic and very cool. Folksy americana, if you will.

This one will go in my office – I envision it with a wide (really wide) white mat and a thin black frame. I also like to use images like this one to break up family portrait walls – to mix in some non-face visual interest.

When I saw this recipe floating around Pinterest, I knew I had to try it. We love mexican foods, we love pasta…win-win.

The unfortunate thing is it isn’t exactly…ahem…HEALTHY. I mean, there’s cheese. A lot of cheese. And if you’re shredding your own (please, shred your own), there’s really no limit to how much you can add.

Which means it might come out of the oven looking like this:

If you’re lactose intolerant, just look away…and I’m sorry.

I also don’t make a ground beef recipes, since it’s not the best thing in the world for you. Sooooo…I substituted BISON. If you are trying to talk yourself into trying it, this is a GREAT recipe to dip your toes (and your mouth) into. Bison is lower in fat – which is a GOOD THING because this dish is so low-cal otherwise, obviously! – but still, lower in fat and way higher in protein than ground beef. My grocery sells it in 1 lb. packages in the meat case – if you’re not sure, just buy a package and mix it with some regular ground beef. I’ll betcha can’t tell the difference.

Needless to say, this was delicious and will go into my rotation for sure. I *might* make it with whole grain tortillas next time just to cut back on the carbs a bit (Vic’s suggestion).

There are lots of recipes for this out on the web, but this is the one I used: Mexican Stuffed Shells.

While shooting architecture in Schenectady’s historic stockade district, I happened to look down and noticed the sidewalk was made of these *amazing* century-old bricks neatly laid out in a zig-zag pattern. Add luscious green moss growing in-between and the next thing you know I was down on the ground photographing it.

I just find the pattern, the colors and the texture to be so soothing, almost like a little zen garden.

This is just amazing. Totally going to give this a try – in the privacy of my basement lest I fall on my butt.

Here’s another, showing the footwork a bit better:

ETA: Just tried this downstairs and it’s a *lot* harder than it looks. I’m in pretty good aerobic shape, and I was sucking wind after 5 minutes. Damn!