… I will be out of the office for the next couple of days with limited access to email/phone.  I will be back in full swing on Tuesday, so thanks in advance for your patience if you send me an email or leave a voicemail and it takes me a couple of days to get back to you.  Have a great weekend!  And Happy Leap Year!  HPC

…sweet girl. Much more to post but here’s a sneak peek of the sweetest-little-6-day-old-girl you could ever want to meet. Thanks to the whole family for a wonderful afternoon.

and her beautiful momma . . .

As a mother these always yank tug on my heartstrings…

This is precisely why I should not spend an entire day in my office. Clearly the doodling is a direct result of the punchy, tired, eyes-are-kind-of-crossing, can’t-sit-here-for-one-more-second situation of me being in my office for a whole day by myself. The good news is, the really cool projects that I have been working on are just about finished, and just as good (or maybe even better), there are NO emails in my inbox. As in zero. As in NONE. Yippee. Of course, I’m sure at least one has come in while I am typing this, but when I took that screen shot it was empty. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

. . . and you can eat just one?

Every year at this time, on a subconscious level I know they will be arriving in grocery stores.  It doesn’t actually dawn on me that Easter is around the corner until I spot them.  I tried twice to walk by them, but somehow, they found their way into my cart this weekend. I don’t know if the fact that they come in these little “individual” sizes is a good thing or not.  If I eat the whole bag, I don’t feel bad, but then, they don’t last very long either.  Oh well, they are helping to make my office day a little bit more “palatable.” Sorry, couldn’t resist

…these were the first words that I heard Charlie say, when he realized that his love letter to his lovely wife Penny, had just won them a $5,000 shopping spree at Zachary’s Jewelers, in downtown Annapolis! I just LOVE to hear a man refer to his wife as his bride, and doing so after 39 years of marriage makes his winning letter that much more heartwarming.

I just love LOVE.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Zachary’s announced a “love letter contest” and received over 250 entries! Many of those who entered waited outside of the store on Sunday morning, eager to be let in to hear who’s name would be announced to receive the big prize! At 11am, the doors opened and they literally POURED into the store – wow – what a CROWD! To help add to the festivities, Zachary’s provided a light mimosa brunch, and attendees noshed while waiting for the big moment to arrive! Let me tell you navigating that crowd to take photographs was a challenge!

In addition to the Big Prize from Zachary’s, many local businesses donated prizes to the event, so several couples walked away with fabulous gifts from one of Annapolis’ favorite spots for fine dining Harry Browne’s Restaurant, and Even-Keel Spa, (more about them below) amongst many others! The first runner up (and they are cute as pie) will receive a downtown photo session with Heather Crowder Photography, and a 20 x 24 portrait from that session! I am so excited about their shoot – they told me that they don’t have a great pic of them together since their wedding day a year and a half ago, and I assured them that we would take care of that!

The look on Penny’s face was priceless when she realized that it was her Charlie’s letter that had been chosen as the winner. When he got down on one knee to read it to her, as she stood there (ok, a little shaky ) holding her bouquet of red roses, well, let’s just say there were more than a few teary eyes in the place! WOW! Events like this are so great to be a part of, and in a community like our “little town” of Annapolis to see local businesses doing fun things like these, well, it just makes me glad to be an Annapolitan.

So, all of this talk of Love surely reminds you that Valentine’s day is just a couple of days away! Need ideas? I can’t think of anything better (hint, hint, Johnny, in case you are reading) than a 90 minute hot stone massage from Even-Keel; that would top my list. For that matter, give me anything on the Even-Keel menu and I’ll call it a Happy V-Day. If you’re not familiar with Even-Keel (and I am not sure this is possible), the Eastport spa’s owner, Alexa Zaledonis has such a great offering that I don’t know where to start. The Thai massage has been on my list for sometime, but just as is the case when I dine at my favorite restaurants, it’s hard not to stick with what you love. If I am not mistaken they have some Valentine’s specials going on so give them a call and make your loved one VERY happy this Valentine’s Day!

Charlie & his Bride!

Gift bags for all of the participants

Cute couple alert!

hmmm – wonder what she just said?

little do they know, they won more than the raffle!

A shot of Zachary’s beautiful new interior

just one view of the crowd!

Zachary’s Owner Steve Samaras, Errol Daly and the Grand Prize Winners!

. . . If you want to see a little more about The Middle Place, by Kelly Corrigan, check out the comments section for a quick note from Kelly.  And of course, for those of you who have read it, feel free to leave Kelly a little love in the comments section.  For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, you can leave a comment for any post on the blog, to share your thoughts, etc.

Have a great day everyone

. . . A friend recently sent me a great link to Catalog Choice, which is a site where you can decline out of the MASS of excess catalogs that we all seem to receive in the mail these days. I went onto the site, registered, and have (hopefully) eliminated a number of catalogs that I receive, some in duplicate and triplicate. I pulled a stack of catalogs out of the recycling bin and used the name/customer number info on the back cover (it seems this is the best way to do it) and declined them with the catalog choice service. I can hear my postman smiling already Little things like this, can make a big difference, for both the environment and our own sanity. I don’t know about you, but there are some catalogs that I LOVE, but many that I would prefer not to receive, and certainly not multiple quantities!

On another note, I am not neglecting my poor blog! I have been fighting a bug of some sort, which seems to be a common theme with so many folks I have talked to recently – I have had to reschedule some sessions due to clients’ wee ones being under the weather, as well as feeling bad myself, but hopefully will be back in full swing soon!

Spring is right around the corner, right? Arghhh I hate this weather!