Reconnections

Labor Day weekend meant a day off, and meant O and I wanted a road trip/mini vacation! We headed 4 hours East to the Twin Cities and had a really lovely time staying in an Airbnb and visiting new places and old friends! 

I worked with Catherine and Brian last year at Casablanca American School, and they just moved into a charming old house in St. Paul, and we spent a lovely Sunday with them! First we got a tour of their house and had fun reconnecting and playing with Julian, their 2 and a 1/2 year old.

We had lunch at the amazing Midtown Global Market, where we were too busy eating to take pictures. Then they took us to the Guthrie Theater, which had a really beautiful overlook of the river, as seen above, and a fun golden box overlook too.

We all were feeling a bit pooped at that point and lay down on the benches and chilled for a while, and I took a few pictures because I liked the fun tint to the nicely diffused light.

Even Julian took a little nap during our tour of the theater.

We then walked down next to the old mill, while Brian told us all about the history of the flour milling industry in Minneapolis, and this building which had been the site of both a giant explosion and a fire later on, and is now a beautiful venue for weddings and events. We even saw a wedding getting set up on our way back. 

We took a few pictures on the long bridge over the water.

Julian had just woken up and wasn't really into the idea of getting his picture taken, but he was definitely having a fun time looking at the waterfalls created by the dam and spotting dogs accompanying the other Sunday strollers.

What a cute family! 

Thanks for a lovely day Brian and Catherine! I can't wait to visit again once Julian becomes a big brother in November!

New car!

It's so wonderful having my husband visit! Othman and I are having a really great time with my family, being silly and just hanging out.

Part of why I was so happy we was coming was because he wanted to help me buy a car! I've needed one since I arrived in July, but I haven't found one in Brookings and haven't had time to go to Sioux Falls to look for one. So it ended up that the day after he got here, this happened!

At the end of the day the car we bought is one that he has dreamed about since he was a kid, so it's really a car for him, not me. But it's a Subaru which means it's reliable and has 4WD, so I'm happy to drive it around until he arrives this winter! At that point we'll see if we need to buy a little commuter car as well, but this baby will be our main transport. It's such a cute car and we love it!

For the long Labor Day weekend we wanted to get away from SD and get to know our new car, so we took a trip to the Cities! More on that in the next post.

In which hubby comes to visit!

As we wait for Othman's green card, he has stayed in Morocco working while I'm living and working here. Being apart has been anything but fun, but luckily he was able to come to visit! The last leg of his flight was the same as Patrick's flight home for Labor Day, and they even got seats next to each other. 

Flying into Sioux Falls they spotted our old acreage, where the family lived for 8 years.

I picked them up at the airport and we had a fun drive home!

Mom made us a lovely family dinner to celebrate togetherness.

Happy.

Senior Photoshoot: Thomas

Last weekend I took the senior pictures of Thomas, the big brother of Tessie's friend Hope. He plays football with his highschool team, so first we took some sports shots.

Then we went downtown for more pictures.

Finally we went to my favorite park for photos.

Thomas was a super easy and cooperative model, and we were all happy with the results!

Four friends

As promised, here are the Maria & friends photos! These four have been friends since our family moved to South Dakota in 2005. Now the twins are off to college, so the girls came up to accompany Maria on her shoot and so they could get some photos together too.

They're just too cute.

Then we had a twins picture, per my mom's special request.

After that we moved onto some individual shots. I just did a 2 minute shoot with each girl while Bia took a posing break. I shot Nicole last year and it was fun to take a few pictures of her again!

Cecilia is off to study nursing in Cleveland this year.

And twin Susannah will study Biology in upstate New York.

The twins are leaving tomorrow and we wish them the best!

 Hooray for good friends!

Senior Photoshoot: Maria

My lovely little sister Maria will be a senior in high school this year! She's 10 years younger than I am and it's crazy how much can change in a 10-year interim. She has friends who are off to college next week and she wanted to have them join in on her senior photoshoot, so last Sunday they came over and we headed downtown. I'll be doing another photoshoot with her later on in the fall outdoors, but this was a really fun start. In my next post I'll share the pictures I took of the four friends, but for now here are the first batch of Maria's senior pictures!

It's so fun shooting family members and close friends, because I'm in a unique position to really draw their unfiltered personality out of them, and I'm able to get such natural photos as a result.

We got some really lovely shots, and her friends did a great job of making her laugh!

Towards the end of the shoot, my camera was almost out of battery, so we decided to head to a local coffee shop for some post-shoot treats. But as we walked there I was happy I had the dredges of battery juice to get this very last photo, which I just love!

What a beautiful sister I have!

Senior Photoshoot: Sheila

Last weekend I had a session with Sheila, who is the daughter of my dad's colleague and is half-Brazilian, just like me! I did a really quick photoshoot with her last year, and this year she contacted me asking me to take her senior photos, which I was really excited about, especially with my new lens on order. Tessie and Maria came along as my assistants, which was fun, especially because they see her at school. We had a fun and successful photoshoot!

We loved her map shirt from Brazil, which meant a lot to her, especially because she travels a lot.

At first we wandered around downtown, which has some lovely backgrounds.

The whole shoot was relaxed and had a great feel.

After that we went to the Nature Center close to town for some more outdoorsy pictures. Sheila swims competitively and she wanted a picture in her swimming jacket next to the water.

Throughout the night I captured some really lovely shots, and was so pleased!

She was such a great model, and we had so much fun all together!

The next day I shot Maria and friends—stay tuned for that!