Back to School Giveaway Week, Day Three:

Those who have followed my blog for a while or have ever seen me participating in one of I Heart Faces’ Fix-It Friday memes will know already that I am a huge Lightroom fan. I bought Lightroom 1 a while ago after trying out the free trial version.  At the time, I had already upgraded from Adobe Photoshop Elements to Photoshop CS3, and I really thought that I would have no use for Lightroom. As soon as I “tried it on for size” I …

In celebration of Back to School season (all five of my kids head back to school tomorrow morning!) I’m launching my first ever Back to School giveaway week, with exciting giveaways every day. This week will be full of fun and lots of great prizes (including my first ever photo editing giveaway….a la Lolli…try it. It’s fun to say!) so be sure to check back frequently!
This Friday, I am doing a special Give Me Your Best Shot, Summer edition linky. Scan through your summer pictures and show off a few …

I am not a party-thrower.
I love attending parties. When someone else is in charge of setting up and cleaning up.
So the fact that I threw a party for a handful of friends just days before school went back into session was huge.
And guess what? I survived. And we had fun.
We got our craft on.

Note: Build-A-Bear Workshop® is is now partnering with Michaels Stores to feature their brand new line of crafts called Build-A-Bear Craftshop™ which will be introduced in all Michaels Stores in September. The new and unique Build-A-Bear …

It feels like ages ago that I took the picture that was to become my trademark Better in Bulk image.
I wish I could take credit for the vision, but I have to admit that it was my friend, Liz, who came up with the idea of displaying the vintage candy jars with all of the candies representing my kids in them. And of course she had the vintage candy jars. She also had two gorgeous vintage cameras, and I thought it would be appropriate to stick a camera in the …

I spent 3 hours with a delightful mom, her 2 year old daughter, and newborn twins this week. Three hours is what it took for us to decide that we had finally caught enough pictures of her three girls, who were taking turns being fussy the entire time we were together. I constantly reassured her that this photo shoot was not uncommon. Babies and little kids tend to be on their worst behavior for photographers. Schedule a photo shoot after a feeding? They’ll be hungry again in 30 minutes. Just …

I’m blogging now from the Hilton in New York City, where I’ve already exhausted myself had SO much fun meeting my blogging friends.
The bloggers here in New York City are different than I was expecting. Wetter, in fact.

Actually, we are all wet and sweaty from the extreme heat and humidity here today. Hot doesn’t even begin to describe New York City today (and I’m an East Coaster, used to a humid climate).
The atmosphere at BlogHer so far has been very positive and excited. Not like this guy:

And I’ve only just …

This week’s set of favorite shots is from Saturday’s very HOT (107 degrees!) but very fun and relaxing wedding reception. The groom is a personal favorite of CandyMan and mine, and the bride just happens to be Reese’s counselor at camp. In short, we love these guys and their family. Despite the heat, we enjoyed the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay, good food, dancing, and a boat ride (AJ’s first!). But most of all, we enjoyed a few hours with friends (we were even willing to put up with a …

It’s HOT here. Saturday is supposed to be record-breaking temps in the 100s. If it weren’t for the activity we have with other kids at church in the morning, and the wedding reception of the century in the afternoon, I’d just spend the entire day at the pool, sipping ice cold soda. (Disclaimer–the reception really isn’t the event of the century….I just really like the bride and groom. They’re favorites of mine, and I wouldn’t miss their party for all the air conditioning in the world).
Speaking of the pool, I …

I said I wasn’t going to blog today (it’s a busy day with a trip to visit some old friends after church) but I found myself with some extra time this morning, so I figured I’d link up to this week’s Chic Click Carnival.
Some introductions: I am Lolli, mother of 5 kids, ages 13 1/2 to 5. I love photography and teaching others how to take better pictures. My blog has a little bit of everything…..family tales and parenting tips, recipes, photography tutorials, and giveaways/reviews. Currently, I’ve got a giveaway …

Last night, I had in my mind that today was going to be Thursday, so I apologize for those of you waiting for GMYBS to be up. I’m blaming it all on the Summer. Thanks for reminding me, Allison!
This week, I caught a few pictures of my kids at the pool. If you haven’t heard me mention this before, I’ll mention it again: I adore my underwater camera. While it doesn’t take the greatest photos, the underwater shots can’t be duplicated any other way. And I certainly don’t want to …