Thanksgiving 2011

Dec
09

Posted by: Maggie

We had an interesting Thanksgiving this year. We hadn’t done Thanksgiving with Josh’s family for several years so I decided that this year we would skip my family’s and join Josh’s. Which was great, except that Josh’s Dad is into completely effortless Thanksgivings, which means restaurant Thanksgiving.

This year he chose Claim Jumper. The food and service were fine. Not great, just fine. The vegetarian option was a baked potato with veggies, which is not Thanksgivingy at all. But it was okay. We did seem to be rushed in and out, however, which was a little annoying. Each course came out quickly with hardly enough time to finish the one before it. We were in-and-out in a little over an hour. All in all it was just fine, but didn’t at all feel like Thanksgiving.

To me Thanksgiving is about spending a whole day with the family eating snacks and appetizers, cooking dinner, setting the table, and putting up with my siblings watching football. Before I started dating Josh I had never actually heard of anyone having Thanksgiving at a restaurant. I mean, I knew that a lot of restaurants offered a Thanksgiving meal, but I had never head of anyone actually doing it. Now that I’ve done it, I know that it’s about as bizarre and non-Thanksgiving as I expected. We won’t be doing that again.

Luckily, my family is great about holidays and always making sure we all get to celebrate. So after Restaurant Thanksgiving we headed to my Dad’s to join him, my step-mom and siblings for dessert and football. AND I am ever so grateful for my amazing Mother who held her Thanksgiving on Sunday, which was a real Thanksgiving with appetizers and lots of vegetarian-friendly side dishes! I even convinced her to purchase a Heritage Turkey (read about Heritage Turkeys here) for the meat-eaters. Although much more expensive it was apparently delicious, so she’s ordered another for Christmas.

For some reason I only took food photos. I blame pregnancy exhaustion.

The food was delicious! Especially the dessert. My mom made bread pudding with butterscotch sauce, that was oh so good! And I made some homemade cinnamon ice cream to go with it. It was super good and pretty quick and easy to make!

Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving too!

Playing Catch-up

Dec
08

Posted by: Maggie

I want to start posting about Eleanor’s birthday extravaganza, but I realize that I’m a bit behind in posting about what we’ve been up to lately. So I’m going to do a relatively quick run-down of what’s been going on over the last month followed by a couple in-depth posts (including a long-overdue pregnancy update) before I get to the birthday fun!

I actually have to look at me calendar to see what we’ve been doing. I usually go through my Lightroom Catalog at my dated photo folders, but I was so busy that there are zero personal photos from Halloween through Thanksgiving. All I have is client work for the month!

Elora Star is born!

The month started with my best friend since high school, Betsy, having her baby girl, Elora! Well, technically she had her October 27th, but I got to meet her and shoot her newborn portraits a week later.

(You can see more at Maggie Keegan Gross Photography.)

PartnerCon and Meeting Meola!

A few days later I headed to San Diego with my friend and fellow photographer, Renee, to attend PartnerCon, a photography conference. I had won my admission when I took Christa Meola’s Online Boudoir Photography Workshop over the summer. I had a great time with Renee and I learned sooooo much! I came away feeling inspired to keep shooting what I love, and fantastic ideas about how to run my business better, from workflow suggestions to studio management tools to ways to take better care of my clients. It was exactly what I needed right now, and the reason that I decided not to shoot sessions in December, just to keep the month for business planning and organization.

The best part of the conference by far was finally getting to meet my photography idol and unofficial mentor, Christa Meola! By chance, the very first morning, she sat down right next to Renee and asked to see my schedule. I introduced myself and she immediately jumped up to give me a hug! We had been emailing since I got her book last Christmas, and taking her workshop over the summer. It was so wonderful to get to meet her and spend a little time talking with her a few times during the conference. She is truly what has inspired me most in my photography business over the last year. I feel so lucky to have her in my corner, offering me guidance and inspiration!

Work, Work, Work

The rest of the month flew by, I shot a baby shower and a whole bunch of Holiday Mini Sessions (you can check out all the posts over at Maggie Keegan Gross Photography, some are up and more are to come)!

AND that brings us up to Thanksgiving! That post to come!

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Categories: Family Stories, Maggie Keeps it Real
Tags: Betsy & Justin, business, busy, Christa Meola, Elora, inspiration, Maggie Keegan Gross Photography, newborn portraits, newborns, photo workshops, photography, small business ownership

Happy Fourth Birthday Eleanor!

Dec
07

Posted by: Maggie

My Dearest Eleanor,

Today you turned four! I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by and how much you’ve grown!

You are as brave, stubborn, and independent as ever. Although you still want Mommy and Daddy to do things for you and you often say that you don’t want to get older. I suspect this has to do with the little brother growing inside of me. Lately, you tell us that you want to be a baby still and once argued with me in tears that it was better to be a baby than a big girl. But at other times you tell us very matter-of-factly that one day you will be a grown up and have your own family. And of course, you explain, that this means that you will need a bigger bed and will have to move to a new house with your family. And when I protest, telling you that I want you to live with me forever, you tell me, “Don’t worry Mama, I’ll come visit you sometimes.”

You like to talk a lot about what will happen when you grow up–you will get married, be a Mommy with your own babies, live in your own house, drink coffee, drive a car, make your own rules, do whatever you want. You like to talk about what job you will have, and always what outfit will go with that job. Some days you want to be a Mommy, “just like you Mama! But I think I will need a purple dress for that!” Other days you want to work with Daddy, “but I think I will need to get some work pants like Daddy.”

You tell elaborate stories about things we have done in the past. They often involve you being present at different times in my or your Daddy’s childhood. “When you were a baby Mama, I helped GoGo change your diapers!” Or even more outlandish ones, “When we were little kittens you were a baby kitten and I was your Mama kitten, and I would lick your fur to give you a bath.” Or, “Daddy when you were little you didn’t know how to drive, and your Mama didn’t know either, so I taught you both how to drive!” You are constantly talking and always making us laugh.

You are so smart with a huge vocabulary. Your teachers are always impressed by how many words you know and concepts you understand compared to the other kids in your class. And you know you are smart too. In fact, you think you know everything, and after we explain something new to you, you often respond, “I know, I know, I told you that!”

You are still making things tough for me and your Daddy sometimes. You aren’t always a good listener, and aren’t always so patient. But you have gotten so much better over the last year! You still get angry and throw the occasional tantrum, but it’s much less frequent than it used to be. You are maturing every day, and we are so proud of you.