i just got a text from a friend asking “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR BLOG IT’S ALL WHITE?”

so i guess i should post about the changes i made yesterday yes?

i have been wanting to move past the colorful clutter of the old look for months. in fact, i think that i wasnt fully in love with that look from the very beginning, but i cant be sure. i flip flop daily on things like that.

so when my theme was upgraded i decided to upgrade the look too.

i just want pure minimalist cleanness. and i know thats not really a word. but thats what i want. cleanness. no clutter. nothing. stripped down. words and pictures. its like a breath of fresh air for me.

i still have some more tweaks to make, but the bones of it are done.

my favorite bit so far is the “email me” link up top. click it and see what kind of goodness happens.

the other think i think is pretty cool is my twitter feed. up there where it says “what am i doing right now?”

so rachel, THAT IS WHY MY BLOG IS ALL WHITE. :)

changes that ROCK!

over the past month i have been working feverishly behind the curtain to make some changes and updates to our business.  i cant really call it MY business anymore, because jeff is so much a part of the back end of things that its really his too. he is so good at all of the things i am not good at. like bookkeeping and finances and all of that stuff that isnt fun or pretty. i get the fun and pretty stuff (shooting, editing, brand design, blogging) and he does the business side. we are a good pair.

i cant hold it in any longer! the thing i am most excited about unveiling is … (this is screencapped from my site)

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a totally new tara whitney “experience”. isnt it awesome??? you couldnt wipe the smile off my face right now even if you smacked me. i am that excited about this.  i had such a GOOD time with jay reilly and michel (pronounced micheal). i absolutely TREASURE the movie he created of my family. TREASURE. its priceless. amazing. moving. makes me cry every time i watch it. everyone that has seen it has been bowled over with the coolness. to be able to collaborate with michel and offer the same experience to my clients makes me want to jump up and down on my bed! i cant wait to start creating these with him, and you.

another change this year is in the form of some of my offerings. i am now offering wall galleries with my largest package. i have designed five different layouts guaranteed to have stunning impact on the walls in your home. you can choose from a standard gallery (where everything is printed and mounted on styrene) or you can upgrade to a deluxe gallery and have your images printed on canvas. after getting so much positive feedback for my own family photo wall, linked here, i knew it was something people desperately wanted, but couldnt always do on their own. i also think that my work really shines when shown this way-all of the little pieces of the session together on one wall tells a story and makes an impact.

so, you can go ahead and check out www.tarawhitney.com for the updates and changes. and for anyone that is currently on my waiting list or for anyone that has been waiting for me to re-open my calendar for bookings just shoot me an email and we will get things rolling! (wait listers, i will be emailing you) :)

anna turns six

img_2852anna’s birthday was at the end of january and all she wanted more than anything else in the world was to go out to lunch and a movie with two of her closest friends.

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lunch: chipotle

movie: hotel for dogs

six year old girl: blissed out

abday

six random facts about anna right now.

1. she is obsessed with a pair of garage sale rollerskates and rolls all over this house in them every afternoon after school. when there is a friend involved they each take one and roll one footed. the obsession with rolling is moving to a skateboard as well.

2. her favorite foods: pickles, cheese, turkey sandwiches, mashed potatoes, broccoli, strawberries, pirates booty, sticky rice, spanish rice, ranch dressing

3. she is forever having “coin-slot” issues with her jeans. she came up with the “criss cross applesauce test” wherein she puts her jeans on and sits down cross legged in front of me. i check to see if you can see her bum. usually you can. she wears lots of long shirts to compensate. (just like her dad!)

4. silkie is still a huge part of her day. silkie is a never worn silk (obviously.) robe that i was given as a wedding gift. silkie is a girl. she is referred to as “she”. anna found her when she was just learning to walk, and toddled through-out our home trailing this long ivory silk robe behind her. you would never know what it was in its former life now. and i think she(silkie) is pretty happy about that. i dont think there is any silk robe out there more loved. i need to blog about the time we almost lost her. good story.

5. her favorite person on planet earth is still me. i hope to keep it that way for a good 10-30 more years. daddy is a really close second.

6. her voice, her giggle, her songs, her dances, her hair, her smell, her teeth, nose, ears, chin, her sparkly brown eyes, her kindness, her sass, her pout, her belly, her sense of humor, her neck…are all things so much a part of my day, so intertwined with my own that often i dont know where i end and she begins. she is everything i ever wanted when i was a little girl dreaming about what my children would be. i often think that maybe she knew. and she waited for us. that she picked us, or was given to us because she is exactly what our family needed. i like to think she was waiting for the perfect time to be born. and the perfect time was jan 24, 2003.

and i will bask in the beam of her sunshine love for as long as i am able.