MAKE OATMEAL…

not packaged oatmeal, although that’s delish too… make homemade oatmeal!!!

to feed our family of four i use:

1C whole grain oats/dash of kosher salt/.75C milk/.5C water/.75C brown sugar + extra for dressing/.25C chopped dried apricots + extra for dressing/.25C chopped walnuts + extra for dressing…boil water, milk & salt…add oats & sugar…stir…cover & remove from heat…let sit to thicken, sip your coffee…stir again… and test for sweetness & desired thickness-don’t burn yourself, it’s hot!!!…add more sugar or milk if needed…spoon into bowls.  put other “condiments” (extra sugar, apricots, raisins, cranberries, warm milk, nuts…whatever might go nicely in oatmeal…and a kitchen torch) on the table so that everyone can dress their own oatmeal.  let everyone make their bowl of warm deliciousness…and to be fancy, drizzle the edges with warm milk and then, sprinkle the oatmeal masterpiece with more brown sugar & torch it to give it a sweet crispy coating…yum!

download the oatmeal recipe!

DISCLAIMER (because my hubby is a lawyer): my advice is simply that!  it’s not sound medical advice or approved by anyone else but me!  you should really ask your doc, midwife, local pd, dog catcher, fish hatchery, lactation consultant, fireman, meter maid, or someone else you trust before just doing what i say-unless you’re olivia or harper lynn!

these last two weeks have been rough…

fact about me: i am very goal oriented!  i’m a list maker!  i thrive by accomplishing things and checking them off of my list!  sometimes i add things to my list that i’ve accomplished and check them off just to remember what i’ve done…i know it’s dorky, but i love being a list-making-goal-oriented-accomplishment-thriving-freak-of-nature!

so…i started getting sick two weeks ago.  harper had a baby cold, and i knew it was only a matter of time before it did a cycle through our house…all that loving on her & snuggling with her gave me her cold too.  i tried to take care of harper and myself & watched livi closely so that we could zap any cold germs before she became infected with something.  i had a session that i’d made an exception to my “no sessions in january” rule for.  i thought i was feeling better & even though it was below freezing & the session was a “play in the snow family extravaganza” i thought i could bundle up and suck it up enough to do the family session.  i was so wrong.  everyone was freezing the entire time…i was lucky enough to get enough great shots of the cute family.  then, i was unlucky enough to get a nasty sinus infection.  i work almost everyday…and i never watch tv during the day…and i never lay in bed during the day.  i was feeling so rotten!  i was all snotty and achy and at the low point i sounded like a man for about a week.  then i had to reschedule two appointments with clients…that sucked!  i hate rescheduling things!  i hate letting people down! i hate being sick!  i hate the feeling of not accomplishing things, not checking things off my list, not meeting my goals!  it was kind of pathetic, but i did manage to watch the entire 5th season of grey’s anatomy, so i guess you could say that i accomplished something…thank you netflix!  i prayed to get well, to keep O & A well, and that HL had really gotten well as quickly as it seemed!

