elle loves

The sweetest thing

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(c) eLLe PHOTOGRAPHY (c) eLLe PHOTOGRAPHY (c) eLLe PHOTOGRAPHY

Continuing this week of showing off family photo shoots, I bring you the incredibly sweet toddler Dashiell & his lovely grandmother Mary.  His parents (Lauren & Josh) are the design team and proprietors of The Podolls – their eponymous design label and clothing store in Burlingame.  I grew up with Lauren, as our Moms are the best of friends, and it has made me so happy to see her doing so well as a designer (she was a seriously stylish child, so it’s not too surprising she’s a designer now – my sister and I just completely envied her ability to put looks together).  If you find yourself in Burlingame, I suggest stopping by their shop (and I do recommend making a special trip & I say that without any bias because their designs are truly wearable, current-but-not-trendy, and cut from the most gorgeous fabrics, that you will not regret going.  They also carry of-the-moment shoes, accessories & a darling kids line they started called The Podots (oh how I love a little word play).)  You can read more about them on 7×7, and SF Gate.  I was so honored to take Mary’s holiday card photos with Dash – he is just the sweetest little boy and it was a delight getting to capture a couple of moments in time with him.

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Serendipity & 11 Stories

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I mentioned last week that I’d be speaking at the Makeshift Society, and as usual I met some amazing people there.  Last night I met Elisabeth Woody who has a cool business called 11 Stories that I think is really unique & awesome.  In short, she takes the idea of a wedding album to the next level by interviewing couples about their love story, which she writes up (in what I would think is likely an educated and beautiful way since she is Harvard/Cal educated with a PhD) and incorporates into an album infused with photographs along with the narrative.  In addition to wedding & anniversary related stories, she also does “life stories” to preserve family history.  I highly recommend checking out her work and site if you like this idea.  Her prices are reasonable, and she was absolutely lovely to talk to — I can so imagine sitting down with her and pouring out my life story over a cup of tea.  Just passing on the things I think y’all would like . . .

PS – I just discovered that Elisabeth was recently featured on Snippet & Ink’s sweet series called “Snapshot of a Marriage” – check it out!

I know what it means to miss New Orleans

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It’s no secret among those who know me that I *love* New Orleans more than any place else on earth.  It is my most favorite city.  I was lucky enough to go to graduate school there and to spend three fabulous years in that seductive city.  I just went back for a weekend and showed Bill my version of the town.  Here’s just a few iphone snaps I took — bear with me as this blog is bound to be a bit NOLA-heavy over the next few days.  I thought I’d start off by sharing a few of my favorite places.  People always ask me where to go, what to do, so here’s the start of my little list.  Some of these you’ve probably heard of, but maybe not all . . .
*Layfayette No. 1 – this is my most favorite cemetery in New Orleans.  You might be thinking that’s an odd thing to start off with, but cemetery’s there are a big deal.  They are above ground, run down in the way that things can be there, yet still elegant.  I’m sure there’s famous people buried there, but I’m not really sure who.  They filmed an Ashley Judd movie there years ago.  I just like to walk around and look at the history.  Sometimes I eavesdrop on a walking tour there too.  It’s also in the heart of the Garden District, so a great spot to include if you walk around there.  Which you should.
* Speaking of the Garden District, we happened upon the most lovely surprise this trip — the ladies of the NOLA Opera Guild have opened up a home there for tours.  You might think this is no big deal, but it is.  It’s the only home that you can tour in the Garden District.  The houses there are just lovely from the street, but to really get a sense of the place, you need to go inside.  Now me, I have connections so I get to see inside homes all the time.  (Yeah, not such a humble brag there!) But even so, I do not get to see inside gorgeous mansions & this is one of them.  It’s also available for wedding receptions.  Y’all out there reading, if you want a former resident to come on down and shoot your wedding in NOLA, I am your girl!  We loved our tour of this place and fell in love.
* One of the things I just adore about New Orleans is that they have totally unique shops that sell things that are cool now, but they have always sold them regardless of the trends.  One of these places is the silver shop called As You Like It on Magazine Street (a fantastic street to find said kinds of shops).  This place sells antique silver of both the solid and hotel variety.  I love finding little treasures like the teaspoons pictured above in their baskets of mismatched items that you can procure for a few dollars.  They also have an online shop & lots of unique things that make excellent gifts.
*At some point in your travels to NOLA, you will likely find yourself in the French Quarter.  While you’re there, do yourself a favor and stop in at the Napoleon House for a drink (just order a Pimms Cup & trust me on that).  It is old and fabulous and caters to locals as well as tourists.  My favorite bar for a little refreshment.  (Second row, on the far left).
*I was thrilled to see that so much of the city is just thriving after Katrina & that little streets that were a bit on the shabby side when I lived there are vibrant places now.  One such street is Oak Street, home to the famous Jacque-Imo’s restaurant and Maple Leaf bar/music hall.  Now there is a fantastic thrift store, a ton of little restaurants, a great home design store, and one of my favorite coffee shops, Rue de la Course.  It’s in uptown, off Carrollton Ave. & well worth the streetcar ride or just drive over if you rent a car (which, I suggest you do).

