It was a crazy and long winter and I am SO thankful for some warm Spring evenings finally. I love that we can stay out playing longer now that the sun sets later in the day. Makes for some fun family times that I cherish. It’s these simple moments that I will always remember. Spring nights outside with my loved ones means playing, giggling, good food, good eats and plenty of joy to go around. For this…I’m thankful.

OK, first off, I have to say – I am NOT a wide angle gal when it comes to portraits at ALL. I used to own a much more expensive ultra wide angle lens and it mainly sat in my bag. When I did use it, I just didn’t love the results because the focal length did not fit my photography style, so I sold it without regret. I know many photographers that rock this focal length well and it suits them, but it just doesn’t work for my style of photography and therefore I do not see myself using this lens within my portrait business much at all. With that said though…I do like ultra wide angle for certain landscape, architectural and interior shots. I was going to rent the Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens for interior images of our house so that I could show more of the rooms while making everything look bigger. I ended up finding the one pictured above used for a good price, so I ended up buying it instead. I have a few shoots scheduled this year for businesses where I knew I’d end up renting this lens and I figured that I’d rent it again when we take our next vacation, so after doing the math, it made sense to just buy this lens. I’m SO glad that I made that decision! The day after my lens arrived, our real estate agent come to our house and I took pictures of our house. The next day, our house was officially on the market along with all the pictures I had taken. Everyone mentions how big the rooms look. We’ve had several people take a look at our place and they all mention the pictures and how well our house shows. With this market, who knows how long our house will be on the market, but I’m so glad that I have this lens to capture our rooms to the fullest. There is no way I would have been able to get those shots without this lens. I’m also thankful that I won’t have to spend money renting this lens in the future. I’m really looking forward to taking landscape photos with this lens. It captures the most amazing, dramatic, larger than life, skies in images. Sure, this is more of a fun lens for me that I will use time-to-time within my business, but I’m so thankful to have it added to my camera bag. After all…a girl’s gotta have fun!

Today I was cleaning the house and paused a bit when I picked up these lil’ German figurines. Memories just came flooding back. These belonged to Michael’s great aunt, Emma, who passed way this past year at the age of 100. When we would go to Emma’s house, Lily would go straight to the coffee table and start playing with these figurines. She was just fascinated with this boy and girl as a baby. I would try to get her to stop playing with them as I was afraid she’d break them and I knew that they are quite old. Emma would always tell me that it was OK. If they broke, it wasn’t a big deal. “They’re just material things,” Emma would say with a shrug. Emma was such a wonderful and kind lady and I learned a lot from her.  I’m so thankful that these figurines were passed down to Lily. They may be worn and old, but that’s what makes them so perfect. I don’t know the full story behind these, but they are quite sentimental to my family. Such a beautiful thing!

Every week I make 1-2 loaves of homemade bread. Nothing beats the taste of bread straight out of the oven! Growing up, my mom used to make bread on a regular basis and I carried on the tradition once I moved out on my own. I don’t make a big flour mess like I used to as a little girl (although my daughter does) and I now experiment with different recipes. I guess you could say that my bread making skills have matured along with me. It’s just one of those lil’ things that brings me so much joy and for that…I’m thankful!

Today I’m so thankful for modern medicine! My lil’ girl, Lily, came down with a temperature of 104.3 degrees and so off to the doctor we went. Thankfully she doesn’t have anything major, just a nasty ear infection that was causing her the peak of temps. Like her mommy, Lily’s allergic to some medicine, but at least there we have options and access to meds that brought down her temperature and is helping her ear infection as well. I hate seeing my baby sick. Makes me feel so helpless. Fortunately lots of hugs, kisses, cuddle time, liquids, cool baths and medicine is helping cure my lil’ one.

Shortly after Michael proposed to me, I received a book from some dear friends that I still cherish to this day. “Living Happily Ever After” is a book that sits on our sofa table and I like to read from time-to-time. The book features couples that share their stories of love. Some of the stories make me cry, but they all make me smile and appreciate the relationship that I have with my husband and our own love story. I’m so thankful that these couples have shared their stories and I really look up to them even though we’ve never met and I don’t know them personally. They have all had their ups and downs, but their love is everlasting and real. I find myself studying the pictures in the book  and I see the love in their eyes and body language is the same, if not stronger, now in their older age just as it was when they were younger . It’s so reassuring to know that love really can endure all. Michael and I always say that we can’t wait to grow old together and this book makes me look forward to our journey even more. I know that we’ll change in so many ways and we certainly won’t look the same, but I know that I will always recognize those eyes and I will always hold his hand and enjoy the simple things in life with him. Thank you so much Mark and Theresa for gifting me this book so many years ago. You have no idea how much this book means to me!

OK, so I know this may seem a weird thing to be thankful for, but I really am loving my new pencil sharpener! Sometimes it’s the simple things that just make me so happy. I bought this pencil sharpener, that looks jut like a vintage camera, as a Christmas gift to myself back in December. I was so giddy when I opened the box as it REALLY looks like some of the vintage cameras in my collection. I had gone to the store and bought some classic wooden pencils and placed the whole display proudly on my desk. There’s just something about the classics that I love and so this is a great combination for me. I love writing with pencils and now it’s even more enjoyable for me while being a bit more nostalgic at the same time. And for this…I’m thankful!

I’ve been working hard the last few months giving Yvonne Niemann Photography a new look to better reflect who I am as a person and photographer. It’s so nice to see it all come together and I couldn’t be more pleased. My new business cards came in earlier this week, which was the first thing I had seen in print with some of my new branding elements, and I sighed with a calming peace that was within me. It was exactly what I wanted and it was “me” throughout. Since then, the rest of my new materials have come in and each package that I open just gives me so much happiness, peace and pride. Photography has always been a way to express myself and it’s been a wonderful journey so far. Can’t wait to see where it takes me next.

I was going through things in the basement and came across this ceramic heart dish that my grandmother made the year I was born! Perfect timing since it’s almost Valentine’s Day and my daughter had just come home with candy from her Pre School party. In our house, we essentially celebrate Valentine’s Day every day. The love flows freely and we are super lovey dovey with each other. It’s just who we are. And for that…I’m thankful!

Around this time of year, Michael and I start thinking about where we want to vacation during the year. We always take one tropical vacation with just the two of us and then we take a family vacation with our beloved Lily. These trips are something that we always look forward to and are much needed to relax, regroup and reconnect. As parents, our tropical vacations mean even more to us as a couple since we don’t get much alone time any more. It’s wonderful taking in the sites, not having to go by any kind of schedule, eat any kind of cuisine we wish, have only adult conversation and just enjoy our company fully without interruptions. Of course we talk about Lily quite a bit – wondering what she’s doing with the grandparents, wondering if she misses us as much as we miss her, hope she’s having fun and is sleeping OK and envision what she’d be doing in the ocean and sand if she were with us. This year we’re planning on taking our family trip to a tropical location. Lily’s been talking about the ocean and beaches for a couple years now and I think she’s at an age where she’ll really enjoy herself and remember everything as she gets older. I can’t wait to see Lily’s reaction to that beautiful environment – the sand, salt water, tropical breezes, fish, palm trees, boat excursions, the food and just the whole experience. I’m so thankful that we’re able to travel and I’m looking forward to showing Lily the world and experiencing travels through her eyes.

{I took the image above at Marigot Bay in St. Lucia a couple of years ago. Nice little reminder that warm weather isn’t too far away as we sit here surrounded by ice and snow!}