So maybe, possibly, quite probably, starting a new monthly series the month before I moved 300 miles – Connecticut to Maryland – was not well planned out. Somehow, I pushed aside all of my previous moving experiences. I didn’t fully recall the chaos and the amount of time it takes to settle in. But oooh I have been reminded.  It’s only this week that I now finally have reliable phone service at the house! (Thank-you Mr Dixon for solving my communications “Black Hole” problem!!) Things seem to be 3/4′s of the way back on track now – whew! I’m ready to announce this month’s book giveaway AND a bonus extra to making up for my dropping the ball! Without further ado I give you: Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson.

One night Harold decides to take a walk in the moonlight with his purple crayon and oh the places his imagination takes him!  He takes you from a straight line, to the moon, to a boat to sail on and a pie to feed his hunger – all created with his purple crayon and imagination. Harold explores all the greatness and possibilities outside his front door in the end finding himself home again settled in his bed.

The Rules: For the sake of simplicity, all comments must take place on the blog attached to this post (doesn’t have to be fancy, even a hi will do!), comments on our Facebook fan page won’t be counted.  I’ll close all comments 9pm EST on the set date.  If 10+ people have commented I’ll put the total number of comments into a random number picker (your assigned number is based on the comment sequence – first comment = 1, second comment = 2, etc…) and the number that comes back is the winner!  I’ll announce and contact the winner two days after the closing date and arrange to send them a copy of the book!  So excited to share this with you!!  So here are the details for this month’s book.

July 2010 Book: Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

Comment Closing Date: August 3rd, 2010

Announcement of Winner: August 5th, 2010

Bonus!!: This month to make up for my dropping the ball I’m also giving away the dvd cartoon version of this book – it’s the same one I was shown in school many many times!

Now if you just can’t wait until August 5th here’s an Amazon direct link. 

I’ve been planning this move since last August.  Coming down, checking out places I might like to live, meeting people (Twitter is totally awesome for this) and just soaking up the vibe that is Baltimore. As it goes, a friend of mine had a friend who lives in the area and connected us through Facebook. Back in October we met for lunch at a local Panera and four hours later Mary and I parted as the best of friends – love that!

Mary’s happy place is Camden Yards. I mean – BIG time happy place!  She gives the most amazing tours of the ballpark and the history/baseball knowledge that pours out of her is nothing short of astounding.  A couple of weeks before the move Mary and I started talking about meeting up and going to an O’s game.  I checked the schedule and happened to notice that the O’s were going to be hosting the Red Soxs my first Friday in town. As a CT girl who grew up going to Fenway and vividly remembers Bill Buckner’s flub during the 1986 World Series, this was an opportunity that just couldn’t be missed. Mary, knowing full well it was going to be ugly for the O’s, was up for it.  And it was – ugly, ugly, ugly for the O’s but it was also completely awesome to be at the ballpark.  I love the vibe and feel of Camden Yards, so much so, that the following Friday I was back at Camden Yards and on Mary’s tour taking photos.

*Complete aside – It’s official – every ballpark/team on the east coast somehow has a tie to Babe Ruth.  How that is possible I have no absolutely no idea! The image of the statute on the end – yup, you guess it – that’s the “young Babe Ruth”…*

So how could it possibly get better then that?? I give you Honfest! Talk about something that is quintessentially Baltimore! For those of you who don’t live in the Baltimore area – what is Honfest you ask? I’m not sure I can fully answer that question! Think beehived, hair sprayed, curler wearing, gum smacking women wearing lots of pink, orange, animal print clothing with cat eye glasses. I kid you not. Here’s how the official Honfest site defines a Hon:

The term Hon is actually a friendly Baltimore greeting and comes from the word honey. Around here, however, the women who vie to become Baltimore’s Best Hon are a vision of the sixties-era. They are women with beehive hairdos, bright-blue eye shadow, spandex pants and anything with leopard print!

Adore, Adore, Adore Honfest! So much fun, people watching and great food. There was even a place were you could get your ‘hair did’ in a beehive.  I am sooo doing that next year. Without further ado – here were some of my favorite Hon’s of the day!

I have no idea what adventures Baltimore in July will bring but I am SO looking forward to them!! If there is anything going on that I absolutely HAVE to go to, see and be a part of – share it here and I’ll try to make it happen!

Yes it’s true – The UnKitchen Diva went on a rather long hiatus this spring. During that time a house was sold, she went on the road for 21 days straight and moved to Maryland.  To say she was otherwise occupied would be an understatement!!  Once she got to Maryland she heard over and over again about CSA.  What is this CSA?? Apparently all over the country there are Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA) projects.  You buy a share in a local farm and every week pick up fresh produce.  Everyone in her area of Maryland raved about One Straw Farm – so obviously that was the place to go.  Besides The UnKitchen Diva figured if this didn’t get her to like vegetables NOTHING will!!  After getting lost and then saved by one of the owners of the farm, she was escorted into the huge cooler.  In there were Strawberries, Lettuce, Chard, Garlic Scapes and other things she had no idea what to do with.  The UnKitchen Diva turned to the farm owner, relayed her story (probably in far to much detail) and asked for help!  This is how she ended up with Chard and Garlic Scapes in her bag of loot! Now what to do with it??  I give you Baked Chicken with Sauteed Chard and Garlic Scapes!

Baked Chicken with Sauteed Chard and Garlic Scapes

1 Chicken Breast                                   Olive Oil

1 Garlic Scape                                       Several Chard Leaves

1/2 Cup Brown Rice (precooked)              Pepper

Paprika                                                 Garlic Salt

Salt                                                       Spoonful of Butter / Margarine

1) Get the owner of the farm to tell you in step by step detail how to cook the vegetables in your bag, immediately forget it all, go online to learn it all over again…

2) Preheat oven to 350˚.  Plop a frying pan on the stove top and pour some Olive Oil in (I’d guess about a tbs. but honestly I just pour until I think –“yep that’ll do”). Measure out ½ cup of cooked brown rice, put in microwave bowl, put some tabs of butter on top and put in microwave.

3) Take one Garlic Scape (and seriously am I the only one who wants to say Snape and thinks of Harry Potter??) Chop up into ¼” pieces and put into cute little glass bowl – because where else are you going to put it??

4) Take 3-4 leaves of Chard, roll them individually length wise like your making a snake with play dough, unroll because you forgot to wash them, wash them…, re-roll. Cut them into 1” sections. Then cut sections in ½ (first time I made this I didn’t cut them in ½ and it was like trying to eat long spaghetti strands of chard – difficult at best!!). Put in cereal bowl and make sure it’s heaping over the sides.

5) Unless your super speedy your oven should be heated now. Take a square pyrex pan put a huge spoonful of butter/margarine in the bottom and stick back into oven to melt.

6) Take 3 sections of paper towels – why 3 no idea, but it must be 3 – wash hands, rinse chicken breast, get grossed out by chicken fat, put on the 3 folded sections of paper towel and wrap the towel like a burrito around the chicken to dry, wash hands again!!

7) Take pan out of oven, put on stove top – not counter…, unroll chicken from paper towel burrito, place in pan and roll in melted butter, getting butter everywhere.

8.) Sprinkle on salt, garlic salt, pepper and paprika – in that order – it’s easier to see how much you put on – trust me….

9) Stick in oven and set timer for 9 minutes.

10) Run around the house, check your email, update your Facebook status….

11) When the timer goes off turn the burner under the frying pan on to medium to medium high heat.  Take chicken out of oven, flip, sprinkle spices again, stick back in oven and reset timer for 9 minutes.

12) When oil is hot plop in the Garlic Scapes, move them around, hear the sizzle, look for some browning on the edges – about two minutes.

13) Ok this part is like magic – I was told it would do this but didn’t believe it. Dump the Chard in, mixing it up so it gets covered in hot oil. Stir a bit and then watch it shrink to ½ it’s size – seriously it’s like a Honey I Shrunk the Kids moment! Stir around making sure what’s on top gets to the bottom etc.  After about 2 minutes it looked done to me and there was 3-4 minutes left what to do? I moved it to the back of the stove and stuck a top on it – seemed like a good plan to me!

14) When the timer reaches 2 minutes press the 2 minutes express cook on your microwave to heat the rice.

15) Timer goes off take chicken out of oven and cut into cube like pieces.

16) Layer chard, then rice, leaving the chicken for the top – making it look pretty!

Viola – Baked Chicken with Chard and Garlic Scapes!!

A few weeks ago I visited Blue Sky Factory’s website.  As most of you know, I’m moving to Baltimore in June and was doing some research on companies in the area that intrigued me.  I was curious to see where they were located and clicked on their Corporate Office Directions Page.  What I loved, made me laugh out loud and stuck with me was at the bottom of the page there are walking directions from the parking garage to their front door.

Here’s why it stayed with me.  With this one paragraph I understood that they really heard their clients.  They were giving their clients something that they wanted, needed and probably asked for.  I loved it because it’s so rare to actually see a company go that extra step – give their clients what they want/need.  More often than not, companies (me included) put out what we want, what we think you need, like and desire without really listening to what your telling us.