That’s installment No. 1 of Laura’s NOLA’s picks.  More to come . . .

The Madeline & The Eleanor

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So I was reading Matchbook Magazine recently & stumbled on the most awesome idea to name your business after your grandmothers.  Wouldn’t “Madeline & Eleanor” be so cute as a photo company name?! It’s a little late now to change that, so I decided to use the idea anyway and rename our wedding packages after them — the Madeline will be for our small weddings, since my grandmother Madeline was partial to that type of event, and the Eleanor will be for the larger parties, which she totally loved.  In the pic above, Madeline is on the left and Eleanor is on the right.

Happy Weekend!

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I feel like I should be posting sunny skies and swimming pools since it’s allegedly summertime.  Instead, I decided on a dose of realism — very foggy mornings that are typical here in San Francisco.  Hope you all find some sun this weekend.  Without further stalling, here are the things I’ve found amusing this week:

*Anyone out there liking NBC’s Olympic coverage?  I am not digging the spoilers myself, but I am *loving* watching anyway.  I tear up all the time — I am a sucker for a good human interest story.

*Love this!  Using people as pixels to make large scale art.  You gotta click here to see this.

*I am so in love with old pictures of San Francisco and its near past — check out this awesome collection of photos of grand swimming pools in the city via the SF Gate.

*This is cool – check out the world’s oldest known photograph.

*Check out these pretty paintings — flowers just make me happy all the time, no matter what.

Weekend Links!

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Happy Weekend, everyone!  Does any more need to be said?  Here’s my weekly perusing of the internets that I thought were share-worthy:

*Awesome give-away of seriously cute earrings on Classic Bride
*If you’re in the mood for a little cry this weekend, get out your tissues and read this obit.
*Controversy!  Are prints off of google street view art?  Are they photography?
*If you’re in New York, go see Rineke Dijkstra at the Guggenheim – I saw this show at the SFMOMA and it is fantastic – haunting and real.
*If you’re honeymoon planning (or just trip planning in general), I thought this article on foreign hotel brands was potentially useful — I find booking foreign hotels with confidence to be one of the hardest parts of foreign travel.
*Judy Blume is a real person!  And she’ll be at the Castro Theater today screening Tiger Eyes at 4pm.  Hurry!  There’s still time to make it.  (Don’t know about tickets though . . .)

Have a good one .  . .

Getting crafty with glitter, glue & crepe paper

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That I am a pinterest addict is well documented around these parts.  So when I was tasked with “making a little something special” for a friend’s baby shower, I took to the internets and found this awesome crepe paper flower tutorial through my favorite addiction & thought I’d give this project a try.  Please click through to that link for full instructions.

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In short, you need card stock for the backing, crepe paper for the flower petals (this stuff goes a long way people, I had no idea, but one roll is about 80 feet, and you can get about 1 flower a foot, maybe slightly less), glitter, glue (I found this cool glitter glue by Crayola but any old glue will do) & buttons.  I took out a  paper plate and made a pile of glitter and a pile of glue.  I started by making the glitter buttons (basically put some glue on top of the button & smooshed it into the glitter pile) & let those dry.  Then I cut out circle backings for the flowers (not too perfect & about an inch & a half all around).  Then I made the petals out of crepe paper and started to assemble the flowers.  To do that, I first dredged the edges of the paper in a little glue & dipped it into the glitter.  I also put a glob of glue on the backing to give the petals something to really stick to.  I did 2 layers of petals, and once those were on there, I put a big old glop of glitter glue in the middle and stuck the button in there.  Finally, I put a square of mounting tape on the back so that these can be stuck to a lapel or a dress as a boutonniere.

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They are far from perfect on close inspection, but from a not-too-far away place, they are really quite lovely, if I do say so myself.   It took me about an hour to make 10 flowers, but it got a lot faster once I got going.  I normally don’t post my crafting projects on here, but I thought this one was especially cool, and could be a really easy way to add a little DIY flavor to a wedding.  I could totally see this looking really cool for groomsmen for something a little different, or if you really had some time on your hands, I love nothing more than a whole bunch of coordinated guests & these could double as a favor/something for everyone to wear.

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Overall, I’d rate this project as follows:

-Degree of difficulty: 0 (this was super easy to make look really good)

-Time consuming: 7 (it’s kind of on par with decorating sugar cookies, not fast but not prohibitive)

-Wow factor:  10 (just my opinion, of course!)

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Here’s some shots of how mine turned out: