I discovered it the first winter we were married. I started to suggest to Matt that we put the green flannel sheets we had bought for the guest room on our bed, and he looked at me with disgust like I had suggested we give up cooking all together and just eat fast food. Matt doesn’t like flannel. I couldn’t think of anything more cozy to go with the layer of down on our bed than soft flannel, but he resisted. I thought about sewing a sheet that had half flannel and half cotton so we could both be happy, but instead I waited. It only took four years, but this winter as an early Christmas present he agreed to let me buy some flannel sheets. I celebrated, cheered and ran around the house to tell everyone the news. Without any further delay I was online buying festive tree patterned sheets from LL Bean. They were just the right amount of Christmas and of course the right amount of flannel. I put them on the bed almost immediately, and slept for three days straight. Okay, I couldn’t never do that, but I did fall asleep nice and cozy and don’t tell anyone but I’m pretty sure Matt did too.

I’ve been soaking up time with my family and reveling in the moments I’m able to enjoy with them. I suppose I am used to living away from family – having grown up hours away from grandparents, aunts + uncles and cousins – but now more than ever I enjoy being there for the small everyday activities. They are moments that are strung together and side by side they make up what we know as life, and I like being there for it. Eating dinner together, borrowing cups of powdered sugar to make cookies, staying up to play Scrabble and the list goes on. Yesterday it included taking my niece Julia ice skating for the first time. We went to the very same place Matt and I had a few of our engagement pictures taken four years ago, and it was fun to think about how much had happened between then and now. I put Matt in charge of documenting the fun while my sister and I helped Julia around the rink at least 10 times. We encouraged her, sang songs, and got tips from coach Matt as she experienced the slippery sensation of moving on ice. While it wasn’t without some lack of confidence, she loved it and I’m sure by next year she will be skating on her own.

While Christmas in Michigan has been wonderful, it has not been without tragedy. In contrast to the small daily moments are the large life changing ones, which have come on two occasions this year. A car accident involving a member of my family (they are doing okay) and a death in Matt’s family has made the holidays challenging. However, as family comes together in both incidences I am reminded of what it means to be a family in the first place, and once again enjoy those small moments we get to share.

It’s Thanksgiving Eve and our house is enduring a steady stream of cleaning in preparation for the arrival of family this afternoon. Spearheaded by my husband, preparation for anything usually begins with cleaning, and I am happy to let him take the lead on that. I mean, he has a gift people. I try not to interfere… aka he does most of the work while I watch in awe. You should see our house, it’s sparkling and I feel super lucky to have a husband like him.

Now that Thanksgiving is here I think we can all agree that Christmas is upon us and officially start any preparation if we haven’t already. If you’re like me, you do some things last minute, and might not have decided if you are sending out any holiday greetings. Stop right there. This Sunday, 11/27, I’ll be offering a few mini portrait sessions that include either digital files or custom cards. If you’re interested, don’t take too long to think about it as I’m only offering a few sessions and would love to fit you in! Read a little more info here or send me an email : hello @ marydougherty . net and reserve a spot!

happy thanksgiving!

I didn’t think he would do it. We had been talking about having two dogs for a while and at first I just wasn’t convinced since I knew two would not be less work than one. Sure, they will keep each other company – which is a plus – but there would still be two dogs. However, after two years of one dog and thinking that Lexi (our mini dachshund) would like a friend, I thought to myself – it would be amazing to give Matt a dog for Christmas. A puppy for Christmas is one of the best presents – or at least one of those you dream about as a little kid (I did)… but it would be near impossible to arrange, especially traveling over the holidays.

So I thought about it… and I decided I would tell Matt that if he wanted to, he could get ME a puppy for Christmas.

and the crazy thing is he did.

I was completely surprised on December 23 when he told me to come into the kitchen and open an early Christmas present. I saw the wrapped box on the floor and my mind raced. I opened it up to find a 8 week old mini dachshund puppy with a white coat with black spots.

Lexi + the puppy aren’t the best of friends yet even though they look like they are in the picture above. It will take some time since he’s still really young but I’m sure soon they’ll be thick as thieves. He’s pretty hard to resist when he’s out in the cold…

Merry Christmas!

to say thanks! If you were a client of mine in 2009, you probably recognize the card and these marshmallows and hopefully have received them already! I wanted to send something out to thank you since I really feel blessed to do something I love and share that with people. Thanks for keeping me in business and if you want to take advantage of the offer that was included in the card, you just need to contact me by january 15 and work out the details.

Well this is a busy time of year, in so many good ways since I’ve been busy spending time with family and catching up with some friends. I hope you’re able to do the same and had a Merry Christmas. We have a few Christmas traditions that we enjoyed and they include: eating tamales + posole on Christmas Eve, having homemade cinnamon rolls Christmas morning (matt and I started that tradition), opening presents together as a family and taking turns, and playing a rousing game of tripoly. Unfortunately we weren’t able to celebrate with our family in New Mexico but we missed everyone! I was, however, given a flip for Christmas (hooray! thanks Matt) so I took a lot of fun videos and of course there will be more in the future. I’ve included just a short one of my niece and our dog to show how cute they both are. Also, if anyone already has a flip what tips can you give me for using/editing? I have imovie, but it’s not that versatile so I might look into getting something else. Of course, I’m happy if I just have the regular videos as well, but it would be fun to edit them into masterpieces!

Well I need to stop blogging and go spend more time with my family – I hope you are able to do the same and enjoy!

Doesn’t Zach look festive in his reindeer antlers? I have my last wedding of 2009 on Saturday and it looks like I might have to drive out early to Fredricksburg to make sure I’m not stuck in the snowstorm we’re suppose to get! It’s always hard to tell what will actually come, but based on the weather it will be at least several inches. Hopefully it’s just enough to be beautiful for the wedding.

Soon after we’ll be heading up to Michigan for Christmas. I can’t wait to spend time with family and I think my niece’s 1st birthday party will be one of the highlights on Christmas Eve. I won’t be broadcasting live (for family who are wondering) but I will most definitely be taking some pictures. I’m also going to be meeting up with a few brides and shooting some engagement photos which I’m really looking forward to (we need to pick a location!). If you’re a museum goer like me and in the Detroit area you should definitely head to the DIA to see the exhibit on Richard Avedon’s fashion photography – and maybe I’ll bump into you there. Once our time in MI is done, we’ll head over to NY where we’ll celebrate New Years and then I’ll photograph my first 2010 wedding. I can’t wait to see everyone along the way – and if you’re going to be in MI or NY let me know when you’ll be there and maybe I’ll have the pleasure of seeing you too!

It was a little like Christmas. The world changed overnight and I, like many people, woke up on Saturday to a thick and gently draped layer of snow. Snow! Everyone said we would get just a few inches all winter in Virginia, and here we were with at least 5 inches. It was fabulous. As much as I might have complained about cold weather in the past, I love snow and how it puts you in the mood for holidays. It makes cold weather bearable and it just looks so good!

Snow was just the beginning of the great weekend. Some of our best friends, Mary Claire and Greg, came to visit and it was so good to spend some time with them, catch up and just see each other. Most people can probably relate to moving to a new place, leaving friends behind and setting out on the arduous task of making new ones. You don’t want to leave your friends in the first place, you don’t want to replace those friends (or be replaced) – but in actuality those friendships can just grow stronger. Mary Claire and Greg are those kind of friends and I hope at some point we can live in the same area (same area = 1 hour radius of each other… okay I’ll take 2 hours). We packed in as much as we could and took them to some of our favorite hburg spots including the farmers market, the Little Grill, and Clementine. It was a snow day off from work, running, and any other commitments and to spend it with friends was more than I could ask for. Of course, since the weather was perfect we did a few photos as well and I can’t take credit for them since it was so gorgeous outside. I handed my camera to Mary Claire with a few instructions as she shot a few of Matt and I, and then put her and Greg in front of the camera for their turn.

I love winter photos. You have to get close and you have to move around which are two things that I usually start with anyways. I don’t want to show all of ours since we’ll be sending some out on cards but the one above is def one of my favorites. Here are a few from Mary Claire and Greg and I hope you were able to enjoy some snow this weekend as well!

After some perfect snowman weather, which was decidedly too wet- we actually have a white Christmas here in Michigan! A few flakes are falling now and we are about to open stockings – yes, we still do stockings and absolutely love them. Later on when everyone’s home from the hospital we’ll open presents and probably be in awe of the little baby. We wish all the best to everyone and hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

it’s Christmas Eve! and to give you a little pre-Christmas gift I have some tips on taking photos. First let’s start with the tree picture. This is a really simple trick, and it’s something different to spice up a usual picture of a tree… or anything with Christmas lights. What do you do- set your camera on manual focus, so that you can adjust it to be OUT of focus. Sometimes breaking the rules is all it takes- the lights then show up as beautiful circles. This is the really basic way to take a photo like this; you can also get this effect by playing with the distance between a subject and whatever is in the background.

As far as Christmas morning goes, my advice would be to try something new. Take a picture from a new angle- maybe up high or down low, or shoot without everyone smiling and saying “cheese” for something candid. You’ll need to make sure you have a good light source, preferably a window, so that you won’t have to blind people with direct flash or cast them in the yellow glow of indoor lights. Your camera will have settings to correct the indoor lights, but if you have a window that will be your best bet for natural looking photos.

Merry Christmas!