Last year I changed the name of the business to Lil Blu Dragonfly and put up a “temporary” blogsite.  With the move coming up I knew I wanted to make changes and upgrade the site.  I’ve spent the last few months making lists of things I want to change, add, delete etc… After that visit to Blue Sky Factory I realized I was thinking only about what I wanted and haven’t taken the time to ask you what you wanted.  So here it is (I find this frightening beyond belief but I truly want to know) what do you want from me?

I’m asking all you mommies, bloggers, friends and past clients for your help.  Do you want more images, better service, video on the blog, specials, a forum that focuses on local events and mommies, etc… I’m open to all suggestions and ideas.  When faced with something new or a challenge I often ask myself “How am I getting in my own way.”  So I’m stepping aside and asking for your help.  What do you want from me?

I have always been partial to the number 13.  I was born on the 13th and missed turning 13 on friday the 13th by one year!! (Thanks Mom…) So when I saw that the final comment number was 13 I thought “How cool!”  My next thought was “Wouldn’t it be even cooler if the winning number was 13?” I put the total number of comments in a random number generator on Random.org and I kid you not the winning number was 13!!  Here’s a screen shot of the results:

This completely made my day!  I’ll be contacting the winner shortly and sending Mr Popper on his way.  I hope they enjoy it as much as I did!

I’d love for you all to come back in a week and check out the next book giveaway.  Please spread the word to your family and friend too!!

I’ve been on the road for 19 days now – 3 more to go…  This image, taken with my point and shoot, is the view (bug marks and all) I have become most familiar with in the last few weeks.

I have been to Baltimore, Wilkes Barre PA, Englewood NJ and Merscerbeg PA.  One day I went from Englewood to Baltimore then back to Old Lyme CT – arriving at the wee hour of 2am.  I literally got out of the car, walked up the stairs and fell into the bed that night!  I have longingly remembered my college policy of owning more than 30+ pairs of underwear.  I only had to do laundry once a month in those days!!

I have found that when traveling through PA on a Sunday your most likely only going to find Religion or Nascar on the radio – to some they are one and the same!  I’ve been endlessly fascinated by I-78 with it’s huge Cabela’s, Chrome Palace and massage parlor that boasts big rig parking and new showers.  They set my imagination aflame and I swear some day I’m going to have to check them all out – well maybe not the massage parlor…  I have also passed the exits for Hereshy Park and Crayola 5 times in the last 2 1/2 weeks!!  Each hold their own appeal and eventually one of these days stops will have to be made there as well.

I have learned that my smart phone is a wondrous thing – gps, internet and phone all in one.  I wonder how I ever ate a meal in a restaurant alone before this wild piece of technology.  I still haven’t figured out the best way to eat well on the road and I feel horrible for leaving the crew in a kennel for 21 days!! But all in all I believe I have officially become a “Road Warrior”

A Book is Like a Garden Carried in a Pocket – Chinese Proverb

Book Give Away, Book Give Away, Book Give Away!! *hint* read all the way to the end.

I was standing in the bookstore with 4 new books in my hands when a group of children, sitting in circle being read to, caught my eye.  In a flash, I knew I wanted to share my love of  books with you all.  I decided, right then and there, that I would start a monthly posting based around my favorite books from my childhood.  I also decided I wanted to give away a copy of each book I featured to one of you.

You see, books were a HUGE part of my upbringing and I do mean HUGE!  Piles of books could be found around the house, weekly trips to the library occurred and we were read to every night.  I’m still a serious reader, often reading several books at a time.  I adore that my sisters’ instilled this love of reading in my nieces and nephews too!  It never ceases to amaze me to find children, 7 and under, choosing to sit on the couch to read.

The dinner table and Mr. Popper’s Penguins sets the scene for one of my fondest childhood memories.  My mom brought home a book and explained that this was one of her all time favorite books when she was a kid.  Not only did she want us to read it, she wanted us to read it as a family.  Her plan was to have one of us read a couple of pages out loud then pass the book to our right for the next person to read.

Mr Popper is a small town painter who is bored with his life.  He dreams of far off travels and seeing the Poles.  His down time is spent reading everything he can on explorers and their trips to the Poles.  One day he writes a fan letter to famed explorer Admiral Drake.  To his complete surprise, Admiral Drake sends him a penguin!  Soon the small Popper Family grows to include 12 penguins – all who have to eat!  The traveling show “Popper’s Performing Penguins” is born.  The penguins create all sorts of trouble and slapstick moments while on the road.  Every night would find us at the dinner table waiting with anticipation to see what the penguins got up to next!

