Nectar & Light

a good monday friends!  a hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  i am so proud to share with you all that i have been asked to be the guest contributor at everyday polaroid this week.  while i wanted to share bits of my everyday life with the readers, i also wanted to do something a bit different - so please pop over if you would like to follow the adventures of the glass dove this week.

also, be sure to check out the new volume of lines & shapes featuring the work of one of my favorite photographers, maditi, who is also contributing to for the love of light. 

have a wonderful day friends!

xoox~jla

My mother:  is the most beautiful woman i have ever seen+is the reason i am a good mother+reminds me everyday that life is what we make of it+is the most gentle soul ever created+giving+unconditional+open-minded+open-hearted+a rock star+a beauty queen+a princess and the pea+a dirty martini+she is the woman that i most admire+my light+my rock+my mother.

My girls:  without whom i would feel incomplete+bring endless joy to my soul+remind me to stay young+remind me to have a wonderful time no matter the task+make me so proud to call you my daughters+amaze me with your insights and depth of emotion+remind me that you will not always be so young and that the strength and beauty of the bond we cultivate now will only flourish as we age together.

To all of the mother's in my life, the mother's who read my little space here, the mother's to be - may you always love and be loved unconditionally and without question; may you cherish the bond with women in your life and remember that we are the soul and eternal element that defines the world.

Happy Mother's Day to all... have a lovely weekend friends...

xoox~jla

p.s.  my mom and i on cape hatteras in 1977

My studio space was recently featured on Poppytalk - click here to read and see more... {i can't seem to post a direct link so you may have to scroll down a bit} ;)

Until tomorrow...

xoox~jla

again, home again.  We are home, unpacking and delightfully road weary.  Thank you all for your sweet travel wishes.  Atlanta was - as always - so wonderful.  I felt my heart tug as we drove out of the city, I felt as if I was leaving home - and as we drove across the country - lush greens giving way to the flat, almost haunting landscape of the Great Plains, I knew simply by the way my body reacted that it is time to move on.  I am experiencing a lot of confusion - or maybe just so many conflicting emotions about the road ahead, the word 'home' seems to mean a great deal to me right now - yet, I am unsure of it's full definition.  What I do know is that I love the South with the very core of my being.   For a few more shots of our travels - and I do mean "few" - I was so busy holding on to babies that cameras did not get a lot of use, click here.

I would be able to stay in touch while I am away, but it doesn't look like that will happen.  I promise lots of love and photos when I return - I hope you all have a wonderful couple of weeks and be sure to explore the links to the left, they belong to some of the most inspiring people ever...

xoox~jla

My sweet Ayla Eve - the morning began with ice cream and strawberries - the day ended with chocolate mousse - and you crashed - so sweetly in the middle of the living room, Lucien in your arms {Adie placed them there thinking you would want to see him when you awoke}.  I hope you enjoyed you two days filled with love, chocolate, sushi and "more shoes mama?"  You are my wild child and though you forever keep me on the tips of my toes, you are my true love.  Your crazy curls and infectious giggles make me heart do tiny little summersaults.  I adore sweet girl, happy second birthday.

xoox~mama

Monday we are off to Atlanta for a few weeks - and this weekend will be a delightful blur of events - Saturday night is our Passover Seder {eating matzah on a road trip will be the challenge of a lifetime}, Sunday is packing - and more importantly Ayla Eve turns 2 - how quickly it goes.  I will have a birthday post for her on Sunday - then I hope to be back online by the end of next week so I can stay in touch during our travels. 

I have also added a few new prints to the shop and as a thank you, I will be sending out a super secret 5x5 Polaroid print to anyone who places an order through 7 May.

Stay well friends and I hope everything is ever lovely...

xoox~jla

I know, I know - I promised I would be getting back to recipes at some point - and I still have every intention of doing so.  But sadly, I really have not been cooking of late.  After Atlanta - I plan on starting to get back into the weekly posting of an original recipe - for both your sake, and mine.  In the meantime, have another cup of your favorite brew, and enjoy some new {or not so new} food finds that I have stumbled across:

~ Tea & Cookies;

~ Tartelette;

~ Milk & Cookies;

~ Fig & Cherry;

~ Shutterbean;

~ 80 Breakfasts;

~ Foodbeam.

Enjoy - these should keep you more than busy until I start to play in the kitchen again ;)

xoox~jla

As Stana and I both have some travel throughout the last weeks of April, I am announcing the May theme a bit early this month: 

Losing Focus:  Find beauty in the blur...

Challenge yourself to see things a bit differently this month - I would like the main focus of your photographs to be {for lack of a better term} out of focus.  Capture something you love - a place, a person, a precious treasure - and transform it into a piece blurry beauty.

For more information and to sign-up, please visit the site, The Photo Trade.  If you are new to The Trade, please be sure to read our rules here.

xoox~jla

*edited to say:  i didn't realize how similar the last two photos are - both off set blurry flowers - hmmm - i think i like off-set blurry flowers.

I hope you had a beautiful weekend friends!  Mine was full of love and some precious time alone with my Mom - it was so lovely.  This will be a busy week as we are gearing up for our annual "girls only" road trip to Atlanta, Georgia to visit my beautiful Aunt and her gorgeous daughters - and though we only see each other once a year {if that} they are like my baby sisters - I adore them endlessly.  I am hoping that I will be able to stay in touch through the lens of at least one of my Polaroids over those weeks - still working out the techie issues.  In the meantime I would love to share some beautiful finds with you - I find myself using this journal to collect wonderful little places in cyberspace - I do hope you enjoy:

~ Some inspiring and talented new Flickr finds:  copyright depuis 1965,  tomato senya,  bemjjg, instant dreams and mkendall;

~ I can't get enough of her pinhole work, but I have yet to snag one - they go SO fast;

~ This looks like so much fun - if you are an artist, be sure to apply soon!

~ A dream come true;

~ You can find my work here this month - so exciting - thank you Jan;

~ And there are new entries here and here.

Have a wonderful Monday!

xoox~jla

I am 33 years old.  Such a number - so many years ago I could not fathom being 33.  And now, there is a certain amount of comfort in that number - I happen to love the number 3 - 33 feels extra special.  And with age comes clarity.  While my parents were out of town last week I came across a box of photos and slides of my mother.  A storybook unfolding - her life through the lens of those who loved her most.  And I had a thought, one I had not experienced since I first came across photographs of her in white go-go boots and a mod shift dress when I was in my early twenties - "my God - my mother had a life before me."  It was an awakening of sorts, and I looked at her differently from that moment on, with more respect and more love.  That was nearly 10 years ago - when I saw all of these photos again a few days ago - those thoughts flooded back to me in a great tidal wave of emotion - the crash of waves was resounding - especially now that I have my own children, looking at the images of her as a young, hip, undeniably beautiful mother made me want to be better.  A better mother, better to myself, just better.  Last night we went through the boxes together - laughed, cried - spoke in hushed whispers in the silent house about boyfriends long gone and hair styles never to be revisited.  It is my birthday - but it also hers - she labored with unconditional love on that day and she has never once ceased.  I love you Mama - thank you for this beautiful gift.

xoox~jla

p.s. the photo above is my Mom and I in Misawa, Japan when I was about six months old.

I spent the afternoon with one of my dearest friends - she allowed me to shoot my girls in her studio and it of course was complete madness - but a delightful chaos nonetheless.  And I had to start the day with Polaroids of course - to see the digital images, you can visit my Flickr stream.

xoox~jla

p.s.  I promise to return to link love and recipes soon ;)

she sets up her shots all on her own+she says"mommy i can do this"+when i try to talk her through+she knows to hold the camera so still+squint+hold your breath+shoot+smile.  To see what she shot this morning, click here.

xoox~jla

Some amazing finds today... enjoy:

~ Jen launched her website - so beautiful;

~ I never leave the house without a Moleskine so I flushed with excitement over this {via Oh Joy!};

~ always on the lookout for cool totes - these are amazing {via CC};

~ a wonderful new project;

~ and loving this new Etsy find.

xoox~jla

posting this.  She has been raiding my basket of shoes all morning - they have yet to find a closet in which to reside.  There is also of course her love for her own shoes.

Have a lovely day friends!

xoox~jla