just as i was starting to really feel like myself again andrew was packing for a week in d.c. to attend the national prayer breakfast.  we’d both been invited and for some crazy reason that i cannot remember right now i forfeited my ticket and chose to stay home instead of attending a really cool week of events & a breakfast event that the president actually takes time to attend…crazy huh!  the morning that he left i woke up to him running into our room at 4am because our heater had stopped working.  great!  just what i need at 4am, on a sunday, when i’m sick, andrew is leaving town, and have two littles to keep warm!!!  thankfully before he had to leave at 5am to catch his flight he got it working again…between A & prayer magical things happen all the time!  then his ride did not pick him up…yes, his ride, or non-ride, currently resides at the top of my pooh list-the very top!!!  so, our week got off to kind of a bad start.  then, i found out that i was in fact not better and tried to get through the week without the regular help of A that i am used to!  he puts the girls to bed, gets them up in the morning, takes O to school, helps with the laundry & dishes, he is super-dad…when he’s not out of town or making me crazy because he is here!  i didn’t do well.  i raised my voice more than i should, i didn’t cook much more than oatmeal for breakfast…i had a bad mommy week.  i apologized to my littles when i lost patience with them and i apologized to andrew when i told him how it was his fault that i was having such a hard time.  andrew sent me a huge, gorgeous bouquet of roses to get my spirits up and i was so overwhelmed with life that i couldn’t admire them as lovingly as i normally would.  i love flowers, and i wasn’t freaking out over the most wonderful flowers that i’ve ever gotten…something was so wrong and it wasn’t anyone elses problem, it was me!  i drug myself to the bible study that i love so much and have been missing lately.  for the first time in months i left HL in the nursery and she happily crawled away from me to find a toy.  she didn’t freak out or cry & scream that i was leaving her.  she let me go to bible study in peace…it was a miracle that i was so thankful for!  we are doing this book called “no other Gods” about putting God at the center of our lives.  it’s been really helpful & timely for me since last year i was crazy enough to start a business in a down economy with a nursing baby and a three-year-old…who does that?!  i need to be reminded of my priorities…they easily get totally out of whack.  i sat and listened to the ladies share.  i finally figured out that i was so frustrated & overwhelmed & discouraged because i wasn’t accomplishing anything.  i have a hard time when things are stagnant.  i let myself get so busy that i can’t function if i’m not busy, if i’m not getting things done, if there’s not something to do.  i do well under pressure & in chaos.  i’d forgotten how wonderful it is to relax and not have anything to do…and that it’s ok if there is a lot to do and i’m not checking any of it off my list.  i forgot to remember that loving my family well is a huge accomplishment that is the biggest & best part of life.  i had forgotten that if i’m not putting them first, even above myself, that i can’t accomplish anything else and even if i can it doesn’t matter!  it was a welcome revelation!  sometimes i think we’re allowed to get taken out of the game to gain perspective!  i’m so glad that is all over…i’m so glad for my new perspective…and that i know to apologize to my family when i’m wrong.  i spent almost two weeks feeling sick.  i had a hard time taking care of my littles and a very hard time having the physical and mental energy to take care of anything else.  now i kind of like being taken out of the game…bring on the grey’s!

i don’t really believe in “new years resolutions” i really believe more in life resolutions.  in college i started making lists of things i wanted, things i wanted to accomplish, things i want to see & do…i love my lists!  when i started writing a new business plan for 2010 i started examining my lists.  i have a lot of things in life that i want to do & see & get…big things like building water wells in african villages & really inconsequential things like chanel bags.  for a little accountability i’m sharing my list.  some  things have no end…i can’t check something off my list because the goal is to do them regularly.  the life resolutions are posted in the “about” section too, in case you want to see if i’m actually getting anything done…

1.  graduate from college                             12/2002

2.  finish a marathon                                     4/2002

3.  get married                                               10/2003

4.  use my passport                                      11/2009

5.  go to paris                                                 11/2009

6.  go to the top of the eiffel tower            11/2009

7.  have a baby                                                5/2006

8.  go to turkey

9.  go to india

10.  go to africa

11.  take a beach trip with A                           11/2005

12.  visit our family condo in hawaii            5/2008

13.  have my eyes lasered

14.  learn to lap swim                                      3/2005

15.  finish a triathlon                                       9/2005

16.  build a house

17.  adopt

18.  read the entire bible                                12/2001

19.  ice climb                                                    12/2002

20.  have regular dates with A

21.  take my littles on dates

22.  go through all my magazines

23.  make a quilt for O

24.  make a quilt for H

25.  make a quilt of all of my sorority t-shirts

26.  go to st. croix with my whole family

27.  take my littles to disney

28.  get a real camera                                           11/2007

29.  start taking photography classes               11/2007

30.  take every january off work                          2010

31.  spend more time with my family than working

32.  build homes for others

33.  go on a TOMS shoe drop

34.  get the chanel coco cocoon

35.  take 300 days of pictures of my littles in 2010

36.  read my entire bible again

37.  pray for my family & friends everyday

38.  tell A that i love him everyday, even when i don’t like him

39.  tell O & H that i love them everyday

40.  read to my littles everyday

41.  go on vacation with my mom

42.  visit my sister in germany                    11/2009

43.  visit my sister in canada

44.  print, frame, hang more family pictures in our house

45.  finish O’s baby book

46.  make HL a baby book

47.  do a one-on-one with someone i admire

48.  make A’s fave cookies 1/mo

49.  make A’s fave dinner 1/mo

50.  cook for my family 3-4/week

51.  put the laundry away the same day

52.  stay off the computer when my littles are awake

53.  use my business to support the needs of others

54.  finish another ½ marathon

55.  finish another triathlon

56.  pay back our family all the $$ they’ve invested in my business

57.  book 10 weddings in a year by 2015

58.  do one wedding/yr for free

59.  pay for a well through living water international

60.  go with living water international to put in a well

61.  run from town-my house…it’s up hill the whole way

62.  ride from town-my house…it’s up hill the whole way

63.  fast from tv for 40 days

64.  read the twilight series

65.  get invisilign

66.  have a preventative mastectomy & reconstruction

67.  follow/document a breast cancer patient            9/2009-?/2010

68.  teach livi to make scrambled eggs

69.  meet with my FOCUS group yearly

70.  do a beach destination wedding

71.  make a “real” office in my house

72.  ride my bike to dmr

73.  feed my family only organic meat & dairy products        1/2010

74. feed my family organic meat, dairy, fruits, & veggies

75.  give someone else a compliment everyday

76.  redecorate the living room

77.  redecorate our bedroom

78.  there will be more…come back soon…

i’m “not working/not shooting” in january, but made an exception or two due to some special requests.   we got some fun in the snow family pics of the braner family…little dax likes having his picture taken, see…maggie & gabby were cold, but they were troopers & i know this shot will make their mama so happy!come back for more…with 5 kids, less that 30 degrees & a leather chair, this was a great time…

the boutique is up & running!

what?  you ask…a boutique?  YES, ya’ll!!!  i’m a girly-girl!  i love to shop!  and nothing makes me happier than a darling boutique with cute custom pieces to feed the shop-a-holic in me!

why should your photography experience be any different?  don’t you want gorgeous prints of your cute baby’s tush to hang on your wall…don’t you want an album of your hotness on your wedding day…don’t you want a purse for your album-(more about the purse later)!  YES, you emphatically do!!!

so, i told you i had a lot of new things coming up in 2010…here’s one of them:

i am now working with a graphic designer to design custom albums & cards just for you!  she is cute, she is sweet, she is talented, and she’s going to make us the most beautiful goodies to display your little works of art!  with the purchase of an album through jan schill photography you get an album consultation to see all of your gorgeous choices and you can tell us what your dreams are of your perfect album…and we’ll do it!  there are wedding albums, session albums, baby albums, a-day-in-the-life albums…so many choices you’ll want a few!  AND now i take credit cards, so you can charge it…doesn’t every girl love those two words?!

here’s my latest & greatest album…this baby will be your new bff, see…oh, the metallic paper…the thick, flushmount pages…the custom, designed layout…the modern, square opening…the champagne cover…

don’t you just want to hug & kiss it because of its radness?…me too…

and now…it’s time to be frank!  i prefer to be me…like it or not…being honest, real, raw, & frank is essential!  it’s not me to sugar coat things & smile & nod.  i do it occasionally, or just sing a little song it my head to prevent myself from having verbal diarrhea and really offending someone.  it’s not me to be censored or quiet!  a friend recently inspired me to think about the direction my business should go!  what do i want?  what can i handle?  what’s best for my family?  what’s best for my clients?  i admit…and don’t just totally hate me for this…i choose to work!  i’m a stay-at-home-mom…it’s all i ever wanted to do & the fact that my family supports & tolerates me being in business is a super extra bonus blessing!  i love photography!  i love everything about it!  i love my clients!  i love my family!  i love all those goodies that come along with this industry!  so, this is fair warning that i’m going to have a little more real, personal, frankness from now on!  i’m going to share my “life goals” and other tidbits that you may or may not want to know!  i’ll remind you that you totally don’t have to read it…i’d love it if you hang out and read and leave a comment or two, but it’s a personal choice!  part of being in this line of work and being a client of a custom photographer is that you like who you hire & i want to love my clients…i do love you guys!  i am not for everyone…everyone is not for me!  when you hire someone to work with your newborn or spend 8 hours with on your wedding day you need to like that person…we don’t have to be bff’s, but we should be able to hang out without having to have a cocktail or a muzzle!  i’d love to have a coffee or a cocktail with you though…yum!  i do custom photography!  custom photography is not for everyone.  my work & products are a traveling boutique of ideas, possibilities, & love!

so, to start i’m going to tell you a few things: 1) i think adrian brody is totally hot! 2) my biggest fear is anything happening to my children…it keeps me up at night 3) i own my own gun & i’m a pretty good shot! 4) i’m planning to have a voluntary double-mastectomy, a hysterectomy, & reconstruction in the next 5 years because of my family’s history of cancer 5) i’m getting ready to start a 40-day fast from shopping, business stuff included(unless it’s for clients of course)…i need a 12 step program!

bonjour…this is the part where i tell you about how my dreams of going to paris came true!  ok, let’s back up about 7 years:  when andrew & i met we quickly started planning our life together-we met, got engaged 4 months later, and married 7 months after that.  so, among those plans was the promise from andrew to take me to paris…and to see the eiffel tower.  so, he finally fulfilled his promise to me…it was worth the wait…

thomas is french, he & andrew met in law school and he was there the night when A & i met too…lovely sarah is french as well…i wish she lived in the states so that we could hang out and talk about macaroons & baking & drink wine & eat pastries with crazy amounts of butter on them…we had some delicious meals in thomas’ tiny apartment courtesy of the lovely sarah…mmm, crepes with orange caramel sauce…thankfully i took my uggs-which i completely hated until this year btw!  we walked everywhere in paris…seriously everywhere!  we walked so much for two days and saw so many things that i lost the remainder of my baby weight plus a little pinch here and there.  i thought i could eat enough butter, pastries, & macaroons to make up for it, but that didn’t happen…the city is wonderful…since it was getting close to the holiday season, street vendors were roasting chestnuts everywhere in the city.  we couldn’t help but try them…yum…our second day was freezing cold!  all hopes i’d had of dressing cute in my “cute paris outfits” were dashed when it was bitter cold outside & i quickly realized that walking was the #1 form of transportation!  thankfully i was able to borrow some things from sarah so i didn’t lose an ear or a digit while making my way to the tower!
we walked to the second level & then took the elevator to the top.  we had champagne at the champagne bar & stayed there for a long time…it was beautiful…andrew had been to paris several times before, but never to the top of the eiffel tower.  he said he was waiting for his wife to go to the top with…thanks babe!mont marte…the view from mont marte…on our last evening we were invited to have dinner at thomas’ mothers home on the champ elysees.  she prepared a delicious dinner for us and it was so nice to be welcomed into her lovely home!  on the way over there i ate a rose flavored macaroon, quickly turned green, and became violently ill for the remainder of the evening.  it was embarrassing, not quite the way i like to behave as a dinner guest!  every hour on the hour they light the tower, it’s beautiful!  we happened to visit the city on a holiday and there was a special light show that we got to see…it was gorgeous…my reason number 101 & 102 to visit paris again soon…macaroons & street cafes…i have great affection in my heart for them both…

our last day there we went to the louvre.  i had no idea how big it was & that we would need at least a week to see everything!  that morning i emphatically declared that i was going to “be cute today” and wear my “cute paris outfit” and i was “not walking anywhere”!  i wore a cute jacket, skinny jeans, and my platform, stiletto ankle boots.  then, we walked about 100ft just to take a bus to the museum and my whole body was killing me!  by the time we arrived at the louvre i didn’t care about the mona lisa, or art, or anything else at all & i was quite sure that i was going to need a foot transplant or the jaws of life because of my incredibly cute & uncomfortable shoe selection!  andrew & thomas were not impressed!  i ended up taking my shoes off and carrying them around the museum & got to experience the louvre in my socks…which i highly recommend!  one woman called out to me in french to put my shoes back on & i just smiled at her & kept walking.  the rest of the day i kept repeating to myself “stupid girl, stupid shoes”!  i mean, i am all for suffering for fashion, but i need my feet!  i went right back to the uggs the first chance i got.  sorry mona lisa, i’ll admire you more next time in my tennis shoes like all of the other tourists there that were so happy in their comfy shoes!thomas & sarah…we love you guys, you are among our top reasons to go back to france!  thanks for being our hosts, chefs, & tour guides in paris!  thanks for not letting that drunk man on the metro steal my camera, thanks for taking me to every macaroon shop anywhere close to where we were walking, thanks for being great friends!   i love paris!

i was going through all of my personal 2009 images to archive them & get them off of my computer before it starts throwing things & yelling obscenities at me, & i ran across about 200 blog-worthy, personal images that i intended to share with you…hmmm…
well, instead of starting way back in october, let’s start with our super rad trip to europe:

we left for europe after packing meticulously, weighing our bags to make sure that we weren’t over weight limits, taking only what andrew & i could carry so that we could handle the kiddos, and taking enough snacks, new toys, movies, & comfort items to feed & entertain a fleet of littles…yes, all four of us went to europe…it was an adventure!  we flew durango-denver-chicago-london, got our rental car & drove 5 hours up to the lake district where we were to stay for a few days.  it was really different driving on the other side of the road, but it didn’t deter livi from her typical road-trip pee sessions.strangely enough, of all three countries that we visited, i had the hardest time communicating in england.  our first stop at the “welcome break” we found the english version of starbucks where i ordered a mint mocha…it sounded yummy & wonderful since i was exhausted, wet, & cold…after saying “mint mocha” about five times & being asked what a “mamocha” was, i finally got my hot, delicious cup of minty-chocolate caffeine & was so happy!

thanks to the tomtom, we made it to ambleside.  the lake district was beautiful!  we stayed at a cozy bed & breakfast that had a perfect little two-room suite for our little family…every morning we woke to our own table next to a huge window with a full-english breakfast & french-pressed coffee.  we tried to enjoy england even though we were extremely jet-lagged, it was cold, & it rained constantly.  i hardly took any pictures in england, but i made up for it when i photographed my first wedding…in england…of these rad folks…i loved doing the wedding, to see the posts of that go HERE, HERE, & HERE!  oh my…  and have you ever had a kitkat from england…they are so delicious…all kitkats are not created equal…i miss these things a lot…the day after robert & jen got hitched we packed it up & jumped back in the car…on the way to catch our flight livi completely defiled our car with projectile vomit…thank God for leather & that we were smart enough to have plenty of wipes and a change of clothes handy… somehow we got to the airport without being covered in puke & caught a flight over to germany to visit my sister & her hubby.  germany was cold & wet too…are you picking up on the weather trend for our european holiday yet?  good thing we were there to see people we love & our hotel was so wonderful!  they took pity on us & gave us a beautiful suite that worked perfectly…plenty of room so that we weren’t on top of one another…livi & harper had their own beds…the breakfast was amazing…and livi was in love with the elevator…after a few days in germany, andrew & i left the littles with my sister & her hubs for a trip to paris by ourselves.  they were sweet enough to volunteer to watch them & we jumped at the chance to go to paris sans children.  (you’ll have to wait for part 2 to see all of the pics from paris)  a few days in gorgeous paris with our sweet, french friends we wondeful!  we returned to germany after three days in france to see the sights of hamburg & our littles that we were really starting to miss!  we walked all around hamburg…this is part of the st. nikolai monument.  this church was bombed & burned in WWII…harper enjoyed the sights from the comfort of her stroller…livi loved the leaves & the bahn in hamburg…andrew took a few pictures too…which was so nice…he worked for a photographer in college & has a great eye…i really like his perspective…we loved the food in germany…not all hot dogs, sauer kraut, & beer like a lot of us think…they have lots of cool, yummy modern places to eat…harper discovered fresh apples at this yummy thai infusion place…this is a bunker from WWII…they dot the city & are used today for storage…i was fascinated by these…also left from the effects of WWII, these markers are outside of the homes of many of those that did not return after the war.  i don’t speak german, so to translate, this brass stone basically says, “Here Lived Peter Perls, born 1931, Deported 1943, Murdered in Auschwitz”…this boy was killed in auschwitz concentration camp.   to read more about them you can go HERE and read what my husband wrote about them on our friend carl’s website HERE.

for part 2, we’ll be in paris…get your wine & cheese ready…

this makes me so happy every time i watch it!

natalyn…i heart you!  you win as my new favorite indie voice!

just a little shout out to my peeps to say hello…i’m still here!  designing albums & trying to remember what life is like after the holidays.  i was working through all of my images to do some updating & ran across so many images that i want to blog…hopefully i’ll have time, or take time, since i’m taking january off.  i have so many fun things to share with you in the next few weeks…wedding things…collaborative things…album things…family things…personal things…tammy things…it’s good stuff ya’ll!!!  i’m so excited…tickled pink…it’s super rad!

and of course a photographers post isn’t complete without an image or two:  here’s one of harper in germany at a super yummy, modern restaurant where she got to experience her first apple…these are from two pairs of my favorite shoes-there is a story in paris behind these…my hubs-making the face i see him making when i’ve spent too much time on the computer…see ya soon…

this is our super rad christmas card…thanks taylor & holli!  this year i wanted to go all out…i had holli do our family session…awesome graphic-designer, taylor, make my vision & color scheme a reality…accordion card…pearl paper…gold shimmer envelopes…they are so rad!  if you didn’t get one, email me your address and i’ll zip one out to you-and add you to our holiday card list, better late than never!  i heart mail!  i’ll be celebrating jesus’ birthday, so i hope you have a happy & blessed holiday season…merry christmas & blessings for the new year,  js