Now the fun part!  The book giveaway!!  Every month I’ll feature a book in a post and set a comments closing date.  For  the sake of simplicity, all comments must take place on the blog, comments on our Facebook fan page won’t be counted.  I’ll close all comments 9pm EST on the set date.  If 10+ people have commented I’ll put the total number of comments into a random number picker (your assigned number is based on the comment sequence – first comment = 1, second comment = 2, etc…) and the number that comes back is the winner!  I’ll announce and contact the winner two days after the closing date and arrange to send them a copy of the book!  So excited to share this with you!!  So here are the details for this month’s book.

April 2010 Book: Mr Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

Comment Closing Date: May 12th, 2010

Announcement of Winner: May 14th, 2010

Now if you just can’t wait until May 14th here’s an Amazon direct link.

And bring your dollies three!

As I don’t have a studio (all of my work is purposely done on location) traditionally my portrait season here in Connecticut kicks off mid to end of May.  We usually don’t have the type of Spring to write home about around here.  It’s cold and damp, with a few beautiful sunny days thrown in to trick us into thinking this year we’ll finally have a real Spring!!

I’ve always heard Spring just a few 100 miles south is a beautiful thing – cherry blossoms and flowering gardens.  After shooting still lifes and The Extraordinary Funky Chicken this winter I’m itching for squishy faces and sticky fingers!  I so want to go out and play that I’m beside myself with the thought of waiting 3-4 weeks to have some fun!  This got me to brainstorming on how to make the time go faster.

As many of you know I now split my time between Baltimore and Connecticut.  I’ll be in the Baltimore area the week of April 18th and experiencing my first “Southern” Spring (so excited to spend some quality outdoor time!).  Contact me (443-353-9211) between now and April 16th, book a session the week of the 18th and I will reduce my sitting fee to $225.  I’m booked solid the following two weeks on commercial shoots and can only make this offer for the week of April 18th.  Won’t you come out and play with me??

I’m doing a little spring cleaning and getting ready for the 2010 portrait season.  In the next week I’ll be clearing all 2009 portrait sessions off of my computer.

Immediately after a session, I archive all images onto two sets of DVD’s (one in house, one out) and an external hard drive.  I also keep a working set on my computer.  As always, you can order at any time, but once the working sessions are cleared off the computer there may be a longer completion time to delivery as I will have to search and re-upload the files from your session.

It always seems Murphy’s Law rears it’s head around these decisions.  The minute I clear all the images you know I’ll get a call for an order!! Happens every time…  In an effort to stop Murphy in his tracks I decided to run a spring sale BEFORE I touched anything!! Order any albums, prints, storyboards or canvases between now – April 2, 2010, and next friday – April 9, 2010 and I’ll take 25% off of your entire order!

Happy Spring Everyone!!

These past few weeks have been full of ups and downs.  For those that don’t know, I have been care taking my Grandmother’s house for the past couple of years.  What originally was suppose to be a temporary move somehow morphed into years.  Two weeks ago the family decided it was time to sell the house.

My Grandmother fell and broke her hip and it was hoped she would heal quickly and come home.  Unfortunately, she’s never been able to come back to the home she loves.  As my stay at the house was always suppose to be temporary, I never fully moved in.  Most of the house was kept exactly how my Grandmother left it – pictures on the wall, curtains on the windows and towels in the bathroom.  Not that I didn’t walk around the house and dream of things I’d love to change: rip down wallpaper, new kitchen floor – even as big as tearing down walls.  I didn’t do any of those things.  It was never my house and never would be.  It’s a strange experience to live in a house that for all extents and purposes you are really a guest in.

We called a real estate agent and before I knew it the process was full steam ahead!  The real estate agent asked me to pack away all of Gram’s personal photos and nicknacks.  Suddenly it struck me – this was real – this was a goodbye.  My Grandmother had lived across the street from my parents for almost 30 years.  A piece of my childhood was fading away.  I knew before I took another step forward, I needed to photograph the things that were the essence of my Grandmother and her home.

I photographed her dressing table, full of family photos and the mirror and hairbrush she has had my entire life.  I walked around and captured small vignettes – my father’s teddy bear from when he was a child, her thimble and tea cup collection, her sewing machine where she made us Easter dresses and Halloween costumes and the carved table my Great Grandfather brought back from his travels.  It was an exercise in remembering and saying goodbye.

So I’ve spent the last two weeks packing and getting the house ready for show.  Frankly, it’s heartbreaking and a relief as well.  I’m ready to move on, to no longer be responsible for another’s worldly possessions.  I will, however, be sad when I look out my parents window to the house across the street that is no longer “ours”.  I know a few more tears will be shed over the next few weeks, as were done while writing this post.  As much as it pulls on my heartstrings to see this chapter close, I know it is the right thing.  I am also excited for what comes next.  I have no idea what that is but I’m ready to meet it!