Sunday, June 29, 2008

Meet: Baby Colin

Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod, one night sailed off in a wooden shoe;
Sailed off on a river of crystal light into a sea of dew."Where are you going and what do you wish?" the old moon asked the three. "We've come to fish for the herring fish that live in this beautiful sea.
Nets of silver and gold have we," said Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song as they rocked in the wooden shoe.
And the wind that sped them all night long ruffled the waves of dew.
Now the little stars are the herring fish that live in that beautiful sea;
"Cast your nets wherever you wish never afraid are we!"
So cried the stars to the fishermen three - Winkin', and Blinkin', and Nod.


Meet: Baby Colin



This little one is the brand new nephew of our amazing bride Taren, who you will remember from this shoot. Taren's sister & brother-in-law, Shannon & Dan, just brought Colin home about a month ago and they are already total pros at this whole parenting thing. I was totally blown away by what naturals they are!





At one month old you ponder things... like the meaning of life


and putting on a toe show.


You do a little dance...


Make a little yawn.


And you're down for the night. Clap Clap. Down for the night.


Now Winkin' and Blinkin' are two little eyes and Nod is a little head.
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies is a wee one's trundle bed.
So close your eyes while mother sings of the wonderful sights that be.
And you shall see those beautiful things as you sail on the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three - Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.


Sleep tight little one.

Shannon, Dan & Colin, you three are continuing our love affair with the whole McKinney family (and now the Roy's too!!) You guys are all such very special people, and we feel so lucky to know you! Thank you for always making us feel like family!

Friday, June 27, 2008

A "MINI" disaster

Picture it. Tuesday, 11:45 am. New Haven, Connecticut.


The day had begun in the most usual of ways. With four dozen roses and cuddling through scary movies over breakfast. "What Lies Beneath" and a smorgasbord of fruit to be specific.

What? That's normal.

It was our four year dating anniversary (yes we still celebrate those and no we're not sure if it's paper or silver this year), and we innocently roused ourselves from the couch with nothing but rainbow wishes and candlelit dreams in store for the day that lay ahead. Yea, good luck with that.

It all started to go pear shaped as we made our way to the cars with grand plans for going out for brunch. We went to start Justin's car. Dead.

Dead, dead, deadski. The kind of dead where you have to have a cop and a construction worker (the cowboy and the Indian chief were busy apparently) help you push your car off the street and into your garage. It may very well have been the low point of my life. And I'm ok with that.

Ok, Plan B. We get into my car, which promptly begins to make some coughing and wheezing sounds like George Burns in sweatpants at the end of a marathon race. Ok, or ME in sweatpants at the end of a marathon race for that matter.

Awesome. Just awesome. This truly cannot be happening. It is actually physically impossible and must violate about seven different laws of physics for TWO cars to die in ONE day. Not so, as it turns out. Yep, you guessed it, dead.

Dead, dead, deadski. Awesome. Juuuuust awesome.

I guess you could say we're extreme kinda people. Whether the good or the bad, whatever happens, when it rains it pours. Bucketloads.

And we're ok with that.

Because the good is always soooo much better than the bad could ever dream of being bad. Times ten. Let's just go ahead and put it out there...our so-called "disasters" are more like other people's case of the hiccups (yes I know it's spelled hiccoughs but I think that's just silly). It is indeed a charmed life we lead. Which, by the way, leads me to the NEXT part of the story. :)

Allow me to proudly introduce to you our new baby (and yes, it is the ONLY new baby we intend on having for a loooong time)









And let me just tell you, the people at MINI of Fairfield have their stuff to-gether! These guys are definitely OUR kind of people, because we are totally feelin' "loyal beyond reason" right about now. Here are just a FEW of the things I loved about our rep Fabrizio Reda (if you're even thinking about buying a MINI, you have to go to this guy!!):

1) We called him out of the blue as we were leaving New Haven to see if they had anything in stock. Even though he had just gotten the car in that day and it wasn't technically ready to be test-driven, he just made it work. He put his schedule second to ours and it totally paid off.
2) He is perhaps the most likeable person I've ever met.
3) He let us test drive it by ourselves....twice. :)
4) He had us come back two days later for the "delivery" of our car, at which time it was spotless and he spent a good hour showing us how everything worked.
5) There were Smints (small (MINI if you will) mints) waiting for us on the seat.
6) He gave us two custom MINI key chains. One for each of us.
7) And by far my favorite: this MINI mug with a cookie shaped like a MINI in it. Not just any ole' MINI mind you, but a British racing green one to match our car!! Seriously?!




So there it is Blog World, our "big" (pun TOTALLY intended) news. And this much I can tell you already...Justin and I have two totally different approaches to enjoying a new car. He likes to put on his shades and say things like "Man, did you check out the detail job they did on that engine," while I am quietly content to stick my arms out the window and shout "Wheeeeeeeee!!!" But hey, that's just the ebb & the flow, the yin & the yang that makes us... us. And we're ok with that. :)

Here's to wide open spaces, winding roads, and the wind in your hair.

Motor on, blogworld, motor on.

Meet: Katie & Colin

Stonington calling.

Nothing beats the cool salt air and open road of a crisp New England day. The timeless tailoring of our luxurious cable cardigan Fair Isle sweater, our patterned grosgrain flip flop..... and him. This season, it's all about the perfect fit. Grab a mug of your favorite clam chowder and join us for our latest collection. They've been specially treated for an authentic vintage finish.


Meet Katie & Colin.

Their theme: the J.Crew catalog of course! Just take one look at these two, and I'm sure you'll see why!


Katie & Colin are just about the two most adorable people I've ever met. They live up in New Hampshire, where they went to school at Dartmouth, but they came down to Stonington (where Katie's awesome parents Brenda & Bernie live) to spend the day with us! As I was going through editing their pictures, my cheeks literally started hurting from all the smiling I was doing. What can I say...seeing two people who are so perfect for each other just makes you feel a little bit more blessed to be alive. It was a good day... no make that a GREAT day. It was the kind of day we know we're going to remember for a very long time to come.














C'mon...how can you not LOVE a couple that has their own secret handshake?!


One of the two best roads in Connecticut!




Katie & Colin, you guys are TOTAL rockstars! We can't wait to see you again in September!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Meet: Anna & Dan

It was kindergarten.

Kindergarten in Ms. Grosso's class, Booth Hill Elementary. Go Bobcats! And as we all know, this kindergarten stuff can be pretty busy business. There's fingerpainting to be done, naps to be taken, and jackets to be hung. At five years old that can pretty much make up your whole world. So who has time in all that to find their soul mate?

Meet Anna & Dan.

They first laid eyes on each other that first day of kindergarten and they haven't looked back since. There's is the kind of love that was truly meant. to. be. As they say on the playground, 2 gether 4 ever.

So when it was time to come up with a theme for these guys, it was your basic no-brainer. Back to Booth Hill Elementary, where it all began! We have been so PUMPED to share these with you guys!! Check it out:





It was pretty hot that day, so we had to take a break for some Yoo-Hoo...



And a look back in time.


Then it was time to hit up the play ground






One of our rockin' interns stayed up most of the night making this paper chain, so you know we had to rock that!




And did I mention there were ring shots?!?
We found these awesome elementary school scissors at a yard sale on our way to the shoot!






Anna & Dan we had the BEST time! Thank you so much for hanging out with us and we can't wait to see you again on: