I wanted to document what our 300th day at home looks like. Sadly, I couldn’t capture the entirety of it all, frankly, because this day sucked and it was really hard to get the kid to focus, the dogs to stop barking, the texts to stop (thanks Trump) and just making it through my “survival duties” took a lot.

But yeah. Today is the THREE HUNDREDTH day my child has been learning at home. All day. Every day.

He’s a remarkable kid who loves school. He has the most amazing teacher who blows me away every day. We are for sure in the “best case scenario” of this pandemic, but I am still exhausted, frustrated and over it all. My kid needs to be back in school, not because he needs his teachers to be babysitters but because he needs to see that none of the other kids write as neatly as the teacher either. That none of the other kids’ drawings are as good as the teacher’s either. He needs to laugh with other KIDS. He needs less time with adults. Here’s hoping for some sort of change soon.

In the meantime, please send wine.

Today we were back at it.

But instead of working at home, our family loaded up into the car and came to my photo studio for a change of pace. Well, that and we had a house cleaner working in our home.

Yes, I feel super guilty/weird/privileged writing that. But there is one thing on this earth that I hate, and that is the constant dog hair and cleaning that my house requires. And now that we are ALL in the house ALL THE TIME, cooking ALL of the meals, it just feels out of control. So we try to maintain civility most of the time, and once a month we have a cleaner come to tackle things like the bathtub, the stove top etc etc. And it is a godsend, and I am so fortunate to be in a place to make this happen — but to be honest I would give up TV and coffee before I would give up my cleaner. Yes, it is that important to me.

Anyway! To keep everyone safe during Covid, we leave the house and all come to the studio, and it’s fun for everyone just to be somewhere else. And yes, Hazel IS there with us, you just cannot see her because she must be touching me at all times and is right next to me as I am taking this photo.

I snapped these with my iPhone this morning as I was tip-toeing around the house, waiting for the coffee to brew.

I always love that pink light that we get in the early winter mornings. But it’s even better when it’s all wavy because of the old windows in my old house. We get fliers for new windows all summer long, but no way am I getting rid of this gorgeous glass.

I was playing around with my macro lens today — it’s something I do when looking for a spark of creativity. Anyway, I photographed a ton of stuff inside my house, because let’s be honest, who’s leaving the house much these days? Especially this girl who has a newborn photo shoot next week and needs to remain germ free. I shot plants and sea shells and reflections on wine bottles…

But, I ended up loving this blurry shot of the sun coming in through the window the most. I know it’s technically flawed, but it captures the fuzzy hope that I am feeling about 2021. The idea that we’ll be able to let things back in again (MY GOD I HOPE THIS IS TRUE). Anyway, it’s cheesy, but it was my favorite photo of the day. And we all know how I love buttery light and lens flare, so you knew I was gonna like this one.

We started the day/year at the sledding hill… and it was freezing. We met up with some dear friends and had donuts and hot cocoa while the others braved the hill. I’m not huge on sledding myself because a) I always somehow end up going down backwards? and b) I am terrified of injuries after a skiing mishap decades ago. Yes, I’m a scaredy cat.

But I was happy to chat with some friends at the top of the hill while sipping coffee and bouncing around trying to stay warm. The rest of the day? That was spent under a blanket or sitting on a radiator trying to warm back up. Don’t worry. Only about 90 more days of this to go … oy.

I hope you all have had a lovely week.

We have been very busy baking and gorging ourselves on cookies. We’ve also been napping, watching movies, assembling puzzles, building lego sets, sledding and snuggling. It has been pretty fantastic, if I’m being honest.

I haven’t been on top of posting and working at my desk much because, well, see above. But I have been taking photos (just forgetting to post them). So here’s what it has looked like over here. Enjoy!

This week I had a fun shoot with Artimis here — isn’t she so sweet? She’s ten years old, and was not phased by the tricks I demanded of her. What a cutie.

We’ve been celebrating Hanukkah for the last week, and as we light more and more candles, of course I want to get my camera out. And if you look closely, the newspaper underneath the menorah is about the vaccines arriving in Minnesota — historical, I’d say.

Yesterday the Governor announced that all elementary schools could allow students back in mid-January for at least hybrid in-person teaching, and we sure have our fingers crossed that things our community’s virus numbers are down and teachers can get vaccinated soon so that this is a safe and welcome change. Because this kid? Man, does he want to GO to school (like, SOMEWHERE ELSE BESIDES MY OFFICE).